Day 270 - September 28, 2012 - Possible movie weekend

I just read this book and really wanted to see the movie. I was lucky the movie was available for check out at the library. It's now checked out to me, I don't think Shawn will want to watch it but he's supposed to be playing an RPG game Sunday night if he goes to it I'll see if Terry wants to watch it with me if not I'll have some alone time and catch this flick by myself. We might also see Looper tonight. Sounds like a good weekend to me!

Day 269 - September 27, 2012 - Look into my eyes when I'm mad at myself

This is my second stupid work mistake since heading back to work. I also hate this photo lol. I got to the train station, I was waiting on the platform. I thought the train that was the 11:15, the one I was supposed to take, was the 11:10 express train. So I just stood there as people boarded the train. It wasn't until after the doors closed and the train pulled away that I realized, "Hey I think that was my train!" So my stupid ass had to wait for an 11:45 train that only went to Rockville Centre. I probably should have just waited for the 12:15 train going to Lynbrook. I would have still been late to work but maybe just by 15 minutes instead of almost a half hour. I got to Rockville Centre and then ended up walking to a bus stop by King Kullen that apparently no longer existed. So I had to back track to a bus stop I knew was there and got to that stop just as one N4 pulled away. Another N4 didn't come again until 1 PM exactly. My luck changed slightly when I got on the bus. I was given a seat, probably because the guy thought I was pregnant, many people think I'm pregnant, but I'm just kind of fat, then when I got to Lynbrook an N32 pulled up which meant that I didn't have to walk a few blocks the bus would just stop directly in front of the library, which would make me less late. I got to work at 1:30 and cleared it with Milli to come in at 9:30 instead of 10 on Friday. The library has a system for full timers where if you are late you can take vacation time or make up the late time by staying a half hour extra. Luckily this morning (9/28/12 the date I'm updating blog entries since September 17) I was still able to take the train I would have taken to get in by 10 and I still had time to get some starbucks for Mary and I before coming in at 9:30. I've now established I'd be cutting time just a little bit close especially if there was an LIRR delay but things would be a lot easier if I could work 9:30 to 5:30, I could wake up so much later, just one half hour makes a difference as to how much time I get to sleep. I'm pondering asking Milli if it would be okay for me to work 9:30 to 5:30 instead of 9 to 5 I don't know if she and the director would let me have those hours. It would help a lot, I'd get to sleep until 7 every day. It's pretty tempting.

Day 268 - September 26, 2012 - Playground time with the little man!

I had an extra day off this week because of Yom Kippur. I made plans to go to Merrick and see Janell. She kind of needed to get out of the house anyway and she's not working yet, because her dog passed away on Sunday. She had to babysit for her nephew so he tagged along for our outing which involved food and the playground. First her and Jared ate some lunch, I had eaten a late breakfast so I didn't opt for any real food at lunch time. Then we stopped in an awesome bakery where I opted to eat a danish (because it's a sweet lol). The bakery was just created and opened up where the blockbuster we both worked in used to stand. Then we walked over to a new ice cream place because Janell wanted to buy Jared Ice Cream (it was a surprise for him) but the place was closed for the day. So we ended up at Camp Ave Elementary School. Jared played on the playground while Janell and I watched him and dodged random acorns falling from the tree above the bench. We also got to take nice disgusting look at some poop that was inside the slide, good thing no poor unsuspecting child actually slid down the thing, and play on the swings. On the way back to the train we stopped at the bakery again, I got a linzer tart for the way home and bought home extra sweets, something for me (even though I already had two baked goods lol) and something for Shawn and Terry. Then I bid goodbye to my best friend and frister and went back home.

Day 267 - September 25, 2012 - Supersonic OCD hearing

My ears are terrific! I can hear everything again, I feel like a new woman! I had a problem with my ears. In Puerto Rico and on previous occasions my ears started to clog up, sometimes I could barely hear anything. I went to the doctor Friday because I thought I might have an ear infection. He sent me home and told me to come back after using debrox to clean out my ears and he gave me a prescription in case I had an ear infection. Well Tuesday night I ended up at the ER with Shawn because my ear was on fire and I thought I was going to go deaf. The ER doctors flushed out my ears like my doctor was going to do and now I can hear much better. My obstacle now is how I will clean my ears without using a Q-tip because apparently when I use Q-tips I end up pushing wax further down into my ear and causing a build up. This makes me sad because my new last name starts with a Q. I'm surprised Shawn wanted to still be my husband after staying in the ER with me while they flushed out my ears, it was kind of gross. But this is why I love the man, well part of the reason, we both care about each other during the good times, the down times, the bad times, the gross times and the great times.

