RIP George

Picture via Lohud Yankees

I wouldn't be a Yankees fan unless I paid a little tribute to George Steinbrenner today. Love, hate or be secretly glad he was banned for baseball for several years which gave the team an opportunity to build a dynasty in the '90s..........Thanks George, you will be missed.

Besides, don't you love that he evidently had a picture of Cary Grant in his office? Too cool.

It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's a Stop Sign?

Reason 135 I love Brooklyn. Via Ready Made

Game 4

Last night I finally went to bed a little after 11:00 and missed the 9th inning of Game 4 of the World Series. Although I'm probably functioning better than I would be if I stayed up, I missed A-Rod finally showing us all how talented he is in the post-season, and maybe even more importantly, Johnny Damon's 2 stolen bases. Johnny Damon stole my heart years ago during the tragic 2004 post season. When he became a Yankee in 2005, it was an early birthday Christmas Present to yours truly. I even blogged about it here.

Last night, with the score tied and 2 out, Damon got on base, stole second, kept his head up as he was stealing second and realized that the Phillies had shifted so there was no one on third, and he could out run the nearby infielders. He then took third-putting himself in easy scoring position when Alex R. got a base hit. MLB makes embedding actual game play tough, so I wasn't able to find an embeddable version online, but here's a link to video of the stolen bases.
Tonight? You better believe I'm staying up for the whole game.

My Mouth Tastes Purple.

Years ago, I went to a family reunion with my Grandma and family up in Idaho at my Great Uncle's house on Lois Lane (My Great Aunt's name was Lois, I believe) in Twin Falls. As we got to the house, I remember thinking ,'Hmm, that's a turquoise blue house." We pulled up, and there was at least one large rock with turquoise embedded in the rock. When we walked into the house, the paint in the house was mostly blue, my Aunt was wearing turquoise blue and there was a lot of blue knick-knacks on the shelves. Needless to say, she was dubbed the Blue Buhler after that by us kids. I smiled to myself when I saw this great article from New York Magazine about people who just wear one color. 5 New Yorkers were interviewed, and its a great little piece. My favorite was this:

Where did you live?We used to live on the Lower East Side. A hippie gang was on our block, and you had to know them to get down the street. They had weapons and chains. They babysat for our son.

Hippie gangs make me happy. I wonder what their gang sign was.

Random Thoughts

Emmy Rants

I didn't watch the Emmys last night, but I was happy to see America Ferrara win for her role on Ugly Betty and 30 Rock (best comedy since Arrested Development) win. Both were totally deserving. However, I was bewildered, dismayed and wanting to know how in the world did Katherine Heigl win best actress for Greys Anatomy? Her storyline in Season 2 tanked, her storyline in Season 3 was even worse...and she won the Emmy? The Emmy? Just because she's hot doesn't mean that translates well into acting. She's the weak link on Greys and she wins the Emmy? Between Heigl and Jeremy Piven winning, I'm glad I didn't watch.


Sherpa Wants

I saw this sweater on Whip up, and I fell in love. I want, but then I think if I have that sweater, I'll probably wear it any time I can..its absolutely brilliant and I've never been a big fan of Wonder Woman. Check out the original blog and pictures here.

Best Week Ever

The fall is becoming busy, just the way I like it, but the week of the 24th to the 29th has pretty much turned into the best week ever. Seeing DC United play Chivas, A Bob Dylan concert and then taking in a Yankees game that may mean something (the second to last game in the regular season?) the next night?

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless

Faster than a NY Weekend

Friday:
2:30 Left for New York
8:00 Arrive in NYC
Arrive at hostel in Brooklyn. Realize hostel has no ac, is above bar and has one bathroom for fifteen people.
Eat at Juniors. Quinessential Brooklyn comfort food.
Walk back from Juniors to hostel. Realize neighborhood is a real weird mix of ghetto, a mix of several ethnic groups and yuppies.
Neither Kell or I got much sleep thanks to open window due to no a/c (even though it was in the 60's outside) and bar sing alongs two floors below us.

