Let Freedom Sing!: 4th of July in Nashville

Flag Photo I took

My 4th of July started with me having to work, decided to stop at McDonald's on my way in at 2:30am, did you know they don't serve breakfast yet?  Well, I learned this that day (I think they don't start serving it until closer to 5am) I was kind of disappointed that when I really wanted a bacon, egg, and cheese bagel, I had to settle for a McDouble instead...Note to McDonald's - just serve breakfast all day!

The plan for the day was to work till 10:30, go home and nap, then get up and go downtown for the big free concert/fireworks show called "Let Freedom Sing!" - This year's concert featured former American Idol contestant - Lacey Brown, NBC's "The Sing-Off "local contestants - Street Corner Symphony, The Nashville Symphony Orchestra, and Darius Rucker (formerly known as Hootie from Hootie and the Blowfish, he's now a country music perfomer).  According to AOL, Nashville ranks 11th on their list of top 15 4th of July fireworks displays so I was super excited because I LOVE fireworks!

Boscoes

Well, in my downtime at work I was on twitter (as I always am) and talking to my friend Sandra, she suggested we go to Pancake Pantry.  Having never been there I was excited to check it out because I've heard such amazing things about it, it's a local hot spot.  However, being a holiday it was extra busy and I didn't have time to wait in the line (there's always a line) for an hour before I ate.  We drove down the street a little, we were gonna go to McDougal's Chicken but they were closed for the holiday, so instead we went to Bosco's Brewhouse.  I got the Germantown Purist wood-fire pizza: BBQ Chicken and Shaved Red Onions with Smoked and Whole Milk Mozzarella. It was really good!

Look at all the people!

I got home and took a short nap before getting ready to drive downtown for the festivities.  After watching the news at 4pm, I decided to try and park in a surface lot even if it cost more because it would be easier to leave after the show ended.  I found a lot around 5th and Church for $20 and walked the 5 blocks down to the riverfront.  I got there around 6ish (the concert was set to start at 7) and there was hardly any place to sit on the lawn.  Luckily I'm one person so I was able to squeeze my way in there but there were somewhere around 125,000 people downtown that night.  I'm not sure I've ever been in a crowd so large before, I mean I was briefly at CMA Fest this year but didn't really see the crowds.

Lacey Brown

Former American Idol season 9 contestant, Lacey Brown, sang the National Anthem to kick things off around 7pm.  Barry Scott read something called "I am the American Flag" with the Nashville Symphony Orchestra playing behind him, very moving.  Next up was Street Corner Symphony, a local acapella group who competed on NBC's "The Sing-Off", they were pretty good.  Then the Nashville Symphony played (I need to go see them play indoors sometime).  And finally the main act, Darius Rucker came on stage.  He played some of his country hits, some Hootie hits, and some popular cover songs like "Family Tradition" by Hank Williams, Jr.  He ended the night with a performance with the Symphony, singing "Purple Rain".

stage

Darius Rucker

Following the concert was an approximately 20 minute firework display over the river in front of LP Field (where the Titans play) synced to music played live by the Nashville Symphony.  Granted I could barely hear the music b/c I was so close but the fireworks were by far the best I'd ever seen!  I thought I had video recorded them; however, when I got home the file on my camera was corrupted (I need a new camera).  The entire concert was broadcast over Sirius Satellite Radio channel "The Highway" as well as a local TV station.  On my way out I got a BBQ pulled pork sandwich from a street vendor (not a restaurant stand just a generic food truck) it was pretty darn good!

The drive home was the killer, what should have taken me 15 minutes took me 1 hour and 20 minutes.  It was a smart decision to park in the surface lot but it still took forever to get to the freeway and then on the freeway traffic was slow as well!  I think there was an accident somewhere that slowed down lanes but I got home pretty late so not a lot of sleep was had before work on Tuesday. 

Here are a few clips of Darius Rucker I recorded, but the rest are posted on my YouTube Channel, you can find a link on the side bar--->









I found these videos on YouTube that someone else recorded of the fireworks and you can here the music here is the last 10 minutes or so of the show





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On Tuesday I had to work extra long because we were moving into a temporary studio while we do construction on the old one for a whole new set.  I had to stay and help move things to the new studio plus make sure I was aware of things I would need to know for my shift the next day with all the changes we were making.  After I left work I tried a new restaurant located in Nashville West called Blue Coast Burrito.  It's a Chipotle/Qdoba type burrito place but not as good.  They have a lot of choices for things to put in your burrito but the flavor isn't as good, however they do have queso which was good.

