Meet Metrocard Millie

Welcome to the 6^th floor.

Today's contributors are: Ann, Sara, Billy and Scott.

Subject: Metrocard Millie

“Ugh! Gimme a quad espresso Scott.” Sara says at the register as she enters Starbucks.

“Sure Sara. Ann and Billy are over there.” Scott gestures to the corner. “I’ll bring it over for you.”

“Hey Sara! Didn’t think you were coming. What’s up?”

“Oh, you know. The usual; the MTA sucks.”

“Except the drivers.”

“You at least..”

“Bitching about the stupid celebrity announcements again?”

“Al Roker needs to shut the hell up.”

“Nah, just annoyed that my card didn’t seem to read right this morning, and then it only had 15 cents left on it. What am I supposed to do with 15 cents?”

“Give it Millie.” Scott says, as he brings over Sara’s espresso.

“Er..who is Millie?”

“You haven’t named your nipples again have you Scott? Because I’m not sure how I’d give your nipple a metrocard.”

“No. Millie’s a homeless person that comes in here occasionally. She walks around to all the subway stations and takes the discarded Metrocards hoping to find those nickels and dimes left on them. Then she takes a big pile of ‘em somewhere and gets them converted into cash.”

“Wow, they let her do that? I’d think they laugh at her.”

“I think she must be friendly with someone somewhere, or maybe they take pity on her. I don’t know. But she usually comes in here when she has a good day and gets a hot chocolate.”

“Well good for her. Reclaiming the probably millions of dollars the MTA saves by people discarding these.” Sara says, waving her 15cent metrocard at Scott.

“I asked her what the best stations were, but she wouldn’t tell me. Trade secret I guess.”

“Probably the PATH train stations. Especially 33^rd street.”

“Yeah. PATH fare is 25cents cheaper. Anytime anyone has to hop over to Jersey once they tend to end up with an extraneous dollar on their card or something.”

“I still have an odd-dollar amount from when we went to the Devils game in Newark. I’m hoping to go to another game and even it out though.”

“Well back to work guys. We should go get a beer or something tonight. I haven’t had one all week.”

“I had one already today.”

“Billy..it’s like 10am!”

“And I had one when I got home from work last night at 1am. So there.”

Billy sticks out his tongue at Ann.

“But I could always use another!”

Oblivion

Welcome to the 6^th floor.

Today's contributors are: Ann, Tabitha, Frank, and Scott.

Subject: Oblivious

It’s early afternoon on Tuesday. Tabitha and Ann are headed to Starbucks to get some coffee and see Scott at work.

“I’m in the mood for one of those syrupy, sugary frappachinos.”

“You’re still on a sugar high from Halloween aren’t you?”

“Yeah, I think so. The candy’s almost gone though, and then I can fight through the sugar crash and be okay I think.”

“I’m going to get a hot chocolate. Those new ones are very good.”

“Yes, they certainly are.”

“Hey look, Frank’s here!” Tabitha says, as they walk in.

“Hey Frank! What are you up to?”

“Hi there ladies. Nothing very interesting. Normal poker stuff, chasing this fish..”

“You remember to vote?”

“Vote? Crap..today’s election day?”

“How could you not realize it’s election day? Are you really that oblivious?”

“I haven’t really been paying much attention to anything but work lately. Well, work and beer.”

Scott jogs over, and skids to a stop. “Hi guys. I don’t know how you didn’t realize Frank..there has been so much election talk here today..I’m so sick of it.”

“Well, only one more day and hopefully it’ll be done with.”

“Thankfully. Although, I’m sure I’ll be bored of the teeny-brats talking about Gossip Girl and other such shows just as much.”

“You just love your customers don’t you?”

“Only the annoying ones.”

“Since you’re here, you can take our drink orders!”

“Like this one!” Scott says, ruffling Ann’s hair.

“Extra espresso shot?” Scott asks, as he walks back behind the counter.

Good Books

Welcome to the 6^th floor.

