Hey Guys,

How is everyone?  Good I hope.  I arrived in the Big Apple on the 13th and made my way to my new home, via cab.  The apartment is very nice. It is actually bigger than the apartment that I had in college, something I hear is rare for someone who just moved to New York.  I arrived at about 5:30 PM and unpacked all my bags.  Then I walked around the neighborhood and bought a can of Spaghetti-Ohs at the little grocery store around the corner.  After that I began writing cover letters for jobs in NYC.  Pretty boring first night.

The next morning I woke up at about 9:00 AM and walked to a discount supermarket called Top Tomato, and bought some Fruit Loops, milk, and Nestea mix.  The supermarket is probably about 3 blocks from my house.

Blocks walked on first full day: (BWFFD for short) 3 there, 3 back=6

When I got home I ate my cereal , and took a shower.  My cousin was leaving for school and he mentioned that it might be a good idea to go into the city and walk around.  Since the last time I had been in the city was when I was 8, I made sure I made sure I knew how to get there, and more importantly get back.  The next thing I did was edit the cover letters I had written the night before and then I formulated a game plan. It was now about 1:20 so I walked to the bus-stop 100 feet from the front of the apartment building to wait for the Westchester 4 line. 

BWFFD: 6

I got on the bus and rode it into the Bronx to the Bedford Park Station.  Once I got to the station I purchased a Month long Metro-Pass and boarded the number 4 express to Manhattan.  I got off on 42nd street and switched over to the 6 line, and then got off on 23rd street.  As I exited the subway station I looked above me and got my first adult taste of the City.  Buildings towered over the street, creating canyons in which the sky disappeared, leaving just the gray of the concrete and the millions of people absorbed in their own head. If felt exhilarating to finally be here although at the same time I was a little overwhelmed of the change from Columbia, MO.  I needed to go to the corner of 20th and the Avenue of the Americas (which I only found out was 7th Ave after asking a man in one of the shops) to visit a Kinko's, so I started heading west.  I thought to myself wouldn't it be funny if I ran into the restaurant that is the basis of the 'Restaurant' reality tv show.  Less than a block later I passed by Rocco's.  At the end of the street was the first building that I recognized, the building that is shaped like a triangle (The Flatiron Building).  I turned south and made it to the Kinko's on the corner of 20th and Seventh. 

BWFFD: 3 south + 3 west= 12

I printed my cover letters and headed to my first stop, Musicians on Call on W 18th Street.  I walked the two streets south and the office was located between 7th and 8th Ave.  After dropping off the resume I headed towards Eighth avenue.  When I turned left onto Eighth Avenue, I noticed ton's of gay pride flags and men holding hands.  Oh yeah, I thought to myself, this is Chelsea.  I walked up to 23rd St to catch the C train to 59th st.

BWFFD: 2 South + 1 west + 5 north= 20

I got out onto 59th Street and got my first glimpse of Central Park.  I headed north on Broadway and turned left onto 61^st St.  61^st does not run between 9th and Tenth Aves because of Fordham University, so I had to head one block south to 60^th, then one block west, then one block north to 61st.  My next stop was the New York City Opera, and I located the building that housed their offices between 10th and 11th ave on 61st street.  As I approached the building and reached for the front door, I thought to myself the City isn't so bad.  It's pretty easy to negotiate and it really isn't that big. I know it's taken me longer to get around today, I told myself, but that's just because I'm new at it. Give me a couple more hours and I would be a pro.  At that moment there was a buzz.

BWFFD: 2 North + 1 West + 1 South + 1 West + 1 North= 26

Or rather there wasn't a buzz, the power had turned off.  I looked at the building directory and noticed that the office I was going to was on the 6th floor.  Obviously with no power the elevator wouldn't work, but I needed a job, and had come all the way from Missouri, so I headed for the stairs.  When I got to the fifth floor, the fire alarm started to go off, and I had to walk back down the five flights of stairs.  I headed back out onto the street and waited.  At this time it was about 4:10.  The fire alarm turned off but no one returned to the building.  "Man this is inconvenient, I have places to go, and resumes to drop off," I muttered to myself.  Someone mentioned that the traffic lights were off. That's strange I thought.  At about 4:30 someone announced to the office staff that the power was off all over the city and they didn't know why.  Terrorism and 9/11 had already been brought up from the subconscious of New York because of the recent arrest of a terrorist suspect in London.  The lady stated that everyone should go to their office, get their stuff and then they would start heading home in groups.  You could tell the uneasiness of the crowd of co-workers, an anxiety that had rubbed off on me.  I decided that since I had waited this long, I might as well drop off my resume; so I walked up the six flights of stairs, put my resume and cover letter on the desk of the receptionist who was not there and then walked back down six flights of stairs.

