The Explorers

Huge thanks to Jeff Pack on helping me with my blog. I had been creating all new ones, and now I have it all consolidated. Jeff's blog can be read at: http://jeffpacklajourney.blogspot.com. Check it out if you haven't already.

I'm slowly but surely getting used to New York. It's pretty cool, and I love riding a train everywhere. I'm used to walking places, and I had no problem walking a mile or more to get somewhere in the ATL. In New York, a train can get you anywhere, and I'm getting pretty used to the A train and the 1 train. I'm not used to no free re-fills on Cokes (known as soda in the North), no sweet tea, no Wal-Mart (it would really fit in in Times Square), and no Chik-Fil-A. However, the trains and buses are great, especially when you have a 30 day Metro pass, and it's nice to be able to buy beer on Sundays. However, let's get to the fun.

My first night in New York was your proverbial deer in headlights for me. I was completely clueless as to where anything was, no sense of direction, and if I didn't have Helen and Sheena there to guide me, I'd be screwed. I got to see Times Square for the first time Saturday night, and it reminded me so much of Las Vegas, minus the casinos. I'd love to see Kelly Coker in Times Square. That picture makes me smile. So as I'm exiting the train, there's a woman handing out flyers, and I decide to take one. Of course, it's for Scientology auditing. Awesome. Not even off my first train, and I'm hit with a Scientology sales pitch...ERRR...pamphlet. To each his own on his or her beliefs, but I answer to a Jewish carpenter (I know...think about it....). So we walk around for a bit, and we hang in Times Square and check out Hells Kitchen, and we eat in a small diner. We camped at the table a bit, and I was going to tip our waitress in cash, but I noticed she was leaving. I stopped her and tried to give her the cash, but she said she couldn't take it because they pool their tips, and the next shift had already taken over. Marx and Lenin would be so proud to see communism working wonders in the food industry. You should already be up to speed on Sunday (Spanglish), which brings us to today.

I hung with Helen, Sheena, and one of Helen's roommates, and helped Helen look for a place (we'll touch on her situation later, that is if she'd like me to. I'll ask later). Abell and I got some pizza down by where she worked, and Sheena joined us. Sheena is a blast. Just lots of fun. So while Helen is in barista mode serving up grande, double caff, no fat, extra whip, latte's at Starbucks, Sheena and I decided to check out the city. We went and saw Rockefeller Center first, then took a train to Chinatown. Cool place. Ducks that have been glazed in the window, really good Chinese food (or what the Chinese themselves call "food"), and a bus you can take to Boston for $20 roundtrip. Apparently, Chinatown is the place to go for any designer knock off. You have to be blind folded and ride 30 minutes in a van to get to these sweatshops they have set up, but it was getting late, and we have the whole resto f the week. We then met up with Sheena's friend Renee, and it reminded me that I have a friend named Renee. We then walked over to Little Italy, and walked by a bunch of restaurants. At these restaurants, the managers hang out on the steps, and try to hustle you in to eat. My response was, "no thanks, I ate recently, and I'm just not hungry, but maybe next time," which they really don't want to hear. We made our way over to Soho, and I learned Houston St. is pronounced "House-ton," not like the city. Personally, I like when people say "Houston" with a silent "H." Very trendy area that had a good vibe. The weather was also great today. We then made our way over to Ground Zero via the train, and walked over to the financial district. It's amazing that 2 very big buildings used to stand there, and the city is going to build just one in it's place. I'd build the 2 right back up, but I'm not in charge, so it doesn't really matter what I think. Man, I can remember eating breakfast at Windows on the World, which was a restaurant that was on top of one of the buildings. It was quite eerie to see this spot and remember what happened a little more than 6 years ago.

After hanging in the Financial district, we took a train back to Times Square to see the movie "Penelope." I was with 2 females and didn't have a choice, and I didn't want to be a jerk and say "well, I'm going to see 'Semi-Pro,' I'll see you 2 later." By the way, no student discounts, and movies are $11.75 here. You can bring in contraband, but not student discounts?!?! Crazy!!! The movie was fine, I think Stack would love it, and then Sheena and I met back up with Abell at her friendly neighborhood Starbucks.

What will the Explorers do tomorrow? Check back and see....