NYC--Thursday

Thursday morning was dedicated to small group visits to various local institutions. In our case, our small group wound up visiting the Department of Homeland Security/Customs and Immigrations Enforcement. I thought it would be really dull, as I can't think of anything more boring than going through Customs, but it was actually quite interesting. We learned about human smuggling and trafficking as well as the narcotics trade, and the agents who talked to us shared a lot of "war stories."

When we came out of the building at lunch time and walked down the block, we saw this enormous inflatable rat:





From what I can gather, it's a union rat, and he makes appearances in front of businesses that a particular union feels is behaving in a rodentlike manner.

In the afternoon, we walked over to Times Square, where we encountered a local celebrity. I got my picture taken with the Naked Cowboy:





Then it was time to pick up our tickets for the Late Show With David Letterman:



The show was fun, and I'm glad we did it, but it was strange also. For one thing, there's a lot of pressure on the audience to do a good job. We stood in line in the freezing cold and listened to the pages tell us how much the previous night's crowd had sucked, and I wondered if they say that to everyone. Also, as much as you are prodded to clap, laugh, and make general merriment, you are also strictly forbidden from making high-pitched noises. A friend of ours got pulled out for making a "woot" noise, so after that it was kind of nerve-wracking wondering whether or not you might make a forbidden noise. We got to see Steven Colbert and the chick from the new Twilight movie. I had to keep reminding myself to watch them on the stage instead of on the monitor overhead. I could see them so much better on the monitor though.

Afterwards we had supper at Gallagher's Steakhouse. It was good, but the steaks were just HUGE. I ate half my prime rib and then took the other half to go even though I had no clue how I might possibly go about keeping it cool or reheating it.

After supper we went to the Broadway Comedy Club. Fred and I almost cancelled out of going to that, but I'm so glad we didn't. It was a lot of fun! After the show I gave my left-over steak to one of the coomics who said he had the same problem as far as not having a refrigerator or microwave, but he said he would give it to one of the guys who worked there who would, he assured me, love to have it.