Bierhaus

I slept a few minutes late but not nearly enough to get excited about. It was 435am. I breezed through calisthenics, stretching and meditation. I was off to the gym by 505am, a few minutes later than optimum.

At the fitness center door, my key card was rejected. I tried it three or four times. Dammit. I quickly reboarded the elevator and pushed the lobby button. Last second I pushed the 17^th floor, my floor, and headed back to the room to check and see if I could get back in. Nope! Shit. Not happy, I made a beeline for the front desk.

The gentleman at the front desk didn’t seem too eager to help at first. He even asked for ID. What? I explained that I was in my workout attire and facing a time crunch. I shared that I only had my room key card. Said it was probably a bad card or reader and to head on back to my room where he’d have a security guard meet me there to assist. Said I’d have to show ID once back inside, though. Whatever.

I hurried up to my room and waited patiently by the door until the security guard arrived with her master key card. She opened my door then started to walk away. I asked what she/they planned to do with my errant card. She said it would work now. I asked that she wait and watch. Sure enough, it failed. She immediately assumed it a bad card.  She said I’d have to go back to the lobby and request a new one. I wasn’t happy. I had a 2^nd door key card in the room safe. I asked that she wait while I grabbed and tried it. She did, and it didn’t work, either.

She then tried telling me it was a door lock – card reader problem. Nope, then why is it doing the same thing in the fitness center? Good point. Time quickly slipping away, I called the front desk to request immediate remediation. He sent a bellboy with two new key cards. Said he’d be up in a snap.

He was. Arrived in less than two minutes. Thank goodness. Before he departed, I made sure that both cards worked in the door. I then rushed back to the fitness center to do my run. Given that it was now 520am, I was understandably tense. To help conserve time, I set the treadmill to my fully warm pace – 6.7 miles per hour and let it rip. I worked it up to 7.0 mph and finished the 3.2 miles in about 29 minutes.

I hustled back to my room where I flew through a shave and a shower. I still had to drop my laundry bag at the front desk, too. I made sure that I supplied an inventory list and also attached an extra luggage tag with my name and phone number. I headed to the lobby at 610am. The hotel wasn’t too enthused about those of us that opted out of using their ridiculously priced laundry service and instead procurred our own. They still agreed to take my bag and hand it off to Pure Cleaners upon their arrival. Pure Cleaners was charging us $1.25 per lb. I guessed my bag weighed about 15-18 lbs max.  Using the pricing sheet in the room, it would’ve been about $200 to have my clothes laundered by the hotel. Yikes!

Dave and Natalee were now in the lobby. I grabbed a quick cup of coffee just before we cruised to the subway.  I had to buy a new weekly MTA pass too. That was a snap, this my second go round.

Rain was forecasted. So I had my new travel umbrella in my backpack. I joked that it wouldn’t rain because of having it on hand.  The first subway train was packed to the hilt. Dave & I passed and waited for the next. Natalee squeezed on. Dave and I opted for the next train. It was there two minutes later. We met up with Natalee again in front of the hotel Millennium, which is directly across the street from ground zero in the financial district.

After all that, we arrived at the office plenty early. Everybody was in good spirits after our one extra-rainy day off. According to the local news, broke a 108 year old record for rainfall. One of the directors said it was the first significant rain all summer long. Hmm? Wouldn’t you know it.

I got busy in a hurry and stayed that way all day. I was more productive Monday than I’d been the entire week before. I guess that’s to be expected, though, given the challenge. Cut back on the breakfast, but still consumed a lot of carbs. I lightened up big time on the lunch, too.

Didn’t talk with Mindy until late in the afternoon, around 3pm I think. She was busy in her classroom all day. Took the kids with her. At the time she’d just gotten back from the grocery. We didn’t’ talk long. She’s watching airfares for a possible trip to NYC this coming weekend. We both agreed to wait until Wednesday.

The late afternoon and evening went really fast. I called Aqeel, the Pure Cleaners guy checking on my clothes. Gave me some song and dance about getting inundated with clothes from me and several others. Wouldn’t have them back until Tuesday now Lucky for me, I planned for just such a problem and had one more clean shirt and underwear in my room. Smart planning!

Dave, Natalee, and I made plans to do dinner at the Bierhaus - a german pub/restaurant just around the corner form our hotel. The subway ride home was uneventful. However, the walk there was about as intimidating as one could imagine short of any real violence. Lots of disparaging comments about my mother.  Hmm? I had no idea they knew her. Talked about my big ass, too.  J

Arrived at the hotel by 725pm. Before heading our separate ways, we agreed to meet in the lobby at 8pm. I got the feeling, and rightfully so, that they weren’t gonna hold their breath waiting for me. In the room I dropped my bags and put away my snack stash.  I called Mindy near 740pm. We talked for about 10-15 minutes. Bella was off to gymnastics. Mindy shared that the Pilot goes in Tuesday AM to have the small dent fixed. My dad is going to meet her there and drop her back at home. She’ll be driving the Accord for a few days. Yikes!!!

Agreed to call her again once I was back from dinner. Freshened up and headed out the door at 755pm. I was the first one down, either that or burned. J I checked out the lobby remodel pictures. While trying to orient myself with the current and the new, I noticed Dave & Natalee standing off to the side chuckling at me.

The Bierhaus was up

3^rd avenue north

about three blocks – not too far. We had to walk up a flight of stairs. The seating was family style – bench tables. We, however, got a table all to ourselves. Much to Natalee’s delight, they had the Houston Texans game playing on both big screens. We ordered beers first, me a dunkel. No sure what the other two ordered.

Ordered our food soon after. I went with the bratwurst sandwich with peppers and onions. I ordered cucumber salad an a bowl of potato leak soup too. Food arrived after about 15 minutes. The beer was good, but not something I would seek out again. I planned to drink only one anyway. 430am comes around way too fast. My food was decent but nothing to write home about. We were there until halftime, or just after 9pm. Because we were on expense accounts, we had to get separate checks. With tip, my tab was $40.

By the time we left the restaurant, I was feeling sleepy. Nobody was talking too much. Arrived back at the hotel and headed our separate ways. Before heading to bed and before calling Mindy, I wanted to get into my PJs, brush my teeth, and log onto the internet and publish my blog with pics. Mindy called me while I was uploading Sunday’s pics to my laptop.

We talked only briefly. Like me, Mindy was tired. Said Bella wanted to talk with me. I was tired too. Bella shared that her gymnastics instructor was mean, grandma Sharon’s daughter. Agreed to call sometime mid-morning if at all possible. Jumped in bed at 1020pm while the MNF game whirled in the background. I used it as a sleep aid. Gute nacht mond.