Month In Review: October 2011...

Adventures Of The Month: Highlights...

• Ending up in the Emergency Room when all I wanted was cough medicine.
• Attending New York Comic Con.
• Doing fall activities and going wine tasting with my friends.
• Visiting cemeteries in Queens with "Favorite Page #1" and "Favorite #2"
  
• Going to Philadelphia with my family to have Philly cheese steaks and go to the Terror Behind the Walls at Eastern State Penitentiary.
  
• Various Halloween activities (i.e. - Trick-or-Treating, etc)
  

Favorites Of The Month...

Posts

• Doodletown Library...
• Touching Little Children...
  
• Computer Chaos...
  
• Buzzed In A Corn Maze...
  
• In West Philadelphia Born & Raised...
• Bloody Mystery...
  

Picture

New To Me As Of This Month...

Blogs



Movies/TV Shows

• American Horror Story (2011) This has to be my new favorite show of the season
• Once Upon A Time (2011)
  
• How I Met Your Mother: Season 6 (2005) Justin & I finally got our hands on season six
  

Books

• Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Vol. 1 by Naoko Takeuchi (Not new, but...)
• Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs (Still reading this one.)
  

iPhone Apps

• Where's Waldo?™ The Fantastic Journey
  
• Scene It? Horror Movies
  
• Momento
• The Monster at the End of This Book (Hey, it was free from Starbucks!)
• Hungry Shark 2+
• Hungry Shark 3
• Scribblenauts Remix
  

Make It Happen!!...

Here is one of the videos I took of René finishing up my Magnum at RIM Café.




Here is the recipe for the Volcano from RIM Café a la Food Network.

In West Philadelphia Born & Raised...

Today my family, my sister's boyfriend and I went to Philadelphia to hang out, eat and go to Eastern State Penitentiary's Terror Behind the Walls -- The haunted attraction that I went to last November with my friends.

We got into Philly around 3:00pm and we headed straight to Reading Terminal Market because my parents wanted to try the pork sandwich from DiNic's that was featured on an episode of Man v. Food. The line for the sandwich was crazy but they waited on it. While they were doing that I was wandering around trying to figure out what I wanted to eat -- I ended up eating fish tacos, which I finished eating before they got to the table with their sandwiches. Eventually they go their sandwiches and they struggled to finish them because they were huge and according to the delicious.

When we were done eating we continued walking around the market and then we ventured outside to do a little walking around Philly. We stopped at all of the normal walking spots around the area, took pictures, etc.

After walking around for a bit we headed back to our car so that we could head over to Eastern State Penitentiary because we wanted to see if we could get in to the Terror Behind the Walls earlier than the time on our tickets. And we did, we were actually the first people to walk through for the night and it was awesome. It was really nice being able to walk through without people being too close to us.

Once we were finished walking through we headed towards Pat's King of Steaks and Geno's Steaks because my parents wanted to try each and see which was better. They ate both and they decided that they liked Pat's King of Steaks the best.

When they were done we stopped into RIM Café (Where Duff Goldman from Food Network's Sugar High went for the hot chocolate and desserts) for coffee, hot chocolate and dessert. René (the guys who made Duff his Volcano and Magnum -- Both hot chocolate drinks) made me mine and let me video tape him as he did. He also yelled at me for making the same mistake Duff did, trying to take the Magnum before he put all of this homemade chocolates on top. It was delicious, it wasn't super sweet or anything. When we were done with our coffee and such we headed home. It was a good trip. We all had a lot of fun and I can't wait to go back.

Man v. Food at Reading Terminal Market & DiNic's

Ghost Adventures at Eastern State Penitentiary

365 Days Of Pictures: Day 235...

Photos From Gettysburg...

Weekend Getaway...

This past weekend I went on a little road trip with my mother and my sister to Gettysburg, PA. We left early Saturday morning and drove from Long Island to Gettysburg -- It took longer than it should have because we got stuck in traffic for an hour and a half in New Jersey.

As soon as we got in we had to rush to get to our Segway tour appointment -- We booked a guided tour of the West Battlefield through SegTours.com. When we got to the place we had to be trained on how to use the Segways before we could go on our tour. After about thirty minutes of practice we set out. We spent two and a half hours riding around to various spots in Gettysburg and learning about what happened during those three days in July.

Once the tour was over we headed over to our hotel to bring our stuff up to our room and then we had a quick dinner before heading into town. We wandered around East Cemetery Hill for awhile and other various places before heading over to the Jennie Wade House for a haunted tour.

While on the tour my mother and I did not experience anything paranormal, but my sister claims to have. She said that from the minute she walked into the house she had a headache, which she said didn't go away until we left the grounds -- Apparently the house is haunted by several children that once lived in the orphanage across the street and one of them is fond of women with long curly hair (which my sister has plenty of) and they sometimes fuss around with the women's hair. I may not have had any experiences, but hopefully the legend that if you stick your ring finger through the bullet hole in the door that killed Jennie Wade you'll be married and/or engaged within a year is true because I molested the hell out of that hole with my finger. If it isn't I still have some neat pictures to show from it. After the tour was done it was after midnight so we went back to the hotel to go to bed.

