Day 4/5: NYC to Limerick

Traveling is fun.

That's the positive thought of the day. I left New York City and America sometime yesterday and flew to Dublin and then Limerick via Shannon Airport. Surprisingly the plane was only delayed 30 minutes out of JFK. Upon finding my seat (again, planes are made for people 5-9 and shorter) some cheery lass came on the PA and told us that there would no in-flight movie. Sigh. I guess now I'll just have to add Penelope to my Netflix queue.

The flight was long, especially without many distractions. I finished up my ESPN: The Magazine and several newspapers. They gave me some pretzels and Whitney-sized ginger ale. It was a good dinner. One time I actually tried to fall asleep and thought I was close until they announced that dinner was going to be served. Pleasant. It was a chicken/rice/vegetable mixture that wasn't quite an Asian dish. They also gave us four leaves of salad a breadstick (my favorite part) and cheesecake -- which I ate for the second time in my life, but not before spilling it on my lap. Yeah! My biggest complaint was they served a full meal and only gave us three ounces of water to wash it down. As someone who drinks a lot when they eat, this was a tricky task.

With several more hours left to fly, I thought it would be best to get some shuteye. This was almost an ideal flight to avoid jetlag. Sure it was a 5-hour time jump, but given the length and timing of the flight, I thought I could trick my body into thinking it got a full night sleep. Nope. Here's the thing: I have never been able to sleep well in any sort of non-reclining apparatus. Cars, planes, chairs, desks, bikes, etc. My usual trick is to wedge my head up again the window and turn on my hip, but since I was in the middle section the best I could do was lean against the headrest next to me (which was unoccupied). But the lack of leg space prevented any form of relaxation and comfort. But somehow I managed to get an hour or two in. I did wake up before they handed out the morning orange juice. Score one for the good guys.

Eventually, we landed in Dublin. Walked 10 minutes to immigration, got stamped and turned right back around and retraced the same walk. Luckily the wait was only for an hour. Then up in the air for 30 minutes and in Shannon we are.

The adventures begin in earnest in Ireland at the luggage reclaiming station. I waited there, but my suitcase did not get the memo as to where I was waiting. There were three of us that lost bags (we fear they continued the trip with the Dublin-Shannon plane on to Boston). I sat next to one of the girls who also lost a bag in the JFK terminal and the other one on the plane. The girl from JFK was near crying, convinced that the airline had tried to screw her, a 15-year-old, over. Luckily I was not too distressed because I had most of my essentials in my backpack and carry-on. Good thing my mother told me to split up the packing to have sets of clothing in both bags. I return to Shannon tomorrow to hopefully retrieve my bag.

While in New York, I looked up some bus routes and was convinced that this was a much cheaper route to get to the place I was staying than a taxi. There was only one bus agency at the airport so I purchased a ticket to Limerick. Twenty minutes later I'm in Limerick, but still 10-15 minutes away from my final destination. I should point out that I don't know the exact address of where I'm staying. And I'm only about 70 percent sure I even know the name of it "Brookfield or Brookview" "Field View". Also, the only way I know the location of this is a quick mapquest search. It's about a mile south and I have a vague recollection of what the building looks like. Despite all this, I think I can get to my final destination. Whatever.

I get to the bus station in Limerick and ask the information lady how to get to the University of Limerick. She gives me a map of the city (which does a poor job of mapping the city) and says there is a local bus route about four blocks away on William St. After blindly walking a block or two, I orient myself and find the street. A lady at a bakery points me in the right direction. I get on the bus and hope some more. Surprisingly, I identify my stop the first time it passes by, but I don't get off until the route loops back. I wanted to spend that extra 20 minutes sightseeing anyway.

I get off the bus and walk about a half-mile to the buildings I think look familiar. Bingo Bango. Score one for the good guys. I find the reception area and more good news: it is locked up and closed. I don't have the management's number on me and even if I do, I have no phone. I eventually locate the number on an "In case of emergency call:" sign. But still no phone. One girl walks into the building and lets me in, but she has no phone. The next girl says her battery is dead. Whatever. Finally, the third guy (The Good Samaritan?) has a phone. I call management and they will be down in five minutes.

