Ice Of Boston

To catch up on the rest of the weekend...

Friday (3/5) started with a brief train ride from Bronxville to Pleasantville, where Katy picked me up. Driving through Westchester is beautiful for two reasons. The first is the gorgeous terrain which is accentuated because of its proximity to NYC. The second is that all the cars are sweet, luxury rides. After seeing Katy's new home and showing off my basketball skills against people half my height and less than half my age, I took off for the city again and saw the Chuck Close exhibit at The Met. I met up with Katy later and we ate at a Portuguese restaurant on the West Side.

We walked around Manhattan for a while and saw a pair of guys going to the premiere of "Starsky and Hutch" that had dressed up as Starsky and Hutch. The only reason we figured out that they weren't just a couple of guys out on the town was that one was wearing a bad fake mustache. Later on I got a little warning for the rest of my trip when it took us what seemed like hours to find a bathroom late at night in the city. Thankfully I was not forced to resort to public urination, because that's waaaaaay too cliche.

Saturday was spent mostly wandering around in Chinatown, where I was tempted to buy what must have been several pounds of fortune cookies for only $2.25. Think of the possibilities. The weather was erratic and it was fun watching hordes of people scramble for cover when sky would shift from clear to overcast to threatening to raining-cats-and-dogs in a matter of seconds. Luckily I was equipped with my water-proof boots and jacket, so I scrambled not.

On the train to Princeton Saturday night I met an Electrical Technician for the U.S. Postal Service (though unfortunately he works for the real postal service and was unfamiliar with the works of Ben Gibbard and Jimmy Tamborello). He encouraged me to send resumes everywhere when I get back, including to the USPS and he had no qualms about telling me his salary and the salary of several people he worked with that had positions similar to what I would be seeking (I think).

On the iPod Saturday: Wilco - Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Beastie Boys - Ill Communication
Draw your own conclusions.

(Note: The picture above is not where Katy lives, but is an example of a "normal" house in the area)

Philly...

While Barbara, Eric, and Louise enjoyed the Philadelphia Flower Show today, I explored the rest of Philadelphia. I spent most of the morning reading in front of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which is currently exhibiting Manet, not that you could tell by looking at the front of the museum. I also stopped by the Rodin museum and saw one of many thinkers that must exist throughout the world.

At lunch I met up with Nora, who lives surprisingly close to the museums and downtown Philly and she managed to show me around all the nice parts of the city (or only nice parts of the city exist, which is hard to believe considering the size). The picture of Nora was taken on her roof deck.

We walked around on South Street which Nora described accurately as a seedier version of State Street and then followed Penn's Landing along the Delaware River. Although the lines at Pat's and Geno's didn't seem worth the authenticity of their cheesesteaks, I did have a Yuengling, which Nora correctly suggested that I order by simply asking for a "lager". It's very similar to Leinenkugel's in many ways.