How come nobody's grateful when I post? I mean, really, if it weren't for me, we wouldn't have much of a blog! Lorein writes one post and all of a sudden everybody's cooking up the fatted calf while I've been here all along, patiently keeping this blog afloat. And it's not like you're giving me everything you have either!
Anyway, Lorein says she's done her piece, so the task of blogging about our NYC trip has fallen to me. I went out there on Tuesday for a training workshop, but it wasn't that much fun until Lorein got
there Friday morning (although it's not as if staying at The Ritz was rough). We spent Friday afternoon roaming the streets, primarily around Macy's (imagine that!). We did do some research (by which I mean I looked it up on Wikipedia) into the location of Nero Wolfe's house, and it turns out the address doesn't exist. Not only does it not exist, but if it were a real address, it would be in the Hudson River. And there have never been brownstones on West 35th Street. So, here's a picture of Lorein in front of a brownstone on East 35th Street, and we'll just pretend it's his house. Look everybody, it's Nero Wolfe's house!
After that, we went to a baseball game at Yankee Stadium. I figured we had to make the journey because it is Yankee Stadium's final year, and when we got inside, I could see why. It's an old stadium. The outside is great, but the inside is pretty crummy. It's not even charming, just old. It's also WAY more expensive than I was expecting, and I was expecting expensive! They wanted $4.75 for a 20 oz. bottle of soda!! I also bought $60 tickets thinking they would be pretty decent. I mean, $50 tickets at Dodger Stadium put
you in the second level behind home plate. Our Yankees tickets, though, were in the outfield and too far back for a home run. It's a much smaller stadium than Dodger Stadium, however, so it's easy to see why the prices are so high. There's a lot of demand for a small number of seats. We were probably only able to get tickets because the Yankees are in last place. Still, at least now I can say I went to Yankee Stadium.
Saturday was so hot that it was difficult to do too much, but we hit up Central Park and walked around . The best part of the trip, though, came that night. We went and saw "Spamalot". No, Clay Aiken wasn't in it, but it was still hilarious. It easily beats out every other musical I've seen except for Les Mis, and it probably would've beaten that if the second act had been as good as the first. I laughed through the entire show. I absolutely want to see it again.
If Saturday night was the best part of the trip, Sunday night was the worst. Lorein and I were on different flights home because we booked her flight but the firm booked mine. I was scheduled to leave at 7:15, and Lorein at 7:20, with both of us getting to L.A. around 10:30. Well, right around 7p, there was a thunderstorm, which delayed a bunch of flights. Mine was delayed until 7:45 and Lorein's got pushed back a half hour. But then she took off, while my plane didn't even board. Soon, the board said take off would be 8:08, then 8:15. All of a sudden, it jumped to 10. They said the plane needed servicing and they had to bring another plane in. At 10, they said they were trying to get a plane from Syracuse, and they changed the time to 10:30. That became 11:30. Then 12:30. We finally took off at 1:30, which is the exact time I was supposed to be landing in L.A. I got home at 5 in the morning, slept for two hours, and then went to work. Let me tell you, it was not a very productive workday.
The thing that made me the most angry is that American Airlines knew they needed a new plane, yet they still just kept changing the time by 15 min. or half hour increments. It wouldn't have been as frustrating if they just would've said it will be a few hours. The worst though, is that they canceled a bunch of other flights from the gates neighboring mine, and then announced over the loud speaker that they didn't need to pay for anything for those people because the cancellation was due to weather. They couldn't cancel my flight though, because it was due to their plane's problem, so they would've had to pay for our hotels and food. It just showed to me how little they care for their customers. They don't care at all about screwing us around. It was a nightmarish experience. But, to avoid ending this blog on a bad note, here' s a picture of our view from our hotel room (although it's a little cloudy):
Lorein's boss and co-workers threw her a surprise baby shower at USC yesterday. I even kept the secret from her (which Kevin, the shower planner, didn't think I would be able to do). The hardest part was convincing Lorein to not take a lunch to work without spilling the beans. I will admit I performed admirably.
He's second from the last in this picture.
It's blurry because it was taken by a 14 yr. old. You just can't trust teenagers these days. Back when I was a teenager, we knew how to take un-blurry pictures, and that was before digital cameras! Anyway, from left to right: Gr. Ginny, Gr. Riley, Mary Ann, David, Mom, Dad, Me, Lorein.
I asked him to crouch down for the picture, but he wouldn't.
there Friday morning (although it's not as if staying at The Ritz was rough). We spent Friday afternoon roaming the streets, primarily around Macy's (imagine that!). We did do some research (by which I mean I looked it up on Wikipedia) into the location of Nero Wolfe's house, and it turns out the address doesn't exist. Not only does it not exist, but if it were a real address, it would be in the Hudson River. And there have never been brownstones on West 35th Street. So, here's a picture of Lorein in front of a brownstone on East 35th Street, and we'll just pretend it's his house. Look everybody, it's Nero Wolfe's house!
you in the second level behind home plate. Our Yankees tickets, though, were in the outfield and too far back for a home run. It's a much smaller stadium than Dodger Stadium, however, so it's easy to see why the prices are so high. There's a lot of demand for a small number of seats. We were probably only able to get tickets because the Yankees are in last place. Still, at least now I can say I went to Yankee Stadium.
If Saturday night was the best part of the trip, Sunday night was the worst. Lorein and I were on different flights home because we booked her flight but the firm booked mine. I was scheduled to leave at 7:15, and Lorein at 7:20, with both of us getting to L.A. around 10:30. Well, right around 7p, there was a thunderstorm, which delayed a bunch of flights. Mine was delayed until 7:45 and Lorein's got pushed back a half hour. But then she took off, while my plane didn't even board. Soon, the board said take off would be 8:08, then 8:15. All of a sudden, it jumped to 10. They said the plane needed servicing and they had to bring another plane in. At 10, they said they were trying to get a plane from Syracuse, and they changed the time to 10:30. That became 11:30. Then 12:30. We finally took off at 1:30, which is the exact time I was supposed to be landing in L.A. I got home at 5 in the morning, slept for two hours, and then went to work. Let me tell you, it was not a very productive workday.
The card my cute nephew gave me--the inside
