Wedding and Honeymoon 225After spending two weeks away from the Big Apple for the big wedding and honeymoon,  and then a week later flying out again for a kamikaze trip to  a friend’s wedding in Niceville, Fla., then out to Los Angeles a few weeks later for a surprise birthday party, I’m finally back and settled here in NYC.

That’s not to say I’ll be blogging any more than usual, but as of right now, laying on the couch with an achy back, and with my beautiful bride playing the role of happy housewife for the time being, there certainly will not be any long distance traveling in our near future.

Luckily, we have friends and family throughout the northeast and mid-Atlantic area who can visit throughout the summer, or, any of you can always visit us here! We do live in NYC, the greatest city on Earth!

So, I hope to have lots of more stories of my travails throughout the five boroughs in the coming weeks. Stacey’s mom will be visiting next weekend and we’ll be heading to the Bronx to see the Phillies play the Yankees, so I’ll report on the new Yankee Stadium then.

Citi Field and LA 004I’ve already been to Citi TARP Field, and it is beautiful. If only the home team were the Marlins, not the Mets. I hope to be going back when the defending American League Champion Tampa Bay Devil Rays visit next month. I’ll try to post my report on that experience then.

Until then, you can always follow me on Twitter.

wedding

Nothing too earthbreaking here. Look up, read the banner headline. See something different? Yeah, am now married as opposed to being almost married or engaged.

Need proof? How about a slideshow?

Oh, and the weather, just might, be finally breaking. Not like it matters to me this weekend, I’ll be in Niceville.

5-Day Forecast for Forest Hills, NY 
Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday
Clear
58° F | 45° F
Clear
68° F | 50° F
Clear
74° F | 50° F
Chance of Rain
56° F | 40° F
Chance of Rain
49° F | 45° F
Clear Clear Clear Chance of Rain

20% chance of precipitation
Chance of Rain

50% chance of precipitation
5-Day Forecast for Niceville, Fla. 
Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday
Partly Cloudy
74° F | 54° F
Partly Cloudy
74° F | 56° F
Partly Cloudy
74° F | 58° F
Chance of a Thunderstorm
76° F | 59° F
Chance of a Thunderstorm
76° F | 52° F
Partly Cloudy Partly Cloudy Partly Cloudy Chance of T-storms

40% chance of precipitation
Chance of T-storms

20% chance of precipitation

vegas-025I could use the fact that I only expect to spend one weekend in the month of March actually home in the Big Apple as a reason for my paltry blogging prowess, but well, that’d just be an excuse.

The fact is that I figured this would happen at some point. There’d be long gaps in my blogging followed by days of constant blogging followed by long gaps, etc., etc., etc.

I’m a manic blogger I guess. Ya’ll just have to deal. Please, please, please, deal. I don’t want to lose either of the two of you who might be reading this.

snowofficeSo, thankfully for me and my sensitive ears, I missed the blizzard of all blizzards that hit the northeast last weekend because, well, I was in Las Vegas!

What a great place to be while the east coast is blanketed in the fluffy vegas-006white stuff. It was dry, 70 degrees, sun shining the whole time. I even spent one whole day of the three pretty much full days I was there outside at a park. Definitely not something I normally do while in Vegas, but a ton of fun. Nice to be out in the sun finally. Am so, so tired of having to bundle, layer and be uncomfortable the whole time.

The only thing that would’ve made that day better is if I had thought to pack some flip flops. I didn’t think we’d made it outside or it’d be warm enough, so I suffered wearing tennis shoes. I know, I know, woe is me.

joaquin-005I won’t be making that same mistake this weekend, however, as Mike’s magical North American tour hits Nashville, Tenn., aka NashVegas, baby! I can’t wait to see good friends again, and especially, the not-s0-lil Latino Tornado, my godson, Joaquin.

Then, after that, it’s just a matter of a couple weeks before I head down south and get transformed from being an almost-married man to being full of wedded bliss.

013Immediately after that, the lovely lady and I come back to our home back in NY for a night before taking this trip international. We’ll be heading to Punta Cana, DR, for most of a week for a nice, relaxing honeymoon that’ll last right up into my favorite time of year, Opening Day.

