We Came We Saw We Crawled (In Rome)

Pub CrawlWhen Charles, Rachel and I visited Rome in 2005 the last thing I expected to do was drink until the sun came up.

That’s exactly what happened.

We stayed in the Yellow Hostel in the middle of Rome and, although we didn’t know it until the second night, we were bunking(in the same room not the same bed) with two Australian girls in town for the weekend from their Nanny jobs in Milan. Rachel quickly made friends and what do you know but they both had a thing for partying.  They told us about this pub crawl starting at the Spanish Steps they had heard of:  $25 for a t-shirt, a drink and deals at every bar/club and a night of spending time with people from all over the world drinking till we forget it happened!? Sweet, where do we sign?

We literally drank until the sun came up and we had to catch the bus to the airport to fly back to London. One of the girls didn’t come back with us. No news on how her night went, but since she went home with one of the guys on the crawl with us, you can draw your own conclusions…  Our reward for the night was a shirt that said ‘We came we saw we crawled’ that lasted about 5 washes and a hangover (on the Ryan Air plane) that you wouldn’t believe.

Seriously though, we had an awesome time and have some great stories to share. Getting kicked off city buses in the middle of nowhere, BJ contests  in the bar, drinking beer at the top of the Spanish steps, drunken German speak, drunken French speak. Good times.

That said, if you get a chance to pub crawl in Rome, Do it!

The Backwoods Inn

Dad and I got up late today, had a nice ham and egg breakfast and then headed out on the trails with no specific destination in mind.

As is often the case in our neck of the Adirondacks, we ended up only a few miles from The Backwoods Inn (previously known as Ham’s Inn) around lunchtime.

It’s an awesome little local bar/restaurant. The top of the bar has pictures of the locals embedded in a clear coat of some kind. There’s a Newfoundland that likes to wander around inside and out and greets every snowmobiler that comes through the door.

The menu is just typical American food: subs, wings, burgers etc but the food is excellent and their portions are insanely huge. They have a multiple-pound-burger that’s free if you eat it all. Even their normal sized burger is too big for most people.  Dad had a regular burger and could only finish half of it.  I had a grilled ham and cheese and couldn’t even come close to finishing the fries.

Its located on route 56 in Parishville right near the route 3 intersection. Filled with local flair and great food.  If you’re looking for it from the snowmobile trails it’s on 73 on the eastern most section of 7A right along route 56.

Eat there if you get the chance!

George & Stacies Bachelor(ette) Parties

A while back while the best man was throwing together ideas for the Bachelor party I read an article from the New York Times about this sweet little par 3 golf course with several bars on site which seemed ideal for the type of shenanigans we’d be up to.  I forwarded the information about McMenamins Edgefield that I had, and to my surprise George (the Bachelor) had not only already heard of it, but really wanted to go.

This was my first experience golfing (probably Rob’s too as can be seen in the video above), and holy crap did I suck to start out with.  My skill level essentially fit perfectly to a bell curve over time.  I got steadily better (thanks to Newman and Andy’s coaching!) and then I sucked hard core (thanks to the alcohol).

From there it was on to some bars with a quick stop to take care of the Portland UprITe Battle of 2009.

The girls spent the majority of their time at Dukes which, if the pictures and videos are any indication, is a lot of fun.  It seems that almost everybody rode the bull with the exception of my wife who is the only one who foresaw the bull riding plot and wore a skirt to stop it in it’s tracks.

A great night for all involved!

Like a RockStar

CassandraMy niece sings karaoke every Friday at the VFW in Newark NY.  She’s been doing it for a while now.

Friday night Rachel and I went out to see for ourselves and I’m proud to say she has quite the voice.  She started with some Evanescence, then rocked out to some Sublime and No Doubt and a few others. All of which she nailed with the exception of some song she didn’t know and thus fumbled through with her friend.

The karaoke at the VFW was a much better setup than I expected.  The patrons even more so.  There were a few people that essentially owned the karaoke machine.  Then there were a few others which subjected us all to throaty renditions of Wonderwall and off key versions of Living on a Prayer.

Overall an extremely fun and entertaining evening.

Shorts (The Bar) – Rick Rolled

My buddy Charles was in town this past weekend for his birthday and we were out and about in Fairport NY.  Everyone was a little toasted by the end of the night and Brian and Charles took advantage of the empty bar at Shorts to subject everyone to a little of of their finest Karaoke.

