Well, what can I add? I had SUCH a good time, as I always do with this crew. There are photos, but Mr. Babe and I forgot our camera . I believe TIS and our Don had the cameras. Actually, I know that JG had a camera, as Mr. Babe took quite an enticing one of him at the waterfront.

The Mosholu was very cool. At one point, TIS said to me, "Did you ever think when you saw this movie, that one day you would be having a drink on this boat with a bunch of people you met on the internet??"

Dinner at La Veranda was magnificent. Between the food and the service, I can't decide which was better. I have to agree with DC that our dining experience alone was worth making another trip to Philly.

Here are some things I learned in Philly:

DMC is a ringer at Quarters. He claimed that he had never even heard of it, and yet I recall lifting many a beer mug at his behest.

Geoff can make "megapixels" sound dirty.

TIS is as warm and wonderful in person as she is on the boards.

DC and his family are too much fun for one weekend. I just end up wanting to spend MORE time with them.

Don Smitty has one of the most beautiful families I've ever seen.

Signor Vitelli is a very knowledgeable fellow on many a subject.

Mig and Becky are too sweet for words.

Thanks again to everyone who made this weekend so very wonderful. You guys are great. xxooxx.

I had no clue some fellow BBer's were in Philly last night. I was at the Wachovia Center for the And 1 mixtape tour. What a coincidence! lol

Well finally back home........so much to say so much to say.

First off, apparently in Philadelphia you can not make right turns, well you can make right turns but only if you want to make a left turn, and of course at that time left turns are not allowed.

I got VERY sick on Saturday, I would have enjoyed it more if I didn't have to worry about passing out in the middle of the open-air market

I am NOT a ringer at quarters, I'm just a fast learner

The thing I love about these get togethers is that not only do we (obviously) love everyone from the board but even their husbands, wives and children are also great people.

In no particular order:

TIS!!!!!!!!!!! It was great to finally meet you. I met you on friday and it was like I've known you my entire life. Remember, philadelphia vehicles don't yield to anyone lol

Don Cardi, what more can I say that I haven't already said about you, great friend and it was nice to have time to sit down and talk with you. It was great talking to your wife, and your daughter is a very funny girl lol.

JG, you snore, A LOT. and thanks for keeping me up til 5 in the morning both nights

SB and Mr. Babe, as always it was a pleasure to see you again. Mr. Babe kept slipping me 10 bucks whenever I got the quarter in so thats the only reason I kept picking you haha
I did find out some very interesting things though lol, we'll have to do it again sometime (you both seem like the "cool parents" kids think of, although I'm sure your kids don't feel that way lol).
EDIT: I remember lifting many a mug because of the both of you too lol

Smitty, I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to talk to you more, your wife is great and your daughter is a riot, shes got way too much energy lol.

Signor Vitali, you should be on jeopardy, I've never seen someone know so much about so many different things.

Mig and Becky, thank you Mig for setting up La Veranda under "The Godfather Crew", it was great seeing you again. Thank you Becky for putting the hotel deals together, allowed more money for drinking Next time we'll go somewhere with biscuits and gravy :p

We stopped at Cracker Barrel on the way home. The grits and biscuits and gravy were GREAT.

I'm way too tired right now for a full report, pictures and thank-you's (ahem, it was DMC who kept me up all night! :p plus on the way home I had to stop by my folks for dinner w/ them and other family) but for now I'll say "ditto" on the above! I had a great time w/ everyone who attended, and at the same time, missed those who couldn't just as much. The latter will be remedied soon!

Well, I'm in NYC now. Thanks to my escort Signor Vitelli, I didn't get lost. I must admit I am kind of burned out. :p I went window shopping and walking around trying to get my bearings again here in NYC. I think I'll sleep pretty well tonight that's for sure. I was still full from the huge breakfast and decided on a light snack. I went around the corner to Roxy's Diner and thought an order of onions rings sounded good. The platter of rings was enormous. Little more than a light snack.....but I managed to clean my plate.

Thanks to everyone who made the weekend so much fun.....you too Geoff!!! Ha ha!!!!!

TIS

TIS cleaned her plate I honestly don't know where she puts it, I think she brings a bag in her purse and when no ones looking throws all the food in

Yes, I have to agree with DMC here. Signor Vitelli is a very knowledgable man. I enjoyed the fact that no matter what subject was brought up, what type of discussin we were having, be it movies, old neighborhoods or the mob, Signor Vitelli would always add something interesting and informative to the conversation.

