Tomorrow is the second anniversary of the 9/11 attacks...
I remember being in third period, Mr. Ahlsen's Chemistry class in room 203. It was a few minutes before 9:40 when Mr. Touretz announced that a "national tragedy" had taken place that morning. Everyone in my class immediately became quiet. Then he said what had happened, that two airplanes had hit the twin towers. I don't think he initially used the word "terrorism" or "terrorists," so I couldn't put two and two together and realize that it was intentional. He said that third period would be extended through fourth, and students were to remain in their classrooms unless they wanted to attempt to contact their family members. After Mr. Ahlsen said something (which included the word "terrorism"), I started shaking as if I was freezing, yet I was not cold at all.
Mr. Ahlsen took the class into the small room in between his and Dr. Hazan's, and there we all crowded in to listen to the radio which was tuned to WCBS 880-AM. I believe it was just as their top-of-the-hour tone sounded when one of the anchors said that one of the towers had just crumbled. It was so surprising because no one was expecting that one of the major symbols of New York could come down like that. She then said that 50,000 people worked in the Twin Towers, and I started to think about all of the people who were trapped inside, still shaking.
At 10:30, it was time to move to fifth period, which was lunch for me. As I made my way through the halls, I was stunned to see the students standing right outside the guidance office crying and hugging each other. This was the first time I cried, not only for the sadness that everyone was feeling, but also because I was joyed at seeing everyone coming together in such a way that I would have never expected.
In lunch, I felt sick not knowing what was going on. There was no radio to listen to and no TV to watch. For 45 minutes, I was uninformed, and that made me even more scared.
Sixth period was Computer Programming. That's when I found out that the second tower had collapsed just as I was leaving the Chemistry lab. Mrs. Phillips had us continue to work on our projects, and I actually felt better being in that classroom. Somehow, the usually stressful task of making computer programs made me feel relieved.
Seventh period was Global Education, and Mr. Baierlein had the radio (880 again) on. I think he did a good job at explaining everything to us and trying to calm everyone down. He did, however, make one huge mistake: He said that he wanted to end the rumors that the Twin Towers had been attacked because it was really two other buildings in the World Trade Center complex. This made me confused for the next few hours. (The next day, he apologized for this error, saying that he was uninformed and couldn't believe that the actual Twin Towers had fallen.)
Then came English, and I remember Mrs. May trying to make some kind of a statement on the day's tragedies, but she didn't really make sense. She kind of laughed it off, which bothered me a lot. And finally, I had Math ninth period. I don't remember Mrs. O'Brien making any comment about what had happened. All she did was teach a normal lesson. (Apparently she taught right through Mr. Touretz's announcements that day.. Typical Mrs. O'Brien, but still stunning.)
That whole day during school, kids were leaving left and right. An announcement broke into class seemlingly every 5-10 minutes: "..Would you please send so-and-so to the main office for dismissal?" A good number of people were gone by the end of the day (I'm not good at estimating numbers of people, so I won't).
When I got home, I was happy to see my mom and my dad. Then I wanted to watch TV for the rest of the day because that is one of my hobbies. Being able to hear the information was somewhat calming for me, but I also heard a lot more and it made me mad. And for the first time, I saw the video of the 2nd plane hitting the tower. Then I saw them collapsing. Then they showed pictures from the streets of New York, looking more like a war zone in a third world country rather than one of the biggest cities in the world.
I remember my parents went out to play tennis later that evening to try to relax. So it was just my sister and me at home (along with our dog, Whitney). We heard one loud airplane outside in the sky, and it was very scary because the FAA had grounded essentially all airplanes in the country. We realized that it was probably a military jet or something like that. That night, I had trouble sleeping because I kept thinking about what had happened that day.
Dan Rather's open of the CBS Evening News at 6:30: "A stunning and cowardly strike on the United States. Terrorists send mighty skyscrapers crumbling to the ground. Many innocent people are dead. The President vows the killers will pay for this attack on America. (open) September 11th, 2001. You will remember this day as long as you live. Good evening again, this is CBS News continuing coverage of the Attack on America, a series of coordinated terrorist strikes today at this country, its people, our freedom. Strikes that came without warning. Four U.S. commercial jetliners were hijacked, two crashed into the World Trade Center here in New York City, and sent the giant Twin Towers, filled with workers, crumbling to the ground. A third hijacked airliner slammed into the seat of American military power, the Pentagon. The fourth hijacked airliner, target unknown, but possibly a target intended in or near Washington, went down in Southwestern Pennsylvania."
Last year, I remember the assembly we had at school to mark the first anniversary. It was so quiet in that North Gym as the selected students recounted how they felt that day. The only other sound that you could hear was that of crying. And yes, at more than one moment, I cried too. I was comforted when one girl gave me a hug after she saw me like that. And that giant American flag looked wonderful.
I'm glad that we won't be having another assembly tomorrow. As appropriate and well-done as I thought last year's was, I simply do not want to shed many tears in school again. I'm sure that Mr. Touretz will make at least one announcement at around 8:45am. That's when I expect a moment of silence to take place as it will be two years to the minute when the first plane struck the North Tower.
How will I be observing tomorrow? I don't think I'll be doing anything too special. I have three "flag shirts" and I will be wearing them for the last three days of this school week (I started today). I just took out my CBS News "What We Saw" book, and I plan on reading that tomorrow during my free time (in study hall). I also took out the DVD that was included and I watched some of that this afternoon. It is quite sickening to watch that footage once again, but I think it is necessary to do so at least once a year so that we can remember how we felt on 9/11/01. Unfortunately, TV networks and stations will probably refrain from airing this more than a few times tomorrow because it may anger some. I think it should be aired and it should get us angry. We can't let those terrorists win and we must bring justice to them. I don't feel safe with Osama bin Laden or any of his henchmen out there.
Here are two good websites to look back on 9/11:
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/trade.center/day.section.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/september11/main500249.shtml
That's all for now...
Sunday, September 11, 2011
I'll Never Forget
I'll never forget how beautiful that Tuesday morning in September was.
I'll never forget listening to WCBS 880 on the radio shortly after that announcement. At 9:59, the anchor reported that the South Tower had just collapsed. We all just looked at each other. I was eager to find out how it was being covered on TV, being the news junkie that I was (and still am).
I'll never forget seeing dozens of students crying outside the guidance and main offices. The change of periods had been delayed but then they tried to have the school resume with the usual schedule. This was the day before most students had cell phones and so they were lining up to get in touch with their family. Some would eventually learn that their parents were not coming home.
