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New York City 2010- It's a wrap

Yesterday I returned from my 10-day New York City vacation.  I’ve been to the Big Apple upwards of 35 times, but this was one of the best vacations yet.  From sports to celebrities, this trip had a little bit of everything.

I arrived in the Big Apple on Tuesday, June 22 after a 23-hour ride up the East Coast on Amtrak --note to self, never again.  My friend Stephanie, who lives in a great apartment on 53rd St. And 9th Avenue, was gracious enough to invite me to stay at her place while she was in Florida.  It worked out great.  When I got to the apartment on Tuesday, though, her cousin’s friend was apparently still there, and I was concerned because I needed to shower and sleep in a real bed.  It was taken care of and he slept on the couch that night and was gone before I woke up the following morning.

Mayer, Chappelle highlight Thursday at Comedy Cellar

When I made reservations for the Comedy Cellar in Greenwich Village on Thursday night, I knew the headliner was Dave Attell, star of Insomniac on Comedy Central.  What actually happened that night could not have been any better.

 As we were waiting outside the club to check in and get our number for the queue, a black Escalade pulled up and out stepped John Mayer.  I'm a big fan, so as you can see, I asked him for a picture, which he couldn't have been more friendly about, then he shooked my hand, took pictures with a few more people, and went inside this little pub above the Comedy Cellar.

 Because of a seating snafu, we were placed in the front row, steps from the stage.  The comedy host for the night, Ardie Fuqua, was hilarious in his introductory bit, and he was making fun of a number of people in the crowd.  After the first three comics, including Rich Vos from Last Comic Standing, Artie announced a special guest comic: John Mayer.

Riding the Rails

Part I
  My journey started with a bus ride from Amtrak’s station in Tampa, through a stop in Lakeland, and then we finally arrived in Orlando.  It was a madhouse because a southbound train pulled in right as we were getting off the bus, so there were people getting off the train who needed their baggage, and their were people getting off the bus who needed to get their baggage on the northbound train.  Needless to say, it was poorly organized.

Off to the Big Apple

  Today begins my official "summer vacation" as I head to New York City for what is my 40th separate trip to the capital of the world.

  Since most of you that know me know that I don't like to fly, and since it's the summer and I love trains, I'm taking a leisurely 22-hour ride on Amtrak, leaving this afternoon at around 1 pm and arriving at Penn Station in Manhattan tomorrow at around noon (pending delays).

  I have a lot planned for the time I'll be in NYC (probably around 12 days), including a Mets and a Yankees game, a Broadway show, the Late Show with David Letterman, and more.

  Check back on the site for daily reports.  Hope you enjoy what I have to say!

Colleen's Wedding in Review- Part II

Here is the rest of the weekend in Key West for Colleen's wedding.  Enjoy!

Sunday Morning
I woke up on Sunday and was planning on going snorkeling, but Colleen called early and said that Thomas wanted to rest and that the weather wasn't ideal for submerging ones self underwater with a snorkel.  Instead, i relaxed until everybody else woke up. After we were up, we decided to go to Fort Zachary Taylor State Park, which has a beach that Bri and Deanna have apparently been to. We headed out in two separate cars and arrived at the beach. It was cloudy, with a hint of a storm out over the Atlantic, it was super windy and the water was seemingly about 40 degrees.  I turned on jerk mode, because we weren't going to swim, and the weather was horrible, so I didn't want to stay.  We ended up staying until the Disney Magic cruise ship passed by and docked.  I was able to get some pretty good pictures, despite the bad weather, so all wasn't lost.  As we were about to leave, Ted decided to go see the fort.  I wanted to go, I got mad and Ted said I should start walking, which I actually did.  After 20 minutes, they were done at the fort, and we returned to the "hotel".

Sunday Afternoon/Night
I was really upset at this point because I wanted to go to the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch with Jen. Instead, we went back to the hotel and got ready, because Ted, BAHP and I had to be back at Colleen's hotel for the rehearsal at 3pm.  The rehearsal went well, but when we were done, we had over an hour to kill before the rehearsal dinner, which was at 5:30pm.  I was hungry and figured I wouldn't eat enough at dinner, so I sat at the Sunset Pier bar outside of the Ocean Key and had two grilled cheese.  They were amazing.  The rehearsal dinner was very nice, complete with a slideshow of Colleen and Thomas' life, well, not all of it, because that would've been forever.  My chicken was blackened, spicy as can be, but very, very good.  I had lots of soda, which I enjoy, but my stomach deals with it.  Colleen presented gifts to those in the wedding party, and others.  I got a drawer caddy engraved with my name, a keychain with my initials, and a golf club luggage tag, all three wonderful gifts.  After we left the rehearsal, Jen and I were still somewhat hungry, so we stopped at Hard Rock Cafe and got take-out.

  It was a good way to end the night.

Colleen's Wedding in Review- Part I

KEY WEST----
  Well, the wedding weekend in Key West has come and gone, with lots of memories to be had by all.  I hope you enjoy the review of the entire trip to Key West as we celebrated the union of Colleen and Thomas. 

Friday
We picked up Jen from Kinkos and we were on our way to Miami.  The ride wasn't nearly as boring as I expected, and that was probably aided by the fact that I watched Changeling (with Ange(lina) for about 2 hours of the trip.  BAHP had pre-purchased Publix subs, and we ate those along the way.  We arrived at the La Quinta Inn in a town south of Miami.  We were the only white people in the hotel, and possibly the entire town.  The room for Jen, Ginger and I had two beds that barely fit one of us.  We slept in separate beds in the same room for the first time in our history.  Bri and Deanna arrived a little while after us, and they got to share a room with BAHP and Ted.  Unlucky them.

Saturday
We woke up early in the morning, loaded up the van and headed out.  I had never driven to Key West before, so I wanted to stay awake.  We were pretty much surrounded by water for the entire trip, including on the famous Seven Mile Bridge, though I'm not sure what the big deal is since the Courtney Campbell Causeway in Clearwater is like 11 miles.  Ted, in all his infinite driving wisdom, decided to go speeding through a construction zone, and the red and blue lights began flashing.  A state trooper, who Ted would later name Snickerdoodle, issued a speeding ticket, but claimed he didn't cite Ted for the construction zone issue.  Lucky Ted.  As it turned out, we were only about an hour outside of Key West.  We then continued on to Key West, and when we got there, we immediately went to Timmy's Tuxedos to pick up my tux.  We met Colleen and Thomas there, along with Jenn Bai Rossi (Colleen's best friend) and her nephew Daniel.  After trying on my tux, we headed to our "hotel", which was a two-bedroom condo on the complete other side of the island.  I was in total "jerk" mode, overreacting about everything while refusing to eat lunch or go hang by the pool.  Instead I staying inside with Ginger and watched the Rangers game.  We then got ready and headed to meet everyone at Colleen's hotel for the Sunset Cruise.  Bri, Deanna, BAHP and Ted went to dinner themselves and walked around the town, while we enjoyed the "Commotion on the Ocean".  The live music was good, the cheese plate appetizers, along with the meatballs, was very good, and the sunset was absolutely marvelous.  We had a good time with Colleen's family, including her Uncle Joe and his partner Scott, her sister Heather and her boyfriend John, Jenn Bai Rossi and her fiance Brian, and a few others.  Jen and I were still hungry after the cruise, so we stopped at the grocery in our condo complex and had Boar's Head sandwiches.  The weekend had only just begun.