We were right in front of PNC Park and almost got carjacked. Living near the city is a blast. I am telling you, having options keeps things fresh. Around Slippery Rock, we only have so many options on things to do. Maybe I am just not looking hard enough or participating in the activities that are going on around me. I like museums, but I like people to be in the museum with me. I do not like it when I am alone or semi alone in large rooms like that. Its weird but freaks me out a little. I am also the nerd who has the headphones and actually listening to the story behind the paintings. My family gets so annoyed with me because when I go into the museum and get the headphones I am into it for hours on end. The artist spent so many hours on this and poured their soul into it. How can we just blow by it. I do not know if I like it, but I know if I like their story or not. The painting can suck, but its worth is in the creation story. This thought process is the same as I used for my marriage proposal. That story will wait for another day. One time we went to Moma, the Museum of Modern Art which is in New York City. This place has real Van Gogh paintings are there. They do not just have paintings though. There was a display that had mirrors, a projector, and a dark room. The theme was depending on which side of the room you were in the art was completely different. The play on perspective. Moma also has a whole section devoted to furniture and inventions. There are thousands of renditions of the chair. I was in that section for a long time. I think after that I had a new appreciation for the creativity that can be shown with a standard design. Due to the pandemic, they had to start selling off some of their artwork to pay for their rent. It's sad and if you push out this pandemic and lack of people in the museums, it will be hard for this art to survive. Our trips to New York City are always fun. The drive is not that bad and our hotel is very close to the Lincoln Tunnel so it is hard to get lost on the way in. We park the car, pay for the in and out service which we never use, check in, and then we are off. We log so many miles on foot when we are there. We walk all over the place, ride the subways, take taxi, ride uber, eat at Hells Kitchen, travel by Hyde Park, and have done all the touristy things. We have been to China town and Queens as well. We were never harassed or hustled or anything. Rewind back to Pittsburgh. Yes, we love the museums but we love casinos even more. We love casinos so much that we took our honeymoon to the mecca of casinos, Las Vegas. My wife and I decided that we wanted to try our luck at the Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh. It was literally 10 minutes away with traffic from our place in Shaler. We both got $100 bucks out and started to play. During the night we were up, we were down and ultimately cashed out with a couple hundred bucks. It was fun. Our strategy is to pick the same numbers all night. We do not chase numbers. Some of the best payouts. Put on 2 chips and you get 70. Always play middle 00 and 0 and play 26. I don't know why, but it has worked for us. We always play at LEAST 2 chips on the board also. Like I said we were feeling good and it was getting late. Like 2am late. Time to head home. We get to the car, get in, and start out of the casino. We get to PNC park and hit a red light. Out of nowhere two guys flank our car and begin to attempt to open the car door. I ran the red light and sped home. They could sell me a car the next day and I would have no idea if it was them or not. My wife and I both couldn't talk until we got home after the "go go go go go". It doesn't matter where you are or how comfortable things are. Bad things can happen everywhere. Evil is everywhere. Just because we didn't experience that evil in NYC doesn't mean it's not there. Same for the flipside, there is GOOD everywhere too. We just have to look. We see what we want to see, all the time. We decide before we have all the facts. We can't help it. I listened to Ziya Tong on Realities We Don't See on Sean Carrolls Mindscape podcast. The studies he reviews basically shows that we have biases and fears during each and every interaction. Think "internal dialogue" when you're in front of the class giving a presentation. That internal dialogue for everyone can and is usually dependent upon the circumstances. Take for example the white basketball player. That player may think because basketball is dominated by African Americans, that he must fit in to be taken seriously amongst the group. Now Mr. Tong is an African American with a black father and white mother. He grew up in a racist America and lived through the struggles of separation. He tells a story of a time when he was allowed to swim in the "white pool". They were only allowed to swim in that pool on Wednesday afternoons. They would literally line up on Wednesdays in their swimming trunks to go swim in the white pool. I find this realization repulsive and I am very thankful for The Civil Rights movement for their part to eradicate that from our way of living. I disagree with Mr. Tong. I disagree that we must fit in to be taken seriously. Yes, it will take longer to be genuine. It will take longer to be successful when you are bare naked in front of the crowd, but you have no secrets. You can redefine what it means to be whatever it is you want to be. If you're a man and want to be a makeup model, do it. If you're a woman and you want to be a mechanic, do it. Do not let society box you up. Do not let people around you destroy your identity. Our identity is the only thing we get to CREATE. Be creative, and don't feel like you need to fit in. Just be you and fitting in will happen around you. #EnjoyTheJourney