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Moving on [29 Nov 2004|01:51pm] [ mood | thankful ] [ music | "End of the Movie" by Cake ] At long last, I'm updating my blog! ...to tell you that I'll no longer be updating this blog. I've enjoyed my time with Blurty, from this journal's early days as a way to communicate with Beverly during our long-distance months to the wedding well-wishing of the post below. Probably my greatest Blurty moment was when I ran into a girl during my lunch hour who recognized me from this blog. But given Beverly's migration to Xanga (and ongoing technical difficulties like the fact that it took me four hours of attempted logins to make this update) it's clearly time to go. The end of the story? Not at all! The adventure continues: http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=happyfunjohnny I'll see you there! post comment

Johnnybration '04 and our first meeting with Atari [13 Jun 2004|11:22am] Lately my blogging has been so sporadic that I start to second-guess any impulse to update. Having allowed several significant events to go unchronicled here (my trip to California, several fun parties and get-togethers), I've been reluctant to write about less important things. But last weekend I turned 24! That's definitely blog-worthy news. More importantly, I took pictures. On Friday night, Beverly threw a lovely party for me, featuring almost everyone we know in New York. Most of the people there were friends from college and high school, with a few tagalongs who we barely new. Beverly outdid herself with a spread that included some amazing pico de gallo and guacamole (on, alas, the saltiest Tostito-knockoffs I've ever had). Beard Papa was also present. On a sad note, the party was Joe's last night in New York. Here I am, visibly saddened by his imminent departure: The next day, Beverly and I woke up bright and early to drive to west Pennsylvania, where we met the Shiba Inu puppy we're going to adopt after our honeymoon. At that point, he'll have nearly reached his adult, foxlike size. For now, he's an adorable fuzzball: We've decided to name him Atari, a name that came to me in a dream and nicely lines up with the fact that my family named our last Japanese dog Miata. It was fun to see Atari interacting with his mom and littermates. After sealing the deal with the Shiba breeders, we headed to Philadelphia to spend the evening with mom and dad. On Saturday, we ate an excellent dinner and went to see a play billed as "Charles Dickens' Hard Times meets Cirque Du Soleil" (which was not quite as insane as it sounds). The next day after church, it was time for birthday party number two. In honor of the upcoming honeymoon, the party was Hawaii-themed. My presents included things I can take to Hawaii (a Hawaiian shirt, an impressive lumbar pack) and an "emergency luau kit" for me and Beverly to use as a stress-reliever anytime between now and the wedding (featuring pina colada mix, Hawaiian music, a pair of leis and some macadamia nuts). Here I am, decked out in some of my birthday presents: It was a great party. It was also fun to see mom and dad looking great thanks to their South Beach diets. After lunch, we got back into our rental car and headed to New York. We caught a late-night showing of the new Harry Potter movie, and then Johnnybration '04 was officially over. 7 comments|post comment

