Finally I feel almost human. This is the first weekend I've been home in a few weeks and it feels good.

The trip to New York was great. We stayed (mostly) at the Mayfair Hotel on 49th - which is wonderful and I'd stay there again in a heartbeat. Went to a bunch of pubs while we were there - and had many tasty pints of Stella Artois. I know it's a cheap beer overseas, but I rather like it and it tastes exotic by association.

Met with some folks at the Fat Black Pussy Cat in the Village before the Belle and Sebastian concert - Nick and a friend of his, Mary Ann, Nal (who danced like a fiend on stage with B&S during Dirty Dream #2!). It was fun meeting people you only "know" via the computer. Everyone super nice - and lots of fun. Like I said - the concert was great, though I couldn't see really well. For that reason I might just go to the DC show since I can sit down and enjoy the music more. But I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed the show at the Hammerstein - the view notwithstanding. Don't know why but at times I could close my eyes and it was like I was the only one there. A very odd, very peaceful feeling. Polite crowd, too.

On Monday we went bar hopping again as well as record shopping. Glad to see that Bleeker Bob's hasn't changed since 1979. And I mean that - it really hasn't changed. At all. We went to The Slaughtered Lamb (fun werewolf pub), Gus's Cafe (where I had tiny fried fish!), Kevin St. James, the Blarney Stone, the Fat Black Pussy Cat (again) and then on to Babbo.

Babbo is without a doubt the best resturant I have ever been to. The food was perfect, the wine was perfect and the Parmigiano Reggiano (the undisputed king of cheeses) was out of this world. Very cool when Mario walked out at the end of the evening. Want to go back!

Put Jim on a plane to Dallas today. It's the first time either one of us has flown since September 11, and though neither one of us said anything about it, I could tell that he wasn't thrilled with the whole idea, and neither was I. It was all I could do to keep from crying as he walked down the hall to the gate. I couldn't go with him and that bothered me a lot. My reaction was quite unexpected, and I had to walk around a bit to calm down. Went to Target, bought some mundane things, then went over to help Rieger move. That was good. It took my mind off of things. Then I came home and I think I've been sitting here playing with the computer for far too long.

Happy Birthday Anne Marie!