Finally February

I’m back in the saddle again! Once again, I apologize for the delays for updating this site – I have no excuses besides myself. (and that’s not even a good excuse, anyway!) But I come to you through the airwaves from New York to your respected homes, and hope you enjoy hearing about how some of Christine’s and my experiences have been in the self-proclaimed “greatest city in the world.”

Obvi, this past weekend included Valentine’s Day. As you have probably already seen from the pictures included on this post, we made a heart-shaped pizza for the festivities. It turned out pretty well, donchathink? We even made the dough, and since we didn’t have a “sifter,” we could use sifted flour, and the dough was literally like glue. But it was cool with me because Christine was the one getting down and dirty with the dough. But man, did it taste good!

We also hit up this pretty cool little joint called Beauty Bar. It’s in the East village, and it’s a converted old beauty salon, complete with the hair dryers on the wall and the salon chairs. They even have this insane deal where you can pay $10 to get a drink AND a manicure!! Needlesstosay, Christine was excited and labeled this one-of-a-kind bar as her new “favorite of the City.” They even played rock music from the 50’s and 60’s when we were there, complete with a dance floor. It felt like we took a step back in time. Only in New York (and L.A., San Francisco, and somewhere else?) can you find a place like this.

I was also in attendance, in beautiful Washington D.C., for the victory of the Cincinnati Bearcats basketball team over the Georgetown Hoyas. It was my makeshift Bachelor Party, situated on this weekend partly because of the game, partly because of the centralized location, and partly because my good friend Dave is leaving in March for the Peace Corps for two years. The weekend was phenomenal, and we pretty much overtook D.C. I still found myself breathe a sigh of relief, however, when we arrived back in New York at the weekend’s end. The City that never sleeps is starting to feel a little bit like home.

Something for the taste

Greetings, blog world!  Thought I'd give y'all a check in to see how things are going.

As I write this, the majority of the Eastern United States is blanketed or will be blanketed with snow.  I, myself, was awoken to the glorious sound of metal scraping concrete at no later than 4:30 AM.  Yes, my lovely neighbor thought it would be a good idea to get a "leg up" on the storm by shoveling the 1/2" of snow off his driveway before the real snow hit.  Niiiiiice.  It didn't help his driveway is basically 20 feet away from the window at the head of my bed.  It only took roughly 5 minutes to do the whole driveway, because there was NO SNOW YET.  

As some of you know, I have become reacquainted with this whole "running" thing.  New York City doesn't come to the top of one's head as a "runner's Oasis" by any means, but it has gotten me pretty pumped up about running again.  One of my friends up here, Ben, and I have been partaking in the bi-weekly "Thursday Night at the Races" track series at the Armory Fieldhouse in Washington Heights.  This self-proclaimed "fastest track in the world" is really an awesome place.  While I haven't been racing quite to the level that I was in high school or college, it's been a lot of fun joining other runners in my category, getting the adrenaline pumping again, and jumping in some races.  Two races of the Four have been completed.  We'll see what the future holds.  Maybe grandness?  Maybe victory?  Or maybe more of the same, which I'm cool with.

Christine and I haven't been too busy with our big-shot New Yorker lifestyle.  We've become more accustomed to areas of town where we've found are great places to hang out, mainly the West Village, where we seem to end up whenever we go out.  We've also found out that we totally dominate at Cranium.  We whooped Omar and Joyce this past weekend.  The highlight of the game was when Christine and Joyce were squaring off against each other drawing clues so Omar and I could guess the answer.  The word was: mutation.  Christine did a nice job, even though I had no idea what was going on and kept guessing "morph."  Omar, on the other hand, noticed something wrong with their drawing when he heard me yelling out "Morph! Change!", etc., and Joyce was busy drawing a hand being cut off on her paper.  See, she had read the word as mutilation, a quite different thing than a mutation.  It was great, we all had a laugh, and Joyce blamed her air-headedness on her pregnancy (which we let her get away with).

Music News

I have to give yet another shot out to Jon Foreman.  Not only is he the lead singer of the rock band Switchfoot, and he released 4 solo albums within the past year, he is involved in yet another new music project.  This time he teamed up with Sean Watkins of Nickel Creek to release an album under the name Fiction Family.  The cd is different than anything he's done, and has more of the bluegrassy Nickel Creek feel than Switchfoot.  It's really quite an enjoyable CD, with only a few songs I don't care for.  I've included the video for their single, "When She's Near."  You'll have to actually go to the blogsite (ericmayhaus.blogspot.com) to view it.

