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.

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.

Oh, my PC is my #1 friend, and my #3 friends are my plants. One of which is dying and I may need your help to figure out why this one plant is dying, but more on that next week.

So here's what i'm watching, and if you are watching it, feel free to comment!

{SPOILER WARNING AHEAD!}

1. Killing his daughter. That is what makes a great show, a twist like that. In many "weaker" shows somehow the daughter would have been spared and rescued. "She's not my daughter, she's just a pawn!" *BOOM* Dead.

2. The look on Ben's face was priceless and his reaction was AWESOME. Furious. FURIOUS. I mean the guy calls down THE BEAST on the soldiers. At first I thought he was doing some kind of earthquake distraction and then you hear that "Roooooaaaa" sound and It's On Like Donkey Kong. That was just great. What a way to revenge your daughter's death.

3. We finally are learning that the island is either a) in a different time than the rest of the world or b) Maybe even a different (parallel) dimension. The doctor washed up on the shore - yet he was alive in the other world. Yes, you could argue that the doctor WILL die, because the island is in a different time. But what if it's in a different time and dimension? I.E. you tell the doctor he's going to die - could you prevent his death? Is the future inevitable? Could you change the history of the dimension that you are in contact with, and therefore alter things? For example, we are seeing "flash forwards" to Jack and Kate and they talk about "getting back to the Island", which we know is in the past to the "real world". How far in the past? Is it the same dimension? It's certainly can explain, in a way, why Locke can walk - in this past dimension he isn't injured from his father. Something to think about.

4. I love the Sawyer & Hurley brotherhood that has finally formed. From once a mean bully to a protective brother Sawyer has come full circle. You can't help to really enjoy watching Sawyer or Hurley, both of them are just great, great characters.

Big Brother

I now into this show because of a girl I was dating introduced it to me a few years back. Now i'm addicted.

1. I remember first watching Ryan and seeing his girlfriend Jen and thinking "How did THAT guy get THAT girl??". He looked like an overweight schlub to me, but after watching a season with Ryan, now I can kind of see it, he's a cool dude with a laid back, nice personality.

2. Baller's (Adam) personality reminds me of me. Far too often I want to make everyone happy, please everyone and then somehow everything backfires and i'm the bad guy. Like him, I have a good habit of putting my foot in my mouth. He's screwed when he gets out of the house and finds out that all the parents with Austic children despise him. If I were in his shoes i'd donate part of my winnings to an Autism charity (and see if CBS would match his donation) to do some damage control. The editors of the show are just as guilty for getting him into the hot water - they could have edited those comments out.

3. Evil Dick coming back to the show was the highlight of the season. Priceless. The guy rules.

4. Shelia is so annoying. Someone needs to pull her aside and STOP her from playing the "Single Mother" card about everything. But, with that being said. If I was Adam, I would have taken her to the finals. I know that him and Adam are brothers, but you want to win $500,000? Bring Shelia. She's the weakest player and if the Jury house voted, I'd expect Ryan would win, unless Chelsia, Joshuah and James wanted to spite Ryan and get everyone to vote for Shelia.

5. Ryan has played his game extremely well and deserves to win.

Battlestar Galactica

1. Ok, let me understand this. You give Starbuck a trash ship, put all your best fighter pilots on that ship and let them go away from the fleet. Oh, let me guess - will this be the one time where the Cylons DON'T ATTACK because all the best fighter pilots are away from the fleet? Come on producers, that's just lame.

2. Raise your hands if you are tired of Starbuck and Apollo. Yea, me too.

3. Is the show turning into "West Wing: Galactica" with Apollo's new role?

4. Finally the OLD Baltar is back. Calculating. Confident. Evil. Dude, shoot the writer who turns him into a whiney weak bastard. He's my favorite character.

