I'm back!

I'm back in NYC for a couple of weeks for a work project, so all you NYC friends, (yes, all 2 of you that actually read this blog...) give me a call! We need to do dinner or something. I'm excited to be back and get to enjoy the city that has to much to enjoy!
For you folks back in TX, Blake is on his own while I'm away. I'm sure there will be plenty of xbox time happening there. Have fun, honey!
Alright, that's all I have as far as an update for tonight. In the morning, I hit the sidewalk... back to the crazy business world of NYC.

How I spent my summer vacation:

Last Monday I took a trip to New York. I took a few days off of work, and planned out every second of my visit. I would fly Virgin America ( it is a pretty cool plane with cool lights, free TV, and instead of attendants coming by once with a cart, you order what you want off of your screen and they bring it to you) into JFK, take a cab into Manhattan, see some friends, visit with some guys out in Queens, walk around the city to enjoy the locals, find some authentic New York cuisine, and then come back to San Francisco and see my lovely wife.

The only hitch was that I had to get all of my stuff out of my apartment in Manhattan, and storage in Queens in the process while selling all the stuff we aren't bringing back with us on Craigslist and then clean or trash what was left. I got in at close to 11PM, decided I wasn't tired, but it was too late to take stuff off the walls of the apartment and went by the Apple store on Fifth Avenue. I got there, talked with some friends ( who generally seemed happy for me and my opportunity with Watermark), listened to them go on about the general craziness and happenings of the night, and then headed home around 2AM.

Since I couldn't sleep, I figured I would watch some tv and fall asleep. No small task, as all I could think of was all that I had to do that next day, and the movers were coming at 8AM! I finally fell asleep around 5AM (thanks to whatever came on CNN headline after Glenn Beck,) only to wake up before my alarm around 7:15 to start finishing getting things ready for the movers.

The movers came just about on time (close to 9AM but the window was between 8 and 10), and were finished moving things out of the storage unit in Queens by 12:30. I sat around the apartment, cleaning and meeting with people to pick up furniture and such. ( A brief word of caution for all you in the Inter-Web-Land, if you post something for craigslist for free DO NOT PUT YOUR PHONE NUMBER.) In the midst of this, I tried to sleep in our circle chair, mostly unsuccessfully, and grabbed a slice from Arturo's Pizza up the street, literally up as there is a decent hill.

I met with our NY pastor that night at Starbucks, did some catching up and then went home to sleep in the circle chair. JR, our pastor in NY, called me a couple minutes later, asked if I needed a place to sleep, and suggested a friend nearby who had an extra bedroom. I had completely forgotten they had space for guests, or I would have called myself. Luckily, they were still awake and welcomed me in for the night. It was great to see them, and I was glad for that little accident.

Went to bed around 11PM (after getting 2 hours the night before and maybe 1 hour between Craigslisters), and woke up at 6:45 to meet someone to purchase the great circle chair I bought in college. I will miss the times we had together. That first car ride to Abilene. That first assembly under my bed that I set up on cinder blocks. That 1st disassembly at the end of the semester to move into the dorm as an RA. All those other moves. And the dirt, who can forget cleaning off the dirt. Man, could that black pillow show dirt.

Anyhow, after that I returned the cable box, oddly enough the the same girl I had received it from in May. I went to the store again for a final goodbye, and to talk to the daytime managers there about how great my summer experience was, and then met a friend for lunch before catching an earlier flight back to see Whitney. She met me at the airport and we went to In-and-Out Burger.

Overall it was a pretty decent trip, but I am glad I only have to move out of New York once. As fun and as hard as it is to live in New York, I am glad I had the opportunity.

Craig's list 2

Here's an update from the last post. We did end up selling our dresser. Awesome. It happened to be to a cute couple that just got married 3 weeks ago. She said that after moving into his apartment, she realized that he didn't have any drawers and it has been driving her crazy. (I can understand that.) Needless to say, she was really excited to get our drawers.
Next up for sale here in CA... our chairs, tv, tv stand, and microwave. I'll wait to list those till next week. I don't want to be in an empty apartment for another week with nowhere to sit, sleep (because we already sold our mattress), put my clothes, entertain myself, or cook. That doesn't sound like much fun at all.
We also have a few things to get rid of in NYC... our air conditioner, armoire, and tv stand (because it is too wide to fit in our new apartment). Blake will get those sold next week when he's in NYC. Speaking of... friends in NYC, Blake will be there late monday night through wednesday afternoon/evening. I'm sure he'd love to see you!

