Random Notes....

This past weekend was Brian's bachelor party. Some things to remember from that night:

• I met up with everyone who went to the Mets game at the Boat Basin Cafe which is located directly under the entrance/exit of the west side highway at 79th street. It is one of those "hidden gems" in the city that you'd never know was there unless someone told you about it. It was a pretty cool place.
• I had a really good time just chilling with Max and Jerry at the boat basin just talking.
• I beat Max at foozball 5-4, then Andy proceeded to kick my ass and beat me 7-2.
• We went to a bar where they had a beer pong table all set up. I teamed up with Andy (who had never played before) and we only lost by 1. I think Andy actually made one or two shots but completely missed the table on numberous attempts. Good times.
• When hiring strippers to perform at someone's apartment, it is best not to pay their "manager" in cash, in full, before ever seeing the strippers or having the strippers step foot in to the apartment.

Two nights ago, Nicky did his usual routine of climbing into bed with Jennie and I some time during the night. While that is not unusual and would normally not warrant mention here on my blog, what happened later on does. Kids (and adults) will often talk in their sleep, maybe even cry if they're having a nightmare. That particular night was different. Jennie and I were awoken by hysterical laughter. Nicky was laughing non-stop in his sleep. There was no one tickling him. No one telling him funny jokes. No funny movies on. Just Nicky. Asleep. Laughing uncontrollably. Jennie and I went back to sleep and left him laughing in his sleep.

Yesterday I went on my follow-up interview at Signature Construction. The first interview was last week and went really well and the owner suggested I come in and spend a full day with him to see what I was getting myself into before accepting his job offer. Yesterday was pretty uneventful and along the lines of what I expected. The only thing that stood out was that he took me to a fancy shmancy french restaraunt for lunch. We met up with an acquantience of his (whose birthday was yesterday) and went to the restaraunt. Almost the entire menu was in French except for a few items that had english translations. "Le Cheese Burger" and "Le Burger" were pretty easy to translate by myself, but I had no clue on the rest of the items. I ended up having the grilled sirloin and fries.

This morning I handed in my letter of resignation to my immediate boss. I called him at home last night to tell him what was going on and we talked about it. He was very understanding of my position and the reasons for taking the new job and said that if it were up to him, he'd match all the money I will be getting at the new place to keep me around. It feels really good to know that he appreciates the work I do and I will miss working for him. It's been a really good experience working at R&L and I really enjoyed working with everyone here. I'm going to miss everyone, but at the end of the day, it's all about what is best for my family.