I'll never forget the constant announcements into classrooms asking for specific students to report to the main office to go home. Throughout the day, classes became emptier and emptier. Some teachers tried to go about their usual routine. Mr. Phillips still had us work on some computer programming. Mrs. O'Brien tried to teach a little.
I'll never forget the misinformation of that day. My global history teacher Mr. Baierlein tried to clear up some of the misinformation and announced that, yes, two buildings in the World Trade Center had collapsed but that it was NOT the Twin Towers. (He apologized to us the next day.) There were reports that the State Department had been car bombed and other planes were still up in the air. It seemed like the attacks would never end.
I'll never forget coming home off the bus and rushing to watch the news coverage. This was the first time I was seeing the plane crash, the buildings crumbling, the people running away from the dust cloud, the new skyline and the damage at the Pentagon and Shanksville, PA. It was one thing to hear about it but it was so much more disturbing to actually see it.
I'll never forget being home with my sister that evening while my parents were out playing tennis. We heard planes overhead and that was scary considering that all commercial flights had been grounded. We quickly realized that they were fighter jets, which was both comforting and unnerving at the same time.
I'll never forget how annoyed I was with the way the middle school handled the day. My sister said they made an announcement telling all teachers to lock their doors and windows but said nothing more for a little while. That's what you say when there's a person running around the building with a gun. What a way to create panic.
I'll never forget watching the CBS Evening News with my sister and seeing close-up video of a person jumping out of one of the Twin Towers. We had heard about how people had jumped that morning but that was the first (and last) time I actually saw it.
I'll never forget the photos at Ground Zero of missing loved ones.
I'll never forget how no survivors were found after the first few hours. Later that week, Mr. Touretz tried to announce some good news to the school: A survivor had been found at the World Trade Center site. It turned out not to be the case -- it was a rescuer who had fallen and needed to be rescued. It was not someone from the initial collapses.
I'll never forget how we could smell the smoke from the World Trade Center fires by that Friday, even all the way out here in Suffolk County. The local weather reports on the news included in what direction the wind was pushing that plume of smoke. The schools even had to cancel outdoor activities that day because of the poor air quality.
I'll never forget the rumors that more attacks were imminent. There was a widely reported story a few weekends after 9/11 that an attack on Boston was soon to happen. It seemed like we would never be free anymore.
I'll never forget how the number of those killed kept decreasing as duplicate records were merged, and how I hoped that it would go all the way down to zero.
I'll never forget the stories of heroism on United Airlines Flight 93 and Todd Beamer's "Let's roll."
I'll never forget the November 12th American Airlines Flight 587 crash in Queens and how it made us think the terrorists had struck again.
I'll never forget the many attempted attacks since and how lucky we've been that none of them have been successful.
I'll never forget the sacrifice of thousands of military members and their families that fight in the wars overseas to keep us safe at home.
I'll never forget.
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
The Earth Moved And I Felt It... Finally
It was seven or eight minutes before 2:00 yesterday when I felt it. I had just gotten back from lunch outside across the street at Jake's with my boss Sharon and we were still settling in. I was trying to catch up on Twitter and Sharon called home to reach her babysitter to check in on the baby (she had just returned from maternity leave the day before).
I felt a little movement at my desk but didn't immediately think much of it. I can often feel people walking by, especially when they're delivering mail or when someone is walking quickly into my office. But the shaking lasted more than just a second or two. Maybe someone was rolling some sort of cart with heavy packages? Nope. I noticed that the floor lamp in front of me (which I've never turned on in the almost one year that I've worked at CBS 2... it's not plugged in) was swaying slightly. I felt sort of dizzy, or at least thought I felt dizzy. It kind of reminded me of the shaking you'd feel in the upper decks of Shea Stadium sometimes. So my first reaction was to tweet.
Then I quickly thought: "Hmm, wouldn't it be cool if this is an earthquake? But it's probably not." I remember a Saturday or Sunday morning around 2002 when an earthquake happened up in Plattsburgh. I was on the couch watching TV when my mom came from upstairs asking, "Did you feel that?" I hadn't felt a thing. She was in the bathroom and heard the shower doors rattle suddenly. As this was before Twitter and Facebook, we actually had to wait a few minutes until we heard confirmation of the earthquake on WCBS NewsRadio 880. I was disappointed I had missed that one so I thought yesterday: "Finally!"
I went into Sharon's office next to mine and asked, even though she was on the phone, "Do you feel that?" She said no. Then I felt bad for interrupting. But then some of the sales people on the floor were asking if others felt shaking. One of them asked me to call downstairs to Security to find out what that was. Seemed like a weird request to me but before I could, Sharon said, "They feel it in Queens!" So that's when it was clear that we were feeling an earthquake.
The shaking stopped and we all looked around, probably thinking what I was thinking: "Hmm, I guess that's kind of cool." Then one of the sales women, located next to a stairwell we never use, shouted, "They're all running down the stairs!" Someone else said, "Let's get out of here, guys!" I hadn't thought of evacuating because the earthquake was over but then, as she said that, I thought about the possibility of structural damage and figured if everyone else was leaving, I would, too. Sharon reminded me to bring my phones and backpack just in case we didn't get to go back inside that day. And then we went down the stairs.
Now, these stairs are never used by any of us so we were sort of disoriented after going down the two flights. We ended up in some area that was under construction. Some thought to maybe try going down one more level. But then I realized that this looked familar. It was the space that they're turning into more offices for the network news. I only knew this because I had been given a tour of the network facilities less than two weeks ago and was pretty sure I knew the way out. So I led. (One of the sales bosses later jokingly said something like: "Thank god for Geoffrey for getting us out of there or else we all might have died.")
Going through the hallway, we saw tons of other people escaping. There was no panic but we were trying to go quickly. There was one older man who was being helped as we slowly walked and some people ran around. Someone came on the loudspeaker saying that they had received reports that the building had shaken but I don't think any information was provided yet except to let people know that they knew (and to stop calling). I checked Facebook on my phone and saw lots of statuses asking if anyone else felt it or announcing that it was an earthquake. One friend said he felt it in DC. I think that was the first time I got nervous. I started to think about how strong it must've been and how many people must be hurt.
