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.