Joe and Jamie's Blog

Jamie and I chose our vacation location early this year, due to the fact that we are traveling by plane. I don’t know why I started to look here, but it’s a spot you just can’t go wrong with.

We chose to go to Miami Beach this year. Ah yes, I cannot wait to be there. If only July can come sooner. I booked the hotel and the flight together on Hotels.com last night, got a great deal. Just for booking both we got $250 off the whole order, and two of the nights were free at the hotel. Our second choice was Ocean City, Maryland, but that was more expensive than Miami, even with us driving versus flying.

We are staying at the Fontainebleau Resort. From what I have been hearing it’s a pretty snazzy place. When it comes to hotels I go for location, not really amenities. I could care less if was a shack with a leaky roof, as long as it was right there on the beautiful beach. Who actually spends enough time in the hotel to care anyway right? Hey it’s not Poughkeepsie, its warm and on the beach, the rest is just extra really. When choosing this hotel, I did notice it was rated four and a half stars, so I think we are in for a big treat. There are four actual hotels that make up the place, including a bunch of restaurants, a spa, pools, and of course the beach for the backyard. Here is a blurb on what they offer right from their website:

Following a $1 billion renovation and expansion, Fontainebleau is a spectacular blend of Miami’s glamorous golden era and stylish modern luxury – 1,504 rooms and suites, 22 oceanfront acres, 11 restaurants and nightclubs including three signature name chef restaurants, 40,000-square-foot spa, and a sophisticated poolscape with private cabanas.

I was able to snag some birdseye photos of the hotel, courtesy of Microsoft Virtual Earth. Now one of the hotels isn’t shown yet on the map, it was still under construction the last time the satellite took a picture. It is completed now, you can see it if you watch their video on their website. Check it out.

Yup that right, Joe and Jamie’s Blog turned one year old today. I can’t believe a year has gone by already. I am just thinking how one year ago I sat here not knowing anything about blogs or Wordpress, and comparing it to what it is today.

I have enjoyed blogging very much over the past year. It is something I look forward to after each event we go to or fun thing we do. Jamie laughs at me when I run upstairs to get the camera, or get bumbed out if I forget it. I like the idea of having a journal of what we do to reference in the future, and having it online to be accessible anywhere and share with friends is even better.

So hooray for one year, can’t wait for the next. Thanks to all the readers and supporters out there.

As you read from the previous post, February 21st was Jamie’s 21st birthday. To celebrate, Jamie’s sister, Casey, and I threw a small gathering of family at Bonefish Grill in Poughkeepsie, where Jamie likes to eat. Everything went really well, great service and food, everyone was happy. Jamie got nice presents from everyone and enjoyed the dinner.

After Bonefish we headed back to Casey’s in-laws house to play some card games until we were all ready to go out to the bar. Once all the food was digested, we headed out to the bar of Jamie’s choice. She chose to go to Mahoney’s Irish Pub at Dooley Square in downtown Poughkeepsie, near the train station. We all had a good time at Mahoney’s, a nice way to end the night. Here are some pictures from throughout the day.

Presents for Jamie - that cake box is awesome, isn't it?

Always read the cards first

Bonefish Grill in Poughkeepsie, NY

Jamie blowing out her candles - Pucker up!

Yummy bday cake

From left - Jamie's sister Casey, Jamie, Marie, and Matthew

Saturday night crowd at Mahoney's

Today I purchased a four game pack of tickets to the MLS team New York Red Bulls. Jamie and I both like soccer, but we have never been to a real MLS game before, go figure.

Pricing for the MLS is really cheap, well at least compared to other sports. I got seats near the midfield line, end row seats, mid section for all four games. This should give us a good view of the whole field without too much disturbance. I believe they currently play at the Giants stadium, but they are having their own stadium built as we speak, well read I guess. You can check out the new arena’s website here. They have a web cam to watch the progress.

Can’t wait for our first game, I’ll have a bunch of pictures to show everyone. For now, you can visit the team’s website here.

Kinda got lazy for a few weeks, not really busy, just pure laziness. I have a ton of posts I want to write. I just rambled off three of them, be on the look out for a few more tonight and some more tomorrow. Be sure to read them all, some cool stuff happened in February.

Now I know there is a ton of posts, articles, mentions, etc, etc about this, but it is worth yet another post. I promise I will make it short, sweat, and to the point.

JUST TURN OFF EVERYTHING AT 8:30PM ON MARCH 28TH 2009.

Very simple, just do it. Pretend this is a Nike commercial if it helps you.

Watch the video and do your part to help, please.

Sign up here to send the WWF’s and Earth Hour’s message to your government!

Visit the Earth Hour homepage here.

This past month I have been gradually repainting the kitchen. My mother, well all of us really, were tired of the old wall paper that was starting to come down. It had been up there for 10 years, my guesstimate. So after a few weekends and weekdays, skipping a bunch of days in between, the kitchen is now freshly painted. Just need to paint the outside door and I’m all set. I am waiting on the weather to warm up a bit before I start the door.

Now I have moved into the pantry. We stuck with the same colors since the rooms flow into each other. I am about half done with the pantry. I need to finish the trim, paint behind the fridge, and inside the cabinets. From the pantry I get to move into the dining room and start all over. Fun, Fun, can’t wait.

How the kitchen looked before the project

Above is what the kitchen looked like before we started this. Unfortunately I didn’t take a picture so I had to crop this from an older photo. At least you can see the color and wall paper.

Aww so pretty!

Snazzy looking corner there!

See the pantry, that's next!

I was finally able to redeem my Christmas present on President’s Day. Jamie had bought me tickets to go see my favorite hockey team play, the Pittsburgh Penguins. They were playing the New York Islanders at the Islanders arena, the Nassau Coliseum in Long Island.

I have been to a couple hockey games before with my father, but this was the first time Jamie had ever gone to one. She enjoyed watching the game, so I was very happy. I like the sport, actually my most favorite to watch. It is constant action, not like baseball that takes 40 minutes just to strike out or football that has 15 seconds of game time for every 20 minutes of TV timeouts.

This was my first trip to the Nassau Coliseum though, the other times I went my father got tickets to the New Jersey Devil’s arena, called the Continental Airlines Arena at the time, now the Prudential Center I believe. The stadium was very nice and well kept, crowds weren’t that bad at all considering it was a day off for most people. I just love the highway robbery at the concessions though, but that is everywhere now.

Maybe we can snag some more tickets later in the season. I want to see some other teams play, so we should be able to find some open games. It’s tough getting tickets because these local teams only play the Penguins so often at home. I’m still loyal to my Penguins, even though many years ago they traded my favorite player…now get this, to the team I hate the most (New York Rangers)! Just swell!

The Islanders wound up winning the game in a shootout. For those of you not up to what happens in a tie in hockey, they play a 5 minute period with only four guys on each time (normally five). If it is a tie after that, three players from each team go to a one-on-one shootout with the goalie, whoever scores more wins, if it still ties then it is a tie. Final score after shootout, Islanders 3, Penguins 2. Enjoy some pics from inside the arena.

Scoreboard

Rink before the game, nice and smooth

Shot of stands at Nassau Coliseum

Penguins trying to score

Go Penguings Go!

Waiting for ice girls to finish shoveling the ice

Full rink shot during game

Faceoff down near Pittsburgh's end

FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! Yes there is always one in hockey!