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We left the remnants of Hurricane Earl behind in CT yesterday for a trip down to St. Pete Beach in Florida.  I have some meetings next week for work down here so we decided to make it a work/vacation trip.  The flight down was uneventful unless you count the pilots letting Abby and & Wyatt in the cockpit before we took off.  They actually let Wyatt work the controls.  I was blown away, very cool in this day and age of high tension.

Florida is a unique melting pot within the larger melting pot of America.  It's like a little "eddy" within the brew of varying cultures, ages and intellectualism.  I enjoy coming here for vacation and going with the kids the past couple of years adds a great wrinkle to the experience.  Anyway, the sun is coming up.  One more cup of coffee and then a jog around the water.  This afternoon we'll take down Crabby Bill's.

So there are these small hydraulic arms on most screen doors that enable them to do their second most virtuous function of closing automatically.  The first of course is the function of being a door.  (e.g. the act of being a solid and in some cases partially transparent membrane between two spaces)  Wyatt had recently become quite taken with opening the door to our porch so as to let himself in and out of the house.  Unfortunately he has/had not yet developed the cognitive awareness that we often take for granted and which makes us aware that most doors only open so far.  It turns out that the porch door is more than just a door.  If you keep pushing on it, there's a nice springy-like effect that's fun for leaning and relaxing on sunny afternoons.  This springy-like action however is not one of the manufacturer-intended functions of said door.  So, over the course a month or so, Wyatt slowly tore the metal bracket that attaches the hydraulic arm to the door frame in half.  Yes, he tore the metal in half.

Thankfully he was more than willing to help me replace the arm once it finally broke with a quality part from the local Ace hardware store.  He was quite determined to round up all of his tools and get right in the fray to help me get things fixed.

In other news the Mets suck.  They did nothing at the trade dead line and their relief staff has been resorting to domestic violence in the Citi Field family lounge.  There are some rumors that the Wilpon's lost their load in the Bernie Madoff scandal and as a result of that we're looking at some pretty lean years ahead.  Of course there also rumors that they cashed out and somehow made money on the deal.  Who knows, but the bottom line is that it's obvious they're clueless.  I'm not suggesting I could do a better job by any means but I know what inept management looks like.

On the positive side, NFL training camp activities are underway and that's always a reason for some optimism.  The Jets are in the middle of the radar going in to this season and although their best defensive player is holding out for a new contract, I'm hopeful that they're going to contend this year.  HBO is following the Jets this year in their Hard Knocks pre-season documentary.  The first episode aired this week and needless to say Rex Ryan has cemented himself as my new hero.  I'm hoping I don't eat those words a couple of months from now although there's a pretty good chance I will.  For now I'm willing to ride the Rex wave.  The guy definitely seems to relate to the players and can communicate with them effectively.  The question is how long can that chi stay in check before the wheels come off?

It's been a while since my last update.  I think that's because life has been otherwise monotonous and routine as of late.  Don't get me wrong, the summer has been great so far and it's amazing how fast the time goes.  Actually it's not really amazing because technically time goes as fast as it goes but I think I made my point.  We've been in the process of selling our house and it's been a slow summer for that.  The most frustrating thing is that it's not something you can "work harder" at.  It's just a matter of being patient which has never been a trait of mine.  To make matters worse, we've found a few really great houses and towns we'd like to live in but it's hard to get excited about it before we've got things wrapped up here.  The waiting is the hardest part.

My quest to not be a giant land mammal is still progressing.  I've managed to get my 3 mile time down to a semi-respectable 28:00 minutes.  I never thought I'd actually look forward to cardio days but I do now.  When we first joined back in January, I had a hard time imagining myself still being there in the warm weather but here we are.  It's nice to feel like a "New Years Resolution" member any more.  Plus I obviously feel a 100 times better which is a plus.

We booked a trip to Florida today which good news.  I have to go down for a couple days of work so we're going to make a trip out of it with the 'fam.  I chose the title of this entry as it's something Liz's grandfather said to me at least a couple of times when we visited her grandparents in Florida or vice versa.  He's no longer with us but I'm sure we can order a Rusty Nail or two in his honor for the missing man formation at the bar.  I'm looking forward to a little sun, R&R and of course cold beer & oysters at Crabby Bill's.

Speaking of seafood, I made Mussels Marinara last week and it was awesome.  Mussels are an incredibly tasty and generally inexpensive shellfish choice.  You have to be careful with cooking them but it's not rocket science.  Toss out any open ones before cooking and don't eat any that don't open.

Here's a simple recipe that's a pro meal:

• 1 1/2 lbs fresh mussels, rinsed and scrubbed.
• 1 lb whole wheat thin spaghetti.
• 1 28 oz cans of crushed tomatoes
• 1 8 oz can tomato paste
• 2 tbsp minced garlic
• 1 small yellow onion, diced
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp Lawry's seasoned salt
• 1 tsp Old Bay seasoning
• Salt & pepper to taste

Set a pot of water to boil and put a dash of sea salt and olive oil in it.  Cook the pasta and set aside warm until later.

Heat a large sauce pan on medium-high heat with the olive oil in it.  Add the garlic and saute for 1 min stirring constantly. When the garlic and the oil browns, add the onions and continue to stir for 3 minutes. Next add the tomatoes and tomato paste, stirring frequently. Add the Lawry's, salt and pepper.  Cover and cook for 10 minutes stirring regularly.

Add the mussels to the sauce being careful to discard any that are already open. Cook for 5 - 10 minutes until they're all opened. Stir them liberally in the sauce.

Load your bowls up with pasta and then spoon the mussels and sauce over the pasta.  Serve with a little grated Parmesan of course and there you have it.  Easy and pretty damn delicious.