The Great Blackout of 2003, as it is now known, included yours truely and my loving husband Andy! Poor Andy was stuck in a subway car when the power went out. He sat there for about an hour before they finally opened the doors and got out. They walked down the tracks in the tunnel to find their way out while lighting their way with their cell phones. Andy popped out in Grand Central and had to think of what to do next. He decided to try and catch a ferry home. He went to the nearest ferry stop which had massive amounts of people all crowded together waiting for the same boat. There was no structure or order to it, so he bagged that idea pretty quickly. He then figured he'd be stuck there all night, so he started walking towards the Red Roof Inn. About half way there he had a better idea of walking to the World Financial Center ferry to try and get home. He figured the boats came more often and were closer to Jersey City, so he may have better luck. Well, he was a smarty pants and it worked. He only stood in line for an hour before catching a ride home. He got home around 9PM. I was lucky enough to leave work early (everyone else was gone by 4!!), so I was on the boat home when the power went out. I had no idea anything was even wrong until I went to our leasing office to pick up a package. All of their lights were out and they told me that the power went out, probably only our block, and would be on soon. Boy were they wrong!!!! I was just hulled up in our apartment by myself all night trying to not get bored. I read and looked for candles and matches and took a bath in the dark. I kept trying to call Andy or my parents, but the cell lines were all full and it was touch and go for getting through. Mostly we talked through messages.
Our power finally came on about 1 minute after Andy walked in the door. It went off for about an hour around midnight, but we were in bed by that time, so it didn't matter. I guess we can just add this to our list of adventures in New York.

Another one that I can add would be going to the eye doctor's today in China town. I woke up yesterday with what I thought was an eye infection. I thought this morning it would be better, but it wasn't so we decided I'd go to the doctor. This was the closest doctor I could find that wasn't just an optometrist. It was in the heart of China town!! Everyone in the office was Chinese, spoke Chinese, all the customers were Chinese......except me!!! Thankfully sweet Andy came with me so I didn't feel so out of place. It took a little longer than I anticipated, but I was just an emergency walk-in, so it wasn't too bad. The doctor was a sweet Chinese girl who sounded more American than anything else! She was very helpful and put my mind at ease by telling me it was just an allergic reaction and prescribing some medicine. I get to go back in 2 weeks to check on it. It was an interesting experience though. I've never felt like such a minority!!! Overall though, people were nice. Just another crazy story from New York!

Another exciting adventure in our New York journey occured last Saturday (July 26th) when our apartment building caught on fire!! It was on the opposite end of our apartment, so aside from the burned smell in the hallway, we were totally unaffected. We were minding our own business doing some Saturday cleaning when the fire alarm started to go off. Now this had happened to Andy one Saturday around 7am, so we thought it was some sort of drill. We poked our heads into the hall to try and smell smoke, but there was nothing. So, we went about our business trying to ignore the screeching of the alarm. I stepped out onto our balcony and a couple of people that were across the street started waving me down. "Um, your building really is on fire, you may want to get out.". I was very grateful for them taking the time to tell me. Andy grabbed his wallet, I grabbed my wedding ring and my purse and we were out of there. Around 7 fire trucks showed up along with many policemen. The whole complex was out on the sidewalk watching. It was quite the sight. It didn't take long for the fire to be put out and the mayor of Jersey City even showed up. He had a man delegated to taking care of those whose homes were ruined. We only stood outside for a little while before we realized it was totally safe for us to go back inside. A little bit later we went into the garage to leave in our car and we noticed that water was pouring in from under the fire spot. The good news of it all is that noone was hurt. It was a nice reminder for us to get renters insurance!!!!
On a fabulous side note......my plant has tomatos!!!!