We finally got outside to safety and stood right next to the buildings. I guess if they were going to come down, they'd still get us. I saw other people across the street filing out as well. Most everyone was on their cell phones, and most of them were not getting through. I decided to stick to Twitter and Facebook. I quickly got a text from my dad at home on Long Island asking if I felt it and one from my friend Matt in Los Angeles who suddenly saw a ton of statuses on Facebook and wanted to know if I, being the news nerd that I am, could confirm anything. Then my dad texted me again, saying a preliminary report had it at a 6.0 magnitude centered near Charlottesville, VA (where I was visiting my friend Kim this month two years ago). And then I was sad that I was outside missing the news coverage.It was now around 2:00, right when a new wave of reporters comes to work, and at least two of them were talking to people to find out what was going on. And everyone else just chatted and kept providing updates on what they were hearing. Luckily, nothing included anything about severe damage and, most importantly, nothing was heard about injuries.Two fire trucks with lights and sirens pulled up, coming from both ends of the street. We had smelled something weird on the way out, maybe gas, and I guess they were there to make sure we weren't going to blow up. I think it was around 2:25 when they announced that we could go back inside so everyone did. I don't understand the people who took elevators up but I work on only the third floor and I guess most of those people worked higher up.
When I got back to work, I turned on our coverage and also flipped around. I had been glued to CNN's coverage all morning of the Libyan rebels gaining access to Gadhafi's compound. It was very compelling stuff. But now that was blown out for earthquake coverage. I was again glad to see that there didn't seem to be any serious injuries or damage.
So that was that. The big earthquake of 2011. And I felt this one. I'm good now. I don't need to feel any ever again.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Say It Ain't Snow!
Tuesday morning forecasts for the storm starting later tonight and continuing into tomorrow.
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Blizzard Warning
Here's what the channels are forecasting for Monday as of Christmas night Saturday:
WNYW, 10 p.m.:
WPIX, 10 p.m.:
WCBS, 11 p.m.:
WNBC, 11 p.m.:
WABC, 11 p.m.:
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
I finally drove to Brant Lake
Wednesday was a big day. A possible new opportunity presented itself just before I left to meet with an advisor at Hofstra. That meeting went well and I was on the road by around 12:15. Lots to think about but I had to focus on the big trip. I got to Nick's grandma's in Nassau at around 3:10, said hello to his mom and grandma, and we were off! We stopped at Subway in Glens Falls for food, Stewart's in Chestertown for my skim milk, and got to the trailer by around 5:45. Pretty cool... I did it!
We settled in, chatted with my grandparents for a bit, then headed down to the beach to hang out with Cody, Victoria, Abigail, Jessica, Justin and Cori. They were playing ladder golf so we joined in and it was fun. But then dark clouds appeared and the wind picked up. We heard loud thunder and then it poured. Everyone headed inside and Nick and I had the longest walk/run back. It soon began to hail and Nick decided to stick his soda cup outside. "Free ice!" I think we started a game of Monopoly, then headed back to the beach and sat by Cody's fire. Thursday was Cody's 17th birthday so we counted down to midnight and Nick gave him 18 birthday punches before we all hugged Cody.
I had trouble sleeping that night. It poured for most of the night and then I was up at 4:45. I realized I couldn't get back to sleep. I looked out the window and it looked clear so I headed down to the beach at 5 with my camera and snapped away. It was so peaceful and I watched the fog over the water drift toward the beach, then back over the lake a few minutes later. I made it back to the trailer for a bit and slept until around 8. That's when an obnoxious bird woke Nick and me up. I saw other birds hanging out on the feeder so I put the zoom lens on my camera and took more shots. Nick and I watched the hummingbird do its thing and then six birds eventually got on one of the other feeders. After a bagel breakfast on the porch, we headed over to Cody's trailer at around 9 and got his grandmother's permission to wake him up. We slowly walked inside and then Nick woke him up violently. It was pretty fun. We took him out on my boat for a birthday morning boat ride down to the next cove and hung out there until it got warm enough to go swimming. I think we were out for almost two hours but somehow it felt more like twenty minutes. Then we hung out by the beach a lot with the kids. For dinner, Grandma had me call down to Luna Pizza in Chestertown, about 25 minutes away, so Nick and I went for a little ride around the lake. We brought the pizza back and it was very good. Then we hung out in the trailer chatting with my grandparents for a bit before hanging out in the boat at the dock. Nick played with my camera and it was a fun time. When the other kids got back from Saratoga (they saw a cover band for Cody's birthday), we proposed walking to the cemetery. Cody, Victoria and Abigail agreed to join Nick and me and I eventually talked Justin into coming, too. I think it was going to be the first time for everyone (except for me -- it was always a scary walk but fun as well). Justin ended up chickening out by the mailboxes, pretty much two minutes into the 25-minute walk there. Oh well. Abby let us know that she was pretty nervous so we put her in the middle of our five-person hand-holding chain. Those of us on the ends would be eaten first. We told some creepy stories along the way and pretended to hear some strange sounds... and sometimes we didn't even need to pretend. I'll admit to getting nervous but I knew it was all in my head and I had to be confident for my kids. Anyway, we made it there and I showed them the interesting points, like the graves for who I believe to be the stillborns from the late 1800s and my grandma's cousin's spot. Oh, and Cody gave me a good scare by going on the ground and suddenly grabbing my ankles from behind. So glad I didn't scream. We made it back about an hour later, then decided that we needed Johnny to tell us the tale of the Three Brothers as Cody made us a fire. We hung out there until a little past 1, then Nick and I called it a night (and I had to answer to Grandma again, who was worried, even though I checked in with her at midnight after the cemetery and told her where I'd be).
Friday was Nick's last day at the lake and it was a rainy mess. I think we played a second game of Monopoly and also a round of Othello before heading down to the beach to see what was up. Not much. We decided we'd leave for our 8:00 concert in Saratoga early and stop in Lake George, often the rainy day backup plan, along the way. Hard to believe that Nick had been going to Brant Lake since he was a baby and never once went to Lake George. We put in enough coins to park for an hour and checked out the shops. Nick bought a few things and we had a good time. Back on the road by 5:45, stopped at the Glens Falls Subway again for dinner, then drove into Saratoga Springs (Nick took lots and lots of pictures with my camera) and parked for $10. I wasn't allowed to bring my DSLR in so I brought I back to the car and just used my phone's camera. We met a guy who drove thre hours from New Jersey to see his 27th Rush concert. Wow. I got my "Brant Lake in the house!" text message on the projection screen before the concert.
