Make Time: Princeton and Philly

I woke up in Akron Ohio around 6:30am in order to get on the road before Sunday traffic. Mitch was already awake and researching college basketball, which I found amazingly amusing. I didn’t mention this before, but Mitch is the “oracle” of college basketball betting. Yes, he can predict almost any game with a surprising amount of accuracy. This comes from many years of being in love with the game, but also from his analytical lawyer background. Mitch loves getting into the details of each basketball team; knowing all the players and the coaches , the drama within the organization, and anything else you can imagine about each team. I’ve been to Las Vegas a few times with Mitch, his son Michael (my byddy), and no less than 15 others, for the beginning of the college basketball playoff tournament, and it’s a blast! No doubt about it – Mitch has helped me win a lot of money ☺ So naturally I make time to speak with “the oracle” for a bit as I’m heating up a pumpernickel bagel. Mitch has a great way about him. Kind. Gentle. Wise. It’s nice to hear his perspective on anything, so it’s nice when our conversation shifts to possibly working together at some point soon. Very nice. I’m excited for the opportunities that are coming. I’m absolutely confident in knowing that I have no clue what will come along the road ahead, but in any case, I’ll be ready for it all.

So I hit the road around 7:30am, with minimal traffic on the road. I high five Lebron James on the way out of town, and then settle in to a 7-hour car ride. There are seriously beautiful parts of Ohio and Pennsylvania, and I’m sad that I didn’t get more time to explore them, but I’ll see it again. I’m confident of this. Of course I almost run out of gas again, but this time I at least knew how many miles I had left until empty (good little trick to learn). I roll into Princeton around 2:30pm and go directly to my favorite college grub food spot: Hoagie Haven! Chicken parmesan sandwich and cheese fries. I always order the same thing and it never fails me. NOT ONCE. I get to my mom's just in time for the beginning of the world cup final game between Argentina and Germany. What a match. Amazing finish, and a well deserved win by the Germans (sorry to all my Argentina fans, especially Ivana). After the game my mom and I went to visit the Bliss family, who live in Princeton as well. My dad went to college with Mr Bliss (Walter), and I've become real close with his daughter Maggie over the years. Luckily Maggie was in from Chicago so we all got to hang out at the Bliss home, which they have been in for over 30 years. So nice to be surrounded by good people after a long car ride. For dinner my friend Sophie met us in Princeton and we grabbed some sushi and then some amazing ice cream to cap off a perfect evening. The next day me and my mom took my car (his name is Marty McFly:) into the auto shop to see what they thought of the "check transmission" light appearing from time to time. We head back to the house and just relax in the afternoon, and then at night we cook out on my mom's back porch. Was so fun. She got a new bbq so we broke it in properly with some asparagus and pork chops. I must say, we did a FANTASTIC job (pics below). Tuesday morning I got up early with my mom and drover her to work and then headed into Philly to visit some friends. What a great city! I have always had a soft spot for Philadelphia because my Grandma Ruth is from there, but recently I've spent more and more time there and I always feel at home. I meet my friend Emily for breakfast at an amazing old school diner called Little Pete's, and then I head over to my buddy Tom's house just a bit outside of downtown Philly. We laugh a ton and then I head out to say hello over coffee to my good friend Megan, and then I meet back up with Tom, a few of his friends, and Emily for lunch at Han's Chinese in Old City. After lunch I head back to pick up my mom at her office in Trenton, NJ, and then we go get Marty from the fixit shop. Not good news. The mechanic says I need a part for my transmission that costs $1300. Huh? The car only cost $4500, man. Ok. So we take the car to my mom's mechanic and we'll find out what he says in a day or so. Tuesday night my mom makes chicken divan, which is my absolute favorite thing she ever made for me growing up. Damn it's good. Actually, she made it the night before and let it cool in the fridge for a day because it's always better reheated (love that she knows this!). We also made some caprese salad, which is a great starter, and then we settled in for some movies.

Sidenote: The entire time I was out in NJ and Philly it was raining and there were a ton of thunderstorms. Anyone that knows me well will be happy for me in this situation, because one of my favorite things is relaxing and listening to a good thunderstorm. It really puts me at ease. One of the reasons I left SF after so many years was that I wanted to live somewhere that had thunderstorms - guess that shows how much I like them.

Right now I'm in NYC. I took the train in this morning from Princeton, which filled me with tons of memories from my time when I went to Princeton and would take the train into the city for fun nights out or visits with my family. Getting into the city with the rush of commuters was fun, and I always know my way around the subway which makes me feel good. I'm at my Aunt Jane's apt here on the upper east side, and it's an overcast day here, which I love. Today I'm going to meet my friend Maya for lunch in midtown and then dinner with a great group of friends later. I will take more pics so that I can include them in the posts to come, but I hope you like some of the ones below for now.

Have a great day!!!