A photo tour of my bachelor party weekend [20 May 2004|08:34pm] [ mood | refreshed ] [ music | "The World at Large" by Modest Mouse ] This weekend, my brother Chris and my best buddies, Zach and Dave, came to NYC for my bachelor party. Without going into too many details, it was a great weekend. The best part, honestly, was just hanging out with my three favorite guys. We played Halo, we explored New York, we played more Halo, and we got impressively drunk. Zach actually came into town a night early, on a business trip for his TV production job. Alas, given the general secrecy of his current occupation, I can't reveal who or what he was here to see. After Beverly cooked us some delicious chicken and baked brownies that would be a constant source of pleasure over the weekend, we met up with Brad and Deborah. We introduced Zach to our favorite local bar, Rudy's. Beverly and I retired at an hour befitting our early schedules, with one more tough day of work ahead before our respective parties. On Friday night, Dave arrived! Here we are, looking like total dorks. Dave came in town just in time for us to meet up with Zach at a secret, password-protected party at the Tribeca Grand Hotel. After enjoying the ambiance and drinking some of the most expensive alcohol we've ever had, we headed to a "furniture party." Upon arrival, Zach, Brad and I realized we had something to do. We had to Ride With Bulo. The party was awesome. We experienced well-designed furniture, we drank free alcohol, and we met some of Brad's cool design friends. For more about the furniture that was paying Friday night's tab, head to Bulo central. We headed back to 42nd street, ate some 99-cent pizza, and welcomed Chris home with a session of capture-the-flag Halo that carried us into the wee hours. But you can't invite three guys to New York and just play videogames the whole time. When we woke up on Saturday afternoon, it was time to do some exploring. The night before, a girl told us to take the F train to "DUMBO" an up-and-coming neighborhood in Brooklyn home to countless aesthetes like ourselves. Foolishly, we followed her directions: "just go to the Brooklyn bridge and look underneath." Like four idiots, we blindly headed to the nearest F train stop. To make a painfully long story short, DUMBO stands for "Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass." As we walked a mile from the closest F train stop to the Brooklyn Bridge, we excitedly speculated about the various wonders to be found in DUMBO. We crossed this bridge and walked another mile or so in the unseasonably hot sun. We finally arrived on the other side. Mysteriously, there was no DUMBO. Only shrubs: We consulted a Christian violinist who was performing under the bridge; he was friendly, but mystified by our invocation of the term DUMBO. When we finally positioned ourselves immediately beneath the bridge and saw nothing but a nice little cafe, our morale hit an all-time low. When I asked Dave if he was still in good humor, he replied, "I think I'm going to have to retrospect this one." After a last-ditch effort to find DUMBO in the area around the Brooklyn bridge, we headed home, utterly beaten. Thankfully, it didn't take long for us to get back into fighting shape. As the evening drew near, we summoned our collective energy and walked our sixth mile of the day to my old neighborhood in the East Village. That is where the bachelor party began ...and where the pictures end. To describe our debaucherous evening in great detail would do it a disservice, I think. Rest assured that it was a very Johnny bachelor party, so things remained PG. The guys put up with my no-strippers request, and seemed quite pleased with the belly dancer at Le Souk. Things got a bit crazier at the Village Idiot, a rowdy bar full of country music and waitresses who buy shots for male patrons in hopes of getting them drunk enough to provide lavish tips. (A strategy, by the way, that worked for us.) It was my first night getting drunk with Dave, which was quite delightful. Thanks to the influence of Ben, I drank something called a "car bomb" and a "mind eraser." Sam was the majordomo, leading us to the bar and wrangling girls to kiss me (on the cheeks). Shanti, my best friend from high school but now an itenerant mystery man who I hardly ever see, provided impulsively entetaining commentary. Chris was there to watch out for me, and did such a good job that he got more drunk than I did. We all danced and drank until well past my usual bedtime, and the night ended with the core group lolling around my apartment, saying drunken things to one another. Dave, having gotten drunk for only his second time ever, was quite a blast. My favorite line from him: "Logic. Logic is so good, man... like, you don't even know, man, you don't even know the fucking axiom of choice, man. You don't know, man." Indeed we don't. Thanks to everyone who made my bachelor party an unforgettable experience! 3 comments|post comment

Long time no blog [20 May 2004|08:18pm] Hmm, I don't think I'm the first person to ever write that. Just when I finally drift away from the world of blogging, having failed to update this online journal for almost three months, I get a comment like this: So I am looking at the Snood website and somehow or another I find myself looking at a Snood party you had in college and now I know all about you and your romance with Beverly, who is beautiul by the way...and good GOD everything else that you have done in the last year or so. Which is really pretty classy and upscale if you ask me so I hope you thank your lucky stars and your parents and capitalism every day. I hope it is not going to your head and that you are well informed enough to know not to vote for BUSH. Anyway, your life has consumed me for probably over an hour now, which is insane, but anyway I have really enjoyed it. So that is that. From a girl in Phoenix, AZ How great is that? Eight years ago when I created my first homepage, my dream was people all over the world would get to know me. Over the years, I have indeed received e-mails and notes from folks in Iceland, Australia, you name it. Not many, but even a few mini-connections seem to vindicate this entire endeavor. Anyway, enough babbling, I've got bachelor party pictures to upload! post comment

