such a vivrant thing

My week in NYC has been pretty outrageous. Such a good time. Mary and I arrived late on Monday night. We drove 12 hours straight, which was entertaining. Wait, no...not entertaining exactly, but fun. Ohio and Pennsylvania just don't offer much to look at when driving through. There was satellite radio and curly fries though, so we did ok.

I split my week between Harlem with Mary and Tim, Hell's Kitchen with Autumn and Alphabet City with X. I'm becoming a professional couch surfer and an amazing packer. :) It was fun wandering around the city for the week and by the end, I actually was finding my way around the subways solo, which made me very proud considering last time I was there for a week, I couldn't figure them out to save my life.

Some awesome touristy and maybe not-so-touristy adventures I found in the city:

• Free wireless internet in Central Park...spent a lot of hours sitting in the grass at Sheep Meadow working on the laptop. If only that could be my office...
• P.S. 1 - Mary and I tried to go to the MoMA to see this exhibit by Jeff Koons that I wanted to see. Sadly, the line wrapped all the way around the block and I didn't want to see it that badly. So as a replacement, we decided to go to this P.S. 1. When the MoMA needed more exhibit space, they decided to buy an old public school out in Queens. The exhibits are in all the classrooms and even in the basement boiler rooms (which was incredibly creepy). In the summer, they have Summer Warm Up on Saturdays, which is basically a giant party in the courtyard area. They've turned the courtyard into a really cool space, with an area for a band/DJ and dancing. On Saturdays they host different musical acts, sell beer and food and people just come hang out all day. Very cool. When the place shuts down at 9PM, everyone walks to the Water Taxi Bar, which is basically a bunch of picnic tables on the beach with beer/cocktail stands sprinkled around, so also very cool. Plus, it offers a fantastic view of the Manhattan skyline.
• QTip DJ-ing @ Santos House Party - Friday night I wanted to do some dancing, so X, Mary, and X's friend Ron decided to go to this place called Santos House Party. It was kind of a strange place in the middle of Chinatown, but QTip from A Tribe Called Quest was DJ-ing there, so we figured the music would be cool. And it was. QTip spun all night playing really good hip hop all night, we all danced like crazy (we even started a dance circle...although the dancing was not that impressive) and at some point Busta Rhymes showed up. That was my celebrity sighting for the week. Mark Ronson was also there, but he's not as well known unless you know all the hot DJs. I only know of him because his sister is having a lesbian relationship with Lindsey Lohan. (I heart celebrity gossip, I can't help it.)
• Sunday morning, a group of us hauled ourselves out of bed early and jumped on a train to Long Beach. An hour later, we were on a beach that was surprisingly quite nice. There was a $10 fee to enter the beach, which was probably why it was so nice, but I really didn't expect to find a beach like that in NYC. Anyway, the purpose of our trip was SURFING. So exciting! We had signed up for a group lesson and board rentals for the day, but when we got there, the instructor guy told us he wouldn't do a group lesson with us because the swell was too crazy and we would all get pummeled unless we each had our own instructor. After a bit of negotiating, we all decided to do private lessons for an hour. We did a quick 10 minute review on the beach (we'd all surfed before) and then we took to the water. The instructor guy was right...even with my own instructor I still got pummeled by the waves when trying to paddle out. Once I managed to paddle my way out though, I was really good! I was so proud of myself because I hadn't surfed in years, but I stood up every time and only fell off a few. My instructor guy was trying to teach me how to do different maneuvers or whatever towards the end of the lesson, but after an hour in the water, my arms were definitely hurting like whoa. I've become such a wimp! After the hour in the water, we decided to call it a day. I was too tired and wasn't about to try to paddle through the waves by myself, so we spent the rest of the day hanging out on the beach and eating boardwalk food. Such an awesome day. Perfect weather. Surf. Greasy food. What more could one ask for?

So that was my week in NYC. When I wasn't doing all that, I was just hanging out with NYC friends at random bars and eating delicious food. Mmm...the food.

And now I am on a bus (with wireless internet) heading for Baltimore to hang out with my sister and brother-in-law for a week, followed by a weekend in Lynchburg, VA for my cousin's wedding and then back to the midwest for work.

Hugs, kisses and many thanks to Mary, Tim, Autumn, X, Nick and Jason for letting me crash on couches in NYC!

Peace.

detroit city rocks my world

I know I don't spend much time in Detroit, but every time I go back, I like it more and more. It's such an interesting city. Sure, it's dirty and corrupt and all that negative stuff, but it also has boatloads of character and really interesting people.

