Let's start a war!

Today's a long day. After work, it's back to school I go, as I wage scholarly war on the MBA program at Cal. I've dubbed my newest collegiate journey "Let's find Crock a MBA". Consol is paying 90% of the tab, so I'd be a fool not to enroll. The absolute best part of this is that since Cal is part of the State System of Higher Education, the aforementioned tab comes on the cheap. A cool $300 should cover this semester in FULL.

Now, a word about my schedule:
During this semester, I will be visited by two night classes per week and hopefully shortly thereafter, I'll be able to shout at a passerby from my bedroom window; clamoring about "what day it is" and "oh HO! I haven't missed it after all!"


And maybe a little about how to administer some business... which you'd already know I can do, if you've ever tried to fight me.

King of Prussia Mall

The mall is massive. You can easily get lost. I frequently consulted mall directories and ended up finding a store where I picked up a very special gift for Reese. Now if I can only find a place that sells Philadelphia-style shot glasses...

I entered the mall via a Sears. I figure, since their parking lots are almost always empty, it should be pretty easy to get outa there. It turns out I was right, but I'll not get ahead of myself. The mall consists of two separate wings, a crosswalk and a main portion - all of which are giant. It took me about an hour and a half to course the place and just get a feel for it. As I paced along the hallways, I noticed it was decorated unlike any other mall I've seen. The mall itself claims stores like Versace, Coach, Hugo Boss and Armani and I suppose the ambiance reflects the uppish-ness of these stores. Couple that with classic music playing overhead, and you're not in southwestern PA anymore.

I really think its important to drag Reese, Jaker and Rollo out here and make them tour it, so I've completed an entire weekend trip to Philly in my mind. (Complete with mind-itinerary)

Other than that, here's some other notable features of Philadelphians:

1. Many food vendors in the KoP mall often have lots of fresh fruit available. Considering my lifestyle, I sincerely appreciate this.
2. They don't push the cheese-steak as hard as you'd like them to. Cmon, Philly. Grow a set.
3. Many people in the KoP mall value English as a second language. Listening to their arguments in gibberish was awesome!
4. Roads here actually lead where you'd think they'd go. Pittsburgh could learn a lot from the city of 'brotherly love'.
5. Any sporting goods store will welcome you with Donovan McNabb jerseys that are up to 60% off. There are NO exceptions.

As a final note, I really wish housekeeping would just leave my towels where I throw em. Just because they're on the floor doesn't mean that I'm through with them. I just don't wish to disgrace my toothbrush by making it keep company with soiled linens.

Hump day in Philly

So its my first official blog from Philly. Here's how things have gone down so far.

I burst onto the scene in the evening hours of last Sunday. It was some trip out here.  The majority of the trip was spent on a 232 mile stretch of interstate that was unforgiving (road wasn't kept well) and sleep inducing. It was easily one of the longest and most boring straightaways I've ever driven. Whenever I arrived, my hotel suite welcomed me. Its a nice 1-bedroom, 1-bath gig, complete with full kitchen and living room. In fact, its pretty nice. Pics should be up on my flickr / facebook by tonight. Pick your poison, they'll both house the same pics.

Monday was grueling. I was exhausted from the trip and had to go to SAP training (what I came here for) and really try to focus. The day crawled and I tried to soak everything in, but I was really just getting my routine started. When I was done with training for the day and returned to my suite (Staybridge Suites - recommended!) I had to learn how to quickly budget my time. With no future wife to prepare me a meal, I had to go running as soon as I returned so I can get showered, cook and enjoy some serious downtime. That takes me to about 8:00. I then like to enjoy a few hours of World of Warcraft before Family Guy at 11:00. Time seems to come at a premium. Its seriously seems like a lot of time, but brother, it sure isn't.

Tuesday saw me repeat the same process, but this time I was much more streamlined with it. I ended up with an extra half hour to do whatever, but it still hardly felt like I had any time at all. Couple that with trying to simultaneously soak in SAP information, and I'm two-days-garbled!

I'm planning on visiting the King of Prussia mall tonight. Its the second largest mall in the country, so I'm sure they have something there.

Some important things I've noticed about Philadelphians:

1. They have no concept as to what a "Giant Eagle" is. In fact, one girl asked me why I'd want to go see a big bird. Such a sweet girl...
2. Their WalMart is barn shaped and built next to a silo. It made Uniontown's WalMart look like the Taj Majal of superstores.
3. Radio stations here kick ass. 104.5 is an incredible station. Its like my whole iTunes library is available on my car radio. Only 30-60 second commercials, too. Nice.
4. 5:00 traffic on any 4 lane highway crawls. 45 mins per 2-3 miles. Sickening waits.
5. SAP training center urinals are water-free. Not exactly sure what to make of this yet. I can appreciate how green this is, but I have NO idea how it works! (Crappers are standard crappers.)
   
6. The SAP training center also has ZERO water fountains. When I asked the woman at the front desk about a fountain, she informed me that the only water in the building is in water bottles in the cafeterias. (They recycle EVERYTHING.)
   

On a side note, the SAP training campus prides itself on being a "green campus". The facility I'm training in is an entirely glass building. Seriously, the whole building is a giant window. This I assume saves on lighting costs. In fact, the campus is in the process of building an additional training center next door to where I'm sitting now which will be the "greenest building in America". I respect the hell out of this.

More updates to come as I encounter more Phillyness.

NHL Winter Classic

As you well know, I attended this game with the now legendary Reese, my mom and IDK my BFF Rollo. The first outdoor NHL game in the good old US of A didn't disappoint. In fact, it turned out to be everything I could have imagined, and more!

The weather was precisely how I dreamed it to be: moderate to heavy snowfall at times, cloudy and very cold. The crowd was impressive - 70,000+ strong - complete with Buffalo fans who never acted like assholes, but made all of us Pens fans know that we certainly aren't welcome here. Speaking of Pens fans, there was a large gathering of them that I got to Hi-5's and hugs from while on our way into the parking lot. During this ruckus (and believe me, it was RUCKUS) one brave Buffalo fan draped a Sabres flag over the front of the Vibe. He was quickly met with a chant of "THIS GUY SUCKS! THIS GUY SUCKS!" I love being in enemy territory. Sidney looked like he was a god among men. His play was so inspired and filled with raw energy that he appeared give life to his otherwise freezing teammates. What made it one of the best games I've ever seen was the fact that it went into a shootout. This was the first shootout I've ever witnessed live. I can tell you that I was pretty concerned about the Pens' fate after Conklin let in the first goal of the shootout, but as Rollo and I prepared the chant of "MVP! MVP!" for the final shooter, we knew we were in good hands. Crosby wouldn't let us down.

The good things aside, there were some crappy parts of the whole trip. First off, Ralph Wilson Stadium must be the Mellon Arena of the NFL. It should be torn down and forgotten in its entirety. The seating was awful, featuring LONG rows of bleacher seats that were small and uncomfortable. Our seats were in the very middle of a long row, not easy to get to! Another crumby thing was that their awful stadium had overpriced beers! At $7.50 for a cup of Guinness, the only good part about it was that, thanks to the weather, it could only get colder. Then comes lake effect snow. 4+ inches of snow and a 4.5 hour drive can quickly turn into 12 hours at the helm of the Vibe. Nasty stuff. We counted 11 wrecks, one of which was a combo Uhaul-while-towing-a-passenger-car. Nice work, that one was.

I'd go again if they had one next year, even if the Pens weren't involved.