After having Easter brunch with mom and her friend in Wilmette, they dropped me off at O'Hare around 4 p.m. I was supposed to fly out at 7, so I figured I might have a little time to kill in Terminal 3. But like last time, the planes were delayed around 45 minutes thanks to bad weather in Texas, so after charging my dead phone and camera, I decided to go for an earlier flight. And I wound up getting a seat on the 5:20 flight, which was supposed to leave at 5:50. I like when I go up to the gate agent, explain my situation, and the first question they ask me is if I want an aisle or a window seat.
Since Catherine and her family were at her uncle's for Easter dinner and he lives an hour away, I now had a lot of time to kill. And I hadn't eaten in maybe seven hours. So I planned to grab a burger at Five Guy's or a slice or two at Famiglia. As it turned out, all the restaurants in LaGuardia close at 8:30. When I stepped into the terminal, my cell phone said 8:45. So I sat on the floor of LaGuardia Airport for over an hour and just continued charging my phone and reading Unbroken. Luckily, I remembered my half a Balance bar and the cara cara orange I had tucked away in my backpack. That served as my dinner.
They picked me up around 10:15, with Francis driving the van. Of course, we stepped in the house, and immediately get greeted by those damn cats. That sent me straight to my Claritin stash. I went downstairs and settled in and Catherine soon joined me. Her mom brought me an Easter cupcake and a cup of hot tea, which was very nice of her. Catherine and I watched two episodes of Rangers in 60, victories over the Sabres and Penguins. Then came the long kiss goodnight...
I woke up on Monday around 7 and immediately checked in for my 7:10 flight the following morning. Strange how I arrived one night and the following morning, I was making plans to leave. Such is the life. I watched Boomer and Carton on MSG while surfing a brutally slow Internet. At least I have my privacy with my own bathroom downstairs. So when I was ready, I went upstairs, Catherine was standing there in the kitchen, and...well, the Lin t-shirt didn't go over well with her. But the last time, the girl made me make out with her when she was wearing a Victor Cruz sweatshirt! How evil is that? We left at 8:30, and for once, she was actually ready to go before I was. And I guess I must have been hurrying to get going because when she asked me if I had everything, I then realized I didn't have the game tickets or the battery for my camera.
We each grabbed a breakfast sandwich at the deli next to the M stop and headed to Coney Island. The wind was absolutely howling. We tried walking on the beach and the sand was blowing in our faces. We looked out to sea and saw the ocean water crashing violently against the wooden pier. We walked on the pier and it felt like being surrounded by a cyclone. Maybe that's why the Cyclones baseball team has that name.
We also checked out the Nathan's gift shop, where they had a few good shirts, inclusing a Navy one that pushed the 4th of July contest. We did scarf a hot dog each, well, Catherine actually chose a corn dog. And $3.75 for a dog? Just embarrassing! That said, I may prefer the toppings in Chicago to New York. But for the dog and bun by itself, you cannot beat Nathan's.
From there, we rode the D train to Macy's. While Catherine got her paycheck and somehow convinced her boss that she really had to study for a test on Thursday night, I racewalked through the cellar, trying to find an outlet. This ridiculous camera battery literally needs to be charged for every ten photos I take. Thankfully, I did manage to sneak in a quick charge while I pretended to be looking at the Cuininarts and the Soda Streams. I did like the 30 percent off Dasani water that she got with the employee discount. We walked over to Chase, right outside Madison Square Garden, where she desposited the check (Hello, direct deposit?). In the Garden lobby, there were tables promoting the Beard-A-Thon. Ah, the old days when I could still grow one...
With a good amount of time to kill, I'm sad to say we went to Cosby's. She made an absolutely ridiculous purchase by getting a Team USA jersey. It wasn't even a cool looking one either. The navy blue looked more like black to me. She brought the blank jersey for $80 and is getting the lettering and numbers added for $50 more. I know that's not too expensive for a hockey jersey, but I don't get the logic of it. And then she's talking to me about the more stitch colors, the more expensive the lettering is, and I seriously wanted to scream. It just sounded so ridiculous. Oh and I don't need to hear her whining about how left out she feels that she can't afford playoff tickets. I live in the Central freaking time zone. Who's the one who should feel left out?! OK, enough ranting.
Anyway, we walked nine blocks to Times Square and checked out the new NFL Shop. This store is only going to exist for maybe a month and it's there to celebrate the draft in two weeks and Nike taking over for Reebok as the official apparel provider for the NFL. We saw quite a lot of memorabilia, but there were some pretty surprising features. One of the best was the Lombardi Trophy, probably the closest I'll ever get to it. There was also a case of Super Bowl rings and a draft podium where we could don the new official draft hats and have our pictures taken. We also displays for Sirius Radio, where Adam Schein was hosting a live show, new jerseys for each team, and game balls, for over $200 each. As Suzyn Waldman would say, they were special balls!
I brought a pair of Jets mesh shorts for $38 and they're a little longer than what I would normally wear, but I like the black with the green Jets letters going down the side. They look really cool. Maybe I would have liked the Jets couch too, but that would have been a little hard to get on an airplane.
