Weekend in New York

I spent this past weekend in New York City. My buddy Joe had a birthday on Friday and his girlfriend Robin had planned to bring him up there to celebrate. What she didn't tell him was the part about how Robin was going to have Chris and I come along. So Robin had to make up some excuse about why they were stopping by our house before they got on the road to New York. When he got here of course, we had to inform Joe that our bags were packed so we could join him on the trip. He seemed pleased. Of course, being male, I imagined him thinking to himself, "dammit, now Robin and I won't be able to fuck for a whole weekend, and no birthday anal sex."

I was pretty tired as I was up too late cleaning the house so our dog/house sitter didn't have to live in the same filth we normally do. On top of that, I took my motion sickness pills too soon before getting in the back seat of Robin's car. It didn't take very long before I turned green and everyone suggested I switch seats with Joe so I could ride in front. I felt bad about that, but not as bad as they would have felt after I puked all over everyone. We made good time to New York and collapsed in our room at the Marriot Marquis. We stayed at the Marquis because Chris' sister Lisa is employed there (as a conference manager I think), so we got the family and friends rate.

We had 3 PM tickets for the MoMa which had a few pieces done by Pixar as the latest transitory exhibit. The MoMa is a damn inspiring place. It made me want to finally get those blank canvases, that I've had sitting in the closet for a year now, all painted and dirty.

Anyway, after the MoMa it was time for dinner, but before that, we discovered that Lisa had been really cool and had ordered an "amenity" for us - a bottle of wine and a cheese plate delived to the room. It wasn't long after we snarfed that shit down before we left. Robin had our weekend pretty efficiently planned out, and dinner was no exception. Apparently one has to make reservations two months in advance to get a table at the Union Square Cafe. The place publishes thier own award-winning cookbook. They have managed to put together an award-winning wine list as well. Many of the wines in their wine list were 20 years old, as an homage to the restaurant's 20th anniversary. I was still feeling run-down from the drive and lack of sleep, and was a bit spacey, so I wasn't my conversational best, but dinner was awesome. I had oysters for an appetizer, the tuna steak with wasabi mashed potatos for the entree, and baked Alaska for dessert. Did I mention that dinner was awesome?

Sleep came quickly after we got back to the hotel. Our plans for Saturday were open-ended, which was good because Joe caught a migraine headache and basically had to spend the rest of the day in the hotel room with the lights out. So Robin, Chris and I went out and got breakfast at a place called HK in Hell's Kitchen (get it?). The Eggs Benedict was really good. Chris and Robin started getting all girly-talky so I decided it was time to detach by catching a movie. I went and saw "Underworld: Evolution" only because I saw the original Underworld and surprisingly enjoyed it. I shouldn't have pushed my luck. Actually, it wasn't a total loss as there was a full-nude scene with the female lead, Kate Beckinsale. The scene left much to be desired, probably because of this, but still, a fully nude Kate Beckinsale was worth at leat 40% of the admission price.

After the movie I stumbled onto an internet cafe, but only had time to check my email and a few news pages before I ran back to the hotel. It was raining pretty hard now. I made it back to the hotel and found that the women had returned from shopping and Joe had joined the neurologically-able.

Saturday evening was to be Robin's coup de grace to Joe's birthday weekend. Joe, like most American nerds, can quote most of the lines from most of the works done by Monty Python. Tonight we had tickets to Spamalot. In case you haven't already heard, Spamalot is an Eric Idle-written, Broadway adaptation of "The Holy Grail" with bits of "Life of Brian" and other Monty Python works thrown into musical mix with some hot-as-hell showgirls and a A-list cast. Funny as hell, especially when you already know most of the punchlines (isn't it weird how the more times you watch a comedy, the better it gets?)

And that was just about it. The next morning we had some trouble with the elevator (Marriot Marquis, why have such a high-tech elevator queueing system if it takes 15 minutes to get one?), but we finally made it down from the 33rd floor and out into the city. After another breakfast at HK, a short observation of the Chinese New Year celebration in Chinatown, and a quick stop at Ferrara's in Little Italy, we were back on the road home. We got back in time to get comfortable, order some subs, and watch the Superbowl. Ever since the Patriots dropped out the playoffs I've been feeling a bit lost at sea, so I was only vaguely rooting for the Seahawks (actually, I was just rooting against the Steelers), so it didn't really matter that I passed out after Robin and Joe left during half-time. And oh ya, Mick Jagger, will you please just shut the fuck up already? What the hell was ABC thinking?