5. Callie is dead, thank god. All they had to do was give her a stroller and a cell phone and she would have been like all the other stroller moms in Hoboken. I'm guessing that Callie comes back and she's the 6th Cylon. Although a better plot twist would be Adama's son / Apollo's brother returning as the 6th Cylon - which kind of would make more sense since he hasn't been revealed all this time.

6. Cylon civil war - that's what I wanna watch! Fuck the battlestar and Adama and the President relationship shit. CYLON CIVIL WAR. You just know the toasters are going to be free soon and it's going to be chaos.

Firefly

This show is over, but caught the movie Firefly: Serenity on Tivo one day.

BEST. MOVIE. EVER.

Ok, i'm kidding a bit, but Firefly: Serenity was fucking awesome. I go back and now watch the TV shows and wonder what the fuck - how did I miss this show?!

If I won $100 million tomorrow, i'm flying to Hollywood and the new producer of Firefly.

An outstanding show that I think was poorly marketed. If you like sci-fi, go watch that movie and thank me later.

On my way out, I see a busted up old minvan sitting in the middle on 2nd street and Washington, like if it was stalled. It sat through the light and the traffic on Washington were going around the minivan - some people honking their horn and people on the sidewalks were starting to gather watching this spectacle in progress.

I was walking south, watching this with detached amusement.

I waited until the east-west light turned green, and was going to cross Washington at 2nd, and noticed that the minivan still didn't move, with westbound traffic going around him. Now this was getting silly and everyone on the streets were just standing there gawking.

There was an elderly man in the front seat of the dirty, damaged minivan and he looked confused and disoriented. Everyone was just watching from the street and cars didn't want to be bothered were going around him. It was a spectacle and no one was doing anything.

Fuck it.

I walked into the middle of the street, waving cars to stop, and walked right up to the minivan. He has his window rolled down, and I said, "Hey, what's wrong?"

The elderly man was wearing a ratty baseball cap, unshaven, and spoke in a light-Spanish accent, "I can't see - the light - the glare...."

I looked down 2nd street and he was right, the sun was setting in the west, and it was hard to see down the street.

"Ok, well I can guide you forward from out here, you can follow me...", I started to say when a cab passed behind me and honked his horn, yelling "USE THE GAS, BUDDY!"

Another Good Samaritian showed up and was on the other side of the car trying to help, but I think it just confused the old man more.

The elderly man was just out of it. He looked around a bit and wouldn't move the car.

"Why don't you turn down Washington, make a left here, and the sun won't be in your eyes...", I suggested.

"No, I got it. I got it.", he stammered. The car still didn't move.

Finally I had enough, and knew that being gentle wasn't going to work here.

With a bit more force in my voice, I said, "LET'S GO! MOVE IT!", and I spun my arm like a traffic cop might when directing cars to move.

Worked like a charm. His car slowly moved forward, and he rolled down the street. I walked to the westside of Washington, and the crowds that were watching this dispersed, and I heard them all mumbling about the old man being foolish.

I felt bad for him, it was clear he was just "out of it". Needed someone to snap him out and get him moving. I seriously question if a guy like him should be behind the wheel of an automobile, but that's not my job. I just wanted to get him out of danger, off the street.

Then I remembered, while walking home, a story my sisters told me once when they attended the University of Delaware in the late 80's.

All offered noble answers. Students raised their hands saying what they would do, some attacking the mugger back. Some saying how they would do CPR on the person hit by a car, or some saying they would stop and help the elderly person.

Weeks later, during class a student walked into the middle of class, and walked up to the professor in the middle of a lecture, with a test he was holding. He began to argue that he shouldn't have gotten the F, and he wanted to talk to him RIGHT NOW. The professor argued back, and the student struck the professor, knocking the teacher down, and the professor was on the ground, unmoving.

The class sat there, stunned.

The student moved away, and started to leave the lecture hall. The rest of the class didn't move. No one knew what to do.

The student ran up the steps, and out the door.

The class slowly roused, and the professor jumped up, saying "Well, now we see how you really react in a crisis."

Everyone gasped or laughed.