The Final Countdown (or How I spent the last 48 hours)

So, with much patience and persistence, I finally made it to Dallas last night, and getting ready to drive to California.  Now you might say "Blake, what ever do you mean?"  (Honestly though, if you are saying that and I am not there, seems like you might be the one with the problems.)  

And so our story begins...

It was a quiet Thursday night at work.  I was in the back all night fixing computers, when I got an email from a guy at church who I had asked if I could use their car.  We talked back and forth for a while, and got all the details worked out, and I was going to call him when I got off work to meet up and borrow his car.  And now the story gets interesting.

So I call him at 9AM on Friday and he says, "Well, to tell you the truth, I am glad you didn't get off earlier.  There was all this rumbling outside and a crane on one of the buildings fell about an hour ago.  I don't know how long it will take to clear everything up, so why don't you call back later this afternoon."  Can you believe it, a crane on a building near my apartment collapses and leaves the city in uproar and me carless for now.  Thinking fast I have hedged my bets and have also contacted 2 other friends.  One calls back and says that his inspection is out on his car, but I can still use it if I want, and the other doesn't respond.  He usually doesn't though.  He is pretty good about thinking things through and having an answer, but not telling me his response until I call or see him in person.

So, I did some light packing, watched Lost and the news, had a conference call about the summer program I am in with Apple, and then slept for about an hour.  When I woke up at 4PM, and called my friend near the collapsed crane, he said they had shut down the entire area for investigation and safety, and didn't know when it would reopen.  The final answer was "not while I am in New York".  

Still waiting to hear from my other friend, I went to Time Warner to return my cable box for a non-HD version for a friend who is staying in my apartment while I am gone.  I got there and took a number, and wouldn't you know, Time Warner gave me number 666.  After waiting in purgatory there for almost 45 minutes, my number was called and I was seated at Desk 13.

Now, I am not a superstitious  person, but those are bad numbers to team up I would think. Fortunately everything ran smoothly, and I was out of there without incident.  I even paid my bill.

I got back home and decided to call my other friend who had not gotten back to me, and he said his mom wasn't going to be able to bring his car into the city because she had to go and get his dad from the hospital.  I had to do something, and I needed to get it done that night!.  I checked a couple of car rental places, and found out that in Manhattan, Hertz rents cars by the hour.  I ran the 4 blocks to the nearest Hertz, got a car, came home and threw my stuff in the car and left.  If only it were that easy.  In actuality, I took stuff out in 4 or 5 trips up and down 3 flights of stairs, got locked out the apartment building for a little while, and even lost my phone for about 20 minutes.

I met up with my friend whose mom went to get his dad, and we went into the ghetto of Long Island City to my storage space. I took him to work, and printed off my boarding pass before returning the car about 10:30PM.  on a side note, the reason I printed my pass online as opposed to at the desk, was that to have a second bag with AirTran, they charge you $10 to check it online, and $20 in person.

I went home and got my laundry together and took it to the nearby mat.  Around 12:30AM I got home, ate a PB&J( the first time I had eaten since breakfast), and packed my bags until I could no more.  Slept for about 6 hours, and went to meet some friends from church for breakfast. Then it was off to a fond farewell from my friends at Apple, and then back home to finish packing my bags.

There wasn't as much left as I thought there was, so that wasn't so bad.  I met up with the girl who is staying in my apartment while I am away, and went to pay the rent and then took off for the airport.  (Another side note, the landlord's office is right next to a movie theater showing the Sex and the City Movie, and there was a line of about 300+ people, 18 of which were guys. All of these people are waiting to see a movie about a TV show that ended a while back, and the weather in New York was a mix of Rain and heat which means muggier than Central Park at night.)

