So, break out the coasters.

Nothing new or novel here. I’m sure that everyone has heard this song at least 1000 times. But, hey– it is summer. “Doin Time” is such a classic mellow warm-weather song. I couldn’t think of anything more fitting for tonight. Press play.

[Phot0:  Not sure who to credit. But I like it]

The image above is actually from a post that I wrote exactly one year ago. Oddly enough, the convicts have spawned again, and there is a very similar scene going on in the tank, this week. I kept the mating pair separated for about a year, which worked pretty well, until the other tank cracked (could have been really bad). When that happened, the male, and all of the adolescents went back into the big tank. Tina is feeling pretty crowded these days.

Enough about the fish. The firm is closing early today (which actually means something to me, these days). Besides remembering the brave souls who gave their lives to defend out freedom, the only specific plans that we have this weekend are to run/ride bikes, and  take Reagan to see the Deitch Gallery before it closes. I’m also doing some product shots for Shaun White’s new line for Target. I have the samples already. It is some pretty cool stuff. It should be a fun project. Other than that, I’m hoping that it will just be a lot of lounging, mixed in with Piper visits, and watching the BP Cam, as much as possible. Hahahaha.

If you have a minute, take a peek at this very kind article that was written today about Reagan.

I hope that everyone else has an awesome holiday weekend.

Sunday morning, we were up at the crack of dawn, for a bike ride. It was such amazing weather. We just pretty much stuck the to the usual and headed down the Hudson River path going south. Early in the morning, we pretty much had the park to ourselves. It was really quite amazing. As we approached mid-town, it was a bit of a zoo. There were two cruise ships at the docks, that appeared to be preparing to depart. So there was a ton of traffic coming in and out of the terminals.

As we were passing the Circle Line piers, we heard a loud crunch/crash, directly behind us. I hit my brakes and turned around just in time to see a dudes bike come flying out from underneath the cab that he had just been hit by. I dropped my bike and ran over. He was able to roll out from under the cab, which I took as a good sign, especially given the fact that he wasn’t wearing a helmet. Reagan was on the phone with 911, as some police officers showed up. It was a  pretty nerve racking experience. It was pretty scary, but luckily it wasn’t worse.

After the incident, we continued downtown, and had brunch at the North Cove Marina, before lounging a bit at the Battery Park City Promenade, and heading back up town.

After the bike ride, we headed up to visit Piper. She was in a foul mood again, Sunday, until I let her watch some ukulele videos on my phone. For whatever reason, that was all she needed. After watching one or two, she was all smiles and party-time.

We tried her out in the chair again, too. Since she was in a better mood, it seemed like she sort of liked it. Although, she still clearly preferred Reagan’s lap, understandably hehe.

Later Sunday evening, we had the really fun opportunity of visiting our friends, and their brand new baby, at the hospital. Their little guy is super cute. He was in a pretty mellow mood, too, considering the fact that we interrupted his lunch, when we arrived. Reagan enjoyed holding the little guy, and I enjoyed watching.

I didn’t mean to post so much this morning. But I woke up early to move the car, and run (which I intentionally park on a Monday side, last night, so that I would have to get up), and it is pouring outside. So, the running part, didn’t really workout for me, this morning.

I saw this board on Format, today. So sick. It has all of the essentials, like sprayed on grip tape (old school Nash-style) and a built in bottle opener. Here is the Format description:

Santa Cruz introduces the ‘Land Shark’ Cruzer, which will surely revolutionize the age-old beer run tradition; full-equipped with a bottle opener on the bottom of the board, the Land Shark is just the kind of ride you’ll want for trips to the corner store before grabbing brews with their buddies this summer. The first board from this new range is the Rasta and it measures 8.8×27.5-inches and features 65mm Santa Cruz Road Rider wheels and spray-on, clear grip on the deck. The Santa Cruz Land Shark Cruzer is currently available for purchase here…

Man, I am so ready for warm weather.

Well, this weekend I was finally able to justify the masses of camping and climbing gear that I dragged with me when I moved to New York from the Rockies. It is a good thing, too, because Reagan has threatened, on a few occasions to toss it all out. Friday night we went camping with a bunch of our good friends near Bear Mountain. I couldn’t believe how close it was to the city. The camping arrangements were NY, style. It was basically like a campground subdivision, full of various camping lots. It was a great time, though. We all had tin-foil dinners on Friday night, and stayed up late chatting around the fire.

