New York City Diary

Bed Head

2011-01-23T09:04:00.006-05:00

I wish this could be a lazy Sunday, but I'm actually buried in work. We'll see how much gets done. Here's a recent photo, by which I mean it's about five minutes old, of me and the kids. Zachary and I got haircuts from Gaspar in the old neighborhood yesterday. The styling didn't hold up too well overnight, but when we left his shop we looked like two wiseguys.

So if you're just visiting my blog for the first time after seeing the Jacques Piccard story and video, thanks. I don't update this as much as I'd like because most of my writing is done for other outlets. I'm senior editor at BlackBook now, and that's going very well. By all means, check it out. Subscribe to the magazine or the newsletter. Here's my tag if you want to browse stories I've written. Some of the more enjoyable pieces of late were on Interpol, Sean Lennon, and Mile End delicatessen. My newly minted spirits column kicked off with tequila, which was a fun subject to research. (Today's assignment: single malts!)

More importantly, though, I run BlackBook's excellent series of city guides, which cover restaurants, nightlife, hotels, and shops in more than 60 cities around the world. The guides are all available on iPhone (and Android soon), so if you have one, and you like me, and you'd like to do me a favor (along with enjoying the guides), download the free BlackBook Guides app now. Thank you.

Personally, things are good. Zachary is four now and doing well in school. Sebastian turned three months yesterday and he's already in school with Zachary. Jenn's back at work already, and we're all enjoying our new neighborhood of Park Slope, Brooklyn. I miss Williamsburg, my home of more than 10 years, but the Slope has a lot going for it, not least of which is the miracle that is Prospect Park.

So that's the brief update. It's super chilly today, so I'm glad our only real plan is to have brunch at our next door neighbors' place. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday, or whatever day it happens to be when you read this.

Born in Brooklyn

2010-11-26T17:04:00.003-05:00

Sebastian Oscar Ozols was born at precisely 9:00 p.m. on Friday, October 22, 2010 at Methodist Hospital in Brooklyn. He's doing great in every way. Jenn was wonderful and beautiful through it all. Zachary, who just turned four on November 23, is relishing his new role as big brother, though he occasionally gets frustrated that Sebastian can't do more fun stuff yet.

It's crazy having two kids, but we're handling it well. And we're lucky, as they're both reasonably good sleepers, considering their ages. Thanks for all the good wishes and I'll try to do better with updates here.

Countdown to Forty

2010-09-28T21:11:00.005-04:00

I turn forty in less than three hours, and I am totally fine with these being the last moments of my thirties.

Welcome to September

2010-09-02T23:58:00.003-04:00

It's been a long time since I've posted an update to this site, and I hardly have the time to write anything of substance now, but the least I can do is post a recent photo of Zachary. I took this tonight after he got out of the bath and I towel-dried his hair. We had been at the Prospect Park playground, where he played in the water sprinklers until it was too dark and we had to come home.

The basics, since my last post: We moved from Williamsburg to Park Slope. The Slope is beautiful. I left Esquire and took a job at BlackBook. That's going great as well. And Jenn is pregnant. Zachary's little brother will arrive on or about October 16, 2010.

Watch this space for a more substantive update soon, I hope.

The Great and Harrowing New York City Blizzard of 2010

2010-02-10T11:11:00.003-05:00

After somehow missing out on last week's blizzard, which dumped a foot of snow on Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia, New York is finally getting hit by a proper snowstorm today, the Blizzard of 2010. Local news stations are going bonkers as they always do when it snows, with man-on-the-street interviews and the mayor talking about how great our snowplows are. The snow started sometime overnight and is expected to continue through 6:00 a.m. tomorrow, leaving us with more than a foot of white stuff on the ground.

Due to the inclement weather, Zachary's school is closed today, as are all New York City schools, so I took the morning off work to take care of him while Jenn went to 30 Rock for a big meeting. We bundled up in warm clothes and took a walk to McCarren Park, which is just down the street from our apartment in Brooklyn. While we were there, we decided to film our own on-the-scene snow report, and here it is. Enjoy your snow day, everybody.

Ilse Igel, Then and Now

2009-10-13T10:40:00.003-04:00

In the mid 1970's, when my sister and I were little, my parents took us on a trip to Germany. To keep us occupied on the long drives between mountains and castles, we stopped by a bookstore and my mom bought us a bunch of tiny children's books.

One of the books was called Ilse Igel, and it was about a hedgehog helicopter pilot that did favors for people. Little Susi, for example, was afraid that it would rain on her birthday party, so Ilse flew up to the rainclouds and lassoed them out of the way. Young Philipp, meanwhile, wanted to help Frau Potthoff wash the upper-floor windows on her apartment building, so Ilse flew to the top and cleaned the windows with a mop. And Peter Maus, a police mouse, needed Ilse's help to stop a thief who was making off with a million Deutsche marks from the local bank. Isle used a cable and winch to remove the only bridge out of town, causing the robber to plunge into the water in his yellow car with red polka dots.

Now that we have Zachary, who is two years old, my mom found these old books and gave them to me. They've quickly become some of Zachary's favorite books to read on the subway to and from school. No, he doesn't read German, nor do I, though the plot is easy enough to figure out and there are plenty of cognates. But he still loves flipping through these cute little comics, and gets a big thrill when the robber drives into the water and he can say "splash!"

Ilse Igel was written and illustrated by Jørgen Clevin and first published in 1972. It is a Pixi book.

The View from the Gravity Bar

2009-08-23T17:53:00.004-04:00

Here's a very short video that shows the view from where we were sitting in the Guinness Gravity Bar in Dublin. Central Dublin (south of the River Liffey) is visible in the background behind us. It's hard to make out much, but it's the area of the Temple Bar district, Trinity University, and St. Stephens Green. To the right of the frame are the Wicklow Mountains, where the water for Guinness comes from.

I think three videos involving Guinness are enough for now. Complete coverage of our Dublin tour starts here.

Perfect Pints in the Guinness Gravity Bar

2009-08-23T09:30:00.006-04:00

Yes, another video involving Guinness. Well, it is Dublin after all. This is from a visit to the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin last week, one of the high points of our Dublin vacation. September 24, 2009 marks the 250th anniversary of the famous Irish stout, and the party is just getting started.

Kicking Off our Dublin Holiday at the Brazen Head

2009-08-23T08:44:00.005-04:00

Jenn and I recently returned from a wonderful five-day vacation in Dublin, Ireland. I threw together a series for Jaunted.com on our trip that can be found here. This video depicts our first-ever pints of Guinness in Dublin, which we enjoyed at the Brazen Head pub. The Brazen Head bills itself as the oldest pub in Ireland (established 1198) and I'm in no position to dispute that. It was a fine venue to toast the start of our holiday.

Officer Zachary

2009-07-13T08:08:00.003-04:00

Zachary's class enjoyed a visit with the New York Police Department recently. They were introduced to a police horse named Jack and got to sit on this police motorcycle. As you can see, Zach thought it was pretty cool.

Suddenly Summer

2009-05-25T21:46:00.003-04:00

Jenn and I kicked off the vacation season this year with a trip to Key West. We had a nice time and did everything we wanted to do, dining at great restaurants, visiting the literary landmarks, and going out on the ocean in sailboats.

The above photo is from Fort Zachary Taylor State Park Beach. Click on it to make it big. Key West isn't known for having great beaches, but Fort Zachary Taylor is quite good, with plenty of palm trees, clean white sand, and gentle waves. The sand is imported from the Bahamas, but who cares.

For a detailed rundown on the trip, visit my three-part series on Jaunted here, and if you'd like to see a detailed video tour of our hotel, read my HotelChatter story here.

Great Accomplishments in Toddlerhood

2009-03-15T12:52:00.004-04:00

I got out of work a little bit early on Friday and took Zachary to the playground at McCarren Park in Brooklyn. His latest accomplishment is climbing all the way up to the top of the jungle gym and sliding down the corkscrew slide all by himself. I stayed close to catch him if he slipped, but he didn't need my help. I always used to love those corkscrew slides as a kid. My sister and I used to call them "potato-chip slides" but I can't tell you where that came from.

Rockefeller Center

2009-03-08T22:42:00.009-04:00

Jenn and I took Zachary into Manhattan yesterday to meet Jenn's friends Lisa and Arturo and their daughter Amelie, who were in town from New Haven. We had an early dinner at Ruby Foo's in Times Square (not a normal hangout for us, to be sure, but it was good for kids) and then wandered around Rockefeller Center, as they needed to kill an hour before taking the bus back home. The weather was unseasonably warm for late winter. The above photo is not the closeup that it appears to be. I actually shot it from well across the ice skating rink and just cropped it to feature Prometheus. You can click on the photo to make it big.

I like the way Zach is smiling in this picture. He's just now learning to smile for the camera.

You ever see that show 30 Rock? This is 30 Rock, the building, where you'll find NBC Studios and the Rainbow Room. The Top of the Rock observation deck is also up there, though I've never been. It's supposed to be great.

And here's a wider shot of Prometheus and the skaters. Anyway, we all wandered around for a while, and I pointed out the Latvian flag among all the other flags that line the plaza. We sat on a bench for a while and Zachary and Amelie had fun pulling leaves off the bushes and tossing them into the fountain. At first we tried to stop them, but after a while we gave up. In any case, I've always like the Rockefeller Center area for its Art Deco architecture and constant activity. As far as tourist centers of New York City go, it's a much more pleasant place to hang out than, say, Times Square. We stayed for a while and let the kids run around, then Lisa, Arturo, and Amelie went to find their bus, and we took the subway home to Brooklyn.

If you've read this far, then let me take this opportunity to remind you that I write all kinds of stuff for the web. Check out my Jaunted stuff here, my Momondo stuff here, and my old Gridskipper stuff here. Beyond that you can just Google my name and all kinds of stuff will come up. Pass along or share anything that appeals to you. Clicks are good.

Picking Up Zachary from Day Care

2009-01-16T14:55:00.002-05:00

It's a lot of work, taking Zachary from our home in Brooklyn to his day care center in Manhattan and back every day, but when you get a nice welcome like this, it's worth it.

Happy 2009!

2009-01-01T20:17:00.004-05:00

I shot this photo of the Empire State Building while doing some of my typical last-minute Christmas shopping, rushing to Macy's Herald Square (foreground) during my lunch break to pick up a bottle of Clinique lotion for Jenn. We spent the holiday with Jenn's family in Arizona and came back on the 30th. Our New Year's Eve party last night consisted of me cooking a ribeye steak dinner at home, accompanied by a bottle of red Bordeaux wine from the Bottle Shoppe on Graham Avenue. Zach slept peacefully upstairs as we watched Anderson Cooper looking very uncomfortable co-hosting CNN's Times Square New Year's Eve ball-dropping countdown show with Kathy Griffin. The ball dropped and then it was 2009. Out with the old, in with the new. Today we went to FAO Schwartz, which Zach enjoyed very much.

Sunset at Green Cay

2008-12-05T00:22:00.005-05:00

Here's a photo from our recent vacation to Boynton Beach, Florida over the Thanksgiving holiday. We went for a late-afternoon stroll at Green Cay Wetlands (Cay is pronounced "key") and happened to be in the perfect position to catch the sunset. It was November 25, 2008, and this is what it looked like. Click on the photo to make it bigger.

Nota bene: I'm on Twitter now. If you care to follow, my username is VictorOzols. Very creative, I know. You can find my Twitters/tweets/whatever they call that stuff here.

Also, I recently started writing for a travel website called momondo.com, and have a "content channel" called - big surprise - New York City Diary. My Momondo stuff can be found here. Momondo.com is a good place to find cheap airfares, so if you're flying somewhere, give it a look. It might save you some time and money.

And I'm still the weekend editor at Jaunted.com, and here is an archive of my stuff.

Thanks for reading.

The East River and Manhattan from Java Street in Greenpoint, Brooklyn

2008-11-16T21:52:00.006-05:00

Here's a photo I took last night at around 6:30 p.m. I was at the end of Java Street in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, looking out over the East River to Manhattan. I have a rather cheap and old digital camera, but I used the "night shot" setting and was able to get kind of a neat photo out of the situation by resting the camera on a Jersey barrier so it would stay still while the shutter was open.

I think the ambient moisture in the air (it started pouring down rain a few minutes after this photo) captures the city lights over the water in a nice way. Click on the photo to make it big.

By the way, the East River isn't really a river at all, it's a tidal estuary. And I think the old stories about mob guys putting their adversaries into concrete shoes and dumping them into the East River is a myth. You'd have to stay still for a long time for the concrete to harden. It hardly seems worth the hassle.

An Interview with Jacques Piccard, 1922-2008

2008-11-01T22:02:00.016-04:00

[Photo via AP]

I'm saddened to read that Jacques Piccard died today. Jacques Piccard was a Swiss oceanic engineer famous for making the deepest ever ocean dive, which he accomplished on January 23, 1960 along with Lt. Don Walsh. The two entered a bathyscaph called Trieste and descended 10,916 meters (35,810 feet) into the Challenger Deep, an area in the Pacific Ocean's Mariana Trench, touching down on the deepest part of the ocean anywhere on earth. That's quite an accomplishment, and one that hasn't yet been repeated.

