Party Planning

Welcome to the 6^th floor.

Today's contributors are: Ann, Sara

Subject: Party Planning

Got an email from Sara today, out on a job interview in San Diego. Some preliminary party planning ideas.

fromSara Sara

toann.6thfloorblog@gmail.com,

dateThu, Mar 6, 2008 at 10:47 AM

subjectCouple of thoughts

mailed-bygmail.com

hide details 10:47 AM (0 minutes ago) Reply

I had a lot of time to myself on the plane to San Diego, so I was thinking about the party. More Coconut rum, but this time better planned drinks. No Desert Islands! We'll pick up some other ingredients and make Mai Tai's and Bay Breezes and other tropical themed drinks. I think all the palm trees out here are going to my head. I've also had almost nothing but McDonalds and coffee all day. Maybe I can rip up one of these trees and take it on the plane? We could have our very own palm tree on the 6th Floor! I wonder if that would violate our lease...

So far my plane gets in early Friday, so I should be able to help you shop and cook. We should make chili,that's always fun for parties. I assume Mark's coming right? And Billy is bringing Janine? We'll have to try not to chase them off by having a party as dull as last years, although it is fun when it's just a few of us. I'm bringing back chocolates from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, but not for the party, just for us. I'm going to go get ready for my interview now, probably get some more coffee. I'll see you tomorrow.

-Sara

Going to San Diego

Welcome to the 6^th floor.

Today's contributors are: Ann, Sara, Scott.

Subject: San Diego

Sara hangs up her cellphone. “Well, I guess I'm going to San Diego on Wednesday.”

“They're flying you out there?”

“Yeah. I guess it'll be fun to look around for a day, new experiences and all.”

“Would you take the job?”

“You can't move to San Diego! You belong in New York.”

“So I can't consider sunny southern California? It's supposed to be nice out there.”

“Nope. You're not allowed. New York is your home.”

“So are you renting a car? Or just going to save as much money as possible and just wander around?”

“I don't know. I'm going to look later and see what I can do with name your price through priceline.com. If I can get a crazy low price it probably beats worrying about or paying for transportation to the airport.”

“When was the last time you drove? That could be fun.”

“Oh shush, I'm a fine driver.”

“Better check that the hotel has parking. You are going to be in a city, might cost more to park than to have the car.”

“That's a valid point. I just wish it was April, I could catch a Padres game. Maybe I'll walk over and stare forlornly at the park.”

“I'm sure there is something better to do in the city than stare at an empty baseball stadium.”

“Yeah. I hope so. I'm also going to see three new airports on this trip. I have layovers in both St. Paul Minnesota, and Salt Lake City Utah. I'm going to make sure I'm wearing my Mets Santana 57 shirt when I'm in Minnesota.”

“That's a little mean don't you think? I wonder if anyone in Minnesota is a big enough Twins fan to call you out on it. Especially in the airport.”

“I'll let you know! I'll only be in the airport for a very little while though, so It might not even get noticed. I doubt anyone in San Diego will care.”

“So you're coming back Friday morning right? Plenty of time to help out with our anniversary party on Saturday?”

“Yup. I'll call you when I get off the plane and you can put on a pot of coffee for me. I'm going to be exhausted because I don't sleep well on planes.”

“Sounds good. Hopefully you don't have a delay in the airport.”

“Make sure we have enough drinks this year. Maybe everyone won't bail on the party early.”

“Don't worry, I have a whole theme planned.”

“Anything you want me to get from San Diego for the party? Or just for fun?”

“If you see something that fits the theme, don't hesitate!”

“Bring me back an escaped Mexican illegal.”

Sara quirks an eyebrow at Scott.

“You're close to Tijuana right? I don't know what else San Diego has.”

“I'll find something, don't worry. I should probably go pack now.” Sara wanders off towards her room.

March

Welcome to the 6^th floor.

Today's contributors are: Ann, Sara, Tabitha, Frank, Billy and Scott.

Subject: March

“It's that time of month again!”

“Oh no! She's going to ask us about March! Run!”

Scott and Frank leap up and start dashing towards the bedrooms, but Ann blocks their way.

“Tough. It won't hurt that much, I promise.”

“That's what the doctor always says too, before he comes at me with a giant needle!”

“At least he puts a Mickey Mouse band-aid on your boo-boo.”

“Yeah, that's true.” Frank sits back down and resumes his game with Sara.

“Hey, I'm losing 34-22? You didn't pause it?!”

“Oh, you wanted it to pause it? My mistake.” Sara grins.

“You'll regret that! Prepare for an amazing comeback.”

“My birthday's in March, so that's cool. This year's the big Two Seven.”

