Tuesday, November 27, 2007

New York, New York...again!

I went down to visit Sam and Mercy down in NJ for Thanksgiving 2007. I left early Thursday morning from my garage in Boston. It was smooth sailing except in CT where I hit heavy fog for most of the travel there. I arrived in NJ around 9:30 AM. Milton, who lived in Philly, met us there with his wife Shiney and young son Kevin. He was stopping by on his way to Washington DC since Kevin had been itching to see the Aerospace museum there. While the womenfolk were busy prepping the Turkey (for the record, they added a bit of spices to it) and Kevin was watching Chicken Little, Tom & Jerry, and playing with his toys, Sam, Milton and I whiled away the hours chatting.


Kevin. It was unseasonably warm on T-Day.


The food was phenomenal...


...and we made short work of it!

In the evening, we visited Sam's friend Ragu and his family in a brand new community near Windsor. It was a beautiful house with a huge basement where Ragu had a Table Tennis setup. So we played a good bit of TT before returning to Sam's place. Once back home, we put on the projector I had brought with me and watched Shooter before retiring for the night.

On the morning of black Friday, the shopping began. While at home, Milton was placing orders online for some electronics. I was amazed at how these guys shopped, searching for the best deals and using coupons, etc. Wow! I rarely buy stuff and when I do, I buy stuff regardless of the price. Although lately I've become
painfully aware of my own spending habits.


Me and Milton. The hunt was on...

Then it was time for Milton and his family to leave for Washington but first...real shopping in the real world! Sam and Mercy decided they needed to buy some stuff at Kohl's while Milton decided that he finally had to get that electric guitar of his dreams at Guitar Center (he did get it for half the price...at $500!). I got tired of Kohl's after about 15 minutes. I think that I was the only single guy there and just could not relate to what was going around me :) So I went to a Starbucks across from the mall. It was across. Sure. But it took me about 10 minutes to cross NJ-18 because of traffic!! Anyway, I was relaxing over an eggnog latte when Sam and Mercy showed up. We lunched at a nearby Boston market where Mercy (this was her first visit to a Boston Market) sampled a variety of sides with her chicken. After lunch we left for Liberty State Park. Both Mercy and I had never seen "the Statue" close-up (on a side note, this has definitely been a "NY month" for me).


Sam and Mercy at Ellis Island.


A message for cynical immigrants.


I don't know who she was, where she came from, anything about the legacy she may have left behind, if she had time for hobbies or the money for after work drinks. But she was super cute. So there!


I played with the light a bit.


I played with the light a bit more. Look, no tripod!

It was bone-freezing cold by the time we were done with "the Statue". As soon as we disembarked from the ferry, we rushed to the warmth of the car and back to Sam's place in NJ.

The next day (Saturday), Ragu and his family dropped by for lunch. So Sam and I did a bit of grocery shopping in the morning. After lunch, I returned to Boston. Traffic again flowed smoothly except near Hartford were 91N was closed because of an accident. I had to take a local exit, drive a bit around Hartford before finding 84E. Once home, I promptly shaved my head, took a piping hot shower and went to bed! All in all, a weekend well-spent!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for writing this, It will hold in the memory for a Long time. One thing to add, We thanked God for blessing us with good friends and family before we worked out Turkey.

--Sam

Hoarse Whisperer said...

Sam, yes, I forgot to mention the heartfelt prayer you said before we delved into the Turkey's depths :)

Anonymous said...

Truly it was a memorable thanks giving weekend for all of us. Enjoyed reading your blog...good one. You forgot to mention that Sam lost 2 games to Uncle :) :) The pictures are awesome. I need some more training in photography.

--Milton.

Hoarse Whisperer said...

Milton, I had a great time!

"I need some more training in photography."

Well, next time we meet up I will show you how and you can teach me a few things on the guitar :)

Ramsan said...

Oh its really a lovely post.... for a moment I felt that we also should have been there... you should have all taken a snap together...if so then do add it...

Gopi surely you can rethink about your statement "I was the only single guy there and just could not relate to what was going around me"!!(shouldnt kill me guys... :-))

Hoarse Whisperer said...

Santhi, we did take a snap together and its in the post but, I guess, Kevin wasn't in it.

Ok, I have rethought my statement: "I was the only single guy there and suddenly had a newfound appreciation for being so." :):)

Is it better to work out in the morning or the evening?

If you do a web search on this topic, you will get all kinds of studies pointing out why training at one time or another in the day is best ...