Just some bullit points, for now, so I don’t forget what happened.
Breakfast – Waffles
Central park
paddle boats
RC sail boats
music
Statues – Polish King, women, Alice in wonderland
Museums
MET
Geubenheim
- in reverse
-ceiling
- bath rooms
- art
- impresionists
walk down 5th
missing building.
black and white cookie
cheese cake forsaken
market day
to the airport
home at last.
Well today we went to Coney Island
Rode the Cyclone rollocoaster
Bumper Cars
Listend to some live music and the live music concert that happened to be held there.
We were going to have a world famos hot dog, but the lines were too long, so I settled for a pork kabob, yummy.
We played some skee ball then played some quarter drop game, called silver ski slope.
We racked up hundreds of tickets and even had a little fan club at the end, as people watched this huge pile of ticket mount up at our feet.
Total tickets 380.
We bought a Elmo hat, a soft flower, and a winner medal, hopeflly the kids will like them.
We also did some foseball, one game I scored all the point, but that is not saying much because there were only two ball for some reason. I think the game just realized my total superiority and took pity on Dan, so it stopped giving us balls for him to save face.
On the way home I got some Strawberry Shortcake Cheesecake. Origianally Dan said he wasn’t hungry but just wanted to try a bite, but then proceeded to take the biggest fork fulls he could, honestly I think he ate almost half. 
There is a Mid Summer Swing thing going on at Lincoln center tonight, it includes a dance lesson, so I talked Dan into going with me, I’ll let you know how I do.
Well Dan and I did fine, we both learned some new steps and met lots of people, if I got to NY next year I’ll try to time it to do this again.
After taht we went back for a shower at Dan’s then headed out to meet up with some of Dan’s friends at a Bulgarian bar for some music and dancing. When we first got there it was rather daed. After about an hour of watching topless women on a loop of Bulgarian TV (which never got old even after the third viewing) music and dancing started happening, so Dan and I along with Jill, her fiance, and her sister Amy did even more dancing. We were so tired by the end that we took a cab back to Dan’s place.
what we did yeserday
solo subway to dans work
Lunch
Empire State Building
Janice Eisner escort service
Comic store
Ground Zero
Music Store
Brooklin Bridge
Pizza Under the Bridge
Brooklyn Heights + dans law school
Movie Manhatten
conversation with friends
Well I am in New York, I arrived last night.
Today is my one day vacation, well one day from work but I will be here for the duration, of the weekend, as well as the beginning of next week.
My flight from Milwaukee was delayed for 3 hours due to weather, which was annoying but at least I spent the delay in the terminal, rather than trapped on the plane.
Weather was fine in Milwaukee, but the place where my plane was coming from had bad weather, so it was late getting to Milwaukee, and there was a storm in NY, or so we were told.
Arriving as late as I did Dan suggested I take a cab to his place.
Dan told me to just follow everyone else and that most of them would go to the Taxi area, where they would wait in line, and be given a ticket by a man in a funny uniform.
After de-planeing I had to make a pit stop so I missed the stampeed to the Taxi line, and instead had to make my way via interpretation of visual notifications.
As soon as I stepped out of the airport a man approached me and asked where I was going. Mid town Manhatten I replied. No problem I can get you there for $35.
Looking at the man he appeared to be of middle eastern descent, but that in and of it’s self does not make him a cabby. I noticed that there was no line, nor was he wearing a funny uniform of any kind, but the clincher was that there was no cab in the area. Just up the way I did spy with my little eye a line of people, at the head of which there was a man handing out tickets dressed in a funny uniform, and directing cabs to pull up, and people to step into them. So I decided to pass on the gentalmens offer.
After getting my ticket and stepping into the cab, the driver asked me where I was going, I resisted the urge to tell him “My brother’s place, Dan, he works for a big company here in New York.” Instead I was nice and gave him the address.
He asked me which route I wanted to take. That is when I got the feeling he was going to rip me off. It was the kind of question that a local would immeadiately know the answer to, but an out of towner would have no idea. So I called my brother and asked hem what he meant. Dan said he might be asking if I wanted to go over the bridges, and pay the bridge toll or take the long way. So I told the cabby I would pay the bridge fee, but he could take his time, and just add it to my bill.
I noticed that the meter was running but didn’t think much of it, because that is how they work in the movies. There was also a credit card swipe in the back of the cab, and the window of the cab said they took visa, which was good because I had not planned on taking a cab so my cfash was limited. Dan had said that he would have money to pay the cab.
According to the cabby we “Had to” take a detour, because of the explosion near Grand Central, “There was no other way”. Fine, “Just get me there” I told him, I am just glad to be in NY and not having to drive”.
The final bill was $31, and I tipped him $5 on top of that, because that is what Dan said is customary.
