Sooooo busy

Once again I have been absent from the blogging community for an extended period of time do to my overwhelmingly busy schedule. That isn’t a bad thing though… I mean the fact that I’m so busy isn’t bad. My hectic life isn’t because of work, thank goodness!! I’m doing about 50 hours a week which is not bad at all compared to the investment bankers who are pulling 100+ hour weeks. My schedule is filled with social appointments that end up leaving me little time to do anything but sleep. I’ve met up with MBA friends who go to other schools and are spending their summer in New York too, friends from high school whom I haven’t seen in YEARS, and friends from undergrad. In addition to my social callings I have been busy getting stuff for school in order, like updating my resume, figuring out which classes to take next quarter, and taking care of things for the student group I am a co-chair of. Here are some highlights of what I’ve been up to in the past month or so:

- Took a trip to Niagara with my special friend. We stayed at a very nice B&B in Canada where we were treated to gourmet breakfasts every morning and a spectacular view of the lake. My flight home to NYC was cancelled so I had to drive home. It wasn’t all bad. I was able to drive through a bit of PA and NJ and listed to a radio station that played old time radio shows. On an episode of Gunsmoke I learned that on the frontier bullets cost $.08 so that people would be less likely to unnecessarily shoot their gun.
- Started taking a knitting class. So far I have learned the basic stitch and made a hat. Next class I’ll learn how to make a scarf. Awesome.
- Last week I caved in and bought a Blackberry. I was debating about whether or not to get one for the past few weeks so last Monday I stopped by the Verizon store to ask about my options and was introduced to the 8830 which has the capabilities of the standard Blackberry but includes an MP3 player. I don’t have an iPod so the 8830 is perfect for me. It’s only been a week and I’m already hooked. ‘Crack’berry? Sho ‘nuf is!

July 4th

I spent this Independence Day at Coney Island with one of my girlfriends from school where we stood and watched the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog eating contest. The event was pretty cool. We get there and there are about 5 vegetarians hold sings saying like “MEAT = DEATH” and “Would you eat a hot dog if you knew it had a face”. Oddly enough, the picture of the animal on the second sign was a cow, but I guess when you want to make such a strong statement and create awesome signs, things get overlooked.

Before the contest started the MC announced that the competition would last 12 minutes. I thought to myself “Dang, I don’t think I can pay attention that long” but the event was really riveting. Joey Chestnut and Kobayashi had a real race going. It was neck-and-neck the entire time and they both broke the current record in the process. Joey, like, inhales the hot dogs. I don’t know how someone can do that without choking.

After the contest my friend and I got some food. The line at Nathan’s was extremely long so we went to some other stand where we each ordered a shish kabob stick and my friend got a corn dog. My friend is from Brazil and didn’t know what a corn dog was, but she ate it anyway and really liked it. After we ate we got some ice cream and walked around the Coney Island streets and the boardwalk. On our way back to the subway station we passed by the Nathan’s sign that lists all the contest winners since 1984. Earlier in the day the MC stated that 10 years ago the winner of the event usually ate around 24 hot dogs and that was a big deal. Now most of the participants have to eat at least that many to win their qualifier to make it to the final round. The sign we passed showed that in 1984 the winner only at 9 ½ hot dogs. That’s it. This year, Joey at 9 ½ hot dogs in about 55 seconds! That’s gross.

My Adventures in the City Thus Far

The past nine days have been pretty eventful for me. Last weekend my ‘special friend’ came up to visit for two days. We spent the weekend walking around different parts of the city and trying out various restaurants and bars. On Monday I went to a spa where I had my first manicure and pedicure in years! Prices here are pretty cheap compared to other places I have lived so I need to take more advantage of that over the summer. My spa treatment also included a chair massage and I finally came to the realization that quickie massages don’t work well for me. I’m too tense because I’m anticipating some type of sudden, painful, rough hand movement. I can do okay when I’m in a private room on a table, but not so good when I’m in an open area in a chair.

Thursday evening was pretty eventful for me. I met up with my friend from high school, Shannon. We hadn’t seen each other in nine years. Shannon lived down the street from me the second time I lived in New Jersey. We were both in band and hung out during Senior year. I was in the car during her first car accident, as was her mom, and true to the statistic this accident occurred within a mile of our homes. I met some of her friends from Paris (she lived there for a few years studying music) so now my set of New York friends has grown a little. We met up on Sunday to see a movie then went to dinner in Korea Town with the Paris Crew.

On Saturday I explored my neighborhood, Brooklyn Heights, a little bit more. I found a few cute boutique clothing stores and came across a bunch of restaurants and cafés. I also realized that there are a few movie theaters by me and made a trip over to the famous promenade. The promenade has a great view of Manhattan and from a distance you can see the Statue of Liberty. That was my first view of the statue since I arrived in New York which is kind of surprising considering how much I’ve gone around and explored the city.