I'm supposed to drive the car to Austin on Tuesday. I'd estimate we're 30% packed. Tomorrow may be brutal. We don't yet have a house to rent there, and an awesome beach trip looms, so much to accomplish in short order. Seems very recently, we packed up 179, not a pleasant endeavor as I recall. I dislike throwing out my costly collections of crappo.
From The Lady Biz's magnificent birthday, camera failed to make the extensive rounds, but Buster shots always winners:
More signs it's time:
Jane en route to Denville, to see the cuzins:
The Jersey Jennings, good times:
See if you can figure out what's really happening in this picture:
On our way back to Marlow for a bday dinner for Caroline. This view always makes me a little weak at the knees. Like pork chops and pickles.
Dueling double chins, from the same activity evening:
The kids threw us a going away send off. Genius. McHarper backyard a stunner, hospitality 1st class. Wheelbarrows of nectar. Sadly, by the time the camera back out, the operator had some issues.
Weird cosmic sun activity, pretty much houses of the holy here. This is the view out the back windows of the firehouse, where the wildcats roam:
And Jane on box duty:
The kid is alright:Been a great week. More guffaws to follow.
Reader writes:
"So maudlin!"
#15. Nha Trang (on Baxter, only)
The dudes took me here when I first moved to NYC, for an Asian education. Up to this point, was purely a brown sauce Chinese. Still ordering the same stuff they ordered me that afternoon. Maybe not the best Vietnamese in NYC, but do your waiters wear pants that say "jeans attack"?
#14. The Room
My first serious bar crush. Worked here for a year, pouring beers on Sundays. Brutal. Never forget the incident with the Richard Simmons lookalike in the bathroom, gay pride day. Or the robbery upstairs, which I accidentally assisted with, or the kid who puked on me and then locked himself in the keg fridge, or the Silver Jews Record Release party, that I missed. 
#13. Record Stores In aggregate, NYC record stores do alright. Some of my standby haunts are recently / long gone; Rocks in Your Head, Kim's, Vinyl Mania, Tower and Virgin. And we don't have anything like an Amoeba. But if you pool OM, Soundfix, Generation, Academy, and Etherea - still beats most. Permanent is my spot now, at the bottom of the street. 
#12. Radegast Beer Hall
Kid friendly liters. Not sure there's much I love more than a beerhall.
#11. Joe's PizzaThere's fancier pizza, better pizza and ridiculous varieties of pizza here in the big hurt, but a slice at Joe's is worth a weekender. Been eating here since I was in high school.
Cause we love a good four parter here at 88 India.
This excludes people, which are the real reason we're here anyways. That and the cache of having a 917 area code on your tricoder device.
Gonna try and pitch these in order.
#20. Bedford Cheese Shop / Dandelion Wines
These are the go-to dinner party stops for us. The cheese shop is legend, albeit prohibitively costly. Dandelion is at the bottom of the street, owned by our friend Lily, who takes excellent care of us and Jane. Like UVA wines too, but see less of those jokers in the newer digs.
#19. Moon River ChattelI don't know what a Chattel is, but we're bankrolling it.
#18. Peter Luger's
Demands no explanation. Site of some heroic eat downs.
#17. Bigelow Pharmacy
Beav's West Village standby for ages. Pretty spectacular if you're into tooth paste, labcoats and chemistry. 
#16. Babbo
The not that humble beginnings of the Batali franchise. Good eating - my first calf liver, beef cheeks, Barolo, truffle ice cream, etc.
#15. Pearl RiverThis is where the stocking stuffers, silk PJs and garden benches hail from. 
Gets a little trickier here on out.
Just back from the doc, Jane at 19 lbs. 14 oz. 29" even. She took the shots hard this time, demanded a fun dip on arrival home. We thought she might even be bigger, but turns out that's just me shrinking her outfits in the wash.
US Soccer, btw, in the toilet. Action items:
- Sack all decision makers, bring in the Klins + Jens Jeremies
- Demote Beez to the MISL
- Audition all the U18's, those kids know better
- Give Vinnie Jones, Rod Stewart & Robbie Williams citizenship, STAT
- Eddie Pope, has at least 2-3 yellow cards left in him....
- Schedule Tampa G.B.'s and St. Mary's Lady Prep all stars for W.C. tune-ups
- Buy CONCACAF qualification from Central Americans
- Unretire Agoos, Cobi, Alexi, Eddie, Wynalda - start, then knee cap all as example
- $1000 per each un-shanked first touch
'barrassed the colors, 'barrassed the country.
Wrapping up the weekend action - a few from the tail end of CB and Mo's epic visit.
The Naked Chef:
My mom and dad arrived Monday, coming from a funeral / wedding / reunion, in time for birthday leftovers and some quality beers.
Check out these caballeros:
Gratuitous TVOTR sighting, at Five Leaves. Shameless, this one.
Claudia and PJ Chuggenstien, mugging.
Filming some kind of film in the hood. Makes parking insufferably awful. This one looks like a lifetime original. 
And, JB's weekly advancements.Coming soon - big list of important things we're thinking about thinking about.
More signs it's time:
Jane en route to Denville, to see the cuzins:
The Jersey Jennings, good times:
On our way back to Marlow for a bday dinner for Caroline. This view always makes me a little weak at the knees. Like pork chops and pickles.
Dueling double chins, from the same activity evening:
The kids threw us a going away send off. Genius. McHarper backyard a stunner, hospitality 1st class. Wheelbarrows of nectar. Sadly, by the time the camera back out, the operator had some issues.
And Jane on box duty:
