Category Archives: Wonderful World Beautiful People

Run Run Run

Well it’s a Sunday evening. Clocks were moved back an hour last night/this morning so though my body is saying it’s 6:24PM, it’s actually 5:24PM. That should take some getting used to but I think I might be used to it already.

Last night I sat at home, in front of the computer, just playing music through iTunes. Bill came home and started to go into the bedroom to watch the World Series. I suggested he watch it in the TV room since I wasn’t watching just playing music.

I thought he would have the sound down while the game went on and the music played. But he needed to hear the commentary so he sat with headphones on. I didn’t realize it until I actually turned around. I was playing for his benefit so that was a bit of a downer for me.

I even went in a Jazz direction with some Miles Davis, Cesaria Evora and Chocolate Genius to name a few. I decided to let him listen to the game without the headphones and sat and listened to Bill yell at the TV.

The only time I yell at the TV is when I watch Millionaire in the afternoon. I grew up in a house where my father would yell at the TV during sporting events and now, here’s Bill yelling at the TV. He didn’t stay up to watch the game and I certainly didn’t watch it after he went to bed.

I stayed up watching part of ‘Australia’ until 1:30/12:30AM. Today my niece Meghan was running in the NYC Marathon and the plan was to meet up with my sister in law Elaine and Corinne, Meghan’s sister at the train station.

They were coming in from Garfield at around 8:30. I was up at 7:00 and got myself ready. Got a call at 8:00 from Corinne, they were one stop away. I hustled a bit more and soon was on my way. I met up with them in the Dunkin Donuts by the Path train and soon we were in the station.

Meghan’s husband showed up after driving from Staten Island, seeing Meghan get to the starting line. We all rode up to 33rd Street in a very crowded train. Rob took off to queens hoping to catch Meghan before she crossed over the 59th Street Bridge. Corinne, Elaine and I trekked up Sixth Avenue, through a street fair, past the HBO store with a pit stop in the Hilton to hit the head as it were.

Then it was up to 59th street where it wasn’t too crowded. I let Elaine call the shots and we wound up walking to First Avenue where I ran into Steve Dressel who I used to work with earlier this year. He got a job up by Tarrytown and now he and his wife are likely fleeing Manhattan and moving to Croton on Hudson.

I could only stay for a minute since Elaine was chomping at the bit to find a better spot to try and catch Meghan. After moving about for close to an hour we finally saw Meghan running by. I yelled out Meghan and she turned and waved.

It was a relief to see her since Elaine and I secretly were worried and hoped she was able to make it this far. After that came the plan to head into Central Park which was the first time for Corinne.

We found a not too crowded spot in the east drive and we sat on the wooden rail like a few other people were. Unfortunately a volunteer across the drive shouted that we couldn’t sit on the wooded rail so for some reason we all got up and stood just inches from where we sat.

I was tired and my lower back was killing me and sitting down brought some relief. I looked down about a hundred feet or so where I saw a few other people sitting on the wooden rail opposite a few police officers who weren’t telling them to move.

I mentioned to Elaine that I was going there to sit. It was a great place to sit, right off a curve in the road. There were so many runners that I looked up the road towards Elaine and Corinne, scanning their faces for enthusiasm for when Meghan was running by. I had my cellphone camera all set to go, my digital camera all set to go, and my GO MEGHAN sign ready for viewing.

I sat there for about 20 minutes when some guy next to me asks what mile this part of the marathon was. I guessed about 2 miles to go so that would make where we were, at the 24 mile mark. He mentioned that his daughter was in the marathon and I said that my niece was too.

I then looked up to see Elaine & Corinne but I couldn’t find them. That meant Meghan had run by as the neckbone next to me was telling me about his daughter. I saw Elaine and Corinne and they asked if I saw Meghan and of course, I hadn’t.

Oh I was so pissed at the guy next to me, I should have just ignored him. I could only hope pigeons attacked his eyes as his daughter approached. I did stop complaining about him since I noticed I sounded like ‘himself’ or ‘himself’s eldest son’.

We did make it over to the west side where families and friends could meet up with the marathon runners. Rob had run with Meghan for a bit but was ejected at the 400k mark since he wasn’t registered. He would have run the whole marathon with Meghan but did not qualify.

26.2 MILES. 3HRS 21MIN. 7.67 MIN PER MILE

We had a good walk to the subway after meeting up and a quick ride on the Path train home. Some pizza in Hoboken before we parted ways, they going back to Garfield and me, back home in Hoboken. It was a very good, if not tiring, day. And if I’m tired Meghan is more than likely far more tired than I could ever be.

Rob De Carlo, Ace coach

Rob De Carlo, Ace coach

Elaine

Elaine

Elaine and Corinne

Elaine and Corinne

2009 NYC Marathon 007

Meghan!

Meghan!

2009 NYC Marathon 026

Reasons to be Cheerful Part 3

Well it wasn’t raining today and I’m pretty much happy about that. It was a bright and sunny day, a bit on the cool side but who’s complaining? Besides the usual people, who? I was even out for a walk into the city were I met Harpy for a few minutes.

It was nice to get out and about again. A lot of people around Herald Square where Harpy was doing some bookkeeping work. It was only for a little while.

Last night was different. I was on Bill’s Mac doing whatever it is that I do online. Bill came home earlier than expected, in time to watch game one of the World Series. Me? I didn’t care for the World Series.

That makes me a minority at this time of year in this metropolitan area.

I just closed the door and continued doing what I do. I was going to watch Rachel Getting Married on Bill’s Mac but Bill said he wasn’t going to watch the whole game. He’s feeling achy. His knees, his back all giving him pains.

These could all be related to some extra poundage but if I said anything about that, he wouldn’t hear it. Some people have mentioned that might be the case and I couldn’t help but agree.

Last night while that was going on, Rand texted me, telling me the PC was up and running. I was about to run over and get it, but wisely asked Rand when would be a good time to pick it up. I phoned him since I didn’t want to text. He said he was fine with me getting it this morning and we agreed to speak at around 10:00AM.

I told Bill about it but he seemed a bit sad that it was being fixed. He seemed to enjoy being able to help me out with letting me use his Mac. I have to tell you, the Mac was fine, I was getting used to the Mac commands that are slightly different from a PC, but the spinning rainbow beach ball of death was pissing me off more and more.

I also told him I appreciated his helping me out and I really did.

He went to bed midway through the baseball game and I came out and watched the news, then Easy Riders, Raging Bulls on the Sundance Channel. I didn’t stay up and watch the whole thing since I knew how it ended.

I fell asleep to the sound of Bill breathing through his sleep apnea mask. Woke up, trying to find a reason to not go back to sleep when I remembered that I was getting the PC back from Rand this morning.

Luckily for me, I have taken steps to make this apartment a little more livable and a little less shabby. We were heading towards Collyer Brothers territory and I started the day after Stine was here with Alexander. Not that she’ll ever allow him up here again, but I had to do something.

So papers and whatnot have been shredded bit by bit, page by page. The dual cassette deck that hasn’t been used in quite a while was dismantled and put away. Bill was impressed enough that he even did his bit on Saturday last weekend.

And today being paper recycling day meant that even more paper and corrugated boxes were left at the curb. Who knows? Perhaps next year it won’t be so embarrassing to have Annemarie visiting and wandering around this four room railroad flat.

The PC is working fine, though there is a slight melancholy, from not using the Mac. It is back under a dust cover, shut down. Bill hardly uses it, only when playing his keyboards. It’s good to know it’s there if and when I need it again, and I hope that won’t be for a long long time.

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