Thursday==>Good afternoon to all of you loyal and faithful readers and followers who are, no doubt, concerned about the status of your favorite blogger here in The Big Apple, The Greatest City In The World.
Yes ... I know ... I know ... I failed to post yesterday ... but ... Billi Pod found himself totally overwhelmed by the events happening around him, details below, and just didn’t feel like sitting down in front of this ‘puter for any extended period of time. And, of course, when that happens things just keep piling up ...
So ... will try to update everything, not in a chronological order, but rather how Billi Pod feels like reporting them ...
Let's get started with ...
A. The rulings by the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) regarding the gay marriage issue(s).
The two decisions by a sharply divided court were a major step forward in reaching marriage equality and there is every reason to celebrate.
Billi Pod needs to remind you, however, that the two rulings that do indeed bolster gay marriage rights do not remove all barriers to same-sex unions, by a long shot. Where gay couples live still will have a lot to do with how they are treated.
There is still a long way to go.
B. Billi Pod reaches his goal of walking 1,700-miles since 7/1/12.
At 10:48pm on Tuesday, on the way back to the apartment from Yankee Stadium, your favorite blogger reached his 1,700-mile goal. AWESOME!!
As you loyal and faithful readers and followers know, back on July 1, 2012, I set the goal of walking 1,079 miles by my 79th birthday on April 23, 2013 (1,000 + 79 = 1,079, get it??). All of the mileage to be recorded on my WeightWatchers Pedometer.
When I reached the 1,079 mile plateau on January 26, 2013 I then revised the challenge to 1,700 miles by July 1, 2013.
When the walking year ends at midnight on June 30th I will post a rather detailed analysis of the total mileage.
So ... hope you will agree with me that walking 1,700+ miles in 12 months is pretty AWESOME for a 79-year-old guy.
C. Beginning my new challenge to walk all of the bridges in Manhattan.
As I reported earlier, this will be my new challenge. There are 21 major bridges in Manhattan but some of them do not permit pedestrian traffic.
The George Washington Bridge (GWB) was opened in October 1931, has a distance of 4,760 feet between anchorages and the water clearance at midspan is 212 feet.
It is the busiest bridge in the US. The total NY bound traffic in 2012: 49,110,921 vehicles.
So ... this would be a good beginning for my adventure ...
At noon, as planned, I met up with my theater-buddy Marty Kosarik at the West 178th Street pedestrian entrance and our adventure began.
The weather was excellent for this type of venture, overcast and breezy. Our departure time was 12:05pm.
We leisurely walked across the bridge, being very careful to avoid the bicycle traffic. Took lots of pictures, as might be expected. When we crossed into New Jersey the air quality plummeted, of course.
We actually exited the bridge for a very brief walk-around to document the fact that we had actually been in that foreign country known as New Jersey.
Then we headed back to Manhattan, which included clearing passport control. Thought we might have a problem when a couple of the hunky border guards expressed skepticism that two Manhattanites had actually voluntarily entered New Jersey. They finally accepted our story and let us back into Manhattan.
We arrived back at our starting point @ 1:30pm and our recorded mileage was 4.05 miles. We split and I subwayed back to the apartment, with the total mileage for the adventure @ 5.52 miles.
So ... Marty ... thanks for joining me on the first part of my new adventure. I will send you details about the next bridge.
As I reported, the weather was just perfect for being outside for a couple of hours in mid-day but, frankly, I had forgotten that the sun rays can be a factor even if it is cloudy. I definitely felt the effects. This, combined with some decent mileage caused me to take an unexpected nap, which contributed majorly to not posting on a timely basis.
C. A totally gut-busting funny Off Broadway show.
My entertainment event for last night was ...
ELSINORE COUNTY, a parody involving the characters from Hamlet, set in modern times==>A
Folks, I can’t remember when I laughed harder. The humor is, at times, very raunchy and in-your-face. The cast is excellent and the show, as a whole, is a lot of fun for the open-minded.
It is playing at the Theater Row Complex on my block, runs through July 3rd and has a running time of 1:45, with an intermission.
Billi Pod says==>need a laugh? Then see this show.
D. The continued turmoil in The Yankee Universe.
Since the last posting I was out at Yankee Stadium, The House That Greed And Ego Built, for the Tuesday night YANKEES/TEXAS game, won by The Bronx Bombers 4-3 in the bottom of the 9th, with 2-outs, on a walk-off homer from Ichiro Suzuki. The stadium went crazy. So did I.
Then, last night, Andy Pettitte had another lackluster outing and the Bombers lost 8-5.
This afternoon @ 1:05pm is the final game of the 3-game series. On the mound for The Yankees will be Phil Hughes (3-6) vs. Derek Holland (5-4) for Texas.
Bad news continues to build for the 2013 season with the announcement that Mark Teixeira will require surgery to repair the torn tendon sheath in his right forearm and, as a result, will be out for the remainder of the season.
But ... that isn’t the biggest/baddest news ... oh no ... that involves the continuing controversy surrounding A-Rod.
It started when A-Rod tweeted that he was physically able to begin his minor league rehab assignment. This caused GM Brian Cashman to go ballistic. At a news conference he told A-Rod to: “shut the fuck up.”
Oh, the drama ... these are the headlines in today’s papers ...
“A-ROD’S EVIL PLAN. 1. Get Yanks to put him back on field now. 2. Say he can’t play and retire quickly. 3. Collect all his money even if he’s suspended.” - back page of The Daily News
"HIP FLOP. Source: Now, A-Rod tells Yanks he’s not ready for rehab games.” - back page of The New York Post
"All About A-Rod On Day Yankees Lose Teixeira." - front page of Sport Section of The New York Times.
Moving on ...
At the moment have nothing scheduled for this evening. Have many options. May even give myself the day/night off. Time will tell.
So ... my loyal and faithful readers and followers ... you are now up-to-date.
Yesterday’s Pedometer mileage==>6.81 miles (or, 14,886 steps)
Total mileage since 7/1/12==>1,706.91 miles
GO YANKEES!!
Billi Pod
“Don’t pick a fight with an old man. If he is too old to fight, he’ll just kill you.”
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