This year’s Hunter College Pre-Health Post-Bacc club End-of-Year party was something else. No bar, no skee-ball, no me cooking everything … our very own Derrick hosted, and he hosted a Fry Party. Basically, we all brought what we wanted to see put into boiling hot oil, and he did the honors.

In no particular order, we had: Jamaican beef patties (yum), pickles, okra (cool), pizza, grilled cheese sandwiches, a big cupcake from Crumbs (effing awesome), a breadbowl pasta deal from Domino’s, Twix bars (the tastiest), Reese’s peanut butter cups (not bad) … and more. All deep-fried and served up hot, of course. Michela and I didn’t stay for the whole thing; I’m sure someone put John’s playlist in there before the night was over. =P

Oh yeah. Then there’s the sweatshirt (see left). See, people were hatin’ John’s playlist a bit, and Derrick convinced John that he could remain in charge of the music as long as he wore this big kitteh sweatshirt. Now, I’m not judging, but (a) John looked super-cute in this, and (b) I have to question why Derrick owns this particular article of clothing.

So a super fun night, and as this may have been my last chance to hang with some of these post-bacc kids, some good memories. Have a great summer everyone, and good luck getting in when it’s your turn! All of the pics (including plenty more with the kitteh shirt) are up here.

I’m a big fan of this one:

On a serious note … on Monday, Michela and I had to say goodbye to Mezzanotte, the sweetest little purry furball that we’ve ever seen. He’d been lethargic for a week, with an obvious temperature, and when she took him to the vet they diagnosed him with Feline Infectious Peritonitis. It’s invariably fatal, and rather than put him through more pain and misery and have him slowly get weaker and die, we made the hard choice. Hard for us, but the right choice for him.

We miss him dearly.

Mezza was bright and sunny (if a little dim, but hey, he was a silly boy kitteh, and spoke in LOLz), supremely affectionate, curious and playful, and very loving towards his family (including his sister, Lani, who remains a comfort to Michela). He would hop into bed and cuddle unabashedly with his people, and poke his face into whatever we were eating at the table, again, without shame.

In short, he was a cat. He was the best of cats. And he was with us far for far too short a time. We gave him lots of love, and we know he had a happy little life, but it still killed us to hold him at the vet as he slipped away. 

Mezza, rest in peace, little buddy. We love you and miss you.

If you’d like to see pics of his happy little self with his kitten pals, check out here and here.

First off, last night we had a wee photo shoot for the Park Slope Volunteer Ambulance Corps. We took over Pritchard Square in the ‘Slope for about an hour as the daylight waned, with a pro photog and everything (thanks, Howard). He has the money shots, but I just took some snaps of us having fun during the process.

Then, there’s lots of love for Jess Furman. She came back to NYC for a show on April 7 at Rockwood Music Hall on the Lower East Side … she rocked, of course, and we packet the place. Take a peek at the pics here!

First, I finally got around to uploading pictures from last month’s party-slash-concert for Angela … Michela and I joined Niki, Angie and a host of others in welcoming Angela into *ahem*th birthday. We went to Hill Country BBQ, which is one of Angela’s faves, where the meat is plentiful and sold by the pound. We were very happy to catch a performance by Yarn, the country/bluegrass/Dead-y jam band that Niki’s husband plays in. Check out the pics on the new photo page, from the menu link above!

And next up … last night, Michela took me and Sherri to see Rachael Sage and a few other bands at the Bowery Poetry Club. This was a benefit for FREED (For Recovery and Elimination of Eating Disorders), and while some of the acts were more polished than the others, they were all a lot of fun and definitely on the spirited side. This was the first time I’d seen Rachael live, and she does not disappoint! Check her out, grab some of her tunes, and check out the pictures. One of the surprises of the night was the last band, Changing Modes … they had a sharp zydeco/trippy/punky sound which bit into the audience hard, I had to pick up some CDs.

So yeah, for my first race I did okay. The results will be posted tonight/tomorrow, but I did the 4 miles 35-36 minutes, which is an awesome pace for me on grass/dirt/cinder paths. Not stellar by “athlete” standards but I’ll take it. Blake ran the race with me, and Gorgeous George, and they both beat me by a minute and change, but this way I had people at the finish to cheer me in (where I was able to pass someone in the final sprint – woo!). Blake is a great running partner btw, very inspiring, and I’ll be doing the half-marathon with her and George in April. Wish me luck as training for that continues.

I must say it was fantastic to climb up that last hill and churn towards an actual finish line with people cheering and clapping. I could get used to this.

We went out for coffee afterwards and the place was swarming with stinky racers. And when I got home, I snapped a pic of me with my bib:

And yeah, I started the race hung over. It’s all part of the Zohnika celebration, though. Zohn’s XXXVIIIth birthday party was last night, and small-batch scotch was my friend. It was totally worth it though, especially since The Killer Two and the Sake Queen made an appearance. Pics from Zohnika are up here!

The decon was the best part, of course. I learned about cutting out sections of plaster and replacing them with drywall (to gain straight edges and flat planes), Jeff learned about building window sills (and so did I), and we both learned new ways to dig black nastiness out of our nostrils. We turned the above into this:

And from there to this:

And wound up here:

Note the beginnings of the windowsill above and below!

While I’m sad that we didn’t get out for a ride, despite the warm weather, I am thrilled we got so much of the LR done. There are a few tasks outstandings, tasks I’ll be doing this week and weekend. Jeff was a huge help, many thanks and kudos and awards to him. He brought all sorts of tools, and even brought up his Serotta (which collected a lot of plaster dust).

