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jim didn't quite get enough of the hospital last week, so he went back for a bit more. poor guy has been hurting a lot throughout most of Sunday and today. he's badly dehydrated, but getting an IV now to help with that. he's also had painful, long-lasting hiccups. they want to do some tests to see if that is indicative of something more serious. I'll try to update when we know more. |
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jim is back at home tonight!
it was exhausting to him to get home and he's still in quite a bit of pain.
though i can't say enough good things about johns hopkins, it's good to not have to drive all the way into the city to see him.
thanks so much for the prayers and keep him on the prayer list through his recovery. |
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jim's surgery is scheduled for tuesday morning at 0730 at johns hopkins. prayers on his (and my) behalf are requested. thanks. |
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so, we pick up with waking up bright and early on thanksgiving morning at 0630 for our walk down 49th street to my pre-selected spot on the parade route. we walked a few blocks and saw the today show being filmed. david gregory was sitting at the newsdesk and hoda kotb was interviewing jean chatsky (the financial lady). there were very few people standing around the area outside the window. it was at that point, halfway on our 9-block walk, that jim realized that while he had all the necessary camera equipment, he did not get the battery off the charger. so, we proceeded to my chosen spot on the parade route, corner of 48th and broadway, and i sat down and marked our place. we were about one row back (that is to say, there were people along the curb, and we were just behind them). this was 0730.
jim took a taxi back to the hotel, retrieved the camera battery, and returned around 0815. at this point, there were several layers of people behind me. he decided that he was cold and needed starbucks, so he walked to the nearest one. there were two in my line of sight on that corner. oh ubiquitous starbucks. he returned after almost 30 minutes with two breakfast sandwiches, some white mocha something-or-other, and something else warm for him. he had ordered hot cider for me (the only i'd touch at sb), but they were out. i took two sips of that mocha whatever and it was icky. i don't see how people drink that. anyway, back to the story, it was not too terribly cold. not warm, but not terrible at all. though the parade began at 0900, it didn't make it to our spot til around 0940.
let me tell you, those balloons are humongous! the balloons wouldn't even fit in my viewfinder on the camera because they were so big and we were so close! it was very awesome. we couldn't see the floats too well, and it got worse as everyone began pushing forward. this annoyed me greatly. people who had arrived in the seven o'clock hour were getting pushed back and those ten o'clockers were pushing forward with their kids sitting on their shoulders so that no one could see behind the nine foot tall creature standing in front of them. there was a lot of time in between floats and balloons. this was annoying. i know it was likely so that miley could perform at just the right time on tv, but for us in the cold, it was annoying. and all the perfomers didn't ride the whole parade route. we did see trace adkins, darius rucker, and miley cyrus. plus a few other teenyboopers that i am ashamed to say that i am too old to know who they were except for the kids around me announcing their identities.
while we were beginning to get colder and colder (due to the increase in the wind), when a man standing next to us made a comment about jim's alabama hat. he remarked that he lived in atlanta and was going to the SEC game. small world! another southerner right beside us! the man said something about being new to atlanta and having moved from florida. the lady in front of him (who would turn out to be his sister) remarked that it probably wasn't this cold in tampa today. jim agreed and remarked that he had spent time in tampa going to school there. the lady asked where he went to school, and jim gave the usual response of "you've probably never heard of it, but florida college." her eyes got real big and she said she graduated from there in 1975 (or somewhere around there). the next logical question followed, "you must know my grandmother who worked in the library..." the lady again shocked, said "mrs. betty?" i loved her and mr. jimmy! i went to north boulevard church with them. NO WAY! this is so incredibly strange! in a sea of over 3 million people gathered in new york city to watch a parade in the freezing cold, stood someone for whom we didn't need six degrees to connect to! unbelievable!
so, after that weirdness, i began to get colder and colder. i was miserable for the last few minutes, which ended around 1140. i feared the chaos that would ensue when the parade ended and the throngs dispersed, but it was completely fine. everyone returned to the new york state of mind and there was no chaos.
unfortunately, i had made our dinner reservations for 1300, and it was only a few blocks away. we found a little gift shop to duck into in order for me to attempt to regain feeling in my hands. then, we walked on to the restaurant to see if they could seat us at 1200. we approached the hell's kitchen section of new york to the film center cafe, where i had selected as our decent-priced not-ridiculously-abnormal restaurant at which to eat turkey. turns out, they opened at 1200 and happily seated us. it wasn't crowded and we actually saw the last few minutes of the parade on tv with the santa, whom we had just seen, waving from herald square only a few blocks away. the cafe was warm and had chairs. that was my first favorite thing about it. so we had four courses, the first of which was the most delicious - pumpkin ginger soup. i could've just had that and been fine. but wait! the second course was butternut squash ravioli! they could've stopped the food there! but, then we got the turkey, gravy, sweet potatoes, broccoli, and cranberry relish. it wasn't bad, but it wasn't stellar. the bar for the deliciousness of that meal was just set too high to start with - no one cooks like an alabamian! dessert was pumpkin pie with cinnamon ice cream. again, very good, but i wasn't in a real ice creamy mood since i sorta felt like ice cream.
