Freaking amazing. Ben and Jenn… seriously- You two rock times a million. Thank you thank you thank you. Saying good bye is going to SUCK but in the meantime we’re enjoying every NY minute 
Here is the link to the pics I have uploaded *so* far. I’m tired and tomorrow is Comic Con!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24778657@N07/
I’m going to re-post what Ben wrote on AG that captures our first few hours. In the meantime- I may copy/paste what I wrote to Jesse because it’s quick, it sums up today… and I’m SO tired. It’s 10:30 here and I should still be on PST time (7:30pm) but I adapt quickly.
(from Jesse’s blog) Me too- I have to start blogging! Today- Empire State Building- amazing. And entire construction team stopped traffic for us to cross, we’re treated like celebs going into ANY building (they’re SO great to Jonathon!) I lost my purse/backpack with Jonathon’s meds- I was freaked! NO!!!!!!!! I thought it was stolen! Apparently when lifting Jonathon’s chair down steps, they fell off out in the street, the ppl at the Empire State building found it and were all on alert- and we walked out of a store, I was panicked- they recognized us immediately and led us to the basement to get our stuff… SO nice and OMG this city is magical. We spent two hours in Time Square getting pics of EVERYTHING and Jonathon with the NYPD cops… amazing. Okay, I should start writing this down and getting my pics uploaded that Ben didn’t post on AG. Freaking amazing. I’m currently waiting for our food from Skyline Diner to deliver (FREE delivery!!- of course I’ll tip) But dude, friendliest people EVER. I was standing outside and 4 thug looking people walked by, we all exchanged beaming “Good morning”’s Nothing can top this ever.
Our first day in New York, we’re accused of Terrorism and make it on National Television with Teddy Atlas and Chaz Witherspoon
Yes, we’re an aspiring bunch. Dawn with her camera got us into a bit of a spot with a tollbooth dude who essentially insinuated that people taking pictures of New York (i.e. tourists) are, you know, terrorists. After warning us that we could spend up to 5 days in the clink and have to pay lots of money, he then gave us directions to where we needed to go.
Because terrorists need directions too, I guess.
But then, the awesomeness factor started to magnify. We were in Manhattan! Our hotel was easy to find and extremely vertical in nature. About 10 feet wide and six hundred tall. A nice place all in all. Jonathon has made it to NYC for ComicCon!
We hurried into our rooms, got organized and found out that we were definitely in for a treat.
Yes, that’s Teddy Atlas. And Teddy Atlas is truly an awesome guy. Thanks to the Dr. Theodore Atlas foundation who helped in a big way to make this trip possible, we are here in New York. Thanks to Teddy, Russ and the folks at ESPN and to boxer Gentleman Chazz Witherspoon, our trip, our first half day in NYC has already been amazing.
A few days ago we heard from our friend in the sports world Russ. Russ works with ESPN on the Wednesday Night Fights. Through some of the fine folks who work with him, he let us know that he was able to get us into the fight tonight. We were jazzed. We thought we’d be seeing the fights, Russ and Teddy would get to meet Jonathon and we’d all have a good time.
Did we ever! We were ringside for the fights. Not just ringside seats, but sitting right behind the bell itself, behind Teddy and ahead of the crowd. It was amazing. Teddy came right over and gave Jonathon a huge welcome, and continued to talk with him throughout the fights. He will always remain in my mind now a wonderful person. First with helping us to get here and now with just being a great guy.
After Gentleman Chazz fought (and won) we all got a big surprise. Chazz came out of the ring after being declared winner, shook a few hands, came right over to Jonathon and gave him his gloves. What a trip-defining moment – it was really amazing.
Chazz came back towards the end of our evening and signed Jonathon’s gloves for him, got some information and promised to send Jonathon some cool stuff. Russ came out of the ESPN trailer afterwards to inform us that Jonathon had been on National television as Chazz hung out with him. Wow.
I was excited about this trip before, now I am truly exhilarated! We all want Jonathon to have a good time and now I know that he’s already had a great time and we’re only on day one. I know that the look on Jonathon’s face made my week already. This whole trip has already been worth it. Here’s to an amazing four more days with Jonathon and the rest of us here on the ArsGeek crew. And thanks again to everyone who made this trip possible. You all rock in a big way.
-Ben
Since Ben has been kicking butt with energy and posting, lol here’s his posting of our events today:
Today we all took the opportunity to sleep in a bit. We had to be at Javitz around noon to pick up our press credentials. As we strolled through the convention center, we goggled at all the ComicCon related things going up left and right. Superheroes, villains, aliens, dudes from Hell – it was all here, and so were we!
Having hung out at Javitz for an hour or so and gotten our press passes, we decided to take in the sites. We had a tour of the Cartooning department at the New York School of Visual Arts, thanks to Christopher for setting that up! From there we strolled to the Empire State Building, then to a great Comic Book store and then to the .99 cent store. Then. . . horror. Dawn went to pay for some items and her bag, along with Jonathon’s, was gone. We panicked, ran around for a bit and found our way back to the comic book store. No bag. Had we been robbed? The bags were definitely gone, and we had them when we left the Empire State Building.
Then, as we were heading down to an intersection to cross the street, an Empire State Building employee popped his head out of another store and said “Hey, did you guys leave some bags behind?” We all pretty much staggered about with relief. Dawn got everything back from a large number of great people. In fact, everyone we’ve met on this trip has been amazing. A construction crew went out of their way to stop traffic and help us through some sidewalk work and across the street. We met a couple of nice gentlemen who had come over from the UK for the convention and chatted for a bit and generally had a great time.
Times square is just as big and bright and crowded as it appears in movies and just as much fun. Lots of pictures were taken and we’ve all walked an awful lot today.
Here’s Jonathon with two of New York’s finest. We’re really loving New York – so thanks to all of you New Yorkers who’ve made our stay great so far! Tomorrow, at 10 am the doors open to the press and professionals and we’ll be there!
[tags]comic con, comiccon, nycc, new york, nyc, javitz, just wow[/tags]
Current Mood:
Thankful
Ya know what, I think its funny and kinda cool, that You, Jonanthan, and I all got to see NY city under “different” circumstances. I too had the VIP access all over the city, and nothing for me, will ever compare to seeing my Uncle again free, on American soil. It was just as unreal, and amazing to me as your trip sounds to be going so far. Take it all in, and take lots of pictures, cause that city will wrap you up, and you will be getting on a plane to come home in the blink of an eye, with nothing but amazing memories all the way home, unless your plane gets diverted to colorado springs, and you have to sit on a runway for 3 hours, while thunderstorms clear out of the denver area, and you are trapped unable to smoke. Anyways!! Have a blasty blast, and find me some Blair Butler.
Unrelated note, did you know that your website looks better in Safari (Mac native browser) than IE (Created by digital satan Mr Gates) ?
There are always ninjas. You never see them coming until they have you in the Element and heading east to Boston. >:)