Author: vballphil

As I state in the title…really, no words can describe how long our days were and how much fun we had! BUT I CAN TRY….

So Thurs morning we always have the qualifier, which I was in charge of…and i have amazing interns who check the people in…Anyways, talk about a very long day…first to be there and last to leave…gotta love my thursdays! Anyways, at the end of the day we had our clinic.It rocked! After that was over we headed back to the city in a trolley…yes, a trolley. Me, Dane, Kirston, and Anthony…the view once you were in the view of the statue was amazing. Once we got back to the hotel we decided where we were going to eat. Also, my friend flew into town that day so she joined us for dinner. We decided on Pier 17. GREAT DECISION! For those who have never been there…wow…really amazing at night! It is underneath the tall ships, next to the brooklyn brige, and has a backdrop of downtown behind it! We ate on the water too. I have never eaten at a prettier place! What a way to end the day!

Fri was a great day…but nothing too exciting happened…Sat on the other hand was awesome! On one our breaks, Me, Mary, Marcia, and Melissa went over to ride the infamous Cyclone! And let me tell you… it lives up to its name! It is the oldest wooden roller coaster in America. And where it lacks in height, it makes up in freakiness! You just don’t know if you are going to stay on the track! Too much fun! And for the night..well, I had it off so we decided to get a group together and go out…NYC style! Me and my friend,Pepa, helped arrange a club where we could have an “unofficial” players party…CAN WE SAY TOO MUCH FUN! I have never had tht much fun ever I think. Talk to me personally I will tell you about it. So much fun!

So on Wed morning I knew I had to get work done and some sightseeing thrown in at the same time! So I started off with some work and then ventured outside…our hotel was located on the Hudson River to the west and the WTC site to the east. I started off by going to WTC site. It just takes the wind out of you….LITERALLY. They have finally decided what they are going to build on the site and actually broke ground last weekend. It is going to be quite impressive! Nothing can replace what we lost on that day…but this is doing a great job trying. From there I walked past Trinity to go to Wall Street and the Exchange…so much power down there. It is just amazing feeling to know you are just outside the stock exchanges! Then I had to go the “Bull”. Now, for those who don’t know what the Bull is…no worries…I didn’t either! It has to do with stocks…the bull is good and the bear is bad (I think it is bad…hahaha). And I had to take this pic because there was someone who stood below the bulls butt…enough said….I hoped on a subway from there to venture on down to Coney Island. Pretty much the subways take around an hour from the hotel to the site and vise versa. After a little beach action at our site I jumped on the N train back to Union Square. AND WHO KNEW THAT THE SUBWAY WENT OVER THE MANHATTAN BRIDGE! Talk about an amazing view! I was stunned! Anyways, I got off at Union Square and walked there Farmer’s Market. It totally rocked too. So after my walk I hoped back on the subway and headed up to Columbus Circle. As I got off I saw Central Park and noticed a Kinkos across the street…which rocked since I had to do a bunch of things for the Qualifier. I hoped back on the subway back down to my hotel…but had to make a final stop in the village. GREY DOG’S! Oh yea…i got my fave coffee…YEA!! When I got to the hotel, I walked across the street to battery park and the Hudson River. So beautiful! You could see the Statue of Liberty from there. TOTALLY AWESOME! When I turned around I was looking down the street where the twin towers would have cast a shadow at this time…totally humbled me. Anyways, another great day…with more to come!

So I arrived into JFK, on no sleep mind you and jetting to the trains..from the Airtran to the LIRR to the NJ Transit…I was heading to meet Kristen in her town of Madison, New Jersey. First of all…TRAINS & SUBWAYS ARE NOT TRAVELER FRIENDLY. Hahaha. With that in mind I just had to grin and bear it. Madison was a 35 minute train ride from Penn Station, which was not bad at all. Madison is a cute little town that is old school cute!
It was awesome to see Kris! And I got to meet her baby..AUGIE …The cutest little boy (besides my baby boy)! Me and Augie were intstant friends…fancy that right? We went on a hike with Augie and then drove around the country. It was gorgeous! There is a place called the Great Swamp
too…oh yea…in New Jersey! We then went home and had some fun with my lovely Mac computer! Hilarious! And we ended the day with dinner at the Firehouse with kris and her hubby, Danny.
I headed back into the city (Penn Station) and jumped into a cab (because I was done lugging around town). That was my first NYC taxi ride! That was awesome too. And then we pulled up to our hotel…caddy corner from the World Trade Center. Oh yea. CRAZY!

Now who can remember that line??!! Anyone Anyone? Bueller? Hahahaha…Lolo can! It is Calamity Jane signing (Doris Day) in the movie…such a great movie. Anyway, my first day in Chitown was awesome. I did some work and then broke that up with some site seeing adventures! And some shopping on Michigan AVE. NICE RIGHT?!

