Wednesday, January 6, we check out of the hotel around 11 am after great showers (which we missed in England) and go to Newark Airport to pick up the wife of Bryan’s brother Brett, Karen.  She’s visiting a friend in NYC and will stay with us for the week.  She has some pictures with her, one of which is her son (and Bryan's nephew) Bryan in the Christmas outfit that B bought for him.

Then it turns out that her friend shows up also so we just get her bags and go to lunch at Florent on Gaansevoort Street in the meat-packing district.  We just love the place and I have a superb skirt steak in mustard sauce while Bryan has a veggie burger.

Satiated, we get back to the apartment at 3:30 pm, just in time to say good-bye to Bridget and Jude.  I think and hope that we’ve made some good friends there!  Tired as we are, we fall almost directly asleep, rising only for a few minutes when Karen comes in.  At 8 pm, we get up and go to retrieve Rosebud, our cat who’s been staying with Danger and Susan since Jude is allergic to cats.  It might have been the best thing for her as she’s had a great time with Scott and seems very friendly now!  Then it’s straight to Pangea for dinner as I’m in desperate need of their spaghetti bolognese!  Back at the apartment by 10 pm and asleep not long after that.

Thursday, January 7, it’s back to work for both of us; I get Bryan into work a little after 8 am and me by 9 am.  And I’m so good that I’m totally caught up by the end of the work days.  After visiting mom in Cranford, I pick up Bryan at work at 7:30.  We get his sister-in-law Karen and by 9 pm we are at MaryAnn’s for Mexican food and then we’re home in bed by 11:30.

Friday, January 8, it’s supposed to snow today, so we’re up at 6 am and at work by 8 am.  On the way to work, I decide to open up the car and drive down the new area of Route 1 & 9 past the Newark Airport at 95 mph.  But one would never know it and I have Franz von Suppe’s “Poet and Peasant Overture” conducted live by Arthur Fiedler with the Boston Pops Orchestra (9 minutes, RCA RCD1-5479 … people don’t announce those things anymore although it’s easy enough to find out on the WQXR website).  Now here’s a stupid aside:  I know this piece of music because of an old Popeye vs. Bluto cartoon; believe it or not, they’re competing orchestra conductors.

By 10 am, the snow starts falling and by lunch time it looks like we’re really going to have a snowstorm!  While at work, I get an e-mail from Dave Wohlman; he and his new girlfriend Pam are having a baby!  He/she will join a half-brother Derek from Dave’s first wife.  By the time the shop closes at 3:30 there’s a couple of inches of snow on the ground; I decide to stay awhile longer in the hopes that it will slow down.  By 5, the roads are snowy but passable so into the city I go, meeting Bryan at Union Square (he’s taken the subway there).

Then it’s to Dick’s for three black Russians; ah, the relaxing end to a very short work week!  We get back to the apartment around 8 pm to get Bryan’s sister-in-law Karen and it’s off to John’s Italian down the street where Donn is “waiter boy” tonight.  They bring Karen many Cosmopolitans and Bryan practically has to carry her home.

Saturday, January 9, I get up early at 9 am so go down to the shop from 10 am to 2 pm to work on the website and do some catch up work.  From noon until 4, Bryan and Karen go sight-seeing around Manhattan, although late afternoon rains curtail a boat ride.  We all get back together by 5 for a quick nap and then take a walk through the East Village, followed by a long walk to Greenwich Village and John’s Pizzeria on Bleeker Street.  I have loved their brick-oven thin crust pizza (with pitchers of Bud, one of the only times I drink beer) since seeing Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman work out the concept that became “Annie Hall” in the mid-seventies.

Sunday, January 10 is my brother Mario’s 42^nd birthday; he’s having some of his in-laws over in New Jersey but we won’t be able to make it.  We get up around noon and slowly make our way to the Lunch Box so I can have my french toast and scrambled eggs (ah, and fresh squeezed lemonade – haven’t been here for a couple of weeks!).  After a very brisk walk to Pier 68 on 43rd Street, we board the 3:30 pm Circle Line tour of lower Manhattan (from there around the Statue of Liberty to the Brooklyn Bridge and back for ninety minutes).  Having never thought of doing it but it certainly does provide some great vistas.

