Sunday, November 13. 2005
The day I got back from NYC
Sunday, November 13. 2005
I went to New York from the 8th to the 13th. The 9th and 10th were for business, the rest of the time was play. It was fantastic. I flew into the city about 14 hours behind schedule because of a missed flight. I took the E into manhattan from JFK and met up with Bird who had been there for a few hours. I stayed at the Roosevelt courtesy of work. The place sucks, tiny room for $260 a night (discounted from $420). I was there for the WebSideStory conference. It was informative enough, I thought it was interesting that google released there free analytics package the day after I got back... Anyway, I met up with a bunch of freinds around the city, and I think the Bird found his new home. For the a play by play and some great maps read on.
The first night I took bird to Rockafeller, Timesquare, and Madison Square Garden. We stopped at 305 (the townhouse I lived in for 3 monthes) on 29th and 8th. We talked to a Hope student at the complex, and went to what once was Roma Bono (A kick butt pizza joint on 9th Ave). The pizza was good, the memories better.
On Wednesday night Bird and I went to Spamalot. It was cool to see David Hyde Pierce and Tim Curry. Afterwords we went to the lower east side to McSorleys , New Yorks oldest pub at over 150 years. Women weren't allowed into the joint until 1970. They brew there own beer, and it's delicious. You can also get a plate of saltine crackers, chedder cheese, and raw onion slabs for like 4 bucks. It's a good time.
On Thursday we met up with Ben Lindval of the now defunct "Shoeshine Benedict". There was actually a Hope reunion going on that night, so we met up with a bunch of Hope alum at Dewey's Flatiron. It was good to see a bunch of crazies from Hope. We humped it back to Bens place right by the Guggenheim museum.
On Friday Bird and I went to the Met. Mentioned in a seperate post. That night we met up with Ben again in the East Village. On my way down I spilled coffee on a large, black, angry man with a nasty lazy eye. In the end he decided, "Shit is Shit" and wished me a good evening. Finally I made it to an Indian food place to eat with a bunch of Hope/Michigan folks. We than proceeded to a few bars on the lower east side. On the train ride back up town I started talking to an amazing woman named Issa. She was from Mexico City and came to NY to be a screenwriter / singer songwriter. She ended up getting off at our stop and she live a few blocks from Ben. Ben gave her is card (he works at a recording studio) and I cryed myself to sleep.
The next day was comprised of sleeping in, a walk in the park, coffee on the upper east side, and meeting up with Dave Mackinon. Dave moved out about 4 monthes ago to teach at a private xian school in midtown. We went down to china town, and I bought Tara an amazing lighter shaped like a mermaid. The most amazing part was the butaine flame that came out of the mermaids crotch. We hoped on to the Staten Island Ferry for a free trip to Staten Island and back along with a couple tallboys of Bud. We met back up with the peeps, including Dave Tucker of the now defunct "Dave Tucker Band". We decided to head out to Brooklyn and check out a few bars in Matt's neighborhood. They were less than amazing, except for one bar where they served beer in ginormous styrophome cups. I stayed at Matt's place in Brooklyn that night and got about 3 hours of sleep before my 8 am flight (thats 5am San Diego).
The day after I got back from NYC. Bird missed his flight, and didn't get back until Monday night. He met a few woman in the city and let them go. The man was made for city. I revel in the visiting.
