Hmmmm...4 hours on line to meet the cast of Heroes. Yup, I'm a Geek

It seemed like only minutes after going to bed at the ridiculously early hour of 10:30 last night that my 5:00 am alarm jolted me out of bed. I tuned on the timer on the stove for an extra twenty minutes of kip, then hopped up, splashed cold water on my face, dressed and grabbed the suitcase full of Billy & Susan’s shower gifts that I’m taking over to London tomorrow. I was in a cab and at work by 5:45. I safely locked up the suitcase, grabbed my camera and hightailed it 1 block over to 49^th Street to stand on line to be one of the first to buy the Heroes Season I DVD which was released today, and, much more importantly, to meet and greet some of the cast members who are in NY as part of their world tour. I can't begin to describe my excitement to find that Zachary Quinto (Sylar) was going to be there.

When I embarked on this journey, I was under the mistaken impression that the signing would start at 6:00 am. No, it didn’t start till 9:00. I placed a quick call to the office to leave a voicemail, strangely enough no one was there at 6:30 am, that I would be in a bit late. After enduing four hours of standing, no food, no water, no bathroom breaks, the line began to move. I got verklempt when I finally spotted Zach. Noah (Micah) signed my DVD first, then Tim Sale, the artist who actually created the paintings that Isaac "paints", next up was Zach. I babbled away at him like a school girl and told him that he was the sexist villain EVER. He smiled and said thank you. I wanted to reach over and kiss him, but demurred and shock his hand (I’ll never wash it again). The new Season 2 Hero, Dania Ramirez (Maya) was next, she refused to reveal to me her power...then James (Ando) signed .

Here are a few pictures from the morning. The next to the last one is a picture of the picture that NBC took (they don't have electronic versions available) and sold to me for a King's ransom. In it I happen to be telling Zachary that he's the sexiest villain EVER. The last one is the picture of him while I'm telling him that.

Kath & Kim

Last evening before going to Pop Rocks, I was telling Teddy (handsome man to the right) about one of the funniest Australian shows ever - Kath & Kim. It's about a lower middle class mother & daughter's day to day adventures. It's reportedly under development at NBC for an American version (which will probably fall flat).

Here are a couple of trailers from the show.

Maxjet Sale

Maxjet is having another great sale from JFK & IAD (Washington Dulles) to STN (London Stansted) of $499 each way. Maxjet provides a very basic business class, Cradle Seats, rather than Lie Flat or Fully Flat, no pajamas, ok & plentiful, but not great food, at a coach price. Travel is valid Monday-Wednesday from NYC and daily from DC. Purchase tickets by September 17th, travel thru year-end 2007.

6 am next Tuesday

Looks like I'll be at the NBC store in Rock Center to meet some of the cast members of Heroes. The first season DVD is being release on the 28th and the cast is on a world tour promoting the release of the DVD and the season two premier (September 24th). I wasn't planning on going, I hate the thought of getting up at 4:30 am and standing on line with a bunch of geeks, but my assistant, Lorraine, has insisted that I go! If Zachary Quinto (Sylar) is there, the paramedics best be on call.

I've also asked Billy, who works at the BBC, to see if he can find out where I might see them in London, as they'll be there Thursday - Saturday (August 30th - September 1st).

It can only mean...

Ever get a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach?

Start feeling melancholy as Sunday afternoon stretches into evening?

Yes, it can only mean one thing...

Travel Summer from Hell!

Ultra-long tarmac waits tripled in June as industry stats hit new lows

If air travel woes were bad during the first five months of this year - and they were - they got even worse in June, according to the latest monthly numbers from the Transportation Department. Overall, the airlines' on-time arrival rate in June was just over 68 percent, down from 73 percent for the same month a year ago. For the first half of 2007, one flight in four arrived more than 15 minutes behind schedule, DOT said - the worst performance in 13 years of record-keeping. Even worse were the numbers for extremely long takeoff delays: 462 flights sat on the ground for more than three hours during June (mine from EWR-DFW just over FOUR hours), more than three times as many as in May. As if that weren't bad enough, flight cancellations in June hit a rate of 2.7 percent of all flights, up from 1.1 percent in May.

Here's the lovely cot that I got to sleep on at DFW gate D36 when I mis-connected on my way to my nephew's graduation at SNA.

Posh Nosh

At Soup Kitchen today Anna
(who got 6,000 AA bonus miles for having to overnight on a cot at DFW while I, a PLT, got nothing when I had to do the same thing in June) told me about the BBC show Posh Nosh. It's quite funny & very British. I've posted a few episodes below --

I googled myself and found this

my 5th grade class picture from Gulf Breeze Elementary School. Can you find me?

The fabulous Darren Hayes

Darren is my second favorite Australian, after Daniel, of course!







Here's the rather grainy video I took of Darren with my camera when he played at the Canal Room this past June.



here's his fantastic new single "On The Verge of Something Wonderful" from his forthcoming double album "This Delicate Thing We've Made"



and my favorite Savage Garden song



Sadly, for me, Darren married his boyfriend Richard in London in 2006. I guess I'll have to stalk Sylar!

I felt like Lucy today...

minus the cake, hats & Mrs. Trumble.

But like her I will continue to lie about my age! :)

Afraid of Sylar?

He's a pussycat...

Boris

Very sad news today - Boris, one of Adrian & Michael's sweet cats, has died of heart disease and old age. He was a very loving cat who I enjoyed snuggling with whenever I went to visit Adrian & Michael out in San Francisco.

Here we are, with his brother, Bubba, this past Saturday.


He will certainly be missed.

$433.50?!?

After coming home in a fairly good mood - despite a grueling day at work on the 2008 Budget, TWX tanking and the heat & humidity - my doorman greeted me with "There's something here for you Saunders". Great, I thought, my new window shades have arrived. No, not quite, he hands me a folded piece of paper. It was the bill from the plumber who had recently fixed a leak in my kitchen sink drain. I unfolded it and all I could say for the next 10 minutes was $433.50?!? I guess I should have been a plumber rather than gone into finance. $400.00 for Labor & Materials and $33.50 for NYS/NYC taxes. Oy vey!

Here's a picture of the offense bill