More Tales of New York
Monday, March 6
After work, I took the train to Manhattan.
On the train, a man did not have enough money for a train ride from Ronkonkoma to Farmingdale. To the ticket collector: “Sorry, I only have a dollar. Will you take that?” He paid with four quarters. I was about to offer to pay, but quickly thought that it would not be necessary, and would only make the matter into a situation. Ticket collector: “Yes, sir - no problem. Thank you.” People always tell me that New Yorkers are rude. This may be true, and in the past couple days, I definitely witnessed and experienced behavior to validate this. However, I’ve also seen amazing acts of respect and humanity among New Yorkers. This gives me faith in our human race.
To the man who sat across from me, I hope you reach your destination safely.
Today was the first time to experience rush hour in Manhattan. I’m used to traveling the opposite of traffic. However, this time I was not in my car on Highway 280 or 85. This time, I was not behind the steering wheel. This time, I felt like a salmon, swimming against the rushing current of people wanting to be at their homes. I saw trains and subway car packed to the stretch with commuters. I could only imagine what dead sardines feel. This is the time when you hope your deodorant doesn’t fail you. But more importantly, this is when you hope others’ deodorants do not fail. “Summer, summer, summer time…”
I met ThumbSucker at 34th Street and 7th Avenue. We went into Macy’s, but left shortly after as we both were hungry, and I needed to get back at a decent hour; so our time in the city was limited. We took one of the green line subway cars to Spring Street in SoHo. We knew our purpose – we came to eat at Lombardi’s. I take back what I said when I had that slice of pizza at Penn Station two months ago. This time I truly had f’ing amazing pizza. Toppings: pepperoni, handmade meatballs, wild mushrooms and extra mozzarella cheese. Incredibly delicious! Incredibly tasty! After dinner, we walked to Canal Street and 6th Avenue to catch the 1 subway uptown to Penn Station. We barely made the train back to Ronkonkoma. “Looks like we made it.”
Late in the evening, we got back to the hotel. I got online and on email to catch up on a few things.
I called the front desk to schedule my 6:30 a.m. ET wake up call, and found out that one of the two shuttle vans will be in the shop for repair and maintenance for THE NEXT THREE DAYS! Goodness. Because the hotel has a contract to shuttle employees of the company located across the street, my priority level dropped like cement shoes in the Hudson River. The earliest I could get a ride into the office is 9:30 a.m. 9:30! That means I would not be in the office, and on email until 9:50 or 10:00 a.m.!
A taxi ride each way costs approximately $25, so I decided to reserve a rental car. This is when things go from bad to worse...
Tuesday, March 7
The least expensive car I could get is a white Toyota Corolla from Hertz at the Islip Long Island MacArthur Airport at the rate of $83 per day! Sorry, but WTF? A Corolla for $83 a day? I guess the rules of supply and demand apply here, and Hertz has me by my family jewels. Goodness. Goodness! To date, this is the shaft of the year!
Next time I come out to Long Island… If I come out again; I will rent a car from a car rental service at JFK. Screw that! $83 a day for a Corolla…
After work I picked-up ThumbSucker from the Ronkonkoma train station. That’s right. I decided to make the most of the Corolla while I have it. Immediately we departed for Southampton. We took the LIE east to exit 62S, which is highway 97 southbound. Then we took highway 27 east; to 24 south; to 8 east. 45 minutes later, we were in the downtown area of Southampton.
Southampton was not busy. We drove around, and finally parked in front of the Theory store. We walked across the street to the corner, and entered Le Chef, a small yet charming yet trapped in the 80s preppy pastel restaurant, which offers a $24.95 pre fixe dinner. I had a glass of pinot noir, their caesar salad, shrimp scampi ravioli and cappuccino mousse. ThumbSucker had a few glasses of the cab, their pea zucchini soup, shrimp scampi ravioli and cheese cake. OMG, dinner was tasty. I was beyond content.
50 minutes later, we were back in Hauppauge. I’m beat.
G’night.
