Ok, so Im like crazy behind on writing the stories of my blog adventure, so this catch up is gonna be really down and dirty. If you ask me I will give you the full stories. but this post is gonna be like a 5 in 1 orgy. Deal with it. I need to get my following back. Pictures will be added later. I also got waaaay more coming so stay tuned.

Bar: Bryant Park Bar

Area:Bryant Park

Bars: 66

Bryant park is really awesome. Depending on the time of year, they switch up all the cool goodies in there. During the summer they put up a really swanky bar for all the cool people to hang out at after work. One of my co-workers jared was leaving the agency so after work on friday we all headed over to the outdoor bar to enjoy some drinks and wish jared well in his next endevour. It was a lot of fun and Jared is a cool guy to go out with cause he has lots of office gossip. Bryant park rocks though. If you go on a monday they have a huge drive in movie screen playing old movies.

Bar: The raw bar

Area: New Seabury, Cape Cod, Massachusetts

Bars: 65

Chalk up some more family members to the blog. This time it was my nanny and papa, who we met for a drink at the raw bar, the worlds best lobster roll is also sold here. My mom also found some wine that she loved at this bar but cant remember the name of it and constantly goes on and on about it. Did I mention the lobster roll and chowder? Amazing. I recommend the raw bar if your ever in new seabury.

Bar: Chelsea biergarten

Area: Meatpacking

Bars: 64

I went here with my old intern buddy Erin. You might remember her from past blogs (gingerman). She told me that our former boss at CBMG would be in the city and wanted to meet us for a drink. Mike brought 2 new friends and we all had a good time chilling in the open air biergarden drinking beers that we bought with tickets. This was a fun night as well.

Bar: McFaddens, The Bravest

Area: Murray Hill

Bars: 62,63

These are 2 bars that we finished the night up with after going to down the hatch. You know the drill for how this night ends. Wario gets black out drunk. Falls down, makes ass out of himself. We go to another bar and drink cheap shots of whiskey with our friends Jill Pill and Mal Pal. It was a really fun night.

Name: Down the Hatch

Location: 179 W 4th St

Date visited: May 21st

Bar number: 5=61

Price of Guinness: $6 (half price during happy hour!)

Rating: 4/5

Down the Hatch is the sister bar of  The Stumble Inn and Off the Wagon (bars 9,10 respectively) and is owned by the greatest bar company. Its pretty much the same as the other 2, decent drink specials during non peak hours, cool young crowd and hot bartenders. As usual when I go to a greatest bar company bar, Im usually flanked by Syracuse friends (plus tom), and this case was no exception. Per usual Wario got black out drunk, we reminisced and had a great time.

This time our friend Mal Pal and her roommate Jill Pill showed up (those arent pseudonyms those are their actual names). They even joined us for the festivities that occurred later in the night (although Alex didnt, TRACY stole him away from us).

Name: The Wheeltapper Pub

Location: 44th street between 3rd and Lex, New York City

Date visited: May 19th

Bar number: 60

Price of Guinness: $7.00

Rating: 3/5

With the end of the year approaching and work slowing down, the VFEND team decided that today was an appropriate time to grab some drinks and enjoy a quality happy hour. My boss Ely, decided that the place for such festivities would be The Wheeltapper Pub.

Upon walking into the Wheeltapper, one finds themselves in a familiar setting, a bustling, generic English pub, crawling with the after work crowd, patrons let off some steam by partaking in their favorite adult beverages. The bar itself is typical midtown-Manhatten knock off english pub, covered in tube signs, showing the beeb, and serving greasy pub food. Im not for or against it, its just what our society has come to.

My co-workers and I settled in a “cozy” booth in the back (the ‘tapper has 2 bars and is nestled in the Grand Central Hotel), and began to unwind by ordering a few rounds of drinks, ranging from red wine to dark beers to margarita’s (lets just say that from my view, it didnt look like the house specialty, served in a soda glass). After knocking back a few rounds, stomachs began to growl, and the standard fried food began to appear at our table. In this blog, one thing you will probably learn about me is that I love calamari, and the ‘tappers didnt disappoint. After a while, the crowd began to thin, goodbyes were said, and it was off into the night to lose my blogging v-card. A fun night was had by all, and if your looking for a generic, corporate, midtown british pub, The Wheeltapper isnt the worst place in the world to meet some friends after work.

