This morning we left Islip for Philadelphia to enjoy a mini-holiday. After a 3 hour ride which included a stop at a Burger King on the New Jersey Turnpike, we arrived at our hotel, the Windsor Suites, on the Ben Franklin Parkway. Once we got settled in we went for a walk past the City Hall with its statue of William Penn on the top, and along Broad Street to Race Street to board the subway. We were heading to South Street to have dinner at Ralph's, which is the oldest Italian restaurant in the country under continuous family ownership. However, we wanted to see what the southern terminus of the Broad Street Subway looks like, so we rode to Pattison Street (it's where the stadiums where the Phillies and Eagles play are located). While we did not go upstairs to the street, we just crossed the platform to get the northbound train to South Street and walk to Ralph's at 760 South 9th Street. Just like in the early 1960's when the Orlons sang "Meet Me On South Street" since it was the "hippest street in town" it's still a hipster haven, with trendy shops all along the way (reminded me of parts of Greenwich Village). We enjoyed our dinner at Ralph's and then walked to Penn's Landing at the Delaware, and Ellen took a picture of Eileen and me with the battleship USS New Jersey anchored in the background. We also walked past Philadelphia Eddie's Tattoo Shop, right off of South Street on South 4th, and it looks just like what I saw last week when it was featured on the History Channel ( no, I did not get a tattoo - Ellen would have killed me). We then walked past numerous historical buildings along Front Street until we reached Market Street . We decided to take the Marker Street Subway to our hotel, but first rode it to the last stop at 69th Street in Upper Darby to see what it looked like, and then headed back to our station at 15th Street. When it was on elevated tracks the neighborhood reminded me of parts of Woodside in Queens along the Flushing Subway line. Tomorrow we plan to visit the Franklin Institute.

Not much happened during the week, and also not much over the weekend.  Excitement consisted of a fire along side of the Long Island Railroad tracks on Saturday evening, and going to dinner at an Indonesian restaurant on 9^th Avenue in Manhattan.   

Last night I was watching TV when my pager went off, announcing a fire on the tracks at the western end of our district.  I headed to the firehouse and soon we were heading over to see what was happening.  After letting a westbound train go by we had to walk the tracks about 100 yards to the flames – discarded ties along the rail bed.  After using a water fire extinguisher, it was still not out completely so that meant using the booster line from the engine.  Since we could not drive the vehicle over the tracks, we had to move it to the parking lot of the apartment complex that was next to the eastbound tracks, and we would stretch the line through the fence and across the tracks to put it out completely.  No eastbound trains were due for some time, and we also had the police at the next crossing on alert for any trains that never came (none did).  When that was over we went back to the house to re-fill the extinguisher and recharge it.  Other than that, we did not have any other calls over the weekend.

Today we went to visit my mom & dad. Eileen stayed with her grandparents while Ellen and I went into Manhattan by subway.  The line goes past the Arthur Ashe Stadium, which was full of tennis aficionados since the US Open is in progress, and the subway train had tennis fans too.  Once we got to Manhattan we walked to the Virgin Mega Record Store in Times Square to buy some CD’s, and then headed up 7^th Avenue to see if Padelson’s Music store, located across from Carnegie Hall was still in business.  It still is, but we got there at 5 PM just as it was closing.  However, at least we know that it is still there now and hopefully will still be there a few months from now should we decide to stop there again to get some musical items like books or sheet music.  Then we headed to 9^th Avenue, which is now a restaurant row stretching from 57^th Street down to 42^nd Street.  Today we decided to have Indonesian cuisine, at a restaurant called Bali Nusa Indah, located at #651.  We had been there before and liked it, and today meals were just as good.  Maybe I will write a review in the Yahoo restaurant section.

I spent some more time on the Internet editing an existing web-site and creating a new one that are dedicated to my patron saints of baseball – the Ironmen.  The URL’s for the sites are:

http://www.geocities.com/ironmen8@y7mail.com/ironmen8.html and

http://route9x.homestead.com/.  Please check them out and remember to sign the guest books.            

On Saturday evening I finally broke the home team jinx when the Staten Island Yankees beat the Vermont Lake Monsters, 6-1 at the Richmond County Ballpark. After an early cookout in the yard, Ellen, Eileen and I headed over to Staten Island to exchange our tickets from the 10th (rained out) for seats to Saturday evening’s game. On the way in we had to contend with the usual highway slowpokes, especially the rubberneckers who have to stop and stare and accidents or other police activity on the other side of the parkway. However, we got to the ballpark around 6:35 for a 7:00 game. Since we were exchanging tickets, I had to wait on the season ticket holders/customer service line and it took some time to finally get new tickets. We ended up getting three seats a few rows from the field, right near the Yankees’ bullpen. I kept score for the game and in the end the Yankees won, 6-1. Because the Yankees and Lake Monsters had also played a game on Saturday afternoon (Friday evening’s game had been rained out) the two games played on Saturday were both seven innings long. While we did not go to the earlier game, which started at 2 PM, the Staten Island Yankees won that game 5-4.