The student who "struck" the professor walked back into the classroom, and revealed that it was a test. The professor and student proved that most people are unprepared to act outside of "normal" situations, especially when confused.

I always found that story interesting to me.

Quick segue: Someone would make a killing in this town if an Energy Kitchen or The Pump opened up shop in Hoboken. I mean, think how many residents work out and then want a good, clean kitchen to order low-fat, low-sodium dinners? Hoboken411 reported an Energy Kitchen was opening up, but I think that fell through. Please don't mention "Pita Grill" to me. Should call it "Cardboard Taste Grill". I ate there at least 8 times, over the years, and i'm never satisfied with anything I have ordered.

Moving on.

I was walking down the street across Washington and 1st street, towards my house when I see two people head of me, next to City Hall, walking two well fed, dogs a pug and a puggle (For the record, I like Pugs and not fond of Puggles). Both dogs were wearing dog-sport-shirts, I read one that was blue/red and said "New York". Part of me was rolling my eyes because a) I was frankly amazed how overweight the small dogs were and b) I think any animal that is forced to wear clothing is stupid. Unless it is winter, and the dog's natural coat can't handle the cold, but it was a nice spring day about 55 degrees out.

I'm looking at the owners, and both are two well-fed Hobokenites, a guy and a girl, who appear to be in their early 30's. The guy is in a suit, with a ill fitting long black raincoat over a sloppy suit with a loosened tie. He's balding - one of those stubborn balding guys who think they aren't bald, and keep fighting to keep some kind of sembalance of a hair cut going. He's talking to her, and both of them are your typical LOUD YUPPIE HOBOKENITES that give the rest of us a bad name. The kind of Americans who go on holiday to Europe and annoy the the rest of the world with their loud, obnoxious behavior. I'm watching both of them and inwardly groaning at the both of them.

The girl is wearing a light blue pullover around her rotound frame, jeans that aren't flattering AT ALL, they hang limply from her waist, straight down to her legs - where normally 90% of the world has something for Sir-Mix-A-Lot to sing about - she has nothing. Baby got no back.

Now, bear with me people.

Look, I try not to be terribly judgemental.

Ok, scratch that, i'm kind of judgemental.

Very judgemental?

Ok, i'm basically the Judge Smails of Hoboken (bonus points if you know who that is without Google).

But seriously. Overweight and no ass? It's like a double whammy. I mean the one caveat of overweight women is that they have curves in the right places over the stick thin women with flat chests and no ass.

Yea, so, i'm a guy. I walk down the street. I look at girls. The straight men are checking out the girl's body and the gay men are checking out her shoes. I think 99.95% of the men do this. The other .05% are liars.

Then...slowly...slowly...I recognize the assless girl by the time I reached the corner of 1st and Bloomfield.

I haven't talked to this girl in over a year. I she was once a pretty good friend. You haven't been in Hoboken very long if you haven't lost friends over bullshit drama. She was now married and that was her husband she was walking with.

I was having a dilemma, while I walked behind them. Part of me was thinking I should stop and say hello. It's been so long, and honestly, I just have no real interest in being phony with someone that I really don't like. I certainly have no problem being cordial with people I don't like. But i'm not going to go out of my way to say hello to someone like this.

The couple were walking side by side on the sidewalk, taking up about 85% of the sidewalk. I walk very fast, and they are walking too slow, letting their dogs sniff everything they pass. I want to pass them, I literally will have to brush past one of them, with a hurried "Excuse Me", which would draw attention to me.

I looked for an opening between Bloomfield and Garden, right outside of Mulligan's...and I walked across the street to where the Guitar Shop is, and kept walking down 1st to avoid the risk that i'd have to talk to them.

I continued my brisk walk, and decided cut back over to the other side of the street at O'Donohughes. I'm sure they could have saw me cross the street. I'm sure they could have recognized me. I didn't really care if they saw me from behind.