I had the good fortune to interview Mr. Piccard by telephone back in 2005 and ask him what it was like to descend to the deepest part of the ocean. The interview never made it to print, so I will take this opportunity to publish it here, in its entirety. It could probably use some editing, but it's nice to hear the rhythms of his French-accented speech, and I wouldn't want to take out anything important. Also, I want to post it in a timely fashion. I'll probably post a link to it on Jaunted.com tomorrow as well.

Please read and enjoy it.

Interview with Jacques Piccard

Wednesday, March 23, 2005

Okay, yeah, sure

Okay, please you will excuse me but my English is relatively poor.

Our base was in Guam.

And until we could arrive to the place, precise place of the Mariana Trench where we were to descend, to dive, we had about four days to tow the submarine with a tugboat and the sea was pretty rough, and it was not a very nice trip. It was interesting of course, everybody was looking forward to making the deep dive, but the weather was relatively poor.

And when we arrived on the 23^rd of January [1960], the early morning, we arrived at the place, we had to start the dive as soon as possible because the waves were bad and the sea was very rough, windy, some rain also I believe, and so on.

But the first impression was as soon as we started the dive, being in the bathyscaphe, even just a few feet below the water level it was absolutely quiet and smooth and no waves anymore, you know, and so we could really start diving in very good spirits.

And looking through the portholes, the water seemed empty, no fishes of course because there are very rarely fishes on the surface of the sea in the middle of the ocean, the Pacific.

But the blue of the light was absolutely beautiful, clear and limpid and absolutely beautiful water.

So we start to dive, relatively slowly first, and, due to the physics of the bathyscaphe, normally when you dive you dive faster and faster, it is what happened.

And in order to control our speed and temperature you remember the Trieste was made with a sphere in which we were protected from the pressure of the water.

And the sphere was heavier than water, it was fixed to a container of gasoline, light gasoline which gives buoyancy for coming up after the dive, you know?

So we had to control the temperature of the gasoline, which was very important to know that everything was smooth.

The temperature in the gasoline was slowly increasing due to the compression of the gasoline.

And so everything was smooth, so we, after a few minutes we arrived to about 1,000 feet it was already darker, and then, gradually, as soon as we were continuing the dive the water was darker and darker, and when we arrived to approximately 600 meters which is about 2,000 feet we were really in the depths because it was completely night, you know.

We had searchlights so we could use our searchlights to try to see some (spheres?), there was some plankton in the water, not very much but we could see some light snow, you know, snow which was going up as we were going down, you know. Relatively speaking, the plankton which was remaining at the same depth continuously was appeared to be coming up.

So it was interesting to see but nothing special. We were used to dives, Don Walsh had dived previously. Everything was smooth so we could keep in touch by telephone with the surface. We said everything is fine, we are now at 2,000 feet, 3,000 feet, 10,000 feet, I believe even deeper to 20,000 feet.

But when we arrived at approximately 4,000 meters, 15,000 feet about, then the telephone stopped. The telephone could not reach the tugboat, the surface boat, so we were absolutely alone, by ourselves, we had no way to communicate with the surface.

This was an interesting point. We knew at least we could even say that the telephone was going until 4,000 meters, the telephone was going maybe better than what we could normally expect. So the communication was good until these 4,000 meters.

Then we continued, we arrived to 5,000 meters, 6,000 meters, maybe I can speak in meters? Everybody is knowing that about three feet is making one meter.

So we continued to dive and when we arrived at 10,000 meters approximately we could hear kind of a “fok” noise, and a small movement, a little bit like a very small, little earthquake. We didn’t know what it was so I stopped the bathyscaphe, to take a few minutes for thinking about this noise.

And I told to Walsh, you see, if when we will start to dive again if we are going very fast it would be showing that we are losing gasoline, which would be extremely dangerous, of course.

If, on the contrary, the bathyscaphe is starting to dive again very very slowly, it means that our equilibrium is good, and that “fok” that we felt in the dive was of relatively no importance of all. This is what happened really.

Then we continued to dive. Finally we arrived to approximately 11,000 meters, 35,600 feet at that time.

And 200 meters below us on our fathometer, we could see the bottom. And it was important because some oceanographers had told us that maybe it would not be a real bottom, it would be just more and more sedimentation, or ooze in the water with the possible danger that we would enter into the mud too deep and then not see anything more, and stay in the mud, which would not be bad because by dropping some ballast we could always make the submarine lighter and come up to the surface.

But seeing on the fathometer a beautiful straight line on the bottom, it showed that the bottom was clear, that it was practically, probably no stone, no rocks and so on, and that the mud was sufficiently resistant so that we could really land on this kind of bottom.

So I slowed down the submarine and made it very very light in the water, just a few pounds more than the water, and so we went down and down very very slowly and finally at 35,800 feet we touched the bottom. Very slowly, didn’t make any clouds.

You know, if you land on sand or on ooze if you land too fast you can make a big cloud and you don’t see anything more for a few minutes.

But on the contrary the landing was so slow, so perfect I can say, that the bottom was not disturbed at all. We could finally look through the porthole, we could finally see the bottom on the deepest-known place in the earth, in the sea.

Another thing which was extremely important and very interesting. No oceanographer at the time could know with precision if very well complicated, well-organized life was living on the bottom. In other words, are there fish living there, or if no fish maybe some shrimps and so on.

So for fun, one oceanographer would remain on the surface, of the sea, it was Dr. Rechnitzer, told me before the dive “I prohibit, I tell you, you are not allowed to come up to the surface if you don’t see at least one fish,” you know, just to show it was important to look carefully.

Of course we looked very carefully but it was very simple.

When we arrived at the bottom, just at about ten or 15 feet from the porthole, we saw a fish which was at first absolutely not moving at all, and after a few minutes he started to move and to swim, very slowly, and to disappear in the darkness a few feet farther.

And this was very, very interesting, you know, because a fish living like this in the bottom of the sea of course is using oxygen for breathing. And this oxygen was, of course, in the water, and where was it coming from?

It could come only from the surface, because on the surface you have the (phytoplanktons??), or the vegetable planktons, making oxygen, producing oxygen, and the waves, taking oxygen from the air, or taking air from the atmosphere, and, by current, this oxygen finally arrived to the deepest place in the ocean.

And then, also, if you have water coming from the surface, maybe after several years of voyage, of course, this new water will push the old water away, and this water will finally arrive back to the surface.

So you can imagine it is a kind of a movement from water from the surface coming down to the bottom of the sea, and back to the surface, and so on. These are cycles which can take scores and scores of years, of course.

But it was very important, because, at that time, many people, scientists, also, and politicians, economists, economic people, and so on, said what can we do with the refuse, I believe you say, of the nuclear power, energy. What is the word? The product which has a radioactive, and which are coming out of nuclear …

VO: Nuclear waste?

Nuclear waste, that’s the word, thank you very much. So people said, oh nuclear waste, we can drop them in the deep trenches and then they would stay there forever.

And no, we said no, it’s not true, this fish practically told us that we are not to drop any nuclear waste in the bottom of the trenches, because we know that the water is finally coming back to the surface, and all the sea would be damaged, all the oceans and so would be damaged by the nuclear waste.

So this was quite clear and as far as I know no nuclear waste has been dropped on this bottom, in these places. Unfortunately there are many other places where they do this which is also very bad, but at least this water at least for now is protected.

So this was what this fish explained us, told us I can say.

How was the fish? It was nothing special. Not at all like the deep sea fish that you can see in the dictionary, encyclopedia and so on and so on.

It was a flat fish, about looking like a sole, not more than one foot at the most in length and about half in wide.

And it was a flat fish and it was important to know it was a flat fish because are usually living on the bottom, so this fish was living on the bottom of the trench.

It was not a fish that we would have, for instance, (trained/trailed?) with water with the submarine from mid-water or from the surface,

No it was a fish really living on the bottom. In other words, the deepest part of the fish, the part which was below the fish was in the mud, and we could see only the top of the fish if I can say so. A flat fish living in the mud, half the body in the mud and half the body in the water let’s say.

And the two eyes, typical from these animals, with the two eyes on the same side of the head, were clearly visible.

VO: Like a flounder?

Exactly like a flounder, exactly like a flounder, very similar to a flounder. Might be a flounder. To be sure, our observations which were relatively short, of course, we had other things to do, to be sure that this observations were good we should really make more dives, and continue to dive several times to see other fishes and so on.

This is a dream that I am too old to realize that myself. But sooner or later other people will make use of marine for great depths, new bathyscaphes will certainly make other dives at these places.

I can also tell you that the Japanese people are using the remote control instruments, and they have been approximately in the same area that the place where we landed and they found and described the bottom of the sea exactly as we saw it.

But up to now apparently they didn’t see any fishes yet.

So this is the story of the dive, well, an important point is, I told you that until about 12,000 feet the telephone did function very well, it was an acoustical telephone with no cable of course, like radio however by waves instead of being by cable. A telephone that you could use normally.

Excuse me, I wasn’t very clear, and we had no cable, no electric cable, no cable at all between the surface boat and the submarine.

We were absolutely free and the telephone was only going by using ultra, ultrawaves, ultrasound, you have a word in English? Ultrasound, exactly yes.

So, being at the bottom, we said we’ll try the submarine (phone) you never know, maybe it will work again. And we called the surface, “this is the Trieste, we are down at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, how do you hear us?”

And you know the sound took approximately seven seconds to go to the surface, and seven seconds to go back again for the answer, so we could not have any answer before 14 seconds.

And just after 14 seconds we heard the surface “Hello, Trieste, wonderful. How are you, we are glad to hear you, communication is quite good,” and so on and so on.

So that was the telephone which was not working at 5,000 meters was apparently working at (??) meters.

Why? This was simple to explain. The surface boat was not still on the surface. It was moving, going for a few miles on east and west and north and south and so on. And the communication was good, whatever the depth was, just when the surface boat was on the vertical of the submarine.

Then the waves could go very well. But if the surface boat was too far away, it was a reflection, a refraction?? Of the wave, and nothing could arrive to the antenna of the boat.

So, by chance the surface boat, the tugboat and the small, other Navy boats which were there to help us, by chance they were just on the vertical of the submarine when we were on the bottom.

So we could speak and tell them where we were, what we were doing, and so on. And also we could tell them in advance, I told them we will arrive at 4:00 this afternoon, and I believe we arrived at two minutes before four, so just practically exactly what was expected and computed.

So this is the story of our dive. I am just sorry that nobody did it again after this, after us, but as I told you before this will come certainly.

VO: Okay, well what was it like when you finally got back up to the surface and you got out of the Trieste. How was your homecoming up on the surface?

Oh, this was also interesting. We had two portholes on the Trieste, one forward, one backward. And on the one backward, aft, the windows, porthole was on the door, we could open or close, we could close it when we start to dive, we open when we arrive at the surface, and this is in a little chamber which is full of water.

And which is on the same pressure as the water itself. So in order to close this small chamber called antichan ??? or small chamber we had a panel of Plexiglas which was about one inch and a quarter thick. And this panel, for some reason too long to explain now, could not stand some kind of tension, and although the pressure was the same inside and outside this little chamber, it was some crack that which was the noise that we heard before that I told you.

It was a crack maybe about half a foot, a few inches long. And we saw, we discovered this small crack when we were down on the bottom, and when we came up, due to the lower and lower pressure, the window closed. The small crack disappeared, it remained but it was completely tight again, watertight again.

So when we arrived on the surface I had to blow with compressed air the entrance tube. And when I blow the compressed air I decided to do it slowly so it would not increase too much the pressure inside, so that full panel could not be destroyed by the inside pressure due to the compressed air. I hope you understand what I mean?

So for this I opened the compressed air with the bottle we had inside the sphere, very slowly, and normally we make empty the entrance tube from this water, in a few minutes. Due to the fact that I was doing it very slowly it took I believe ten minutes, I don’t remember, ten or twelve minutes probably. And at that time the telephone did not work again because the antenna was out of the water. So I could not explain to the surface crew that we had to wait ten minutes or fifteen minutes so that we could open the hatch and get out.

So we did it very slowly, and the people there on the surface, unfortunately, believed it was some accident, maybe we are no more alive and so on.

They were slightly afraid until we could finally open the hatch and get out of the submarine.

Union Pool Car Show

2008-08-26T22:45:00.004-04:00

Over the weekend, Jenn, Zachary and I went for a walk in McCarren Park as we often do. On the way back we noticed a classic car show taking place under the elevated portion of the BQE so we decided to check it out. As we were walking by the car in the above photo, it started spewing out flames from two stacks coming out of the hood, so I had to shoot it.

The next picture is of a car I thought looked cool, but I can't recall the make or model.

The car show was somehow affiliated with a bar called Union Pool. I haven't been there in years, but it's become very popular with the hot rod crowd.

Sunday at the Pool

2008-08-17T23:22:00.006-04:00

This afternoon, after I finished my entries for Jaunted, Jenn went into Manhattan to meet a friend, so I put Zachary in the jogging stroller and went to McCarren Park. I could hear music from the McCarren Park Pool, so we headed over to check out the free show. The performer was a rapper/hip-hop artist named Aesop Rock who was joined by Rob Sonic and DJ Whiz. I hadn't heard of the first two, but I think I met DJ Whiz one time at a club called Good World, but that's going back a ways and it might not be the same Whiz. In any case, the music was pretty good, and Zach liked looking at all the people and especially the inflatable dancing stick figures.