Charles in Charge

I know, I know.  This is pretty long overdue.  But, hopefully the sheer awesomness and utter brilliance of my writing will 'wow' you enough to forget I'm writing about a weekend that occurred an entire 2 WEEKS ago!!  For all of you loyal fans tuning in this week, you will surely know that none other than a certain 'Charlie Plageman' was the newest of the visitors to invade New York, and this blog post is dedicated to capturing the essence of his visit.  

The theme of the weekend was eating and walking the food off.  Then repeat.  The phrase of the weekend was: Dude, this is the best thing ever!  Christine and I probably said the phrase about 20 times each, using it to describe anything and everything about New York to her faithful bro.  Example: "We need to eat at Magnolia Bakery, they're the best cupcakes ever!!" or "Central Park is the best park ever!!", etc.  I'm sure Charlie wasn't buying it from the start, but he was willing to go anywhere in the City.  The first stop of the weekend was at this sushi joint down in the West Village that Christine and I had spotted a few weeks prior.  Knowing Charlie as the sushi connoisseur that he is, we felt the need to broaden our own palettes and try some sushi.  It was pretty dern good.  Highlight of the dinner:  Christine mistaking wasabi(ridiculously and painfully spicy substance) for avocado spread, and seeing her face as she realized it wasn't a spoonful of avocado she had just eaten with her sushi.  Priceless. 

After the sushi house, we rocked out all the way up to Times Square, rolled over to 6th ave and hit up Magnolia Bakery to mack on some cupcakes.  (remember, the best cupcakes ever!!?)  We made the short walk to Rockefeller plaza with a prime viewing of the tree, still in full force, while inhaling our cupcakes.  As usual, red velvet was far and away the best flavor.  Since poor little old Charlie was tired (and so was I), we hung out for a little while longer then hit the sack, in eager anticipation for the weekend spent exploring the urban jungle of Manhattan.

Bright and early Saturday morning, Charles and I went up to the Upper West Side to meet Christine for breakfast.  Yeah, we took him to The Restaurant.  If you have seen Seinfeld, you understand the importance of this place.  If you haven't seen Seinfeld, well, I don't really know why I bother.  This was the only time during the weekend where, when describing the food, used adjectives such as: "mediocre," "ehhh, ok," or "it's not bad."  The simple fact is, this diner really doesn't have great food, but is the only diner used as the setting in Seinfeld.  That alone makes this place "The best place ever!!"  Per our normal tour route, we walked around Columbia University for a bit, then headed down to Ground Zero and Lower Manhattan.  Being the studious Architecture student that he is, Charlie greatly appreciated the excellent selection of Architecture in the Lower end.  We saw the typical sights: Ground Zero, St. Paul's Chapel, the Financial District, the New York Stock Exchange building, the Bull, and the Statue of Liberty.  These sights and more can be viewed in the pictures.

                      

Our next stop on the tour was something that Christine and I had not done yet:  Walk the Brooklyn Bridge.  Now you might be thinking, "why haven't you done this yet?  Isn't this one of the most obvious touristy things to do in NYC?"  Well, once you move up here, sightseeing and stuff like that keeps getting put off until someone comes to visit and really wants to do it.  This was not the case, however, as Christine and I just wanted to do it.  Totally worth it!!!  See pictures below.  That should do the trick of es'plainin' it.  At the Brooklyn end of the bridge lies DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass), with all its cool shops and places to eat.  This was a recommendation by Jeffrey Krieger, a certain Phoenix native.  We didn't necessarily spend all that much time in DUMBO, so there's not much else to say.  It was pretty cool.  Dece, if you will.  