I get my room and settle in, take a nap and plot my return to Shannon tomorrow. I also watch TV for the first time in about four days (my choices: Matilda, Wimbledon or a senior equestrian event). Oh, it's almost 10 p.m. Just about bedtime. Yes!

I'll post pictures of the apartment and hopefully my missing suitcase tomorrow.

A few catch-up details: My trip to Ellis Island never happened because the wait to get on the ferry was too long. So instead I treated myself to a trip to the NBA Store, where I purchased an NBA Draft hat. Then a quick visit to Andrea and I packed and rode the subway to JFK. Also, I went to the United Nations on Thursday. 

Good times.

Day 4: The NBA Draft, pretty much the greatest night ever

Ah, children come close. For I am about to tell you a story of riches and excitement. It involves fresh-faced men and a rowdy crowd thirsty for hope. 'Tis the tale of the NBA Draft.

The Draft has long been one of my favorite non-sporting, sporting events of the year. It's way better than the NFL Draft and trumps the National Spelling Bee with ease. It's packed full of comedy with players emerging out of the stands and men talking about other men's length, upside and bounciness.

Last night, I attended the 2008 NBA Draft. My friend, Collin, went with me because my original partner, Charlie, was taking care of his sick girlfriend (Get well soon!) We started the night with gyros/pizza and then got free color-changing Sprite cups at the Draft. Below are my thoughts from the night. Most of them deal with the atmosphere because you could have picked up a lot of general stuff from the telecast, and I could only somewhat hear what the TV guys were saying.

— There were two big camps at the Draft. One for Michael Beasley. Several dozen people were wearing white T-shirts with "30" on them all in one corner. The other one was the OJ Mayo fan club. The Knicks wanted him bad. But unless they kidnapped Timberwolves GM Kevin McHale, they aren't going to get him. Chants of "O.J. Mayo" start early. One guy even brought a "Spread the Mayo" sign.

— A great thing about getting together a bunch of hardcore NBA fans is all the random old jerseys that get pulled out of the closet. Two rows in front of me there was a Nets Ed O'Bannon jersey and a Jalen Rose Bulls jersey (I saw two of these and the second had a "D." in marker before Rose). Also sighted were a Horace Grant Magic jersey and a Ryan Gomes Celtics jersey. Of the Knicks fans, the most prominent player is David Lee by far, which is great because I've heard him in several trade rumors already.

— Speaking of Knick fans, even mention Danielo Galanari and the fans boo. They don't want him. Guess who does? Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni. This is going to be great.

— When David Stern comes out to welcome everyone to the draft the fans pour hate on to him. "You Suck" and "I hate you" were some of the tamer comments yelled at the NBA commish. There is only one Tim Donaghy sign that I can see, so things are looking up.

— Things go smoothly for the first three picks. Rose-Beasley-Mayo. Cheers for all three. When the Sonics come up to pick, I hold up my "Save Our Sonics" sign made in homage to Van, Alex and Charlie. (All Sonic fans) Some guy behind me asks why a guy dressed in Magic stuff holding up a sign for the Sonics? I tell him it's for my friends that aren't here, he doesn't seem to care. He then asks to see my other sign ("Draft Aleks Maric") To which he replies, "I think I played with Maric in high school." I don't think he knows Maric is from Australia.

— It's time for the Knicks to pick. Watch my video down below. High comedy. Shortly after the pick, Knicks fans start to chant: "Jer-rad Bay-liss," "USA, USA" and "Fire Walsh." Knick fans are always entertaining. Anyway, the theater starts to clear out.

— The next big pick is the Nets. Ed O'Bannon does not like the pick of Brook Lopez. I try to comfort him and tell him that the Nets could pick twin brother Robin Lopez at No. 21. He doesn't like that suggestion one bit.

