Home Again

I made it back home safely yesterday. Alvin and I got up early and managed to fly standby on an earlier flight so that I could get back in time to make Abbie's softball game.

I'm glad that I was able to do that since we won the game and had a couple of outstanding plays. It was really great, and the girls were jazzed because they've now won two in a row.

Anyway, I'm here safe, and I'll try to get some pics posted this weekend. My next trip is to Seattle in a couple of weeks, and for those of you that couldn't detect the humor in my post a couple of weeks ago, I'm not really mad a Caci.

Driving in Traffic

I still can't upload pictures, and truthfully, I don't have that many new ones. We spent most of the day today on the road to and from Connecticut. Our business meeting was in Shelton, so we headed out pretty early this morning to rent a car for the drive and then tested our skills on the streets of the city.

The plan was for Alvin to drive while I navigated. Shortly after entering traffic, Alvin decided that "when in Rome" was a good idea, and he moved one hand to the horn and started driving like a NYC cabbie. My plan changed to navigate while hiding my eyes and puckering every part of my body that could pucker. I swear I got six inches thinner and pulled the driver's side door in at least a foot when he decided that there was enough room between the car and truck driving side-by-side in front of us. I really thought that Mitsubishi Galant was wider than the dividing line between lanes, but I was obviously incorrect in that assessment.

Kudos to Alvin, though. We got to CT and back to Manhattan alive and without any new dents or dings in the car. There were already several when we picked it up, and the guy at Avis said that they don't even worry about minor stuff like that in NYC. He said, "As long as it has four wheels and runs when you return it, we're good."

Since that took up most of our day, we didn't get to do much more sightseeing. We did take a cab down to Ground Zero, though. It wasn't really what I expected. I was thinking more of something like the Vietnam War Memorial. A somber garden with a plaque of names or something. In fact, it was just a big hole in the ground. It looks like they are really in the process of building a nice memorial there, though.

After that, we walked to the end of State St. and considered taking a ride on that Staten Island Ferry. Given the time to get across and back, the fact that were both starved, and the fact that we could see the Statue of Liberty from where we were (the whole point of going to the ferry in the first place), we opted to pass on that adventure. Instead we bought subway passes and rode back up to Times Square.

Having ridden on metro trains in Paris, DC, Rome, Chicago, and Dallas (if you can even count that), I think I can safely say now that they are all pretty much the same. It did take me a couple of minutes to figure out how the subway lines were marked on the map, but after that we were on our way. I think Alvin asked me about three times if we were on the right train when the conductor said that we were on the train to Queens, but it all turned out good when I told him to get off at the 42^nd St. stop.

Back to where our adventure started, we were on the hunt for a Cadillac windshield. Based on the advice of another coworker, there is supposed to be a huge window that looks like a Cadillac windshield and behind that window is a great restaurant with a view. We never found the windshield and we never found the restaurant.

The backup plan was to go to a steak house in the W hotel on Times Square that my dad recommended. We went to the W hotel in Times Square and they informed us that the W with that restaurant is actually eight blocks away. No dice there. We were hungry.

We ended up at a local chophouse about a block off of Times Square and had a pretty good meal. Of course, by that time, the McDonald's was sounding like fine dining to my stomach. Regardless the food was good and the waiter was sufficiently rude to make me feel like it was authentic New York.

By the way, if you ordered an appetizer that was chips with a cheese and spinach dip, would you expect it to be basically queso? And if you asked the waiter if that's what you were going to get would you expect him to know what you were talking about? I would. This guy maybe had never heard the word queso before because he just kept looking at me funny when I said it and then repeating to me (complete with hand motions of him dipping a chip) that it was "chips and cheese that you can dip in." Alvin thought it was pretty funny.

Anyway, we are planning to get breakfast around 8am tomorrow and then head out to airport to see if we can fly standby on an earlier flight. I'm coaching Abbie's softball team and we've got a game tomorrow evening that I'd like to be there for. I'm definitely going to have to budget for a return trip with Leah, though, so we can do all of the touristy stuff.

Oh, one last thing. Alvin and I decided that we've already done all of the important things in life in just the past two days. We've hailed a New York cab. We've ridden in several New York cabs. We've driven in New York traffic. And we've ridden on the New York subway. Our lives are virtually complete.

The Big Apple

Well, I forgot the cable for my camera, so you're going to have to do without pictures for now. My trip is off to a great start, though.

