By Al
Today I flew to Minnesota. It was good to see Sally and Amy again. The flight was uneventful.
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Day 107- August 27
I spent most of today updating the blog. But, I did treat myself to a massage this afternoon. It was in mid-town near Grand Central. I walked home for some exercise. This evening Amy and I spent about two hours trying to find a place to stay in Kyoto for our trip to Japan. Evidently the end of September is a very popular time to go to Kyoto. We did find a hotel and make a reservation. So, we won't be sleeping at the airport.
Day 106- August 26
A Quiet Day for Al
By Al
This afternoon I went to a taiko class. This is the first time I went on a Sunday. Some of the same people were there, but I also met some new people. As usual it was fun.
Then I went to see "Paranorman". It was disappointing. It moved really slow. Also, at the very beginning he is talking to all sorts of ghosts on the street. His walk to school has him greeting a ghost every few feet. Thereafter, there are no ghosts except the specific ones he has to interact with. I was wondering what happened to all of the other ghosts. Maybe if they had included them in the action, it wouldn't have been so boring. I will say that the claymation was very good. Nevertheless, I cannot recommend this movie.
By Al
This afternoon I went to a taiko class. This is the first time I went on a Sunday. Some of the same people were there, but I also met some new people. As usual it was fun.
Then I went to see "Paranorman". It was disappointing. It moved really slow. Also, at the very beginning he is talking to all sorts of ghosts on the street. His walk to school has him greeting a ghost every few feet. Thereafter, there are no ghosts except the specific ones he has to interact with. I was wondering what happened to all of the other ghosts. Maybe if they had included them in the action, it wouldn't have been so boring. I will say that the claymation was very good. Nevertheless, I cannot recommend this movie.
Day 105- August 25
By Al
I spent the first part of the day shopping. We are going to Japan at the end of September. I wanted a new carry-on bag. I had been unsuccessful the day before, but wanted to check Macy's. The store was packed. Like Sally, I enjoyed seeing the old wooden escalators. But, they did not have what I wanted. I walked home and ordered what I needed on line. I prefer ordering from bricks and mortar stores, but will not spend days trying to find something I can find in minutes on the net.
That night I went to a wrestling match. It was sponsored by the World of Unpredictable Wrestling(WUW). It was being held at the "Historic Gleason's Gym" in Brooklyn. To get to it, you walked up a flight of stairs that really looked like the "back or service" stairs in most buildings. The gym was part of the show. It is one of the old style boxing/wrestling gyms. No fancy machines. Some rust on some of the equipment. Two boxing rings and one wrestling ring. The fans were about 100 and sat in folding chairs in amongst equipment on only two sides of the ring. There wasn't enough room on the other sides.
The wrestling was better than I had expected. It was mainly young guys hoping to move up the ladder to bigger promotions. It was clear that most of the people there knew the wrestlers. In fact, when I came in the woman at the door asked me which wrestler I was there for. She was pleasantly surprised when I said I had just come to see the wresting. The announcing was not as good as the wrestling. There appeared to be some occasional problem starting each match and the announcers would try to work the audience. They were not very good. Also, the sound system sucked. The would have done better to just shout. But, It was being streamed live on line, so I suppose they needed microphones.
There was one incident that concerned me. There was a Army sergeant in the audience. There was one wrestler who's persona was that he was a Arab. The soldier and the wrestler got into a real shouting match. I don't know if it was for show, but I hope a sergeant in our Army would know enough to know that the wrestler wasn't really from the middle east. The championship match was between this guy and a wrestler who was supposed to be from Mexico. It was ironic that throughout the match, the audience kept chanting "USA" This was meant as encouragement for the wrestler from Mexico, who was the obvious crowd favorite.
All in all it was an enjoyable evening. $15 for three hours of good entertainment, the wrestlers, the gym and the audience.
The gym
The gym looking the other way.
A headlock
Yes, that is a wrestler sitting in the audience. After his match, he sat down with some friends in the audience.
Wrestlers interacting with the audience
The Mistic(sic) Aztec, the new champion.
Sally's Day
I am in Minnesota. I will post a compilation of my days there.
Monday, September 10, 2012
Day 103- August 23
By Al
Today was Sally's day to head back to Minnesota. I would like to have gone to the airport with her, but today was my last chance to go to see the New York Mets with a senior ticket. They have a senior ticket special that allows you to purchase half price tickets in certain areas of the stadium for day games. There were only two day games left in the season. We will be in Japan for the one game in September, so I had to go today or not at all. The website says that the tickets are available after 9 AM. I got there at 10 AM and was told I had to wait until 11:10 to get the half price tickets. I went to the ticket window at 11:15 and was told that there was only one section of the stadium for senior tickets. Since I had invested so much time, I decided to get a ticket, even though it was in the top deck in left field. There is one main entrance to Citfield, which is strange for the crowd that they might get. Anyway, you go in through Jackie Robinson Rotunda. It is a very nice dedication to Mr. Robinson.
Without people.
To the left of the escalator.
