Crazy Weekend

(This picture has nothing to do with this post. I just like to have a picture at the top of my posts and why can't it be a seagull)

Last weekend was kind of a crazy one for us. I’ve decided that the best way to write about it is to write about an event in its entirety and not necessarily follow a chronological order.
Last Friday Kate and I were going to meet in the city after school and have dinner together. She came in early to run some errands and she ended up walking from the temple near Lincoln Center down close to Carnegie Hall all the way to 34th street where we met at our favorite Korean restaurant. As we ate she told me that while she was at Carnegie Hall she noticed that the Julliard Orchestra was performing there. This was great because it was hitting two birds with one stone, see Julliard students perform and going to Carnegie Hall. The only problem came when Kate told me the date of the show. When she bought them she thought they were for the next Saturday but when she told me the date we figured out that they were actually for the next day. Normally that wouldn’t have been a problem because our typical weekend is pretty low key, but we’d just accepted an invitation to a Chinese New Year party which was on the same night. Fortunately, the party was at 5:00pm and the show was at 8:00pm. We knew it would be tight but we thought we could still do both. And we did. The party was fun, with some authentic Chinese food that was really good, though we had to leave early so we missed the Chinese games. We raced home to change and made it to the PATH station just as a train was pulling up (weekend service is spotty, so you don’t want to miss your train or you’ll be waiting another 15-20 minutes). It was tight so we caught a cab to Carnegie and make it to the performance on time. It was a good performance. I’m sure if Kate were writing this she would have more to say about it, but she’s not and so it was only good.

Back to Friday night after the restaurant… on the way home Kate told me that she’d heard something about a 4 mile run for Haiti support in Central Park the next morning and she thought I should do it. One thing I want to do while I'm here is run the New York Marathon. It can be kind of tough to get into this race. When you apply your name goes into a lottery and it’s just luck of the draw of who gets accepted. However, there are some ways to guarantee yourself a spot in the run, such as buying a travel package that includes a spot in the run, having run the NY marathon 10(?) times previously, being an elite runner and qualifying based on your smokin’ hot time, or participating in the New York Road Runners’ club (which is like the running room back at home) 9 + 1 program. I recently opted to join the club and do the 9 + 1 program which means I need to run 9 races and volunteer at one race this next year to guarantee my spot in next year’s marathon.

When we got home Kate looked up info on the race and found out it had been upgraded to a double qualifier (meaning it counted as completing 2 runs for the 9+1 program). That sealed it. But I wasn’t registered and on-line registration was closed at that point. The only way to register was to go to the race early and register on site. This meant getting up really early to make it there on time and hopefully grab a remaining spot. Needless to say we planned to relax for the rest of the evening and head to bed early.
Once we had settled in for the night, I was flipping through channels and noticed that there was a New Jersey Nets game on TV, which reminded me that my friend Dave had given me tickets to a Nets game coming up. I went and checked the tickets and sure enough they were for that very night and the game started in 30 minutes. I asked Kate if she wanted to go to a Nets game in half an hour and with that we were on our way to the game. They were playing the Toronto Raptors. The seats were good and the game was mediocre and Kate’s favorite part of the game was the half-time show and the free buffet that came with Dave’s season tickets. It was Kate’s first NBA game and we had a great time. We did end up leaving early to beat the traffic home and get a little sleep before the race but if you know anything about the Nets it’s that they have an even worse record this season than the Oilers so the outcome of the game was no mystery.

The next morning, we woke up at 5:45 and headed to Central Park to register for the race. At first it looked like the race was going to be a pretty low key event but as the start time approached more and more people kept showing up. They announced at the start of the run that they’d only had two weeks to plan this run and that they still had over 10,000 people show up. This was my first run in Central Park and by far the most people I’ve ever been in a race with. They did a good job of sorting people at the start line by their pace. Unlike other races I’ve been in where the pack thins out as the race goes on, this one never did. Even though Kate knew what I was wearing it was impossible to pick me out of the crowd so she just started taking random pictures hoping to catch me in one, and she did! We made a new rule that from now on I have to wear all neon spandex when I race.

(The start)

(Where's Waldo? I am in this picture. I have a grey toque and a black jacket and I'm right next to the "Run for Haiti" sign on the right side)

(Kate liked the singer in this video. You see how many people are there. The numbers on the right side are the minutes per mile marker and those go all the way back to 12 )

SNOW DAY!!!

About a week ago the weather guys pin pointed today as the day when a blizzard would hit New York. I really didn't think too much about this because the last two snow storms that New Yorkers were warned to brace for didn't turn out to be that bad at all, maybe a skiff of snow. But as this one loomed closer people really started sounding different this time. Yesterday in class professors told us that the school never closes and that we should expect business a normal. This was followed by e-mails from the Dean of the dental collage and also one from the NYU admin. saying they expected the school to be open today but that that could change. Most students live within walking distance to the school or use public transit that is pretty reliable so I thought I would be heading in to class today BUT... it started snowing. Now I have to say that this isn't the light fluffy stuff that you could just sweep away with a broom, this is wet heavy slush on sidewalks and streets which is horrible to walk in (and I imagine drive in) because you slip and slide every time you step down into it and you shoes get soaked. However, on the plus side it's the type of snow that makes great snow balls and snowmen.

So when e-mail came saying that they canceled class today (I think they were worried about people being able to get home because it started snowing heavier in the afternoon and into the evening) I was excited that I didn't have to maneuver through that and have to deal with being wet all day.

This is the first snow day I've ever had. Compared to the amount of snow we had here today there were a couple of times back in Edmonton where I think there should have been snow days. I did end up going out today mostly to take pictures and to see how bad it was. What I noticed first was that it wasn't all that cold, I think was around 0 C, so that made walking around a little nicer. My feet were soaked within minutes of been out but my feet never were cold. Most if not all school kids had the day off too, so Van Vorst Park by our place was busy with people building snowmen and playing in the snow. I walked around for about an hour. It's still snowing right now but they are saying that they expect about 10-11 inches when it's all said and done. Kate's flight back here was canceled too but they did that yesterday so she didn't get halfway here and get stranded. An extra day in Edmonton.

(That's Ellis Island in the background. The water was dark and angry looking)

(This is the old train station on the Jersey side where most of the immigrants that went through Ellis Island and weren't staying in New York would catch trains to the rest of the country)