The Best Plans are Spontaneous

When I hung out with Paul last weekend, he had mentioned that he wanted to do a road trip this weeekend. I was hoping to just chill out this weekend, so I told him I would think about it. He wanted to do something that was close enough to drive to and spend a day or two. He was thinking about going to Montreal or Atlantic City. Then I received the bad news about my Ipod during the week, so I told him no because I was going to have buy a new Ipod.

I went over his place for a little party that they were throwing a party for a friend of his from Grand Rapids. They invited me to come over for that. At this point, Paul had made the decision to go to AC with his friend Johnny Nap and he was trying to convince me to go. I told him he could try to convince me at the party.

Well...it didn't take much convincing and after he told me the hotel rooms were pretty cheap, I figured it would be that much and I told him why not!

I stayed over their place and we headed out in the morning. I did not have a change of clothes, so this was totally a spur of the moment.

Johnny showed up in the morning and we headed out to AC. Paul has a set of fuzzy dice hanging and we were hitting as if to roll the dice and the combo of five kept coming up. So five was the number of the day. After grabbing a bagel and Bergen bagels we were on our way to AC.

As soon as we left the BK, the sun started to shine. I thought this was a good sign.

About 2/3 of the way down there there was huge accident that kept us stagnant for about 30 minutes. It gave us time to practice what I thought would be my game of choice - blackjack. After we went past the accident, it was smooth sailing.

We arrived at AC around 2. The plan was to check out the boardwalk, go to the Hilton to check on room availablility and then starting checking out the casinos.

As you arrive AC you notice the tall, at times gawdy buildings, so many billboards advertising the acts that were playing and the special deals with the restaurants/casinos. To name a few, Whoopi Goldberg, Joe Piscipo, and Frank Valli were all playing this weekend. That should bring and interesting mix of people.

We headed to the north part of AC to walk around the beach, but then we headed that way we definitely saw the regression of the city. It began to look much more like inner city Detroit than a place that you would want to visit - lots of vacant lots, old building, boarded building (but no pheasants). We decided it was best not to leave the car and headed back to the center of the city. We passed the Taj Mahal, then Bally's, then the Tropicana, then Cesear's, etc. There was a lot of people walking around. In between these was a mix of pawn shops, one level hotels, outlet shops so people can spend their winnings.

We headed to the Hilton to see if there was any rooms. Paul headed in and when he came back the news wasn't good. They were sold out, but they gave him a number that was a 800 number that let's you gives you rates of a majority of chain hotels. That news wasn't good because all they had available was the Econolodge for $300!!! So we were either staying up all night and partying up, leaving early, or sleeping on a bench.

We parked the car at Ceasar's and headed inside. We decided to go out the boardwalk first before we would start gambling. It was a really nice day, mid 50s, sunny, a little windy. It is quite similar to Coney Island without the amusement rides. It has the usual suspects, candy stores, skeeball games, Hard Rock, etc.

We headed to our first casino, the Resorts Atlantic City, but we didn't really feel the vibe there. We watched several games. I was thinking of playing Texas Hold 'Em, but I would have been sucked for hours. I watched blackjack a little bit and tried to count the cards, but that didn't work (plus I couldn' t remember if face cards were good or bad). Paul went and checked out the craps table, but decided against it. After about a half hour we headed out and decided that we were hungry.

We had heard about this Irish pub called the Irish Pub and Inn that had $3 burgers and even cheaper beers. This was about 3 pm and there was about a 30 minute wait. We decided we were not very hungry. Next stop, the Taj Mahal.

We were feeling a better a vibe at this place. Johnny was eyeing the wheel of money that spins around. You basically get the same odds as the amount of currency that would come up (for dollar bills 1 to 1 odds, five dollars 5 to 1 odds, etc.). I decided to spend $5 on the poker slots. After about 20 minutes, I lost it. I went to find Johnny and Paul. There were at a roulette table. Between the time I had left them and when I caught up with them, they both won on the wheel of money and they were up $65 each and started with $12 total! I was a bit jealous.

