New love and new worst enemy

New love: New York. Everything exceeded expectations.

The food was great. The best pizza I've ever had, John's Pizzeria, http://www.johnsbrickovenpizza.com/ The best deli I've ever had, Katz's Deli, http://www.katzdeli.com/ .

Also saw some of the must-see locations, including Times Square, Rockefeller Center, and my favorite of the trip, Central Park.

The people watching was great too, much more diverse than Minneapolis. As a whole, the people were much nicer than I expected - I expected a generally more moody, impatient, and rude population; all I saw was a city that knew how to hustle and bustle without getting in each others' way.

Space is certainly a commodity as I found myself, not a large person to begin with, squeezing through small spaces. The apartments, restaurants, bars, shops, everything was compact and space-efficient.

And of course I love the nightlife. Got to see my friend's cousin's band play, stayed up past my normal bartime of 2 AM, and again, the people were nice.

I must say that if, and I mean if, I were ever faced with a decision to move to a big city that resembled New York, that I wouldn't hesitate for a second because of the location.

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New worst enemy: Sciatica.

Sciatica is only a term meaning symptoms relating to irritation or pinching of the nerves leading up to the sciatic nerve or the actual sciatic nerve itself in the lower spine... including lower back pain. I recently felt that "getting old" feeling after an unnecessary hit I took at hockey as my back seemed to give out and I had trouble supporting myself. After the game, which I saw through until the end, the pain reached up to my neck and down one leg all the way to my foot. It hurt so bad I considered going to the ER. It was the money that stopped me. I mean the money it would have cost me to go to the ER... I hear it's not cheap. Anyways, the pain is still lingering and after a softball-then-hockey night yesteray, my other leg had the pain my left leg felt a week prior. I've done some reading on the subject and found that in many cases, the condition will heal by itself over time. However, if it persists for more than four weeks, it's doctor time. I really, really, really hope that won't be the case. I also learned that exercise actually helps, so now I have another (rather important) reason to stick with my fit lifestyle. Damn this getting old.