By the time I got home at around 6:30pm on Halloween Debbie had informed me that 20 kids had stopped by already. That’s twice as many as we had last year when we lived at the old apartment. I guess Halloween is a lot funner in Shrewsbury Woods. I handed out candy to about 3 groups of kids for half an hour and then we got Lillian into her costume and decided to take her out around our own block.

I decided to get into the spirit and put on my Miguel Tejada all-star jersey and an old school Cartoon Bird Orioles hat. Then I made fun of Debbie for not putting on a costume. She tried to get by by saying that she was the cocoon that Lillian came out of. I didn’t buy it.

Most of our neighbours were home and handed out handfuls of candy. It was getting late by kid standards and it looked like they had a ton of candy left so they were just trying to get rid of it. Lillian came back with a pretty big big haul - although not as big as a kid we passed who’s Lakewood Blueclaws bag was filled to the brim. It looked like he had hit over 100 houses already.

A couple of weeks back we received a notice on or door about a Shrewbury Township Halloween parade and party on Saturday September 29th. Thinking this was a good chance to get Lillian out in her costume and meet some of our neighbors in the community we decided to go. The parade was scheduled at 1:00pm or something like that.

After hitting a particularly grueling spin class (lots of “hills”) and eating a good breakfast Debbie went to get her nails done while I watched Lillian. It started Creeping closer and closer to 1:00pm so I decided to get Lillian into her costume myself. It wasn’t too hard - the costume came in 5 pieces - the body, the headpiece, wings and two shoes. In addition debbie had purchased some thicker pink tights to complete the look. Debbie got back just in time and then fed her while I drove down to the community center to register Lillian for the costume contest.

I found out on a message board that an H&M was set to be opened in Columbus very soon. This is great news as I’m a huge huge fan of the store - every since Mike and Ophi told me about it about 4 years ago while we were at an Indian place called Spice. The poster has said that she heard about the opening while shopping at Dr. Mojoe and that the two chicks talking about it were trashing it saying that the selection and quality was crap - like Wet Seal or Forever 21 level. Oh how wrong they are. I was actually hping that word would spread around there because that means less of a wait for a dressing room and less of a line at the checkout.

I shot an e-mail over to Suzi telling her to hide her wallet because the store was opening soon and she replied that the doors opened an hour and a half ago. Then Mom D called Debbie to tell her to tell me. She knew I was a fan of the store because of the Largerfeld jackets I had put on my Christmas list the year before.

I’m thinking that maybe when I head to Columbus for Christmas this year I won’t even pack anything, I’ll just get new stuff at H&M and Dr. Mojoe.

Lillian had to get a second head cast today at the helmet place. She’s outgrown the first one and after some deliberation we decided to get her a second helmet. Her head has made drastic improvements and this second one should make her head 100% perfect. Initially I was hesitant about this second helmet deeming her head close to perfect, but we decided that it woudn’t hurt to get it nice and round.

The casting process is exactly was I balked at getting another helmet. Basically Lillian’s head is covered in a gauze head sock so no plaster will get into her eyes, nose or mouth and her head is wrapped in plaster, like those old school plaster casts when someone would break a bone. It’s a pretty unpleasant process for her and I know she hates it. Still it’s neccessary and as far as I know it’s not painful, just weird and uncomfortable.

We headed up to Paramus extra early so we could hit the Garden State Plaza. I’ve been waiting for 3 years to hit this mall and we finally had a chance to do so today. This mall truly is a dream - there’s a huge Neiman’s, a H&M, Free People, BCBG, LV, the super kids store Janie and Jack and the newest thing from New Albany, OH - Ruehl. I was excited.

We left the house at a little after 10am and hit the mall at 11:30am. We entered through the menswear section of Neiman’s and headed for the handbags in the center. I was looking for a brown Isabella Fiore hobo bag for Debbie and they only had one left in bronze. It still looked amazing though. We wandered through the MJ bags for a bit and then went out into the mall. We found an up elevator and hit a few stores - Solstice, the very cool sunglass place, BCBG, Steve Madden (where D gave me a ring) and Ruehl. Ruehl was set up like a brownstone on the outside and like a dark apartment on the inside. I have to visit it again to see if I wandered into the right rooms. I liked what I saw however and hope to be back. We also hit the very cool Free People store where Debbie picked up a top.

