Finally getting around to posting a new entry in my journal that is not politically related. This entry is based on some fun stuff I've been doing over last two weeks. Those of you waiting for reviews on my Pearl Jam MSG 1 & 2 experience, will have to wait abit longer. Sorry, still working on the reviews. For now ... the latest tidbits.

First of all ... work news ... it may not be "fun stuff" but its interesting. Its officially confirmed that the downtown E&Y space I've been working at for 2 1/2 years will be sublet by another company. That means in a few weeks we are moving to the Times Square offices. [Over 3,000 people in that one location. Whoa!] I'm actually looking forward to the move, as its been sooooo slow at current location for 2 1/2 months and I want some challenging action. NOW! Lately we've been busy with packing a few Senior Manager offices and shipping out lots of computer equipment to other E&Y locations. Stay tuned for more updates.

Back on June 29th I went up to northern Yonkers with my good friend Debbie to visit friends of ours. It was a delightful day trip. Judy and Don have a charming apartment overlooking Hudson River. Last time I saw Judy was on my b-day back in October and last time I saw Don was at their wedding in May 2002. Judy and Don drove us around the area [lots of nice houses et al] from Yonkers on up to Tarrytown. Weather was sunny, warm and abit hazy. We had ice cream at a charming place in Tarrytown and also strolled along part of "the trail". Next time I'm wearing sneakers instead of fashionable sandals. Band-aids and blisters on my feet ... not a pretty sight. Back at their apartment we watched some "Buffy" and "LOTRs" DVDs. Judy whipped up a yummy middle eastern dinner, followed by drinking wine on the terrace and viewing the sunset over NJ. Overall a most enjoyable day.

Headed up to the family homestead for the long July 4th holiday weekend. Left the office Wednesday afternoon on July 2nd, as E&Y was officially closed on July 3rd & 4th. Sweet deal! Weather was warm, humid and occasional breezes. Spent most of the time relaxing with Mom on the screened in porch doing pastels, chatting or reading. Did I mention that I finished reading the Harry Potter book and gave it to Mom to read. Loved the book! Highly recommend it to others. While upstate NY I did some shopping, cooking, reading, pastels, sketching, chores around house, watch some cable tv, out to eat a few times, cut & color, etc.

This past week was fantastic. Got to see my fav band, Pearl Jam, perform two gigs at MSG. I'll be writing up a review to those shows soon and posting it here. Worked on July 7th then went up to Port Authority to pick up Josee and Michelle. Josee came down by bus from Canada and Michelle was flying in from Seattle. They were staying at my pad for a few days and we were going to the Pearl Jam gigs together. We've met online, chatted back and forth via email, talked on the phone and now finally meeting for the first time. Their both terrific gals and we hit it off right away. Got back to my place in Brooklyn around 8pm, settled in my place, hit the grocery store and then picked up dinner from the local pizza joint. Sat around my livingroom chatting away that evening. Next day we headed into the city and got off subway at 34th Street Penn Station. Got some lunch there and hooked up with my TX Pearl Jam fan friend Erica. This was my first time meeting her, tho we've been emailing/phoning each other since October 2000. She's also one terrific gal and been a big fan of the group since the early days. We strolled over to Southgate Towers and got on line to pick up 10 Club tix for both shows at Garden. No troubles there ... long line ... tix showed our seats to pretty decent. [Erica had front row! Lucky girl!] Thanks 10 Club! After that we jumped on the subway and headed up to the westside to do some sightseeing. I showed the three of them the Dakota [where John Lennon was shot in 1980], Strawberry Fields ["Imagine" memorial] and a fun stroll thru "the rambles" in Central Park. Man oh man ... it was a sunny, warm, humid day. Then it was back on subway to head to Erica's hotel on 31st Street, but I accidently got us on the uptown subway. Silly me! We switched at Cathedral Parkway stop and went back downtown.