After a few minutes at the concert, we headed over to a quieter part of the park so I could let Zachary run around on the grass and kick his little soccer ball. On the way I bought a soft-serve vanilla ice cream cone.

He enjoyed the ice cream cone and, naturally, got ice cream all over his face. Then we found a patch of grass and played some rudimentary soccer. Zach got distracted by a rock and then kept kicking the ball to a group of women relaxing on a blanket who were all taken in by the young charmer.

Today Was a Good Day

2008-07-25T20:52:00.009-04:00

Jenn is out with her mom seeing South Pacific on Broadway, and I just put Zachary to bed, so I finally have a moment to myself. Tchaikovsky is on the radio, and it's pleasant enough outside to leave the windows open instead of cranking up the air conditioner. It's Friday night and I can finally take a breath. Let me savor that for a second, because I've been working hard. Deep breath ...

Today was a good day. The weather was nice. Work was fine. We gathered by the window to watch a big balloon rise above Central Park. I left at 6:00 p.m. on the dot and raced downtown to Chelsea to pick up Zachary from day care, then continued on to Brooklyn. Zachary was happy and giggly on the subway, making friends out of strangers as he always does. We dropped by the grocery store on the way home and bought some seltzer.

Okay, I also bought some beer. Radeberger Pilsner. Big bottles only cost $1.99 there. I'm sipping one now and it's delicious. If you're reading this and feel compelled to race over to C-Town right now and buy some, forget it. I bought the last four bottles. Sorry.

As soon as we got home, I put the beer and seltzer in the 'fridge and very quickly changed out of my work clothes and into shorts, sneakers, and a t-shirt. Then I grabbed Zachary's sippy cup and jogging stroller, and we made our way out to McCarren Park. It was 7:30 when we finally got rolling. The sun was still up, but wouldn't be for much longer. I jogged to the park while Zach relaxed in the stroller and enjoyed the ride.

Once we got there, it was a surreal experience that you can only have in New York. So many different, interesting things were going on that I almost envied Zachary's perspective on it at just 20 months of age.

Here's what was going on at the park tonight:

I could hear the music coming from McCarren Park Pool about two blocks away. It turned out to be a band I had never heard of called Ween. We didn't go in, of course, but you could hear the music just fine by the soccer field and jogging track, where we were hanging out. Ween sounded pretty good, like an outdoor summertime concert should.

We jogged a lap around the track. On one end was a group of Latin American dancers doing some kind of native dance. A drummer was keeping time, and some of them were wearing indigenous striped wool outfits. I'm not sure where they were from exactly but I'll guess Bolivia or Guatemala or someplace that still has strong pre-Hispanic traditions. Zach and I stopped to watch the dancers.

On the eastern corner was a dreadlocked personal trainer we know named Kiki. He was leading a class so I didn't bother him, but he is always nice to Zach ("How you doing, my brother? All right, my brother.") We wouldn't know Kiki if it weren't for Zach, who is amazingly deft at arranging introductions.

On the southern apron of the track was a group of break dancers getting ready for one of their regular outdoor dance sessions. They were just getting warmed up, but Zach and I have seen them dancing up a storm a few times recently. It's always a cool scene: somebody brings a boom box with the latest dance mix, and people take turns on the linoleum, popping and spinning and body rocking and other terms I'm not familiar with. Some of them are quite good and it's fun to watch.

In the brand new luxury apartments above them, the contestants from the latest Top Chef show were moving in to 20 Bayard. Jenn loves that show. I'll admit I've watched it with her a few times.

I rolled the stroller onto an open strip of grass and let Zach run free. The sun was just setting like a big fireball sinking behind Manhattan. Two soccer teams were battling it out on the field in front of us. The music from the concert washed over us. I tried to take Zach's picture but he kept turning away. We both savored the moment and then it was time to head back home.

A Weekend in Brooklyn

2008-06-22T18:11:00.006-04:00

We live in Brooklyn, but I manage to get into Manhattan just about every day. During the week, that's simple enough, since that's where my job is, but on the weekends I generally find a reason to cross the East River as well, like karate, shopping, or meeting friends. But this weekend I've hardly left the neighborhood, let alone the borough, because I was at home doing work.

I recently picked up a gig as weekend editor at a travel website called Jaunted, and it took a while for me to figure out the format, HTML coding, etc. All in all I think it went well, and you can read my entries on Jaunted.com. You can find an archive of my Jaunted stuff so far here.

The site I used to write for, Gridskipper, was recently relaunched in a different format, and I figured it was a good time for me to make a change. But my Gridskipper archive is still up, and can be found here. I'm not sure all the map posts work yet, and the comments that had accrued during the site's previous incarnation have been wiped out, but most everything else is there, the hits as well as the misses.

Anyway, I didn't leave Brooklyn this weekend, but this afternoon Jenn, Zach and I did leave Williamsburg. We took a walk to Greenpoint, a charming Polish community in north Brooklyn. I deposited a check at the bank, and Jenn bought some Polish candy at the candy store pictured below on Manhattan Avenue.

I'm especially fond of the hazelnut chocolates. As we were walking home, it started raining, so we finished our walk with a jog. Fortunately, we had the jogging stroller, if not good jogging shoes.

Panda Face Cookies Part VIII

2008-06-17T21:38:00.007-04:00

For those of you who have been waiting since March 20, 2006 for a panda face cookie update, I apologize. In that time, a great many panda face cookie cartoons have passed through our home unblogged about, I'm afraid. There's just not that much time in my life to keep up with it. But Jenn offered me this one today, and it cries out for translation. Here's the full cartoon (click on the photo to make it bigger):

The best I can guess is that the music the panda is listening to suddenly brings him to some big insight or epiphany, and it's probably related to being made of chocolate. Anyway, if anyone out there speaks Japanese and cares to translate in the comments, I'd appreciate it. Here's a close-up of the final panel:

A Day in New York

2008-06-16T00:39:00.012-04:00

Sunday was Father's Day, which meant I could do whatever I wanted and Jenn and Zachary had to go along with it. We packed Zach into the stroller and headed down to Pier 40 in Manhattan for a spot of late-morning kayaking on the Hudson River.
The free walk-up kayaking program is great. You just show up at the pier and they give you a kayak to paddle around. Since Zach is still too little to take out on a boat, Jenn and I took turns in the water. She went first.

While Jenn was on the water, I tried to keep Zach entertained. He was rambunctious and full of energy. He was excited to spot his mom in a kayak, bobbing up and down as the waves came in and out of the embayment, and we waved to her from the pier. Then he had a long drink from his sippy cup.
After Jenn got back, it was my turn in the water.
I had fun paddling in circles and feeling the motion of the ocean, but it started raining so I cut my cruise short and we headed to the subway. Zach tried on my hat.
Back at home, we put Zach to bed and had a snack, and then I took a little nap myself. Naps are always nice. When we both woke up, the three of us went out to our local park, McCarren Park. We noticed something going on in the McCarren Park Pool, so we went to check it out.
It turned out to be an art show called the Renegade Craft Fair.
The fair was a collection of hip clothing, artwork, and knickknack vendors who were lined up in white tents inside the disused public swimming pool. Jenn bought Zach a tee shirt with a guitar on it. I bought Jenn a juice made from lemons and cucumber. It was a lackluster juice, but the fair was cool.
We took a lap around the pool and then headed back to the house. Jenn and Zach continued on to the grocery store, while I got some work done at home. Later, when Zach was asleep, we had chili, corn, peas, and bread for dinner. We toasted a very happy Fathers Day with a cold beer.

New Yorkers in Miami Beach

2008-05-07T00:28:00.006-04:00

We've been back from Miami Beach a week now, and I've been so busy catching up on work that I haven't had a chance to post an update. But I have written a couple of things for other websites that will give you an idea at how our trip was. (It was great.)

You can find a post I wrote about Miami Beach for Gridskipper right here.

And you can enjoy a review of Kobe Club Miami that I wrote for BlackBook right here.

And here's an archive of all my Gridskipper stuff, if you'd like to catch up.

I'm going to bed.

First Day of Spring 2008

2008-03-20T23:40:00.004-04:00

Welcome, spring. So nice to finally see you again.

The vernal equinox occurred at 1:48 a.m. today, ushering in the most hopeful of seasons.

I shot this photo from my "rear window." This is what back alleys in my part of Brooklyn look like on the first day of spring.

Nonstop Excitement

2008-02-19T21:52:00.002-05:00

I've been awfully busy of late, working morning, noon, and night, but I do still find time for the important things in life. Like scrubbing the bathroom! Over the long weekend, I cleaned our upstairs bathroom from top to bottom, scouring the stains off the bathtub through backbreaking labor and the liberal use of bleach. Don't worry, the window was open and Zach was nowhere near. After all was rinsed and dried, I had to show off the clean bathroom to Zach, and this was his reaction.

Roll Down, Roll Up

2008-01-24T08:27:00.001-05:00

Well, I didn't see it coming, but the Good Day Dance is officially sweeping the city. From the trendiest Chelsea nightclubs to gritty, outer-borough dance halls, everybody's doing it. The ladies push right, and then push left, as if holding a broom. Guys are responsible for first rolling down, then rolling back up (as if spooling some yarn), and finishing by clapping their hands. Don't try everything all at once. Take it slow, one move at a time. You'll get it.

An Elephant in McCarren Park Pool

2007-11-11T15:18:00.001-05:00

I happened upon an elephant while I was walking with Zachary in McCarren Park this afternoon. Elephants are somewhat rare in Brooklyn, so I went back to the house and grabbed my camera. As you may know, the McCarren Park swimming pool hasn't had water in it for decades, but over the past five years or so it has become a venue for movies, concerts, and, apparently, elephants. Click on any of these photos to make them big like elephant. Here's a wide shot.

I had taken Zachary to the playground at the end of the park and pushed him in a swing for a few minutes, but he got tired of swinging, so I strapped him back in the Ergo and strolled around the park. I walked to the fence at the end of the playground to see what was going on in the pool, and sure enough, there was this big elephant. Here's a close-up.

Now, you may be wondering why there was an elephant in the McCarren Park Pool. If you're wondering this, you probably don't live in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. An artsy neighborhood like this has weird stuff going on all the time, and I really wasn't that surprised to see it. But it was there for a specific purpose, one which I will only partially divulge, because I respect the concept of what they're doing. In short, the elephant is part of a film that will be screened in an art museum. Here's one more photo:

As for what the film is about, I have to say I'm a little bit proud of myself for guessing it so quickly. As Zachary and I looked through the fence, I noticed somebody standing near the elephant that immediately reminded me of certain parable involving an elephant. My suspicion was confirmed later when I spoke to a guy who was guarding the entrance. That's the topic of the film.

Anyway, the filmmakers probably want to keep it on the down low, and I'd rather not be the guy who divulges the secret. Others might, in fact there are probably a few dozen other Williamsburg residents blogging about the elephant right now, but I'm just happy that I was able to show Zachary his first elephant today.

And it was a majestic elephant, tall and gray and friendly seeming (it didn't stomp on anybody). I enjoyed looking at the elephant today, and was impressed at what a big and magnificent creature it was. Anyway, I just wanted to share my elephant tale. Now it's back to work for me. Oh, one more thing. The elephant was from Commerford Zoo in Goshen, Connecticut, at least according to the truck it arrived in.

Virginia Vacation

2007-10-11T08:45:00.001-04:00

Jenn, Zachary and I recently took a mini-vacation in Virginia, which is where I'm from originally. We flew down to D.C. from LaGuardia and dropped Zach off with my parents in Stafford, Virginia. We spent a night there, and then drove to Virginia Beach for a couple of days of sun and fun. Unfortunately, it rained almost the entire time, so it was all fun, no sun, but that's the way it goes. We had a good time anyway.

I went to Old Dominion University as an undergrad. Since ODU is located in Norfolk, Virginia, which is on the way to Virginia Beach, Jenn and I stopped there to take a look at the old campus. ODU has changed so much since I graduated, with lots of fancy-looking new buildings along the main drag of Hampton Boulevard. I remember there used to be a strip of crappy bars with names like Friar Tuck's and 4400 Club. Actually, Friar Tuck's was kind of fun on Sunday nights (I recall getting greyhounds on dollar drink nights), but "44" was a typically awful den of frat-rock silliness. We drove past my old dormitory, Rogers Hall, which looks more or less the same, except now they have a dock on the water. One time a guy I knew on the hall threw an empty vodka bottle out his window and smashed the windshield of a car parked below. I don't condone such behavior. Anyway, then we drove through the Powhatan neighborhood and past the dorm of the same name. It was pretty much as I remembered it. It had been fifteen years.

Then we took a walk across the commons. It was raining, but not hard. Here's a photo of the main campus area, which is more or less unchanged. Click to enlarge.

And here's a shot of the much-expanded student center. I had a radio show on the campus radio station, WODU, and the studios were in this building. Those were good times. Jenn and I walked through the center and through the bookstore, but didn't buy anything. There actually used to be a rathskeller in Webb Center, but I imagine that's long gone.