Today's contributors are: Ann, Sara, Tabitha

Subject: Bookworms

Sara's sitting on the couch reading, and Ann and Tabitha are doing the crossword puzzle together in the kitchen.

“I think we're stuck.”

“Me too. But this is pretty good for a Thursday.”

“We did get like three quarters of it. Maybe Sara can help.”

“No thanks. I'm really into my book.”

“You're just staring into space.”

“I'm absorbing.”

“Absorbing?”

“Yeah. You know how a good book makes you sit back, and just take it all in? How you need a moment to catch up to all the good stuff you just read?”

“Aren't you reading a book about beer? What can be so complex about that?”

“It's not just a beer book. It's the Brewmaster's Table. Garrett Oliver is my new hero.”

“Who?”

“Head brewer of Brooklyn Brewery.”

“Oh, nice. It's a good book then? I'm always interested in different types of books.”

“Yeah, you might enjoy this. It's focused around beer pairing with food, but he intersperses a lot of what makes the beers different, some history, who makes them..”

“I'll read it then when you're done. I think Frank was talking about going on a Brooklyn Brewery tour.”

“Yeah, that sounds fun. Especially after reading this. The downside is I've wanted a beer virtually constantly while reading it. 7 am commute to work? Doesn't matter, I want a beer.”

“Beer for breakfast is one of the signs of alcoholism.”

“Nah, that's just Americans and Puritan heritage. Beer was always a regular beverage, it was cleaner than water. Even now, wheat beers are common with breakfast sausages in Germany.”

“So we'll make a plan to go to the Brewery then. You can wow us with all your information from the book, be our special tour guide.”

“I guess I could. At this rate, it won't be long before I'm a beer snob.”

“Getting there! At least it's less pretentious than wine snobs.”

6th Floor Blog Rocks!

Welcome to the 6^th floor.

Today's contributors are: Ann, Sara, Frank

Subject: Opening Night at the Rock

It's Friday night and Sara Is sitting at the table with a beer and a book of second degree black belt level Sodoku when Ann and Frank come home.

“Hey guys, where were you tonight?”

“We went to the Rock.”

“The Rock?”

“Yup. You know, the Prudential Center.”

“You went to Newark? Eww..”

“Devils opening night! Hockey Hockey Hockey!”

“Ahh..I almost turned the Rays/Sox game on, but then I didn't.”

“Islanders put on a poor show sadly. They really could use a shooter.”

“Devils Win! They even looked a little rusty too. The whole game was a little bit sloppy.”

“I don't know why DiPietro didn't start.”

“Me neither. That arena is very nice though.”

“Oh yeah? I'd heard it was a nice place. Better than the Garden?”

“Hell yeah..The Garden's not exactly top of the line you know.”

“And neither are the Rangers!”

“Hey now!”

“And neither are the Knicks!”

“Better. Did you know the Knicks are actually named for beer?”

“Really? I might have to like them a little more now.”

“Yeah, the Rock was great. It was wide open and pretty spacious. Had some decent food. The only drawback is it's Newark. And the Devils.”

“Beer selections not bad, though they might play off the building being called “The Rock” a bit too much. There was a beer stand that sold only Rolling Rock, and Michelob Amber Bock, and said 'Rock the Bock'.”

“Glad you guys had fun. Maybe I'll come with you if you go again. I haven't been to a hockey game in a while.”

“Sure, we were thinking about going the next time the Islanders go there.”

“And hopefully the Islanders win that time...” Ann mutters.

Pasta Fight!

Welcome to the 6^th floor.

Today's contributors are: Ann and Scott.

Subject: Noodles Noodles Everywhere

Ann is washing dishes when the timer goes off.

Beep beep. Beep beep. ...

“Scott!” Ann shouts, as Scott looks up from the television, “Check the pasta for me!”

Scott looks at Ann elbow deep in soap suds and complies. He takes the wooden spoon and scoops out two strands of spaghetti and flings them at the ceiling, where they stick.

“What'd you do that for?!”