Rush opened with "Spirit of the Radio" and mentioned something about the show going on for three hours. So that would be 11, then an hour south to drop Nick off at his mom's best friend's house in Kinderhook, then two hours back to Brant Lake... Getting in at 2... Plus I already had a terrible headache. I asked Nick if he could ask him mom if I could spend the night. She said that was fine and that was a relief. The rest of the concert was great and we headed up during the last song to beat the rush out. Nick declared it "the best concert I've ever seen." I really enjoyed it as well despite not even having Rush on my iPod until earlier that week. Our ears were ringing for the rest of the night.
We hopped in the car and drove down to Kinderhook, with my Rush CD continuing to be worn out. The end of the ride was very dark and Nick wanted me to use the high beams and that ended up being a good call. We pulled into Nick's mom's friend(Nick calls her his aunt)'s house at 12 and I hung out in the back for a bit with the parents before going back inside to chat with Nick and his "cousin" Christina, who was having a high school graduation party the next day. Christina has a Husky named Kiva and Nick's family has a German Shepard named Harley and a ten-week-old Pug named Brandy. I was rubbing my head to try to make the headache go away when Christina's mother Christine asked me to show her where my headache was. She then got behind me on the couch and started rubbing my head and neck. This is weird, I thought, but it feels good so I'll go along with this. "I'm actually allowed to do this," Christine said, who told me that she was actually a massage therapist. Then she did my back and it felt really good. I felt much more relaxed and my headache was almost gone. I kept asking questions about massage therapy and Christine answered them all. Very interesting stuff. She found some "knots" in my back and pressed on them to make them go away. Then she worked on Nick, who had a huge smile on the whole time. Nick and I slept on their big couch, probably getting to sleep at around 2.
I think I got up sometime before 8 and started helping Christine get set up for the graduation party in the backyard. There were a lot of heavy blocks that needed to be moved and I felt disgusting still wearing the same clothes I had worn the day before and slept in, the lack of sleep, the lack of a shower and the heat and the humidity outside. I felt like I had to earn my stay a little. Nick's mom made breakfast (bacon, eggs and a biscuit) and that was great. Then it was a little after 10 and time to say goodbye and head back to the lake.
Hanging out with Nick was really cool. I first met him three years ago when he was 12 and trying to catch a chipmunk near his trailer. Such a little kid. Then we sort of bonded over a week in the summer of 2008 when I was up there with just my grandparents and we met every morning at 10:30 to take the boat out and hung out all day and watched the stars at night. Then his parents sold his place and he didn't make it up last year. We were Facebooking/IMing and he mentioned that his parents were upset because he was doing so poorly in math. I ended up helping him out a little over AIM and the phone and he definitely improved before he stopped coming to me, then was kicked off the baseball team. But we still chatted and Nick called me from time to time to just chat. It's pretty cool when someone looks up to you. And after these three nights, I felt like Nick, who's nearly 16 now and much more mature, was my younger brother and we were just having a fun time hanging out. I was responsible for him, whether it was finding dinner on the way up, or on my boat, or making sure his couch was comfortable at night, or at the concert, or just making sure that he got back to his mom... It's just a cool feeling that I can't explain.
Nothing else too much of note happened at the lake. Bobby K took us tubing on Saturday and that was a great time. I went for the first time this year and got thrown off on the first ride (it's not worth tubing if you're going to stay on!) and hung on for the second ride. Took lots of pictures as usual. And just the usual hanging out with the kids and stuff.
Saturday night, Grandpa was making hamburgers and I was trying to make myself useful despite not being good in the kitchen (I mean, I can make cereal and peanut butter sandwiches -- not together). Grandma wanted a slice of onion on hers so I offered to cut it for her. Grandpa let me use his sharp nice. "Just don't cut yourself on it," he warned. I went to cut it, had some issues, did it sideways and... yup, I'm and idiot and cut my left pointer finger. The bleeding actually didn't stop for a few hours but I kept wrapping a paper towel around it and hid it from them. (Grandma looked slightly suspicious of me clutching a paper towel a few hours later but didn't say anything... Maybe I imagined it.) My lesson: Stick to cereal and peanut butter sandwiches.
The big accomplishment came Sunday. I was bored, feeling sleepy (sitting in the trailer does that) and even went to go take a nap on the couch. Then I decided to ask Grandma if she wanted to come down to the beach. She's not really good with her legs, always needing a walker or a wheelchair. I knew chances were very slim but it was later in the afternoon and it was cloudy so she wouldn't have to worry about sitting in the sun. She said no and told Grandpa to come with me. I kept asking nicely and she ended up saying yes. In the few seconds it took for me to run and get my shoes, she had already changed her mind. Oh well. Grandpa walked down with me and we enjoyed sitting at the beach. The sun even started to come out for us. I kept thinking how nice it would be for Grandma to get out and see and hear the kids playing and just overall be outside. I asked Grandpa if he thought I had a shot of getting her down. No way, he said. The challenge was on! I ran back up there, asked Grandma twice more and she finally said, "OK, since you asked so nicely." I helped slip on her socks and shoes, then turned my car around while she used to walked to get to the other side of the trailer. Then I helped her down the steps (which was actually easier than I expected) and helped back her into the passenger seat of my car, then drove her down. Success! And you know what? I think she enjoyed it. She definitely did. She was outside in the sun (but sitting in the shade) and watching the kids play on the beach and football behind us. The sound of kids playing is really nice, especially when you've been stuck inside a dark trailer for days. Oh, and no sooner did she get there than did people start coming over to her to say hello and catch up. "I didn't know you were up here," one said, because Grandma never gets outside! It was great knowing that I got Grandma to hang out by the beach for about an hour but even greater seeing her enjoy it. (I'm actually tearing up reliving this right now.)
I left the trailer just before 11:00 Monday morning, seriously close to crying, stopped for pizza and gas in Clifton Park, and pretty much disobeyed my GPS most of the way and got home right at 4:00.
We settled in, chatted with my grandparents for a bit, then headed down to the beach to hang out with Cody, Victoria, Abigail, Jessica, Justin and Cori. They were playing ladder golf so we joined in and it was fun. But then dark clouds appeared and the wind picked up. We heard loud thunder and then it poured. Everyone headed inside and Nick and I had the longest walk/run back. It soon began to hail and Nick decided to stick his soda cup outside. "Free ice!" I think we started a game of Monopoly, then headed back to the beach and sat by Cody's fire. Thursday was Cody's 17th birthday so we counted down to midnight and Nick gave him 18 birthday punches before we all hugged Cody.
