Weekly Update

Christine and I had the privilege of spending the weekend with her mother.  And I had the absolute privilege of moving Christine into her new, Upper West Side Apartment.  I'm starting to enjoy the UWS even more than I thought I was going to.  I'm excited about the upcoming days/years that we will spend hanging out on the Upper West Side.  Her apartment is "conveniently" located in between Central Park and Riverside Park - two "primo" running spots in the concrete oasis of New York.  After some cleaning - make that some intense cleaning - her room is actually really nice!  I wish I had some pictures to throw on this ol' Blog - but we don't have a camera between us.  Pretty pathetic, seeing that we live in New York, but we're poor and times are hard, so send money! (just kidding, unless you're not).

Christine and her mom defined the all-so-true quote, as heard in the instant classic, The Nutty Professor - "Women be shoppiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!  You can't stop a woman from shoppin'!"  It was great though - on Sunday, that is.  Saturday night was rainy and windy and not ideal for walking around.  But Sunday was as close to perfect weather as I have seen here.  I didn't take advantage of the weather for running purposes, but don't worry, I'm kicking myself for it.

One thing I must do before I go on is offer once again my thanks to Christine's mother for the food/drinks she paid for during her visit.  Mrs. Plageman, if you read this, Thanks!!  The weekend was a lot of fun, and it is always great to see family, and I look forward to the next time Christine and I see either of our family which will most probably be Thanksgiving.

New Updates (mainly for my humor/liking, but also for some others' humor/liking)

Song of the week/weekend:

Anberlin - "The Resistance" - great opener to my favorite album for this hard rocking Florida group.  Arguably the most "Christian" band ever - Lead singer Stephen Christian, Guitarist Christian McAlhaney, and they are also all Christians.

Run of the week:

Central Park road loop - 6 miles of pavement in the green and tree-y oasis found in the middle of the City that never sleeps.  Also, one of the only places to run with lights since it gets dark so early.  I'll be hitting this place up alllllllllll week.

Quote of the week:

"That's what she said." - Michael Scott, The Office

Bengals Player of the week:

Is this really a category?  The Bengals?  Since I supposed I "have" to answer this question, I'm going to go ahead and say: Ryan Fitzpatrick, the Ry-dawg from the 'Vard.  It takes some guts to gear up as a quarterback for an 0-7 Bengals team and get blamed for much of the failures since Carson Palmer is out, yet he's still ready to go.  Even though he probably shouldn't be starting in the NFL, he's the "player of the week" if you can even say that.

Week of Sports Predictions:

Phillies take the World Series championship and the Rays' "dream season" at home in 5 games.

Bengals 7 Jaguars 148.  - I have all but lost faith.  Look for TJ to have about 89 yards and a TD as the Bengals lone catch.

UC Bearcats 28 - South Florida 24 - close  game for two pretty solid teams.  UC will come back with Grutza and beat a falling USF team.

NYC Marathon - Some Kenyan/Ethiopian/African will win.

Hope you enjoyed this "week" check back for the next update!

Christine's New Apartment

Here are some pictures of Christine's new Apartment, located at 109th and Broadway, which you can check out here.

Weekends in Manhattan

I'm even more understanding why people don't sleep in this City.

There's so much to do, it's borderline ridiculous.

Friday night I went to this improv comedy show at a place called "Upright Citizens Brigade."

 

 They have been somewhat famous over the years, being founded by SNL castmember Amy Poehler, who's in movies and whatnot too.  She wasn't there, but another guy from SNL was there.  It was only $10 for 2 hours and it was pretty funny.  They just get ideas from the audience and act out scenes based on what the "theme" or idea is.  It was an interesting crowd because beer was $2, so people were, as they say, "having a good time."  Definitely going to check it out again.

Saturday night, Christine and I decided to walk down from Port Authority (40th Street and 8th Avenue) down to Greenwich Village, then over to East Village and St. Mark's Place.  Since I work in Midtown (which, to be honest, is a little touristy for me), and run in Central Park, I hardly make it south to the lower sections of Manhattan.  Arguably having the most "character" as any neighborhood in Manhattan, the East Village didn't disappoint.  (see pictures below.)

There are some, how should I say it, "interesting" people who hang out in the East Village along St. Marks Place.  Let's just say that you could literally wear anything (or not wear anything) you want and people might look at you once, then move on to the next person.  It's kind of cool how accepted everyone is, but I still have the feeling people there are "too cool for school" and you get the feeling there are a lot of posers hanging around.  But such is the East Village.  Christine an I met up with Jeremy and Ben at a place called Yaffa Cafe, supposedly open 24 hours, even though the trendy (yet rude) waiter told us we had to leave at midnight.  Even as we sat right next to the "Open 24 hours sign."  I guess 24 hours means "open 24 hours over 3 days" or something like that.  Solid weekend - look forward to more interesting sights from the Big Apple

What a busy week it's been.

I'm starting to understand what people meant by calling New York "the City that never sleeps."  I've found it difficult to get on a specific "habit" for sleeping and waking up and all that jazz while living here.  In all actuality though - it's great.  There’s something going on every night here – something for everyone.  I could walk to the bus at 1 in the morning on a Monday night and there would still be hoards of people I have to avoid running into at any given time.  Sometimes you get the feeling like you are just part of this hilarious joke, where someone is contently watching the “rat race” from above. But the “rat race” has its perks, for sure – I find it amazing to see so many different nationalities, hear so many languages, and see so many bagel stands each morning on my commute to work. (How can there be 5 bagel stands in a 3 block area, yet all 5 are packed?)