Mermaid Parade

After a rough week at work I decided that getting out yesterday would be nice so packed up a day bag and my camera and dragged Meg with me down to Coney Island for the Mermaid Day Parade.

The Mermaid Parade is sort of the NYC start of summer. A big beach/ocean/mermaid themed parade that just about anyone can signup to march in. The costumes are really the best part and tend to be on the skimpy…or mostly absent…side…

A big part of most of the costumes this year was hating on BP and commentary on the oil spill. Which mostly involved signs or people in mermaid costumes covered with chocolate syrup.

We had a good time walking the boardwalk (Meg got a corn dog so she was happy) and ended up finding a good spot to watch the parade go by. We were right on the corner where most of the people/floats turned to head to the beach. Well it was a good spot at first, it also happens to be the spot where everyone who somehow didn’t know they would not be able to cross to the subway ended up about a hour into the parade. Man you have never seen so many Elderly-Sick-Pregnant-Children in your life who just HAD to cross the street right now. Um…here is an idea…maybe next time don’t bring your Elderly-Sick-Pregnant-Children to a parade in the middle of June!

But idiots aside we had a good time and were joking how next year I should get a group from the lab together to march with a CSI:Mermaid theme!

Didn’t do too much last night after we got home (the trip to and from Coney Island takes almost 2 hours via subway) so we hit the diner for dinner which was just about as much work as we wanted to put into dinner

Today is more lazy/usual sunday shopping and what not. It’s a bit humid out so we are hold up in the bedroom (with the cat) in the AC.

Have a short, though busy week next week. Monday it’s back to court, Tuesday a refresher class for the air tank thing I am trained on, and then Thursday night we head up to CT for a 3 day weekend/bbq! Good times will be had by all.

« Driving lessons..

Driving lessons..

This past week at work was a week of training. Monday through Thursday I had SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope) class. We learned the basics/theory behind SEM and then got to sit down and use the instrument to look at a bunch of different samples. I was able to get copies of the photos we took and posted them to my flickr but here are a couple of the better ones:

On the left are some radiolaria and on the right is a tick. We also learned how to turn the images into 3D pictures that you need those old red-blue glasses for. I guess the idea is it can help you judge size/distances better to look at some samples in 3D. I liked just being a nerd and wearing the glasses:

On Friday I got to go down to the NYPD driver training unit to do driver training. So now I am officially qualified to drive a police car….under non-emergency type situations (read…wouldn’t be aloud to use the lights and sirens) still it was pretty cool. We had a few hours of classroom instruction and then went out and did the on site driver course. Basically I had to do a driver course with cones that involved turns, curves, lane changes, and a test of the anti lock breaks. It had to all be done in under a minute and thirty seconds and you could only hit 3 cones. I think I did it in about a minute 10 or so and only clipped one cone. After lunch we had the road test portion where we went out onto the city streets and the Belt Parkway had to show we could drive safely plus a few drivers test type things like parallel park and do a ‘K’-turn. Again no problems. I really have no idea when/if I will ever get to use my certification at work but its just cool to have and was fun to do.

This week it’s back to “real” work (training is done for now).

Mermaid Parade »« FBI

FBI

FBI, originally uploaded by zombie_criminalist.

Last week got a call from an FBI agent at working asking where we were located because he had a certificate to drop off. Had no idea what for and totally wasn’t expecting this! Its in thanks for a bank robbery case I worked last year and ended up testifying on. I don’t have a picture of it but it came in a very nice embossed holder. Very fancy!

Driving lessons.. »« Epic Road Trip wrap up

Epic Road Trip wrap up

So we are back from our epic southern road trip. We had a good time, did a lot of driving and visiting, and were able to avoid any major catastrophes or flooding (mostly).

Friday April 30, 2010 we dropped Hawkeye off at my parents house and did a bit of last minute shopping before heading back to NYC.

May 1, 2010

We hit the road Saturday morning around 5:45 am. Traffic was, as you would expect, non existent, and we got a good start to the journey as we passed out of the city and through the busier sections of NJ. We drove pretty much straight through, with just the usual rest stops, and a stop for lunch at a small diner in PA, until around 5:30 that night when we decided we were done for the day. Ended up spending the night in the small town of Jeffersonville,OH. Got a hotel room for the night and had a nice dinner at this BBQ place that was all of a 1 minute walk down the street from our hotel. One of my goals for the trip was to avoid chain restaurants as much as humanly possible and I’m glad to say we were pretty much successful.

