NEW YORK, NEW YORK - A WONDERFUL TOWN!

 

 

(this is NOT my video)

LADY LIBERTY!



Tiffany and I spent 6 days and 5 nights in NYC (Aug 20th to 25th)!  The first four nights we spent at LE PARKER MERIDIEN and the last night at THE PLAZA!  Here are my pictures and videos...



THE PLAZA faces Central Park!
 

 


Tif Tif at Le Parker Meridien!



We arrived at Lambert Airport early Thursday morning before the TSA's even showed up.  Loaded the plane successfully and took off without a hitch.  20 minutes later the pilot announced there was an indicator light that 'indicated' there was no oil in one of the engines so we turned around and landed back at Lambert Airport.  1 hour later (and a truckload of oil) we took off again and of course the delay ruined our planned schedule for our 1st day and messed up our plans for the entire trip.  So that is how we ended up seeing all of New York City 'on the fly'.  We walked to MACY's to pick up our Travel Coupons (as a Travel Agent Tif got us into the majority of the NYC Attractions cheaply or for FREE!) and then decided what the heck let's go see THE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING.  Turns out pretty much every where we wanted to go was within walking distance of LE PARKER MERIDIEN...


EMPIRE STATE BUILDING Lobby



Mr. Skyline keeps his eye on NYC...

Step Up

Tourists (I hate "Selfie Sticks")

From the ESB...

From the ESB...

From the ESB...

From poolside atop Le Parker Meridien...

From poolside atop Le Parker Meridien...

I don't remember from on top
of what building I took this one...
 



From the ESB, NYC Skyline at night...

We planned to see the Observation Decks at both major NYC skyscrapers we were visiting early in the morning and then back again late at night (after sunset).  Stupid American tourists I can take, because at least they can understand directions and commands by Security.  Stupid foreign tourists with English as their second language (IF they understood English at all) really tested my progressive Liberalism.  By the 6th day I was very proud of myself that I had not committed murder.  "David Smith, on the Observation Deck, with the Selfie Stick!"*  Not really sure what to do between the two visits to The Empire State Building we decided to visit The HERSHEY STORE (we already had a custom Hershey Bar from Chicago and wanted to add to our collection).  So Tif punches in our destination into her GPS and off we go.  Dupe De Do, Dupe De Do.  1st Left, Right 2 blocks, Left again then 2nd Right. Come to find out The Hershey Store is in the middle of TIMES SQUARE.  How fun!  After killing time in Times Square we took the elevator to the pool on top of Le Parker Meridien and took lots of pictures...
*from the board game CLUE

TIMES SQUARE!

Skyscrapers!

 

 Our second day in NYC we got up early and met our 9-11 Tour Guide at a restaurant called COSI.  He guided us through the NYC Subway System and gave us a guided tour of the 9-11 site and Downtown/Wall Street.




I had a square bagel for breakfast

My Cousin Tim works here,
"Hi Tim!"

9-11 Memorial

On the day that would have been their
Birthday, 9-11 volunteers place a white
Rose next to their name...

St. Paul's Chapel, a Church
near the 9-11 Site

FDNY Ten House,
across from the WTC





I ate at a Food Cart
every single chance I got...

Neighborhood near the WTC




No Day Shall Erase You From The Memory Of Time -Virgil (behind this wall is the Reliquary of the 9-11 Victims)

Destroyed Fire Truck
inside the 9-11 Museum

Me atop Le Parker Meridien!

We ate Dinner at NEW TOPAZ!

 

 NYC CHECKLIST

1. Ripped off by a NYC Food Cart Vendor? check! 
2. Over-tipped a NYC Cab Driver to get me somewhere on time? check!
3. Spotted a NYC Rat? check!
4. Accosted by a Times Square Strip Club Barker? check!
5. Got lost on the NYC Subway System? check!
6. Forced to listen to vulgar people cuss on the Subway? check!
7. Smelled Horse Poop on the streets? check!
8. Smelled Human Poop on the streets? check!
9. Walked past a Homeless man sleeping on a pile of trash bags? check!
10. Inconvenienced by clueless Tourists? check!

 

 

 

 

 

(a work in progress, more to come)



Tif & I leave for our NYC Trip on August 20th!

I am very excited!  Tif & I haven't had a 'real' vacation in a long time.  We originally were staying for 5 days but decided to add on another day.  We are staying at Le Parker Meridien for the first 5 nights and at The Plaza Hotel for the last one.  The Plaza is ON Central Park and will be our home base as we spend a day exploring the park.  Le Parker Meridien is centrally located to our activities in NYC and is a really nice Hotel.  While in NYC we will take a boat tour that circles the island, another night time boat tour, a walking tour of the WTC site, visit the WTC museum, go up into The Empire State building in the daytime and after dark, go up into the Rockefeller Building in the daytime and after dark, visit The Statue of Liberty, Coney Island, Times Square, Central Park and we may take a double decker bus tour (daytime/night time depending on time allowed).  We also have a free half day to do whatever we want/ go shopping.  I am VERY excited...

