PrivateTim

One thing NOT to do with a chicken egg. Balut.

I am a Giordano's guy myself.... or Gino's East. Lou Malnati will do in a pinch. I think a great pizza starts with the crust. It doesn't matter how good your sauce or toppings are if the crust is bad. I've never had a thin crust in CA as good as the ones in NYC.... Lombardi's, Famous Original Ray's, Patsy's, Totonno's, Grimaldi's, even Denino's.... they make it worthwhile to ride the Staten Island Ferry for....

Looking for areas that are within an hour of Philly or DC, I am not sure you'll really get "small town" the same way you might in Wyoming or Iowa or even CO when the nearest big city is three hours away. If it was me, I'd move to Annapolis in a heart beat, maybe Fairfax or Oakton. You will get away from crime, not necessarily congestion, but you will find pretty enlightened people too.

It is funny how things shift your perspective. My friend whose dad died, we used to talk every other day or so and the conversations usually started with "OMG, you can't believe what this idiot just did...." It usually involved being cut off by someone while driving, someone in the store being stupid, or someone at the office, but every time it flashed into my head this week to call him it made me think how totally trite it all is and life is far too short to let stupidity raise your blood pressure. He spent a good part of his week at the crime scene, removing personal effects of his fathers, family papers, papers relevant to the family, meeting with the detectives, meeting with the assistant DA, trying to keep his little sister together and planning a memorial/wake. We have talked and he is going through the motions, getting done what he has to get done, trying to keep things together in his personal and professional life too. When he stops being busy will he crash? Who knows. He is pretty stable in general.... now, after years of therapy to deal with his parents divorce.... I just hope he doesn't rush back with his ex who has been around to support him through this, but it ended badly last time and I don't think the tiger has changed his stripes. Matt is trying to understand mu moodiness and I guess I am too. Stupid things fire me up, I should be stopping to smell the roses and I just want to kick them.

Bleh.... stop by your dealer's, pick up some bud, smoke and then go to Pizza Pete's in the Fun Zone for greasy pizza..... the tourists will bother you a lot less.

The famous "Wedge" in Newport Beach has probably killed and paralyzed more body surfers and boogie boarders than any place on the west coast. This picture shows why. 20 feet of raw power breaking in 18 inches of water. Amat victoria curam.

Mmmmmm it is like asking for a sparkling wine vs. Champagne. All Champagnes are sparkling wines, not all sparkling wines are Champagne. Ditto for Bourbon and whiskey.

Sad slow songs, I agree with In My Life In My Life There are places I'll remember All my life, though some have changed Some forever, not for better Some have gone and some remain All these places had their moments With lovers and friends, I still can recall Some are dead and some are living In my life, I've loved them all But of all these friends and lovers There is no one compares with you And these memories lose their meaning When I think of love as something new Though I know I'll never lose affection For people and things that went before I know I'll often stop and think about them In my life, I'll love you more Though I know I'll never lose affection For people and things that went before I know I'll often stop and think about them In my life, I'll love you more ******************************************** Could that first stanza be any more right on for Andy? And the last refrain?

How about this one..... 14 year old boy stabs the 13 year old mother of their 18 month old baby.... you do the math.

My best friend's father was murdered yesterday. Murdered and then the perp tried to burn the body and it took 50 firefighters an hour to put the fire out. The news kept calling David's dad "charred remains" and "the body". Mr. Klein is David, Mike and Kari's dad, not charred remains and a body. Until a disgruntled employee, fired two days earlier, walked into his office yesterday morning and shot Mr. Klein and Storm, Mr. Klein's German Sheppard. They interviewed the fire captain, he called the fire suspicious.... no sh*t Sherlock.... and he looked bored. The interviewed the police detective.... they found the ex-employee outside covered in blood and smelling of gasoline and smoke and the detective called him "a person of interest'.... no sh*t Sherlock.... and he looked bored too. The reporter couldn't have cared less..... Monica Alvarez signing off.... she looked bored. I remember going to David's house when we were kids and Mr. Klein who was a caterer and restaurateur at the time fixing us these elaborate lunches, no PB & J, we had duck confit and poached salmon. Even when David screwed up in high school, which was a lot, Mr. Klein just had a big deep laugh and shrug and told David to do better next time. I can't believe how the "system", media, police and fire have already treated this and it is just the beginning of the nightmare, the estate lawyers, the trial, everything. David is just numb right now dealing with the details of what needs to be now. He has felt the callousness already, but I think he has no idea how much more is in store for him and his family.

I would cook a nice spaghetti with marinara sauce for them and substitute hemlock for the oregano...... I'm just saying.....

Oh. And what gym do you go to? What time do you get there usually???

Oh Jackie..... I think you are off by a few decades..... the bikini was 'invented' in 1946.

I've bailed on a lot of online stories I was reading because they were so badly written or they moved way too fast. In fact I probably bail on a lot more than I read online. I don't usually bail on books and don't recall doing that, but I did tear a book up once after I finished it I was so upset by the ending. It was That Was Then, This Is Now by S.E. Hinton and I read it because I loved the Outsiders. I don't even remember what upset me so much because I think I've blocked from my mind the story.

Before junior high school when I was doing Y Camp (ages 9-12) I learned from older boys who dropped everything to change from field clothes to swimming suits that nudity was no big deal, so it wasn't to me. Starting when I was in junior high (7th grade) showering was mandatory after P.E., it was considered part of good health education and so in high school no one was bothered by showering. But at some point I've noticed guys (teens) getting shyer and shyer all the time, not changing or showering at the gym. How you can lift, do aerobics or basketball and then climb into your car to go home sweating like a pig is beyond my comprehension. From friends who teach, I know they have dropped mandatory showering in middle schools and high schools, mostly due to lawsuits, and seem to be creating this new prudishness or shyness in young guys that I don't get. But then again, I've never been able to relate to all the gay stories where the gay character can't shower because he'd 'pop a bone' in the showers if he did. I knew from early on that I liked looking at naked guys and knew I was curious about doing stuff with guys, but never even came close to an erection even in the midst of my hormonal years. It wasn't that hard to control Mr. Happy.

Horror flicks, slasher flicks never bother me because I know it is fake and impossible or at the very least implausible. Aliens was gross, all Steven King tingling etc, but the one movie that got me was Jaws because I knew it was possible. Jaws probably kept me out of the ocean for a solid week (which I NEVER did, I was in the ocean every day at that age), bothered me for a solid three months anytime I surfed, swam or sponged and really bothered me again when an open water swimmer was attacked by a great white on a course I was scheduled to swim at about six weeks after the attack. That was almost two years ago and every time I swim in the ocean now, it lingers in the back of my mind.

Exactly..... Da Vinci, Angels & Demons....

Ogden Nash. Oh wait.... I didn't see the quiz. I did four different stories and two were Stephen King, one James Joyce and one Dan Brown. I'd love to think I write like James Joyce.

Concerts, opera, ballet, live theater, shopping, dining, museums, libraries, top medical care, universities, amusements, first run movies, art house movies, places to go after 9PM, professional sports, gblt centers.......

Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr in An Affair to Remember. The greatest of all time.

College grammar......