I had trouble sleeping that night. It poured for most of the night and then I was up at 4:45. I realized I couldn't get back to sleep. I looked out the window and it looked clear so I headed down to the beach at 5 with my camera and snapped away. It was so peaceful and I watched the fog over the water drift toward the beach, then back over the lake a few minutes later. I made it back to the trailer for a bit and slept until around 8. That's when an obnoxious bird woke Nick and me up. I saw other birds hanging out on the feeder so I put the zoom lens on my camera and took more shots. Nick and I watched the hummingbird do its thing and then six birds eventually got on one of the other feeders. After a bagel breakfast on the porch, we headed over to Cody's trailer at around 9 and got his grandmother's permission to wake him up. We slowly walked inside and then Nick woke him up violently. It was pretty fun. We took him out on my boat for a birthday morning boat ride down to the next cove and hung out there until it got warm enough to go swimming. I think we were out for almost two hours but somehow it felt more like twenty minutes. Then we hung out by the beach a lot with the kids. For dinner, Grandma had me call down to Luna Pizza in Chestertown, about 25 minutes away, so Nick and I went for a little ride around the lake. We brought the pizza back and it was very good. Then we hung out in the trailer chatting with my grandparents for a bit before hanging out in the boat at the dock. Nick played with my camera and it was a fun time. When the other kids got back from Saratoga (they saw a cover band for Cody's birthday), we proposed walking to the cemetery. Cody, Victoria and Abigail agreed to join Nick and me and I eventually talked Justin into coming, too. I think it was going to be the first time for everyone (except for me -- it was always a scary walk but fun as well). Justin ended up chickening out by the mailboxes, pretty much two minutes into the 25-minute walk there. Oh well. Abby let us know that she was pretty nervous so we put her in the middle of our five-person hand-holding chain. Those of us on the ends would be eaten first. We told some creepy stories along the way and pretended to hear some strange sounds... and sometimes we didn't even need to pretend. I'll admit to getting nervous but I knew it was all in my head and I had to be confident for my kids. Anyway, we made it there and I showed them the interesting points, like the graves for who I believe to be the stillborns from the late 1800s and my grandma's cousin's spot. Oh, and Cody gave me a good scare by going on the ground and suddenly grabbing my ankles from behind. So glad I didn't scream. We made it back about an hour later, then decided that we needed Johnny to tell us the tale of the Three Brothers as Cody made us a fire. We hung out there until a little past 1, then Nick and I called it a night (and I had to answer to Grandma again, who was worried, even though I checked in with her at midnight after the cemetery and told her where I'd be).
Friday was Nick's last day at the lake and it was a rainy mess. I think we played a second game of Monopoly and also a round of Othello before heading down to the beach to see what was up. Not much. We decided we'd leave for our 8:00 concert in Saratoga early and stop in Lake George, often the rainy day backup plan, along the way. Hard to believe that Nick had been going to Brant Lake since he was a baby and never once went to Lake George. We put in enough coins to park for an hour and checked out the shops. Nick bought a few things and we had a good time. Back on the road by 5:45, stopped at the Glens Falls Subway again for dinner, then drove into Saratoga Springs (Nick took lots and lots of pictures with my camera) and parked for $10. I wasn't allowed to bring my DSLR in so I brought I back to the car and just used my phone's camera. We met a guy who drove thre hours from New Jersey to see his 27th Rush concert. Wow. I got my "Brant Lake in the house!" text message on the projection screen before the concert.
Rush opened with "Spirit of the Radio" and mentioned something about the show going on for three hours. So that would be 11, then an hour south to drop Nick off at his mom's best friend's house in Kinderhook, then two hours back to Brant Lake... Getting in at 2... Plus I already had a terrible headache. I asked Nick if he could ask him mom if I could spend the night. She said that was fine and that was a relief. The rest of the concert was great and we headed up during the last song to beat the rush out. Nick declared it "the best concert I've ever seen." I really enjoyed it as well despite not even having Rush on my iPod until earlier that week. Our ears were ringing for the rest of the night.
We hopped in the car and drove down to Kinderhook, with my Rush CD continuing to be worn out. The end of the ride was very dark and Nick wanted me to use the high beams and that ended up being a good call. We pulled into Nick's mom's friend(Nick calls her his aunt)'s house at 12 and I hung out in the back for a bit with the parents before going back inside to chat with Nick and his "cousin" Christina, who was having a high school graduation party the next day. Christina has a Husky named Kiva and Nick's family has a German Shepard named Harley and a ten-week-old Pug named Brandy. I was rubbing my head to try to make the headache go away when Christina's mother Christine asked me to show her where my headache was. She then got behind me on the couch and started rubbing my head and neck. This is weird, I thought, but it feels good so I'll go along with this. "I'm actually allowed to do this," Christine said, who told me that she was actually a massage therapist. Then she did my back and it felt really good. I felt much more relaxed and my headache was almost gone. I kept asking questions about massage therapy and Christine answered them all. Very interesting stuff. She found some "knots" in my back and pressed on them to make them go away. Then she worked on Nick, who had a huge smile on the whole time. Nick and I slept on their big couch, probably getting to sleep at around 2.
I think I got up sometime before 8 and started helping Christine get set up for the graduation party in the backyard. There were a lot of heavy blocks that needed to be moved and I felt disgusting still wearing the same clothes I had worn the day before and slept in, the lack of sleep, the lack of a shower and the heat and the humidity outside. I felt like I had to earn my stay a little. Nick's mom made breakfast (bacon, eggs and a biscuit) and that was great. Then it was a little after 10 and time to say goodbye and head back to the lake.
Hanging out with Nick was really cool. I first met him three years ago when he was 12 and trying to catch a chipmunk near his trailer. Such a little kid. Then we sort of bonded over a week in the summer of 2008 when I was up there with just my grandparents and we met every morning at 10:30 to take the boat out and hung out all day and watched the stars at night. Then his parents sold his place and he didn't make it up last year. We were Facebooking/IMing and he mentioned that his parents were upset because he was doing so poorly in math. I ended up helping him out a little over AIM and the phone and he definitely improved before he stopped coming to me, then was kicked off the baseball team. But we still chatted and Nick called me from time to time to just chat. It's pretty cool when someone looks up to you. And after these three nights, I felt like Nick, who's nearly 16 now and much more mature, was my younger brother and we were just having a fun time hanging out. I was responsible for him, whether it was finding dinner on the way up, or on my boat, or making sure his couch was comfortable at night, or at the concert, or just making sure that he got back to his mom... It's just a cool feeling that I can't explain.
