Can't believe it's already 2005!!!

Click on the photo for more photos taken at the New Year's Eve celebration.

Well, even the good things have to come to an end at some point. Today was my last day in Florida. I had to catch a 3PM flight back to the cold New York. Actually Florida weather was not too cooperative with my vacation. It was raining during all but my first day there. But on the day after my departure, the forcast promised sunny skies.

Following breakfast, Joanna and I did something we forgot to do during the morning gift exchange, which is to fire the Christmas crackers. The funny thing was that we had 3 crackers and I won all three times. However the gifts inside were not meant for me: a lipstick case, earings and a bracelet. So I gave the first two to Joanna and the bracelet to her Mom.

I am very greatful to Joanna and her mom for letting me stay at their house during my stay in Florida. I really felt like at home! They even put a picture of a Russian church next to my bed!

Here are the photos taken just before my departure.

On Christmas morning I woke up at around 8:30 in the morning because I had to go pick up Kerrie to go to M. family for the Christmas brunch. But we still have not had a gift exchange at Joanna's mom's, so we had to do it before my departure. Stu made delicious breakfast of home fries and eggs. He said that he normally does not cook breakfast, so I felt special that morning. James and Joanna slept through it though, cause they are not early risers. In fact throughout most of the gift exchange procedure James looked like this. Since I had to head out to pick up Kerrie, I was the only one dressed up. Everyone else had their robes on, except for Stu who wakes up at 5 AM everyday.

The photos from the gift exchange are in the first 20 photos of this album.

After the presents opening at Joanna's mom's house, Kerrie and I went to the M. family for Christmas brunch. We got there a bit late after everyone has finished their food. Nevertheless Marge gave us some waffles with coffee/tee. Marge and I played on the piano 4-hands. She was reading the sheet music and I was playing along on the high section of the keyboard. It was fun, especially the Scott Joplin's Entertainer. Then, contrary to what we expected, Marge told us that the Christmas gift opening will happen after dinner, not after brunch because one of her daughters Joanne had to work during the day. So Kerrie and went to go visit her grandparents before coming back for dinner.

As you can see from the photo on the left, Kerrie managed to inherit many more genes from her grandfather than from her grandmother... Just kidding :), that's her grandparents' dog on the right and her granddad that she calles "Paw Paw" on the left. Kerrie got them quite a few gifts which she proudly presented as I was videotaping the the process on my digital camera capturing the witty comments from Paw Paw as they were opening the presents. One of the gifts actually was picked by me. It is a recent model of a DVD player that can play all kinds of DVD formats, so that Kerrie's grandparnets could watch the DVDs with the videos of her that I make for them. The first DVD we watched was Kerrie's Santa Baby performance. Their second DVD I made right on the spot using my laptop. It was the video of them opening their presents.

We also put Paw Paw through vigorous training on how to use the new DVD player using some of the DVDs that they had. We tested him by turning off the TV and the DVD player and having him exit the room and come back and try to push all the necessary buttons to be able to watch a DVD. Kerrie kept stopping me when I tried to give him hints on what to do. She said that he has to do everything himself because after we go back to New York they will be left to their own devices.

James and Sharath arrived later. James brought 3 quarts of ice cream. Inspired by them, Kerrie's grandma pulled out 3 more gallons from her fridge. So we sat around the dining table and proceeded to devour the ice cream.

This was my second time visiting Kerrie's grand parents. The first time was during my trip to Florida for the New Year's Eve. Back then James, Sharath and I took turns Swing dancing with Gran Gran. This year Kerrie insisted that we do the same. So I cued up one of the many Swing songs that stayed on my laptop from Kerrie's birthday party and started the chain dance with Gran Gran. Here is the video: James and Sharath took their turn as well. Then Kerrie convinced Paw Paw to dance with Gran Gran to the sounds of my accompaniment on the organ. Kerrie and I also demonstrated our dancing abilities dancing impromptu foxtrot. Here is the video:

After visiting Kerrie's grand parents we headed back to the M. family for dinner and gift exchange. Kerrie was very close friends with the kids of the family back in high school. When we got there, there were many more people than in the morning. I proceeded to hook up my laptop to their fancy flat-panel TV for karaoke. Allthough in the beginning, everyone was not that enthusiastic about karaoke, later it turned out that all of the members of the family were pretty good singers and were very creative in their performances. Here is the video: After karaoke we proceeded to have Christmas Dinner. Before we started dinner Chuck, the father, gave as a brief sermon and then we proceeded to the turkey.

