veeRob’s Blog

I got gas on May 15th.  I’ve been couped up in a hotel working on a couple TV shows for two weeks, and picked up my car from the repair shop somewhere in there.  I had no chance to get gas prior to Tuesday.  I got gas at like 10pm, though, so it’s almost like it was May 16th.

Besides, do you really think that everyone not getting gas on one day is going to change anything?  Forget the fact that the gas ban probably wasn’t even a blip on the gas profit radar.  But dontcha think that everyone that didn’t get gas on the 15th had to either remember to fill up on the 14th or ran to the gas stations on the 16th.  End result?  The gas companies make the same amount of money.

But hey, nice statement, I guess.

Oh how sad to be sitting on an airplane, flying back to Vegas after spending a wonderful five days in New York.  For those of you that didn’t know, the company I work for got nominated for three Emmy’s (a Sports Emmy, technically, but an Emmy nonetheless).  I’ve been looking for an excuse to go to New York anyway, so the award ceremony seemed as good a time as any to take a vacation with my girlfriend April.  We actually didn’t end up going to the ceremony, but as it turns out, I did win an Emmy in the “Outstanding Technical Team – Studio” category for Fox Sports’ Pokerdome Challenge.  Anyway, here’s a not-so-quick vacation report.

April and I left Vegas on Wednesday, April 25, 2007 on a direct flight to Newark.  Our plan was to get a hotel room near the airport upon arrival, and then pick up a rental car the next day.  Continental misplaced April’s bag along with about ten or so other people with various levels of aggravation.  April was good about it, so we filled out a report and got back to our hotel to sleep since it was already 2am.  Oh yeah, Joe Piscapo from Saturday Night Live was on our flight and April said a brief hello to him at the baggage claim.

Woke up on Thursday and returned to the airport to find they did have April’s bag, which she was stoked about.  The first flight from Las Vegas hadn’t even arrived, yet, so it was in Newark the whole time.  Obviously.  So we picked up our rental car and started driving to Williamstown, MA to go see The Format.  After freshening up in our hotel room, we got to the show to find out the band’s tour manager, Mr. Mike Jarmuz, forgot to put me on the guest list.  After some quick talking, I was able to get us in.  Met up with the band, saw a great set, and then got dinner with Nate and Sam from the band as well as Mike.  We found a Friendly’s that was still open, and even though April had been raving about black raspberry ice cream on the east coast, she didn’t get any because she had just had ice cream earlier that day.  Besides, we’ll be on the east coast for a week, so she’ll have many opportunities to have some black raspberry ice cream.

Friday was a bit of a mess.  We were supposed to drive to Hamilton, NY to go check out the RxBandits, but somehow their show was cancelled.  I had a feeling this might happen, so we had a few backup options.  Our Plan B was to drive back to Newark and return the rental car, and be ready to arrive at our vacation rental on Saturday in NYC early in the day.  Our Plan A was to call Wyatt, the guy that was renting us his place, and see if we could get in a day early.  Before figuring everything out, we drove to a few nearby towns to check out some cool outlet malls my mom recommended.  Every one she recommended was shut down, so it was a waste of a few hours.  Luckily it all worked out as Wyatt said we could have the place if we could come around 8pm.  We headed to Newark and got lost trying to find the rental car joint, but made it OK.  Then we went to the airport and waited for about an hour for the SuperShuttle that was taking us into the city.  After more delays waiting to get dropped off, we finally arrived in NYC around 8pm and proceeded to check out our neighborhood.

Saturday morning was a bonus day for us as we thought we weren’t going to arrive in NYC until Saturday night.  We decided to go to Times Square and do the touristy stuff in the thick of the weekend tourists.  We saw the MTV Studios and then the Late Show with Daivd Letterman sign, ate Famiglia’s Pizza (my favorite, April’s not-at-all favorite), and then walked to Radio City Music Hall to check out the NBC store.  After picking up some souvenirs, we went back home to change, and then hit up a sushi joint called Hiro, picked by us for Buxx’s love of the TV show Heroes.  It was delicious, but the sake didn’t seem to have much effect on us.  After dinner, we hit up a bar called the Lion’s Den to check out a Beastie Boys and a Blink-182 cover band.  The former rocked, and the latter sucked.  Luckily they sucked so bad that they were entirely comical.  After the show, we headed home but ended up stopping at a bar next door called The Library for a few cocktails.  In our drunken state, we struck up a conversation with some people who had a booth, and joined them.  I think I must have blinked, cuz the next thing I knew April was trashed.  I escorted her home, and she passed out on the hardwood floor before even making it to bed.

