I Found the Fountain of Youth... it's in Delray Beach Florida

Sometime during the 1500's Ponce de Leon searched for The Fountain of Youth, and discovered Florida. Right there under his nose WAS the Fountain of Youth, I found it in Delray Beach... My mom and I took a trip to Florida to visit my Aunt and Uncle who moved there for good last year from Hamden. My Uncle Al has Parkinsons, and my Aunt has had a few operations for cancer. So it was important to bring my mom there to see them.

I turned 50 last year, and while I'm not in the best shape of my life, I look better than most 50 year olds, in fact, in my mind I still feel 20, I'm as "hip" as a 40 year old but I actually look 60.... But the truth is, I never felt so alive and young , (at least since I can remember) as I did this past week.

We arrived Wednesday afternoon, after flying on Jet Blue, my mom was a neurotic mess, worrying about the flight being canceled. We made it and my mom and I were able to wedge our ways into the plush baby car seat sized airplane seats, (I brought a large shoe horn to squeeze are asses into the seat)...

So just after takeoff, a large woman felt it necessary to jump in the vacant seat in front of me. My knees still have the imprint of the emergency evacuation directions on them. Once the lady buckled up, she whipped her seat back as far as it could go... so my knees are jammed in the seat, my nose inches from the headrest, and my nostrils flaired from the overpowering perfume she bathed in. GREAT, only another 2 or so hours from now I'll be in Florida. The only saving grace was the fact that JetBlue serves Dunkin Donuts on the plane. On takeoff, my mother grabbed my hand, (the last time I held hands with my mom, I was 9 years old and crossing a city street), Thanks mom, for the cockblocking, any available woman that may or may not think I was a nice guy, assumed I was with a rich old woman. If they only knew...

We landed in West Palm, and headed over to the Hertz counter to rent the car... once in the courtesy bus, I chose to stand, and real annoying..er I mean nice guy driving us to Hertz, told me I had to sit down... fresh off a grasshopper position on the plane I needed to stretch my legs, I proceeded to sarcastically ask the driver why the bus was equipped with hand rails from the ceiling, wasn't that for people who stand.. My mom was politely telling me to act like a duck and let the water roll off my back... and to sit down... Oh yeah, we were off to a great start...

Once we got the car, we drove 15 miles south to Delray.. We stopped at the local Publix (grocery store) to buy flowers for my Aunt. I dropped my mom at the front door and told her I'd be right in once I parked the car... It took 20 minutes, I had to wait until the folks crossed in front of me to get to the store from the parking lot. Unfortunately, the people that were crossing in front of my car weren't moving that quickly, in fact once I got into the parking lot, my mom was heading out of the store, "I thought you were coming inside?" Yeah well, I thought so too... It reminded me of the Michael Jackson Thriller video, it was the land of Zombies, except the only difference was they moved slower than zombies, and they didn't have the strength to have their arms outstretched. But most if not all of them...looked dead already..

We were staying at Lee's condo, he was married to my Uncles sister Marian who passed away a few years back, formerly of Hamden too, he was going to stay at his new girlfriends condo around the corner... My mom got the master bedroom suite and I got what I'm sadly used to, the pullout couch... The place was nice, but it was built for shriveling old people... The bathroom sink I was using came up to my thighs, and if I tried to drown my self in the sink, my head wouldn't have fit in it. While shaving, my left shoulder was pressed against the wall, my right shoulder pressed against the glass shower door.. The shower was another obstacle... Once in the shower my head towering over the nozzle head, when I bent down a bit to wash my hair, my knees hit the wall and my fat ass pressed against the glass shower doors... one time I tried to bend over and soap up my shins and feet...I almost knocked myself out, hitting my head on the soap bar holder...

So Wednesday nite we head out to Lucille's, a great barbeque joint in Boynton Beach. You all know how much I like knawing on meat on a bone,.... I had the BBQ shrimp... I had the hostess laughing, asking for a box of crayons and a kids seat and menu... Ordering food was a treat, Lee is hard of hearing, my Uncles speech isn't great, my mom and Aunt can't see and I'm sweating wedged between my moms left boob and Lee's hairy right arm.... Yeah dinner was great...