When Dan looked at my ticket he told me he was only supposed to charge me $24 which was on the ticket. Oh, “but the cabby had the meter running” I said. “He wasn’t supposed to do that either” replied Dan “but he may not of ripped you off much, since the bridge toll is about $4.50″. Either way it was still cheaper than what the gentalmen at the airport (gypsy driver as Dan called him) offered me for the same ride.
More later
“When life gives you lemons, do not make lemonade. And for gods’ sakes, don’t throw them at someone. Instead, think. Think long and hard about what you did to get these lemons. Because if you can get an abstract concept like Life to give you real, physical lemons, you’re one step away from the secrets of the universe.” – PhoeKun
Damien: Hello and welcome to the Wild World of Russia, I’ll be your host Damien, and this is my co host Sergey
Sergey: I like water
Damien: We are here in the wilds of Russia to explore the crazy cool water tub. The proper way to experience the water tub is with one hand dangling casually in the water.
Sergey: Way ahead of you.
Damien: Hello Grandpa where did you come from.
Grandpa: Magic teleportation.
Sergey: I have some water on my lip.
Damien: As I was saying, the proper way to experience the crazy cool water tub is with one hand casually in the water. Ahhh! Crazy Cool.
Sergey: I’m going to use two hands. Hmm Hmm Hmmm (humming).
Damien: I said ONE HAND casually, not two hands.
Sergey: What if I just use one hand but splash a bit, like so?
Damien: Grandpa, what do you think about splashing?
Grandpa: As long as I don’t get wet I’m fine.
Sergey: Splash, splash. It even sounds cool!
Damien: OK hold onto the tub with one hand and splash like your life depended on it with your other hand.
Grandpa: I have my towel.
Sergey: You call that splashing, this is Splashing.
Damien: No this is SPLASHING.
Sergey: SPLASHING
Damien: SPLASHING
Damien: Hey! I’m all wet, how did that happen?
Sergey: I don’t know? Splash.
Grandpa: Good thing I have this towel.
Damien: Are you all wet?
Sergey: No just damp.
Grandpa: Well I’m dry again.
Damien: you look soaked to me.
Sergey: This is NOT soaked.
Sergey: You want to see soaked, I’ll show you Soaked. This is SOAKED!
Damien: Hey! Save some water for me, I want to be SOAKED too.
Grandpa: I need a bigger towel.
Well I checked the mail last night around 10 PM, and this morning when I was leaving for work I noticed that the mail box was partly in the street. At first I thought someone had accidentally knocked it over. I went out to check it, and it was still in one piece it had been bent forward which doesn’t make sense far a car bumping it because that is the one direction it would not be bent in. looks like someone did it on purpose.
Maybe some kids (teens) were running around at night and one of them ran into it by accident because it is black and they didn’t see it, then they took their frustrations out on the poor mail box.
Could be that an animal did it, maybe a passing bear or giant raccoon took an interest in the mailbox and knocked it over to mark it’s territory.
Another option is that I have a STALKER, who is stalking me (dun Dun DUN)! I don’t know why a stalker would knock over my mailbox, but I also don’t know why someone would stalk me.
Perhaps this is an alien message, like crop circles, only with mailboxes instead of crops. Being that mine was the only mailbox knocked over, the message must be in the way the mailbox was knocked over.
This is the second time that my mailbox has been knocked over, the last time it was sheared from the ground, and needed to be replaced. Being as it is only a mailbox, I just bought the cheapest one I could find, incase it gets taken out again (see I was right). The first one had a wooden post that was shattered, this new one is made of metal.
When the mailbox was knocked over, the pole was bent but not broken, so I just straightened the pole back, with some minor adjustments it looks almost as good as it did yesterday, so no real harm done.
I guess I should keep an eye out for any giant stalking alien teen raccoons.
Well it has been a busy few days for me, while Olya is off losing the stroller in foreign countries, I am stuck here in Milwaukee.
Since I have all this free time I should make the best of it.
Monday I signed up for a Salsa dance class for only $10.00 a lesson.
What a bargain.
When I showed up at the dance studio they were having a special Tango class right after that, for only $12.00 a lesson.
What a bargain.
Salsa went well; it has a similar rhythm to other dances that I know. I think I did OK, and I received many compliments from my various partners, who claim I must have done this before, nope just beginners luck.
I did learn this very nice stance that make the dance more fluid, you stand with the Right foot slightly ahead rather than both feet even, this make the Salsa basic step into more of a walk, as you shift your weight, and make it both look better and easier to do. What a Bargain.
For Tango class the teacher asked what style of Tango I did American or European.
“Umm, college” I said.
Then she introduced me to Becka, and told me to just do whatever steps I could do in Tango.
