Tao of Pauly

NYC Exit

Wednesday was all about crossing off items on my To Do list. The day started just before dawn with a solid two hours of writing. I went for a walk to the Greek diner and bought a bacon, eeg, and cheese on a roll. It would be the last time there for at least two months. I went to the post office, browsed at a book store, got a haircut from Vinny the barber, and then did laundry. I uploaded some more pics to my Flickr page and read several newspapers. I arranged a cab pick up to take me to JFK early on Thursday morning and made two business calls.

I also packed all my stuff in less than ten minutes (a record for a two month trip). Compared to the last two summers, I'm taking less stuff and clothes with me. It's my new philiospy to travel and life... less and more. You move quicker when you have less baggage.

I made sure all my documents, money, and passport were in order. I went to the bank on Tuesday to get a certified check to pay my rent in Las Vegas since the company Nicky and I rented from does not take personal checks. I don't blame them especially in a town like Las Vegas which is crawling with crank infested dead beats.

I'll spend a few days in Hollyweird for Memorial Day weekend with Nicky before we drive out to Las Vegas for a two month assignment. We've both been hired by the same company. Last year, we worked for rival outlets. This year we'll be on the same team. The goal for this weekend is to relax and pick up random items for our apartment. I was invited to a poker game and also have tickets to see the Cubs play the Dodgers on Friday. I'm pumped for that.

The last two and a half weeks have been fun with the exception of getting sick for the last several days. It was fun to get a couple of days to myself and catch up on writing and I got some thinking done while I went running. I read a couple of books and worked on the upcoming birthday issue of Truckin'. I also pre-wrote a column and wrote pieces for my other blogs such as the music blog and the Las Vegas blog.

I was fortunate to take advantage of Nicky's Christmas present and go to the Yankees game with Derek. I watched a ton of shows on TiVo that Derek taped for me and got to watch The Sopranos and Entourage at their original air times which has been impossible recently. I also got to see the last few epsidoes of Heroes instead of watching them on my latop. I played plenty of online poker during down moments and won a few bucks including coming in 4th place out of 267 players in a tournament on Tuesday night. I also finally made it to Dawn & Karol's home game in Brooklyn.

Spending time with friends was a great treat since I'm always on the road these days. I got to see a couple of old friends that I used to play poker with like F Train, Ugarte, Ferrari, and Toni and got to hang out with several out-of-town vistiors such as BG, Bobby Bracelet, Spaceman, Mrs. Spaceman, and The Joker (not to mention Professional Keno Player Neil Fontenot). I went to the Met twice, Central Park twice, and the Museum of Natural History once. I must have drank at well over a dozen bars and ate a spicy chicken sandwich at Cafe Habana. Of course there was plenty of random chill time with The Rooster which is always an adventure. He's the personification of the always be closing mantra.

I jammed a ton of fun into 2.5 weeks and still didn't get to do what I wanted. Now, I'm off to the airport in a few minutes and arrive in sunny Long Beach sometime past noon local time. It's going to be good to be in the same place for two months. I have not had that kind of stability since last summer. Let's hope for good flight karma and no crying babies...