Dear guy on a pole, thanks a lot, jerk.

This great picture of the jerk on the pole comes from this
site, which has a really good sum-up of the whole thing.
Although the title suggests something really lewd, that is not the case - Sorry to all of you fans of men on poles out there. I don't mean some sort of sexual joke with the title, I mean that literally, a guy climbed to the top of an electrical pole in Philadelphia.

Normally, I wouldn't care about this. However, because I was in New York City, waiting for a train, this presented quite the conundrum for me. Our originally scheduled train for 7:30 p.m. was delayed until 9:45 p.m. because they had to cut the electricity while they helped down the dumb asshole who shocked himself trying to steal copper wire. (For the record, I voted that I was "furious" about the story.)

As a result, I'm not scheduled to get back into Kingston until 12:45 a.m. Ugh. I was planning on doing some things Wednesday morning, but that time is most likely going to be sucked up with rest and recuperation time. The lights are on on the train, so I can't really get any shuteye.

I also have a pretty full week scheduled - The high school newspaper deadline for the kids is Wednesday, and Friday for me, followed by my site launching Monday, which means a lot of prep work for me. Exciting times, but really busy times, unfortunately. I'll try to keep y'all updated with the blog, but my next couple days of entries will probably be shorter.

Steve and the City II: The Return

Once again, like a couple months ago, I’m on a train. Or as T-Pain might say, “I’m on a train trick!”

As always, like the South County yokel that I am, the mix of people on the train is fascinating to me. Thankfully, unlike last time, there isn’t someone trying to make a baby right near me. Unfortunately, there aren’t two humorous teenage girls either. You take the good with the bad – I’m listening to Eddie Money instead. (I agree with my friend Michael that “Baby Hold On” is seriously an incredibly good song. Check it out on YouTube here.)

Today, the excitement is more muted. It is the little things amazing me. For example, half this train is asleep, draped across two seats, with their shoes off. This was definitely gross when I first got on the train, because it smelled like feet. I can understand sleeping on the train, but it seems rude to me to drape across two seats like it is your goddamn bed. And that goes doubly for putting your stinky metatarsals all over the seats.

Luckily though, my ticket is for business class, where there were far less people comatose. It doesn’t take much to impress, and Amtrak knows the way to my heart – free (non-alcoholic) drinks. Mmm, Diet Pepsi. I only drank two small cans though, because I’m classy. (Also, I had a can of soda before the train ride. If only I had known it would be free! Sigh.)

The reason for the trip to New York City is a work-related conference. I think it’s mostly to meet some of the other people involved in the company on the East Coast, and to learn about some new developments in the field and what not. I’d reveal more, except that’s probably frowned upon. Suffice to say, it’s really cool. As John Morrison and The Miz would say, be jealous.

Typed from 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m. Monday morning. Because I will be busy the next two days at conferences, there is a good chance that Tuesday’s entry will be delayed. Then again, I might be able to squeeze one out quickly and get it posted…

The picture of John Morrison and The Miz is from this site.

Traveling in Boston and apologies

My glorious beds. They were awesome.
Anyway, so the last bit about my travels. I mean, besides complaining about psychos on the train.

I got done with my job training around 5:30 on Monday. And, this is boring considering that we were in New York City, but we just went to TGIF, haha. We had to catch the train at 7 at Penn Station, so we couldn't haul ass around the entire city looking for somewhere to eat. After going up and dear the places near Madison Square Garden, we mostly saw fast food (White Castle, Burger King) or small delis. As weird as it seemed to me, TGIF was one of the few restaurants that actually had a big place to dine-in and sit down.

So, I had the Jack Daniels burger, and it was delicious. I will say that New York's idea of putting the calorie counts on menus is wickedly effective. I turned away from also getting an appetizer when I noticed that my burger alone had about 1,600 calories. Yikes!

Anyway, the train was a few minutes late, but nothing major. The back portions were completely full, so myself and two co-workers used the quiet car instead. This made for a pretty unremarkable voyage, so I apologize for not having any stunning, blow-by-blow commentary, like I did the other day.

