The City That Never Sleeps (which means I don’t either)

I just got back from New York City for a nice weekend trip staying at my friend Norman’s place.  Yes, that friend.  I had a really excellent time.  He lives in Queens, which I had never been to.  I’d been to Manhattan once before on a family trip when I was in high school, but this was my first time in another borough.

I rode the megabus, and met some nice people on the way up and the way down, which is unusual for me.  The megabus is a pretty good deal for getting from DC to NYC, most certainly the cheapest way to do it.  They have an interesting pricing scale:  The first seat on the trip gets sold for $1.  The price rises by what I believe is $1 each ticket until 25 are sold, and then the rest of the tickets are $25.  I got mine for $19 each way, which is about what you’d pay in tolls alone if you drove.  I might be wrong about this, but that seems to be how it works.

Interesting pricing schemes abounded this weekend.  I went to an excellent show in an independent theater called Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind.  I wholeheartedly recommend it, it was a great show where they try to do 30 plays in 60 minutes, most of them comedic, some serious and some just plain wacky.  Anyway, I was talking about pricing.  Their admission charge is $10+the roll of 1d6 (for non-nerds, the roll of a standard six-sided die.)  I rolled a one, which means I got in for the lowest price possible!  I don’t know why they do things this way, though I guess it means they can charge an average of $13 instead of ten.

It’s amazing to me how little things cost in Manhattan.  The two shows I went to, the restaurants I visited, and even the subway were reasonable.  I am very impressed with the city.

To get to the never sleeping part, we took a little walk in the wee hours of Sunday morning, from midnight ’til 3:30 AM.  Here’s my best estimate of the path we took from the village to central park:

The main goal was to hit up some of the smaller squares along broadway, then the Empire State Building and 30 Rock, then all the way to Columbus Circle.  I think it worked out.  We were actually at 30 Rock around 2AM, and if we’d been there an hour earlier we could have seen SNL getting out.  Sadly, I didn’t realize that SNL was live this week.  Oh well, it was still maximum fun!

Saturday Night (not so Live)

I’m supposed to be packing for my trip to the beach but I’m hooked on the episode of Saturday Night Live that NBC aired yesterday. It’s the very first episode, which featured George Carlin and they aired it as a tribute to him. It is consistently good; the sketches are much much shorter than they are today, there are way more musical acts and comedy routines, and there’s much less focus on popular culture, which means most everything still resonates today. I hope that by doing this they learn a little about how they should be doing the show today.

I’m trying to figure out what to pack. I need towels and a bathing suit, some clothes, and a nice shirt since my Dad is taking me out to an “executive” golf course (that means 9 holes and short ones at that). But the most important thing is board games! I had a request to bring Whoonu and Cineplexity (I’ll have to review that one when I get back). I think I’m also going to bring Rock Band, though I don’t know if I’ll have any takers on that. The adults all claim the songs are “noise” and are intimidated! Maybe if it’s a rainy day.

I haven’t been blogging much lately. Google downgraded me for some reason so my hits dropped and that was disheartening, also I just haven’t had too much to say. I’m not leaving for the beach until Tuesday but I’m going to be busy tomorrow night and am leaving straight from work, so unless I find some great Internet there (which is doubtful) there probably won’t be any posts in the near future, either.

Vote for Tim Calhoun!

I’m a big fan of Saturday Night Live. When my friends from work are quoting Family Guy, I inevitably throw something from SNL out there that they don’t get. Anyway, one of the best recurring guests on Weekend Update in recent years has been Tim Calhoun. He’s constantly running for office, even though he may very well be the worst candidate ever.

Here’s his most recent appearance, last Saturday.

My favorite Calhoun line:

Jack Abramoff?

But I barely know Abram!