May 2, 2010

Got up Sunday morning and saw all the NYC Time Square drama on the news. Grabbed a quick breakfast at the hotel and got back on the road by 7am. After having really nice sunny weather for the first day of our trip, this second day was dark and overcast and we spent most of it driving though the rain. Seems we picked a great time to visit KY and TN as they got hit with record rain storms and TN was hammered by flooding that they haven’t seen in like 100 years. We finally made it to Megs first set of relatives in KY (after some drama involving washed out roads) and got to have a nice lunch and visit for a few hours before it was back on the road again up to see her other Grandmother where we were spending the night. Ended up having dinner there with her and her uncle including a belated birthday cake.

May 3, 2010

We got a driving tour of the town from her Grandmother and after talking with her dad and checking weather reports decided to set out for her dad’s place down in Jackson,TN. Because some of the main highways in Nashville were still closed we took a slightly different route to get there which was actually quite nice and took us down though some small towns and really pretty areas of KY and TN. We made it to her dads with no problems and had a nice dinner (and more birthday cake) with them before turning in early given we were both tired from another long day on the road.

May 4, 2010

We hung out at her dads house in the morning and got to enjoy their pool. That afternoon Meg and I, her dad/step mom and her step mom’s mom all piled in the car and headed to Memphis to go see Graceland!

What can you say about Graceland? It was actually a bit classier then I expected. You take a walking tour of the house using one of those audio headsets that narrates history and facts to you while you go from room to room. You get to learn all about Elvis and the history of Graceland. Tour highlights include what you would expect including the infamous “Jungle room” which was actually not as tacky as I was expecting. The tickets we got also let us in to see his two private jets and car collection including the famous pink Cadillac.

After Graceland we headed into further into Memphis and had dinner at Rendezvous BBQ. The ribs and pulled pork were both really good so I can say I finally had some real southern BBQ.

May 5, 2010

Meg gave me a tour of her home town and showed me where she grew up and went to school which was fun. After it was back to her dads for some more time in the pool.

May 6, 2010

We got our car squared away (long story short stuff got fixed, cost a bunch of money, but we again have working AC) and we headed up to Nashville to see Sarah and Jenn. Unfortunately it wasn’t under the best of circumstances given that they did suffer some flooding and lost a bunch of stuff in the basement along with their hot water heater. Still we all managed to have a fun time at the mall (Meg loves Davis Kidd) and then we treated them to dinner as a thank you for putting us up for the night. We had fun when we got back having a few drinks, watching some MST3K, and playing with the four new tiny kittens that had just been born a week or two ago.

May 7, 2010

We unfortunately had to head out early to begin our trip back to NYC. We said our good byes, I made sure our luggage was kitten free, and we started our epic drive back. Since we were leaving from TN our route was slightly different this time (though really simple…I40 east to I81 north till we hit NJ. We stopped over night in Lexington, VA. Again simply because it was a largish town about when we got sick of driving. Lexington is home to the Virginia Military Academy so it had a bit of a college town like vibe and a very decent mexican restaurant we found for dinner.

May 8, 2010

Rest of our drive home was uneventful. Driving though NJ was messy as usual the closer we got to the city and then the drive through Manhattan to the tunnel was a nightmare, damn tourists. Finally made it back home round 3:30 that afternoon and were so glad just to be out of the car. Really the last 2 hours or so are the worst, you are so close and yet so far at the same time.

So that was our epic road trip. Now that we have done it I am looking at ideas for other longish drives. Have always wanted to take Meg to visit some area of Canada, which is really only 7 or so hours away.

Today it was back to work, got caught up on all the drama I had missed but nothing really that interesting. We are sort of back into our routine for the next day or two. Wednesday Meg heads off to FL for a week to visit her mom and family down there. Will just be Me and Hawkeye living the bachelor life.

This is too long already…will ramble more later.

FBI »« Ohio

Ohio

Made it to Jeffersonville, OH! We drove from 5:45am till about 5:30pm with a few random bathroom and a lunch break thrown in. Google maps tells us we have just about 5 hours to go till we hit Megs first set of Grandparents tomorrow in KY.