Day 266 - September 24, 2012 - The lunch I'm in love with

I started eating yogurts during my lunch break. It isn't all that much food to eat but it's pretty portable to lug around. Also I tend to eat a lot of sweets and candy during the work day so the lunch break yogurt is my attempt at balancing.  I figure it's not too many calories for the yogurt, the greek yogurt is also natural and healthy so it leaves a small bit of calorie room for the junk I like to eat.

Day 265 - September 25, 2012 - Playing like the METs

We gathered together for some softball. Pictured here in the photo is my friend Julie who started organizing these monthly softball events in 2010 and my Shawn playing first base. It was a weird day we all played pretty terribly, Anthony got hit in the ankle, I got railed in the head. It was still fun and a nice day out to play.

Also as long as the world doesn't end, there's 100 more days of photographs for this year. I'm debating doing this project again next year. Not too many people seem all that interested in it, it does suck when I have to write about a bad event or bad day, but it's nice to have this snapshot of each day as well, so I might do it again for 2013 if everyone is still around and technology still works. 

Day 264 - September 22, 2012 - I'm floored!

Shawn got an Aesus connect (at least I think that's what it's called lol). I don't know what technological miracle he performed but  I looked up from my book and he had a snapshot of the room on his computer, he did something with his hands and cut out a square shaped image of the room. I made him hold it there for a photo.

Please note the correct information for Shawn's nifty device - ASUS Xtion Pro Live, which, is an OpenSource development hardware that is similar to the Microsoft Kinect

Day 263 - September 21, 2012 - The married couple still doesn't have a real pizza pan

One of the meals I enjoy putting together is a pizza. I make it the lazy way though. Boboli is the crust I usually work with, along with ready made jar sauce. Sometimes I do a little work and actually cut some mozzarella myself instead of getting pre shredded. We are still baking our pizzas on a cookie sheet though. We registered for a pizza pan but it was not one of the presents we received. One day we'll get one they aren't that expensive.

Day 262 - September 20, 2012 - The fake fanboy Johnny Cash Museum

So I got pretty excited at work when Esther told me a guy on Felter Avenue in Woodmere turned his house into a Johnny Cash museum. I'm not a crazy ass Johnny Cash fan but I figured my dad and Shawn would like to see it and hell I'd go along for the ride too. So my lunch/dinner break at 4 PM had a great sense of purpose, to find this museum. I stopped at Dunkin Donuts like a good quasi self titled investigator/copper should then trekked to Felter Avenue. I was expecting a sort of run down house, I was expecting to see a phone number to call on the outside or at least access to knock on the door. Instead I see this ritzy looking house blocked by a gate with a high tech security camera on a pole, scanning the premises. I took some photographs, I tried to see if there was a buzzer on the gate or if it opened so I could knock on the door. No luck. I finally asked neighbors who told me he's just a Johnny Cash fan but the museum is not really a museum we could visit, that this crazy kook just named his house a museum. I walked back to work dejected and disappointed. Esther swears people have gone in here before so my investigation may continue.

Day 261 - September 19, 2012 - Extra power!

Shawn ordered these for me through newegg. They were a bargain at $7 each and they had great reviews. Now I have two extra battery packs for my photo taking. This will come in handy next time we go away as well as when we get back to covering the occasional derby bout. We used to be more derby pious and attend bouts every month, now we just pop into one every few months.

Day 260 September 18, 2012 The bright side of a bad day

So even though the 17th was kind of weird the day had it's good points too. I walked into work after setting the alarm off to notice two more wedding presents on my desk. This $20 came from a patron at the library. Shawn and I used it for an ice cream date, because even though we are still married we definitely both believe that you should still date to keep the romance and spark alive for the marriage.

