Year 2, Day 151: New York—A Nerve-Jangling Place

We woke up at 7:48 in our "fake house"(as Ruby called the hotel room) and we immediately went downstairs to the "Continental Breakfast." Has there ever been a phrase that has less specific meaning than that? The hotel, a Marriot Courtyard, was just finished with what was obvious a very long renovation. Their CB did not feature waffles or eggs, though both were advertised at the buffet with streaming banners. Ruby settled on a pre-fab bowl of Fruit Loops and a glass of orange juice and I got a black coffee and breakfast cereal and yogurt, obviously my breakfast of choice at CBs lately. So as not to dally, I made her bring her stuff up to the room so we could change and swim before the celebratory brunch. She happily traipsed upstairs and we watched cartoons while we got dressed. She called eating in her room 'room service' for the rest of the time and told Emily that she loved 'room service.'
We went swimming for about an hour in what had to be north Philadelphia's smallest, most chlorinated pool.

Continental Breakfast
4 oz. Dannon Blueberry Yogurt
1 box of Special K
Coffee Black

"Brunch"
Omelet with Spinach, Tomatoes and Feta
3 Strips Turkey Bacon
3 Strips of Regular Bacon
2 bites of a pancake with maple syrup
1 bite of french toast crust with maple syrup
1 bite of scrapple
coffee

On the Road
2 Joysticks

Airport/On the Plane
1 Diet Coke
1 oz. Salted Peanuts
Salad with Five Ingredients and Sugary Balsamic Dressing

Dinner
Chicken with scallion, peppers and onions in cabbage wraps

Dessert
4 butter popcorn jellybeans

After brunch we went swimming AGAIN, but this time at the complex where my great-grandparents live. This was a better, less chlorinated pool and it was outdoors, so I got to try and swim some laps. I was keenly aware of my absence of exercise and heavy eating schedule. I don't think I got what you call a workout, but I did get my heart rate up temporarily. Rendezvousing with my Mom, we tried a new route (the BQE) to get us from Staten Island to LaGuardia airport, with somewhat hair-raising results. We made it on time to get the 5:00 only it was delayed to 5:40. So Ruby and I had time to eat something, because we really hadn't eaten since 11:30AM (though I got her six Dunkin Munchkins and a Smoothie for the 2 hour car ride to the airport). I found a place in the airport lounge to get a salad and though they insisted I get five ingredients on it, I held them to four, though I took my eye off the ball long enough that they doused it with a sugary dressing. I figured that was dinner but when I got home Emily had made cabbage wraps, so how could I refuse? While waiting all that extra time, we were sort of forced to sit in the lounge and watch Beirut news video and study other passengers. The combination of the traffic and the security and the news and many, many sketchy-looking passengers was really unsettling. When we got on the plane nearly all the seats were taken and a baby wouldn't stop cr;ying. I remembered that if you're not steely, New York, in all its pushing, shoving, and 'target of the world' status can be a very nerve-jangling place.

The highlight of the flight was two boys in front of us, whose father had taken them on a day trip to New York to see the Yankees play. They were fully decked out in Yankees gear, which prompted me to tell Ruby to tell them that we were Red Sox fans, which she did. This set off a rather silly back and forth of whispering and furtive looking that lasted until we landed, when I asked him why they were dressed like that.

When I got home, aside from dinner, Emily said I deserved 4 butter popcorn jellybeans, which are my favorite, so I had those. I sure was glad to be home in lil' old Boston. I took a moment to appreciate that, and then I wondered when I was ever going to get to the gym again.