my random ramblingsan infrequent (and these days, mostly Mira related…) blog

glad to be done with the complimentary $30/person hotel breakfast… packed up and taxied to the airport. flight left late, but we passed the time playing cribbage. train back downtown and home again. already a chill in the air outside.

breakfast at the DoubleTree buffet again, then leisurely prepared to meet with Лена and Max at the Charging Bull. walked down to the ferry and hopped on for some great views and photos en route to Staten Island. poked around for about 30 minutes then ferried back and ended up taking a long, meandering tour from Battery Park north up the Esplanade. rode the train back up to our hotel and quickly changed for the US Pole Dance championship – the original reason for our trip. was of course impressive, but it didn’t match my high expectations. taxied back to our hotel and again met up Лена and Max – hung out in the room, drank a bottle of bourbon, and enjoyed our last night in the city.

up and working from the hotel. roused Лена for breakfast then back to the room. short walk down 46th and met up with Jason at his office to say hello. back to the hotel then caught the subway to the financial district and toured the 9/11 Memorial. very well done, and didn’t realize how many new buildings were being reconstructed on the site. got caught in a downpour on the way out, so made a quick stop at the church next door before walking up Canal then finally taking the subway back to our hotel. Лена got changed for her class, then we met up with David and walked her to the studio for her workshop with Jenyne Butterfly. hung out with David at an Irish bar drinking guinness, then picked up Лена from the studio and the 3 of us taxied out to the Seaport near the Brooklyn Bridge for some seafood. walked to Fulton Market after dinner then finally taxied back to the hotel. hung out with David a little while longer before his late train home. good and busy day.

busy morning working, then caught the tail end of breakfast in the hotel. Лена made plans to meet up with her friend but i had to hang back for work. Лена got back around 6:00 and we hurried her off to the night’s workshop with Natasha Wang. fortunately the studio was close enough for me to walk back and wait for her from the hotel. picked her back up an hour and a half later, then we walked down 9th Avenue and ended up at a fantastic little sushi spot in Clinton for dinner. walked back to Times Square and hung out together at the room before finally getting to bed.

flew into New York and taxied to Manhattan and our hotel with an awesome view overlooking Times Square. Лена’s friends Лена and Max swung by – hung out for a bit before taking a nice walk through the city. late dinner at Bubba Gump before bed.

trip to the suburbs cut short by a random clutch fluid reservoir issue. got a tow to some garage closer to home, hopefully won’t be too spendy of a repair.

second time visiting the baby doc and witnessing an ultrasound – all’s well, and was amazing to watch the little one move around. could make out an extraordinary level of detail: fingers, toes, mouth, spine, ribs… and watched the baby’s heart beating rapidly throughout. boy or girl, we couldn’t possibly be happier or more excited… 🙂

tv delivered today – been many, many years… late afternoon walk in the park to feed the squirrels. movie before bed, testing out the new home cinema… 🙂

late drive out to Pete and Heidi’s house after work for a late dinner. good to hang out for a few hours and catch up.

relaxed 3 day weekend at home – finally finished painting the shelves then grabbed dinner across the street at Miller’s. late flight out on Southwest for a change, trying to squeeze as many hours out of my day off as possible.