NYC!

I just ordered a new set of Patriotic Bunting

I put up two 6" x 3" Patriotic Fans on my balcony railings every year on April 5th.  My original set was sun burned and my upstairs neighbor managed to actually burn a cigarette hole in one, so they needed replacing.  I have a new set on order.  I usually take them down on the 4th of July.

http://www.forthoodsentinel.com/story.php?id=643

new New NEW!

1. My favorite Marlin Fishing cap came from LL BEAN (but they no longer make them!)
2. My second favorite Marlin Fishing cap came from Quaker Marine Supply (out of business!)
3. I just found the original owner of Quaker Marine Supply on eBay (notice the new cap!)

1. My first Matt & Kim concert I went with Tiffany (and she hated it because they cussed!)
2. My second Matt & Kim concert the speaker tower went out halfway thru the concert (no way!)
3. I now have a third chance to see MATT & KIM (notice the new tix!)

1. The first time I found this CHUCK BERRY shirt they didn't have my size (crap!)
2. The second time I found this CHUCK BERRY shirt they didn't have my size (crap crap!)
3. They just received new stock of my favorite CHUCK BERRY shirt (notice the new shirt!)

MATT & KIM Fri May the 8th 8pm

David steals some jokes off of the internets...

Snapping Turtle: "Hey Buddy.  Wanna to hear a joke?"
Me: 'Sure!

Snapping Turtle: "A Man was walking thru the swamp and lost his favorite Bible in the muck.
Three weeks later a Snapping Turtle walks up to him carrying a Bible in his mouth.
The Man couldn't believe his eyes.
He takes his favorite Bible out of the Turtle's mouth, raises his eyes heavenward and exclaims, "IT'S A MIRACLE!"
"Not really", says the Snapping Turtle, "your name is written on the inside cover..."

Me: 'You're a pretty good comedian, can I take a picture with you?'
Snapping Turtle: "Sure!"

CHEESE!

Sea Turtle:  "That's nothing I have a better joke!"
Me:  'Lay it on me'
Sea Turtle:  "Lean in close and I'll whisper it into your ear"

 Sea Turtle:  "A policeman in the big city stops a man in a car with a sea turtle in the front seat. "What are you doing with that turtle?" He exclaimed, "You should take it to the aquarium." The following week, the same policeman sees the same man with the sea turtle again in the front seat, with both of them wearing sunglasses. The policeman pulls him over. "I thought you were going to take that turtle to the aquarium!" The man replied, "I did. We had such a good time we are going to the beach this weekend!"

Sea Turtle: "Told you it was better"

A Man and a Cruiser bike walk into a bar...

I biked 9 miles on the Greenway on Sunday.

I biked 12 miles around Creve Cour Lake on Monday.

Here are two pictures...

Anti-Vaxers are my second favorite stupid people...

I firmly believe it is every parent's right to believe any old rumor they read on the internet and only THEY should get to chose which disease will permanently disable or end the lives of their children!

Bruce haunts my soul...

Three sisters singing together...

Riding inside a rubber tire down a steep hill...

That is what my life has been like. Fast, a little bit crazy and everything goes in circles. What goes around comes around. Watch what you wish for. Whubba Whubba.  Spin. Spin. Spin.  ::PUKE::

Drawn in by Bing's singing voice I stayed to watch Yvonne Craig...

So I'm at Tif's place on Monday morning (I'm supposed to be redoing one of the two Vivariums at MY place) and I find HIGH TIME playing on the TV (probably on TCM). Tuesday Weld is supposed to be the big female draw for this film but instead I'm drawn to Yvonne Craig. Hubba Hubba!

 

I look up Yvonne Craig on the Internets and VOILA! I know this actress! No wonder I think she's pretty. A classically trained Ballerina and actress. She was BATGIRL (in the slapstick TV series), MARTA (the green-skin dancing slave girl on Star Trek), in TWO Elvis movies and countless TV appearances.
Everything moves in circles. She starred in a cult classic Sci-fi movie called MARS NEEDS WOMEN. A sample from that movie was used by the electronic House dance group MARRS in their 1987 #1 hit PUMP UP THE VOLUME!

Mars                                      Needs                                   Women

I danced and danced and danced to this song at SHATTERED in Columbia Mo.  Last Saturday Tif & I traveled to the Crystal City Underground to take their barge tour.  As we were checking in at the front  entrance of the mine the lady behind the bar gave us details of their upcoming events. They are hosting an Electronic Music dance and after looking at our frumpy MIZZOU sweat shirts declared "I'm not into that kind of music, and from the looks of things neither are you two".  At the exact same time that the lady was speaking to me, underneath my MIZZOU hoodie I was wearing this tee shirt:

The secret to being a good dancer is NOT caring what other people think.  Oh and rhythm, you HAVE to have rhythm...

