Photo courtesy of The Times Union.

Ham and Eggs (sunny side up), hash browns and dry wheat toast with a large iced coffee… For almost fifteen years this has been my order at my favorite breakfast spot, Miss Albany Diner. I won’t waste time talking about how awesome the food was or how much I enjoyed being there because you already know. For many Albany residents- and some outside of Albany, M.A.D. has been the go to place for all things breakfast.

Jane Brown- the current owner, matriarch and familiar face of Miss Albany Diner decided to enter into a well deserved retirement years ago, but was unable to find a buyer for the building. After careful consideration and discussions with my partners Jimmy and Demetra Vann, we decided to make an offer which Mrs. Brown (recent widow of Cliff Brown who was also an owner) accepted. It is kind of a bittersweet win-win situation, since it is the building that is being sold, not the business. So while we are happy to acquire our neighbor to the left and allow her to move forward with her plans, the diner itself is no more.

Mrs. Brown and her son Bill, are legally keeping the name “Miss Albany Diner” as well as their recipes, and they maintain the right to open another diner in another location, as well as having the right to sell the name Miss Albany Diner and it’s recipes to an interested party at another location. As new owners of the property, we legally can not continue to operate the space as Miss Albany Diner or use their menu items. I’m only noting that because it is important to us that it is clear that we are not “closing down Miss Albany Diner”. They sold us the property, and we are not legally allowed to re-open Miss Albany Diner in that space.

On a personal note, I would like to thank Jane and Bill Brown, for giving us the opportunity to care for a building that is considered by many to be one of the most iconic buildings in the capital region. I know the Browns hold the diner very dear to their hearts, and I promise we will respect the history, the memory, and the integrity of Miss Albany Diner.

It worked fine when I went to bed I know this because I was watching porn, but this morning it won’t turn on.

Is my computer dead? Do I need a one? Will the porn I was watching pop up on the screen when the genius fixes it?? Oh dear.

Anyway, I can’t post until I resolve this because I’m writing this on my phone and the App is very limited.

Damn you, Frank.

And no, I don’t watch porn and drink milk at the same time. That would be weird. The midget bukkake film I watched was weird enough.

Dan, Emily, JC, Lauren.

JC, local bar tending goddess, was on the recent Weezer Cruise.  She sent us this photo from the cruise, and had this to say:

This is Emily and Laura. They approached us somewhere on the Gulf Of mexico and asked us if we worked at Bombers in Albany,NY. Turns out the ladies were from Long Island and had graduated from SUNY Albany and had been frequent visitors to Bombers. Emily expressed her love of BBQ Tofu Fries and how being on Friday Puppy would be a dream come true. Hope we can make that happen for her! Bombers has made me a celebrity even in international waters!

Thank you for sending that to us, JC!  and thanks for reading the blog, Emily and Lauren!

Every Friday we post photos of your dogs, and then we vote on which on is the cutest.

If you have a dog, please send me a photo at FridayPuppy@gmail.com.   Please be sure to include the name of your dog and his hometown, otherwise I will make it up.  The winner of the contest will win a big ol’ Gift Certificate to (drumroll please)… Bombers Burrito Bar.  (ta da!!)

Congratulations to last week’s winner, Bodhi from Morristown, NJ !

Have a great weekend, and thank you for reading Friday Puppy.

 
To see the cute lil’ puppy photos…

Diego. Albany, NY

Jake. Albany, NY

Link. Manhattan, NYC

Maisie. Manchester, UK

Molly. Saranac Lake, NY

Murphy. Sparta, NJ

Rocky, Sully & Murphy. Taco Town, NY

My older brother David, who has much better hair than me, asked me if I could email him my gym workout because he’s bored with his current workout.

A lot of my friends smoke pot before going to the gym.  Something I will never try because I would be so paranoid I would need a winter mask, Olsen twins sized sunglasses and a burka just to feel unrecognizable, and my burka is made of wool and that would be so sweaty.  gross.