The flight was delayed, but everything ran smoothly.  As I was landing in Atlanta to switch planes, I realized the reason there wasn't so much to pack was that I had left 1 of my 3 loads of laundry at my neighborhood laundry mat in New York.  I called them, they said they didn't know if they had it, and then I called my pastor who lives near me.  He called back and said he was on his way home from seeing Iron Man (probably the best summer release to date), and would stop by.  They had all my clothes in a bag, and is going to mail them to the apartment that I am not yet at in the Bay Area of California.  

All in all, I have finished the 1st leg of my trip, and look forward to spending time with Whitney on the road for the next 1800 miles.  Hopefully the 2nd part won't be the same as the first, although it looks like we might have a flat tire...

What to do when you can't serve your mom (on Mother's Day)

Today Whitney and I went to help out at a long term care facility in the Village with our Community Group. We took cabs up to the Baily House right after church with our group and got to work. Well, Whitney got to work and I went to find some Tylenol Sinus as to today was the day my allergies decided that it is Spring in the city, which is to say that they gave me as much trouble as a crazy business woman on a crowded subway carrying a live chicken from Canal Street to 86th and Lexington on a train that is destined to fail, and me with a dead iPod.

When I got back, jobs were being done and food was being made. As I am not much of a cooker, more of a watcher and smart answer giver, I helped with the cutting of vegetables. I should point out that the last time I was asked to do extensive cutting in a group setting was in Boy Scouts, for Pine Wood Derby's, and mine ended up pretty much like the block of wood it started out as, and my fingers all ended up in Band-aid brand adhesive bandages. I did successfully chop zucchini, jalapenos, and green onions for a salad that needed no cooking, with minimal poking of the fingers and surprisingly no blood.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the kitchen... Whitney and Kenny (one of the Pastors of our church) were building a cake for dessert. Whitney has never necessarily prided herself as an expert chef, but has always said she was better than me. Now, everyone knows that there are some ingredients you cannot leave out of a cake. Eggs, milk, flour and sugar. Those are the building blocks, even I know that one. Well, Whitney and Kenny add a bunch of ingredients in a bowl and mixed them in an industrial mixer, buttered and filled 2 cake pans and heated the oven. Kenny looked back at the counter at this point, and then looked and saw... an entire bag of unopened sugar. They had forgotten to add it! They poured the entire concoction into the big bowl again and hand kneaded the sugar into the dough. Then re-buttered and re-poured and then put the 2 cake pans into the oven. That was almost a disaster.

When the food was ready, we got it all together and served about 30 to 35 people our 6 days after Cinco de Mayo, Mexican Mother's Day Tex-Mex meal. It was good, and the people there really seemed to enjoy it, some of them even took seconds. I say took seconds, because they didn't eat them, they wrapped them up and took them back to their rooms. The day went really well, and it was something we enjoyed doing. Thanks to Becky for finding all the foods for us to make, and then direct us in the way of the preparation. You did great!

Notice the "nice" hair net. Stylish...

The beautiful finished cakes.

my 2 boys

Sometimes I just have to laugh at the 2 guys I live with. Blake is usually pretty good at playing jokes on me or surprising me without me ever having any clue something is going on, but it is a sad day when my dog can do that. Bo makes it a regular habit of getting what he wants. If you've been around when he wants something, you know that he barks and gives serious attitude until I start asking the normal questions to discover exactly what he wants. "Bo, do you want to go outside?" . . . "Do you want to go for a walk?" . . . "Do you want supper/breakfast?" . . . "Do you want a treat/chicken/bacon?" . . . In this specific story, he wanted supper. So, I got up and got him supper. He did the normal take one bite and walk away. I didn't think too much of it, but a little later Blake looked over and said... "Did you feed him again?" I said, "What do you mean again? I fed him, but he didn't eat it yet." Blake said, "I already fed him tonight. You let him pull that on you?" I think Bo realized at this point that we had figured out his game, so he went over and finished off the food, so I couldn't take it away. Sad, sad, sad... my dog has figured out a way to "work the system". Oh well, I usually struggle to get him to eat at all, so, if he wants to eat extra, I'm all for it. I guess I'm the true winner in this game.

On another note, we had a BEAUTIFUL day today. This afternoon we went down to the park for a picnic. We grabbed some Subway sandwiches and blanket and searched for the perfect spot. We found it, spread out the blanket, and sat down. We enjoyed our sandwiches while Bo watched the people and dogs as they passed by. What a beautiful day!

