New York! New York! It's an expensive town...

Murphy's Law: Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong.

Mr. Murphy, I scoff at you! Scoff. Scoff. Scoff.

Yesterday and today could not have gone better. Melissa and I had a very smooth flight from DC to New York. Upon arriving in New York we went directly to baggage claim, whereupon all four of our checked bags appeared almost instantly one right after the other.

We then trotted outside to the taxi stand, had the attendant hail us a mini-van cab, and then off we went towards our hotel.

Our first New York taxi experience was probably most akin to a couple of greased monkeys trying to ride a china hutch through town; unfortunately for the monkeys, the china hutch was moving at an average speed of about 1 x 10¹³ MPH with sudden bursts of stopping and swearing in Russian. I'm pretty sure the swearing was coming from our taxi driver, but there were times we were so close to other vehicles that the swearing could have just as easily been coming from two cars over.

We arrived at our hotel only somewhat nauseated by the taxi ride that lasted almost as long as our flight had. Upon walking into the lobby of Hilton, Melissa's first reaction was to lean over to me and mutter, "Did you ever feel like you just stepped way out of your league?" Honestly? No. I've actually always kind of felt that I'm living way below my league and only upon stepping into the lobby of the Hilton did I feel as though I had finally come into my own. In fact, I believe that I have found my calling in life. I would like to become a professional hotel stayer for the State Department. They can just pay for my room and expenses, and I'll stay in the hotel for them.

I'll have to swing that idea by my good buddy CP the next time I see him. Too bad he's no longer in charge of the State Department; I guess I'll have to buddy up with good old CR instead. I hear she likes sports, I wonder if she'd be impressed by my little league exploits. I was the only member of my team to successfully chew through his mitt in only one season.

Most guys took at least 2 seasons to get half that far.

-Dave