— The first round trudges on and I start talking to people around me. The guy to my left went to Duke and want the Magic to give J.J. Reddick some love. I say not going to happen because the Magic are likely to draft another 2 at 22. A girl in front of me went to Rider, the college of No.
12 Jason Thompson. She seems uninterested.

— One of the most disturbing trends of the night is the horrible music selections played right after some one's name is announced. They just played "Low" by Flo Rider when Robin Lopez was picked. Earlier "Back in Black" serenaded Eric Gordon onto the stage. Either Mayo or Love heard Lenny Kravitz's "Fly Away" after getting picked and I think Westbrook listened to U2's Beautiful Day. Alexis Ajinca gets "My Love" by Justin Timberlake. This trend would continue to the second round when "September" by Earth, Wind and Fire, "ABC" by the Jackson 5 and other random selections were played.

— After seeing Robin Lopez up close, I'm sure he'd give Carrot Top a run for the money to play Sideshow Bob is a real-life Simpsons was ever made.

— Amazingly I zone out for about three minutes while Dick Vitale rambles on about something.

— Mark Jackson tells the Cavs they need a "fresh piece of gum." At least that's what it sounded like to me.

— The first trade of the night: Bayliss and Ike Diago for Rush and Jack. No one likes it except for the Pacers fan. I disagree.

— Magic select Courtney Lee. I like the pick. Brandon Rush was my wish pick, but it became clear that he wasn't going to be around at 22. (I mentioned Speights to the guy in front of me and not more than 30 seconds later, the 76ers pick him) It was either him or CDR. Lee can shoot better. Bye-bye J.J.

— On the other end of the section where we were sitting was the exit tunnel for all the players after they were chosen. This led to some fun interaction when they would boo foreign players and give props to others. About midway through the first round, an usher cleared everyone out to which the crowd chanted "Debbie Downer."

— Big cheers for Darrell Arthur, the last pick in the Green Room. Collin and I go over to the rail to slap his hand. There were a few Jayhawk T-Shirts.

— Whenever a Boston fan walks by the crowd starts taunting him. The Boston fan will then respond by pointing to his ring finger. This leads to two responses: Either the New Yorker flashes his middle finger or starts chanting "18-1" or "Let's go Giants" My brother bought me a Celtics shirt from his trip to Boston during the finals. I wore it under my Magic shirt. I think I will keep it there to save the berating.

— Just to prove they don't hold any grudges, Knick fans boo Larry Brown when he is interviewed. Later on, when Stuart Scott mentions Isiah Thomas, they boo more. They like their boos.

— For the second round, we get to move down to the lower section. There are probably only 150 people left and that will get smaller as the night goes on. This is what the draft is all about.

— One for the big trend of the Chad Ford era is for foreign guys to sit in the front and go up on stage even though they weren't invited to the Green Room. This happens three times with college players — Joey Dorcey, Mario Chalmers and DeAndre Jordan — which I can remember happening. They all seem to be happy to be here.

— Sitting closer to the TV crew, we get to interact with them more. Van Gundy and Mark Jackson banter with the crowd and seem to enjoy it. Jay Bilas is all business and Stu Scott also doesn't seem to care. At one point someone tells them to get together for a picture and JVG and Mark Jackson put their arms around each other and Bilas, but Stu remains slightly apart. I yell at Stu to pretend he likes them, to which he responds by looking at me and pointing to his ears saying he can't hear me. Whatever. He hates them. JVG and Jackson continue to entertain the crowd by dancing, pointing and even making a phone call to a fan's phone. They seem to be having a good time. They made the second round bearable.

— The most popular chant during the second round is "We want Russ" in homage to former NBA deputy commissioner Russ Granik. This is the second year of the new Russ, Adam Silver, who seems to enjoy his job, but gets no love from the crowd. The Russ chants go on pretty heavy for the first half of the second round. Sections cheer for him, but not a really good reception. Anyway, about halfway through a bunch of NBA flunkies (I say this because the were wearing NBA polos with ugly mismatched draft hats on) came out and told us to cheer for Adam Silver. If we did, we would get free stuff. One section goes nuts for him (it was the guy with the Italian flag for those that watched) and later they come out with Bulls hats to toss around. The rest of the crowd still chants their affection for Russ.

