Bridging the Gap

I have been in and out of touch with wi-fi for the past few days. None at the house where I am staying, but down the street at the Barnes and Noble I can access, but I don't always walk down here. Spent a couple of hours on Tuesday in line to get books signed by Patrick Rothfuss (patrickrothfuss.com), but the other people near me in line were fun and cool and we all bonded and talked instead of ignoring each other like true New Yorkers, so I didn't really log on.

The trip so far. Saturday was a long series of drives interrupted by some minor stops. I know I was behind the wheel for at least 11 if not 12 hours. Terrible dinner, nice hotel. Double time-change (eastern time, followed by daylight savings) which made for much confusion of the body clock.

Sunday was much more mellow. Got up and enjoyed a breakfast at the hotel and didn't really rush to hit the road at any particular hour. Turns out we were at the last "city" in Virginia, so rapidly progressed through West Virginia and Maryland into Pennsylvania. Saw signs for Hershey (which we planned to visit on the return trip) being only 7 miles off the interstate, so took the plunge. Made custom candy bars in a computerized production line (very cool, and customized the labels too) and took the ride/tour and shopped, and back on the road within 90 minutes (and the place was starting to really fill up). Made it to Brooklyn by about 4pm, which was surprisingly fast to me. Took a little stroll up and down the Avenue here to re-acquaint myself - a lot has changed but a lot is just as I left it, nine years ago.

Monday - not much going on. Tried to plan out the week around other people's schedules, including eldest daughter who works now in the kitchen at Cheeburger Cheeburger, which just opened here. She has weathered cuts that have weeded out staff lacking in skills and is proud of her accomplishments - doing really well and maturing in being responsible. Wandered a little in the neighborhood, had dinner at an old hangout (Pizza Plus, not that it means much to most) which is completely renovated following a fire a few years ago.

Tuesday was another lazy day, but again strolled the Slope with wife to visit places, do a little shopping, have some lunch. Rich NYC food is playing havoc with my digestion. Then to aforementioned book signing at Barnes & Noble, where the author showed up more than an hour earlier than his scheduled time. Got to love buddingly famous authors from smaller towns (Stevens Point, WI) who, like me, just show up instead of being fashionably late. Which meant I was early enough to get to the bar (Johnnie Mac's) for dinner and trivia at 9pm. We did passably well, disagreed with some of the answers, but had fun just the same.

Wednesday was a foray into the city to drop some work at wife's old company and have lunch with old friends from said company. Strolled SoHo, visited the Apple Store, confused at the huge line of mainly Chinese outside the store until we realized this happens daily - to snap up the daily shipments of iPad2, and then "export" them for fun and profit. They were sold out by 10:30. Dropped into a yarn store, then a high end art studio that specializes in cartoon art (exhibits of Sendak and Seuss, and downstairs some superhero stuff, including Alex Ross, who I collected back in the days of money - which got me more respect from the salesperson since I wasn't just some gawker, but knew my stuff from before she was an agent), then to a really fun store called Kidrobot. Think of it as a quarter-machine for adults. They get the license and produce small statues of different "cool" shows (Futurama, Simpsons, Adult Swim, Family Guy) as well as their own original stuff. The catch? The boxes are sealed and the statue is sealed in a foil pack, so it is like a baseball card or quarter-machine. You never know what you will get. But they are reasonably priced, like $5, so you can enjoy yourself, but if you get a rare one you can score some money in resale. (kidrobot.com) They also have clothes and plush pillow/toys. Just a fun place. Then lunch at a little bistro in SoHo and back home to Chinese takeout (nobody felt like going out) and watching the King's Speech on DVD (yeah, I know it isn't out yet. This is New York where things are bootlegged as naturally as breathing, although this one wasn't a handheld camera in the theater boot, but from a studio copy - so super clear with a "Property of Weinstein Productions - Do Not Copy" popping up every 20 minutes or so.

Now it is Thursday, St. Patrick's Day. Wearing the green, but avoiding Manhattan. If New Year's Eve is amateur night for drinkers, St. Patty's is the semi-pro league. And the parade draws tons of people, as well as plenty of paraders. And the bars open at 10am. Staying the area, going to help with some yard work at the house, do some laundry and get packed (car is in a "safe" spot. Street parking is hard to find but surprisingly safe. The only catch is this thing called "Alternate side of the street parking" which means on certain days, for the streets to be cleaned (and YES, the do clean them) all vehicles must be off that side. So we found a spot Monday night to move the car where it will stay until tomorrow morning). Fill up the car with non-essentials tonight, leave out clothes for tomorrow and the car bags and hit the road around 6 to avoid any traffic (most will be inbound and we will be outbound, so that helps) and on to western PA.

My grandfather turned 90 in January. I phoned him Tuesday night to let him know we were coming to visit on Friday afternoon and we would call for directions when we were close. He is super excited, and my youngest has never met him (the last time I saw him was on a visit he made to New York probably 15 years ago or more). Then last night got a call from my aunt (wife to my dad's younger brother), which is triply interesting. I never called her, she called my daughter's phone to reach me, and she started pressing us to stay the night at her house. There is something strange going on, according to my dad, since my aunt has recently gone back to her maiden name (and for some reason friend-requested me on FaceBook), but he wouldn't go into details. She has never been too tightly wrapped, and always been fundamentally (and judgmentally, with emphasis on the "mental") Christian. Quick to condemn and look down on, and the last time I experienced this was at/after my grandmother's death. She want us to stay long enough so we can visit with my uncle and one of my cousins, who won't be off work until around 6. I tried to explain that if we stay, we face a minimum of 12 hours on the road the next day, and we would rather visit, then push on as far as we can so we are not under the gun on Saturday. She also "suggested" we come directly to her place, then whoever was around would go to my grandfather's. Interesting attempt to control the situation - we can't visit without her, and would have to go back to her house before leaving. I left it up in the air - but I think we will go directly to my grandfather's then let her know we are there. If we hang out long enough the others can catch up, but that will be a long visit and this is all about him, not them. Should be interesting, to say the least.

Trying hard not to think of next week back in the classroom. Hard to avoid it, though, as I have to do some planning of the week and the grading period. I am a pendulum, swinging between confident and capable and freaked out, but somebody has put a magnet on the freaked out side.