Tyler's bimonthly post.

For the last couple of weeks Sarah has been trying to get me to write another entry on her blog, and yesterday I thought I had the perfect subject. To balance out her post about New York Fashion Week, I planned to report on my experience with the lowest of low culture in New York City: dinner at the Whopper Bar.

The Whopper Bar is located in Times Square. This makes sense because Times Square is one of the worst places in the America (at least that I've been to), and its spirit of tacky commercialism is ultimately necessary for a place like the Whopper Bar to exist and--dare I say--thrive. The restaurant opened in August, but it wasn't until earlier this month that the King unveiled the NY Pizza Burger, a gastronomic disaster of epic proportions that features "four WHOPPER® patties, slices of pepperoni and mozzarella cheese with marinara and Tuscan sauce on a sesame seed bun." Doesn't sound all that bad? Well, the menu doesn't mention that the bun is nine and a half inches in diameter. Needless to say, when I first heard about this thing, I knew I had to try it. The problem was that I didn't think I knew anyone else who could possibly be interested in risking their health for the sake of this particular experiment. Then I thought harder. Mitch. Mitch would love this. So we talked, and we set a date of Thursday, September 16 at 8:30.

But it was not to be.

If you saw or read the national news last night or this morning, you probably noticed that Brooklyn and Queens were hit by a severe thunderstorm that may or may not have been a tornado. The winds ripped trees out of the ground, bricks from storefronts, and rooftops from buildings. Worse, one falling tree even killed a motorist driving on Grand Central Parkway. She probably never even saw it coming. The storm also shut down subway service on the L and M lines, so I had no way of getting to the Whopper Bar from our eastern Williamsburg apartment. Sarah went to the corner store and found out that a few L trains full of passengers were stopped underground for over an hour. So no Whopper Bar. I later had to laugh at how disappointed I was that I didn't get to go. But when I do, you can bet that I'll give you a full report of the adventure. If I don't have to go to the hospital afterward, that is.

***

Fall is finally settling in. I'm happy about this for a number of reasons. Here are a few:

1. My allergies aren't as bad here, because, well, there is far more concrete than there is flora.

2. Brooklyn is beautiful in the fall, and I don't just mean it's beautiful to look at. Sure, the colors change, but the temperatures settle into the 50s, 60s, and 70s, and everyone you talk to seems to be relieved that the summer heat has come to an end. This summer was especially brutal. Thank god for air conditioning, but...

3. I no longer have to struggle to hear our music or movies over the rattly drone of our living room air conditioner.

4. Football season.

The only problem about number four is that I've had to adjust to East Coast coverage of football season. This means that instead of Broncos games I get Giants games, and instead of Vikings games I get Jets games. I'm sure I'll get used to it, and maybe I'll learn to love the New York teams, but I seriously doubt it. And as for Nebraska football, I haven't gotten to see a single game so far. This is partly due to the fact that the first two games were pay-per-view, and it's also partly due to my unwillingness to go to The Irish Rogue, a Nebraska-themed bar in Times Square that shows all of the games. As you're reading this (if, that is, you've actually made it this far), you're probably thinking, "But that sounds like it would be a fun place to watch a game!" Maybe. But it's a thirty minute subway ride each way, it's always packed on game days, and I don't really have any friends around here who are Husker fans. So I would be braving this thing alone. I did, however, hear that they had Runzas flown in for a game last year. If they do that again this season, I may have to suck it up and go.

I will be watching the Nebraska-Washington game though. In fact, I have a pretty fun afternoon planned. Our friend Kate is from Omaha, and her mother is in town this weekend. We're going to the Manhattan Inn (the lovely restaurant/bar where Sarah works) for brunch, and then--since the game is on ABC--to a bar in our neighborhood to watch the Huskers. We will be meeting my friend Dave there. Dave is from Seattle and he's a big Huskies fan (and he's one of the owners of duckduck [yes, all lowercase, and no caps], for those of you who are interested in piecing all this together). Anyway, I'm looking forward to this game because now I'll know what the hell my friends are talking about when they text me during the game.

That's all for now. I hope everyone's well.

-Tyler

PS: Sorry I don't post pictures like Sarah does. I haven't really taken the time to figure out how this thing works.