I'm Alive!!

Wow, I hope everyone lived through a little time without me! I'm sorry for the delay in updates. All of a sudden I have become a crazy traveler! The last time I updated I was in Brooklyn, NY. Since I left home on March 11th I have been in New York City, Valley Forge, back to NYC, home for eight hours, Omaha, Nebraska, home for twelve hours, St. Louis, and now San Diego! I guess you are wondering, what the heck have you been doing that whole time?!?!? So the adventure begins...

On March 11th I thought I was going to leave around 6 am for my trip to New York City. The drive is about 15 hours so I was planning on being there at a decent time. Well, scratch that. First off, I'm not a morning person. Second, I made a stop into work. Well my plans went from 6am to about 4pm. I got into my Lancer and I was off. If anyone has made this drive, they know that Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania are not the most exciting states to drive through! I drove about 13 hours and decided to stop so I wouldn't have to wake my friends to let me in. I got my few hours of sleep and then decided I was so excited, I had to get going. Finally around 1pm I could see New York City!! Well I soon found out that seeing is not being there. I got stuck in a little traffic and got a little lost (thanks Garmin). Finally, with a little guidance I made it to Brooklyn. Once I got there I realized parking might be an issue. Everyone get a quick laugh...I don't know how to parallel park! Believe me, I would drive around until I found a place to just pull into (yes, I know I would be driving forever!). So thanks Jay and Rob for parking my car for me everyday!

Everyone knows from an earlier post that I wanted to do some strange things. I was so lucky to have some good friends to help me achieve everything I wanted in NYC. We all set out on an adventure and knocked out pretty much everything in one day. Now the list of things was...the subway, the peanut butter place and a laundromat. We did two of those. I have been criticized a bit for my big smile on the train, but I don't care! My friends Caroline, Rob, Jay and Linda all humored me and came along for the ride.
Oh the excitement of the Subway!!

Notice the looking around and smiling...I guess I do kind of scream tourist!


So the train ride was totally just to humor me considering Rob and Jay and I all have cars. Thanks guys! So our train ride took us to Peanut Butter & Co. I saw this place on The Food Network and peanut butter is pretty much what I live for so of course this was very high on my priority list.


Since we were there and they were offering a sandwich called The Elvis...I had to try it. What exactly does the Elvis consist of? It's really healthy so brace yourself....Peanut butter (creamy for me), banana, honey, and bacon. All on a toasted bun (not fried!). The group kind of just looked at me when I tried it. I think they were slightly grossed out but I must admit, this thing was delicious!! Bacon is the kicker. Caroline also had the Elvis but she decided to skip the bacon...you so missed out Miss Pao!

Now did I or didn't I make the trip to the laundromat. I did, but I didn't have my camera. Laundry day is not a good picture day clothing wise! So all of my big NYC plans were accomplished. Now it was off to the pool hall to get to work!

I spent most of my time in Brooklyn at Skyline Billiards located at 2515 Mcdonald Ave. To be honest, this was the most enjoyable part of my trip. It is a true pool room not a bar that is mascarading as a pool room. The people are friendly but competitive. I had my fair share of action ranging from small to large. The best part about it was no one was a sore loser. I know you are assuming that I must have won since I said that but I am talking in general...no matter who was playing whom. I gambled quite a bit and I have to thank the guys at Skyline for helping me play. I haven't spent that much time in the pool room in at least 6 months. The coolest thing about it all was that everyone had their strengths. I learned a lot from everyone I played. As I like to say, I broadened my horizons when it comes to safety play, kicking and shot selection. Of course this was the one pool room that I have been to that I didn't take a picture! I will have one soon hopefully. I won't name any names of who I played but thanks guys, you know who you are and I know you read this so thank you. And thanks to Rob and Sammy the owners of Skyline.

In all of this pool playing craziness I was also learning about my new sponsor MezzUSA. A lot of people don't know that WPBA player Caroline Pao and US Open winner Mika Immonen are the owners of MezzUSA. I got to learn quite a bit (and pack quite a bit) in preparation for The Super Billiard Expo. The whole NYC trip led up to the Expo. We had a caravan of NYC'ers that packed up and headed over to King of Prussia, PA.

After a long night at Skyline for their Tuesday night tournament we all took off early Wednesday morning. In one car we had loads of stuff, Jay and Linda. In the next car we had loads of stuff, Mika and Steve. In another car we had loads of stuff, myself and Caroline. And in the final car we had Rob, Darren Appleton and Marcus Chamat. What a group!

We had the fun of setting up the booth and products and trying to organize...wow, that is more work than I thought. We all got a little sleep and prepared for the wild and crazy Super Billiard Expo.

All of us started our days pretty early and ended pretty late. Caroline, Mika and I were running around like crazy. It was great to meet everyone that was there. I got to see so many old friends and meet a lot of new ones. Thanks to Allen Hopkins for putting on a small Pro Womens event. There was a bit of confusion at first on whether I was in or not but it all got sorted out. Unfortunately I didn't realize just how tiring standing around all day can be. I played Jen Barretta and she played great. I was a first round loser. :( I now realize the importance of rest and practice! For those of you that don't know, Allison was the eventual winner of that tournament.

What do I have to say about my VF experience? I think it was awesome! I didn't get to walk around much or play much but the experience of working in a booth was really great! I look forward to doing it again next year. Thanks Mika and Caroline for giving me the opportunity!

My bosses!!

After Valley Forge I had some serious persuading going on. Caroline and Jay and Linda were begging me to return to NYC. I couldn't say no...I love it there! So we all piled back in and headed back. This time I got to experience a couple of other things but in general I only saw the inside of Skyline and was in more action, woohoo! We did however get some new food places under our belts. Everyone was raving about a place called Joe Shanghai's in Chinatown. That was our meeting place after the short drive from VF. This was my first time trying soup dumplings. They were great but I have to admit a little awkward to eat!

Joe Shanghai's

This is what happens when you let the girl who knows nothing about the food order!

And for everyone who wanted me to try NY style pizza...I gave in and did it. I have to say it isn't bad...I just had to eat about 5 pieces rather than one piece of Chicago style pizza. Caroline took me to a place called Grimaldi's. I hear this is the place to go for NY pizza.

One of the big highlights of my trip...finally parallel parking on my own!!!

So that is my trip to NYC and VF. I will be back with updates from Omaha and San Diego. I have to go get ready for my first match so I don't have time to do it all now...sorry!

Thanks again to Jay and Linda, Caroline Pao, Mika Immonen, Rob Pole and all my anonymous new pals at Skyline. I had a really great time and I can't wait to come back!