You remember on Mrs. Congeniality, the part where the girl was asked what her ideal date was? Well, my ideal date was today.... April 23. It wasn't too cold or hot (75 degrees), just a whisper of wind, nice sunny day, children playing in the background, flowers and trees blooming, and best of all... an amazing husband to share it all with. Ahhh... the perfect "date".

late night excitement in the neighborhood

Check it out... the pope will be coming to the church that is a block
away from our apartment tomorrow. I just took Bo outside, and down at
the end of our block, it is swarming with police and EVERYTHING is
barricaded in preparation for tomorrow. What the heck??? I would go
down there tomorrow just to say that I'd seen him, but Blake and I are
going out of town before he is due in the neighborhood. Darn. Here's
a picture of the street that I took with my iphone. I tried to be
nonchalant about it so that I wouldn't get yelled at by the police.
That resulted in a lame photo. Sorry! I guess you can see the police
standing on the corner and the cement blocks in the middle of the
road. What you can't see are the tv satellite vans that are lining
the streets. Just take my word for it.

Spring... still my favorite

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE spring?  Here are some more photos from yesterday and today's trips to the park.  As usual, I took my camera along, and there was no shortage of beautiful weather, brightly colored flowers and of course ... crazy people.  Go to my website for the full gallery and short tidbits about the crazy people. Here's the link www.blakeandwhitney.com/springflowers2.

The tulips are finally blooming!  I'll have to go back again after some more go into full bloom.

Isn't this the most beautiful flowering tree ever?  I LOVE IT!
Check out the park.  The trees are starting to get green... as well as the grass.

Pinkberry... yum!

I'm sure we're one of the last people to discover this, but wow!  There is a Pinkberry semi close to our apartment.  Every time we walk by, the line is WAY out the door, and down the street.  Now, I like ice-cream (Pinkberry is frozen yogurt really), but I'm not willing to wait 1/2 hr or more to get it.  Finally, this time when we walked by, the line wasn't out the door, so we decided to stop in and give it a try.   Wow... can I say YUMMY!  We ordered the green-tea frozen yogurt with kiwi, raspberries, and blackberries.  Even better... it is low cal and fat free!  Crazy!  Anyway, you might give it a shot if you can find one near you.  Here's their website... www.pinkberry.com 

good hair & bad hair

I had a little adventure on Saturday.  I haven't had my hair cut in a while... try like 6 months.  I've been trying to grow it out some, and I knew if I got it cut, it would just get it cut short (like I always do).  Anyway, back to the story... I emailed a few friends to see if they had any suggestions on where I should go.  Two of them suggested this place close to our apartment.  The walk-in "wash and cut" is only $20.  Heck yes, I'm in!  Saturday morning, I walked down and got it cut.  I'll bet you think the next part of my story is that I have a bad haircut (like the lady in the photo above).  NOT TRUE!  I like it.  That isn't the fun part of the story.  The fun part is the conversation Blake and I had on our way home from church on Sunday.  The conversation went something like this.  

... breaking in on the interesting part...

Blake:  "You got your hair cut by who?"

Whitney: "Legend"

Blake: "Legend?  That is strange."

Whitney:  "Well, it isn't her real name.  It is just her haircutting name."

Blake: "Are you sure that is her haircutting name and not her stripper name?"

Whitney: (laughing) "I wouldn't know a stripper name if I heard one."

Blake:  "Neither would I... but did you tip her in SINGLES?"

Yeah, so that Blake is a funny kid and I'm glad that I get to be married to him and hear his silly jokes everyday... even the stripper ones.

lions and tigers and bears.... oh my!

Blake and I went to the bronx zoo today!  It was the most fun ever!  It was a long day of walking, but I loved every second of it.  As you can tell from the photos below, the primates were my favorite animals.  They have so much expression.  It is just amazing!  If you are ever in NYC.  Take the trip out to the Bronx.  It is worth it for sure!  I only put a fraction of the photos on the blog, but I put a lot more on my site (as usual).  www.blakeandwhitney.com/bronxzoo.  Enjoy!

Spring is here... well, getting close.