Trying as hard as we can to avoid chain restaurants this trip. Lunch was at some little dinner in Summerset, PA and dinner was at Werner’s Smokehouse BBQ which was not only delicious but also had the bonus of being all of a 2 minute walk from our hotel (also our waitress was cute and taller then me! ) It seems it’s also Prom night in Jeffersonville. We saw a number of kids all decked out, though the waffle house seems more popular for pre-prom snacking.

Just has a swim in the pool and soak in the whirlpool. Probably be asleep early tonight, which is odd since all we did was sit in a car…how tiring should that be? Shrug!

Epic Road Trip wrap up »« …a Man on the Move, and just sick enough to be totally confident.

…a Man on the Move, and just sick enough to be totally confident.

Back in NYC…for another 10 hours or so.

We had a nice overnight in CT. Hit the mall today so Meg could look for some more shirts. She finally got a job. Will be doing work from home for a web travel company. She doesn’t start for a few more weeks but it will be a paying job! She is quite excited to say the least. We also had b-day cupcakes to celebrate her b-day again at my parents and she got a few more pairs of socks as well as Sherlock Homes on DVD.

Tomorrow morning we start on our “Epic Road Trip” where we will be driving from NYC to visit her family in KY and TN. The plan is to do it over two days (its about a 13 hour trip). Basically we plan to drive till we get sick of it tomorrow, ideally get at least half way and find a place to stop for the night, then finish up Sunday.

Going to visit her Grandparents first and then go on to TN to spend a few days with her Dad. We have a few activities tentatively planned, maybe including a trip to Graceland!!! I also plan to get some “WORLD FAMOUS” TN BBQ.

Well a bit more last minute packing and then watching a bit more Jonathan Creek before bed for an early start tomorrow! Laptops will be coming with us so ideally we can update from the road/where ever we end up staying.

Ohio »« Random stuff

Random stuff

This past weekend Chelsea and Bret came down for belated/early birthday dinner and a movie with Meg and I. We saw Kick Ass which totally rocked. I had been waiting forever to see it (ever since I saw the red band trailer on line) and it totally lived up to my expectations. I was a little disappointed in how they changed a few plot points from the Graphic Novel (mostly the Hit Girl/Big Daddy plot stuff) but still was an awesome movie. After we got some dinner at CA Pizza Kitchen which was good.

Nothing too exciting going on this week. Doing Quality Assurance stuff at work and at home we are working on planning out Epic NYC to KY/TN road trip. Looks like we will be leaving next Saturday and probably breaking the drive up into 2 days each way. Have to see how we feel. Its about 14 hours give or take so yeah..epic drive but still better then the 800$ flying into Nashville would of cost us.

Meg’s B-day is next Monday, she is excited to get Ice Cream and maybe cake as well!

…a Man on the Move, and just sick enough to be totally confident. »« Work fail

Work fail

So I wish it was an April fools joke but today they told us we are no longer aloud to listen to music while working. I guess the rule is mostly intended for the cops on patrol which I totally get…personally I would prefer the people keeping me safe from crime and terror not to be overly distracted listening to the latest Lady Gaga track or something. But for those of us in the lab who some times have to sit at our desks doing paperwork and case audits for seven hours straight a little music helps pass the time and just makes the lab a better place to be.

I wonder if they really think its going to help improve the quality of our work or morale because…yeah not so much.

Random stuff »« Flower Show

Flower Show

We went down to the Macy’s Spring Flower Show today in Manhattan. Meg always enjoys taking pictures of the flowers in the park so I figured she would have a good time here. When we first got there the Pet Runway show was just starting. People could bring their pets all dressed up for spring and show them off for the crowd. The host was named Lady Bunny and was “fabulous” though a bit of a risque choice for a family event but was totally awesome.

Work fail »« Garfunkel and Oates

Garfunkel and Oates

Friday night we had tickets to go see Garfunkel and Oates at Comix in Manhattan. I bought the tickets like the day they announced the show a few months back, not so much because I was afraid it would sell out or anything, but more so I could commit us to actually going. Much too often we see something we want to do, say “oh we should get tix and go do that” and never end up doing it.

So anyway, Friday after work we headed into the city. As a little pre-birthday treat I bough us the “VIP” dinner tickets which basically got us a reserved table and pre-paid for dinner and a glass of wine each. Dinner seating wasn’t till around 6:30 so we had a drink at the bar there while we waited. Was their happy hour so a rum and coke was only 5$ instead of like 10$. Yeah Manhattan comedy club drink prices…got to love em. Dinner was good, and the deserts were a nice little treat. Show it self started around 8, they had two opening comics who were alright nothing fantastic, and gave us time to have a few more drinks before the main show, which is probably the point.

