Hurricane 101

Hello all.  I know I’ve been gone from the blog scene for some time, but seeing as how I’m holed up in my apartment for the next 36ish hours, I figured I would get back to blogging.  And why not talk about that lovely lady, Irene.

I’m here to give some preparation advice.  “But Leighton, this is your first Hurricane?!”  Correct, but three things in my defense.  1) I lived in Oklahoma for 23 years.  2) I lived in Florida for 4 months and they loved to talk about hurricanes.  3) I have a younger sister.  Take all three of these and I would consider myself overly qualified to talk about whirling masses of hot air.

Tip #1.  If you need beer, get it early.

Water can wait folks.  I went to the local grocery store yesterday around 5 PM (Roughly 36 hours pre-Irene).  There was modestly elevated activity, but nothing chaotic.  The store had water stacked up from floor to ceiling.  Literally, water everywhere.  I’m pretty sure no one had bought a single bottle of the stuff.  After I grabbed my essentials (more on these later) I figured I had time enough to get over and scout the beer section, just in case by some miracle they had something decent.  To my surprise, they were almost completely cleaned out.  Water?  Floor to ceiling.  Beer?  One six pack of Modelo.  Priorities…

Tip #2.  Food.

Now, this is where my real expertise lies.  First thing you are going to need is cereal.  Why?  Cause you can eat it for every meal.  My recommendations are Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Honey Bunches of Oats.  Next thing you are going to need is ice cream.  Why?  Dumb question.  It’s ice cream.  You don’t ask questions about ice cream.  I’m just hoping that two pints holds me until Monday.  And really, that’s about it food wise.  I have some Pop Chips to sprinkle in some flare, but really cereal and ice cream are the must haves to get you through any hurricane.

Tip #3 Netflix and ATDHE.

Instant stream is just like $8 a month.  $9 a month?  Cheap.  To tell you the truth, I won’t really start to panic until Netflix goes down and I have to think of something else to do.  Prison Break, The Office, 30 Rock, and Arrested Development are all solid TV options.  And of course, if you need your EPL or preseason NFL fix and you don’t have cable, just Google ATDHE.  Sure the government seized their website a few months ago, but who really cares what Janet Napolitano says anyway?

And that’s about it!  Sure, there are other things like flash lights, batteries, high ground, yada yada, but just make sure you have ice cream and I’m sure you’ll figure out the rest.  I’ll see you kids on the flip side…

Fashion Week

So it’s Fashion Week here in NYC.  I’ve always told Emily that if the Computer thing didn’t pan out that I was changing my name to Davini Minori and going into fashion.  How hard could it be?  For now, however, I’m leaving things up to the “experts”.  Here are some of my favorite “fashions” from this week in NYC….

It’s an egg, dude?!  Who would wear that?!

Is this guy going to bed, or a Russian Vodka Bar?

For those days when it’s just like 95 around your calves and sub zero everywhere else.

Where exactly could you go wearing this outfit?  Movies?  No.  Clubbing?  No.  Photo shoot with a polar bear?  Possibly. 

Okay, so that is kinda cool…  I would wear this.

I have to admit that I did find some pretty cool stuff flipping through the fashion week photos, but honestly…IT’S AN EGG!!

Have a great weekend!

The Mechanic

The subways in NYC are an interesting place.  Rats, trash, homeless guys…there’s something for everybody.  The longer I’m in NYC the more I find myself thinking, public transportation really sucks.  I mean, really sucks.  A little story from my travels this morning to illustrate this point.

I like to walk Emily to work in the morning, which is up in the Bronx.  Not the sketchiest place in the whole world, but I always feel better knowing there’s a strong hulk of a man such as myself there just in case.  We take the D to 167th, and then I turn right back around to come home.  We like to call the D “The Deuce” because we’ve heard stories on two separate occasions of people finding poop on the train.  Now 167th is a run of the mill station that makes you feel like you would rather be anywhere but at 167th.  On this particular morning a man approached me looking for some conversation…

DUDE: Hey, what did you think of that move The Mechanic”?

MY THOUGHTS: Weird way to start up a conversation, but whatever.  I have really zero desire to see that particular film.

ME: Yeah man, looked pretty good.

DUDE: Yeah it was awesome.  Guy took this n*##@! and threw him in front of the bus like…[act out guy throwing other guy in front of a bus].  Gosh that was sweet.

MY THOUGHTS: Wow, that’s like the scariest thing you could tell me as we wait for a 200 ton piece of steel to come hurtling down the tracks to pick us up.

ME: Yeah, awesome.

DUDE: Yeah it has that Jason Statham guy …

MY THOUGHTS: I can’t stand him.

DUDE: … who is pretty sweet.

ME: Yeah.

DUDE: Yeah I have the movie on me.

MY THOUGHTS: WHA?!

DUDE: [walking towards me unzipping his jacket and reaching into one of the inside pockets to show me a knock off of the movie that I’m sure he purchased illegally seeing as how it just got to theaters like last week]  See I got it right here.

MY THOUGHTS: Dude, the easiest way to scare a white boy from Oklahoma on the subway is to walk towards him opening your coat and saying, “I got it right here.”  God, I don’t ask for much but if you could bring The Deuce by the 167th in the very near future…

30 seconds later, prayers answered. Gotta love the subways!

Housekeeping

A lot has happened since my last blog!  So…

Shout out to Emoly West for coming in 4th in the Miss USA competition.  Word has it that she won the swimsuit competition?!  I want everyone to know that I saw Emoly in a one piece in 2006.  I know, I’m awesome.

I am now an employee at BlackRock effective Feb. 22!!

Tonight I’m going to Beer, Bourbon, and BBQ (live Bluegrass included) with one Beautiful Babe.  Happy Belated Birthday to me!

That is all, everyone enjoy the weekend!

Thoughts on an Airplane

I’m back!!!  *Crickets*.  Yeah, I know nobody cares, but since I have a world of free time I figured I would throw out a couple of posts.  Why not?

One of my favorite things to do is fly.  I love it.  My opinion will probably change once I get molested by the TSA, but for right now I love it.  So to celebrate this fact, I bring you some of the highs and lows of my flying adventures.

Best Airport:

DFW.  I’m a big fan of symmetry and having lots of food choices.  Does anything else really matter in an airport?

Easiest Check-In:

Tie between MLB (Melbourne, FL) and OKC.  Basically you wave at your cousin Phil and walk on the plane.  Between the two I think the longest it’s ever taken me to check in and get through security was 15 seconds.

Worst Airline:

China Eastern.  Yes my friends, China EASTERN.  Listen, I’ve been on some rocky flights, and then there is China Eastern.  I’m pretty sure that after a successful landing, every pilot involved gets promoted to Air Kazakhstan. 

Coolest Flight:

Fiji – Hawaii.  First of all, just the fact that you are starting in Fiji and ending in Hawaii is pretty bomb.  Add in the fact that there was a temporary stop on Christmas Island, and this takes the cake.  Let me tell you about Christmas Island.  If you look up Christmas Island on a map you will notice that there are three things on the island besides the airport:  a phosphate quarry, a detention center, and the Shrine of Christmas Island.  The airport is a runway and a metal hut type building manned by about three Samoan looking guys wearing flip flops, swim trunks, and orange vests, and nothing else.  It was awesome.

Scariest Landing:

Tie between LGA coming in over Queens and Tegucigalpa, Honduras no matter what direction you are landing from.

Thoughts, opinions?  Tell me yours or ask and I’ll tell you some more of mine!