I'm dropping another set of photos and blogger from the end of February. El and I drove up to Charleston for a one-two punch of seeing my younger sister Cherilyn and her baby, Gabriel, and to take El's mother out for her birthday dinner. It was a long drive, but long overdue since we didn't get to be there when Gabriel was born.
Thursday, March 30, 2006
It was just as well. We didn't want to suffocate the new family with too many relatives there. I'm sure they were tired as is. Sorry Cher I made you call me from your hospital bed to let me know about the good news. I was so wrapped up in work that I FORGOT that you had a baby coming (as you could tell from our phone call). I suck.
I'm kind of glad Cher was the first to have the first grandchild. That's a lot of pressure, especially coming from my mom. I already know she's been choking Cher out with advice. Excitement is understandable, but I'm glad it wasn't us.
That Saturday morning we woke up early to get a headstart and see Len, Kevin and Gabriel. It was certainly uncomfortable holding such a tiny baby. It took a good couple of hours before I felt even mildly at ease. Here I am taking him out for a test drive as Rachel alughs at me. Oof. I need a haircut. And lose some of that chin.
That Saturday morning we woke up early to get a headstart and see Len, Kevin and Gabriel. It was certainly uncomfortable holding such a tiny baby. It took a good couple of hours before I felt even mildly at ease. Here I am taking him out for a test drive as Rachel alughs at me. Oof. I need a haircut. And lose some of that chin.
After we left Cher's house we took the family out for dinner at RB's out in Mount Pleasant for mom's birthday. It's always such a hassle to get everyone together for any kind of family event, but after our long wait for a table we got seated and our server was fantastic.
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
I'm so lazy...
Geez I can't believe how tardy I've been with this blogger. Sorry the entries after the New York blog are all screwed up and out of order. I FINALLY got around to organizing and finishing the New York recap/journal. Not all the photos are posted on this blogger so feel free to click around on my flickr account and see what else we've been up to. Apologies for some of the random .gif's and photoshopped crap laying around in there. I didn't know what to do with my myspace.com uploads/imagery. I'm such a nerd.
I Heart New York
DAY 1
Last year for El's birthday I managed a decent New Year's Eve Party with some friends and family. How do I top it this year? Well let's see. How about spending a week in the Big Apple to see the ball drop on New Year's Eve?
El and I booked a room at the Sheraton New York and Towers well in advance. Centrally located it's within walking distance of just about everything - Broadway, 5th Ave, Grand Central Station, etc. I figured we were maybe 30 minutes walking from everything. I was wrong. More like a stone's throw.
After touching down at LaGuardia we caught a cab to the hotel, checked in and took our first exploratory jaunt into the city. Lunch was had at Tad's Grilled Steaks ($6.99!), our first hole-in-the-wall joint. Most spots featured $23 salads, but this little gem was a tasty steal. I don't know if it was cos we were hungry or it was really good or maybe both.
Last year for El's birthday I managed a decent New Year's Eve Party with some friends and family. How do I top it this year? Well let's see. How about spending a week in the Big Apple to see the ball drop on New Year's Eve?
El and I booked a room at the Sheraton New York and Towers well in advance. Centrally located it's within walking distance of just about everything - Broadway, 5th Ave, Grand Central Station, etc. I figured we were maybe 30 minutes walking from everything. I was wrong. More like a stone's throw.
After touching down at LaGuardia we caught a cab to the hotel, checked in and took our first exploratory jaunt into the city. Lunch was had at Tad's Grilled Steaks ($6.99!), our first hole-in-the-wall joint. Most spots featured $23 salads, but this little gem was a tasty steal. I don't know if it was cos we were hungry or it was really good or maybe both.
Next we cruised down Broadway - we were literally in the middle of all the shows - Mamma Mia!, Hairspray, Wicked, Rent, etc. We peeked at some of the trinket stalls, artists' displays and even checked out Bryant Park where they were offering FREE ice skating. Next we did a quick scan of Grand Central Station and went into the incredibly designed Chrysler Building. Too bad we weren't allowed to go up to the top of it - actually visitors were only allowed into the lobby area which was surprisingly small. The various woods adorning the lobby were collected from all over the world and featured a mural on the ceiling originally created on canvas. Beautiful building.
