• I just finished my *third* night of leftovers from Turkey With Tumblrs, and still have plenty more left.  Melissa, Sara & Kiki really did an outstanding job on all of the food that day. - As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a longtime bachelor who usually lives on microwave dinners, frozen waffles, and restaurant food, so I truly appreciate all of the amazing home-cooked food.  
• I’ve struggled with writing anything since Sunday… This weekend was such a whirlwind from incredible happiness on Friday & Saturday, to unimaginable sadness on Sunday.  There have been so many times I’ve sat down to write, to try to separate the great early moments of the weekend from the devastating loss for my friends that followed it… but I don’t really know how to. - This is why I’ve been mostly silent on here.
• I just wish I knew a way to take the pain away… I wish I could give more than virtual hugs… I wish I could say more than “I’m sorry” and “I’m here if you need me”. 
• I wish I could help so many of you who are struggling financially this holiday season… Sometimes I read your posts & just wish I could hit the lottery, and be able to help all of you; both to have a great holiday for you & your loved ones… and to help bring you all to SNARK in February.
• In related news, I tend to get way too empathetic… especially at this time of year.

In happier thoughts…

• I really want to thank Melissa so much, for both welcoming us into her beautiful home for “Turkey with Tumblrs”, AND for inviting me along to New York on Friday with her extra ticket to Carnegie Hall. We only had less than two hours after getting off of our train at Grand Central to see some sites, quickly eat something, and make it to the show by 8pm - But thanks to Melissa’s knowledge of the city (and her trusty iPhone GPS) we manged to fit a lot into such a short time.
• I hope I didn’t talk Melissa’s ear off to much on the ride to NYC… We had only met in “real life” literally minutes before getting in the car and driving two hours to catch the train in Fairfield, and then spending an hour ON the train into the city, and I know that I talked so much that I was already losing my voice by the time we got on the train!  - This is actually very rare for me, as I usually am kind of shy when I first meet people… until I get to know them better, but I very instantly felt very comfortable talking with her - very similar to the comfortable feeling I immediately had with Sara back in October. (And this time we didn’t have to push a car for 40 mins to “break the ice”!)  So it’s 2-for-2 in great Tumblr meet-ups so far!
• This trip also helped to provide a me with a great “preview” for my longer NYC trip in February for SNARK.  In fact, the first thing Melissa made sure to have us check-out was how close the SNARK hotel is to Grand Central (Answer: it’s extremely close- just two lefts out of the Lexington Ave. exit and you’re there!)  I definitely feel more prepared for February thanks to my quick trip this past Friday.
• Oh, and here’s a quick shot of our SNARK hotel (thanks again Michele!)…

• Before Friday, I had only been to New York once before, and that was TWENTY years ago! - And I really didn’t get to see much of the city that time, it was just a quick bus trip for a Red Sox/Yankees game, and I all that I remember from that was that Roger Clemens was still pitching for the Sox, and started that day… and of course that my Red Sox won the game.

Wow, for not writing much lately, I guess I had more to say than I thought! - If you’ve stuck with it, thanks for reading this far… And to close, one more shot of me in New York (taken by Melissa)…