Wednesday was the slowest day for me in terms of things that I did.  I came home from work, took a short nap and then watched the Indians beat the Yankees on ESPN's Wednesday night baseball.  I don't get to watch the Indians that much since they are never on TV here (or anywhere I have lived since I moved out of my parents house) so I try to take advantage of their nationally televised games.

Thursday concluded my 6th straight day of work and the Casey Anthony sentencing took over the last few of our Today Show cut-ins so that was kind of nice.  For lunch I used the first of my many freebies I received for my birthday.

Side note: if you Google birthday freebies you will get several sites that list restaurants and businesses that will give you free things for your birthday (mostly if you sign up for their email list but hey it's free food)  I plan to get a lot of free meals in the coming weeks because many of the free things don't expire until a few days or even weeks after your birthday.

So I went to Moe's Southwest Grill for lunch to utilize my free entree coupon for my birthday.  I got a chicken bacon ranch quesadilla and it was awesome! plus somehow managed to score free queso as well b/c the guy didn't write it on the box and the girl at the register didn't look!

Outside the Frist

Since I had Friday off I decided to go check out the Andy Warhol exhibit at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts downtown.  On Thursday and Friday after 5pm they offer free admission with a college ID so I showed my Purdue ID and got in for free! (I use my Purdue ID all the time, until I stop looking like my picture I will continue to use it)  I only had to pay for parking and the museum validates for their lot so it only cost me $4 to park.

The Warhol Live exhibit was very large and pretty cool.  I really enjoyed the Elvis piece, as well as one he did with a photo of a car wreck from a Newsweek Magazine, it was kind of disturbing yet intriguing at the same tie.  There were also several of his videos or short movies he did playing in different locations.  He did a lot of artwork for album covers too which was interesting.  You weren't supposed to take photos but here are a few I snapped with my iphone:

Dolly Parton

Warhol self portrait

Boaz Vaadia sculpture

I also checked out the other exhibits while I was there too.  The Andrews Shaker Collection was upstairs which consisted of a lot of clothing and furniture built by the Shakers.  There was also a collection of Vesna Pavlovic’s photos.  There's also a sculpture outside the museum from Boaz Vaadia

After I was finished looking around at the art I stopped by the cafe to listen to Blue Canary who were performing.  They were decent, I listed to about 3 songs then decided to go home.  I was there for about 2 hours and it only cost me $4! not too shabby! 

Pretty good Monday thru Thursday, can't wait to tell you what I did over the weekend!

Food: Boscoes, Street Vendor Pulled Pork, Blue Coast Burrito, Moe's (again)
Bars/Music: Riverfront 4th of July Concert

Busy Week Two in Music City (6/27-7/3)

Last Minute Plans can be the best nights

Sometime Sunday afternoon, I was on twitter and one of the people I talk to told me I should go see a singer/songwriter who was performing at 12th & Porter (a bar) on Monday night, her name is Jenn Bostic (and let me tell you, if you haven't heard her sing, go to YouTube and listen...but I'll do y'all afavor and post a few video clips in here).  Monday I started my training on the morning show, therefore Monday-Wednesday I had to be at work at 2:30am.  Going out on a Monday night might prove a little difficult.  In order to manage, I forced myself to take a nap when I got home from work at 11am.  I was only able to get about 2-3 hours in before maintenance showed up but hey it was something.

Jenn Bostic

 My friend who lives in Tuscaloosa, Alabama was planning on coming up to Nashville Monday for a visit so I asked her if she would like to go listen to Jenn and the other people performing that night (4 in all).  She said sure, so I called the bar to make sure we could buy tickets at the door (the website said $8 - and that was for all 4 performers - but when we got there the guy at the door only charged us $4: SCORE!)  The concert was technically a Natalie Stovall concert and Jenn Bostic, Julie

