Monday Monday 4.27.2008

Hi Everyone,

As I write this week's little message, I am on Amtrack Train 153 leaving New York Penn Station and bound for New Carrolton Station in Maryland, which happens to be just about 10-15 minutes away from Annapolis where I work. Maggie and I travelled to New York City this weekend for a couple of days to celebrate Jess Landin's birthday. Jess is one of Maggie's good friends from her days back in Kennedy Catholic, and she also happens to be a big Mets fan. For some reason, Jess' boyfriend Mark felt compelled to give her a really nice birthday, so he rounded us (along with her roommate from SUNY Albany and her mother) up for a trip to Shea Stadium for a viewing of a classic showdown between the New York Mets and the Atlanta Braves. Now, at this point it might be important for me to define the word "classic" because my hope is that you didn't read that last sentence and think that we saw some exciting and epic encounter between two evenly matched MLB superteams. My actual reason for using the word "classic" would be that it isn't everyday that you can see the Met's lose to the Braves 6-3 and have the Braves earn all 9 of those runs. That's right folks not only did the Atlantians earn 6 runs for themselves, but in one of the early innings their pitcher loaded the bases via one hit and two walks and then when things couldn't get any worse - he managed to walk the next three batters allowing the Met's to walk in three runs. You can see why I credit the Braves for earning nine runs.


We had Diamond club passes for the game, which really meant that we got to go to this special area where the good people in charge of Shea Stadium charge you $5.00 for a soda (good thing I quit 2 months ago). Regardless of the cost associated with the soda, the Diamond Club area really only consisted of a couple expensive restaurants so it really wouldn't be worth too significant of a hike in the ticket price - but naturally we didn't know this ahead of time and of course you do only live once. On another topic, as you may or may not know, this season will be the last one the Mets play at Shea stadium before the great people of New York knock it down and open the new Citi Field, which is being built where the Shea Stadium parking lot used to be. Since the new stadium doesn't have all the widows installed yet, a current viewing marks a striking resemblance of the age old Collisseum over in Rome. On a side note, does anyone find it a little hard to swallow that New York fans are getting a new stadium for the Mets and a new stadium for the Yankees all in the same year. . . To add fuel to that fire, someone told me that the Jets and Giants aren't too far away from a new structure themselves. On the subject of new stadiums, as Maggie and I venture back to the greater Washington DC area today, we are looking forward to seeing another new stadium as we have tickets to see the Washington Nationals play (in their brand new stadium) against the Chicago Cubs. Actually let me clarify, I am looking forward to this game, but Maggie is taking a snooze.

So what else did we do in NYC this weekend? Well as a Platinum Member of the Marriot Hotel Brand (that's right I said it - Platinum baby), I was able to score us a room for free on the corner of 39th and 6th. For those of you keeping track, 6th Avenue is the Avenue of the Americas and 39th is only three blocks from the famed 42nd. For those that don't know, the junction of 42nd and Broadway is the place to be as it is Times Square. Second sidebar - props to Dick Clark for being three thousand years old and still hosting the New Year's Eve festivities in Times Square. I hope I can still be stylin' and profilin' when I'm three thousand years old, but I guess the only thing we know for certain about my three thousandth birthday is that I'll most certainly be without hair. Back on subject, Maggie and I spent Friday Morning walking around Times Square hitting up M&M world, Toys 'R Us, Hard Rock Cafe, ESPN Zone, and more. Once Jess and Mark arrived Friday afternoon, the rest of the day was pretty much dedicated to the Mets, which I have previously described in the preceeding paragraphs. On Saturday morning, we jumped up to make our way to the TKTS counter to purchase our afternoons entertainment. We went to see the broadway production, Avenue Q, which for reference is one of the funniest things that I've seen in a long time - nevermind what is Politically Correct because guess what political correctness is not funny. Jess and Mark had to head back to Albany so Jess could get to work, but Maggie and I still had one more night in the city. Unfortunatey despite the fact that NY is the city that never sleeps, we are not the people that never sleep. Needless to say - we were (and judging by the fact that Maggie is passed out on a bumpy train, she still is) overly exhausted. We finished the evening off with a pizza from this placed called John's. The uniqueness of John's had very little to do with the food and a whole lot to do with the buidling. As indicated by the sign on the door, our boys at Zagats rated this place, and I am happy to report that I did enjoy the food and atmosphere. The pizza place was built in this old church, so you have to appreciate the ambiance because if you don't . . . .you'll probably go to hell.


Special note to all of you that were on the BSBE back in Spring '06, NYC had no $5 T-shirts that I could find - but they did have 7 T-shirts for $10 - an even better deal than what you can find in Mexico.

Our train just stopped in Philadelphia, so I'm likely about two hours away from our stop - so I could keep writing and I'm sure that would keep everyone busy reading for quite some time. At the risk of developing a massive case of arthritis before I turn 25, I think that I'll take a short break from the keyboard. Stay tuned on the Nationals Game as it looks a little dreary outside now. Hope all is well with everyone.
-- Ryan Joy