We drop my Aunt and Uncle back at their place and head back to Lee's condo to retire for the night... I make my pull out bed, and my mom jumps into my bed and wants to talk... "Isn't this fun?" she asked... Yeah, like that root canal I had when I was 22... I convinced her to get a good nite sleep, she went down the hall to her palatial surroundings and I got under the two paper blankets left for me and turned on the state of the art 12 inch TV... I awoke sometime in the middle of the night, freezing, only to hear my mom's TV on a little bit too loud. I showed her how to work the sleep timer the next night.

Thursday my mom went with my Aunt to her chemo, my Uncle went to F.A.U. for art classes, it was my only day to myself. I drove around and found a D.D. for coffee, and acclimated myself with the neighborhood. I stopped into a restaurant for breakfast, and besides the help, I was the youngest there, I got a lot of stares, apparently they aren't used to seeing unaccompanied Kid's there. After breakfast I realized I could make a ton of money dyeing hair, I saw more bold colors than a paint store.. There's gotta be a big market for hair coloring..

That nite we stayed in and had chinese food with my Aunt Cele and Uncle Al... My mother and Aunt bickered back and forth like they were 8 and 12. My uncle told my aunt what he wanted and she corrected him to what he was going to get. We sat at a 1960's fold up card table with a big lazy susan. The ordering process took a while and it was then i realized I was never going to get a "quick" meal here...

Friday morning we went to breakfast... Helped Uncle Al into and out of the car and helped guide him and his walker. Aunt Cele and my mom snipped at each other over what we were getting... good times!!

Friday my mom wanted to see the beach, so I drove her the beach and helped her to a lounge chair... She was cockblocking again... calling me honey and lovey...
That afternoon I piled them in the car and took them to Deerfield Beach for my Aunts after chemo shot, my aunt was backseat driving and my mother was telling her sister what a good driver I was... My uncle mumbled to me from the passenger seat, "you think it's easy..huh?"

Once at the medical center, getting my Uncle situated in the waiting room, surrounded by 100 year cancer patients waiting to see the Doctors, my mom came out and joined us, apparently my Aunt told her to leave her... Some old guy comes in and asked the receptionist if he could use a phone for a ride, she directed him across the room and he called, while on the phone, with the bustle of a busy office, TV on for the waiting room and the phones ringing, this guy lets out one of the loudest farts I've ever heard in my life, and it lasted a good 30 seconds... I glanced at my uncle and he was shaking his head left to right, the receptionist put her head down and covered her nose with her shirt, I glanced at my mom to my right and she had the look on her face like I came home with 4 D's on my report card... I held my breath, closed my eyes and tried not to burst out laughing... I made contact with the receptionist and we both smirked and I looked away, I was about to lose it...

At night we waited for Lee and Alma to arrive from there volunteer work at the Tennis Match and they decided to go to The Ale House... We had to take 2 cars since there was 6 of us, my Uncle wasn't feeling that strong so we took the wheelchair and the walker. The drive there should have taken 10 minutes, it seemed like 10 hours, Lee being very cautious, didn't want to lose me, so he drove slow... So slow that that idle on my rent a car would have smashed into his back bumper, so i drove the whole way there riding the breaks, I fit right in with the rest of the drivers in Florida. Once I got my uncle out of the car and into the restaurant I parked the car. Once again, I got wedged in a booth with my mom to my left and to my right was Alma, who lathered herself with perfume for her new beau Lee... By the time the food came, I was stressing out, sweating and had to turn my shoulders just to use a fork.. 10 minutes into the meal Alma took my fork and instead of trying to get the very busy servers attention I ate my meal with my fingers. Not quite finished with my meal, I asked if I could get up, 3 minutes later when Alma moved I was FREE... I went over to the bar, and told our server that if they needed me that that's where I'd be.

