Hang in there, baby.

Apologies for the lack of posting. Somehow, with the marriage and the new city and the new jobs, blogging has slipped down the list of priorities. I hereby offer my promise (cold comfort though it no doubt is) that in not *too* long blogging will return here in some form. Things you might see here include: first-hand accounts of our wedding, photos from our fun honeymoon trip to the Bronx Zoo, shots of our cool, IKEA-filled apartment, and so much more! Nothing job-related, though. At least not by me - Sarah can blog about clarinet-teaching 'til the cows come home.

Broccoli... Celery... Gotta be...

Veggietales!

Finally, a reason to watch cartoons on Saturday mornings again.

And remember, whatever you don't hear, God made you special and He loves you very much.

Happy Weekiversary!

Sarah and I have officially been man and wife for one week as of a few hours ago. Needless to say, this is an exciting occasion. We celebrated with some homemade pasta (with meat sauce - my tastes of my bachelor days still haven't quite left me) and a giant bottle of pretty-OK Italian red (yes, that's right, I've been enjoying a glass of chianti).

Our day was pretty fun. We slept in, then after a tasty lunch at Quiznos and an unsuccessful attempt to board the 1 Train (doesn't run south of 14th Street on weekends), we took the R Train to Times Square, from which we headed south to Mood Fabrics (as seen on the wife's favorite non-animated TV program). At Mood, we shopped around a while, looking for a fabric from which to make a curtain for our bedroom window. Needless to say, I was very macho the whole time. ¿Quien es mas macho? Angus Dwyer es mas macho.

After Mood we headed north to check out the practice studio where Sarah will be teaching in the fall. En route, we stopped for some Nuts for Nuts peanuts (a New York street vendor classic - highly recommended for all visitors to the Big Apple) and to peer at the giant indoor ferris wheel at the Toys'R'Us in Times Square. (Which - have you noticed? - isn't really a square. What's up with that?) We found the studio - it's upstairs from Rosie O'Grady's restaurant (note: not this Rosie O'Grady's), and next door to the Ha! comedy club - but didn't go inside (mostly because we couldn't figure out how to do so withoutinadvertentlyy getting a table at Rosie's...this is probably something Sarah will have to ask about on the phone).

Anyway, by this time we were pretty tired from being so wonderful and amazing, and headed home. And then _yadda_yadda_yadda_ various things happened that conduced towards dinner being prepared (mostly by Sarah, though she'll deny it). I'll spare you the gory details.

Generally, we're well and are settling in nicely to the NYC. Tomorrow we have Mass at our neighborhood church, then the pickup of the second half of our first-ever Fresh Direct order. (Don't ask why it didn't come in one shipment. Really. It's not a very interesting story.) Then Monday: Da Zoo!

The Big Day Arrives

There's something I'm supposed to do this afternoon, but I can't quite put my finger on it....

I just wanted to thank everyone who's read this blog over the last few months; it's been a lot of fun. When next I post, Sarah and I will be married and in New York, beginning our new life together. Crazy man, crazy.

Please keep Sarah and I, and all our guests, in your prayers.

Talk to you soon, blogosphere.

Or, you could just graze on the lawn...

Apropos of this earlier post, Sarah and I have settled on a restaurant from which to serve our sad, sad vegetarian guests: the Spiral Diner & Bakery. It's about a half-mile from the church (one minute, fifteen seconds by car - we measured this afternoon). Peruse the menu and let us know what you want, if you are in fact among those poor, unfortunate souls that do not eat the meat.

Hopefully, I'll be able to offer a more complete review tomorrow... I plan to try to convince Sarah to get their all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast after Mass tomorrow morning...

And what did you do *after* you left the restaurant?
We went home.
Mrs. Simpson, may I remind you that you are under oath?
{sob} We went *fishing*....
Do these sound like the actions of a man who's had *all* he could eat?

We've been kind of quiet

It's due mainly to the new delicacies that Angus has been introduced to this trip (ask him how many dreams he's had of Whataburger since stepping off the plane) but it is also due in large part to the amount of time we spend pretending to be Ken Jennings at the Jeopardy! Archive (yes, it is what you think it is).

Truth be told, The Yankee and I don't actually talk to each other at all... we just quiz and read long The Brian-related interviews...

Mmmmmmmmm...meaty...

As many of you know, Texas = meat.

With an eye towards giving our wedding guests the full Texas experience, we've arranged for Cousin's BBQ, a local smoked-and-sauced-meat-peddling concern, to cater our reception. In addition to being a fine example of Texas-style barbeque - and trust me on this score, I've sampled their wares - Cousin's is also a childhood favorite of my bride-to-be's (perhaps she'll treat us to the story about why the dogs followed her brother Chris home at some point), so the nostalgia factor is almost as high as the tastiness.

Anyway, all run-on sentences aside, here is the menu for Saturday night (which, needless to say, will not be alright for fighting):

The Meats

• Brisket (that's beef for the not meat-literate among us)
• Chopped brisket (brisket that had to be taught a lesson...)
• Boneless chicken breast (no jokes there...)

The Sides

• Potato salad (the only reason Dan Quayle wasn't on the invite list)
  
• Corn on the Cob (my jokes, not the only thing here that's corny)
  
• Victory Cabbage (cole slaw to you Kaiser-lovers...)

The Beverages

• Unsweet tea (Sarah's plenty sweet enough, plus there'll be Sweet*n*low)
• Various soft drinks (including Dr Pepper, the national drink of Texas)
• Various cold beers (including Pabst, the only way to get Grant to come)

You'll notice (as the post's title suggests) that this is a somewhat meat-heavy regimen. If you are one of those poor benighted souls that does not know the sweet, sweet savor of dead animal carcass on your palate, and would like some kind of alternative entree (we're thinking veggie burritos at the moment) please email us to let us know.

That Way, Everything Will Be Nice and Legal

Sorry about the paucity of postings. We've been a mite bit busy in the last week-and-a-half or so, doing wedding-organization things and putting out a few fires of a late-developing nature. Everything's pretty much taken care of now, or will be in the next few days.

One notable wedding-organization thing accomplished recently is the acquisition of the marriage license.
(Note the Brain in the left foreground. He has indicated he'll act as the witness at the wedding, if need be, in consideration for our assistance in his plot to take over the world....)

We dropped it off at the church yesterday afternoon. We're returning there today to meet with the parish's lay marriage organizing guy, Mr. Martinez, and perhaps stop in briefly with the pastor, Father Bristow.

(And then, perhaps, some Sonic, if my powers of persuasion are finely honed enough....)

If you'd like a more close-up view of the license, and don't mind having to look at a more-than-a-little-dishevled Angus, here you go (all others scroll past, quickly):

The Brain: he's everywhere....