By 4pm we were running back to our hotel to meet up with my Uncle Ernie who had a drink with us. Before long my long lost Uncle Bong, whom I haven't seen since I was 9 or so, swung by with his wife, Baby, and two boys, Laurence and Andrew, as well. An hour later we were meeting up with Auntie Lani and the cousins, Marissa and Melanie, for dinner at LAmann, a neat Vietnamese restaurant.
Food was served family style where we sampled Sea Bass, Pork Chops, Beef Tenderloin, Egg Rolls, Pad Thai and Basil Chicken and Shrimp. Tasty. After a couple of hours of chatting Uncle Ernie took us for a drive around town to show us the city. New York is HUGE and there's so much to see here. El is napping before we make our way out again (it's now 9pm) and I wanna plan out tomorrow's excursions. Probably Staten Island, Chinatown, Seaport and possibly St. Patrick's Cathedral. In the evening, I have part one of El's birthday surprise lined up.
Food was served family style where we sampled Sea Bass, Pork Chops, Beef Tenderloin, Egg Rolls, Pad Thai and Basil Chicken and Shrimp. Tasty. After a couple of hours of chatting Uncle Ernie took us for a drive around town to show us the city. New York is HUGE and there's so much to see here. El is napping before we make our way out again (it's now 9pm) and I wanna plan out tomorrow's excursions. Probably Staten Island, Chinatown, Seaport and possibly St. Patrick's Cathedral. In the evening, I have part one of El's birthday surprise lined up.
DAY 2
We slept in - or I did at least til about 10:30. After a quick shower we tried to avoid the hotel's $15 oatmeal breakfast and find a local spot to save some cash. We found it right across at some greasy spoon. $6.95 omelets with toast wasn't too bad, but if you add the $4 orange juice and $3 side of bacon it quickly adds up. We gotta find cheaper somewhere...
We slept in - or I did at least til about 10:30. After a quick shower we tried to avoid the hotel's $15 oatmeal breakfast and find a local spot to save some cash. We found it right across at some greasy spoon. $6.95 omelets with toast wasn't too bad, but if you add the $4 orange juice and $3 side of bacon it quickly adds up. We gotta find cheaper somewhere...
How about some nice lady giving us her corporate passes for FREE DOLLARS. Shweet! The highlights of the exhibit was definitely the Zoetrope and the concept art for various characters, although the maquettes were pretty amazing, too. Before we made it to the Museum of Modern Art we happened to chance upon another hole-in-the-wall joint called The Primeburger. Apparently it made the James Beard Foundation award for one of America's Classic Eateries in 2004. THIS was definitely a hole-in-the-wall in the best sense. You can sit at the counter or at one of the makeshift "TV Tray" seats and have a burger with onions rings and a coke for about $7. Nothing fancy, but definitely good. Hell if it was good enough For Sarah Jessica Parker, it's good enough for us.
We spent some more time wandering around the city and shopping in various trinket shops and H&M (a clothing store for men and women that was really inexpensive) - great stuff, but not catered for the shorter asian persuasion. I really wanted to get a nice blue pinstripe suit (only $250!) but they didn't have one that was ju-u-u-ust right. I'm sure we'll run into another again.
I also realized that I left my spare Nikon battery and CHARGER in Orlando tonight. Shit! The middle eastern electronic shopkeepers are characters. They try to pass off the cheap ass replacement chargers as great equipment, but the common sense in me told me that I was getting ripped off at $129. Horseshit. That kind of charger would only run like $20 outside of New York. Funny how as I was walking away after telling one guy that I could haggle a better price down the street for $60 he went down mysteriously to $40 from the $129 in not even two minutes time. Makes me wonder if the damn thing even worked.