Natalie Stovall & band

Roberts, and Jeff Allan were all performing as well.  Jenn was first and blew me away! I had heard about her from following Kristin Chenoweth on twitter, a few weeks back Kristin tweeted that if you like Sara Bareilles, check out Jenn Bostic...as it turns out she was right, this girl is amazing.  But Natalie Stovall was really incredible too! The girl plays the fiddle like no one's business, she played "Devil Went Down to Georgia" and it was good! (that's a tough song).  Jeff Allan's songs were great (he played with Natalie's band).  Julie Roberts was battling laryngitis so she was a little off but still not terrible.  Natalie closed her set with a mash-up of 80's cover songs and it was crazy awesome! I didn't make it home until about midnight so I decided it was pointless to go to sleep so I just stayed up till I had to be at work on Tuesday at 2:30am...Let's just say Tuesday was a coffee day :-)

Here are some Jenn Bostic and Natalie Stovall youtube clips from their personal channels(none of these videos are from the night I was there):

Jenn Bostic's music video for "Jealous of the Angels"


Jenn Bostic's "Missing a Man"


Natalie Stovall "Devil Went Down to Georgia"


Natalie playing rock medley on fiddle at a concert in Chicago


Natalie Stovall original "Standing my Ground"


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cupcake w my Cars2 juice box

So after all that awesome fun I had on Monday night, Tuesday was a very sleepy day for me at work, but I soldiered on and when I got home my friend (from Alabama) was getting ready to go visit our friend who lives in Spring Hill (about 30 min south of me).  I asked her if she would take Riley with her to play with their dog, Harper, so I could sleep without having to listen to Riley barking at things.  So Stephanie (my friend from Alabama) took Riley and went down to Laurie's house in Spring Hill.  I laid down and slept for most of the afternoon and it was great.  Woke up around 5:30 and drove down to Spring Hill to meet up with them and have dinner.  We just got bdubs but it was still good and then the 5 of us (Me, Steph, Laurie, Anthony - Laurie's husband, and Annie - Laurie's daughter) all had a Gigi's cupcake - If you are not lucky enough to have a Gigi's cupcakes where you live, I'm sorry but if you ever come visit me I will gladly take you to get one :) They're kind of hard to eat because they put so much frosting on them but who doesn't love frosting?  When Steph and I got back to my place we put on Anchorman and fell asleep in the living room, but don't worry I set my alarm and made it up for work on Wednesday.

Wednesday was my Friday this week and I was very excited to have a few days off work.  Things were going well and I was getting very comfortable learning the system but needed to sleep!  But sleep would have to wait because I had plans on Wednesday night!  Nashville Scene (a magazine with local events and stuff in it - Cleveland has a similar magazine called Cleveland Scene) was sponsoring an event called Movies in the Park and this week they were showing "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" at

Chillin' on our polar bear blanket

Centennial Park near Vanderbilt's campus.  One of the main reasons I wanted to go to the movie was because one of the food vendors happened to be The Grilled Cheeserie, a food truck in Nashville that serves, you guessed it, grilled cheese.  However I laid down for a nap and didn't drive over to the park until about 6:45pm, after driving and parking and walking I got to the location shortly after 7 (the movie didn't start till the sun went down sometime after 8).  Oh yeah did I forget to mention I brought Riley with me?  Well Riley and I grabbed our blanket and got to the location and started to wait in line for a grilled cheese.  Riley of course wanted to socialize with everyone and eat anything he could find on the ground but for the most part he was behaved.  Well after standing in line for about 10 minutes or so, someone came out and said they were out of bread - that's the end of that, can't have a grilled cheese without bread so no Grilled Cheeserie for me that night, had to settle for chicken nachos from Moe's Southwest Grill (which I've been to in the past, there was one in Lafayette, IN).  I had to contain Riley for a while during the movie, especially when a little girl on the blanket next to us kept trying to give him food.  In retrospect the only thing that would have made the night better was if I had brought a pillow.  Nice relaxing night, watching a movie outside with the dog, and the girls sitting behind me loved Riley so they gave him plenty of attention.

Thursday I wen to the DMV and officially traded in my Ohio drivers license for a Tennessee one, I had to do it quick because it expires on my birthday which is fast approaching.  After the 2 hour ordeal at the DMV I went to grab lunch at Firehouse Subs.  I had seen this franchise when I was interviewing in South Carolina a few years back but never tried it.  Overall, the sub was good but it's kind of pricey (ala Jersey Mike's).  They have Cherry Limeade but it's no where near as good as Sonic!  Hit up Publix (grocery store) after since I had not yet been grocery shopping and had been here almost 2 full weeks but thanks to my friends Laurie and Steph who as a welcoming present gave me some money to buy groceries, I decided I should go.  I've since decided that I will no longer be shopping at Publix as it is more expensive than Kroger.