I was off on the 12th since I had an eye exam in the morning, and in the evening there was a baseball game. Since I am not getting any younger, my eyes are not getting any better. When reading I now find myself taking my glasses off. Since it also 13 months since I was last at the eye doctor, I figured a visit now would not hurt. I learned that what I am doing is normal for someone 50+. So I will not have to bet a new pair of specs with stronger lens. In the evening the Suffolk County Chapter of the St. John’s University Alumni had their trip to Citibank to see a Long Island Ducks game. I got there at 5:30 PM to sign in, get my alumni tee shirt (a nice red one with white lettering) and then enjoy a barbecue style buffet. The pavilion was being used by other organizations, including a health care business and a couple of fire departments from the Town of Huntington. St. John’s had a raffle for a book commemorating 100 years of basketball at the various campuses. I did not win one, but now have a book to look for the next time that I am at the Islip Library, Borders, or Barnes & Noble. After the National Anthem the game started at 7:00 PM. The Ducks’ opponents, the Lancaster Barnstormers, got off to a 3-0 lead before the Ducks ever came to bat. I had a premonition that this was not going to be a good game for the Ducks. I was right, as they ended up losing 6-4. I left after the first out in the bottom of the 9th inning with the score at 6-3. Before the last two outs were recorded, the Ducks managed to score another run to make the final score 6-4. Even though my team lost, I had a great time, as I always do. Eileen and Ellen did not come with me, since Eileen had golf practice at a course in Huntington.

Last night the Bees played the first two games of the divisional playoffs, at DeWitt Clinton Park.  Our first opponent was a bank called Societe General (Soc Gen) who we beat in the regular season.  As in the regular season, we won again.  This time the score was 12-2.  Meanwhile, on a field across the park another game was being played.  The teams were Debevoise & Plimpton (D&P) and College Sports TV (CSTV).  This game was a close one, as it was tied in the bottom of the 7^th inning when the home team, D&P, scored a run to eliminate CSTV.  So the Bees would play a team that beat us in the 2008 regular season, as well as a few prior seasons.  It seems to be a repeat of the Brooklyn Dodgers’ inability to beat the new York Yankees in the World Series 50+ years ago (except in 1955, and later when the Dodgers were in California).  And like 50+ years ago, the Bees and their fans are saying “wait until next year”.  We lost 8-2 and D&P are the divisional champs.  But at least we made it to the finals, and a great time along the way.  After it was all over they walked to Dixie’s on 11^th Avenue.  As for me, since it was already almost 9:00 PM, I kept on walking down 11^th towards Penn Station to get the 9:29 train home.   I definitely plan to play for the Bees in the 2009 season.

Since the last entry it’s been busy time at work, since we are at the month end.  Not much has happened at the firehouse, as we had no meetings, fire schools, or even any interesting calls.  All I have been doing there is having coffee and using the computer in the evenings when Eileen is using our home computer.  It gives me a chance to check my e/mails on Yahoo and Hotmail, since I am not able to do that at work because of the firewall.  It also lets me listen to radio broadcasts of my favorite minor league baseball teams’ games.

On Tuesday when I was at the firehouse I was re-typing the minutes of a prior meeting of my fire company (it must have been deleted by accident earlier) and listening to a game.  I must have been enjoying the game too much since I did not hear my cell phone ring.  When I got home I checked the missed calls screen and saw that Ellen had called me around 9:30 PM.  It turns out that my mom called her to say that my dad is in the hospital (New York Hospital Queens) with a possible inflamed pancreas.  Naturally Ellen had tried to contact me but I did not hear the tones (it’s possible that I also muted it by accident).  Anyway, since Tuesday my dad has been moved out of the intensive care unit (ICU) and into a regular room.  But regular room or not, we are not out of the woods yet.

On a happier note, last night the Bees play the first round of the Yorkville Sports Associate’s playoffs.  Our rival was Interactive Corporation (IAC) who we played a couple of weeks ago in the makeup game at Central park.  This time we played at a field in Morningside Park, at 110^th Street near Manhattan Avenue.  Our field was actually in line with 112^th Street, and up on the hill above us on Morningside Drive sat the eastern end of the massive Saint John the Divine Cathedral, the largest church in the Western Hemisphere.  We could plainly seen the chapels that extended from the main building (some as large as some free standing churches, and the bronze angel on the easternmost end.  When the game got underway, IAC eventually led us by a score of 8-2 after three innings.  We were a little bit dejected, but most of us remembered what Yogi said years ago about outcomes.  So, over the next few innings the bees started the pile on the runs (but so did IAC), and the lead started to see-saw.  Finally, by the end of the 6^th inning we led 13-10, and even though IAC scored two more in the top of the 7^th, the final score was 13-12 and the Bees are going to the next round of the play-offs, which will be on August 5^th at Dewitt Clinton Park.  So it looks as if the bronze angel on the top of St. John the Divine was really looking out for us!!! After the game we walked to Amsterdam Avenue to an Italian restaurant named V&T, between 110^th and 11^th Streets.  I enjoyed some Italian beer, pizza, and shrimp parmagiana.  We also talked about some of the blockbuster trades that occurred in Major League baseball over the last few days: Ivan Rodriguez to the Yankees; Manny Ramirez to the Dodgers; and Jason Bay to the Red Sox.

Then it was a walk to Broadway to get the #1 train to Penn Station and the Long Island Railroad to go home.   

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In the pictures below we have a view of the front on St. john the Divine, on Amsterdam Avenue; the bottom picture shows Morningside Park, with the field that the Bees played on, with the eatern end of St. John on the hill above.