The Best 5 Minutes of a 6-Hour Concert

The best part of the 12/12/12 concert other than the name (I love that date) and the money it raised for victims of Superstorm Sandy was this bit by Adam Sandler:



"The Mets have sucked since 86 Isiah tried to ruin the Knicks..."

Laugh Just a Little

While Staten Island is still recovering from Superstorm Sandy comedian Louis CK did a benefit show there (two actually) and raised $150,000 for the relief efforts.

And apparently, he texted Chris Rock the afternoon of the show, convinced him to come along and Rock was persuaded to be the opening act.

"Nothing but Wu-Tang and Republicans out here!" is how Rock described Staten Island.

And he joked about September 11th (is that possible?), saying "You know we're 10 years away from 9/11 sales: ‘Come down to Red Lobster, where everything's $9.11 all day!’"

Louis CK took the stage for a solid hour, and mostly stayed away from joking about the circumstance, instead focusing on his normal topics, like dating

“Why would a woman ever want to meet a man, alone, at night, ever? Men are the number one threat to women!”

Jerry Seinfeld will be performing next week at the same St. George Theater. And even though this was planned before Sandy (it was actually scheduled for November 1) Seinfeld will still donate all the proceeds to Sandy relief.

Junk in Our Trunk

In order to have give the children of Fair Lawn a memorable Halloween in light of Hurricane Sandy, the town arranged two "trunk or treats" at local schools. Here's how it works. You park your car in the lot and hand candy to children out of the trunk, or in the cases of SUVs and minivan, out of the rear hatch/door. The event was scheduled to run 5:30 - 7:30, so we got there at 5, to make sure we got a parking spot.

And to decorate our car.

By 5:20 kids had started trick or treating. It's much more efficient and easier to go car to car in one big parking lot where everyone is a willing participant than it is to go door-to-door ringing bells while grumpy neighbors pull the blinds.

But by 6:00 we were out of candy. Many people who came to trunk or treat but couldn't get into the parking lot, or didn't want to get trapped, at least gave their candy to other people to give out. But many others did not. We went through 11 bags of candy total.

The firefighters supervising the event originally told us we had to stay until 7:30 but they eventually relented and let the first wave of cars leave. Since we had all run out of candy. The trunk or treat went well, it could use some improvements, but hopefully we won't have to hastily arrange a Halloween alternative because of downed power lines for a very long time.

And the kids had a blast and got a lot of candy...

...three pound's worth. And that's really what matters.

Here's a few Halloween bonus pictures:

Me, scaring a 5th grade banana at the Radburn Elementary School Halloween Dance.

Chase dressed as Jake from Jake and the Neverland Pirates and Julian as Nemo. And yes, this is the best picture of the two of them in costume.

And Julian wearing the Cobra Kai costume.

I Want My Life Back

Two weeks ago today I stayed in the city after work due to the impending storm. That night our power went out. The following day we spent the evening at a friend’s house, going home only to sleep. The next day was Halloween; we hit the mall to try to give the kids some semblance of a normal Halloween. That was a disaster. Then Mrs. Poop fled to her parents’ house. I stayed home alone in a 55 degree house Wednesday and Thursday night before fleeing for Connecticut as well. Got home Saturday, was home Sunday, Did trunk or treat Monday night (more on that in another post) before working a million hours on Tuesday and then dealing with another snowstorm and finally getting back to normal, kind of, over the weekend.
That’s a rough synopsis of the last two weeks. I am sure many of you feel the same way. Superstorm Sandy and the subsequent recovery were major disruptions to our established routines.

3000 Words: Hurricane Sandy Edition

My alma mater, Susan E. Wagner High School is being used as a staging ground for relief efforts. And those displaced from their homes by the storm are sleeping in the school's gymnasium.

New York Magazine photo of the city with the lights out in most of Lower Manhattan.

The destroyed boardwalk at Point Pleasant Beach where we have taken the kids the past two years, and hope to make an annual tradition.