Bo was begging to go down to the park today, so I decided that it might be fun to take my camera along. Spring is getting close. We didn't see many tulips, but lots of the yellow and white flowers (what are they called, mom?)

Spring is my favorite time here in NYC, and I always enjoy getting out to take pictures of flowers, so it was a fun day! Oh yeah, I also took Bo to the dog park as he requested.

I took a lot more pictures, so if you want to see them, go to... www.blakeandwhitney.com/springflowers

The tulips... just about ready to bloom!

Staying Alive

So we were walking home from church the other day, and saw this couple who looked to be in their 70's holding hands and walking together.  Normally this wouldn't be anything out of the ordinary, but these two had appeared as though their better days were in the 50's.  They were both wearing their high school letter jackets, collars popped, and sunglasses.  He was even wearing Aviators.  But the best part, was that in the opposite hands, they each had cigarettes.  It was a little jarring at first, but then once the initial shock wore off, I hurried up behind them to take a picture on my phone.

Make that another check.

I'll add another experience to check off my "to-do" list. I have to thank Blake for this one. Here's the story...
If you live in NYC or have ever been here, you may have noticed as you walk around the city, a wonderful aroma coming from little food stands. I'm not talking about hot dogs or pretzels... I'm talking about what Blake calls "street meat" and what the signs at the food stands call "Halal food". It is usually some sort of gyro, meat that is on a stick with heaters behind it that they cut off, or lamb. I can still say that I'm not brave enough for any of that stuff, but I did get something that I LOVED. I had simple Chicken, vegetables and rice. Sounds boring... right? Well, it was one of the best tasting things I've ever eaten and if you are not careful, it will kick you in the face/stomach. Let me explain... Ordering food in NYC can be an experience in itself. You are expected to know exactly what you want and how you want it when you get to the front of the line. I, having never had "street meat", had no idea how to order it. Here's where Blake came to the rescue. He confidently stepped up to the guy in the stand and said... "I'll have the Chicken and Rice... with lots of "Red" and a little "White"... oh, and can you add some vegetables to that?" Next, the guy looked at me... and I simply said... "Ummm... I'll have the same thing..." Even though I had no idea what this "Red" and "White" was. After we ordered, we stepped back out of the way and I asked what I had just gotten myself into. He told me the "red" was some sort of super hot sauce and the "white" was what he called a buffer so that the red sauce doesn't kill you. I said... "Great Blake, I always wanted food that is only identified by color and not what actually is in it." I still have no idea what exactly I ate, only that it was YUMMY.
While we were waiting he gave me a few "street meat" tips for future ordering. He said...

• Only order from places that have a long line all the time. According to Blake, the best place is somewhere down in Soho somewhere close to where his recording studio was.
  
• If you go to a place with "green" sauce... Only get a little bit of it. He said it is the hottest thing he has ever eaten (and that is from a Texan).
• If you do decide to go with said "green" sauce, get plenty of "white" to go with it so you don't regret it later.
• Ask for veggies. They add them for free and it makes the food much more exciting.

Give it a try... Tell me what you think! Better yet... call me and ask me to join you for "street meat" and we'll talk about how good it is while we are eating it.

Check that off my list.

I have this mental list of things I want to see/do in NYC.  Tonight, I got to check one of those things off.  Anyone ever heard of Max Brenner's Chocolate by the Bald Man?  Well, it is down close to where we were for Tom's concert, so we stopped in there on our way home.  Now, many of you know that Blake and I have been trying to eat healthy lately, well, tonight we blew that.  We had chocolate covered everything.  I felt like I was visiting Willy Wonka in the Chocolate factory.  Well, except there were no uumpa-loompas (however you spell that), and no Everlasting Gobstopers, and well, no burping bubble room, or gold egg laying goose.  Ok, so it wasn't like Willy Wonka's at all except that everything there was centered around CHOCOLATE.  They have a spiral bound book full of deserts ranging from gourmet hot chocolate to fondue, to chocolate pizza.  You name it and they have a chocolate covered version of it.  There is no way I could have picked just one thing, and Blake agreed, so we ordered a sampler platter.  Check out these photos.  YUM!  It came with a "banana-split" waffle, a little dollop of chocolate covered ice-cream, peanut butter fudge bar, a beaker (yes, I said beaker) of melted chocolate syrup to pour over the waffle, a shot glass with a surprise... it was melted chocolate, white chocolate chunks, and... POP ROCKS!  WOW!  On a separate plate, was some fondue which included strawberries, bananas, and marshmallows with a blue flame to toast them, and a bowl of hot melted chocolate with a candle underneath.  So, you get the idea... chocolate, chocolate, chocolate... and some more chocolate.  We felt like kids!  So, now that it is checked off the NYC to-do list.  We shouldn't go back... TOO MUCH SUGAR!   If you haven't been there... go... it is a fun, fun place.

