Our 26th anniversary fun

The following is the summary of activities for our 26th anniversary adventure:

On Sunday, November 13, we drove to the Washington Duke and checked in around 5:00 p.m. We went downstairs and sat in the hot tub for a while. Then we had dinner at the Fairview Inn. I had the ribeye and Ruth had a salmon with scallops special. We had an awesome wine called Gnarly Dudes Two Hands Shiraz from Barrossa Valley. Split the chocolate cake for dessert. After that we went back to the room and crashed.

The next morning (Monday the 14th), we got up and had breakfast again at the Fairview Inn. I had the buffet, and Ruth had a Benedict breakfast entree with smoked salmon. I think that they call that Eggs Royale.

Later we went to the mall and shopped. We stopped at Best Buy and bought some cables for the trip. Then we went to Belks to return some stuff that I had bought for myself. (I must be supervised while shopping apparently.) We also stopped at Birdie Boutique and got some stuff for Saki. We went back to the house, and checked on the pets. I changed out Saki's cage with all of the new stuff. Then we went back to the hotel. Ruth arranged a taxi for us to go to Revolution. We had dinner there, which did not agree with Ruth, unfortunately. (And we also had the only conflict we have had in a long time there, annoyingly.)

The meal at Revolution was rather elaborate. We had oysters for appetizer, with a wine pairing. Following that was mussels with saffron, rosemary and cherry tomatoes. Again a wine pairing. Then papperdelle pasta with lemon truffle oil, and fried oysters (again with cherry tomatoes). After that was a grilled fillet on a bed of white beans with tomatoes. Finally, a dessert of pastry crust with lemon curd and raspberry sauce. Personally, I did not care for the dessert.

After that, we went back to the hotel. We both woke up in the middle of the night and worked out our stuff. Then we went back to bed, and woke up in time to get breakfast and get on the plane.

We are now at the 15th. We went to the airport. I dropped off Ruth at the terminal and parked the car in row 6i. I had my boarding pass on my phone, and was only doing carry ons, so that was easy for me. We went straight to the gate. I got Ruth a bottled water from the restaurant next door to the gate as well.

The flight was on an E-RJ. A very small plane in other words. Very short flight though. We landed in La Guardia Airport, which is as I told Ruth: "Lame, stupid, skinny, and busted." We got a cab from the airport and arrived in the hotel around 3 p.m.

Annoyingly, they did not have a suite room for us on the first night, so we ended up sleeping in the same room. Despite this, we both slept like babies. A guy named Mark hooked us up though, and through a woman named Eunice, we arranged to upgrade to a suite the next day. More on this later.

We had a quick lunch in the hotel restaurant (92nd Street Cafe). Ruth had chicken with vegetable soup and I had clam linguine.

Ruth was tired and needed a nap, so I agreed to hook it and leave her to rest, and not return until at least 5:30. I wandered around the neighborhood (charming!) and found all kinds of stuff: The kosher grocery store, the Vinegar Factory, Timmy's Diner, The East Bar, etc. I had a couple of pints of local brews in a couple of bars and killed time playing CivRev on my iPad.

The Ruth texted me that she was up. I came back to the room, but did not find her there. I decided to sit in the hot tub. When I came downstairs, she was in the tub talking to a Japanese woman who lives in the apartment building next door. They get to use the pool and hot tup as well.

We came back up to the room, got dressed and headed out for dinner. We ended up at a place called Good Health Tallgrass Burger, which is a kind of hippie-dippie vegetarian place. Since they did not serve alcohol, I went across the street and fetched a couple of Newcastles. I had the vegetarian dumplings Mexican plate, and Ruth had Sweet Potato soup and barbecue tofu with kale and seitan.

After that, again, we came back to the room. Like I said earlier, we slept like babies our first night in New York.

The next day, we went down to Timmy's Diner on 91st St. Ruth had Eggs Benedict again, and I had the two eggs over easy with sausage. It came with hashbrowns and toast. Ruth did not care for Timmy's so we did not go back there. I wanted to make sure that we did not miss out on the opportunity to upgrade the room, so we immediately headed back to the hotel in search of Eunice. Found her at the front desk. She hooked us up and we moved rooms. We are now in a suite, and have separate sleeping areas.

From there, we walked to the 86th street subway station. On the way, Ruth had a wax (bikini wax for the first time. Ouch!) and had her nails done while I got an awesome chair massage. We also had lunch at a very nice sushi restaurant. I had a sashimi special and she had udon noodle soup.

