Goodbye, Shea

Tonight a friend and I said goodbye to Shea Stadium (we'd visited Yankees Stadium earlier in the season) as the new Citi Stadium peered down on us. Boo.

Fall was definitely in the air as the Mets played the Cubs and although the game got off to a hopeful start - Delgado had a Grand Slam! Woot! - it ended in a heartbreaker (for Mets fans) in overtime. Mets lost 6-9. Admittedly we left around the 8th inning - the crowd was getting rowdy as a lot of Cubs fans were present and well, I'm still sick and the cooler air wasn't doing me any favors, either. Lame...I know!

You can check out these pics via Snapfish for more details on the evening....

In The Metro & on YouTube

Last night, the cast, director and writer of "Jump" went to the Strawberry One Act Kick Off Party. It was an event meant for networking & mingling but we noticed that most groups kept to themselves and so it actually ended up being an night for our own group to get to know each other better as we noshed and drank the wine & snacks they had set out.

In the same room as the festivities they were filming people talking about their plays. Which is a cool idea except, they didn't have a mic for people to hold. The only audio was being picked up by the camera mic and we were actually told to yell so the camera could hear us. Uh...

You can see our interview here.

We had gotten a detailed email telling us what info we were supposed to include in our interview and I typed out some of that info on a sheet of paper so we could reference it. The idea being that the camera could focus in on it but much like the mic sitch they weren't putting themselves out by zooming either. Oh well.

This morning I was flipping thru The Metro and found myself! I had submitted a book review for The Metro Summer Reading Club and was told they'd notify me if I was going to be published. I never was notified so it was quite a surprise to see myself in there! Woot! :)

Then over lunch, a co-worker and I walked to 6th Ave to see what we could of the All-Star Parade. It seemed like everytime I went to take a pic, someone's head got in the way but I did manage to get a couple shots of Hank Aaron. My co-worker had to go back to work and as I walked along the route a guy behind me started shouting at whoever would listen to him- "What's the big deal? These guys make millions a year and you're cheering for them?!" He had a point as by this time it was the current All-Stars passing and not the Legends. Long gone are the days of the ball player working a 2nd job just so he could afford to play the sport he loved.

Down 42nd towards 5th I found another All Star Liberty to take a pic of and then headed over to Garrett's Popcorn to find out what a popcornsicle was. (Further incentive was the fact that it was free...) As I stood in line, 3 guys lined up behind me going on and on about how weird the concept sounded and how they'd probably get cancer but yet they kept waiting in line...

It was finally my turn to get a popcornsicle and Top Chef's Richard Blais saw my face and said - You looked intrigued.

I said - I am.

Then he told me that the popcorn (Cheese/Caramel Popcorn molded on a stick) is dipped in nitrous oxide. It's edible and safe and that's what makes it a popcornsicle.

I referenced the "edible & safe" as being a concern and gestured towards the complainy guys behind me. ;) It was certainly tasty and worth the wait! :)

Nik's Trip - part 2

Friday - Didn't start quite as early as our first stop was a tour at Madison Square Garden at 11am. Er, scratch that - 11:15am (we were bumped due to a school tour).

We were fortunate that we were able to go on the entire tour as sometimes the lockerrooms are restricted if there is a game that day. We saw the Rangers Lockerroom which has a wider door than normal so the goalie can walk in w/out having to shed his gear and the Knicks Lockerroom door is taller than average to keep the players from banging their heads. ;)

This is the 4th version of the MSG. When it opened, Bob Hope and Bing Crosby hosted the opening gala event. The WaMu Theater has as many ceiling lights as seats. The Cure's roadies were setting up for a concert while we toured.

The tour seemed a bit expensive for what we saw but we did learn some interesting things tho!

After the tour we had lunch at brgr and then headed home for a bit before heading out to the Bronx for a Yankees Game (vs the Cincinnati Reds).