Of course, at this point, all my vacation time will be used up, so everybody come to NY this spring and summer. We got a pull-out couch you can crash on. Or, seriously, hotel rooms are cheap right now. Our neighborhood rocks and we’re only a quick subway right into Manhattan. So visit often!

So, checking out the weather for NY and NV(NashVegas) this weekend, I’m pretty excited. It’s supposed to get warm here in NY this weekend, even possibly flip-flop weather. I’ll miss it, just like I missed the blizzard, but it’s supposed to be even nicer in Tennessee, so I’m not complaining.

Yes, the flip flops are already packed. I can’t wait.

5-Day Forecast for Forest Hills, NY   
Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday
Fog
50° F | 40° F
Chance of Rain
54° F | 43° F
Chance of Rain
65° F | 43° F
Chance of Rain
54° F | 38° F
Chance of Rain
52° F | 34° F
Fog Chance of Rain

30% chance of precipitation
Chance of Rain

40% chance of precipitation
Chance of Rain

20% chance of precipitation
Chance of Rain

40% chance of precipitation
5-Day Forecast for Nashville  
Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday
Partly Cloudy
70° F | 54° F
Partly Cloudy
74° F | 54° F
Chance of a Thunderstorm
72° F | 52° F
Chance of Rain
67° F | 49° F
Chance of a Thunderstorm
67° F | 49° F
Partly Cloudy Partly Cloudy Chance of T-storms

40% chance of precipitation
Chance of Rain

30% chance of precipitation
Chance of T-storms

50% chance of precipitation

And, of course, nothing beats Tampa

Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday
Partly Cloudy
76° F | 56° F
Partly Cloudy
79° F | 58° F
Partly Cloudy
79° F | 61° F
Partly Cloudy
79° F | 63° F
Partly Cloudy
79° F | 63° F
Partly Cloudy Partly Cloudy Partly Cloudy Partly Cloudy Partly Cloudy

flipfloppers1Took one of those lame online quizzes on Blogthings recently. This one was called “What Kind of Shoe are you?”

Of course, the respone: I am Flip Flops.

Shocking, no?

Now, before you judge from all your glass houses, I know all of you do things like this also. Whether it’s 25 things on Facebook or other quizzes, you really shouldn’t be talking

But, go ahead, tell me how lame I am. At least I just posted the results of this, not for instance, what kind of cookie I am.

For the record, I’m a chocolate chip cookie. Again, not much of a surprise there either.

See, isn’t this so much fun.

And now, your Valentine’s Day weather forecast!

5-Day Forecast for TAmpa, FL
Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday
Partly Cloudy
79° F | 58° F
Chance of Rain
74° F | 54° F
Partly Cloudy
70° F | 41° F
Partly Cloudy
70° F | 49° F
Partly Cloudy
76° F | 58° F
Partly Cloudy Chance of Rain

50% chance of precipitation
Partly Cloudy Partly Cloudy Partly Cloudy
5-Day Forecast for Forest Hills, NY
Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday
Mostly Cloudy
43° F | 29° F
Clear
40° F | 25° F
Partly Cloudy
36° F | 25° F
Partly Cloudy
40° F | 29° F
Chance of Snow
38° F | 36° F
Mostly Cloudy Clear Partly Cloudy Partly Cloudy Chance of Snow

50% chance of precipitation

ice-scrapers-004Every time I think I’m getting used to the cold and the weather — despite my constant bitching about being freezing, driving in the ice and snow and constant wearing of layers — Mother Nature decides she wants to mess with me some more.

This time, she, also known as karma, helped me break my second ice scraper. This one was even called an “ice breaker.” Yes, I broke an ice breaker.

My first ice scraper incident occurred the weekend before Christmas when about four or five inches of snow fell. We planned to go visit my uncle in Port Washington on Sunday, so on Saturday, while Stacey went upstairs to wrap Christmas presents we just bought, I decided to get a head start on scraping the snow off.

ice-scrapers-003That time I broke the scraper end of the combo scraper/brush given to Stacey by her dad way back when while trying to pry huge clumps of snow off of the rear window of my car. I heard a crack and then the scraper broke off. I was then forced to finish prying snow off with the scraper in one hand and the brush in the other, wax on, wax off-style.

