Man Oh Manny

Last week, April 10th to be exact, I was walking to the train after work when The Husband pointed out the Empire State Building (ESB). 

"Look!", he said, pointing at the building like a first time NYC tourist. 

I looked up as I crossed the street, trying not to get ran over by an over zealous taxi.  "wow", I said, not that impressed.  I couldn't figure out what was so special. It's the same building I see every night and every morning and basically any other time I step out of the office. The [exasperated] Husband said, "notice the colors...see anything familiar..."

"OH YEAH!!!", I answered excitedly. The proverbial light bulb finally turned on! The Empire State Building was illuminated in bright orange and white....the same strippy color as my (ahem, our) Manny!  I stopped on the corner and fished for my phone to document the ESB adorned in Manny orange and white.  I didn't care about the people bumping into me and muttering, "tourist!" as they rushed past me.  I so had to take a quick picture so I could show everyone that the ESB decided to honor Manny on some random Thursday evening.  

Here's the view of the orange and white ESB from my phone:

Here's a picture of Manny on the same random Thursday night after I told him that the ESB was glowing in Orange and White. See the resemblance?

As you can see, Manny was not as excited about being honored by the ESB as I was.   Probably because he already knew the real reason why the ESB was glowing a beautiful orange and white.

It was in honor of the American Society of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), ASPCA Day (April 10, 2008).  Oh, right - I knew that.  Ok, so the ESB wasn't lit in honor of Manny, but I  can totally deal with taking a back seat to the ASPCA.  Knowing the ESB was the same color as Manny in honor of the ASPCA made me smile, and probably made my day, too.

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Special "Hi!" to Manny's new readers and to those of you kind enough to drop us an email!

Hi Noelle -- Manny and I miss you!

I finally uploaded Manny's tie pictures onto the computer.  Here he is gallivanting in his necktie:

That's really the only pictures that came out okay.  Manny is a hard cat to photograph.  He thinks he's shy. 

In fact he would like to take the focus off of him just for a moment so he can show you his fish friends.  Here they are:

Manny's fish tank friends can be a whole other blog in itself.  Lots of crazy stuff happens in and around that fish tank (aka The Husband's pride and joy).

Like the time we came home and found that two of our fish (not pictured) were busy creating lots of little baby fish.  We were fish grandparents for like 30 minutes  before the new fish parents got hungry and turned their offspring into their sushi dinner. Eww.  We called The Twin, the self proclaimed fish guru to come and see the baby fish.  When he arrived, he said "I came as fast I can!" with his fish gear in hand.  The Husband and The Twin talked animatedly about how to proceed with our new fish friends.  I went to bed.  Manny hung around the tank looking mightily hungry. We decided to let my brother take home one of the fish who seemed to be acting aggressively to the new fish parents and their offspring.  About a month later, said fish surprised my brother with baby fish.

We get to experience lots of staring contests between cat and fish.  Manny loved to watch the now deceased algae sucker, Windex Jr. do his tank cleaning chores. Manny would get up on two paws to watch Windex Jr. move around the tank.  Manny and I miss Windex Jr. very much and hold a grunge towards the other fish the day I discovered a very mangled Windex Jr. at the bottom of the fish tank one night.  Tragic.

There was also that time that a fish mysteriously went missing and everyone pointed their fingers at sweet little Manny.  It was later determined that the fish met his untimely death when he hopped out of the tank while The Husband was cleaning the tank. 

We like to tell everyone that the fish are Manny's pets and the only reason we have the tank is for Manny's entertainment.  Its a lot better than telling people that my brother and my husband are obsessed with fish, fish tanks, and the maintenance thereof, and that they spend hours perusing fish stores for the latest in fish accessories, in my humble opinion...

anyways, we would like to wish you all a Happy Easter for those of you Eastering this weekend and a Happy Weekend for those of you not.