While passing OD's, I heard them behind me, on the corner of Garden and 1st, still talking very loud to each other. Like the kind of people who walk down the street yapping on a cell phone.

Yes, a day in the life, and these are the things I think about. Am I the only one? I mean writing this I kind of feel bad, but it's what I was thinking. Maybe I write what other people don't say or maybe i'm just an analomy.

I was thinking later as to what stopped me from talking to her. We never left each other on bad terms. I just didn't want to go through the whole pleasantries. Part of me wasn't in the mood. If I ever ran into her at a bar or whatever, i'd be nice. I certainly don't hate her. She broke my trust once, and that's it for me. You lose my trust and you lose my friendship. She's just not a part of my life anymore.

That's about it.

BOSTON, April 7 (UPI) -- Growing numbers of U.S. parents are enrolling their
youngsters in etiquette classes to reinforce behaviors they struggle to teach
in the home, families report.
Parents say changing times have made manners harder to teach, blaming rushed
meals, television, movies, and technology for the erosion of social skills, The
Boston Globe said Monday.
"Parents are doing the best that they can at home. This is just to give the
kids a little additional reinforcement," said Jen Schaeffner, a mother in
Marblehead, Mass.
Etiquette classes reportedly have become a popular way for kids as young as 4
to learn table manners and conversational skills.
Critics argue the classes are unacceptable for young children, the newspaper
said.
"It's something that should be integrated into their entire day and not
transformed into a structured activity," said Susan Linn, a psychologist at the
Judge Baker Children's Center in Boston.

I don't claim to be Mr. Manners. Especially if you are a Giants fan. But I do often take public transportation, use the gym or i'm out in the bars and try to adhere to what my parents taught me. Here's a list that my friends and I came up with when it comes to lack of manners from our fellow residents. Add your own in the comment section!

1. Saying "Please", "Thank You" and "Excuse Me". Three of the most basic words ever taught to anyone and rarely heard on the streets of Hoboken.

2. Learning how to wait in line, behind the person in front of you. No, not to the side. Behind someone.

3. Holding a door open for a someone! If I already have passed through a doorway, and notice someone is behind me, i'll hold the door for them, so it doesn't swing back and hit them in the face. I dare any of my girl friends to say that I don't hold open the door for them when we enter any establishment.

4. Learning how to go up & down the stairs. Up the stairs on RIGHT, Down the stairs on RIGHT. If you are faster, and not impeding traffic - feel free to quickly ascend or descend on LEFT.

5. "Wide Legged" men on public transportation & people who put their bags on the seat next to them on the bus. Grrr.

6. Asking if someone is using a bench or equipment at the gym or offering to share the bench/equipment. Is it really that hard, "Excuse me are you using that?" or "I'm using it now, but you can join in." I think we all learned "sharing" in 1st grade.

7. If you don't have something nice to say...keep it to yourself! No one wants to hear, "Wow, you gained some weight, huh?" or "Your roots are showing!", or "Hmmm, you have one ugly baby."

8. Learn how to get on a subway or PATH. Step 1: Doors open. Step 2: Let passengers off. Step 3. Quickly get on the train, take a seat, or stand in a place that isn't right in front of the fucking door. Versus what I see every morning....Step 1: Doors open, the outside linebackers in high heels slamming shoulders into the defensive linemen in sneakers trying to get off the train. It's like Full Contact Musical Chairs.

9. Loud cell phone talkers. Shut up! I don't want to hear that your boyfriend isn't paying enough attention to you. I don't want to hear you beg mommy and daddy to lease you an Audi A4! I really don't care if you think you are the next Guido Gordon Gekko and talking about the "LAMBO" you drove last weekend with your "BOYZ". Shut the FUCK up! I get a call on a cell phone in the gym or on the bus - i'll say "Hey, can I call you back?", not, "LETS MEET AT LOUNGE 11! THAT'S RIGHT BRO! DJ'AIS THIS SUMMER AT BEL-MAWR!!"