“The big Two Seven? What's so great about 27?”

“Well, It's prime for one thing.” Sara calls over from the couch.”

“No it's not...nine and three..?”

“Oops. Nevermind. So what is so great about 27 then Scott?”

“I just wanted to say the big Two Seven. Nothing special.”

“I know it's a little cliché going with a food answers, but I like cornbeef and cabbage as well as Irish soda bread.”

“Speaking of that, did you see that Guinness is looking to make St. Patrick's Day an official holiday?”

“Not a bad idea. I love Guinness.”

“They got a petition I guess? I'd sign that.”

“915,913 signatures to go apparently. That's a lot in only two weeks. I don't even like Guinness but I think it's a good idea.”

“They even have a commercial, where they're interviewing what I guess is a pilgrim, asking him if he's jealous about the idea.”

“On that avenue of thought, I'm going to say green beer is my favorite thing about March.”

“Green beer? You know it's just food coloring right? I could make you some green beer right now.”

“Wouldn't taste the same if it's not the 17^th. Your turn Ann, I know how you like to weasel out of your own questions.”

“That's easy, my favorite thing about this March is that Wednesday marks one whole year of writing the blog. I'm proud of myself.”

“A bit modest are we? I'm going to say Easter. It's neat that it's early this year. I Looove dying Easter Eggs.”

“Yeah, that should be fun. Maybe we should all stick around here this year instead of going home to our families. Last but not least, Sara. No baseball reasons, you always find a way to make it about baseball.”

“But.. But..”

“No! And I might not let you use it in April either!”

“Speaking of days that should be holidays, Opening Day should really be a national holiday so we can all watch our national pasttime.”

“I'm with you there. Look on the bright side, I'm my own boss and you are unemployed. We can both watch it at leisure!”

“I knew there was a benefit to being home all day! If I can't have baseball, I'll go with the 'In like a lion, out like a lamb' cliché. I look forward to the warm weather again.”

“See, and no one died. If you guys start thinking about your April answers, maybe you won't find it so grueling.”

“And Frank, you suck. Did you just lose to Sara by 27 points?”

“Best two out of three?”

Seven Things are swimming

Welcome to the 6^th floor.

Today's contributors are: Ann, Sara, Tabitha, Frank, Billy and Scott.

Subject: Seven Weird or Random Things About Us

Occasionally we do these memes or tags or whatever you call them if we’re tagged. I always adapt it to the unique style of this six-person blog. This one from Brave Astronaut’s Order from Chaos requests seven random things about you. I was thinking about how to get seven things out of six people, and it just so happened we were all drinking at Catalina’s Saturday night so I decided to ask Clarence, our favorite non-Ann server, to answer the question also, although I didn’t tell him why or what it was for. First the rules, as requested by the rules.

THE RULES:
1. Once you are tagged, link back to the person who tagged you.
2. Post THE RULES on your blog.
3. Post 7 weird or random facts about yourself on your blog.
4. Tag 7 people and link to them.
5. Comment on their blog to let them know they have been tagged.

“So Brave Astronaut has requested we all reveal one random or weird fact about ourselves. I know how you all tend to dislike my little round-robin sessions, but I hope the alcohol will loosen you all up.”

“So you liquored us all up and now you’re going to pry information out of us? That’s sneaky!”

“You’ll probably get weirder things out of us this way too.”

“That’s kind of the plan. It can be anything, random, silly, weird..whatever. It’s just a silly internet meme.”

“Oh, I’ve got one! I once fell asleep during work.”

“Fell asleep!? While driving a subway car? Billy!”

“It’d been a rough night the night before. Relax, we were stopped in a tunnel and I kind of drifted off. I woke up to ‘Yo, Billy. The light’s green, get us moving!’ I think they just thought I was zoning out.”

“I guess that’s better than sleeping through a stop or something. I once dated someone that had Triskaidekaphobia.”

“No way, there are actually people out there like that?”

“Definitely. He avoided anything with military time, because he never wanted it to be 13:00. If I asked him to pick up a dozen bagels, if the bagel shop measured it in baker’s dozens, he’d always insist they leave out the 13^th bagel.”

“Wow. Crazy. I’m not surprised you’re no longer with him.”

“His thirteenth birthday must’ve been a nightmare.”

“I’m not positive on this, but I think he referred to it as his second 12^th birthday.”

“Kind of like how my aunt keeps celebrating the anniversary of her 49^th birthday so she’ll never turn 50.”

“Ha! That’s kind of cool.

‘How old are you this year?’

‘It’s the 11^th anniversary of my 49^th birthday.’