We hungout at Erica's hotel to cool off, freshen up and talk until close to showtime at Garden. Left another voicemail with my Pearl Jam fan friend Andrea, who was also going to the gig that night. We headed into the arena at 6:45pm. Erica went to her first row seat, Michelle had a tix for behind the stage and Josee and I were sitting in fan club section, which was in row W from stage. We waved to Michelle in her seat and then Erica stopped by briefly to chat. She had a primo spot right in front of Eddie. Then Michelle waved at Josee and me again, then pointed behind us. In section behind us I could see Andrea waving at me, as she was on her cell phone chatting with Michelle on her cell phone. In cases like this cell phones are a beautiful thing. I went up to the barrier and managed to persuade the security guard to let Andrea over to barrier so we could chat for a few minutes. She was at the gig with her sister. Sadly we wouldn't be able to meet up after the gig, as she had a train to catch back to NJ. I'll talk about the Pearl Jam gig in another post sometime this week. All I got to say for now is it was an awesome show. They are a great rock band. Afterwards we met and chatted with some cool people in the arena lobby ... Dan from Brazil, Melanie from Toronto, plus several others. Our throats felt like cotton fields, so we headed outdoors to picked up drinks from a street vendor. The three of us made it back to my place, via subway, at around 1:30am. Took showers and went to bed exhausted, but very happy.

On wednesday, after placing several voicemails to Erica and Andrea [plus a late breakfast], the three of us headed into Manhattan for more sightseeing. Todays weather was cooler and not as humid. I took Josee and Michelle to lower Manhattan. Showed them Ground Zero, St Pauls & Trinity Churches, Battery Park, Statue of Liberty, Wall Street, Stock Exchange and Federal Hall before we picked up a late lunch to eat at my office. While at office we checked out emails & posts on IRWTpt2 Yahoo Group. Then we left my office, jumped on subway and headed up to Times Square for a quick visit. Then back on another subway to zip down to MSG for the gig. Waited outside for awhile in trying to locate Erica and Andrea. Josee had an extra fan club tix, which she sold to a nice chap on the street. I was sitting with Michelle this evening. This time we all had decent seats, but Josee's seat was abit closer to the stage. We called Erica on her cell phone, as we saw her sitting in her front row seat already. She stopped by to briefly chat with Josee and then over to our section to chat with me and Michelle. She went to matinee that day with her stepmom to see "Phantom of the Opera". [Whoa! This entry into journal is turning out longer than I thought. Hope I'm not boring anyone.] Will provide review of show later on this week, but suffice to say, it was another awesome gig and I danced alot to the music. WooHoo! Afterwards we hooked up with Erica, Melanie and her friend Rita in MSG lobby. This night the Garden security was kicking us out soon than evening before, so we hungout outside arena. Melanie and her friend took off, but we finally located Andrea and her friend Teiran. Much chatter going on about show et al. Erica took off for her hotel ... she's a terrific gal and lots of fun. So the five of us hung out on the street corner, sipping drinks from vendor and gossiping until after 12:30am. From there we jumped on our respective transportation.

Back at my pad I called car service for Josee, as she had to head into the city at 7:30am to catch an 8:30am bus at Port Authority. Set my alarm clock for 7am, woke up Josee and got her on her way at 7:30am, then I went back to bed while Michelle slept thru it all. Didn't wake up again until 10:30am! We took our time getting breakfast and dressed. Finally left my apartment around 2:15pm and subways didn't get us to the Wall Street area until 3:30pm. Michelle had to be at Port Authority at about 4pm to catch bus to Newark Airport for a 6pm flight. So we decided to forgo the downtown area and made a beeline for midtown. Her bus was waiting upon arrival to Port Authority and I saw her off. I then picked up a late lunch and hoofed it to my Broad Street office to utilize the computer for a few hours. Then back home to tidy up the pad. Wow! What a fun and exciting 3 to 4 days. A major highlight of my summer, so far. Gotta jet.......................