I also realized that I left my spare Nikon battery and CHARGER in Orlando tonight. Shit! The middle eastern electronic shopkeepers are characters. They try to pass off the cheap ass replacement chargers as great equipment, but the common sense in me told me that I was getting ripped off at $129. Horseshit. That kind of charger would only run like $20 outside of New York. Funny how as I was walking away after telling one guy that I could haggle a better price down the street for $60 he went down mysteriously to $40 from the $129 in not even two minutes time. Makes me wonder if the damn thing even worked.
After some shopping at the MoMA store (have to come back tomorrow) we went back to the Sheraton New York and Towers to get freshened up to see El's first half of her birthday gift, Wicked at the Gershwin Theater. Although expensive, for a first time Broadway show we really, really enjoyed it. Orchestra seats off to center left were fantastic. The performers were incredible, especially Shoshana Bean who played the Wicked Witch of the West. Originally a book by Gregory Maguire, I didn't enjoy it as much reading it. This book was MADE for theater. Great vocals by her and Megan Tilly. Hopefully they'll be in the show when it travels nationally, including Tampa in February(?).
We rolled out of the theater around 11pm and decided to head out some more. This early in the game I actually don't mind just walking around taking in the city. The city itself is amazing. I could almost live here. Almost. There's so much to see and so much to do that it's hard to imagine getting bored here. In the two days we've moved around we're not even close to seeing everything. Oh well. We did enough for the day and we still have another 4 days to go. Off to the hotel to unwind.
DAY 3
My Uncle Ernie had insisted that we try one of the double decker buses that cruise around town. The days have been milder than usual this time of year so we were game to hang out up top and see things. El really wanted to kickstart the day by going to the Empire State Building. Apparently, we got started too late and the line to go up ran all the way outside the building.
My Uncle Ernie had insisted that we try one of the double decker buses that cruise around town. The days have been milder than usual this time of year so we were game to hang out up top and see things. El really wanted to kickstart the day by going to the Empire State Building. Apparently, we got started too late and the line to go up ran all the way outside the building.
Instead, we opted to start down south and work our way back up to Broadway. On our way down to catch the Staten Island Ferry my camera was pretty much dead. We had the logic to not go see the Statue of Liberty if we couldn’t take pictures. What was the next “logical” thought? To haggle a new charger in Chinatown. I mean Asians and cheap electronics go hand-in-hand.
The scenery was great. We ran through Greenwich Village and SoHo. I know El wanted to stop at these places, but I was adamant about finding a charger so we wouldn’t have to revisit these places and could keep moving to new sights. Once we hit Chinatown we eagerly hopped off the bus to begin our “easy” search of the elusive charger. Chinatown in San Francisco was a great experience. Everything was well organized there and relatively clean. Here in New York Chinatown is a giant dump. What a joke. Long story short we wasted two hours or more arguing with shopowners about their price gouging or them trying to pass off various electronic equipment as a Nikon charger. And speak f*cking English – you’re in America. Our patience wasted we bypassed Pearl River Mart and Canal Street (of what was left of Little Italy) just to get the hell out of there.
We hopped on the next bus to stop at Tribeca the next stop enroute. What did I find gazing out of the window not even 10 minutes drive from Chinatown? J&R’s Music – an oasis of quality electronics that offered more realistic pricing. I found what I needed not even 5 minutes later for the astoundingly low, low price of $28! They even let us plug in our dead battery for an hour while we ate dinner at a local Udon noodle shop across from Ground Zero of the World Trade Center. The temperature dropped significantly so the hot soup came in handy to warm us up back to life. We even managed to charge it up and walk the Brooklyn Bridge to take some great night shots. After the disaster at Chinatown, everything seemed on the up and up. Hot food in us, battery fully charged and in better spirits we headed out to walk on the Brooklyn Bridge where we took some amazing night shots. The day couldn’t have gotten any worse until I realized I lost my buspass.
