America's Next Top Model Parody

From the genius that is French and Saunders:

Volleyball Recap

Another week - another win!

Last night was great... we won our first 2 games to secure the match, but ended up losing the 3rd game. Everyone on the team did well & I was happy with most of my playing except for 2 missed serves (which was frustrating because I'm a fairly consistent server.) The overall results for the division are all close: there are 2 teams at 2-0 (both 4-2 in games), 4 teams at 1-1 (all 3-3 in games), and 2 teams at 0-2 (both 2-4 in games). It's still very early in the season and most teams have yet to play with their full line-ups (mine included,) so anything can happen. It's exciting!

Oh, and another piece of news I'm happy to report is that I'll be playing with a lot of the guys from my league team at the upcoming "Golden Apple" tournament over Veteran's Day weekend. It's a NAGVA tournament for players 35 and older, and while it doesn't bring in nearly as many out of town teams as the spring "Big Apple" tournament, it's still a lot of fun. Last year my team finished 2nd - so I'm hoping to do as well again this year.

Volleyball!

Hooray - a new season of volleyball started last night. For anyone
paying attention, last season was pretty pathetic (1-11, with our only
win coming from another team's forfeit the very last week.)

Well, I'm happy to say that this season is already better - we won our
first match! The team is great and I'm looking forward to a really fun
time.

Leave Britney Alone!

Oh... my.
Gawker.com posted this Chris Crocker video & all I can say is -
"thank you"

Phone photo

Ducks at Prospect Park... Foxy was mezmerized!

iPhone in hand

Yes I am blogging from my new phone - it's pretty cool! Now if I can just do it more often...

Forwarded from Customer Service...

My work is such fun sometimes, I get to read lots of interesting letters. A sample of customer correspondence for your enjoyment:

*********************************************

I was dissapointed to find out your selctions of artist is not updatedof all their music I tried to find Pebo Bryson song Can you Stop the Rain itis not in his music that you have and could not find Ruban Studdard;s Why You Want To Change On Me ad well as could not find the Soundtrack toHairspray at all please explain the absent of these artist song titles

*********************************************

I...AS YOU MAY KNOWI'AM A GOOD CLIENT OF YOURS.

BUT IT SEEMS THAT IS BEEN A MISTAKE WITH MY LAST ORDERS.

YOU SHIPT TO ME ON 08/17/2007 ORDER # XXXXXXXXXXXX

2 ALBUND OF THE SAME...GUILBERTO SANTA ROSA & VICTOR MAUELLE,

ALBUN..(DOS SONEROS, UNA HISTORIA....2 OF THIS CD WAS MAIL TO,


ME ON THIS DATE I OUNLY NEED ONE......

* YOU SHIP TO ME AS WELL A CD FROM VICTOR MANUELLE

ALBUN (INCONFUNDIBLE)....I EMAIL YOU FOR YOU TO CHANGE THIS

ALBUN FROM BEEN SHIPT TO ME SINCE I HAD BOUGHT FROM YOU AS

WELL. ON MY EMAIL I ASK OF YOU TO CONTINUE WITH THE NEXT

ALBUN ON THE LIST....SO I WILL BE RETURN THEM TO YOU. I HOPE

YOU CAN EXCHANGE THIS 2 CD'S FOR THE NEXT ON MY QUENQUE LIST.

I WILL BE LOOKING FOWARD TO HEAR FROM YOU...PLZ REPLY TO THIS EMAIL.

AS SOON AS POSSIBLE

THANK..............

*********************************************

I'm sure you know that Akon simulated a rape scene with a minor at one of his concerts. Is this a person that you want to promote with a banner on your homepage? We are a family of five that loves music, just signed up & will be watching. If you continue to promote such "artists" we will cancel our subscription.

*********************************************

you guys don't have a punkl rock section that blows you barely
have any
CDS I want that sucks all your featured selections in the so
called
alternative area are all mainstream garbage and in my opinion
as a
musician are badly mislabeled pop I want out of this so called
club it
bites dick can you relate?