To the right of the escelator.
There is a museum and store inside also, It has some memborabelia that is interesting. In the store, they sell game used things, such as balls, bases, bats, etc. I have not seen this before.
Jackie Robinson's glove and bat.
1969 World Series Trophy.
1986 World Series Trophy.
So, I go up to my seat and this is what I see of the field.
I was 4 rows from the top. I was pretty disappointed since I would have paid more for a better seat and thought I could do so based on their website. The game was not sold out and there were many empty seats in better parts of the stadium, so it was not unavailablity of seats that limited the senior choices. While I was watchin a pretty boring game, I sent an eamil to the Mets complaining. Read the August 24 entry to see their response. The game was boring primarily because the Rockies pitcher was soooooo slooooow. I started timing him and he would take up to two minutes between pitches. Never less than half a minute. I left after the third inning. Life is too short.
Citifield is about 2 blocks from the US Tennis Open and about one mile from the Unisphere. So, I decided to walk over.
Looking the other way toward the entrance to the US Open
The Open hadn't started yet, but things were being set up. Not much seemed to be happening, but to get to the Unisphere, I had to walk by all the press trailers. There were a lot of press trailers. There were a lot of security people around, but nobody stopped me. It was a public sidewalk and it was not blocked off.
I got to the Unisphere and it was bigger than I had thought. People who have seen the first Men In Black will remember the space ship at the end. I saw those too. There are three of them, but I only remember one from the movies. Of course, they did not film it at the park.
The Unisphere.
The Unisphere with the towers in the background.
The towers.
I found that I was pretty close to the New York Hall of Science. I have a membership in the Science Museum of Minnesota and they have a reciprical relationshipwith the Hall of Science, so I could get in free. I only had about an hour, so I didn't see everything. Everything I saw was very nice. Like most science museums, it tended toward things children would like. Howeve,r I enjoyed what I saw. There ws some pretty intersting history of science discovery exhibits.
From there, I walked to the train and came home. I had walked about 5 miles and was ready to have supper and rest.
Sally's Day
My day was taken up with packing and travelling. I had a free ticket on AirTran (hooray), but AirTran flies through either Milwaukee or Atlanta to get to MN. So any trip to MN takes a long time. I left our apartment at 1:30 and arrived home at 10:00 p.m.
Our lovely daughter had a bed made up for me.
Sally
Today was Sally's day to head back to Minnesota. I would like to have gone to the airport with her, but today was my last chance to go to see the New York Mets with a senior ticket. They have a senior ticket special that allows you to purchase half price tickets in certain areas of the stadium for day games. There were only two day games left in the season. We will be in Japan for the one game in September, so I had to go today or not at all. The website says that the tickets are available after 9 AM. I got there at 10 AM and was told I had to wait until 11:10 to get the half price tickets. I went to the ticket window at 11:15 and was told that there was only one section of the stadium for senior tickets. Since I had invested so much time, I decided to get a ticket, even though it was in the top deck in left field. There is one main entrance to Citfield, which is strange for the crowd that they might get. Anyway, you go in through Jackie Robinson Rotunda. It is a very nice dedication to Mr. Robinson.
The Jackie Robinson Rotunda with people going into the game.
Without people.
To the left of the escalator.
To the right of the escelator.
There is a museum and store inside also, It has some memborabelia that is interesting. In the store, they sell game used things, such as balls, bases, bats, etc. I have not seen this before.
Jackie Robinson's glove and bat.
1969 World Series Trophy.
1986 World Series Trophy.
So, I go up to my seat and this is what I see of the field.
Citifield is about 2 blocks from the US Tennis Open and about one mile from the Unisphere. So, I decided to walk over.
Cityfield and the subway stop.
Looking the other way toward the entrance to the US Open
The Open hadn't started yet, but things were being set up. Not much seemed to be happening, but to get to the Unisphere, I had to walk by all the press trailers. There were a lot of press trailers. There were a lot of security people around, but nobody stopped me. It was a public sidewalk and it was not blocked off.
I got to the Unisphere and it was bigger than I had thought. People who have seen the first Men In Black will remember the space ship at the end. I saw those too. There are three of them, but I only remember one from the movies. Of course, they did not film it at the park.
The Unisphere.
The Unisphere with the towers in the background.
The towers.
I found that I was pretty close to the New York Hall of Science. I have a membership in the Science Museum of Minnesota and they have a reciprical relationshipwith the Hall of Science, so I could get in free. I only had about an hour, so I didn't see everything. Everything I saw was very nice. Like most science museums, it tended toward things children would like. Howeve,r I enjoyed what I saw. There ws some pretty intersting history of science discovery exhibits.
From there, I walked to the train and came home. I had walked about 5 miles and was ready to have supper and rest.
Sally's Day
My day was taken up with packing and travelling. I had a free ticket on AirTran (hooray), but AirTran flies through either Milwaukee or Atlanta to get to MN. So any trip to MN takes a long time. I left our apartment at 1:30 and arrived home at 10:00 p.m.
