So they drove me a few blocks away from the restaurant, and as I walked up there, I texted Maura, and she called the dude. And then a few minutes later he he rode up on a yellow bike, this big, tattoo-covered, dreadlocked dude who I so would not have wanted to face alone. I looked at the bike, and he had attempted to fix one of the things that was broken, but the other part, which I had carefully described to the police officers, was still unfixed, which was the first thing he pointed out to me, as if he were being an honest salesman. I almost started laughing. It was definitely my bike!

And then the cops all converged on the guy, and they said, “Can we talk to you over here?” to him which sounds very nice but I assure you was not really said as a question. And then he was over against the Peter Luger’s wall with all the cops and I was alone with my bike. And then they were asking him all these questions, and he was like, “I do not steal bikes, I buy them from this guy,” and then within a minute they had extracted that he was a junkie, that he bought these bikes from another junkie, and even how much junk he consumed a day. Detective work in action! They cuffed him and put him in the squad car.

When I tell people I’m trying to avoid meat, they often gasp as if it’s something they can’t comprehend.  But I have to be honest, I was once one of those people.  But not anymore.  It’s really not that hard to avoid meat.  You just have to have a different line of thinking.  Instead of thinking, “I can’t make something with meat tonight,” you just have to think, “what kind of veggies can I make tonight?”  And it will all come together. 

For one thing, it allows me to explore other foods. 

I ordered mahi mahi :gasp: the other night at dinner and really enjoyed it.  I’m anxious to try other fish, too.  And this is coming from someone who has avoided fish and seafood in general, with the exception of shrimp and crabs, for his entire life. 

I’ve been trying to cook with a broader range of vegetables, as well.  I’ve included mushrooms in just about everything I’ve eaten.  And I’m looking forward to making a few dishes with eggplant in the coming weeks, too. 

We’ll see how this all unfolds.  I haven’t had a huge craving for meat in quite awhile.  I mostly crave it during lunch when I’m in the mood for a good sub, cheesestake, or sandwhich.  But I’ve been pretty good at finding altetnatives to hold me over — soups, veggie wraps, etc. 

Life is one huge episode of Everybody Loves Raymond.

I know we can all get caught up with petty, well, bullshit from time to time, and when we do, just take a step back and look at the situation — find the humor in it and things will make sense. And ultimately, laugh at yourself. Because if you can’t laugh at yourself, who can you laugh at?

I’ve been really torn on the issue of Yankee Stadium being torn down after this season; only to be replaced with a new Yankee Stadium just next door.  For those who have been fortunate enough to see Yankee Stadium, you know exactly what I’m talking about — there’s a certain aura to the place.  You walk in there, and you’re overwhelmed by what is Yankee Stadium.  You can feel the history.  It’s all still there; within your reach.  You sit down in your seat, wherever it might be, and you know the crowd will be into the entire game, inning for inning and no matter what the score.  You don’t experience that anywhere else.

But when you think about it, the current Yankee Stadium isn’t the same house that Ruth built back in 1923.  Sure it stands on the same grounds, but it was more or less entirely renovated in the 70s.  Major things changed in the 70s for the stadium that set it apart from the 20s.  So why not start completely over in 2009?  In the end, what’s the big deal?  The history, and memories, will still be there — just carried over to a stadium a block away.  The prestige of the Yankees organization will still be there — just in another stadium.

However, I realized the other day why I was so torn on the new versus old stadium.  And honestly, it comes down to my son or daughter just not being able to see the old stadium and what it had to offer.  I was very fortunate growing up and going to several Yankee games per year.  I wasn’t the biggest baseball fan, but even then, I just enjoyed the atmosphere of the game.  Every time we would go, my father would tell me stories about how him and his friends used to sneak out to go to Yankee games, or how his grandfather used to take him to games, or how he was able to see Player A do X, Y, and Z.  At the time, I could care less about those stories, as would any young kid.  But as now an adult, it’s those stories and the overall history of the Yankees that absolutely define the current stadium to me.  And it saddens me to not be able to share that same feeling with my children.

I am looking forward to the new stadium and what it has to offer.  I’m looking forward to being able to see the many memories to come in that stadium, too.  I certainly hope to be able to share those new stadium memories with my children, as well.

But when I’m at a game with my kid, and I’m doing what my father did to me, telling him stories.  They’re going to be about “the old stadium across the street.”  I’ll be able to tell him or her about how I was able to see Paul O’Neil hit three home runs in one game on August 31st, 1995 — but in the old stadium.  I’ll be able to tell him or her about the great seats my father used to get just five or six rows from the Yankee’s dugout — but in the old stadium.  And I’ll be able to tell him how his mother and I froze our asses off in an April game which resulted in us leaving in the second inning — but that all occurred in the old stadium.

Maybe I’m just looking into it a bit much.  Maybe it’s not the physical aspect of the Yankees that needs to be there to continually cherish all of these moments.  Maybe it’s just the memories themselves that define everything.  The memories will always live on, maybe soon in a different form, but they’ll still live on.

So maybe it is a good thing, this new Yankee Stadium.  Maybe it’s good to create new memories for a new generation.  I was fortunate enough to see a great dynasty, and I’ll always be able to share those memories with my son or daughter — just the same way my father did with me.  We’ll always hold on to these memories, and just because the current stadium is coming down, it doesn’t mean these memories will just vanish.  They’ll always be there for us to appreciate and to reflect upon.

In other news, I’ve lost my debit card for the third time this year. I really don’t know what’s going on, but I’m continually leaving them in ATM machines or restaurant check books.  I really need to stop doing that.

We were in the city, so we decided to take a cab to a hospital since I felt myself gradually becoming worse.  It certainly wasn’t as severe as when I had my major allergic reaction when I was 20, but I still didn’t want to risk becoming worse.  The emergency room quickly hooked me up to some fluids, gave me some benadryl, and capped everything off with a shot of adrenaline.  Within minutes I was feeling back to normal, and after an hour or so, I was released.

I was pretty set on not taking my medical bracelet off until my shot at love was over, but that didn’t last too long once I got annoyed by it in the shower.

House shopping as to be one of the most exciting, yet frustrating, events in our lives. In the last few weeks, we’ve decided to house shop when an opportunity for a cheap house came out of absolutely no where. We ended up bidding on the house, and then retracting our bid when we realized the timing of it just would be too overwhelming (they wanted to close asap, we needed to sell the condo, etc). But we opted to keep at the house hunting game and hope we can come across something that will allow us to save for approximately a year while it’s being built.

It’s appearing more and more that you can get a great home with large rooms, nice layout, and upgraded kitchens — yet absolutely no property space. Oh, and in, for lack of better wording, shitty neighborhoods. On Saturday, we went to a home that we were very excited about. However, as we drove to the development, we began to see why the homes were so cheap; the homes surrounding the new development were mostly boarded up and foreclosed. And the ones with individuals still living there, well, they didn’t maintain them all that well. For an added punch to the stomach, the elementary school looked like it was abandoned as well.

Later that day, we went to another development. They were nice homes and the builders were offering huge incentives. But again, the neighborhood just wasn’t comfortable and while the homes were spaced far apart, there was absolutely no backyard space. So where do you compromise?

It’s going to be rough, but I’m sure we’ll eventually find what we want.

Thank you for not fucking up my car today.  While it was almost a nightmare driving around Radio City, it was a great learning experience.  Perhaps one day, I shall return via my automobile.  But until then, I’ll be taking the train in.

Regards,

That asshole from Jersey trying to pretend he’s a New York driver.