Following dinner we proceeded to the present opening ceremony. Prior to opening the presents, one of the kids of the family Nathan read a poem that he wrote about the family. He got so emotional reading it that he burst into tears and could not finish reading it and had to have his father, Chuck, finish reading it.

It was a "Secret Santa" gift exchange, where several weeks before Christmas certain people were randomly selected to get the gifts for certain people. Everyone was supposed to describe what kind of gifts they wanted, but they did not know who will end up getting them. Since I had the most appropriate attire, I volunteered to be the Santa Claus for the evening handing out the gifts. As usual everyone was making witty comments about every gift that was open. The theme of the gifts that I got was music. I got Piano suspenders, Piano cufflinks, socks with a treble clef, and a Christmas bell that looked like a sixteenth note. Very appropriate gifts! I love them! Thanks Chuck! I also got a touch of Florida with a Manatee Cookies mix.

I am greatful for M's hostpitality and a chance to whitness a very strong and happy family during the Christmas time.

Here are all of the photos taken there.

On Christmas Eve Joanna, James, Steven and I went for a short trip to Barnes and Noble and Best Buy to get some last minute Christmas shopping done. Then we came back home and decorated the Christmas Tree to get ready for the Christmas Eve Karaoke Party. Kerrie and Sharath as well as several Joanna's mom's friends came over. The party started as a chit chat among the guests, but then I stepped to the mic and invited people to start singing Christmas Carols to the accompaniment of my karaoke system. Everyone joined in singing the Christmas classics, but later we shifted away from the Christmas theme and sang various pop hits. Joanna's mom was one of the most enthusiastic singers. She kept requesting more and more songs.

Here are all of the photos.

Kerrie and I went to the Victorian Christmas Stroll held at the Henry B. Plant Museum which was located in the former Tampa Bay Hotel. We took Gavin and Alaina's boyfriend with us. This was the first time I had a child car seat in a car that I was driving. After spending some time trying to figure out how to attach the car seat, every one was happy to depart to the museum.

We strolled through the historic hallways and exhibit galleries and absorbed the atmosphere of another age. Object labels were kept to a minimum to help maintain a sense of time and place, but signage outside each room and near the Christmas trees revealed interesting historical notes. In one room they had a 20 minute video that talked about Henri B. Plant and the Tampa Bay Hotel that he founded. Kerrie had a Marylin Monroe moment.

Here are all of the photos taken there.

The first day of my vacation in Florida was the only day when it was not supposed to rain, so Kerrie and I decided to take advantage of the favorable weather to go to her favorite theme park of all times - The Cypress Gardens. It was shut down about two years ago after 62 years of operation. People were lobbying the state to buy it, but finally some rich millionair bought it and opened it again two weeks prior to our visit.

There was an indoor butterfly pavillion where the temperature was much warmer than outside, which Kerrie found very comfortable. There were several kinds of butterflies. One of them looked like a zebra. Here is the special video report by Kerrie:

Due to the recent hurricanes and the fact that the park has been closed for more than a year, there were not as many plants as there used to be. But still it was great to see some exotic plants that I have not seen before. One of them is the Banyan Tree which is quite huge. Parts of the tree's branches came down to the ground and became new roots! On certain parts of the tree, other plants found a home.

There were some other interesting trees that seemed to be happy to grow right out of the water and some preferred to grow sideways instead of upwards. Some parts of the park looked like wild jungle.

There were various shows in various sections of the park. One worth mentioning is the moving statue with fountains of water coming from its the head and hands. It actually was a real person dressed in an amazing costume through which the water was going through to the head and hands. Have a look at the video and see several pipes coming from behind the dress as the woman came down the stairs after the show:

The biggest show of the park is the ski show. When first Kerrie mentioned this to me, I thought that was some ski show on artificial snow, but later she told me that in Florida skiing implies water skiing. Here is a video clip of one of the acrobatic moves: Also as part of the show there was a hang glider who was launched by a tow boat and was able to fly up pretty high. He was cruising in the sky to the sound of music and was able to land on the beach right when the music ended. Amazing timing! Check out the video of his landing:

The latest addition to the park was the rides. They were not as thrilling as the ones in Great Advanture in New Jersey, but still were fun. The great thing was that there were almost no lines and you could go on a ride twice without getting out. Some roller coasters were not designed to fit someone of my size, but I found out about that after I came down from the ride. Kerrie cannot tolerate roller coaters for an extended period of time and I was ready to protect her precious dress from an accident. She did find her ultimate ride though - the one that made her look like a princess in a palace.

Here are all of the photos taken at Cypress Garden.