 

  

Onward to the evening hours of Saturday!!  We went to Chelsea Piers next.  Normally, in the summer months and warmer temperature, the Piers would have been loaded with awesome huge ships, drawings hundreds if not thousands to see the engineering marvels.  Winter months however, are not so much the case.  I'm not going to say it was a letdown, per se, but it wasn't what we hoped.  The good point of this story is that we were able to walk through Chelsea, which is a pretty awesome little neighborhood to walk around in.  I'll say it, I would live there if it wasn't for the expensiveness of it.  I said it!  We meandered down to SoHo and walked through the heart of the area to our dinner destination: Little Italy.  If Italian food and good, reasonably priced wine is your thing, then Little Italy is your place!  We walked down the 'main drag' of restaurants, one after another, until we were basically coerced into going into a specific restaurant.  It was also because it was significantly cheaper than most of the other places.  The food was great, the wine was good, and the atmosphere was electric.  I felt like I was in Italy.  Ok, I don't know what that feels, but it felt like Italy.  Directly south of Little Italy is Chinatown.  Arguably the craziest and strangest part of New York City, it's always a great time just to walk around and experience all that China has to offer to New York.  Whether it be the hundreds of massage shops, fresh fish and gross food market along the street, or shops specializing in stupid, cheap tourist crap, there's something to be said about Chinatown.  And that something is that it's crazy.  It's quite the experience, and it's fun.  The final stop on this eventful Saturday evening was up in the East Village at a pretty cool little Japanese Bar, which, with all things considered, is cheap and a lot of fun.  Located on trendy St. Mark's, this place is always packed, and Christine and I have had a great time each time we've been there.  We hung out for a while, then went home and watched Kung Fu Panda.  Hilarious.

Sunday was our "chill day."  I say that with a grain of salt, because we didn't really chill.  We walked around all day.  We decided to walk through Central Park for the majority of the day, and we actually got lucky in that it turned out to be a pretty warm day.  We did the whole stop-at-a-gyro-stand thing with Charlie, and ate our delicious meal at the busy intersection of 59th and 5th.  Really besides that, Sunday was spent just lollygagging around upper Midtown, trying to recover from the previous two days worth of walking around.

It was a good weekend, and we hope we convinced Charlie that NYC is a pretty sweet place *cough even for interning cough*, but as they say in the old country: "all good things come to an end."  I'm not going to lie, I was tired and ready for work to start again so I could relax for a few days.  But as we all know, I have this ongoing addiction with running, so my "relaxation" including racing and training every day since then.  More on that:  Ben and I have officially started Team Coors Light (yeah, it's a dumb name, I know) and are en route for a stellar 4-race season up at the Armory Fieldhouse.  Race one is already come and gone, and admittedly, leaves something to be desired.  But all is well, folks, as I have upped the training and am looking to be back in action this coming Thursday, January 22nd for a blazing 3000m race.  

Week of sports Predictions

UC beats Depaul.  "Gee, Eric, I really wish there was somewhere I could read actual interesting articles about my beloved Cincinnati Bearcats sports programs, and not have to settle with the boring, mundane game recaps that is the Enquirer."  What's this?  There's talks of an all-new, all-Bearcats sports blog?  A place for all Bearcat faithful to unite and talk about what we really care about? (No offense, Enquirer, but you're a newspaper, and can't take some of the liberties a sports blog can.)  Stay tuned for updates on this exciting piece of media.

Race - Ben runs 9:12, I clock in around 9:30.  I'm a realist.  And that realism is that I have to train a lot harder than some people to race as well.  Ben seems to be a natural racer, so I'm not going to be surprised if he beats me.  I feel 9:30 is a respectable time at this stage of my career.

The superbowl will host the Eagles and the Ravens.  Ok, I really think it'll be the Eagles and the Steelers, but to pick the Steelers would go against my religion.

Christmas and Other Sweet Things

As the food coma of Thanksgiving slowly wears off, and the temperatures drop below freezing, covering our sidewalks and streets in snow, much of America (and the World, for that matter) looks toward Christmas.  The Season of Hope.  The Most Wonderful Time of the Year.  The Day that Santa Comes.  A Day Off Of Work.  And yes, Jesus' Birthday.  But if any of you are like me, then you undoubtedly love getting your Advent Calendar and eating a little piece of cardboard chocolate every day of December in gripping anticipation of the most joyous of all Holidays, Christmas.  Or Christ the Mass, as they say in Swahili.  Or is it Turkish?

This year Christmas came, saw, and conquered.  I mean that in a Carl Sandburg kind of way, in that it swept over the world "looking over harbor and city on silent haunches and then moved on."  Even with the current financial situation of so many families in the United States, people still found a way to enjoy themselves and come together in an otherwise rough time.  As all of you know, Christine and I decided to stay in New York/New Jersey for Christmas, in attempt to save vacation time and money for our wedding in May.  Even though we missed both of our families dearly, we managed to have a great Christmas. 

