Bowl Trip, Day Two

I'm continuing the recap of my first KSU bowl trip, to NYC to see the Pinstripe Bowl.

Wednesday brought our first full day in New York. We donned our purple sweatshirts, shoes (yes—my wife has purple shoes) coats and beanie caps and went for a quick breakfast. Then we hit the subway toward Lower Manhattan. We wanted to see Ground Zero and, as we are both proud and practicing Episcopalians, also Trinity, Wall Street church.

Our first stop was the church. It got its charter from King William III in 1697. It's on some of the most expensive real estate in the country, located on the intersection of Wall St. and Broadway, and people like Alexander Hamilton and Robert Fulton are buried in the churchyard. The present building dates to 1846. We did a quick tour of the church, realizing that we'd come back for the 12:30 Eucharist.

So we headed off to Ground Zero and the World Trade Center site. This is hallowed ground-- I understand that. But if you didn't know where you were, you'd have a hard time realizing what happened there. We didn't have much time to look around, but it was a construction zone, and it seemed to fit. There was a visitor center, but our impression had been formed, so we moved on.

St. Paul's Chapel was our next stop. This was very powerful experience for me. George Washington worshiped in this building, which is not attached physically to Trinity, but most definitely is a part of it. St. Paul's was where 9/11 responders themselves got the care they needed. There were displays of pictures, letters, firefighter and police patches, mementoes and what not. And Ronan Tynan singing God Bless America. It all combined for a very moving experience. I understand that any church in that situation would have helped in much the same way, and that simple geography was likely the biggest reason, but I was proud that my church that stepped forward and played such a huge role in comforting others during this time.

So with that, we headed back to Trinity for the 12:30 service.

I find the Episcopal liturgy to be very soothing and very meditative. The same words I have recited in church as long as I have been alive. These same words in this sanctuary, from the mouth of The Rev. Mark Bozutti-Jones, who is black and 6'3" 260 with a voice to match, reached me at the very center of my being. Throw in his sermon on the Holy Innocents and include Holy Communion, and I crossed off a bucket list item. Truly a special time for me.

We then headed back to Midtown, got a quick bite to eat and headed off to the K-State pep rally. Since Ann and I left Manhattan for Tuscaloosa, the only way I got my KSU music fix was by watching the same band pregame clip on YouTube. Listening to the band play Wildcat Victory, Wabash Cannonball and others in this hotel ballroom for the first time in two years made me very happy. The cheer-babes and Classy Cats did their thing as well. After listening to several people, it was time to see the team. Unfortunate thing is, they got stuck in traffic and wound up walking the last few blocks to greet their public. They couldn’t stay long, seeing as how they still had game prep to work on. So the pep rally lasted a little over an hour.

We then retreated to the Sheraton Towers, the team hotel, for a few eight-dollar adult beverages and planned our next move, which was to find one of the KSU-friendly restaurants the alumni association publicized. It was a bit of a circuitous route, which took us past Rockefeller Center and the famous Christmas tree as well as Radio City Music Hall and Sak’s Fifth Avenue.

Massive throngs of people were out and about, since the cold had eased a bit, making walks a little more fun.

After a short time spent searching, we found The Australian on West 38th street. We were here as the last stop of the night, and to get off our feet for a spell. Interesting thing to me was that people with actual Aussie accents waited on us. I’m used to going to Old Chicago and being waited on by a gal from Overland Park.

Anyhow, we enjoyed a huge appetizer combo of wings, sausage rolls and pork pies. Yummy. But the kicker was dessert, Lamington Trifle. They brought a wedge of cake that was roughly the size of a two-story office building, and two forks. Now Lamington has chocolate and coconut frosting, two of my favorite things on earth. This was yet another out-of-body experience. Absolutely delicious. Beer, great food and football at this stop.

The only down side was having to leave.

We had to hit the subway home back to our hotel in Chelsea, stopping, of course to take a picture of the Empire State Building, which was lit in purple and orange, for the two teams playing in the game the next day.

Bowl Trip, Day One

I'm trying to get everything written down while all this is still pretty fresh.

Tuesday, December 28th started at 3:30 AM, in order to catch a 6 AM flight out of Birmingham. I was a little bleary-eyed, but I wolfed down a slice of cold pizza and hopped in the shower and drove us to the airport. Pretty surprising to see it so lively at such an early hour.

Our flight to Charlotte departed on time, a first good sign, since they'd seen six or so inches of snow in the last 36 hours or so. Then we started getting a little jumpy, as we waited for the LaGuardia leg of the trip to begin. But there were no worries. Takeoff and landing were both punctual. A car service took us to our hotel in the Chelsea section of Manhattan in about 45 minutes. Snow removal did not start well in NYC, so it was a little slow. But not as slow as the alumni bus, which we hear took nearly two hours.