10. Passing gas. Dude, seriously? Seriously? You have to fart in the middle of a bar or on a PATH train? What's wrong with you, exactly? At what point in your mental midget life did your parents completely forget the part about teaching you not to be a complete and total scumbag in public?

11. Not giving up a seat for the elderly, injured or pregnant. On the PATH I had a few people - men and women - who were very nice to me when they saw me with my crutches. I always make sure I get out of my seat if I see someone who needs it more than me.

12. Learning how to walk on a sidewalk. Much like the stairs, stay to your right. Don't sloooooooowly walk down the sidewalk with a friend, shoulder to shoulder and stop people from passing you. Also the stroller moms know what i'm talking about - you push your stroller, wandering the street, like you are on too much cold medicine.

13. Learn to hail a cab - don't stand 5 feet in front of someone else who was hailing cabs before you.

14. LEFT LANE = FAST LANE (i.e. Faster than Speed Limit!). RIGHT LANE = SPEED LIMIT LANE. Stop being idiots NJ drivers! Do not pass someone in the right lane, then get in front of them and SLOW DOWN. This is also true for you STROLLER MOMS out there! Stay to the right, ladies!

15. When it's raining use an enormous GOLF umbrella when GOLFING. Not for walking down the sidewalk and making other people duck or move out of the way from getting hit in the head by your umbrella. Gustbuster makes a great umbrella.

16. People who don't slow down at an intersection for pedestrians & pedestrians who blindly cross the street without looking. Both drivers and pedestrians feel like they have the "RIGHT" of way. You don't. Make eye contact with a driver before you cross the street, and LOOK at the lights to see if you have the right of way before you cross the street. Far too often I see mommys with strollers crossing when the light changes and then give the drivers the "oh yea just try to hit ME buddy" look while they cross the street.

17. Saying "Bless you" when you sneeze. Have we really become so self contained that we don't say that anymore?

18. Helping someone out that you don't even know. I was walking into my building when I saw an enormous newly delivered couch against someone's front door. While passing by I saw the neighbor who owned the couch eyeing it curiously and looking a bit helpless. I said, "Do you need my help moving that into your place?" He looked completely relieved, saying "Thank you so much! I didn't know what I was going to do, I would have to call some friends to help me." Another example, i'm walking around Tribeca and always see the "tourist lost" people. You know the type. They stand there with a map, looking around, completely lost and trying to find street signs. I just walk up and don't say "Hello" - I simply say, "Hey, where you trying to go?" They always look so happy and surprised that a NEW YORKER (heh) is helping them. Everytime they leave I always get them saying, "Wow, everyone said that New Yorkers are rude..." Of course that's because i'm a PHILLY BOY in New York, but lets not get to particulars.

19. Learn how to shake someone's hand. Learn it. There's an actual art to how you should shake someone's hand. Make EYE CONTACT. Show that you are interested in them. I always get the people who shake my hand and look away like i'm not important enough to pay attention to - how very rude. Or they give me the dead fish handshake. Or the "I'M THE NEXT DONALD TRUMP" vice grip with a strong pull towards them. Learn how to shake someone's hand. Really. It's good manners.

And finally for my peeps at ICAP in Jersey City...

20. The terms "Print", "Done" and "I'm a seller" or "I'm a buyer" when talking about anything in normal conversation, outside of work, is over. Mmmm-kay? You sound like a tool, and it's not really bad manners, but it's just lame. Also if anyone says "I gotta hop" anymore, I think it should be legal to take them outside, behind the shed and shoot them like Old Yeller.

We assembled a crew of regulars to bartend who were all Farside regulars, and jokingly called Dipper's: "Farside 2" when we first opened.

They were fun years. We weren't the "cool bar", we were a dive bar. We attracted people who liked to drink beer, throw darts, and get drunk - cheap. If you walked into our bar with $20, you would walk out feelin' great.

I would tell my family that bartending, to me, wasn't a job. It was like I was going out Saturday night, see my friends, get drunk with them and get paid. How great was that?