Signor, I sincerely enjoyed all of our conversations.


Don Cardi

This is where we went drinking on Friday and Saturday evenings. I know that we basically closed the place on Firday. And on Saturday, I left a little earliar than the night before, but the rest of the crew were still pouring them down one after the other.









If you look closely at the third picture, you can find TIS and MIG doing shots!


Don Cardi

Geoff, is this really a picture that you took of SB after playing Quarters on Saturday night?





Don Cardi

JG, Had I put my clothes back on when you took that photo?

Damn! And I was the first one to go back to the hotel! Damn!


Don Cardi

Damn! And I was the first one to go back to the hotel! Damn!


Don Cardi [/b][/quote]You missed A LOT DC.......A LOT!

Another victim of the quarters champion!!!!!!!

Hey! I just thought of something. What ever happened to Patrick? He said that he was going to join us on Saturday?

Hey Pat, what happened?


Don Cardi

Yes, You have NO idea.

That is a little known fact about TIS....first we had to calm her down when she was yelling at the DJ to play some 50 cent and then when he finally did play it, I have never heard a more beautiful randition of "Party in da club" than what came out of TIS' mouth

I don't think I've ever had as much fun in one weekend as I had this past weekend, I couldn't even get up to go to work this morning

TIS is a madwoman in the rap scene, better known by her stage name Mizzy Tissie.

HEY! Does anyone have any pictures to post?? DC's doesn't count.

When TIS gets back to California I'm going to walk her through getting her pictures onto a cd and posting them on the board.

Cardi has to do the same, and JG doesn't have any pics of "all of us" he just has the boat and well the "Mr. Babe pic." I didn't take any either.

Mig and Becky took pictures, but I'm not sure if it was Mig or Becky's camera and if they are able to post them.

I'm glad I kept my word on that!

Where are the pictures??!!??

I'm glad I kept my word on that! [/b][/quote]"1" must be referring to one pitcher.

I'm glad I kept my word on that! [/b][/quote]For someone who "doesn't drink" you sure did a good job!! :p

I'll post what few pics I have in a little while... hope others do the same :p

You guys are too funny. I called my daughters and told them about the "entertaining" sports/rap bar we went to and they both,(they know me well)laughed at the thought of their mom listening to rap music, without saying "turn that sh*t" off.

Oh man!! Leaving the pictures to me?? Ok, I'll try, but it may take a while. If I finish the roll of film I have here in NYC, perhaps I can find a place that develops/transfers them to digital.....or, will I pay an arm and a leg out here? Give me time. We never took any inside of the bar though, but I have a few from dinner and us by the Moshulu.

Went to the NBC Studio tour today. It actually was just "ok". Universal Studio Tour in CA is much better. But still, I'm glad I went.

Got lost once and walked for quite a while. That 7th street/Broadway area gets me all the time. All of a sudden I'm on the wrong street My back started hurting so I am relaxing for a while.

TIS

TIS, Mr. Babe and I did the NBC tour not too long ago. You're right, not too exciting. What I thought was interesting were the young NBC interns who try to get you to sit in the studio audience for some of their lower-rated talk shows. A few of the shows even offered us lunch if we would do it.

Glad you're enjoying NYC. If you get your photos developed, you could have a CD made in addition to your prints. Check out a Walgreens or CVS and they can probably do it at a decent price.

Let's not post ALL the pics you have :p

Okay, now that I've pretty much recuperated from the weekend (I spent 10 hrs in bed last night, much more than I got all weekend!)...

I'd like to add my THANKS to Miggy and Becky for all their help setting things up for us! Thanks to Don Cardi for taking charge when we needed it (When DC's around, I can just sit back and watch things happen)! Thanks to Signor Vitelli for teaching us that sometimes it's better to go up when you wanna go down! Thanks to DMC for being a fun roommate who didn't smother me as I snored! Thanks to our sweet Godmother TIS for introducing us to rap music! Thanks to The Babes for giving me the time off from being their cabana boy to attend this weekend! Thanks to Smitty for making me stand in the heat for an hour waiting for him! :p lol And of course hugs to DC's and DS's beautiful families! You all were such great company and a lot of fun!


For some reason I didn't take a lot of pics, especially since others were taking them as well, but here's most of what i have...