I drove them back home took my mom back to Lee's and made up a story that I was going out for snacks... I drove back to the beach and I finally saw young peers.. By the beach in Delray, there were a bunch of clubs with youngsters spilling out into the streets, I sat on the side of the road smoking a cigar with the handicap pass hanging from the mirror... No one even noticed me... When i got back to the condo I had to wake my drooling mom up and told her to go into her own bed... I also set the sleep timer for her and proceeded to try and sleep... All in all, I got maybe 6 hours of sleep the whole trip, and when I woke up the first thing I saw was my mom standing over me, asking me if I was awake, by the time I uttered my sleepy reply she was carrying on about the flight (that was scheduled 6 hours later) and she was worried about it being canceled. she was telling me that we had to clean the place, had to laundry and was demanding me to call JetBlue and to contact my sister to see WHO was picking us up at the airport. Since I've been waking upo alone for a long time now, I wasn't receptive to this muich instruction so early in the morning.. My mother started bitching to me, (obviously taking out her frustration at not winning arguments with my Aunt on me), and we snapped at each other, ahhh just like old times... I took off to get coffee and bought my mom a jelly donut for a peace offering... it worked, after she gave me a passive aggressive apology...

We took my Aunt and Uncle out for a last breakfast, that took a good 3 hours, once back at their condo, I hung a bunch of paintings that my Uncle painted, every picture I hung took 20 minutes, my Uncle wanted this one here, my Aunt wanted that one there... They argued about selection and placement on every one...and then we headed to the airport for the flight home.

Five times on the plane she asked me why I didn't have a jacket, I explained that I would be okay and that Wayne and Wendy were picking us up and I wasn't walking home in the cold from White Plains...

Once back in Woodbridge I was greeted by open arms from the only one that really missed me... Actually is was open paws, as Bear was wagging his tail for HIS favorite Uncle...

As torturous as it was, I was glad I got to see them both of them... I was able to get some good stories from my Uncle about his time in the service as a seaman on the Aircraft Altamaha. We did a family tree of my maternal heritage, with conflicting facts by my mom and Aunt.. All in all it was a good trip...

Ponce de Leon was right the Fountain of Youth IS in Florida, because I never felt so young as I did that week...

"Katz's Deli Back In The Championship Game"

Katz's Deli & Restaurant softball team was back in the championship game. Last years loss was tough to deal with. This years squad was determined not to let it happen again. We stumbled early in the season, losing to TBS for the first time in JCC league history.. But it just gave us more incentive to win it all in 2009.

If you remember last year, we got to the final game, and we were poised to win. But, rain drowned out our scheduled game, you can check back in the archives for what really happened.. (August 2008).

So this year I was determined to be better. I joined the gym, and was gonna get to the batting cages on a regular basis to improve my skills. As I am approaching 50 years old, I know I wasn't gonna get THAT much better, but if I could slow the decline that all ballplayers go thru, I would be alright.

In January, there was some talk of bringing in some new, young blood. Of course, they had plans to upgrade different positions. I was the first baseman, but Scott Boras (who is Jamie's agent), was floating a young slugger who played first. I was determined not to lose my position. Apparently team Captain, Mark Albert liked the looks of the new kid. Yeah the kid, was faster than me, in better shape, and the kid told me SHE wanted to send me to the bench. Oh... did I mention she was a girl??

Fortunately, she messed up her toe in a farming accident and I got to keep first base.

Our season started a little slow, but we righted the ship and set sail for our goal. Early in the season, we were beating a team pretty good. Mark Albert asked us not to "show up" the other team, so when we got on base, be conservative and take it base to base, instead of trying to round the bases at will. Good sportsmanship by the captain, (he's always the first one to praise the umpires for good calls too). I'm at the plate and I hit a shot, over the left centerfielders head and I'm flying around the bases. Okay maybe not flying, but for me I'm moving like I'm being chased by a hungry pitbull. As I round second base, Mark is our third base coach and is telling me to hold up. I am determined to score, I haven't hit a homerun since the early '70's at Robert Handford's house in a whiffle ball game. I'm going for it... I'm digging with the cleats, snorting air, and getting tears in my my eyes from the speed, (okay, it was windy and maybe the tears was from that). But I scored!! We won the game and I made as few plays in the field, but I miss one foul ball behind me. The grass was wet from the night before's rain. I almost had it but I slipped on the turf, outstretched and just barely missed making the play. Being a little cocky I contacted THAT ringer first baseman that almost took my job and pointed out that I had hit a homerun, and because I'm a little humble, I told her about the play at first too.. Her response... "I wouldn't have fallen"...