Certainly bartending was a great way to meet people, and meet girls, too. Behind the bar a guy can say anything he wants. Has a stocked bar to throw free drinks at cute girls. What guy WOULDN'T want that kind of job? I can only think of one other job that gets you more access to cute girls - a trainer at a gym.

When Dipper's closed, it was certainly end of something great in my life, and many others. The outsiders won't understand the spirit that a bar can infuse on their staff and regulars - it isn't just a place to imbibe, it's like a second home. I'm sure the regulars of Ted and Joe's know how I feel.

When Mikie's opened up, I had to go through the new interview process with new owners and once again, Fireman Joe was my Ace In The Hole. Turns out that he knew the owners, and I made sure that during the interview to drop his name in our talk.

It worked. I was on for Saturday nights. My only shift for an entire week, and it was exactly what I wanted.

But, the bar wasn't.

As much as the new owners, Mike and Cindy were fantastic to me, the spirit of Dipper's slowly faded away. I met new, great people, but missed my old friends. Some moved away. Some made new bars as their regular pubs. It was once a fun diversion at Dipper's and now turned into a 9 hour long job at Mikie's.

Every Saturday would roll around, and I would start dreading my weekends. It was hard to go out on a Friday night, because as you get older, your "bounce back" from drinking fades - it becomes harder to drink all night and get up fresh the next day. Sleeping in on Saturdays until 11am - 12pm would kill any chance of me getting much accomplished on a Saturday afternoon.

Sundays were just as rough, since I wasn't getting to bed until 3-4am. I'd sleep in again, and try to do something those afternoons, but I had my corporate job the next day. My sleep cycle would be all fucked up and often I wouldn't be able to fall asleep until Monday mornings after midnight or later.

Then Mondays would roll around and I'd be tired at Corporation X from the weekend, and i'd be catching up on sleep during the work week, often coming home Monday and falling asleep for 10+ hours.

Rinse, wash, and repeat for 2 years.

It was time for a break.

I knew I had the summer house in Bradley Beach coming up in a few weeks, and was planning to ask Mike and Cindy about taking a break over the summer. I planned to work out April and May, then possibly coming back in the fall if they had an open shift again. If they didn't, then it wasn't a big deal to me.

But things just reached a breaking point for me, and I needed to start my break sooner than expected.

I called Cindy, to ask if we could sit down and talk, I didn't want to quit over the phone. But she pressed, asking what was up and I could just tell her over the phone. I said how bartending just wasn't as fun for me anymore and I didn't want to quit, I just wanted to take a break until the fall.

She was cool, as usual, about it, asking when I wanted my break to start. I told her that I'd like it as soon as possible.

I guess my Saturday nights are free for the first time since March 2006.

On the back is the schedule for our gatherings at the bar, and the bar specials. Trying to figure out the "best" way to get these out to Phillies fans in Hoboken. Was thinking of going out next week (and draging some friends along), during the Mets vs Phillies games and trolling some bars for Phillies fans - hand out the cards and hopefully don't piss off the bartenders/owners.

My mom drove up last weekend, taking me to see Macbeth, starring Patrick Stewart, as my late birthday gift. I have been a Shakespeare in the Park junkie since I moved up here, catching a show almost every year. I got to see Patrick Stewart in The Tempest in 1996, in fact, and loved it.

Macbeth was....good. I can't say GREAT, only because I really had a hard time following the dialogue. I normally haven't had this problem in other shows, and someone suggested that with Shakespare in the Park that the actors have microphones and it may be easier to hear/understand them. Maybe that was it. Or maybe i'm just getting deaf in my old age.

Talking about going deaf & getting old...it's another night with Ratdog (Bob Weir's band after The Grateful Dead)...

This will be my third show in three years with Ratdog and it's at the Beacon tonight.

I've been reading that their recent shows have been a lot of fun. I sincerely hope it isn't another night of me at Grey's Papaya and getting home on autopilot.