It’s worth a look (and a listen) because it really is quite atrocious, as all good Karaoke should be.

Ryan's Wake

A Beer At Ryan’s WakeFriday we went to Ryan’s Wake. No no Ryan is fine, This isn’t some sadistic planning session. It’s just the name of a bar in Troy. On our way to New Hampshire we stopped over in Troy to visit my good friend Emily. As it turns out some of Emily’s other friends were visiting this weekend too so we got to meet them as well. We had a great night and we were glad for the place to stay for the night. Thanks Emily!

Peach Margaritas

Charles’ MargaritaSaturday my friend Charles and I went to lunch at a restaurant in Henrietta that I’d heard of but never been to, Seoul Garden where we had the privilege of paying extra to cook our own food. The food was absolutely excellent and so was the chef. It’s definitely a good destination for lunch with the work crew one of these days.

Emily and LizWe headed downtown after I heard my friend Emily was in town and she and Liz were going out. We met them at the Mex which I’d never been to before. It was a good time and we ended up hitting the Pig and Whistle as well as Monty’s corner.

All being told, a great night. I got to see a bunch of friends that I hadn’t hung out with in quite a while and Charles got to have his peach margarita.

Mets 1 Yankees 0

Friday I drove down to Poughkeepsie to see Charles for his birthday. After arriving we went straight to the city to meet some friends of his and goto the Mets game. The Mets won. The game had nothing to do with the Yankees I just like to taunt Yankee fans. After the game we met up with Sanjay for a lesson in expensive drinking and a place to stay.

Saturday Charles headed back to Poughkeepsie while I headed to the International Car Show with Sanjay. Check out the 2008 Ferrari for a sample. I’ll post a link to the whole gallery once the photo gallery comes back up. After the car show we met my Brother for sushi at Lan and had probably the best sushi I’ve ever had. After dinner my brother and I went to one of NYC’s oldest pubs McSorley’s for some Beers. They only give you two options, Light or Dark McSorley’s and when you order a drink they always give you 2 instead of 1. After that it was time to catch the train back to Poughkeepsie so we said our good byes and headed out.

That’s my trip in a nutshell.

Spring is nature’s way of saying “Let’s party!”

Is anyone interested in participating in the MS Pub Crawl? It’s for a good cause AND its a reason to drink all day. What more of a reason to participate do you need?

from mspubcrawl.com:

WHO: Everyone is welcome to join the MS Pub Crawl. Please help us spread the word.
WHAT: The Pub Crawl is our way of getting people together and making money for a good cause. We’ll head down Monroe Ave stopping at the bars along the way, 10 in total (see the map). You can stop at every bar, or just the ones you choose. Travel with the group or go at your own pace. To participate you need an MSPubCrawl bracelet – available online; or at Jeremiahs, Oxfords, Spikes, Avenue Pub, O’Callaghans, and Woodys. The bracelet get’s you great food and drink specials.
WHEN & WHERE: Saturday, April 28th 2007. The Crawl goes all day. The first stop is Jeremiah’s from noon to 2pm – then we spend about an hour at each bar along Monroe Ave and end at Woody’s at around 10pm.
WHY: To support the National MS Society

Work the Google on the Internet Machine

Last night I went saw Blades Of Glory with some friends. I give it a 7/10. Lots of good quotes. Some of my favorites:
– you put the bone in zamboni
– Work the Google on the Internet Machine
– Mind-bottling. Like your mind is trapped in a bottle
– It makes my hair shine like the Belt of Orion

Afterward we went downtown. I read this on the wall at O’Callaghans and thought I’d share:

Irish Diplomacy – The ability to tell a man to go to hell in such a way that he looks forward to the trip

Ryan came up with an Idea for Guitar Hero. Not going to mention any details but we may be asking for help from everyone so be prepared.

I just read this morning that Michigan is thinking about spending $38 million to buy all of its students IPods? How freaking crazy is that. I’m all for new an innovative ways to teach, but IPods? I don’t get it. When I took calculus it was required that I buy a Graphing Calculator, the state didn’t buy it for me.

Dan’s Video of the day for Friday: Internet Sys Op. Pretty damn funny if you ask me.

Matt introduce me to the New York State Real-Time Transportation Status site. Pretty slick. I can now check to see if it’s worth leaving work or if I should just wait a while until traffic picks back up.

Check out the video below for an innovative 3D desktop idea or for more info check out bumptop. I think it would work great with the multi-touch panels that have been getting so much press recently.