I Heart NY

For an extended weekend in the fall, we did New York. Gary and I flew to New York last Thursday and flew back Monday night. What we did to fill the days and nights was a list that could fill a travel book. Suffice it to say it was great, fun, and an out of the norm trip for us. Here are some highlights:
After taking a shuttle bus from Newark to Grand Central Station, we met up with my niece Carmen who was gettign off her work at a swanky-retro hotel called the Ace Hotel in uptown. The hotel was hosting an "after party" for the band, U-2. Saw saw several celebrities at the event. Since we were newbie's to the subway, she met us at Grand Central and introduced us to NY and it's subway system. I'm proud to say we can get pretty much anywhere now without much problem.
To Brooklyn we went. She has a 600 sf (large by NY standards) 2 bedroom row house apartment. It is very charming. The view of the city on the roof top deck is very cool. There is no elevator and they live on the 4th floor. No wonder Carmen and Leo are in such great shape.

Friday, we headed out on our adventures. We went to Liberty Island. Very cool! The view of Manhattan was great as it was a beautiful day. We took the ferry back and walked over to the financial district after a good gyro and beer. We took photo opts of the city and the Brooklyn Bridge. Then we headed uptown to her hotel to meet up with Leo. After some great coffee, we headed over to Times Square. Loved it! Then, we headed over to Rockefeller Center and up to the top of the rock, the 69th floor. I highly recommend this. The views were amazing with a panoramic view of teh enitire city, including the Empire State Building, Central Park and all the burrows. You can't see Central park from the Empire State Building. Then we headed to Greenwich Village and had dinner at an understated pizza house, simply called John's Pizza. Real good authentic NY pizza. We then caught up with Leo again for a glass of wine in the village while listeng to a blues band at an outdoor cafe. We then walked through Washington Park near NYU and saw a replica of the Arch de Triump in Paris. Gary was noticing and photographing all grafitti in the area. He recognized several artist from Seattle. It was a good day.
Saturday, we headed to Williamsburg (the new Village according to Carmen) for brunch with her and Leo. We met up with some of their friends. Again, a great understated place with fantastic food. Gary and I took off on our own from there. We found ourselves in Queens on a graffitti quest. Gary hit the jackpot in an area called 5-point. It is a warehouse district dedicated just for that. Some amazing art is found there. After several hours and hundreds of photos later, I began to appreciate Gary's facination of this art form. We then made our way toward Uptown and Central Park East. We stopped in to see Leo at his work at the largest Apple store in the country. I loved the architecture of the store. A glass cube leading to an underground store. It is located next to the Plaza Hotel and Central Park. After a visit, we walked through Central Park towards the Guggenheim Museum. We spent hours experiencing that. I saw works by Picasso, Monet, Manet, Degault, Van Gough, Kandinsky, and others. I loved it! Did I mention that I loved it!!! After that, we headed back to Brooklyn and ordered Thai. Another amazing day.
Sunday, we heard some soulful gospel organ in the neighborhood pentecostal church down from Carmen's on our way to Central Park West and onto the Museum of Natural History. There we spent hours checking out all the dinosaurs and other great features. We also enjoyed the enormous planetarium. We then headed over to the Bronx. We knew we weren't going to get tickets for the Yankee's, but instead, we experienced a tavern near the stadium. Saw the game from there and enjoyed the atmosphere of the locals enjoy their home team. The Yankee's clinched the Eastern Division title with their win over their hated rivals, the Red Sox. It was a festive time to be there. We hung out longer after the game and got souvnirs', and more photos.
Carmen told us about a great hamburger joint on the West Side, so we tried it out for dinner. We later met up with her in the lower East Side. Along the way, Gary took hundreds more graffitti shots. We met her at a saki bar in the Soho area and then out for some great gellato. Finally back to Brooklyn.
Monday, after we slept in, we made it ovefr to a fun and yet another unassuming coffee house. We went to her work to drop off our bags and went over to ground zero at the World Trade Center site. There wasn't much to see but a new construction site. It was still a moving experience. Then we zipped back toe the Ace Hotel to collect our bags and off to catch our bus back to the airport. We made it just fine. The flight was good and we made it back home just in time to tuck Preston into bed.
I will always be grateful to Carmen and Leo for opening their place to us and for being such wonderful hosts. In all the time, the best of it was simply the quality time I shared with Gary and seeing him so inspired from the sights and sounds of New York. No regrest, no worries! So, in the end we did New York and loved it.

I love New York!

New York, New York!

Well, it dawned on me that I am taking an extended fall weekend to experience New York with my son Gary. Neither of us have been there before, but thanks to my lovely niece Carmen and her fun husband Leo, the time has come to take it in. They live in Brooklyn and have offered their 2 bedroom apartment as a place to stay. We hope to share some fun times with them in return. I also want to extend my home when they make it back to Seattle. Gary turned 21 in August, so this is really an excuse to celebrate his coming of age. I couldn't think of a better place to experience a long weekend with him. We're jazzed for sure!
So we fly tomorrow and will return on Monday night. There are so many options and we have no commitments, but just to have fun. I think that can be accomplished.
Hope all is well in your world. I feel so blessed to share this time with Gary. He starts his Graphic Arts program in Seattle next week. Hopefully this will be an inspiration for him. What better than the energy of New York! Thanks to my network of friends and family to care for Preston in my absents. Love you all!