Day 259 September 17, 2012 The end of a looooonnnnngggg work day which is all my fault

As of this writing I've done something pretty dumb in regards to my work schedule on a once a week basis, since the two weeks I've started back to work after the wedding. Hopefully my honeymoonesia ends after this. On this particular day after barely sleeping at all I got up at 5:45 AM, schlepped to the station I actually paid for a taxi and got to work. It turns out the library was closed from 9 to 1 because of Rosh Hashanah. I knew the library was scheduled to be open 1 to 9 but I had not paid attention to the schedule and thought we had a delayed opening and that we were having staff meetings in the morning. It turns out the library was just closed, so at 8:30 in the morning I ended up setting off the building alarm while attempting to get into work. I ended up calling my mom and spending time with her for a few hours, then going back to work. I thought I was working a short day until 5 PM but I was on schedule until 9. I was kind of humiliated and mad at myself for not double checking anything. Took a lot of coffee plus a monster energy drink to make it through this day.

Day 258 - September 16, 2012 - Just in time for the christening

We came back just in time for Baby Vincent's baptism/christening. Well he's not such a baby anymore, he's more a toddler since he's officially over a year old. Since he was the most alert of the young children being baptized he decided he wanted to try to jump in the holy water tub after the priest baptized him. He was unsuccessful in his endeavors, Anabel managed to wrangle him away before he took a full bath in holy water.

Day 257 - September 15, 2012 - The short lived wedding table

We were cleaning up a little bit when we got back. I made up a wedding table but then had to kind of dismantle it and relocate the wedding decor items because it turns out Shawn didn't want much stuff on this table because the cats end up tramping across the table when they prance around downstairs. Well they do more then prance, phantom and griff tend to be rough tumblers.

Day 256 - September 14, 2012 - Returning

Today was a happy/sad day for us. We were leaving PR to come back to NY. I think we were a little happy to be coming back home to wear we are comfortable but I also think we were a little sad to leave PR, although by the end of the trip we were a little bored and vacationed out. I think in the future we might want to slightly shorten our vacations to 10 days or less, unless we take a massive trip through Europe and plan to tour a few countries, that would take some time although we'd miss home and I'd miss my phantom kitty!

Day 255 - September 13, 2012 - Doug's Pub

I was clammoring to take a shot of this pub because of our mutual friend Doug. Actually Doug is more Shawn's friend. He actually knows two Dougs, but this Doug I'm referencing too is a short little silly guy who's into cosplay and wears full costumes to night club events we sometimes go to. He also plays role playing games with Shawn. I was finally able to get a shot of the pub while we were hunting for remaining souvenirs in Old San Juan.

Day 254 - September 12, 2012 - The second fort in PR

We toured the second fort in Old San Juan. This fort is slightly more modernized, if my assumptions are correct it's because it's a fort now army base for PR. I'm not sure if I'm right about this though.

Day 253 - September 11, 2012 - Happy Coffee

I'm sure it was a pretty sad day in NY full of 9/11 commemoration. Meanwhile I sat down to dinner with Shawn at what is in my opinion the best restaurant we went to while in PR, instead of a martini with olives I had a happy coffee with olives.

Day 252 - September 10, 2012 - Roberto Cofresi

Shawn began to investigate Roberto Cofresi during our trip. He was a pretty famous pirate who sailed the seas or Puerto Rico. We took a long ass drive all the way to the end of the Island to Cabo Rojo to find this Roberto Cofresi monument.

Day 251 - September 9, 2012 - YAY! We finally found a laundromat

We spent some time driving around to find a laundromat. Finally we got some insider information on where exactly we had to go to find an elusive Puerto Rican Laundromat. Then we spent some of the day doing our laundry. We didn't want to buy new clothes (our suitcases didn't have the room and we also don't have seemingly limited funds like rich people do), and we really needed to wash some clothes. We also didn't want to put our laundry out to the hotel staff for servicing because that would have been way too expensive. So we happily washed some clothes and got a hint of domestic bliss on our honeymoon.

Day 250 - September 8, 2012 - El Morro!

This is one of two forts we explored while making many little trips to Old San Juan. This is El Morro, it's my favorite fort of the two that we hit up. I'm obsessed with this fort, I find it so beautiful and exciting.

Day 249 - September 7, 2012 - Flamenco Beach!

