Weekend in Westchester
I had another rather packed weekend up in Westchester; Saturday was Maggie and Ryan’s wedding, and Sunday was Neil and Rachel’s engagement party.
After picking up the car earlier in the week, Dori and I were not thrilled to discover that the scourge affecting the air conditioner is some sort of NP-complete problem; its very symptoms are as elusive as the yeti. As our luck would have it, the a/c decided not to do its job on the way up to Dobbs Ferry, so Dori, Josh, and I all were a bit sweaty and windblown by the time we arrive. Call this a preview.
We found the church easily enough, and we quickly ventured inside to discover that there was no air conditioner here either (I was later informed that Catholics wouldn’t stand for this kind of thing, but apparently Lutherans are more easy going). We gathered by the fan, and were generally happy enough given the circumstances. After we sat for a while, we noticed that the service was getting on a bit late; the pastor addressed us and told us that there had been an accident, apparently Maggie’s mother had fallen outside due to some combination of the heat and the joys of matrimony. She was only a little shaken, and the wedding resumed shortly, with a lovely ceremony. Ryan and Maggie were glowing the entire time, each with smiles bigger than I’d ever seen. A happier couple than those two would not be easy to find.
The reception was lovely, with wonderful views of the Hudson during the sunset. At least, I imagine they would be had there not been a thick layer of fog. Nevertheless, it was a fun event, since I got to see a bunch of my coworkers out of the office, and also I had a chance to catch up with Zev Nevo, one of my friends from Merrick that I had missed in the past. We spent a good portion of the time catching up on what people are doing, who’s living where, etc, etc.
Sunday was Neil and Rachel’s engagement party, in White Plains proper, which apparently is a reasonably large city. I always pictured it as a suburban sort of place, more a county than a city, but I was decidedly wrong about that. The event was at Vintage Bar, near the Galleria and the mall. The restaurant was very cool, with a lovely open space created by their re-arrangement of the tables. The food was very good, though I admit I skipped the deep-fried snicker’s bar for dessert. Neil and Rachel did a great job with the party - they had games ranging from a raffle, to quizes about the couple, to awards for first & last RSVP. It was a very creative spin.
On the way off to the airport, we used our brand new, laminated navigation guide (hint: 3 letters, no satellites, starts with ‘m’), and successfully managed to arrive without any major detours or backtracking. It was a major step forward, since we managed to get lost pretty badly on Saturday evening on the way to the hotel. What should have been a 15 minute ride was instead 60, and we only barely avoided catastrophe once arriving at the hotel. Apparently they were overbooked, or since this is not uncommon I should say “they were flabergasted that everyone actually showed up”. Dori and I got the last room in the hotel, complete with fold-down Murphy bed. Apparently they still put these in new hotels, probably just so they can annoint it as the worst room in the place.
Overall a very fun weekend, particularly catching up with old friends and getting to know my colleagues better in a social environment. I was sad to miss the NYCBUG conference this weekend, but a friend’s wedding will always take priority.