Mid-Century Madness & Other Tales

Up front, I admit I don’t have any real good tales to tell, and let’s be honest here, does anyone here actually read what I’ve got to say?  Now that Facebook and Twitter dominate the scene, anything beyond a few sentences elicits a tl;dr almost immediately from anyone.  Regardless, I can’t help it and will write up a storm anyway.

Lots of pics to get through, so let’s not dilly-dally, alright?  I’m going to go in reverse chronological order for this, as frankly, the new stuff is stuff I’ll remember better.  As I was updating my local picture cache, I was shocked at how much actually has happened since last I posted here!  I also realize that I have quite a bit of work in uploading all the stuff from my old site still.  I’ve been working backwards there too, and I think I’m at 2005 now.  I was looking for my Berlin pics recently and found I hadn’t put them up yet.  Travesty!

Mid-Century Living Room…Complete!  Dec 20, 2012

Well, even if we managed to put some art up on the wall the day before the apocalypse, it was worth it.  Completely worth it.  Just because it took us 2 years to do it…so what?  Larry & I have been toying with what to do with this giant living room wall the entire time we’ve lived here and finally, finally, it was done.  Larry seized upon some children’s book travelogues that had some very cool artwork of different cities throughout the world – we chose the author’s Rome, Paris, San Francisco and NYC books and Larry got these images.  The final result is AWESOME.  Also, you may notice that we also added a nice new recliner/ottoman to the mix too.  Yep, that’s an authentic Eames chair.  It’s Amazing.  Capital A Amazing.

We had gone to Room & Board a few weeks back after I finally realized I wanted to get a “real” chair and not a knock-off as we had been contemplating.  The knock-offs just were clearly inferior.  On Thanksgiving I had noticed that Room & Board was having a sale on Herman Miller furniture, which is much appreciated even if the sale price is still a LOT.  But hey, we now have a true piece of designer furniture.  Comfortable designer furniture at that too.  Yay.

Room & Board Visit on Nov 25, 2012

Back to NYC, Day 1 – Nov 12, 2012

Alright, let’s now fly back to shortly after my birthday.  I headed back to NYC for work (mainly for the CCWorld convention which ended up being quite useless) for a week and Larry came along with me.  He was able to work at Strategy Farm so it wasn’t as if he was bored, that’s for sure.  It was great to go back and see my team as well as the rest of my boss’ group, not to mention a chance to see Larry’s family.  Thanks, NBC!  Also it’s always great to visit the city.  Love that place.  Miss it still, but having wonderful space to live in LA isn’t easy to push off to the side.  So here are my pics from the trip back east.

I had a window seat on the flight back, and awesomely enough, the route followed I-15 to Las Vegas, then I-70 to Denver, effectively retracing much of my steps when I drove to Colorado Springs.  Felt a little like going home.  We ended up getting back to NYC in the evening around 7pm, then took a black car to the Sanctuary Hotel, which is ridiculously convenient to 30 Rock, as the hotel is right on 47th St near 6th Ave.  Awesome.

Back to NYC, Day 2 – Nov 13, 2012

The Sanctuary Hotel has a rooftop bar of its own.  It’s ridiculously expensive.  The gimmick is cool though and the views are nice, although I’m sure it’s a bit nicer when it’s not covered in plastic.  But for the time of year, without the plastic, it would be effing cold.  Yet the fact they charge automatic gratuity on a party of one or two is a bit silly, and the prices are high, even for NYC.  I’m happy to schlep somewhere else for drinks, that’s for sure. But we made it there at least once.

Back to NYC, Day 3 – Nov 14, 2012

No trip back to NYC for me & Larry is complete without at least attempting to go to Blue Smoke for dinner.  Sweet Jesus, their mac&cheese is other-worldly.  I took so many pictures of Larry not because I love him so much, but in my drunken state, I could have SWORN that Anne Hathaway was sitting behind him.  In the light of sobriety, I see I was wrong.

Back to NYC, Day 4 – Nov 15, 2012

This night, we met up with friends in NYC down in the Murray Hill/Turtle Bay area for some Chinese food.  On my way there from Rockefeller Center, I took some pictures of 30 Rock.  Then I went to Grand Central to see the new Apple Store.  Of course I went there after work when it’s rush hour.  Probably not my best move, as it was super packed with people.  There’s nothing like it though that’s for sure.

Back to NYC, Day 5 – Nov 16, 2012

Ah, Friday nights in the city.  I had been dying to hang out with some coworkers from NBC, Alison & Jessica (now of AMC Networks), for the longest time.  Even when I lived in NYC, we had meant to hang out but never did.  So we rectified that situation.  We first met up and had dinner at the funnest Mexican food place in Hell’s Kitchen, Arriba Arriba.  Le sigh.  Love LOVE that place.  The food is pretty good but what really makes this place worth it is all the HOTNESS in room.  You see, the waiters are almost all uniformly hot.  Charming, and hot.  It’s wonderful.  Our waiter was probably one of the cutest/hottest we’ve ever had too.  So there’s that.  Also, their margaritas are fantastic, and of course, I knocked back a few.  Michancy would be proud.  The music in the place is almost always crowd-pleasing and ensures a fun party atmosphere.  Wonderful place.  Oh, so to backtrack a bit, we first had to wait at the bar for a while, during which time Alison & Jessica met up with us.  We finally got a table with a hot waiter, got suitably blitzed on food and drink, then made our way to a new(ish) gay bar in Hell’s Kitchen called Flaming Saddles.  Yep, that’s its name.  As you’d expect, it’s a gay country-western bar.  And it’s awesome.  The pics below are from the sexy bartenders dancing on the bar.  Turns out I understand the allure of Coyote Ugly after all.  I just needed ridiculously attractive men up there, not women.  Who knew?