Nothing else too much of note happened at the lake. Bobby K took us tubing on Saturday and that was a great time. I went for the first time this year and got thrown off on the first ride (it's not worth tubing if you're going to stay on!) and hung on for the second ride. Took lots of pictures as usual. And just the usual hanging out with the kids and stuff.
Saturday night, Grandpa was making hamburgers and I was trying to make myself useful despite not being good in the kitchen (I mean, I can make cereal and peanut butter sandwiches -- not together). Grandma wanted a slice of onion on hers so I offered to cut it for her. Grandpa let me use his sharp nice. "Just don't cut yourself on it," he warned. I went to cut it, had some issues, did it sideways and... yup, I'm and idiot and cut my left pointer finger. The bleeding actually didn't stop for a few hours but I kept wrapping a paper towel around it and hid it from them. (Grandma looked slightly suspicious of me clutching a paper towel a few hours later but didn't say anything... Maybe I imagined it.) My lesson: Stick to cereal and peanut butter sandwiches.
The big accomplishment came Sunday. I was bored, feeling sleepy (sitting in the trailer does that) and even went to go take a nap on the couch. Then I decided to ask Grandma if she wanted to come down to the beach. She's not really good with her legs, always needing a walker or a wheelchair. I knew chances were very slim but it was later in the afternoon and it was cloudy so she wouldn't have to worry about sitting in the sun. She said no and told Grandpa to come with me. I kept asking nicely and she ended up saying yes. In the few seconds it took for me to run and get my shoes, she had already changed her mind. Oh well. Grandpa walked down with me and we enjoyed sitting at the beach. The sun even started to come out for us. I kept thinking how nice it would be for Grandma to get out and see and hear the kids playing and just overall be outside. I asked Grandpa if he thought I had a shot of getting her down. No way, he said. The challenge was on! I ran back up there, asked Grandma twice more and she finally said, "OK, since you asked so nicely." I helped slip on her socks and shoes, then turned my car around while she used to walked to get to the other side of the trailer. Then I helped her down the steps (which was actually easier than I expected) and helped back her into the passenger seat of my car, then drove her down. Success! And you know what? I think she enjoyed it. She definitely did. She was outside in the sun (but sitting in the shade) and watching the kids play on the beach and football behind us. The sound of kids playing is really nice, especially when you've been stuck inside a dark trailer for days. Oh, and no sooner did she get there than did people start coming over to her to say hello and catch up. "I didn't know you were up here," one said, because Grandma never gets outside! It was great knowing that I got Grandma to hang out by the beach for about an hour but even greater seeing her enjoy it. (I'm actually tearing up reliving this right now.)
I left the trailer just before 11:00 Monday morning, seriously close to crying, stopped for pizza and gas in Clifton Park, and pretty much disobeyed my GPS most of the way and got home right at 4:00.
Friday, May 7, 2010
Fun weekend at UMD and in D.C.
I'm on a Bolt Bus heading back to Manhattan after a really fun "weekend" (for me, anyway) in the D.C. area.
Monday night I suddenly got the idea that I wanted to visit my friend Matt at the University of Maryland. I was working Wednesday until 5 and then again Saturday afternoon. I first looked at nationals.com to see if the team would be in town. Sure enough, they were hosting the Braves. I had recently heard about Bolt Bus so I checked their schedule and fares. Everything was lining up. All I had to do was ask Matt if he could spare two days and nights of his last full week of classes. He said yes and I bought my Bolt Bus and Nationals tickets right away.
I was anxious all day Wednesday for the trip. I get nervous about traveling, especially when doing something different, just because I want everything to go as smoothly as possible. And obviously I was very excited about my last-minute getaway. I left work a little after 5 and found my Bolt Bus pick-up location on 33rd by 7th in front of a Sbarro (after briefly getting upset about misplacing my jacket and then thinking I didn't leave enough time to walk so I subwayed it instead). Bus came, we left a little after 6:15, made one quick rest stop along the way, let people off in Baltimore, and arrived in Greenbelt just before 11. I hopped on the Metro, took it one stop to College Park, and was happy to see Matt waiting for me.
Matt pointed out a bunch of things on our walk to his apartment. I dropped my bags off there, then we went to Yogi Berry, a frozen yogurt place that everyone seems to be obsessed with down there. Unfortunately it closed at 11 but we walked by the bars and saw tons of college kids there (it was Cinco de Mayo).
Thursday was the big day. We went to Potbelly for lunch and then Matt showed me around the campus, which looked pretty cool. Then we took the bus to the Metro and took that to D.C. to meet up with Matt's friend Foster and go to the Newseum.
I had been to the Newseum when I was 11 but it moved to a new location a few years ago and is basically a brand new museum. And now I could appreciate it even more having studied journalism and communications in school and having worked in the business. It's a pretty cool museum but $20 seems a bit pricey and it seems to lose its focus a little bit. I know journalism has an important role over the course of history but sometimes the Newseum thinks it's a general history museum instead of a museum that's supposed to be centered around the news coverage of history. One of their prized exhibits has a section from the Berlin Wall and they even let you touch a piece. Cool stuff but I think it overshadows the stuff about the coverage of its fall. Also, there seems to be a bit too much attention given to Stephen Colbert and John Stewart (though those clips did seem to be among the more popular parts -- I will admit to being glued to the screens myself). The "4-D" movie was interesting but a bit on the cheesy side. Their 9/11 exhibit is very good, including a piece from tangled up TV transmitter from atop the WTC. They also have a very big (wide and tall) wall dedicated to the front pages of newspapers from 9/12. You can definitely sense a different mood in there from the crowd as people silently reflect on that day and softly point things out to others. My other favorite exhibit was the recreation of Tim Russert's office. I'm curious to know how much was authentic and if any creative liberties were taken with it but I enjoyed looking at his desk and the books behind it. I noticed pictures of his son Luke from when he was much younger and a copy of "Big Russ and Me" among the books on the shelves. (It brought back memories of me breaking down the weekend after his sudden Friday death in the summer of 2008 -- I was upstate with my Uncle Eric and was suddenly overcome with emotion during a board game... Somehow thoughts of Russert combined with some others and just overwhelmed me.)
