NYC observations

Watching the shuffling crowds of people cram into a New York subway doesn’t seem like anyone’s idea of beauty, but then I am a little odd. I stood there today watching thousands of people climb in a train car that located dozens of feet below the city’s surface and I couldn’t help but be a little impressed with man’s ingenuity. I know its not exactly like creating the human eye, or a body with enough blood vessels that would stretch around the world or anything, but it is slightly impressive. The subway wasn’t here. A bunch of buildings were built, people needed a fast way around, and then the subway was here. Without completely destroying the city above it, people managed to dig out hundreds of miles of underground train tunnels. There are trains that take you from one end of the city to the other with minimal stops, some that stop at every stop, and others still that run 24 hours a day. Its really quite miraculous in its simplicity. I couldn’t find the number of how many people die each year on subway accidents, but I’d wager it’s a whole lot less than in cars. Maybe we should just have subways through the whole country and do away with cars altogether. I think that’s the sensible thing to do.

Yesterday we also went to the Yankee’s game. I went in wanting to cheer for anyone but the Yankees, but during the ride there and the walk around before the game, I couldn’t help but caught up in the spirit of Yankee baseball. I’m still not a fan. I still will avidly cheer against them, but there was something about sitting there with all those people who genuinely care for their team; fathers there with their sons, people in from out of town, Yankee inspired tattoos on old men. . . .this club has history. They have true fans. . . they have fanatics. One thing that was impossible to ignore were all the great players who have donned a Yankee uniform. During every inning, some multiple choice question posed to a lucky fan was nearly always concerning one of the greats. You could still picture Babe Ruth or Mickey Mantle rounding the bases after game winning shot to center field. It was impossible to not appreciate the New York culture.

Adam came in for the day and along with his former roommate, Drew, attended the game with us. It was so nice to get to catch up with Adam and hear a little about his trip. It was just nice to see someone familiar with “home” (Phoenix) here.

Before the game, I had another slice of pizza as well. I think that brings my total pizza count up to 8. I know that eight slices of pizza isn’t all that many for a week’s time, but I don’t know that any of those were a meal. I think that nearly all of the pizza I’ve consumed so far might fall in between meals or in the “snack” realm. Its just so good though! Even when the pizza has been sitting there, probably all day, they warm it up and its. . . just so . . .wonderful!

After the game, Suzy and I got smarted up and went downtown. We ate at a Mexican place that was sub par (they brought our food super fast though because Suzy batted her eyes and asked nicely for our food quickly.) We needed to hurry though because we were going to see Spamalot. It was so funny. It was just like the movie yet there were extra scenes so it was a little like Search for the Holy Grail part 2. It was well worth the $38 per ticket (by far the cheapest tickets around.) We sat up box seats along the side. I like to call them the Abraham Lincoln seats because it’s where I think he would sit if he were alive and going to see Spamalot. I felt very special (and they were the cheapest seats in the house).

Right after Spamalot, we went for cocktails at the BBQ place we were at the night before. They had mammoth margaritas for only $8. On our way home, we happened to see that “Get Smart” was opening for the midnight show. We didn’t have anything else to do so we caught that to top off the night. Total expenditures for the day for the two of us: $199. I can’t stay here long.