Neither my brother nor I are Yankees fans but we do respect the history of the stadium and so thus the going to the game.

We circled the stadium before entering and encountered a fan banging on a pan w/ a spoon chanting "Let's make it 8 in a row!" Time to head in... the ticket person told me I couldn't enter w/my small black backpack (the same one I brought to the last game I attended there). Ummm? Fortunately, the security person he sent me to didn't see a problem w/ it and waved me thru!

Before we found our seats we decided to grab some concessions - Jumbo Dogs ($5) and beer ($8.50). The concessions person asked for our i.d.s and that's when my bro remembered he left his @ the gym! Oops. Fortunately, the concession person let it slide. :)

Somehow our seats were near a lot of Reds fans. Unfortunately, that meant we had to listen to Yankee fans heckle them the entire game. Sheesh. I understand being devoted to your team but what about good sportsmanship? Meh.

We cut out before the game ended (Yankees lost) and stepped off the subway at Columbus Circle so my brother could see yet another part of NYC as we made our way over to the David Letterman/Hello Deli area.

Saturday - We grabbed breakfast @ SoHo and then went to a local hardware store to get wood to prop up my a.c. (I figured I might as well take advantage of my bro being there and have him help me install it! :) Plus, since he was using my room, it was an added incentive to get it hooked up!)

I had a Shakespeare Monologue Workshop to go to while my brother went to the gym. The original plan was to meet @ The Irish Rogue for lunch so he could see where Husker fans watch the football games. Today however, EuroCup fans were there so it seemed a bit too crowded and crazy for lunch so we settled on Vynl instead where my brother tried out the "Nelly" bathroom. ;)

A friend joined us and we decided to try the Rogue again for a drink after lunch and the bar was much calmer and cleared out. The Rogue beat Yankee Stadum in beer prices. They only charge $5 for a pint.

After drinks we headed to Ground Zero and then stepped inside the World Financial Center where we did a doubletake w/the presense of Palm Trees!

Then it was time to enjoy an improv show at The Upright Citizens Brigade Theater. (Where they won the best beer price w/ bottles for $3!) We arrived early enough that the show line hadn't even been started yet so we decided to wander Gristedes next door for a while. My brother made the comment that the prices are double what he pays in Omaha.

After the show we decided to walk to 42nd for the subway w/ the goal of finding pizza along the way. We didn't find a place for pizza but we did find 2 old men fighting at the 42nd street subway stop. There was a lot of people waiting for a subway so there wasn't a lot of space for people to go and get out of their way. Not sure what started it but at one point one of them took a bag out of the other one's hand and threw it on the tracks. Then a few minutes later they appeared to be okay w/ each other. I assured my brother that this is not something I've experienced regularly! ;)

The subway finally came and it was CROWDED! My brother was amazed and due to his height he had a bird's eye view and decided to take a pic. (Which you can see here in addition to other photos during his visit.)

Once we got home, we decided pizza still sounded good so we stopped @ Frankie's.

Sunday - It's my bro's last day here! We went to Neptune Diner for breakfast in which we found out that a Western Omelet has cheese, pepper, ham and onion in it. A substitute for fries is lettuce & tomato (like the toppings to a burger) and sausage does not come in patties but generous sized links.

As time dwindled til my brother needed to head to the airport we walked to Astoria Park for one more trip pic. This trip ended up being MUCH better than the last time he was here when I moved. So much so that I surprised myself by getting a little emotional about him leaving. Apparently I wasn't very good at hiding it either as the driver that picked my brother up assured me, "Don't worry, I'll be bringing him back soon."

My First Yankees Game

The Yankees Stadium is in its last season this year and although the Yankees themselves aren't on my favorites list, seeing a piece of history before it's turned into rubble outranked my lack of affection towards the Yankees team.

A friend and I decided we would see a game at both Yankees & Shea Stadium this year since they are both being replaced. We took advantage of the various "cheap ticket" options they have and as luck would have it, the date we ended up picking was the date that Joba Chamberlain had his first start of the season! Woot!