We were hoping to have time for lunch but had to skip it to make it to the DOC Band place on time. They moved buildings so this was our first time at the new place. We found it with a bit of trouble and headed in. The waiting room was filled wil helmeted kids and we got in for casting 30 minutes after our scheduled time. Before the casting the take detailed posed photos of the head for reference. Last time we did this Lillian cried and would not hold still. This time was hoped she would be calmer. No luck at all.

The casting was full of tears and just as traumatic as last time but it was done and over with in 25 minutes or so. After that was done Lillian was washed up and then we left. She immediately fell asleep.

There was still the question about where we were going to stop for lunch. We drove down the parkway until we hit some bad rush hour traffic and then I had Debbie get off and follow a bus. I figured the bus would be going down some major streets and we’d eventually pass a Wendy’s or something. We turned right onto a semi-busy Newark street where I noticed a Wachovia ATM (good because I needed some cash) and a bunch of Cuban places. Jackpot. I got some money and then headed into a place called Melissas with a neon sign which said ‘CUBANOS.’ I went inside and was greeted with a ‘hola’ bt the girl behind the counter. “Dos cubanos” I said and she laid down two of them on the pressed grill. It took about 15 minutes to grill so I waited and checked out the menu. Oxtail stew, fish dishes, a roast pork laying in the counter window with some mariscos salad. Awesome. When the cubanos were finally done I ordered up a can of Ironbeer and headed out to the car. We stopped alongside a park and ate our delicious Cubanos.

Today was another beautiful day albeit 10 degrees colder and very, very windy. After mass I discussed going to Philly today but there was one thing I had to do first - clean the kitchen. The kitchen had gotten pretty messy and this weekend we started dealing with a minor ant problem. Ants would gather around some of the crumbs on the floor. I found that the easiest way to get rid of them it to take the ol’ Dyson to them and show them what 100 times the force of gravity feels like. 2 hours later more would be back. It was time to clean.

I started at about 10:15am and got rid of all the dishes, scrubbed the sink and the dyring rack and them hit the counters, stove, garbage and recycling cans and finally the floor. An hour and a half later it was sparkling clean. Debbie came down and said that she wanted to head to Philly too. We bundled up Lillian and headed off.

Instead of taking exit 36 towards the Tacony bridge off 295, the car was asking me to take exit 26 and 76 towards the Walt Whitman bridge. It seemed really far off our path to me but I listened to the car. It took us across the bridge and then I noticed that we would be passing Citizen’s Bank Park. Cool. Soon we were in Philly and headed up Passyunk towards Pat’s and Geno’s. I was starving at this point and couldn’t wait.

We parked on the other side of the park and noticed some kids playing some pick-up football. Both Pat’s and Geno’s had long lines in front of them. Since it had been about 2 1/2 years since I had a Geno’s steak I was planning to get both today. Pat’s is always a must because it truly is the best. We hit Pat’s first. Debbie and Lillian grabbed a table and I stood in line. In front of me were two elderly ladies who asked for 6 steaks with ‘everything.’ I wondered what everything consisted of since Pat’s had a huge variety of toppings. Cheese, onions, peppers, pizza sauce, provolone, mushrooms. I don’t think the counter guys were too pleased with them since they deviated from the ‘whiz wit’ formula. Luckily they got me next - I ordered quickly and efficiently and got my steaks in seconds. They were delicious. I had mine with the super hot peppers and ketchup.

Next we took a walk around the block to walk that steak off and then we hit Geno’s. This time I went for a cheesesteak hoagie (lettuce and tomatoes). It was good as well but not as good as Pat’s.

After the cheesesteak extravaganza we took Lillian to the park across the street and pushed her in the swings for a little bit. Then we fed her while I watched the tackle football pickup game where no one could catch and then we headed for Walnut Street and the shopping at Rittenhouse Square.

The shopping at Rittenhouse Square was like some kind of dream come true. They had a Puma store next to the Diesel store, a Kiehls and bluemercury, Urban and the coolest Anthropologie that I’ve ever seen with an archway as their front entrance. We hit the Urban where Debbie picked up a pair of Seychelles wedges and I got two BDG t-shirts. We then headed to the Anthropologie on the 1800 block and Debbie tried on a cardigan I had seen in the Autumn 2005 catalogue. Then we hit the Puma store where I picked up a sweet track jacket. We then piled Lillian into the car and drove home, forgetting to pick up a Powerball ticket while we were in Pennsylvania.