It was a good year, we beat the Big Boys in the playoffs and we're ready to play for the Championship. They told me the game was at 10:30am, or so I thought... Sometime on Saturday nite I got a text from Mark stating batting practice was gonna be at 8am. I was working at a restaurant as a celebrity bartender that night, they hire star athletes on occasion but I looked at the message and said, I am not getting up that early for BP. I would get to the game an hour in advance, more than enough time to stretch, and loosen up for the game. As I pull into the field parking lot, I see both teams playing, and I check my watch. It's 9:30am, I get my cleats, glove and DD coffee, head to the bench. Apparently the game was scheduled for 9:00am. Oops, my bad... So I was regulated to cheering. It was the third inning and we were down by three runs. By the looks of my teammates the looked demoralized, (the same look the Red Sox had this weekend), I come to find out, they are depressed I showed up, now they have to let me bat... I just thought they were down because we were losing. Lo and behold, we clawed back and were poised to win, tied at the bottom of the 8th, Matt leading off, rips a liner to center for a solid base hit. Shannon got him to third with a shot to the outfield. Up comes Jamie, they walk him. Mike "Bear" is up with the bases loaded, and a little miffed they walked Jamie to get to him. All we need is a sac fly to win the game.... ,"Bear" is ready to go... his pitch comes in, and his eyes widen, like Yogi & Booboo after they spot an unattended pic-ca-nic basket... He drills it out to left center. Matt tags from third, and as he crosses the plate... we WIN!!!! How did I do?? Oh.. I hit a scorcher to short, that Jeter would have had a tough time handling, but I was thrown out by a step.... a step of a circus elephant, but a step nonetheless... My second at bat to lead off the final inning, I hit a towering fly ball, that may have hit the astrodome roof if we were in houston, but the pitcher took three steps in and caught it..

Celebration followed, we were all happy except for our mercurial owner Steve Katz. We all piled into Katz's deli, it was 30 minutes before they opened, so Steve tried to get us to go somewhere else... We gathered behind the plate for a team photo, Mike, Jamie and I discussed the Championship jackets we want to Steve, as he flicks a cigarette at me and storms off to his Navigator..

It was another great year, and I'm looking forward to playing again next year. But already there is a lefty swinging goat that covers the bag at first pretty good in the Bethany Animal Softball League, just another challenge for me... By the way... don't believe what the sheep say in that league they LIE!!...

The End of the Run...... The Fan has closed :(

Get your tissues out... you may tear up a little... God knows I have in the past few days....

It's a simple story, sad, happy, and all in between...

Back in June of 2005, The Fan Restaurant & Sports Bar opened for business... Warren, Steve & Sal opened up Woodbridge CT's only sports bar. They asked me to be the GM, with ownership in regard to profit sharing after the first year. It was a great place, fun to see it develop from ideas to construction to opening and to being very busy. We had some hiccups in the early stages, there were town political issues about whether we should open or not... A lot of drama in the beginning, ahhh who am I kidding, drama was the Fan's Middle name...

We had some memorable days, memorable nights, great fun, jokes, laughs, and of course tears...

The hiring process was an adventure. We overstaffed in the beginning hoping to find diamonds in the rough.. We found some granite, marble and the occasional slate, but yes we did find a few diamonds, some flawed, but diamonds nonetheless.

I remember that first week so vividly, I lost 20 lbs, along with my voice, (rundown from lack of sleep and food).

