Blogs from New Jersey, United States, North America - page 12

Ah….New Jersey…the “Garden” state…AKA the BIGGEST misnomer in this country…comparing New Jersey to anything as beautiful and non-polluted as a garden would be quite similar to calling Seattle “The Sunshine City” or labeling Florida “The Snowshoe State”. I have had a viscous grudge with New Jersey for pretty much my entire life, and literally have nearly vomited and cried at the same time every time i pass through that part of state right on the other side of the river from Manhattan. I always thought to myself that this must be the worst place in the entire country…that nothing could possibly look worse than this, and that I never want to come back here again. And for the most part…i still believe that to be true, but what I failed to realize all those years is ... read more

Another Element of Complexity: It started with my sailing club in Queens, NY. There I met Bob, an ex Catholic seminarian who, when he found out about my trip to Vietnam with a priest, told me to look up a former seminary classmate, Julio, who is in Vietnam, but in recent years has stopped attending the class's annual reunion. Julio did become a priest, first a Maryknoll missionary assigned to Vietnam, and then a Jesuit who stayed there; 40 years in fact, working with Loyola University that is affiliated with a nurse training program there. "Look him up," Bob said. But he didn't have Julio's contact info. So I had to contact another ex seminarian, Steve, who had all the dope. I emailed Julio advsing him that Fr. Luke said I only had a tiny window ... read more

For too brief a time I was heading back to America to visit my family. I never thought while I was here I was going to venture back home, but when my mom, aunt and brother could visit Thailand leaving behind my dad and other brother I was willing to make my own trek home to see them.Ok I wasn’t just willing I was uber excited. I had decided to head home in October for a number of reasons but the two biggest being Michael, my youngest brother, was turning 21 and my all time favorite holiday ever, Halloween, lured me home. True the fall weather was a bit horrifying, but I was slightly excited to wear a sweater again so it wasn’t to much of a set back to know I would be home when ... read more

Day 33 Did I mention that I was anxious to get home? I woke at 3 am and couldn't get back to sleep, so I got up at 4 and went to the breakfast room to work on the netbook. I went too the room and woke Bill and Rick, hoping to leave by 6 - 6:30. Alas, it was not to be. I felt like I was herding cats, trying to get those two moving. We left at 7 and then I wasted 15 minutes by making a wrong turn into Lexington (at least we got to see the Citadel). It was very cold (39 degrees) and threatened rain. At our first gas stop we learned that Bills gloves were not working. So he said he wanted to stop at a Harley dealer to replace ... read more

Saturday morning found me in a hotel in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The good thing about weekends when you’re on holidays is that the hotel breakfast is usually open later than normal. As I didn’t have too much planned, and far less to travel than some previous days, I had a lazy morning and didn’t get on my way until 11am. I was a little apprehensive too, because the area I was travelling to was expecting a big thunderstorm in the afternoon, with possible tornadoes! Lancaster is in the middle of “Dutch country”, which means that one of the local tourist attractions is the local Amish communities. So I had been planning to check that out, but judging by the pamphlets at the hotel, it seemed overly touristy and really only seemed to offer buggy rides and genuine ... read more