This time, it was ice, not snow that did in my trusty “ice breaker.”

ice-scrapers-0021The incident happened at about 9 p.m. Sunday night in the parking lot of Laguardia Airport after returning to the icy mess here from a wonderful warm weekend in Tampa. I thought I was in good shape after getting the ice off the rear window, but had some trouble with the windshield. I turned on the defroster inside while scraping and banging the scraper against the glass. Then, all of a sudden, half the scraper goes flying across the car while I’m left holding the handle.

Incredulous I was. Obviously, I finished up the scraping, paid my $75 in parking and then set out today after work to get myself a new scraper, because the temperatures here aren’t scheduled to get above freezing this week, if they ever do make it to the 20s after Tuesday.

Here’s what I bought this time. Wish me luck that I don’t break either of these.

And here’s what’s facing us here in the frigid northeast for the next few days. Brrr. Yikes.

-Day Forecast for ZIP Code 11375  Forest Hills
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
Partly Cloudy
31° F | 25° F
Mostly Cloudy
40° F | 20° F
Partly Cloudy
25° F | 18° F
Chance of Snow
31° F | 9° F
Partly Cloudy
16° F | 7° F
Partly Cloudy Mostly Cloudy Partly Cloudy Chance of Snow

30% chance of precipitation
Partly Cloudy
5-Day Forecast for ZIP Code 33606  Tampa
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
Chance of Rain
67° F | 58° F
Rain Showers
67° F | 45° F
Partly Cloudy
59° F | 40° F
Partly Cloudy
61° F | 38° F
Partly Cloudy
58° F | 38° F
Chance of Rain

20% chance of precipitation
Rain Showers

60% chance of precipitation
Partly Cloudy Partly Cloudy Partly Cloudy

Although this is New Year’s Eve, don’t be expecting a long, poetry filled post reflecting on the past year; the ups, the downs, the unexpected, the wonderful happenings of the past year in my life.

Hooey to that I say. Hooey. Gosh, I hope I spelt that write. I only wrote it twice.

Instead, what you fine people get is perhaps the most perfect blend of couture to exemplify me and this blog: flannel flip flops. Yes, sirs and madams, my esteemed future mother in law somehow, someway, somewhere found these hot pieces of shoeware.

I know, they ain’t Jimmy Choos, but I wouldn’t get caught dead in a pair of those. These, however, have my name written all over them, albeit not literally.

Check them out.

For the record, although it’s currently snowing and expected to 16 degrees tonight with a wind chill of 0, I’m still not going to wear these ninja-style, like another fellow New Yorker we all know.

macktruck1The “wintry mix” that fell today, a deadly combination of rain, snow and sleet, forced me to pull the Mack Truck boots out of my closet today. I should’ve worn them to work, but thought that’d be overkill. Before I left Tampa I bought a pair of brown “Alpine” shoes on sale at Sports Authority. I figured those would be fine.

And for most of the day they were. Of course, I spent most of the day playing Wii bowling and not out in elements.

So, after I got home, I fished out the Mack Trucks, a big pair of brown boots I bought as part of my hurricane gear while in Tampa. We brought all of our hurricane stuff up here from Florida, joking that it’d be just as useful in a blizzard. So far, some of it has. I wore a pair of lined wind pants that go with my big red rain jacket to keep warm during a walk the other day and now I made use out of the boots.

And did I mention these were Mack Truck boots. I’m not talking little wimpy things. These are steel toe Goliaths.

Take a further look.

 

I fully expect to be wearing these beasts for a while as it’s only going to get colder, snow more and then even get windy. There definitely will be no flip flops in my future anytime soon. Oh how I am so not in Florida anymore.