By 6 pm, we back home and then off to dinner at 9 pm at La Balconata on 6th Street.   While at dinner, Dangerboy is playing on our computer as he’s trying to get a job with VH1.  For food, Bryan and Karen have his favorite shrimp cocktail plus that great pasta like my grandmother’s.  I have grilled shrimp followed by a green fettucine and chicken special and half a bottle of very good 1994 Tuscan red.  We’re back by midnight and it’s off to sleep.

Monday, January 11, I drive into work listening to the cd that Jeff Berlin made for me of various tape bits that I’d used in different radio shows over the years (primarily TVOD, my afternoon gig on WFNX and the 2-hr comedy show “Caught in the Act” with Tom Lane … all in Boston).  This is a great time to publicly thank all of the people who have listened to those shows and in particular Dave Wohlman for the intro to TVOD (still one of the great intros to a radio show) and Oedipus for showing me the ropes in 1978.  It’s really fun to listen to all the celebrity id’s (funny, the Red Hot Chili Peppers came in on track 69) and short drop-ins (especially the tv clips); again, Jeff, I can’t thank you enough.

I leave work around 4 to pick up Bryan at work at 5 and then it’s a quick stop at home before drinks at Dick’s.  By 6 it’s time for dinner so we go to Shima across the street.  Now this had been Chikobu 2 and a few different Japanese restaurants before this; the owners seem to change every few months.  But in general the food has been good; not this night as things are all just a bit off.  We’ll stay with Mie.  Bryan leaves directly from the restaurant to go bowling; he has a fantastic night both personally and as his team battled the first place team.  I have it easy, watching Melrose Place and straightening the house as Karen is with friends for the evening.  Later, I meet Bryan at Dick’s for a nightcap.

Tuesday, January 12, get Bryan to work at 9 am, me at 10.  Karen flies back to Wyoming out of Newark close to 6 pm, so I pick B up there on the way back into the city.  Ah, to have our apartment again!  We do lots of little cleaning chores and after awhile, I get hungry and take myself to John’s Italian and hang out with Donn (I get stuffed on their clams oreganota, salad with a great honey mustard vinaigrette and, because B isn’t with me, veal parmigiana).

Wednesday, January 13, we’re both dragging our heals this morning; but at least we have a housekeeper to take out the Christmas tree!  And when we get home, all traces of the girls and Christmas have gone.  We decide to take a very lazy evening and wind up at the Chinese restaurant across the street from Dick’s.  Now how is it that the only good Chinese is in Chinatown?  All the ones in the East Village are terrible!  Anyway, after a quick drink at Dick’s, we’re in bed before midnight.

Thursday, January 14, we get up to blizzard conditions – horizontal snow and sleet and ice.  So no work for me although Bryan goes in for a full workday; the price of living and working in the city!  I have a relaxing day, just doing his laundry and having lunch at Pangea after a haircut.  B gets in around 6 and we spend most of the evening laying in bed reading.

Friday, January 15, it’s pouring rain out and I almost decide to take the day off again but go into work around noon.  After stopping in Cranford after work, I meet Bryan at the apartment and we get ready for the opera.  At 7 we drive up to Lincoln Center, have a quick drink and get seated (in the direct center of the orchestra seating).  Unfortunately, we find Jules Massenet’s Werther a bit on the boring side; indeed, Bryan sleeps through most of it!  I wanted to go mainly to hear Thomas Hampson, but there just weren’t any great arias in the opera and one could tell that the audience was looking for an opportunity to applaud that just never came (except for one small spot where the applause started but quickly ended).  At the end of the opera, everyone applauded loudly but I fear it was more because of the singers’ past histories!

Saturday, January 16, the phone machine decided to act up so at I was awakened at 11 am by a persistent caller who kept changing lines and phones (including Bryan’s cell phone).  Oh, well, I got up and made coffee; by noon Bryan woke also and by 2 pm it was lunch at the Lunch Box.  Then into Union Square to pick up some final connectors for the new DVD player.   Side note:  our original plan was to daisy chain the player through the vcr, but the Macrovision circuitry won’t allow it and we only have one input on the television so we had to buy a separate switcher!