Paint, It's what I do!

At my work today, we had a team building day which offered optionally four different activities to build team spirit while providing community activism. There was a group of coworkiers who workd a food bank, some who cleaned up park trails, some who helped some downtown small businesses, and finally some graffitti clean-up. I could have been happy in any of these options, but I chose the graffitti clean-up. Afterall, paint, is what I do...
We painted over an elderly lady's 50 ft. long concrete brick wall and a section of a noise wall on I-405. With nine of us doing this, it took no time at all. But, it was a fun experience and later we will have a bareque to celebrate our total group effort. This is just another reason I appreciate the wonderful group of people I work with.
For many of us who have kids returning to school, perhaps you have already experienced an early bout with the flu. My poor Preston has been hit pretty bad. He has missed 3 days so far. The fever is gone, but he is still pretty weak. Pray he recovers to his energetic self. I miss that!

20 years

All of us remember 911 for lost lives of so many innocent people in New York. I as well, that was tragic and we all changed in some ways because of it, but there is also an anniversary which I choose to remember for other reasons.
Twenty years ago I stepped into Renton City Hall and was introduced as a new employee. It's amazing to me to think it was twenty years already. I'm a little greyer, my infant son is in college and two others came along the way. I have been married a second time since, and the world has changed. But twenty years at the same place, that seems to hardly happen anymore. A long standing job with the same company, but for me it has happend and I am very grateful for this blessing. I think what has been the best part for me has been the people whom I have had the privilege to work with. I love what I do, it is very gratifying and in some way I feel as though what I have done over the past twenty years has contributed in some capacity to the betterment of the city which hired me. It just is a good feeling and I wanted to share this with whoever reads it.

Thank God for Facebook!

Yes, this has been an amazing venue. I'm so glad someone told me about it. I used to poke fun of my friend Mike at work for using it... no more. I have reconnected to many (and hopefully more) friends from the past via this site. In fact, I am dating the most wonderful woman I could imagine for me as a result. I can't even take credit for it. Amy found me. Thank you Amy for finding me! I have been blessed indeed. Thank God for Facebook.

Mom Wanted

Yesterday, when I came home from work and asked my son Preston what homework assignments he had, he showed me a particular assignment entitled, “Mom Wanted".
At first it pierced my heart. Most people who ever read my blog will know that I am a single dad for the past 3 years. Preston's mom has had no contact with him in over 2 years. So, you might get a glimpse of my heart for him at that moment.
But to tell you the truth, he amazes me all the time. He made terrific lemonade!
He told me, "this is a stupid assignment, I already have a mom."
So, we decided to have fun with this and this is what he came up with...
WANTED, A MOM WHO IS KIND, FUNNY AND A GOOD COOK. SHE MUST LIKE VIDEO GAMES AND FISHING. ALSO, DOESN'T LIKE SHOPPING AT THE MALLS. MUST GIVE GOOD HUGS. CALL (206) 327-5321 IF THIS IS YOU.
In the end, we had a good laugh. But I can't help but wonder what his mom is really missing out on. Our kids are so precious and we only have them in our homes for a short time. Well, I love my life and those who are in it. There are T-shirts that say, "Life is Good", but I say, "God is Good!"

Labor Day is for laboring...

Preston and I enjoyed the long weekend in Corvallis, and a considerable time in Albany and Newport for that matter thanks to the company of Amy. It really was a blessed trip. Mom rediscovered her office and Paul, Dianna, and I were able to help that not so easy of task become a reality.
After a great day at Agget Beach, Amy blessed me with a visit to our past one night. While Preston entertained himself on the Wii, we passed the time looking at yearbooks from junior and senior high together. It was an amazing treat to not just see the pictures and relive memories, but better yet to see my own words written nearly 30 years prior speak to how I still feel towards Amy and our friendship. It's hard to really describe, but suffice it to say a real blessing.
Another treat was enjoying a bit of Shelley's plum tart. We spent a short, but fun time with Eric and Shelley at her house. She really is into her canning. Way to go! You have a lot to be proud of. All in all, this was a very good holiday weekend.

School Daze!

Oh yes, the official start of school is upon us. Had a very busy night. It was a Dylan night (every Tuesday) all the running and traveling that that involves. I made a visit to Big Lots to get final supplies for Preston and found an amazing find for the guest beach house. (I’ll keep it a surprise for now).
As you know Travis,Sandy and their boys lived with Preston, Chris and me all summer. Well, they moved up north yesterday. Travis will join them on Thursday in their new house. Their house won’t be available until then so Sandy and the boys are staying at a friend’s house up in Woodinville. Travis didn’t want to stay at yet another friends house even for a few nights. That's fine. Travis and I are going to work on the beach house tonight. School starts for their kids in Woodinville today as well so it makes sense that they left when they did. We all survived! He and I shared a bottle of Merlot last night and a great conversation. The house was noticably more quite and relaxed. It's all good!
Preston was already up when I left for work so I gather he must be a little excited even though I doubt he would never admit it. His Aunt Melody has made it possible to pick him up in the morning and drop him off after school for the year. I am grateful for her willingness to do this. When I took him to an open house on Monday, I not only met his new teacher, but signed up to be a class helper for his first field trip. It’s next Thursday at the family Fun Center. It’s a great place to hang out with go cart racing , mini golf, video games, and more. It’s just for the 5th graders. Not a bad start to the year!