So basically this is how I feel about my workout:

Likes:

• It is a constantly moving workout.  There is no downtime, which (for me) makes it go by faster.  I get bored very easily at the gym, and this workout works well with my ADB (Attention Deficit Blessing).
• You burn a lot of calories during this workout, which makes me feel less guilty when I drink lot of beer and eating a lot of burritos.
• In general, I like this workout because it keeps me trim and feeling happy and healthy.
• When done correctly, you should be in and out of the gym within 90 minutes.

Dislikes:

• All the moving around required by this workout can sometimes make it difficult to occupy a machine while you are momentarily away from it.  Meaning, there’s a lot of this, “excuse me, lady, would you mind if I just finish a couple more sets on here?  And aren’t you a little old to be showing your midriff”
• This workout does not build a ton of muscle.  Combined with all the cardio, it is a workout for a lean, trim workout.  Which you might like.
• This workout is very difficult to do with a partner.  There’s too much bouncing around, and I’ve found that trying to pair up with someone only slows me down.

In order to help you pick out muscle exercise, I recommend downloading an app called iFitness. It’s easy to understand, and has a lot of good ideas for new exercises to keep it interesting.

As soon as I get to the gym, I stretch for about 10 minutes.  You know, shake the ol’ cobwebs out of my joints.   It’s also a good opportunity to check out the ladies at the gym.  Am I right, fellas?   Wasssssup.

After stretching, I start doing my circuit.  Which is basically 5 minutes of cardio, and then one muscle group and one ab exercise.  Followed by another 5 minutes of cardio, and another muscle group and another ab exercise.

Round 1:  Chest

5 Minutes RUNNING on a treadmill.   This should make you sweat.  If you aren’t sweating, you’re not trying hard enough.   That’s just how it is

1. Do a CHEST exercise 15 times.
2. With no break, go right into an abdominal exercise.  This requires you to think about your regimen beforehand.  Standing around sucking your thumb while you think about what you should do next is slowing down your heartrate and makes you look creepy.  Especially the thumb sucking part.  Do this AB exercise 20 times.
3. Do the same CHEST exercise 15 times.
4. Same AB exercise 20 times.
5. Same CHEST exercise.
6. Same AB exercise.

Round 2:  Triceps

5 minutes Running on a treadmill.

1. Tricep exercise 15 times.
2. Ab exercise 20 times.
3. REPEAT both a. and b. TWO more times.

Round 3:  Back

5 minutes eliptical machine.

1. Back exercise 15 times
2. Ab exercise 20 times
3. REPEAT a. and b. TWO more times.

Round 4:  Bicep

5 Minutes elliptical machine

1. Bicep exercise 15 times.
2. Ab exercise 20 times.
3. REPEAT a. and b. TWO more times.

Round 5:  Legs

5 minutes walking on treadmill.  (should be at least 4.0mph and a level 15 or higher.)

1. Do leg exercise 15 times.
2. Do ab exercise 20 times.
3. REPEAT a. and b. TWO more times.

Round 6:  Shoulders

5 minutes walking on a treadmill.

1. Do shoulder exercise 15 times
2. Do ab exercise 20 times.
3. REPEAT a. and b. TWO more times.

I think it’s important to note that you should be drinking lots of water before, during, and after you work out.  This means brining a giant water bottle, not going to the drinking fountain a few times.

I think an actual personal trainer would probably recommend you stretch after your workout, but who has time for that.  Once I’m done, I get the hell out of there.  But if you get sore easily, maybe you should stretch for a few minutes.

I recommend going to the gym at least 3 times a week, follow this workout, and each time choose a new muscle exercise so that you aren’t repeating the same exercise.   You should be able to go at least 2 weeks before you have to repeat a muscle group exercise.

Lastly, when in doubt for an ab exercise, hold a plank position for one minute.  I LOVE that exercise and is a very effective exercise.  Plus, you can do it anywhere.

Good luck!

Our very own blog writer, Craig, is celebrating a birthday today!

I didn’t even know!  Thank God for Facebook notifications.

Hope you have a wonderful day, Craig!  Can’t wait for your visit to the States in March.