We decided to tour Culebra Island today. We spent a lot of money for the tour but the money we spent was worth it. Culebra is part of PR but it's a separate island from the whole island of PR. On one previous trip to PR I got to see Culebra Island and loved it. When I went before I took a ferry after taking a long ass drive to Fajardo to catch the ferry. This time we took an airplane and rented a jeep. It was more money but it was worth the time saved along with the free exploration of the island for a few hours. We hit four beaches, I liked Flamenco and Zoni beach the best.

Day 248 - September 6, 2012 - The camuy caves and Arecibo observatory adventure

Our honeymoon was part tour of PR and part relaxation as well as part lazy bummness. Along with a couple of other events that happen on honeymoons ;) This is my handsome husband before we began our tour of the camuy caves followed by our Arecibo observatory visit.

Day 247 - September 5, 2012 - Travel wedding bands!

We left our real wedding rings in NY! I was obsessed with finding some reasonably priced wedding bands that we can travel with. Finally on our 4th day of the honeymoon we found these bands in Old San Juan. So now when we travel someplace we can leave our good wedding bands home and take these ones, if one gets lost sadly we'll lose the sentimental value of traveling wedding bands but at least we won't lose the expensive ones. Even though are wedding bands have some diamonds in them, the diamonds are quite small and probably not so noticeable so I feel I can wear my wedding band without risk while I ride the trains.

Day 246 - September 4, 2012 - One of our "regular" PR places

During our stay in PR we found two regular food places to go to. This was our favorite panaderia but we stopped visiting here after a few times because Shawn wasn't a fan of the coffee. Our other place was el taquito which became our Puerto Rican green cactus.

Day 244 - September 2, 2012 - Welcome to PR!

So two days worth of postings for this photo blog are probably reversed now because apparently today is the day that I'm in full retard mode. We finally made it to PR to relax and enjoy our honeymoon!

Day 245 - September 3, 2012 - PR has lots of chandeliers

This chandelier in the El San Juan hotel was one of the few chandelier sightings I had during our trip to PR for our honeymoon. I guess every place has chandeliers lol, myself and the phantom phans are the only lunatics who get excited to see them, maybe their are chandelier buffs out there too!

Day 243 - September 1, 2012 - Eating action shot

So despite the fact that today was my own wedding, I still managed to bust out my camera and snap a couple of shots. Not as many as I would have liked but a couple. This photo is a cheesy action shot of my new official brother - in - law enjoying the wedding feast. Next to him is his new squeeze Kelly who happens to be pretty awesome! This would make a great ad for the fun you could have at Westbury Manor.

Day 242 - August 31, 2012 - Nail Party!

We had manis and pedis done before the wedding. Shown here are mostly everyone's toe nails who participated in the nail party. Franca, Terry, Nonny, Anabel, Sue, Janell, Janellyn and myself all had our nails done at the same place. Of course me being me, this little relaxation attempt turned into a panic. I left my wallet at home when I was cleaning out my purse, I couldn't find it to pay for my nails and thought the day before the wedding and before the PR trip that I might have lost it. Turns out thankfully it just fell on the couch and Shawn found it.

Day 241 - August 30, 2012 - A quasi glimpse of the future for Shawn

We had our rehearsal for the wedding and dinner tonight. My dad fell asleep during the dinner on the couch, something that he commonly does. Among the few photos I took of the rehearsal dinner this was one of them. I'm like my father more then I'm like my mother (although as much as I hate to admit it, I'm a little bit like her as well :( ) and I did end up falling asleep in the car just like my dad does when we were in PR on the honeymoon. Wondering if poor Shawn is going to have to wake me up at family functions in the future.

Day 240 - August 29, 2012 - Welcome to NY and to America Franca!

Shawn's mom Terry became pen pals with this lovely lady Franca, shown here in the photo with Shawn's mom. A very long time ago when Terry was a teenager she went to Holland to visit Franca and stay with her family. These two ladies kept in touch with each other for years, sending photos back and forth. After almost 50 years Terry returned the favor to Franca by opening up our house for Franca to stay in for her first visit to America. This is a photo taken after we had picked up Franca from JFK and then did some last minute business with the Westbury Manor.

Day 239 - August 28, 2012 - Zoot suit riot!

Among the wedding errands I had to do, I ended up going with my brother to pick up his tux for the wedding. This is my brother in his zoot suit, with a borrowed fedora for a prop.

As you can tell I'm officially back from work vacation and from blogging vacation.