Saturday morning, we went climbing at some routes along the train tracks, on the West Point Academy property. It was one of the hottest days of the summer, so far. I was incredibly rusty, with my climbing abilities, but I still had a blast.

Click here for more photos.

Reagan and I were able to take a little road trip down south, this weekend to Virginia Beach. Some of our friends have access to a great beach house down there and invited us to tag along. For the most part, the weather was awesome. It was mid 80′s for the entire time. Sunday was a little overcast, at times, but still pleasant beach weather.

It was really cool to drive across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge/Tunnel. I saw a thing about how they built it on Modern Marvels, one time and had been curious about it ever since. I also loved watching all of the ship traffic come in and out of the bay, while we were there. We even saw an aircraft carrier on its way out to sea.

On the way home, we stopped for dinner in Delaware. When I came outside afterwards, there was a group of guys with motorcycles, in the parking lot, by our car. One of the guys had done his whole bike up in red carpet. Hahahaha. It was awesome. I snapped a couple of shots (below) and chatted it up with the riders for a few minute while I was waiting for Reagan to come out.

We had a really great time down there and were glad to become a little better acquainted with some of our friends and their families. More photos can be seen here.

This seizure inducing little ditty, consists of four frames of bumble bee shots that I took, the other day at the Bronx Botanical Garden.

We got Piper all moved in back at Blythedale and everything, today. I’m feeling pretty good about the way this week is coming to an end. Reagan had a girls night tonight, with one of our friends who is moving away. It gave me a chance to get out and skate a bit. It was really nice to just unwind. This time I thought ahead and wore 2 pairs of socks on my pushing foot, to avoid blisters. I didn’t take any pictures of skating, but there was a pretty dramatic sunset while I was skating down Riverside, to get to CP. These shots are on the early side, but you can image how it just got better and better.

I also ran into this little guy. I see raccoons all of the time when we are down skating in the park, but generally they are just hustling across the road and I can’t get the camera out in time. This guy, however, was up for a full on photo shoot. Standing up on the hind legs and everything.

Other kind of awesome stuff about this week/weekend:

1. The Beastie Boys (minus MCA) were on 30 Rock, last night.
2. Reagan and I are running a 10k in the morning for Kidney something or other. We will see our friend Cuomo there, for the first time since he moved back to CT.
3. Stake Conference this weekend which means that church is later and shorter than normal.
4. If I had to make an estimate, I would say that Piper is feeling probably close to 90% herself again.
5. My brother Pete’s birthday is today.
6. My first post for my new paid blogger gig was published this week.

When I first woke up today and saw the weather, I sort of panicked for a sec. All of these things were going through my head: ” I’m going skating, I’m going running, I’m going biking, I’m going to the park.” When I checked my phone, I had an email from the guys who run the Broadway Bomb, about a skateboard race in Central Park. I also had a note from my friend Jared about going golfing in the Bronx. It was a very tough decision. Ultimately, I decided that I should hold off on longboard racing until I have had a chance to get out and push around. I haven’t skated since last summer. Plus my friends Jared and Debi are super cool. I wish that Reagan could have come with us. But, being the popular girl that she is, her day was booked long before she got up and looked at her phone this morning.

I was a bit curious about what it was going to be like at the driving range. I mean, when I think of the Bronx, the first thing that naturally comes to mind is golfing (after gang shootouts, of course). It was actually a pretty nice course. Although, we didn’t actually end up playing the course this morning. Jared and I just hit some balls on the driving range, while Debi read magazines and took pictures of us (because we that good). But I think that we are going to try to make it back up there to play the course, now that we have seen what it is like, and that it is so easy to get to. The best part is that, right when we were getting toward the end of our session, the cart went out to gather the balls. This is fun on any driving range, because it is moving target practice. None of us were expecting what happened next. The driver parks off to the side, and gets out wearing a ball glove, smoking a cigarette and taunting all of the people hitting. Hahahahaha. It was the craziest thing ever. So there he was, running all over the range, like an outfielder on crack. I guess that is how they do it, at the muni-course in the Bronx. There is a shot of the guy below.

As if the driving range wasn’t enough fun for one day, we headed back down to the UWS for burgers, then spent the afternoon in Fort Tryon Park Hitting some Croquet. It was pretty packed, but we managed to find a spot of lawn large enough to set up. The lawn hadn’t been mowed for a while, so it was a little bit extra challenging. Thanks again, Jared and Debi for letting me be the third wheel.