Here's a photo of a fountain with a statue of the ODU mascot, the Monarch. In this case, a Monarch is a lion, not a butterfly. How could a butterfly play basketball? A lion, on the other hand, makes an excellent basketball player.

They started building a Maglev train that was supposed to shuttle students across the campus, but it was never finished, and now stands idly by. Kind of sad. Here's a story about how and why it failed.

So we left ODU and drove around the parts of Norfolk I remembered, including my old neighborhood of Ghent, which was really the nicest part of the city. We cruised past my old apartment on Princess Anne, saw the grassy areas of Stockley Gardens which flooded one time while I lived there, and I remember a guy in a kayak padding up the street. I had never been in a flood before, and fortunately my building was spared. The water receded after a couple of hours.

We went up and down Colley Avenue, which is like a downtown street from from some turn of the century small American town. It's funny, because at the time it seemed like that was the place to go, with trendy restaurants like Elliot's drawing the sophisticated crowd. Living in New York City as long as I have now, it seemed awfully small and quiet. Jenn and I enjoyed a nice lunch at a restaurant called Kelly's, which was one of the few places from "back in the day" that's still there. (Colley Cantina is the other, along with the Naro theater and Donut Dinette.) I remember that there was sort of a rivalry between Kelly's and Elliot's across the street (though Elliot's was by far the more posh of the two). There was even graffiti in the restroom of Kelly's that said "Flush twice, it's a long way to Elliot's." I checked to see if that graffiti was still there, but it was not.

So I did my reminiscing, and then we hit the road for Virginia Beach. More on that soon.

Hudson River Kayak Adventure

2007-08-12T15:37:00.001-04:00

Today Jenn and I did something we've wanted to do for a long time: we went kayaking on the Hudson River from a pier in downtown Manhattan. It was great.

There are several kayak outfitters on the river, but the New York City Downtown Boathouse offers free walk-up kayaking. Yes, absolutely free, though if you're cool you'll put some money in their donation box. This volunteer organization wants to get people involved with ecologically-friendly river activities such as kayaking, so they allow people to borrow kayaks and paddle around in an area between two large piers. The catch is, you can only go out for 20 minutes, and you have to stay within the defined area. But there's plenty of room to paddle around comfortably if you're a novice, and, unless there's somebody waiting to go after you, they'll usually let you stay out on the water longer.

If you really enjoy your introductory kayak adventure, you can sign up for longer trips, included guided kayak tours to Coney Island, the Tappan Zee Bridge (a 50-mile round trip), and the famous Manhattan Circumnavigation.

So this morning I strapped Zach into the baby carrier and Jenn, Zach, and I took the subway to Houston Street, then walked west to Pier 40, on the Hudson River. The kayak place is on the south side of the pier, about half way out.

We initially weren't going to do it this weekend, since we couldn't get a babysitter, or rather, today wasn't the day to shell out the dough for a sitter. But we figured one of us could watch Zachary while the other went out in a kayak and then do a baby hand-off, and it worked out just fine. Zach was very well-behaved and happy to be out with his parents on a nice day.

Jenn went first for about a half-hour in total, and then I got to go out for about the same amount of time. It was fantastic. The weather was beautiful, and the water was just a little wavy, enough to give that feeling of the motion of the ocean that stays with you throughout the day. I can still kind of feel the waves as I sit here at my desk. Up and down, up and down.

The views of lower Manhattan and even Jersey City from the water were great. Neither of us came close to capsizing, though one guy did it on purpose to practice capsize recovery techniques. As you can see from the photos (click to make them big), these are open-top ocean kayaks, so it's not like you'd get stuck upside down if you didn't know how to right yourself, you'd just get dumped out.

Anyway, it's been written about before, and I've even blogged about it for another site, but now I've actually done it and can say definitively that New York kayaking is one of the coolest and cheapest things you can do on a summer weekend.

Pizza Slice = Subway Fare

2007-08-12T14:41:00.000-04:00

I've lived in New York City a dozen years now, and in that time I've noticed a few things. One of the things I've noticed, being a big pizza eater and subway rider, is that the price of a slice of plain, cheese pizza from your standard neighborhood pizzeria is almost always the same price as a single ride on the subway.

When I first moved to New York in November 1994 one subway token was $1.25, and so was a slice of pizza. Then, in 1995, the fare went to $1.50, and within weeks, pizza did the same. Now we use MetroCards, which do offer volume discounts, but the price of a single ride is $2, and a standard slice of pizza is also $2. As the New York kids say, "Yo, let me get a slice."

Well, get ready for another subway fare increase. My local pizza shop, Sal's Pizza on Lorimer Street in Brooklyn, recently raised the price of a plain slice to $2.25. I wonder how long it will take for the subway fare to catch up. The funny thing is, the very next morning after I found out about Sal's pizza price increase, I heard on the radio some news story about how the MTA is starting to make noise about another fare hike. I smiled.

Has anybody else noticed the pizza/subway parity? How far do you think it goes back?

Yankee Stadium 2007

2007-07-23T23:28:00.001-04:00

On Friday night, Jenn and I got a sitter for Zachary and headed up to Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. We were there to meet our friends Jen (one n) and Will, who were kind enough to offer us a pair of extra tickets to the game against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Unfortunately, the Yankees got beaten pretty handily that night, and we left at the bottom of the fifth inning (Jen and Will left even earlier than that). But we still enjoyed ourselves, and I sipped a watery $8 Miller Light and Jenn munched on a yummy $6 frankfurter. Good times.

Our seats were located very close to the left field foul pole, and that's left fielder Hideki Matsui in the center of the photo at the top of this entry. I like Matsui. Watching a game on TV has many advantages, but only when you're at the ballpark do you get an appreciation of how big the field is, especially the outfield. On TV it sometimes seems like every ball hit in the park is catchable, but when you're at the stadium it's clear just how far guys like Matsui have to run to make those amazing plays. Also, there's nothing like a foul ball or a home run ball coming your way to get your heart pumping. Just don't spill that $8 beer.

Ironically, while the Yankees got trounced on Friday, when we happened to be in attendance at the stadium, they took both games of a double header on Saturday, went on to win on Sunday, and won tonight as well. Perhaps it's best if I stay home and watch on TV. My presence in the Bronx doesn't seem to help the team.

I snapped this photo on the way out of the stadium as we headed to the subway. It's the beginning stages of the new Yankee Stadium, which is supposed to be ready for the 2009 season. Maybe I'll have better luck there.

The Feast 2007

2007-07-19T22:35:00.001-04:00

Another year, another appearance of the Giglio. I've previously written about it here. Jenn, Zach, and I walked through the area of the feast a couple of different times. We wondered if the Giglio had been painted a different color since last year. We didn't stay long but it seemed right to drop by, since it's the neighborhood's biggest event of the year. When Zach is older he'll appreciate the Dance of the Giglio, but for now he's too little.

Here's a picture of a sausage and peppers stand at the feast. We didn't get sausage and peppers for ourselves, though. We got fish tacos from Yola's.

Williamsburg's New East River Park

2007-06-05T08:50:00.000-04:00

There's a new park in our neighborhood as of Memorial Day Weekend. Jenn, Zachary and I checked it out on Sunday. It's called East River State Park, and it's located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn along the river between North 10th and North 7th Streets (something like that). There's a brief description of the park here.
It's great to have fresh access to the waterfront, because other than this new park, all residents have is Grand Ferry Park, which is fine and good, but rather small and somewhat dirty at times. I was afraid that we'd be completely cut off from the water by new luxury apartment buildings like the one above. Fortunately, somebody decided to save a sliver of the waterfront for the people.
It's a fairly good sized plot of land, as you can see from this picture of Jenn doing the tightrope walking thing. There's not much in the way of amenities, just a couple of picnic tables and some lawn sprinklers that I guess you could drink from in lieu of a water fountain. I thought about taking a sip last time because I had forgotten to bring a bottle of water, but I didn't do it. The view across the river is kind of lousy from this particular spot of Brooklyn, just low-rise brown apartment buildings from the Lower East Side up to Stuyvesant Town, but it's nice to just look out over the water and wave at the occasional Circle Line boat or water taxi.
Here's a photo of Zachary and me. We like this new pouch carrier. He falls asleep pretty easily in it, even when we're bouncing around. He's a good traveler, which is a relief, because we plan to take him all over the place.

Walking in Brooklyn

2007-05-20T22:33:00.000-04:00

It's been another enjoyable yet busy weekend. The weather was really nice today, warm and mostly sunny, so Jenn and I took Zach out to the park, taking the long way home along Bedford Avenue and back up Metropolitan. It seems like every time we go walking in the neighborhood there are about five new apartment buildings going up. It's nice to know some things do stay the same, like this classic New York bodega. Eventually it may well turn into a fancy restaurant, but for the moment it's everything a bodega should be.

Too Lazy to Work, Too Scared to Steal

2007-05-14T16:18:00.000-04:00

Back in 1995, when I was still new to New York City, I felt like my chances of getting a real job in journalism were slim and getting slimmer. I was so inexperienced and unsophisticated in the ways of schmoozing that I wasn't able to get anyone at the local newspapers and magazines to call me in for an interview. So I languished at a lousy entry-level job in the human resources department of Columbia House record company, feeling sorry for myself and lamenting the fact that nobody would recognise my undiscovered talent.

After one form-letter rejection too many, I decided to do something about it. I would take a writing class. Maybe I could make some contacts, meet some people, and become a better writer to boot. In any case, I needed to get out of the aparment more.

After attending a seminar at New York University's School of Continuing Education that provided an overview of their night-school writing classes, I enrolled in a class taught by a gruff yet friendly fellow named Bill Bell. Bill wrote for the New York Daily News, and I liked how he spoke to the attendees, explaining to us that he became a journalist because he was "too lazy to work, and too scared to steal." It was a line he probably used a hundred times, but it worked, and it explains half the journalists out there today.

So I enrolled in his class--it was called Feature Story Writing--as well as a creative writing class taught by someone else. I enjoyed his class and always listened intently when he explained what editors are really looking for in a story, how to get to the point quickly, how to take one small detail in a situation and use it to make a larger point, etc.

I liked Bill a lot, partly because he was the very archetype of the ink-stained New York tabloid reporter who'd seen it all and was still in a hurry to see more. It's because of him (as well as my politics) that I've always preferred the Daily News to its tabloid rival, the New York Post. I didn't make any huge breakthroughs in the class, as it was only a few weeks long, but I still remember things he said, like be confident when you interview somebody, no matter how much you need to fake it. He'd been with the News for decades, and was with UPI for decades before that, so he had long since tackled those issues himself, but he still seemed to know what we were going through.

Every time a certain celebrity would come through town, they'd send him to do the standard interview. Dolly Parton was a personal favorite, who would insist on having the photographer snap a photo of both of them together. "I don't like being in photos," he said. "They make me look like my hair is thinning." (See above.) One time he had to call all of us to cancel a class. "I am in Israel," he explained. The paper had sent him to report a story. But to make it up to us, he gave us a tour of the Daily News offices, and even arranged for some editors to speak to us.

After the tour, a few of us convinced him to have a beer with us at a nearby Irish bar. It didn't really take much convincing, and he politely picked up the tab after telling us all the stories we wanted to hear. After the term was over, he gave us his work number and invited us to call for ideas or advice. I called when I had finally gotten a New York newspaper job, at a small trade paper that covered the metals and mining industry. He congratulated me and jokingly asked if I could get him a job there.

I still remember the outgoing voicemail message on his phone: "You've got Bill Bell, but only in spirit, I'm afraid ..."

Unfortunately, that's all we have now. I was saddened to read this morning that Bill Bell died on Saturday at the age of 75. Here is the Daily News obituary. I'm sure Bill Bell encouraged and inspired many young writers. I would just like to say that I am one of them.

[image via the New York Daily News]

Anatomy of a Subway iPod Theft

2007-04-29T22:02:00.000-04:00

I recently witnessed an iPod theft on the subway, and here's how it happened. At about 7:00 p.m. a couple of Fridays ago I was in the first car of a very crowded Brooklyn-bound L train. I was heading home from work. The train stopped at First Avenue in Manhattan, and when the doors opened, I overheard a young woman say something like "No way!" Amid the crush of passengers getting out of the train, two figures started tussling with each other, spilling out onto the platform.

Through the window (I was on the inside of the train) I saw two people, a woman of twenty five or so and a high-school aged kid, struggling over something. At first I thought they were two high schoolers horsing around, because they were each about five feet tall or so, but when I saw the flash of a white iPod I also saw the woman's face. Suddenly it became clear what was happening.

The little dirtbag wrenched the iPod from her hands and took off running down the platform toward the exit. The woman took off after him, hot on his heels, dropping some kind of design magazine on the ground in the process. He really picked the dumbest of all possible places to attempt this theft, because the platform was extremely crowded, and he would have to run the length of it to make it out of the station to the street. Furthermore, there's an NYPD outpost at that subway station, a really stupid place to commit a crime like that.

I made my way to the door and poked my head out to see what was happening and help if possible, but apparently the conductor didn't notice anything amiss, because he shut the doors and we continued on to Brooklyn. The whole episode took place in less than ten seconds or so, and it seemed like much less.

