STRATFORD, NJ, USA
If you’ve been checking out my website over the past month or so, you might have noticed two things:
- I’ve been lazy about updating recently.
- This site is lacking in color.
So, I thought I’d try to kill two birds with one stone!
Believe it or not, I have been getting out of the house a little bit to do things other than watch my grandmom. So, I thought I’d do a quick little photo-blog to recap some of the fun things I’ve done over the past month or so.
(Scroll down; I promise it’s not all hockey/arena pictures!)
Reading Royals hockey
On November 4, I borrowed my mom’s car and drove out to Reading, PA, to watch a Reading Royals ECHL hockey game. Ok, ok…I watched the game (a pretty good game by ECHL standards), but my main reason for going was to see the arena.
The Sovereign Center is easy to find in a nice part of downtown Reading. From the outside, it reminds me a bit of the arena in Elmira, New York. The interior feels like a modern version of Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena in Binghamton.
All-in-all, it’s a nice building for ECHL hockey and other small events. But it’s nothing terribly special, and I don’t think it will age gracefully. Hopefully, I’ll be wrong.
Regardless, I had a pleasant experience, and I’m sure I’ll make it back at some point. Everything is reasonably priced, and it’s only about 90 minutes away from me, so there’s no reason not to make a return trip.
New York Islanders hockey
Just six days later, on Nov. 10, my brother and I made the drive to the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Long Island, home of the NHL’s New York Islanders.
This place is a little old and a little grungy, but it has character, and I LOVED it!
The Coliseum is now the third-oldest NHL arena, which accounts for much of its charm. Most of the new buildings seem so similar to each other; it’s nice to see something a little unique.
The Coliseum reminds me a lot of the old Spectrum in Philadelphia, and a little bit of the Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh. The layout of the seating bowl even reminds me a bit of a larger HersheyPark Arena.
It’s not luxurious by any means; the seats are a tiny bit cramped, and the concourse is very cramped. But it has character, good sight-lines, and affordable prices. I’m glad this place still exists in today’s NHL.
Visiting the Dans at Thanksgiving
It’s odd.
I now live less than a mile from where I was born, and about 4 miles from my old schools. Yet, I don’t know all that many people around here anymore–most of my good friends have moved away.
Even though family stuff didn’t go exactly as I’d have hoped, Thanksgiving was a nice treat, because my good friend Dan, along with his girlfriend, EMILY, came out to visit from San Diego.
We spent a fun night hanging out with them at (another) Dan’s house. It was a good time.
We capped the night with a trip to Wawa, where this picture was taken so they could remember their trip to the right coast.
Gotta have my Wawa.
New York City
Thanksgiving is great, because it brings people back into town.
The Monday afterwards, I met up with Dustin and his wife, Jess (both in town from Atlanta), along with their friend, Ali, and we drove up to New York City.
It was a nice time, featuring delicious cupcakes!
Comcast High-Speed Internet
No picture for this one, but I finally broke down and ordered my own high-speed cable internet. I anticipated this being a chore to get set up, but it wasn’t. Comcast’s self-install kit was a breeze, and I was up and online within about 15 minutes of opening the box–I didn’t have to call tech support or anything. Setting up the WPA was also surprisingly easy. So, after a year here, I finally have fast, reliable, and secure wireless Internet on both of my computers! (And I got $100 off of an mp3 player for signing up!) 
Baby Hayley!
Saturday, I got to hold a baby!
Before going to the hospital, I half-jokingly pointed out to my mom that I have more experience with foreign dignitaries than I do with babies. So, for the first minute or so of holding her, I was a little nervous. But I got pretty comfortable very quickly, so everything went fine. I didn’t drop her and break her! 
In fact, she slept soundly almost the entire time.
Nana
Not much new to report on here. She has been getting very depressed for about an hour a night for the past week or so, and we had a tiny bit of a scare with her heart yesterday. But overall, she’s about the same. Not much new to report.
Work
And, as I mentioned in my last post, I am now working again–two days per week in Washington, DC. It’s going well. After a year of my life that has been turbulent for many reasons, it feels great to be back in the familiar confines of my old office, surrounded by familiar faces. Despite the problems my office has (and there are many), it still feels really comforting to be back. Not to mention the fact that being productive feels good, too.
I don’t have any pictures of my return to work yet, but I’m sure I will eventually. Especially once my movie premiers: my colleagues have decided that I should play the title role in their Lollywood remake of a television classic. They’re going to call it, “Chaudhry’s Angels.”
(That’s a joke.)
And I’ve been trying to do a little work around the house, too. Yesterday, I installed a new insulation blanket on the hot water heater. Today’s job was renting a carpet shampooing machine. It worked well! No pictures of that, unfortunately; hopefully the other pictures I just posted will suffice. And hopefully I’ll break out of this lethargy and start posting more often!
Filed under: Ice hockey, Life, Nana, Posts with Pictures, Random, Stadiums
