Life is Suite!

Greetings from Boston, Avid Reader! I'm in Beantown for a couple of work events and now working from a suite at the Westin! After the camera fiasco a couple of weeks ago, let's just say I got to know the General Manager quite well and he hooked me up for this visit. Fun!

I also have gotten a couple of requests for a surgery update and wanted to give the highlights of recovery! I'm getting more and more mobile with each passing day! Great news! Sadly, I'm having a lot of night pain that's limiting my sleep, but am avoiding the (constipating) pain pills as much as possible. I can now officially touch my face with my right hand -- and even shave without too much discomfort, though I occasionally have to support my right arm with my left hand in the process.

So, all in all, things are well and I'm getting to the point where I am excited to have had this done! Notice that the drainage bruising is dissapating as well... Sad, because the bruise looked like the Eifel Tower! I'm taking that as a sign that Paris needs to be in my future, FYI. Still some shoulder and bicep swelling, but the doughy-ness is going away as well. Good times, Avid Reader!

I hope you're well -- Happy Last Day of November!

Let's Rebuild Him!

Well, Avid Reader, I know you've been dying to hear how surgery went and I've been remiss about providing a complate update. I've heard some feedback that surgery and open wounds and spurting blood upset some people, so I'll give you the heads up that no photos will be as gory as any previously posted.

The surgery went well -- or so I'm told. My parents claim we all met with the doctor post-surgery, but I have no recollection. I remember bits and pieces of getting dressed; how the nurse got a t-shirt on me, I'll never know. I also remember her wheeling me out, but that's it. I remember none of the following:

Pre-surgery
During surgery (non-graphic!)
Inside my shoulder (also non-graphic!)
Post-Surgery in the O.R.
Post-Surgery in Recovery

From what I'm told, they repaired "several" tears, and discovered more damage that they took care of, including shaving a small bone spur, and repairing and scraping scar tissue from the "O-ring" -- I'll find out more on this in a couple of weeks.

So, now I'm back in Manhattan and preparing to head to work tomorrow along with 11MM other New Yorkers. The shoulder traveled well on Saturday, mostly thanks to early boarding and extra room in first class. However, getting from Newark to my apartment was rough even with a roller bag. It probably wasn't a good idea to return to the Big Apple before I can move my arm...

Pain is now minimal at rest, but constant, especially as I start to work to get strength back in the shoulder. Avid Reader, it's the oddest thing to have a non-working limb. I can bend at the elbow such that I can bring my hand nearly chest-level; let's just say it's a good thing I've always brushed my teeth left-handed to begin with! You know I'm all about good dental hygiene!

So bottom line, surgery was a success... but one I may not fully realize to pain-free from this for 6-9 more months. Wish me luck as I continue to 'climb the wall' with my fingers!

'But what else happened in Idaho', you ask?

Well, let me tell you! Yes, while shoulder reparation was the charge for this Boise trek, I was also able to spend a lot of time with my family and at their cabin near Crouch, ID. Several highlights:

- Seeing the beautiful NW again
- Running into The Bakers at Sea-Tac
- Driving a RIG (pre-surgery, of course!)
- Sunday morning coffee with the Scherers
- Cutting Dad Mike's hair!
- Pain-killers!
- Naps! Naps! Naps!
- The Parents' ice machine
- Peanut butter-filled pretzels nubs
- Spending time with my brother and his family
- Getting OFF the pain killers... and not because of any lack of pain!
- SORRY! (and thinking of Danelle with the characters niece Madison and nephew Tony said I had to be: the Villians!)
- The cabin and its setting
- Calls and messages from friends just checking in
- The brownie care package from my colleague Gary
- The Texas Roadhouse for Kevin's 30th birthday dinner
- And the requisite Moore stop at Sportsman's Warehouse after
- Nurse Patty LOVING me!
- Discovering O.R. photos on my camera!
- Being on Angie's 'Catch Phrase' team (family, make a note: I have permanent dibs on Angie Moore in all future family gaming activities; I'm just sayin'.)
- Negotiating around seven (7) labs outside the cabin (several shown here, clockwise from bottom-left: Murphy, Jake, Tucker, Rufus; not pictured: Bailey, Shaq, Yogi)
- Conversation with The Parents in the car-ride home from the cabin
- Thanksgiving with family
- Time away from New York to think about my time in New York

All in all, a great way to spend Thanksgiving weekend -- excluding the pain part, of course! I hope your Thanksgivings were exactly what they needed to be for you, Avid Reader, and look forward to your stories!