“Pasta's done.” Scott says, pulling the inside part of the pasta pot out, and turning off the stove.

“Did you have to throw it against the ceiling? Couldn't you have just tasted it?” Ann asked, drying her hands.

“Tasting it. Now that would've been better. No big deal, I'll just reach up and ..woah, the ceiling's kinda high.”

“Get the stool.”

“Err...well uh...I kinda broke the stool last week.”

“What'd you do now Scott?”

“Billy had my hamburger...so I tackled him. He was sitting on the stool, and we kind of crushed it and bent the legs.”

“Can you fix it? Where is it?”

“No, we threw it out. It was beyond repair.”

“Well then, no dinner until you get those noodles down.”

“Doh!”

Are You Going To Watch That?

Welcome to the 6^th floor.

Today's contributors are: Ann, Sara, Tabitha

Subject: Tivo Logjam

“Damn girls! This TIVO is jam packed! We need to watch some of this.”

“I thought I'd been keeping up with it.”

“I know I haven't. I actually forgot most shows had even started.”

“They had to have just started. I know It's only been on episode of Grey's Anatomy. We can't be that far behind.”

“We still have four episodes of Smallville from last season on here.”

“Oh, I'm not going to watch those.”

“I'm deleting them.”

“I don't think I finished watching Desperate Housewives last season did I?”

“There are seven episodes on here.”

“Wow, that's pretty bad.”

“What's worse, is we still have the finale to Will and Grace on here. Can I delete that?”

“No no! I want to watch that.”

“It's been years.”

“I've been busy.”

“New Private Practice tonight right?”

“I don't think you should be able to watch new episodes until you get rid of old ones.”

“That's what you said about Fringe.”

“And Project: Runway.”

“We have to overrule her on that...Once too much time passes Project: Runway isn't quite the same. It's really more of a current show.”

“Do you know what time it's actually on without consulting TIVO?”

“It's on tomorrow right? Or is it tonight?”

“I know it's on at eight.”

“I'm deleting these last couple of episodes of the O.C. The last season sucked anyway.”

“I feel like I started it, I should finish it though.”

“Tell you what, I'll download them for you. Or buy the DVD.”

“Fine.”

Trash Talk

Welcome to the 6^th floor.

Today's contributors are: Sara, Frank

Subject: Trash Talk

“I see the Mets are making a habit of this September collapse thing.”

“Can it curse boy. The Mets are still the wild card leaders.”

“They were in first place this time last year too.”

“And Yankee games still mattered!”

“Can't win them all. So we have to wait another year for 27.”

“Yeah..good luck with that. Didn't Carl Pavano win more games than super rookies Hughes and Kennedy?”

“Big moves coming this offseason.”

“At least the Mets aren't talking about the offseason yet.”

“Give it another day.”

“We'll see!”

“We will. I wouldn't miss collapse part two for the world.”

Failure to Drink

Welcome to the 6^th floor.

Today's contributors are: Ann, Sara, Tabitha, Frank, Billy and Scott.

Subject:  Failure to Drink

 

“Come on, it’s raining harder now!”

 

“Beer.  It’s rain or shine, we can’t back out now!”

 

“No one ever died from being a little wet.  Drink another beer and we’ll be fine.”

 

“I do agree, it’s raining.”

 

“And the sky is blue, and that couple over there is really in to each other!”

 

“Wow, they’re really going at it.”

 

“I guess that’s one thing to do while we wait.”  Frank eyes Sara.

 

“Get those dirty eyes off of me!”

 

“Really now, we’re going to spend the next four plus hours standing in the rain drinking tiny glasses of beer and waiting in line?”

 

“You’re so pleasant when you’re wet Tab.”

 

“That’s what she said!” Frank yells.

 

“Good one Frank!”

 

“I’m singing in the rain..Such a ..”

 

“Oh my god! Stop singing!”  Sara shoves Ann.

 

“Yeah, stick to the writing Ann.  You can’t carry a tune.”