So, for a few weeks now I have been volunteering at the reception desk on Tuesdays at GMHC, a wonderful organization that provides a multitude of services to people living with HIV.

For starters, it was slow, so I took this picture and am writing this post at my lunch break.  So don’t even try to get me fired, all you MB haters out there.

A few thoughts:

1.  I am excited I can now wear a tie again during the day and not just at funerals, some weddings or Super Bowl parties.

2.  I hope I have an opportunity to use White Out.  I miss that stuff.

3.  I am grateful for the opportunity to have water cooler moments with people again.  Although I am yet to find a water cooler, I did find a vending machine filled with high fructose corn syrup.  I guess I will have to bring my own white wine.  J/K, GMHC.

4.  The reception area where I work has no natural light.  How do people work in these conditions?!  I also have the privilege of looking at a fake tree.  And a condom machine.  But  worst of all.. are all the PCs.  I literally went home at lunch last week and brought in my Mac because working on these PCs felt like I was driving a Yugo.

5.  Who do I talk to to control the temperature in this building?  It’s like 100 degrees celsius in here.  And we also need a new front desk.  This one sucks.  It’s not even cedar.  And there’s no iced coffee cozy.

6.   My lovely superior, Ashley, told me I looked tired earlier today.  I can’t imagine why.  I’ve been staring at a font size 8 Excel spreadsheet for 6 hours, have had zero incandescent lighting for my work tasks, and I have not had my afternoon nap.  I asked Ashely if the break room had any cucumbers I could slice up for my eyes.  She thought i was kidding.

Anyway, I will keep you posted.  So far I really like it.   It feels good to be on a regular schedule again.

 
I am sitting in the train station.  My train is an hour late, so I am going to spend this time doing Friday Puppy.  I was considering using the time to twist all the labels on the bottled beverages in the cooler so that they are facing forward, but I’m going to focus on my breathing and try to understand that life will go on if the labels aren’t facing forward.

This week we have another very cute batch of puppies for our Friday Puppy segment.  How does it work?  Well, every Friday you send us a photo of your dog, and we post 7 pictures.  Then you vote for whichever dog you think is the cutest, and that dog wins a gift certificate to Bombers Burrito Bar.   This week we had a blog reader send us a photo of their cat for us to post on the blog.  I think she thought she was being funny.   I, however, did not laugh.

Please take just a second to vote for the dog you think is cutest, and please have yourself a wonderful weekend.

Congratulations to last week’s winner… Riley from Cohoes, NY !

Bodhi. Morristown, NJ

Calla. Coxsackie, NY

Cassius. Brooklyn, NY

Clark. Loudonville, NY

Harley. Clifton Park, NY

Hugo. West Hempstead, NY

Zoe. Clinton, NY

So, I was kicked out of the bar last night at 74 State Street.

I haven’t been kicked out of a bar since ’06 when I got in a fist fight with some huge weirdo jacked up on jolt and cuervo who was gay bashing my B-FAM (brother from another mother).  So we fought. And we both got kicked out.  I was worried we were then gonna have to take it to the streets, which would have ended in my death bc the guy was absolutely gigantic.   But somehow we went our separate ways and I took a cab back to my place and watched Real Housewives Atlanta while I calmed down.

Anyway, I’m gonna throw down with 74 State Street Hotel for a second.

To read the review

The Good:

1.  The bartender Katy was awesome (despite that absolutely atrocious work uniform they make her wear).   And she looks like Busy Phillips and she’s a masseuse.  Not a bad combination.

2.  The hotel front desk people.   they are pretty cool, too.  My friend Jeremy (after the Kelly Clarkson concert, and a few Red Solo Cups filled with grey goo’ and San Pellegrino Limonata), walked into the lobby and used the bellhop cart as a skateboard.  Which was NOT cool.  I totally told him that right after we high fived.

3.  The food at the bar was delicious and had a great presentation.

The Bad:

1.  The bar.  Put up some window treatments.  Yes, downtown State Street looks cool, but the horrible street lights cast unflattering lighting into your depressing bar.   Go to SmithandNoble.com and buy yourself some smart solar shades.   Or… go to NYC and get some large indoor trees for near the window.    And… remove the christmas tree in your front window.  It’s January 18th.

