This past Sunday, our good friends Enrique and Jessica kindly invited us along for picnic to celebrate their anniversary. Throw in their adorable daughter Isabel and their puppy Roxy, and it was a guaranteed good time for all. We happily said yes.

We were to meet up with the family de la Huelga in Battery Park City, joined by Jessica's friend Sarah and Sarah's parents. But getting there proved a little problematic for us. Not long before we were to leave, Beth's computer developed a malfunction that rendered it unusable and beyond my capabilities to fix. We decided to take her computer along and run it over to the Apple store after the picnic. What at first appeared to be a great idea proved to be utterly stupid as the computer remained a distraction for Beth and I, and forced us to leave the picnic unnecessarily early. I say unnecessary because, once we fought our way through the Sunday Soho crowds to the Apple store, we were promptly told to come back later. Ouch. Add in the fact that, despite Beth's constant protests, I was convinced that we didn't need to bring any food and I must admit that we really boned our appearance at Jessica and Enrique's anniversary picnic. Despite our social faux pas-ing, we still had a great time and we hope they did too. Happy anniversary, guys.

Posted by Thom at 10:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So, my first iPod has pretty much crapped out on me. It could carry a charge long enough to get me from home to work (and vice versa) and I would have to keep it plugged in all day and all night to coax even that much out of it. Add in the fact that my Palm Pilot died (about 2 years ago) and I decided it was time for the upgrade. Now, before you accuse me of being an Apple fan boy (which, of course I am) I must argue that it just so happens that Apple has come out at the right time with the right device for me. So that being said, I have upgraded myself with an early, Appley birthday present. The iPod Touch is a lot like the it's more famous sibling, the iPhone, but without the phone or a cruddy cell phone camera (I've already got those when I need them). Currently, the iPod touch ships with fewer applications than its talking counterpart but, thanks to the hard work of people more clever than I, such discrepancies have been remedied. I now have a larger and longer lasting iPod that plays video, connects to the internet and brings back the PDA that has long been missing from my life. Now if you'll excuse me, it's time to get geeky.

Posted by Thom at 10:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

When I came home from work on Friday, I found a small but mysterious package mixed in with the mail. First running down a mental checklist, I decided that I wasn't high enough on anyone's hate list to fear for my life. Despite the warnings of my postal carrier, I figured it was safe. Opening the package, I didn't know what to make of it at first — inside, tied in a twine bow, was this awesome t-shirt titled Cincinnati Transit Map (For Optimists). This didn't make any sense. The package came from a company called Wire and Twine, which I had never heard of. And, I don't remember ordering any t-shirts recently. In fact, the only thing that did make sense was that the map would be for optimists... seeing as Cincinnati doesn't have a transit system. Digging around the remains of the packaging I found the answer: an invoice with my friend Kevin Menzie's name on it. And no, I don't think he put the wrong address on his order. I haven't talked to him yet, but I suspect that he stumbled across the design and, knowing that I come from Cincy, decided to get it for me. Very cool, very thoughtful. Thanks, Kevin.

Posted by Thom at 3:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

One of Beth's best friends is Amy Lebowitz and Amy's mother is a breast cancer survivor. In light of her success and in celebration of research that made it possible, Amy decided to participate in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer this year in New York, and she invited her sister and Beth to walk with her. Beth agreed.

This may not be news to many of you as Beth has been hitting up asking us to donate in support of her fund raising for several months now. These fiduciary efforts along with a rather involved training schedule final culminated with the actually walk this weekend. At 5AM on Saturday morning, Beth went into the city to kick off the first day of her 40-mile walk. Unfortunately, in the end, she would be doing it by herself. Amy has been dealing with her own health issues lately and her sister, Abbie, came down with walking pneumonia during the week. And, despite the word "walking" being right there in the diagnosis, the doctor insisted that she skip this weekend's activities. To her credit, Beth completed the 2-day walk almost completely by herself (Amy and Abbie walked what the physically could) and she has 4 large trophy blisters to prove it. Thanks to everyone who supported her in whatever way you could. Congratulations, Beth.

Posted by Thom at 3:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

In 3 of the 4 postseason baseball series that took place this weekend, the victors swept the losing teams. Only the Yaknees held out against the Cleveland Indians to continue their series to a fourth game. Among those losing teams were, unfortunaely, our dear Chicago Cubs. After 99 seasons without a world championship, the curse of the billy goat still holds strong. Damn. Wait until next year.

Posted by Thom at 2:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)