New Jersey Update #6

Hello from Downingtown, Philadelphia!

I've had quite a weekend, and it's not over yet, although you won't be reading this until Monday afternoon at the earliest.

First off, testing is going good in the hospitals. I was commended for my work in leading my team at Morristown last week. We have started a contest to see which team (mine or Ned's) will accurately complete the most units from now until the end of the project. Winning team will receive $125 to share. Should be interesting and it looks like we'll finish before our April 30th deadline. That means I get to go home early--woo hoo! I am hoping, however, that we get one more weekend on the East Coast…but that deserves a paragraph of its own.

My weekend plan was to catch the Mets game Saturday afternoon and then take a train to Pennsylvania to visit some family friends there. To make a long story short, we never made it to the ballgame…er, well, we made it, but we didn’t get to actually see any of it. We left at 1:00 for a 1:40 game and took a very scenic route that gave us a rather intimidating tour of Brooklyn, Long Island, and Queens. By the time we finally found Shea Stadium (two hours later), the game was tied up in the bottom of the sixth. We tried to sneak in an exit door only to be rudely ushered out by NYPD. Oops. I got a few pics though, and I managed to snag a forgotten seat cushion (it was seat cushion day, sponsored by Bob’s Stores) to prove I was there. By the way, the Mets ended up winning 3-2.

Having at least found Shea stadium, I had Mauricio and Sergio drop me off at Penn station. Of course we hit traffic and the trip lasted about an hour, leaving me at the station with just enough time to miss the last Amtrak train to Downingtown. No problem, I bought a ticket to Philadelphia instead (departing an hour later) and called Liz to inform her of the change in plans. She politely informed me that Downingtown was an hour away from Philadelphia. Oops. No problem, the South East Pennsylvania Transit Authority (SEPTA) would save the day. After waiting an hour for my train to Philly, I made the uneventful trek and found the SEPTA tracks. I only had to wait another hour for this train—no problem, I ate my dinner (I ordered a sandwich to go at lunch) and called Liz again to advise her and Bill of my status. I have attached a picture of Downingtown “station” where I was left by the train an hour later. Please keep in mind that it was dark, about 11:00, not a soul around, and
you’ll notice there’s no phone. Luckily Bill & Liz arrived about 5 minutes after I did…a good thing since my next plan included panicking.

After my Saturday excursions I was happy to finally be somewhere! I am having a lovely time at the Wolfram residence (where I am writing this from) and I will be riding back to Springfield tomorrow with Bill on his way to Manhattan. Today I saw downtown Philly including the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, and Valley Forge. And for lunch…a cheese-steak sandwich from Pat’s of course! (For those not in the loop, Pat’s is to the cheese-steak sandwich what San Francisco’s Buena Vista is to Irish Coffee). Thanks to Liz and our tour guide Bill (a.k.a. Jeeves) for the great hospitality. I’m glad I was finally able to visit on behalf of the Genovese fam! They don’t know what they’re missing :-)

That about does it for now. I’m working on getting all the updates uploaded to the web site. I should have one more weekend here on the East coast before going back to CA. I’m hoping to make it to D.C.

TTYL,

-Sean

New Jersey Update #5

Good morning from the East Coast. It’s been awhile since my last update, and I’ve been busy! We have just about finished up at Mountainside Hospital and we are making preparations to move on to the final and most prestigious hospital for this project, Morristown. That move should take place on Wednesday.

We have received three new additions to our team, Jason, Louie, and Diana. I am told we will be receiving two more additions this week sometime. Louie, Jason, Diana, Sergio, Mauricio, Esam, and myself journeyed back to New York this weekend. Again I think a good time was had by all. We saw just about every part of Manhattan we missed. We also found a better way to get around in New York—the subway. What a concept, huh? Details are now on the web, but here are the hilights of the trip:

• Central Park (very big)
• Metropolitan Museum of Art (we actually just bought a map there)
• Rockefeller Center
• United Nations
• St. Patrick’s Cathedral
• Radio City Music Hall
• World Trade Center

We also (finally) hit the statue of liberty today (er, yesterday). We missed the ferry again on Saturday, so we made a follow-up trip this afternoon. Took longer than expected and we froze our asses off, but it was neat to see and I think everyone had fun. We got to climb all the way to the crown! Great photo op—I’ll work on uploading those this week.

Very cold today on the East Coast. We had rain off and on and we even had a small thunderstorm. Tomorrow it will probably be 90 degrees and sunny.

Further proof that everything in New Jersey is done backwards (I’m going to start compiling a list): Instead of waiting for the water in the faucet to get hot, you have to wait for it to cool down. I’m telling
you, these people are crazy. On the positive side though, there are more Italian Deli’s here than anyway I’ve ever seen in my life. I had Italian food practically all weekend. Some was better than others, but hey, it’s still pasta, right?

One last item before I turn in for the night, don’t ever underestimate the power of a map. We finally bought a map of Manhattan Saturday that we could take with us while walking (instead of my laptop, which is awkward outside of the cah). We probably looked like tourists, but at least we weren’t stopping every 2 minutes to ask where everything was. And speaking of maps, I’m also working on uploading a map to illustrate the places I’ve been so far and the places I hope to go. Suggestions
and souvenir requests are now being accepted (but not necessarily honored :-)

Later,

-Sean

New Jersey Update #4

Hey folks. Did the New York thing Saturday. We had a great time. I’m
working on getting the pics and web site up ASAP. It’s about half way
there, I’ll try and have it completed by Wednesday. A brief overview of
the excursion:

• We missed the last ferry to the Statue of Liberty by 30 minutes, so we definitely have to go back
• We did hit the Empire State Building. Very tall, very cold
• Times Square—check
• Broadway—check
• Ed Sullivan theatre—YEAH BABY. I even grabbed some cheesecake at the restaurant next door that Dave Letterman is always picking on.
• Wanted to take the subway, but I was outvoted…next trip.

I’ll keep you posted on the web progress.

-Sean

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