Mary and I drove from Chicago to Detroit on Thursday night with all of her stuff in the trusty old escort. Due to poor planning, I didn't roll into my parents house until about 2AM on Friday morning, but whatever, I eventually made it after dropping her off in Ann Arbor.

Friday night I met up with my best friend Karen. It's so funny because Karen and I are so similar in that we're terrible at keeping in touch, but whenever we see each other (about twice a year), we have such a good time. We met up for dinner at Detroit Brewing Co and then went on a mini bar crawl through downtown Detroit, stopping at Cliffton Mills (a jazz club where we paid for our cover in pennies), The Park Bar (out of tradition) and The Town Pump (also a tradition). We decided it would be appropriate to call up Chris, this dude we met the last time we went to The Town Pump last October and who went through the shooting ordeal with us. We totally bonded over the fact that we were all trapped in a bar with 2 guys who both had guns out and were ready to fight. Oh Detroit...

Anyway, it was so much fun hanging out with Karen. I don't think I've laughed that hard in a months, so it was just a great feeling. We called up Rene from the bar to complete our old high school tripod of friendship. :) The next day I went to my first game at Comerica Park so I got to hang out and see the new stadium, which was way big time, especially compared to Wrigley Field.

Today was a pretty chill day. I went with Mark and Sarah to the Detroit Yacht Club to rub elbows with the fancy people. Mark and I drove his motorcycle from Trenton to downtown Detroit via West Jefferson, which was definitely an experience. I got a quick tour of the yacht club and learned a bit (did you know the first cement building in the U.S. is the original Detroit Boat Club building?), but mostly I just hung by the pool. Afterwards we went to this hilarious bar called The Bronx in Detroit, which was a total dive bar, complete with a Make Your Own Bloody Mary Bar. The bar was a piece of wood set on 2 tables and the bloody mary makings basically consisted of cans of V8, various hot sauces which appeared to have been stolen from other establishments and a whole bunch of olives, celery and randomness. Very cool place though. Delicious hamburgers. Mmm....

So that was my Detroit weekend. Probably won't have another one for awhile. Tomorrow Mary's picking me up early so we can make the trek out to NYC. ROAD TRIP!

"it's complicated"

Vomit in my mouth. I hate when things get complicated for no reason. I mean, I can understand that sometimes, plans change or people change their minds or whatnot...I can deal with complications as a part of life. But when things get unnecessarily complicated, it drives me bananas...region 4 is bananas...B-A-N-A-N-A-S.

Sorry. I think Kate McConnell is the only person in the world who gets that reference.

Anyway. Boo to complicated shiz. That's really all I have to say.

my ipod is getting crazy full

Yay for new music! I was getting so tired of listening to my old music over and over again. Most US downloading and streaming sites prohibit downloads from Peru and my iTunes wouldn't let me download new music, so I always felt stranded. Needless to say, I've been downloading music like whoa lately. Here's what I've been listening to that makes me so happy :)

Jamie Lidell - His song "A Little Bit More" was featured in a Target add awhile ago, but he's really fun. I went and saw him at The Metro when I first moved to Chicago and he was pretty much awesome.
The Wood Brothers - Another good show I saw in Chicago in 2007 and I finally bought their CD off iTunes. The one Wood brother is the "Wood" in Medeski Martin and Wood.
The Submarines - Too cute for words. Love them.
The Roots - I bought their new album (by "new" I mean it came out in April...but again, I was lost in Peru in April, so it's new to me!)...I just like The Roots in general :)
The New Pornographers - Michael Platt gave me this CD during the Chicago conference last month. I never really took the time to listen to these guys, but turns out I like them quite a bit. Thanks Michael Platt!
Daddy Yankee - He's the Puerto Rican rapper that sang the US radio hits "Gasolina" and "El Impacto" but I really like some of his other songs. It may be crappy reggaeton (I don't know what good reggaeton sounds like) but it reminds me of dancing in the discotecas in Cusco :) Especially the song "Lo Que Paso, Paso."

If you have any more recommendations, I'd love to hear! I need a whole new collection to take with me to Mexico, just in case I can't get any new music there either!

In other news, I finally made it back to the great mitten state. I hung out with the fam, got to see Grandma Jackie who has been in the hospital for the past few days. Everyone is trying to be optimistic about her recovery, but she's got a lot of physical and speech therapy to go through, so hopefully all goes well over the next few months.