Bars left to visit: 140

Name: Public House

Location: 41st between 3rd and Lexington

Date visited: May 18th

Bar number: 59

Price of Guinness: $6 (I went with the $3 domestic special)

Rating: 4.5/5

On a rainy tuesday, I said goodbye to my work friend Marni. She didnt die, but she did leave our company to become a special education teacher in the NYC school system. I wish her all the best. To send her off, a bunch of us headed a block over to the Public House. I like the Public House, but I dont like the pretentious Wall Street bastards in their suits that go there after work. As a matter of fact I dont like the bastards at any bar. But they seem to frequent the Public House whenever I go there after work. Yea, I get it, you make money, that still isnt an excuse to be a douche and drink $9 Corona’s when there is a 3 dollar beer special.

Anyways, Public House is a decent Happy Hour after work place to hang out with coworkers, and an less than average lounge/club on thursday-saturday nights.

Random piece of advice Ive learned in in 11 months in the work force. When you go out drinking with co-workers, office gossip starts. Avoid it. Avoid it. The convo always lands there, but you gotta avoid it.

Bars left to visit: 141

Name: The Bitter End

Location: 147 Bleecker St

Date visited: May 2nd

Bar number: 58

Price of Guinness: $7

Rating: 4.5/5

Sorry its been a month adventurers. I keep on saying Im gonna post more but then I got kinda pre-occupied with updating the new apartment. And Ive been goin to alot of bars that Ive already visited. So. Yea. There.

Also I dont want to admit this, but ever since I voided my contract with GoogleAds by inflating my ad sales, so Ive been less inclined to blog because I lost some money. But now that I have a new sponsor through shortbord (NBA.com) ill probably have more incentive to blog.

Anyways, Im pretty sure you dont read this site for my excuses. You read it to see the cool bars I go to. None of them are cooler than The Bitter End, a famous NYC rock club where the likes of  Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Lady Gaga have all gotten their start. I was there at 945 on a sunday night to lend support to my friend and (former former roommate) Alex Rawdin. Ive lived with quite a few roommates who played guitar and a majority of them I would have preferred if they didnt play, but Alex was different. Hes got a cool sound, much to the vibe of John Mayer and Jack Johnson. Alex was playing a set at the legendary Bitter End, and I was certainly not going to miss it.

I arrived at 945 for his 10 pm set (like all rock shows he went on late). He greeted me before the show with a glass of Jack in his hand (what else do rockstars drink) and I wished him luck. The cool thing about this show was that since it was in the city there were so many Cuse friends there to hang out with and support Alex. He played a truly awesome show and I look forward to seeing his next show in on June 13th.

If you love to see the next big rock star, in an intimate setting, there is no place in the city with more history than the Bitter End, and hopefully ill see you all there on sunday the 13th.

Bars left to visit: 142

Name: ZENGO

Location: Corner of 3rd Ave between 40th and 41st

Date visited: April 29th, 2010

Bar number: 57

Price of Guinness: No Guinness, only Beers from asia and mexico ($6-8 though)

Rating: 3/5

Zengo is the brainchild of my partner, Martin. He wondered why our work team didnt go out for drinks together after work more often? So he set up a happy hour at the new swanky joint, Zengo. Unfortunately for Martin, he was sick the day of the happy hour and had to leave it to some other CDMers to go in his place.

Leslie, Jamie, Jared and I all arrived at about 6ish, only to find the place pretty empty. Hoping that more CDMers would arrive, we sat down and ordered some drinks and some appetizers. It was at this point that I noticed what a nice place (for me) Zengo was. Zengo served Asian/Mexican fusion food, served a drink menu that complimented that theme. Anyway, as we waited for our drinks and noticed that there were in fact CDMers at the bar, they were just upstairs in the lounge area!

