Rant #844: Diversions

Last week was an extremely hard week for everyone in my neck of the woods.

Hopefully, we are all getting back to a semblance of what we used to call normal.

But good or bad, this past weekend was planned by me months ago, and although Hurricane Sandy and the nor'easter may have put a damper on it, my family and I still dove right into it.

On Friday evening, my son and I took in an NBA game, the New York Knicks versus the Dallas Mavericks at Madison Square Garden.

The Knicks won, 104-94, and are currently the only team in the league with a perfect record.

But what's more interesting is that another phase of Madison Square Garden's renovation in in force, and for the life of me, I didn't know where I was going when we tried to get to our seats.

Evidently, certain escalators, entrances, and what I found out later, exits, are closed during the renovation, so it isn't a clear path to your seat anymore, especially if you sit in the fabled upper deck 400 seats.

So my son and I walked around, were completely lost, and even some ushers didn't know where we should go.

And for the first time in my life, I actually took an elevator in the Garden.

Finally, we found our seats, only to be told that they weren't our seats. We were in the wrong section, and had to move.

Funny, but we later found out the people sitting ahead of us in the were also in the wrong section, and had to move, too. They were from Ireland, and it was their first NBA game there.

On Saturday, it was my wife's birthday. She is five months older than me, but to me, she looks at least five years younger than she actually is.

Anyway, we did everything we normally do on a Saturday, and then in the evening, we went out big.

I spent a bundle at a local fish restaurant, and then we came home, and watched a movie that was better than I thought it would be, "Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter." This movie was out for about a day a few months back, but it kept my interest and was much more engrossing than I thought it would--or could--be.

Not the new Spielberg film, but a pleasant surprise.

On Sunday, we went to see the new James Bond movie, "Skyfall."

It was good, not great. Funny, the beginning of the film was good, the ending was good, but the middle was putting me to sleep. They could have cut at least a half hour from the film, but all in all, it was a good film.

It demonstrates the "bond" between boss "M" and her favorite agent, and that bond actually saves both of them throughout almost the entire film ... almost. I won't go into it if you didn't see it yet.

Daniel Craig is growing on me as Bond, but he is no Sean Connery, and he is not even George Lazenby, to be honest with you.

But he is OK, just not in the same league with the top Bond portrayers.

And if you see the film, the title song is OK, but Adele is no Shirley Bassey. The song needed the oomph Bassey would provide, but Adele just doesn't have it.

The other uncredited song in the film, which is not on the soundtrack as far as I can see, is "Boom Boom," but I couldn't make out what version this John Lee Hooker song was. It kind of sounded like the Animals' version, but I might be wrong on that one.

So, all in all, it was a great weekend after a horrible week. I was able to get gas with no problem, although the prices are starting to get crazy.

But at least I have gas.

I might add that my daughter and sister finally have power in their living quarters, just getting it this weekend. Thanks goodness for that.

Let's see what the week brings. It can't possibly be as bad as last week was.

(I'm off to the doctor, so I will speak to you again on Wednesday.)