— Near the end, I started to hold up my "Draft Aleks Maric" sign. Got a nod from Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson, but I don't think they know who he is. One guy in a Duquesne shirt gave me a shout out. Alas, I did not get on TV and Maric didn't get drafted.

— All in all, a great time. They handed out free Coke when we left, as Collin and I were among the last to leave at 12:30 a.m. Great time. If I think of anything else, I'll type it below.

LJLA

Day 4: NBA Draft

Day 3: Sports!

Keeping to my theme of one tourist attraction a day, Wednesday's stop was the American Museum of Sports. This museum is a brand spanking new and opened up in May. I read about it in both Sports Illustrated and ESPN: The Magazine. The one downfall is they don't allow pictures (what's with these museums?), so my words will have to suffice.

The Museum was essentially a conglomeration of several mini-museums put into one. The first part Charlie and I toured was the Heisman Room. It housed the original Heisman as well as tributes to all of the former winners. I made sure to set all of the winner's information pages to either Johnny Rodgers or Mike Rozier. Good times.

The next big room was dedicated to the Olympics. It had a bunch of medals, where Charlie and I played guess that site and other big exhibits. There were big displays of Jesse Ownes, Michael Phelps and the Gymnastics team. The funniest display was the history video screen where you could watch clips of record-breakers, innovators and my personal favorite heart breakers. Here come to the hall of greatness and see an absolute failure! (It didn't just show Dan vs. Dave commercials.) My favorite display was the one for the 1992 Dream Team. They had jerseys from Jordan, Karl Malone and Larry Bird. Even cooler was some of the merchandise they had from the era. My favorite was a complete 10-piece Starting Lineup figurine set. (Sorry Christian Laettner, you're not included)

The rest of the exhibit wandered through the rest of the sports — baseball, basketball, football, soccer, hockey, golf. Baseball included the bronzed hat, glove and ball from Don Larsen's perfect game and basketball included Dr. James Naismith's notes on how he came up with basketball.

In the miscellaneous section (which included volleyball, softball, fishing and bowling), they had a cycling test where you could measure yourself against the professionals. Proudly, I can say that I clocked the sixth-best average RPMs for 30 seconds of visitors that day. The other neat interactive exhibit was a balance test, which is supposed to be comparable to downhill skiing. I stayed balanced for just over two seconds, which the security guy said was pretty good and the best that day was three seconds. Score one for me.

The final room was a Hall of Halls exhibit, displaying information about every Hall of Fame you could ever want to visit — like the Sports Art Hall of Fame. Weee.

The Museum was a good time. It encompassed a lot of different sports. The one interesting thing about the SMA is that is will be guaranteed to be different every time you visit because almost all of the artifacts were on loan from people or other museums. But it was a good overview of all the sports. My only complaint was that it cost $24, which included a $3 student discount. If I am paying $24 for a museum tour I better get my own mini-bronze bust at the end. Good times nonetheless.

The only other noteworthy venture of the day was dinner with my friend Collin. He was in NYC finishing up his Master's degree in Political Science at Columbia. (He goes to Northeastern full time). I lived with Collin during my final semester of undergrad and was his boss in Harper Hall the previous year, not to mention he also wrote for the DN. It was good to catch up with him and tell stories of law school/grad school, travels abroad, African movies and other topics. Below is my token picture of the day with Collin.


As a preview, today (Thursday) is the day I've been looking forward to the most out of the NYC portion of my trip. It's NBA Draft time. I have to say the NBA draft is my favorite non-sporting, sporting event of the year. I've been a big fan of it for several years, with help from Chad Ford and Bill Simmons. Expect a full write-up tomorrow. I'm so pumped.

Day 2: Bumming Around the NYC

The second day of my vacation portion of my trip started off with some well-needed rest. After a wild, but awesome wedding party on Saturday/Sunday and sitting in a plane and lugging my bags all over New York City Monday, I was tired. So I slept in until 10:30 a.m. EDT. Before attacking the world. After doing some housekeeping items (like setting up a blog) Charlie and I hit the streets.

