Half A Pat

This was me in 1997. I'm at a barbecue in Astoria for Stacey's graduation. Directly to the left of me is Mike (who still is Mike but now Stacey's husband) who has put up with me since college. I was well thrown out of college at the time of this photo and in the midst of placing 12 to 16 hour at days altar of video production.

Around this time I was known at the bar across the street from the office as "Dr. Bombay". Katie the bartender used to pour me a gin & tonic in a pint glass.....Actually, it was more like a gin and ice in a pint glass while she whispered the word "tonic" over the glass.

This was me in 2002. I'm with my family at a Filipino restaurant in Queens. For those of you who don't know, the cuisine seems to be real, real, real pork-centric. As I tell people,
the national bird of the Philippines is the pig.

I was full into my corporate job at the Times. I was definitely living high on the hog as they say. This was my whiskey phase. I had an impromptu 5pm bar in my office and would lead the office to watering holes using(or rather abusing) our division-wide email distribution list. At this point I was working a more sane 8 to 12 hours a day.

This was me in 2005. I'm out shopping with my cousins and their friends. My cousin Gil is taking the picture and directly to my left is my cousin Cecile. This shopping trip took place in the outer districts of Ho Chi Minh City (or SaiGon if you prefer)

I came back from this trip in great mental and physical condition. Three months of walking around in the south-east asian heat and humidity can do wonders for you. The food...sweet Jeebus the food...all fresh,un-processed, hormone free and dirt cheap. A fresh kilo of prawns by some of the most beautiful white sand beaches could be had for only three bucks American. Also during this time Sheridan's pub in Saigon was my second residence in Saigon(the first being my cousins' house). The Sheridan's staff gave me a bar-nickname so they could keep track of my tab.

This was me in December 2006. Ah...the full joy of Karaoke and all the liquid courage necessary to grab the mic and butcher, err I mean sing, your favorite melodies. Directly to my left is Angelo. His girlfriend can actually sing. Me, on the other hand.....

I had already been a gym member for a year at this point. I had already let my attendance lapse for several months and realized that I wasn't in the then great shape that I was when I had come home in 2005. I actually had the thought that the clothes dryer in the apartment was shrinking my clothes. At the end of November, I had decided to go back to the gym to get weight off that I had gained since the beginning of the year.

It was during this point, Sarita had approached me about signing up for personal training with her instead of the straight up cardio exercises that I was doing by myself.