In Boise of All Places!

I got to enjoy coffee with the Kadlecs this morning at one of Boise's Moxie Java coffeehouses. What a treat to meet and hold Landon James for the first time! Definitely a highlight!

The other highlight, keying into my apartment! I was SO pleased to get home after a day of planes, trains and automobiles from Idaho to New York. Here's what I noticed today while cabbing from Penn Station to the UES... New York is BIG. What's BIGGER than New York? CHRISTMAS IN NEW YORK!! This place is DECKED OUT! Imagine the scale of New York MULTIPLIED with Christmas lights GALORE! I'm not sure if it was the concept of being so close to home or being drowned in Christmas lights that had me more giddy tonight.

More to come from the week in Boise, including a shoulder update. For now, Avid Reader, I'm alive and getting better by the day. I still have this lug of an appendage just now, but the pain is considerably less. I sure thought I was mind over matter all these years after being able to puke whenever I told my mother I would if she made me eat something I didn't like. Now however? This arm has my number -- I can't move it!

It is done!

Greetings! I'm just home from surgery on my shoulder and unbeknownst to me -- for the most part -- have a photo history from the day! i just took a look at my camera and have photos of me that I remember not!

Do not ask me about this pose... I don't remember it! And this shot? I obviously wasn't conscious!

I had a "block" done -- think a pseudo-arm epidural -- so the entire arm and shoulder is numb. There's no pain now, but I'm told to enjoy pain killers now such that when it wears off, I'll be ready for the excrutiating hell this recovery will become.

I am pleased to report that I was a fan favorite and in good spirits throughout the day!

Happy Birthday, Laura!

You know when you do something for the very first time and you just don't quite get it right so you do it again? And maybe even again? Practice makes perfect, they say...

Well, this wasn't one of those times; Mike & Linda got it right the first go -- thirty some odd years ago now...

Happy Birthday, Big Sister!

Family Time

It's the night before surgery
and all through the house,
not a creature is stirring...
because it's after 9PM! :o)

Indeed, I am now in Idaho for the fourth time this calendar year. What this means is that there's been plenty of time for family bonding... which is exactly what happened tonight as my dear pops let me cut his hair! Mike and I have officially come a LONG way from him banning scissors from the home after Kevin's first self-haircut and my first on Kevin years later. It was an important father-son evening and we caught it on film!

Today was a great day, a productive one. I got up. I had coffee. I enjoyed morning company with the Scherers. I watched TV. I showered. I helped with yard work. I went to dinner with the parents, brother and sister-in-law. I took a bath. I cut the dad's hair. All that in ONE DAY! I KNOW! Call me crazy, but I felt like I just had to be that productive before I lose the ability to move the right side of my body for a week. But yes, again, I did all that. Yeah, I'm kind of a big deal.

Not so much a big deal were the flights yesterday from the East to West Coasts, though I found myself becoming my father on the plane, whispering to myself, 'what beautiful country; what beautiful country' as I passed over the state of Washington and its stunning snow-capped mountains. I think I finally got that part of the National Anthem: they were majestic.

On the small -- and a propos -- world front, I ran into friends Matt & Lindsey Baker at Sea-Tac. I hadn't seen or talked to them since their 9/30 wedding, so it was a special treat to be able to catch up. Best part about it was confirmation of a conversation I had with Heidi LaHart Friday night about our worlds being the best kind of small possible -- in that we know, care for, and are cared by so many incredible people.

And this also means you, Avid Reader. Thank you for being a part of this journey, my Operation NYC (soundtrack soon available in a store near you!).

Celebrity Look-Alike

This is TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE! Many thanks to dear friend Danelle who directed me to my Celebrity Look-Alike posse:

Please note that Lisa Ling shows up. Yes, Stacey Dozono, this is definitive proof that I am of your people. Interestingly, I have gotten James Vanderbeek in my day... but recently I've gotten Jeremy Piven. He's not here. Alas. And who, pray tell, is Frank Lampard?!?!

'Tis the Season

That's right. It's November 16 and it is the season! I was in Boston this week for work and greeted by the most decked-out hotel I've ever experienced and a Prudential Center Mall just the same.

Not so many stories from the last post, I have to admit, but several adventures just the same, including a rekindling of the brunch tradition at The New Amity Cafe, english muffin hamburgers at Rathbone's and Monday Night Football with one Gary A. Little, Jr. - a friend with whom I haven't had adventures for some time.