We started off the Holiday season by redeeming our Christmas present from Christine's parents to see White Christmas on Broadway.  This was almost directly adapted from the mega-hit 1960's classic of the same name, starring the heartthrob Bing Crosby.  It was guuud.  I'm normally not one to admit this, but I got really into the tap dancing numbers.  Call me crazy, call me Bill, but there's a'something about the foot tappin' that gets me every time.  Maybe it's the fact that I could never, in my wildest dreams, do what they do.  This show was a great way to get us into the Christmas spirit, even though Christine had been "rockin' around the Christmas tree" since Thanksgiving.  We also managed to make our way up to Central Park during the Holiday season, as seen through our picture with the snowy landscape in the background.

Christmas Eve was chill.  Both of us, seemingly unlike most of Manhattan, had to go into work.  I'm not joking in that it felt like a ghost town.  Ok, I'm joking. But seriously, there were, like, a lot less people out.  And even less in the office.  But s'okay, I just cranked up the Christmas tunes and rocked out for the short day, before heading to Christmas Eve mass.  I actually had fun at work.  I've heard it said you should never mix business with pleasure.  Really?  Well then, explain to me how a Putt-Putt golf company operates.  

After our lovely Christmas Eve dreams of sugar plum fairies and old St. Nick, we awoke to a clatter.  Not really.  I woke up when I felt like it, and made a cup of coffee and watched TV.  It was weird waking up this particular Christmas morn, because the gifts had been under the tree for 4 weeks, so there was no "surprises under the tree."  I wanted to run down the stairs and scream in pure, unadulterated bliss as I viewed the tree in all its grandeur, but seeing as I live in a single floor apartment on the bottom floor of a building, this wasn't really possible.  Instead, we cranked up the Christmas music yet again and opened gifts in a civilized manner.  After gifts were opened and spirits were raised even higher, my favorite Christmas breakfast of Bacon and Goetta was served.  New this year to the Christmas season was the video chat, which Christine and I held between both families on both Christmas eve and Christmas day.  That helped with the fact we were not in person at either Christmas gather, and it was great to see some smiling faces as we talked to everyone over the Holiday.    Check out their smiling faces on the video chats images below:

  

The rest of Christmas Day was spent preparing our Holiday feast.  Christine and I prepared an entire ham for dinner, seasoned with honey, apples, cloves and various spices.  We also made a delectable dish of organic green beans spiced with bacon, olive oil, and red wine vinegar, next to a plate of freshly mashed potatoes.  To sum up the meal: it was delicious.  The next day, we met up with some friends from Church up in West Harlem and prepared another delicious meal.  Leftovers were to had by all!  And to all a good night?  You can see the two marvelous dishes below.

     

Another trend this Christmas was one of movie watching.  We watched movies galore, including my favorite, A Muppet Christmas Carol.  Hilarious still, even after seeing it for about the 10th time.  It was a great Christmas overall, but families were still greatly missed.

Sports Predictions of the Week

On this fateful New Years Day, the start to what will surely be the best 2009 on record, the mighty Bearcats from the University of Cincinnati do battle with the wimpy "Hokies" from Virginia Tech in the BCS Orange Bowl.  This is the first BCS Bowl game for the Big East Champions; a bowl that will hopefully prove to be the start of a BCS trend for UC.  After talking with a few of the UC players this week, I'm convinced we're ready to do some serious work on the Hokies down in Miami, but it's going to be a defensive game.  UC 17 - VT 10.

Bearcat basketball starts up Big East play this week against Marquette, a current top 30 team.  After our lousy play and loss to Memphis, we need to get a good win under our belts and start off the Big East play with more confidence and swagger than we have in the past.  And also NOT live and die by the 3.  We all see how horrible it is when we die by it.  Look for a resurgance of the post play by UC (or else we lose).  UC 74 - Marquette 68 in a nail-biter.

Music to Bring in the New Year

Now that Christmas is over, you need some new music to resurge your Ipod.  And that same old stuff from 2008 is soooo over, so you're looking for something new, right?  Well, for this New Years celebration, you can pound in the classic hits like "Pour Some Sugar On Me" or "YMCA" or even Prince's "Party Like it's 1999."  This year, Jonas Brothers and Miley Cyrus will be bringing in the New Year.  I know, slim pickens for some of us, but I say we just don't care for one night and enjoy the sounds of teen love and angst as we forget the troubles of the past year!