Finally Garfunkel and Oates came on stage. (Real names Riki Lindhome and Kate Micucci) they have done some TV/movie acting and were just recently on the Tonight Show with their most popular song Pregnant Women Are Smug. As you can guess from the above link they are sort of a comedy song duo who also happen to be totally cute. They also got popular a year or two ago with their song/video for Sex with Ducks which was a response to a Pat Robertson quote that legalizing gay marriage would lead to legalizing sex with ducks. They put on a really great show, both Meg and I really enjoyed the show. Both agreeing that for one we have to do this sort of thing more often (though also agreeing that we don’t do it TOO often what with the number of drinks we both had and what they charge for them in the city.

Rest of the weekend was pretty low key. Because we didn’t get in till late Friday we sort of slept in Saturday and after breakfast went out for a walk in the park to enjoy the nice weather we are finally having. Today it was mostly shopping and doing stuff around the appt. I put away my winter stuff and got out the spring clothing, so I am sure we will have a snow storm in the next week.

Nothing too exciting going on with work this week, have SCOTT pack refresher training Wednesday which means I get to run around the hazmat training grounds in a face mask and air tank. Always an odd experience.

30th birthday is next week 3-30 for those wanting to send gifts ) No major plans, I have to work that day, have a glass fracture training class. No better way to celebrate ones birthday then playing with broken glass all day! Uh…or something. Meg is going to make me a cake and we may go out for dinner. Probably do more cake and what not that following weekend when we go up to CT for Easter.

Have to start dinner soon…trying a new Lemon Chicken Casserole recipe I found on line. Mmmm.

Flower Show »« Pep Boys Fail

Pep Boys Fail

So yesterday after work I decided to go get the cars tire fixed. I didn’t want to drive on the space saver spare any more then totally necessary. I figured since it was really close I would just go up to the local Pep Boys. Yeah that was my first mistake. I checked in and told them I just needed the tire fixed and might as well get the oil changed while they were at it. I was told to go wait in the waiting area…and I waited….and waited…and waited…. I gave them my key at 3:50pm. Finally around 6:30 I went to inquire as to my cars status. First the guy couldn’t find my paperwork and then said oh its done. Proceded to start processing the paperwork and hand me my keys….which weren’t my keys. He looked though more stuff and turns out no one has even looked at my car yet.

So I wen’t back and waited…and waited…and waited….about 45 minutes later he calls me over and says I am all set. Processes “my” paperwork and says the total is 72$. Now when I checked in they gave me the invoice and I SHOULD of remembered that it was a bit lower then 72$ but by that point I just wanted to get the hell out of there so I ran my card and he gave me my receipt and keys…which….yeah were neither MY receipt or keys. <HEAD DESK>

SO….I have to get the charge taken off by the Mgr. and then go back…and yes…wait…and wait…and wait. FINALLY at like 8 my car is done. Which again is just there to fix a flat tire and change the oil. The only saving grace was that the service Mgr. took the charge for fixing the tire off the bill and gave me 10% off on the oil change. But still…it was a REALLY long day. It probably wouldn’t of been SO bad but I had been up since like 5:30 and worked 7-3 before heading over so it was just a LONG day and by that point I was really HUNGRY. We really didn’t have any dinner plans and by that point would of taken a while to make anything, but after I left the Pep Boys I saw a Boston Marked just a block up the road so brought home a chicken feast for Meg and I to share.

Needless to say today I pretty much took it easy other then food shopping and making a darn tasty Vegetable Soup for dinner (with fruit salad still waiting us for desert)

Garfunkel and Oates »« Cosmopolitan…WTF?

Cosmopolitan…WTF?

This morning I came across a few pics on one of my co-workers Flickr page of a March 2010 Cosmopolitan magazine article titled “Inside a CSI Murder”. Its a mostly sensational/fluff piece on the Michelle Lee case (she was the Criminalist who worked at the lab and was killed last year). I guess with all the popularity of forensics and ‘CSI’ its not unexpected for the story to pop up here and there, I can only imagine what it’s going to be like when the trial of her alleged killer finally starts.