In addition, one of my closest friends of all time was in town this week: Mindy Kessler! I joined her and the Kessler siblings -- Jen and Jake -- for dinner in Park Slope Saturday night at Thai Sky. I was slated to go to the Legendary Shack Shakers and Reverend Horton Heat show, but instead gave my ticket up to one of Jake's friends and got to enjoy some time with Jen trekking back to Manhattan.

I joined Mindy and her friend Elizabeth in Williamsburg for dinner Sunday at Brooklyn favorite, MyMoon. Sadly, Leeza was not there to serve us Petrone Cafe shots, but we were well taken care of all the same! Our evening finished with more chillaxing at one of Mindy's favorite local watering holes and capped off an awesome weekend of great times with great friends.

In addition, cohort and all-around good guy Jason Runge was in town this week and I got to host him at my favorite UES haunts, Noodles28 and Ship of Fools. Gary and Jim Crews also joined us there for Golden Tee and adult beverages. Jason said something that stuck while we were pre-funcing at my apartment: 'You know, there's something about coming to New York and just having a drink on someone's couch; it makes New York normal.' That sings the truth.

You'll also note that I again have a camera! After the Boston debacle and having lost my camera (and photos of the Boston limo adventure!), I have a new camera on which to again document my life here in Manhattan! And, more adventures to come... in Boise, Idaho! I'm off to the the Potato state to spend Thanksgiving with the Moores and to go under the knife and get my shoulder repaired -- WOO HOO!

Ultimately, we're talking Christmas decorations and Thanksgiving travel plans. 'Tis the season, Avid Reader, 'Tis the season!

Happy Birthday, Brother!

Thirty years ago on a cold, dark, stormy night -- much like the very night tonight; we should have known! -- our lives changed forever when Mike & Linda popped out Little Moore #3: Kevin Michael. Did they collectively feel that Laura & I needed challenge in our lives? That we deserved the devil-incarnate for a sibling? Or was I simply destined to be a middle child (BTT: Back To Todd)?

Full-time taunter. Part-time little devil. At no time uncherished. And for all time, the baby of our family...

Happy Birthday, Kevin Moore!

Welcome to 30+, Kev. No more "old" comments from you!

The Line

Greetings again, Avid Reader! It's been a wild few days after the ad:tech NYC conference, yet another Boston trip, a Broadway stop, and more. My last post gave a recap of our night at Nobu 57, so I'll start from there.

A Bee-Line to Boston. I overnighted in Boston for an industry awards ceremony this week. Colleagues from my sister company and I -- Cyndi and Seth who you met at Nobu! -- rented a limo and picked up clients with champagne toasts in the stretch. It was a great ceremony to be at and we had an awesome time. The best part of the night though was running in to Beau Hebert -- a long lost friend from my Canlis days! Beau was the 2nd male server Canlis had ever hired right after the 1996 remodel. He was there a couple of years, then moved to Florida. But there he was at the MITX event in Boston this week! It was great to catch up.

Unfortunately, I lost my camera in Boston -- LONG STORY -- but gained the trust and friendship of the Westin Boston Waterfront General Manager and will be taken care of on future visits there. Note that this also means NO PHOTOS of the limo and the gang on that adventure. Eye-yah!

A Chorus Line. I was also invited to go to 'A Chorus Line' on Broadway this past week! It's a show my friend John Weaver will tell you I'd never touch with a 10' pole, but I went with my manager and enjoyed the show for sure. I can see how it was the 'RENT' of the 70s and really pushed the envelope on several issues: sassy & liberated Sheila (*shocker!*), abused & honored Paul (*so personal!*), out & flamboyant gays (*gasp!*)! I thought that the story was timeless enough that it could be updated... or die along with the blue-hairs who packed the revival with me. It's good enough to last a lot longer, but could reference George Clooney and not Troy Donahue, you know? That said, I enjoyed it altogether -- who wouldn't, it's Broadway!

The Fine Line between Love and Hate. I'm learning that there's a fine line regarding this city, and that line is beginning to blur. Specifically what I'm learning is that there are so many things here you really just can't control -- horns honking, packed subways, vomit-inducing cab-rides, unbearable humidity -- I could name so many more. I'm beginning to learn that I much prefer to have the choice rather than be forced to be constantly plugged in or packed in or honked around. I'd love to live in Manhattan without having to live in New York City. It's that line and I'm just not sure which side of it I'm on just now.

