bobmacliberty

When I was working, I had one cup of coffee on the drive to work, and one after I got there. I enjoyed having something hot to drink so I'd usually have a couple more decafs after that. After several trips overseas, and with a better understanding of how ounces in equals ounces out as you get older, I've switched to a double espresso every morning. Gets both my heart and my brain jump started in one go. No more caffeine after that.

After SUMMIT OV, we decided to check out Grand Central Terminal and have lunch in the lower level food court. The food was surprisingly good, and we witnessed some of the mental health issues in NYC first hand. Sad. We then took a walk to the Public Library. You couldn't go into the main reading room unless you were doing research or quiet reading (no tourists walking around, talking, and taking pictures). However, there was an exhibit called Treasures that we were able to view. It was an interesting mix of various "treasures" across a wide variety of topics, like an original copy of the Declaration of Independence, Charles Dickens desk and reading material, original manuscripts from Mozart and Beethoven, and various documents from a variety of religions. One of my favorites was the original stuffed animals that belonged to Christopher Robin Milne, and inspired his father A.A. Milne to write Winnie-the-Pooh.

Thursday had the best weather forecast so we decided to go to SUMMIT One Vanderbilt Thursday morning. This is one of the 5 observation decks that now exist in NYC. The OGs are the Empire State Building and Top of the Rock at the Rockefeller Center. The newer players are the SUMMIT OV, One World Observatory at One World Trade Center, and The Edge in Hudson Yards. We chose SUMMIT OV because of the immersive art experience and its proximity to Grand Central Station, the NY Public Library, and Bryant Park. I'd highly recommend it. SUMMIT OV covers the 91st, 92nd, and 93rd floors on the One Vanderbilt Tower, which was opened in 2020. There also some introductory things in the lobby area at the ground floor. The elevator ride to the top is very quick and barely feels like you're moving. You are let out on the lowest of the 3 floors and you work your way up. The lower 2 floors are completely indoors with floor to ceiling windows everywhere, and the top floor has an outdoor area. The immersive art experience comes from the mirrored floors and ceilings, a silver mylar "balloon room", and a large digital display screen. There's also a completely glassed in area (including floor) that you can stand in. The website does a better job of explaining the "art" than I can. Here are the views from the lower floor, starting with the view west looking at Hudson Yards and New Jersey. West.mp4 Then looking north toward Central Park North.mp4 And then east toward Queens/Brooklyn, wrapping around to see the indoor space East.mp4 I didn't take a video facing south but got a few pictures in that direction. Of course, I had to include a picture of the Empire State Building. Interesting point of view looking DOWN at the Chrysler Building And I worked up the courage to overcome my fear of heights and stand on the glass floor. Looking 1100 feet down to Madison Avenue. 🫣😵🥴 You may notice the little booties on my feet. Everyone had to wear these to protect the mirrored floors. The also gave you sunglasses if you didn't have your own (to be returned at the end) since all of the mirrored surfaces brightly reflected the sun. Here's the open area of the bottom floor, called Air: Transcendence. Untitled video (12).mp4 And looking down toward that area from the floor above. Untitled video (14).mp4 It can definitely be a little discombobulating. And finally, what the artist calls Air: Affinity, but what I call the balloon room. Untitled video (13).mp4 Like I said earlier, I'd highly recommend SUMMIT One Vanderbilt.

We took a stroll through Bryant Park. The Winter Village physical booths were still there but most were empty, other than signs showing what used to be there. People were still enjoying the ice rink and food/drinks.

I'd also suggest buying Wicked tix in advance. Our show (Saturday matinee) was sold out, although some of those tickets could have been sold earlier by TKTS. The line for the TKTS booths was VERY long...extending well past the roped off area for the line and snaking around Father Duffy Square. I'm guessing it was at least 30 minutes long, maybe even an hour. I doubt that's not normal but certainly possible. We glanced at the monitor showing which tickets were available and there were very few Broadway shows listed. Mostly just off Broadway stuff. We were there midafternoon so maybe the good tickets were sold earlier in the day??

After checking in, we walked 4 blocks to Times Square and spent about 30 seconds there. Check. We then walked to the Rockefeller Center area. The tree was still up and lit. The area looked great at night. Micheline surprisingly had no desire to go into Saks. That probably saved me a few dollars. 😜 We then took a walk though St. Patrick's Cathedral. What an absolutely beautiful church. We found a friendly Irish Pub called Sean's Bar & Kitchen where we enjoyed some food and drinks before calling it a night.