 

“This line to get in is so long! I want my beer!”

 

“Can we please go somewhere and drink inside at least?  Do we really need to drink in the rain? Is the beer here really that good?”

 

“Okay, Okay . Fine.  Let’s go fine an indoor bar.  SoHo, or around here?”

 

“Let’s just get inside and dry off.  We can always move uptown later.”

 

“I guess if we’re drying out, I’ll get a dry martini.”

 

“Are you 80?  Do people are age drink dry martinis?  Do you even like gin?”

 

“Gin? That’s what they put in martinis?  Weird.”

 

“I’m in the mood for a Cosmo.”

 

“Cosmos all around!”

 

Scott looks at Billy and Frank.  “Are we okay with drinking cosmos?”

 

“They are a little girly.”

 

“Looks like the Mets are going to make the Playoffs.”

 

Scott and Frank grunt.

 

“Okay, that’s manly enough.  I guess we can have Cosmos.”

 

“That was…special.  Come on, there’s a bar over there.”  Tabitha leads them into a nearby bar.

 

“Crowded.  Looks like we’re not the only ones getting out of the rain.”

 

“I guess alcohol is alcohol.  Beer is beer.”

 

“That may be the smartest thing you’ve said all day.”  Sara says sarcastically.

 

“To make up for it, we can go to Brewtopia at the Javits Center.  I think it’s in early November.”

 

“You saying you weren’t going to suggest we go there anyway?”

 

“Beer tastes different in November…we’re obligated to be there.”

 

“You’re not going to rest until you’ve drank everywhere in New York, are you?”

 

“Maybe not even then.”

 

Beer, Lots of Beer

Welcome to the 6^th floor.

Today's contributors are: Ann, Sara, Tabitha, Frank, Billy and Scott.

Subject: Beer is Good! Beer is Good!

We’ve always been friendly to the new drinking holidays. We went to Brewfest last week, and we celebrated Repeal Day in December. This year there is a whole craft beer week starting with Brewfest, having beer specials and bar crawls all week and culminating in the Manhattan Cask Ale Festival the following weekend.

“You guys psyched for Craft Beer Week?!”

“You bet!”

“I actually am. They’ve really went all out. Bar crawls, beer festivals? If I still have a liver by next weekend..”

“It’s supposed to be a nice day. Wind in our hair, beer in our throats.”

“I don’t know if I’m up for any of those bar crawls all week though.”

“Oh you wuss. We don’t have to get completely trashed Every night. Some nights we can just chill and enjoy beer specials.”

“Yeah, that’s true. I enjoy all the cask ales actually. They’re usually so different. Very unbeerlike.”

“So we’re going to spend this weekend, most of this week, and next weekend pigging out on beer? I have to be honest..that sounds like a normal week.”

“Are you trying to ruin it? It’ll be a blast!”

“Eh.”

“Aww..is little Annie grumpy?”

“Little Annie..haha. I like it.”

“Repeat it and die.”

“I think someone needs a beer.”

“Lucky we’re going to get some then.”

“And on Sunday we’ll get more beer, and mead! At the Renn Faire.”

“I almost forgot we’re going to the faire! I love that place, but I haven’t been in years.”

“That’s right. On Sunday we will time travel back to the middle ages.”

“I wonder if I’ll have cell reception.”

“You can’t use a cell phone in the middle ages! That’s just wrong!”

“I’m not going to use it much, I just need to check the Mets score once or twice.”

“Or 18 times.”

“You’re lucky, you don’t have to worry about the Yankees score. It doesn’t matter anymore.”

“Lucky that they’re eliminated…I’m not sure lucky is the right word.”

“So beer this weekend. What are we doing tonight?”

“Beer?”

Tabitha and Ann together: “No!”

“Oh alright. We’ll have a sober night.”

“We’ll try to keep you distracted from the withdrawal.” Frank jokes.

“My hero!”

Beer Garden

Welcome to the 6^th floor.

Today's contributors are: Ann, Sara, Tabitha, Frank, Billy and Scott.

