Hockey New Year! Hello Philadelphia, I Defy Your Brown Juice

Well, right now I'm sitting on an USAirways Express flight from Greensboro, NC to Philadelphia, PA. Destination: the 2012 Bridgestone Winter Classic game between the New York Rangers and the Philadelphia Flyers.

If you know anything about me, you know that the Rangers are pretty much my lifelong maddening obsession. I can say for sure that the Broadway Blueshirts made a sizeable contribution to the demise of my second marriage. So even more reason to love them!

My first thoughts today are primarily regarding being a solo Rangers fan in the "City of Brotherly Love". So loving in fact, Philly fans shower opposing players in their love in the form of batteries hurled at their heads. So, if I live to tell, this experience should be amazing.

The trip has been smooth so far. And aside from going full-retard and leaving my phone in the car...I realized this while trying to check in at the gate...all is proceeding as planned. Yes, I made an OJ Simpson sprint back to my car (minus the brutal, double homicide) to get my phone.

The most interesting thing about this flight so far is that the co-pilot must be in training as we keep making these completely random, sweeping, banked turns. There's also a guy on here who has "woman hands". Creepy.

On the train to downtown now...brown mystery liquid on the floor. Eyes forward, breathing out of the mouth only. Evidently the piercing, soul-deafening alarm that was sounding when I exited the train at Suburban Station was not normal. I just overheard that there was a fire in elevator shaft B on Track 12 and that the crullers today are a bit dry.

Just got to my hotel, which is really great. Perfectly situated for sightseeing, shopping, dining and mad panicked dashes from the train station with angry Flyers fans in tow.

Unfortunately, I get to sit in the lobby waiting for a room to be available as I arrived a mere six hours before check in. The manager, who looks like a cross between a short Madonna and slightly more feminine Frank Zappa, has been very accomodating. She only appeared mildly annoyed when I asked her to help me kill some time by performing an acapella medley of Like A Virgin/Let's Make The Water Turn Black. So for now I will watch Bill Clinton bowl on television.