So I don't know if the woman ever caught up to the thief, but I have to say I liked her chances. She had quite a defiant attitude, and seemed pretty determined. And the kid would have had to make his way through a very dense crowd, especially the bottleneck near the turnstiles. Even if he did get away, I think she showed him what a cockroach he is. I'm not sure the NYPD would advise everyone to take the course of action she did, but I was impressed with her spirit and quick actions. Go Girl, wherever you are.

I personally don't own an iPod -the one in the photo is Jenn's - but it's a good reminder that the moment of greatest peril is when the subway doors pop open. Always has been, whether it's purses, gold chains, or iPods. Stay aware out there, New York.

Happy Belated Earth Day 2007

2007-04-26T21:59:00.000-04:00

Happy Belated Earth Day 2007, everybody. It's never too late to celebrate Earth Day, because every day is Earth Day, right? Our friends Joy and David brought us these flowers last Saturday night, and I thought they looked nice in the sunlight the next day, so voila, instant still life. Jenn, Zachary, and I have been fine, busy as always but enjoying the warm spring weather, though today was on the chilly side.

Tomorrow is Friday, and what a relief. I hope to relax a bit this weekend, catch up on a few things.

Rear Window, Brooklyn

2007-04-15T14:04:00.000-04:00

It's raining like crazy in New York today. I went out earlier to get bagels and groceries and got soaked to the bone. It's rainy, and windy, and the temperature is 45 F. Still, it was nice to get out of the house, clear the cobwebs out of the attic, etc. Water was running along the gutters like a mountain stream in the springtime. The subway was running okay, at least mine was, but area airports have cancelled hundreds of flights. Score 1 for the subway.

This is a photo I call Rear Window, Brooklyn. I wanted to get some kind of perspective on today's weather, and since it was raining too hard to really take the camera outside, I took this photo from the safety of the bedroom. Still a bunch of rain got in while I had the window open and I had to wipe off Jenn's copy of Pride and Prejudice on my shirt. The book's fine, the shirt can be washed. Anyway, here's what the backsides of apartment buildings look like in Williamsburg, Brooklyn when it's raining.

If I have time tonight I'm going to polish and waterproof my new Doctor Marten boots.

Trying to Keep Up

2007-04-14T20:18:00.000-04:00

Oof, sorry for the lack of updates. I imagine lots of blog posts begin this way, but I've just been busy as all get out. Here's a photo of Zachary and me from earlier today. He's a photogenic young man. Work's been busy, work outside of work has been busy, I'm still hitting the dojo twice a week or so, still seeing friends on occasion, still spending quality time with Jenn and Zachary, still doing everything. It's all good, if a bit tiring. A vacation would be nice, but that's not in the cards for the intermediate future.

It's Saturday night, and Jenn has gone out to meet some friends. I'm staying home with Zachary, and he is currently having a big conversation with himself, saying wooo, and aaaaaah, mmmmm, and oohhh. It's pretty cute, he definitely seems to have something on his mind, and he really thinks he's talking about it, we're just too dim to get what he's saying. Occasionally he gets fed up that nobody understands him. Perhaps he's an artist.

Boynton Beach

2007-03-25T18:05:00.000-04:00

Jenn, Zachary and I recently returned from a trip to Boynton Beach, Florida to visit Jenn's mom and stepdad. Other than our flight being delayed about 27 hours on the way down there, everything went well and Zachary was a good little traveler, not fussy at all on the plane or in the airport.

We did a bunch of fun things while we were in Boynton Beach, and one of the most memorable was a walk through the Green Cay Wetlands. The 100-acre park is teeming with wildlife: we saw bugs and fish and turtles and all kinds of birds and even an alligator. There's a 1.5-mile-long elevated boardwalk that goes through it, just watch out for bird poop on the railing.

The bird in the above photo is a crane or a tern or a chicken or something. I kept sort of hoping that an alligator would come and chomp him, but it didn't happen. Click the photo to make it bigger.

Manhattan-Bound F Train

2007-03-16T13:05:00.000-04:00

It is snowing like crazy in New York right now, so hard, in fact, that our flight to Florida tonight just got cancelled. That's a shame. Just when you need the sunshine the most, you can't get to it.

So, anyway, sorry for the lack of posts of late. I'm sure it's a familiar refrain, but taking care of a baby (and the extra freelance work required to pay for everything) has whittled down my blogging time to almost nil. And, as much as my mother might appreciate it, I can't just keep putting up baby pictures all the time. This blog is supposed to be about life in New York.

The photo above depicts one moment in our New York life. Click on it to make it big. Last Sunday we (Jenn, Zach, and I) visited our friends (Jen and Steve and their new twins) in Park Slope, a Brooklyn neighborhood south of Williamsburg, where we live. Park Slope is located near Prospect Park, and the whole neighborhood slopes downward toward the west. Hence the name. While we were there, Steve and I snuck away to have a beer at a historic Irish bar called Farrell's. To read my Gridskipper entry about Farrell's, click here.

In order to get to Jen and Steve's place, we had to take the G train from Metropolitan Avenue/Lorimer Street and then transfer to the F train. I took this photo where we made the transfer, at an above-ground station called Smith-9th Street. It captures a Manhattan-bound F train pulling out of the station, with lower Manhattan in the background. If this was pre-2001, you would definitely be able to see the Twin Towers in the distance.

As for our trip out of town, we're still figuring out what to do. Since we can't control the weather (yet) we'll just make the best of it. In any case, it's Friday.

Valentine 2007

2007-02-19T12:45:00.000-05:00

Jenn and I had a lovely Valentine's Day this year, and we spent it much the same way as we did last year, except that now we have one more reason to celebrate. Little Zachary was kind enough to stay generally calm and relaxed, allowing us to do the same as we lingered over our feast. As is the tradition, we enjoyed fine cheese and charcuterie from the Bedford Cheese Shop and a few other places in the neighborhood, but this time I decided to kick it up a notch with the addition of a dozen raw oysters served on the half shell. They paired wonderfully with the bottle of Moët & Chandon my parents had given us a couple of months earlier.

After enjoying the oysters, Champagne, cheese, and charcuterie, Zachary got a little fussy, so we put him to bed and then watched An Inconvenient Truth. It's a disturbing but engaging documentary, which I recommend to everybody. Global warming is real. Denying it, or saying there's a "debate" is like saying there's a debate about gravity. We, meaning the human race on this earth, need to dramatically reduce our CO2 emissions, and fast, if we are to avert disaster. This is not partisan politics, this is a wake-up call. We have entered a period of consequences.

Snow Day

2007-02-19T12:20:00.000-05:00

One of the nice things about working on 57th Street is that I can take a stroll through Central Park during lunch. Since it snowed last week, I decided to see how the park looked blanketed in white. I entered the park through Columbus Circle (on the southwest corner), and noticed this statue of a young man, defiant and not shivering at all from the cold.

I continued on along the southern edge of the park, appreciating the tranquility of the softly falling snow. I turned on the flash so I could illuminate some of the flakes. It was only a short walk, but I returned to the office feeling just a bit more relaxed.

Winter Steam

2007-02-18T19:09:00.000-05:00

It's another cold evening in New York. I shot this photo on February 8, walking to the subway after having visited Seth and Marissa. I walked past this steam vent and thought it looked kind of nice, good for a photo, so I pulled out my camera and went to work until my hands got cold. This is taken facing north on 14th Street, between Avenue B and Avenue C. The tall buildings in the background are part of Stuyvesant Town, which was recently the subject of the largest real estate deal ever in the history of the world.

As for the steam vent, it's kind of a relic from the past. You've probably seen footage of Manhattan that shows steam rising from a crack in the street. I remember one season of Saturday Night Live's introductory bit showed a bike messenger emerging from a particuarly steamy section of road. It looks cool, but what is the steam on Manhattan streets for?

The short answer is ConEd (that is, Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc.) generates and sells steam through their ConEd Steam unit. And, if my Encyclopedia Brown skills serve me correctly, I'd say that steam line on 14th Street was very close to the source. ConEd has a plant on the end of 14th Street, by the East River. Perhaps they produce the steam there and send it uptown, downtown, and all around.

Okay, so the question is, what is this steam used for, besides creating noirish affects for filmmakers and bike messengers? Certain companies use it for heating and cooling. It's kind of a legacy of another time, but on cold days, the steam rising really stands out against the blacktop.

Victor in The Guardian

2007-02-05T16:02:00.000-05:00

It's always nice to see the dignified surname Ozols in the dignified British press, so I'm pleased to report that The Guardian published a feature story in its Saturday Travel section about Gridskipper, the urban travel blog to which I am a contributor. Gridskipper's editor and various New York-based contributors took turns showing the writer, Benji, around, and I was responsible for the Williamsburg, Brooklyn portion of his tour. I always enjoy showing people around the neighborhood. You can read the article here.

I hope they fix the spelling of McCarren Park, and my surname in the second reference. According to my friend Paul, an actual Englishman, "in Britain it is often affectionately known as 'The Grauniad' due to its reputation for misprints." I still say it's a darn fine newspaper, and I browse its online version every day. I would even say it's my favorite (favourite) British newspaper (if you don't count The Economist as a newspaper). But still, to misspell "Gershwin" in the photo caption - an error likely introduced by the editor - is just sloppy newspapering. Come on, it's not a blog. A little effort, please! Seriously, Girshwin looks right to you? A wee bit of proofreading can go a long way.

It is well below freezing in New York today, and the forecast calls for a continuation of this deep freeze throughout the week. As Moby once said, Give Me Summer (summer summer summer).

Old Town Bar

2007-01-19T14:19:00.000-05:00

On the way home from work last night I met my friend Scott Eden for a drink at the Old Town Bar on 18th Street in Manhattan. Scott lives in Chicago, and was in town to do a few interviews for a freelance story. Old Town Bar (click photo to enlarge) has been a reliable standby for drinks and pub grub since 1892, and the beautiful old tavern has one feature that I've always appreciated: an ornate pressed-tin ceiling. Mark my words: any place with a pressed-tin ceiling, be it bar, restaurant, hair salon, or hardware store, is going to be a good place. I guarantee it.

Last night I enjoyed two pints of excellent Blue Point Toasted Lager, which Old Town has on draft. The Blue Point Brewery is located on Long Island, and their brews have made serious inroads into New York bars, restaurants, and bodegas. They even serve Blue Point Toasted Lager at Dressler, one of Brooklyn's finest restaurants. Anyway, Scott and I had a nice chat about the geopolitical state of the world, and then I had to go home. Jenn needed a break from watching Zachary, and I couldn't in good conscience bend another elbow, as pleasant as it was to unwind after a stressful day.

It's Friday today, and the weather in New York is generally pleasant. This morning Brooklyn had a dusting of snow on the trees, but it's mostly gone now. It was the first accumulation of the year. I wonder if we'll get a proper snowstorm this year at all. With the exception of two brief deep-freezes, the weather this winter has been strangely warm.

Happy 2007 Everybody!

2007-01-02T11:49:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year, everbody! Jenn, Zachary, and I wish you luck and love in 2007. Christmas was very nice. We spent it relaxing at home in Brooklyn. We took the above photo on Christmas morning, when Zachary gave us his first real smile. We spent New Year's Eve the same way, relaxing at home. At the moment, Zachary is too young to travel (he's only five weeks old). Once he gets his immunizations we can think about going somewhere. Of course, his parents need a vacation more than ever, but it will have to wait.

I'll provide a more substantial update soon, but in the meantime, out with the old, and in with the new.

Back to City Life

2006-12-12T11:14:00.000-05:00

The company holiday party was last night, and it was lots of fun. I felt a wee bit guilty leaving Jenn at home all alone to take care of Zachary, so after a couple of beers and some snacks I headed back to Brooklyn. Here's a view from one of the three floors the party was held on. I don't get a view of Manhattan like this very often. It's probably best if I don't write too much on the subject, except to say we all had a lovely time.

By the way, in case anybody is looking for my Gridskipper tag, where you can find all my random reviews, here it is. Please also visit the main site at Gridskipper.com.

Baby Gifts

2006-12-03T21:30:00.000-05:00

Zachary is ten days old now and doing great. He's received lots of great gifts from family and friends, and one of my favorites is this wooden sign with his name carved into removable blocks. It even has four little screw-in legs so it becomes a miniature table. It was a gift from my editors and friends at work, and Zachary and his parents really appreciate it.

Now I have a question for you. When we shorten his name, as we will, should we spell it Zach, Zack, Zac, or Zak? Any views would be appreciated.

Meet a New New Yorker

2006-11-28T21:53:00.000-05:00

Meet our son, Zachary Alexander, one of the newest New Yorkers in the city. He was born at 8:31 a.m. on Thanksgiving morning, November 23, 2006. At birth he weighed seven pounds two ounces, and measured 20 and 1/2 inches long.

I don't have time to go through all the details, since caring for a newborn is a 24-hour-a-day job, but here's the gist of it.

I was at work last Wednesday when Jenn called. She told me to grab our bags from home and meet me at the hospital. Bags in hand, I reported to St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital at about 3:30 p.m. I met her in a delivery room on the 12th floor and we hung out together and listened to classical music on a portable radio I brought as her contractions came along. Neither of us got much sleep.