A festive Valentine's Day Weekend [16 Feb 2004|03:44pm] [ mood | content ] [ music | "Invisible Touch" by Genesis ] Today, in arbitrary honor of past American presidents, I'm enjoying a rare three-day weekend away from work. While I'm basically using today to chillax, the overall weekend was quite eventful. It started on Thursday, when the ever-impatient Beverly gave me an early Valentine's Day present. I have to say I was extremely impressed. She gave me a complete set of high-end shaving products from The Art of Shaving. It turns shaving into a ridiculously complicated (but extremely pleasant) ritual: Wash face with Essential Peppermint Oil Face Wash (no menthol, so it doesn't burn) Pat dry and annoint face with Pre-Shave Oil Use Fine Badger Hair Shaving Brush to apply incredible Shaving Cream (it's like rubbing a creamy badger all over your face!) Shave with regular old Mach 3 razor because Beverly didn't spring for Ivory-Handled Straight Blade Wash face and apply alcohol-free After Shave Balm (made, according to the box, out of red algae) Apply manly Moisturizer and spend rest of day stroking smooth face in bemused wonderment The stuff is wildly extravagant but really fun to use and does leave my skin feeling better. Also, it seems to be improving the chronic razor burn that I'm especially prone to getting. Most importantly, Beverly is delighting in my use of "product" and has derived a tremendous amount of enjoyment from the fact that I'm now using more (and more expensive) facial care products than she uses. As if that weren't enough, Beverly proceeded to give me the best Valentine's Day ever! On Saturday, we slept in, worked out and spent an hour picking out a new couch and easy chair at Sohome, a great furniture that's cheap but a step up from IKEA. We got home in the early afternoon. Beverly headed to the kitchen and didn't come up for hours, because she was too busy making me a meal the likes of which I've never eaten. At dinnertime I was instructed to put on nice clothes. I then received my menu. Cucumber and onion salad with a mild vinegarette, sprinkled with fresh herbs Essence of vegetable risotto with wild mushrooms Sauteed garlic and paprika shrimp Tomato and basil capellini Beverly's a great cook, but I'm used to eating the food that she and I make on a day-to-day basis, which is pretty simple stuff. This meal was all gourmet and complicated ...and absolutely delicious. The meal ended with a great little fruit tart that lasted less than 12 hours in our apartment. Afterward, it was time for my own contribution. I made some fun drinks and served them as "flights" using the shotglasses that Chris and Victoria got us for Christmas. Slightly tipsy, we turned on the Big Band digitial cable station and danced by the glow of the television until bedtime. The next morning, we hopped on a train and headed to Princeton, where we spent the day with Dave. We played ping-pong, we admired the campus and its amazing architecture, we ate cafeteria food, we watched a lucky squirrel carry an entire bagel across a street and up a tree, we had some hilarious conversations and we enjoyed a nice dinner. Now it's time for one more relaxing evening before another week of work. Off I go! 4 comments|post comment

I am an old man [14 Jan 2004|06:02pm] [ music | "Fighting in a Sack" by The Shins ] Lately I've been so busy reading Beverly's blog entries that I've forgotten to write my own. To summarize my California trip: it was great! You may have already read about it from a Nintendo-oriented perspective. The trip was a really great chance to spend time with Beverly's family, who I adore. The wedding preparations were also fun, especially picking out rings. (Picking out tuxedos was kind of disappointing. It was like going to an ice cream parlor and being forced to choose between 20 different flavors of vanilla.) Finally, I enjoyed partying on New Year's, which marked the first time I've celebrated that holiday with actual partying and alcohol. On January 3, Beverly and I celebrated our five-year anniversary. Impressive, eh? No wonder we're getting married! Remember how I hurt my back? Well, it kept hurting, so I got an MRI and was rather predictably diagnosed with a herniated disc. Right now I'm weighing treatment options like "swim regularly" and "get my back cut open by a neurosurgeon." I'll let you know which direction I go. In other news, my parents got a boat. In their words, they did this "on a lark." This proves that my parents are quite capable of surprising me. 1 comment|post comment

Merrry Christmas! [27 Dec 2003|09:18am] [ mood | hungry ] [ music | "Silent Night" by The Rentals ] Ho ho ho! Because I would feel remiss if I didn't have one, here is my post-Christmas blog entry. It's been a great year, and I had a wonderful time visiting my parents in Philadelphia. While it's hard to match days gone by, I enjoyed the week of relaxation and the chance to see my parents. A couple of days before Christmas, we went to see Henry IV, which featured big stars like Kevin Kline and Ethan Hawke. The next morning we decided to go for the complete opposite experience: the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall. It featured things like 3D glasses, 7'-tall bear costumes and a tremendous quantity of gams. Now I'm off to California, where I'll spend a week with Beverly's family eating delicious food and planning for the wedding. I may even run into people like Matt Ogle and Zach. See you in 2004! 1 comment|post comment

Worth thousands and thousands of words [17 Dec 2003|03:02pm] I never got around to talking about how much fun we had at our party last weekend. We got to see almost all of our NYC-area friends, we had tasty food and drinks, we listened to Sam describe his cult-like Cutco experience, and we welcomed Brad to New York. Here are a couple of pictures from the party: Dave, Brad and Miffy wait for the party to begin Beverly and her fellow DZ Jess Joe attempts to 'freak' as Lily dances on our couch Our latest roll of film also included many pictures from other weekends described in this journal, including this past weekend's get-together of DZ girls. See it all in the Gallery. After so much excitement, Beverly and I enjoyed a quiet, snowy weekend together. In between heated bouts of Mario Kart: Double Dash, we took a trip to see the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center. Our rest was not enough, though, as Beverly has managed to contract a nasty flu. As she attempts to ride it out, I'm having a semi-busy week at work and preparing to head home for the holidays. Here's hoping that Beverly gets well in time for her trip home to California! 2 comments|post comment

