NYC Trip - Day 5

We got up this day with one goal in mind... go to the Yankees game vs. the Tampa Bay Rays. We were all pretty wiped out by this time and struggled to get ready to go, but go we did.


We took the subway to the 161st St-River exit, where the Bronx Bombers (aka, Yankees) have called home for decades.

As we exited the subway you
can see the new Yankee
Stadium being built.

Under the subway tracks, the streets
abuzz with Yankee fans

On the tracks were signs anticipating
and welcoming Pope Benedict XVI
who will be there in about a week.

A beautiful mural on a parking
lot wall next to the stadium.
Except for the graffiti, it's
pretty nice work.

Tix in hand, we head in.

Enjoying a snack before the game.

The hall of famers on the wall,
both Yankee HOFs and
Baseball HOFs.

Chilling out as the teams warm up.

A Tampa Bay Ray heads
into the dugout.

Future HOFer Alex Rodriguez
warms up from behind home plate,
throwing bullets to a guy in mid-right
field... that guy's got an arm!

Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter and
Robinson Cano during the
National Anthem.

Andy Pettitte started for the Yanks.

Our view of the field. Gabe
looked over to me and joked,
"My nose isn't bleeding."

Final score. Rays 6, Yankees 3. Yeah!

Gabe reminds us to quietly
celebrate the Rays victory.

One last look at Yankee stadium
before heading back to the hotel.

We arrived back to the hotel pretty darn worn out from an exhausting week. We thought about hitting the Top of the Roc, but Dea just wanted to rest, as did the rest of us. So we lazed around the hotel, ate room service, watched television... anything, but walk.

NYC Trip - Day 4, Part 2

Let me start this entry by saying this... the following sign is the most ignored sign in NYC, period.


Okay, back to the vacation. About 20 years ago, one of my best friends in college was Chris. He and I loved film and we would talk for hours and hours about how we were going to make our mark in the world. Well, Chris has done that far better than I have.

About 15 years ago, Chris got me my first job at Nickelodeon Studios. We worked together on a variety of shows, such as Clarissa Explains It All, Guts, Legends of the Hidden Temple and My Brother and Me.

For a lot of reasons, mainly my responsibilities to my family, I left Nickelodeon, but Chris continued. He followed the Viacom food chain to MTV and moved to New York. He is now a big wig at MTV, VP in charge of the universe or something like that. We have consistently been in touch, but hadn't seen each other in person for decades.

We had been trying to get together for years, but things just hadn't worked out. I emailed Chris about two months ago letting him know we were coming into town. We were looking forward to finally seeing each other again.

A week before our trip, Chris mentioned he had to go to Los Angeles the week were were in town. Talk about timing! However, he arranged for a co-worker, Brittany, to give us a tour. If all went well in L.A. he would be flying into NY Friday night, so we planned to have dinner that night.

So, when Friday came around and we got finished up at the Museum of Natural History, we headed back to Times Square for the MTV tour.

The vibrant and very sweet Brittany cheerfully greeted us and gave us an informative and excellent tour of their facilities. The entire time I was having flashbacks to my Nickelodeon days. The MTV vibe is very similar to the Nick vibe back then.

DC was very excited to see all of the facilities and how they put everything together.

Gabe could not have been more bored than if we had asked him to watch a snail race.

TRL Studios.

Backstage.

Heading to another sound stage.

Brittany points at a tape of all of my
accomplishments. Or course,
it's blank.

Dea vamping it up in the sound booth.

Following my father's example,
in a picture, when in doubt,
point. Makes you look like
something important is happening.

Yo, I am certain I won't recognize
a single signature on this wall.

This sign was true until
I showed up.

A cool mirror near one of the
dressing rooms.

Whenever they have a special guest on TRL (Total Request Live), they would have them go into this photo booth and have their picture taken. They then post them on a wall. The amount of really famous people that has sat in that booth is pretty amazing.

We each got a turn in the photo booth. I'll scan and post those pics later.

The photo booth.

DC and Gabe next to the photo
wall of famous people.

DC being exceedingly hip.

Gabe faking being hip... or interested.

Dea standing next to one of the
funny signs they have backstage.

Yup, I'm cool, I'm hip, I'm with it...
and seriously outside the
target demographic.

The tour was a lot of fun and very satisfying to my daughter. It's great when you can do something special... or make available something special and memorable for your children.

After the tour we had a couple of hours to kill until our dinner engagement with Chris and his best friend and partner David. DC stumbled across what she considers heaven... a Reese's store.


In the meantime, Gabe and I hung out in the ESPN Zone. On the fourth floor they have an arcade up there. I rested my still pained feet (yes, both feet were killing me now) while Gabe played video games.

Art, ESPN Style.

We finally hooked up with Chris and David and had a great time. We ate at this very nice Italian restaurant and caught up on old times. Chris said something very accurate and funny... he said "after all these years I realized that working at MTV is "what I do"... like when we looked at our parents and said "they do this job or that job"... well, this is what I do." And he's right. My dad worked at American Heart Association. Chris works at MTV. I work at a electronic manufacturer. That's what "we do."

None of it is what we planned to do or even what we'd really want to do, but it is what we've been doing for over a decade. So, it's "what we do," like it or not.

The conversation was interrupted by DC's exploding pasta. Seriously. At one point her pasta just sprayed everywhere. All over her ESPN shirt, all over the floor, on both sides of her chair. It was hilarious. Fortunately, DC had purchased an inexpensive I HEART NY shirt, so she changed into that.

After dinner we had our picture taken together. Chris hadn't changed at all. I, on the other hand, had become fatter, grayer and older.

David, Pete, Dea and Chris.

On the way back to the subway, we stopped outside the Ed Sullivan Theater where the David Letterman show is recorded. A great, historic theater.

Now, with our tanks running on empty, we headed back to the hotel and crashed yet again.

NYC Trip - Day 4, Part 1

By Friday, our fourth day on the trip, the vacation was starting to wear on all of us. But, we had a big day ahead. First, we were heading over to the Museum of Natural History. The place is massive. You could spend a week straight there and still not see everything.

Dea in her morning glory.

The museum exterior.

Teddy and a travel companion.

The planetarium.

In the space section,
DC in her new ESPN jersey.

A real meteor. Cool.

A fully exposed moon.

An enlarged version of a mosquito. Gross.

Dea and DC in front of a redwood stump. Impressive.

Dino bones.

More dino bones.

Gabe and friend.

Gabe and pet.

Scarey dead things.

Midway, through the our visit to the museum, my right foot started hurting... a lot! I mean, searing pain injected into through my foot and into my leg with each step. It was brutal.

Of course, my family sympathized by walking faster and pointing me out to strangers.

My dogs were barking.

Dea trying to feed a T-Rex.

My girls.

Me and the kiddos.

We followed up the dino part of the exhibit and went through the forest section, the early human section and ended with the early American section, where Gabe marveled at the totem poles.

Yup, that's high.

After this we headed downtown for something DC had been waiting for the entire trip... a personal tour of the MTV studios in Times Square.