Well... where to start? I was too tired to write last night, so I am a little behind on the posting, sorry. Ill try my best to fill ya in.Yesterday (Wednesday) was our official off-day, so we went into the city. For a large portion of the group, this was their first time into Manhattan. We started out the morning by taking the train from Farmingdale to Penn Station. The Farmingdale station was packed due to the US Open being nearby. Always an adventure, we made it to Penn and spent a few minutes trying to buy our 1-day fun passes for the subway. While it sounds easy enough, buying anything for 17 people is a little crazy.
Our first stop was at Battery Park, where we boarded a boat to LIberty Island. You can see in the picture above our entire group (minus me, someone had to take the picture). This was a really neat experience to actually visit the island and see the monument. Then, we got back to the mainland and walked up Broadway to Bowling Green. We had lunch at a Subway Sandwich shop, and then kept on walking to Trinity Church (as seen in National Treasure), Wall Street, Ground Zero, and St. Pauls church. The kids seemed to have a good time getting to see the sights and hear the sounds of Downtown.
We then boarded a train and went up to Rockefeller Center. Half of the group went into H&M for a bit of shopping, and the other half walked down Fifth Avenue to get a peek at the NYC Public Library (which was covered in a massive net for remodel/upkeep). A few souviener shops later, we returned to Rockefeller to participate int he NBC Studio Tour. While we couldnt take pictures, we did get to visit the set of the NFL pregame show on NBC. While standing on the set, we could hear The Roots playing down below us. They are the house band for Jimmy Fallons late night show. Kind of cool to know they were below us filming the show! And, we also got to sit in the Saturday Night Live studio. I would LOVE to see a taping of the show, but the odds are just unreal. Something like 30,000 ticket requests for only 1,500 available tickets... guess Ill hve to settle for watching it on TV.
Finally, we took a walk down to Times Square. Things have changed so much down there. The city has closed off portions of the roadway and made a pedestrian mall of sorts. Kind of a let down in my opinion. Part of the wonder of TS was having to dodge the cabs and cars in the roadway. We ended our night with dinner at Dallas BBQ. Located just off TS, on 42nd St., Dallas BBQ is a really cool venue with good food at a good price. Noone in our group went hungry, I promise you that!
And while that catches you up to this morning... we havent done much today. Our goal was to knock out our remaining work projects, but due to rain, we have had a pretty much washed out day. We were able to pass out cards for a bit, but as it began to rain harder, we called the kids back in. Now, we are in the process of having some down time. STerling and Luis have informed us we have completed nearly all of the jobs possible to do given the weather circumstances, so were taking some time off! We are preparing to head to the movies to see "Up!". Ill give you a review of that a little later tonight. :)
Again I ask that you would pray for us. Pray for the rain to stop, the sun to come out, and the dirt to dry enough for us to accomplish the tasks. Also, pray we rest while we have this time. It is so easy to want to go, go, go, but I firmly believe our team is in need of major refreshing. Thank you so much. We covet your prayers.
--Bryan Martisek
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