Category: Life

Dig we must!

That was Con Ed’s motto when I was young, at least according to Mad Magazine (and if you can’t trust Mad Magazine, who can you trust?). And that was how we spent today — digging through Diane’s Dad’s papers and other things. Jeff spent most of the evening on shredder duty (he filled up two bags full, but there’s lots more to do tomorrow), while Diane and I sorted stuff and decided what to eliminate and where to send what survived.

We also enjoyed talking to the people who are renting the house — and they were most gracious hosts, feeding us lunch and dinner (and I’m sure that they would have given us breakfast if we hadn’t breakfast at the Rockville Diner before coming over; we’re going to try somewhere else tomorrow. While the food at the diner was OK, they burned the coffee, which is inexcusable), as well as helping us with the work (and also having gotten rid of a lot of stuff over the past few months, saving only things which looked possibly valuable or interesting).

In exchange, we got them interested in The Next Food Network Star, which we tuned into as a result of reading a story in the Murky Nooz, and which hooked us quickly. Next week’s episode is a double and leads directly to the voting — it should be interesting.

But that’s next week; tomorrow, we have more digging to do, as well as packing and shipping (Diane’s Dad thought he got rid of all of this stuff when he moved, but we’ve got a boxful for him!). I hope we can finish up tomorrow so that we aren’t stressed out Tuesday before our next flight; fortunately, Diane’s brother is going to be here in the next month or so and he can deal with what we can’t (we’re leaving all of the electronics for him to pick through, for example).

We were disappointed in one aspect of the evening, though — Ralph’s was closed by the time we got there. Fortunately, the International Delight Cafe was just across the street (in fact, we’d parked in front of it). They serve food, but at 10:30pm, everyone in the joint was looking for dessert — including us. And with 80 flavors of gelato or sorbetto, the only problem was choosing. Jeff, of course, went for chocolate, while Diane and I were slightly more adventurous (she had Koko Moka Fudge; I had that with Bavarian Mint). The ice cream was good, if a little on the gummy side; I’d go back cheerfully (though I’ll probably hit Ralph’s again tomorrow — it’s easy to find ice cream at home, but Italian ices are only available here as far as I can tell).

In the spring, thoughts turn towards Ralph’s

Today, we flew back to JFK for a long-planned vacation trip, starting with a few days of cleaning out Diane’s Dad’s house now that he’s moved to Tucscon. This time around, we flew JetBlue, and left from Oakland (significantly cheaper than San Jose), so at least I didn’t make precisely the reverse of my trip of yesterday — but it was close enough. JetBlue was fine, as always, and the food we packed to bring on the plane was tasty (and their snacks were OK). It was Jeff and Diane’s first time on JetBlue, and the DirecTV was a hit (and I didn’t mind it, either — in fact, I probably watched the most of the three of us).

Hertz gave us an upgrade to a Volvo S60, which was a nice surprise (and I prefer it to the SUVs they’ve been giving me in California). I didn’t expect to have any trouble finding the hotel, but I was wrong — even though I had the address. I knew it was near where Merrick Road and Sunrise Highway cross; I didn’t realize it was actually on the ramp between the two westbound streets, and therefore only reachable if you’re travelling west. We, of course, were travelling east from JFK, so we had to overshoot and look around.

But while we were searching, we passed the Rockville Center location of Ralph’s Italian Ices. I hadn’t expected them to open until at least Easter (and maybe later, based on the weather here lately), but they were lit up and taking orders at the walk-up window. So Jeff and I had our first ices of the season.

And now we’re in the hotel, waiting to feel tired enough to call it a night. I have a feeling I’m going to be the first one to fade.