 Back to NYC, Day 6 – Nov 17, 2012

On our last full day on the East Coast, we spent the day with Larry’s family, specifically taking the time to go to New Jersey where his sister and brother-in-law, Alyssa & John, now live and where they’re raising their daughter, Stacy.  We got the grand tour of their new home and it was amazing, especially considering that they had an already swank place in Hoboken.  But Hoboken money translates into even more amazingness when you go further away from the city.  It was crazy to also see how much Stacy had grown even in just the few months we last saw her.  I had started the day a bit hungover from the previous night’s excitement, but as the day wore on, I was able to recover and enjoy alcohol yet again.  We also watched the UCLA v USC football game (UCLA won, bitches!) while there and then went out for sushi with John & Alyssa.  It was a great way to spend a Saturday.

Oh yeah, also seeing these pics again, I forgot that Larry & I had the chance to walk from our hotel uptown through the UWS, passing by where we once lived.  My name is still on the buzzpanel.  Miss that place a bit, but yeah, I think I like having plenty of space.  It was a beautiful day for walking around, that’s for sure.

Thanksgiving 2012!

Did I say I was gonna go reverse-chronological?  Anyway, during Thanksgiving, our great friend Michancy came down to spend it with us.  Yay!  Always a blast to drink and laugh with her.  She came with us to my stister Stacie’s house for Thanksgiving, along with of course my mom and Harv.  My mom ended up giving us a frozen turkey too, which we still need to do something with.  That’s a huge amount of our freezer that’s occupied now.  Cool story about going out to dinner with Michancy the Friday after T-Day:  we went to Lares, our favorite Mexican food place in Santa Monica so far, and while dining, Michancy casually mentions that at the big table, John Slattery is eating there.  Holy shit, Roger Sterling from Mad Men is right there!  It was pretty cool to see him as well as the fact that he was properly shitfaced.  NICE.

Wednesday, Nov 21, 2012

Thanksgiving – Nov 22, 2012

Friday, Nov 23, 2012

We Put Up Our Christmas Tree

Not much to say except that it was the right weekend to put up our (fake) Christmas Tree.  Yay!

Sunday, Dec 2, 2012

Who Loves 5Ks?

I don’t want to jinx things, but working out steadily and safely while also adding running into the mix has resulted in my back not being a total fucking bastard.  Knock on wood.  So I’ve been entering some of the races that Larry has been doing too.  Our first one was a repeat from the one we both did last year, the “Say No to Drugs 5K” held on the Universal Backlot.  Last year, I had to walk it as I was still in the throes of my sciatica being miserable.  This year, I was able to run it….well, mostly.  There’s a part at the end as you return to the starting point where it’s ALL uphill.  Had to walk after a point.  Oh well.  Still did it.   The following weekend, there was a Christmas Run held just a few blocks from our house along the Santa Monica/Venice shore.  Quite a bit of holiday spirit by the participants, that’s for sure!  (quite a bit of hotness there too….)

Say No to Drugs 5K, Sunday, December 2, 2012

Here’s my results:

Overall Place: 282/753 | 37.5%
Chip Time: 34:08.5
Pace: 10:59
Age Group: M 35-39
Age Group Place: 16/31 | 51.6%

Christmas Run 5K, Saturday, December 8, 2012

Here’s my results:

Overall Place:  649/1704
Chip Time:  29:39.3
Pace: 9:33
Age Group:  M 35-39
Age Group Place: 59/88
Male Place: 357/614

And finally….my last set of pictures.  Whew!

Ugly Sweater Christmas Party

A coworker and friend at NBCU threw an Ugly Sweater Christmas Party at her and her boyfriend’s downtown LA loft this past weekend.  It was a lot of fun, although I must confess I don’t really remember much of it past a certain point of time.  That time = when I got close-to-blackout drunk.  Oof.  I’ll rewind a bit though.  First, Larry & I had to go get an ugly sweater, as our wardrobe collection is always refined and always in good taste.  🙂  We ended up finding some good stuff at Urban Outfitters, although of course it wasn’t cheap.  Fashion never is, though.  My drinking started in earnest there, as we were at the Santa Monica Third Street Promenade and after shopping, had to stop at La Sandia and have a few margaritas.  That night, we then headed to DTLA early so we could grab some dinner in the city.  Many of the trendiest places had no reservations and rather than chancing waiting, we found availability at Wokcano, a few blocks from the party.  We also wore our ugly sweaters proudly, which definitely garnered a few bemused looks.  While dining, I heavily partook in hot sake.  Yummm.  Finally, headed over to the party.  It was great to see this loft, as it was very spacious although it was truly a loft as the only doors were found for the bathrooms.  I’ve been very fascinated with one day living in DTLA just because it has a lot of similarities to NYC life.  One big difference though is that at night, DTLA still gets quite empty compared to NYC.  Anyway, lots of fun was had at the party, at least that’s what I’ve been told.  I think I had quite a few whiskey and cokes, made by others so who knows what the proportions were.  Happily, the next day I really wasn’t all that hungover.  One good vomit and I was good!  TMI?  Eh, too bad.

Party Time!  Saturday, December 15, 2012