new york: the work stuff

a city of firsts

despite the many, many, MANY times i've been to new york, there is always something i see or do for the first time.

today, i rode the subway by myself.


the new york subway, as many of you know, is not like other subways. i've ridden subways in countries with languages i didn't understand, and yet the ny system has always been soooo much more intimidating,

ok, technically i wasn't by myself, as i was with a couple of co-workers, but it was the first time i've ever ridden the subway without someone who knew where we were going. this time i had to figure it out for my little group, and we didn't get lost once!

worth every penny, part 2

spencer played most of the second quarter, roughly 12 minutes, with 5 points, and we couldn't get enough! i'm grateful for the close seats as they allowed some good shots, even on the little camera (i think i need to name my cameras - any suggestions?).

this great photo was taken by rachel :)

towards the end of the game a 'celebrity' entered the arena. we knew it was a celebrity by the way the girls in the section next to us reacted. but for the life of me, i could not figure out who it was! lakers games tend to draw celebrities, so i actually expected we might see someone. what i did not expect is that i would not recognize one if i saw 'em.

when the jazz game ended we had some time before heading out to meet spencer at his hotel. i continued to be stymied by the 'celebrity' but i suspected that once i found out who it was i would want to smack myself for not having figured it out. when the 'celebrity' decided to use our aisle as an exit for a food or bathroom run, i decided to take a picture, just in case.


the aforementioned girls went nuts, and when he had passed, brad asked them (for me) who the guy was. they responded 'he's on the hills' and i couldn't believe i hadn't recognized frankie, probably two feet away from me! the hills, for those not in the know, is an mtv 'reality' show i've been watching since when it was laguna beach. this was a guy i was pretty familiar with!

what i forgot, and was later reminded of, is that my 6'8" nba playing cousin is a HUGE closet fan of the show. he was extrememly disappointed to learn later of frankie's attendance stating (dejectedly) that he would have gone over and said hello.


after the game we stayed to watch the lakers tip off and really mostly to see kobe play for a bit. but we had a prior engagement, so we didn't stay for too long.

we headed to the ritz carlton to pick up spencer for some grub. when we arrived the valet told us we could park and wait 'behind the mustang.' i should mention, the mustang was probably the grubbiest car there and it was brand new.


mick called spencer's cell to tell him we'd arrived, but much to my relief, he didn't answer. you see, i wanted an excuse to go in. i figured some of the players might be hanging around...and they were.

okur was sitting in one of the lobby chairs waiting for some teammates to head out for dinner. he kept giving me that look that goes something like "does she know who i am? is this a groupie stalker girl?' he was joined by a few other players giving me similar looks, and i was waiting for spencer's arrival in the lobby to prove that no, i was not a groupie stalker girl, but rather, one of the cool kids who hangs out with nba players.

i was so disappointed when they all headed outside to grab a cab before spencer had made it down:( i would forever be groupie stalker girl (and by forever, i mean the 2 seconds before they forgot i existed). BUT, it turns out i'd have my moment yet.

they were still waiting for the taxi when spence and i headed out. i slithered between 3 or 4 6'8"-ish guys (hello, can anyone say, fantasy!?) excusing myself as a did so. spencer, following behind wished his teammates a good night, and the air palapably changed as we could both sense jaws dropping.

you see, my cousin, who is not only a good little mormon boy, is also married. and his teammates were watching him leave the hotel with a girl. spencer picked up on it quickly as he turned around, walking backwards, arms in air, yelling to his teammates "she's my COUSIN!". almost as amusing, we were getting a lot of 'yeah, sure's' as i told them it had been fun to watch them play, while trying to fight the sly smirk that seemed intent on taking over my face. as we approached the minivan where the rest of the fam was waiting, i think they finally started to believe that i might actually be his cousin.

the fact that i was and still am sooo amused by this scene is probably indicative that i do actually have a tiny little groupie/stalker side. oh well.


we took a vote in the van and headed to ihop for dinner! we were joined there by cousins of spencer's on his other side, and had some great catching up! it was fun to hear about his experience, his hopes, and his expectations. what really struck me is that he had clearly made a peace with not knowing what the future would hold, and maintaining a sense of gratitude and wonder at the journey so far.

have i mentioned before that i love my family? i seriously think i have one of the coolest families around, immediate AND extended. i am reminded of this regularly when i spend time with the donahooligans, and having a chance to catch up with spencer just reminded me again. as if i ever forget!

sadly, we learned that spencer was cut on wednesday. though not a surprise, i think we were all hoping he would beat the odds and fulfill this lifelong dream. nevertheless, he is one of those people who deserves nothing but good things, and i'm sure they will come his way!

worth every penny, part 1

there was some excitement in socal last week. it started building early in the week, when it looked like my cousin spencer might be coming to town with the utah jazz to play the los angeles clippers.

as the week went on, hopes continued to rise and on friday, i got the news that he WOULD in fact be coming. there was a chance he might be able to get tickets for myself and the donahooligans, but we wouldn't know until game day, and possibly very late.

we decided to go ahead and purchase tickets-we just couldn't miss it! a couple hours before the game i got word from spencer that he wasn't able to get the tix, so it was a gamble rewarded.


we got to the staples center very early. SO early that most of our happy little group had to kill some time while i was picking up my tickets, waiting for the doors to open.

just as rach and i finally entered the arena, about 40 minutes before the game, i got another text from spencer saying that he'd gotten a couple of tickets. we headed back outside to wait at will call* for the jazz to drop off their tickets, at which point, we grabbed the two, and worked our way back inside.