at that point, the migraine had struck. we decided to take the subway back to the hotel. i was pretty sure the terrorists would have struck the people on the way to the parade, so it was risky, but we decided to go on back to the hotel for me to rest. there were no problems (obviously, since you didn't hear about it on the news). so, i rested for a while after enjoying the "good afternoon" welcome mats that had been placed by the elevators (or the lift is they called it). then, we decided to head toward times square to catch a movie. again, we braved the subway (i should say that it was me braving the subway, jim just goes and does it) to times square to see "australia" which was a good movie. after that, we headed back to the hotel via the subway, though jim wanted to party in times square (um, that's the wrong holiday - you would be a few weeks early on that).
friday began with a headache. the bane of my existence. sometimes, a large portion of the time in fact, i hate my head. not the brain inside, i love that part, but the head i need a refund on. anyway, we had some expensive new york breakfast at a deli/bakery up the street. a very new york thing to do. then we walked around upper midtown - bloomies, ann taylor, etc. there were no uncontrollable crowds anywhere. then we decided to take it easy and hang out in barnes and noble until time to head for the bus stop. again, so big city chic - a young couple sitting at a table, sipping some warm soup, looking at magazines while overlooking the city. very nice. we headed back to the hotel to return the luggage and made a stop at the little street vendorman who sells lamb gyros. now, i am not comfortable eating at little vendors on the street, but jim happily scarfs it down. i will admit that it smelled pretty good. full and ready to go, we headed to penn station where the bus we hoped would be on time. it was and we loaded on an empty bus (not a double decker) and had our seats together in the front. we pulled off on time and had a quick ride back to our car at the white marsh park and ride just outside of baltimore. we got home in just a hair over three and a half hours. nyc to my driveway. very nice.
it was a generally excellent trip (save for the bus troubles on the way up and the lingering headache). i'd do it again, maybe not next year, but in the future when i knew it was going to be above 40 degrees. what can i say, i love new york! |
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first and foremost, roll tide forever. who would have thought, back in august, that we would end up #4 and playing in a BCS bowl game. not me. it's been an excellent season and we played well against those ugly gators.
now, a recap of the trip to my favorite city - the big apple. we left our house wednesday morning and arrived early at the bus stop. the bus was to leave at 0925. the bus showed up at 1015. not a good start to the trip. it was virtually packed with dc passengers (we were picked up in baltimore), so we didn't get to sit together. not a good start to the trip. the bus driver struggled with loading passengers, who were already a bit unhappy about the late arrival of the bus, and somehow messed up the luggage compartment latch such that it would not shut. not a good start to the trip. several people looked at it, including jim (who i was shocked did not have a screwdriver on him to "fix" it) and the next bus driver (the driver of the on-time 1015 bus, which ended up arriving just a few minutes ahead of us!) was able to show our bus driver the "trick" to getting a too-full compartment to shut.
1055 and we are off to the big apple! we hit traffic right at the delaware line in a notorious construction zone which further slowed us down. because of all the delays, we did not stop for a rest break, which meant that i had to brave the bus bathroom. now just an aside, i have never utilized the facilities aboard any moving transportation - purposefully. but nature called and i had to answer. fun it was not, but no nightmares (such as hitting a bump in the road or having the door swing open) occurred. along the long ride, i occupied myself with reading and writing emails and updating my facebook status on my saving grace (i love my i-phone!). i also had the pleasure of reading of the al-qaeda threat to the new york transit system as i was in route to said city to use said mode of transportation.
needless to say, as we finally arrived in new york (after much traffic just getting through the ten blocks or so into the city) at around 1530, a mere three hours or so behind schedule, i was ready to go back to the safe confines of alabama. we rode the subway to the hotel (we laugh in the face of terrorist's threats - they will.not.win!) and checked in to the luxurious "w hotel."
gotta love hotwire, and i do, for getting you a better rate than most of the other people checking into the hotel at the same time that you are. it was a "cozy room" (that's their term for it), but it was twice the size of our previous nyc hotel room (hudson hotel, october 2005) and they had mats that they changed during the day "good morning," "good afternoon," and "good evening," plus delicious complimentary hot apple cider. we were starved, of course, since we had only snacks at our disposal for the bus ride. the wonderful thing about new york (well, there are many) but one is that there is food everywhere. we only had to walk a block or so to the red stone pizzeria (salads, sammies, you name it) where we had "l-inner" (lunch + dinner).
then, we walked to rockefellar center and saw the (unlit) tree. by this time, i am very much over my "need-to-return-to-alabama" and remember why i love the city so much. we walked along the shops on fifth avenue - disney, tiffany & co, saks, etc. - and then back to the hotel since we were exhausted and had an early morning ahead of us...which you will have to stayed tuned to read about because it is once again bedtime for me. |
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