Hector at the Mercury Lounge

The other night my pals Jeb and Clayton (together they are Hector on Stilts) played the Mercury Lounge, so I went to see them. Post-show, they posed for a very impromptu photo shoot. Characters, these two.

Welcome, Little Avery

So Kristie finally had this little cutie yesterday, Sept. 29, at 1:30 AM. Her name, Avery Chase, is incomplete--they have yet to decide on a middle name. (Any day now, guys, clock's a-tickin'. . .) She made her grand entrance weighing in at 8 lbs. 2 oz. And of course, Kristie is already almost back at her pre-pregnancy weight. Amazing. Anyway, congrats to the new parents! I can't wait to meet the lil' tyke.

Hip-Hop Mario

Yeah, we were bored waiting for the train.

Pic of the Day

Nate and I spontaneously, and inexplicably, fall in love with the Astor Place subway station. Dunno, don't ask.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NATE!!!

Mario Comes to NYC

My Swiss mister Mario came to visit me for 10 days earlier this month. It was his first time to the states, so I was really looking forward to showing him around the city. It was a great, great time. We did sooooooo much sightseeing and exploring, it was terrific (and exhausting!). It also served as a really efficient and fun refresher of the city for me.

Here are some of the things we did:
--saw three Broadway shows: Spamalot, Avenue Q and Stomp. I had seen both Ave Q and Stomp before; Spamalot was fun and charming, and hysterical. Nate came with us to Stomp, and we sat in the first row, which was quite the experience. MUCH funnier than I remembered.

--saw two movies: Once, and Stardust. Already saw Once, but it was just as great the second time. Loooooved Stardust.

--attended two sporting events: a Mets game and the U.S. Open Final. Mets are always fun; the Open was an amazing experience. Roger Federer, the champion of that match and of the world, is Swiss, so of course Mario was very excited to see the game.
--went to a Letterman taping. The guests were Jessica Alba, and a band that I never heard of before, but they were pretty cool--Manchester Orchestra.

--went to the Museum of Natural History, where we chilled with the dinosaurs for a bit and went to the IMAX movie, about dinosaurs, of course.

--went to Coney Island, and the New York Aquarium, which is right on the boardwalk. Favorite part: the walrus feeding, by far! :-)
--went to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Hadn't done this since I was like, 10, maybe?
--walked across the Brooklyn Bridge at night. My first time ever! There are gorgeous views of Manhattan from there.

--visited Ground Zero on 9/11. Seemed like the right thing to do.

Also, we had dinner in Chinatown, walked around (and bought lunch at) Zabar's, had drinks in the West--and East--Villages, walked around Central Park, went to the United Nations (but the flags were down, so it was a pretty boring sight), walked and shopped on Fifth, and so many other things I completely lost track. All in all, a great time. :-)

10 Year High School Reunion

The weekend before my move (yes, I'm going just a bit out of sequence here), I traveled to my little itty bitty home town of Susquehanna, PA, to attend my 10-year high school reunion.

The party was a lot of fun--it was so good to see the people I grew up with and what they were doing with their lives. Here are (from left to right) Mike Medlar, Jake Lee, Justin and me.

Here's the president of our class (and organizer of the party), Adam Albert, gettin' down at a bar post-reunion. Adam's now a doctor doing humanitarian work in places like Guatemala.
And here's Justin, my best friend from high school, who is now a tour manager for Roadrunner Records in NYC. He's an exception to the rule of a 10-year reunion, though--I've been in touch with him ever since high school. :-)

The Move

Since the last time I posted (excluding my laundry epiphany), a lot has happened. Nate and I moved to Brooklyn on Aug. 31. I drove to Albany from my gram's (from where I had been commuting into Manhattan) on Wednesday night, and then on Thursday, we packed my stuff, and then his stuff, into a 24-foot truck, which took a looong time. Thank goodness the entire Buccieri clan was there to help (a clan that includes two very large, very strong brothers).

In order to avoid traffic, Nate and I decided we should head down in the middle of Thursday night, which would make parking the truck a lot easier, too. So, after the truck was all packed, we went to bed for a few hours, and then Nate, his brother Trevor and I left for Brooklyn at 4:30 AM on Friday. I had class at 9 AM that morning, so my plan was to follow them down, throw my car into a parking spot, and then hop on a train to school. Which is ultimately what happened. But the ride took longer then expected, because we didn't account for the fact that trucks weren't allowed on the Henry Hudson Parkway, so we ended up driving down the east side of Manhattan. It was fine in the end, it just took longer than necessary.

After class (during which, needless to say, I was a complete zombie), I went back to my new home to help unload the truck, which was already a good halfway done (again, thank goodness for those Buccieri boys!!). Then, to reward ourselves for a job well done, we went to the village for some drinks, but we were all so exhausted that we came back sooner than expected.

The Buccieri boys, patiently waiting for the Q.

We are still unpacking and organizing, but the place is almost done, and looking good. It's just a lot to handle on top of school. It'll be done eventually. :-)

Laundry

I'm pretty confidant in saying that I have acquired the world's largest collection of tiny black T-shirts.