Sneak preview [17 Dec 2003|03:01pm] Last week, Beverly and I had a neat opportunity to go see a test screening of Cold Mountain. We were both interested in the movie anyway, and seeing it for free was an excellent bonus. They specifically told us not to go on the Internet and write about it, but it's been a while now, and since it's adapted from a book there's little risk of me spoiling the plot. I thought the movie was excellent. It took a story that could have been very Hollywood and added edgy, artsy depth. Actors like Philip Seymour Hoffman and Jack White were pleasant surprises that boosted the indie vibe. There's a lot of sweetness in the story, but every time it starts to hug you it then proceeds to punch you in the face. A good sense of humor is also maintained, especially from Renee Zellwegger's fun character-acting performance. In a year when most of my favorite movies have been smaller productions like American Splendor and Lost in Translation, it's nice to see Hollywood produce something high-quality. 8 comments|post comment

Festivities and such [05 Dec 2003|04:41pm] [ mood | jolly ] [ music | "Winter Weather" by Squirrel Nut Zippers ] Tis' the season, as everyone knows, and we're making the most of it! Last night, Beverly and I went to a Medill happy hour at an upscale local bar. We got to see some of the magazine program girls, which was fun, and we enjoyed a pair of overpriced but stiff drinks. As we headed home, drunkenness and whimsy combined to form an impulsive decision. We decided to eat dinner at the nearest fancy restaurant, regardless of cost, in the not-quite-fancy clothes we had on. We went to Marseille, a French restaurant with great atmosphere and unbearably salty food. It wasn't a culinary treat, but there was something terribly romantic about it. The big news for this weekend is our party! We invited absolutely every one of our friends in New York (if you're in New York and you're reading this and you weren't invited, now you know the bitter truth), which should make it quite the shindig. Notable attendees include Dave Baker, Brad Price, Ben Cowan and a bunch of Northwestern girls. I spent much of the afternoon enthralled by the aerial photography archives now integrated into Mapquest. When you map an address, you can click a tab that says "view aerial photo" to see a sattelite image of your destination. Click here to see a photo of my apartment next to a map of it. Other fun images: Beverly's house in LA (zoomed-out and zoomed-in) My parents' house in Philly (with fall colors) Close-up of our apartment (the striped building in the center) 7 comments|post comment

Of Stoplights and Democracy [05 Dec 2003|10:48am] [ mood | opinionated ] [ music | "Crosstown Traffic" by Jimi Hendrix ] One of the worst intersections in Manhattan is right outside my apartment building. It's 42nd street tourist traffic one way, Lincoln Tunnel bottlenecks the other way, and cars refuse to acknowledge the traffic lights. Every day that Beverly and I cross that street, we do so in fear for our lives, because cars will regularly come within centimeters of you, honking and cursing at you for daring to walk when the stoplight looks like this. I used to watch the crossing guards and grumble at their ineffectiveness as all this went on. I couldn't believe people were being paid (with my tax dollars!) to "direct" traffic so ineffectively. But then one day I came to the intersection when there was no crossing guard. It was mired in the worst gridlock you've ever seen. At first I thought this was a coincidence, but then I realized that it happened if the crossing guards were absent during any time period within four hours of 9 am or 5 pm. After taking Economics 101, I was convinced that people acting in their own interest would ultimately make the best choices. After seeing one alternative to the "big government" of crossing guards and stoplights, I feel otherwise. Anyway, I guess this explains why I've been feeling more political lately. 1 comment|post comment