Yum!

Saturday was yet another last minute decision to do something day.  I had to work in the morning from 4:30-8:30am.  At night at Vanderbilt's football stadium, U2 was performing (along with Florence and the Machine).  Laurie suggested I go to Centennial Park, I should be able to hear it.  That was the plan the whole day.  After I got out of work and took a nap I was no longer sure I wanted to go, it was very hot and sticky outside and I wasn't sure I wanted to sit outside.  However I had talked up going to Pinkberry all day (if you've never heard of the awesomeness that is Pinkberry I'm sorry, bet your butt to one it's great!), and Pinkberry is also on Vanderbilt's campus.  I decided I would at least drive over there and get the fro-yo.  As I was driving down West End Ave., I rolled down my window and could very clearly hear Florence and the Machine playing.  That was it I decided I needed to eat my yogurt and go to the park and listen.  I parked my car WAY in the back of the park and walked up to the front and sat on the stone wall facing the stadium.  U2 didn't start for about another 45 minutes but when they did, I could hear the concert perfectly! What a brilliant idea, free concert, not to mention that where I was sitting I could also see the Jumbotron inside the stadium!  I listened to the entire concert, despite the fact that I had to work at 4:30am the next day.  It was a genius idea and I'm glad I decided to go hear a "free" concert!

Here are a few pics I took at the U2 "concert"

That tall spire is part of U2's set

Centennial Park, view of Parthenon

That pretty much sums up week 2 in Nashville, stay tuned for week 3 of adventures, including one of the best 4th of July fireworks displays I've ever seen! I'll share video and audio and pictures (oh my!)

Food During Week 2: GiGi's Cupcakes, Moe's Southwest Grill, Firehouse Subs, Pinkberry (granted I'd been to all but Firehouse before)
Bars/Music during week 2: 12th & Porter

Week One in Music City (6/17-6/26)

THE MOVE

My moving truck rolled in to town on Friday, June 17th sometime in the evening.  I want to point out the irony that the song playing on the radio when I crossed the Ohio river into Kentucky was the same song playing on the radio as I drove through downtown Nashville entering my new home - Garth Brooks "Friends in Low Places", which by the way is an awesome song!  The next several 2 days were spent unpacking and arranging furniture and hanging all my stuff on the walls.  My parents and I were on the ball and got me all settled in 2 days! And of course it would not have been possible with out the help of some great friends down here as well, without them my truck would have never even got unloaded!  I only hope that the Miller Lite and Pizza Hut was a somewhat decent form of payment.

Saturday was spent unpacking pretty much all day, only one quick trip to Target.  Went to Jack in the Box for dinner that night, my parents had never been and I hadn't had Jack since 2008 in California.  The guys messed up everyone's order but we moved on.

That Sunday the 19th was Father's Day so my parents and I actually went out to dinner near the Vanderbilt campus to a place called J. Alexander's, it has several locations so you may have been to one where you live.  It was delicious, steak and mashed potatoes (and boy do they give you a lot of mashed potatoes!)  None of us could finish our meals and I luckily got to keep all the leftovers since my parents were leaving in the morning (score!)

Food had during moving weekend: Jack in the Box, J Alexanders

WEEK ONE

Monday June 20th was my very first day at my new job.  By lunch I felt like I was home, I knew I made the right decision coming here.  I love the station and the people and I was learning everything quickly and easing my way into my new setting.

As it turns out one of my very best friends from Purdue happened to be in town on business my first week in town.  So, Tuesday night we decided to meet up.  We had dinner at a restaurant near Vanderbilt again, the place is called Amerigo's and it's an Italian restaurant (funny story there is that Monday night a taxi actually drove through the front window of the restaurant after being hit from behind, there was a giant tarp over the window that night when we ate there).  The food was good and not too pricey either, and again I scored all the leftovers since my friend was staying in a hotel and had no way to keep them!  After dinner we drove downtown and decided to walk

View of Honkey Tonk Row at night

around lower Broadway aka Honkey Tonk Row, or as some call it "NashVegas" and from what I can gather, they call it that b/c of all the neon lights and signs it looks similar to the way the strip in Vegas is lit up.  We parked down closest to the river and walked up the street as far as Bridgestone Arena (which is where the Nashville Predators hockey team plays and also where the NKOTB/BSB concert was going on that very night).  We hit a little tourist type gift shop and looked around (I grabbed a new postcard for my collection), while inside the store employee started telling me about a lot of great places to check out (of course I can't remember any of them but it was nice of her to share) and also said that the guy playing tonight at The Wheel was really good and we should go listen.  After walking all the way down to the arena we circled back on the other side of the street a ways and decided to just pick a bar and go in.  So my very first bar in Nashville was Tootsies Orchid Lounge.

