I guess I'm the first one up Sunday. I wanted to be first in line at the angioplasty lab after that delicious meal of steak and NY cheesecake (OK, so I coulda' had the berries).
I arrived at Newark at around 5:30 last night after an absolutely splendid flight. (I'll try to make a trip report.) Caught the Olympia Trails bus to the Port Authority. There was an ominous parking lot in front of exit 15 (or is it 16?) at the toll booth getting off the NJ Turnpike. Another one at the entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel. To make a long story unbearable, I didn't get into The City (the other one) until 7:15. So rather than check in to my hotel, I cabbed it to Ruth Chris and got there just after 7:30.
The gang had already moved to our private dining room upstairs. Folks were standing around having drinks, so I didn't feel late.
Dinner itself was great. Catman had arranged a set menu for $65 + tip, a terrific thing as we were liberated from the drudgery of making choices and figuring out who owed what. The dinner consisted of trays of hot and cold appetizers (seared tuna, cocktail prawns, smoked salmon, stuffed mushrooms, and crabmeat stuffed prawns), a nice green salad, choice of main course (filet, NY strip, lamb, and salmon filet), creamed spinach, onion rings, and choice of dessert (NY cheesecake or fresh berries with cream). Every course was delicious, and the steaks were huge and purrfectly (sorry, I had to sneak that in there once) prepared.
We enjoyed each others company until about 12:30 AM when the party broke up. Some of the highlights of the evening (in no particular order) from where I was sitting were:
- PremEx's designed a wonderfully clever label for the "Cateau Blanchard" wine he brought to the dinner. I really hope he or Catman puts it up on the Catman-do web site.
- Boomer, Vulcan, Catman, and NJDavid gave a little presentation of FlyerTalk's very own Freddie award. Randy had sent the award out for the dinner, and is making an acrylic replicate that can be sent around to various FT events. (The original is lead crystal.) Given the presenters, it was like getting our Freddie from the Sopranos - if you closed your eyes, you could hear Tony, Christopher, Uncle, and Pussy doing the presentation.
- There were lots of new folks to meet at the Do. It was a pleasure putting names to some of the new (for me) faces. Great to finally meet NJDavid and Helen, doc, onefreeman, raeban, Jim_B, RichG, AnnaS, Boomer, Beckles, Camera Guy, and NJFlyer.
- And of course it was great to see all my old friends, too.
- Punki's wore a fabulous velvety scarf that she had bought herself as a post Christmas present. I couldn't take my hands off it all night. As usual, Punki was dressed to kill, and tons of fun to hang out with.
- Rudi bought a small bag of what were absolutely the best chocolates I have ever eaten. (And I've eaten a lot of chocolate in my lifetime.) They were champagne truffles from Teutscher. Unfortunately, we have a Teutscher in San Francisco...
- My seatmates were PremEx and wingless2 (junior member) to my right, and flyme2 and Brigitte on my left. So as you can guess, I had wonderful, stimulating dinner conversation.
- Rudi came over to our table after dinner and shared the itinerary for his trip with us. I'll leave the details for him to disclose, but I think it's the all time winner for status miles per dollar.
- As he was leaving, Quiet Lion made a remark that left me incapacitated with laughter for about 5 minutes. I'm not sure why it struck me so funny, but I haven't had a laugh like that for a long time.
- On top of putting all the details together, Catman wrote touching tributes to each of us and passed them out during the dinner. What a sweet, generous soul.
- Dr. Burkey very thoughtfully brought me some medicines that I might need in Colombia next week in case I don't follow his advice and drink the water or eat fresh fruits and vegetables. During the dinner, he also came over to me and in kind of hushed tones told me, "Young man, I've got one word for you. Immodium." Thanks, burkey, for looking out for me.
- And finally, it wouldn't be a complete report without mentioning that there was a bit of a problem with the check at the end. I won't bore you with the details - they aren't important - but I was impressed with the way that from what I could tell, everyone involved conducted themselves with an extreme amount of grace under pressure in what could have been a very difficult situation.
Well, on to brunch...