5-Day Forecast for ZIP Code 11375 Forest Hills, NY
Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday
Chance of Snow
29° F | 27° F
Snow
36° F | 20° F
Partly Cloudy
31° F | 18° F
Clear
36° F | 29° F
Rain
45° F | 34° F
Chance of Snow

40% chance of precipitation
Snow

90% chance of precipitation
Partly Cloudy Clear Rain

60% chance of precipitation
5-Day Forecast for ZIP Code 33606 Tampa, FL
Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday
Partly Cloudy
79° F | 61° F
Partly Cloudy
                  76° F | 52° F
Partly Cloudy
63° F | 47° F
Partly Cloudy
70° F | 59° F
Partly Cloudy
74° F | 58° F
Partly Cloudy Partly Cloudy Partly Cloudy Partly Cloudy Partly Cloudy

I know I’ve been here almost a year now, but the winter is still getting to me. I’m used to warmth and sunshine and am realizing how ill-prepared I still am. The boots were just the beginning. I’m still figuring out how I’m going to dig my car out on Sunday. I have a snow scraper and a snow brush to deal with the ice and white fluffy stuff that accumulates on my car but no snow shovel to clear a path to get the car out after potentially being plowed in. Who knew I was supposed to have a snow shovel? No one ever told me. Well, now I know. Anyone know where I can get a snow shovel?

In the span of about three days here this week, we had rain, then sun and warmth, then more rain, snow and more rain. Now, it’s clear, but that’s not going to last. It’s going to rain again, I’m sure. Not sure about more snow, but I wouldn’t rule it out. I’m guessing this is what they mean when the say wintry mix, but I’m not totally sure. Never really experienced it before, so how would I know?

Hey, I sound like Jerve. Maybe I could be a fulltime meteorologist. Good to know if this whole newspaper thing doesn’t work out.

Anyways, here’s some pictoral evidence, mainly of the cell phone variety, of the changes in the weather. Enjoy.

wintrymix2

Nothing quite says Christmas in New York City like snow on trashbags.

wintrymix3

A snowball I formed from the accumulation on my car.

wintrymix4

My coworkers made a mini snowman on the picnic table outside the office.

All that was Tuesday.

Here’s what it looked like on Monday, when Stacey and I spent a day in Manhattan doing the touristy, Christmas in New York thing.

winter-in-ny-212

The bright sun was shining. Temperatures were in the 60s. It was wonderful.

winter-in-ny-210

Look at the pretty blue sky. Oh yeah, and the big building too.

And here’s yours and my local forecasts. That is if you live in Tampa or New York. If not, look it up yourself.

5-Day Forecast for ZIP Code 11375  Forest Hills, NY
Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday
Partly Cloudy
40° F | 29° F
Ice Pellets
34° F | 23° F
Chance of Snow
27° F | 27° F
Snow
34° F | 29° F
Chance of Snow
34° F | 22° F
Partly Cloudy Ice Pellets

100% chance of precipitation
Chance of Snow

30% chance of precipitation
Snow

70% chance of precipitation
Chance of Snow

20% chance of precipitation
5-Day Forecast for ZIP Code 33606 Tampa, FL
Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday
Partly Cloudy
81° F | 59° F
Partly Cloudy
79° F | 59° F
Partly Cloudy
76° F | 59° F
Partly Cloudy
77° F | 58° F
Partly Cloudy
70° F | 50° F
Partly Cloudy Partly Cloudy Partly Cloudy Partly Cloudy Partly Cloudy

Oh how I miss you, Florida!

The West Wing was right.

When it snows, it accumulates by a magnitude.

Here’s some visual, cell phone-camera evidence of my walk from the subway station to the apartment building on Saturday night.

Although I’ve seen it snow twice already this fall/winter, this is the first true snow that’s fallen and made a lasting impression, the whole accumulate by a magnitude thing that Donna Moss, played by Janel Maloney, was talking about (written of course by Aaron Sorkin).

snowhood

The view from outside the Portofino Restaurant on Ascan Ave.

snowhood2

Snow accumulating in the church parking lot down the street.

snowhood3

The church grounds covered in the white stuff.

snowhood4

Snow falling on Austin Street.