*********************************************

When Names Just Shouldn't Be Hyphenated

Tom forwarded these to me from his friend Lance... ha ha ha

Vegas Photos

Well - as I said at the end of the trip rundown - there aren't too many. They're also mostly of our hotel suite because it was so hilarious - but here they are (and this one is worth the price of admission):


(just click on the photo above or cut & paste the link below into a browser to visit the slide show)
http://flickr.com/photos/slivken/sets/72157601420487142/show/

Viva Las Vegas!

Hey friends, boy did I have a good time in Las Vegas this past weekend. It was F-U-N! It started off kind of rocky, but everything worked out fine and I had a blast.

Here's the rundown of the trip:

Thursday
My American Airlines flight leaving LaGuardia was almost 2 hours late because of poor ground traffic control (according to the pilot) so I missed my connection in Chicago, which would have gotten me in to Las Vegas around 4:30pm, by about 20 minutes. American Airlines couldn't get me on another direct flight from Chicago to Las Vegas so they put me on a 5:00pm flight to Dallas to make a 10:30pm connection which would get me in to Vegas around 11:15pm (thanks a lot.) American Airlines also forget to tell me that there was a possible connection at 8:00pm in Dallas that I could have made, but since they didn't put me on that flight or on the standby list, I stood at that gate and watched the agent hand out seats to the first 8 standby passengers - I was #9 - before heading to another terminal to wait for the 10:30 flight (thanks even more.) Needless to say, despite several meals at McDonalds throughout the day I was cranky. Oh, and the funniest part was that when I arrived in Las Vegas, I was steps away from leaving the airport when alarms started going off and I was forced to stand behind security doors with dozens of other passengers while security officers investigated a supposed "breach." Finally, I got out of the airport, into a cab, and arrived at Bally's! Hooray! And, what was really exciting was that Tom ended up with a suite because the hotel didn't have a non-smoking room to give him. It was tacky but awesome. It had a bar, several seating areas, an awesome view, a jacuzzi bathtub in the middle of the bedroom and a steam-room / walk-in-shower with two entrances. Ooh la la!

Friday
Tom & I had breakfast at the Le Village buffet in the Paris. It was great. We then took the monorail down to Harrah's and did our own little Casino tour. We walked down the strip to the Wynn, stopping in the Venetian along the way. We then crossed the street and made our way back through Treasure Island, the Mirage and Caesar's Palace. Oh, did I mention that it was 104-105 degrees? It was hot! We went back to Bally's and rested for a bit before Tom had to head off to work (he was attending a convention.) I made my way through the Paris and over to Planet Hollywood (formerly the Aladdin) where I got some lunch at their buffet. YUM! After eating I rested some more before taking a walk to the Flamingo and then to O'Sheas where I learned to play Pai Gow poker. I definitely had beginner's luck and, because of it, a lot of fun. By that point it was time to meet up with Tom. We had a quick drink before going to see Ms. Toni Braxton's show at the Flamingo. I thought it was a lot of fun - she looked and sounded great. Back at Bally's we met up with one of Tom's co-workers and had drinks before turning in for the night.

Saturday
Neither Tom nor I could imagine doing another buffet for breakfast (it's true!) so we had a quick bite to eat before starting our daily adventures. We decided to head down to the LV Hilton to do the Star Trek Experience. As luck would have it (and I'm not being sarcastic,) this was the weekend of the big Star Trek convention at the hotel - so we knew that we'd be seeing some major trekkies/trekkers. We weren't disappointed. We saw some great costumes & the "Experience" really was a ton of fun. We followed that excitement with a buffet lunch at the Wynn (which was another great experience!) After lunch, we went to see the old-school-stylings of the Sahara and rode their roller-coaster, "Speed." It was really exciting. From there we headed back towards the central strip area and visited the Imperial Palace. Regardless of its drab exterior, it turned out to be the most fun casino we visited. There was one area where the dealers were all celebrity impersonators and took turns performing up on a little stage. Tom & I played Pai Gow Poker while watching Christina Aguilera, Ricky Martin & Wayne Newton sing - whee! Eventually we headed back to Bally's for a little rest and then went to see the Cirque du Soleil show Mystere. It was the first time I'd ever seen a Cirque du Soleil show and it was amazing! Finally, it was back to the hotel for good - we were wiped out.