Got held up on our way there by the subway as the conductor announced that she wasn't getting the go ahead to pull into the station we needed to get to the stadium so she bi-passed it! Then she kept saying that whoever was in the tower needed to apologize to us over the intercom. By that time we didn't care, we just wanted to get off and transfer to the next train headed back the right direction. Gotta love the MTA! grumble.

I've never even been near the stadium prior to this so it was great to see what surrounded it (Stan seems to own a whole block) and just observe the pre-game atmosphere. And our delay did not keep us from getting the free giveaway for the night - a Yanks logo mini notepad (which my current roommate is now the owner).

Even if you save money on tix, there's no way you are going to save money on what's being sold inside the stadium.

Programs - $7
Beer in Plastic Cup - $9.50
Beer in a Ginormous Dixie Cup - $8.50
Hotdogs - $5
Plastic Bag of Peanuts - $5

As we journeyed up and up to get to our seats we noticed less and less staff available to assist w/ finding seats. We sat down still not totally convinced we were in the right spot. I took some pics of Joba warming up and discovered just how much of a zoom I have on my new camera! Unbelievable!

Since the game hadn't started yet we thought we'd get our food and maybe wander to see if we were in fact in the right spot. We found out we were on the complete opposite side of where we needed to be! Oops.

Once we got settled in, a few guys sat by us. One had a camera seemingly fancier than mine and he kept showing the pics he took to us. Well, the game pics that is...it soon became apparent that he and his friends were spending more of their time zooming in and taking pics of the various "hot" females in the audience. Classy.

Speaking of...I was really surprised that the vendors walking thru the aisles were using the cardboard flats the beverages came in to carry them around rather than the containers you generally see stadium vendors w/. Something tells me that in the "most expensive baseball stadium ever" i.e. the NEW Yankees Stadium that won't be happening...

Joba didn't have such a great night. He was on a strict pitch count and was pulled in the 3rd.

Camera guy tried to engage us in convo again and asked where we were from. The guy sitting in front of us whipped his head around when we said Queens. (He had hollered at a guy w/ a Mets shirt on earlier and told him to go back to Queens...) So of course he had to comment and asked who our favorite NY team was. We didn't commit. He said - Oh, well...what if they were in the World Series together? I said that I hadn't thought about that and we just wanted to see the stadiums before they are demolished. To which he turned to his friend and said - That's right...we should catch a game @ Shea, too. Durr....

The jumbotron flashed Adam Sandler eating Dippin' Dots on the screen so I was bound and determined to find him w/ my zoom and I did! Camera guy just settled for taking a pic of the jumbotron. Sandler's not a hot girl though so why would they put forth the extra effort?! ;)

They kept having audience members participating in games and I wondered...how do you get picked for that?! Still don't know...

We left the game early as it just wasn't pretty. The Yanks were on their 4th pitcher! Sad.

The ride home was long but I found it interesting how many guys we had asking about the game since they saw my "Joba Rules" shirt & my friend's cap. Amazing how sports can bond strangers. As long as the mob mentality doesn't kick in - it's kinda cool. ;)

You can check out pics here!

Super Sunday!

In my infinite wisdom (har) I bought tickets a while back on a date I knew I would have free to see August:Osage County. Of course, it never occurred to me that same date was SUPER BOWL SUNDAY! And of course, the NY Giants would be matched up with the New England Patriots for the big game, too. Doh!

Thankfully, I was going to the matinee - so hopefully, by the time I got to Brooklyn (the location of the Super Bowl party I was going to) from Midtown I wouldn't miss out on much...except maybe some commercials. ;)

August: Osage County has some powerful performances (The Mother and oldest sister, Barbara, specifically) and although the story line does provide for many jaws to drop, some of it is not new territory - for instance...a 40+ year old man making inappropriate advances on a teenage girl. It's odd to say but that story line is becoming a cliche. The "inappropriate old guy" was played by an actor I recognized from the movie "Murphy's Romance". Another actor in the show is best known to tv viewers as Meredith's Dad on Grey's Anatomy. It was nice to see him play a character that was a little more likeable - but not a lot. And for the Seinfeld fans out there, an actress in the show noted in her bio, her appearance in the "The Cigar Store Indian" episode.