I'm now back in Chicago hanging out with Mary before she moves to NYC. I heart Chicago summers! The weather is perfect (especially compared to the unbearable heat and humidity of Florida and New Orleans) and it's just fun to sit around drinking daytime beer on patios while people watching. Such a great city. :)

I'm going crazy with the emoticons here...I think that's a sign I need sleep. Peace. Out.

when i say "o" you say "hi"

Greetings from Gate A6 at New Orleans International Airport (airport #7 of my summer travels). My 3 days in New Orleans were incredible. I got to see some AMAZING bands, check out some very cool bars, meet some very cool people and I even did some service work in the 9th ward. Some highlights below:

• On the recommendation of some lady in the hotel fitness center, I headed to Frenchman's Street as an alternative to Bourbon Street to catch some good music. I highly recommend this area for music and chill bars and good beer. I went to D.B.A.'s, which was by no means fancy, but very chill with a huge beer selection and great live music. This is where I met Corey Henry and the Young Fellas, an amazing brass funk band! Dancing the night away, I met Rashon, who was in New Orleans for the weekend and whom I want to be my best friend. He was the happiest person I've ever met and so in love with the music. He was there to play a couple gigs in New Orleans and to support his friend, Clarence, the 19-year-old saxophonist prodigy with Corey Henry. Clarence and Rashon knew each other from Ohio, where they both grew up. Rashon is finishing his jazz composition degree at University of Cincinnati and Clarence had just moved down to New Orleans to pursue his music. After sweating it out on the dance floor for a few hours, Kate and I cabbed it back to our hotel to pass out in our glorious hotel room.
• Friday night, Rashon invited us to check out his show at Sweet Lorraine's. He was playing with his old Ohio band, including Clarence. Kate and I took a cab out to Sweet Lorraine's and were a tid bit freaked out when we were dropped off. Sweet Lorraine's is in a pretty sketch looking neighborhood and was almost completely barred off. We found our way inside and were pleasantly surprised by the swanky interior. It was a serious jazz club. After ordering some adult beverages, we found a table in front of the stage and prepared for the show. Again, it was amazing. Rashon is a jazz pianist and SO talented. Clarence, obviously, did his thing again, only this time instead of funk it was more traditional jazz. Their friend from Ohio was playing the upright bass and though their drummer was missing, they had replaced him with a drummer who had played with Herbie Hancock, so he wasn't too shabby. It was definitely a different vibe than D.B.A.'s - all the boys were wearing suits and there was no dancing, just chilling out. Such a good time, though, and such a cool place. I love finding places like that!! After the show, we said goodbye to Rashon and Clarence (I'm definitely hanging out with Rashon when I head to Cincinnati this fall!) and called a cab to come get us since it was not a neighborhood where cabs regularly come through. We were waiting outside when Lance Ellis approached us. He seemed like a nice dude and he offered us a ride back to our hotel, and while it may not have been the smartest idea, we accepted. He was also a jazz musician, but seemed a little jaded about the music scene in New Orleans. He no longer performed on the music scene, but continued to record music in his home studio. He dropped us off at the hotel, safe and sound, and left us with a copy of his CD entitled Thinking of You. It's really good, if anyone's interested. That was a good night...
• Saturday morning the whole conference loaded on to 12 old school buses to go do some work in the lower 9th ward. We split into teams and worked on a couple different vacant lots and rebuilt homes. It was pretty intense to see the state of the neighborhood we were in, especially considering how long it's been since the hurricane hit. I was working to clear an old lot that once had a house on it - we could tell where the kitchen and bathroom were once located because there were tiles in those rooms, but the rest of the rooms were just overgrown with brush and trash. The houses that were still standing were vacant for the most part, with the "X" marking, showing the day it was checked and how many people had been found in the house. Many of the houses still had messages and cell phone numbers spray painted on the front of them. We only worked for about 4 hours, mostly because the it was reaching a dangerous temperature for us to be out there working, but even so, we made some significant progress in the clean up effort on that block. It was pretty remarkable how much work a group of 600 motivated people can get done in a short amount of time.
  
• This morning, before I peaced out for the airport, Robert, one of the GK Board Members from Boeing who I hung out with all weekend, took me to Cafe du Monde, which is like the tourist's breakfast spot. They only have 2 thing on the menu - coffee and beignets. My new favorite food is doughy powdered sugar beignets. Mmm....

Anyway, those were the highlights from New Orleans. There were a million more stories from the 3 days, but I think this blog entry is too long as it is, so if you want to hear more, just ask and I'm happy to share!

TRENTON IN T MINUS 10 HOURS!