BWFFD: 26

Flights of Stairs Climbed or Descended on First Full Day: (FSFFD) 5+5+6+6=22

By this time I was on my cell-phone trying to get in touch with one of the two people who I knew where in Manhattan at that time.  It seems that everyone else in the North-East was doing the same thing, because when you pressed send nothing happened.  It just kept saying connecting, and then if you were lucky you would get busy signal.  I started heading towards the subway station, thinking maybe they had a back up power supply, and the trains would still be running.  No-one knew what was going on and by now everyone had evacuated their buildings.  I started calling people who lived out of town, just to see if it would work.  The rumor on the street was that the whole north-east did not have power, and this made everyone uneasy because there was no explanation.  When I got to the subway I was disappointed to find out that the subways were in fact not working.  Since it was such a hot day and I had my full job-search clothes on; slacks, dress-shirt, tie, and dress shoes (luckily I had brought an extra t-shirt); I decided to have an orange soda.  I got Bill Cabral's voicemail, and finally got through to my dad.  The conversation went along the lines of "do you have power?" Yeah, well will you turn on CNN for me and find out why no one in the North-East has power.  My dad held the phone up to the TV and I heard the words natural occurrence and a sense of ease fell over me.  At this point, I was standing in columbus</st1:city> circle on the corner of 59th and eighth Ave.

BWFFD: 2 south + 2 east= 30

At this point I noticed that my cell phone only had two bars of power.  I started to walk into Central Park and tried to formulate a plan.  I couldn't get through to either Gavin or my friend Allison, so I figured I had two options.  I had talked to Allison and she told me she lived in Gramercy Park, which is on the east-side in the 20's, so I could either continue to try and get through to her, or walk through the bronx and probably be there during the night.  Walking through the Bronx at night with street lights would be scary enough, but with no lights, out of the question.  I might have been able to find a bus, but I had just learned the subway system, and had no Idea on how to take a bus back to Westchester County. It would suck to come to the end of a line in a dead end in the Bronx, with no idea on what bus to take next.  I decided to walk east to keep my options open and not head north or south.  So I walked from the South-west corner of Central Park (Eighth ave) to the South-east corner of Central Park (Fifth Ave.)

BWFFD: 3east= 33

At this point I sat at the base of a statue which I had seen in ton's of pictures and watched a site that I will never forget.  Across the square I could see the building that I had seen a million times during the intro to the 'Odd Couple; and walking towards me was a mass of people that must have been at least 50 thousand strong.  The street was full of cars bumper to bumper heading north and the sidewalks were full of people shoulder to shoulder heading north.  Old ladies, men in six thousand dollar suits, and even the bum's, were all heading north.  Being extremely hard headed and stubborn, 9/11 hadn't kept me from pursuing my dream of moving to NY, I decided to head south.  A deciding factor was the fact that most of the busses that I saw where either filled to the brim with people, or empty with a not in service sign.  Getting through the Bronx on a bus seemed like it would have been impossible, and I would rather be stuck in Manhattan than the Bronx any day.  I began to call Allison to try and get through, and since I only had two bars of power, I did this in five minute spurts every 30 minutes. I walked down Park Avenue to the met-life building.  At every street corner there was a good Samaritan directing traffic.  Then I started heading east till I reached 2nd Avenue and then south again till I hit 20th ST.  On the way there were several restaurants who where giving out free ice-cream and sorbet before it melted.  All the chinese restaurants seemed to be selling bottled water or soda/ snapple for a $1.00.  It was truly an amazing walk.

BWFFD: 5 east + 39 south=77

I had reached Gramercy Park and still had not been able to get through to Allison, so I sat on the steps of a church and called my parents again.  I asked them if they had a calling card, which I got the numbers for, and told them that I was basically waiting to hear from Allison.  I gave them her number and asked them to try a couple of times to see if they could get through.  About this time I got through to her voice-mail and left a message.  I waited there for what seemed like an hour, I knew the power had gone out about 4:00, and it was now 6:45.  Initially people said it would only be a couple of hours, so I decided I might as well wait to hear from Allison near a subway station, in case the power was to come back on.  I walked back to Fifth Avenue and sat on the steps of an Episcopal church as I waited near the 23rd street entrance. 

BWFFD: 5 west + 3 north= 85

I sat on the steps and waited.  I watched the massive amount of people, they just kept coming, who were walking north and waited.  After about two hours it was starting to get dark and I still had not gotten through to my friend Allison.  This guy named Terence came by and asked me where the Episcopal church was.  I said I think this was it.  He showed me this piece of paper and told me that he had to go to a Narcotics Anonymous meeting, and asked me if I knew where it was.  I told him it was probably cancelled because of the Blackout.  He said he wanted to make sure and wandered off.  About fifteen minutes later he reappeared and said that I was probably right.  He started to complain that he had to walk all the way to Harlem, and had wasted his afternoon.  I told him I had him beat because it looked like I might have to walk all the way to Westchester.  He commiserated with me and then told me that I should probably walk up to 42nd and Eighth, which is the Port Authority.  It was the biggest bus station in New York and they had to have a bus going to Westchester.  I don't know why I took the advice of someone going to a Narcotics Anonymous meeting, but my options were dwindling and I figured I might as well check it out.

