Great Restaurants.

So I have had two particularly amazing meals the last two nights. Last night I got to go with my high school friend Camille to a very small French restaurant called "tout va bien," which supposedly has been around a long time and was a hang-out place for French sailors. Anyway, I was the only American in the entire restaurant and was pretty much expected to speak French the entire meal, which was great for me because I love to practice my French. I had la soup a l'onion et coq au vin, which were amazing. Absolutely amazing. Then, after work tonight I went with my roommate to one of my favorite restaurants in the city. It is located in the West Village and is known for it's amazing jazz. It is called the garage and was an old firehouse that was converted into a restaurant. Tonight there was a latin jazz orchestra, and by orchestra I actually mean orchestra since there were 18 members that were somehow playing on this very small stage meant for at most 10 players. It was great. The only wish I had was to have a girl to salsa with because I absolutely love to do the salsa. We stayed pretty late and listened to a little of the jazz trio that came on afterwards and they were very good also. Overall, I have been eating amazingly over the past two days and hope that I will have some more great food ventures in the near future. Tomorrow is going to be a CRAZY day with a lot of work so hopefully this food will give me some strength.

Back in the Lab

I took the 8:55 train back to Manhattan this morning and I am back in the lab. This past weekend was a nice change from the city. I have been preparing myself for the crazy week that I have ahead of me. Perhaps being this busy though will be good so I can keep my mind off of the craziness that is life. I am possibly going to dinner tonight with a friend from Florida, so that will be amazing if that happens. I am exhausted. I have a sore throat/esophagus right now (which is either allergy or stress induced) and I took benadryl and of course now that I am falling asleep at my bench. Well, hopefully I will be able to make it through today. We have done a lot already and just finished lunch. Hopefully my throat gets better.

New Jersey

I took a train. It's been roughly ten years since I have been on a train in the Northeast and it was a bit confusing at Penn Station. I have been going the past three weeks with no mental relaxation, so I decided I would take the weekend off and go visit my extended family in New Jersey. I totally woke up to woods outside my window, which was very exciting. Supposedly there was a bear that came into the backyard last night and ate some garbage? Kind of interesting since I am sleeping in the family room on the first floor, right next to a square 10 foot window looking on the backyard :) Can't say that I actually saw anything though. It took about 90 minutes to get here (Mt. Arlington, NJ) and was only $14. This brings up a very interesting issue. For me to take a train to NJ it is a minimal amount, but to go to Boston, which is not much further it is over $100... I do not get this logic. It had been great here though. It's a great change of pace from the 1,000,000 miles per hour 24/7. I am literally sitting here looking out at just green tree leaves... so nice. I totally miss the northeast.

Last night I played video games until 2:30 am with my cousins. A very well needed normal summer activity. It was a lot of fun and has helped relax me immensely. Tonight I am going to go see Toy Story 3 again. It is crazy, since I saw the first Toy Story in theaters on Thanksgiving with my cousins about 15 years ago and then saw the second one with them also in theaters. So we thought it would be a nice to keep the tradition alive. Anyway, I am cherishing this little bit of relaxation before a very very busy week ahead.

Work

So I haven't had much to report since I have been working nonstop for the past three days. By nonstop I mean for at least 12 hours a day. I've been getting a lot of things done in the lab, but I have REALLY been feeling it physically and mentally... and perhaps a tad bit emotionally also. Tomorrow I present my experimental plan to my boss, so this is going to be interesting. Hopefully all goes well and I can push full-steam-ahead momentarily. I am in dyer need of a vacation right now so I think I am going to go visit family friends this weekend in New Jersey, which means I will be taking the train for the first time in over about 12 years. It is going to be interesting. Otherwise everything has been going pretty great in the city. I totally miss everyone in Florida!

Tony Award Block Party Pictures

Pastor Jonathan

Just saw Pastor Jonathan in the waiting room for chemotherapy. He looked great! They will be here for the next two days so hopefully I will be able to see them a couple more times. Very nice to see familiar faces.

Shows, Shows, and more shows

So over the past couple days I have been kind of sick, but I hope that I have stopped the progression of my sore throat. My roommate is still sick and he started six days before I did. Otherwise that I have been working a lot, but playing a lot also. Last night I went to see Jersey Boys, which was amazing- I had seen it before, but it is much better on Broadway. After the show we were walking and happened to be there when Kelsey Grammer was coming out of his show, so we had him sign out ticket holder- kind of funny, and he was very nice.

Then tonight I was so happy because I got to see Catherine Zeta Jones and Angela Lansbury in A Little Night Music, which was absolutely amazing. Beyond amazing. Catherine Zeta Jones just won best actress in a musical about six days ago and to see her perform was beyond words. Oh, and the best part. Both nights we had "partial views." Last night for Jersey Boys we were in the fifth row a little to the side and our "partial view" was a staircase that jutted like 5 inches in the view of the stage... so not a partial view. It was amazing. Then, tonight our "partial view" was in one of the boxes to the side of the stage. We were so close, we could see every expression. It was amazing. Then to top it all off. This was Catherine Zeta Jones last night in the show. So we waited and got to meet her and had her sign the playbills. She is sooooo much more down to earth than I would have guessed. I always thought that she would be acting like "queen of the hill" since she is an A-list actress, but she was very nice. She told all of us when asked what she is going to do with the Tony, "I am going to put it in front of my husbands Oscar." I was amused.

Random note: It took me a good thirty minutes to get the character Mrs. Potts from The Beauty and the Beast out of my head when Angela Lansbury came out on stage.

On the research side I have prepared my proposal for my research for the major boss in the lab (the neurosurgeon). I have been invited by her to come into the OR also, so that should be cool. Work has been really intense lately and I can see it only getting much worse. We will see how I will be able to deal with all of it. But in the meantime I had an amazing day today... truly an amazing day- one of the best in a few months.