Turkey Day [01 Dec 2003|02:38pm] [ mood | unhealthy ] [ music | "The Christmas Song" by Nat King Cole ] I had a great Thanksgiving holiday with my family and Dave. Things were pretty relaxing and quiet, punctuated by some tasty food and a hunting trip in which I briefly became every bird's worst nightmare. It was nice to be in Philly; I'm glad I'll be going back again soon. On the way home, Beverly and I managed to find seats in an otherwise standing-room-only train. We sat next to a jazzman named Tony Robins who invited us to see him at the Lenox Lounge. He also taught us how to be "true New Yorkers," starting with a trip to The Apollo and a move away from the commercialized parts of Manhattan. Beverly and I learned to call taxi cabs "canaries," and that "you should never be afraid to give a canary the V sign minus a finger." Now that Thanksgiving is behind us, it's time to focus on Christmas shopping. While scouring the web for items to include in my Sneakery gift guide, I happened across some fun lists and reviews. Kevin Kelly's Cool Tools is a wonderfully genuine and eclectic list that served as my most useful source, while Dave Barry's Holiday Gift Guide provided more than a few laughs. 1 comment|post comment

That's my mom! [25 Nov 2003|09:49am] [ mood | proud ] [ music | "I'm Coming Out" by Diana Ross ] Last Thursday, my mom was inducted into the Academy of Women Achievers Class of 2003 by the YWCA of the City of New York. In a gala event at the Marriot Marquis in Times Square, my mom and many other women were honored before a crowd of family members, friends and local business executives. According to a the YWCA-NYC, the Academy was launched in 1974 "to encourage corporations as well as labor, professional, nonprofit and government organizations to recognize their women achievers." The award honors women who make significant contributions to their employers and their communities. The award ceremony, for all its speeches, catered food and disco lighting, was a surprisingly intimate event. It gave me, along with Beverly and my dad, a chance to reflect on just how amazing my mom is. I've always been proud of the way my mom climbed the corporate ladder, getting her start in business at a time when she was often the only woman in the room. The fact that she did it while being an awesome mother is even more impressive. On top of that, there's the time she spends volunteering at church and in her community... now that I think about it, why has it taken the world so long to give her an award? In closing, mad props to my mom, and to all mothers and fathers who find time to improve the lives of the people with whom they live and work. Cheers! 1 comment|post comment

Johnny Reviews Everything [17 Nov 2003|02:21pm] Cafe Zaiya Located at 18 East 41st Street, Cafe Zaiya is a shining oasis of five-dollar lunches in a vast wasteland of expensive food. A Japanese bakery with French influences, Cafe Zaiya also serves delicious noodle and rice dishes. At Cafe Zaiya, $4.95 will buy you two half-sandwiches, a pastry, fruit and a high-quality dessert. Sandwiches runs about $2.95, and they're both unusual and tasty. The prices might be average in some places, but I'm not exagerrating when I say that every other restaurant near my office charges eight dollars for a sandwich, and "value meals" with soda and chips will set you back ten bucks. Cafe Zaiya is not just wonderfully cheap, it's also better than those yuppie-oriented pseudo-gourmet sandwich shops with their sun-dried tomato rolls and honey-banana-mustard toppings. Shiba Inu Dogs As Beverly and I consider dog ownership more and more seriously, we become aware of more breeds. I find the Shiba Inu particularly charming. My favorite dog in the world is my Akita Miata, and Shiba Inus are like miniature Akitas. They may look cutesy, but you have to give respect to a 25-pound dog that was bred to hunt bears and wild boars. Beverly usually prefers floppy-eared dogs with smooth coats, but she loves the Shiba Inu puppies that live in our building. When we get a dog, we'll be going to shelters rather than breeders so we'll take whatever's friendly and available, but we'll keep our eyes open for a Shiba Inu. Love Actually All the critics who panned this movie obviously weren't watching it with Beverly. Her infectious delight in romantic comedies has its boundaries; even she gets turned off by really bad ones like Bounce and The Wedding Planner. But when Beverly likes a romantic comedy, she loves it with unmatched zeal ...and I get sucked in along with her. I suspect I would have enjoyed this movie even without Beverly, though. In my mind, there's nothing better than a British accent to take the edge off a corny line. The ensemble nature of the film is also extremely effective: whenever I got close to cringing at a sappy scene, it would jump to something broad and silly (the British loser's effortless ability to get laid in America), cynical and funny (the aging rocker's self-satirizing quest for a Christmas pop hit) or tragic and realistic (three out of the eight or so plot threads). The film's multiple climaxes are sometimes overly calculated and manipulative, but 90% pulled me in. I'm glad I went to see this before reading all the bad reviews, because they might have kept me from enjoying it. Now they just make me want to leap to its defense. Tarzan You may say that my mistake was watching this in the first place, but every once in a while I find a one-hour WB show that I really like. The first time I heard about this new Tarzan series, it was billed as a "modern superhero" story, and I'm all about modern superheroes. But man, this was no good. It was like a bad old episode of the X-Files combined with a bad old episode of Moonlighting. The episode I saw was mostly about Tarzan (who I'm pretty sure is played by an underwear model) gazing dolefully at a female cop named Jane, with a five-minute subplot involving a a villain who liked to kill homeless people because they were "vermin." That's really all I needed to see to know that I'm never watching it again. BBSA's NYC Match Activities List When Beverly and I volunteered with Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, we received a packet of relevant information, various forms and a free T-shirt. The most interesting part of this packet was a list of activities in New York City. While it's intended for "Bigs" and "Littles" to use on their outings together, it doubles as the best list of New York date ideas I've ever seen. (Hmm. I hope that comment is never placed in the wrong context.) Next time Beverly and I have visitors, we'll have a much better resource for cool, creative outings. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic I like videogames, sure, but never before have I played a game that was actually developed and programmed with me in mind. Star Wars: KoTOR takes my favorite game system, my favorite imaginary world and my favorite genre and combines them all in a beautiful package with an interesting story and top-notch production values. While most of the appeal lies in the obvious--lightsaber battles and neat cutscenes--I'm constantly impressed by the depth of the sidequests. I have been the lawyer for two murder trials, I've helped out star-crossed lovers and I'm desperately trying to get with this woman who won't give into her passions because of stupid Jedi rules. The game allows you to pursue a "Light Side" or "Dark Side" path, opening up a number of choices that affect the plot. In addition to constantly tempting you with easy but evil choices, it presents paradoxes like "reveal secrets to bad guys or watch your girlfriend get tortured." The game gets a 5 out of 5 in my book, and Beverly gets a 6 for not complaining about how many hours I've spent playing it. New York Subways I know they're a neccesity and they're the only reason I'm able to get around Manhattan, but I'm just not a fan of subways. I'm anything but a control freak, but I detest the rampant uncertainty that comes with using the MTA subway system. Especially on weekends, you never know whether you're waiting for the kind of subway that comes every three minutes or every 30 minutes. A full subway is a breeding ground for some of the least polite behavior I've ever seen. Finally, whenever I ride the subway I inevitably see a sign that says "uptown," and then the song "Uptown Girl" gets stuck in my head, and I'm humming it for the rest of the day. God, how I detest that song. Shanti's Blog This self-proclaimed "Diary of an über-liberal turned Capitalist Buddhist Nihilist" has much wider appeal than my own self-centered journal. I just wish he'd update more often. Check it out. 3 comments|post comment