I got into Boston at about 10. Despite the fact that I've been to Boston before, I of course got lost trying to get to my hotel, which was only two-tenths of a mile away from South Station. Luckily, it wasn't raining. Unluckily, the area around South Station isn't exactly the nicest, and I got accosted by 1) aggressive taxi drivers and 2) two kids who claimed they were stranded in Boston because they couldn't afford bus fare back to New Hampshire. I didn't really believe this though, since they looked like they were on something, and because they asked for way too little (like $8.50).

However, like my stay in New York, the Boston hotel was ridiculously nice. It was the Langham Hotel, and while there weren't any art books in my room this time, there was a leather-bound book explaining all about the hotel's history. (The short version: It's old and famous and awesome.)

The bathroom was a bit smaller and more conventional than the Cooper Square Hotel, but the room itself was MUCH bigger. There was a little hallway that ran into my room, which was connected to the hallway. There were two big beds, giving me ample room to put my clothes out to draw from the soggy walk on Sunday, and the one I actually slept on was soft as shit, to quote Danny DeVito (Frank Reynolds) from It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia.

Here are the sights from my room:


The little hallway I was talking about. The end table was nice, since it allowed me to put my crap out.


Just a plain ole tub. The water temperature was very nice though, and they did include three towels with the room, which is always appreciated.


Just a sink. Sorry, not much to see here. That's my contact solution and holder on the right, and an ice bucket on the left. I'm still a big kid, so I abuse the ice machine at every hotel I'm in, just because I like using the ice machine.


And finally, some chairs. I didn't use them at all though. Sorry, Langham staff.

Because I got into Boston so late - it was 11 by the time I got to my hotel room - I didn't really have any time to do anything. I just slept, got a sandwich in the morning from Au Bon Pain, did my training, and then got another sandwich from Au Bon Pain in South Station. (What can I say? I was a fan of their roast beef.) Maybe next time, I'll have some actual fun. And hey, with the new job, I finally get vacation time, and enough salary to actually take a real vacation.

Finally - I apologize for being a bit absent lately from the blogosphere. I've essentially missed an entire week of posts! :/ If you wrote anything recently that you'd really like some feedback on, or that you'd really think I'd enjoy, please point it out to me. I'm going to try to review a bit of what's been posted the past week, and to just pick up from today forward, but I'll see how that goes.

Ugh, stupid annoying people (with cameos by the train and the weather)

I was going to take the hour I had on the train now to type about my journey from New York City to Boston. But, I just had to get soaked on the 0.2 mile walk to the train station, so I'm not exactly in the mood to format all the pictures from my hotel room and what not. (For what it's worth, this room was even nicer than the last one - Smaller bathroom, but a HUGE room and two beds, so I could spread all my clothes out to drop properly.)

To make matters worse, I have more annoying people on the train with me. There is nobody trying to make babies at least, but behind me there is a very angry lesbian. I say "very angry lesbian" because she is talking about how she thinks her girlfriend is making a mistake by looking at Harvard instead of a smaller school, oh and also, she runs some sort of car rental company (???) and she has met several people from the United Nations.

If she wasn't so shrill and COMPLETELY uncaring of the people around her, I might care a bit more and listen a bit more closely. I understand I'm not on the quiet car, but wow. I have my headphones on ("C.R.E.A.M." by The Wu-Tang Clan, thank you for asking!), yet I can still hear her yammering about politics and sexual identity in some pretentious novels. Good times, GOOD TIMES.

Anyway. I'll be back in Kingston by 8ish, so I'm going to wrap this up for now. The post with pictures from the hotel room will probably be up tomorrow or later tonight; I'm not sure yet. Lates!

Steve and the City (Get it? It's like that show!) and Food Porn

I'm not a very cultured person. For example, I didn't own a tie until I went to a homecoming dance in the 10th grade, and to this day, I still only own one. (It's not the same one - This one has kangaroos on it, and I inadvertently stole it from my buddy Mike Smith. Sorry Mike!) I own about three dress shirts, and two pairs of dress pants.