Tootsies was really fun, it has two levels and there were two different bands playing, one on the first floor and one upstairs on the second.  Tara and i made our way upstairs since the downstairs area seemed pretty crowded.  It amazed me that both of those bands could be playing and you couldn't hear the other one where u were!  The band upstairs played cover songs, dedicated "Courtesy of the Red White and Blue" by Toby Keith to all members of the military (which my friend Tara is - Air National Guard) so she really enjoyed that, AND the lead female singer's name was Tara as well so she had a double whammy that night.  The lead male singer did a little walk through the bar sing-a-long to the song that was following me around "Friends in Low Places" which of course I participated in because I actually know the words to that song (Tara didn't want to sing in the microphone).  After a few drinks we decided to check out another bar.

Our next stop was the bar the girl at the gift shop recommended The Wheel.  This place was not very crowded at all, maybe 10 other people in there.  The band hadn't started to play yet when we got there so we got a beer and just chilled out and watched the band set up.  The guy had a really good voice but probably catered to a more middle aged crowd.  The weirdest part was when this group of girls came in with a camera man.  I'm still not sure what was going on and the band even asked her if she was filming a reality show but not sure what her answer was because she was up near the band and we were sitting kind of far back.  No matter what she was doing with her own camera man it was a strange sight to see.  We only stayed long enough to drink one beer then decided it was time to hit another bar.

Next on the list was another big name bar on Broadway, The Stage.  I had heard of this place (as well as Tootsies) from watching CMT's Next Superstar, the contestants performed here on night (which reminds me I need to find out when they start filming the next season).  This place was probably the biggest of the 3 we hit, and by the time we got here the NKOTB/BSB concert had let out so the bars had gotten more crowded (even for a Tuesday night).  The band here was also playing cover music they played a lot of really fun songs.  There was this shorter guy in the band that jumped around a lot it was crazy, Tara said she wanted to hire him for when she gets married lol.  When the lead singer took the tip jar through the crowd the little jumpy dude sang some old school hip-hop like "This is How we Do It" by Montell Jordan and then some relatively new stuff like "F-ck You" by Celo Green.  Although the band was really just beginning, midnight rolled around and we had to leave because we both had to be at work at 8am Wednesday morning.

All in all it was a great night...the bars on Broadway are really fun but you can tell that most of the people who go there are out-of-towners but still a fun place to go every now and again and there are so many more bars downtown for me to hit up in the future!  Tara and I tried to arrange another time to meet up but work kept us both pretty busy through Thursday night so that night was it for us for the week.  I had Friday and Saturday off work my first week (originally I was supposed to have Saturday and Sunday off but we changed it since I was learning so quickly my sr. director wanted me to learn the weekend morning show).  Considering I will probably not see many Friday and Saturday nights off you would have thought I would go out and enjoy the weekend but alas I stayed home and watched TV hehe.  Sunday I had to be at work at 4:30am anyway so Saturday night was a no go, I almost went to the movies on Friday but couldn't convince myself to get off the couch.  I did spend all day Friday running errands like getting my car title and plates switched over to Tennessee (I know you might say you just got there why rush it, but my OH plates expire on my birthday which is July, 11 so I really only had a few weeks to take care of it).

After one week in Nashville I was already in love and had gone out downtown to the bars...the future only holds many more adventures.  Soon I will post an entry for week two in Music City, eventually I will be in real time with my adventures, and the posts will be shorter :-)

Food during week one: Amerigo's
Bars/Music during week one: Tootsies, The Wheel, The Stage

How I got to Music City

I decided to start this second blog as a way to share my adventures in Nashville with all my friends and family.  Up until now I have lived my entire life in "the North" as a "Yankee" as the southerners call them.  I grew up in a small town about an hour east of Cleveland, Ohio called Ashtabula (don't worry you're not missing anything because you've never heard of it).