After we got our first round we headed up to join the party that included some ZYVOX people and some traffic/TSMs celebrating Ann and Kate’s promotion from TSM to traffic coordinator. While there, lo and behold Dana Karson showed up to grace the current CDMers with her presence. It was fun to kick back and enjoy some chill time with some co-workers and hopefully the happy hour will be a work tradition that carries on.

Bars left to visit: 143

Name: Barfly

Location: 33rd between Madison and 5th

Date visited: April 27th, 2010

Bar number: 56

Price of Guinness: No Guinness, special brew pub with updated beer menu that changes daily (beers range from 6-10 bucks though)

Rating: 4.5/5

The resident beer connoisseur of the Blog Josh A told me about this place and their really awesome beer menu. I even visited it during Passover to meet up with TRACY and Alex, but I couldnt drink anything cause it was Passover. I vowed to return, and return I did a few weeks later with my friend Katelyn.

Katelyn and I met up after work to hang out and catch up since our last adventure at Galway Hooker (#46). Rattle and Hum has an awesome set up, it has a great bar,  really cool vibe, good food (everything is made with beer), and an AMAZING beer selection. They rotate their beer selection weekly. When I say amazing beer selection, Im not lying, your not getting Guinness, Bud, or even blue moon here. The only 2 beers on the menu I had ever heard of were Magic Hat and Arrogant Bastard (Josh had introduced me to this beer). They specialize in craft brews that are rated extremely high by industry insiders. And they have a beer menu that changes daily, organized by the type of beer (stout, lager, IPA, hefenweizen etc). I have a pretty solid working knowledge of beers, so it was fun to pick out beers that Ive never heard of before.

Some of them I had no idea what they would be like, and by the end of it was basically playing pin the tail on the donkey with the menu. I would close my eyes and plop my finger down on the menu and order whatever I landed on (I also do this with the pizza menu at Town Spa occasionally).

Katelyn and I had fun trying different beers on the menu, but ultimately we were done in by our tiredness and our inability to decide on an appetizer to order. If you are going to grab a drink after work and are in the midtown area, I highly recommend Rattle and Hum, great atmosphere, good food, no pretentious douchebags, and an amazing beer selection (a tad price if you get certain ones though).

Bars left to visit: 144

Name: Bar 29

Location: Corner of 29th and 3rd

Date visited: April 24th, 2010

Bar number: 55

Price of Guinness: $7.50

Rating: 3.5/5

Sorry I havent blogged in while, I got a new sick apartment on 39th and 2nd, and internet hasnt been installed in my new place until today. So get ready for a slew of bar posts. I keep saying Im gonna get on top of things and then I end up getting behind again. And ive been slacking on attending bars. Badness. People are starting to doubt Im gonna make it to 200. Well I have news for the haters: FUCK YOU, I got this on lock. Laser show.

Bar 29 marked the inaugural appearance of Jessie, a friend of mine since 3rd grade. She was in town with her roommate visiting Amy, a well known correspondent of the adventure. Jessie wanted to see me (and me her) and get in the blog, so I suggested we go someplace close to our houses and they wanted to go someplace close to the sushi restaurant they were going to for dinner. After walking down 2nd and 3rd aves it became apparent that it was kinda tough finding a bar, because ive been to so many of them.

We eventually settled on Bar 29, which as of like 2 months ago was this place called “Makers” apparently that didnt work out to well and it is now Bar 29. I didnt mind because word on the street (aka the bartender) is that Bar 29 is a Syracuse bar. Good, because Murray hill needed a good Cuse bar that was named “The hill” I havent reviewed it for the blog yet, but that place is full of douchebags. Expect it to get a poor rating when I inevitably get dragged there.

Anyways, Jessie and I had a good time catching up, and she suggested that I try to get a book deal or a movie deal out of the blog. On paper that sounds great, but I dont think there is enough story in this blog. Its more ranting and raving. Jeff thinks I need to do more ranting and raving. Jessie thinks that I need more of a story arc. I kind of agree with both of them.