I found a copy on bittorrent so I could see the story. What is really odd is that the story is in Cosmopolitan magazine. So you have a story about the brutal murder of a young woman in the same issue as “How to touch a naked man”, “Curb Your Cravings! Without feeding your face”, and “Fashion:7 Items You’ll Wear the Hell out of”……uh really?

Who though that was a good idea and who approved said idea in the editorial room? The article it self is really unimpressive in my opinion. It’s really just a re-tread of stuff that already appeared in the papers last year, mixed in with questions to their forensic experts as to their thoughts on the case (with random forensic info graphics mixed in on blood splatter and fiber comparison).

All in all a truly bizarre reading experience.

Pep Boys Fail »« Valentine’s day weekend

Valentine’s day weekend

Well the original plan for this weekend was to go up to CT and spend it at my parents doing various Connecticut/Mass things. BUT….the snow storm and more importantly a flat tire put the breaks on those plans. Which is for the best I suppose, CT will be a nicer visit when it warms up a bit and there is a little less snow on the ground.

The stupid car is a mess right now. Meg found the tire flat on Tuesday, the night before the snow storm, and when I got home I was able to jack up the car and take the lug nuts off but the tire it self refused to budge. After an hour or so of trying and cursing I gave up and just left it parked where it was, with the snow coming wasn’t like we would be driving it any time soon anyway. Finally today I went back out there, was able to move it to the other side of the street, getting stuck in the snow and making the tire worse in the process. Again got it jacked up and tried banging on it with a big mallet a borrowed but again no luck. Looks like I will be calling a tow truck tomorrow and have it taken to my garage to see if they can be of any help. I imagine one its up on the lift it would be much easier to deal with getting the tire off, the fact I have to kneel in a pile of snow and slush I am sure didn’t make the project much easier. Not exactly how I wanted to spend my day off but oh well.

At least we got to have fun on my Friday off. Went down to the Museum of Natural History for a visit and had a really fun time. Took a bunch of pictures which are up on flickr:

Meg brought her sketch book and drew some of the animals in the dioramas. Place wasn’t too crowded, though there were a few school groups with annoying children who just ran around the place yelling. Seriously….thats why they need capital er…corporal punishment back in the schools. God knows I wanted to smack a few of them. We ended up doing lunch at the museum too. Were about to go though the main food area when all of a sudden a school group of like 80 kids showed up. We put down our trays and escaped. Ended up eating at their smaller caffe which is more….er upscale I guess. Was much nicer and they had wine
No major plans for Valentine’s Day. Even if the car wasn’t out of commission we really don’t make that big a deal of it. Going to take it easy the rest of today, and then tonight make Meg one of her favorite dinners with some sparkling wine and strawberries for desert.

Cosmopolitan…WTF? »« boring

boring

Nothing too post worthy as of late, plus I am lazy. It’s easier to think of 140 characters worth of something to say on Twitter then to have to come up with entire sentences to write here.

Guess the big news is that my sister Chelsea got engaged this past Friday to her BF Brett. I already asked them how many Elvises will be at the wedding. I will be happy as long as the number is larger than 0

We are looking forward to the season premiere of LOST tomorrow night. We may be bad and celebrate with some Ben and Jerry’s Mmmmm.

Valentine’s day weekend »« After Christmas

After Christmas

Christmas is over. We had a nice time the last few days spending the holiday up in CT with my family. I took Christmas Eve off so and we loaded up the car with gifts and the cat and drove up after work on Wednesday. Christmas Eve it self we ran out and did a little last minute shopping before coming back home and having a snack and alcohol filled x-mas eve. My sister and her BF had brought rock band and Beatles rock band for Wii and we had a good time playing that. Later we watched the traditional Muppets Christmas Carol. Later that night we ended up going out to midnight mass.

Christmas morning was nice. Everyone gathered around the tree opening gifts. I got some neat stuff (Monkey wall calendar and dinosaur coffee mug where they turn into dinosaur skeletons when you add hot stuff) My sister got Meg and I “his and her” towels with the “his and hers” denoted on the towels by XY and XX. Awesome! Last night we ran out to the movies to see Sherlock Holmes. Was nice mindless entertainment.

No real plans for today. We may brave the mall, we have a Williams Sanoma gift card to use and the after Christmas sales may make it worth going. Plus we really don’t have much else to do today.

boring »« Trip to the city.