I didn't know Catherine's stomach was bothering her, but we still went to Shake Shack, since I was long overdue to try this place out. And even at 3 pm on a Monday, the line went out the door and halfway down the block. I ordered a Double shackburger with cheese, fries, and a Jelly's last donut. I thought I was getting a shake, but it was more like a cup of ice cream. This thing had vanilla custard, strawberry preserves, cinnamon sugar, and a Doughnut Plant donut. Need I say more? A cup of frozen custard with a donut as one of the mix-ins...The burger was juicy, the potato roll soft, and I liked the ratio of mat to bread to toppings. I liked the crinkle cut fries, although a little salty for my taste. The custard tasted like a combo of strawberry jam, vanilla ice cream, and a glazed donut. Of course, Catherine found a way to eat half of it and more than a few fries. So I pulled my tray away from her a few times...
All of a sudden, she seemed re-energized, go figure! So we walked to the Times Square station to board the S train. This shuttle that only runs between Times Square and Grand Central has been decorated in Rangers colors, both inside and out. We took the crowded ride and had to wait for people to get off to snap our photos! From Grand Central, we took the 7 train west two stops back to Times Square and it became an Express train. Catherine should seriously write the manual on navigating the NYC subway!
So we arrived at Citi Field around 4:15 and we stood outside the Jackie Robinson Rotunda for maybe 45 minutes until the gates opened. I brought a $5 program/scorecard (not too bad!) and headed straight into the team store, where I got a blue Mets adjustable cap for $18. And since it's not made of wool, it won't bake my head during the hot summer months! I feel pretty good about that one. We went to into the right field stands for batting practice. The Mets were just finishing up, I think only Lucas Duda and Ruben Tejada hit. For Washington, Adam LaRoche hit some deep ones, but no balls came near us. Even the Nationals players in the outfield didn't throw any loose balls our way.
After about 40 minutes, I grew bored and walked upstairs to Blue Smoke for a pulled pork sandwich. I liked the pork, it was pretty moist and had a smoky spice to it. The brioche roll was quality too. My only disappointment is I could have used some BBQ sauce on it. Eventually, Catherine walked into the RF corner for Mama's and I got a Shock Top Belgian White, a beer I'd never had that's from St. Louis. Ten bucks, which may sound like a lot, but it isn't bad considering a Budweiser bottle costs $8.50. I enjoyed the beer, it had the characteristics of a Blue Moon, just without the pronounced orange flavor. It may have had a little lemon to balance the flavor out. I would drink it again.
So last time we were at Citi Field, Mr. P or whoever he is was doing a weather ay for kids. this time, we had Taiwanese Heritage Night. There was this Asian choir singing something and then these fancy costumed dancers strutting around in center field. I thought the sausages racing in Milwaukee was corny...I had no idea.
The stadium looks much better with the blue wall in the outfield. More Met-esque. To me, Citi Field cannot have enough orange and blue. We sat in 506, about halfway down the first place line, in the third row. Right in front of us sat four Jews. They had the weird little hats and even a huge hatbox for the sombrero or whatever it is. Since the four seats to my left were empty, they just put the box next to me. Some of the Taiwanese contingent sat two rows in front of us. And next to their right was some guy who I think was Hispanic and drunk. I remember him because he didn't seem to know that we're allowed to use the stairs. So he balanced himself on the front rail and balanced himself down five seats to the aisle. He looked like when the Undertaker walks the top rope when he executes Old School.
Oh, I guess there was a game too. Mike Pelfrey made his first start of the season against Edwin Jackson. Somehow, his habit of licking his hands stuck in our minds. Since I was keeping score, one of us got the tremendous idea to keep a lick count. So the plan was I would track the box score, Catherine would count hand licks, and I would keep tally marks. Pelf pitched into the sixth inning, threw just under 100 pitches, and my final lick count was 293, as I announced to my Jewish friends.
Probably the most annoying part was the noise meters that kept popping up on the scoreboard. The meters must have come on at least 20 times. I made noise by yelling "No more meters!" It was really cool to see Kirk Nieuwenhuis hit his first career home run, a 2-run shot to right field that tied the game. I hope this kid becomes a mainstay for the Mets. And Murphy won the game with a walk-off single in the 9th that I captured on video. I chanted "First place!" on the way out! It was a really exhilarating feeling. But this is the Mets. We had no idea that during that game, David Wright broke his pinkie while diving back to first base on a pickoff attempt. Only the Mets.
So we left and took the 7 train to 69th St where Ellen picked us up. We were really freezing so we were especially grateful for a warm car and a short trip home. This time, I asked for the hot tea! And once I started drinking it, there ws no stopping me! There was still a little homemade cheesecake left, so I wolfed that down too. No graham cracker crust, thank God. Catherine came downstairs and I could tell she was really weary. We made it through one episode of "Building a Champion" and couldn't make it to Part 2. We shared a few kisses, but I knew it wasn't going to get too intense.
And so it was a 5 am wake up. She got up at 5:15 to see me off. The feeling in that basement was a little melancholy. But at least I was able to make it there. It was a total gift. The car picked me up around 5:40 am and once again, I had to say goodbye to my girl and to New York.
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