BWFFD: 85

I started moving north.  In the twilight I passed the Empire State Building, and it was actually kind of pretty with no lights on.  You could see its reflection perfectly in the windows of the other buildings.  I also walked through the southern cusp of Times Square.  The only reason I knew it was Times Square was because of the huge billboards.  The lights that make the square famous were not on, so it didn't seem spectacular.  I am sure that when I see Times Square with all the lights on, the difference will strike me.  I made it to the Port Authority and all I could see was a mass of forty thousand people trying to push their way onto a line of busses.  There were a couple people freaking out on cell-phones yelling at someone to come and get them.  I tried to make my way near the busses to find out what the plan was, and soon realized that there probably wasn't one.  The stress level was extremely high and It felt like the crowd was one accidental elbow away from rioting.  I realized that it would take me at least three hours to get on a bus, and since I didn't even know where the busses were going, I decided to sit down on the curb across the street from the Port Authority and watch the action unfold.  Since I had nothing to lose I tried Allison and Gavin, my cousin, one more time.  I didn't get through, so I called my parents to see if they had heard from either one of them, and to lament on my predicament.  When I talked to my mom she said that Gavin had called and said that he was staying with a teacher on 90th and Broadway in the Upper West End.  I wrote down the information and started to deliberate on what I should do.  About that time a lady in a volunteer police shirt riding a bicycle rode up to the area I was sitting and started to address the crowd.  She stated that the only way to get off Manhattan Island was to either walk over one of the bridges, or to get on one of the busses behind her.  The subways were not running because they ran on electricity; and the ferries had run out of gas, and could not refuel because they needed electricity to pump gas.  I asked her where the busses were going and she said that all the busses were going to the Meadow Lands, where they would sort everyone out and send everyone to where they needed to go.  I was on 42nd and Eighth and I had two options.  Go to New Jersey and spend all night with a crowd of crazy people trying to get home, or walk 50 blocks and sleep on a floor.  I hadn't ever really heard nice things about New Jersey (I still stick by that statement), but I was also dead tired from walking all day.  What would I do?

BWFFD: 3 west + 19 north= 106

Screw New Jersey, I'm walking.  It was pretty much dark, and I figured that I had better get where I was going soon.  I remembered that Broadway crossed over Eighth Ave in Columbus Circle so I started north at a nice clip.  I decided that it would probably be a good idea to stay on streets that had pedestrian traffic and not become isolated in the dark. If something bad were to happen, it would probably occur on a deserted street I reasoned.  As I moved north from Times Square there were less and less people.  I reached Columbus Circle and veered to the left on what I was pretty sure was Broadway.  It was pretty dark and every so often someone would shine their flashlight in your eyes, totally destroying your night vision, so you couldn't see the street signs.  I guessed right at that intersection, however where Broadway separates from Amsterdam I guessed wrong.  I didn't realize the mistake till I was on 85th street, but it wasn't that big of a deal since I knew that Broadway was one block to the west.  I decided that I might as well get it over with and walked quickly down the darkened street.  I remembered the apartment was numbered 14b and I realized that when I got there, I would probably have to climb up 13 flights of stairs in the dark.  I found 90th street and the building the apartment was in, bummed a cigarette from the doorman and sat down to relax for a second.

BWFFD: 2.5 blocks west + 48 north= 156.5

I asked the doorman how to get to 14B and he told me to take a left once I got in the building.  You will walk up a half flight of stairs, take a right at the top of the stairs and then walk up to the fourteenth floor.  I followed his directions, found the stairwell and slowly made my way up thirteen flights of stairs in the dark.  When I reached the top I found apt. B and noticed that there was no noise coming from inside.  I started to doubt myself and knocked on the door, no answer.  I pulled out my planner and looked at where I had written down the information using a lighter.  14D, wait there are only 3 doors that exit onto this stairwell.  Crap! I said to myself as I started to descend 13 flights of stairs in the dark.  I made it to the bottom and sweat was dripping off of my face from the unconditioned August heat.  The doorman directed me on how to get to 14D.  I climbed thirteen more flights of stairs, knocked on the door, drank three glasses of water in quick succession, and collapsed on the couch.  Finally I could relax.

BWFFD: 156.5

FSFFD: 13 up + 13 down + 13 up= 58

In retrospect I am very lucky that the black out did not occur on the day I arrived.  I can only imagine what trying to lug 6 pieces of luggage, with all of your possessions in it, around a city in chaos, when you are not entirely sure where you are going, would have been like, but I am sure it would have been much worse. I most likely would not have been able to remain sane.  To recap I walked 156 blocks, give or take a few because each block is not uniform and climbed or descended about 58 flights of stairs.  It was almost good, in that it being dropped in the middle of the city during a crises, forced me to learn the layout of the city, well Manhattan a lot quicker than I would have otherwise.  Besides it will make a great story to tell the kids someday.  My cousin and I made it back to our house the next day at about 7pm.  We waited all day for the subways to start running, bumming around central park and the upper west side, and ended up taking a two hour bus ride through the Bronx home.  I have been extremely busy writing cover letters and sending resumes, and have a job selling tickets for the New York City Opera.  I also have had several interviews and think I bagged a job working for Musicians On Call.  Hope everything is going well in your lives too.