Star Sighting Mecca

I enjoyed dinner tonight at Nobu 57 with two colleagues from our sister company (Cyndi and Seth from Atlas, shown far left and far right), our client Nicole from Digitas Boston (see 10/27 entry) and her friend Alison Campbell from NBC. Note that Nicole's birthday is 11/20 (same as my sister!) and we celebrated.

Turns out that Nobu 57 is a Star Sighting Mecca! You'll note in the photo to the left that DEREK JETER of the NYYankees is sitting right behind us (back to us, white shirt). And wouldn't you know, The Nanny, Fran Drescher and Bob Balaban from various Christopher Guest films, are sitting at the table behind us as well. We pretended to take shots of the group, but in actuality were trying to ensure we had documentation of our celebrity sightings! You know, because we're cool like that.

Interestingly, I called my parents to tell them the celebrity sightings story and my dad's only comment was, "Derek Jeter is sitting next to *you*, you mean". (I love my Dad.) And, as I told my friends at the table, my brother Kevin would sh*t his pants just now if he were here.

So, here's to you, Kevin Moore! I'm only sorry I didn't buy him bamboo of sake and get his autograph... but dude, you top Derek Jeter in my book any day of the week!

Taxi? Crap. Taxi? Crud. Rickshaw? Check!

My colleague Gary and I went to ad:tech NYC this afternoon and when we left, couldn't seem to catch a cab. That's what 5PM just north of Times Square will get ya. So, what'd we do? We flagged a rickshaw, of course!

Being the quick thinkers that we are, we called my coworker Daniela, had her grab my camera from my bag and rush out to the street corner to catch the action shot. Brilliant! Two suits cross-town on 54th and then down Lexington -- it was a sight to see!

Our cabbie was a RockStar altogether -- and definitely earned his tip!

Just another day in the neighborhood...

Well, it was just another weekend on Manhattan's Upper East Side... save the fact that I just caught both the front- and tail-ends of the ING New York City Marathon! And, I also just caught the story of the Marathon -- Lance Armstrong -- inside Central Park:



I watched the top runners finish the race on TV, then made my way over to Central Park to catch the action. At first, the path was rather empty with the serious marathoners at the beginning, but as I sat there and enjoyed cheering folks on, it started to become more and more full. I was at the Central Park entrace on 90th and 5th and you could see the joy in the runners' faces as they entered the final stretch inside the Park.

I also decided to head over to the tail end of the race to cheer on the slower marathoners -- many with some amazing stories. I was at the 18th mile on 92nd & 1st as the time clock passed four hours. The crowds and the field were both much thinner, but the spirit in the air was just as thick. Plus, many of the bars were letting the crowds swell on to the sidewalk -- beverage in hand -- to cheer on the runners. It was something to see!

This marks the second year in a row I've been able to enjoy the NYC Marathon. I will run it someday. I will. But for now, I'll blog about the idea and consider the October 2007 Portland Marathon. :o)

p.s. Happy Birthday, Stacey Dozono!

It's a Boy! It's a Boy!

That's right... TWINS! My dear friends Patti & Rich Schlegelmilch welcomed Isaac Richard (9:03AM) and Caleb Robert (9:04AM) to the world this very morning in Seattle! Isaac seems to be at the top of the food chain coming in (or out, as it were!) at a healthy 6lbs.2oz.; Caleb's got some catching up to do given that he weighed in at 5lbs.8oz.. That said, however, he's already got 1/4" on Isaac in height!

Congratulations Schlegelmilches! I can't wait for our next F.A.R.T. Reunion to meet the boys! Of course, this now brings the F.A.R.T. kid tally to nine: Tram & Mark, 2; Lorraine & Bob, 1; Neris & Wendy, 2; Patti & Rich, 3; Nguyet, 1.

No Fighting! No Puking! ($80 fee)

Once again, we ventured to our local after-work watering hole for some much-needed inter-divisional bonding (translation: get hammered at Beer Pong with co-workers!). As a warm-up to our Atlas/DRIVEnyc Holiday party, we headed to Whiskey River and enjoyed a night of colleagues, pizza and Bud Light (can you guess which one makes me fart-y?).

Being the amazing athlete that I am (Thanks, Dad! No offense, Mom.), I was able to hang in there throughout the night. But if you guessed Bud Light to the question above, A) you're right and B) I had my fair share. Seth and Luke turned out to be the hottest Pong team until Scott and I took them out in their fourth match -- good thing, too! And good times all around. It's amazing what a few hours away from the office and some good clean fun can do for waning employee morale.