The original crew was great! We formed a bond early, as everything was new, we grew together as a team and we had fun. We fun, after one of our first Employee meetings, Vinny (the chef) and I spoke, telling everyone the correct ways for things to be done, then we let the floor open from comments from the owners... It was as this point that Warren said.. "When I come in here I wanted to be treated like royalty...you know like the President of the United States". Well kids we had a field day with that one, Elissa, a/k/a Red, brought in an old wall phone of her moms that was red, so we had it by the corner of the bar, Steve, Warren's partner, would call us on his cell, driving by the front of the restaurant screaming, "Perimeter Clear", needless to say that joke lasted a few months.. Then there was the time win Jen came into work and was heading to the restroom to freshen up, the door was unlocked, and as she walked in, there was a guy hovering over the toilet in mid-wipe... Aarrggghhh, (sorry for that vision), but Vinny, Jen and I were crying in laughter in the back of the restaurant, for a good 30 minutes. My sides hurt for a few days. But the best part was the guy walked back to the bar and continued eating and drinking. If that had happened to me, (which it would never, because I lock the bathroom door even if I'm alone), I would have jumped into my car and never have gone back there...

We hired all 3 Connolly kids, Nora first, then Luke as a busboy, the Sophie after she finished college. A great family, thx Tom & Lucia for rasing good kids... Nora was pushed on me by my neice Briana, who swore she was a hard worker and a great addition to the team, the first time I met Nora, she looked a deer in the headlights, wide eyed and very attentive, once I got to know her she was as crazy (in a good way) as anyone. This one time, Lucia, (the mom) had brought her mom in for lunch, Nora was the server, Luke our busboy. This particular day Lucia's mom, Constance Green, was enjoying a nice day in the restaurant and wanted to treat her grandchildren like most grandparents do, by offering money to them.

"Nora...honey, here..take some money"... while she was holding a 20 dollar bill..

"No, No grams.. I can't take your money" as she cleared some plates and headed back to the kitchen, it was at this point that Luke wandered intobefore... wiping the chairs down, straightening the tables, when Constance noticed her grandson working so diligently, reached into her purse, pulled out a 5 spot and waved it towards Luke and said,

"Here honey... " like a lion pouncing on it's prey, Luke swiped the $5 out of his grandmothers hands and said.

"Thanks Gram.." and proceeded to do nothing the rest of the day but try and get Andrea (one of our servers) to go out with him...

We had fun here... and there's a million more stories, but this blog spot could go on forever...

All in all we had a great staff, Billy Cal was hired to run the bar, he and the Grifftone were our Friday night barkeeps. Leigh-Loo, who went to school at SCSU but lived in Buffalo, her parents would make the 6 1/2 hour trip to see her every few months, (Good People). Courtney & Carly, Lindsay, Kaitlin, Molly Alana, Jen Q40, Andrea, Laura and many more, too many to mention. We had the the best looking and most talented hostesses this side of the Connecticut River, Kelly, Celia, Kristy, etc... and some of the worst busboys ever... Freddy, Jesse, Dan, Mike, LOL... they all got good right before they left...

Our bartenders were works of art, Nicole, Chrissy, Erica, Ashcan, and of course Danielle. Each one more special than the other...
In their own way of course...





In the end, it was Augustine, our faithful dishwasher, who worked hard every day... Mario our Head Chef, and first hire back in 2005, Oswaldo, Freddy, Paulo, all good workers.

And of course our servers at the end, who witnessed and had to endure the end. Taryn, who never did punch a customer, but threatened to too many a time. And who would entertain me by labeling each customers check name with a perfect descriptions of that table, (some names I can not disclose, as some of them may be reading this blog). Briana, who stayed only because her mom made her, (and since she's afriad of her mom/my sister as I am she had to stay until the end), Cassandra who was everyone's taxi service, and would show up limping and on medication for a party of 30, because she promised to work the party, (we sent her home that day...LOL). Michelle who no matter if it was busy or slow moved at the same pace. Kasey, who started as a busboy during here break from college, and now when I'm in a jam
would drive home from school to work, and let me tell you as a server...she's one heck of a swimmer...LOL. Of course our bartenders; Danielle, one of my better hires, who just recently left us after some of our payroll cuts, Erica who alwys turned Taryn's IPOD up too loud and Ashley who consistently spent the first 45 minutes of her shift on her cellphone. A great crew that I will never forget.... EVER!!! I love you all... some more than others..

