New Year: New York, New Jersey

Hey there folks,

Happy New Year! I'm in a great mood! Come Sunday, I will be a) back at Stonehill for the first time in awhile and b) I will be watching my Jets take on the Chargers. It has been a great year for my sports teams with the Yankees winning the World Series and the Jets making a miracle run!

But before we get back into the swing of things, I wanted to bring you all up to date on what I've been doing in the first weeks of the new year.

First, my friend Brian came up on his way to Vermont to say hello. We roomed together at Stonehill during the summer and I had not seen him since then. He only had about an hour, so we went to a local pizzeria and told stories about our semester.

Later in the week, I made a pilgrimage to the lovely Garden State to see Conor and Eamon. Though I hadn't seen Conor in a few months, it was like we hadn't left! I was pretty hungry from my drive, so we picked our friends Jim and Po and we stopped at one of the many great diners in Jersey for a quick bite. I had a favorite of mine: a pulled pork sandwich. Sooo good.

That night, Eamon and our friend John (aka The Colonel) came over. I really wish that I could describe in detail all the incredible things that we did and show you pictures of the all the places we went to...but I can't. We really didn't do much of anything, actually. The four of us just basically sat around and swapped stories and reminisced about funny things that happened to us. It is a weird feeling coming back; my time in Washington feels like it's own entity, a time apart from the rest of reality. My friends and I just basically pick up from where we left off; you'd never know we had been apart. It seems like I feel asleep on a sweltering August night at Stonehill and woke up the next day in my house on a cold December day.

Come to think of it, we did do one thing of note: we made a Love Doctor video! What is a Love Doctor video, you ask? Well, Conor and I have a radio show the last two years on Stonehill's radio station. One night, we asked Eamon to come on and as a joke, we decided to portray him as a "Ph.D. in Aphrodisiology". Every now and then, people would call in or email him with questions and it just kept growing--more calls, more emails, more listeners etc. So we started promoted him by giving away faux business cards and making videos for YouTube plugging his appearances. (You can see the collection of them on the links to your right...)

While I was down in Jersey, we took the liberty to make yet another video, which you can view on this post. Stay tuned for more updates regarding "The Love Doctor" appearances throughout the semester.

Yesterday-because I'm apparently trying to make up for lost time-I met Conor in New York City for the day. We covered some pretty good ground during the course of the day. I took the train in from Connecticut and we met at Bryant Park. From there, we walked uptown to Rockefeller Center (a favorite spot in the City for me) because Conor wanted to see the famed Christmas tree. Apparently, he had forgotten that it was currently mid-January and the tree had been taken down but we did get a kick out of watching the poor people attempt to skate on the ice rink! (Shoulda brought popcorn!)

From there we went to Times Square and ate at a great deli for long while. I tested Conor's patience by insisting that we go to the Yankees Store, so I could grab some championship gear. After getting warm in a Barnes and Noble awhile and buying some Jets stuff at Modell's, we stopped into Burger Heaven for some dinner. Before I left however, we stopped in Grand Central Station for some tea to warm up.

(What do you think it says about me that I describe my time by the foods I ate?) Hmm....

Anyways, that'll do it for me. The next time you hear from me, I'll once again be a full-time Stonehill student. Get ready Stonehill, I'm comin'...

Take care!