A Few Very Important Messages

• People are silly.  Don't give people presents if you don't like them.  You shouldn't punish people you don't like with horrible presents.  If gift giving can't be civil, don't exchange gifts.

• Times are tough. Re-gifting is acceptable.  Giving people something you found in the back of the closet from two years ago doesn't qualify as a re-gift.  That's being cheap. The item will likely be returned and the poor person will find out you don't love them enough to care, then walk away depressed that you think they are only worth the two dollars they have on an in-store credit.

• Yelling won't change how much money you get back for the item you didn't purchase or in what form said refund takes.

• Brody Jenner is a douche.  "Bromance" is probably  the most ill-conceived program in television history.  The elimination ceremony takes place in a pool?  I may throw up.

• Only 21 days until our national nightmare is over.

• Only 22 days until our new national nightmare begins.

Wishing You A Wonderful, Non-religious Winter Celebration!

Christmas is almost here, and I can't wait for it to be over!  The most exciting post-Christmas activity is getting yelled at by people who want the full price, in cash, of items they didn't purchase and can't comprehend why a store won't hand out cash to everyone.  Being degraded for eight hours straight certainly reminds you of why you just celebrated Christmas. FYI, most people of the Jewish faith keep their presents from their holiday that hasn't been commercialized beyond recognition. I don't even think gifts are given for Kwanzaa. Shameful.

Hope everyone enjoys their holiday of choice and remembers why they celebrate it in the first place.

Double D

"Are You Kidding Me!?"

Getting home from NYC was definitely a struggle. I highly recommend everyone to avoid flying with United at all costs. Terrible customer service with a condescending attitude does not entice me travel with them again.

We got stuck at O'Hare, also known as the gateway to Hell, because one of our flight attendants was late. Personally, I am never late. Kathy Hazelbaker once told me "tardiness tarnishes the testimony" and ever since then I have not been late. Lacking promptness is truly disrespectful to those around you. Back to the flight attendant with a tarnished testimony. Apparently she arrived, but by then they delayed the flight for a few minutes. Once that new time lapsed, we got delayed an hour for fog.  When they finally boarded us, the plane was unimaginably hot. We sat for about an hour, sipped on some complimentary ice water and waited to take off.  The pilot informed us that there was zero visibility at Will Rogers and fuel was added to our plane in case we had to land in Denver instead of OKC.  If you ask me, Denver is quite the leap from OKC, but because the added fuel added weight, all of the standby passengers were told to get off. An eruption of "are you kidding me"'s resounded through the cabin. 

Sadly, the extra fuel was not needed, those poor stand by folks got stuck in Chicago and we landed safely in OKC a few hours behind schedule.

But we are back now and still very thankful to Canada Mom and Dad for giving us the honeymoon we also wanted.

Hope you continue to enjoy the blog and comment on it so we know how to improve it!

Double D

From The Realm of Convergence

Following breakfast, we decided to take the NBC Universal studio tour at 3o Rock.

Interesting thing, they destroy your camera if you are caught with it at the tour, but they give your weapons back.
While waiting for the tour to start we stumbled upon "Today." Not the quality first two hours, or the decent third hour, but the the train wreck fourth hour of "Today" hosted by Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb  that NBC News should be ashamed to have its name associated with. This actor from the Sopranos kissed Kathie Lee on live television. Frank Gifford got his, why shouldn't Kathie? There was plastic in front of the glass to prevent flash, so don't think I'm a bad photographer.

Heres that Italian stereotype again.  We made it to air on "Today" as well. We are the ones who look like tourists looking up at the monitors to see themselves on TV.
After nap time and a quick discussion as to when nap time occured, we went to Bryant Park and The Empire State Building. Bryant Park had a pretty tree that was donated by Quebec. Did you know Quebec exports 95% of the Holiday Trees in America.
Comments are appreciated.

Last Day

Our final day in New York City was another exciting one.  We got up early to get standby tickets for "The View," but even some ticket holders were denied access to "What The Hell Wednesday" and a Day of Hot Topics, so naturally we didn't get in either. We were on Letterman last night when they came back from a break. We were the ones who look like tourists looking up at the monitors to see themselves on TV.  After the disappointment that was "The View" we took a taxi to Radio City. We didn't go in, just took a picture.