‘That’s..60? Happy Birthday!’

‘No! the 11^th anniversary of 49. I’m not 60!’”

“Kind of like that, yes. My uncle’s been teasing her and saying he’s celebrating the 40^th anniversary of his 18^th birthday and silly stuff like that.”

Clarence: “Hey guys! You all good on appetizers? Need drink refills?”

We order drink refills and more breadsticks.

“Clarence, tell us something random or weird about yourself.”

Clarence: “Something weird huh..Why?”

“Just curious. Come on!”

Clarence: “Okay, I’ll think about it and come back with a super answer with your drinks okay?”

“Excellent!”

“Something weird for me…how about..I didn’t get a computer until 1998. I was the last person I knew to get one and be on the Internet.”

“Wow, that is late. You almost missed Y2K altogether.”

“Y2K..EVERYONE missed Y2K. Nothing happened!”

“That’s not true. I actually contracted a virus at Y2K.”

“Seriously?”

“I probably got it before Y2K actually. But New Years was the first time anything happened. My computer would crash every night at midnight on the dot for a long time after that.”

“You never got it fixed or anything?”

“I tried once or twice and couldn’t figure it out. I wasn’t quite as technically savvy at the time. And it was no big deal really, I just restarted at midnight if I was using the computer. Eventually I reformatted, but that was at least a year later.”

“Wow, I’m impressed. That’s the first time I’ve heard of something actually being affected by Y2K. And I can’t believe we’re talking about Y2K at all in 2008.”

“I once fell asleep on the LIRR visiting a friend out on the island. This was a while ago and I guess for what ever reason they didn’t feel like checking tickets. I ended up out by the Hamptons somewhere late at night.”

“Like that Friends episode where Ross is dating that girl upset and falls asleep on the train and ends up in Montreal?”

“Yeah. Kind of..except it was late at night and the next train back wasn’t for two hours. I’m just glad it was summer and not freezing cold.”

“Could’ve walked to the beach.”

“I was afraid of getting lost. I didn’t have a cellphone yet.”

“Ahh. I see.”

Clarence: “Here are your drinks!”

“You think of something interesting to tell us?”

Clarence: “I thought of something. It’s not that unheard of here, but I don’t know how to drive.”

“That’s not that weird in Manhattan. It’s probably better than all the other people who have licenses but haven’t driven in years. Then they get behind the wheel on vacation or something and are totally out of their element.”

“I'd miss driving. I always feel like it's getting back on a bicycle; I pick it right back up even if I haven't driven in a month.”

“Not everyone has the same muscle memory. I barely have driven more than Driver's Ed and the road test. You had years of practice before you moved here.”

“I guess I have. It's your turn Scott, don't think you're weaseling out of it now that we've all answered.”

“I've never been on a plane. The farthest from here I've ever been was Washington DC on a school trip once.”

“One day we should have a 6^th Floor Road Trip!!”

Clarence: “Do you invite 6^th Floor Servers on your trip?”

“Of course. That would be a terrific idea Sara.”

Frank leans over and whispers towards Clarence. “No Cindy though.”

Okay, so that's done. Seven things. I'm not going to tag anyone else, because I don't like doing that, however if you want to, feel free, let me know and I'll link to it even. Does anyone have any suggestions on where would be fun for Scott's inaugural plane trip for a 6^th floor vacation?

Semi-Live Oscar Blog

Welcome to the 6^th floor.

Today's contributors are: Ann, Sara, Tabitha, Frank, Billy and Scott.

Subject: Semi-Live Oscar Blog

“You know what annoys me the most about the Oscars? The short films. I want to be able to see them!!”

“I agree with you on that. At least put them online or something. The way it is it’s definitely the most ‘who cares’ part of the show.”

“We actually saw short films at Tribeca last year, but none of them were even nominated.”

“I would’ve loved to see Onion Underwater up there.”

“Yeah, I really enjoyed that one. The cow one was kind of interesting too.”

“Last year I actually spent some time searching the Internet trying to find some of the nominated films. I had absolutely no luck.”

“I think they should have a ‘best quote’ category. ‘Take the gun, Leave the cannoli!’”

“Hey! I’m walking here, I’m walking here!”

“What were some good quotes from last year?”

“I can’t think of any off the top of my head.”

“It’d probably end up tainted anyway. They’d vote for all the artsy meaningful quotes.”

“Probably.”

“I don’t know if I’d even bother watching if it wasn’t Jon Stewart hosting.”

“I’m only really watching for the outfits. I didn’t go out and see most of the popularly nominated movies.”

“Wow, Bourne Ultimatum is actually nominated for something?”

“You didn’t like it?”

