Thanksgiving Extravaganza!!

Ladies and Gentlemen, boys and girls, this is the moment you've allllllll been waiting for.....the Thanksgiving recap! 

After we all have woken from our turkey-induced food comas and finished off the leftover apple pies, we begrudgingly make our way back to our respective normal lives and count down the days until Christmas (it's 23, by the way).  But here at Weekly Update, we cherish the holiday moments and use recent and current events as a muse to our blogging topics.  We've got a good one in store for you today, folks; full of mystery, drama, suspense, and even a few laughs. (ok, all that, except the mystery, drama, and suspense.  It sounded better with those words added, though.)

For those who didn't know, these three B-E-A-utiful faces graced our presence this past week.  For those of you who are asking yourselves who these faces belong to, they are: my sister Emily, my pops, and my mum.  One if by land, and two if by sea, they traversed through the rugged New Jersey Traffic and forged their way across the Hudson river to meet me along the eastern coast of Manhattan.  Hugs and kisses followed, along with a few endearing words and comments of how thin I looked.  I promise to everyone I'm eating well and often, I'm just back to being addicted to running again, and I have that whole, "oh my gosh he looks like he hasn't eaten in DAYS!" look going on here.  

Thanksgiving day itself was lovely.  We started off the day with a "treat" of sorts by going to the ever famous and oh-so-popular Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade!  Hooray and Hurrah!  It was pretty fun - we found a dece spot to stand by 53rd and Broadway, so we could see the big floats go by (see Kermit the Frog directly right).  I think everyone enjoyed the float, and getting into that coveted "Christmas spirit!"  Although if you ask Christine, she's had it in her heart for quite some time now.  Thanksgiving dinner was the main event for Thursday, and it didn't let us down, as it rarely does.  We took a risk with going to the hotel's restaurant for Thanksgiving, but it turned out to be deliciously awesome.  A buffet is always something you want to have for Thanksgiving.  I live by a cardinal rule of Thanksgiving:  Fill up your plate with food until you feel like you are going to explode and the food has lost any flavor, then get a plate (or two) of desert.  I did just that, and paid for it later when I could hardly move off of the couch.  Glorious bliss.  

Friday we took our time getting ready for Black Friday.  We didn't want to be caught up in the insane pandemonium that America feels every year on the day after Thanksgiving.  And reading some news stories from the past weekend, I'm pretty glad we "missed out."  Surpringly, we ate food after a night of feasting, and even met up with a few of my father's friends at the always amazing John's Pizzeria with a Manhattan native who has made his new home in Cincinnati.  They were actually a hoot.  He was a Cuban man born in Washington Heights, and grew up in New York and Miami, deciding recently to move to Cincinnati.  Let's just say that there wasn't a quiet moment at the table, and I learned a great deal about New York and Miami, and the differences and similarities between the two.  It was a fun lunch, and we ended up spending a bunch of time at the restaurant, which was great.  We decided to "shop" down 34th street for like an hour and a few things were bought, a few wallets were opened, and a few feet were tired.  After shop-fest we made our way to watch a movie, which was also lovely.

Saturday was filled with teary-eyed goodbyes, last-minute grocery visits, and somber spirits as the family left wonderful New Jersey for Midwestern America.  It was a great visit, and we were so happy to have spent the holiday with family, but all good things must end, as they say, and until next time, as they also say.  

Run of the Week

Run from my apartment (119 Dodd Street Apt. 1R, Weehawken, NJ 07086 for those who love sending care packages and other monetary gifts) down to Frank Sinatra Park in Hoboken.  This run, which I'll admit, I haven't run in a while, is such a great run and blah blah blah blah.  I honestly was just looking for an excuse to put this picture of Emily at the park up on this here blog and I reckon I did.  Enjoy.

Week of Sports & Predictions

What's that?  None other than the University of Cincinnati Bearcat football team was just crowned the Big East champion and is going to the orange bowl?!?!?  Holy hula hoops, Batman, that's crazy!  I seem to remember my first two years at UC when the football team lost more than they won and people seemed to not care about them.  Congratulations, footballers - your time has come.  Celebrate by purchasing the out-of-season Florida oranges and make some orange cream pie or something.  Or crack open a nice can of that ice cold Forida orange juice.  You deserve it.

Also Uc plays Hawaii.  Look for a shootout in the Aloha state.  UC 49 Hawaii 21.

Bengals 9 - Indianapolis 28 - Are you serious Bengal fans (myself included)?  I'm all for packing it up and calling it a season, then grabbing a top 3 draft pick and hoping he turns out like Carson.  Except for the Browns - I want to win that one.

Uc basketball - 87 UAB 81.  We'll beat 'em.  Let's! Go! Cats! Let's go Cats!  The game is supposedly on here in NYC, so I suppose I'll try to watch it.  We'll see, we will see.

Thing to do of the week

Jump in a picture with New York in the background.  How freaking cool do people look when they jump in a picture and do crazy and weird things with their hands with an awesome skyline behind them?  Please, never ask that aforementioned cool person what they were thinking while jumping, just silently wish that you were cool enough to have a picture taken like them.  I realize most people don't live in the New York area, but I say to them: How often does someone come right out and tell you how you can gain a few extra "cool points" by traveling up to New York?  And with gas prices down, it's worth the trip, so do it.

Thank you for reading and paying attention through the documented journey of Thanksgiving.  It was a different occasion than normal and although I didn't get to see Christine's family in person, we connected via webcam, where I provided an amazing web tour of my gorgeous apartment, bathroom and pantry included.  I felt like they were with me, sharing in the greatness that is Apartment Awesome.  Until next week, when I'm sure I'll come up with something else, I bid you adieu, and leave you with the following quote from the great Michael Scott: "That's what she said."

-Eric