[fabsroman]

I have been to Long Island a bunch of times, and that isn't too bad. I was in New York city once about 20 years ago for a bike race in Central Park and that was a horrible trip. The place we spent the night in was terrible.

I was there again 5 years ago for a deposition in a case I was working on. Took a cab from the Garden to Manhattan and it was over $20. The ride was impressive and scary because the road was surrounded by buildings so tall that it was impossible to see the sun shine on the ground. Shared a cab back with opposing counsel and we grabbed a bite to eat from Sbarro while waiting for the next train back, the last one of the night, to Baltimore. I think that terrible dinner cost close to $15. Didn't have a great time then either, but blamed it on work.

I went back to the city in June of this year with my wife to visit her sister. Right after we got off the subway by her sister, we started walking and ran into somebody walking two little dogs. Well, one of the dogs had diareaha and was going on the side walk. That was a terrible sight and smell and we had to walk by it. Her sister's apartment was $1,800 a month in rent and it was less than 1,000 square feet. The kitchen and living room were in the same room, which was separated from the bedroom by a wall with a closet, and then there was the bathroom. The kitchen countertop was all of 4 square feet, if that, and the stove had all of two burners. Looking out of the window in the living room you got to see the building next door all of three feet away. The window in the bedroom looked into the street and you could hear almost everything that was going on down there. Of course, she lived on the 4th floor and there was no elevator. The lack of an elevator wasn't a problem because I was only visiting, but I couldn't imagine having to bring groceries or anything else up 4 flights of stairs.

New York city isn't for me either. Too much going on and people do not have time to catch their breath.