The transitions from scene to scene were fascinating and mostly flawless as light would briefly be dimmed and when brought up again all the characters were in place - at least where I was sitting I didn't notice movement during the transition and the lights weren't that dark either.

Since I knew it was a 3 hr show I brought a Twix along to tide me over but alas the treat I'd baked for the party (pork & beans cake - actually a lot better than it sounds!) had successfully melted it. Unfortunately, that meant by the end of the show I was nursing a headache.

Stopped @ the Duane Reade next door to the ESPN Zone to get some water and a snack to hopefully cure myself before I arrived at the party and a line was still waiting to get into "The Zone" with people lamenting that the game had already started. Must hurry!

Finally got to Brooklyn and enjoyed the best plays of the game - I have to say...I'm not a diehard fan of the Giants but the fact that they were representing NY and had the potential to take down the Patriots - I was all for it! :) And for the first time in a while the game was better than the commercials!

And the GIANTS WON!!!!!!!

When I got back to Astoria, I came down the subway stairs and encountered a couple guys in Giants wear lamenting that there was no one out celebrating. Where's the love? I offered a "Go Giants!" as I passed and one guy jogged to catch up with me and gave me a high five w/ his friend adding - "Thanks, Sweetheart."

Go Mets!

When I first moved here I had a short list of things I wanted to do before the summer/season was over. See "Grey Gardens" - check- and see a Mets game. As the season was winding down my chance to accomplish that was dwindling. I mentioned my goal to fellow Queens friends and with the enticement of $5 tickets all 3 of us took in our first Mets game! :)

Prior to the game starting we had time to walk over to Flushing Meadows Corona Park and see the Unisphere (as seen in the opening credits of "King of Queens") and walk past the USTA National Tennis Center where the U.S. Open is played.

The fountain was shut off underneath the Unisphere and was covered with skateboarders/bikers. (If you look closely you can see tiny me below the globe - that gives you an idea of how big it is.)

This area is where the World's Fair was held in 1964.

In the Unisphere pic, to the left you can see "UFO towers". These were used towards the end of movie, "Men In Black". They were there before that though...

Time for the game! On our way in we all scored free mini bags of "The Official Chips of the Mets" Wise Bravos. Mmmmm! And then had a nice view of the sunset silloueting the NYC landscape.
Found our seats and although we were nosebleed it was a fabulous view. Needing something to compliment our free chips we all headed down to get concessions before the game started.
$4 - 24oz Aquifina
$4.50 - Nathan's Hotdog
$7.50 - Blue Bottle of Bud Light - Part of the enticement to get them was that the display bottles had the Mets Logo on it, sadly that was just the display. Only a regular Bud Light logo was on ours. :(

What they may have lost in offering tickets for $5, they gained in concession sales!

Music from Rocky (Fanfare for Rocky) started to play and like a bell to end recess it was a signal to get back to our seats because the game was starting!

Tom Glavin was pitching and didn't fare well. The Nationals got some big hits and the Mets? Well, we did get to see the Homerun TopHat and Apple in action once. The much talked about Mr. Wright wasn't all that impressive at bat.

At one point they played the Tunnel Walk music, but there was no Tunnel Walk. ;)

Lots of "Just For Men" ads ran, emphasizing that Keith (Hernandez) uses it! All I could think of were the Seinfeld episodes with him in them - There was a 2nd spitter!

