Next Stop Wrigley Field

At 7:30am on Saturday May 17th I boarded a plane on the way to The Windy City, Chicago. I was very excited at the chance of spending some time in Chi town since I have never been and I was going on a bachelor party for one of my closest friends.

Plane landed around 9:30am and we headed directly to the hotel to drop our bags. For those of you who have been to Chicago and braved the train system, than you understand how slow and painful the trains are from the airport, I am not sure if there was construction or a track problem, but this was by far the slowest train I have ever been on.

With the bags dropped it was to our first order of business the 12:30 game at Wrigley Field for the Cubs/ Pirates game. A bunch of us have never been to a game at Wrigley so we thought we would do it right. We reserved our spots (months in advance) at Wrigley Rooftops http://www.wrigleyvillerooftops.com/,which are the buildings adjacent to Wrigley along Waverly Ave. The rooftop is definitely a great experience and I recommend everyone does this at one point. Anyway we grabbed our bleacher seats at the roof and proceeded to drink (all included in the package) and enjoy the sun, apparently for any of you who have never been to Wrigley, it is apparently on the sun at least the bleachers on the roof were, but a little sunburn never hurt anyone.
After the game the festivities continued with some good music and alcohol at The Cubby Bear www.cubbybear.com/wrigleyville/index.html, this was a great place, , very large and great music for a little afternoon drinking. I personally love to get out in the afternoon, it makes me feel like I am on vacation. After The Cubby Bear we hit a couple of local bars including a bar called Mother's II. Very chill bar, mellow crowd with and wait for it.... Nintendo wii Bowling on a 60 inch projection screen. Too me this was a perfect ending to a great day, video games and beers what could be better than that one?

As far as Chicago I can offer you this brief synopsis: Wrigley Field is a really cool place, any town you see fathers and sons, husbands and wives, and groups of friends all wearing their favorite teams apparel and heading to the park because its game day - it really is a great thing to see.

The city itself is like a mini NYC without all of the cars, not sure if it was the time of year, but at 11am in the middle of downtown Chicago there were very little cars on the road. On Sunday morning at 11am it felt as if the city had been evacuated, it was strange. I do suggest a trip to Chicago for anyone who had never been and for myself because I was only there for 24 hrs.

Penn Station is the epicenter of hell!

As a commuter and avid NYC fan I have come to the conclusion that Penn Station represents all that is wrong with NYC. This goes beyond the usual complaints of people talking loud on their cell phones or someone sitting next to me, although there are many other open seats on the train. This is something that makes me shake my head and realize why some people from Long Island do not want to take the train to NYC for work or pleasure.

A typical morning has already begun and I arrive at Penn Station at 7:40am, up the stairs and into the sea of people who refuse to pick their heads up in fear that they would have to actually acknowledge another human being, rather than just bump into them and mutter words under their breath to the tune of "excuse you!" I have personally stopped stepping out of the way of these "floor watchers," and have come to the conclusion that maybe a little shoulder bump is all someone will need to get their morning going a little bit faster than the new everyday blend from Starbucks will.

Assuming I have made it through the initial gauntlet of people tuning left as I turn right it is on to the next obstacle, which might be the most annoying, mind boggling and just plain dangerous item on the agenda - the backpack/luggage/ lunch bag/ briefcase on wheels, that's right - ON WHEELS. Because when I think about the best place to put my $2000 laptop, I think "why not strap some wheels on it and drag it through Penn Station." I might not be the quickest person in the room, but doesn't the word backpack represent a pack on your back? When your forced to wheel a backpack around it might be time to rethink what your bringing into work.
***SIDEBAR - is there nothing better than watching someone wrestle with their wheeled luggage which has gotten stuck in the turnstile - this is something that brings a smile to my face each and every time.

Which brings us to the final item of danger on the agenda today and something I am guilty of, but it is something that drives me crazy everywhere, but mostly in Penn Station where time is essential. I wasn't aware that there are designated spots for people to stop and read or text away - some of these locations are: on every staircase, the escalators, the entry to the subway car or just about any high traffic area in Penn Station. To me this is amazing if some of these people would put the Blackberry in their pockets and walk normal speeds they would be at work a 1/2 hour quicker and would be able to read the email without causing or receiving any major injury.

So to recap Penn Station is full of rude, anti social, slow walking, laptop wheeling, text messaging/emailing, stopping anywhere commuters who act like tourists making it one of the worst places to be in NYC!

My first attempt at this..

Welcome to anyone and everyone reading my new blog. This is my first attempt at blogging with help from my good friend alliezog.blogspot.com, shameless plug she will love it.

A little about me: As a former publicist and advocate of sarcasm/cynicism there are many, many, many things that catch my attention on a daily basis that I will document here. My hope is that you, the reader, will love or hate my blog, but my overall goal is to generate debate.

DEBATE: a discussion, as of a public question in an assembly, involving opposing viewpoints: a debate in the Senate on farm price supports. A formal contest in which the affirmative and negative sides of a proposition are advocated by opposing speakers. Deliberation; consideration.

So with that said lets start the debate!