What also is a lot of fun? Hearing how popular I am over at ICAP in Jersey City. I was out to dinner with Tiffany at Maru last night in Hoboken (so much better than Robongi - the fish was so fresh last night at Maru) and she was telling me how my little blog is the subject of lots of coworkers at her office, to a point where the heads of the desk shout: "WILL YOU SHUT UP ABOUT PHILLY2HOBOKEN.COM!!!!"

I blame our recession on Philly2Hoboken.com. I'm sorry everyone. Now get back to work, Danny.

Now that i'm working in the West Village, i'm starting to see the city in a whole new light. It's really not something that I can describe well in words, and I highly doubt anyone reading this will fully understand what i'm about to say, but bear with me.

Manhattan is just very....cool.

I hate to use a word like that. "Cool". Gee is the Fonz showing up? But it's the closest word I can really just decribe it. The midtown office wasn't cool. Sure, it was on Posh Park Avenue, but there's something very sterile and corporate about where I was - and the shops were all on Madison Avenue, the feeling to me was like you couldn't just meander around - you had to be "GOING SOMEWHERE" and the tourists were in full effect, standing on the sidewalks and blocking everyone.

In the West Village, however, it's just a more mellow vibe. I have been taking my lunch breaks just walking around. Exploring. Looking at the shops, boutiques and townhouses along tree lined, quiet streets. I feel like, on some streets, that i'm walking down a movie set - and in some cases i'll recognize a corner or street from a movie. There's also the people that live and work there - there's something just different about them. Something that Hoboken doesn't have.

You see, Hoboken has a great group of residents, but there's something very homogeneous about most of the town. The West Village has just a spectrum of people, and in some ways I get the feeling that many of them fall into three categories:

1. They are local & rich. This is the most popular person I see around the West Village. I walk around and see people between 25-45 just hanging out in their $500 Japan-imported distressed jeans, D&G sunglasses and well coiffed hair, with their dogs at the dog park or just sitting at a cafe and there's something different about them. They aren't on their lunch break and they aren't a rich tourist. They are definitely showing by the cut of their clothes and their expensive accessories that they are a "somebody" (or trying to be a somebody).

2. They are local & not rich. Sure, they may not have money, but the artists, dog walkers and ex-hippies that meander around are still just...interesting. I love to people watch, I could sit on a bench for hours and watch people pass by, look them over, and try to figure them out. They could be a working Joe like me, and just add to the flavor of the town. There's also a lot of kids around, which I didn't see so often in midtown Manhattan. There's a definite energy of the parents and kids vibe that I never really saw uptown.

3. They are a tourist. Lots of tourists walk around, you just can't escape them.

10 years ago I would have wrinkled my nose at the idea that Manhattan was so "special". I didn't get it. To me, what's the difference between the West Village and Hoboken which were seperated by a river? Heck, we could be the West West Village. On my lunch breaks, I walk along the river, by Pier 40, and I can see the Lackawanna Terminal and people on Pier A.

But I can say as much as Manhattan bug has bitten me, I won't be abandoning Hoboken anytime soon, I do look forward to exploring some of the bars and restaurants around my office in the West Village.

Anyone have some good places to check out?

It could be the only thing that I really liked about attending Villa-No-Fun.

Odd thing is that we all have our own version of how we see college, my experices were from 1990-1994.

See, for me, Villanova was a good educational institution, but forever marred by my social experiences there. I found 90% of the people to be stuck up snobby rich kids, with an elitist attitude that is somewhat similar to what we find with some yuppie Hobokenites.

I felt that the school treated their students like children, not adults. It was hard to party there, I remember sneaking beers into the male-only dorms and if we actually had girls at the party the RA (Resident Administrator) basically knew something was "up" and would start knocking on doors to break up the party.

Yes, i'm aware that now the dorms at Villanova are now co-ed.

