Labor Day BBQ

We had a nice little BBQ in Ben & Uncle Rupert's backyard. Uncle Rupert & Ben live in consecutive houses on the same block and have their backyards combined into one large one. It's perfect for outdoor occasions and a rarity in the city.

DVDeals 8/31 - 9/6

There's not much going on this week with DVD releases and just a few sales, but it's better than nothing.

Best Buy Deals
- 10,000 BC for $9.99
- Transformers (w/ Optimus Prime mask) for $9.99
- Fast & Furious Trilogy for $9.99
- Beowulf (Director's Cut) for $9.99

Circuit City Deals
- Punisher for $4.99
- First Blood for $4.99
- First Blood II for $4.99
- Alien for $4.99

Signs of Autumn

Original Dates: September 1980 - September 1993

We're not even up to September yet, but it's felt like October for about a week now. Perhaps the transition to Fall has accelerated because school starts up early this year with a Sept. 2 Labor Day. There were certain signs in nature that reminded me of the beginning of the school year when I was a kid. There was of course the temperature drop that's a bit too cool for swimming. When my parents installed a pool, we would have parties almost every weekend. Friends and/or family from out of town would stay over for days at a time. When temperatures got cooler, less people would come over and gatherings would get smaller. The shortening of daylight symbolized that the fun days of Summer activities were over. I've always wanted to like Autumn because I feel more comfortable with its temperatures, but these memories of the end of leisure time are still triggered by the same changes in the environment that happen every year. There's also a smell in the air that I can't describe. Because of this, I don't think I can ever enjoy the beginning of Autumn.

Liam's Baptism

Today was baby Liam's big day as he officially entered the St. Paul & St. Andrew community. It was a great blessing for him to become part of the best environment in the city. All of the members are pretty close with each other and it often has a family feeling to it.


I usually don't get a chance to attend the Sunday service at the Church of St. Paul & St. Andrew since I spend weekends with family & friends in Queens. But I was able to shuffle my schedule since Liam's Baptism was already planned weeks ago. It was great to see everyone again. I usually only see the church community during the school year because of the volunteer work I do there.

Congratulations to Andrew, Joanne & Liam!

DVDeals 8/24 - 8/30

DVD Tuesday
There's nothing that interests me, but I'll post Heroes: Season 2 since everyone else in the world watches that series! Circuit City and Amazon both have it for $24.99, but you get a free film cell @ Circuit City. Best Buy has a special edition for $34.99 if you feel like getting a Kensei Mask with your DVDs.

Circuit City Deals
- The Island for $4.99
- John Q for $4.99
- Natural Born Killers for $4.99
- Italian Job for $4.99
- Blade for $4.99
- TMNT for $4.99
- Mission Impossible for $4.99
- Minority Report for $4.99

Carmine's (Times Square)

Location: 200 W. 44th St, New York, NY 10036
Cuisine: Italian
Hours: SUN (11am-11pm); MON (11:30am-11pm); TUE, THU, FRI (11:30am-12am); WED, SAT (11am-12am)
Phone: (212) 221-3800
Website: www.carminesnyc.com
Prices: about $25/person
Credit Cards: All major

Food: 9
Service: 9
Value: 8
Environment: 8

Frequency: Unique

Auntie Janice treated a bunch of us to lunch @ Carmine's today. So that makes it 3 times this year for my parents eating in Manhattan (the others being Michael Jordan's & Safran)... must be a record! We went to the 44th St. restaurant (the original is on Broadway & 90th), so parking was difficult, but the restaurant crowd level was comfortable. It was probably not as packed as other Times Square restaurants because Carmine's is family style, while Times Square is more for tourists and couples.


They started by giving us a fresh-baked bread basket, which was handy to keep around for the whole meal and was perfect for dipping into the entrees' sauces. We had fried calamari for the appetizer, which was a good amount for all 7 of us. Calamari is always a good, safe dish. It's hard to do wrong and everyone likes it. Out entree choices were mixed seafood linguine, chicken scallopine W/ lemon & butter and eggplant parmigiana. All of it was great. My initial thought of eating Italian was that it will be safe and at least good, but Carmine's truly stands out as one of the best I've had. All of the ingredients of each dish went well together. My unlikely favorite was the eggplant. It's a dish I usually don't get, not because it's bad, but because I usually prefer chicken or veal parm. I think I'll go for the eggplant more often now! The portions for all dishes were huge. This restaurant just wouldn't work for a 2-person meal. We were a party of 7 and only ordered 4 dishes, 2 of which were classified as appetizers!

The atmosphere was just as a family restaurant should be... spacious with great acoustics. We could hear each other talk just fine. There was no loud music in the background. They did a good job laying out the tables. The only negative was the less than clean restrooms. They just didn't match the presentation of the rest of the place.

DVDeals 8/17 - 8/23

DVD Tuesday
The only good item coming out will be Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Season 1. The surprise winner is Amazon. I haven't featured anything from them since the NY tax rules changed, but they finally made a move and lowered their price to offset the tax costs. The price ends up being $20.58 (tax included).

Best Buy Deals
- Lois & Clark (Seasons 1-3) for $16.99 each
- Braveheart (Collector's Ed.) for $8.99
- Shooter for $8.99

Circuit City Deals
- Aeon Flux for $6.99
- Tomb Raider Double Feature for $6.99
- Coming to America for $6.99
- Forrest Gump (Sp. Ed.) for $6.99
- 10,000 BC for $9.99

Frommer's iPhone App

We just launched a cool new iPhone/iPod touch app at work. The video below shows you what it can do:


Each city guide contains the full text from the books in interactive format with maps and points of interest. It's a great travel tool because of the interactive maps and location-based services. The iPhone & iPod touch are both very compact and have great built-in LCDs that can display maps and text clearly. Apps like this were attempted years ago, but the technology just wasn't there yet.

For more details and to purchase, click here.

Warren & Susan's Housewarming

On the phone with Kelly last Thursday, I was just telling her how nothing was really going on this weekend. Almost immediately after, my Mom called and told me about Warren & Susan's housewarming party. So Saturday alone consisted of Mitch & Elvira's visit and a housewarming party.

Here are photos from the rest of my Saturday:

DVDeals 8/10 - 8/16

DVD Tuesday
South Park: Season 11 is the most interesting title coming out this Tuesday. The best price I've seen is at Circuit City and Best Buy. They both have it for $29.99.

Best Buy Deals
- Demolition Man for $4.99
- Mask of Zorro for $4.99
- Under Siege for $4.99
- Enter the Dragon (Sp. Ed.) for $9.99
- Casion Royale for $9.99
- Saving Private Ryan (Sp. Ed.) for $9.99

Circuit City Deals
- Dragon for $4.99
- End of Days for $4.99
- The Order for $4.99
- Knock Off for $4.99
- Jackal for $4.99
- Star Wars I: Phantom Menace for $9.99
- Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones for $9.99
- Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith for $9.99

Note: Each week, there are usually a lot of Circuit City deals on older titles. It's worth mentioning that not all stores even have these title in stock. I noticed this after missing out on several occasions on Sunday morning. I'm giving a thumbs down to the Whitestone Circuit City in Flushing & the Uppe West Side one in Manhattan. The Union Sq. one usually has the titles.