Final 9?

I think this is my 9th Final Four. Let's list them out shall we?
Minneapolis 2001 (thank goodness for autocorrect)
Atlanta 2002
Indy 2006
Atlanta 2007
Indy 2010
New Orleans 2012
Dallas 2014
Indy 2015
Houston 2016
And Phoenix 2017

Oh wow. I was wrong. This is number 10. You don't see as amazed as I am.

Caracas

Caracas in the East Village is definitely a place to eat again. Amazing Arepas and cool atmosphere. The restaurant only holds about 15 people at a time.

Unreal

Unreal to witness Carolina winning 4 games in 9 days to make it to the Final Four. I'm so happy for the kids and coaches. What an amazing accomplishment and I'm so thankful to have seen it with friends and family. Go Gamecocks!

The Spotted Pig

Mom and I made it to The Village and ate a late lunch at The Spotted Pig. The wait was worth it. Such a cool place and great food. The bathroom tripped me out. One bathroom. Two stalls. Male and female welcome! When I walked out of my stall there was a woman washing her hands. I said, "never been in a bathroom like this." "First time for everything" was her reply. I think she's right. Very lovely spot that I would go to again.

What a Night

What a night in NYC last night. From getting to see the old crew at the Mason Jar before the game, to watching the Gamecocks advance to the Elite 8 for the first time ever.....what a night.

Morandi

We had dinner at Morandi in the Village last night. Nice Italian spot. Would go back again.

Coach Cartier

I laughed.

What a cool experience at Cartier on 5th this morning. Such care and attention by the saleswoman. I cringe to even call her that because she was more than that. She took us to a private room to have Angie try on bracelets. Very attentive, caring, complementary and sweet.

Ali

Everyone this is Ali.  Ali this is everyone.  

So the first thing about tonight is that I scheduled a car ahead of time to pick me up.  That was nice. Ali was the driver.  That was even nicer.  Ali is from Pakistan. During our 30 minutes together, Ali shared his thoughts with me about the world and gave me back stories about Pakistan and Afghanistan.  That was cool.  

But the cooler part was him showing me(as he is in this picture) pictures of his 19 month old son. Now, I've been shown many pictures of kids(and dogs....and yes I'm one of those guys that shows you pictures of my dogs) over my lifetime.  But I've never seen someone that showed as much love and enthusiasm about a child before.  He showed me picture after picture and video after video of his beautiful son.  I can't tell you how much he loves his boy.  

Ali has a 16 year old and a 19 year old son and he even admits that his new boy wasn't in the plan, but wow, what an amazing love he showed for his boy.  I can't help but think what a wonderful life his new boy is going to have.   I can only say that based on the 30 minutes I spent with his loving, caring and compassionate dad.  

What a great day it's been getting and being in NYC.  Thank you Ali for a wonderful time in your car.  

Pretty Cool

So I listened to a podcast this morning from James Altucher where he interviewed Jessica Banks(don't worry.  You don't know her.  She's not that famous).  She talked about an idea she follows called Dare of the Day.  Basically if there's something she doesn't want to do, she does it as a way to stretch herself.  One example she gave was when she was a party and a bunch of her friends were dancing and trying to be attractive doing so, she got up and did the robot.....more than likely a very ridiculous version of the robot.  

To me, it's a way to get out of my head.  Well I just did a dare of the day.  I sat on the bus across from a lady as we traveled from the parking deck to the terminal. I knew I needed to do what I did, but I didn't want to.  I did it anyway and asked her where she was heading.  

What transpired was beautiful.  She told me she's flying to philly to meet the brother she never had.  She had just found out that her dad had a son by another woman and she couldn't be more excited. In fact, her brother has already become fast friends with him!

For me I think is going to help me and my idea that I have to be perfect.  If you're reading this, which I know you're not, you potentially may be thinking, "You don't have to worry about that, dude."   Thanks for your honesty, to be honest.  But when I'm at my unhealthiest, I do strive to be perfect.  The reality is, no one cares if I'm perfect or not.  What I'm striving for at my core is acceptance and a lot of times I look for that through the perfection or the pursuit of it.  

The Journey Begins

Heading to New York to watch the Gamecocks play in their first ever Sweet 16(since the tourney expanded to 64+ teams!