Winter Break 2011 - New York, New York (Dec 13-19)

Pre-Christmas dinner at the Schaafs

With the stress of meeting with corporate executives behind me, it was time for a full winter break of rest and relaxation (and a whole lot of airplane rides).  My winter break is basically cut into three segments: New York, Florida, and Taiwan, each portion lasting around a week.  The New York trip was intended to coincide with the UCLA DOJ trip mentioned in the previous post, and a chance to celebrate the holidays with family from the Northeast, and see some assorted friends in the area.  With Tara unable to travel for the holidays, the official Schaaf Christmas celebration became scheduled in the Sunshine State this year with the rest of the Floridian family.  And finally, vacation is always better with a little international travel, so the final leg of break brings me to Taiwan to experience Asia for the first time, and also *gulp* to meet the girlfriend's family for the first time.

Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree

Our winter break story picks up after the second company visit in NYC on Thursday the 14th. I opted to skip the 3rd visit and instead met up with Mom and Dad elsewhere in the city for a cultural evening that included the Museum of Modern Art, Rockefeller Center, and Chipotle. I still don't enjoy modern art (nor the fact that the three of us were separately yelled at by museum security during our visit), but Christmas and burritos are still cool with me so it was a lovely evening.

Friday afternoon was the first "do nothing day" that I've had in months, and it was as glorious as I had hoped it would be. At night I caught up with the boys for some Dave and Busters and Cheesecake Factory action. As always it was just the right dose of good times and dope rhymes.

Saturday was Christmas festivities with the Muzykas and Quicks, and Dan even drove up from DC to join in on the fun. Sunday was featured by having some of the guys over to watch the Giants get trashed by the Redskins.  Monday was another mostly chill day, and Tuesday morning I was off to the airport again after a quick week in the Empire State.

Other highlights of the trip included five relaxing hot tub sessions, two winter jogs around Merrick Mountain with Hal, my mandatory stop for authentic New York pizza at La Piazza, plenty of tasty home cooked food, and experiencing the parents' new 3D TV.