Philadelphia - Love and History

So my for my final weekend trip, it was off to Philly, the home of . But first it was a trip to Mahwah, New Jersey - home of Brian and Valerie. So after I caught a train from Manhattan out there, the three of us went to a local Japanese restaurant for some sushi/sashimi.

Quick side story: for lunch at work, we had Japanese as well (thank goodness for work lunches). I had the salmon teriyaki, and it came with some tempura and mini-sushi. So as I'm busy scribbling notes, I'm trying to put away this food. As I'm downing the mini-sushi, one of the last pieces had what appeared to be avocado falling out of it. So I shove it back in before sticking it in my mouth. Then before I even taste it I realize that wasn't avocado. Uh-oh. My mouth quickly turned into Mt. Fuji erupting. I had to get the food out before my eyes start to weep. I quickly got it onto a napkin and in the bin before anyone noticed. So watch what you eat otherwise it will end it tears...literally.

Back to Mahwah - so we had some great food. However due to the restaurant's location, the crowd was a little sparse. In fact, empty - the entire time we were there...on a Saturday night. This is not a good side. Good luck to them though - great food, chef even tried some "experimental" stuff on us. Tops.


After playing Star Wars and laser tag with cats, we woke up the next morning, picked up an some hitchhiker named Annabelle and headed off to Philly.

At the LOVE Park

Famous things from Philly: Will Smith, hip-hop group the Roots, Sylvester Stallone, Boyz II Men (remember Motownphilly?), NOT cream cheese (actually from New York), Kevin Bacon

Second side note: As we traveled through New Jersey, Brian and Valerie pointed out to me the nightclub from the TV show "The Soparanos", called Bah-da-bing in the show, it's actually called Satin Dolls in real life.

So we got there and checked out all the historical sites - including the Liberty Bell, National Constitution Center, US Mint, Independence Hall, etc. And yes, we did run up the Philadelphia Museum of Art, famous for being in the movie Rocky.

One of the coolest things about Philly was the public art - there are murals on the sides of buildings everywhere. Another one was the mighty philly cheesesteak - one of the greasiest foods I have ever eaten. It's a roll, sliced beef, cheese, and that's about it. You can other stuff - but it wouldn't be a CHEESE-STEAK. Yum.

Mural art on South Street

It was great to be traveling in a car instead of a bus, we drove through the University of Penn, and famous streets like Walnut, Chestnut, Market, and South streets. And it was great traveling with friends again.

Next stop...Seattle.
DN

Goodbye Westchester Square PT

After 5 months, my time at Westchester Square Physical Therapy in the Bronx came to an end. It was a lot of laughs and some hairy and stressful moments, but overall it was a good time. So here are some pictures from my last day:

LaToya and owner Daniel

Can you believe it - cake, plaque, and card in 1 day's notice? Too good.

The WSPT crew: (clockwise from me) Lilibeth, Donna, Russell, LaToya, Yvette, Daniel, Dionne

Brooklyn meets Melbourne via Phoenix: Russell aka Young, Black, and Gifted and Danny aka Bring Da Pain

I would like to apologize now for all the times I was late to work - I blame the Bx12 bus and a bad alarm clock.

I will miss you guys, and hope for nothing but the best for all of you. You know there will be sofa in Melbourne if you ever survive the plane flight.
DN

It's a block party every day...

It's heating up here in New York. Temperature's coming up to 31C/88F, and gone are the jackets and baggy pants. Now guys in Washington Heights are wearing "wifebeaters" and...baggy shorts.

I'm sitting in my room with a thin layer of sweat, with no air conditioning and unable to open my window because it's already doing the difficult job of keeping the sounds of the streets in the streets. But it doesn't seem to stop the sounds from car playing reggaeton at 4:30am on a Friday morning. People are out on the stoop playing their boomboxes. Great on a Friday or Saturday night, but this is EVERY NIGHT. Makes you wonder what the hell is everyone up to.

DN

Zoo York

"A car is useless in New York, essential everywhere else. The same with good manners." - Mignon McLauglin, American journalist and author

One of the first things I heard about New York is that if you need cheap entertainment, you can't go wrong with a $2 subway ride. When I first started riding the subway I was seeing something I had never seen before. That is until I started seeing it over and over, and I became one of those native New Yorkers who wouldn't even blink if a streaker came through the train.