Run of the Week

Anything on New Years Day!  The most popular day of the year to run is this Thursday.  The sidewalks will be crammed with people who swear that "this is the year, this year, I'm going to run every day!"  And I hope they all do.  But it's a great day to run anyways, and a great way to start out the year.  You'll see me out there!

As this is being sent through the airwaves on New Years Eve, I wish each and every one of you a Happy New Year.  Do whatever superstition your respective culture calls for, and lets hope for the best as we tackle another year!

On the Corner of 3rd and 29th

Ahh, yes, another weekend has come and gone.  Another week back to the grind, as they say.  With only one week until the most wonderful time of the year, life for most people is beginning to become a lot more hectic.  But here at Adventures, life is finally starting to slow down and relaxation for the holidays is beginning.  Unfortunately, Christine and I will not be leaving the New York area for this year's Christmas in hopes of saving vacation days and money for May's Colossal event.  Even though it will be nice to relax around the Holidays for a change, we both will miss our families and think of them during our eating fest and movie watching marathon on the couch.

Last weekend was a weekend of firsts.  We started off the weekend on Friday by attending the celebration of matrimony for my coworker and good friend, Omar.  Taking the non-traditional route, he and his lovely bride Joyce (what a fantastic name!) held only a reception open to the public, in which they rented out a local party room for 50 of their closest friends/relatives.  Our camera was unfortunately in the hands of 2 confused-at-technology people (Christine and I), and it took until we left the party to figure out why the pictures were blurry, so no pictures can be posted of our time at the Gadalla wedding.  Christine and I were a little hesitant of the event at first, since we basically would know 2 of the other 48 people at the gathering, but it turned out to be a great night.  Their friends are fun and hilarious, with impromptu speeches and laughter galore.  I finally met Omar's dad, who is himself a famed ancient Egyptian historian and former Civil Engineer.  Those two professions aren't usually synonymous with each other, but he makes it work, and does something to inspire a fellow Civil Engineer/writer wannabe.  

The other event of the weekend was the famed Crosstown Shootout, the epic struggle between the two Cincinnati basketball juggernauts, The University of Cincinnati and Xavier University.  If anyone even has to ask who I was rooting for, just take this simple comparison as my reasoning:

     or        

You be the judge of the more ferocious mascot.  A Bearcat would LITERALLY eat a musketeer, as it's common knowledge Bearcats love chocolate and wuss schools for dinner.  

Even with my obvious win in the mascot department, Xavier won.  I wasn't too happy about the game, or even our playing ability, for I feel UC could have and should have won the game.  I may have jinxed the Bearcat hopeful by not having my ceremonial 2 cheese coney, small 3-way, oyster crackers with hot sauce, and large southern-style sweet tea meal before the game, but our motley crew did go to a UC bar in anticipation for a big win.  I was surprised with an attendance of over 20 UC Alumni (including Ben and J-bomb, who get nods as plain old UC fans) at the bar, making a homey and inviting atmosphere to be a UC fan. 

 

Much to the chagrin of those present at The Hill (not to be confused with the MTV hit drama, The Hills), Xavier prevailed and bested our favored Bearcats in the 40 minutes of basketball.  Deonta Vaughn led the Bearcats with 39 points, and pretty much tried to win the game by himself, but we still fell short.  Story of our lives.  We left the bar and retreated home, but with added hope that this season and even next season will have more in store for UC than the past few.  As you can see to the right, Christine still got in the Spirit.  And above, Ben and I are pathetic.

Saturday also held the event of Christine and I going to Macy's.  I stress that if anyone ever plans on visiting New York during the Christmas season, stay as far away from Macy's as possible.  It was a madhouse.  People pushing, yelling, and buying all at the same time left me wanting to get out as fast as humanly possible.  But we both got very lovely watches courtesy of the Plageman's Christmas gift. (Thank You!!)  I'm amazed at the sheer volume of people that fit into the store.  You couldn't pay me enough to work there during the season.  Well, I suppose there is an amount....

Another exciting event was the purchasing of Christine and my wedding bands.  We decided this was as good of time as any to make this purchase, as the jewelry stores all have sales during the Holiday season, and it makes our Christmas gifts easy.  It was a pretty cool experience picking out the bands, and makes me wish the May 23rd date came faster than it already is. 