After the Cypress Gardens we came back to Kerrie's sister Alaina and went out to eat in a Greek restaurant in Ybor City with her son Gavin and several of her friends. Gavin is an amazing kid. Being only two years old he is very smart and funny. Whenever someone would point the camera at him and say smile, he would put on the biggest smile on his face posing for the camera.

After the dinner we went back to Alaina's house for some karaoke. On the way there we drove through a street where the neighbors went out of their way to show off their creativity in outdoor Chrismtas Lighting.

Once we started karaoke, Gavin opend up the show with his performance of Rudolf The Red Nosed Raindeer. When I gave him the microphone, I told him not to lick it the way he does other things like cell phones. But, to my surprise, he took the microphone in his hands and put it to his mouth ready to sing - not to eat it! Below are the videos of various acts:

Here are all of the photos.

I went to the Colonial Christmas Ball with several Quadrille Ball dancers. The ball was held at the Tennis and Racquet Club located at 370 Park Avenue. This was my first time going to this ball and to this club. The club interior was not as nice as some other places I've been too. The walls had green color which I am not crazy about and the ceiling was just plain white. The rooms did have antique furniture which made the place look nice. There was a large parlor with plenty of seating to relax in. There was an open bar all night, so many people were quite tipsy (to say the least). Dancing was to the sounds of Alex Donner Orchestra in a separate ballroom. The dancefloor was fairly big, but parts of it were occupied by people standing around holding a wine glass. Unfortunately the band was not playing much traditional ballroom music when we got there. Instead they played renditions of pop hits like YMCA, Raining Men, etc... Those songs just sound pretty bad when performed by a live band with the instruments ment to be used for jazz music. Also dancing to them in a formal attire is a waste. Probably earlier in the evening they did play some foxtorts and tangos, but we did not get there until around 10:30 PM because we had a pre-ball dinner at my apartment and the food did not arrive until 8:30 PM. Next time I will email the menu to people so we can order in advance. Also took us forever to catch cabs to go cross-town. The cool thing was that I got to hang out with some of the new Quadrille dancers this year and got to know them better. Here are all photos.

The Quadrille Christmas Party is put together for prospective ball dancers every year. But this year it was special, thanks to the surprise appearance of Miss Santa and The Elves. Click on the photo for more pictures. Here is the video:

Well despite the title of the party, we ended up not singing a single Christmas song. We had plenty of talent in the room. Thanks to Manahi for bringing his friends who are excellent singers. Click on the photo for more pictures. Below are some video clips.

Today my company went out to celebrate holidays and talk to each other about things other than work. In this group photo I decided to break the tall-people-go-in-the-back rule with the help of a chair.

As I as walking around inside Best Buy store on the corner of 26th street and 6th avenue I saw a DDR pad next to a home theater system. I looked where it was connected and discoverd an XBox console on the floor behind all of the fancy amplifiers and dvd players on the shelves. I started stepping on the pad and a sales person asked me if I wanted to play. I said yes and he gladly switched the TV input from broadcasting a foodball game to the XBox output. I stayed there for about 20 minutes playing as curious customers where asking me "how does this work?"

Today we celebrated the birthday of my friend Meg at Amarone Ristorante. We've been going to this restaurant with Meg and other of my friends many times during several years while Meg used to live couple of blocks away from it. The owner of the restaurant Toni knows Meg for many years. He is a great guy. He was nice enough to give us some dessert wine on the house! Even though I don't drink alcohol, I finished a whole glass of it, since it tasted really nice and I could not taste any alcohol. It sort of tasted like ginger ale.

On Tuesday (two days ago) just before leaving the office to go to the Quadrille rehearsal I discovered that I lost my wallet. On that day I only used it in the morning to get my usual breakfast at a deli. Since we had an in-office lunch, I have not been using the wallet throughout the day. I tried to look for my wallet all over my desk and in all my pockets and bags, but could not find it. I had to borrow $10 from my colleage Sarah and head out not to be late for the rehearsal. My friends suggested I call the banks and cancel my credit cards. So I did, and fortunately no unauthorized charges were made. But unfortunately I will have to update all of my automatic payments with the new credit card information once I get it in the mail. The next day I started a new monthly unlimited $70 metrocard. The one I had in my wallet would still be usable for 13 days. I also had to go to the bank and get a temporary ATM card. I also tried to mentally prepair myself for the trip to the DMV to get a duplicate drivers license.

But today after I came back from lunch, my co-worker Arthur said, "Raphael, I have bad news for you!". Then he pointed at my chair. The moral of the story is: When you lose something, always check underneath your butt first.

I have finally done it! Now I can put Chandelier Installation on my resume!