Zachary was born after a brief natural delivery the following morning. Jenn was very brave and did a great job, and Zachary is in excellent health. Jenn's been a great mother for nine months already and is continuing to be a great mother. The three of us spent Thanksgiving day in a recovery room with a nice view of Midtown Manhattan. I wasn't allowed to spend the night in the recovery room, so I went home to Brooklyn for the night.

The following morning (Friday) I went back to the hospital. By late afternoon we were discharged, and Jenn's mom gave us a ride home to Brooklyn. I've taken a few days off work and we've been doing our best to get adjusted to our new baby's feeding and sleeping habits, which has meant that our own feeding and sleeping habits have had to change quite a bit. Several people have come to visit, including my parents, which was great. I'm sure they're quite fond of Zachary. They brought big boxes of baby supplies they purchased at Costco in Virginia.

I'm feeling pretty woozy from lack of sleep, but we are both overjoyed that we have such a great new son. Welcome to the world, Zachary. I look forward to showing you around.

More when time allows.

The Wilds of New York City

2006-11-15T08:10:00.000-05:00

I took this picture last week from the window of my office on the 21st floor of the Hearst Tower to show that we have trees in the city as well, and their leaves change color just like trees anywhere. Since we moved into this fancy new building, I've been able to monitor the seasons just by looking out over the tree canopy that blankets Central Park. I think we are in peak foliage period now. I like how you can see a person in the apartment building on the left also lost in thought, looking out over the park. It's a nice view, and it's also pretty amazing to be right in the middle of the weather when a storm rolls in.

Our son is expected to arrive on Saturday, if he keeps to the schedule. The house is ready and we've got all the baby stuff we need (as far as we know) so now there's nothing left to do but wait. Jenn is feeling good and I am feeling nervous but good. It helps that I've been really busy so I'm not able to psyche myself out. I imagine the next post in this space will include a baby picture. Wish us luck!

Latvia Wins Again!

2006-11-06T12:18:00.000-05:00

Congratulations once again to Jelena Prokopcuka of Latvia for winning the women's division of the New York City Marathon for the second consecutive year. Nice work! Congratulations also to Marilson Gomes dos Santos of Brazil for winning the men's division. He's the first South American to ever win it.

Inspired by the human drama of the race (and proud of my Latvian heritage) I went running yesterday afternoon around the track at McCarren Park. My mini-marathon was two miles long, and I averaged ten-minute miles. That's half the pace that real marathon runners keep for 26 miles, but it didn't matter, I won anyway. Hooray for me!

I offer up a hearty toast of Riga Black Balsam to all the winners. Excellent work.

We are two weeks from parenthood, and getting nervous.

Village Halloween Parade

2006-11-01T16:38:00.000-05:00

Last night was Halloween, so Jenn and I headed to her friend Joy's apartment to watch the Village Halloween Parade. Joy lives on Sixth Avenue, so her apartment overlooks the parade route. That's great, because the sidewalks along Sixth get really crowded and rowdy.

I know the photo of the dancing ghouls above isn't very good, so I'd like to direct you to several places where you can find excellent photo documentation of the parade.

So we hung out and watched the people going by for two hours or so and it was nice. I've always liked Halloween, and it's no surprise that some people in New York really go all out. It was the first time I've had a Sixth Avenue apartment as a vantage point, and we made it work very well by having New York 1 news on the television while we were looking out the window. The TV cameras were set up about two blocks from where we were, so we always had a head's up on who was coming next. The parade's grand marshalls were Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley of the once-popular rock group Kiss. They rolled by in full costume on a Kiss float.

I didn't see a repeat of my favorite ensemble costume from last year: a group of about eight people formed a pie eating contest, complete with a carnival busker, fake pies, and tables. Every block they would set up and redo the pie eating contest, with a different winner. For ensemble costumes this year, I was impressed by the group of about 25 zombies that did the dance routine from Michael Jackson's Thriller. They were very good, and I was inspired by their performance.

When we made our way back home, I was left with two lessons for future Village Halloween Paraders: the streets aren't as well-lit as you might hope, so costumes that have self-illumination of some kind are very eye-catching. Second, and I can not stress this enough, if you are lucky enough to ride on a float, DO SOMETHING. Don't just stand there and enjoy the ride. You have to dance, or do whatever routine that goes along with your costume. There was nothing more pathetic than seeing a well-done float roll by with a bunch of do-nothings just standing there. You're on stage, people. Action!

Jenn and I are now three weeks from parenthood. You think Halloween is scary?

Boston

2006-10-24T23:47:00.000-04:00

Last Saturday I took a day trip to Boston for my friend Webster's bachelor party dinner. I was calling it the Webchelor party. I would have liked to spend the night, but Jenn needed my assistance on Sunday morning to help set up her baby shower. I took a 12:00 noon Greyhound bus to Boston and arrived at South Station at 4:20 p.m. Since I was early for dinner I decided to be a tourist and walk through Boston Common, a public garden established in 1837.

The weather was noticeably colder than it was in New York. There was a big pumpkin event in the park where they attempted to beat the Guinness world record for the most jack-o'-lanterns lit at a single time. (They did.)

Dinner at Locke-Ober was great, and we all gave Webster our best wishes. Before long I had to go, so I walked back to South Station, stopping by a 7-Eleven on the way to buy a bottle of Poland Spring water for the trip. I caught a 10:30 p.m. bus and was in bed in Brooklyn by 4:00 a.m. The next day was a bit rough but I managed. (Read my Gridskipper semi-review of Locke-Ober here and the rest of my skip stuff here.)

Jenn and I are now less than one month from parenthood. I'm excited and a bit nervous, but I'm sure it will be great. We graduated from Lamaze class last night, and have a handwritten certificate to prove it. We're about to go on quite a ride, I know, I know.

Discus Dude and Me

2006-10-08T14:58:00.000-04:00

It's Sunday afternoon and I've been so busy this weekend that I feel like Discus Dude best represents my struggle. He is resolute in his determination to toss that discus farther than anyone believes possible, and I am resolute in my determination to do everything on my list of things to do. Of course, there are some differences between us. Discus Dude is a bit more muscular than I am, but my head is a more normal size in relation to my body, so we're even. Don't burn your backside on that eternal flame, Discus Dude!

The image, as most New Yorkers will probably guess, comes from your typical New York coffee cup. In this case, the coffee cup is from David's Bagels on First Avenue at 14th Street, an excellent New York bagel shop which happens to be run by people from Thailand.

I should also give credit for the term Discus Dude to Meghan McCormick of the Globe Trekker series of travel shows. Jenn and I love Globe Trekker. I bought the DVD set for Greece before we went on our honeymoon (to Greece) and Meghan did the Greek Islands portion. Meghan is a great presenter (of course we are also fond of the great Ian Wright and Justine Shapiro, who essentially defined the genre for those who came after them). I'm less of a fan of the young lady who did mainland Greece, who seems a bit of a snob. Anyway, Meghan was perusing some of the replicas of ancient Greek statuary available in a tourist shop, and she highlighted Discus Dude. So we bought one while we were there, as a tribute.

As for being busy, I'm not lamenting my situation at all, just trying to get it all done before our little boy comes into the world on or around Latvian Independence Day (November 18). There's nothing like impending fatherhood to motivate you to get your house in order. My list of things to do is so long I had to tape two pieces of paper together. Essentially, I've got to finish about three ongoing freelance projects in order to get "well-begun" on a fourth. My main accomplishment today, however, was scrubbing the upstairs bathroom, which I did with alacrity. My hands still smell bleachy, but it's the smell of cleanliness. It's not my favorite pastime, but there is some satisfaction to scrubbing a toilet, or at least having scrubbed a toilet.

It's a lovely fall day in New York. The sun is out and the temperature is 22 degrees celcius (71 F). Now it's back to work for me. Enjoy your Columbus Day tomorrow, those who have it off (unlike me).

Birthday Cake

2006-10-07T13:04:00.000-04:00

By way of catching up a bit, this is a photo of the birthday cake Jenn got for me from Fortunato Brothers Caffe and Pasticceria.

Here's a picture of Jenn.

And here's a picture of me. It was a great birthday weekend, despite, or perhaps because I was so busy. My birthday was on Friday the 29th, but that evening I had an event for karate, the penultimate test for my second-degree black belt (nidan).

The final test, and the ceremony where I received my belt, was early Sunday morning. I arrived at the dojo at about 6:15 a.m. It went very well.

Do I look 36 to you?

2006-09-29T11:57:00.000-04:00

Today is my 36th birthday, so I took this picture of myself this morning to record the milestone. It's not my most flattering photo, but I did my best given the circumstances, meaning I held the camera up and pressed the button. It's been a good birthday so far, severe subway delays notwithstanding. When I got to my station (Lorimer Street in Brooklyn), I noticed about eight fire and emergency trucks with their flashing lights on, along with something like 50 emergency personnel milling around. Apparently somebody released pepper spray or noxious gas of some kind in one of the train cars. To get to work, I had to take an alternate route (the G train to Hoyt-Schermerhorn in downtown Brooklyn, then transfer to the A train into Manhattan). All told, I was only a half-hour late, and everybody at the office was understanding.

So here it is, my 36th Birthday. I'm pretty happy because I've already got everything I want, but if anyone feels like giving me a million bucks anyway, please don't hesitate. Leave a comment and I'll be in touch. After work tonight I've got my penultimate event in karate as I test for my second-degree black belt. Then I'll go home, where Jenn will have a nice meal waiting for me. It sounds perfect to me.

First Day of Autumn 2006

2006-09-23T22:28:00.000-04:00

Sorry you've been forced to look at the pie for all this time without being able to eat it. I've been delinquent in my blogging due to a number of things coming up in life. I'm not quite caught up with everything yet, but in the meantime I think it's best to at least post a new picture. This is the view from my office building of Central Park as the sun sets in the west, casting an auburn light upon the buildings along Fifth Avenue. Today is the first day of autumn. I hope everybody has a pleasant season.

Pie!

2006-08-28T08:51:00.000-04:00

Jenn's birthday was yesterday (Sunday), and I figured she'd know best what kind of birthday cake she wanted, so we went to Fortunato Brothers (a local Italian sweet shop we like--they made our wedding cake) and she picked out this fruit tart. It was delicious. The glazed fruit was sweet and perfect, and the tart part was creamy and delicious. A fine birthday cake, pie, tart, or what have you.

Birthday season seems to be upon us, or at least upon those I know. In rapid succession, I've wished my mom, dad, and Jenn happy birthdays, my sister's is coming up soon, and then mine isn't far behind. Birthdays are fun.

It was a rainy weekend, but we had a good time. On Saturday night I took Jenn to a restaurant in the neighborhood called Dressler, which was quite good. Then on Sunday we went to the International Center for Photography (cool cats call it ICP) to check out the work of Weegee, Atta Kim, and Marianne Brandt. It was all very interesting.

I think I liked the Weegee the best. He was famous for journalistic photos of crime scenes. The Atta Kim exhibit was experimental and cool. Jenn's favorite photo (and possibly my favorite as well) was a timed exposure of a block of ice melting. It seems pretty simple, but the result was quite fascinating. Marianne Brandt is best known as the first woman to be admitted to the Bahaus Metal Workshop, but she also made photomontages that depicted political and cultural events. They were very interesting.

I also liked the museum's water fountain. The button was hard to press in, but the water was cold and refreshing. Now I've got to get to work, because it's Monday morning, 9:00 a.m., and I haven't even showered yet. And I'm off!

Magical Hour in New York

2006-08-10T09:08:00.000-04:00

I took this photo at Noah and Elizabeth's wedding reception on Saturday evening. While the photo itself is nothing to write home about, it does capture that certain quality of light that artists say occurs during the magical hours, both at sunrise and sunset. In my case, I usually only see the magical light at sunset. It's hard to describe what it is that makes the light so striking at these times, but it becomes softer and really brings out the colors in surfaces that look somewhat washed out during the mid-day hours. There's an especially good view from my office of all the pretty white buildings that line the eastern edge of Central Park on Fifth Avenue. As the sun begins to set, the various tones and colors come alive, and you realize why professional photographers like to capture images during those fleeting moments.

New York Truck

2006-07-29T15:06:00.000-04:00

It's sizzling today in New York. Weather.com is telling me that the current temperature is 89 Fahrenheit and feels like 92 Fahrenheit. In celcius that's 32 and 34 degrees, respectively. If you ask me, it feels even hotter than that, but then again when I was last outside I was sweaty from leaving the dojo, which made it feel that much stickier.

As for the above photo, this truck was parked on First Avenue near the corner of 15th Street. I noticed it as I was headed to my bank, and I thought it looked cool, so when the light was red I walked across the avenue and shot three pictures of it. Only one car honked at me, but it didn't seem like a nasty honk. Some people just honk all the time, for no apparent reason. That's one of the downsides of New York. Too much gratuitous horn-honking. It's not that it's so horrible that other drivers hear you, but it takes away from the quality of life of the people living in the area with windows near the street. Imagine little Johnny, trying diligently to do his homework, so he can go to college and help his family. Just when he's about to make a breakthrough on a tough math problem, HOOOOONK! He loses his concentration, the homework goes unfinished, Johnny flunks out of school, and his family has to move to New Jersey. Please people, use discretion with your horn honking. Think of little Johnny.