Week of Sports Predictions

UC 79  -  Mississippi State 68

I feel UC made a big step in their near win over Xavier, and Vaughn is a superstar, so look for him to drop another 20+.

Bengals 56 - Browns 49

Another shootout like the '05 game.  This one won't be nearly as pretty, with Fitzpatrick struggling with 6 TDs and 7 INTs, but Bengals will prevail for 2nd week.  They're out of the running for the #1 draft pick, so they might as well beat the Clowns.

UNC 100 - Whoever they play 50.

North Carolina is that good.  Hansborough or not, these guys dominate everyone in their path.  They'll only lose this year if they want to.  Duke, what up?  UConn, what up?  "The only team that can beat UNC is UNC themselves," is the lamest comment you can make, but it's a true one. 

Music of the week

The Fray - You Found me.  They found me, addicted to their music again.  To me, their guitarist can be likened to a subtle rainfall while you're trying to sleep.  Awesome, until you take it away, then dearly missed.  Ok, so that was a horrible analogy, but he's really good and I feel really drives the band on.

Run of the Week

Central Park in the snow.  Fun AND not crowded.  

Hope y'all enjoyed it this week.  I had fun living/writing it, so I only hope you had fun reading.  Next week is Christmas, so if we don't talk to you before then, Merry Christmas!!   We miss everyone and can't wait to see you all again! Y'all come back now, y'hear?!  

End of Year Music Issue

For the past 12 months in the great year of 2008, musicians far and wide have poured their hearts and souls out into accessible audio formats for the general pleasure and excitement of the public sector.  Here at Adventures in the Big Apple, we have toiled long and hard all year long to come up with what we feel are the "Top 7 music albums of 2008."  If you find yourself wondering what new music people have been listening to this year, or realized that you, yourself, need to "update your palette" when it comes to the music industry, look no further than here and now.    Why Top 7 and not Top 10?  Well, I've found that these are the 7 that I find most enjoyable.  I could have included 3 more to make an even 10, or even cut out 2 to make it a more exclusive Top 5, but I chose to just pick what I liked and put that number down.  So it's 7.  Which rhymes with heaven.  Convenient? It's up to you to decide.  (I also linked to their music in every review so have fun searching for it!)

7.  Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend.  This is what the cool New York kids are listening to.  When I hear the name "Vampire Weekend," I immediately think of 3 guys with hair past their ankles playing speed metal.  Well, this group couldn't be farther away from that category.  Call them sensitive, call them weird, call them whatever you want (they're from New York, so they're used to it) - they are a talented bunch.  I first saw them on a late night show, and saw their drummer going absolutely nuts to what I thought was pretty chill music.  I knew they were something I needed to get into.  They're also the hot topic in my running clique, and messageboards and music blogs throughout the internet can't get enough of them.  I have to agree.  It's a little different than what some people may be used to, so Myspace them first.  

6. Jack's Mannequin - The Glass Passenger.  I'm addicted to Andrew McMahon.  I'll say it.  I'm not ashamed.  He has his way with words, in the Hemingway meets Lennon kind of way.  I'll join the throngs of teenage girls and emo boys who can't get enough of the former Something Corporate frontman.  I mean, the dude gets cancer, gets a transplant from his sister, and records an album right after it.  You can't help but hear it in the single Resolution - "I'm alive, I don't need a witness to know that I survived..." - he lays it on pretty thick.  This is a great follow up that I would recommend to any music fan out there.  It's definitely different from any Something Corporate record or his previous Jack's Mannequin record, but the guy sure knows how to write some catchy choruses and lyrics.  Check out the single here.

5. House of Heroes - The End is Not the End.  I'll admit, I never listened to their self-titled debut, much less even heard of these guys before this year..  But this album freaking ROCKS.  And they're from Columbus?  A mere 1.5 hour drive from my hometown?  I am mainly disappointed in myself for not reading the hype that surrounded their previous release, but excited to feel like I've come across a buried treasure of musical bliss to my ears.  (Kudos to relevantmagazine.com's The Drop that streamed their album in its entirety to my computer.)  Their debut single "In the Valley of the Dying Sun" was a hit on MTV and relavant.tv, and was a staple modern classic on radio stations throughout the continental U.S. (Hawaii and Alaska are "behind the times" when it comes to music.  No offense.)  I won't lie, they have a little place in my heart being from Ohio, but man, are these guys talented.  They kind of sound like a mix between Relient K and Switchfoot, which, in case you were wondering, are 2 of my top 5 favorite bands. Their name is pretty sweet as well, because it reminds me of Lord of the Rings or something.  I hope they continue to push the 'ol envelope with their sound, creating rock not yet imaginable, yet so perfect.  Go Ohio (minus OSU)!

