Bristol, CT; Northampton, MA; New York, NY (because those go together!)

Days: Twenty-Something to Twenty-Something-Else
So this little update is a conglomeration of the past three days.
First: Bristol, CT
AKA: The city owned and operated by ESPN

While in Bristol, Erica reconnected with her old friend Miguel.
Miguel works for (surprise!) ESPN.
Miguel let us stay in his apartment.
Miguel took us out to enjoy some amazing pizza (lobster should be a required topping on all pizza.)
Miguel shared music and videos with us that
I am quite certain will require years of intense therapy sessions to overcome.
(Canadians make the most FUCKED up videos.)

This is Erica posing with a short Puerto Rican demonstrating
how he likes to greet all the woodland creatures in his neighborhood.

So after dragging ourselves away from the sights and sounds of Bristol, CT

we headed out to Northampton, MA to meet up with Rob's friends Mike and Kitty 

and their two adorable little boys Issac and Rhys.

This sign post clearly indicates that if you need a Hospital or a Coke, drive in this direction.

So our first order of business was walking with Kitty, Isaac, and Rhys
down to their local library to return and check out some books.
We both endorse educating people, so of course we accompanied them.
Here is Isaac posing in Rob's leather top hat at the library.
Because at the library, everybody needs to look fancy.

My skateboard riding horse has a metal detector and is being ridden by a shark:
your argument is invalid.

This is Rhys.
This is the face Rhys makes when looking at somebody with a leather top hat.

 On the way back from the library, we stopped for pizza, garlic bread, and of course, soft-serve ice cream.

Isaac made it all of fifteen feet with his cone

before the following happened:

The five-second rule does not count with rainbow sherbet on hot asphalt. 

We did however buy him a replacement.
This is the look of a contentment!
(Or the look of confusion over why some loser from California
 thinks it's appropriate to wear a leather top hat when it's ninety out.)

And here we have the serene domesticity of suburban life:
Kitty pushing her son's bike while packing her other son on her back,
and Erica encouraging people to knock each other's teeth out
rather than use high explosives to eradicate one another.
(Note the bag Erica's carrying: it contains pizza.
This will be important later.)

So apparently carrying pizza on end causes all the cheese to slide off.
We made the best of it, however,
deciding that we were not eating pizza,
but bread sticks and fondue.

This is Mike.
This is Mike demonstrating how he works from home.
Notice the child in his lap?
Notice the sippy cup?
Notice the baby monitor?
Notice the legos?
In short, notice all the distractions?
Know what he's doing?
Writing a program to run ocean observation vehicles.
I feel confident about  future oceanic research, don't you?

This is a picture of Kitty's  kale chips
and a Jedi Knight.

This is a picture of Kitty making kale chips
while being protected by a Jedi Knight.

This is Rhys considering which athletic scholarship to accept.

This is Kitty proving that she could beat your ass in a second.

Oh man!
Somebody from Connecticut visited Wall Drug,
and the person bought a bumper sticker!
Jealous!

An old interesting looking building in Northampton, MA 

A church!
(of course...)

And when I run for president
these will symbolize my campaign slogan.

And this man will be my campaign manager.
The People's Pint!

This is Kitty.
Not Pictured: The vengeful glare that Kitty will make once she sees this photo.

Look everyone!
Kitty's armpit!

This was not a planned photo,
we all just really liked the book on the ground and decided it needed to be in the blog.

This is Rhys destroying what had been clean and organized only moments before. 

Mike, Kitty, and Rhys (not pictured, Isaac playing Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas).

Hey! The Basketball Hall of Fame

So here's the sign for Connecticut as seen from Massachusetts.

And here's the sign welcoming us to New York as seen by...
well...
no one.

 So after rolling into New York City,

we went straight to our hotel room, 

checked in,

and took the subway to Coney Island!

And what do you do in Coney Island?
You eat a Nathans Hot Dog of course! 

The Atlantic Ocean (I had never stood in it before.)
Also, the sexiest man alive as seen in profile.
(Look closely to the left of Erica.)

 So what else do you do in Coney Island?

You go on an 85 year old roller coaster.

That's right!
We went on the Cyclone!
And you know, for an 85 year old coaster,
it's still pretty damn fun.

As a little end note, we took the subway to Coney Island.

If you have never been on the New York Subway System,

you need to do so because...

1) You will learn what public transit can and should be.

2) You will feel foreign (everybody speaks a language other than English)

3) At least once, somebody will do something bat-shit crazy, and you will love every minute of it.

(Our particular car had a guy bump-grinding one of the poles 

while belting out Michael Jackson's greatest hits.)