Angi rented out her favorite restaurant in New Rochelle to celebrate her birthday. We had some great food, drinks, singing, dancing, karaoke, performances and lots of laughs. Some of the party was captured on video to the right. Clayton managed to go out to the Moscow River to do some canoeing - watch Moscow Nights On The River video. Click on the picture below for photos:

The 47th annual Quadrille Ball took place at the Pierre Hotel today. I debuted in the ball in 2000 and was a member of the Junior Committee since then. This ball is one of the many charity balls that take place in Manhattan during the ball season which stars in October and ends in May of the subsequent year. But what sets this ball apart from the others is the Quadrille performance by the young people in their 20's. Prior to the performance at the ball they attend weekly rehearsals for about two and a half months during which they get to learn the 18th century court dance as well as socialize at the post-rehearsal parties. Everyone gets to know each other quite well and the night of the ball is the culmination of the good times had througout the rehearsals.

Past Quadrille Balls:
2006
2005
2004
2002
2001
2000

Quadrille Ball Official Website
Quadrille Performance Video
Format: Windows Media Real Media

Today on a 70-degree winter's day I got to meet Kramer - the real one! Did you know that Seinfeld's character Kramer was inspired by a real person who's name is Kenny Kramer? He lived accross the hall from the show's creator Larry David and many episodes of the show were based on the actual events that happend in the lives of Larry and Kenny when they were friends and neighbors.

If you are Seinfeld fan, you will enjoy the Kramer Reality Tour during which he takes you on a bus around Manhattan visiting various landmarks where various episodes of the show took place. You will learn a lot of history about the show, hear a lot of inside stories and see a lot of behind-the-scenes clips.

This was my first time sitting in a tour bus going around Manhattan. And as I was watching the people outside walking doing their daily chores, it made me feel proud that actually I am part of them - the people living in this great city that all these tourists on the bus get to just admire for several days.

Photos

After the tour Kramer was kind enough to give everyone a free pass to Stand Up New York comedy club. We met up with some friends later and took advantage of it. I got a pretty good laugh that evening. The usage of the work f*ck and sh*t was a bit excessive though. Allthough the $20 admission was waved by the pass, we still had to pay $16 minimum per person for unlimited soft drinks.

Photo of Sandra performing

Today Joanna, James and I attended the free concert of Christmas music at the St. Patrick's Cathedral. The program included three New York City choirs: Long Island Choral Society, Young People's Chorus of New York and The Cathedral of St. Patrick Choir. Each choir sang a set of Christmas hymns and at the end all three joined together for a powerful performance of O Holy Night and Hallelujah. Throughout the concert there were several times when the audience was asked to stand and sing familiar Christmas carols together with the choir. When listening to the music, I found it much better to close my eyes. This way there was no visual distruction and I could pay attention to every single nuance of the music. The concert culminated with dimming the lights and lighting up the candles to the sound of Silent Night.

Photos

Today Joanna and I went to see the Broadway musical Mamma Mia. Since both of us grew up in the countries where ABBA was very popular, we were both very excited to see this show. Out of the 22 ABBA songs that were included in the musical I did not know only 3. What was amazing to me how the author of the musical was able to integrate the songs into the story. Even thought the songs were written years before the musical, it seemed that they were written just for it. Here is the list of the songs in alphabetical order:

Chiquitita Dancing Queen Does Your Mother Know Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! Honey, Honey I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do I Have A Dream Knowing Me, Knowing You Lay All Your Love On Me Mamma Mia Money, Money, Money

One Of Us Our Last Summer* Slipping Through My Fingers* S.O.S. Super Trouper Take A Chance On Me Thank You For The Music The Name Of The Game The Winner Takes It All Under Attack* Voulez-vous

* The songs I have not heard before

Links:

• Official Website
• Wikipedia

I spent Thanksgiving in the comfort of Joanna's apartment. She cooked a very delicious 4-course dinner. We ate for 3 hours taking breaks between each course. Joanna feels sorry for all the turkeys that are killed for Thanksgiving and decided not to cook turkey. Instead she cooked a pumpkin soup, cold oriental noodle, Thai chicken dish, and an Apple crumble dessert. We also had a freshly squeezed apple juice from a special juice making machine that Joanna bought.

After dinner we watched the movie The Notebook. This movie is a real tear-jerker! I saw it for the second time and cried even more than when I saw it first. Knowing the end of the movie somehow made it even more touching.