It's Up to You, Newark, New York.

Yes, I'm still here. The fact of the matter is that I can count on one hand how many overnights I have had over the last two months. Two. I was in Fresno once and ate at Quizno's twice. This fact is perhaps not worthy of a blog post. And last week I was overnight in Leon/Guanajuato where I took this picture during my preflight. I have not turned into a "Slam-Clicker," the term for crew members who arrive at the hotel, latch their door, and don't emerge until their next report time. My last trip to Mexico didn't arrive until close to 9 pm after some delays, and I had an early morning report, so I simply went to bed.


For the last few days, I was in beautiful New Jersey, an expression I use with just a hint of sarcasm. One day, Nicole and I went into "the city" as folks around here refer to New York. As Nicole's birthday was coming up, we prepared for a crazy night in New York  the city to celebrate. After driving through the Lincoln Tunnel, we emerged into a land of bad drivers, aggressive taxis, slow tour buses, and millions of angry New Yorkers city people. Horns were blaring everywhere. Every man for themselves! It was clear this was not Japan, where people are respectful -- even in crowds.

Our first order of business was to find B&H Photo, a major online camera retail store whose flagship store is in New York the city. Over the years, I have ordered many products from B&H, so I was eager to see this mythical land. Having recently visited Yodobashi Camera in Japan, B&H was a surprising letdown. Whereas the Kyoto Yodobashi I visited had seemingly every camera product available for sale, B&H displayed only the most expensive camera products from each major brand, but you had to ask to take a look at lenses or other options by lining up at a counter. Not nearly as fun.

We didn't leave empty-handed, because Nicole was mesmerized by a speaker system that had water and lights that bounced to match the music. While Nicole was sucked into the vortex of the hypnotic lights and water, I purchased said speakers for her birthday. Then we had dinner and went to see my very first broadway musical. I have seen broadway shows in Milwaukee, Chicago, London's West End, and even Green Bay, but never physically on Broadway. Nor have I ever seen Cats, so this was a day of firsts. Meeeow!

At intermission, I was a bit confused. I was trying to figure out the story until I realized there wasn't one until meow. It was like a roll call of different cat characters, and what I could only conclude was an expose on sexism in the cat world because nobody wanted to befriend the older lady cat (played by British pop star Leona Lewis), but had no problem befriending the older men cats. Meow why is that? The dancing was impressive, particularly toward the end of the show and meow that I had accepted that there was no story, I could appreciate it for what it was.

Cats at one time was the longest running Broadway musical of all time, but disappeared for a while and is now coming back. I was always wondering what all the fuss was about and meow I know. After the show, we fought off the crowds and began heading out of New York the city. We drove through Times Square, an area I had not seen since I visited back in 2001, prior to 9/11. I felt fortunate to be in the safety of a car. Everything just seems so chaotic and overrun by tourists. This part of the city is simply not my scene. New York is over-romanticized on TV.

Nicole suggests a spinoff of the show Friends that centers around a cast of characters who also frequent the Central Perk coffee shop, but are angry New Yorkers who can't believe how this one group of oblivious friends keep taking over the nice couches and chairs. I have lived in many a city over the years and there's just something about New York that brings out the worst in me. It's like I want to fight everyone. Of course, this is evidently how everyone else feels and every one goes about their day with a chip on their shoulder and a clenched fist.

The following day I watched in horror as my flight from Newark to LA went from 18 available seats to Minus 40. Something happened in the morning where dozens of passengers kept getting rolled down to the following flight, which grew exponentially over the course of the day. I couldn't risk doing standby on a day like this when I had to work the following day. I could see from the standby lists that multiple people were already asking for the jumpseat, a prospect that I did not find appealing for a six hour flight anyway. With few options, but lots of unused airline miles, I secured a seat in first class. Chocolate sundae, yum!