While in NYC, we stayed at The Michelangelo Hotel, per @George C's recommendation (thanks George!). We had booked a Junior Suite but upgraded to a One Bedroom Grand Suite when we checked in for an additional $110 per night. We had prepaid for the JS so we were really getting a GS for just $110...right? I like this girl math thing. The room was HUGE (800 sq ft) with a separate bedroom, 2 full bathrooms, and a large living room. I think it was bigger than many NYC apartments. While it was definitely more space than we needed, I really liked having the living room for when we'd be in our room for a while. Service was fantastic from everyone, the bed was very comfortable, and the location was really good. The only negative was that it was slightly dated. There were some ripped carpet seams and lots of scratches in the wooden floors and outlets. While very noticeable when we first arrived, that all blended into the background after a day or so. Untitled video (11).mp4

Unless you just want to walk to the ferry that goes to Water Island and spend the day at Honeymoon Beach. This is one of our preferred St. Thomas activities.

I grew up in Williamsville (Williamsville East HS). That's where my unfortunate die hard Bills fandom got permanently injected into my veins. I've often wished that I could root for another team but alas, I'm stuck with them for better or worse. At least I'm not a Browns fan. They've suffered far worse.

We got back from our NYC trip Sunday night. Played golf and watched the Bills game yesterday, and am sitting at home now while it rains here. Finally caught up on this thread. We had a great trip. The Billy Joel concert was incredible. His energy and his voice at 74...just amazing. The Book of Mormon was hilarious. Definitely a lot of adult content. We did a few other fun things while there and of course had some great food. Weather was pretty good...mostly in the 40s and even peaking up in the 50s, with some wind. Temps dropped on Sunday and the wind picked up, delaying our flight out of LGA for an hour. I watched 4 straight planes trying to land on runway 22 before having to do a go around right before touching down. They ended up closing that runway and had everything both landing and taking off on runway 31. I think there were 12 planes waiting in front of us to take off and we spent an extra 30 minutes taxiing. I'll separately post some pics and videos of the weekend.

Absolutely true. My nephew, who was in his teens, was dealing with cancer while Hasek was playing for the Sabres. Hasek met with him several times at Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo while he was there being treated. He even arranged for my nephew to do a ceremonial puck drop before a Sabres game. From everything I've heard, he's a tremendous guy in addition to being one of the greatest goalies ever. My nephew is doing great now and is a pediatric oncologist.

Dogs playing in snow. Doesn't get much better than that. Looks like they're having a great time!

Congratulations to your daughters! Very impressive achievements. I don't even like to drive that far. 😁

I saw this one the other day, for people who are more US centric. In cased it's not obvious, that's Alaska, California, and Texas.

Thanks for this! I don't think we'll extend our stay but a drink at one of these places may be in order.

Full disclosure...I had to stop watching after Josh's 3rd turnover...the fumble at the end of the 3rd quarter. I can't handle it. He's going to give me a heart attack this year. Our flight back from NYC is on Sunday at 3:49pm. I wasn't at all thinking about playoffs when I booked. 😁 Hopefully, Delta will have Live TV turned on while we are waiting to take off, so that we can see the end of the game on the plane. My favorite video of the week showing Bills Mafia taking over Fort Lauderdale. It's on Twitter/X so looks like you'll need to follow the link to watch: https://x.com/BarMD5/status/1743749931406348294

Would you mind also shoveling all of Manhattan? I'd like to have no snow when we get there on Wednesday please. Thanks. 😜 The long term forecast looks good for us right now...Thursday and Friday should be in the mid 40s and sunny. I'll take it!

Long term is a relative term when being exposed to loud noise. My wife has her watch set to notify her when noise levels are more than 90 dBA. Ship venues would almost always set off the notification. From the CDC:

If you're looking for more Dad jokes to add to your dada base, try this YouTube channel. He's also on Instagram here. I also follow this Instagram account for daily+ dad jokes

I'm with Jimbo on this one. We have several of their TVs and have had good luck with them. Refrigerators are a completely different story. Never again. Add us to the list of Maytag users when it comes to washers and dryers. Edit: I wish more Meile appliances were more broadly available in the US. Love our Meile vacuum cleaner.

I've never flown Southwest. After seeing several things posted here about them, I don't think I really want to. I'll stay with Delta, even if it means paying a little more.

As an Ohio State fan, I'm legally required to root against Michigan. 😁 UW has embraced the fact that everyone thinks of them as underdogs (which they've been for the last 2 games). That should work well for them again. Still, I think this is Michigan's year. UW coaches still better warn their players about using personal iPads. 😜

So sorry to hear that JC. RIP Wellie. He was a good boy.

We usually go to whatever beach has the floating bar. It occassionally moves. We've seen it at both South Beach and whatever the beach is to the left of Coco Beach Club. We'll swim/wade out there once, maybe twice for a drink. It also makes for some interesting people watching. Not a good idea though if you prefer a more natural view.

I DO have no where to go and all day to get there. That's the beauty of being retired. But I still walk quickly. It drives Micheline crazy because she has short legs.