Andrea had left us a Walking Tours of New York flashcard set. (I want to call it a book, but it is little index cards with information on them. Just like flashcards) Not having a specific plan in mind, we set out for the museum-rich area of east Central Park. The first attraction we spotted was the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I had been there before (Charlie had not), but when we saw the Superheroes: Fantasy and Fashion, we were both intrigued. Although I am not obsessed with comic books or superheroes, I am a big fan of the movies and I knew I had several friends of mine that would be disappointed if I did not venture in.

The Met has an interesting policy of not demanding specific prices for admission. They only have "suggested prices." But most people don't know this and feel guilty about paying less. Charlie played this off well and gave them a $5 bill. I on the other hand only had $20s, so I opted for the combo of admission and the self-guided audio tour for $15, $2 less than retail price.

After a few false starts and wrong turns, we arrived at the Superheroes exhibit gift shop. Not wanting to get lost, even more, we went through the exhibit backward. The displays featured the different kinds of superheroes from the super Superman to the one-trick ponies (I.E. the Flash) to the normal guys with special suits (Ironman). Most displays had costumes from movies such as Wonder Woman, Spiderman, Batman and others, along with several interpretations of superheroes by famous designers. All in all, it was pretty cool. I would share more pictures with you, but 1) Photographs weren't allowed and 2) The camera was being stupid. However, I did take two pictures that my comic book friends (Van, I'm looking at you) will enjoy.

From left, (These are guesses) The first appearance of Superman, Spiderman's debut, the debut of Venom; debut of Captain America, The Hulk, Fantastic Four, and half of Batman

Charlie and I continued to wander around the Met looking at a few other items of interest — Pop Art on Paper, Modern Art. The last thing we wanted to look at was George Washington crossing the Delaware River, which was in the American Wing all the way across the Museum. Here's the thing about the Met. It isn't put together in a way that every room leads to the next and it is easy to get from one end to the other. Nope. In fact, we got lost a couple times. But it turns out that the navigation problems were just our fault, the American Wing was under construction and the only way to get there was through the Egyptian exhibit, which was accessible from the main entrance. We backtracked and made out way through Egypt to the American Wing. Only then did we discover that George Washington & Delaware was down for renovation. Dejected we decided to hightail out of the Museum.

Upon making our way outside, we discovered that our timing was great because we completely missed a rainstorm that drenched the City. We walked back through Central Park and grabbed some lunch. (Quick story: I was waiting for a calzone and a guy and girl came in and ordered something. The guy behind the counter thought it was a cheese pizza, but when the orderer was served the pizza, he said he didn't want it and all he asked for was two Hawaiian Punches. The guy behind the counter continued to finish my order muttering something under his breath in some language I didn't totally comprehend.)

After staying in most of the evening, I capped off the day with a walk with Andrea. We trekked down to Columbus Circle. Along the way, we saw the Lincoln Center, which was boring because most of the courtyard was under construction. The way back was more exciting as we could watch the fireworks in Central Park, which we assumed was from a concert by the New York Symphony.

With three days left of NYC, I think I have three visiting spots left: the UN, the Sports Museum of America and Ellis Island. Any other ideas? Go Team!

LJLA

Day 1: From Omaha to the NYC

My trip started off pleasantly as my parents drove me to Eppley Airfield in Omaha. After shuffling a few liquids and gels to my checked baggage the nice check-in lady informed me of the first setback. 

Flight Delays were eminent. 

I had worried about this ever since I bought my tickets a couple months back but was hoping for the best as I had a non-stop from Omaha to Newark. But alas, this was not of the airline's doing and instead was the fault of the weather of Newark. Foggy skies in New Jersey had limited the clarity of the skies and cut down on the number of flights that were allowed into the airport. 

The trip begins sitting in the Eppley Lounge listening to a couple figure out how they were ever going to make it to Greece with the flight delay. Oh woe is them. 