Moving Forward [17 Nov 2003|12:08pm] [ mood | recumbent ] [ music | "Do You Want to Know a Secret" by the Beatles ] One of the great things about living in New York is that it puts me close to my parents. Visiting them is always a delightful experience (and I'm not just saying that because I know they read my blog). Even though Beverly and I just saw them on our hunting trip visit, we were happy to see my folks again this past week. Beverly and I traveled to Philadelphia for a three-day corporate training session, which was educational and intellectually stimulating. Mom and Dad took us to Morimoto for dinner, which was awesome. Another high point for our week in Philly was going out to dinner with our classmates. Aside from the fun of associating with our Philadelphia office colleagues, we ate at a Mexican restaurant that served queso fundido, my favorite food (in the same way that Dr. Slice is my favorite beverage: more for sentimental reasons than anything to do with how the flavor ranks against everything else in the world). Our weekend was relatively laid-back. Beverly met her BBBSA little sister, I played videogames, we did some Christmas shopping and we saw a movie. On Saturday night, we went to Little India with Beverly's high school friends Ben and Travis, followed by a party where the only beverage served was Steel Reserve and the entertainment was watching silly people crowd around a laptop trying to download the Paris Hilton video. This week, the family-friendly fun continues as my parents come stay with us in New York. More to come... 3 comments|post comment

All Hallow's Eve [07 Nov 2003|01:24pm] [ mood | sore ] [ music | Preview tracks from the new album by The Hippos ] Like Zach, I feel the need to post a quick Halloween update. Our Halloween was pretty tame but very enjoyable. At work, we knew that the costumed vs. non-costumed ratio would be pretty even, leaning toward the costumeless. So we split the difference and wore subtle costumes. I was Clark Kent, Beverly was Lois Lane. That meant we basically wore business clothes all day, with the small addition of gasses for me and a Daily Planet press pass for each of us. I wore a Superman shirt under my suit, of course, and unveiled it at the office Halloween party. The picture above is of me "rescuing" Beverly. What you can't see is my Superman t-shirt (or our press passes), making it pretty worthless as evidence of us being in costume. But hey, it's not every day that a picture of me with my hands on Beverly's butt ends up on the company intranet. Ironically, we won a $50 prize for our "costumes." On Halloween night, we went to a friend-of-a-friend's party where the hosts were amazingly drunk. Highlight: an out-of-place German man who turned out to be a disco dancing virtuoso. Lowlight: sitting in front of an intoxicated man who decided to pull down his pants and underwear. On the way home from the party, I passed another guy wearing the same Superman-T-shirt-under-a-dress-shirt costume I had on. We expressed a mutual feeling of lameness. The following night, we went to Dave's awards ceremony and spent the evening talking to an astronaut. Other than that, I've mostly been spending my time whining about my back pain. It's been steadily improving, though I lost some progress on that when I was bodyslammed in the back by a New York City SWAT officer on Wednesday night. 4 comments|post comment