After I graduated from high school I packed up for college and made the 7 hour journey to the Hoosier state, and moved into my dorm at Earhart Hall on the campus of Purdue University.  2001 would be the first of my 6 1/2 years in the state of Indiana.  I would only return to Ohio for the summer of 2002 (between my freshman and sophomore years), from that point on Purdue was my home, I made sure to take classes every summer to be able to stay on campus.  I love Purdue and the Lafayette/West Lafayette area.  In 2005 I changed my major from Aeronautical Engineering to Communications and never looked back.  In the summer of 2006 I secured and internship at WLFI, Lafayette's local TV station....

Let me digress for a moment and tell you that it was fated I should end up in a career in television.  As a child I was fascinated with TV.  My first word(s) was even "TV Guide" (or so I'm told).  I have a somewhat unnatural obsession with television.  I watch more shows than a normal person should.  Living with my parents I had my own TV and VCR in my bedroom and the VCR was always set to record something.  My first big obsession show was actually a show in reruns on Nick at Nite - "Bewtiched".  I taped every episode that was on and kept the collection of VHS tapes to watch (of course now the show is available on DVD which I am currently in the process of buying).  My next serious TV obsession was "Savannah", a short lived soap-esq drama on the newly formed WB network, I even did some freelance episode summarizing for a website and in return they sent me a poster and a t-shirt and a few other trinkets.  Just as "Savannah" was ending the next great obsession was beginning..."Buffy the Vampire Slayer".  This show would take me into my college years where the obsession grew and the DVR was invented (this is, in my mind, the greatest invention ever!).  I'm not even going to go into the details of how much TV I DVR in a week but let's just say my other blog TV is My Life pretty much sums it up.  Now back to the post...

After a my summer internship at WLFI was over, I was asked if I would be interested in a part-time position at the station 3 days a week.  Of course I jumped on the opportunity to get my feet wet and continue to learn.  By the end of 2006 the weekend director, who I credit for helping me get to where I am today and whom I still try to keep in contact with, told me she thought I would make a good director and wanted to train me.  And then in the early months of 2007 luck would come my way yet again.  Not one but two directors were planning to move on from WLFI and it was my opportunity for a full-time directing position.  I submitted my resume and continued to train and by April of 2007 I was a full-time employee, and the new weekend director (I was also still a student at Purdue Univeristy - full time).  By the end of summer I went from directing Saturday and Sunday to adding Friday to that list (Fridays were a two anchor show where the weekends were only a one anchor show, Fridays required more attention and quickness).

I was loving life and my job at WLFI, I had no complaints and was not actively searching to move on to a new station when our sister station in Dayton, Ohio sent an email to all of the LIN stations stating they were looking to hire a director and anyone who was interested should apply.  After debating the situation I decided to apply for the position for two reasons.  First, it was a large jump in market size (Lafayette was 189, Dayton was 64 - there are 210 markets), and second, it would bring be back to Ohio and closer to my family (Lafayette was a 7 hour commute where Dayton was only 4).  Fortune came my way again and at the end of April 2008 I was offered the position in Dayton.

In June of 2008 I began work at WDTN in Dayton, Ohio.  This station had a big difference, it ran an automated system for directing.  I had to basically learn how to direct all over again, but I am quick to learn computers and picked up the system within the first 4 weeks of work.  In the 3 years I worked at WDTN I interviewed with several stations and almost left a few times.  In February of 2009 I interviewed at KOCO in Oklahoma City where my former co-worker from WLFI was working.  I was offered the position, originally accepted but then backed out, it just didn't feel right.  In 2010 I interviewed at WCIV in Charleston, SC and at WISH (another sister station) in Indianapolis.  I was offered the position at WISH but again turned the position down.  Then in 2011 I sent out my resumes again and interviewed at WSMV in Nashville, TN.  After a long interview process I was offered the position to direct again using automation but this time the updated HD version of what we had in Dayton.

On June 20, 2011 I started at WSMV.  So here I sit a "Yankee" in the "South".  Nashville is an amazing city, I have been here almost 3 weeks now and have had a blast so far.  In my next post I will catch you up on all the fun I've had in the city so far....So begins the newest chapter of my life....