7 days worth of recaps! (sorry, no refunds)

Just a quick review of things and such that has happened in the humble life o’ me. In honor of today’s date (7/7/07) I will recap in brief the last 7 or so days.

Day 1
Last Friday, I woke up earlier than normal to drive my parents and aunt to the airport – they were going to my cousin’s wedding that weekend. That same night, I picked up F from the train station cuz he wanted to visit. (Actually I think he wanted to move some of his things still here back to his apartment in the city… sneaky, but I caught on.) It was fun to have him here, but I didn’t really have anything for him to eat because I thought he mentioned he would have dinner before arriving. I did have a bag of chips and a can of soup. He opted for the soup.

Day 2
I woke up around 9am which for me is late. F and I loaded the car with all his stuff, then headed out. The rain had cleared and we were making good time. We were cruising along the LIE with Green Day on the speakers, until we hit the exit for the Brooklyn-Queens “Expressway” (BQE). That particular spot is always a merging hell, so I wasn’t surprised, but it took a freaking hour to get from the LIE exit ramp to the BQE merge ramp. Near the end we discovered that for some odd reason, they were directing 4 lanes to merge into 1 (normally 2). There was a single truck blocking off the other lane with cones, yet no evidence of work being done or anything. It was just there with one guy hanging out in the truck. Truly mind boggling. It was fine though – getting stuck in traffic with F isn’t bad. We were getting hungry though as we watched the time creep closer to 1pm.
“If only we had something to eat,” F said.
“Wait, hold on.” I reached under his seat and pulled out a small bag of deli kettle-cooked chips.
“Do you have something to drink under there too?” he laughed.
We finally made it to his place by 1:15 or so. I had to find a parking spot – the only one we could find was sandwhiched between a rusty green station wagon and a white van. I used to be a good parallel parker, however where I live, that skill is not necessary. Somehow I made it in on the second try, but it was a pretty tight fit. After hauling all his things up to his 3rd floor apartment (no elevator), we ordered lunch and hung out for a while. He was taking care of Anouk (the cat) for N. F and N broke up a few months ago, though they are still friends. I’m not sure if Anouk remembered me – she mostly hid under the couch, sat on the chair next to the a/c unit, or sniffed at my bag.

Later on, we saw the latest Die Hard movie at the Union Square theater – I thought it was enjoyable for a summer movie. Afterwards we tried to find a place F had eaten at before with his friend that was supposedly nearby, but we couldn’t find it. F called his friend, who said it was near the “Village Cinema” or something. We saw the marquee for the Village Cinema, but didn’t see the restaurant, so we settled for a pizzeria nearby. We took one of the tables outside to watch the street traffic.

I checked my voicemail as we ate. I was surprised to find one from my sister-in-law, J. Apparently she had called Friday night. I had to laugh – I thought it was F who left the message. After we finished eating, we wandered around a bit. Of course we found the restaurant that F was trying to find earlier – it was right next door to the Village Cinema. By the time we got back to his apartment, it was late, so I drove home.

Day 3
Nothing really exciting. Pretty much a laundry and chore day. I was supposed to pick up my parents and aunt that night when they returned from the wedding. For some reason, their connecting flight was delayed, so they called to let me know- they’d be about an hour late. When all was said and done, we got back around 12:30am. At least there wasn’t much traffic at the time.

Day 4
Pooped. My project manager and everyone else in the office seemed to forget I was going on vacation the following week, so he started scrambling for personnel to cover my projects while I am away. Meanwhile at night, I’ve been watching the Copa America (no, not the yachting race), which is a giaganto soccer tournament of South America. Soccer is one of my fave sports to watch – up there with college football (I blame Notre Dame for that).

Day 5
Tuesday. Nothing much to recap. I did notice that traffic to work this entire week was noticeable light (that wasn’t a complaint). There were rumors that the office would close early, but I didn’t think it would – given that we have half days on Fridays during the summer anyway.

Day 6
Possibly the most lame-o and unexciting July 4th I’ve experienced. It got cloudy and rained in the afternoon. There were some local fireworks shows that cancelled. And because of the storm, beaches had to be closed at least through the weekend, because the storm run-off made the waters a bit dicey. I didn’t have any hot dogs or hamburgers either. I know, I know. Don’t shoot me.

Day 7
Everyone who didn’t take the rest of the week off at work pretty much said how they had an uneventful Fourth. It kinda made me feel a bit better about it. I’ve been so busy at work during the week, that I haven’t had time to think of my vacation. I don’t really know what to do when I’m down there in Florida yet. I figure I’ll wing it or something. After work, I stopped by the store to get some new shirts and shorts.

Day 8 (bonus coverage – aren’t you glad? …never mind…)
After work, I think I felt more relieved work was done rather than excited I was on vacation. Hopefully I’ll be more pumped up about it by Sunday. I was all set to sit down and watch the Under-20 World Cup match between USA and Brazil when I discovered the tv cable wasn’t working. (the under-20 World Cup in Canada is going on at the same time as the Copa America in Venezuela… pretty much soccer overload). I was a bit disappointed I didn’t get to see the game – I heard it was a pretty good one.

***

Anyway. I’m “busy” packing for the Florida thing. It should be fun. Although my dad told me the forecast was thunderstorms all week long down there. Great. Hot and humid. Whoopie..!

Oh yeah, before I forget, that call J left for me – she thought I was going to the wedding with my parents, so she asked if I could ask my mom to call J. We were puzzled, because she said it was important, but nothing bad. So we had to wait ‘til Monday to see what was going on. When Mom called, T (the nephew/godson) answered the phone.

“I’m going to have a sister,” he said.
Mom noted that T didn’t sound very enthusiastic for some reason.

I think it’s cool.