The Greatest Homeless Man in New York**

Oh, I have so much to tell you that I just can't contain myself. Or, actually, I can.

While Amanda and I were in New York we saw and did so many wonderful things that there is just no way that I could make fun of all of it. So this is a pretty straight forward account of what went down in the City That Never Sleeps. (By the way, it sleeps, but they alternate shifts so that someone is always available.)

New York was such a great trip. It was the first time Amanda and I had been on a big vacation like this without other family members since our honeymoon. It was nice to have paid for it on our own and to be on our own. While in New York I was able to see my good friend Patrick and meet his boyfriend Jose. Amanda and I saw Wicked and it was excellent, and The Producers which was also very good. We went to SOHO to shop, but thankfully we didn't buy anything. I was very proud of Amanda as she saw some really nice clothes that I know she wanted. It wasn't really my kind clothes that they had there. The Gap is as trendy as I want or need to be. Speaking of the Gap, Patrick is a manager at the largest Gap store in the world located at the corner of 34th and Broadway in Manhattan. It was neat to get to see him in action as a store manager. He's very knowledgeable about fashion and stuff like that. When he and I were roommates in college he would often tell me what to wear if we were going out. Usually I didn't even own the right thing so he would let me borrow his clothes. He was my own personal Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.

So Amanda and I had a nice romantic dinner before going to see Wicked at a restaurant called Azalea. It was very good and the manager paid for our wine for our anniversary. Actually it was because they were supposed to have surprised Amanda with flowers at our table but it had been neglected and the manager felt bad. I'm never one to complain like I'm mad because I've found that at places that really know how to treat their customers will compensate you sufficiently if you simply sound sad or disappointed and then thankful when they've made everything better. And if you're not out of state and can frequently return to an establishment, do so. If you're a good customer they will give you better service. Plus, I think it makes the experience better if you can be friendly with your waiter. I feel Italian saying this.

So on Thursday we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I really like art museums and seeing all the famous and wonderful artist, but there is no way you could see everything one day at this place. Amanda and I were both exhausted after walking around this mammoth museum for only a few hours. [Is it just me or does this Egyptian chick look like Paris Hilton] I've now been to a good number of the premiere museums in the United States, including the Art Institute of Chicago, and The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and I've probably only seen a third of all the great stuff these places contain.

That night we set off on New York's World Yacht, a sunset dinner/dancing cruise that took us around the lower part of Manhattan from the west side, around to the Queensboro bridge, then turned around and took us back again. It was really neat because we got to see the Manhattan skyline from an angle one usually only gets to see in pictures. Then on the way back we saw the same thing at night. They even took us right up to the Statue of Liberty while Ray Charles sang, America. Then we kicked it with some Swedes on the dance floor. They were not very good dancers, but man could they laugh and fall down.

Amanda and I were very good for the first couple of days and woke up early as to get started on our vacation. We are typically still in bed by 10 and sometimes 11 in the summer time, so to be up at 8am, which is 7am in Texas, was really good for us. But, on Friday we decided that we were tired enough and had done enough that we could allow ourselves a little bit of a morning in. So we slept late, I got some pastries and juice at a nearby bakery as Amanda got ready, then trotted back out to tour the city once again. This time we spent some time downtown, had lunch at Maui Taco (which supposedly is a favorite of Oprah's) and then to Central Park to relax and watch people. That night we saw The Producers with Patrick and Jose. We didn't have great seats but in a Broadway theatre none of the seats are that bad when I think about seeing Phantom of the Opera at Jones Hall and not being able to see people's heads if they were too far upstage because our sightline was blocked by the top of the proscenium arch. No, these seats were primo compared to that, so I'm not complaining.

My typical knee-jerk reaction to everything that I've written here is that it's pretty boring and that only those who really love me are going to want to read all of this. I'd like to comment on everything that we did in larger detail, but the truth is that I'm just not up for it right now. Amanda and I just bought the new Harry Potter book and I want to get back to reading it. Plus commenting on everything with some funny quip or analysis of somekind would just make this entry longer than it already is, and I know that my readers have lives outside of my blog, so I'll just make one more statement about Tasti D' Lite ice cream:

"It's really frickin' good and we ate some everyday we were in New York." and Amanda says, about Tasti D' Lite, "Mmmm...Yummy. I wish I could have some now." Ryan English says, "Make a trip up to old Plano

For more pictures from New York check out my Photoblog as soon as I get around to putting them up.

**[His sign read: "Tell me off for two dollars." I really wanted to go back and take his picture and give him 5 dollars, but A. Amanda wouldn't let me. B. It was Saturday, the day we left and we were holding on to every dime ourselves. Still I loved the sign.]