Shows Galore

  Hey friends so my building's internet has been having huge issues this past week.  Between the network going down completely and sporadically kicking people off every 30 seconds, it has been hard to have the patients to work out a post.  Supposedly its fixed, but it's not... but I've decided I owe to my loyal readers to work through this challenge!   Today's post is to share a little about some incredible broadway shows that I've had the privilege of seeing the past two weeks.  Most of them have been work related, but I also have been getting lucky at some student rush and lottery rushes which have enabled me to get some incredible seats at super cheap prices! In particular I want to share about two shows that are distinctly different yet both breathtakingly amazing.

  Let me start with In The Heights a new musical that has received endless praise and a tony for best new musical.  This high energy show tells the true story of a young latina woman, Nina Rosario, and her family's struggle to pay for her education.  The show is packed with great actors, incredible hip hop and latin dancing, and the passionate yet honest music of today's realities.  To top it off this incredible cast has taken their success to a new high by using it to create a scholarship for deserving students to help them reach their dreams of higher education.  To help fund the scholarship the cast is auctioning off amazing prizes (even a walk on roll in the show, and dance lessons with the show's choreographer!).  Bid, apply, or find out more at www.GradutateToNewHeights.com. 

  Wicked... I mean I probably don't need to say much more, right?!  People from all walks have been shouting the praises of this show for years, but I proudly stand along side them today as I tell you this is a must see.  The story, the set and costumes, and the most incredible music that has graced the great stages of New York!  And if you haven't seen it, I encourage you to do like myself... resist the urge to you tube the best-of's, or to ask you one friend who's undoubtable seen the show 5 times already... in fact, try not to find out anything about the show.  Let this cast take you on the adventure of your life as you are taken behind the scenes of the beloved Wizard of Oz, to find out the true story of the Witches of Oz.  I guarantee you'll not only love the show, but its end you'll have found yourself awe struck, singing along, and more than anything wanting it to begin again!  This was the show that all of my students repeatedly said, "This is the best show I've ever seen!"  and trust me they've seen a lot!
  These are must sees for any of you the next time you get to the Big Apple!  And don't forget to plan your trip a little ahead of time.  While ticket prices can be expensive, paying full price should always be your last option.  Rush, Lottery, and even going TKTS in time square are all ways that the savvy show goer can see the best of what New York has to offer without breaking the bank.  Playbill.com is a great resource to find out information cheap ways to get tickets.  Oh and always invite your friends, cause that makes everything more fun!

Dinner at the Mesa Grill

Saturday night I was able to get my work finished a little early, so I made plans to go to dinner with Rachel.  Rachel called me and told me she had a special place she wanted to take me.  We headed downtown and went to dinner at Bobby Flay's famous Mesa Grill on 5th Ave.  We started off with crispy squash blossoms filled with ricotta and corn with a sweet yellow pepper sauce.  Rachel and I chose to accompany this appetizer with margaritas.  Rachel ordered a cactus pear margarita and I went with a white peach.  Delicious!

For dinner Rachel ordered a mango-spice rubbed tuna and I went with crispy 16 spice duck breast.  Of course these delicious main courses came with sides: pine nut couscous, goat cheese and chorizo tamale, oh and I'll never forget the Roast Corn with Smoked chilies, cojita cheese and lime!  Dessert was equally as amazing...  A Chocolate Cornbread Pudding with a Tres Leches sauce.  I tell you the truth when I say that this was a feast that was incredible!

What could top such a delectable dinning experience?  Hello, I was hanging out with one of my best friends RACHEL!  Our dinner was very good, but far better was the time I got to spend with my dear friend.  Rachel I know you'll be reading this so I take the time to thank you here for a great evening, but an even better twelve years of friendship and hopefully many, many, more to come!

Video Blog = Vlog

The Catch-Up

So for those of you who don't know, I was working this summer in our Masters of Higher Education Department--which was great! The summer weeks were crazy so let me catch up a little.

It started with going to ACSD, a huge student development conference which was being held in Minneapolis this year. I was recruiting, attending, and presenting at the conference. The conference was really good, and I had a blast in all three areas of responsibility. I had a ton of fun telling people about our Higher Education program and well very pleased with how my presentation went. I was presenting a workshop on the research I did for my Master's thesis. I got very positive feedback and even a bite in the publishing arena. I'll let you all know if things progress with this.

After ACSD, I flew straight to the" Big Apple", where I got to stay at my uncle Christian's, see two really good friends from high school that are now living and working there, and then met up with about 15 friends from College. We all went to a Pirates Yankee's game. The Pirates sucked big time, but it was great to hang out in Yankee Stadium before its torn down. It was awesome to look on the field and know that Babe Ruth played there.

A quick flight back to Pittsburgh, brought me home to get right back to work. For two weeks we were been busy with summer institutes. My friend Andy and I were organizing a lot of the social events for the students after class. We ended with huge banquet held this place called Shakespeare's, which is this huge recreated castle. We decided to do a murder mystery with everyone and the theme was a masquerade. Yours truly played the murderer! It was so much fun! But all good things come to an end.

After institutes I got the sweet chance to work with Dr. Guthrie some some cool research and publishing projects. With the end of July came the beginning of RD training, RA training, Freshman Orientation and the first weeks of the Semester... funny how two months can be so concisely summed up!? When in reality all those things were life-consuming for me.

I'm glad to share now that the semester is off to an fantastic start... problems and all. My staff of student leaders are great, I love them dearly, and Memorial Hall is rockin' it out! My staff has lots of stuff planned already for this semester so I'm sure you'll be seeing great footage about that. I also have a new digital camera, so if I can figure the tech side of it out I hope to post some video blogs too!

Thanks for reading... and Thanks for all the encouragement you guys give me to keep blogging... its cool to hear from you all. Just make sure to live your life in the real word over the virtual... Cause the real us is way better!