That's a closeup of the alien. I call this photo Take Me 2 Yr Leader. I could easily dedicate this whole blog to New York graffiti, but there are other sites that do it better than I ever could, including gammablog and Streetsy.

Long Island Golf

2006-07-24T09:00:00.000-04:00

On Saturday Jenn and I took the Long Island Rail Road out to Mineola, to visit our friends Marty and Carolynne, who were having a house-warming party. Since it would be difficult for us to get back to Brooklyn that same night without a car of our own, we stayed over. The next day Marty drove us around Mineola to see the sights. I wanted to visit a park of some kind, and when I saw there was a driving range I insisted we go hit golf balls. I'm not much of a golfer at all, but I love driving ranges. Hitting golf balls is fun. Just remember, drive for show, putt for dough. If anybody out there has any advice for my swing, please let me know.

Here's an action shot of Marty. Everybody got the hang of it after a while. Just keep your eye on the ball, unless somebody's taking your photo. Then give 'em a Hollywood smile.

Here's a photo of golf's reigning power couple. We've got a little duffer on the way in November. And it's okay if he doesn't play golf, because I only play once every three years anyway.

Heavy Rain

2006-07-24T08:45:00.000-04:00

On Friday it rained like crazy in New York. It's pretty interesting working in a skyscraper with floor-to-ceiling windows, because you can really see the weather roll in and feel very much immersed in the storm, like you're in an airplane (without the turbulence).

The rain, along with some hail, was coming down in sheets, and the wind was whipping through the streets, funneled by the canyon effect found in Manhattan. All of my colleagues were fascinated by it. The strongest part of the storm only lasted for an hour or so, but it was enough to cause problems in the subway system. Normally it takes me 25 minutes to get home to Brooklyn from 57th Street. On Friday it took 90 minutes.

Summer in Brooklyn

2006-07-16T22:50:00.000-04:00

On Saturday Jenn and her friend Cindy and I watched the Dancing of the Giglio, an annual event in Williamsburg. We are fortunate to live just down the street from the carnival area, and we check out the dance and the carnival pretty much every year. Yesterday was a hot day but we had a great view of the Giglio from a raised viewing platform that surprisingly few people had availed themselves of. While I was looking for some shade to protect my fair skin from the sun's powerful rays I ducked into the shadow caused by this merry-go-round. While I was stooping down, cowering from the light, I noticed the carousel horses and thought that the angle was nice, so I snapped the photo displayed above.

The Giglio Boys carry the giglio all the way down Havemeyer Street, which we are looking down in the following photo. You can click on any of these photos to make them big.

The giglio makes periodic stops along the way, where the band plays several songs and the boys take a rest and drink from cans of Bud Light. The giglio is impressive to see close-up, especially when it sways back and forth as its bearers struggle to maintain balance.

The next picture shows you what the giglio band looks like. As if carrying around a huge tower isn't enough, the Giglio Boys also have to carry around a brass band.

This next photo shows you what the bearers look like. It's not an easy job, but it is a coveted job. Giglio bearer spots are handed down through the generations. It also looks like a lot of fun.

Here's another view of the Giglio Boys and their charge.

After we watched the giglio march by, Jenn, Cindy, and I went to Spike Hill, and then to the junk museum. After that I was tired, but Jenn dragged me to a clothing boutique called Catbird. She bought two shirts as I waited impatiently in the Man Chair.

Viva Italia!

2006-07-09T21:08:00.000-04:00

Today was a great day for Italy and for Italians in New York as well. Italy defeated France to win the 2006 World Cup soccer tournament. What made it even sweeter for the Italians in Brooklyn is that it happened during the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and San Paolino, a big annual event in our neighborhood that famously features the Dance of the Giglio as well as a carnival with rides and various arcade amusements. The tower in the photo above is the giglio (lily), and the statue on top represents Saint Paulinus. During the opening and closing ceremonies of the 10-day festival, the giglio, which also features a brass band on its base, is carried by 150 guys from one end of the street to the other in a big production. It's pretty exciting to see.

This is another view of the feast, with the giglio in the background.

These are two of the "Giglio Boys" trying to find themselves in a photograph of the opening ceremony.

And here's a house on my block that was decorated in honor of both the feast and the World Cup. Yes, the Italians in Brooklyn are happy tonight, and I imagine that the Italians in Italy are pleased as well.

West Palm

2006-07-03T23:25:00.000-04:00

Jenn and I were in West Palm Beach, Florida weekend-before-last to celebrate the 60th anniversary of her great aunt and uncle. Everything went well, and it was nice to see a couple still so happy together after all that time.

We stayed with Jenn's mom and stepdad in a development called Aberdeen Lakes or something like that. While we were there we took several walks around the neighborhood as well as one bike ride. The photo above shows you what the neighborhood looks like. This is Florida living. Not bad.

While we were taking one of our afternoon walks I noticed that one of the neighbors had left her garage door open, and in the garage were six exotic birds sitting on perches. There were a couple of big colorful parrots (macaws, I believe) as well as some of those big white birds with the head feathers that stand up when they're mad or curious.

Later that afternoon, when we were walking and pushing Jenn's niece in the stroller, I pointed out the house and we stopped to chat with the bird lady, since she was in the garage, tending to her birds. She was very friendly and told us about her birds and then brought one over to us on her shoulder. While we were talking and looking at the bird on her shoulder, a bird sitting on a perch to our left started howling really loudly skwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Then it dipped its head in an up-and-down, back-and-forth motion, like it was dancing. Then it squawked some more, really loudly, and for a sustained amount of time. It was disturbingly loud, like a fire alarm. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

The bird lady explained to us that that particular bird was very territorial and was disturbed by our proximity. We slowly backed away and thanked her for showing us the birds. As we continued our walk down the sidewalk, I noticed that one of the bird lady's neighbors was out on his front lawn. I thought, if those birds squawk like that all the time it must bother the heck out of him. The birds certainly look cool and it's amazing when they repeat what you say, but the noise they make is unbelievable. The poor guy wants a quiet place for his retirement years and he gets the blood-curdling screams of exotic birds from his bird-lady neighbor. Florida life.

Anyway, back to the area itself, technically we were in Boynton Beach, Florida. Jenn's stepdad told me that the body of water you see in the photo, a decorative pond for the neighborhood, had an alligator in it recently. Alligators come down the canals from the Everglades and hang out in ponds and water hazards, eating ducks and fish and sometimes causing trouble. I personally have no alligator attacks to report. We made it back to New York City with no problems.

Solstice

2006-06-21T22:23:00.000-04:00

Today is the first day of summer. Happy Solstice, everybody. I took this photo of the solstice sun this afternoon. I met Jenn for lunch and we took a stroll to the newly-renovated Columbus Circle pedestrian area. The weather was beautiful and we just sat on a bench and listened to the gurgling of the fountains that ring the area. The sound of the water almost drowns out, or cancels out, the sound of the traffic on all sides. Here's a photo of part of the fountain, with the southwest entrance to Central Park in the distance.

It was a lovely day today, weather-wise and otherwise. We've had a few stiflingly hot and muggy days recently so today's milder humidity was a great relief.

Discus Dude and Monkey

2006-06-20T21:51:00.000-04:00

I just shot this photo as a lark. We got Discus Dude in Greece, and the monkey was a gift to me from Jenn. I bought the Hokusai print (background) in Japan.

Back to Life

2006-06-19T21:14:00.000-04:00

Here's the view from my cubicle on the 21st floor of the new Hearst Tower. I love the building, and on Friday I met the architect, Lord Norman Foster, who was walking around with Larry Silverstein, touring the space. I'm an official assistant research editor at Esquire now, as of Monday. This is good. As for the photo, I don't normally put my feet up on my desk, but I wanted to create a sense of perspective. My desk is facing north, and the view from the window you can see to the front is of Central Park. Nice view. You can really see the humidity hanging over the city on a muggy New York day.

I took this picture of myself at my desk. As for the rest of life, it's good. On Saturday Jenn and I met her mom and stepdad and had lunch at Le Bonne Soup and then saw The History Boys on Broadway. It was very good.

Technical Difficulties

2006-06-15T11:09:00.000-04:00

The reason I haven't posted in a dog's age is that my internet connection at home has bitten the dust, and home is where I blog. I'm dreading next Wednesday morning, when the technicians from my cable company are coming to fix it "between 8:00 and 12:00." I dislike Time Warner Cable, but have no real alternatives in my area. Their technicians are always late, always rude, and always do sloppy work. And they simply do not care, nor do their corporate overlords. In other industries, if you delivered such terrible service you'd be drummed out of town, but again, there are no real alternatives. So please bear with me. It should be fixed by next week.

In the meantime, here's a photo I took from the top of Santorini, a beautiful Greek island. The amoeba-shaped island in the center is Nea Kameni, which is really a volcano. This view, or variations on this view, can be found everywhere in the travel press. As for my life, it's good, and I'll post a real update soon.

Skywalker Scrunchies

2006-06-07T22:47:00.000-04:00

When I was a little kid, I was very much into Star Wars, and I owned a few Star Wars activity books that had comics, games, and stories. One of the books included a recipe for corn flake-based cookies called Skywalker Scrunchies. Another had a recipe for Chewbacca's Chewies, which were made with caramel.

Using the recipes, my mom made a batch of each. I remember thinking it was a miracle that she was able to just up and bake these cookies from recipes in a Star Wars book.

The cookies must have been good, because I remembered them after all these years.

Last week at work, my friend Derya, who is an excellent baker, was asking around for good cookie recipe ideas. Skywalker Scrunchies and Chewbacca's Chewies just popped into my head. We found the recipes online, and wouldn't you know, the next morning Derya brought in one container of Skywalker Scrunchies and another of Chewbacca's Chewies. They were fantastic, and a trip back thirty years in time.

In case you're wondering, I prefer Skywalker Scrunchies to Chewbacca's Chewies. They're both good, but Scrunchies are better.

Chumley's

2006-06-01T08:36:00.000-04:00

On Tuesday evening after work I went to a former speakeasy in Greenwich Village called Chumley's with my friend Tom from Esquire. That's Tom in the right of the frame above, sitting on a barstool, sipping a pilsner. I wrote an entry about Chumley's for Gridskipper, which I encourage you to read here. I'll wait. ... Okay, thanks for reading it.

As I mentioned in the entry, Chumley's draws a generally mainstream crowd these days, but in its heyday (the Roaring Twenties) it was populated with literary giants and the people who love them. Note the portrait of Ernest Hemingway in the photo above.

Chumley's serves it's own line of beers. They're not great, but they're not bad either. It's nice to just sip some suds in such an interesting atmosphere.

New Views

2006-05-27T10:58:00.000-04:00

Last Monday was our first day in our new building. It's a very impressive building. Here's a link to a photo I took a few weeks ago. I work on the 21st floor, which has pretty amazing views, but my friend who works on the 34th floor gave us a tour of his floor, so I brought my camera. The photo above shows the view of Central Park.

And this is the view facing south, looking down Eighth Avenue. One of the interesting aspects of the building is that some windows slope inward and others slope outward. I took the photo below from an outward sloping window, looking down on the intersection of 57th Street and Eighth Avenue.

Whenever I get a good view of Manhattan from above I'm always amazed at how many taxicabs there are. It's a sea of yellow sometimes. And still it's hard to find a cab when it's raining. I hardly ever take cabs because I'm so cheap. I'm a subway man, 24/7.

The photo above, from left to right, is of William (who works on the 34th floor), Anna (my former cubicle mate, now we're on opposite sides of the building), and Tom (who I now sit next to).

And I just thought this was an interesting view of the floor-to-ceiling glass. When you walk close to the edge it's like your floating in mid air, among the towers of Midtown.

Just to be fair to the other people I'm embarassing with these photos, here's me.

Scorsese

2006-05-26T21:08:00.000-04:00

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I saw two movies during the Tribeca Film Festival. The first movie was The Promise, which I mentioned before. The second movie was a restored version of a 1953 film called Fair Wind to Java. Since the film was restored with funding from Martin Scorsese's company, Scorsese himself introduced it. The film was very good, and you can read my review here.

Brooklyn Bunny

2006-05-25T08:51:00.000-04:00

Earlier this week as I was walking from my apartment to the subway on my way to work, I noticed this bunny, resting by the curb. I decided to take a photo of it, to prove that there are bunnies in Brooklyn.

The bunny was very cooperative. He or she waited patiently while I took my camera out of my bag and even allowed me to erase the older photos on the chip. I took these two pictures. Then the bunny hopped away, and I went to work.

[Update: I guess I knew this already, but a reader informed me that this appears to be a domestic bunny that somebody cruelly released into the streets of Brooklyn, where it is incapable of fending for itself. Let me go on the record as saying please do not release domestic bunnies into the wild. If you really must get rid of a bunny, bring it to a shelter. And giving bunnies as gifts on Easter is silly unless you're sure the recipient truly wants a bunny for the long term.]