Friday night we had what I thought was a terrific dinner at Maggiano\'s Little Italy on Filbert St. Although some had issues with raw steaks on their plate, I found my Delmonico steak to be perfect and probably one of the best I've ever had! Truthfully, I probably enjoyed this better than I would've Shula's -- especially if I had gotten beaten up by SB had we gone there without her!! LOL


Don Cardi as we waited for our table

Afterwards we hit the Independence Brew Pub where TIS got down with the rap and followed the sports scores to see how her fantasy teams were doing! This is where we went both nights, a decent place a short walk from the hotel - also on Filbert Street.


A more relaxed DC at the pub


Miggy (top) and TIS (bottom) enjoying each other's company

Miggy's wonderful daughter Becky enjoying her Coronas

(cont'd)

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I think everyone hit the sack fairly early Friday night -- except for me who was kept up most of the night by DMC who insisted on keeping on drinking all night! :p

On Saturday we spent most of the morning waiting for The Babes and Smitty and family to show up ( :p ) while we did a short tour of the historical area. The line for the Liberty Bell was too long, and it was too hot to wait. But we took in the A/C at the visitors center and gift shop for a while before touring Ben Franklin's underground museum on the ruins of his home. That was about it for our nation's history this weekend! LOL

Once The Babes and Smitty's showed up we took 4 cabs down to South Philly to hit the famous Pat\'s Steaks , where cheesesteaks originated:


People line up into the street for a Pat's steak sandwich!

Reminiscent of the "Soup Nazi", you better place your order correctly!

The Crew enjoying their lunch, as Miggy, Becky and I were still on line

Yum!

Right across the street was Pat's competition, Geno\'s , but no one would go with me LOL


(cont'd)

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After lunch we walked over to the outdoor Italian Market where Sicilian Babe proceeded to buy cheese at Di Bruno\'s and I think the entire stock the chocolatier had. :-P The street market was rife with produce vendors, butchers, the smell of fresh fish, and purveyors of $2 clothing and such necessities as Mop and Glo and brillo pads.

It was really hot that day, so it was more refreshing to briefly walk through the indoor Reading Terminal Market later that day, on our way to a quick walk through of The Hard Rock Cafe where we saw some rock memorabilia.

Before Saturday's dinner we took the $1 shuttle to Penn\'s Landing , home of The Moshulu (of course, the ship used in Godfather Part II when young Vito came to America)! But first we had to walk, seemingly endlessly to the end of the pier, and through the dulcet sounds engulfing the Festival of India .

On the way to The Moshulu I got quite excited!


I just couldn't contain myself! LOL

Edit: Some of us didn't recall The Moshulu being a sailboat, thinking it was a steamship, but after consulting the movie, it is the real ship - see below!






We boarded, and went to the bar section. I thought it was an infamnia that it was called "Bongo Bar", but it was still neat to be on the deck of this ship we've seen so often in the movie!

We were happier than these pics suggest! I like unposed shots sometimes:





(cont'd)

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After a drink there, we practically crawled all the way to Pier 3 where dinner was waiting at La Veranda ! As stated previously, we had a TERRIFIC meal by our TERRIFIC Tony-Montana-imitating waitor Franco! Reserved under "the Godfather crew" we had our own room, and were presented with TERRIFIC courses that mostly resembled Party Menu A , but Franco added even more dishes, even some not on the menu. The veal chop melted in my mouth - I think it was the best in the city! Too bad I couldn't finish it all after many servings of antipasti and pasta beforehand! I definitely recommend this restaurant to anyone visiting Philly - and I certainly will make it back one of these days!

I only took one picture there because I thought it came out kinda dark (before I retouched it), and others were taking table shots anyway:

DMC, Becky & Miggy after stuffing themselves

We originally thought about hitting the Las Vegas Lounge afterwards, but we were all kinda pooped! But I must add some of us almost lost our dinners after a harrowing cab ride back to the hotel! I've driven in cabs many times in my life, but this was probably the worst - especially being in the front seat without a seatbelt! The highlight was when, after the cabby did a U-turn in the middle of the street, Signor Vitelli said, "Nice work, Lou"

After a brief refresh, TIS insisted on going back to the Independence Brew Pub to take in some more rap! After playing Quarters with 3 pitchers of beer, we were all having a grand ol' time! Right, Giggles?

After a full day, I was pretty excited to get a full night's sleep. So after some good-byes to friends we probably weren't going to see the next morning, DMC proceeded to keep me up all night yet again! :p So, the next morning, with bloodshot eyes... TIS, SV, DMC and myself ended up at the Midtown II diner for an okay breakfast and to discuss a possible West Coast 2007 trip -- already!

It was a great trip, and I'm so sorry to those who had to cancel at the last minute! Hopefully we'll see each other again soon!!