Good ol' boys [29 Oct 2003|03:32pm] [ mood | uncomfortable ] [ music | The Star Wars Original Score by John Williams ] Hunting gets a bad rap. Maybe that's because of the not-entirely-untrue stereotype that hunters are rednecks, or a reasonable aversion to any activity that involves guns. But I think a large part of the stigma is because most people are uncomfortable with the notion that the shrink-wrapped meat they buy at the supermarket is actually an animal that somebody had to kill. For these reasons and more, hunting was never something that appealed to me. When describing my dad's interest in hunting to people, I offer up a "well, he's from Texas" and quickly move on to another topic. During the past couple of years, though, my dad's interest in hunting has escalated to the point where filial duty has demanded that I join him on outings to target ranges. (Shooting clay pidgeons, after all, is basically golf with guns.) This year, Father's Day snuck up on me as it always does. Scrambling for a suitable gift, I offered the best present anyone could ask for: time with me. But since I've used that trick before, I had to up the ante, bite the bullet and offer to go hunting with my dad. Last weekend, Dad finally cashed in his gift. We donned "blaze" orange vests, loaded up our favorite shotguns, headed to the Pennsylvania countryside and met up with the other members of our hunting party: Paul and his retriever dogs, Misty and Candy. While I attempted to load my shotgun shells backwards, Paul sent the dogs to run around the bird preserve searching for chukars and pheasants. The dogs really did all the work. They flushed out the birds and retrieved them: all we had to do was shoot the birds as they flew away from us at high speeds. I enjoyed hunting a lot more than I thought I would. I know it sounds very violent, but there was nothing about the process that was more vicious or unsettling than fishing. It was also the first time I'd felt comfortable holding a gun, where it seemed more like a tool than a weapon. I was also pretty good at it! Dad I brought home 9 birds, and four of those were because of me. (That's four more birds than I expected to shoot.) Dad and I also avoiding shooting each other, the guide, and the dogs; truly, a successfuly outing. We were delighted to impress our womenfolk by bringing home a sizeable selection of prey (albeit machine-plucked and, yes, shrink-wrapped by the folks at the preserve). Mom roasted the two biggest birds and we had a delightful meal. Since then, I've had a relatively low-key week, notable only for the fact that I'm experiencing weird back pain and have my first-ever chiropractic appointment scheduled for Friday. In other news, Beverly and I have been reading about animal shelters and browsing through images of apartment-sized dogs up for adoption. We're still holding off on getting a dog, but we're thinking about getting one next year. Hmm, maybe we should get a retriever... 5 comments|post comment

Infrequently asked questions [29 Oct 2003|12:45pm] 1 -- Leave a comment, saying you want to be interviewed. 2 -- I will respond; I'll ask you five questions. 3 -- You'll update your journal with my five questions, and your five answers. 4 -- You'll include this explanation. 5 -- You'll ask other people five questions when they want to be interviewed. Here's my interview from Beverly: 1) If you had to eat one meal for dinner for the rest of your life, what would you choose? (Yes, I know your penchant for all foods in balance, but just play the what-if game with me here for a second.) That would indeed be agonizing, but I'd go with something very basic (so I could get something fun for lunch and breakfast): grilled chicken with stir-fried noodles and steamed green beans. 2) What would you most like to do/accomplish for fun in this lifetime? This is a tough question, because I generally think of "accomplishments" as serious business. In fact, part of my definition of "fun" is that it's not something I plan in advance and set as a superlative life goal. If I did that, I'd feel all un-accomplished if I didn't achieve that goal in my lifetime. On the other hand, raising happy children is a major goal of mine (probably my #1), and that is something that I expect to be fun, so maybe that's the answer. Now that I think about it, "accomplishing things for fun" is one of my favorite pasttimes: working on my little creative projects. I guess a fun accomplishment would be to create a game (board game, video game, etc.) played and enjoyed by many people. A runner-up would be writing something that many people would read and enjoy. 3) If you had one wish to make, and you had to make it now, what would you wish for? I'm getting hung up on the wording here. I can make all the wishes I want, and make them on a regular basis. For example, right now I'm wishing that my back pain would go away. The problem is making wishes come true. So I assume this question is posing a hypothetical situation in which I have one wish that will be granted, but I can't save it. In that case, my wish would be for a universally-adopted clean, renewable energy source that would keep people from having to rely on petroleum. Sorry, I know that's boring. 4) What do you want for Christmas? ;) In an ideal world, more vacation time and unlimited frequent flier miles. From you, our first New Year's celebration together and plans to get a puppy. From my family, fun homemade presents and a new digital camera. 5) Is there anything from your life so far that you regret or at least wish you could go back and change? No. I like who I am and where my life is right now, and I think every experience I've had represents a necessary component of present-day Johnny. Even the lousiest experiences of my life were necessary as lessons on what not to do in the future. And I don't even have many of those. 8 comments|post comment

