Celebration

2nd Annual Mordecai New Year’s Eve Progressive Cocktail Party

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We had our 2nd annual neighborhood New Year’s Eve progressive cocktail party, with this year’s theme being “Pours and Passports”:

In a countdown to midnight, 4 Mordecai neighbors opened their homes for an hour each and offered drinks and snacks related to their stop’s country. We had ~50 people attending this year’s event, up from 28 in our inaugural year in 2024.

First Stop

The house, for Italian Indulgence

Our host, Marianne

Featured Italian cocktails:
•  Aperol Spritz: Aperol, Prosecco, sparkling water, orange slice
•  Negroni: gin, sweet vermouth, Campari, orange wedge

Featured Italian snacks:
•  Two antipasto platters of cured meats, olives, cheeses, grapes
•  Crackers & bread slices to complement the platters
•  A variety of biscotti
•  Marcona almonds
•  Tiramisu (in honor of a guest’s birthday)

At this first stop, we asked everyone to create a name tag comprising their name and how long they’ve lived in Mordecai.

I pulled an Emeril Lagasse on Bob’s and my name tags and kicked them up a notch (Bam!) with a picture of our house on it.

Also at this stop, people made good use of the selfie station provided by Marianne & Jen!

Click on first image to bring up the gallery to flip through.

Second Stop

The house, for French Fusion

Our hosts, Brian & Jeff

Featured French cocktails:
•  Cognac French 75: cognac, champagne, simple syrup, lemon juice
•  Minuit a Paris: vodka, St-Germain, cranberry juice, simple syrup, lemon slice

Featured French snacks:
• Spinach & cheddar quiche
• Baguette slices with ham, Gruyère cheese, French butter, & cornichon
• Gougère cheese puffs with Parmesan and Pecorino cheeses
• Macarons 


Some people shots at this stop:

Third Stop

The house, for Irish Imbibements


Our hosts, John & Mary Beth

Featured Irish beverages:
•  Irish coffee with a jigger of Jameson Irish Whiskey and Nana Casey’s secret recipe for sweetness, topped with a dollop of whipped cream
•  Guinness beer
•  Black Bush Irish Whiskey
•  Writers’ Tears Irish Whiskey

Featured Irish snacks and artifacts:

Snacks
•  Scones
•  Guinness Glazed Meatballs
•  Bleu and cheddar cheeses from Ireland

Artifacts
•  Statue of St. Patrick, patron saint of Ireland
•  A piece of crochet from Mary Beth’s grandma
•  Photos in remembrance of family now gone: both sets of parents; John’s brother, Tom; John’s great-grandmother, Nana Casey (of the secret-Irish-Coffee-sweetness-recipe fame)
•  Books related to Ireland, among other items

Some people shots at this stop:


Fourth Stop

The house, for Mexican Mixers

Our host, Amy

Amy’s co-host, Neal, provided the food

Featured Mexican cocktails:
•  Palomas: tequila, grapefruit juice, sparking water, lime juice, coarse sea salt
•  Champagne for the midnight toast (full disclosure: not Mexican)

Featured Mexican snacks:
• Crema de garbanzo con cilantro y jalapeños asado acompañado de zanahorias, apio y pimientos morrones
• Rugelach de chocolate mexicano y nuez pacana & Rugelach de queso fresco ahumado y jalapeño asado
• Pastel de tres leches

Sheets of paper were available to write on with “Sh*t you don’t want to take into 2026” and burn in the fire pit before midnight. Some example sh*t people wanted to jettison:

The accumulation of liquid courage across 4 hours and 4 homes brought the socializing to a peak during this final hour of 2025!

Ending up with the countdown on TV and a champagne toast at midnight.

And if there was any doubt that fun was had by all, a look at Amy’s kitchen at the end of the night!

Thanks to all who hosted our four stops this year and your enthusiastic and generous hospitality!

After this second one of these neighborhood progressive cocktail parties, it’s obvious it’s a great way to spend New Year’s Eve. In fact, I recently wrote three 50-word stories about some advantages of spending New Year’s Eve this way:

Our menus for 12/28/25 – 01/03/26

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This week’s menus. Looking forward to Wednesday’s fun foods! What strikes your fancy this week?