Off campus, you were dependant upon your fraternity to party. I was in Delta Tau Delta, and I liked the brothers - we were an eclectic bunch of jocks, engineers, potheads and NROTC guys that loved to get hammered & goof off. Most of the sorority girls at 'Nova were a bit....cold. Except Delta Gamma, they were always the fun girls as I remember. Tri Delts and Kappa Kappa Gamma wouldn't give us the time of day.

So wouldn't you know it, I was bartending a few weeks back, and I get a couple of guys at the bar, and we are talking. One said he was from Philly....I mention my 'Nova connection, and they all perk up, giving me high fives - they were Villanova alumni.

We then get on the subject of fraternities, and wouldn't you know it....they are Delts, too.

More high fives and laughter.

They were younger than me. And I start to lay into Villanova, like I usually do, about the things I hated about it. The looks they give me are ones of "What? You didn't have FUN?"

I ask them, "Wait, you partied at...VILLANOVA?"

They are all like, "Hell yea. It was great!" They went on to tell me about some of the parties they had. I tell them a few stories of my own, like the time I decided to light my pants on fire.

Well, at least we all agreed that we enjoyed watching Villanova basketball.

This Friday i'll be over at Mulligan's watching Villanova getting trounced by Kansas at 9:40. Ok, ok. Maybe Villanova can pull the upset, but i'm a Philly fan, for crying out loud. We get miracles like once every 100 years, and the last one was in 1985 with Villanova vs Georgetown.

The guys from Bud Light emailed me to say that Mulligan's are having $2 pints, $10 Buckets & $8 Pitchers of Bud & Bud Light both Thursday & Friday nights during the games (7p-1am). That's always fun.

It is a new business in town, and just starting to get their "legs". I tried the sliders last week, and they were very good, with a fresh bun, juicy burger and yummy sauteed onions. The french fries, with cheese, were a bust for being undercooked and bland.

When I walked in, I saw the employees in there and "A Someone".

I put "A Someone", because it was clear as soon as I walked in this had to be a manager or owner, just by the way they were acting. I ordered my food, sat down, and waited a bit, while I sat in the mostly empty lounge at 2am on Saturday night.

After watching the Someone, and seeing him pass by my table, I blurted out, "So, are you a manager or an owner?"

He turns and sheepishly says, "I'm the owner."

I started to chat with him a bit, asking if he read his reviews on Hoboken411, and the comments by the people. He said he had read the site, and asked if I owned it. I explained that I knew the owner, and I merely contributed some of my content from philly2hoboken.com to their site.

I asked if he knew about the negative comments about his french fries. I told him that the french fries were too inconsistent, some people said they got them well done and some said (like me) that they were undercooked. I told him that one of the most important things he needs to stress with his employees is having a consistent product - from hot dogs to burgers to french fries. I mentioned that people may dislike many things about McDonalds, but the consistency of their product is key to their growth.

He agreed, and asked what I ordered. I told him I got the sliders and cheese fries again, and he called back to his employees to make sure the fries were "well done".

We spoke a bit more, he explained that his business partners were "friendly" with the Grey's Papaya people in New York City, but it wasn't associated with them.

Also went on to tell me that they are thinking of doing a Saturday & Sunday brunch. I told him that ever since mid-town Diner shut down that the mid-town would love to have a greasy spoon kind of diner back again. I said that an idea he should think of is having breakfast available, along with the regular menu, on late-Friday and late-Saturday nights for the late night revelers.

The owner was nice enough to throw in a sample of his fried perogies, and gave me a cup to sample his fruit beverages (papaya, pina colada, orange cream). I thought the fruit beverages weren't bad at all, even if the papaya was a bit weak (he explained that someone must have mixed it wrong).

I thanked him for his time, and told him that I thought once the word got out there that he would draw a good late night crowd. I brought the perogies down to Mulligan's and had Tommy the bartender & his pals try them out, along with me. The perogies were a hit, and i'll probably order them next time I get over there.