Fun Times

Blake and I went out and had some fun tonight!  We went down and saw our friend, Tom LoSchiavo, play at Arlene's Grocery.  It was great!  Here are a few photos from the concert, or go to http://www.live.sawyerphotostudio.com/tom to see more that I took!

busy, busy!

Today was a busy busy day.  I had a lot of stuff to get done, but... it's done!  Bo even got to join in on the fun. I had a bunch of errands to run and he was itching to be outside.  Blake was sleeping after working all night, so I just decided to drag Bo along so he wouldn't bother Blake.  We walked down to pick up some headshots I had printed to be delivered next.  Then, we walked down to the subway and hopped on for a ride down to Grand Central.  How many dogs can say they have ridden on the subway?  Well, none, because dogs don't talk.  Bo charmed everyone he met and sat quietly on my lap.  We got there, handed off the photos to my clients who were headed out to an audition and headed back up to our hood.  We made a few stops along the way to get my watch fixed, went into Petco, and got some fruit/veggies from the vendor on the street.  By the time we made it home... he was TIRED. (mission accomplished!) He climbed up in HIS chair and went to sleep.  (Here's a photo of Bo in his chair.)

Next on my list of things to do was laundry.  I know... all you folks in the real world (aka - anywhere outside of NYC) think... "No big deal.  Everyone has to do it."  Well, here it is an all day task because I have to carry it down our stairs (we live on the 4th floor) and down 4 blocks.  Once I get it there, it isn't so bad to get a weeks worth of laundry done all at once, it is just the hauling part that stinks.  I got busy washing and jamming to my tunes on the iphone.  I got it all done, folded and loaded back in the bag and started the trek back home and carried it back up the stairs.  By this time, Blake was about ready to get up so he helped me put the clothes up and hang the ones that aren't safe in the machine.  What a great guy.  

Let's see... still on the list for tonight... Community group.  So, I showered up so that I was nice and clean (since I have all clean clothes now) and I didn't want to stink in front of my friends.  No time for dinner, so we stopped by Subway for a sub...  ate it quickly and finally walked down to our friends apt for the group.  Phew!

The "ice breaker" for the group tonight was... "How were you feeling before you came to Community Group tonight?"  I could only think of 1 answer... TIRED!  

Bo and his friends at the park

Today, Blake and I took Bo to the park down at the end of the block
because he was itching to get outside and see some spring. Well, it
isn't really spring here yet, but it has warmed up quite a bit. You
have to understand... Bo HATED the dog park when we first moved here.
He is a lot smaller than the other dogs (even in the "small dog"
park.) He is doing much better with it now, and today he even had
some fun! This is the first time he didn't spend more time in my lap
than he did running around. Such a cutie. Here are some photos from
the outing.

Notice... none of Bo's 4 legs are touching the ground in the next one.

saw something funny

After church today, I went out to eat with our small group. We had a lot of fun, food, and conversation at "The Barking Dog". It is an Upper East Side diner type thing that has dog photos all over the wall and a little dog water fountain outside. It's cute! Blake didn't get to join us because it was the middle of the night for him as he works at night. Poor guy. Anyway, as we were leaving, this was the sight on the street... A Lamborghini.... and it has a parking ticket on it... haha. I guess if you can afford that kind of car, you can afford the expensive but convenient parking. Gotta love New Yorkers!

A new year and a new adventure...