“No, I liked it. I just didn’t expect it to get any respect from the Academy.”

“Oh, Transformers! All those cool robot sounds? That’s gotta win sound editing.”

“Wow, Bourne won. Nice.”

“Sound mixing? What’d the difference between editing and mixing?”

“Sound editing is creating and fixing the sounds for the movie, mixing is basically adjusting all the volumes for the sounds and voices so they sound good.”

“No way Bourne’s going to win twice. They’ll want to spread it out.”

“Bourne again. Nice. A movie I’ve actually seen and enjoyed.”

“Wii! They’re playing Wii sports!”

“That’s freaking awesome.”

“I’d love to play games on a screen that size.”

“Me too. Oh..another musical performance. These are kind of boring me.”

“I think Juno is the only best picture nominee that I have even a little interest in seeing. If there were more of the movies I enjoyed last year, maybe I wouldn’t be so bored watching some of this.”

“That’s why I’m blogging through it. I’m glad we’re on Tivo and able to skip some of the commercials.”

“Bourne won film editing too. Wow, I bet no one suspected that would win three Oscars.”

“I guess they really liked how the movie was made. I wonder if they really even care about the story.”

“Have to see if it wins a writing award.”

“Is it nominated for one?”

“Dunno. Guess we’ll wait and see.”

“If I don’t fall asleep first.”

“If you do the results are in the paper tomorrow anyway.”

“It’s 10:40. Probably less than an hour remaining, I think you can tough it out.”

“That’s true. You know Sara, looking at that list of the recent best picture nominees, they’re not always all these artsy uninteresting ones like you claim. Gladiator? Lord of the Rings?”

“You’re right. Maybe it’s just lately. There is always next year.”

“Anyone want to make a bet on Best Picture?”

“Nah, but I’m tired of trying to write and watch so I’m going to stop. My guess at Best Picture is Atonement.”

“I’ll go with Juno just to be different.”

Snow Snow Snow

Welcome to the 6^th floor.

Today's contributors are: Ann, Sara, Tabitha, Frank and Scott.

Subject: Finally, some snow

“It's snowing!” Tabitha shouts, bursting into the apartment.

“I noticed. It's really going to kill my tips this afternoon though.”

“This is one of those days where I'm glad I'm not working so I don't have to fight with subway delays and slushie street corners.”

“This is the first real storm we've had with accumulation, I can't believe it's almost March.”

“Probably the last one too.” Frank says, emerging from his room to see what all the commotion is about.

“I checked the weather, It's supposed to be a little warmer this weekend, probably going to melt most of it.”

“That means there will be all sorts of business people leaping over huge puddles of water in intersections come Monday morning. There is nothing funnier than a guy in a suit rushing to work stepping in a puddle and soaking his pant leg halfway up to his knee.”

“You take some real pleasure out of other people's misfortune don't you?”

“Come on! You don't think that's funny?”

“Come on Tab, it's hilarious!”

Tabitha grins. “Okay, okay, it's funny. I actually think it's funnier trying to watch women in high heels keep their balance on snow and ice.”

“Yes!”

“The best part about it snowing in the city is no shoveling! If I were at my parents house I'd be outside pushing a shovel around and helping my dad clean off the cars.”

“It's one of the less known benefits of not having a yard or a driveway.”

“I'm going out for a walk in the snow. Anyone want to come? The city is so pretty covered in white..”

Tabitha, Sara and Scott depart the apartment.

Free Wireless

Welcome to the 6^th floor.

Today's contributors are: Ann, Sara, Frank, Billy.

Subject: Free Wireless Zone

“Hey, did you know CBS has created a huge free wireless area from Times Square to Central Park South between 6^th and 8^th avenue? I love it!”

“No I didn't. That's pretty cool. It works everywhere?”

“Yup, laptops, phones, handhelds.. Can sit down anywhere and browse the World Wide Web.”

“Dude, no one calls it the World Wide Web anymore.”

“Oh whatever. I connected from a Starbucks just north of Times Square today. Screw you T-Mobile!”

“The rates for the T-Mobile hot zones aren't even good if it's your only Internet provider. It's crazy. Occasionally I'll utilize a free connection in the park, but not in the winter. I'll have to check out this CBS zone.”

“I was only on it for a little while, but there are some ads and all, which is no big deal. Oh, and in some cases there are zillions of wireless signals floating around midtown that you sometimes have to restart or refresh the search a lot to find the good ones.”

“Maybe I'll take my laptop out and do my job searches outside of the house. Make myself feel like I was productive if I'm not home.”

“I know the feeling, I don't think I could ever work from home.”

