Today's News

By sneaking a helmet and chute into his backpack a brave heart jumped off the Eiffel tower today and videoed his own perfect landing on the Champs de Mars.
Tony’s take on it while talking to Jen from the top of the zip line, “That’s illegal.”

By 4:30am on day five I had stowed my littlest suitcase in one of the oversize-live-in-Paris-for-five-months one and was traveling through trafficless streets to deliver myself to the airport for phase II of the mission.

As complicated and harried as my November travel day to get to the New Kids Show on time, this day would be the total antithesis.

Disclaimers:
Been asking Melissa for weeks to:
1. Buy our tickets to the Really Big Show.
2. Find out what time the show started.
3. Start packing
4. Stop at Chick-Fil-A to pick up reissued check she lost

So I snatched Jen from her catatonic state in the vortex of what seemed like a respectable place to live when we dropped Melissa off on August 27, 2005. Not so anymore.

We assessed the situation. Our suitcase plan would not suffice, so we stopped at the UPS store for a consultation on packing a guitar, bought a couple of boxes, and headed straight to our hotel pool. Ahhhhhhhh.

The plan would be to catch some rays, head towards the theatre around 3 (you have to allow your self a couple hours to get anywhere on a Friday afternoon in LA.) We would find a nice sit down restaurant for a leisurely dinner, arrive at box office around 6. If we had extra time we could watch the Road Trip DVD while we waited for the show to start at 7pm. (The time stated on the YA web site)

Obviously, Melissa has failed miserably at 1, 2, & 3.
The traffic was minimal, so we arrived in theatre area around 4.
We purchased our 3rd to the last row balcony tickets.
Checked show time. 8pm.
Took us until 5pm to find a Perkins-style sub standard non-fast food restaurant. Apparently, the pioneers that settled in the west did not believe in TGIF’s. When this unknown little fact makes it’s way back east there will be another gold rush.
By 5:30 we had shoved our ½ eaten meal that looked nothing like the pictures in the menu aside and headed back to theatre to assume the position.
Sitting in the car to wait for Showtime.
Thankfully we could entertain ourselves with the computer, calls to our significant others, and hopefully get a nap.
Calls went unanswered. SOMEONE forgot to charge the laptop. And because, by this time, we were both a little on the bad mood/giddy side, assuming the position for getting a power nap did not come easy.
We left several messages that may or may not have gone something like this:
Melissa, thanks to you we are sitting outside the theatre trying to digest what “Millie’s” said was their finest home cooking, stale TCBY cones, and using the Wendy’s as a pit stop…if you get any kind of a dinner break before the show and don’t come out here and sit with us we’re gonna pack it up and go see The DaVinci Code.
Tony, please call me so I know you’re not under a canoe at the bottom of Muskegon River.
Mark, would love to chat about the weather and how much it’s gonna cost to UPS Melissa’s DVD library, but I have so few cell phone minutes left could you just text message the Pistons score as necessary.

Even though we could have traveled to Paris while we killed time, assume the position, came to mean to Jen and I today: “This is day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad.”

At the end of the day. (5:30am MI time)
Pistons win.
YA’s came through and made it worth the wait, especially the second act and Otha singing, “Precious Lord, Take My Hand.” Dear Lord.
Ben’s DVD will bring tears to my eyes for years to come.
Tony and Jen were meant for each other.
Melissa will tour the Midwest this fall with her new best friend.