New York, New York, it's a helluva town

Whew. Back in Indiana, and ready for about 3 days of sleep. I had a great time in the Big Ap, and a very large thank you to everybody who took the time to hang out and drink, eat, or shop with me. A special and much-deserved shoutout to my hosts Neil and Amy for giving me a place to crash and entertaining and feeding me for the last four nights (not to mention hooking me up with all the Family Guy, American Dad, Sealab 2021 and Brak swag). You guys are da bomb. I'll wrap up the trip more tomorrow, but here are a few quick vignettes from the past few days:

• Rosie O'Donnell playing a retarded woman is not sad or cute. Just annoying.
• Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Russell, Walt "Clyde" Frazier, Robert Parrish, and other former NBA greats apparently like to hang out in front of the NBA store on the back of a flatbed truck with a fake NBA trophy. At least on the day I walked by. (NOTE: apparently Dr. J was there too, but I missed him. Damn.)
• The Hotel QT bar has a swimming pool. Swimming pools in bars are only a good idea if you fill them with good-looking people. Hotel QT has not yet gotten the memo.
• These places really do exist. Neil, Amy and I attended a party at a private club after leaving Hotel QT that was like American Psycho meets Eyes Wide Shut. Beers cost $20, and there was a girl in a ball gown, but mostly it was full of insanely rich people who looked like they had just stepped off their yachts.
• If you have the time, The Strand bookstore is a gold mine. I found an advance copy of Chuck Dugan is AWOL for half-price.
• For the last time, there are no penguins in Alaska.
• The world's most powerful hand dryer can be found at the Jersey City Fatburger.
• David Hassellhoff + badly faked facial hair + bad accent = Michael Knight's evil twin. Duh.
• The world's greatest 5'4" Asian quarterback can be found at the Times Square ESPN Zone racking up 250 points per game on the passing accuracy game.
• MCA (of the Beastie Boys) and his wife ate lunch at Curry in a Hurry today at the same time as I did. Yes, I feel special.