Now Paul was ready to play craps. I decided to watch yet and relearn the game. I don't play that often and I hadn't played in a while. I just enjoyed the free drinks and watched. After about 30 minutes Paul was in the positive. I took the plunge gave the casino worker $100 in exchange for some chips. The worker next to us was very helpful and was giving us tips as we went along. For example, if you back up your bet on the pass line, it gives you the best odds (see diagram). We played for about an hour and I ended up breaking even.

We remained in the casino and it was now about 5 and we weren't feeling extremely hungry so we walked around, checked out the blackjack tables again and headed back towards the craps tables. We got sucked in again. This time it didn't start good. The closest worker to us was giving us a bad vibe. I even had to pull out an additional $40 to get myself out of a hole. I was now down to $30. Then Jesus showed up (not Jesus Christ, but He-Zeus). Things started going our way. I was able to start playing more loose and the dollars were rolling in a little smoother. I had definitley made my money back and then some. This round we probably played for about 2 1/2 hours nonstop, the drinks were flowing. At one point, I had to use the bathroom, but I was on such a hot streak I had to hold it. I couldn't leave at that point. When I wasn't winning, Johnny was winning, when Johnny wasn't winning, Paul was winning. We finally hit our limit and we left the table.

And the icing on the cake, Paul decided to play the money wheel. He put $5 on 5 and won! Then he let it ride on $5 and won again. Nice return! Okay, now we were done. It was now 9 pm and we had completed our hunger strike, cashed out, and headed back to the Irish pub and Inn. No line this time. I was craving the roast beef, but unfortunately their weekend menu leaves much choices. I had the hamburger that was worth what I paid for it. The waitress had some attitude, but nonetheless should have let 'em breathe.

Now our trek down south was done. We all won some money and had a great time! Good chats all day and good memories!

Money, coming through on his name

Ceasar and me

Cheers to the winners from C Note

Paul trying to win the Easybake oven

Johnny going for a dip

Johnny doing his Rocky impression

C-Note, US Grant, and Money

Walk down the boardwalk

Me and the Atlantic Ocean.

Paul and his lox spread

Landfill's in Staten Island

Leaving Brooklyn

Brooklyn's finest

The Professor ready to hit the road

Johnny leaving with our bagels

President's Day medley

There are certain weeks that define your life, or should I say cause your life to change direction. I am a strong believer on how things happen for the reason and how they are timed perfectly. My mood has changed several ways throughout this week. Valentine's Day - Down;Thursday - Down more; Friday - Up;Saturday - Down then Up;Sunday and Monday - Full of thoughts both up and down. I am by no means depressed. It's more been things that were or were not in my control that have caused mood changes, uncontrollable mood changes. Certain things happened on Valentine's Day that I would not like to go into detail about helped me realize that I needed to change my path slightly. It was time to move on.

I (gasp) created an online profile of myself on a website...something I have been hesitating to do over the weekend. I would like to thank this blog for improving my writing skills. I think I was able to display what I was looking for in my mate. It is a step in the right direction. Nothing has happened from it, but even if nothing does it puts me back in the game. I'm not even necessarily looking for a relationship right now since I don't even know where I am going to be a few months from now.

Today was probably a culmination of all the moods I have been feeling through the last week, maybe even the last few months. Before I go through important things that happened today, I would like to thank my friends and family for your positive words that has made me very lucky to have people like that in my life.

I had some friends over for brunch. I was able to practice my cooking skills, create a playlist from Itunes, and have some good conversation. Since they live in Brooklyn and I live on the Upper East Side in Manhattan, we don't go over each other's apartments that often. Rather, we meet up somewhere and go out to eat or have a drink. It was good to have them over. We decided to go see Match Point at a theater on the Upper East Side. On the way there, they had mentioned that a place was opening up in their apartment. I was filled with excitement. I do really like their place, this is an area I was looking to move to, and it reduces the level of stress of finding a place that I would enjoy living in at a reasonable price. I'm not getting my hopes up just yet since I haven't seen the place yet and it is still a few months away until I have to move. I guess I can be happy for a few moments...