Jessie also commented that my blog was similar to Julie & Julia, but I get that comment a lot. I think I might have addressed it already in a previous post. But after 55 bars things get hazy. It was great seeing Jessie, and seeing her really picked me up while i was in a nervous state (you can see my yeti beard and disheveled appearance in the picture).

Lastly I want to take the time to rant against people who run other blogs. I run a blog for 1.5reasons. Reason number 1: Ive always been really big into New Years resolutions, and this seemed like a cool one to undertake.

Reason number 1.5 is a little more selfish. It gives me something to talk about with girls at bars. Either Im incredibly un-interesting (probable) or girls dont really think its that cool of a task, so either way its not working.

I mention this because I have stumbled upon other people who pop up on my facebook newsfeed who also run blogs. Their blogs are so fucking superficial that it makes me so angry, that i want to post on their blogs that its no wonder your miserable and unhappy because your a superficial moron. Jessie told me about this blog she reads about this girl who goes on J-dates and rights about it. Ive read similar ones that are about dating, and this girl who writes it thinks she has some insight into the male brain. I want to post on her blog that she is retarded and her blog makes me want to vomit.

After venting all of that it dawned on me that I guess I write my blog for another selfish reason: to make fun of all the douche-y people in NYC who go to some of the bars that I get dragged to. Anyways, that rant spiraled out of control. If you take anything away from it I hope its that, most people’s blogs are done for selfish reasons (including this one) and that other peoples blogs are stupid (including this one, but atleast I acknowledge it)

Bars left: 145

Name: Barfly

Location: Corner of 3rd and 20th

Date visited: April23rd, 2010

Bar number: 54

Price of Guinness: $7

Rating: 4/5

I must have walked by Barfly 300 times. Just looks like your classic neighborhood bar with great food, decent drinks, friendly people, and some bar games. Also the sign and design of this place looks like something stolen out of 1983. I half imagined everyone in here to look like a scene from a Michael J Fox movie, with jean jackets and stuff. That didnt happen, but it was a cool place to grab a beer.

I met Wario here after I was at the Hairy Monk (my Boston bar, #7) watching the draft, sox, B’s and C’s games. We stayed for a drink or 2 (i was pretty sloshed at this point, after housing beers during the B’s game), and decided that there was only one thing left to do when completely sloshed and within 20 blocks of Union Square… Thats right… Bar None (#16).

When we arrived at Bar None we split a pitcher and I think we tried hitting on these girls, but it was an utter disaster cause we were both wasted, and at that point I knew it was time to make the long trek home. I knew it was a sloppy night because I woke up the next morning with the TV and lights on in my room, something that NEVER happens, no matter how wasted I am.

Anyways, that doesnt really give you too much insight about barfly. I just liked the place because it reminds me of back to the future, and it seems like a great place to watch a game. Also, Im sure your all aware but a lot of attractive girls work the bars in NYC, I was pretty drunk but I remember this one being gorgeous. Again, that is all heavy speculation. But I think i remember it that way.

Also, I really like the name Barfly, because its an old term for a drunkard who is a regular at his local watering hole. I have only heard the term used once during an episode of cheers, in which norm refers to himself as a barfly at the cheers bar. Baller.

Bars left to visit: 146

Name: The Globe

Location: 23rd between 3rd and Lexington

Date visited: April 17th, 2010

Bar number: 53

Price of Guinness: $7

There was a theme to this weekend. Cousins!! My cousin Jennifer and her awesome husband Matt were in town to celebrate Matt’s 30th birthday. Matt and Jen live near my sister Staci in DC, and came up to have a group birthday with a bunch of his friends because NYC was central to a lot of their homes. It was really great to see Jen, especially because I hadnt seen her since her wedding (actually thinking back on it, it was at Thanksgiving/Noah’s Barmitzvah) and Matt since he took me to see Phish a week later.

The Globe is a cool little lounge that really fits the Gramercy/Murray Hill vibe, and it was cool hanging out with people a bit older (some of them were pregnant, and I had to restrain myself from making as many pregnant/drinking jokes… such is life).

I went to go meet up with a friend after a few drinks, but it was definitely a cool spot and look forward to seeing more family as they enter the blog.

Bars left to visit: 147