Obviously, I’m going to have to do some amazing story telling in order to tie the words in that title together, yeah? No biggie. Here goes!
Some of my friends have been so very kind to inquire relating to what I lovingly refer to as the “+1 project”. We are starting the next phase this month, and that phase required my presence back here in NYC. With a Tuesday, 10am appointment for more testing (ART to be exact), I flew in on a red eye from PHX Monday night. Not sure why, but falling asleep Sunday night really didn’t occur until about 6am Monday morning.
Wishing now that I had spent the $200 to upgrade to first class when I had the chance because coach on most airlines just really sucks. Don’t get me wrong, I understand the product, and while I’m not an obese kind of guy, I am certain that I could lose a few pounds. Unfortunately, I’m not going to to shrink my 6’2″ frame anytime soon and sitting with people that take every opportunity to be the master of their domain can get tiring after a while.
Needless to say, that just gets old. And unless you get really sauced up, sleeping in that environment is just plain tough. Even after getting sauced up 😉
Fast forward a few days, and you find that I’m still challenged with the Arizona time zone clinging to my sleep habits. Or my waking habits to be more accurate. And another night of failing to fall asleep prior to 4am (1am back home). As challenging as it was, I forced myself awake and out of the West Village apartment by 10am. Just a note, the coffee at the corner deli is much better at 6:30am than it is at 10am. Everything bagels toast up nicely, however.
Leaving the deli at 14th and 8th, heading East I soon came across the Whole Foods located on Union Square. And that was a cool thing considering a tourist asked me if the direction we were heading would take her to the square. Being a man, I immediately said yes, and forged the path like a true townie. Pretty sure she thought I was a New Yorker. Silly, yeah, I know.
Given there are no really nice grocery stores in the Verde Valley where I live, a Trader Joes or a Whole Foods just sucks me into their doors. If you’ve never been at the Union Square Whole Toods be sure to go late on a Sunday afternoon. Not only will it blow your mind when that many folk are in a single store, you’ll be amazed at the staff’s efficiency for checking out the customers.
Even this morning, there were probably more people checking out than are ever in the stores back home. And you really have to love the little shopping cart escalator; which when you take down to the basement, you’re deposited into the amazing organic produce department.
photo credit: di_the_huntress
And the first thing you see is a wall of fresh red and gold beets, in all their glory with stalks of green leafs. At $2.49 a pound, organic and as fresh as they seemed, you just cannot pass them by. And I didn’t! Cannot wait to clean them up, dice them, coat with olive oil, sea salt and fresh ground pepper and bake for 30 to 40 minutes. If you’ve never had fresh beets prepared this way, do yourself a favor and give it a try. You will be amazingly, uhm, amazed! 🙂
While it’s only .8 of a mile to the store, I’m thinking Google’s estimate of 3 minutes to make that walk is a bit short. Regardless of how long it takes in reality, I can attest to the fact there are probably more drugstores and Starbucks along that strip of 14th than in the entire state of Arizona.
Needing some razor blades, I opted to hit the Rite Aid at 14th and 7th, navigated the maze of aisles and finally found a piss poorly stocked shelf that ultimately had no blades for my shaving system. I guess the blades are high theft items because they are kept inside clear plastic shelf boxes that when you open the lid, an alarm goes off. WTF? Are you kidding me? I kept looking around to see if the security guard was going to come and dump out my organic beets to see if I was stuffing razor blades in my Whole Foods Bags. Ugh.
After checking what little offerings they had I realized I’d have to go across the street to the Duane Reade. Unfortunately, I picked up the wrong blades, so it’ll be another day or so before I get to shave the scruff off my face. But that’s cool; don’t really enjoy that chore anyway!
Okay, guessing I’d better get to work and finish up the projects I’m currently on. Feeling good that I was able to get myself up “early” and hopefully, I’ll be able to find the East Coast sleep vibe soon.
Have a great one!
One thought to “Jet lag, drug stores and fresh beets”
Coach really does suck if there is a first class offering on a flight. I couldn't agree more!!