NYC Trip - Day 1

It's finally here...the big NYC trip of 2010. Although I was up around 3am (couldn't sleep due to prior afternoon nap), we were up and at 'em and off to the airport in good spirits. Rhonda has decreed that today is "Red,White,&Blue Day" so that means patriotic garb all around. Actually, people thought we were cheering for the US to win their World Cup soccer match that was to take place this afternoon.

OMG, R passed a Starbucks stop at the airport to eat lunch instead. Even so, we were nearly the last to board the plane (It's a wonder R didn't have a heart attack). The plane was nice with lots of TV channels/music to tune into provided you brought your own headphones. What a coincidence, the Kauffman's were prepared for this. We not only enjoyed the flight in our own TV worlds, but we were even able to play a few rounds of multiplayer iPad Airport with the aid of our bluetooth connections.

As we approached NYC, the city sights came into view. Statue...Check, downtown Manhattan....Check, Western Beef....Check, Citi Field.....Check. Mark didn't make it to the airport so we picked up a van to take us to Mark's.

Upon arrival, we were pleasantly surprised to find that Mark had organized his belongings in anticipation of our visit. We immediately went to the new BestBuy/BJ's Wholesale (woot). Picked up some foods, air mattress, TV antenna, fan, etc... so we should be all set for the week.

For evening meal, Mark lead us to Joe's Bestburger. It's kinda like 5guys burgers, but they have something WAY better...Chocolate Soda. Not just that (oh no no no), but also Strawberry Soda!!! Even the Snozberries tasted like Snozberries (yum). After dinner, we took a trip to visit the Queens Library. Overall a very impressive building with a focus on a multi-language collection. We picked up books and movies of all different languages to see how much we could "figure out". What we quickly discovered is that we are pretty lost without English print.

The evening was capped by a visit to the Chinese Grocery store. Crates of dried fish were just "out" with people flipping through the stacks. There appeared to be a section of rotten food (complete with a fly disposal system) for people that want to buy that sorta thing. In the meat section, I found some "silky chicken" that looked like regular chicken, but it was DARK BLUE. What the heck could have possibly happened to that chicken to make it's skin appear like it had mold growing all over it.




OK, we broke down and bought some durian frozen pops. When Mark found out that I was going to try it, he started throwing out caution warnings. Basically, I'm expecting a life changing experience when I sample the durian pops (based solely on it's infamy).

We're back at Mark's now. His WoW raid was called so we're watching "How to train your dragon" on his big screen TV.

I'm glad I brought my iPad/keyboard as it seems to work well for blogging. Now I'm going to try to post this entry with a new iPad app that I downloaded.

Peace out for now...

Big Penguin