*sidenote: THIS conversation made me feel like the coolest person ever:
me: have the jazz dropped off their tickets yet?
will call agent: um, i don't know, are you EXPECTING tickets
me: yes (thinking, DUH)
will call agent: okay, i'll check.
will call agent: here you go, they just barely dropped them off
me: thanks

i know it doesn't SEEM that dramatic, but trust me, it totally was.

about 15 minutes later, we got another text from spencer saying that he'd gotten a couple MORE tickets, so we all decided to head down. all told we ended up with 6 tickets in the lower sections (there were 7 of us).


but, what had been an obstacle before turned in to a blessing. the jazz/clippers game was the first of a double-header and would be followed by a laker game. the tickets were good for both games, so that meant that getting tickets through 'traditional' means was a non-option, and i had to resort to those resell ticket sites.

because all those ticket holders were laker fans however, the arena was dead empty for the first game. so empty we could hear what the players were saying to each other on the court. so empty that when we cheered for spencer's entry in the game, the volume was deafening (and probably embarrassing). truly i've never seen a sporting event so poorly attended and i even felt a little bad for the clippers!

we were able to sneak our extra person in and all of us ended up with really good seats...jen, nic, rach, and i were in the 8th row of the bottom section. i'll probably never have seats like that for anything ever again!


needless to say, it was soo exciting and moving to see spencer take the floor for warm ups. the jazz wrung a lot of tears from me back in the malone, stockton, hornacek days. they were a team that i invested body and soul into, and had my heart broken over and over and over. i know people sometimes have difficulty understanding obsessive fandom, and i don't know that i can explain it rationally, i just know that for several years, i was so connected to the success of a sports team that any given day could be elevated or destroyed based on the outcome of a game.

when i left utah, i left my obsession behind. partly because the team was changing so much and partly because it is very difficult to follow a non-local sports team, and even more so then. that fire needs fuel, and when you're on the other side of the country with little to no broadcast access, it's easier to let sanity take control again:)

so as you might imagine, seeing spencer play with the utah jazz held a lot of meaning for me.

.....continued in part 2......

autumn abundance

i am so grateful! i got to see massachusetts in the fall.

my only disappointment is that thanks mostly to the terrible awful no good very bad (seriously nightmarish) traffic in eastern massachusetts, i didn't get to spend any time in salem, other than my quick stop to pick up a national park stamp. aside from that however, it was an absolutely fantastic couple of days, with my sightseeing centered largely in the concord area.

i got to reflect on walden pond, literally and figuratively, taking in the incredible beauty and variation in the turning leaves.

after walden pond, i headed back to the city to have dinner with my co-workers, and wouldn't you know, i happened to notice a big gold statue off the freeway and had to inestigate further. lo and behold, it was exactly as i suspected - the boston temple!

can you conceive a better pairing to inspire awe and gratitude, than walden pond and the temple?!


the following day, i got to visit louisa may alcott's orchard house, and it was an absolute highlight.


little women was written here, and i learned just how much of the book was based on her life. i also appreciated that aside from the rugs and wall coverings, 95% of the furnishings, art, trinkets, etc. were original. i can't tell you how many 'recreations' i've seen in my life, so to see the melodian 'beth' played, and 'amy's' artwork hanging on, or directly drawn/painted on the walls, was quite special.

last but not least, i finally had a question answered that i've asked myself for years. what was up with the professor?!

well, apparently little women was written in two parts. louisa may absolutely did not want jo to marry, but rather to remain a strong, independent woman. however, after the first part was published, she received overwhelming feedback requesting the next part of jo's story - her marriage. as a way of satisfying her readers, she created the professor character, but because it was so incongruous with the rest of the story, she felt that she was having the last laugh afterall.

so now i understand why the professor never made sense:)

and after leaving the alcott home, i also understood for the first time that alcott and thoreau and emerson and hawthorne were true contemporaries. i had never envisioned them in the same timeline or social circles before, so hearing that thoreau attended jo's sister's wedding jarred a little reality into me. what a rich literary history that time and place has!

after the alcott home, i stopped by emerson's. the story about this house is actually quite endearing.

On July 24, 1872, the house caught fire and was heavily damaged. Luckily there was no serious injury, all of the Emersons escaped, and Emerson's papers were not lost.

Without consulting Emerson, his neighbors took up a collection to pay for repairs. This allowed Emerson to journey to Europe and to Egypt—as he had always dreamed of doing—while repairs were being made. In 1873 the Emersons returned to live in the house, surprised by a town-wide celebration of the event.

following the emerson home, it was on to sleepy hollow cemetery. this was another high highlight.

i enjoy cemeteries to begin with, but one with a name like 'sleepy hollow' is bound to be excellent.

what was most excellent about it was author's ridge - where the alcott, hawthorne, emerson, and thoreau plots are literally adjacent to and across the sidewalk from one another. in addition to the close proximity, i was so impressed with how unassuming and accessible each of the graves were.


no barriers or fences, in fact i was literally standing on the graves of emerson and thoreau to get my self-portraits, taken, of course, with absolute respect and appropriate humility.


emerson's was the largest of the bunch, a giante slab of granite serving as the headstone. thoreau, hawthorne, and alcott however, had tiny little headstones no different from those of the rest of their families.


at thoreau's headstone, preceding visitors have left pine cones and stones in homage to the transcendentalist nature lover.


before making my way to the airport to head home, i also made a stop at minuteman national historic park to wander across the old north bridge and visit the old manse.


the old manse was built by ralph waldo's grandfather and served as a witness to 'the shot heard round the world'. it was a hotbed of activity during concord's political and literary revolutions, and also served as nathaniel hawthorne's home for a time.

though it was a short visit, i was able to deeply enjoy both the natural beauty of massachusetts in the fall, and some wonderful historic sites.