Vijay's birthday dinner

A group of us had plans tonight to meet up at the Macaroni Grill close to the Menlo Park mall in Menlo Park, NJ (or is it Edison NJ?)  My wife also wanted to stop by the shops in Edison beforehand.  To make these great plans happen, I had to get there. Instead of catching the bus home from NYC as usual, I used a one-way bus ticket in the AM, and I took a train from NY Penn Station in the evening to the Metropark station in Edison NJ.

It has certainly been a while since I rode NJ Transit, but it was a pleasant trip down memory lane — all those times years ago of running to Penn station, missing my train by 5 seconds, waiting another hour for the next train.   Today was one of the pleasant trips.  No running, plenty of time, and I rode in one of the new Northeast Corridor double-decker cars.

My wife picked me up at Metropark with kids in town, we hit a shop, then drove to Macaroni Grill, where everyone eventually showed up.  Kids were behaved, only one diaper that required changing, and the food was actually quite good.  I’m not a fan of Macaroni Grill, but they changed the menu, and the quality has improved. I was pleasantly surprised. The appetizers were good, my chicken parmigiana was excellent, and good wine.

It was a win for everyone.

Hot town, summer in the city.
Back of my neck getting dirty and gritty.
Been down, isn’t it a pity.
Doesn’t seem to be a shadow in the city.
All around, people looking half-dead.
Walking on the sidewalk, hotter than a match head.

Dang, it has been HOT this week. I’ve been in NY, and man, it is hot, humid, sticky, you name it. On Tuesday, there was no A/C on the morning bus.  It felt like we were in a steam-cooker. If the A/C is not working, why would the bus dispatch send it out anyway? That’s not right, and it’s not fair. Don’t do that, Mr. Coach USA.