So, it's a new year and a new adventure for the sawyer household. Some of you may know that we had a fire in our apartment building a few months ago. It was a little scary and we found ourselves on the side of the street for several hours in the middle of the night, but everyone in the building was fine. You may be wondering why I'm talking about that now... well, it happened again today. Blake was watching the Cowboy's game (booo they lost), and all of a sudden we heard an alarm. We went out into the hall and it was a little smoky, but nothing crazy (like last time). The alarm stopped after a few seconds, and no one seemed to know where it was coming from, so we figured that it was just someone burning their food or something. We get back into watching the game and the alarm goes off again... and again. At this point, we decide that we should head out with Bo and try to figure out what the heck is going on. By now, everyone in the building is out in the hall trying to decide what to do. Is it for serious? Where is the small amount of smoke coming from? We decide that we should call the Fire Department and landlord (which we just so happen to have his number after the last incident) just to be safe. The fire department showed up a few seconds later (yes, I said seconds... last time, they were here running a hose inside before we could even get out.) We tell them about the situation... they looked around inside the first floor apartments, and finally go down into the basement to find the problem. Apparently, the boiler was messed up and causing the problem. They turned off the boiler and called it good. In turning off the boiler, we now no longer have hot water or heat (as we have radiators to heat the place). The fun part is... we are expecting quite a bit of snow tonight. YEE HAW! Another random night in the city that never sleeps...

A Christmas Picture, or, What really happens in a city that never sleeps

As you may or may not know. We live in New York, NY, and have for a few years. Last year we decided it would be fun to go to see the Christmas tree lighting at Rockefeller Center. Needless to say, it was not. This year we thought, wouldn't it be great to get a good picture of the tree and send it as our Christmas card? A simple premise to a not so simple task.

On a normal day, there are approximately 1,000 people in Rockefeller Center at midday. At Christmas, after the tree is lit, there are approximately 10,000 people in the same space at the same time during the prime tree viewing hours. There are many people every minute trying to take a good picture of the same tree from the same point, many of them using their camera/phone. It quickly becomes evident that getting a good shot is not going to happen, no matter how much the picture is edited in Photoshop, photoshopped if you will. So, I says to Whitney, I says, "Why don't we go at 11:30 or midnight and take some pictures when there are less people around and the ice rink is closing."

"Great idea, Blake," Whitney said enthusiastically. "You are the greatest and smartest man in the world and I am honored to call you my husband."

So, on a Friday night much like any other Friday, we set out around 12:30 to go out and picture the elusive crowdless tree. We approach the OPP, optimal photo-taking position, and then notice, the lights are off. While Whitney begins to settle into a picture taking frenzy of a darkened tree, I locate a general security officer. I inquire of this said security officer, who we will call Phil as kind of a filler for the story, as to when the lights, which I might point out are solar powered, will return to their light shining natural state. Phil replies that they will be turning back on around 4AM. At this point we have approximately 2.5 hours to light-resuming, picture-taking, Christmas-card-making, Christmas tree OPP time.


It should also be mentioned at this point that Saks 5th Ave is across the street from the OPP. The windows this year are snowmen. It looks cute, but don't let the brightly colored snowmen fool you. There is a 30 second loop that plays OVER and OVER... Just as cheery each time. I have tried to erase this part of the journey from my memory.

As I work a few blocks away, and since if we were to go home we would just be coming back in less than an hour later, we decided to go to the Apple Store, and see some of my co-workers and buy some Christmas gifts. We finish this in record timing, because it's apparently not so busy at the Apple store from 2 to 3AM when they are cleaning the floor. Since there is still some time, we grab some coffee to warm up and head back out. Did I mention that in addition to it being ridiculously late, it is also 25 with a wind-chill in the near single digits?


Just a photo taken along the way.

The Apple store...

Arriving back at the OPP at 4:06AM, we find the tree to still be turned off. Looking around, we evenually locate Ferdinand, who has replaced Phil, and again inquire as to when the tree light resumption is. He says that Phil is new, and that the tree doesn't turn on until 5 or 5:30. As we have already waited 2 hours, we could wait another 1 hour to achieve what few in their life time will see in person. Many people wait for years to experience something that no one else has. Some decide that skiing a rare slope, or mountain climbing to the top of a tall mountain or riding in a barrel over Niagara Falls, or attempting to swim to the bottom of the ocean to escape a group of angry pirates intent on stealing a priceless pearl is what they will do that few have done before. For this picture, waiting for an hour did not seem like that much of a sacrifice in comparison.