So anyhoo... the last day was a sad one indeed, but a great way to go out.... (Take that pee break now.... )...

Saturday, April 18th was our last day... I woke up at my sisters a little after 8am, too early, but I had a tough time sleeping. I got my DD coffee and opened the door at 10am, so the crew could prep the place for business.

I have to admit, I'm a sentimental guy, very careing, etc... but I'm not known as a cryer... Sure I well up at funerals... but who doesn't... besides, I 've been to too many, so I have numbed myself of that emotion... But I have to admit... by 11:26am, I had cried 6 times... Jeezz.. I'm a wuss...

Alot of emotions running thru me, in as I thought back on the past 4 years, I realized that while all else crumbled around me I could numb my senses by diving into work, (of course that means I should have been a better manager).... A major IRS issue, some deaths, my marriage, etc, I would block it all out and immerse myself in my job... Like the time I was driving to work in NJ to CT, in the rain when I got cutoff by a silver minivan, hit the brakes and then did my best Nascar hydroplane into the concrete Jersey Barriers on the Tappan Zee Bridge.. Thru 6 lanes of traffic, amazingly not hitting another car... I rented a car and made it to work 2 hours late... I remember the rental car clerk shaking his head, "No one smashes a car and rents a car and hour later..." Well.... I do...and did...

I got a few text messages in the morning wishing me good luck and some positive reinforcements...

I get my first call from Warren... speaking somber in a low voice that there isn't enough "Density in Woodbridge" to keep it going at this location..

I was then visited by Mark Bollard, a/k/a "Bully"... Then Mike Morris a/k/a "Bigs" stopped in... Then Steve, a/k/a "Large", it was at this point as I'm grabbing the rest of the dwindling liquor stock to the bar, when I picked up the case of Da Vinci's Chianti, the bottom of the box opens up, 8 bottles smash to the ground, but not before one breaks my big toe on my left toe, (but not to gross out Taryn, there will not be a photo of that). As tough and strong a woman as she is, and much like Superman with the Kyrptonite, feet is not something she can handle...

Doug DiLorenzo and his daughter Jenna stop in to give me a Bethwood Softball golf shirt as a present, (Thx to them eating with us for all four years) at the time when the red wine is seeping thru the liquor closet wall.. That's when Steve starts talking about Moses and the Nile of blood... (You had to be there)... He was just happy I had less to get rid of after we closed...LOL...

Bailey, Warren's daughter, stopped in to say hi to Taryn, and was dissappointed that she wasn't arriving until 1:30pm. She then sat in the dinning room and told me if the restaurant was her house she would put the living room here, kitchen here.. my office would be a closet for her clothes, and she would add an indoor swimming pool. Not what I wanted to hear on this morning... but if you know Bailey, she's the nicest kid in the world... You know there was no ill will meant...

Warren's wife Alicia came in to get Bailey, looking tired, drained and ripped.... She's competing next week for a bodybuilding Figure Competition and this is the last week of her diet and training, (handclapping please), she's gonna do great!!

It's now 1pm, the New York Rangers and the Washington Capitals are playing game two in the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. So our first guests of the day are John & Ray wearing their Yankee shirts proudly, and their friend Tony wearing the ugliest Red Sox you can imagine... Actually, any Red Sox shirt is ugly...but that's just my opinion.

We have no kitchen staff, so I tell them popcorns free... (It's been free from day one)...

