Long Island Road Trip, Part II

Monday, 4/28 and Tuesday, 4/29

Monday, 4/28
I woke bolt upright around 3 am, and got out of bed to start up my laptop. I had to delete my previous blog because one of the admonishments we received were: if we made any public mention of the AT-SAT test, we were immediately rendered ineligible for hire!

Then I realized, I hadn't talked to anyone since I got to the hotel last evening. Instead, I was still in the throes of an intensely realistic dream, and I actually had to convince myself that, yes, it was a dream, and no, my career aspirations weren't shot before they began.

Then, around 6 am, I panicked when the phone rang. Did I over-sleep? Are they calling me to tell me to get my butt downstairs to the testing room? No, it's only 6 am. It must just be my wake-up call. Wait, I didn't request a wake-up call. Is that even my phone? Turns out the walls are really thin at this hotel. It was the wake-up call for my right-hand neighbor, room 225. I finally gave sleep up as a lost cause about 15 minutes before my alarm went off, and got myself ready for the 8 am test.

Most people who know me know a) I'm not a morning person. While I'm not bad, per say, I tend to get an upset stomach early in the morning, and I'm best if I'm not rolling out of bed before 8:30 or 9 and b) I'm always late. Not like Ashley (15 minutes to 2 hours late is her usual ETA) more of a steady 2 - 5 minutes (It's a trait of the Smith-Deerings). Would you believe I was 10 minutes early, AND they delayed another 20 minutes before starting? If only I had brought my book to help kill that 30 minutes!

The test in and of itself was not nearly as bad as I anticipated, but I'll wait on any more descriptions until I get my results! It took me about 6 hours, lunch and 2 breaks included. We started at 8:30, I walked out at 2:30. I contemplated leaving early, but that seemed to be a waste of a prepaid hotel room.

So I watched the DVD I brought with, a rental from Netflix I had never seen before. Die Hard 2: Die Harder. I just recently started the Die Hard series; since I love action flicks, I couldn't believe I'd never seen any of 'em. Would you believe this one centered around the hijacking of the air traffic control center for Dulles airport? I couldn't have picked a better DVD for this trip if I tried!The rest of the night was uneventful.

Tuesday, 4/29
I checked out at 10:30 and went to the MickeyD for breakfast, looking forward to a nice greasy Steak, Egg & Cheese Bagel. They were already on lunch. Anyway, there was a sign: "All employees of these groups get %10 off. Employees must show identification." Then it listed the employee groups. One of which was the TFCU building behind the McD.
I don't know what that stands for on Long Island, but I had an overwhelming temptation to whip out my ID from my TFCU and see if it would work...




Finally, an almost-but-not-quite reverse of my drive in. First of all, I did get a slightly better picture of the 'alien space ships' from the World Fair:





Hey, I said SLIGHTLY, ok? I also got some marginal shots of the city skyline, of which this was the best...:














And finally, my GPS steered me slightly wrong - I wasn't in the left lane fast enough to take the exit I wanted, so I ended going up 37 th St. The icing on my cake? I crossed Park Avenue! Finally, I've seen it all! (Yes, that is a picture of the intersection of 37th and Park Ave. Aren't you overwhelmed?)

But as I said in Part I, I don't really feel a need to see any more of the city than what I've seen, and the fact that I have photographic evidence is enough for me!

Finally, after roughly 6 hours of driving, I got a call that my car was ready to be picked up (perfect timing, too, as I was in Elkton at the time, a mere half hour away and heading in the right direction!) I got my car, and passed the BWI observation area just as three planes attempted to land on Dorsey Rd instead of the runway. So I swung in for some impromptu photography:
I know people are going to tell me I'm wrong, but I have photographic proof. It's like living in 'The Wizard of Oz', if New York is Kansas and Maryland is Oz. New York adjectives: Bleak, gray, rainy, washed-out, grainy (hey, gray + rainy = my grainy photos!). Maryland adjectives: Vibrant, colorful, beautiful, lush, clean... And I use above photos to prove my point.

Upshot? I ain't driving up to the Big Apple again!

The End.