Until I watched Match Point. First of all before I discuss why my mood changed, I thought it was a great movie, not as good as Crash, but nonetheless wonderfully written and some interesting turns and twists, especially how the movie ended. The movie is about a former pro tennis player who becomes a tennis pro at an exclusive London club and befriends someone who ends up introducing him to his future wife and mistress. His life is now filled with money, power and many opportunities. I will not give away anything more than he falls for the mistress (played by Scarlett Johannsen) and she wants him to leave his wife. However, he cannot decide because he has become "comfortable" with the life he is now living. I have not felt that depressed at a movie since Matt Damon left Minny Drive in Good Will Hunting.

It made me think about how many people settle in situations because they are comfortable with how their life is, even though they are not entirely happy. I have been there before myself. It is a tough situation to remove yourself because you do not know what is on the other side or one is afraid of making the wrong decision.

One of my favorite quotes is "It is better to regret something you did, than something you didn't do." I try to live by it. If you believe the same thing, make sure you follow that mantra!

To validate what I was feeling, I ended up watching Spanglish, a movie with Tea Leoni and Adam Sandler, which seemed to have the same feel to it. They were married, but they were not happy together. He played the nice guy and she stepped all over him and ended up cheating on him. It made me think more about these thoughts and that is why decided to write this my journal. I know people are going to look at this post and they might be totally confused. I am all over the place in this. I swear I am completely sober. I thought this post would be better if it remained unchanged from the feelings that were coming out of my head (I apologize for any bad grammar). In fact, I cannot believe that I am posting this, but I feel that is partly why I have created the blog. I'm keeping it real...

Man, I feel better after writing that.

Ipodless

I realized how dependant I have come on my Ipod. A few weeks ago, I finally became fed up with the lack of battery power that my 3rd generation Ipod was providing me, roughly 30 minutes to an hour (the new ones last at least 12 hours, most longer)! I bought a replacement battery and self installed it. It installed fine, but then my hard drive decided not to work. So since then I have not had an Ipod. I have avoided any long subway trips alone, I have reverted to watching the Simpsons, Sportscenter, etc. on the TVs at the gym. My life has changed drastically...

Now, since then, the songs that I have heard have minimized. So when I hear a song it is instilled in my head much longer. For instance, I was watching the Lisa Loeb show, #1 Single, and the song Stay was stuck in my head for a whole week!

I am heading to an Ipod repair shop to get it fixed. Wish me luck...otherwise it is buying a newer Ipod, if I can keep my job after all the layoffs occur at my job.

Valentine's Day

It's a lonely Valentine's Day. Don't cry for me Argentina...

I have never been a big fan of the holiday, even when I have had a girlfriend. My most vivid memory of Valentine's Day was 3 years ago, when I was in Sydney. Before we had arrived in Sydney, Roy, had purchased tickets for the Pearl Jam concert on Feb 14th, in the hopes of having someone to go with. When he told me about it, I jumped at the chance.

This was the birth of Stonefeld (due to possible future use, I cannot explain it in detail because I don't have it copyrighted). Rather than rewriting the story, I am placing my diary from that day in this submission (somewhat edited).

I had to get up early to get a hold of the OMB person if he didn’t reply to my email and also contact the person in the Ford program, so I was up and at ‘em before 8. I paid for internet access before I got to school because I knew I wouldn’t arrive until after nine, then I realized that it would be unprofessional to talk on the cell phone as buses whizzed by. I arrived at school all excited to try out the wireless card to make sure it work, but I had to call Steve since he didn’t respond to my email. Luckily, he was at his desk after 5 PM EST and we cleared everything up and I set up an interview for next week, still wasn’t sure if it wasn’t going to be on Wednesday or Friday.

The wireless worked! I took full advantage until Roy and I played basketball. I started on fire on the court, but then I deflated. Roy noticed a flaw in my shot. With his expertise, we improved my form and I began to make my shots. Hopefully, I can keep up the momentum the next time.

I was going to head to the beach, but still had a few things to check online including the opening act for the Pearl Jam concert to see if it was worth it. As expected, I really didn’t see a need to head there early. By the time I headed home, it was cloudy, so I took a much-needed nap. I awoke from my slumber and showered before heading to Roy’s. I was dying on the bus. It was bringing me down. Then the weirdness began. Did you ever notice that sometimes when it gets really loud somewhere, it happens all of the sudden? It happened on the bus. It was quiet one second and all of the sudden everybody was talking at the same time.

