Monday==>Yes, my loyal and faithful readers and followers, yesterday was an AWESOME day for your favorite blogger as he had the honor of participating in the 2014 GAY PRIDE PARADE as a member of the FacebookNY team ... so .. let’s get started with the details ...
I left PHC at 11:00am to walk over to our staging area on 39th Street between Madison and Park Avenues. We had been asked to show up not later than noon, so I left a bit early just to be safe.
I got there at 11:30am and then the long waiting process began. We were toward the rear of our section, #6, which was about 1/2 way into the parade. We were behind Bank of America and ahead of Spotify NYC. I won’t bore you with the details of our long long waiting period. It just happened and there was nothing we could do about it. It did give me an opportunity to meet and talk with many of the more than 100 members of our team, and that was nice. I was told that 90% of the group were Facebook employees. The rest were friends and family.
Of course I took a lot of pictures.
This is John Scott Reed, me, and our mutual friend law-student Justin Allen Pifer.
The banner was handled by a group of interns, which I was told is a Facebook tradition to have interns handle "chores" like this.
Finally @ 2:30pm our section began the slow move along 39th Street to 5th Avenue to take our place in the parade. Yeah, it had been a long wait ... but we were underway ... and ...
WOW!! What an experience! The energy from our group was matched by the extremely positive energy coming from the masses of people lining the parade route.
There was a huge roar when they recognized our group. We, in turn, interacted with them, including passing out the following ...
Interestingly, I had 3 people who basically asked me the same question: “Do you really work for Facebook?” Of course, I responded to each with: "No, I am here with a friend who works for Facebook." On reflection, I wish I had said: “Yes, I am the head janitor” or, “Oh, I’m Mark’s grandfather.” Oh well ... maybe next year.
The march down 5th Avenue was very slow due to cross street traffic stops and performances ahead of us. Each time we stopped the teamleader, Matt Bush, joined by John Scott Reed, lead the group in some pretty amazing dance steps. The crowds totally loved it.
Yes, it was hot but about 1/2 way down 5th the right hand side of the avenue was in the shade and that’s where I was for most of the rest of the parade. Water was made available on several locations and that helped a lot.
Also, about 1/2 way down, at a stop, my friend Dian Crystal aka My Lady was in the crowd. She got my attention and Scott and I went over to give her hugs and kisses. AWESOME!!
When we reached 8th Street down in The West Village, we turned West and marched over to Christopher Street and then on Christopher Street to Greenwich Street where the parade officially ended.
The crowds down in this area were massive and very very vocal. It was jam-packed.
I noted that it was 5:05pm when our team reached its final destination. Yeah, it had been a totally AWESOME experience. I was soaked in sweat, hot, tired and pretty emotionally drained.
Now about the mileage. Well, my Pedometer had recorded 3.25 miles, which was more than the 2.0 miles that I had estimated from some calculations on a map. I thought that perhaps I had made an error. Then, I realized that every time we stopped along the parade route we all kept moving, up, back, and across to the viewers on either side etc. etc, and, of course, those activity steps counted on the Pedometer.
We all said our goodbyes and then Scott, Justin and I walked some more, up to 14th Street and took the subway up to midtown.
It was 5:40pm when I opened the door to PHC. I had recorded a total of 5.74 miles, plus hours of just standing, and I was tired and my legs were sore ... so ... I took a nice hot soaking bath and that helped a lot.
Yes, this 80-year old man had a great time ... so==>Thank you Scott for letting me be a member of your FacebookNY team.
I had the usual fruit and cheese plate and then settled in to watch my evening’s entertainment event ... tada ... the YANKEES/FUCKSOX game @ 8:00pm from Yankee Stadium, The House That Greed and Ego Built.
Well ... as much as the parade had been a major upper, this woeful game was a major downer as The FuckSox (38-44) beat The Yankees (41-39) 8-5 as rookie Chase Whitley had his second consecutive shaky outing.
We did get solo homers from Mark Teixeira and Carlos Beltran but that wasn’t enough. With the win The FuckSox won the 3-game series 2-1. Barf!!
Tonight at 7:05pm is the first game of a 3-game series against the last place Tampa Bay Rays (35-49). On the mound for The Yankees will be David Phelps (3-4) vs. Chris Archer (4-5) for The Rays.
When it was time to finally crash I did not let the baseball game detract from what had been a totally AWESOME experience.
Moving on ...
At the moment my entertainment plans for tonight are in flux. So far nothing of any interest has shown up on my ticket services so it might be a movie. I have no desire to stay in to watch the game.
So ... just stay tuned ...
Yesterday’s Pedometer mileage==>6.54 miles (or, 14,306 steps)
Total mileage for the week==>34.72 miles (average 4.96 miles per day)
Total mileage for 2014==>702.12 miles (average 3.90 miles per day)
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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