a recipe for shin splints

today i had some errands to run.

so there i was, dashing about the upper west side, pushing my baby in his stroller, dodging crowds at intersections, exchanging things at the gap, you know, saving lives, when suddenly my baby up and went to sleep. poof! knocked out cold.

i looked at his sweet sleeping face, at the way his little rosebud lips fought for space between those two sugary cheeks that i love to kiss and kiss and kiss, and then i thought to myself,

dude, how far south do you think i could get before he wakes up?

we started at west 72nd and broadway. at first i had no idea what i was going to do or where i hoped to end up. i figured i could say hello to a bagel somewhere, but really it was just an incredibly inane idea that seemed so blasted genius, even though actually all that is south of where i live is times square and sometimes going to times square is a bit of a suicide mission.

it wasn't very cold out though and what else was i going to do? clean my apartment?

at 59th street i ducked into the time warner center to have some moments at j. crew. a sleeping huck is an angelic huck and those j. crewbies loved him up hard and i got to gasp at some price tags.

at about 53rd street the spirit moved me to turn right, so i did!

i said hello to radio city music hall at 51st and pondered calf muscles for a bit.

at 47th i said 'no thank you' to a billion 'free comedy show' offers, and then some nice gentleman tried to give me a free hip hop cd by calling me "juicy."

"juicy, want a free hip hop cd?"

when we reached 42nd street my huck got angry. poof! not asleep, angry.

the 30 blocks that took nearly an hour to wander aimlessly down took a mere 15 minutes to power through on the way home.

here is what i have learned from this experience:

1. trapper hats on the street cost $20.
2. there are a lot of irish pubs around 53rd street.
3. you can tell the tourists from the new yorkers by their winter wear: tourists look color-coordinated, new yorkers look warm.
4. a man behind me had just seen a matinee of 'mamma mia,' loved it, and was going to pass on friendly's for some ice cream, but he hoped his friends had fun. he had a very loud talking-on-a-cell-phone voice.
5. cabs don't slow down when they see you pushing a stroller through an intersection.
6. sixty blocks might sound like a lot of walking, and actually, it is.