After the Newseum, we split up from Foster and Matt took me to "the mall" to get some shots of the Capitol and Washington Monument. Then we took the Metro to the Chinatown area, got dinner at Ruby Tuesday, and then back on the Metro (on which some drugged out fool actually kicked Matt in the leg to get to get him to move away despite the train being very packed) to Nationals Park. My parents took me to a Nationals game in the summer of '07 but it was their third and final year in the old RFK Stadium, which was (and I believe still is) a big dump and I've been wanting to see the new ballpark. I was impressed right away. I guess most new parks are similar but the entrance is inviting and the concourses are very open. We walked around the whole stadium, checking out the concessions and I even bought a Nationals shirt (I liked the design and it was only $14, a sure steal compared to the $30 ones that I wasn't going to buy anyway). I was surprised at the number of Braves fans there but I guess it makes sense because people in that area who aren't Orioles fans likely picked the Braves before the Expos moved to DC and became the Nats in 2005. We made it to our front row seats in Section 142 (in right-center field) in time for the first pitch. The guy sitting next to us, a Braves fan, was from the Richmond area and said he had seen Larry Jones (the Mets fan in me won't call him "Chipper") play in the early/mid '90s back when the Braves had a minor league affiliate there. The game itself went by pretty quickly but didn't seem all that exciting until around the fifth inning when someone in our section said "no-no" out loud. The usual runs/hits/errors count was not visible from where we were sitting (the big screen was above us and partially obscured -- it was probably on the bottom of that) but sure enough Scott Olsen had not yet surrendered a hit to the Braves (which actually surprised me because the Braves had had some baserunners but those were al walks). Suddenly a game where I was loosly rooting for the home team but wouldn't care if the fifth place Braves won turned into a game where I was intently rooting to see something historic (because we all know the Mets are cursed and will never have a no hitter). I think my stomach even had some knots in it and I felt them whenever the Braves made contact and especially when they put the ball in play. The crowd, which seemed to be roughly 50/50 in terms of Nationals and Braves fans but where the Nats fans had been much quieter soon loudly cheered every out made against the Braves. It felt really special. The game was also made more fun with solo home runs from Pudge Rodriguez and Adam Dunn, though neither came close to ending up in Section 142. And some of the Braves fans in our section took to tormenting Nats center fielder Nyjer Morgan, who would eventually turn around and smile at them/us. Seven innings down and still no hits for the visitors. Unfortunately it did not last because David Ross broke it up with one out in the eighth. There was a nice standing ovation from the crowd for Olsen and that was pretty awesome. Even the Braves fans were cheering -- OK, for a different reason. I'm not sure if Olsen was rattled or if he was just out of gas but he quickly walked the bases loaded. Tyler Clippard was brought in to face the pinch hitter Jason Heyward. I was actually pretty disappointed that Heyward wasn't in the starting lineup (I think he was day-to-day because of a little injury) because I had been looking forward to seeing the rookie phenom in person so I was really excited to hear them announce him as a PH (though also nervous for "my" Nats). Sure enough, he singled in two runs to tie it, robbing Olsen of the W and putting him in danger of getting an L. They ended up getting out of the inning still tied. Anyway, bottom of the ninth, Peter Moylan intentionally walked pinch hitter Cristian Guzman to load the bases with nobody out for the pitcher's spot, which ended up being Willie Harris (didn't we hate him when the Nats came to Citi Field in April? -- that amazing game-ending catch, I think a first inning grand slam against Johan Santana and a benches-clearing confrontation with Frankie Rodriguez?) On a 1-0 count, Harris singled and the Nationals walked off with the 3-2 victory, putting them at 15-13 (tied with the Mets for second two games behind the Phillies) and the Braves at 12-16 (keeping them in fifth).
We took the Metro back to UMD, hung out in the apartment for a bit with the roommates and some of their friends, and then walked over to Cornerstone at around 12. It was senior bar crawl night and we were catching the end of it. It was insanely crowded but Matt did a good job of making sure I didn't get lost as we somehow navigated around for me to meet some of his friends. Loud and packed bars aren't usually my scene but I actually really enjoyed it. Then we went back to the apartment and hung out in the den with the roommates again, somehow ending up watching the end of Family Feud and a 2 a.m. episode of $100,000 Pyramid from the '80s. We all got really into it (but especially me, who probably ended up looking like a giant dork but it reminded me of my "childhood" back when GSN was Game Show Network and they showed the classics). It was just a fun way to wrap up an exciting day.
Then this morning, I walked with Matt over to his 11 a.m. Italian class and hung out at "the mall" (attention Maryland and D.C.: grassy fields are not malls) while he was being studious for the next 50 minutes. I even got to see Testudo, a statue of a turtle in front of McKeldin Library, whose nose Matt says gets rubbed by students for good luck. He even supposedly gets gifts during finals. I got to see more of the campus as we did some errands before having to say goodbye to Matt and my fun weekend.
I'm not generally known as a very spontaneous person but this was definitely on the spontaneous side for me and it was a pretty awesome time.
Oh yeah, and I took a few pictures.
Monday night I suddenly got the idea that I wanted to visit my friend Matt at the University of Maryland. I was working Wednesday until 5 and then again Saturday afternoon. I first looked at nationals.com to see if the team would be in town. Sure enough, they were hosting the Braves. I had recently heard about Bolt Bus so I checked their schedule and fares. Everything was lining up. All I had to do was ask Matt if he could spare two days and nights of his last full week of classes. He said yes and I bought my Bolt Bus and Nationals tickets right away.
I was anxious all day Wednesday for the trip. I get nervous about traveling, especially when doing something different, just because I want everything to go as smoothly as possible. And obviously I was very excited about my last-minute getaway. I left work a little after 5 and found my Bolt Bus pick-up location on 33rd by 7th in front of a Sbarro (after briefly getting upset about misplacing my jacket and then thinking I didn't leave enough time to walk so I subwayed it instead). Bus came, we left a little after 6:15, made one quick rest stop along the way, let people off in Baltimore, and arrived in Greenbelt just before 11. I hopped on the Metro, took it one stop to College Park, and was happy to see Matt waiting for me.
Matt pointed out a bunch of things on our walk to his apartment. I dropped my bags off there, then we went to Yogi Berry, a frozen yogurt place that everyone seems to be obsessed with down there. Unfortunately it closed at 11 but we walked by the bars and saw tons of college kids there (it was Cinco de Mayo).
Thursday was the big day. We went to Potbelly for lunch and then Matt showed me around the campus, which looked pretty cool. Then we took the bus to the Metro and took that to D.C. to meet up with Matt's friend Foster and go to the Newseum.
