You Gotta Love New York

So . . . a week ago we were in sunny San Diego. A week later and it's snowing in New York. And it's not one of those beautiful December 'winter-wonderland' kind of snow storms - actually, it's pretty much slushing outside. Things are kind of slow in the office (as most brokers are cancelling meetings due to the weather), so I decide to go to lunch at one of my favorite local Tribeca restaurants - for a sandwich and some time to read (a history of the fall of Constantinople called "1453 - The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West" by Roger Crowley, if anyone's interested). I sit down at the bar - and of course the barman has read the book. So there we are, talking about Byzantine history until the next patron sits down - a guy (early 20's, grungy like a snowboarder, just finished college) visiting from San Diego. And not just San Diego, but from Carlsbad no less. A gradute of Carlsbad High (by the way - I hear that San Diegito is a pretty good school). And - gosh - you'll never guess what state his parents came from before moving to California. I thought about asking him if he had ever put Ho-Ho's in the refrigerator . . .