I did read the entire Sports Illustrated and half of an ESPN: the Magazine during the delay. Now I can throw them away and lighten the load. When finally boarding I discovered another fun fact: three across planes are made for people 5-foot-10 and shorter. I bumped my head twice before finding my seat near the back. 

To pass time on the flight, I watched Frontline's The Ghosts of Rwanda, as recommended by my friend Jeremy. It was an interesting documentary (which is a word I have found that I have cannot pronounce without questioning myself) about the genocide in Rwanda during the 90s. It was sad and horrific at times, but shed light on perhaps the darkest hour of the world since the Holocaust. Anyone who has seen Hotel Rwanda will know about the story. 

After our plane arrived in Newark, we shuttled up to the terminal. But because our plane was not big enough to hook up, we got a ramp to exit the plane. The other passengers and I followed a carefully painted route marked by yellow lines to another stairway to the terminal. And just in case anyone decided to stray from the painted path, there were no fewer than seven airport personnel standing along the path (which was at most 25 yards). 

Upon communicating with my friend Andrea, with whom I am staying, that I had arrived and plans for getting to her apartment, my phone thought it would be a great time to die. It did. Now we were flying solo. I took an Amtrack train to Penn Central Station in NYC and then hopped on the subway to get to her place. 

One caveat: on the subway map it lists trains by color, but doesn't tell you which one makes stops at certain stations. So I hopped on the Red 3 line. (The 1, 2 and 3 all share the same route until north of Central Park). I needed to get off at the 79th Street exit, but because I had two bags and a backpack on and it was crowded with remnants of rush hour crowd I could not get close enough to the route map to see for sure if it stopped at 79th. It did not. I did see the station I wanted to stop at whiz by through the windows. The subway eventually stopped at 96th. So I changed platforms and hopped on the next subway I saw the opposite direction — the No. 2. I saw the 79th St. Station fly by in the window again. Thus by process of elimination, I jumped on the No. 1 train at the 72nd St. Station and finally made it to my final destination. 

Side note: Andrea and her boyfriend Charlie had departed for the Mets game at 6 so they could make it on time (stupid flight delay) and left their keys at a Deli a block away. The Deli guys were nice and tried to tell me there was $1 million in the envelope. Sadly, there was not. 

The other really great news of the day was I sold the four extra tickets for the NBA Draft for more than $300 total. After purchasing those four tickets for $80 from Ticketmaster, I turned a nice profit and the investment was worth it. 

I dropped off my bags in the apartment and quickly made my way down to the subway to make it out to Shea Stadium. Even though the Mets and Mariners were playing my interest for the game was high. This is because Johan Santana was pitching. Johan might have been my Man Crush for the past few years. But since he got traded to the Mets (Thanks for Carlos Gomez!) the crush has subsided. My goal was to make it in time to watch Johan pitch. Hustle.

After another 30-40 minutes on the subway and 15 minutes walking up steep ramps with no oxygen, I made it to Shea in time for the 6th inning. Johan was still in. I found Andrea, Charlie along with Andrea's roommate Abby and Erik. It should be noted that all four went to Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington and were Mariners fans. 

Even though I was wearing my Minnesota Twins' Santana shirt I felt safe amongst this motley crowd. The game passed quickly and as the Mets tried to rally in the 9th inning the stadium finally woke up. But after Beltran (or maybe Delgado) struck out, the crowd turned quickly on them and booed him off the field. 

Another subway ride home and a late-night sandwich delivery ended the day. As Ice Cube said, It was a good day and hopefully the start of a good trip. 

out 

LJLA

Day 0: The blog

Greetings. Thanks for checking out my blog. 

In this corner of the World Wide Web, I will write about my adventures in New York, Limerick and beyond. I will try to post daily, but I make no guarantees. I will post whenever something exciting happens. 

Also, I will take pictures and share them with you here as well. Feel free to send along messages and feedback. I hope you enjoy this as much I as do, if not, I don't care, at least my mother will read this.