NYC and beyond...

I have just returned from a wonderful adventure in NYC. It has entailed a lot and so i am going to attempted to go by both subject and day. I encourage your comments and questions.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007.
Since i have no job, i clearly have a lot of free time on my hands. I was chatting with the wentworth boy about the free time. He asked me what i was up to and asked me if wanted to join him in NYC while he was at a conference for a few days. I was going down to NYC on Thursday night, so i jumped at the chance to not only go down to NYC a few days early, but to spend some time with the wentworth boy who I hadn't seen in a while. I then bought a ticket on Amtrak for the 137 train at 1:45 pm train leaving from Back Bay to Penn Station. I was quite excited.
I went out for drinks with Eddie from Ohio at the Joshua Tree, and for the second night he got me a bit tipsy. Thankfully, i didn't leave Patterson a stupid message like i had done the previous night. I need to be banned from Sam Adams and MySpace. At least i have stopped leaving "retorts", right?

Wednesday, March 14, 2007.
Marian and i chatted most of the morning and I had to repack about 3 times because weather.com told me that the weather was ever changing and i needed completely different clothes for the trip. I finally was prepared to leave and i did. I got to Back Bay and the wentworth boy greeted me.
It was so nice to see him again. I really have missed him. I am proud to say that after all that last year I really have moved on and see him as one of great guys who i am deeply thankful to have in my life. He treats me like every girl who should be treated by a guy. Anyways the wentworth boy told me that Amtrak's ticketing was down and there was a bit of drama. As goes with me, drama, always follows. When i reserved my ticket, they never charged it, so it was just a reservation. When we tried to charge it, the credit card was denied and the zip code confirmation was wrong. I called Amtrak, then Bank of America, then Amtrak, then Bank of America - then the wentworth boy came to the rescue. Bought my ticket and we were on our way to NYC with 14 students in tow.
The train ride was quite pleasant. The wentworth boy brought movies, and we watched those (even though, they weren't the greatest. The Illusionist did not intrigue me, until the wentworth boy fast forwarded to the last 10 minutes and then it looked quite entertaining. Elizabethtown is one of my favorites, however, most of the movie is slow paced. It isn't until the end of the movie that it really gets exciting and quite cute. Once i've seen the end, i forget how much I dislike the beginning!). We arrived in NYC around 6 and headed out of Penn Station. We had to go from Penn Station which is at 34th between 7 and 8th to the Bedford Hotel which is at 118th and 40th. One of the wentworth boy's students knew his way around, so he navigated through the Metro and got us to the hotel. The wentworth boy and i checked in to room 807 (Remember This!). We had all looked at the pictures on the website. The hotel looked nice enough, the rooms were pretty and all.
We settled in and then all met up to register at the conference and get some dinner because we were famished. Unfortunately, registration was closed, which made no sense because it was 7:15pm and registration closed at 7:30pm. We headed to Times Square and ate at the TGI Friday's. It was 4 stories and not the greatest looking restaurant ever. The wentworth boy and I ate on the second floor and the rest of the students were on the 1st, 3rd and 4th. We got a cobb salad and a bacon cheesey burger thing, to drink: water, sangria and a Sam Adams. The salad and the burger came out within about 15 minutes, the drinks however, came when we had finished eating. Also, the salad was about 15 dollars, the burger, about 18. WHAT! Seriously folks... We paid and then headed back to the hotel for some R & R. I will be writing another blog on room 807. Yes, room 807 deserves its own entry.

Thursday, March 15, 2007.
The wentworth boy had his chaperonly duties to take care of, so most of the morning was taking care of that. Around noon, we grabbed lunch at a great pizza place downtown. It was cheese and white pizza and it was AMAZING. We then headed from Times Square to 5th Ave, past Rockefeller Center, Saks, FAO Schwartz, the Mac Store and Central Park. The wentworth boy had never been to NYC and despite asking what he wanted to see, there were not real answers other than pizza and a hot dog. So... i figured i show him around by telling him we'd end up in central park and he could eat a hot dog, so the walking was to get an end result of a hot dog. It started to rain after FAO Schwartz and so we headed back to the Hotel. On the way, we got a hot dog and a pretzel. Back in room 807, I took a nap, the wentworth boy watched one of his shows. Then we headed out to dinner with some of his students at the Hard Rock Cafe. I was much cheaper then Friday's. Then back to room 807.

Friday, March 16, 2007.
I left room 807 by 9:15am to get to Flushing to drop my bag off and then head back in to the City with Marian and friends. I didn't grab breakfast, but we bought biscuits on the side of the street and ate them on the train in. Once we got to the city, Marian and I went to the St. John's Insurance Library. Marian says they have a lot of the information that her library does not. So we went on a tour. We then headed back in to the city to meet up with our other friends. Marian and i got off the train at 54th and Broadway and a bit of adventure began. I wound up hitting my knee on the stairs and then passing out and going to Belleview Hospital. I will be writing a separate blog about this as well as room 807.
After being released we went to S'mac for dinner because i hadn't really gotten much to eat. We ordered 5 different mac and cheeses and they were delightful!!! We then trudged through the terrible sleet and snow and awfulness only to get in a cab anyways to Rice to Riches, one my new favorite places. I had cheesecake and raspberry rice pudding. After our yummyness, we headed home for the night, where i slept in a bed that was not in room 807.

Saturday, March 17, 2007.
Saturday was centered on relaxing. Dim Sum in Queens for breakfast/lunch - It was amazing minus the shrimp i ate and had to get some benedryll. Also we past about 10 McDonald's on the way to the restaurant, at which i reminded everyone that McDonald's had shamrock shakes. It was St. Patrick's Day after all. After Dim Sum we had cotton candy and went to the Korean Super Market. We came home to play the bowl game and watch a movie where i believe most of us napped. Dinner was amazing fried chicken and salad. We watched a little tv and then crashed.

Sunday, March 18, 2007.
This morning, we had crepes for breakfast and then headed out! First stop was for emponanda's and boy were they amazing (if you haven't guessed, not only am i on sabbatical from work, but from weight watchers!!). We drove for a while, then stopped to gas up and tried to get a Shamrock Shake at McDonald's. I had already been told on Saturday that NY doesn't have them anymore, so we though CT might be different. No luck. We drove on, i began to feel a little ill. Fell asleep and woke up to a discussion about Shamrock Shakes. There was some research done on the Internet phone about others who also seek out the delicious green wonders. I suggest googling "shamrock shakes" to learn more or check out our favorite site here. We took exit 67 on 84 and behold, found a McDonald's with the beautiful green shakes. I was a happy camper. We arrived home, complete with full stomachs and smiles on our faces.



Look forward to more blogs on the hospital and room 807.