Taryn shows up in ripped jeans and a homemade shirt she made that says, "I Love the Fan" with her name on the back and a matching shirt for her adorable son Wyatt with "Rookie" blazed on the back of his... Yeah she asked if she could wear jeans on the last day.... and before I could say yes, she says, "What... are you gonna fire me??" Needless to say that's not an option... It's the last day the heck with it. (she made me a shirt too, XXL in Black of course with a captains "C" on it) Thx :)

She has no babysitter until 3 ish or so, so that's why Wyatt was with her, he loved coming to the Fan he always got his coloring book and crayons, cup of Sprite, (Excellent for blowing bubbles thru the straw), and Popcorn. Usually he's happy to be here, and for a moment I thought he was sad too. But one look at his shaved head..... I realized he still hadn't forgave his mom for the buzzcut... I just hope 20 years from now he remembers how much fun it was to visit the restaurant.

So since I don't have a kitchen staff until Mario wakes up and comes in (He worked the night before until 10pm, then slept a little and went to his other job from 2am to 10am) Ray, John & Tony, (but who care what Tony thinks, he's a Red Sox fan) are starving. So I offer to buy lunch at 5 Guys Hamburgers if John goes and gets it... Sixty eight dollars later, with greasy fries and cheeseburgers and hotdogs we chow down our last meal at the Fan, (made down the street though...)

Dave Camacho & Pigpen, err I mean Steve come in, I think Steve has a drinking problem, I'm not sure, but in 4 years I never saw him sober... but today he's outside smoking a cigarette, with NO baseball hat on, and for a fleeting moment, I swear it's Jack Nicholson. Dave and I laugh about that one, that on the Fan's Last day we finally got a celebrity to stop in...

The Rangers win to go 2 games up on the Caps, and we start getting busy... Oh it's gonna be crazy I can feel it. Kasey comes in after helping Uncle Wayne at The UNH Spring Football game cookout, complaining of BBQ smoked eyes. and exhausted from class the day before at Rutgers in NJ and the FAST drive to CT to do a double on Friday night.

The night gets heated up, and it's wall to wall people, if every night was like that we'd be millionaires by now... Steve & I joke that we should have spread the rumor of us closing every other week for the past 4 years... That would have been tremendous marketing!!

BudLight Mike & Diane, (whom met at the FAN, and are getting married this year) Paul Hennessy & Rick came in to say their goodbyes. BudLight Mike got his name from Molly one of our old crew, because he drinks Vodka..... I'm kidding, he's a Budlight fanatic... It was a wild scene The UNH football coaches were there, all in all a lot of good friends.. People I was reacquantied with from my past, new friends, old ones, almost all of them I love... well...who am I kidding, I don't even like half of them... But last nite was a special one, the end of an era.... Ok so I've cried 5 more times today... Time to move on with my life... If you care.... tune in again and I'll write about.....

Thank you all!!!!! It was a great run..... But another chapter is over.... Geez I haven't teared up this much since I watched "Brian's Song in 1973... I gotta go, I've spent the entire day alone in the Fan and I'm drained. Oh one more thing, some moron called and asked if I could make him a pizza or are you really closed... AAARRRGGGHHHH...

Who are these people anyways..... and where were they for the past 4 years......

I want to thank every single customer that came in, some of you are or became good friends... Doug, Donna & Lisa our Friday night regulars, Jim & Colleen who took Billy Cal and me their wings. Chuck & Robin, who a nicest people around. Doug & Robin and the girls Jenna & Brittney. Tony, Dominque, Angie & Peter. The Jew Crew... Peric, Allison, Dave, Shelly, Iyla, Ronnie, etc.. Lee, Mark, Lisa & Ed. Kim & Billy, Jess & Bird. Kenny G, The Packer Girls Kate, Kim, Megan, & Corey.. Don, Jeff & the Turncoat Vince... Harold, Harold & Rod... Geri, Jess, Joanne, Wynn, Steve, Jenn, Shelly, Rick.... There's too many to list... Jeff the Flyer man... Bruce T, JP & Art, Jen, Laura & Drew. Artie, Onzio, Todd Carroll and his wife. Frannie & Anthony. I'm forgetting them all but Thank you !!!

(click on any picture for a clearer and larger view....)

The light is dimming....... See ya soon....