movie magic


adam just sent this around and i can't stop laughing at it.

5 years worth of change

A couple of weeks ago, I finally took this sack of all of the change that I have collected for the last five years or so to the bank.

The bag wasn't very big, but goddamn, was it heavy.

I took it to a Commerce Bank (in Astoria, Queens!) since it's free to exchange your old coins into paper money there.

After loading all of it into the machine, it asks you to guess how much you think you have. Knowing that I had pretty much used all of the quarters for laundry over the years, I went with what I thought was a good guess of $63.78.

Mama, was I way off...

Those dimes really add up, eh?

The Festival Of Dan And Anna

Last week, my friends Dan and Anna got married here in NYC.

It was all very fun and tons of great people flew in from all over the place.

Here's my quick re-cap. Let's get things started off with the bachelor party:

The night started off at this place called The Four Faced Liar in the West Village.

Here's Dan and I. Note the devilish gleam in his eye.


After a few drinks, all of the sudden this guy walks in and delivers about one hundred tacos to our group, courtesy of the near-groom himself.

So tough!

Once we were fortified, it was time to move on to our next phase: McCarren Park in Brooklyn.

You can just tell that Aaron is ready.

The plan was to do random fun things and tests of strength.

We started off with a game of kickball. Actually, I guess the technical name for the style we played that night was "Sloshball". (you couldn't pass second base until you drank a beer out of the cooler that was waiting for you there)


Here, the two captains, Vince and Dan, picked teams. They saved the best pick for last.

Behold our intimidating, near undefeatable team!

I don't remember the official score, but I do remember that somehow we finished off 50 giant cans of beer in well under an hour.

After that kind of performance, the only logical next event had to be...

...Pull Up Competition!!! (the above contestants are Dan, Jeff, and Adam)

The final standings were:
1st place: Shane
2nd place: Jeff
3rd place: ME!!
4th place: Adam

Good work everyone!

After this, the night becomes hazy. I do know that we ended up at Bar Matchless for a while, and then I have vague memories of some place called Gallagher's 2000(potentially NSFW).


........


The next day, I called in sick for work. I also got a haircut and took a nap.


........

Finally, on Saturday, we had ourselves a wedding.

Not in some boring old church either. Instead, the ceremony took place at the shnazzy Waldorf Astoria hotel.


Kelly, Me, Aaron, and Lisa, about to make our entrance.


Fancy pantsy!


This is the only good picture that I got of the actual ceremony. Sorry. But don't Adam, Min, and Eric Z. look nice?

Yes. Yes they do.

Anyways, after the vows were exchanged, we were treated to lots of great appetizers and red wine and white wine and champagne and vodka and whiskey and beer.

Then it was time for dinner and dancing.

Fancy table, no?

After we were seated, it was time to introduce and bring in the wedding party:

Pretty funny.


Dan and Anna's first dance. Aww...


(photo by the illustrious Kelly Smith)


At one point during the dance, that guy started spinning Dan around super fast until they both totally wiped out right in the middle of the floor.




Ladies and Gentlemen, I bring you...

...The Cornejo!


Vince and Kelly chatting away.






Seeing this picture this morning made me realize that I forgot to eat any of the cake. Dammit! Can anyone tell me how it was?

The garter belt moment:


Pretty great.





Here is Aaron losing his mind. Also pictured are Vince and Ben. After hearing about Ben and his brother Chris for so many years, it was great to finally meet them. In case you don't know, they run this place.


Someone has a shiny new ring.


We challenge any of you to a game of foosball.


The Sliwoski Brothers. They probably were sad because the White Sox got swept away back to the Windy City on this day.

In akward conclusion so I can get out of here and go home, here are two pictures of me and my pals:



But seriously, good luck Dan and Anna.

It was a ton of fun.

A Very Greenpoint Fourth Of July
Here's a quick bunch of pictures from this year's celebration, guest starring my good friends Elliot and Aimee from Philadelphia (and Vincent too).

The day started by playing fribee in the park and running through the fountains.

After that, we watched Italy and Germany play in the World Cup. Pretty icy finish to that game, no?


Here's Aimee on a rooftop getting ready to watch fireworks.


Just before it got dark, the sky was super beautiful.


Unintentional (and reversed) red, white and blue!!
It looks like one of us can pretend to be sober more than the other two.

After having so-so views of the fireworks the last few years, I finally had success watching from my apartment:



Hooray!


Weeee!!

It was a fun night, and a great, LOOOOOOOOOOONG weekend. I was totally worn out by the end and couldn't wait to get to sleep.

But then...

Around 2am, I was roused from my sleep by some LOUD and ferocious fireworks. I layed there for about 5 minutes wondering when they were going to stop. I wasn't really bothered by them at all, but I just couldn't believe how long they kept going.

Finally, after about 10 minutes, I had to get up to see what was happening.

Here, presented in three parts, is what was happening on Franklin Street, directly below my window:



An entire city block of firecrackers!

It was so loud and never-ending.

Wow.

Afterwards, I was so jazzed by the spectacle that I couldn't get back to sleep.

U-S-A!!! U.S.A!!!