So I guess I should blog about my date now, huh? Please note I said "date" because I never got together with Javier and Wrestler Guy (which I am not considering a date but a get together between two friends) for multiple reasons but I will tell you about my date with Kik'e.

First and foremost, I learned that he is Cuban, not Hawaiian, which really messes me up so I will have to ask him about how a Cuban guy got a Hawaiian name on our next date (and yes, apparently I didn't scare him off enough so there will be a second date). Anyway, we opted for something interactive and we did a 'scavenger hunt" through Watson Adventures at the Museum of Natural History. Now, I have never done one of these before but I was thankful that it was indoors because if it was outside in the humidity from this weekend I probably would have killed someone and been sweating like a pig while I was doing it.

We got to start a little early since we were there early enjoying the nice, lovely air conditioning of the Museum of Natural History and their very cold marble-ish/stone-ish benches. We paid our way, got the clue sheet with the instructions to start at number thirty-three which was on the fourth floor of the museum. Now, on our way up, I took a moment to look at the progression of the hunt to see where would begin and end. Well, we were going to wind up going back up to the fourth floor to complete the hunt and then have to go back downstairs. I was having none of that and we opted to complete everything on the fourth floor first before going on to the rest of the hunt.

Now, let me say this -- it was a lot of fun but damn were we tired afterwards. We barely finished within the time limit (namely because I jumped up on top of the dinosaur exhibit in the main lobby to get to the Watson Adventures representatives in time) but we had a lot of fun while doing it. We really had to work together and, ultimately, had a lot of fun with it hunt. Kik'e was really excited about it as he had done a similar thing as a team building exercise a few weeks earlier and we pretty much kicked butt all through the course. In the end, though, we came in fourth place in terms of points (although we are still disputing some of the answers) but I did win the $20 raffle prize at the end which basically meant that we got to do the hunt for free. The winning team got Watson Adventures baseball hats and Kik'e turned to me and said, "Yeah, I would have rather had the twenty bucks."

After the hunt, we went and had dinner at McHales because 1) Kik'e had never had a McHales burger before and 2) it's the best place in NYC to go for a burger. Frankly, to be honest, he loved the burger and we spent a great deal of time talking and getting to know each other during this time. It was, really and truly, one of the first chances we had to really sit down and talk with each other outside of the start of the hunt which was really nice and, frankly, gives you the chance to determien whether or not the person you are going out with that evening is a complete moron. Thankfully, Kik'e is not a moron and that was quite evident based on how we worked together on the hunt.

After dinner we tried to make it down to see a movie that was playing in only two places in NYC -- Dirty Pretty Things playing up in Lincoln Center and down on the Lower East Side. We opted for the Lower East Side since we knew we would miss the 7:30 showing and were going to try for the 8:15. We hopped on the F train and sadly learned that it was routed onto the A line which meant we had to go into Brooklyn and then take a train back on the normal F line to our desired stop. When all was said and done, we got there too late and the movie was already sold out. Actually both the 7:30 and the 8:15 were sold out. All of that running really and truly for nothing you would think but we went to the small deli next door and got some drinks (water for me, seltzer for him) and sat in the park watching people play basketball as the sun set. After all of that rushing we just needed the time to rest a little before we opted to trek across town to the 1 train to take us back up to where Kik'e had parked his car.

We had our first kiss on the subway platform waiting for the 1 train to arrive and it was very nice and very sweet and our second one was as I walked him to his car so he could drive back home to New Jersey. I got home about 11:00 or so and answered some voicemails that were left behind and returned a few calls before ultimately collapsing in bed with a blister on my left foot from walking so much and my legs throbbing from exhaustion. On the bad part, I missed out on a birthday party for a teammate but something tells me I wouldn't have been too much fun considering the fact that I was drop dead tired from the date and I had fallen asleep within three seconds of my head hitting the pillow. I slept until about noon the next day if that tells you how zonked out I was...so more news on the Kik'e front as it comes forth...

Wrestler Guy, for the record, did call and say he was stuck in traffic coming back from a kayakin weekend which pretty much put the kabosh on any plans we had of getting together which was fine since I really hadn't moved much that day outside of doing some minor apartment cleaning. I did go down to support one of our ruggers in his quest to help make his documentary. Had some beers with the gang and then off for another McHales burger (this time a black bean burger -- no meat) and then home to answer some emails....

Long weekend but a good weekend....