The bed at the hotel is exceptionally comfortable. I slept like a log. Unfortunately, I now have a case of the sniffles. I slept in till 09:00 and then had some leftover pizza. There's a fridge in the room, which helped preserve our leftovers nicely.

I watched a bit of Live! with Regis and Kelly. My friend had suggested getting tickets to see that show, as he knows that I religiously tape the program. I didn't think that we could get any and there wasn't really that much time to cram in everything, so I was content to just see parts of it on TV.

So, my friend and I left the room at around 10:30. We went downstairs and asked the front desk to call a taxi for us. We had looked at cabs earlier in the Yellow Pages and didn't know which company was a good one. Well, moments later, we had a friendly taxi cab driver come pick us up. The taxi place is called Caprice. Cool.

We headed towards Times Square. He dropped us off at Broadway and 6th Street. It was busy. Lights were everywhere and so were the people. We walked for a few blocks and found the Nokia Theater, where we'd be tonight. It was nearly noon and we were getting hungry. Close by was a TGI Friday's, so we popped in there. The stand-here-and-wait line wasn't at the front of the restaurant. There was a sign instead, telling you to walk across to the other side of the restaurant. So, we did just that. The hostess found a nice table with a great view of 7th Avenue. So, we sat down, and I took pictures, noting the Nuts 4 Nuts stand outside. I had a craving for roasted chestnuts, but the stand didn't have any. It did have coconut, but I didn't quite feel like having the roasted version of it.

The prices at that TGI Friday's were hiked up. My roast beef dip was over $17. You'd expect that, though. You are on a rather busy street that simply hums every second of each day. My friend had a hamburger. The food was great. Our server was polite and attended to our needs. The best part of the meal was the milkshakes. I crave one now and again. I had this coconut milkshake that was amazing. It tasted like fresh coconut. The consistency was perfect. My friend had a vanilla one. We both tried to suck every last drop out of our glasses with our straws. They were so good that we even asked the server to tell the bartender that they were fabulous, something that we both don't do very often.

The washrooms in this restaurant were upstairs. It takes getting used to restaurants being built up high. It makes sense. It's all about space and building up is one solution that works.

So, after filling our stomachs with grub, we continued to explore everything around us. We had to visit the Virgin Megastore. It is paradise. It makes the downtown HMV store in Toronto look bad. I bought two CDs: Madonna's "Hung up" and Elkland's "Apart" EPs. I then bought a pair of Sennheiser headphones. I got the cheapest pair that I could find. Why? Well, I brought my iPod down and forgot to pack my headphones, so I didn't really want to break the bank just yet. I guess the main reason why I got them was that they are the neckband style that I enjoy wearing when I'm walking around. They look similar to my Sony Streetstyle headphones. However, the sound you get from the Sennheiser is incredible. I'm thinking of getting another pair... perhaps the foldable ones that I saw on display there.

Getting back to the Virgin Megastore at Times Square, it has everything you can think of. You can sample music and watch music videos. There's tons of merchandise -- wallets, purses, shoes, jeans, mp3 players, iPod accessories, ... everything is there. There are books for purchase downstairs, too. It's incredible. I'd love to go back there again soon.

After that, we stumbled upon the information centre for tourists. This was the place where I had written a brief blog entry, using a free computer for ten minutes to look up dial-up internet access, as the internet in the hotel room wasn't working for me. I then checked a bit of e-mail and moved to a different kiosk, where I got a picture snapped of me and sent it by e-mail to people. That was fun.

We paused for a bit, sitting down to take a look at all the Broadway musicals that were on. We had to see a musical. So, we lined up and spoke to a nice guy in charge of booking shows. We wanted to see Spamalot, but there wasn't anything available till January 2006. We then asked about Avenue Q. There were shows for December. Okay, things were looking a bit better. We proceeded to ask him if there was anything for Rent. Yes! We had good seats up in the balcony, in the first row. We were pleased.

So, we wandered around some more. My jaw dropped when I saw the Hershey's store. I dragged my friend into it. You can get personalized greetings on those little paper streamers that help you unwrap each Hershey's Kiss. I liked the chocolate brown hoodie. I eventually bought two collectible Hershey containers (one was a silver mesh box with a drawing of the building and the other was a transparent house that came with a silver scoop) filled with Hershey's Kisses. I also bought a cute silver bracelet with a flat, red apple and a small, puffy, silver Hershey's kiss as charms. This was as close to Pennsylvania as I'd get for 2005.

By this time, it was probably 16:30. Doors at the Nokia Theater opened at 18:00. It was general admission, but we didn't know what seating was like. So, we figured we'd have dinner first. We went to a pretty Olive Garden. It has huge windows and two floors. An escalator took us to the restaurant. We saw the NASDAQ ticker across the street. There were tour buses below, so we knew where to get our sightseeing tour tickets for tomorrow. I had my usual, consisting of zuppa toscana, chicken scampi, tiramisu, and a diet coke. My friend had a five-cheese ziti dish. He normally leaves half his pasta on his plate. It was like night and day today. He ate everything. Our server was gracious and we tipped him well.

