The final entry in my New York series… so sad. Be warned: this is long.

Indeed, I have returned from my whirlwind trip to New York/Connecticut. Rather than begin with my trip back, I should probably start with my last day/evening with Sam and Dave.

On Saturday afternoon, we headed back into the city and took a quick stroll through Central Park, which was quite pretty, and saw several impressive street performers. The most amusing sight of the day, however, came not too long later, as we made our way to Columbus Circle and came upon a Bird Porn protest. Apparently, there is a movement to illegalize bird watching. Sometimes, I really wish people would just go about their lives. But, then again, where would the fun in that be?

While we were in Columbus Circle, we stopped at Bouchon Bakery, where I had my first PB&J sandwich ever! Actually, it was a C(ashew)B&J, but the concept it still the same. Sam and Dave were shocked, when I informed them of my PB&J virginity.

After visiting the bakery, we quickly headed down to a concert for Music for 
Democracy, which featured Vampire Weekend and Crosby & Nash. Music wa
s great and it was nice to at least tangentially help the Obama campaign. We met up there with Sam and Dave's friends Christina, Jerry, and Lilly.

After the show, Jerry took us up to the Viacom building in Times Square. Fantastic views of what Sam accurately described as "one of the lower circles of Hell." Seriously, it was 
ridiculously busy and loud and bright. But seeing it from far above was most excellent. Also, the offices are excellent. On the Nickelodeon floor, they have random large dolls/statues. I was nearly accosted by Dora the Explorer, while Spongebob Squarepants diverted my attention. Sly little bastards. 

 
Upon leaving the Viacom building, we promptly headed off to Five Napkin Burger. One of the things I noticed while I was in New York was that my age didn't not have any effect whatsoever on my ability to order alcohol. I imagine that my company can take most of the credit for that, but still. Another great restaurant – had a basic burger, which was very large and very difficult to eat.

It wasn't long after leaving the restauarant that we found ourselves in search of more food. We stopped at a Whole Foods, to pick up some packaged desserts, before heading over to Sam and Dave's friend Hugh's apartment for a bit, and then heading home.

In the morning, Sam again impressed me with the amount of baking she can finish, prior to noon. We had some excellent waffles (with warm, delicious, baked apples), before we headed off to Westchester Airport. Wonderfully, I left Stamford with a container of Sam's excellent cookies and a handful of bacon chocolate bars (sounds gross, I know – but really, really good).

Leaving was, indeed, sad, but we decided that I pretty much need to come back in the Spring. We're thinking I should fly down for Reading Week, perhaps to Boston (if Kerry agrees to deal with me for a few days), before catching a bus to New York.

Leaving was also, unfortunately, a bit hectic. I've gotta say, Westchester Airport really kinda got on my nerves. Once I was able to find the Air Canada check in line (tucked away in a corner), I was in a stationary line for fifteen minutes, before someone was nice enough to point out that there were actually self check-in booths, if I wasn't checking baggage. Why these booths were hidden away in a completely different corner, right next to security, I don't know.

Trying to book in at the booth was also quite infuriating. All other booths I've used will check you in, simply by scanning your passport. This one, however, required a booking reference, which I did not have on me and which required me to fish out my laptop, buy wireless time, and look it up online. After checking in, I promptly discovered that the line for security took up, literally, half of the airport. After five minutes in line, I heard the announcement for boarding for my plane. At that point, I began asking people to let me go ahead of them, which they were all kind enough to do.

Security, of course, chose this time to search my bag and delay me even longer. By the time I got to the plane, I was the very last person to board. This was quite noticeable, as there were about ten other people on board. The plane made the plane that goes from Halifax to Saint John look like a luxury liner. This was the only time I'd ever been nervous about flying. I think it had something to do with the fact that, as we were preparing to take off, one propeller was buzzing along fine, while the other was decidedly still. The flight itself was mostly fine, if not very loud, though we did encounter some turbluence.

My stay in the Toronto airport was mercifully short. I pretty much got off the plane, got through customs, and got on my next plane. I think there must be some sort of deal – if you're going to have a realtively smooth time getting onto the plane, your experience on the plane will probably be accordingly worse. In my case, I was stationed in the middle of a group of very stupid friends, who I'm assuming all attend Dal. You know, to be fair, I don't know if they're stupid. One of them was a Neuroscience major. Frankly, I think that speaks volumes about personality, but you have to be at least moderately intelligent to pursue that degree. These people were just annoying. And they never shut up. So I slept.

There's nothing much to report on, following my flight home. I got in my car, paid my overpriced parking fee, and drove back to Dal, where I am right now. Where I am now realizing how busy I'm going to be, for the next few weeks. Midterms, essays, not to mention social stuff. My friend Matt is visiting Thursday-Tuesday, which I'm really looking forward to. Though, following my fantastic trip to New York, I'm definitely more inclined to have some really cool events planned. That's an inclination that may need to curbed, if I plan to get any amount of work done in that time.