A couple of weeks ago, Meghan joined me in Chicago to see the town and enjoy some company-financed fun. Aside from horrible colds, which I have yet to recover from, we also brought back something far more exciting: our wedding rings! We visited Chicago?s jeweler?s row, only to discover that jewelers seem to have quite an aversion to working on Saturday (how can I fault them for that). Outside of the ?official? jeweler?s building, we happened on New York Jewelers, who became the latest PatandMeg.com Official Wedding Supplier. This dovetails nicely with the international theme that seems to be running through our wedding jewelry purchases. We live outside New York, and I bought the engagement ring in Boston, only to smuggle it into Italy, where I proposed in Asolo. The wedding rings required a trip from New York to New York Jewelers in Chicago, and will be presented in New Jersey.

In order to dodge the rather excessive 8.75% Chicago extortion, err, sales tax rate, we?re having the rings shipped, and they are slatted to arrive this Friday. Spending a hour or so trying on various styles seemed to lend to the growing sense of ?officialdom? of the impending wedding, and we?re both very excited for the day we get to actually wear our newly purchased rings!

Categories: Travel, Wedding
No Comments »

I made an exciting and momentous purchase today at the Stamford Bridal Suite: my wedding dress! After many weekends of trying on dresses of all styles and prices, I finally made a decision?a Marisa gown after all. Interestingly, the dress that I chose was very similar to one of the dresses that I initially found on the net when I started my search. Although it?s exciting to take such a giant step forward in the planning process, it?s kind of sad that I will no longer have an excuse to spend several hours trying on gorgeous gowns on a given weekend. Hopefully I can go the four months until my dress comes in, and fittings begin, without giving into the temptation of scheduling appointments at bridal salons in three states.

If you (anyone but my darling fianc?e) ask nicely, I might give you a sneak peak of my gown!

Categories: Wedding
No Comments »

While the Gregorian Calendar has served western civilization well for a few thousand years, yesterday I took advantage of a new method of marking the passing days.

As I was driving to work on Wednesday with my coworker Sean, we were talking about the impending snow storm. I mentioned that I was glad the worst was supposed to come tomorrow, and luckily I was flying out on Thursday. He looked at me somewhat strangely, and said “Isn’t tomorrow Thursday?” I looked back with an equally confused look, and after a few seconds of pondering, Sean said:

How many shirts do you have left in your suitcase?

I answered “One,” which of course meant that it was Wednesday, since the final dress shirt was reserved for Thursday, the day I fly out. Along the lines of the “You might be a Redneck if…” bit, I think I’ll start “You might be a consultant if…” with “you measure the days of the week by how many shirts you have left in your suitcase.”

Categories: Travel
1 Comment »

I hope all of our loyal readers enjoyed a wonderful Holiday and are off to a good start with 2005! Meghan and I made a whilwind tour of the east coast: CT to Elizabeth, NJ, back to CT, then to the Pocconos, then to Mohegan Sun, then to Portland, ME., and finally back home!

Our visit to Mohegan Sun was quite fruitful, although I fear Meghan may have had a biased introduction to the craps table. We were looking for low rent tables to start her off, but only $10 and $25 tables (dime and quarter tables to those of you in the know) were open, and every one was packed. We finally got on a dimer, since space cleared out after a string of terrible shooters. We arrived just at the right time, and just could not lose. Meghan walked away with a purple chip ($500) on her first real craps run, which took your humble author years to accomplish. I was $40 shy of a yellow chip, a 200% return on investment with about an hour’s work. We celebrated with a nice dinner, and a “few” drinks.

We celebrated New Years with Meghan’s friend Anne in Portland, ME., and her parents were generous enough to contribute their lovely home to the party. My two buddies Greg and Jeff, both who have been present for our last two New Years bashes made it a hat trick, and a good time was had by all.

Unfortunately, it’s back to work for both of us. Meghan should be arriving at school at this time, and your faithful correspondant is posting this entry from the lovely lobby of the Sheraton Chicago Northwest. Hopefully 2005 finds all of you well, and readjusting well to the “grind.”

Happy 2005!

Categories: General
No Comments »