Once we unloaded and got fed, we headed north toward Times Square, site of a 3 PM news conference. It was a little crisp outside and we were just trying to thaw out and figure out what was going on, but next thing we know, KSU Athletic Director John Currie introduced himself and visited with us for a spell. He even brought our mascot Willie Wildcat over for a photo op, and mentioned my wife as part of his comments, noting her 14-year bowl streak (she's never missed a K-State bowl game) and that she's a double graduate. We both were pretty well charged as we went back out into the evening. Ann has friends who were negatively affected by Mr. Currie's decisions, but he couldn't have been nicer to us and went out of his way to be friendly. We were very impressed by him.

This was my first walking experience in New York, and the shell-shock wore off quickly. Perhaps NY gets a bad rap, perhaps I watch too much TV. Because there were legions of people out and about, but I was never scared to walk down the street.

Our next step was to find food. Remember it had snowed nearly two feet two days prior, and by now we'd been up about 16 hours on little sleep. So we navigated more than we walked, due to snow and the throngs of people who were out. Ann successfully navigated the subway system to the Union Square stop, which was an absolute swamp of ice and snow, and right when we were about to punt and just find food and go home, we found Gramercy Tavern, which is what we were after. I'm continually amazed at Ann's sense of direction, which was spot on.

So we grabbed a beer and started waiting for a table. 45 minutes later, we sat down and ate some awesome food. I had some pork shoulder, which was terrific. It truly was a great experience. The beer was also very good. This event may have gone on further, if we were closer to base camp and not so tired.

So with our bellies full, we got ourselves home close to 11 PM and looked out our window at the Empire State Building and went to bed.

What a day. And there was plenty more where that came from.

72 Incredible Hours

About three hours ago, the wife and I returned from New York City, where we spent three days sightseeing and cheering on our Kansas State Wildcats in the Pinstripe Bowl.

And man, was it fun. In terms of cramming in as much stuff as possible, I'd have to say these were three of the best days of my life. There was the whole getting married thing, but then I started moving furniture the next day.

But we wore purple the whole time (it was the only color we packed), were thankful for good walking shoes, did some sightseeing, ate some incredible food, met some nice people (some of whom wore orange) and watched our Cats live for the first time in two years. And everything was on time and went well. It was truly a flawless trip.

It was worth every penny we spent. There were many times where I couldn't believe what was happening to me.

Anyhow, I'm painting the trip with a broad brush here, then later I'll spend some time going into detail on each day of our trip. We really had an incredible time and I'll relive these 72 incredible hours with you.

G2 and Basketball Shoes

In the last week, the First Lady went hunting for new phones for the both of us. So, during a time of year when people buy these things for others, the wife bought us new G2 phones, officially getting us out of the era of having phones that only called people. Well, texting was also available, but you get the idea.

So I've spent some time figuring out all the things our new toys can do. Calling, yes, but learning about all the apps (new word) and ringtones that are available, as well as having the entire world wide web in the palm of my hand. I could become dangerous once I figure out how this gizmo works. Of course, by then, who knows what technology will be available.

And I've begun selling shoes at The Athlete's Foot. Not the TAF store I interviewed at, which was more of a running-centered store, but at a store where the bread and butter is basketball shoes. Basketball shoes, in fact, selling shoes for that matter, is not a forte of mine. But I did work at the store for four of the five days leading into Christmas, and the Thursday and Friday were particularly busy. I've learned a lot, and still have a long way to go. I equate it to my first days at Domino's back in February, when I was learning how to get a job done with no experience to call on.

I also get a chance to look into the eyes of people and see the calculus that goes on as they try to buy a pair of shoes, perhaps on a budget and where other factors seemingly come into play. I can still see the expression on a man's face who called and then came in asking about a nice pair of women's boots. He seemed to just want something nice for his lady. I told him we didn't have the boots in that size, and my read was that he settled for different pair. I could see his disappointment. Still do. And I shared it when I learned that we had the correct size at our other store.

So I guess I'm starting to see this as something besides selling shoes. Where it leads, who can say.

You Never Know

There has been much to report over the last few weeks, and the more time that goes by, the further behind I fall. So here goes.

I interviewed for a job at a local running store, by now close to six weeks ago. I'd managed to move past the disappointment at (apparently) not getting the job, since I'd not heard anything from the company. I'd been rejected like this before, so I sort of assumed that this was how the world works.

Well, I'm trying to bang out some pre-calculus homework about three weeks ago when I got a call from the guy, saying they wanted to hire me! I was very happy, since I now had another way to contribute to my family, and to not do my schoolwork. So fast forward to last week, when I started at another location of The Athlete's Foot (shameless plug-- hey, it's my blog, and I *am* a company man), and not the one I interviewed at, which was more running-oriented.

