I was on a boat -- no, really!

Like woah.

The LL Cool J concert in Atlantic City on Friday night was amazing. I used to review concerts, and I haven't seen a room with that much energy in a long time. I think LL brought women to dance on stage with him three times (if I wasn't in the balcony for the show, I would have done everything in my being to have gotten on stage).

That being said, no cameras were allowed, so I did not get pictures with LL -- not even of his abs. Sigh. But that's okay. My evening, plus trips the next day to see Lucy the Elephant, lunch at Ozzie's in Longport, then sightseeing in more than made up for it (surprise of the day: the Ugly Mug was PACKED at about 3pm on Saturday -- good thing, but I was surprised about the wait!)

So even though I don't have pictures from Friday, I hope that this will make up for it:



This is my brother Jim. Today is his birthday -- his 30th. And for his 30th birthday, we made him a muppet. Yes, a muppet.

The picture was taken on the Staten Island Ferry. It's my brother's fiance birthday, too (and my sister's tomorrow), so me, Jim and Stephanie headed up to NYC to see my younger brother Mike:



If you can't tell, we had a lot of fun at FAO Schwarz. I had my picture taken with a wizard...



...and an Ugly Doll.



For those keeping score at home, that IS an Exit Zero hat in my picture.



After these pictures were taken, Mike turned to the Ugly Doll and said "I hope you feel better soon."

It was a long, strange, fun and great weekend, leading up to a busy week that will take me back to Atlantic City and up to Asbury Park. Who says there's a shore off season?