I was not thrilled with a guy sitting behind me. He kept on humming the same three notes during his conversation and meal with his wife. He then banged his elbow against the back of my chair six consecutive times. I don't mind if you do this by accident, but I don't think it was. I wasn't impressed, particularly when I was starting to have my soup.

Well, after that, we headed towards the Nokia Theater. We had to line up behind the newsstand. It's a good way of doing it, so that you're not blocking the MTV store's entrance. At 18:10, the lineup started to move. There were security guys checking bags. I had to chuck out my bottled water. Obviously, the joint wants you to buy refreshments inside.

The Nokia Theater is an impressive establishment. It has pretty blue lighting. There are Nokia displays everywhere, as you can probably guess why. You can check in your coats, frequent the bar area, and buy sandwiches and drinks. I bought a bottle of lemon-lime water, which was $3.25. I wish I could forget such numbers, but my memory isn't capable of doing so.

The venue is nice. There are four huge chandeliers. There's the pit in front of the stage, then an elevated floor behind the pit, and then the seats that rise the further back you go. There are also two sets of stairs on either side of the stage. At the top, there are seats and you can look down to see everything.

Well, since we had been on our feet for most of the day, we opted to sit down. We sat in the first row, where we could stretch out. It worked out nicely.

The only bad thing was that the steps to get to the seats were horribly designed. One step was hardly noticeably, which caused at least four people to fall down.

So, the opening act was matt pond PA. The lead singer kept swearing after every other word, which became more tiresome than cool. Anyway, the band's pretty good. Dana, the cellist, and the drummer (I didn't catch his name, but his mom was in the audience) caught my attention. I'll have to download some of their tunes soon.

Guster came on shortly after 21:00. The band did not disappoint. It opened with "Demon." After the first two bars, everyone was into the whole show. The energy was wonderful, with folks immediately singing along to their songs and dancing.

Ryan said that it was good to be in New York again and hoped that the cellphone that people were waving around were Nokia phones. We were there for the band's first show. It was the last show for matt pond PA. The second show in New York would obviously have a different opening band.

I recorded the show on my iPod. I have played the entire show once, but I have yet to note every song that was performed that night. I might not be able to do that just yet. Guster played a number of new songs. The name of one song was not introduced, so that might be a bit of a challenge.

Good news! Guster's new CD will be available in April. Another new song that was performed off this upcoming CD was introduced as "probably the loudest song" Guster has ever recorded. It was great, too.

One of the highlights of the show was hearing a revamped version of "Either way". It then became a reggae song halfway through it. After the song was over, Ryan said, "It's the best reggae version that a Jewish band can do."

I love "Center of attention," probably one of my favourite Guster songs. Mind you, there were a lot to choose from. "Barrel of a gun" always gets the crowding counting down, using their fingers. I even got my friend to do that, and he generally keeps to himself at such shows.

Someone yelled out a request for "Airport song." Ryan said that they "might get to that," and eventually did. Guster fans are extremely loyal, mainly because the band cares about its fans. After the show, they were handing out empty water bottles that were used by them during the show, setlists (I should have tried getting a copy, but that's okay), tape shaped like fingers that the bongoist, Brian, used, and so on. Yes, I think I like Brian the most. It's all about the bongoist.

Dana, the cellist for matt pond PA, joined Guster in playing a number of songs, including "Come downstairs and say hello." It was fitting. The always mysterious fourth member of Guster, Joe, was there, too.

The encore was strange. It consisted of Brian going off on stage, with the remaining members still on it. Ryan and Adam started to make up a song, asking Brian to come back. It was cute.

The show ended with "Happier," which I love, too. It was an enjoyable show. It was nice this time to know the lyrics to most of the songs. I am looking so forward to getting the band's upcoming album. Yay!

We left at around 23:00, trying to hail a cab from the taxi stand at the Marriot Hotel. We waited for half an hour before we got one. Once we hopped in, we told the driver that we wanted to go to Queens. He said that he didn't know how to get there and to "try finding another cab." Ah, no. I told him immediately that we had been waiting for a bit and were not about to hop out of the taxi. I asked him if he had a map. He said that "maps don't help." Sure they do! I have never encountered a map that didn't help me out. He was reluctant to hand it over. I had to ask him again. Finally, he did.

In less than three minutes, I was able to show him where the street was. There was a convenient exit to the street right off I-495. I'm thinking that the next time I visit New York, that I should either stay downtown and pay for an expensive hotel room, or stay at this nice hotel and rent a car. I think he knew where this place was. He just didn't feel like taking us there, even though we were his paying customers.

So, we got back to the hotel and were peckish for some snacks, so we ordered in a couple of hoagies (my friend had the ham and cheese, and I settled for a meatball). They hit the spot.

I then tried out the internet connection in the hotel room. That made my evening. I'm attempting to get tickets to the Coldplay concert tomorrow.

|

Song that's stuck in my head: Guster's "Fa fa"
Yummy food eaten today: Coconut milkshake
What I crave: More Guster

Recent thoughts:
Readings, lights, and random thoughts - 2009-03-15
Thoughts about work, school, and peeps - 2009-03-09
Working from home and a mini life update - 2008-12-19
The weekend is here! - 2008-01-06
A new year - 2008-01-01