Saturday:
We walk over to the NY Transit museum and leave before it opens.
Do some impromptu shopping at incredibly cheap (products and prices) clothes stores.
Find the discount fabric stores.
Find a uniform store.
Head to Manhattan. Wander the financial district until we find cheap, good ny style pizza.
Wander into the Trinity Chapel across from where the WTC towers were. Memories were dredged up, and both of us marveled at how the chapel was spared. Missed George Washington 's pew. We're lousy Americans.
Go on over to Century 21 and spend a couple hours there shopping. Century 21 and I started a bit of a love affair. It had me at Discount Designer clothes. Kell got a shirt-I bought a sweater, tailored shirt, and petite Liz Claiborne camel slacks for work. They fit perfectly.
Head back to hostel and leave our packages. Was told they had clean sheets, they didn't.
We walked down to underneath the Brooklyn Bridge. Saw three wedding parties and two quinceaneras in the matter of 20 minutes standing there. Stretch Hummers are all the rage.
Took the 7 out to Shea Stadium.
Watched the Mets blow a game to the Marlins. NY baseball fans should teach DC and Baltimore Fans how to be baseball fans at a game.
Shea was a lot of fun and the game was too. My expectations of the stadium were very, very low but it was a lot nicer than RFK.
We talked to a tourist family from Houston on our way back.
Asked how to get to New Jersey by a kid who told us "I'm Wasted, I lost my friends, and need to get back to Jersey. And the Mets lost."
We went over to 72nd and Broadway (my favorite metro stop) and I got a text from my baby brother about "good news." He wouldn't tell me what it was.
We indulged in Grey's papayas. Best ny style hotdogs ever with a papaya! (papaya juice).
Strolled over to a gelato place. It was closed.
We headed back to the hostel. Both of us showered and slept much better.

Sunday
The hostel manager wasn't at the hostel. We took pictures documenting how dirty, unsecure, unsafe, and unsanitary the place was. We then left our address for the manager to send us the deposit.
Stopped at Modell's.
Walked through Chinatown (not a big fan) and over to the Lower East Side(big fan).
As we were walking to Il Labrotorio Gelato we overheard a grandma ask her daughters, " We're on the gelato and pickles tour? Are any of you pregnant?" We laughed since Kell and I were on the same tour.
I got lemon sorbet and ginger gelato. The owner (whose grandparents founded Carvel, graduated from Columbia Business school, started his own gelato place when he was 19 and was very classical handsome) talked to us as we left. We both swooned a little. He was very good looking.
Talked about how Clooney should play Mr Big in the Sex and the City Movie but decided Mr. Big was Chris Noth.
Walked over to the pickle guys. Kosher pickles rock. I got two "new pickles." Even though they were five days old and more pickled than crunchy...they were awesome.
Crossed the street to the Doughnut factory. Kelli got a coconut cream doughnut with coconut glaze. I got blueberry lemonade. Both were to die for, and equal Magnolia's cupcake as far as obsessiveness goes.
Walk back over to the kosher bagel shop next door to the doughnut factory. Get bagels and Bialys.
Walk next door to a jewish bakery and get an assortment of cookies.
We both decide that the lower east side is where its at.
I'm a little jealous of Kelli going to Poland this month, as all we ate in the lower east side except for the gelato is polish in origin. We talk about Poland's history. We both are sad for Poland.
Head back to the bus after an Old Navy detour.
Get on the bus. Make it out of NYC no problem, but the bus driver bypasses the NJ turnpike until we get to the Delaware bridge.
Realize the bialys are the best "bagels" I've ever had (they are cousins to the bagels). The bagel is awesome too according to Kelli, and possibly the best we've ever head.
Realize the lady who packaged our cookies slipped in 4 extra cookies into our assortment.
Love the Lower East Side even more and know where the next trip to NYC will start.
Get back to DC.
Talk to My parents and hear that my brother now has a fiancee and will be getting married in December. They got engaged in the Wind Rivers. Go Rich and Nicole!
Get ready for Work.
Go to bed.