At 4 pm, we went over to B’s friend Gregg who has a new apartment in the Bowery (quite a nice space, though).  After drinks we went to dinner around the corner from him at Paninoteca on Mulberry Street, just north of Little Italy.  The food may not have been the very best, but the place is very cute and we had a very nice time leisurely enjoying our food.  By 9 pm, Bryan and I were back home and B promptly fell into a deep nap.  By 11 pm, even I had fallen asleep and when, at 3 am, we re-awoke we decided to cancel the evening and just go back to sleep!

Sunday, January 17, we’re both up right after Martha Stewart at 9 am.  At 11 am, we try a new place for breakfast – Little Poland, a few doors down from Dick’s on Second Avenue.  It’s been there for ages and we’d always thought of trying it.  Turns out the breakfast seems better than the Lunch Box and cheaper to boot!

During the afternoon, we wandered down 8th Street where there are many shoe stores (and NYC is having a tax-free week!).  But we find nothing other than a new pair of Converse for me!  At least the temperature is mild and the sun is out so the walk is quite pleasant.  Plus, Bryan wants a hot dog from Gray's Papaya, one of the best places in NYC to get one; plus frest papaya juice!  After a short detour through St. Mark’s Place (where I buy Diamanda Galas’ Malediction and Prayer at Kim’s), we’re back home by 4 pm.

At 6 pm, I attended a worship service at Grace Church on Broadway at 10th Street; it’s a low church (in a Gothic space) with contemporary music at this service.  Not exactly my style but the congregants are very enthusiastic, the sermon by the Rev. Lyndon F. Harris (his sermon, quite good, was about his time at Sewanee) and by 7:30 I’m feeling much better.  I finally order take out from Lavo, the Thai restaurant on Third Avenue (very good) around 10 pm.

Monday, January 18, the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  I listen to the Diamanda Galas album; the standout track is her rendition of the Holland/Dozier/Holland classic “My World is Empty Without You.”  I defy anyone to listen to her take on it without tears; a stunning live album of the show that Bryan and I saw with Dangerboy in the fall.  Buy it!

Bryan finally rises and goes off to work around noon (he doesn’t have to go in, so he’s not officially late).  At 2:30, I get a phone call from my father – he’s been in a major accident on slick roads.  Luckily, he’s well protected in his Chevy Tahoe, which sustains a great deal of damage; he’s released from the hospital with just a contusion where the seatbelt has pulled his shoulder.  So after dropping him off at home at 6, I go back into the city.

B and I go to dinner at La Balconata on 6th Street but we’re starting to wonder how good the food really is.  There are certain dishes (and the European style shrimp cocktail that’s B’s favorite) that are very good and that we keep having; but we’re not quite sure it’s better than many other Italian eateries in the area.  After a nightcap a Dick’s, we’re in bed by 11 pm.

Tuesday, January 19, we’re up and out by 8 am.  But perhaps it’s not an advantage to be at work early as Bryan discovers that Republic National Bank is down-sizing again (they seem to do about ten percent per year it seems, not a great way to grow).  Anyway, he works until 7 pm, at which point I pick him up and we go off to Dick’s for much needed martinis.

At 11 pm, B goes back to the apartment while I go over to Pangea for dinner (the Moroccan hejira soup is particularly spicy this evening, yum).  While there, our regular waiter, Marek, lends me a photo book from his native area of southeast Poland; quite beautiful.  By midnight, I’m back home and under the covers; B falls asleep around 2 am.

Wednesday, January 20, we’re both up at 6:30 am; Bryan is at work at 8 and, after a quick stop for breakfast at McDonald’s, I’m at work at 9 am.  Both of us have long, productive days; after work, I stop over my parents to have dinner.

Thursday, January 21, the alarm goes off at 6:30 am and do I feel like crap, even throwing up before we leave for work around 8 am.  So the morning drags as I try to get the bishop’s newsletter done.  I can’t really say that I ever recover; and after driving home in pouring rain, Bryan and I have dinner at Pangea and actually skip having a drink at Dick’s as we go home and to bed before 10 pm!

Friday, January 22, I should have stayed in bed.  I’m feeling under the weather, but more importantly I wind up in an accident on the way to work.  Driving Bryan down 39th Street, a FedEx truck on the left of me doesn’t see me and slides along the side of our beautiful Infiniti!!!

