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Monday, May 19, 2003 - 1:49 p.m.

Productive weekend

Oh my gosh, was it ever! Golly gee!

Don't ask. I don't know where it came from either.

Casey swears she told me she had a review copy of Two Weeks Notice, but I can't for the life of me recall it, so it must not be true. In any case, we watched it, and the interesting thing about it is that Warner decided that, instead of simply putting up the text graphic that says it is a review copy and if you purchased or rented it, you're going to the terrorist holding camp in Cuba, they'd randomly take away the color for a minute or two. At least they warned us so that we weren't scrambling for the TV remote when Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant turned into Maureen O'Hara and Cary Grant. It was a decent movie, and we could see New Jersey in one of the Coney Island scenes.

Saturday the plan was for Casey to get her hair cut. Kerry, who had come over and stayed with us Friday night, had dinner plans and then was going to see The Over-Hyped Movie, but nothing else for the afternoon.

"What are you doing for lunch?" I asked her.

"I dunno. Wanna go to the Back Page?"

That was my plan. So while Casey had hair chopped off, Kerry and I ate wings and drank Yuengling while watching the Yankees on eight TVs because there were no other sports happening at 1:30 on Saturday. By 3, Kerry was gone and Casey had arrived and the Devils were on and we left after the first period. (One more win, and it's a New Jersey vs. Anaheim Cup final, Devils and Ducks, Misterzero vs. Dano.)

I love how sometimes a day with no plans turns into lunch in the City, a few hours at the Met, and a two-mile walk through the park to Port Authority.

As we reached the Met, I realized that I wasn't going to be able to hold all three pints of beer until we reached the bus station, so we whipped out our national museum membership cards and entered the museum for free and found the nearest restrooms. Then we decided to look at art. I'd just read about the Central Park exhibit and we eventually found that. It was drawings, sketches and blueprints of the park's conception and construction on display in honor of its 150th anniversary. We went to see Roy Lichtenstein on the roof and descended into three small rooms for the Goddess display (see previous for a little story about that). On the way to the Temple of Dendur ("Waiter: There is too much pepper on my paprikash."), I discovered some baseball cards from the museum's permanent collection that are put on display on a rotating basis. I used to have that poster, too, but I think we threw it out earlier this year.

When we left the museum, we walked along Fifth Avenue for a few blocks, then entered Central Park at 79th St. � the Miners Gate � and meandered along the trails and roads, up and down hills, through trees, past the children's zoo, down to 59th St. and the Plaza. (Best scene: A toddler toddling across the lawn toward one of the giant, exposed boulders while his father sat nearby. From the right, a large shaggy sheep dog � or some such breed � bounds toward the child, tongue wagging, and runs right into him, knocking the kid to his rear. Hilarious, trust me. His cries could be heard from where we sat, but Dad walked right over, picked him up, and showed him it was just a happy pup. Even from a distance, I could tell the kid was merely startled and wanted to pet the pooch.) With so much time until the 7:30 bus (since we'd let four hours fly by and didn't see any need to rush for the 6:30), we re-entered the park and walked west, emerging at the Artists Gate on 59th and walking down Seventh Avenue until we hit Times Square and the tourists. We pondered why anyone would want to go to the Olive Garden in New York City (let alone an Olive Garden anywhere), particularly when Restaurant Row is so close to Times Square.

Anyway, we were home by 8:30 and watched TV through the SNL finale before crashing.

But yesterday, that was the productive day. We put together the final piece of IKEA furniture we'll be needing for a long time, a 6- or 7-foot high bookcase for the living room, and we quickly filled it with the stereo, speakers and six CD books (that took care of the bottom two shelves) and a bunch of books. We put up some photos around the house, moved an older, smaller bookcase into the bedroom, and organized our respective desk areas. Within a week or two (since we'll be away this weekend), I expect all the organizing and decorating to be 99 percent done (it's never 100 percent because there are always some tweaks and changes you can make). After it all, I ate a big bowl of macaroni and cheese while we watched cartoons on Fox. I managed to get through the Sunday New York Times and we took a stab at the Sunday crossword together. Lying in bed later, Casey had a moment of realization and blurted out: "OH! The palindromic magazine is Elle!"

I slept well and my legs were sore this morning from all the moving and lifting and squatting and such.

I've also begun a weeklong project inspired by Casey's little Wish List book that will be described here later today or perhaps tomorrow. And we've had some rather big changes at work that would probably be boring diary fodder but I might get into it later this week.

For now: Lunch.

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