I had been to the Newseum when I was 11 but it moved to a new location a few years ago and is basically a brand new museum. And now I could appreciate it even more having studied journalism and communications in school and having worked in the business. It's a pretty cool museum but $20 seems a bit pricey and it seems to lose its focus a little bit. I know journalism has an important role over the course of history but sometimes the Newseum thinks it's a general history museum instead of a museum that's supposed to be centered around the news coverage of history. One of their prized exhibits has a section from the Berlin Wall and they even let you touch a piece. Cool stuff but I think it overshadows the stuff about the coverage of its fall. Also, there seems to be a bit too much attention given to Stephen Colbert and John Stewart (though those clips did seem to be among the more popular parts -- I will admit to being glued to the screens myself). The "4-D" movie was interesting but a bit on the cheesy side. Their 9/11 exhibit is very good, including a piece from tangled up TV transmitter from atop the WTC. They also have a very big (wide and tall) wall dedicated to the front pages of newspapers from 9/12. You can definitely sense a different mood in there from the crowd as people silently reflect on that day and softly point things out to others. My other favorite exhibit was the recreation of Tim Russert's office. I'm curious to know how much was authentic and if any creative liberties were taken with it but I enjoyed looking at his desk and the books behind it. I noticed pictures of his son Luke from when he was much younger and a copy of "Big Russ and Me" among the books on the shelves. (It brought back memories of me breaking down the weekend after his sudden Friday death in the summer of 2008 -- I was upstate with my Uncle Eric and was suddenly overcome with emotion during a board game... Somehow thoughts of Russert combined with some others and just overwhelmed me.)
After the Newseum, we split up from Foster and Matt took me to "the mall" to get some shots of the Capitol and Washington Monument. Then we took the Metro to the Chinatown area, got dinner at Ruby Tuesday, and then back on the Metro (on which some drugged out fool actually kicked Matt in the leg to get to get him to move away despite the train being very packed) to Nationals Park. My parents took me to a Nationals game in the summer of '07 but it was their third and final year in the old RFK Stadium, which was (and I believe still is) a big dump and I've been wanting to see the new ballpark. I was impressed right away. I guess most new parks are similar but the entrance is inviting and the concourses are very open. We walked around the whole stadium, checking out the concessions and I even bought a Nationals shirt (I liked the design and it was only $14, a sure steal compared to the $30 ones that I wasn't going to buy anyway). I was surprised at the number of Braves fans there but I guess it makes sense because people in that area who aren't Orioles fans likely picked the Braves before the Expos moved to DC and became the Nats in 2005. We made it to our front row seats in Section 142 (in right-center field) in time for the first pitch. The guy sitting next to us, a Braves fan, was from the Richmond area and said he had seen Larry Jones (the Mets fan in me won't call him "Chipper") play in the early/mid '90s back when the Braves had a minor league affiliate there. The game itself went by pretty quickly but didn't seem all that exciting until around the fifth inning when someone in our section said "no-no" out loud. The usual runs/hits/errors count was not visible from where we were sitting (the big screen was above us and partially obscured -- it was probably on the bottom of that) but sure enough Scott Olsen had not yet surrendered a hit to the Braves (which actually surprised me because the Braves had had some baserunners but those were al walks). Suddenly a game where I was loosly rooting for the home team but wouldn't care if the fifth place Braves won turned into a game where I was intently rooting to see something historic (because we all know the Mets are cursed and will never have a no hitter). I think my stomach even had some knots in it and I felt them whenever the Braves made contact and especially when they put the ball in play. The crowd, which seemed to be roughly 50/50 in terms of Nationals and Braves fans but where the Nats fans had been much quieter soon loudly cheered every out made against the Braves. It felt really special. The game was also made more fun with solo home runs from Pudge Rodriguez and Adam Dunn, though neither came close to ending up in Section 142. And some of the Braves fans in our section took to tormenting Nats center fielder Nyjer Morgan, who would eventually turn around and smile at them/us. Seven innings down and still no hits for the visitors. Unfortunately it did not last because David Ross broke it up with one out in the eighth. There was a nice standing ovation from the crowd for Olsen and that was pretty awesome. Even the Braves fans were cheering -- OK, for a different reason. I'm not sure if Olsen was rattled or if he was just out of gas but he quickly walked the bases loaded. Tyler Clippard was brought in to face the pinch hitter Jason Heyward. I was actually pretty disappointed that Heyward wasn't in the starting lineup (I think he was day-to-day because of a little injury) because I had been looking forward to seeing the rookie phenom in person so I was really excited to hear them announce him as a PH (though also nervous for "my" Nats). Sure enough, he singled in two runs to tie it, robbing Olsen of the W and putting him in danger of getting an L. They ended up getting out of the inning still tied. Anyway, bottom of the ninth, Peter Moylan intentionally walked pinch hitter Cristian Guzman to load the bases with nobody out for the pitcher's spot, which ended up being Willie Harris (didn't we hate him when the Nats came to Citi Field in April? -- that amazing game-ending catch, I think a first inning grand slam against Johan Santana and a benches-clearing confrontation with Frankie Rodriguez?) On a 1-0 count, Harris singled and the Nationals walked off with the 3-2 victory, putting them at 15-13 (tied with the Mets for second two games behind the Phillies) and the Braves at 12-16 (keeping them in fifth).
We took the Metro back to UMD, hung out in the apartment for a bit with the roommates and some of their friends, and then walked over to Cornerstone at around 12. It was senior bar crawl night and we were catching the end of it. It was insanely crowded but Matt did a good job of making sure I didn't get lost as we somehow navigated around for me to meet some of his friends. Loud and packed bars aren't usually my scene but I actually really enjoyed it. Then we went back to the apartment and hung out in the den with the roommates again, somehow ending up watching the end of Family Feud and a 2 a.m. episode of $100,000 Pyramid from the '80s. We all got really into it (but especially me, who probably ended up looking like a giant dork but it reminded me of my "childhood" back when GSN was Game Show Network and they showed the classics). It was just a fun way to wrap up an exciting day.
Then this morning, I walked with Matt over to his 11 a.m. Italian class and hung out at "the mall" (attention Maryland and D.C.: grassy fields are not malls) while he was being studious for the next 50 minutes. I even got to see Testudo, a statue of a turtle in front of McKeldin Library, whose nose Matt says gets rubbed by students for good luck. He even supposedly gets gifts during finals. I got to see more of the campus as we did some errands before having to say goodbye to Matt and my fun weekend.
I'm not generally known as a very spontaneous person but this was definitely on the spontaneous side for me and it was a pretty awesome time.
Oh yeah, and I took a few pictures.
-- Sent from my Palm Pre
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