When we got to the 86th street station, we bought two unlimited MTA passes for one week. We were planning to head downtown, but only made it as far as Grand Central Station on the 6 train. Ruth loved it there. We bought a fruit tart at a small store right next to the subway entrance, and Ruth got an espresso machiato there as well. Annoyingly, she lost her MTA card, and we had to get her another one. Oh, well. We ate the fruit tart (as well as her espresso and a bottle water) down in the dining concourse of Grand Central Station.

Then I thought we needed to take a bus to Times Square. Based upon this, we came up and began to look for the "S" bus stop. We stopped in to a women's clothing store, and they straightened me out. It is a train, called the S train which runs between Grand Central Station and Times Square. We entered Grand Central through a special entrance for this shuttle, just past the store.

Once we got to Grand Central, I made another similar mistake. I thought we needed to take the R bus to 5th avenue. We wandered around looking for a bus stop, with no luck. It was raining all of this time, by the way. It began to rain heavily in Time Square. Earlier (on the way to the 86th street station), I had bought an umbrella. (A truly strange story on that one. We dove into a beauty supply store where they sold wigs, false eye lashes, and such. Ruth thought they sold umbrellas as well. Turns out she was right. I asked where they were, and was told they were all the way in the back, on the left. Turns out this was a little room (separated by black needs) which contained sex toys, hard core pornography, and such. As well as umbrellas. Fractally surreal.)

We also bought a backpack at a souvenir shop on Times Square which we have been carrying ever since.

Anyway, we were in Times Square and looking for the R bus in the cold rain. Dove into a bar called TSQ. I discovered a beer called Brooklyn Brown and Ruth had a Malbec. (Get it? TSQ: Times Square.) Started talking to the locals. There was a nice cocktail waitress plus a couple of local black guys who work as body guards for local diamond merchants. They were all mystified by my search for a bus stop.

Finally, Ruth had me call the MTA, and they straightened me out. Yeah, the R train. Not the R bus. Getting a theme here?

So we then found the Times Square subway station and got on the R train to 5th avenue. Spent a bit of time in the Apple store which is immense. Certainly, the biggest Apples store I have ever seen. After Ruth made an appointment (which she did not keep), we went in search of dinner. We dove into Trump Tower looking for a place. The guard referred us to Uncle Jack's Steakhouse. This turned out to be a great recommendation.

After a slight walk, we found Uncle Jack's which was certainly as good as any steakhouse I have ever eaten at (and I have eaten at quite a few steak places in my time.) We both ordered the lamb. I got the dinner order, and Ruth got the appetizer order. (We still have six of them as leftovers.) We also had the crab cakes. We had a great bottle of wine. Don't remember the exact details, although it was an Amerone style Italian wine. We also got a complimentary dessert (the chocolate lava cake) which was because this was our anniversary. Ruth was tired, so we got a limo back to the hotel. Again, crashed and slept like babies.

The next day I woke up and found a beautiful Parchment card in bathroom. I went to find Ruth, and found her downstairs talking to the hotel dude about the washing machine. I sat in the steam and then came up and took a shower. Ruth and I got dressed and we headed out to eat breakfast. We discovered a place called East Side Eats where they serve breakfast. Ruth had Fage yoghurt with berries, and I had my usual breakfast. Much better than Timmy's and far cheaper.

From there we walked up to the 96th street station for a change of scenery. We stopped at a women's clothing store on the corner of 96th and Lexington, but Ruth did not find anything she liked. We headed down to Grand Central again on the 6 train. Like I said, Ruth loved Grand Central. We spent a couple of hours there, shopping and stuff. Went into a wine store. Bought a bunch of Christmas cards and an ornament at Parchment's. Ruth looked at jewelry and fancy soap. We had a quick lunch (I had a Mother Earth with cheese at a pizza place called Two Boots, and Ruth had Indian food (chicken vindaloo curry and chicken tika massala with rice and a salad). After that we wandered around, saw the main concourse, and such. Then headed back over to Times Square.

Our plan was to see a Broadway Play that night. The cheapest way to do this is to purchase tickets at a place called TKTS on Times Square. You can buy tickets for around 50% of the price that way. Annoyingly, this does not include The Lion King or Wicked, both of which still consistently sell out.

We scored two tickets to that night's showing of Memphis. Mezzanine row C, seats 114 and 113. This turned out to be challenging as we will see later.

Then we shopped for a while. Ruth went into a couple of women's clothing stores, including American Eagle and Forever 21. After that, we went over to the Marriott Marquis on Times Square. Ended up in the Broadway Bar for one drink. Then moved up to the View Bar (which includes a buffet dinner) around 6 p.m. This gave us 1 1/2 hours for dinner and drinks. We took our time. I stuck with Brooklyn Brown and Ruth had a Ferrari Carono Cab. The buffet had a variety of beautiful cheese and crackers, salads, beef short ribs, boneless chicken thighs in marsala sauce and some exceptional desserts (the bread pudding was especially good). Also, the entire restaurant is on the 4th floor of the hotel, and rotates for a full view of the night-time New York skyline. Breathtaking.

