Day 29: Abe Vigoda Lives! And the New Magic Number

We went out for diner breakfast this morning with my brother Chris and his girlfriend Karen. We always sit in the same section so we can have the same waitress, Nancy. She's our favorite waitress. We're regulars there every weekend so the staff knows us and a lot of the time they just hand us menus and we seat ourselves. Actually some of the time they just wave us through. Nancy brings our drinks over before we've barely sat down. Scott always orders the same thing, bacon and cheddar cheese omelet, french fries, rye toast with a side of bacon. Nancy doesn't even ask anymore. But she does give us the side of bacon for free. I usually change it up. This morning I had a bacon, cheddar and broccoli omelet. which I ate about half of. I got the home fries, but just picked the crunchy brown bits off and ate those. And I had one piece of wheat toast with a scraping of grape jelly. It's a comfortable routine that we've followed virtually every weekend for the past 4 years that we've been living together and and even before on several weekends when Scott would stay over.

Well today our routine paid off in spades! We spotted a real live celebrity. I was happily munching away on my breakfast and I saw an elderly gentleman in an orange shirt shuffling down the aisle towards the restrooms. I nudged Scott and said, "Hey, isn't that Abe Vigoda?" And Scott said, "Yes that is Abe Vigoda!" And I said, "I guess that means he's still alive! Wonder what he's doing at a diner in Little Falls?" Funny part was, my brother and Karen, had their backs to him to they thought we were kidding around. Then we confirmed with Nancy that it was indeed Abe Vigoda, of "Barney Miller", "Fish" and "The Godfather" fame. He's apparently looking at houses in the area. And judging by the way he examined the pastry display and the other stuff in the the counter area, he's quite the diner aficionado.

So that was my celebrity moment for the day. I've seen bigger celebrities. Heck, I've met bigger celebrities. But somehow this celebrity spotting was more sweet and satisfying. It's nice to know that he's still alive and kicking. Although, there is a website devoted to Mr. Vigoda's status: www.abevigoda.com. There is apparently a running joke in the entertainment industry about whether Abe is alive or dead since it has been erroneously reported twice(!) that he had passed on.

Of course, Hoboken can be great for spotting any actor that has ever played any type of mobster (go figure). Danny Aiello ("Broadway Danny Rose", "Moonstruck") runs a comedy night here every Thursday and he is often seen eating at Tutta Pasta, a restaurant I believe he co-owns. He can also be seen sitting in his illegally parked Jag singing opera at the top of his lungs. Joe "Joey Pants" Pantoliano (Guido the Killer Pimp from "Risky Business", Ralph Cifaretto from "The Sopranos) picked up something I dropped for me one day on the street and struck up a short conversation. And Max Cassella ("Doogie Howser" and "The Sopranos") we spotted getting off the bus on Washington Street. Ahhhhhh, the glamorous life!

So this week's magic number is..... 2

I lost two pounds this week. I managed to take off the .7 I gained and a little over a pound more. In a week where my exercise was spotty at best. Hey, I'll take it.

These next two weeks are going to be tough especially on the exercise. Thursday we leave on the Victory for the 4 day to Canada. Now, this shouldn't be so bad. Despite my reputation for boozing it up, I've never gained weight on a cruise. In fact I usually drop a couple on a 7-day. I take the stairs a lot. And my excursions are usually pretty active. But most importantly, I keep myself busy enough that I don't eat much outside for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I know that is like a sin on a cruise, but it's true. And I seem to forget that they have soft ice cream machines around the Lido deck. It also doesn't hurt that I've never been impressed with Carnival's desserts. Even the famous Chocolate Melting Cake doesn't do much for me, it's too inconsistent.

The weekend after we get back My Brian arrives. And while we will probably be running around a lot, we will also probably be drinking a lot. My Brian is the person that got me drinking tequila shots. Egads. We've had some fuzzy but memorable evenings fueled by tequila.

We'll have to see how it goes. But I can't wait to see him!