TheUberDude

“Worth Doing” is not exactly how I’d put it…except that I get to check it off my list. It’s difficult to pull off without everyone on the damn plane knowing exactly what you just did. Oh, and the bathrooms are VERY, VERY small. But we managed to pull it off. Go us.

Suggestion for her: wear something you can pull up/down/aside without having to move too much. Tear-away workout pants or a long, flowing hippie skirt are probably best. You won’t have much room to work with, and I remember her having a bitch of a time making her naughty bits accessible to mine…

I grew up in South Jersey, right across the river…I think the first time I ran up the steps, I was in Elementary School. They were WAY more difficult back then. These days, I live in Center City in Philly, right on South Street. It’s still a pain, but I try to run the steps at least once a year, usually when I get finished doing the Hunger Walk in April each year. For those who don’t know, they’re the steps to the Philadelphia Museum of Art at the end of the Ben Franklin Parkway, right where Fairmount Park begins at Kelly Drive. If you’re a tourist in town looking to do this, first you gotta find City Hall. It’s simple…it’s the geographic center of the original city, and there’s a buncha public transportation near there. And besides, if you’re a tourist, chances are your hotel is near there anyway. But I digress…once you’ve found City Hall, walk around the outside of it till you see the LOVE fountain. You know the one…they used to make stamps with that LOVE sculpture on em back in the 70s and 80s. Beyond that is the Ben Franklin Parkway, which heads diagonally across the city checkerboard of streets past most of the museums: the Franklin Institute, Please Touch Museum, the Free Library of Philadelphia, the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, the Rodin Museum, Academy of Natural Sciences, etc etc. At the midpoint is Logan Circle…and at the far end, right in front of the Art Museum you’ll see another circle known as Eakins Oval. (Named after the famous artist Thomas Eakins.) Make sure to throw your fists above your head and pump them a bit, Rocky-style…after running that far, you’ve earned it!

I lived in San Diego for two years, and I have people all up and down the West Coast who affected the person I am today and to whom I owe a lot. Joe, Habib, Laura, Roz, Amber, Drea, Jenny…all you guys know who you are and how much you mean to me. I’ll get back out there sooner or later.