This is Dusty standing in front of some red balls.
We encountered the Headquarters of Evil (FOX News). 
Underneath the building was a subway entrance with a Wendy's and Fox News promotional material. The man in the center is the Master of Evil, Geraldo Rivera.
Wendy's in NYC serves breakfast. Dionne decided she didn't want anything from Wendys, she would just find something else. Hope she found it elsewhere.
We leave tomorrow morning and both back to work Friday. yay. See everyone soon, and comments on the blog are quite welcome!

Let It Snow...

Day Three was crazy! Yesterday reached a record high of 70, and today it snowed and snowed and snowed.  Day three was also the day Dusty decided to talk like a New Yorker all day.  Dionne found a hat to wear. It makes her appear to be "special."

We were looking for Macy's and passed ABC's Time Square Studio where GMA and World News is taped. Macy's was no where near GMA.
We found Macy's! This is a nod to Francis Church's 1897 editorial "Yes, Virginia, There Is A Santa Clause," in response to Virginia O'Hanlon's letter.
This person was from Asia and never experienced snow before. We are the world.
Went to Letterman. Stood in line in the cold for Tom Cruise and Fall Out Boy. Worth it? Eh. Dave was fun, but the guests left a little to be desired.
Finally, we went to see "Shrek: The Musical." It opened on Sunday. Act II was much better than Act I, but "Spring Awakening" was superior in so many ways. The lady sitting behind us was offended when the ushers wouldn't let her bring her wrapped plate of Christmas party leftovers into the theater, and that they questioned why she had a blow dryer in her purse.

30 Rock

After eating at a chinese restaurant that smelled like fish tanks at a pet store, we went to see what Dusty likes to call NBC square.   This is the tree at 3o Rockefeller Center. It is smaller than it looks.

Same tree. The tree went "green" this year.
The line for ice skating was too long, so a picture will suffice.
This shows you where you are.
The set of "Today," which also seems much larger on television.

Ferry Ride

Today we took a ferry to Staten Island :shudder:

It was very windy for Ducky.
This is our friend Ryne. He moved to NYC in August and bears a resemblence to Roy from "The Office."Lady Liberty herself

The Bull

Apparently, this statue is a big deal. We couldn't even get a good picture...

Until we moved to the other side.

Live! From New York, It's Dusty and Dionne!

The view from our hotel.

Dusty on a train.
Random town
What can we say? Dusty worked until 1 am and we left for the airport at 5:45 am. He's been pretty cranky, but a trooper all the way.  Dionne says "well-rounded" effectively sums up her experience thus far. Dusty doesn't get it either.

This is a list of things we learned today:

01. Never fly United. Poor customer service=no returning customers.

02. New Jersey smells like dog farts. Really rich dog farts.

03. Dionne can make friends with any infant on the train.

04. Obama condoms are available on the streets because "Hope is not a form of protection."

05. McDonalds are three stories tall in NY.

06. There aren't very many friendly people on the east coast.

07. iPhones are useful when getting lost.

08. goodburger really does have really good burgers.

09. Apparently it was trash day.

10. WiFi will cost you a minimum of $15 anywhere you go.

11. Subway gates don't account for luggage.

12. "Spring Awakening" is a spectacle to be had and should not close in January.

13. Old people are uncomfortable with musicals about youthful sex.

14. NBC pre-tapes some of their New Years Eve musical acts.

15. Good walking shoes are a must. Plus, scarves are helpful.

Matthew 7:15

"Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves"

Uh, Oh.

Today, I had lunch in the cemetery as I used to in high school and stumbled on to the graves of several friends from high school. I was appalled by one of them.  I'm sure the deceased would love to know their loved ones decorated their grave like a christmas tree. It certainly put me in the Christmas spirit.

Our faux-honeymoon in NYC is right around the corner. Be sure to check back for live pic updates!

The Rev. Dustin M. Rogers

Exciting Days

We are less than a week away from our delayed honeymoon in NYC. So much to do and so little time. We will be posting pics live, so you can all live vicariously through your favorite people.

Does anyone want to puppysit?