We started our Sunday morning at Katz’s Famous Deli.  This is a pretty famous Jewish-style deli as seen in When Harry Met Sally.  This place was off the hook with tourists and locals, and I had to wait a bit before enjoying my brisket on rye.  April was a bit hungover, so she didn’t eat much.  We did get to enjoy some Dr. Brown’s sodas.  We then headed up to midtown to check out the Third Annual Street Merchants Expo or some shit like that.  We shared some delicious sweet corn, and I tried some crazy cheese and corn pancake thing.  Picked up a Ghostbusters T-shirt for $6.  I think April picked up something, too, but I can’t remember what.  After walking around for a bit, we took the subway to Chelsea Market, home of the Food Networks studios.  We didn’t realize it was right before closing time, so we didn’t get to check the place out as much as we had hoped, but we did get a nice bottle of Black Cherry infused vodka.  Awesome bottle, not so awesome vodka.

Sunday evening we had tickets to go see “Asssscat 3000,” an improv comedy group at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre.  Amy Poehler and Horatio Sanz from Saturday Night Live were supposed to be there, but they weren’t there.  That’s OK, though, because there was a cast of 8-10 people that knew their improv comedy pretty well.  As they described in the opening, if you tried to explain any of the sketches the next day, they wouldn’t sound funny, so I’m going to spare you the details.  However, they did end up doing a couple sketches about poker that were pretty funny, and one of the guys on the cast is “the next big thing.”

We tried to make plans to get a nice steak dinner, but nobody had last minute reservations available,  so we ended up getting a pretty decent cheesesteak across the street from our house.  After that, we checked out a bar called Angels & Kings, which is run by Pete from Fall Out Boy as well as some other FOB-related bands.  I think we came on the wrong night, because the place was packed with lesbians, we think.  Yes, really.  We bailed and checked out a bar called the Crocodole Lounge, which I heard had skee-ball.  Apparantly Sunday nights was free-pizza-with-every-drink night, too, which was crazy as the place was almost totally empty.  If I lived in NYC I’d be there every week for some free pizza.  April spanked my ass at skee-ball, and I think I cried all the way home.

Monday morning we ate a quick lobster roll from a place called the Urban Lobster next door to our place.  Not bad, but a bit small of a portion for a bit too much money, so I don’t recommend it.  What I do recommend is checking out a place called Pommes Frittes on 2nd Ave. & 7th St.  It’s this tiny little joint that sells cones of fries with a plethora of dipping sauces.  We had cheese sauce, some peanut thai sauce, and a honey mustard.  Delicious.  They had Canadian-style poutin, too, but we were too full to try it.

We then took a subway to the Financial District to check out the World Trade Center site.  Pretty creepy to see it up close, and crazy to think that it’s been five years and they’re still full-force on construction.  After being depressed, we decided to cheer ourselves up by walking to the ocean to check out the Statue of Liberty.  A bit of a disappointing view, but cool nonetheless.  Then off to the Ghostbusters headquarters a.k.a. Hook & Ladder, a working fire department.  Snapped some shots, then went to the Cosby Show steps for a few more pictures.  Then we were off to head to Magnolia to mack on some cupcakes.  All reports said that they were amazing cupcakes, but we were both pretty disappointed.  We were more stoked on the bar we hit up along the way.  Jekyll And Hyde’s was a “restaurant and social club for explorers and mad scientists,” and the best part was definitely the bathrooms, which I was told was behind the second bookcase on the left.

For dinner, we finally got a nice meal at the Strip House, a top-rated steakhouse.  I had the filet mignon and April had the T-bone, and we shared the goose-fat potatoes.  Good food, but not the west coast friendliness I was used to in finer dining establishments.  After dinner, we hit up Arlene’s  Grocery, another bar within walking distnace of our place.  The bar had live band karaoke on the  agenda, and that was right up my alley.  I instantly signed up for Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ On A Prayer,” and I brought my A-game that night.  The drummer, who apparantly hates playing that song, found me after the set and told me he loved it that night.  I’m so glad we decided to go back out on the last night, because it really ended our trip on a high note.

I’m hoping to upload some pictures that April and I took shortly, so I’ll post another blog entry with the link when I do.