Christine's visit + NJ

Phew - I'm exhausted. I need a vacation from my life - not from my work :-). But all is well! The fun continues...

Thursday after work I went for a long bike ride and was proud of myself and had fun. Went to Riverside park at 96th street and just went north. Was planning on going to 157th or so, but streets weren't labeled so I just kept going! It was so pretty to ride along the river - I didn't even mind the parts with the freeway right there. Passed a lot of courts and fields, and people BBQing. Very pretty. I went under the George Washington Bridge which is pretty, then kept going (after walking my bike up a hill). Went all the way to Dyckman Street which is almost at the end of Manhattan - right before the toll bridge - about 200th St! Was so impressed with myself - remembered a lot of the route we drove to work. Was over 6 miles! Then I raced back, retracing my tracks so that the sun didn't go down before I got back, which it didn't. Unfortunately the sun is going down earlier now and some nights are cool - no! I don't want summer to be over - I like the warm weather :-). Anyway, it was a fabulous ride and I was proud of myself :-). Then later Christine showed up! With her husband Jeff. Was great to see them and be able to host - they liked the cute apartment :-).

So early Friday we headed out to Flushing Meadows and another day of the US Open! Was happy to be back. Watching tennis all day can't be beat. :-). We were there early, so we watched a bit of wheelchair tennis which was interesting. Sorta cool. Then went to the big Arthur Ashe stadium! We watched the men's doubles final which was pretty neat. Then the 2 women's semifinals. Kuznetsova versus Chakvetadze did go 3 sets, but the Russians were sorta disappointing. I don't know if it was nerves, but it was basically trading unforced errors - whoever was mentally up at the time won. So not as exciting as Venus Williams and Justine Henin playing!! That was a great match! Only 2 sets, and I wish Venus was a bit more mentally tough, but it was a fun match to watch. The crowd was mostly routing for Venus, but you have to admit Henin is just so strong lately. So good for her! We did the rest of it - eating expensive food and trying to stay cool. We had seats high up in the stadium - Christine I think would've liked to be closer, but I still had fun. It was fun, too, to sit with Shan Shan and Martin (now with a ring) and talk to them. Sad to say goodbye for real to them :-(. But they took off from NY to drive back to Oregon! And another person who was supposed to show up for USOpen just didn't! Was really pissed at her - I kept calling. All I have to say is that she still owes me my money! But oh well... So after the awesome matches, Christine wanted to watch more tennis, so we went and watched a really close Junior girls doubles match - was fun - on a grounds court so we were close and both sets went to tiebreak. Was fun to hang out more. By the time we left we were tired - took the train back into the city and undecisively found a place to eat dinner! Sorta Italian - Christine and Jeff had pizza and I had a stuffed chicken which was ok. Then we decided we wanted to walk off dinner, so we walked to the Empire State Building and went up it! It was awesome - I sorta romanticized it from the movies, but it was great at night - all pretty city lights. You could see the large lights symbolizing the World Trade Center downtown. And see uptown too - very neat views :-). I got a couple of pictures, but my camera was low on battery. But I highly recommend going at night - no lines! Though it's expensive of course... And the tower itself was lit up yellow - I heard for the US Open - very cool! So that finally called it a night - we returned home after being gone 14 hours!

So SAturday was another whirlwind day - did you expect any less? We slept in, though - I was so happy to get my needed 10 hours of sleep - phew! Then showered and went to brunch - at Le Pain Quotidien which I love. Got good bread and coffee of course. I got a tartine - sandwich with pesto, mozzarella, sun dried tomato and prosciutto. Yummy. Then we all got little tarts for dessert - mine was apricot. Not too sweet - not as good as the berry crumble last time, but pretty good.

Then we took off for our city adventure - through central park first. We walked through Shakespeare's Garden - very pretty and quiet, then Belvedere Castle - neat views. Then the Great Lawn and up to the Reservoir because Christine wanted to see it. We walked around it too, which of course took awhile, but also had great views! Was fun to just walk and talk and hang out with them. We have great conversations and I found I actually like arguing with Jeff! Christine says I don't let people get away with things easily, which is sorta true. I don't know what it's called that I do - stick up for myself/have gall/brash, but it's fun and handy. And hopefully I don't go over the top. :-).

We caught a subway downtown - an east side express whcih was fun. Got off at City Hall to show Jeff the Law and Order Courthouse. Then walked down to the World Trade Center Site - still a big whole in the ground. And then over to Wall Street. Then we ended up in a little cafe where we watched the end of Federer's semifinal. Sorta nice to sit :-). Federer is just amazing. Then we walked down to Battery Park for awhile - they were getting ready for September 11 with flags and memorabilia. Then we decided to head up to the village for dinner. Amazingly we walked from Battery Park up to the East Village! We did a lot of walking :-). Walked through the hectic China town and busy Mulberry street where Little Italy is very commercialized. Then over to Bowery and up to Houston and over to 2nd AVe where we found a little diner that turned on tennis for us to watch! So we just ate diner food - hamburgers. I got an east side burger - mushrooms, mozzarella, peppers and onions :-). It was fun to just hang out and watch tennis and the waiter was really nice. We were full, but ended up getting dessert - milkshakes! We had been sitting there over 2 hours :-). Then we walked to a subway through the village and home! Another long day, but a good fun, filled one :-). Saw my favorite Chinese guy playing his little Chinese-guitar (forget the name) in Times Square. And wandered by Union Square. You see how this place gets very familiar after awhile?

So Christine and Jeff left on an early train this morning. I had a great time hanging out with them! They are awesome :-). Glad they got to visit. And totally - we are going to Japan or Egypt soon Christine!

So I'm doing my down Sunday, although almost 1/2 the day was spent trying to and playing tennis with softball guy! We tried to find a court down on the east side, but got the "you have to have a permit then wait for 2 hours". That sucks. So Mohammed knew of courts in New Jersey at his old office so we headed there! Of course in New Jersey courts are all over and free because it's the burbs. Manhattan is crazy for stuff like that. Anyway - we made it finally there and played and it was fun! In the spirit of the US Open :-). Although Mohammed wasn't very trained in tennis - didn't know the deuce from the ad side of the court, so we weren't fairly matched. So I beat him 6-0, 6-0 in 2 sets :-). Was proud of myself because I was rusty too. But it was nice to be out there. Hot day though! So that was my first adventure to New Jersey! Go me :-). And then we came back via Hoboken and the Lincoln Tunnel. Hoboken was a really cute little town, but I really don't like the tunnels - they are confining. But a fun early afternoon activity...

And yes, I'm still talking to Naveen every once in awhile. We miss each other and we are talking about some of the issues. It is nice to be friendly. And it's nice not to cut off communication so we can share good news :-). Hopefully we can continue to be friendly.

Hope the next week is more low-key than this one was! More nights at home for sure... Got a 1/2 chicken to each for dinner with salad - yum :-). Happy post-weekend!