Can you believe this? I couldn’t! So I took a few pictures.

I actually bought gas for $1.89/gallon tonight in Fort Lee, NJ, on my way home from a client’s house. I’ve just become numb to the price of gasoline lately, and hadn’t really noticed the prices falling. I cannot remember the last time I saw gas for under two dollars per gallon.

I did a quick Internet search, and found that the highest price in my area of New York City was $4.41/gallon on 7/16/2008; that was only 4 months ago. (The highest price in the Fort Lee, NJ area was $4.01/gallon on 7/6/2008.)

Today I got 12.217 gallons for only $23.20, that would have cost about $50 four months ago.

The Fuel Gauge Report website has more information about gas prices, including this chart of the:

12 Month Average For Regular Unleaded

It’s been a busy week over at my wife Michelle’s Aerial Yoga class! Last night was the grand opening party at the new home of Unnata Aerial Yoga. And tonight, Unnata Aerial Yoga was featured on NBC’s 1stLook NY, on channel 4 at 7:30PM here in New York City.

As I mentioned in June, Michelle moved the class over to a great new space on Bedford Avenue, in the heart of Williamsburgh, Brooklyn. Last night we finally had a house-warming party to introduce the space to everyone. Since Aerial Yoga is a hybrid of traditional yoga and aerial acrobatic training, the evening featured two aerial acrobatic performances (by Michelle, and Angela Jones), one on-the-ground dance performance (by Ede Thurrell), and lots of Unnata Aerial Yoga demonstrations.

The Aerial Yoga TV piece was taped in August, and was featured this evening on NBC’s 1stLook NY, a half-hour life/styles program produced by LXTV.com. The theme of tonight’s program was “Back to School” — different classes for adults to partake in now that the kiddies are all back in school. Aerial Yoga was one of the super-interesting classes available in the New York area that were featured on the show. Also included were: Skydiving and SCUBA diving lessons, Sushi making and Sake tasting, cooking and bar tending lessons, and more. How fun!

You can see the Unnata Aerial Yoga segment on NBC’s “1stLook NY” website, and of course it’s on the Unnata Aerial Yoga website too.

About twenty years ago, I was working next door to a shoemaker’s shop. One day, I was complaining to Joe (the Shoemaker) that my new sneakers kept coming untied. These shoes had roundish, nylon shoelaces and my standard shoelace knot that I had been taught as a child was not staying tight at all with these new laces.

Joe taught me what he called “the nylon shoelace knot,” and from that day forward, my shoelaces never come untied by themselves. But here’s the best part; a quick, firm pull on the two loose ends, and they come untied with ease. Beautiful!

Fast-forward to today; with the Interwebs being what they are, of course there is a website devoted to shoelaces – only shoelaces: Ian’s Shoelace Site.

I have now learned that this knot is called the Surgeon’s Shoelace Knot.

Ian’s Shoelace Site has tips on lacing shoes, tying shoelaces, slipping shoelaces, crooked shoelaces, shoelace lengths, shoelace tips for teaching children, shoelace tips for sports, shoelace tips for the elderly/disabled; shoelace tips for everyone!

This website will change the way you think about shoelaces. It’s never too late to learn to tie your shoes well!

Happy New Year everybody!

I spent New Year’s Eve watching my wife Michelle Dortignac perform in an amazing show called Cirque Le Masque: Carnivale.

Cirque Le Masque performed six shows over three days at the beautiful Patchougue Theatre, on Long Island. The late show on New Year’s Eve featured a New Year’s party at midnight (during the intermission) replete with Champagne toast and hors d’oeuvres for the whole audience! Nice way to ring in the new year!

Michelle performed a fabulous duo trapeze act with fellow aerialist Kristen Olness; and she also choreographed and performed in a triple silk act along with Kristen Olness and Hilary Sweeney. Michelle, Kristen and Hilary were brought together for this show by Laura Witwer and Angela Jones of ImaginAerial.

All of the performances in this show were STUNNING!

I took a few pictures from the wings on stage-left during the early show, and then more pictures from the balcony during the late show. You can see a mix of my pictures of the Cirque Le Masque show after this:

NOTE: Click thumbnails below to enlarge; then click the RIGHT or LEFT EDGE of enlarged images to move though the gallery of images. (You may also use the right or left arrow keys on your keyboard, once you have opened the first image.)

WOW!

The Baby Janes rocked the house at La Mama for the past two weekends!

This aerial, singing, dancing, musical holiday celebration was put together by Kristen Olness, and starred The Baby Janes: Kristen Olness, Michelle Dortignac, Angela Jones and Laura Witwer, with special guest Terry Beeman. Sara Moore was the eccentric hostess in her character, Pearl Claus.

SEE LOTS OF PICTURES from the closing night performance on Sunday, after this…

Click on the first image below, and then just click the RIGHT-SIDE of each large image to advance through the pictures.

Blue has always been my favorite color. (Take look around this site!) So the news today that Pantone has selected BLUE IRIS as its color of the year for 2008 really caught my eye; and I like this color a lot.

According to their press release, Blue Iris is “a beautifully balanced blue-purple,” that combines the “stable and calming aspects of blue with the mystical and spiritual qualities of purple.” Additionally, “Blue Iris satisfies the need for reassurance in a complex world, while adding a hint of mystery and excitement.”

Ahhh, that’s nice!

(*Dollar amount in millions)

Details here.