Although it doesn’t affect the driving of the car, it will require replacing the left rear door panel, the rear bumper and fixing up the rear side.  So I’ll probably be in a cheap rental all next week.  Waaaaah!  By 5 pm, I’m back in the apartment and under the covers; yes, it’s the flu after all.

Saturday, January 23 to Thursday, January 28 … I could tell you about the so-so pizza from Pintaile’s (very, very thin crust, almost a cracker and interesting toppings), or delivery from Lavo’s Thai, or even watching our first DVD, “Star Trek: First Contact” … but none of that really matters as the main point is that I’m in the apartment the whole week with the flu.  Sorry, I wish I could make this more interesting, but that’s the truth!  Bryan suffers with me during the evenings and works during the day.

The high point?  January 28 marks exactly two years to the day that I met Bryan at the crix-list brunch at Woody's.  Happy anniversary, honey!!!

At night, I’m feeling very, very peckish; so what does my system call for?  McDonald’s cheeseburgers and McNuggets!  Yes, I don’t care; and believe it or not it all stays down.  B and I watch Must See TV and he falls asleep around 11 pm (I stay up until almost 1 am to make sure everything stays down!).

Friday, January 29, Bryan is up and at work at his usual time.  Although my stomach is a bit queasy all morning, by noon I’m hungry and take myself to the Lunch Box around 2 pm for a roast beef club and fresh squeezed lemonade.  The day is beautiful, crisp and sunny; it definitely improves my outlook on life!

Around 4 pm, I make a dramatic change in my stock portfolio.  I keep the bulk of my bank stock (over the years, it’s changed from a small bank near my parents’ home into another, then CoreStates, and finally now it’s First Union) but take two large chunks of mutual money and buy 12 grand of Republic National Bank (Bryan’s bank is as low as it will probably ever be) and the same amount of Nextel (a national digital network that we hope will be bought up by MCI WorldCom).  I’ll either become rich or lose both stakes!

Around 6 pm, Bryan gets home and at 7 pm we’re back at Pangea.  I have some delicious Greek chicken soup and linguine with sautéed beef, sun-dried tomatoes and zucchini; Bryan goes with their blackened tuna.

Saturday, January 30, we’re up and out and at the Lunch Box by noon.  Yes, my appetite has returned and I’m stuffing myself with pancakes, eggs and more!  Bryan drives me over to the shop in the afternoon to check up on the place and then it’s right back home.

For dinner, we decide on John’s Italian; we haven’t been there in awhile and haven’t seen Donn “Waiter Boy” in the same amount of time.  I need their clams oreganota and chicken parmigiana; B has a huge plate of mushrooms and eggplant parm.  Although the food isn’t the greatest, it’s close and the patrons are suitably weird, even considering the East Village.  For some reason, Bryan is asleep at 9 pm while I watch the History Channel until 11 pm.  Then it’s a long night’s sleep for both of us.

Sunday, January 31; we’re up at 8:30 am for Martha Stewart and then by 10 am we’re at Little Poland near Dick’s for breakfast.  Yes, I’m still hungry and have a huge ham steak with scrambled eggs and more!  After a break at the apartment, we go to an open house on 11th Street; we’ve decided to start doing our homework for an eventual apartment purchase.  And though this place would never be in the running, it’s important to start getting benchmarks.

Back home, we finally install the 300 cd changer that I got B for Christmas; it works beautifully!  By Super Bowl time, I’ve decided that I need a steak for dinner.  And although it’s still impossible to get into Peter Luger’s in Brooklyn, we find that the Old Homestead Restaurant (on Ninth Avenue near 14th Street since 1868) is totally empty.  So by 7 pm, we’re settled in.  Bryan starts with a huge Ketel One martini and a half dozen huge shrimp (better be at $3.75 each) and I have four each of East Coast oysters (bluepoint), West Coast oysters and little neck clams.  A great way to start.  Then it’s a huge piece of prime rib for me with creamed spinach and baked potato while Bryan has shrimp stuffed with crab along with portabello mushroom.  Although quite expensive (the total dinner was about $150), one really gets a good value for the dollar.

By 9 pm, we’re heading back home and directly under the covers.  And thus endeth January.