On Monday afternoon, the Margarita Man, who was in town from the Jerz (of course), told me that once I "tried him I'd never go back." Whatever that means! ˆ margarita man ˆ truck ˆ

Later that evening, Meredith and I went uptown to meet up with her parents and take her father out for a celebratory birthday dinner! ˆ me ˆ meredith ˆ mr silverman ˆ ms silverman ˆ

Happy Birthday, Chuck! ˆ mr silverman ˆ mrs silverman ˆ

When we got back to our apartment, we found that the floor in our living room had been marked up to be opened up! Our landlord's taxes turned out to be way higher than he expected, so he needed to turn our apartment and the one below us into one uber-apartment in order to reduce the number of occupancies in the building! We debated trying to find people to share our new duplex with, but in the end we decided to just find a new apartment. Sad! ˆ 239 e 7th ˆ construction ˆ

On Wednesday night, Meredith and I went to Bowery Ballroom to see... ˆ me ˆ meredith ˆ us ˆ

...Nightmare of You! ˆ brandon ˆ joe ˆ ryan heil ˆ band ˆ nightmare of you ˆ

Joe on the ax! ˆ joe ˆ band ˆ guitar ˆ nightmare of you ˆ

Sarah was there and we danced right up against the stage like we were a bunch of tweens.

If you look to the left of Brandon, you'll notice the bartender that was out on stage making drinks for the band while they played. ˆ band ˆ nightmare of you ˆ

In between songs, the band would call out the drinks that they wanted and the bartender would have them made and delivered one song later.

Look at these two! ˆ meredith ˆ sarah ˆ

After the show, we went over to Home Sweet Home for the after party! ˆ brandon ˆ chris black ˆ hallie ˆ sarah ˆ

We had a couple of drinks... ˆ brandon ˆ

...then we pet an angry lynx... ˆ meredith ˆ best ˆ laugh ˆ

...and then an "old hardcore dance moves" dance party broke out! Now stomp it out, now march it out! ˆ dance ˆ hardcore ˆ

Chris and I checked to make sure we were both wearing ultra-gay dance-friendly shoes... ˆ shoes ˆ

...check! ˆ chris black ˆ me ˆ thumbs up ˆ

Then we joined the dance party fray! ˆ brandon ˆ casey squyres ˆ ryan heil ˆ dance ˆ

Brooke and Ryan getting down. ˆ brandon ˆ brooke ˆ casey squyres ˆ ryan heil ˆ sarah ˆ dance ˆ

Sarah and Joe. ˆ joe ˆ sarah ˆ

Casey and Ryan practiced the "alternative" version of a fireman's carry. ˆ casey squyres ˆ ryan heil ˆ carry ˆ

Meredith will applaud the slightest hint of man-on-man action. ˆ meredith ˆ clap ˆ

And then somehow Casey's shirt came off? I guess he got a little hot and sweaty man-carrying Ryan around the dance floor. ˆ brandon ˆ casey squyres ˆ sarah ˆ vince ˆ

On a pipe in the back of the bar, someone spotted a Black Face Jesus sticker! Holy shit! Whatever happened to that guy? ˆ black face jesus ˆ sticker ˆ

Chris and Hallie. ˆ chris black ˆ hallie ˆ

Brandon and Sar. ˆ brandon ˆ sarah ˆ

Brooke packed up Ryan's bass and then subtly signaled to him that it was time to go home and "take care of business." ˆ brooke ˆ pussy ˆ tongue ˆ

Heading home at 2am on a Wednesday night because you've got work in the moring = you are a pussy in Chris Black's book. Haha. ˆ chris black ˆ pussy ˆ

Goodnight, Bran! Great show! ˆ brandon ˆ me ˆ

On Thursday afternoon we came home and found a giant hole cut into the middle of our living room! Construction to turn our apartment and the one below into a giant duplex by adding a spiral staircase had begun! ˆ 239 e 7th ˆ construction ˆ

Later that night I saw the most disturbing disclaimer I've ever seen at the end of a commercial for prescription medicine! "The way VERAMYST works is not entirely understood." Whaaaaaat? ˆ commercial ˆ tv ˆ wtf ˆ

On Friday, someone's friend brought their TATTOO GUN into work and a bunch of my co-worker's got spur of the moment tattoos! Richard went with the old fingerstache and pretty much spent the next 3 weeks walking around with his finger over his lip just like this photo. Hahaha. ˆ richard spear ˆ cci ˆ fingerstache ˆ tattoo ˆ

Later that night I went up to the roof of the Maritime Hotel to celebrate...

...Miye's birthday! ˆ me ˆ miye ˆ

Check out the sick view! That's the Hudson River and behind that you can see the lights of Jersey twinkling in the distance.

