The day started out at Coney Island for the World Championship hot dog eating contest. It was astonishing to see how many people take competitive eating seriously. It was absolutely ridiculous. In conclusion, the Japanese guy and the American guy tied after 10 minutes with 59 hot dogs and the American won in overtime with 5 more hot dogs in 2 minutes; pretty disgusting but totally entertaining. By the way, all of this was put on by Nathan’s (as seen below) which has the best corn dogs I have ever had in my life … and I have had a lot in my day.

After the competition, we explored Coney Island, which is possibly the dirtiest and most ghetto place I have ever been to in my life. It really feels like you get off the train and you are in 1975, except for there is rap music playing everywhere. It was really fun but, really, it was like nothing had been upgraded since the 1970’s. However, Coney Island did not forget about inflation. It was $6 to ride their ferris wheel. Sure it’s the only one of its kind in the world (totally fun and scary), but totally not $6 worth of fun. The Cyclone cost $8 to ride and was constructed in the 1920’s. Call me crazy, but I don’t think I should have to pay $8 for death. It was so shaky; I thought I was going to die. Don’t get me wrong, it was the time of my life. The lap bar was about 8 inches from my legs and when I would put my arms up on the dips, I felt like I was going to shake right out of the seat. And you better believe I had a wicked headache coming out of that ride! And my elbow was damaged as you will see in one of the pictures. But really, so fun.

We down to the beach, too, and walked the boardwalk. I heard that you need a tetanus shot if you want to go in the water there. It probably isn’t true, but from the looks of the rest of the island, I wasn’t about to take my chances. But I have now officially been in the water at both coasts.

Everyone went their separate ways the rest of the afternoon and met up again for the fireworks. We went to a friend’s apartment in Queens right on the river facing the city. His apartment is on the 26^th floor, so we were about at the level of the fireworks. And his apartment had the most amazing view of the city. The corner of the apartment facing the city was all windows and directly across from the Empire State building- Amazing. The fireworks were unbelievable. I have never seen fireworks like this ever. There were fireworks in all kinds of crazy shapes (my favorite being the cube). At one point there was a giant red heart. But the most insane fireworks were these ones that would float in the air forever. I don’t know how they made fireworks that defy gravity, but they did it. There is a video that kind of shows the lingering fireworks, I hope you can tell, but it doesn’t fully show how amazing it was.

There were about 9 padrillion people underneath us watching the fireworks. It was like watching little ants herding everywhere. Our bags actually had to get searched before we could even go on our friend’s street. Security was pretty crazy that night. We knew the subway was going to be out of control after the fireworks so we hung out at Clark’s house for a while longer playing guitar hero; it was pretty intense. And we were able to mooch food off of the guy living above Clark because he had tons of food left over from his party. In one of the pictures, you will see Eric and I making an “F” with our hands; this stand for FFC or the Free Food Club. In order to be a member, you have to be dedicated to getting free food whenever possible. Whether you are hungry or not, you must get free food if the opportunity is presented. Because of their willingness to go into a stranger’s apartment to secure free food, we were able to accept a few more members that night. If you have any questions about securing membership, you may talk to me as I am the co-President.

Floating Fireworks

Fireworks

Last weekend, Mike, his cousin Brett, and I went to Palmyra. I have never been so excited to ride in a car in all my life. There is something magical about sitting in a car and being able to drive wherever you want after using only public transportation for any amount of time. It took about 5 hours to get to Palmyra from the city and it was absolutely beautiful. Everything was so green and lush and we could actually see the sky for the first time in 2 months.

While in Palmyra, we were able to walk through the Joseph Smith, Sr. log home and frame home. The log home was the first house they lived in while in Palmyra. This is the house where Moroni first appeared to Joseph. It was unbelievable to see the size of the room and beds that Joseph was in with 5 other brothers when Moroni appeared to him; sooooo small. The family lived in the frame home by the time Joseph was able to take the plates home.

The Sacred Grove was definitely the best part of Palmyra. I can’t really explain the feeling there; it’s something that everyone needs to experience. It’s overwhelming.

It was cool to walk up the Hill Cumorah. There is a memorial at the top of the hill and a little landing down the hill a little bit where Joseph found the plates. There is really no way to express how cool it was to be in Palmyra where such momentous events occurred. It was absolutely amazing.

For more information, the invitation to call me on my cellular device is still open, as I feel a little weird to essentially bear my testimony on the world wide web. J  

For those of you who are familiar with Monty’s Python and the Holy Grail, you know what Spamalot is all about and that it is totally hilarious. I was surprised at how funny it was, actually. I was a little skeptical about how a 1975 comedy and musical theater would come together, but it did so beautifully. Patsy was definitely my favorite; who was played by none other than 98 Degrees’ Drew Lachey! It’s shocking, but he was super good as Patsy … and totally dreamy. King Arthur was played by Stephen Collins, the dad on Seventh Heaven. It’s interesting to see these celebs on Broadway; it kind of throws you off when they are good at it.