Wineries and BC

Saturday was neverending. I woke up early and made myself drive to the laundromat. Not that there's anything wrong with this particular place. It's just that laundromats in general are pretty miserable. I shove everything into my one, somewhat broken hamper and waddle with it down the stairs and out to the car, fumbling with my keys and trying not to forget something on the long list of laundry essentials: detergent, fabric softener, dryer sheets, book, iPod, and most importantly, quarters, or at least singles to use in the change machine. It's gotten to where I'm excited when my lunch costs anything less than 25 after the decimal place...three more quarters for next week's laundry! Once I get there and lug everything into the building, the game involves finding two side-by-side working machines and doing everything possible to avoid letting a runaway sock or pair of underwear drop to the dirty floor, especially during the washer-to-dryer transition, when the sopping wet item picks up dust like a sponge and gets thrown right back into the dirty pile. Needless to say, my dream apartment includes an in-unit washer and dryer.
With Saturday's laundry mission complete, and the idea of two more laundry-free weeks surfacing in my head, I went to the wineries with my friends Matt, Shannon and Nicole, and a few of their friends. It was a beautiful day for a drive out east. The summertime humidy suddenly dissapeared in the last week and Saturday felt more like an early fall day -- upper 70s, sunny and a cool breeze. We spent about five hours at four wineries, tasting flights, enjoying the sun, and petting the highland cows (always one of my favorites).

We headed back to Port Jeff a little after 7 and I quickly changed, ate some string cheese and rushed to the station for a train into the city. After grabbing a taxi at Penn Station -- driven by a cabbie who first dropped me off on the complete wrong side of town -- I made it to Andy's apartment, where BC was staying for the weekend. We headed out around 11 to a local bar that played nothing but 80s and 90s music videos on flat-screen TVs spead across the walls. Later, with some post-bar ziti pizza in my stomach, I caught the 4:45 train back home. When I woke up in Ronkonoma, it was light out and I couldn't drive my car quickly enough back home to my bed.