The LORDS OF ACID are an electronic dance band that I have danced to countless times at RAVES in Columbia, MO (back when Raves were just about dancing and you drank energy drinks & smoothies because you needed the energy and the Rave Promoters couldn't get a liquor license and before the ecstasy drug ruined everything) 

DANCE DANCE DANCE!

Never judge a book by it's cover!
(except that is exactly how I choose which books I read)

And NEVER judge a 49 yr old man by his hoodie!
(it is NOT frumpy, I look good in my hoodie)

This is what I looked like on Saturday, ok maybe I am a little bit frumpy...

THE LORDS OF ACID


I am EXACTLY the kind of person that would dance

in an old salt mine to Electronic music.

The wheel turns,
you hit a bump,
bounce high,
land hard
and continue to spin
madly down the hill...

(Because in my head I am ALWAYS dancing)

It will pass...

Change your situation.  Change your location.  Turn on some music.  Turn on a movie.  Take a walk. Ride a bike.  Change your mood...



Love

Love Will Tear Us Apart Again

When routine bites hard and ambitions are low
And resentment rides high but emotions won't grow
And we're changing our ways, taking different roads

Then love, love will tear us apart again
Love, love will tear us apart again

Why is the bedroom so cold turned away on your side?
Is my timing that flawed our respect run so dry?
Yet there's still this appeal that we've kept through our lives

But love, love will tear us apart again
Love, love will tear us apart again

Do you cry out in your sleep all my failings exposed?
And there's a taste in my mouth as desperation takes hold
Is it something so good just can't function no more?

When love, love will tear us apart again
Love, love will tear us apart again

Love, love will tear us apart again
Love, love will tear us apart again

JOY DIVISION

Proud to be a Liberal!

Just like these guys...

(the Conservatives were the Tories, Democracy is a Liberal idea)

PUDDLES PITY PARTY

PUDDLES PITY PARTY

I guy I know on Facebook turned me on to Puddles.  Instant Fan, just add water.  I hope I get to see him in the near future, his voice will fill the entire room he is singing in...

Two celebrity deaths have really bothered me...

The first was John Denver.  I really love his music and I followed his career and the success he earned.  When he ditched his falling plane in the water off of the beach it really upset me.  I miss John.  A bit ago Robin Williams died.  Robin starred in my favorite movie THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP.  My favorite movie and my favorite actor.  I can only guess what is going to happen when Adam Ant dies.  I don't know these celebrities.  I have never met them.  But when I'm feeling down, a good story, a good movie and good music can change my mood.  John, Robin and Adam have positively effected my life in a real way.  I love them for that.  Here is a post from a much better blogger than I about the death of Robin Williams...

TSY - The Selvage Yard

NRA DUES REMINDER...

Remember folks, every time there is a senseless shooting and someone dies as a result, that is your OFFICIAL REMINDER to pay your NRA dues!  That is where your money is going.  To pay lobbyists to keep our elected officials terrified of the NRA, so they can fight for your GOD GIVEN right to make stupid decisions that gets people killed.  Negligent parents?  Not according to the NRA!  Incompetent Shooting Instructor? Not according to the NRA!  It doesn't matter how much a person's decision goes against common sense, it doesn't matter how many people have to die.  It only matters that the owners of the Gun Companies get rich.  It only matters that you do what the NRA tells you to do...

DON'T FORGET TO PAY YOUR NRA DUES!

Some rich guy wants to buy his 4th European vacation home, YOU HAVE TO DO WHAT THE NRA TELLS YOU TO DO

I debated on whether or not to write this blog post, I debated on whether or not to include this picture.  In the end this incident with all it's horror is a direct result of the lobbying efforts of the NRA.  A little girl has to live with the knowledge that she pulled the trigger that killed a man.  The family of the dead Shooting Instructor has to live with the knowledge that he was helping a tiny girl shoot an Uzi on full automatic in the seconds before he was killed.  The parents of the 9 yr old girl lack the required parenting skills and are guilty of child endangerment and/or parental neglect and should be interviewed by Family Services.  It sucks and it's sad.  I feel bad for the little girl, she is the only victim in this entire incident, everyone else is a volunteer.  This is an ugly completely preventable accident that is a direct result of America's Gun Culture. I am mad. So the NRA doesn't get a pass on the consequences of their efforts to increase the profits of the Gun Industry. I am writing this post and holding up this ugly picture for everyone to see what they support when they parrot the mindless NRA drivel.  I'm sorry for the family of the Shooting Instructor. I'm really sorry for the little girl.  AND I know that this is just the latest horror brought to us by the NRA and they will continue to make things like this happen as long as they are able...