I left my office about noon today to head out to DFW for my flight. When I got there everything was cool. We had about thirty minutes before we were supposed to board. Right at the time that we are supposed to start boarding, though, they informed us that there were delays in NY, so we would need to wait another twenty minutes or so before boarding. No big deal; almost every flight that I've been on lately has been cancelled or delayed. At least I wouldn't have to wait on the plane. Or so I thought.

We finally boarded the plane, and we sat at the gate for an extraordinarily long amount of time before starting to taxi. Once we were sufficiently far from the gate so that no one could hear us scream or rescue us, the pilot came over the intercom and told us that he was sorry for not speaking to us sooner. He explained that normally he would inform his passengers of delays the minute that he knew of them, but in this case he was a little embarrassed. It turns out that when he heard there was a thirteen minute delay, he missed the part about the hour. In other words, there was actually an hour and thirteen minute delay on our flight.

So here we are, out in the middle of nowhere at DFW airport, between two busy runways with the engines shut off and an hour or so left to wait before we can even get in line to takeoff. No one was happy, least of all the baby two rows in front of me.

An hour later or so, we got in line to takeoff, and about twenty minutes after that we were in the air. My arrival at 6:30pm EDT was blown. We were actually on the ground a little before 8pm EDT. On the descent, though, I got to see NYC lit up with a good view of the Statue of Liberty, Manhattan, Shea Stadium, and many of the famous bridges. It was very cool.

Once I was off the plane, I hopped in a cab to get to my hotel. My first NYC cab ride, and it was just another adventure. I'm glad I didn't try to drive because you just think the drivers on I-20 are prepping for NASCAR, these guys are in a whole different league. We were driving on the shoulder, cutting people off, making pedestrians dodge on the sidewalk. It was nuts, but we got to the hotel in one piece and in a hurry.

Safely there, I put my stuff down and met up with Alvin (business associate) to grab some dinner. We headed out to Times Square since it's just a few blocks from the hotel figuring that there would be food and sights there. It was very cool. As cool as it looks on TV and then some if you ask me. We ate at Bubba Gump's Shrimp Co. which was kind of touristy but still good food, and we got them to give us a window seat on the second floor so we could get a good look at Times Square while we ate.

Overall, I really like this city so far, and I'm definitely going to plan a return visit with Leah.

My Buns are Burning

Toto Ltd., the leading toilet maker in Japan, is offering free repairs for bidet toilets that apparently catch fire. I think they are missing a great marketing opportunity, personally. Here's the full article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18131541/

In a surprising statement by the company spokeswoman, it was revealed that "The fire would have been just under your buttocks." That really assumes that you were using the bidet correctly, though, doesn't it. Crocodile Dundee was about half convinced that a bidet was some fancy water fountain, so I imagine it could have singed his goatee. That really misses the marketing opportunity, though.

Right now the company is so focused on their pulsating massage spray, power dryer, "Tornado Wash" flush, and automatic lids that they are thinking that this is a problem to be fixed. They are so focused on avoiding any fires near customers' buttocks that they are closing their eyes to a whole new marketplace: Frat Houses.

Just imagine how fast drunken frat boys would be buying up flaming bidets. No more accidental eyebrow burning. No more funky smelling hands and cigarette lighters. They were going to be trying to set farts on fire anyway, why not have an automated fart lighting system installed right there on the ground floor? It would be perfect for those late night beer guzzling bashes, and it's so much classier when the Sorority girls come over to say you regularly use a bidet than to say that you regularly light your farts. You've just got to hope that when she returns from the restroom and says, "There was a slight burning sensation," that she's talking about the bidet and not something you're going to have to live with the rest of your life.

Leaving Tomorrow

It seems that I touched a nerve with some girl named Caci in my last post. Apparently, she thinks I should call her to get advice when I go to Seattle, but I'm not sure I want to go outside the family to get information related to my travel. There's really no telling where someone like that would send me. I'd probably end up swimming to Japan for Sushi or something. I really think I should get advice from family members just so that I know it's reliable.

I used to have a sister that lived in Washington for a while and may have gone to Seattle once or twice. It would be cool if she was still around to ask. Too bad she posted a questionable picture of me on her blog site and got herself disowned. At least I still have my brothers and cousins.

Anyway, I'll be headed out to New York tomorrow afternoon, and I hope to be able to get a few pics and sights in while I am there. The forecast if for it be rainy and cold the whole time that I am there, so I hope that that doesn't ruin any chance that I have of seeing the city.