The sun came out in full force today and it turned out to be a beautiful 73 degree day. To celebrate the end of the monsoons we decided to take a hot dog trip. Originally we wanted to hit Frank n’ Fries, a Halloween themed hot dog joint in Rahway. Sadly it appears it may be closed for good. We decided to go to Tommy’s in Elizabeth and if there was room, we would also visit Jerry’s Frankfurters which is only 2 doors down.

We left a bit before 1pm and followed the car as it took us from the GSP to the Turnpike. In about 45 minutes we were in downtown Elizabeth, a city filled with a lot of hispanic themed restaurants and shops. We passed a few yucca and empanda joints and soon we were on 2nd avenue. Parking took a bit to find but we found a nice spot 1 1/2 blocks away. Lillian was put into her stroller and down the street we went.

Debbie had already decided from the description that she didn’t want an Italian Dog. That was understandable. if you’ve never had an Italian Dog it’s described as a hot dog that was invented in Newark a few decades back which consists of bread that is hollowed out and filled with one or more hot dogs, friend peppers and onions and fried potatoes. Right up my alley and it’s what Tommy’s is famous for. I stepped up to the outdoor ordering window which immediately slid open. The enthusiastic gentleman behind it asked me for my order. I got a medium italian sausage and a diet Coke. “Everything”, he asked? “Yes please, everything”, I replied. 2 minutes later a gigantic wrapped italian dog was handed to me.

A very short walk later wer were in front of Jerry’s where Debbie ordered a dog with mustard and relish. It looked delicious. We headed across the street to a small square with benches and ate out dogs. Although it was large my dog was easily eaten with two hands. To pick up some of the overflow potatoes a small wooden fork was included. It was delicious and so was Debbie’s when she gave me a bite. According to John Fox, Tommy’s makes their own italian sausage and it’s said to be the best in the state. Jerry’s dogs are made by Best’s provisions and boiled and then finished off on a grill to bring out the flavor and give the outside skin a sort of crunchy texture.

After we finished those dogs we went back across and Debbie tried a regular Tommy’s dog with mustard and kraut. I think she liked it better than the Jerry’s dog. I then got a Jerry’s Dog with mustard and chili. It was good but not as good as the Texas weiners at the Hot Grill.

I decided to change up my workout routine a bit and take the spin class at the gym today. The class started at 8:00am and signups began 30 minutes before that. I got to the gym right at 7:30pm and was the 13th person to sign the list. To kill the remaining 30 minutes I did some weights.

I waltzed into class at 7:55am and noticed that every bike except one had a towel on it meaning that they had been claimed. Since this was the first time I had taken this class I didn’t know the protocol. No problem - I took the bike without the towel on it and like everyone else who was in the room started warming up by pedaling slowly.

Immediately I noticed that this bike had a LOT of resistance on it. I turned the dial to lower it and noticed that it already WAS on the lowest resistance and that turning the little knob any more just put even more resistance on it. I didn’t think I was that out of shape but it seriously felt like I was Lance Armstrong biking up the uphill stage of the Pyrenees Mountains. There wasn’t anything I could do however - it was the last bike left (and now I KNEW why it was the last bike left) so I stuck with it and started the class.

I guess in a way I had it easy. While everyone else was supposed to be adjusting their bikes to the optimal resistance levels, I was already there. When everyone else was supposed to be going at 60% or 70% I was already at 100%. 15 minutes into the 1 hour class I was already beat. The thing that kept me going was the big projection screen they had in the front projecting a bike ride through the lone highway in Kauai - since I had already been there 3 years ago I was saying to myself, “hey! I was there! So this is what it’s like to bike through it!”

30 minutes in I was considering throwing in the towel. I was dripping with sweat and my legs were numb. I hadn’t felt like this since the first day of lacrosse conditioning in high school when they made us run 10 laps on the first day. I kept going though. 45 minutes in a lady left the class and I got the genius idea to hop on her bike - I wanted to make sure that all the bike’s weren’t as f-ed as mine was and that I wasn’t being a wuss. I was right - this bike was smooth. I finished out the class on that one. I was hoping someone would notice that I spent much of the class on the crappy all uphill bike but no one did.