Thankfully, my new job doesn't require me to dress up. It does require me to travel to New York City though on the train, which I always find to be an odd experience.

Generally, I'm more used to taking the train up to Boston, or the subway while in Boston. So the mass of humanity milling about, on their way to Connecticut or New York or Washington D.C., is fascinating to me. I managed to avoid having a seat-mate until the New Haven stop, about 90 minutes out from the city. (Unfortunately, unlike every movie I've ever seen about train or plane travel, a foxy Natalie Portman-like lady is not sitting next to me. This woman looks like Medea.)

Anyway, for the first couple stops out of Kingston, the people across from me were, to put it politely, trying to make a baby. Like, they were draped across their two seats, entangled and kissing. It was kind of... really gross. I hope they had a good reason for it.

Also on the early trip were a pair of young girls, who apparently were allowed to travel by themselves. By "young" I mean 10 to 12, which seemed REALLY young to me. They had to call and check in with their mom after each stop, which led to a somewhat comical 2-minute phone conversation each time, since the reception isn't really that great.

Girl: MOM! I'm in Westerly now. West-ter-ly. It's like in Rhode Island or something. I think New Haven is next. New HAVEN!

This repeated itself about five times, since she was wrong each time about New Haven being the next stop. Good times, good times. The Lovers didn't really think much of The Young Travelers, even though they were seemingly doing their best to create future Young Travelers.

My only companion during this long journey is my trusty MacBook. However, in the "Rhode Island Is Too Small" category, I did bump into a girl from college at the train station. I don't remember her name though, and she wasn't traveling alone, so again, I avoided the Portman scenario outlined above. (I wouldn't have minded this necessarily, although I'm not sure how well the "I don't remember your name" thing would have gone over.)

I will note that the MacBook has a ridiculously good battery. It looks like it's going to survive just about the entire four-hour trip. (4:17 p.m. to 7:40ish p.m.) I'm watching Criminal Intent, or at least, I'm trying to. I have the first five seasons, but the first season was skipping way too much, and so far, I've already seen the first 14 episodes of season two. (It is weird to see Holly from The Office and Beadie Russell from The Wire in "Suit Sorrow" though, now that I know who she is. And Daniels from The Wire in "Probability", which ironically cribs from the plot of the fifth season of The Wire.)

Anyway. I finally get off the train, grabbing a slice from one of those pizza places they have in the terminal at Penn Station. By now, it's about 8, and since it's overcast but not horrible out, I decide to hoof it the two miles to my hotel.

After about a tenth of the mile, it starts POURING. I get effing drenched, from head to toe. According to the news broadcast I saw, the city got about two inches of rain in a couple hours. Wonderfully, I waded through it, since I had no idea how much a taxi cost. (Looking it up after the fact, it probably would have been about $5 to $10, a price I would have gladly paid.)

Also, I may have inadvertently freaked a girl out. Apparently, she decided to walk from Penn Station to Broadway (where my hotel is roughly) as well, and I trailed behind her the entire time. This was mostly because I had two bags to carry, and couldn't really work up a good pace, since it was raining and all that.

However, once I finally made it to my hotel, the night got radically better. My room is ridiculously nice, and the only downside is that I just get one night in it. Womp womp womp. It was completely dark by the time I got here, so you might not get any pictures of the skyline from the windows. The room is very, very nice and spacious:


My bath tub and shower. I used this almost immediately, since I was trying to thaw out from getting soaked in the rain. As I was waiting in the lobby to be taken to my room, some people saw me and said, "Oh wow I'm glad we decided not to go out!" Yeah, well, I guess that was smart on your part.


A nice flat screen.


A ridiculously plump and cushy bed. I'm practically nodding off laying on it right now.


However, bookshelves continue to taunt me. My room has one, and it is full of classy books on art and conventional fare. Unfortunately, I don't really have time to read, otherwise I'd probably poke around a bit.