After work, I took the train to Manhattan.
On the train, a man did not have enough money for a train ride from Ronkonkoma to Farmingdale. To the ticket collector: “Sorry, I only have a dollar. Will you take that?” He paid with four quarters. I was about to offer to pay, but quickly thought that it would not be necessary, and would only make the matter into a situation. Ticket collector: “Yes, sir - no problem. Thank you.” People always tell me that New Yorkers are rude. This may be true, and in the past couple days, I definitely witnessed and experienced behavior to validate this. However, I’ve also seen amazing acts of respect and humanity among New Yorkers. This gives me faith in our human race.
To the man who sat across from me, I hope you reach your destination safely.
Today was the first time to experience rush hour in Manhattan. I’m used to traveling the opposite of traffic. However, this time I was not in my car on Highway 280 or 85. This time, I was not behind the steering wheel. This time, I felt like a salmon, swimming against the rushing current of people wanting to be at their homes. I saw trains and subway car packed to the stretch with commuters. I could only imagine what dead sardines feel. This is the time when you hope your deodorant doesn’t fail you. But more importantly, this is when you hope others’ deodorants do not fail. “Summer, summer, summer time…”
I met ThumbSucker at 34th Street and 7th Avenue. We went into Macy’s, but left shortly after as we both were hungry, and I needed to get back at a decent hour; so our time in the city was limited. We took one of the green line subway cars to Spring Street in SoHo. We knew our purpose – we came to eat at Lombardi’s. I take back what I said when I had that slice of pizza at Penn Station two months ago. This time I truly had f’ing amazing pizza. Toppings: pepperoni, handmade meatballs, wild mushrooms and extra mozzarella cheese. Incredibly delicious! Incredibly tasty! After dinner, we walked to Canal Street and 6th Avenue to catch the 1 subway uptown to Penn Station. We barely made the train back to Ronkonkoma. “Looks like we made it.”
Late in the evening, we got back to the hotel. I got online and on email to catch up on a few things.
I called the front desk to schedule my 6:30 a.m. ET wake up call, and found out that one of the two shuttle vans will be in the shop for repair and maintenance for THE NEXT THREE DAYS! Goodness. Because the hotel has a contract to shuttle employees of the company located across the street, my priority level dropped like cement shoes in the Hudson River. The earliest I could get a ride into the office is 9:30 a.m. 9:30! That means I would not be in the office, and on email until 9:50 or 10:00 a.m.!
A taxi ride each way costs approximately $25, so I decided to reserve a rental car. This is when things go from bad to worse...
Tuesday, March 7
The least expensive car I could get is a white Toyota Corolla from Hertz at the Islip Long Island MacArthur Airport at the rate of $83 per day! Sorry, but WTF? A Corolla for $83 a day? I guess the rules of supply and demand apply here, and Hertz has me by my family jewels. Goodness. Goodness! To date, this is the shaft of the year!
Next time I come out to Long Island… If I come out again; I will rent a car from a car rental service at JFK. Screw that! $83 a day for a Corolla…
After work I picked-up ThumbSucker from the Ronkonkoma train station. That’s right. I decided to make the most of the Corolla while I have it. Immediately we departed for Southampton. We took the LIE east to exit 62S, which is highway 97 southbound. Then we took highway 27 east; to 24 south; to 8 east. 45 minutes later, we were in the downtown area of Southampton.
Southampton was not busy. We drove around, and finally parked in front of the Theory store. We walked across the street to the corner, and entered Le Chef, a small yet charming yet trapped in the 80s preppy pastel restaurant, which offers a $24.95 pre fixe dinner. I had a glass of pinot noir, their caesar salad, shrimp scampi ravioli and cappuccino mousse. ThumbSucker had a few glasses of the cab, their pea zucchini soup, shrimp scampi ravioli and cheese cake. OMG, dinner was tasty. I was beyond content.
50 minutes later, we were back in Hauppauge. I’m beat.
G’night.
posted by E-Double at 8:10 PM
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