“Well I am really taking this class to learn Tango” I said.
She told me “It’s OK just do what you can”.
I have done very little Tango and that was all 10 years ago or more. I couldn’t even remember how to do the basic step; the teacher actually came up to me and whispered in my ear “Slow, slow, quick, quick, drag”. This is the order of the steps. After that some moves started to come back to me, tough I am fairly sure I was off the music, I just did the best that I could.
Moves did start coming back to me, via muscle memory, and I stared doing promenade, spin steps and such, then I did the Tango grapevine, and Becka my partner followed fairly well but I could tell that she had not done it before; so I showed it to her again.
“OK, that’s good”, said the teacher, “but we don’t do that step in this class, this is the bronze Tango class”.
I guess if there is a Bronze class then there are probably Silver and Gold classes as well, possibly even Platinum. After that it probably goes to different gem stones like Pokemon, I choose you Red Ruby Tango Grapevine. (geek humor).
Tuesday, Tuesday, Tuesday (it’s the day after Monday).
I wanted to go back to Akido, but when I drove by the Akido dojo (school) in Menomonee Falls, they were closed, and calling their phone number yielded nothing as it was disconnected with no further information.
So I decided that I had the time, which I could drive down to the South Side and go to the Akido dojo next to the Game Barrister. Now originally I had started Akido around 1986, when this dojo was on Center Street, and move with them for a few years when they went to this new location on Kinnickinnic, then I left for many years to do Tai Chi.
I expected to have to go through all of the newbie stuff, filling out the forms, paying the dues, etc… Last year the monthly fees for Akido in Menomonee Falls were $50.00 per month; 10 years ago they were $25.00 a month at the Milwaukee Akido dojo. Now with all of the rising costs the Milwaukee Akido club had to raise their rates, to $30.00 a month. What a Bargain.
I brought my uniform, even though it is customary to ask people to watch the first day they are in the dojo, and if they come back let them warm up with the class, but just have them do rolls for the first few lessons, until the teacher is confident that the new student wont get hurt in class (hurt students tend not to return).
I have been away so long that the original head instructor has passed away, and the school is now run by his daughter, I have only met her two or three times previously so no surprise that she did not remember me. However there was a guest teacher leading the class today, and he did remember me. Because of him, I was put right in the class with the other students. What a Bagain.
Everyone was very helpful, no one was arrogant, and we all had a good time, I look forward to going back next week.
Well that is all for now.
I am sure we will get the long version when Olya post her point of view, but until then here is my version.
once we had checked the bags, the security line did not look that bad so we had a bite to eat since neither Olya nor I had really eaten anything all day, so we had some very overpriced Mc Ds.
While we were eating, the security line ballooned about 400%.
Originally it did not even get to the bathrooms, now it went past the bathrooms, past the information desk, and around the corner. We spent the time in line hugging, holding Sergey, and playing tickly with Damien. Damien said “Bye-bye Daddy” (awwww).
Since I was not going with them I have to exit the line once the check for boarding passes.
At this point I must stay 6 feet away from the line, and I can’t hear anything that Olya or the kids are saying. But I did manage a few waves good-bye. I saw Olya unpack the kids from the stroller, thankfully they let her gate check at the plane. But the stroller and car seat still needed to go through security.
The car seat is easy you take it out of the stroller and place it upside down on the x-ray machine. well it would be easy if you didn’t have to balance Sergey the toddler on your shoulder with one arm while you did this.
The stroller must be collapsed and sent through upside down (else it can get stuck inside the x-ray machine, as the wheels will keep the stroller in place while the conveyer belt is running under it). This is also much easier when you done have Sergey the toddler in one arm and are trying to control Damien with the other arm.
The shoes and carry-ons must be put in bins and sent through the x-ray machine. Olya made sure to wear slip-on shoes for the trip, and Sergey went bare foot.
The metal detector, Olya is allowed to carry Sergey, that will probably change next year. Damien has to go through alone, in case he is a terrorist in training. Olya can lead him up to the metal detector, but not through it. At first Damien looks like he is going to march right through, but then he spies a piece of lint or something on the floor just in front of the metal detector, so of course he has to pick it up. Then he has to show Mommy. Olya points for him to go through the metal detector, Damien looks but does not appear to want to go through. From where I am standing it looks like Damien is going to start playing “run around screaming and laughing”, which is a very popular game in the Finnegan house. Well we call it a game because we don’t want to admit that Damien is a psycho. Olya cut Damien off at the pass, and then other people get in the way and I lose sight of them. I looked for a few minutes but could not seem them after that. One would think that a woman pushing a double stroller would be easy to spot, but apparently not.
Olya and I are just waiting for the air travel to be clothing exclusive (naked), with everyone chained to their seats for the flight.
