Steve's wedding wrap-up - Andy Reitz (blog)

As for the reception itself, it as also lo-key and quite well done. The food was excellent, from the hors d'oeuvre to the main course. The speeches were on topic and well done. In short, the reception was the perfect compliment to the ceremony. Sarah, Justin, Chris, and I were seated at the infamous "Table 27", with Steve's high school buddies and their significant others.

As the story goes, at the first wedding from Steve's group of high school friends, all of the friends were seated at table 27, out of 27 total tables. This table was apparently in an unfavorable place -- in a dank, dark corner in the back (dinner took over an hour to get to them). So, the group apparently made lemonade, and had themselves a whooping good time. Ever since then, there is always a Table 27 at whichever wedding they are all attending, even as if in Steve and Ginger's case, there are only 9 tables total.

After the wedding, us 4 CWRU people played a couple of rounds of Euchre (it has been positively ages since I have done that). Justin and I took Chris and Sarah to school in the first game, but got schooled ourselves in the second. The next day, we drove to New York City for about 24-hours of NYC-based fun before we all parted ways.

In the city, we stayed at the Doubletree hotel located in the upper East side, which is a 3-star hotel that I managed to snag for $100/night via priceline. I forgot to take pictures of it (unfortunately), but it was pretty schwank. Probably the nicest hotel that I have ever stayed at. After getting into town, we tried to get last-minute tickets to the Yankee game via craigslist, but weren't able to find four seats together. So instead, we went to a nice dinner with Justin's high school friend "Wolfie" (nickname). After spending way too much money on a fabulous steak at Smith & Wollensky, we wanted to hit the town.

Unfortunately, NYC is actually reasonable dead on a Sunday night, especially if you're not into the whole "bar and club" scene. So, we did what any set of self-respecting geeks would do, and saw Star Wars Episode III at one of the best theaters in Manhattan (according to Wolfie), the Ziegler. I have seen Star Wars four times now, and I can't remember the last time I have seen a movie four times in the theatre. Maybe I never have. Anyways, Star Wars is that good (in my opinion).

Anyways, the next day, we went to the top of the Empire State Building as a group, and afterwards Chris and I parted ways with Sarah and Justin. At that point, I didn't have too much time left before I had to start my convoluted journey to the airport, so Chris and I just kindof walked around in the light rain. At one point, I was asking Chris why he said he would never want to live in NYC, when he is on record as saying that he could do the city-living thing in Portland. Chris said something along the lines of:

"New York City is just too big. Too many people, too much going on.... (long pause) And plus, there is some guy peeing over there in the corner"

He said it nonchalantly, as if it were a planned part of his argument, but sure enough, there was some dude relieving himself as we were walking by the interior of an L-shaped corner of some building. That's NYC for ya'. :)

-Andy.

So, I have finally made it back from New York, and am reasonably recovered (as recovered as I'm gonna be anyway), so it's time for me to wrap-up the weekend. All-in-all, it was a pretty good trip. The wedding itself was great, simple and direct -- the ceremony got to the heart of the matter at hand, without getting distracted by bells and whistles. The reception immediately followed the ceremony, so there wasn't any odd gap in the day that needed to be filled.\n\nAs for the reception itself, it as also lo-key and quite well done. The food was excellent, from the hors d'oeuvre to the main course. The speeches were on topic and well done. In short, the reception was the perfect compliment to the ceremony. Sarah, Justin, Chris, and I were seated at the infamous \"Table 27\", with Steve's high school buddies and their significant others.\n\nAs the story goes, at the first wedding from Steve's group of high school friends, all of the friends were seated at table 27, out of 27 total tables. This table was apparently in an unfavorable place -- in a dank, dark corner in the back (dinner took over an hour to get to them). So, the group apparently made lemonade, and had themselves a whooping good time. Ever since then, there is always a Table 27 at whichever wedding they are all attending, even as if in Steve and Ginger's case, there are only 9 tables total.\n\nAfter the wedding, us 4 CWRU people played a couple of rounds of Euchre (it has been positively ages since I have done that). Justin and I took Chris and Sarah to school in the first game, but got schooled ourselves in the second. The next day, we drove to New York City for about 24-hours of NYC-based fun before we all parted ways.\n\nIn the city, we stayed at the Doubletree hotel located in the upper East side, which is a 3-star hotel that I managed to snag for \$100/night via priceline. I forgot to take pictures of it (unfortunately), but it was pretty schwank. Probably the nicest hotel that I have ever stayed at. After getting into town, we tried to get last-minute tickets to the Yankee game via craigslist, but weren't able to find four seats together. So instead, we went to a nice dinner with Justin's high school friend \"Wolfie\" (nickname). After spending way too much money on a fabulous steak at Smith & Wollensky, we wanted to hit the town.\n\nUnfortunately, NYC is actually reasonable dead on a Sunday night, especially if you're not into the whole \"bar and club\" scene. So, we did what any set of self-respecting geeks would do, and saw Star Wars Episode III at one of the best theaters in Manhattan (according to Wolfie), the Ziegler. I have seen Star Wars four times now, and I can't remember the last time I have seen a movie four times in the theatre. Maybe I never have. Anyways, Star Wars is that good (in my opinion).\n\nAnyways, the next day, we went to the top of the Empire State Building as a group, and afterwards Chris and I parted ways with Sarah and Justin. At that point, I didn't have too much time left before I had to start my convoluted journey to the airport, so Chris and I just kindof walked around in the light rain. At one point, I was asking Chris why he said he would never want to live in NYC, when he is on record as saying that he could do the city-living thing in Portland. Chris said something along the lines of:\n\n

\n\"New York City is just too big. Too many people, too much going on.... (long pause) And plus, there is some guy peeing over there in the corner\"\n

\n\nHe said it nonchalantly, as if it were a planned part of his argument, but sure enough, there was some dude relieving himself as we were walking by the interior of an L-shaped corner of some building. That's NYC for ya'. :)\n\n-Andy.