The next morning we woke up early to go to the Soldiers National Museum, Evergreen Cemetery and the Gettysburg National Cemetery -- They were all really interesting places to visit. Once we were done with all of that we decided to drive to Hershey, PA to stop at Hershey's Chocolate World before going back home. While there we made our own candy bars, took the free tour, got free samples and bought lots of candy from the store.

Overall I had a great weekend with my mother and my sister, plus I got to check one of the items from my "No Regrets List" off.

Twenty-Six Things To Do By March 3^rd 2012:

1. Have A Scavenger Hunt In NYC
2. Get Thrown Out of a Nightclub (#6) *
3. Learn How To Properly Make French Macarons
4. Drink Only Water for a Month *
5. Do Something that Scares You (#69) *
6. Go Ghost Hunting in Gettysburg, PA
7. Buy a Princess Dress (#35) *
8. Love Your Body (#25) *
9. Become Certified To Scuba Dive
10. Learn a Foreign Language (#80) *
11. Go to a Shooting Range *
12. Visit The Library Of Congress
13. Finish Unfinished Business (#14) *
14. Take & Post A Picture Everday For The Year
    
15. Go Inside the Statue of Liberty *
16. Learn to Walk in Three Inch Stilettos (#30) *
17. Go Wine Tasting *
18. See A Movie At A Drive-In Theater
19. Swim With Sharks (#47) *
20. Learn to Drive Stick Shift *
21. Visit The Cemeteries In New Orleans
22. Indulge in a Great Work of Literature (#88) *
23. Go Ghost Hunting in England (#59) *
24. Take A Hot Air Balloon Ride
25. Learn to Get a Good Night’s Sleep (#99) *
26. Write A Children’s Book

* These items were things I did not get done on my original list (2010-2011)

365 Days Of Pictures: Day 94...

365 Days Of Pictures: Day 93...

Day Tripping...

As I mentioned in my last post I went to Philadelphia on Saturday. A bunch of my friends and I drove to Philly so that they could eat cheesesteaks at Pat's King of Steaks (I don't eat meat so I just ate french fries) and also so the we could go to Terror Behind the Walls, the haunted houses at Eastern State Penitentiary.

Everyone had a lot of fun. The five of them enjoyed their cheesesteaks and we all had fun at The Terror Behind the Walls. It was a nice way to spend a beautiful November day. I'd totally do it again anyday.

La Fin De Mon Voyage à Pennsylvania...

Alas, my adventures in Philadelphia are over and I am back home. I actually got back home yesterday, but not before going to Easton, PA to visit the Crayola® Factory.

The Crayola® Factory was not what I hoped it to be. It was very much so a place for people with little children, not for Justin and I -- Well, if I would have gone with my girlfriends from college we would have been doing all the kiddie stuff. So, I was disappointed but the day was redeemed by a lovely lunch at a Portuguese restaurant and a comic book store.

Yes, comic book store... I enjoy comics, I read them and for some reason people don't "peg" me as the comic book reading type. I buy the comics/graphic novels/manga for work, I took a comic book course in college that counted towards my degree (Which I would like to note was way harder than anyone thinks) and I've been talking about going to New York Comic Con -- I like comics!!!

At the store I picked up a paperback copy of "Batman: The Killing Joke" by Alan Moore (1988), two copies of Batgirl #12 (2010), a copy of Batman vs. The Undead (2010) and Jack of Fables 46 (2010). I also picked up ten packs of official Spice Girls: The Movie stickers -- My inner twelve-year-old self needed them. So, that was my comic book store haul.

Today is my first day back at work since last Wednesday and lets hope it's an interesting day. I'll keep you updated.

Philadelphia Part Trois...

Sorry for the lack of updating the wireless network at the hotel isn't very good and it keeps crapping out. Since it is currently working I figured I'd attempt to post.

When I left you I had to go get ready for pre-wedding drinks at Smokin' Betty's. Once we were both ready we walked to the restaurant to meet up with everyone. We were amongst the first handful of people there, so we introduced ourselves to the people that were there and hung out with them. The groom and the bride eventually showed up. We hung out with the groom for the majority of the evening, enjoying the open bar that was provided. We were there for a few hours before Justin and I decided to head back to the hotel. I made the mistake of letting my drunken boyfriend lead us back to the hotel, what was originally a twenty minute walk end up taking us forever and a year -- He blames the GPS on his iPhone for the long walk. We ended up walking around in a big circle around the city -- I thought we were gonna get robbed by one of the many bums that wander the streets of Philly. Thankfully we eventually made it back to our hotel.