2.  Cheer the fuck up.  You’re a bar.  You serve booze.  Let’s have a  little party, for chrissakes.  There was depressing elevator music.  All the staff is dressed in black.  The one girl with the choppy short hair looked like she was going directly after work to audition for the part of Wednesday Adams in some East German community theater.  And someone needs to teach her how to smile.

3.  Making the bartenders measure out each pour of Scotch is so rookie.   If you’re training a bartender, that’s cool, but not as a bar practice.  You’re supposed to be a fancy hotel.  Don’t act all fancy and then look cheap by making the bartenders measure the pours.  I hate that.  What you really should be doing is letting the bartenders pour the scotch directly into my mouth until I say when.

4.  When the kitchen closes at 11:00, that means you can order food up to 11:00.  That’s just how it works.  If it’s 10:45 and you say the kitchen closes at 11:00, then we have 15 minutes to order food.  If you don’t want people ordering food after 10:45, then tell customers the kitchen closes at 10:45.  ALL of us in the restaurant business have to deal with that annoying technicality.  You know how many nachos I’ve had to make at the stroke of midnight because someone walked in one minute before the kitchen closes?  LOTS.  you know many people I served AFTER the kitchen technically closed because I want to make them happy?  LOTS.

5.  Let the customers play that fucking piano.  there’s a beautiful piano sitting in the corner.  What a tease.  Or at least close it down so it’s not so inviting.

Here’s the story.  Jeremy went up to the piano and played 5 notes.  He doesn’t know how to play the piano, so he touched about 5 keys and then came back to the bar.  Then some cranky little bitchy girl with a pony tail said to Jeremy, “Sir, the piano is not for customers.  Its for our jazz musicians.   If you play it we’re going to have to ask you to leave.”  To which I replied, “you can’t be serious.”  To which she replied, “yes, I am.”. And then she went on and on telling us that if we break it then we have to pay for it and it’s like really expensive.   And all I kept thinking was, “please stop talking.  He’s not gonna break your little fucking piano.  And if he does, I’ll buy you a new one and have Elton John himself come play there once a week.  So shut up.”

So fastforward 20 minutes and Jeremy went back to the piano and played it again.  So fast forward 90 more seconds and the little girl with the choppy hair tattletales on us and up comes some very mean lady manager who says, “Gentleman, you have to leave.  We asked you not to play the piano, and you did.  You are cut off.  Finish your drinks and leave.”  Standing behind her was Les Miserable with the pony tail who had her arms crossed and was looking at us like, “I told you so.”

So I say to her, “You told on us???  What are you, 9 years old?”

So I chugged my perfectly measured scotch and we left.

Just a note, 74 State Street, if you’d like to see a hotel bar/restaurant that does it right, go to DP’s An American Brasserie.  That place is lively, fun and they’re so good at what they do, they don’t have to measure out their pours.

Click the image above to check out Bombers Burrito Bar‘s new website!

I think it’s a sweet improvement over the last one.  Make sure to sign up for our Friends of Bombers program so you can be sent free shots of tequila in the mail.  (kidding, SLA).

So… my talented and sexy friend Lyndsey Drago (whose name sounds like it should be in a 007 movie) has just completed her clothing line.

It’s called Billy Wolf, and it’s a dog clothing line.

Per her website…

Billy Wolf donates 10% of all proceeds to our friends at Funny for Fido. Funny for Fido is a non-profit who brings awareness to volunteer-based animal rescue organizations.

AND… All Billy Wolf goods are handmade in New York City out of vintage, dead stock and American-made fabrics. The line consists of jackets and bandanas in sizes XXS to XXL. Custom jackets are available by request. Each garment is finished with salvaged buttons and handmade labels, making it as exceptional as the dog that wears it.

Check out her website by clicking HERE, and as an added bonus, Lyndsey set up on a coupon for 20% off if they type in Friday Puppy at the check out for the month of Jan.

Congratulations, Lyndsey!  The website and the clothing line looks fantastic!