We got off the bus and took a taxi the rest of the way because there was no direct bus to the Sydney Entertainment Center. Located near Darling Harbour and Chinatown, the cabbie dropped us off and we looked for an eager buyer. Roy was only looking for face value. We offered the ticket to the first guy who was looking for the ticket. He started at $40 for a $90 ticket. Roy obliged the offer, but was taking no less than face. The funniest thing was that Roy never left his offer and the guy finally took it.

Now the rest of the night will turn into a short film with different scene, which I will explain afterwards.

The Water

We were feeling pretty good but didn’t want to head in yet. We decided to sit down by a tree on the concrete circle surround a tree. We sat down and I noticed bottled water between Roy and I. I was feeling pretty thirsty. I sort of wanted it. Roy could see it in my face that I wanted to drink out it. I was trying to deny it by saying I felt self-conscious because other people would see me drink something that I didn’t buy. I finally decided to go for it, but only if it was unopened. Unfortunately it was open, so I didn’t touch in lights of it having something it.

Then, a guy asks us if he could use our water. We reply that it isn’t our water and he could use it to his discretion and we would not be held responsible. He replies by saying that all he needed it was for his water bong and we respond by saying that it should work wonders for what he needs it for. Not the response we expected to hear especially because we were in a public domain. Then, we start chatting with them as they smoke away on a small plastic bottle bong (similar to a Juicy Juice bottle), and it turns out he is a professional skateboarder and sponsored by the same people as the shirt Roy is wearing (Ezekiel). Good people and we venture off to head into the amphitheatre.

The Concert

You wait in line to get inside, but they don’t check your ticket. They only check for weapons, etc. After Roy returns from the bathroom, we decide to get in line for beers. Since it is 8:30, we decide to obtain two beers each so we don’t have to leave our seats and miss any of Pearl Jam’s set. The line for beer/liquor is very unorganized compared to US concerts. It’s more like waiting for alcohol at a bar, but once you get near the front, the lines form some sort of semblance. Roy waited away from the line since he ordered his beers first. When I meet him, he tells me someone complemented on his Baltimore Orioles old school hat, which was a little weird. As we near our seats, we decide to finish one of the beers before heading in since Pearl Jam isn’t on yet.

After finishing the first beer, we get in line in our entrance (which is where the entertainment center finally asks for the tickets) and they tell us we cannot bring alcohol into the venue. That is totally not like a US concert, but we oblige and finish the beer and finally head in. It was a very nice place and it was a full house. We were on the right hand side of the stage in the second level. There was a little confusion when we headed to our seat because other people were in them. After we figured out who was in the wrong seats (not us), we sit down.

The ticket we sold to that guy was sold to at least another person who might have been the person who sat in the seat. Roy starts talking to him and decides to lie about himself. Since he had the Orioles hat on, the guy (who is American) asks him if where he is from and Roy tells him he is from the Baltimore area, specifically Bethesda. It turns out this guy is from that area also (not sure if he was lying). Roy has to stumble on his story by saying that his parents now live there, but he grew up in Rochester. During that conversation, he turns to me and shakes his head. Before hearing the story, I did not know why.

Pearl Jam finally comes on. They rocked the house. They played lots of songs from the new one (obviously) and plenty of old stuff especially from Ten, Versus, and Vitalogy. Eddie Vedder mentions that the show is on the radio, which was pretty cool. They played two encores. The crazy thing about the show was that the crowd was lame. I don’t believe half of the crowd stood up during any part of the concert. It was probably because they couldn’t bring drinks in!

After the concert, our options were limited because we were dressed pretty casual, wearing shorts, but I decided to show Roy Kings Cross. Nonetheless, he enjoyed the scenery. While we were sipping on a brew, we decided that the night could be a movie, with little shorts. The section titled the Water Bottle was one scene. Another scene would have been the ticket. But the way that would have been set up is it would have followed the path of the ticket (meaning it would have left us after we sold it to the first guy) until Roy had talked to that patron that was actually sitting in that seat. And incorporated in that scene would have been Roy telling me prior to us entering the arena, that we could have sold it for more. Now, the crazy thing about that scene would be that in the background you would notice the water bottle from the other scene.