That’s the ‘hood. The FoHi.

Here’s my car, fully friosted and unscraped, parked directly in front of our apartment building.

snowcar

The front.

snowcar2

The rear.

And here’s your friendly neighborhood forecasts:

5-Day Forecast for ZIP Code 11375  Forest Hills, NY
Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday
Chance of Snow
38° F | 22° F
3° C | -6° C
Partly Cloudy
34° F | 27° F
1° C | -3° C
Chance of Snow
45° F | 40° F
7° C | 4° C
Rain Showers
54° F | 32° F
12° C | 0° C
Chance of Rain
43° F | 31° F
6° C | -1° C

 

5-Day Forecast for ZIP Code 33601  Tampa, FL
Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday
Clear
65° F | 36° F
18° C | 2° C
Partly Cloudy
72° F | 52° F
22° C | 11° C
Partly Cloudy
79° F | 61° F
26° C | 16° C
Chance of a Thunderstorm
77° F | 58° F
25° C | 14° C
Chance of a Thunderstorm
67° F | 43° F
19° C | 6° C
Clear Partly Cloudy Partly Cloudy Chance of T-storms

40% chance of precipitation
Chance of T-storms

40% chance of precipitation

bundled

bundled2Get used to this. This is how I’m going to be looking for the next five months. Well bundled and layered. This picture was taken in the laundry room basement of my apartment building before I ventured outside into the almost frozen tundra of Forest Hills for a walk around the neighborhood.

Not only was I wearing a fleece jacket and ski cap, but also a cotton hoodie, a long sleeved shirt and an undershirt. That’s in addition to lined wind pants I thought I would be wearing fighting hurricanes not blizzards. No matter, the pants did keep me warm. They were a welcome find in the bottom of a drawer this evening.

Now I know a lot of you in Florida were celebrating or dreading the cold you were experiencing this past week. Rumor has it that the temperatures even made it down to the 30s late at night when everyone is asleep and bundled under multiple blankets.

Well, how about the temperatures never leaving the 30s all day long? That’s the life I’m living right now, and let me tell you, it’s damn cold! I know I moved up here in January and lived through days where the highs were 12 degrees, but I wasn’t prepared for it to get cold yet.

I thought fall would last a little bit longer. And by fall I mean temperatures in the 50s. I don’t remember seeing the 50s this autumn. It went from 60s and 70s straight down to the 40s and 30s. It was like fall lasted all about a week this year. And it rained the whole time. Not fun.

I’ve been told and I’m afraid that unlike Florida, the temps here won’t rise back up again. They’ll only go lower and lower.

Oh, and I’ve already seen snow flurries twice this week. The first time was Tuesday during my walk to the train station at 7:15 a.m. and while waiting for the train in Jamaica. The second time this morning while driving to work.

Here’s a couple pictures I tried to take of the flurries at the station. If you click on them and blow them up, you should be able to see the flurries. They are the white specks of dust-like smudges in the pix.

flurries1

Welcome to Jamaica.

flurries2

Yeah, not that Jamaica.

Oh, and because I know you are curious:

The Ronk

Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday
Chance of Snow
38° F | 23° F
3° C | -5° C
Partly Cloudy
32° F | 22° F
0° C | -6° C
Clear
38° F | 29° F
3° C | -2° C
Chance of Rain
45° F | 32° F
7° C | 0° C
Chance of Rain
45° F | 29° F
7° C | -2° C
Chance of Snow

30% chance of precipitation
Partly Cloudy Clear Chance of Rain

30% chance of precipitation
Chance of Rain

50% chance of precipitation

Tampa

Friday Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday
Clear
68° F | 43° F
20° C | 6° C
Partly Cloudy
67° F | 49° F
19° C | 9° C
Partly Cloudy
74° F | 56° F
23° C | 13° C
Partly Cloudy
76° F | 61° F
24° C | 16° C
Chance of Rain
76° F | 54° F
24° C | 12° C
Clear Partly Cloudy Partly Cloudy Partly Cloudy Chance of Rain

20% chance of precipitation

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