Our lovely daughter had a bed made up for me.
Sally
Day 102- August 22
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NYC'S Narrowest Store, Art, and Taiko
Sally's Day
I saw a store on Second Avenue that I believed was the narrowest store in New York- about 42 inches wide.
Then I saw this store- which is the width of the door. They do computer repair. You can see the repair tchnician through the open door. I would like to know how much rent they pay! The light blue sign on the left side of the picture is on another business.
I spent some time at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I wanted to look at the Native American collection some more. I will be going to a Rembrandt exhibit at the Minneapolis Museum of Art, and wanted to refresh myself on his paintings, too.
This is a FauFau coat, which was named for its maker- William FauFau. It is from Oklahoma, about 1900. It looks like it would be heavy to wear.
This is a craddle cover, 1810-30, Eastern Sioux. There are metal ticklers along the edge which jingle when the mother walks with the baby. It reminded me how we put all sorts of toys and hanging things on strollers today. This seems to be an earlier version of something to amuse the baby.
This mask is from Alaska, about 1843. It is a mosquito! Because of the mosquito's need for blood, it had supernatural associatons. In performance, the mosquito was given roles as a spiritual helper. Apparently, mosquitos were held in much higher regard than they are today.
I think this is the most famous Rembrandt at the Met- Aristotle Contemplating the Bust of Homer. Rembrandt had a lot of gold belts and jewelry in his paintings. The belt going across the front of Homer is gold. The gold sparkles.
The information next to this painting states that it is of Hendrickje Stoffels, who was R's companion for many years after his wife died. At the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the information about Hendrickje stated that there are no paintings which can be definitely identifed as being of her.
In any case, this is my favorite painting of his.
I think her face is amazing. Serene, thoughtful. I looked at it for a long time.
Al's Day
This evening I went to Taiko again. I continue to be challenged by the new things Kaoru teaches. He has a different style of play, which is new to me. Also, he has some pretty challengin tithym exercises that really streach me. I like it.Day 101- August 21
By Al
Today I went back to the Queensborough Rotary Club. This is a small club. They sit around a table at an Italian restaurant. Today they had 4 members in attendance. This was my second meeting, and they remembered me, which was nice. They did get in to a discussion of presidential politics, with both parties represented. This happened at the first meeting I attended. I found this strange since Rotary is supposed to be strictly non-partisan. However, they had a good discussion and it seems to work for them.
I went from the meeting to getting a massage, which was really fun, I walked across Manhattan to meet Sally for a play. On the way, I went by the ramp on Park Ave. where it runs into Grand Central at 42nd street. This ramp was pictured in the movies "I am Legend" and the recent Avengers movie. It is fun to see movie settings as you walk around New York.
Remember?
That evening we went to see "One Man Two Guvnors'". This is a very funny British comedy. It was something of a problem in that it was the first play we have gone to in New York that was not miked. A couple of the actors were very soft spoken, so we missed a fair amount of dialogue. However, there was enough to hear and enough slap stick to still be funny. The star has an amazing talent. He has a good comedy presence and even ad libs with the audience in the middle of the play. It was unusual and very enjoyable.
Today I went back to the Queensborough Rotary Club. This is a small club. They sit around a table at an Italian restaurant. Today they had 4 members in attendance. This was my second meeting, and they remembered me, which was nice. They did get in to a discussion of presidential politics, with both parties represented. This happened at the first meeting I attended. I found this strange since Rotary is supposed to be strictly non-partisan. However, they had a good discussion and it seems to work for them.
I went from the meeting to getting a massage, which was really fun, I walked across Manhattan to meet Sally for a play. On the way, I went by the ramp on Park Ave. where it runs into Grand Central at 42nd street. This ramp was pictured in the movies "I am Legend" and the recent Avengers movie. It is fun to see movie settings as you walk around New York.
Remember?
That evening we went to see "One Man Two Guvnors'". This is a very funny British comedy. It was something of a problem in that it was the first play we have gone to in New York that was not miked. A couple of the actors were very soft spoken, so we missed a fair amount of dialogue. However, there was enough to hear and enough slap stick to still be funny. The star has an amazing talent. He has a good comedy presence and even ad libs with the audience in the middle of the play. It was unusual and very enjoyable.
Sally's Day
I went to Brooklyn again to the knitting group at LaCasita Yarn Shop- where you can get a glass of wine to drink while you knit. I haven't tried that. I don't want to drop a stitch.
Here is some of the yarn in the shop. I am quickly discovering that yarn is as plentiful as fabric. There seem to be unlimited choices of colors, types, weights, etc. I find that knitters will pick up 4-5 skeins of something they like that they think can be used a in a project some day.
One Man Two Guvnors is based on an Italian Commedia dell' Arte play called The Servant of Two Masters, Since I had not seen the Italian play I can't compare them. The play included interludes by a 60's style rock band, actors from the play coming out to do things like play the marimba and sing, and even pie being thrown at an actor. The lead actor, James Cordon, won the Tony this year for best performance by a male actor.
Sally
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