After we couldn’t get in anywhere worthwhile in Kings Cross, we headed back to the Coogee Bay Hotel for a few drinks and ran into Michelle and some first year student. Michelle was wearing her new hoochie outfit which was at least from this decade that Kelly Stone helped her pick it out. We stayed until about 2 went for some pizza and headed home.

The Blizzard of 06

In honor of the Blizzard of 06 in NYC, which as of 8 am on 2/12, has given this city a foot of snow and is only a little more than halfway done, I will barrage my readers with a blizzard of what has happened since my last submission. It should not take long and I will not bore you with any mundane details.

A visit down to Maryland (late January)
I went to visit my sister down in Maryland for my niece's birthday. I took the Amtrak down the coast to their place. It was a quick weekend packed full. I didn't arrive until late on Friday, so I did not do anything that night except catch up with my sister and brother-in-law. The next morning I caught up with my niece and nephew. My brother-in-law's parents were also there for the weekend. I haven't seen them in a while. I have known my brother-in-law and his family my whole life. They lived four houses from my childhood home in Detroit.

After catching up, I went for a walk through my sister's neighborhood on an extensive path that passed through plenty of locations throughout their town. After that, I went with my brother-in-law to Annapolis. It was packed. It was a Saturday afternoon and it was an unseasonably warm Winter Day (almost 60 degrees). I was literally there for two hours. I walked briefly around the city, saw the Naval Acaedemy, and went to the Middleton Tavern had clam soup and a few beers and headed back to their place to prepare for my nieces party at a gymnasium, with a Madagascar themed party. After the party, I went with my sister down to Washington DC. We had dinner in the Capitol area and had a drink in Georgetown after walking around.

On Sunday, things were a little slower. I planned on going to see King Kong with my nephew, but the time he thought he it was supposed to play wasn't happening. So we wandered around the mall that was attached to the movie theater. It was a good time to continue to catch up with my sister. We returned in time to watch the Championship NFL games, at least until I was to leave that night. For dinner we had some Cornish hens. I look forward to going down there again and staying there a little longer.

The last weekend of January
I decided to push myself to be involved in more volunteer work. I signed up to work for the Yorkville pantry on that Saturday. It is a program that low income families recieve supplemental groceries for part of their week. All the products are donated by grocery stores or companies. They run a very efficient ship there. When I arrived at 9 am, we began packing the perishables into bags and placing out the canned and boxed goods that would be included in the groceries. After that was done, we were given a list of groceries that the families were given. The bigger the family the more groceries they received. After we had met our quota, there was a lull until the families started arriving at 11. From 11-2, the families would show up with their cards which showed the amount of people they were picking up for. I helped out the handicapped people who couldn't make it down the stairs. Beside the computer system shutting down, they ran a pretty tight ship. The volunteers came from all over the city and the surrounding areas and worked with a purpose.

Super Bowl Weekend
I will pass most of the discussion and pictures regarding Super Bowl weekend to my roommate Roy. Bottom line: We had a heart wrenching loss in our basketball tournament and a wonder Detroit-themed Super Bowl party.

I must say that I was a little jealous that I was not there, but I made sure to show my pride by creating the Detroit themed party. I had talked to my parents who had headed down both nights that weekend, received several late night calls/voicemails from friends and family with the loud sounds of crowds in the background. It was probably the best weekend in Detroit's history and hopefully aids in bringing Detroit out of the red and into the black. I wish nothing but love for my hometown.

I just talked to a friend this morning. We chatted about the Detroit. I had discussed my job situation out here and like some others, have expressed an interest in having me back in Detroit. I have a lot of pride for Detroit, but my career would not thrive in Detroit and thus I would not be happy being there. If I was to move anywhere, it would be somewhere warmer. I definitely miss my friends and family, but I know that even though we live about 500 miles apart from each other, I can call and feel like I am close to them. I miss the dinners, the long nights, and the hanging out for sure. It, however, could not make up for the things I would miss if I was working there. Sure, there are jobs there, but nothing that I would be interested in.

But enough sentimental stuff, I look forward to the day when Detroit thrives again like it did in the 1st half of the 20th century, especially right after WWII.