Day Meal
12/28/25
Sunday		 •  Pizza plan-aheads & catch-as-catch-can
12/29/25
Monday		 •  Turkey c̅ cranberry sauce
•  Mashed potatoes c̅ gravy & stuffing
•  Brussels sprouts
12/30/25
Tuesday		 •  Kielbasa c̅ pineapple
•  Scalloped potatoes
•  House salad
12/31/25
Wednesday		 (Mordecai NYE Progressive Cocktail Party – “Pours & Passports”)
•  Chez nous, 6 p.m.: Pre-party, light hors d’oeuvres of potato skins
•  Marianne’s house, 8-8:55: Italian drinks & treats
•  Jeff & Brian’s house, 9-9:55: French drinks & treats
•  Mary Beth & John’s house, 10-10:55: Irish drinks & treats
•  Amy’s house, 11-midnight: Mexican drinks & treats + champagne toast
01/01/26
Thursday		 •  Fettuccine c̅ meatballs
•  Green beans
•  House salad
01/02/26
Friday		 •  Ham steak
•  Broccoli casserole
•  House salad
01/03/26
Saturday		 •  Grilled chicken breasts
•  Pasta salad
•  Green beans

Halloween 2025

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Happy Hollow Weenie!

With Bob as the Invisible Man, and I wearing my Dancing Pumpkin Man shirt and mask that Bob made us last year, we enjoyed cocktails and pizza while greeting trick-or-treaters on our friend Sam and Neal’s front porch.

Bob, inspired by the 1933 movie, The Invisible Man.

John, inspired by the Dancing Pumpkin Man.

Our final 2025 neighborhood happy hour to cheer on the Pelagic Run Club runners on 10/20/25

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We’ve decided to use the imminent time change on Sunday, November 2, 2025, to suspend our Monday happy hours for the winter. Shallowness alert: Because what’s the point of cheering on shirtless runners if you can’t even see them?

To that end, we were going to make Monday, 10/27, our last happy hour, but the runners are participating in a special Halloween run route through nearby Oakwood Cemetery, which means they won’t be coming by our house.

So, our 10/20/25 happy hour was our big hurrah for 2025.

We wanted to let the runners know about this, which we did with this week’s signs:


Our friends and neighbors:


And the stars of the show, the runners:

Here they come!

And finally:

capturing the playlist for 2025:

Overcome at Monday’s Pelagic Run Club runners’ happy hour on my birthday

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This might rank as the best birthday I’ve had in my entire 68 years on the planet.

On Saturday (10/11/25), Bob and I felt like local celebrities when we wore our specially made t-shirts to the Pelagic block party:

“We own the red house!”

and many of the people there were members of the Pelagic Run Club, which runs by our house every Monday around 6:15, and whom we cheer on while having a front-yard happy hour with friends and neighbors.

We’ve been cheering them on for a little over a year now, and it was so great to meet many of them at the party.

So 2 days later, on Monday, 10/13/25, which just happened to be my birthday, there I was just going through our usual preparation and set-up for our weekly happy hour and cheering event, with no knowledge of this message the run club’s esteemed leader and organizer, Jay, had sent to their runners’ email list.

So, it’s Monday run club and our front-yard happy hour now… and as the runners approached they started yelling, “Happy Birthday, John!” (perhaps goaded on by this sign on a car up ahead of me that they could see but I couldn’t):

The were waving greeting cards and signs for me, which they either handed to me or put on a nearby table as they passed by.

The gallery of runners bearing cards and other birthday greetings. (You can click on first picture and flip through the gallery, if you’re interested in enlarged versions.)

This is a different gallery, click on the first pic to flip through.

Here’s the table, which my friends who had helped plan all this had conveniently placed by the road to facilitate the runners dropping off their greetings.

A few of the runners whom we’d met on Saturday at the block party stopped for a bit to wish me a happy birthday.

And here I am giving their leader, Jay, a huge hug of thanks!


In the end, my friends set everything out on my car to capture the overwhelming stash of greetings!

Including signs made with love…

And as a sign of our times, a special THC-infused drink delivery from one of the runners. Thanks, Cyndi!

This was by far our largest happy hour gathering with around 65 people comprising friends and neighbors!


