I heart...

I realized I never got around to talking about my first few days here with my parents, so I suppose I should do that now. I posted pictures here for anyone who is interested and hasn't seen them yet.

It was really great having my parents come out with me, especially because my dad always seems to know the fun/interesting things to do wherever we go. We got into the city on Tuesday night (January 8th) and they stayed until the following Sunday night. During that time, we managed to see several shows, sail around the island, catch a movie, and eat at two of the best steakhouses in Manhattan. Not bad, eh? Rather than go through an entire travelogue, I'll just hit the highlights...

Shows: We were frequent patrons of the half-price ticket booth, which was awesomely located on the sidewalk outside my parents' hotel on Times Square. Wednesday, we caught a matinee of Curtains starring David Hyde Pierce, which was very fun and probably my favorite show we saw. After the show, it was back to the ticket booth, where we decided to see Spamalot (the second time for all of us) that night. It never disappoints. Thursday night, my dad gamely bought us all tickets for Legally Blonde: The Musical, which was everything you would expect it to be. Total fluff, but definitely entertaining. Friday night we saw a play called The Farnsworth Invention, written by Aaron Sorkin (of The West Wing, Studio 60, The American President, etc.) and starring Hank Azaria (best known for his voices on The Simpsons). It was about Philo Farnsworth, the original inventor of television who got his idea stolen and died in obscurity, and it was really good.

We also took the Circle Line cruise around the island, which was really fun. It took us all the way around Manhattan and past the Statue of Liberty, and the guide told us tons of information and stories about the city. I was most interested in the fact that just west of Central Park, between 76th and 64th streets, lives an extremely high concentration of famous people. I think I will make it a priority to spend a great deal of time wandering up and down Central Park West until I encounter some of these people.

On Saturday we had a late breakfast at the diner from Seinfeld, walked through Central Park and took a tour of the NBC studios. That evening we had an excellent steak dinner and then saw The Great Debaters, which was good. On our way back to the hotel, Times Square was swarming with people, including guys handing out fliers and trying to get people to come to some comedy show. One such gentleman tried to get my dad's attention as he passed. My dad, still smartly dressed in the slacks and suit jacket he'd worn to dinner, ignored his persistence. Finally the guy just shouts, "Hey, rich guy!" Heh.

Still a lot more to update on, but that will happen at a time when I'm not starving, and that time is not now.