Long Island Road Trip

Road trip to Long Island - sorry, Lonkayesland - for to take the Air Traffic Control Aptitude Test (AT-SAT). Sunday, 4/27 - Tuesday, 4/29.

Sunday, 4/27

#1. I have a rockin' road trip mix on my iPod. At least I think I do...I know many who would object. However since it was just me and the car and the road for an insanely long time, I overrule all y'all.

#2. What is the difference between a Lincoln Town Car with Limousine plates and a Lincoln Town Car with Livery plates? Inquiring minds want to know.

#3. I HATE CITIES!! I was in the city for all of a mile, and I don't know how people can stand it. First of all, the traffic is atrocious. I saw some woman digging through a street vendor's stock - in a SUITCASE!! And how exactly does New York run 24/7 if I was stuck in a mile of traffic for something like an hour? I just don't know how people do it.

On that note, I'd rather slit my throat than drive through the city again. However, I have this little problem that I'm currently on Long Island, and have to go back through the city to get home... So I may be coming home in a body bag! The alternative is to take the toll-less road suggested by Sheila, my trusty GPS sidekick - which entails a 24 hour drive north, around the Great Lakes via Canada and Minnesota, and back down. Sounds like a plan.

Which reminds me:

#4 How did people live before GPS units? Probably every other person whose car I peered into had one, and I would have gone crazy without mine.

But back to hating cities, NYC in particular...

I take back every bad thing I've ever said about Baltimore or DC, both of which I curse roundly and regularly. Because this was just that much worse. On the plus side, I saw every tourist site anyone comes to NYC for, so I guess I don't really every have to come back...I've done it all.

For example, I passed Ellis Island Park as I headed for an EZPass toll booth. Imagine how pleased I was that I could simultaneously drive, hold my EZPass Transponder to the window of my rental, and take a picture of The Statue of Liberty!

See:


Oh, wait, that's the one when I dropped the camera in favor of the EZPass.

Here's a better one:

I circled Lady Liberty for those of you who may not know what she looks like.

I also got to drive by the site of the 1964 World's Fair, which I recognized because of Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones in Men In Black. Thanks, Pop Culture!

Here's my photo:.





Right behind the bit that has the seatbelt attached (which completely blocks the view of my picture, by the way) is this structure:



(courtesy of Google Pictures)
Time, by the way, has not been good to it. It's a tad rusty and run down looking. But I saw it, so I'm happy.

A little before that, I also saw the globe etc. of the 1969 World's Fair, but I didn't even try for a picture of those - I was fighting a cabbie for the left lane at that point...
(also courtesy of google pictures)

After the World Fair and Ellis Island sightings, there was the 3 mile, 1/2 mile an hour crawl. I finally found out what all the fuss was about:
Trust me, the fact that there's no traffic ahead of me only means that I was the first at the red light in the EZPass only lane. In fact, if you look, there's a cool perspective type line drawn towards the tunnel by the 2 lanes of cars to my right and my left that are waiting in line to pay with cash. How quaint and archaic!

Finally, my last observation. Lonkeyeland is LONG. And I spent a good 30 miles following this:
My best guess is that it's a really BIG tree. Really, that's my only guess. I saw it as it passed me, and it's definitely tree-like. If it's not a tree, I really don't know what it is. But it's big!

Ok, ATSAT tomorrow at 8 AM. Supposedly, 8 grueling hours of Letter Factory (I suck at that), Math (If XK-908 leaves Dulles traveling west at 300 MPH and PR-435 leaves Dulles traveling east at 400 MPH, how far apart will they be in 30 minutes? Think fast, you have 15 seconds!), Scan Test (Why are all those dots moving so erratically?), Analogies (Sluggish : Sprightly // Hellish : ?), ATST (Tell the 10 planes where to go at what speed, direction, and altitude without crashing any of them in 7 seconds), Angles (< :is this angle a) 30 b) 45 c) 90 d) 170), Personality (at least I KNOW my personality), and finally, Dials (which will be my saving grace, hopefully). I've had the practice book since Thursday. Good Luck to me!

K, time to find food that isn't exorbitantly priced!