More than once, I was overcome by all of the love — between the entire group in the yard singing happy birthday to me, one friend playing happy birthday to me on his trumpet, and by all of the cards and greetings coming in, particularly when gratefully realizing of all the work that so many people put into making this happen.

Thanks to all of our friends and neighbors for being there and for your best wishes, whether in greetings or gifts — or both.

A special thanks to a group of Mordecai friends and neighbors (Beth, Ella, Guy, Sam, Claire, Jen, & Michael Ann) who:

  • Worked ahead of time with Jay from Pelagic to ask the runners to sign greeting cards
  • Made signs ahead of time for the runners to pick up as they neared our house
  • Staffed a place up the street during the event to hand the runners the signs to give me as they passed by

And a huge thank you to Jay and all of the runners of the Pelagic Run Club who have my heart!

And finally, you saw that pile of birthday cards on the car above. I received 25 of them from the runners with a total of 94 good wishes inside them. Who’s counting???

Here are pictures of 8 of the cards. And in between them are the sentiments from most of the other cards — all of which I’m capturing here for posterity.

Thank you for cheering us on at the point of the run when we are questioning the run! Maggie

Awesome John! Thank you so much for making our Mondays so fun and special! Happy birthday! From Iza & Devin (your new friends!)

Happy freaking birthday!! Derick

You’re the BEST! Liz & Alex

Happy bday John!! – From the guy that yells and twirls his shirt in the air.

Happy birthday, John! We appreciate y’all!

John! Happy birthday. Your cheers and smiles motivate us each Monday. Thank you for being a ray of sunshine. Love, Tori (Pelagic Run Club)

Happy birthday, John! Thank you so much for supporting us on these Monday night endeavors. Alex H.

So awesome to wish you a Happy!!! Birthday!!!! Hope you are having a great one and have a lot of people to wish you a good day! Thanks for all you do!!!

John! You’re amazing! Happy birthday! Eliza

Happy birthday to the captain of the very best cheer crew! We appreciate you so much! The Chiodos

Thank you for all the encouragement! Now it’s our turn to cheer you on! Happy birthday, John!!!

Love your house dearly. – Derick

Feliz cumpleaños! Ari P

Happy happy birthday! We appreciate you so much. Makes my day every Monday! Callan

John, thanks for making Mordecai such a lovely and welcoming neighborhood. Little act of kindness (such as cheering on runners every week) make a wonderful difference. Y’all rock!!! Love, Alex, Michael, Craig, Anna, & Liz

Happy birthday, John!!! If I wasn’t running, I would absolutely want to be invited to your house to party. Today we cheer for you! Charlotte

Happy birthday! Thanks for all the joy you bring to our runs. – emily

Happy birthday, John. Thanks for all the cheers and support. Mike.

Happy birthday, John! Thanks for all the good cheer! Loren, Rusty, Krebs, Chip, and Tom

Happy birthday, John! Hope it’s a great one and the drinks are extra strong at the Big Red House today! – Mike

Happy birthday, John!!! Thank you for always cheering on our run club every week. 🙂 Reb

Happy birthday! Thanks for spreading so much joy! – Lucy

The highlight of every Monday! Happy birthday! Jen

Happy birthday, John! Thank you for all of your support. You keep our spirits high! Diana, Ryan, Carly, Nathalia, Michael

Happy birthday, John! Thanks for the cheers every week! – Jesus 🙂

HBD! Thank you so much for the amazing energy every Monday. – Deanna

You make Monday great! Philip

Happy birthday! You are the best! Thank you for showing up for us every week! We so appreciate you! Drink up and enjoy! – Kristyn

We love your vibe!

Happy birthday ya legend!!!! Rock on. Dave

And a huge, huge thanks to my husband and partner in crime for all of these happy hours we’ve had over the year. He does a tremendous amount of work:

  • Keeping our yard and house looking stellar
  • Coming up with the slogans and making the signs each week
  • Preparing (making most of it!) the food
  • Helping with everything that’s going on inside the house leading up to, and during, these events

He truly is the wind beneath my wings!

It’s National Coming Out Day

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Everyone in their own time. I took 35 years to get up the courage to do it.

Three 50-word stories about the emotional toll of living in the closet for 35 years.

