May 2008 Archives

I don't watch America's Top Model, but reading the news I see that Whitney Thompson won the title for the reality television show.

My first reaction, was that if that's what "Plus Sized" is - i'm all for it. She's gorgeous, and i'm all for her shapley figure.

I mention to a friend of mine about this over email, and she sends me an email from her friend which says:

"The source is this wonderfully chatty boy in one of my classes...who says he went to high school with Whitney. The claim is that Whitney did not try out for top model but was approached on a plane by someone from the show. She was already doing modeling as a size 2 or 4 but because she was closer to a 4 she was a little too big for the show as a regular model. They told her that if she went and gained 10-20 pounds they would definitely put her on the show as "the plus-size model". She's about a 6 or 8 on the show. He even showed us this picture of her when she was smaller which was from a year ago.

This is her as a size 2/4:

This is her as a size 6/8":

That was all I got from the email.

Now, who knows if that email is accurate, or if it is bogus. Could be like those chain emails that get forwarded by my family & friends before they check snopes.com.

It wouldn't shock me if it was true. It also wouldn't shock me if the email from our mystery student was a hoax.

I really don't care either way. I think it's good for the kids to see that you don't have to be stick thin to be a model.

Last night, I got to see Van Halen at the Meadowlands.

Growing up, I was a huge Van Halen fan in Richboro. My brother and his friends Doug, Paul, Steve and I would listen to Van Halen on warm summer nights, usually after a day of playing baseball out in the cul-de-sac.

Music is a part of our identity. My music morphed from Van Halen to New Wave in the 80's, while my other friends went down the path of hard rock with bands like Megadeath, Iron Maiden and Rush.

The concert itself was a lot of fun. It wasn't sold out, which surprised me, but i'd say it was 85% full. The majority of people there were in their 30's, along with a few kids tagging along with their 40 year old parents. There was a huge cross section of society there, and if you like to people watch, like I do, it was just a blast looking at all the different walks of life at the concert.

Van Halen put on a great show, and here's some quick comments about their performance:

1. David Lee is ripped for a man his age. Still in great shape, but I was disappointed that he mumbled over a few lines of many songs. It was almost like he didn't know the lyrics or something. Very strange. Otherwise I give his performance a B minus.

2. Eddie Van Halen was incredible. The guy is a master on the guitar and you really don't get a good understanding until you actually see it live. My jaw hit the floor and rolled around when he did his solo. An A plus - the man is a master of his craft.

3. Wolfgang Van Halen did a great job, but considering he is filling in for Michael Anthony, that isn't saying much. But he looked comfortable on stage, and did well.

4. Alex Van Halen is still just as good as he ever was and is easily the most unappreciated drummer. Watch him live and you really see that this guy is excellent at what he does.

All said and done, I would give the concert a B plus. Would I go again? Probably not. Once was enough for me, but I was absolutely glad I went and got to see my childhood band in concert at least one time. If you grew up a Van Halen fan like me, i'd highly encourage you to see them in concert.

As Chris mentioned to me, "These guys were idiots for breaking up" - I couldn't agree more. If they could have kept it together, they would have went on to make a ton of great music and made a fortune in concerts.

I was reading a New York Times article about surfing, and was reading about guys, older than me, who still surf every day in Santa Cruz, California.

I couldn't fathom that with my schedule. Even if I lived in Santa Cruz, I really couldn't see myself, each day, going to the beach and surfing.

Well, for one, I don't know how to surf.

Secondly, I don't think I could just go, surf, leave and do that in under 2 hours. Maybe I could. I dunno. Matt could tell me how he used to surf back in the day in Ocean City, NJ.

After reading the article I thought how cool it would be to go to Hawaii or California, for a week or two and just learn how to surf. Nothing else. No sight seeing. Just go on a vacation on How To Surf 101, some place warm.

Then I started to think about other things, besides the Surf Camp, i'd like to learn or do before I die, and came up with my own "Top Five" of things that would be fun to do - say in the next 5-10 years.

1. Go to a golf camp, get a pro to figure out my game and fix it, so I can win some money at Myrtle. If anyone knows of a good camp...you know where to reach me...

2. I'm still in love with the idea of getting a dog. I just can't pull the trigger right now, but someday i'd really like to have one. Right now my fix will have to be thru my friends or family dogs.

3. Go on a real camping trip, into the wilderness. As much as i'm a fan of air conditioning and running water, I also like the idea of a real escape from civilization - maybe a safari in Africa.