But here are some examples of things you might see on a typical train ride or on the platform:

• People playing all sorts of instruments: guitar, drums, accordion, violin
• Lady singing opera
• Breakdancers in the station AND in moving train carriages!
• Homeless beggers proclaiming their homelessness and asking for donations
• People who work for homeless shelters looking for donations
• Kids who are selling candy
• Barbershop/doo-wop groups
• Magicians - very good ones too
• And if you're lucky - Borat and his chickens

Strangest things I have seen:

• Sitting on the 1 train on my way home from a long day, and I was looking at the guy next to me. He was a younger, Eminem-type guy, listening to beats on his headphones and writing lyrics on a notepad. Across from me there was a middle-aged man sitting down, trying to write compose music, scribbling on sheet music. What are the odds?
• Sitting on the 1 train on my way downtown, sitting across from me is an older man who has head twitches and uncontrollable tongue and mouth movements. As his head and neck move around awkwardly, he is trying to roll a cigarette - only he has no paper, tobacco, or filter - only a train card. So he keeps rolling and licking this train card, with no result. I must have watched him the entire train ride.
• One day I sat down quickly on a train, only to find a large dude lying across the seats next to me. Absolutely no movement from the dude. I watched him for over a minute, and I was starting to think he was dead. I look at the other people on the train, there's a few people looking at him. Just as we start considering CPR, the dude snorts himself awake, then back to sleep. Phew.

And probably one of the most annoying things is that most people don't let passengers off the carriage before they jump in. Crazy.

But all that said, I have never seen so many random acts of kindness on public transport. So many people offering directions to people just look lost. People giving up seats. Bus drivers who wish everyone well as they change shifts. I think it's one of the safest PT systems I've been on.

Best $2 I ever spent.
DN

Just for kicks

So today I went to go buy some new basketball shoes as I am playing with a NYC basketball league that raises money for charity called ZogSports. One of my teammates recommended that I buy some Starbury basketball shoes. These shoes have been released by NBA basketball player Stephon Marbury, who currently plays for the NY Knicks (and incidentally used to play for the Phoenix Suns). These shoes is that the price is only US$15, and he wears them for every NBA game. Marbury has had some media support for his shoes, whose quality is comparable to high-end sneakers, but affordable for everyone (including myself).

So I went to go buy these shoes exclusively at Steve & Barry's, which sell quality sports clothes for a much lower price than competitors. This day happened to coincide with the release of the new Starbury II sneakers on the same day. And guess who came to promote the launch of the Starbury II's - none other than Stephon Marbury! I got there about 20 min before he did, there was already a crowd in the Manhattan Mall where the shop is located. So I'm in the middle of trying on shoes, when he just walks right past! Though there was a strong security/cops presence around him, he was happy to greet customers and hug kids, etc. There's video of the appearance here. I am actually in the background in the video - but you will have to slow it down and squint a little. I'm wearing the red fleece jumper.

It's a great marketing idea, bringing cheap shoes to the masses. American kids get good shoes, but I wonder what those kids in the Chinese sweatshops get...

DN

They seek him here, they seek him there...

I have realized that I can be contacted a lot of different ways on the internet. For various reasons,
I have accounts in these different internet places.

Websites
Blog: http://sneakykangaroo.blogspot.com
MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/dannyn80
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sneakykangaroo
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=528780156
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=dannyn80
Email: dannyn80@gmail.com

Chat/Talk Programs
MSN: nguyen_danny@hotmail.com
Yahoo Messenger: DannyN17
Skype: dannyn80

I'm still trying to update my blog and pictures sites. I'm still working on it!

D

Melbourne band Second Dan @ Crash Mansion

Well, one of the things I planned to do on my end of '06 list was to see Aussie bands while I'm here in NYC, and tonight I went to see SecondDan, whose lead singer is from Melbourne. They were one of the Victorian winners of triple J's Unearthed back in 2004. They played at Crash Mansion, a bar in SoHo.

I was planning to go to Ruth's godsister Meaghan, but she had to back out, so I was planning to fly solo, but somehow managed to convince some workmates to come along!

I was on the RSVP list, so I skipped the cover charge, and hit the free vodkas from 9-10pm. Soon after Second Dan came on, and rocked the house down. On the last song, they invited the audience to dance on stage!

The band Second Dan during their last song, with audience members onstage

After the gig, I had a brief chat with the lead singer (first name also Dan) and got a photo.

Me with the lead singer of Second Dan

After that, I kicked on to a bar called Bar 13 near Union Square. It was Hip-Hop night, so lots of beats and crunk. Had a boogie with Annabelle and her mates from dancing.

Me and Annabelle staring into the twilight zone...doo doo doo doo...

Me and Annabelle's friend Kerry

This was my pseudo-birthday party - my real birthday was Tues Jan 30 - but nobody except for Annabelle knew it was my birthday. I'll have a real birthday party when I get back to Melbourne.

Then it was off to bed - had to get up at 6:30am Sat for work. Ah, some things never change...

D