4.  Hillsong United - The I Heart Revolution.  This actually isn't any new materical from the 'Blokes from Down Under,' but their powerful and creative release still got me excited about music.  Each song on the album was taken from a different show during their worldwide tour, which is pretty cool if you ask me.  From Toronto to Brazil, Tokyo to New Jersey, the worship team from the Sydney church of the same name provide a soundtrack for the new worship scene today.  Released later in the fall was a live DVD that showcased most of the songs and music from the album, along with footage of relief work and social justice issues the band faced during the tour.  Hillsong isn't a band that performs each night only to retreat to the bus and have all-night raves of Guitar Hero, they actually do something, which I feel warrants a nod in the "music of the year" in itself.  It definitely helps that they rock harder than I thought was physically possible on most of the tracks.  Whatever they do, they should keep doing it.  It's awesome seeing them jump and go nuts on stage - how rock SHOULD be.  Take a lesson, Metallica.  Download these tracks (legally): One Way, What the World Will Never Take, Take it All, and From the Inside Out.

3. Anberlin - New Surrender.  I was one of the lovers/haters of Cities, Anberlin's last release.  Although their new sound was electronic and hip and cool, I missed the passion and screaming from Never Take Friendship Personal.  Anberlin is one of those bands that surprises you with the way they rock hard and loud (The Resistance, Feel Good Drag, Disappear) and follow immediately with a softer, more accessible track (Breaking, Breathe), appealing to almost anyone.  This is their most overly spiritual album to date, and it oddly occurs with their first "big-shot" label release.  I wasn't expecting much more than a rehash of pop bands when I learned Anberlin signed with a major label, but this is a pleasant surprise and a breath of some very-much-needed fresh air to the world of Christian rock - where they show you can be creative AND in an act of worship.  Pick it up.

2.  Coldplay - Viva La Vida.  This was an easy choice, and the glamor pick of everyone else this year.  It shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that Coldplay is one of the most popular bands in the world right now, and it only takes one listen of their highly-anticipated 4th album to understand why.  I love their style and songwriting - it's so different from anything else, and it feels like you are watching an epic movie with events unfolding to an even more epic score.  My favorite track is "Yes," because it's a different twist to the normal Coldplay piano lick and high-pitched Chris Martin singing.  Martin starts off low and ends high in this intense, twisting rock piece.  I would have bet you your lunch money AND a pack of Skittles that this would have been the shoo-in for the Album of the Year, but that's why it would have been just a bet, and I would have lost like normal.  Because....

1. Jon Foreman - Fall/Winter/Spring/Summer EPs.  This is kind of cheating, as it is clear that Mr. Foreman broke his brilliance into four easily accessible EPs, corresponding to the four seasons.  For those of you who are new to Jon, he is the genius behind the alt-rock megaband Switchfoot, and cool enough to drop the 'h' from his first name.  And for those who've seen him go absolutely nuts in concert were probably in the same boat as me for his solo EPs: hesitant.  Don't get me wrong, I love Switchfoot's softer songs and acoustic ballads, probably more than the next guy, and I was overly excited about new material from Foreman, but I was more or less scared that he would let me down.  But he did not.  Oh, brother, he did not.  Jon touches on so many topics - from death and pain to renewal and joy to worship and praise.  And I'm not really even into to the whole "folksy-rock" scene that this falls into.  Maybe it has to do with my borderline obsession with the San Diego quintet, but I couldn't recommend his music more to anyone.  Brilliant.  

So that does it for this year's music list.  This is simply one author's humble opinion, but if you knew what was best for you, you'd take it for fact.  Tune in next week for more crazy antics, but enjoy the list as much as I enjoyed writing/listening to said music all yar.  Music is what makes the world go around - don't you forget it - and I'm happy to let you know what makes it turn the fastest.

Please leave me your comments, good or bad, you have of my list.  Also, leave your top music picks for 2008, because like the rest of you, I'm always up for some good music.

-Eric

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