Keeping up appearances In the interest of me To come out—or check out
I’m married to a woman, but I am a terrified, closeted gay man trying to keep up the charade. So, I “ogle” at “big tits” and traveling as a trainer for work, I make sure I refer to “my wife” at least once while introducing myself. It’s kind of exhausting. I was a young Republican because I believed I was a self-made man—before I learned about privilege. But mostly I identified as such to distance myself from “the gays.” Voting against their interests, I couldn’t possibly be one, right? I’m still embarrassed and haunted by this. I’m so sorry. Riding home from my $100K job, to my $250K home, in my $40K car, I wonder: “Is there any way to plunge this ‘ultimate driving machine‘ into that ravine and ensure I won’t live with an ‘intended to die’ for the rest of my life?” It’s unbearable living like this.

It’s confirmed — I do not have a screw loose.

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Three days ago on July 13, it was my two-year anniversary of having back surgery, and today I had my final, annual check-up to make sure everything’s still copacetic.

Today’s x-rays:

And the doctor’s reading:

AP and lateral plain films of the lumbar spine done today are reviewed by me. They show well-healed interbody fusions at both L2-3 and L3-4. Posterolateral fusion at L4-5 is also well-healed with no evidence of substantial halo formation at any level.

My doctor, Conor Regan, was — and still is — incredible. I recommend him without reservation.

Bartender extraordinaire

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We had hired someone to help us with our ambitious “Lotsaversary Gathering” — with 92 attending of 200 invited, but he had to cancel due to not feeling well.

We were going to have him barback, not bartend, but as it turned out our friend Fadia comfortably slipped behind the bar and actually took on bartending of her own volition!

Fadia, the bartender with a heavy pour

She had a lot to juggle but did it beautifully.

Midway into the evening I was checking in with her, and she told me she was having so much fun, asking people drinking highballs if they wanted singles or doubles, and many took her up on doubles.

It was then that I noticed that the jigger she was using was actually for a double, so she’d really been pouring doubles and “quadruples” — and into 10 oz. cups, no less!” We have little doubt that that greatly contributed to the success of the party!

Our thank-you note to her:

Thank-you card to Fadia

Thank-you sentiments to Fadia

Our “Lotsaversary Gathering”

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Back in March of 2024, two lots behind our house went on the market, and we nabbed them! And since January of this year, we’ve been planning a 5/31/25 party to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the closing on that property.

At the beginning of May, we got the notion to replace our outdoor standalone deck bar and decided to have one built into the deck instead of getting another standalone one. Roman, our builder, finished it 2 days before the event!

Old standalone deck bar
New built-in deck bar

We did a test set-up to think about where to put the alcohol, mixers, sodas, and ice to accommodate the best flow as people got drinks.

We invited 200 of our closest friends, and 92 of them attended the party. The weather was precarious, with it raining within 30 minutes of the 6 p.m. start time, but then it cleared up and ended up being perfect outdoor party weather the rest of the evening.

We had mostly catered food, all finger foods to preclude needing utensils. We loved “breaking in” our new bar and the flow of people moving about our backyard and into the lots behind it, and in which Bob has done a tremendous amount of work “cleaning up” over the year we’ve owned them.

Progress on our deck bar

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Getting excited about our new deck bar! The guy who’s building it gave us this rendering today, and it’s going to look great picking up the design of our grilling station at the other end of the deck.

Grilling station in the foreground.

Artist rendering of the bar to be built at the other end to replace that standalone one.

Three 50-word stories about our recent trip to Scottsdale.

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The Michaelses The birthday boy The Thompsons & Stoimenoffs
We had dinner with our friends Sherry and Fred at Baby Kay’s Cajun Kitchen in Mesa, AZ. John and Sherry met on an ambassadorial trip in October of 2008 to Beijing, Guilin, and Shanghai. We don’t see each other #IRL often, but like this time, it’s always a great visit. My husband’s brother, Tommy, celebrated his 75th birthday, and we flew in to attend a surprise party for him. His brother Jimmy and his wife Cindy hosted the gala, and I met a nephew for the first time who also flew in for the occasion. Bob made the birthday cake. We met grade-school friends of my husband for lunch one day. I was Facebook friends with one of them, so it was great to meet her in person. Bob and I enjoyed a bruschetta board, which was fantastic — second only to the company we enjoyed dining al fresco at Postino’s.