A New York Minute

As soon as the 2009 baseball season announced its schedule, I started circling dates the A's would be playing nearby. My friend and I scored two for the new Yankee Stadium and met up there for what ended up being a drizzly 9-7 win by the home team in 14 innings. (We stayed until the end of 9.)

This trip was also my virgin experience with MegaBus, yet another company that shuttles people to and from various northeastern cities. At less than twenty bucks and convenient pick-up points, I couldn't refuse. (Plus the pick-up scene for any Chinatown bus was getting to be too much drama for even me, and I'm used to painful traveling.)

The ride itself was pleasant, although the bus got pulled over on the way up (no buses in the far left lane on the Jersey Turnpike) and bashed into a parked SEPTA bus on the way down (I and all the other passengers fled the scene, and I hopped on the subway from City Hall, where the incident took place). Other forgettable and somewhat quintessentially New York incidents included getting hazed for wearing my Oakland Raiders cap and getting an entire cup of beer doused down my back by a clumsy woman sitting in the seats right behind us.

Before the Wednesday afternoon game, I was able to squeeze in a visit to the New York Transit Museum in Brooklyn, an absolutely excellent use of one hour and five dollars, given the many old pictures, maps, and vignettes I was able to take in. Afterward, I stopped by my cousin Juli's place in Midtown Manhattan to finally meet her two-year-old daughter Lila.

Time didn't permit other New York haunts, but, despite the crimp it put in my work week, I was glad for the personal day to enjoy myself. Thankfully, despite the meltdown on Wall Street, Gotham City appeared to be holding up pretty well. You stay classy, New York, and I'll hope to see you again soon.