Ok, so my first lil adventure was to my FAVE museum (from the outside of course)…the Field. For those who did not know, I became obessed with the building when the movie “The Relic” came out. The building is SO capitvating. So I decided that had to be my first place to see. Well, our hotel (Hilton Garden Inn) is located next to the Red line and that goes to the museum campus. Well, I decided to get off a few exits before the museum area and walk through the Millenium and Grant parks. And WOW. Talk about a beautiful park area. So many sites there in the view…from the Navy Pier to the Grant Park fountain, to the HUGE Sears Tower, and finally leading to the “relic” of them all…THE FIELD! As I made my way closer, I saw the Shredd Aquarium (one day I will go there) and then walked around the Field and saw SOLDIER FIELD (da bears)! That was cool! I wanted to go inside the King Tut exhibit, but tickets were sold out so I just ventured inside the regular museum…which rocked! It is a natural history museum so they had animal exhibits, africa exhibits, an “underground” exhibit, and much more. The actually had a full size Whale Shark hanging and I just laughed because I saw the real thing in ATL!

From the museum I headed back to my hotel to work for a few hours and then decided to go up to Michigan Ave to go shopping! And let me tell you…good times! So many stores so little time! From the Hershey Store to Express…ummm…I was HAPPY! We did the entire “magnificent mile” and ended up at the River…..so pretty!!!

The next day I had the opportunity to see a once in a lifetime baseball game at the infamous Wrigley Field…with two legends pitching aganist each other. With both of there records put together they have the most wins in the history of the game…oh, did I mention is was Clemens vs. Maddox! The AVP marketing team went as a group…and we sure did have fun! And not to mention the awesome seats we had!

And let me finish this blog with a few pics from my clinic. Our AVP site was on North ave beach…So amazing! The Hancock building was so close you could “touch” it…and not to mention how beautiful Lake Michigan was!

Well, I must apologize for not writing sooner…but let me tell you…it is smoking HOT here in the Dirty South! Hahahaha!

Let’s start with Hotlanta…I spent a week in midtown Atlanta…which was awesome. When I first got there I went downtown to the Junior Olympics. It was awesome to see my former players and coaches down there. And they have a great subway too…which was a bonus for me (can we say cheap fare!!!)! Anyways, I also got to see the GA aquarium…which is the largest in the world…and has WHALE SHARKS!! Freaking gorgeous too! The aquarium itself was bright, clean, crowded and very interesting!

Now I am in Birmingham, Alabama…actually I am in Hoover at the Hoover Metropolitian Stadium. The Barons play here…and this is the double A team that Micheal Jordan played for during his brief baseball stint. Kinda cool and yet very random! Hahaha! Actually, this area has been cool…but a soooooooooo hot. There are no words…except MISERABLE!! Hahaha! So it is off to Chi town in a few days…can’t wait too! I am hearing that I might be going to the Cubs vs. Astros game…and maybe going to the Journey/Def Lep concert…now, that would be cool!!!!

So at 8:30A this morning we had a firedrill at the Sheraton hotel I am staying at. Mind you there are 25 floors in the hotel…so a slightly small hotel! I was not sure if it was real so I called the front desk and they said come down…so I grabbed my key (and not my new laptop or expensive camera or my purse) and headed for the stairs. Let me tell you…walking down 21 flights of stairs was definitely not fun. As we kept turning and turning, all I could think about was 9-11. Imagining those people in both towers running down 50 flights or more…or the fireman running up those stairs…and then what happened next… It was definitely a sombering moment. All this on the day after our nation’s holiday (which was rained out due to a severe storm…but we had god’s fireworks so I dealt…and DLAND fireworks will always be around).

And for those who are wondering what happened…well, there was a fire up above me on the 25th floor and there is flood damage in the hotel…on my floor…so guess who is relocating! hahahahaha! Welcome to Atlanta and have a nice day!

Ok, one more time…

So I wrote this LONG blog about this weekend and it mysterious vanished!! ARG! Hahaha! So here goes again. This weekend was a blast in a couple of ways. First of all, if anyone has to the Jersey Shore…well, let me say that it is its own world!!! PERIOD! Wow. Imagine every funny stereotype tht you can make…I swear it is there! From Guido central, to wifebeaters galor, to gold chains/belts/etc, to mullets (oh yea…I am not talking about just one), to double E sized breasts in little tanks…oh yea, I can go on FOREVER!! Hahahaha! It was definitely interesting!

Seaside Heights, NJ is a beach town that has an extensive boardwalk, 2 different casino piers, tons of fried foods (fried oreos, fried PB&J, etc), tons of grease period, lots of BAD motels (thank goodness we stayed across the intercoastal in Tom’s River), and more! CRAZY! The AVP site was located between the two casino piers so you know I had to ride something…and did we ever ride something! The four of us (Meg, Kat, Cheri, and me) rode the skyscraper…and let me tell you it was named that for a reason. It went about 800 ft in the area, while flipping over and over!!

On the same not as above…SH, NJ was awesome because my sis, Cheri, drove down from Syracuse, NY to spend a few days with me! Along with her, my cuz, Kat, and her boyfriend John came up from Baltimore for a day/night. It so totally rocked! They got VIP
on Sat night and Sunday (and hopefully loved it)! I was pretty stoked on that too! On top of that I got to spend some quali time with Misty and her dad, Butch. Me, Cheri, Butch, and Misty had sushi last night (in this amazing lightening storm too…YEA). It was night to eat with her and just be friends and not staff and player 🙂

So that was my weekend on the Jersey Shore…Good times!! Hahaha! Now I am off to hotlanta! Woohoo! So 3 more cities to go and then I am home!!! Woohoo! :)! And did I forgt to mention that Misty & Kerri won??!!