An Update of Sorts

Been a pretty mellow couple of days. It finally snowed yesterday. But I guess it's not going to for another week or so. I love the snow here. For multiple reasons. The biggest is, the wind is usually pretty minimal. New York is cold, but definitely manageable. But when it is bright blue skies and like 15-20 mph winds, it is the WORST. Cuts right through your layers. So I can definitely handle this.

Went to a sandwich place on Friday called Cheeky's Sandwich. It's on Orchard St. which I turned down off of Rivington in the Lower East Side. Definitely one of my favorite streets in New York. Ton's of cool shops, art galleries, museums, and bars on Orchard. I got their pork sandwich. All their sandwiches are pretty simple but pack a ton of flavor. Mine was marinated seared pork chops, caramelized apples, onions, and mustard on challah bread. Pretty good sandwich. A bit overpriced, but good. 

That night Mal and I went over to Brooklyn to see Portugal. The Man at Brooklyn Bowl. This is the second time we have been here (the first for Dum Dum Girls) and I am really starting to like this venue. I just wish they booked better bands. This was definitely the best I have heard Portugal. The Man sound. You can tell that as they get more and more popular (bittersweet) that they are really just honing in their live sound, which has always been good. Playing for about an hour and half and they played a little bit of everything. But what just blows me away is how they are now playing stuff off their debut, Waiter: "You Vultures!" Everything is so layered and so good. The highlight of the set, for me at least,  was their 10 minute version of "Elephants." Throw in the best cover of "Helter Skelter" (Sorry Thrice) that I have ever seen, plus a cover of "All the Young Dudes" by Bowie and of course the Etta James (RIP) cover of "I Would Rather Go Blind" in the encore. You can check out the rest of the setlist here. Couldn't have asked for a better show.

I am hoping to god that I start my job this week. Starting to go stir crazy. It's hard when Mal goes to work only cause, like I have said before, we don't have a ton of money, so for me to just go out and spend it on stuff, especially stuff that I know at some point Mal would probably want to do, sucks. So yea that being said, I really hope I start this week.

Last year when we came here in January, the day we were leaving we were walking through Chelsea Market and noticed that there was a huge chili cookoff going on. I was bummed that we could not participate because you needed to have tickets. Well this year, we got tickets and it is next Friday. So stoked for the NYC Chilifest. I just feel bad for anyone that will be around me for the next week. Nineteen different chili's (including last years winner Northern Spy Food Co), corn bread, cheese, and all the Sam Adams beer we can handle. 

ROAD TRIP TO NYC - DAY 5

PREFACE: We are in New York. Been here since yesterday. I know I am behind. Hopefully I will be caught up in the next few days. 

Fuck day 5. I hate to use horrible language, but day 5 of our road trip was 98% terrible, 1% ok, and 1% good. We woke up at 5:15 AM, loaded the car, ate an apple, said our goodbyes, and we’re ready to really start our road trip. Cause up until that point, we had been living pretty easy. Well, we were not prepared for what was to come. First issue, it’s snowing. Like sleet. So no chains required, but still, in pitch black weather (sun doesn’t come up till 6:30 AM, or at least thats what we thought). This is what it looked like for the first half hour of our drive.

Mal convinced me to finally turn around (glad she did) and head back into my grandparents town and wait for the sun to come up. We did. Normally, from my grandparents house to Santa Fe, NM, it takes 3 hours and 37 minutes. It took us almost 7 and a half hours. Driving through snow is not fun. Especially in a Toyota Yaris. 

Finally we got out of the snow, and realized we had barely made it into New Mexico. Gorgeous yes, but still, New Mexico. 

After finally making it to Santa Fe, we had to get some grub. We already figured at this point we weren’t gonna make it to Austin by tonight anyway, so we decided to eat at a highly recommended place. Bobcat Bite. Literally a bungalow on the side of a mountain, it did not disappoint. Though I did get a nice grease burn.

The rest of the drive through New Mexico was actually kind of nice. The sky and plains together are gorgeous.

As for the rest of Texas down to Austin. It was terrible. I mean absolutely terrible. For many reasons. The biggest? I lost my debit card. At some point in the day, I lost my debit card. No idea where, but it was lost. Shit. After a nice screaming session, Mal convinced me that there was nothing I was gonna be able to do. Considering it was Saturday and the bank at home was already closed. Till Monday. Again, shit. On top of realizing my debit card was lost at 10 PM at night in the middle of nowhere at a Subway that looks like it was run by the “bad guys” from The Hills Have Eyes, we were driving through deer country. At 11 PM at night. In the pitch black. That means, on a freeway where the speed limit is 70, we go 30, and slam on the brakes every 200 feet. Not exaggerating. But alas, at 2:13 AM (suppose to be at 9:30 PM) we arrive at our 2 day sublet in Austin, TX. Where we proceed to lay down on a Tempur-Pedic kind size bed, and pass the mother f out. That is all for today. It upsets me to talk about this...