There was one diehard fan that made for a hostile environment as late arriving ticket holders wanted to sit in the spot he had decided to sit already. He threw his stuff to a different seat, grumbling along, got in arguments with those around him, caused some fans to move and a little boy yelled at him to shut up after multiple times of him yelling and holding the word - "Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" forever and then following it with "Struck that guy out!" A novelty at first, but even those yelling "Struck that guy out!" with him started to falter after a while.

I had a headache that was persistent (I had it before I had my $7.50 beer) and as the Nationals kept racking up points and fans were leaving in herds we decided to call it at 10pm and head home.

WHAT A MISTAKE!!! The next day I find out that the Mets rallied in the 9th and there was hardly anybody in the stadium to witness it - Doh!

I definitely plan on getting there a few more times before Shea Stadium is no longer. The new Citi Field is set to open in 2009. And although I've never liked the Yankees (even before I moved here) I will probably try to make it to a game there next year because their stadium is going to be torn down, too. Plus, now there's Joba to watch and I owe my friend that came with me to the Mets as he's a Yankees fan.

Now that the seasons are changing what is my new short list? Seeing "Young Frankenstein:The Musical" and seeing a Jets game! Anyone want to go?! :)

Baseball on the Island

This day didn't start quite as early as the previous ones had. We aimed to be up in time to get lunch on our way to Coney Island at Peanut Butter & Co. Where as you might of guessed they serve all things peanut butter including a bagel concoction called the Jerry Seinfeld. They even have their own brand of PB that includes white chocolate pb and spicy pb that could very well be sold at a store near you!

My friend decided to get the Elvis sandwich - bananas, pb & honey and I opted for the Fluffernutter - pb and marshmallow fluff. Looking over their dessert options it looked like a good place to go just for that, too! The only downside is that the place is tiny so seating is lacking when it is busy.

Once we made sure our breaths were nice and peanutbuttery we hopped on the subway again and headed to Coney Island to check out the sights and watch a Brooklyn Cyclones game.

The island wasn't as busy as it was the last time I went. But it was cooler, too - causing me to impulse buy a Brooklyn Cyclones Sweatshirt.

Cooler weather aside - The pier seemed to still be hopping with fishers - fishers that weren't watching where they swung their line.

My friend wanted to ride the Cyclone so I held her stuff while she managed to score a front row seat for the ride! Then it was off to Nathan's and boy howdy was there a line! And not a fast moving line either.

Earlier we had found out that there would be free Brooklyn Cyclones duffel bags handed out to fans so I was antsy to get in line as the gate was getting closer to being opened. I also had a hunch that the famous Nathan's dogs would probably be at the concession stand, too. So in an effort to save standing time I thought I'd check out the ballpark eats.

Although they did have Nathan's @ the ballpark my friend opted to stick it out at the stand and those duffel bags? Were actually canvas bags that didn't have the Cyclones logo on it, but rather the logo of the "Official Dumplings of the Cyclones" - Chef One. Yep. Just inside the gate a prize wheel was set up to win rides, cotton candy or drinking cups for Astroland. As the line got bigger, the gal running it announced that we didn't have to spin, we could just tell her what we wanted. So I got a free ride on the Wonder Wheel!

When I met up with my friend again we found out we were in the wrong seats and upon moving my friend discovered 2 tickets to the NY Aquarium taped under her seat!

The stadium atmosphere reminded me of the Saltdogs' stadium. Homegrown. A 4 piece marching band circled the stadium with their sounds, contests with the audience were held between each inning and the view was great overlooking the rides on Coney Island. With an added visual bonus of the neon lights around the standard ballpark lights and the UFO-like flashing lights on the Parachute Tower. Plus a good old fashioned rivalry - but not too intense - the Mets sponsored Cyclones were playing the Staten Island Yankees.

Sadly the Cyclones lost but it was not a lost evening. Heck, we even got our pics taken with the mascots! :) (That's me with Sandy.)

We climbed onto the W train to ride from one end to the other (an hour and a half) and it was already my friend's last night in NYC! (But she still has a day left...;))