All I knew was that the buses ran only until about 8pm and we were waaaay down south. There was no way we were walking back to Midtown in 40 degree weather at night. My only concern was somehow sneaking back onto a bus and getting back to the warmth of our hotel room in one piece. After a brief chat with the tour guide she let us on. With it being ass cold everyone wanted to stay inside on the lower level and we were forced to stay on top with the rest of the latecomers. I didn’t care. How bad could it be really? We were on our way home. 45 minutes later I could care less about what she said in her tour guide – we were literally freezing (the windchill at night seemed like it was 10 degrees). We got off at Rockefellar Center finally and went into the nearest shop just to wipe the frozen snot off our cheeks. Just kidding. They weren’t frozen.
We were spent and all I cared about was getting some sleep and chalking this day up as a wash. There’s always tomorrow.
We were spent and all I cared about was getting some sleep and chalking this day up as a wash. There’s always tomorrow.
All I knew was that the buses ran only until about 8pm and we were waaaay down south. There was no way we were walking back to Midtown in 40 degree weather at night. My only concern was somehow sneaking back onto a bus and getting back to the warmth of our hotel room in one piece. After a brief chat with the tour guide she let us on. With it being ass cold everyone wanted to stay inside on the lower level and we were forced to stay on top with the rest of the latecomers. I didn’t care. How bad could it be really? We were on our way home. 45 minutes later I could care less about what she said in her tour guide – we were literally freezing (the windchill at night seemed like it was 10 degrees). We got off at Rockefellar Center finally and went into the nearest shop just to wipe the frozen snot off our cheeks. Just kidding. They weren’t frozen.
We were spent and all I cared about was getting some sleep and chalking this day up as a wash. There’s always tomorrow.
We were spent and all I cared about was getting some sleep and chalking this day up as a wash. There’s always tomorrow.
Day 4 – New Year’s Eve
Eventhough, we were in New York for about a week time seemed to go by quickly. El had been giving me a hard time about sleeping in too much instead of sightseeing. She has a point, but I thought we were on vacation. I awoke fairly early with her to see snow falling in the city. It’d been a few years since I’ve seen snow so we hustled to get dressed and go ice skating at Rockefellar Center. To power up I bought some high dollar chocolate truffles at Teuscher Chocolatiers.
Eventhough, we were in New York for about a week time seemed to go by quickly. El had been giving me a hard time about sleeping in too much instead of sightseeing. She has a point, but I thought we were on vacation. I awoke fairly early with her to see snow falling in the city. It’d been a few years since I’ve seen snow so we hustled to get dressed and go ice skating at Rockefellar Center. To power up I bought some high dollar chocolate truffles at Teuscher Chocolatiers.
Later on, we searched for lunch and hot chocolate at the food court there. We ate quickly and decided to continue our exploration of the city. After a brief stop at MoMA to shop, we went to St. Patrick’s Cathedral. We hadn’t done a lot of shopping yet so we headed out for some New York fashion at H&M (Thanks Ed for the hot tip).
Since we were nearby El suggested we do the Radio City Music Hall tour. A two-hour tour we were led around the entire building including a good bit of the behind-the-scenes areas (costuming, Rockette practice rooms, celebrity guest rooms, etc.), including a private viewing room right above the enormous stage where we were able to see the famous Rockettes perform part of their Holiday Spectacular. Afterwards, we walked over to Grand Central Station when it started to lightly rain.
On different levels of the station a person can shop at some of the boutiques and dine at one of the many eateries in the lower level. After having lunch of gyro’s (mmmm…) we decided to head back to our hotel for a quick rest and to get cleaned up for El’s birthday dinner at Nobu in SoHo. El hinted MANY times at wanting to try this place and I was ready to be blown away by his signature dishes.
After a quick shower we hustled off via cab to Nobu’s to make our reservation at 6pm. Our cabbie was quite the character and chatted us the whole way there telling us his stories of the transit strike the week before and how he cleaned up. Once there a line was all the way out the door. Screw that! I made reservations 2 months ahead and wasn’t about to be polite about getting inside to talk to the hostesses. Some people grumbled about us jumping ahead and El was a little embarrassed about following me inside. Screw em!