Pics from ongoing goings-on in January are here. Watch the works in progress! They include such riveting storylines as “Painting the Bedroom”, “Ripping Out the Sex Mirrors In The Living Room”, “Building a Window Casing From Scratch”, “All About Drywall, Part 1″ and coming soon, “Painting the Home Office”.

Friday night wasn’t all that exciting, just a ride in Prospect Park (15 miles), a trip to Lowe’s for some shelving, and early to bed. I didn’t get much sleep though, as I was eagerly anticipating the First Real Moto Ride of the season. Sure, I’ve done some commuting and two track days, but Saturday was the first spirited ride since November, so I was all aflutter. See that seperate post for details.

After the ride, Dan and Catherine and I caught some dinner at the new Paris Diner in my hood. Mmm, grilled cheese with bacon and ‘maters. I was so bushed from the long moto ride and the good food that I all but fell asleep while watching Bewitched that night. Not that it would be easy to stay awake during that snoozer …

Blake knocked on me door bright and early on Sunday, for my first Road Ride (bicycle this time) … ever. I’ve done some miles on the Cannondale, sure, but this was my first non-solo. The day was perfect (60s, crystal blue skies, light traffic), except for the killer winds out by the water, and on the trip home … I chased Blake’s lycra’d behind for 30 miles all morning, as we took Bedford all the way South to the waterfront, and crossed the Marine Pkwy Bridge and got a wind-push all the way West to Breezy Point park. After a refuel (mmm, tuna on whole wheat) we rode into that same wind back to the bridge, crossed it again (them fence bars are trippy!) and banged a left out the bike path to Canarsie Pier. I stretched my back a bit, and then we hoofed it for home.

We ran into a few other riders out there, but less than I thought we would. Get out there, people!

Some of the bridges between Floyd Bennett Field and Canarsie Pier are in horrible condition. I thought I was going to lose a tire on rusty section of metal sidewalk more than once … and the bikeways are super narrow. No pressure tho, you only have the Belt Parkway traffic doing 75 about 3 feet over there, you can relax.

I made it through the morning, and was only dropped by Blake (Ms. “20 on the flats”) a few times. Thanks so much for taking me out for a great morning, killer!

After a stretch and a shower, I hightailed it into the city for an EMT study session at Thompkins Sq Park. I met Nicole there, and we sat in the sun and quizzed each other (and people-watched) for about an hour. Then we got thirsty. So we wandered the East Village for a while, and settled on a place where she, a recent vegetarian, could nab some grindage.

We went to Common Ground, and amazing bar with a horrid name. Sounds like a college campus coffee shop. But the food was killer — we had an artichoke panini with goat cheese … feta pita points with an olive+onion chutney … and brie with this great apricot mustard. No lie. 

Man, I love the East Village.

So that was the weekend. Pretty good. One last thing, though … since it was such a beautiful day, I rode the Trek out to the Park again. Another 16 miles under the belt. The Trek, with its wide tires and heavier body, is a beeyatch to get up those hills though. Guess I should stick with the R1000, eh? But man, the park is so beautiful in the Spring …

I’m off to the diner for some foodage. Ciao!

Let’s see, Saturday was my ER rotation up at St Luke’s. I went with Sheila from our EMT class, and we had some amazing experiences which I can’t talk about in any specifics. We did see about 40 patients in the ED Triage area, took a lot of vitals and smoe patient history, and saw a LOT of kids come through. It was great to help so many people in such a short time (an 8 hour shift). I can’t wait to get certified!

Last night was Paulie’s birthday party … we had an amazing dinner (complete with fresh-made guacamole) at Rosa Mexicana. The food was almost too good. In addition to the guacamole, we munched on some crab empanadas, I nibbled on Blake’s cactus dish, and I had the best chicken tacos as a main dish. Even had some Key Lime flan pie for dessert, with fresh fruit. Wow. Eat there, you won’t regret it.

After, we went bowling at the Melody Lanes in Sunset Park (Brooklyn). I broke 100 for the first time, like, ever. It was a good night out. Happy birthday, bud!

And this morning? I had illustrious plans to wake up at 0530 to go on a ride in the park. Unfortunately the day dawned cold, so I contented myself with some miles on the trainer. I licked the loudness issue by wearing some earcan headphones hooked into the soundsystem. No more eardrum-shattering volme levels. W00t! Now excuse me, I have some pushups to do before starting the workday in earnest.

It was good to roll in the old stompin’ grounds, but it was cooler to roll in Bklyn later. Went to a bar/restaurant called Alma down by the docks just West of Cobble Hill. I was only in the bar, but a little sheep tells me the food is just amazing. I’ll be going back to get some grubbage one of these days. Some bevs, some good peeps … def’ a good night.

last night? a night out on the LES. good stuff … we went to piano’s — the back room was nice and cool and empty for a long time, and they were showing fritz lang’s metropolis on the screen while we drank. good stuff indeed. then we moved on to rivertown, for some funky grooves and moves. of course, we’re all old now and didn’t stay out past 2:30. i really dug rivertown — the music was all r&b/latin/hiphoppy goodness. and some chicks in our party got all picked up and stuff.

so i go this email from james at ecoops.org … he’s starting up a ny-area community online. and i quote: “i came up with the idea when i got laid off and kept wanting to slam my head against a wall realizing there’s so much sh1t in nyc that i’m not aware of. i wanted to create a site where it could all collect in one place with some kick ass community driven content.” so go over and check it out. sign up, post some reviews, spread some ny cheer. i’ll do the same.