Don't think Twice

So, I'm sitting here listening to Elvis, wondering why I don't listen to Elvis more often and realizing that Dainon may be right--we are scarily alike. Anyway I don't think I've shared these photos yet from the recent trip to NYC. I was trying to get my ancient digital camera to work so there's only three pictures from the trip. Either that, or we've been to NYC too many times. That might be it too. Who knows.

This is Kelli in front of a cool mural in the East Village.

This is Kell on a bench in the Brooklyn Museum of Art.

An ancient artifact in the Brooklyn Museum of art.

In other news, I was saddened to read an article about the New York journalist who was killed in Oaxaca. About a month ago my old supervisor was asking me about Oaxaca because her friend's son got a grant to go down there to film the protests. He wasn't hurt but was interviewed in the article I read. Small world.

No Sugar Crack for You

When Kelli and I were in Puebla, Mexico, the two other gringos on the tour befriended us. One of them, Victoria Roberts, is a New Yorker cartoonist who has been writing a one-woman show and the other one, Bonnie Deakin, was her set designer. They invited us to come up to NYC over Columbus Day weekend and see Victoria in action. A trip to NYC, who needs more of an excuse than that? The weekend was spectacular. Weather in the 70s with blue skies, and relative low humidity made for some gorgeous days.

Saturday we found that East Broadway actually does head east, rather than North/South like its more famous cousin. We walked for a couple of hours, found a subway that worked, stumbled upon two street fairs, some good Indian food, the hostel (unfortunately not as clean this time around), We walked over from Greenwich to the East Village where Victoria Roberts performed. Her show is a work in progress, but its really good and has some great potential. Afterwards, we tried to go down to ride the Staten Island ferry since Kelli never has been on it, but we ended up in Queens. Yeah, that was a little humbling. We collapsed into our beds after a long day.

We spent Sunday in Brooklyn at the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the botanical garden (we made a beeline for the one place you can sit on the grass and took a 1.5 hour nap under the cherry trees after being reprimanded by a garden worker), and a street fair. After a while we headed back to Greenwich, and then walked over to the Upright Citizen’s Brigade theater, but we were early so we then walked over and got a bite to eat. Almost two years ago, we were at the theater and saw Amy Poelher, Horatio Sanz, Matt Besser, Matt Walsh, Seth Meyers, Tina Fey and Rachel Dratch among others perform. Needless to say, it was awesome. Sunday night however, we saw Matt Walsh perform with a bunch of young performers. Unfortunately, even though there were 10-12 performers on stage, only 4 really kept the show going. Matt Walsh once again was awesome and really put the rest to shame. Jack McBrayer quickly turned into a favorite, and a couple of others were good…but there were a few that were horrible and one that was the worst. Paul Scheer of best week ever really bugs. Seriously over the top and only occasionally funny. Anyway, Kell started talking to a girl in line who was in nyc visiting friends from texas. She ended up watching the show with us. Afterwards we just went back to the hostel. That night, the window of our dorm room was cracked a bit. The sounds of NYC won’t be a sleep tape anytime soon, for me anyway.

Sunday we spent about a hour taking a nap on a rock at central park. We then went shopping down on 34th and got two cute shirts (both brown) for less than 45 bucks. Woo hoo! We headed over to Chinatown and had lunch at the McDonalds (sacrilege I know, but Chinatown really smelled badly and nothing sounded good after that walk but chicken nuggets). Our bus was late getting out of Chinatown and the bus-driver put on two “movies:” two documentaries “proving” the existence of aliens and ufos, and a three stooges marathon. I really can't say which I prefered.

