Happy To Be Alive

Went to New York this weekend, it was a good time. There was a small group from my office that went up for a cooking show with Tre Wilcox from Top Chef. There were two themes for the weekend, "I'm just so happy to be alive" and "I love America." Matt and Dan were pretty strong on loving America, and Jen and I were kind of indifferent at the beginning, but the love grew towards the end. And "happy to be alive" is the the new life philosophy.

The trip started off with a bang and a shredded tire on the New Jersey Turnpike. This was a good test of the new life philosophy, and I must say we all had a good time on the side of the road. It was a great time just sitting there with nothing to do because we didn't have a lug wrench. Most people on the turnpike were surprisingly nice- nobody actually stopped, but we did get a lot of honks and waves- and we backed up traffic on both sides!

We spent a lot of time hanging out in New Jersey which was fun, I'd never really spent time in New Jersey. Well, a little bit in Morris County (Country Club area) Camden (murder area) and an afternoon in Atlantic City. But this time we went to Hoboken, and to a classic Jersey diner where we heard someone actually say "fugedaboutit."

The cooking class was really fun too. We got to eat yummy food and I learned about browned butter and some cooking tips for risotto. Tre signed my book and we got some pictures, and then I finally got into my own bed last night at 3:30am. Actually, I should go to bed now.