I aimed to make the most of dinner and sample everything they had. Our waiter started strong with his presentations but it was obvious he could care less about us waiting for him. His loss. Nevertheless, the food did not disappoint. The one thing that really stood out was his yellowfin tuna sashimi with jalapeno and cilantro. So basic yet perfectly matched. We tried to get a good range of what he offered, but again our server foiled us by discouraging us from ordering other things. I ended it by not fattening up our bill with his suggestions and thus his attempts to increase his tip. Hey buddy here’s a hint – you’re here for us, not the other way around. Oh well. Satisfied we hopped back into a cab to make our way to watch the ball drop at midnight.
I aimed to make the most of dinner and sample everything they had. Our waiter started strong with his presentations but it was obvious he could care less about us waiting for him. His loss. Nevertheless, the food did not disappoint. The one thing that really stood out was his yellowfin tuna sashimi with jalapeno and cilantro. So basic yet perfectly matched. We tried to get a good range of what he offered, but again our server foiled us by discouraging us from ordering other things. I ended it by not fattening up our bill with his suggestions and thus his attempts to increase his tip. Hey buddy here’s a hint – you’re here for us, not the other way around. Oh well. Satisfied we hopped back into a cab to make our way to watch the ball drop at midnight.
Once we were back at midtown we had a shocking and disappointing surprise. The police had closed off all the streets down Broadway and were forcing people into gated corrals all the way back maybe 10 streets down. We could only move forward if people ahead of us left. It was ridiculous. Shivering from the cold we waited 4 hours with others. We made the best of it by chatting all night with our neighbors. Some people invented games to interact with other groups like playing a tune on a New Year’ noisemaker only to have some other group respond in turn. It was like a weird mating call. It also helped that the female party revelers in the apartments next to us were flashing the crowd.
Finally, the countdown began and we were all happy to watch the teeny speck of the New Year’s Eve Ball drop about a mile away. What you see on TV does not represent well in real life. To be in the center of Times Square you literally have to camp out at noon in 30 degree weather and not move from that spot for 12 hours. Sure you get to be on tv. Sure you get party favors. Sure you get to laugh at Ryan Seacrest’s stupid jokes, but you also have to stand there with no food or bathroom breaks ALL NIGHT. If you leave, you’re out never to return…
Finally, the countdown began and we were all happy to watch the teeny speck of the New Year’s Eve Ball drop about a mile away. What you see on TV does not represent well in real life. To be in the center of Times Square you literally have to camp out at noon in 30 degree weather and not move from that spot for 12 hours. Sure you get to be on tv. Sure you get party favors. Sure you get to laugh at Ryan Seacrest’s stupid jokes, but you also have to stand there with no food or bathroom breaks ALL NIGHT. If you leave, you’re out never to return…
It was still cool to be there, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Stay in comfort of your house and watch it on tv while eating pizza in your boxers and drinking cheap sparkling wine with your loved one and using the toilet as many times as you damn well please. We hustled off to our hotel to send our greetings to friends and family and powered down for the evening.
DAY 5 – New Year’s Day
Sunday morning we looked forward to getting up early to take advantage of everyone sleeping in. With only two days left we have a laundry list of things to do and people to see! First thing first, we learned on our Radio Music City Hall tour yesterday that they maintain their own zoo underground for the Holiday Spectacular and walk the animals every morning through Rockefellar Center.
Sunday morning we looked forward to getting up early to take advantage of everyone sleeping in. With only two days left we have a laundry list of things to do and people to see! First thing first, we learned on our Radio Music City Hall tour yesterday that they maintain their own zoo underground for the Holiday Spectacular and walk the animals every morning through Rockefellar Center.
With the day still early on we wanted to make amends of Friday’s debacle and make our way south towards Staten Island to see the Statue of Liberty. Uncle Ernie had informed us that taking the ferry to the island was a waste since it’s so huge you can’t even see it from the ground and since they closed down the tour leading up to the torch.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