Considering my night though, I didn't feel bad about splurging on room service, the first and (probably) only time I will do this. Here is some of that delectable goodness:


Described as having taleggio cheese, caramelized onions, pickled mustard seeds and herbed fries. Whatever was on it, it was delicious, although not as good as...


Holy smokes these things are like a DRUG. I devoured them, along with the green herb stuff that accompanied them.


I also got some stromboli. It was fancy stromboli though, and it was delicious.

And last but not least, they have their own fancy, delicious mustard:


Anyway, as you read this, I'm on a train from New York City (7 p.m. Monday) to Boston (10:30 p.m. Monday) for the second day of training on Tuesday. I'll probably have an entry about that whole experience as I go through it ready for Tuesday night's post. I'm finally back in Rhode Island on Tuesday night, and probably sleeping off most of my travel on Wednesday morning. I'll be back to regular posting at that point.

Chris and Steve venture to New York City

Because I'm completely nuts, and because my friend Chris is nuts, we decided to make the trip to New York City yesterday to watch the Rams play. Now, if you're in New England, or watch the national news at all, you may have heard that Rhode Island was dealing with the worst flooding of the past 100 years.

This was absolutely true, which made leaving... interesting. I left my house at 12:45, figuring it would be the usual 15 minute trip to Route 95. Unfortunately though, the most direct outlet - Kings Factory Road to Route 91 - was blocked, as was the other outlets, Burdickville Road and Buckeye Brook Road. As a result, I had to make a big loop to catch Route 95 in Connecticut, where Chris met up with me at about 2. Meaning, 75 minutes for a trip that usually takes 15. Along the way, I almost stalled out in a couple huge puddles, and my engine is now probably wet, because my car continues to stall from time to time. ick.

Once we got on 95 though, it was smooth sailing. Chris drove, and we made incredibly time even though we stopped once - We were on the outskirts of Manhattan by 4:15, and parked around 5. We were at a garage only a block away from Madison Square Garden, which was wicked sweet.

Before the game started, we went to a place near the Garden called Brother Jimmy's for a drink. While there were a couple Rhody fans there, it wasn't anything special, and the drinks were $6 a draft. So, instead of eating there, we ventured off to White Castle! It was my first time, and the onion-grilled burgers really hit the spot. I was less impressed with the chicken rings though; I was expecting something a bit more onion-y with those too. Before the game, we also went to a pizza place at Penn Station, and I had a slice of delicious tomato and cheese pizza, and we each some Coors Light tall boys. (We're classy like that.)

Finally, the games! The opener was Dayton vs. Ole Miss, which was pretty boring, actually. Dayton led comfortably pretty much the entire game. We sat in our assigned 300-level seating to start, but then moved to 115 a little before halftime. At the half, I went outside to meet my friend Allie and to give her her ticket. Then we watched Dayton maintain their lead against Ole Miss for the win.

For the start of the Rhody game, we moved up again, because Chris is the master at this. He found a spot on the baseline, two rows up, in the folding chairs! I think I was on television during a couple inbound plays. While Rhode Island lost in overtime, primarily because they couldn't hit their free throws, it definitely looked like Ulmer got tripped from our angle. The crowd went pretty ballistic at the final horn, as the boos and swearing at the refs far outweighed the cheering for UNC.

My overall impression of Madison Square Garden was kind of... meh. It just feels like a really big version of the Providence Civic Center, or any other generic, multi-purpose arena. I think they try to spice things up with the display boards and scoreboards, but it definitely feels like a 1960s or 1970s-era Grey Blob stadium.

Anyway. The Rams' loss put a damper on my mood, so I didn't really want to stick around in New York to eat. We ate on the road instead, and again, we made great time. Considering that we left New York around 1, I thought it was great that I made it back to my car by 3:30ish. Of course, it then took me 45 minutes from there to get home because of all the road closings, but hey, at least I didn't have to rent a hotel!