We noticed a group of people rounding the corner with lawn chairs and decided we would follow them, you never know when you might find an impromptu barbecue party, and since it was late and we had not planned on being out this long, we were both getting hungry. Instead of food though, these people were waiting in line at the Nintendo store in hopes of buying a wii. We saw someone Whitney knew, and we talked to them for a while. Finally, the tree became illuminated, and optimal results were achieved. We had it! The Great White Whale, or Titanic, or Tickle Me Elmo of the 21st Century. A unobscured picture of a giant Christmas tree.

We have passed this on to you in hope that you enjoy this Christmas season by knowing that you can now see this same tree without having actually having been in front of it in the cold at 5AM. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a much better night.

As an aside, on the way home, if you will recall, we had been out much later than expected and had grown quite hungry. We decided we would eat breakfast at a diner before going home and getting some sleep. We decided we would eat at the one nearest our home, since it was the one that was cosmetically cleanest and had a public restroom. Passing by the 3 that were on our way home, we arrived at the diner of our choice, only to find it closed. Like Jonah, having waited inside the whale, or David Blaine doing something random in plexiglass, we decided we would rather go home, rather than wait the additional 15 minutes for the diner to open. Kind of ironic if you think about it.

a fun day of thanks

So, we stayed in NYC this year for Thanksgiving. Blake is working,
and the plane tickets were crazy expensive. It has been a nice day
though. I decided that there was no way I was even going to think of
cooking just for the 2 of us, and Blake worked all last night, so he
slept during the day today. So, I decided it would be best for us to
go out and eat after he got some sleep. We decided to go to ESPN zone
so Blake could watch the Cowboys beat the Jets. The food there is
pretty good and the atmosphere is relaxed. Blake had the Turkey
dinner and I had... Buffalo Chicken. If you know me... you aren't at
all surprised by that. It was fun! We stayed for the whole game and
surprisingly there were more Cowboy fans there than Jets... Well who
would like the Jets anyway, so I guess it isn't really all that
surprising. We sat in the screening room and watched the game on a
gigantic screen (see photo below).
I also thought this Bestbuy was interesting. We were just about to go
into the subway (see the 4,5,6?) and saw these nutty people. Who the
heck sits out side of a bestbuy all day and night for a cheap computer
or whatever? It isn't like they are free. You still have to pay for
them... By the way, this photo was taken at 3:15pm on Thanksgiving
day. The store doesn't open till tomorrow morning. Speaking of
craziness... if you look closely at the best buy photo, you will
notice that no one is wearing heavy coats. Remember... we are in
NYC. It is supposed to be cold and snowy. Today it was like 65
degrees. Now, earlier in the week, it was super cold, but today... it
was beautiful! Blake just wore a tshirt tonight and I just wore a
sweatshirt with my tshirt. Back in texas friends and family were
getting snow. Who knows....
The Charmin photo was taken in Times Square after leaving the ESPN
zone. They had it last year also. I'm determined to go in there this
year and photo document the whole experience... well, not all of it,
but just the interesting parts. I've heard that they have a bunch of
fancy toilet paper that you can choose from to use... gotta try
that... And just so you know, there was a line outside of it tonight
as well.
So, that's our day! A fun day in the city!

time to blog

So, I haven't written here in a while, so I decided that I should... Not just a whole lot going on here. We are getting ready for the holiday season. Thanksgiving has just creeped up on me. I can't believe it is next week! We will be staying in NY this year, so I don't know that we will do just a whole lot. Blake will be working like crazy. I may go to Macy's parade... that might be fun. I'm really looking forward to putting up the Christmas tree. If you know me, you know how much I love Christmas. Even though our apartment is the size of a dorm room (350 sq. feet including the long hallway), I have a large, tall Christmas Tree. I'm not so sure that Blake loves that tree as it occupies his closet 11 months of the year, but he's a good sport about it. What a great guy.
We went to see the Grinch on Broadway last week. It was a blast... fun crazy costumes all over the stage. Gotta love me some Broadway. I recommend it to children or adults of all ages.
Ok, so there's the update for the 2 people who read my blog. Have fun times!