Saturday was spent wandering around looking for food and new shoes before the wedding. After accomplishing both of those tasks we took naps and got ready for the wedding. Once dressed we walked down to the Franklin Institute. On the way there I stepped on my dress thus ripping a hole in it -- I in turn bitched Justin out for making me walk to the wedding. We got to the Franklin Institute around 5:45pm as instructed and waited in the room housing the "Space Command" exhibit before entering the Fels Planetarium for the ceremony. It was a pretty neat Indian ceremony. After the ceremony we walked upstairs for cocktail hour in the room housing the exhibit "The Giant Heart: A Healthy Interactive Experience." After getting nicely buzzed with Justin's college friends, we headed into the room that is home to the Benjamin Franklin National Memorial for reception. We had dinner, drank, danced and ate dessert before handing out to a bar with Justin's friends so that they could watch the end of the UFC fight. We hung out for a bit and then headed back to our hotel room.

Today (Sunday) was spent sleeping in and then hanging out with Justin's friend Dino and his girlfriend before they headed back to Boston. We wandered around Reading Terminal Market, ate ice cream, walked through Chinatown, drank bubble tea and smoothies, did some historical stuff before going our separate ways. Again, Justin and I napped before hopping on a trolley to find dinner before heading out on a ghost trolley tour. The tour was pretty neat, the guide was excellent and we had a nice time. So, that has been Philadelphia days three and four.

Philadelphia Part Deux...

Day two in the city of brotherly love has thus far been spent roaming around Eastern State Penitentiary (ESP) and the Philadelphia Zoo.

Justin and I woke up early to find breakfast and work our way over to Eastern State (1829-1971). We spent a good two and a half hours wandering around what is considered to be the world's first true penitentiary -- I took over two hundred photos in that time. We walked around various cell blocks, got to go inside of some of the cells, saw some interesting art, we got to see Al Capone's cell (He spent eight months in ESP), etc. It was really interesting, especially since I have this odd love of old penitentiaries, mental asylums and ghosts -- I have to go through my photos to see if I caught anything.

After we were done at Eastern State we hopped on a trolley and headed to America's first zoo, the Philadelphia Zoo (1874).We spent a few hours there chillin' and looking at the animals. We didn't see everything because it was hot out and we were tired after spent hours walking around Eastern State. Once we were done at the zoo we headed back to the hotel and had a late lunch before washing up and taking naps.

In addition to the big attractions we saw we also got to see the "Rocky Stairs" at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (You would not believe how many people actually run up those stairs and pretend to be Rocky), we saw one of Auguste Rodin's original castings of "The Thinker" -- Rodin casted over twenty of the bronze statues and Philadelphia ended up with one of them, we saw a bunch of random statues and various historical locations.

Day two opinion of Philadelphia: It is a very interesting city full of history, but I am put off by the number of homeless people Justin & I have seen -- I'm from New York, so that is saying a lot. Before we got on the trolley to get the morning started we were sitting in the park with the "LOVE" statue and a man said to Justin "Excuse me you're sitting in front of my home." He was sitting in front of a bush!!!

I have to get ready for pre-wedding drinks at Smokin' Betty's, but I'll keep everyone posted on my adventures in Philly.

Philadelphia Part Un...

Greetings from Philadelphia! Yup, the Misfit has struck Philly -- I'll try not to leave it in ruins, I promise. I'm here for a long weekend with Justin because his friend is getting married on Saturday at the Franklin Institute. I have never actually been here before so I'm very much so looking forward to seeing all that I can see in my time here.

We actually did quite a lot today. We went to Adventure Aquarium (Justin really likes fish, so we go to aquariums frequently), we saw the Battleship New Jersey, we wandered around the cemetery that Benjamin Franklin was buried in (I have this odd love of cemeteries), we got to see the Liberty Bell, we saw the "LOVE" statue, we wandered around and ate at Reading Terminal Market, etc. It has thus far been a lovely experience and I'll keep you posted on the rest of my trip.

My Life In Bullets...

I feel like I haven't blogged in forever even though I posted crap on Saturday. So here are the past couple of days (non-work relatedness) in bullets...

• Was taken to two malls in one day by Justin
  
• Went to Ikea® & bought tables for my card catalog cabinet
  
• Went to Old Navy® twice in a three day span
• Ate Red Mango®
• Looked at fishies in the fish store
• Bought Justin's grandfather a birthday present
• Watched baseball games on TV
  
• Forced Justin to buy a suit for his friend's wedding that we are attending in like two weeks in Philadelphia, PA
  
• Bought stuff for Europe (i.e. - handheld fan & a wall adapter)
• Ate at a new Mexican restaurant
  
• Reserved an iPhone® 4 that Justin is buying me
  
• Watched The Invention of Lying (2009) with Erin & Charles
  
• Watched True Blood (2008-Present) at Erin's
  
• Shopped at Marshalls®, Nordstrom Rack® and H&M®