One of the many many things my wife Joanne does so well is make sandwiches. I often muse that if all else failed she could open up a world-class sandwich shop and I would just be the server.   Last weekend Joanne made chicken salad with celery, dill, lettuce, home grown tomatoes and Hellman's mayonnaise (a very important ingredient) on toasted soft white bread.. Yum, Yum!   The roots of this delicious combination spring from her mother Catherine Peters.  

We were on a very nice rooftop in New York City. It's at Ink48, a hotel at 48th Street and 11th Avenue. We were told that it has been rated as the sixth best rooftop in New York (and the lines to get in attest to that).  

As we wrapped up our day over a beer, I remarked to my wife, "We were victims of not-for-profit, psychopathic, serial dognappers!"   Ironically, I had just recently commented on Fred's blog about our young dog that we had "rescued" after he had lost his home in a fire.  I was not dying to get a second dog, but the rescue dog group had a table at my wife's workplace and she was reeled in hook, line and sinker and nobody I know deserves a break more than her.  

Today was a great day. I say that, and I golfed – shocking. Said another way, today was Gotham’s Annual Golf Outing which explains why it was a great day.

On Wednesday, my husband and I will be taking our two youngest children to college to begin their freshman year. Ryan will be going to SUNY Binghamton and Sydney will be going to SUNY Buffalo. Ryan aspires to be a lawyer and Sydney will be entering a five year program from which she will graduate with a Master’s Degree in Occupational Therapy.

Yesterday was our annual - and final- fall drive to Syracuse to take Emily back to school.  We took two cars since Emily keeps one up here, and also because she has 3,000 pairs of shoes that won't fit in one trunk.   The girls drove together and I went solo, which I relished.  I could keep my windows and sun roof open, and listen to whatever I wanted to, as loud as I wanted to, which was back and forth between Sirius 50's on 5, 60's on 6, and the Grateful Dead channel.   Having just fini

Last Thursday was a fascinating day. In the morning I attended a bris. My friend became a Grandpa and it was a happy joyous celebration with a beautiful buffet. Lots of smiling people. Although it was a little strange that people were videoing the act on their iPhones. Why anyone would want to see that again is beyond me. I also think that when the boy gets older, he won't want to see that either.  

I admit that I am competitive. Does being competitive make losing harder to bear?   Gotham has two softball teams the Gotham Bombers and the Gotham Batmen. I pitch for the Gotham Batmen.   Last year we finished in first place. This year the Batmen finished in second place with a nine wins and two loss record.  The season begins in April and ends in August.  That's a long time to be caught up in competitive softball madness.