Subject: Beer Garden

“There! Quick, grab it!”

Frank maneuvers through the crowd and quickly sits at a table of a recently departed group of Asian guys.

“Good grab.” Ann says, sliding into the table across from Frank. “I hate when we have to stand here, makes it hard to have more than one pitcher of beer at a time.”

“We haven’t been to the beer garden in ages. This place is great!”

“It is nice to drink in the fresh air once in a while, instead of those dank, dirty bars. Guess it’s one of the few nice things about Queens.”

Sara coughs as a cloud of cigarette smoke drifts by. “Well, semi-fresh air anyway.”

“Where’d Billy go?”

“Presumably to get us our first pitcher of beer.”

“Nope. Food.” Ann points out Billy on line outside the food tent.

“Fine, I guess I’ll get the first pitcher. I shall return.”

“I’m going to join Billy, I want some food in me so I don’t get too drunk.”

“Anyone want anything?” Tabitha asks as she gets up.

“Nah, I ate already.” Sara says, as Ann and Scott shake their heads.

“Did we remember to bring cards or a game or something?”

“I’ve got a deck of cards. We should’ve brought Killer Bunnies!”

“Bunnies? You know someone would just spill something on it and ruin the cards. Ann can be such a clutz.”

“Thanks. We could’ve brought UNO or something. That’s simple and mindless.”

“We’ve got cards, I think we can manage.”

“We could make like that table over there, and play Jenga!”

“Drinking Jenga? I wonder how that’d work?”

“I don’t think it would. After a little while I can’t imagine any game lasting long.”

Tabitha and Billy return carrying plates of food. Tabitha has a veggie burger and fries, and Billy has two foot long bratwursts and fries.

“Didn’t pour me a beer yet? You’re slacking Frank!”

“I’m still trying to decide what kind of joke to make about you eating those gigantic brats.”

The usual shenanigans continued from there. Before we knew it, the sun had set and we were on our 5^th pitcher of beer. 7^th pitcher of beer? Before we knew it, we’d lost count of how many pitchers of beer we’d drank, and how many French fries we’d thrown at each other. Somehow we’d ended up playing Rummi 500 of all games.

“I’m still waiting for a third three. I can’t believe we haven’t come across it yet.”

“I think we lost a handful of cards to the spilt beer pitcher of game two.”

“Did we only lose threes? This is insane!” Tabitha exclaims, as she draws a card from the deck.”

“Well, the odds of two of the seven cards we lost being threes would..”

“No math! This isn’t poker and we’re drinking, not mathing!”

“At least we don’t have a silly ‘asshole hat’ made out of napkins like that table of college kids that stumbled out of here 40 minutes ago.”

“Aww, I thought the hat was cool!”

“I really thought there weren’t supposed to be drinking games here.”

“I think they just mean take over the tables and play huge games of beer pong.”

“Better this way anyway, I rock at beer pong and you would’ve been embarrassed.”

“Don’t be so sure!”

“Aren’t we a little old for beer pong?”

“You’re never too old for beer pong!”

“You and Scott will be playing beer pong in your retirement homes I’m sure. One more round? Or should we stumble out of here?”

“Should we stop at that diner before getting on the train?”

“Are you really hungry after those two giant bratwurst?”

“That was..hours ago! The diner’s supposed to be good.”

“Can you taste anything anymore? We’ve eaten there before..I just don’t remember if it was good.”

“I don’t remember being disgusted with it.”

“I don’t think I remember it at all.”

“All the more reason to try it again.”

“Why not? We know better than to get between you and food anyway.”

We got up and made our way down (or was it up?) the street to the diner. I remember someone ordered pancakes, but not much else. Billy’s insisting that it’s the best diner he’s ever eaten at in the City, but I think he’s ashamed to admit he doesn’t remember much either.

(Has anyone noticed the blog acting weird? It seems like it’s combining posts so that text doesn’t match the titles and screwing up in IE (and chrome Sara tells me).)