It took 8 hours to install the chandelier in Kerrie's living room. That included ripping apart the old light fixture and ceiling medallion, attaching her new fancy ceiling medallion, wiring the dimmer switch on the wall, attaching the chandelier, and putting more than 120 crystals on it one at a time.

Removing the old lighting fixture was simple. It was held in place by only one screw. Removing the old ceiling medallion was a bit more challenging. After first trying to gently separate it from the ceiling with a chisel, I ended up beating the living crap out of it with a hammer and shattering it do pieces. This thing was like 100 years old and this was the only way to end its life.

I could feel a nice chilly breeze coming from the hole in the ceiling. Since Kerrie lives on the top floor, I anxiously peeked in the hole to see if I could see a glimpse of the sky, but fortunately I did not. I sighed with relief knowing that her floor would be dry when it rains.

In the hole there were 3 sets of wires all connected together. I disconnected them and had to figure out which one had the juice. I left my voltmeter at home, so I decided to use Kerrie's paper shredder as the indicator. After connecting its plug to various combinations of wires I finally made the shredder produce its ominous sound and isolated the set of wires that had the juice. The other two sets seemed useless to me, so I cut them short so they are out of the way. I connected the wire that would go to the dimmer switch on the wall and was ready to put on the fancy ceiling medallion that Kerrie bought.

Attaching the medallion was fairly straight forward, thanks to the instructions that I found on the web. Before installing it I had to file a groove in the edge of the medallion for the dimmer wire to go through. Then I put some adhesive caulk around the perimeter of the medallion and stuck it to the ceiling. I also used 4 screws to secure it.

The next thing to do was to install the dimmer switch on the wall. I attached it using a special box designed for outside wiring. I used special adhesive tubes along the wall and ceiling to hide the wire.

At this point we came to an exciting part of actually opening the chandelier box! It was exciting because Kerrie bought the chandelier almost a year ago and it's been in that box until now. The box contained several packages of add-on crystals, a pack of mounting hardware and the chandelier itself. First thing to do was to figure out how to attach the chandelier to the existing mounting hardware that was in the ceiling already. The mounting hardware that the chandelier came with did not really match the one in the ceiling. After scratching my head for a while I came up with a creative way of doing it. I had to use Kerrie's help to hold the chandelier as I was attaching it. This is definitely a job for two people. So don't even think about doing it alone. After screwing different parts of the chandelier together and hanging it on the chain it was finally attached to the ceiling!

So I thought, "all right, I'm almost done!", but then I realized that one of the wall outlets did not work. I was like "what a...?". And then I remembered those extra wires in the ceiling hole. Argghh! Who would have known that a wall outlet wiring was actually connected in the hole for the chandelier. So I had to dismantle the chandelier and attach the other pair of wires. This time I had to do this through the hole in the medallion, because I did not want to use the same technique to take it off as I used on the old one. I figured which one of the two remaining sets of wires was coming from the wall outlet and connected them to the wires with the juice. I reattached the chandelier and watched some TV on the television that was connected to the now working outlet as Kerrie was taking a shower before going out to get lunch. When she came out of the shower, she told me some bad news - the light in the bathroom was not working! I'm like: "What??? You've got to be kidding me!" That third set of wires in the chandelier hole in the living room was actually connected to the light in the bathroom! Now, who would have known that! Since both of us were starving, we decided to go ahead and get some lunch (or was it dinner?) and buy the light bulbs for the chandelier and then come back and continue.

After having some nice Thai food, the energy was replenished and I was not too upset about detaching the chandelier for the second time to connect the remaining wires in the hole. Note that it got totally dark outside by then and the electricity had to be turned off for me to safely complete the operation. Fortunately Kerrie had two flash lights that she got after the blackout of 2003. So she was, like God, guiding the light into the hole while I was trying to connect the remaining wires. Finally the chandelier was attached for the third time and both the bathroom light and the wall outlet were functioning. Phew! "Third time is the charm!"

But the job was not over! I had to attach more than 120 crystals and chains all over the chandelier. We were able to figure out where the crystals go, but the chains turned out to be a puzzle. The diagram in the instructions sheet was not at all helpful. Again we tried 3 different ways to do that and the third one turned out to be "the charm". To put on those crystals and chains took almost as long as to install the chandelier!

Well, it took a long time to accomplish this, but it was worth it. Now Princess Kerrie has her new palace!

James was nice enough to bring the New York Times newspaper article about me to Grimaldi's pizza in Brooklyn. We had to wait for 10 minutes in line outside the entrance in the freezing cold, but it was worth it. The pizza was fresh and tasted great. Then we went to the Brooklyn Ice Cream factory for some in-house-made ice cream.

More Photos.