4. Get back to London. My visit at 16 was fun, but i'd rather see it as an adult & see all the touristy places that I skipped while nursing hangovers. I like the idea of going, but wouldn't want to do this alone & wouldn't like to do this at today's currency exchange rates. Would also like to include Ireland & Scotland in here, too.

5. Get out to more New York restaurants & bars. As much as I enjoy dining in Hoboken, i'd really like to get out and try some new places. Now that I have Saturday nights free, I have more time to get out and explore. I'd like to try to see some new bars and restaurants, preferably those that aren't French and don't require a jacket.

When I first moved to New York City, back in 1994, there are a lot of things about me as a man then that were different than the man I am today. I enjoy good sushi. I get my haircut at a salon, not a barber. I like drinking fine wines, scotch and ports with some imported cheeses. I love a good monthly massage. I get sports pedicures.

SPORTS PEDICURES?!

So there are "pedicures" that women get and there are sports pedicures that men get. The basics are the same, washing, scrubbing, exfoliating. The main core difference is that a woman's pedicure would involve getting their toes painted, while with a man, it's basically about cleaning up dry, cracked skin and unsightly toenails. What was once a bastion of a gay man, is now becoming the normal practice of today's modern man.

Yes, I get plenty of friends who are guys and girls that don't understand it. Feet are feet to them. Everyone has a different opinion on feet, and my opinion is that there's nothing more nasty than seeing a guy or girl walking down Washington Street in flip flops, and having dry, cracked flaky skin with yellow toe nails. I see it all the time.

It's normal now for men to buy body scrubs, facial creams and other grooming products that differ than our forefather's set of grooming products that consisted of shaving cream, a bar of soap and Old Spice aftershave.

I usually get a sports pedicure a few times a year, mostly during the warmer months, depending on the condition of my feet and if i'm dating a girl - and every girl I dated loved it.

In past years, I have been to a few salons to get this done, but now that i'm working in a different part of Manhattan, I decided to do some research, and try some place new. I knew that I didn't want to go to a "girly salon", I was hoping to find a place that was for men, and not a salon that had people working there with fucked up names: "Blaze" or "Rumor" or "Staci with an I, not a E-Y".

Lo and behold, I dig up a 2006 story about John Allan's on the New York Times website, do a bit of reading and find out that they have a location near my office in Tribeca.

I made the appointment on Friday, and got down there after work.

I walk into their building at 418 Washington Street (Tribeca New York, not Hoboken), and the look is "Sports Pub Meets Spa". There's a small bar, a pool table, comfy seats, exposed industrial pipes, and a soft House pulse beat playing on the speakers. I check in, and the receptionists ask if they can take my coat, bag and mention that the store next door, which incidently is a wine store, is having a free wine tasting.

Normally this is where i'd politely say "no thank you", because i'd be self conscious and wait. John Allan's was fairly empty, it was 5pm on a Friday and I didn't have anything to do that night, aside from meeting people at Mulligan's for the Phillies vs Giants.

I checked out the 4 person seat bar, which had 2 beers on tap, a few bottles behind the bar, and a red velvet pool table next to it. There was a bartender there, and a woman from the wine store next door letting customer taste a bottle of Rose and a Syrah/Grenache blend. I talked to her for a bit, trying the wines, and I did prefer the Rose over the blend.

After that, the told me that all the beers were on the house for paying customers or members - I think my eyes lit up too much because they added "Well, within reason...". The bartender poured me a glass of Sam Adams draft, I was brought into a back room, which had two comfortable leather chairs, and two large steel buckets, sitting in front of each. On the wall was an enormous projection TV, at least 7 feet long, playing ESPN. They had me put my feet into the steel buckets, which had soapy water, and on the bottom of the buckets I could feel smooth stones or marbles. They handed me the remote, and I sat there watching ESPN, sipping a beer and the woman working on my feet began her work.

I could go into details here, but I really wasn't paying at much attention. There was lots of cutting, scrubbing, smoothing, massaging and moisturizing that were related to putting my feet back into looking great. It lasted for 45 glorious minutes and in that time I drank three icy cold beers (but they did run out of Sam Adams after my first beer!), alternated my TV watching between ESPN and The Dog Whisperer.

The bartender came in afterwards and fretted about moving a full keg from the back room to the bar. All of his co-workers were women, so I offered to help. We moved the keg, and then he handed me another beer, and I shot a game of pool. Once that beer was finished, I had a nice buzz, tipped the bartender $10, tipped my pedicurist $20 and paid my $49 tab.

The result? Nice, clean, softer feet that will look great at Bradley Beach this summer when I have the shore house.