So I'm selling shoes and delivering pizzas. The Domino's gig (cha-ching) continues on, and I feel like I'm doing OK-- finding my way around pretty well and even making a little scratch on the way. TAF is going to be a work in progress-- I had no idea that there were 3,846 versions of Air Jordans. I'm learning my way around the store, how to work the register, and how to sell. I'm pretty nervous, but I want to learn and support my wife, and this is a chance. The learning curve is steep for now, but I had a lot to learn at Domino's once, also, and I'm keeping my head above water now.

It just goes to show that you never can tell what's going to happen. Sometimes we get struck by lightning, such as I did that day. I'd turned the page and was looking at other options when things turned for the better.

And speaking of school, finals are done at the University of Alabama, with our hero earning an A in microeconomics and a B in said pre-calculus course. I can be very pleased with these marks. I worked my arse off in a new neighborhood doing a new thing. Oh yeah, and 13 years after I earned my first degree. I'm registered for intro to accounting and Calculus I in the spring semester.

And I did my first basketball games in nearly two years last week. Local TV access for a private school down the street. Not the same as radio, since the pictures tell some of the story, but it was pretty much the same as riding a bike. I still don't know where that'll go, but I've learned to not turn my back on anything.

I've made it this far and haven't talked about football at all. The First Lady and I are making our first bowl trip together at the end of the year, as Kansas State plays Syracuse in the Pinstripe Bowl. She's never missed a K-State bowl. We're both pretty excited about it and have been making plans to fill our three days in New York. It'll be my first trip there, but the wife is an experienced world traveler and travel guide. It'll be great fun. Besides-- given the football we've seen from KSU this season, their 7-5 ledger is pretty remarkable.

And my Miners are 6-6 and headed to the New Mexico Bowl. What the hell. It's a bowl. We don't deserve it, but there are more bowls than there are teams deserving them. I'm not really a Mike Price guy anymore. I'll support my team. I love my Miners. It's a character flaw, and I can't quit them, even if I tried.

So-- that's the news from Lake Wobegon-- where all the men are strong, all the women are good looking, and all the children are above average.

More to follow.

Church music

The wife and I really love our church. Our priest, our Sunday School class, the people, the worship, the food... I could go on, but I think you get the point. We really like worshipping together.

An advantage of being a campus church is that there are lots of people with a ton of ideas and creativity, and the music is one way this is reflected. Now I *love* church music. It's music I heard growing up, and it is very reassuring and very soothing. Not really happy-clappy stuff, but music that penetrates my soul.

Our entrance hymn at church this morning was one of my favorites, and I've linked it here. I prefer this version, but the First Lady likes the melody, but with different words.
This video was from August 2009, and I'm sure we're in the congregation somewhere. Today's version didn't have the band, just the organist. Doesn't matter to me. This song is like a warm blanket on a cold night. Enjoy.

Pizza, vol. 3

It's been a bit of a down week around here-- I had another good job interview for a job at a local running store that didn't work out. It was a job I could get excited about, had some upside, and was something I could believe in. Would've been decent hours, decent money and would've fit well with schooling. But I've not heard anything, which tells me what I need to know. It can be difficult, because it's not always about what you did wrong. I really thought I had a good chance.

So I've been rebounding from that, and have run only once this week, a 24:56 5K, good for a personal record by two minutes. I used to just show up and run a race at training tempo, but now I'm starting to get in there and mix it up to see what kind of number I can put up. I'm not an active racer for a few reasons, but this one was nice, and there's always a cool vibe at these events.

Three weeks ago, I decided to return to the pizza business again. While I was at Texas Tech, I worked at CiCi's Pizza from 1994-1996. Not bad times. It was a reason why I ate so well back then-- once you're off the clock, they let you go to town on the buffet. Once I found a place where I fit, it wasn't too bad. Plus, it fit with my other radio jobs at the time. I left because friends were working at a hotel in town, and I could make a little better money washing dishes.

One morning early this year, mid-January if I remember right, I took a stack of filled-out applications to Subways and to Domino's. The one place I got my foot in the door is where I went, of course. I also left there, at the end of February, to work at the Census office.

The Census gig, of course, ended in August, but circumstances have led me back to Domino's. It hasn't been too bad so far. My co-workers are nice people and are very helpful to a directionally-challenged guy who's new to the area. They know where everyone is, and they can look at an address and know what side of the road it's on, which way to turn, the color of the car, and the name of the dog. I'm exaggerating, of course, but they know the neighborhood. My learning curve isn't as steep as it was in January and February, since I've done this before. I'm picking things up a little faster. And it gives me a chance to contribute. It's not enough, but it's something. I'm pretty grateful to the store manager who hired me about five minutes after I walked in his store, and who let me come back.

I'm truly exceeding expectations in pre-calculus. I got a 92 on my test this week, which is the fourth ace (A) I've put on the board. I remember strugging with this stuff back in the summer, and didn't expect all this. It's hard to believe the semester is nearly over. Finals are just a few weeks away. I'm pleased with my results and my effort has been good. I actually get to take an accounting class in the spring to see if I might be a good fit.