The Author in his convalescence

Hurrying to volunteer the NY Comic Con I turned my ankle on 8th Ave stumbling down like a sack of flour down a staircase. I knew right away that my ankle was hurt but what was not immediately evident was that…

Whe I landed on my elbow I had suffered a “nondisplaced fracture of the radial neck”. Two hours after the fall I was unable to touch my forehead. At three hours I had zero range of motion. The doc in a box had an xray taken that indicated the break but he couldn’t treat me so he sent me off – without any treatment of any kind – to an ER.

I headed to Columbia Presbyterian where I have had so much success.  I got there at 2:00PM and left around 10 hours later.  I won’t complain because there were people far worse off than I.  For example the PhD who was there for gangrenous toes who heard a number of times, “you’ll probably lose two or three of those toes.”  

Guess which ankle is sprained.

The doctor I saw, Dr. Bayer, was terrific.  He set me up with a real terrific little drug I recall being named  Cordol, at which point the pain quickly ebbed away.  He also splinted my leg up nicely and gave me a cane which I’ll have to use for a week or so.  There was nothing thst could be done to the elbow aside from the sling.

The Splint

Finally, the good Doctor Bayer gave me a note okaying my conyinurd volunteering at the Con.  Alas it was not to be.  The volunteer dispatcher opted to be more cautious and I was sent home with their appreciation and the Wolverine tumbler I bought.

I’m now on my way to Beth Israel’s satellite office on 34th Street to have it confirmed there is nothing broken/dislocated from the blunt force trauma it experienced less than 2.5 hours ago.

Sadder still this completely squashes my 2 must see panel plans. *sigh*

A kind woman picked up my Collingwood cap that went flying in the mælstrom and inquired as to my health. Which, considering the mass involved, is pretty good. The ankle is sore, as is my right elbow which now cannot be fully extended or closed. Other than that everything is all right.

Unfortunately this means that my volunteering is limited to info booths and guest areas. And all in a seated position.

The first is me being accosted by Adam West’s father dressed up as the Batman.

The second is me at my station handing out the tickets.

I spent most of my time at the pre-registered badge pick-up table dispening tickets to all variety of fans. People from Franc,England and Japan came in to attend NY’s Con. I manned the table with a lawyer for the city. We had a pretty good time poking fun at the people we met. Low hanging fruit I concede.

Of the volunteers I met there were three or five professionals who took time off from work to help out. The rest of the volunteers I met were definitely not. I’m sure they’ll be just fine.

I’ll post a pic from the con when I get home tonight. The Pre-Con shindig at Dave & Busters in Times Sq.

The Wrath of Con

This weekend Traveler Bill will be volunteering at the New York Comic Con at the Javits Center on Manhattan’s West Side.  Bill attended this three day nerd-stravaganza in ’08 as a mere attendee.  This year he will be shepherding fellow nerds through various lines to enter, to get autographs, to see stars of the Fox TV “hit” FRINGE.  Through all sorts of lines will Bill be shepherding nerds.

Additionally, I shall endeavor to, while not working or seeing the few panels that interest me, I will be blogging anything that warrants notice.

Kielbasy, Boiled Potatoes, Sauerkraut and Mushroom Gravy

For all the fans of the “Edi-Bills Restaurant Reviews: The Gourmand’s Guide to Restaurant Reviews” I offer a hearty apology for the sabbatical I took in 2008.  Some would call my journey a “walkabout” as I found my way in the world.

Well that journey has landed me exactly where I started and I can think of no way better to re-launch Edi-Bills Restaurant Reviews than to have my Mormon lawyers take me out to lunch at the East Village diner, “Little Poland Restaurant” at 200 Second Avenue between 12th and 13th Streets.

Walking into the diner at around 1:30 (My lawyers work on Salt Lake City time) I was struck at the fact, not that there were more employees than diners, but that with the exception of the five people in our party every single person in the establishment was speaking Polish; from the bespectacled man at the first booth to the short order cook whose appearance, right down to her incredibly long, beefy arms, could have been an imperfect clone of Celtics great Kevin McHale.

But in a venue such as Little Poland, it is not about the defensive abilities of it’s line cooks, but about the authenticity of it’s food.  And from what I heard, Little Poland was a slice of Warsaw with one of my Mormon lawyers having Polish heritage.

It was at Stanislav’s insistence in fact that we got two orders of pierogies for the table…one potato and one cheese.  Given the option to have them boiled or fried, we selected fried. 

After providing a basket of napkins and cutlery for the table our waitress took our orders.  For an entrée we all ordered the “Kielbasy” either boiled (as I opted) or fried with varying side dishes.  My choice was for the boiled potatoes and, at our waitress’s recommendation, sauerkraut. 

A "home-made" fruit beverage

While the sun was above the yardarm, since it was a gaggle of Mormons were footing the bill I eschewed my typical tipple.  Instead, for my beverage I chose Kompot, described on the menu as “a home-made fruit drink.” It appears as though “home made fruit drink” is Polish for “pear juice with grenadine and grapes.”  In all honesty it was a pleasant enough beverage with peeled grapes and pear chunks floating inside. To be frank it tasted like the juice one finds in a can of Del Monte fruit cocktail. Stanislav found the grapes to be far too soft after their soak but I did not.

Our pierogies came soon after and boy did they look good.  They were plainly presented on a plate with a spoonful of sautéed onions atop and sides of sour cream and applesauce.  I was struck in my first and subsequent bites by the dearth of salt. Apparently the chef’s salt cellar is eight feet away and therefore just out of her grasp. Also, it was soon apparent that our order was fresh from the fryer as a pool of oil large enough to attract the attention of Halliburton was noticed.

They looked a lot better than they tasted

With a diner’s turnover based precision our entrées soon arrived. Well, that’s an exaggeration as 60% of our orders came. Two were delivered a good 3-5 minutes later. Brigham’s ordering of the potato pancakes explained one of the delays as the menu clearly states that 15 minutes must be afforded for their preparation.   However, Maries having to wait for her order of a salad and half a boiled kielbasy left us scratching our heads.

While waiting for the straggling entrees to arrive Jerzymiah Johnsyn walked in with his Afghan hound wearing “Grandpa” Jones’ hat and a coat made out of a bear.  Apparently frightened by this Jagiellon mountain man he sat with his “helper” dog unfettered by city health ordinances.

Nevertheless, as for my dish it was quite attractively presented.  In addition to what I ordered mushroom gravy was also included.  Unfortunately the cooks forgot to season it properly.  A modicum of salt at any stage of the creation could have done wonders for that poor sauce. Instead it was mundane.

The sauerkraut, something for which I have never had an affinity, was actually quite nice. Magda our waitress earned points for that suggestion. As for the potato? It was a boiled potato – pretty much a bullet proof dish. Everyone at the table agreed the kielbasy was ably cooked in both the boiled and fried form.

Lastly to the service, they were amazingly sweet but not all that attentive.  Especially when considering the number of customers (mountain man aside) that was a little hard to swallow.  Overall, this place is an okay spoke to get your kielbasa fix. (They are also open for breakfast and as it is known from Krakow to Warsaw that nothing is better than eggs with kielbasa you might want to try then.)   Little Poland Restaurant received two Traggis on the Traggis Scale of Restaurant Reviews.

Little Poland Restaurant

Coming soon to this very site will be the new and improved Traveler Bill-og.  Traveler Bill Industries, Ltd. has hired a Director of Information Technology who has promised to revamp the Interweb pressence of Traveler Bill, so check back soon as Traveler Bill sets out on his adventure to review at least 52 restaurants in 2009.

Thanks for bearing with us in 2008.

Traveler Bill