“I dunno, sleeping until noon. Making my own hours. Taking breaks whenever the hell I want. I dig it.”

“Your job is a lot cooler than ours though.”

“Well, that's true. Working distracted never cost either of you thousands of dollars either though.”

“Nope, not yet.”

“I wish I had thousands of dollars to risk!”

“Speaking of free wireless, do you know what I found out recently? Panera Bread's free wireless now has peak time limits! I was at one in the afternoon, and it kicked me off and said I'd used my 30 minute quota for the peak lunch crowd!”

“Oh, that sucks. No workaround? Restarting or anything? I wonder if you could use a proxy to trick it into thinking it's a different computer. Probably not.. Maybe it simply checks your computer name? Too simple..It probably checks your mac address. Oh well. Guess Panera Bread is off the midday wireless list.”

“I'm rarely up at that time anyway, but what if they do it during the dinner rush too? That's lame! It said something about wanting you to get up to make table space for other customers.”

“I guess that makes sense. It'd be nice if you could do something like entering a receipt number to get an extra hour or something.”

“Yeah. I'd gladly buy another mocha or a cinnamon bun to sit there longer. Now I'm just going to go there less in general.”

“That's what makes this CBS zone thing so great. Legitimately free wireless. I can deal with ads, there are ads everywhere. It's gotten to the point where things look weird without ads.”

“Yeah. I agree. I have to test it out more to see if it's really reliable. It's only been up like a month or two, so they probably still have some bugs in coverage or something.”

“Probably need some time to get the kinks out.”

“Maybe now I'll have less boring people hanging around in Starbucks nursing a latte for six hours on their laptops while I'm trying to get a table to hang with Scott on his breaks. They can all run away to Times Square. I'm sure they'll find plenty of inspiration there.”

“Six hours? That's kind of crazy. I usually at least order a second drink to nurse when I'm hanging out all day!”

“Scott tells me there are some that order plenty throughout the day when they hang out. I worry for their health though. Some of them easily ingest in excess of a gram of caffeine.”

“Damn. I don't know whether to be impressed or worried.”

“I don't know either, but now I want a mocha.”

“Let's go visit Scott and get some coffee.”

The Food Network

Welcome to the 6^th floor.

Today's contributors are: Ann, Sara, Tabitha, Frank, Billy and Scott.

Subject: Ace of the Food Network

“I watched a lot of Food Network while I was sick. They have some terrific shows on that station!”

“I like Dinner: Impossible. It's a little silly at times, but he has some cool missions. Did you see the one where he had to incorporate chocolate into each dish of a 5-course meal at Hershey?”

“I saw that one, He's a little obnoxious though. He must've said “I don't usually mix sweet and savory” about six zillion times during that episode.”

“Yeah, but at the end he wanted to add one of the things he made to his regular repertoire.”

“Good point.”

“I enjoy Ace of Cakes. Duff is so funny.”

“Did you see the one where they made the Harry Potter premier cake?”

“That cake was amazing! Did you hear Daniel Radcliff say they should ditch the model they use for wide-angle camera shots of Hogwarts and just use the cake?”

“Yeah. I was amused that the van kept breaking on the trip over there too.”

“They'll have to get a new van or something.”

“I like Iron Chef.”

“Iron Chef's okay I guess. It seems too scripted for me. And all the food is too fancy. I wouldn't eat most of that stuff.”

“It always seems like they have some crazy fish thing going on too.”

“Yeah, where is the simple macaroni and cheese variation?”

“Some of those competitions are cool. They had one on last week where they were constructing land marks. Someone made a really cool Statue of Liberty.”

“Didn't they forget her tablet though?”

“Well yeah..She didn't win. It still looked pretty cool though.”

“I'm always annoyed when they have chocolate competitions but use almost exclusively white chocolate. That doesn't count! It's not really chocolate!”

“Are you a chocolate snob Sara? Are you too good for white chocolate? Or maybe you're racist? You don't associate with the whitey chocolate, only the darker kind?”

“You got me. I'm a chocolate racist. Dark chocolate just has a bigger flavor in my mouth.”

Frank bursts out laughing at this.

“Nice comeback Sara. Real nice.”

“You know what show is nice? Everyday Italian, with Giada De Laurentiis. She's very nice looking.”

“You think so? I'm always turned off by her scary smile. It's freaky.”

“She's pretty, but she's overly bubbly for my taste.”

“Yeah, you're not big on the whole 'showing emotion' thing Billy. Afraid she might make you open up?”

“I might be able to tolerate it if she was cooking for me constantly.”

“The path to Billy's heart is truly through his stomach.”

“Was there really any doubt?”