Random thoughts:

I’ve never seen as much Mets gear as I did this time in NY. A guy in Greenwich told another guy that no one in NY rooted for the Yankees anymore. Of course, the guy next to us started muttering not too quiet that the guy who said no one roots for the Yankees in new york was full of it. Ah, I love NY

Almost wish I was Jewish. At the street festival on Sunday, we were asked by several orthodox jewish men and youth whether or not we were jewish. They were trying to bless jewish people no matter if they were practicing or not, as part of the traditions of sukkot. A couple of these men were so eager to find someone who was jewish, I almost felt sorry for him. However we were in Brooklyn, I’m sure he found someone to bless shortly after we left.

I never thought I'd say this, but my youngest brother looks a little like Leonardo Dicaprio. Seriously. Look at this:http://media3.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/photo/2006/10/05/PH2006100501860.jpg

Last but not least, we went to the Magnolia Bakery twice (that's why we were in Greenwich on Saturday and Sunday) and the lines were down the block. No sugar crack for us.

Quote of the Day

And I don't know how anybody can't like Derek [Jeter]. I'd rather have him on my team than anybody."

--Bob Dylan, talking baseball

Ah, as a yankee fan....this totally is acceptable.

You scored as Johnny Damon. You are Johnny Damon!! You are very down-to-earth and like to joke around a lot. This is apparent through your appearance. You are known for looking unkempt, perhaps even caveman-like, but everyone loves you for it. Oh yea... Johnny is my homeboy! Johnny Damon 83% Curt Schilling 73% Jason Varitek 70% Theo Epstein 63% David Ortiz 60% Mark Bellhorn 60% Kevin Millar 60% Manny Ramirez 50% Which Red Sox Player Are You? created with QuizFarm.com

He's Back!!!

Last Tuesday Richard (my brother) and Marty (the Pseudo-Bro) flew to DC to hang out with me for a week (they leave tomorrow). On Wednesday we left for a 4.5 day long road trip (we got back last night). While we were in NY we decided to send Steven (my other brother) photos of the trip. Needless to say by 4 or 5 in the afternoon he replied saying, "you guys suck." Here's some of the photos we sent.
First stop: Yankee Stadium. We made it to the game on time, partly thanks to the Stadium Supervisor who told the bag inspectors that my bag was indeed small enough to go into Yankee Stadium and to let me in. Thank you sir.
Joy Reading in the subway in the Bronx. After the Yankee game we ventured over to Arthur Avenue to get some Italian food. Contrary to the Boston fan in Baltimore, NY does indeed have the best Little Italy, its just not in Manhattan--its in the Bronx. Love Mikes, but Arthur Avenue rocks.

After we went to Arthur Avenue, We went to Greenwich in search of a dunar kebab for Marty. Even though we were full up on pasta, its tough to resist a dunar kebab. (For the dunar virgins, that's a big thing of beef on a spick, there's a stove below (and on the far side if i remember right). The guy cutting rotates it and cuts of slices of it. The meat is laid on top of there so it comes out in slices. Its awesome. Steven served his LDS mission in Germany (switzerland Zurich) so he knows these well.

After wandering around Greenwich for almost a hour (I remember the place being on Bleecker, but didn't remember the cross street-MacDougal) we found the beef shwarmaa (another name for dunar kebab) and check out the look on Marty's face. He really was that excited.

We drove to Staten Island, parked Garp (my car) and took the ferry over. This picture is on the way back on the Ferry. Even with the crappy cellphone camera, its still pretty cool.

View from the Staten Island Ferry at 10:00 pm

Edited Cakes! This was found in a cake shop on the Lower East Side in Manhattan. I don't think Kell will be taking her parents here this weekend.

(Random Roadtrips #5)

Random Roadtrip #2

Kelli enjoying sugar crack. That is a cupcake from Magnolia Bakery in Manhattan.

This would be the Mecca or the Magnolia Bakery in Manhattan.

(The ghetto-fab editing job is brought to you by Corel Paint Shop. I miss photoshop.)

(Installment 2 of the Random Roadtrip series)