Bless me, Father, for I have sinned. It has been alomst a month since I have blogged.

I report from Suffolk County, NY, which is the current home of a flood watch and a winter storm warning. Snow last Sunday kept me from visting Castle 1526 before instructing and snow tomorrow will keep me from visting before I leave. I did learn that Long Island is more beautiful than I had remembered, especially from 10,000 feet. And from sea level at a quality Freeport eatery (if you ever get the opportunity, eat there. I recommend the stuffed lobster tails

I was watching the TV Guide channel on hotel cable a little while ago and I saw that the Aqua Teens would be on in about an hour. That prompted me to call John, who probably didn't want to sleep anyway. Turns out he's holding out on us. He visited Castle 1526 this past weekend and didn't report back to the blog about the balloons. Must have been the shellshock. Or was that battlefield fatigue?

Ellie and I shared a great Valentine's getaway but I was overwhelmed by both of my jobs so I haven't posted about it. Ellie and I celebrate Valentine's Day as our anniversary, and the most recent celebration was our 17th anniversary. We rented a cabin and enjoyed the getaway, especially the fireplace. Romantic dinners were included with the cabin rental. The first dinner was a comedy of errors: the waitress couldn't get anything right, leading to dueling predictions of what she would get wrong next. She did so poorly that we ended up laughing it off. The waitress on the second night did a much better job... to a point. She was prompt, attentive and accurate. In short, she was the perfect foil to the waitress the night before. Perfect, that is, until she served dessert to the couple at an adjacent table. As she leaned over to move the cheesecake from her tray to the table her apron sagged from her scarce bosom. Although the couple did not notice her cheesecake-smeared mammary, we did. And we chuckled over it. Eventually the waitress cleaned the cheesecake off her apron and returned to our table to ask what we wanted for dessert. I resisted the urge to travel the path blazed when Meg Ryan motivated the patron to say, "I'll have what she's having" in When Harry Met Sally. We giggled anyway. The watress looked confused. Don't worry, I tipped her well. It's the Mastandrea way.

Perhaps you had to be there.

The Aqua Teens are on in two minutes. I blame any typographical errors on them.