At 1:35am this morning, April 7th, 2006, my dear friend Katie left this earth for a much better place. Having lost only her battle to Leukemia, not her grasp of vitality and courage. I'm say with a calming confidence that she's casting her calming gaze on all of us with an effervescent smile. Her gleaming personality and an unfathomable caring soul shining through with no worldly encumbrances.

Katie's battle with cancer was only surpassed by her own ability to handle the entire battle with dignity, bravery and more grace than I could ever imagine one human having. And with that being said, my smile widens knowing how incredibly lucky I was to have known Katie and being honored to have as such a large part in my lifelong memories.

There hasn't been much mention of Katie's battle with Leukemia here since I first learned of her diagnosis as that's not what I think the last few months have been about. It has, to me, been about spending time with her newly wed and loving husband Keith Taylor - a stalwart hero to any man for sure - in Atlanta, GA. It has been about the two of them enjoying the onset of Spring in the comforts of their own home, together. And now, it is about Katie being with the good Guy upstairs. No pain, no suffering and beautiful memories.

Katie, I'll miss you. I'll miss you something mighty. Look down on all of us, and though you're the only person that will get what I'm about to say I know that you're laughing... and that makes me smile.



Katie, you will always be my editor.


Please visit Katie's CaringBridge journal for the family's entries and details on Katie's celebration of life.

Labels: announcements, eric, friends

This morning I went for brunch at a friend of my cousin's friend's (huh?) place down in Greenwich Village. Man, I went there only expecting a Falafel and some soda but it turned out to be far better then that. As you can see from the photo it wasn't exactly "fast food" but more like "lotsa food" cooked supremely well by Beto (Alberto) and his legion of orange t-shirt clad certified Vegan cooking compadres.

Definitely worth a visit if you're ever up in the city and looking for some Kosher food, or just a damn fine falafel.

Labels: friends, new york, review

Ok, so I'm Aziz -aka A.Z., A through Z, alphabet boy, asneeze, acheese, afleas, achoo, among others (thanks for the kind words Mr. Yang). Nice to meet you. Whatever moniker you choose is fine by me. Be ye warned, however, that I'm known to give it to you "as is" (conveniently, another nickname), and I plan to. There are no guarantees, warranties, exchanges, refunds or quality-assurances attached -it is what it is.

I have consistently been geometrically shaped (round head, square body and most recently, vice versa), and many of my friends can attest to my inexplicable ability to be highly productive, yet exhibit moments of intense laziness (hence, Lazy A.Z.). I hope we get a chance to know each other.

I have known the Midweekpost "don" since 7th grade, sharing nothing in common except hillbilly roots, the inability to comprehend Latin, mothers with the same taste in cars, and Eastern family-philosophies right off the bat (I know, right?). Of course years of video games, musical endeavors, periods of general clumsiness, periods of futility, periods of general social-anxiety/prosperity, nebulous periods, and fruitful indecision followed as we over-analyzed every stage of life as we knew it then...and know it now.

And thus...here we are. Talk to you soon.

Have a good one,
A.Z.

Labels: announcements, aziz, friends

Have you ever actually listened to the lyrics of the song 'Jump Around' by House of Pain? I guess I hadn't until I decided to make this post. Honestly, they're hilarious... much like these three photos of my cousin jumping into my shots of Greenwich Village.

[Chorus]
I came to get down [2x]
So get out your seats and jump around
Jump around [3x]
Jump up Jump up and get down.
Jump [17x]
I'll serve your ass like John MacEnroe
If your girl steps up, I'm smacking the ho
Word to your moms I came to drop bombs
I got more rhymes than the bible's got psalms
[...continues]

Link to rest of lyrics

Labels: friends, new york

For those of you that didn't receive my Christmas card (it should've sent out yesterday) I thought I'd put it up on midweekpost. I got several error messages from addresses that I might have wrong so apologies for that.

Anyway, Merry Christmas to all of you and if Christmas isn't your thing then Happy Holidays. Either way - make sure and stuff yourself with the very best in deliciousness and other treats, be merry and all that jazz.

Oh, and if you have time, you should make yourself my recipe: Casserole de' 2007. The recipe is on the card:

Labels: announcements, friends

Last night was our yearly holiday party. It was held at Citrus, a restaurant/bar on the Upper West Side and I must say it was an unexpectedly good time. Sure, there was tender shanks of steak, garlic-cheddar mashed potatoes and other fine victuals but I think it might have been more in part due other things. What are those things you ask? Perhaps it was the cornucopia of hor d'oeuvres (whore-duvet's) or perhaps it was the triple chocolate cheesecake. But honestly I think it was because someone (to remain nameless) broke out a game of Quarters and someone (to remain nameless) decided to 86 the Christmas montage and bust out an iPod with some grooves, none of which contained any Barry Manilow. I think we were slated to leave at 10... yeah, not so much. Spontaneous dancing with office cohorts always makes for more fun, good laughs, and um... super unflattering pictures awaiting our groggy eyed e-mail checking first thing in the morning. Who needs coffee... we got red-eye.

Here's a random selection of ones from last night. (photos courtesy of M. Stanton and A. Carlay)

p.s. I still managed to wake up this morning to hit the gym. How? I have no idea.

Labels: friends, new york, restaurant

Whenever I take a batch of photos or look back at some old ones there are always one or two that stand out to me. The one here of my friends Libby and Melissa happens to be one of those. Of course there was a 'wee' bit of photoshopping but hey, it's all in the name of creativity.

Well anyway, I thought I'd start sharing some of these photos with you regardless of their purpose or context. There's no rhyme or reason - just like yours truly.

Labels: friends, photos

As mentioned in the previous post, Katie and Keith were married on November 17th. It was and will be one of the most memorable weddings I have ever had the honor of performing at, and I say that with considerable background, this being my 26th wedding if my count is correct.

That said, I'll spare you my words and let the photos speak for themselves. There's no way I could take all the photos I wanted but hopefully these few will give you a small glimpse into a wedding that will be remembered as one with an outpouring of love and laughter.

Oh, and if anyone ever complains about not having enough time to plan a wedding make sure they're shared with the story of Katie and Keith who were engaged and married in a bona fide wedding in no less than 6 days. 6 days folks...

Link to Entire Photoset

Link to Slideshow


p.s. I'll be catching up on posts this week, sorry for the lack of them last week. Let's just say it's been a tumultuous month, at best.

Labels: announcements, friends