From there, we went to the show. The seating was very cramped for me. I endured very limited legroom for the first half and then went in search of the manager. He laughed when he saw how big I am. A person my size cannot sit in the Mezzanine. He moved me down to the Orchestra and I was fine for the second half of the show.

After the show, Ruth was completely maxed out. We tried to find a cab, but ended up taking the S subway to Grand Central, and then the 6 train back to 86th street. From there we caught a cab back to the hotel. Ruth was exhausted, so she crashed and so did I.

I woke up today around 9:00. Went to find Ruth, and she was having breakfast again at East Side Eats. She was done by the time I arrived, so I don't know what she had, but I had my usual (two eggs over easy with sausage and toast.) Went back to the hotel and went down and sat in the steam room for a while. Came back up and showered. Then we decided to see Lion King after all. I ordered the tickets online, to avoid having to make another trip to Times Square. From there we got on the M21 bus and headed down to midtown.

Ruth was feeling bad at that time. Her eyes were hurting. Turns out she has conjunctivitis. She found a pharmacy and called in a prescription. While she handled this, I wandered around the charming neighborhood. It was a beautiful day, cold but very clear and crisp. After Ruth finished with the pharmacy we found an irish bar and spent a couple of hours drinking irish beer, and having lunch. (Ruth had vegetable soup, and I had baby back ribs.)

From there, we headed down Mahattan on the M21 bus. Made it all the way to Houson and Allen. From there, we jumped on the M16 bus and headed over to Soho where we did a bit of shopping. Looked at shoes and Crate and Barrel. Ruth continued to feel bad, so we decided to head back to the hotel. A nice young lady helped us to find the correct subway entrance to get the 6 train back toward the upper east side.

On the way, we decided to stop at Grand Central again. We went down to the dining concourse and ate a light meal at the Mexican restaurant called Zapola. A really great place. I had a couple of margaritas, but Ruth did not want to drink. She had some nachos, and ordered Chicken soup to go. We have that in the fridge as well.

We then wandered around Grand Central again. I went into the Grand Central market (kind of like the English Market in Cork). Awesome! We also watched some break dancing in the subway area. Amazing! From there we rode the 6 train to 86th street.

We went into a shoe store and I found a nice set of shoes to replace my New Balance trainers which are shot. By then it was 9 p.m. We caught the M86 bus back to the hotel and we are now here. That brings us up to date.

20100721

Day one for morning pages.

I had a particularly ugly and depressing morning today. My daughter texted last night that she needed a ride to her community service hours. Annoyingly, she has to do community service because she shoplifted a $35 tee shirt from Target. So far, this mistake has cost me $1550, and counting.

Further, she lost her car as a result of being pulled over while driving under the influence. So I had to take her car away. As a result, she has no transportation.

She tells me she needs to be there at 8, meaning I have to pick her up at 7:40. Meaning I have to get up at 7.

Normally, I get up after at least 8, maybe even 9. So this is a big deal.

Anyway, I get up, drive down to her apartment and then get ready to text her saying I am here. I then notice she has texted me saying "just kidding". Now she doesn't want to go because she has found a lump. And she needs to get that checked out. Like that's some sort of an urgent big deal.

I completely went off on her. Got as irate and aggressive with her as I have ever gotten. By the time I got back home, I was in full blown "fuck it" mode. Deciding to forget about her, pretend she is not alive and so forth.

Then she proceeds to ask me why I am so mad.

You're kidding me, right? After several more exchanges during which she goes down to the urgent care facility and cannot get in to see a doctor, she calls me saying, "just kidding" again. Now she wants to go. So would I please come get her again.

So like the schlemiel that I am, I schlep myself back down to her apartment, pick her up and drive her all the way to far North Durham. During which she:

1. Wants me to buy her art supplies.
2. Wants me to buy her a scooter.
3. Wants me to buy her lunch.
4. Wants me to come back and pick her up tonight (because she has work).
5. Gives me the full-blown run down on why she is mad at her former best friend who is now dating a guy that doesn't like Jeanae, so Emma, the former best friend, won't hang out with her anymore. And like she used to take Emma everywhere when she had a car. And now that Jeanae doesn't have a car and needs to be picked up, Emma is like totally ignoring her.

You get the idea.

I am now 3 1/2 hours into my day, totally bummed out, depressed, tired, and I simply want to go back to bed. But I have way too much work to do.

So there you have it.