Not bikes

Headed down to NJ with the family for my friend Mike's wedding.  Mike moved into my neighborhood when I was probably around 8 years old and was the one that got me into bike riding.  I remember trying to follow the jumps he did off curbs on my Huffy Dirt Dog and popping tires, which lead to getting my first "real" BMX bike, a GT performer, all white with pink decals and white 5 spoke mags.  

Throughout the years we would build jumps and ramps out of construction zones in the neighborhood and had a couple of really good set ups including a 12 pack and a dirt halfpipe.  As time went on he grew out of serious riding while I became more and more into it.  

Then his senior year of high school he found out his kidneys were failing causing him to obviously become very sick.  He fought through and found a match with his Mom who donated one of her kidneys to him.  Shortly after the surgery and getting out the hospital he became sick again, this time with pneumonia and it was serious, especially after the kidney transplant.  I still remember him telling me stories of how delirious he was from from the fever, like when he thought he was a flower and had ants crawling all over him, or how he randomly sat up after 4 days in the hospital, yelled to his dad "I HAVE NO SHIRT ON!" then calmly laid back down.

Then about a year ago his doner kidney failed again, he knew it would happen eventually but not this quick.  He was going in for dialysis every week or 2 for almost a year before he found another doner...his girlfriend.  So a few months back he had the surgery and once again received a new kidney, this time with far less complications.

So all in all it was great to see him get married and stay strong throughout his life, he has definatley been an inspiration to me.  Its also crazy to see someone you've known and grown up with for so long get married, kind of put life and how old I am into perspective.  I also have to thank Mike because with out him I may never have found how much joy riding a bike can bring.  And of course congrats to Mike and Colleen!

Anyways it was my first visit to NJ/NYC and it was pretty cool.  When we pulled up to the church in Nutley I instantly saw this spot from Neighborhood Superheros that George D rode, that I've always wanted to ride, in the parking lot of the church.  I immediately thought of what a weird coincidence it was that a spot I always wanted to ride was staring at me on the way into the wedding of my friend that got me into riding...life is weird like that sometimes.

Also saw one of these...with a guido looking guy and his fake blonde fake tan girlfriend get into it.  Jerzey!

The next day was tourist stuff in NYC with the family.  Went to see the U.S.S. Intrepid which is now a museum.  I've always liked learning about war history and to be standing on the ship you can almost feel what happened.

All in all NYC is a weird and cool place, fun to visit but would never want to be there for more than a day, so many people.