Its kind of scary to think that I just celebrated (and by celebrated I mean realized) my one-month anniversary in the Big Apple. Time sure does fly by when you are having fun. My oldest sister recently visited me, which was a treat to have a piece of home here right in my own apartment. We enjoyed the time spent together and I can’t wait for the next visitors to come along.

I had to run to best buy for work the other day in Columbus Circle right by central park, after waiting patiently for twenty minutes for the incompetent sales associates to find the order I thought the least I could do to pass the time waiting would be to help myself to a mint in the bowl on the counter. I reached into the bowl for a mint and even noticed the sign that said ‘MINTS FOR OUR FRIENDS’ I tasted one and it was not good at all. It was bitter, and dry tasting, one of the worst mints I had ever tasted before in my life. Maybe Best Buy should stick to electronics rather than food. Stepping aside for another customer to be helped, I huffed and puffed as I waited. The customer being helped at the counter was returning an item and I notice she had her puppy with her. (Everyone is allowed to brig their dogs EVERYWHERE in this city!) She also must have been attracted to the free mints in the bowl. She reached in and took one for her dog. Ladies and gentlemen, mints for dogs, yes my friends… they are Scooby snacks and I consumed and digested a dog biscuit. I haven’t been back to that Best Buy since.

I had the opportunity to see our Vice President and his wife on Valentines night. The Bidens were coming out of a Broadway play and we saw all of the secret service around. We stopped and watched as they walked out of the theater and waved and greeted all of us. Very interesting to be standing in the land of liberals as I was born and raised in the community of conservatives. There were many cheers and some booing but I just stood and watched, figured it was more patriotic?

And finally operation extreme Makeover Queens edition hit our house this week. I spent all week and part of weekend giving this place a new facelift. It was needed and LONG OVERDUE and I have only been here a month. It was long nights and early mornings on top of the days work, but I think its much more modern and homey feeling now. It was hard work, especially the one mile walk with twelve gallons of paint and primer that took me an hour to complete, but worth it…What do you think? Check out the pictures.

Lastly, I received news that our church is closing its main location to add two new locations in Manhattan. This brings our total campuses to five locations and we are spreading and growing. The commute will be longer, but after all its church and its worth it. We have small growth group meeting on Tuesday nights that we get together for Bible study and devotion. We call it power hour, a great time of fellowship and time to share in faith with other younger people my age who attend the same church as I do, spread through all kinds of professions, made up of different races, all coming together for one reason. It’s pretty cool when you think about it.
Hope all is well and you can expect a video soon. Within the week I promise!

Peace, Love and NYC,
DILLON

How things are different when on your own

It has been quite an experience to say the least , living on my own for real, for the first time, rent, bills, cooking and grocery shopping! Oh the joys that life brings when going to the grocery store here in NYC. Obviously you have to walk there, and yeah carry the groceries home, so when pacing the isles of the supermarket shopping for what you need and looking at the weight of the product rather than the calories or nutritional values. Weight means a lot! And there is something else at the grocery store here in

 the city that is a foreign concept to me it’s a “c word that I learned here. COUPON! Ha ha ha I have never in my life cut out and used coupons, until now. And then the shopping itself was an experience. Salad dressing needed. I reach for the Hidden Valley. To bad the only thing ‘hidden’ was the extra cost, but how am I to be blamed I was just grabbing what I was familiar with, its what momma did. Its funny because when you are watching the budget here in NYC, you reach for PathMark, the equivalent of  the GreatValue brand. Its taking some getting used to. One thing you cant find in a store up here is King Cake, of which my mom hooked me up with, and I schooled all these Yankees on what it was and shared it with them. My girlfriend sent me some Louisiana seasoning gift pack which will be used VERY quickly as we are almost out of the Tony’s we had already.

Work is going well, although still unpaid…. Yeah unpaid. No lie everyone else in the office got paid after we were told it takes two weeks to process new employees? Okay I will let that one slide, but when they all got their paychecks how in the world did you not have mind? What did I do wrong to the payroll department? I need my money just like they need there’s. oh it was not a good Thursday. AT ALL! So I have given them my patience and respect, and am expecting and hoping I have some ‘petty cash’ if you will by next Thursday or I will introduce myself to Sean McManus, the President of CBS News and Sports, what an opportunity to meet him! Ha ha ha you know me.

Everything else is great, its been a blast and time is flying by unbelievably fast. It has been fun, COLD, and exciting. I have posted another video and this one is playing a game. You know I like my game shows so here is my chance to host one.  And the video is below, I hope you play along!

Peace, Love and NYC,

Dillon