Zach had better reply to this entry [17 Oct 2003|05:12pm] [ mood | happy ] [ music | "Hovering" (Instrumental) by Beulah ] Last night, Beverly and I went to see Beulah, currently on tour to support their amazing album Yoko. (Zach saw them in California.) As if the show itself weren't motivation enough, they're constantly threatening to break up the band, so any tour could be their last. We headed to the Bowery Ballroom just after 8, which was a foolish move that forced us to wait almost three hours before Beulah actually played. The first opening band's utter lack of hooks really annoyed me, though I liked John Vanderslice well enough. (Their bass player was humorous and later lent Beulah a hand when they broke a bass string.) When the concert finally began, it was fantastic. The band went to great lengths to do more than just repeat the contents of their albums; they added new instrumentation and new harmonies to almost every song. I really enjoyed how the band members were friendly with one another and with the crowd. The lead singer, Bill Swan, invited some girls on stage who he'd seen at a pizza place before the show, and then he let a random crowd of guys come play maracas for another song. (I almost went, but was too far from the door backstage. And too cowardly.) The only downside to the frontman's regular conversations with the crowd was that sometimes someone annoying would talk back. One guy kept making comments about the new Nissan commercial that features the Beulah song "A Good Man is Easy to Kill." Bill Swan responded, "Ironically, that song is actually about my old man flying through a windshield and breaking his neck." To which the annoying guy responded, "Was he driving a Nissan?" Asshole. Right now I'm listening to the tour-exclusive Demo, which is basically an acoustic version of Yoko. It's amazing. (Zach, I'll hook you up.) And limited-edition, baby. And it only cost $10 at the concert! (Which, admittedly, is all the Beverly and I had.) Beverly was adorable at the concert. During the past year I've subliminally played Beulah at every opportunity, put Beulah songs on every mix CD and generally offered vague warnings that I'd stop loving her if she didn't like the band. It worked! She sang along with 90% of the songs at the concert and bopped her head to the rest. I'm always so thrilled when my little pop fan gets into indie rock. Now I've got to run home, because Dave and Shannon are coming to NYC! And so another crazy weekend begins. 3 comments|post comment

The pattern continues [15 Oct 2003|01:12pm] [ mood | tired ] [ music | "Laundry Girl" by Ludo ] Another weekend has passed, and I'm sure everyone out there is just dying to know how I spent it. This time, though, Beverly beat me to the punch. To recap a few of the main points, we celebrated Michelle's birthday, dodged manic bikers while walking across the Brooklyn Bridge, ate lots of expensive but memorable food, went to a Ludo concert and saw The Producers. That super-abbreviated description doesn't even include last Thursday, when we went to Joe's awesome Blatantly Subtle party. Beverly's high school pal Greg came with us and I got to say hi to my East Village friends who I've been way too out of touch with: Ross, Bob, Sam, Greg and Dom. I even ran into some JBS folks like Phil Sternhill. It was awesome, but late at night and far from our apartment so we didn't get to stay too long. An entertaining result of all these events colliding at once is that I discovered that my high school buddy Craig is living in Manhattan. I got to talk with him for a while before the Ludo concert, which was entertaining as always. His schedule seems pretty busy, but I'm sure we'll be hanging out again. Okay, that's all I got for now. For further entertainment, read about Beverly's travails in New York or Zach's triumphs in Hollywood. 3 comments|post comment

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