Dana, (Dana's Boyfriend?) and the birthday girl! ˆ dana dynamite ˆ miye ˆ

Private Party + Open Bar = ˆ buanao ˆ tongue ˆ

Buanao getting flirty-dirty with party-attendees. ˆ buanao ˆ butt ˆ smack ˆ

Happy Birthday, Lady! ˆ me ˆ miye ˆ

On Monday night, a whole bunch of us went to a pizza-party that Grant had organized to introduce all his friends to Aki, his new girlfriend that had just moved to NYC. Here's Meredith, Cat and Maureen chowing down on pizza! After the pizza was finished... ˆ catrinel ˆ maureen ˆ meredith ˆ pizza ˆ

...we moved the party over to Pianos for some karaoke. Here's Grant and Aki getting ready to sing a duet! ˆ aki ˆ grant ˆ karaoke ˆ

A couple of weeks after moving to New York, the two of them moved up to Canada and got married! Congrats, you two! ˆ aki ˆ grant ˆ karaoke ˆ

Chris and Fatty. ˆ chris the greek ˆ fatty ˆ

Frank and me... ˆ frank ˆ me ˆ

...enjoying this handsome man's rendering of a tender, tender soft-metal ballad. (Something by Whitesnake, perhaps?) ˆ fatty ˆ karaoke ˆ

Ellen, Scott, Amanda and Nicole. ˆ amanda ˆ ellen stagg ˆ nicole s ˆ scott ward ˆ

Chris on the mic! ˆ chris the greek ˆ karaoke ˆ

This guy's name is Michael Scheiner and he is the new karaoke king of New York City as far as I'm concerned. He always sings old Prince jams or songs by Mary J (for seriously) and blows the doors off them every time. ˆ michael scheiner ˆ karaoke ˆ

Amanda got and the mic... ˆ amanda ˆ karaoke ˆ

...and totally destroyed something by Heart (was it Alone?). ˆ amanda ˆ karaoke ˆ

On Monday I met up with Matt and we headed over to Arlene's Grocery for... ˆ matt ˆ

...heavy metal / punk rock karaoke with a live band! ˆ live band karaoke ˆ

Check out the blond girl! She kept coming up on the stage and grinding up against whomever was singing like a 80s music video vixen. It was epic. ˆ live band karaoke ˆ

Check out the guitar player gawking at her! That's pretty much the same expression I had on my face too. Haha. ˆ live band karaoke ˆ

I'm not sure how old this guy is, but whenever I get to be his age my only hope is that I'm still rocking as hard as he is. (Except, my hope would be to rock this hard while looking less like a homeless Ted Nugent.)

Amanda and Scott showed up just in time for... ˆ amanda ˆ scott ward ˆ yell ˆ

...the big grand finale where everybody in the entire place tries to crowd up onto the stage and sing! ˆ live band karaoke ˆ

It was awesome! ˆ live band karaoke ˆ

Check out the Arlene's shrine: It's the Buddha getting down with KISS and half-naked Barbies! ˆ buddha ˆ

On Tuesday after work, I went around and checked out a few apartments. The places I saw were all decent, but there wasn't any place where I was like "We HAVE to live here."

When I got back to our place, I was greeted by this friendly, turkey-boned visitor! Leigh had dropped off Edie for a couple of days while she was traveling! ˆ edie ˆ dogs ˆ

This is one of my favorite Edie pics because you can really see how long and weinery her weird body is! It also does an excellent job of showcasing her turkey-bone which you can see jutting out at what is pretty much a right-angle from the rest of her body! ˆ edie ˆ dogs ˆ

Later that night I went out to Brooklyn and grabbed dinner with Ross! ˆ me ˆ ross martin ˆ

Waiting for the freight elevator to come down so that I can take my bike up into work. Not very exciting, I know. But sometimes I just take pictures of the boring mundane things I do every day because it helps me remember what that time in my life was like. So, there you go. ˆ bike ˆ cci ˆ elevator ˆ

Not sure what I did on Thursday because I left my camera at home! Murdo and Meredith hung out and took lots of pics on my camera. From what I can gather, it looks like they did some drinking... ˆ murdo ˆ sunglasses ˆ

...and then had graham crackers with peanut butter, marshmallow fluff and Nutella. ˆ marshmallow ˆ peanut butter ˆ

Er, at least I hope that was Nutella. ˆ meredith ˆ nutella ˆ tongue ˆ

Then they took adorable photos of our rats all snuggled up in their cage. ˆ ratso ˆ roxy ˆ rats ˆ

Who's a comfy little vermin, you? ˆ ratso ˆ