Sunday
In almost complete opposition to my trip to Las Vegas, my trip from Las Vegas couldn't have been nicer or easier. Thanks to Tom, we both got First Class upgrades the whole way and made it back to NYC right on schedule. The dogs were thrilled to see us & we spent a mellow night at home watching a bunch of shows that had been recorded while we were gone.

I didn't take a lot of pictures on the trip - but I'll get some fun shots up later this evening!

Dinner Report - 8/8/07

* ARMANDO'S *
(Montague Street)

salad
chicken rollatine
mixed vegetables
wine

The food wasn't great, but the wine was good and the company was fantastic - so it all turned out fine.

Lunch Report - 8/8/07

* HOME *

leftover pizza
leftover chinese
club soda

Ok - it's horrible, I know, but it had been a long morning & I still hadn't gone to work. Because of all the weather stuff, the entire subway system was screwed up. I couldn't take the train in, but that turned into a lucky thing because Tom had to go the airport and he couldn't get a confirmation from his car service. I ended up driving him and it took FOREVER. By the time I got back, the trains were running, so I just grabbed this stuff from the fridge before heading into the city. (Getting stuck on the train is bad - but getting stuck on the train hungry is much, much worse.)

Breakfast Report - 8/8/07

* HOME *

leftover pizza
coffee

???? Couldn't resist.

Tornado in NYC!

I don't know if a tornado really hit Brooklyn last night, but it sure sounded like it!

After hearing tons of lightning & thunder I expected the streets to be a mess this morning, but I had no idea how bad it was. As soon as I stepped outside to walk the dogs, I saw small branches on the ground, and then I saw bigger branches, and then I saw trees. TREES! It was unreal. I rushed the dogs to do their "stuff," took them back upstairs, and then ran back down with my camera. I had already checked to make sure that our car was fine (it was parked on the block as usual,) but I took some pictures of cars that weren't so lucky:


(just click on the photo above or cut & paste the link below into a browser to visit the slide show)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99863484@N00/sets/72157601304471907/show/

Dinner Report - 8/7/07

* HOME *

pizza (sausage, mushroom, black olive)

After my long-hard day of picnicing work, it was nice to come home and just relax.

Lunch Report - 8/7/07

* DIRECT GROUP NORTH AMERICA COMPANY PICNIC *
(Bookspan offices, Garden City, Long Island)

cheeseburger
hotdog
pasta salad
shrimp salad
chocolate covered rice-krispy treats
water
wine

Yay! The whole office got on buses and trekked out to Garden City for a company picnic. It was the first company wide function since BMG Columbia House acquired Bookspan. They had lots of activities, and a raffle for prizes. But it was really hot, so I mostly just stayed in the shade and talked to people (although I did win the one game of foosball I played!)

Breakfast Report - 8/7/07

* HOME *

peanut butter
cheese
coffee

I was sooo uninspired this morning... but I'll try to do better tomorrow.

Dinner Report - 8/6/07

*ERIN, PETER, BRUNO & BONES' *
(183rd & Ft. Washington)

turkey chili
vodka & soda

My visit to see new baby Bruno was awesome. Not only did I see one of the most beautiful babies EVER - I got turkey chili for dinner! Congratulations!

Lunch Report - 8/6/07

* SEATTLE ROASTERS *
(Penn station concourse)

chicken burrito

It's close, it's fast, and it's GOOD!

Breakfast Report - 8/6/07

* HOME *

scrambled eggs w/cheese & prosciutto
coffee

A good start to the week!