After church on Sunday, we did a run to a local PetSmart in the area, and picked up six new tropical community fish and tall/medium-sized plants.  I figure let me set this tank up right — plants to clean the water and provide shelter (less stressful fish), and fewer fish in the tank to keep it nice and roomy. Let’s see how it goes this time around.

The aquarium is a buzz with life again

I was off today, which was very nice. The kids were both at school today, and my wife was off making the bacon.  I had nowhere to go today, it was rainy, and I was perfectly comfortable hanging around at home.  After dropping off the kids to school, I watched some tv, I cleaned up the kitchen, the guest room, and the kids’ room. I also did the laundry, and vacuumed the entire house.

My friend Doug came over around 1:30pm, as he need some help rebuilding his laptop with his new copy of Windows 7. We ordered some Domino’s pizza for a late lunch, watched some tv, backed up his data to my PC first, rebuilt his laptop, and copied back his data last. We unfortunately ran out of time to install his applications, but I guess he’s on his own.  He, in turn, cleaned and scrubbed my aquarium tank, and so the aquarium is up and running again.  Now, we just need some fish!

Finally, my wife and I fed the kids, gave them bathes, and got them to bed. I’d call this a most productive day, which are my favorite kinds of days.  Yes, I actually like productive days over lazy days, as I feel like I’ve truly accomplished something.

I love pumpkin picking

Saturday morning, we met up with my sister-in-law and her family at our house.  We drove down to Wall, NJ to visit Atlantic Farms, which has a small petting zoo.  We’d been here before back in October 2008, and I t hink Josh has been to another one recently on a school field trip.  Still, I don’t think kids ever get too tired of petting zoos.

When we got down there, there were no long lines or crowds of people, so we were actually a little nervous that there was no petting zoo, but there was.  I guess today wasn’t a specifically promoted day. Kids had a good time, and I saw basically the same farm animals from last year, like that cow with the big tongue that wants to lick my face. Josh had a good time, as his cousin Sophia was here.  Lily had a somewhat more trying time.  She went “baaa” at a sheep, the sheep returned the “baaa”, and she got scared. She eventually calmed down, and got into the whole petting zoo thing by throwing corn in the general direction of an animal.

Dinner with Doug & Kathy

In the evening, we drove up to my NY to drop off the kids to my parents for the evening.  After that, we immediately drove up to see our friends Doug & Kathy to hang out and dinner.  We ate at a surprisingly good Greek restaurant — “surprisingly” good not related to the quality, but that it was situated in a strip mall on Rt. 17 in Ramsey, NJ. I know Greek cuisine is big on seafood and lamb, but I stuck with a great tasting chicken platter. 

Worst present you can ever get me?  Seafood and/or lamb.

1. My wife took the kids for lunch with her parents Saturday afternoon at some new Indian restaurant, where there was a special Onam (South India / Kerala state Thanksgiving, if you must.)
2. BBQ at my friend Doug’s house Saturday afternoon up in Orange county. I brought the kids.
3. Two of my Michigan friends, Paul and Sean, were in town for the weekend for separate events.  We partied it up with my friend Doug Saturday night….. in Lodi, NJ!
4. Paul stayed over our house Saturday night.
5. Lily wouldn’t sleep Saturday night, and she was up with us (my wife had the 10pm-3:30am shift, and I ended up taking the 3:30am - 5am shift (or whenever she fell asleep on me on the couch, and I fell asleep too.) All I know is that I woke up with Lily sleeping on me at 7:41am. She was up soon after.
6. I took the kids to the pool late Sunday afternoon.  It got too cold after a while, so we went home 30 mins later.
7. I had dinner with the kids and my in-laws at the fancy-shmancy Red Lobster. 
8. Josh requested an imprompto sleepover at their house, and we obliged. I just had to get his pajamas and other stuff from home, and take them all over.  Lily stayed with me.
9. Monday was wholesale club and other shopping in the afternoon.
10. Monday night was a BBQ at my sister’s place.  We got home around 11pm.

Sometimes it was more “filled” than “fun”, but it was still an overall decent weekend.

The Captains Table restaurant in Monroe, NY

After work on Thursday, I drove up to visit my friend Doug for dinner and maybe a movie. His mother passed away about a week ago, and he needed some cheering up. I met up at his house, and we drove over to Monroe NY for dinner at The Captain’s Table.  It’s a decent hangout spot with both indoor and outdoor seating, a bar, and live music.

We BS’ed over dinner and drinks. After dinner, Doug was interested in seeing a movie, and I figured it would help cheer him up.  Also, I didn’t drive 90 mins to NY (with the expectation of driving another 90 mins home) just so that I can chat with him for an hour.

We drove down the street into downtown Monroe, and hit the Monroe 6 Cinemas.  The place was absolutely deserted.  That’s what you get for going to see a movie on a Thursday night in Monroe.  There were two people working the theater — one woman was working both the concession stand and selling tickets, while another fellow was there to run the movies and act as an usher.  Since there was no one there, the woman simply asked us what movie did we want to see. We elected to watch G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.  This was a movie that I was avoiding, but Doug wanted to see a 2nd time. We went upstairs, checked out the film projection booth (so cool!), and then spread out in the utterly empty theater. It was different to just chat and laugh loudly at the movie.  There was no one there, yet you are so conditioned to whisper. Definitely a new experience.

Oh, what did I think of the G.I. Joe movie?  This movie was a big, smelly turd. End of story. Horrible.  HORRIBLE.

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009)