What I learned today

So this is the craziest totally true story I've read in quite some time.

 The least I can say about libertarians is that they sure are entertaining. Cheeky bastards.

Jolly (Roger) Times in NY

About time I got around to this...about damn time...

You guys probably already knew this, but over spring break Toto and I went road trippin' to NYC and Washington D.C.

I'm not going to write a whole lot about it because I've forgotten most of the relevant details, but we've got some pictures and a new tradition (probably, we'll see). Think Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants but less utterly lame and with A LOT more piracy.



Yup, that's me rocking the Stadium-110 Jolly Roger on the Brooklyn bridge in front of all of Manhattan and apparently feeling incredibly fucking sublime about the whole damn thing!

Nonberg, don't worry, you'll get your flag back...eventually...probably.



Toro!





As you've already inferred, NY was a lot of fun.

It was interesting driving in from New Jersey, which--near New York--was a massive industrial park/shit-hole. Then we payed something exorbitant like $8 to go through a tunnel and wound up right in the middle of Manhattan.

I found it pretty impressive how many people there are constantly streaming all over Manhattan no matter what the time of day or night.

We made it to all five boroughs (Queens for all of a 5 minute walk from Brooklyn to Manhattan), and saw lots of different neighborhoods (Dominican, Puerto Rican, Hasidic Jew, et alibi). We had a lot of good food. Good times all around.

This wins the prize for the best-intentioned-yet-most-poorly-executed street naming ever:



This little church has no business being in Manhattan between these giant skyscrapers:



No more than this turkey has no business hanging around outside the coast guard office there:



Finally, Grand Central Station is pretty sweet for several reasons. 1) This small dome-ceilinged part of the passageway around the main atrium (Toto will have to help me out with exactly where it is):



You can stand at one corner, and have someone else stand across the diagonal, then put your face a few inches from the wall as if you are being punished, and speak into the wall at normal volume. The person across from you will be able to hear you as if you are talking right next to them. Very cool.

And 2) sweet pictures like these:



There was lots more cool stuff, but after a few days we headed down to D.C. where we saw Elliot, Liz, Freho, Jen, and Barb which was equally awesome. Also, Ben's Chili Bowl; delicious. Maybe the best drunk food anywhere.

If you end up with a pirate flag sometime in the future, you know what to do.

I'm Down With Tim's 12 Step Program

So I think yesterday was one of the greatest days of my life.

Just putting that out there.


What made it so great? Well we all woke up, planning to watch Lord of The Rings because its fuckin awesome, but then realized it was way too nice out to be inside staring at a screen for even more than an hour. After Alfredo found various types of currency in my L. Ron Hubbard book (more about this at some other time), we decided that the best thing to do was use our new found fortune to buy some burritos. So Toto, Dave, Ted, Annie and I headed over to the mexican market for some yum yum. We decided that since it was so nice outside, we should eat them on the bleachers.

Did I say bleachers? I meant pirate ship. We hoisted the jolly roger as any good pirate would.

We then pretty much spent the entire day out there.

For further analysis, let's take a step back and review a post made by our dear friend Tim at the beginning of the term. Tim provided 12 Steps to The Best Spring Term ever... Let's go through them and see how many applied yesterday.

1. Good music - We had The Decemberists playing on a iPod player until batteries ran out and after that, we got serenaded by Johnny V (aka Buster/Viggy Stardust/JV)'s soothing banjo playing.

2. Outdoor cooking. We BBQed on Friday so it counts, because this weekend is one big ball of fun.

3. Outdoor sports. The Vortex, 16in Softball, and an IM Softball game. Nuff said.

4. Minimal studying. Let me just say this: Tim and I told ourselves the day before we were going to work on our final paper for our 5 week Diplomacy class... and at the moment I am at the library trying to figure out a thesis.

5. Good weather. BAM!

6. Rotblatt. Doesn't apply, but will be awesome.

7. Spring Concert. Same as above.

8. Baseball Challenge. Same as above.

9. Plenty of Ocho parties. We haven't been having as many people over lately, but we have had what I consider the only two things I ever need for an enjoyable evening: good company and good music.

10. Live blogging. Toto watched me as I drunkenly blogged about those damn murderous egyptians. Does that count?

11. No inhibitions. We ate free Cheese/hoisted a pirate flag/watched Top Gun AND Tropic Thunder and have been giving 100% at everything we've been up to lately.

12. Beer (or other booze). This is a given. Although the decathlon (10 different drinks throughout the course of an evening) failed, we did a powerhour and also drank a lot and drank well.

So by my count, we succeeded at 9 out of 12... Sounds good to me.

Best Mid-Term Break ever? I mean its all relative, but to me, I had the fuckin time of my life...