The Promise

2006-05-24T08:33:00.000-04:00

My destination on the evening described in the previous entry (May 1, 2006) was a screening for a Chinese film called The Promise, directed by Chen Kaige, pictured above. I was asked to review the film for a website called The Huffington Post as part of their blanket coverage of the Tribeca Film Festival. I asked Kaige a couple of questions on the red carpet line before the screening (it sounds fancier than it actually was). He's a very soft-spoken man who didn't know exactly what style martial arts were in his movie (I think they were wushu/kung fu techniques). It was my first time writing a film review. Am I any good? Read it here and decide. I also reviewed a classic film called Fair Wind to Java, and that review can be found here.

Moving On

2006-05-23T22:18:00.000-04:00

My previous blog entry (Las Vegas) took me so long to complete that I feel a need to move on in my blogging life. Here's a photo I shot several weeks ago (on Monday, May 1, 2006, to be precise) of David Blaine, in his sphere of water, in the courtyard of Lincoln Center. That's the Metropolitan Opera House behind him. When I took this picture he had only just begun his week-long submersion that culminated in a near-death experience for him. I was just walking up Broadway to a movie theater when I saw him there, so I decided to go check it out and take a photo. I had expected to find the stunt pointless, but actually it looked kind of neat. I refer to Blaine in the review I wrote about the movie I saw later that evening.

New Yorkers in Las Vegas

2006-04-30T14:58:00.000-04:00

Jenn and I traveled from our home in Brooklyn, New York to Las Vegas, Nevada last week to visit our friends Ted and Sonny and relax for a few days in the desert sunshine. We stayed with them in their new house, which is located in a pretty neighborhood called Summerlin. Summerlin is situated northwest of the Strip at the edge of the desert. We arrived in Vegas late in the evening on Wednesday, April 19 and departed on the afternoon of Tuesday, April 25.

The iconic image above was taken on our last day in Vegas, but other than that one I'm going to blog in chronological order as much as I can. I took about 400 photos and a bunch of video while we were out there, so I'll sort through it all as well as I can without overloading you or my Blogger overlords. I also might post this as I go along, meaning that if it looks like it's not finished, please check back. Okay, deep breath, and now I begin with a list of the main things we did, in order:

*Hiked in Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area in the Mojave Desert. Climbed a mountain.
*Visited the Hoover Dam and took the dam tour.
*Saw a cheesy but amusing "erotic" show at the Stratosphere called Bite.
*Hiked in Valley of Fire State Park. Climbed another mountain.
*Took a nighttime helicopter ride over Las Vegas.
*Had a drink at the Wynn.
*Saw a high-energy Japanese acrobatic show called Matsuri at the Riviera.
*Rode the Manhattan Express roller coaster at New York New York.
*And of course, we checked out the crazy and opulent casinos that line Las Vegas Boulevard, a.k.a. The Strip.

You see, this has been a lot of work already, and I've barely begun. Here comes the official beginning:

Before this trip, I had never been to Las Vegas, or the silver state of Nevada for that matter. Jenn had been several times. Ted, my former college roommate, recently (two years ago) took a job in Las Vegas and has been bugging us to come out for a visit ever since. It really didn't take much convincing for us to make the trip. We love New York, but too much time in the concrete jungle had been making us batty, and the idea of going to the desert southwest during the springtime was quite appealing. (Okay, so we were in the Bahamas in January, but that trip seemed like ages ago.) So I bought a pair of airline tickets, splurging on a nonstop flight because I didn't want to be routed through Kalamazoo. No regrets.

Our evening flight out of JFK (on US Airways, operated by America West) was smooth and uneventful. I bought Jenn some gummy bears and she noticed that they had larger heads than gummy bears normally do. We might still have a few bears left, so perhaps I'll take a photo for a future post and you can decide if gummy bear heads are abnormally large these days.

Anyway, as I was saying, the flight was smooth. Jenn had the aisle, I was in the center, and to my right by the window was a 26-year-old Guyanese-American guy named Azir who had lived in New York until he was 14, and then moved to Las Vegas, which he absolutely loves. He kept telling us about all the fun things you can do in Las Vegas, and about all the shows he enjoyed (Ka was one of his favorites).

Ted picked us up at the airport and drove us to the house in Summerlin. We were especially tired because of the time change. The clock said midnight, but our bodies said 3:00 a.m. Jenn went to bed in the cat-free guestroom, and I stayed up for a nightcap with Ted to catch up.

The next morning dawned beautifully (I'll have to assume the dawn was beautiful, as I can only vouch for the 10:00 a.m. part) and we enjoyed coffee on the balcony with our first view of the surrounding mountains. It was a nice way to recover from a subtle and well-deserved hangover. After showering and getting our stuff ready, we headed out to Ted's vehicle (a Dodge Durango with a 10,000 horsepower engine) for our hiking trip to Red Rock. The truck is a sporty vehicle, and while I do realize that it's not fuel efficient, I have to also admit that it's a fun way to get around Vegas, spacious and vroomy. In any case, most of the time we had three, four, or sometimes five people in it, which lessens the environmental footprint per person by a few clicks. And that's all I'll say about it. Don't look at me like that, I don't even own a car. My life is 100% public transit. Below is a picture of Jenn, with Ted in the shadow behind her, in front of the house. Part of the truck is also visible.

Here is a photo of Ted.

We jumped in the vehicle and I took a few photos of the surrounding mountains as I was seeing them for the first time. I also wanted to capture the type of development that's going on around Las Vegas. I would later partially climb this mountain.

That row of houses under construction is just one of many new neighborhoods in Summerlin, which is known as a "planned community." There was no gated entry or anything, but neighborhoods consisted of several angular clusters of very tidy but generally uniform homes, separated from shopping centers and other neighborhoods by large tracts of land that will (for the moment) remain undeveloped, as they are in the control of the Bureau of Land Management. It is nice when the developed areas are interspersed with pristine undeveloped land. You will also notice the power transmission wires in the foreground. They carry power to Las Vegas from the Hoover Dam (more on that later).

After a good breakfast at a trusty Vegas joint called Egg Works we headed to Red Rock. The sun was high in the blue sky, and temperatures were very comfortable in the mid-80s fahrenheit. Humidity was blissfully low as well, which made for excellent hiking conditions. Of course I applied the SPF 50 sunscreen and wore a floppy hat anyway, as the sun hates me.

The above photo is a good example of what Red Rock looks like (at least in late April). That's a wild burro in the photo below, milling around near the visitors' center. (I have another burro photo here.)

I like this next photo of Jenn standing in front of some striated rock. I don't get a chance to use the word striated very often.

The next photo is a visual explanation of why Red Rock Canyon is called Red Rock Canyon.

Our hike was very pleasant. After a mile or so Jenn stopped to enjoy the sunshine while Ted and I made the push to the summit. At the top was a "tank" which is a basin that collects water during the rainy season. The water eventually evaporates, but there was still water in this tank.

This photo proves that I made it to the top. In the distant background (click on photo to enlarge) you can see the Strip. The Stratosphere is visible on the left.

Here's what taking a break looks like.

Here's another nice Red Rock scene. I enjoyed getting out into the desert so soon after arriving in Las Vegas. I started to relax and forget about the city. It's very quiet in the desert. You can hear the breeze and spot birds and lizards and other critters.

That evening we met Sonny (who had to work during the day) and then Ted and I went out to pick up Indian food from a place called the Samosa Factory. The food was good, and I didn't take any pictures of it, but I did take this next photo of Ted with Paris the cat. Paris is a long-haired cat who recently got a professional haircut everywhere but her head, so she looks like Animal, the psycho drummer from the Muppets.

We ate dinner and went to bed tired but feeling good.

The next day (Friday) we woke up slightly earlier and had breakfast at another local favorite called Jamms. I got a big breakfast with every conceivable breakfast food and it was all good. Then we headed toward the Hoover Dam. Sonny was working again, so it was Ted, Jenn, and me. Since the dam was on the other side of town, we drove along the Strip. I've got better strip photos coming up, so I'll only include this one of an older casino in the process of being dismantled. That's Vegas for you. Out with the old, in with the new.

You see Lake Mead before you see the dam, and this was our first view.

Gradually we descended toward the dam, and this was our first glimpse of it.

There is a road that runs across the top of the dam, but big trucks aren't allowed to use it because of the risk of terrorism. At the moment they are being rerouted over the Colorado River many miles away, but workers are in the process of building a new suspension bridge above the lower reservoir. These high-flying dam workers are on their way up. One guy waved at me.

We purchased our tour tickets, watched a short dam film, and then, with our guide, took an elevator to the bottom.

This is one of two sets of turbines. The other turbines are on the opposite bank of the lower reservoir.

As we walked through this tunnel, one of our group asked the guide about the water that we could see leaking from the walls. The guide said "Did somebody say the L word? We don't use the L word here. There is some natural seepage through the porous rock walls." So now you know, when you're taking the dam tour, don't use the L word.

This is our dam tour guide. Yes, it's true that the dam jokes keep getting funnier. Just put the word dam in front of every noun. I learned a lot about the Hoover Dam that I did not know before.

After the tour we walked across the dam, from Nevada to Arizona and back.

It's a dam long way down.

These are the Arizona induction towers. There are two Nevada induction towers on the other side, and each set of towers has a clock on it so you can distinguish Nevada time from Arizona time. At the moment both clocks were the same, but I think for half the year they're an hour apart because Arizona doesn't change for daylight savings time.

Here's a lake photo. You can see that the water level is lower than it has been. The guide said that this was a cyclical thing, but it had been getting lower for the past several years.

Here's a dam nice view of the Colorado River Valley.

And here's a statue on the Nevada side. I like the art deco style.

As we drove away, tired but happy, I shot this photo of Lake Mead.

We went back to the house and got cleaned up to go back out. The four of us (Ted, Sonny, Jenn, and I) were going out to see a tacky erotic show at the Stratosphere called Bite. On the way we got dinner at an excellent Chinese restaurant called Harbor Palace.

Then we went to the Stratosphere. We had some time to kill before Bite, so I gambled and lost two bucks in slot machines. I thought I'd have beginner's/non-gambler's luck, but I did not. Ted, however, put in a dollar and won twenty. Here's the high-rolling couple.

Photography was strictly forbidden in Bite, so I don't have any photos. The show was amusing, with lots of eighties pop/goth hits and dancing vampires and vampiresses. My editor at Gridskipper wrote a very accurate review of the show that can be found here.

We were pooped after all the vampire stuff, so we went home and went to sleep.

The next day was Saturday, and Ted and Sonny had an errand to run in the morning, so I went for a very pleasant 70-minute jog around the neighborhood. It was a really beautiful day, just about perfect weather, the reason people move out west. Temperature in the low- to mid-80s fahrenheit, very low humidity, sunshine, blue sky, and clear air. I'm not normally much of a runner. I'll hit the track at McCarren Park in Brooklyn every now and again, but I really wanted to take advantage of the flawless running conditions. I ran all over the neighborhood, up and down the different streets, past the shopping center that's going up on the corner, through this tiny park with a perfectly manicured lawn (not too much grass out there in southern Nevada). Of course every house in the area was either just built or being built so it wasn't a run through history, rather, it was a run through the future. You could say it was a run through suburbal sprawl too, I guess, but at least Summerlin has a decent city plan. Houses go here, stores go there, park goes there. Looming over it all are mountains. It's simple but clean and tidy. I might miss my New York grime after a while, but it was nice for a change. I breathed deeply and pushed myself on my run. Felt great.

Ted and Sonny came home and then Me, Jenn, Ted, Sonny, and Lisa (their daughter) went to lunch at a restaurant called Island Burger. The burgers were good and the place had, of course, and island theme. I can't remember the exact burger I had but the menu had names like Big Kahuna Burger. The suburbs. Gotta love it. The food was good and plentiful, and the soft drinks had free refills, something you do not see in New York restaurants, except perhaps with iced tea. Our server was an amiable young man. When they screwed up Ted's order (brought him a Kahuna or something) they took great pains to make it right, manager came over to check, etc.

After lunch we went back home to freshen up or whatever and then Jenn, Lisa, and Sonny went shopping (of course all the stores are huge) and Ted and I drove to a park to play some basketball. I had wanted to toss the frisbee around but it had become too windy for it.

I'm horrid at basketball. I can be standing right underneath the rim and barely make one shot out of five. I can almost guarantee I missed the shot below, as the hook is well beyond my skill set. I can make layups and very short jumpers, and even then only occasionally. We played CAT (like horse, only quicker, for people with no game) and I lost that, so we tacked on an S but I lost CATS too. Still, the weather was beautiful, and it felt good to be active.

When we finished up on the court Ted and I had a few errands to run. We needed to pick up some beer at the liquor store. Apparently liquor stores also sell beer in Nevada, but you can pretty much buy liquor in any store. You could probably buy a bottle of Jack Daniels at Old Navy if you wanted to. Anyway, we went to a huge liquor emporioum called Lee's Discount Liquors on East Flamingo Road (I think). Lee's is probably pretty well-known in Vegas. There were interesting people shopping there. Now I can say that I know what a "Vegas-type" person looks like. Anyway, the prices were good and the beer selection was too, although, unfortunately, they didn't have Brooklyn Brewery beers there. The Brooklyn Brewery should get on it and make sure Lee's Discount Liquors in Las Vegas stocks their fine beers. Here's me in Lee's Discount Liquors.

The drinking during the trip was actually quite moderate. I think most people visiting Vegas party much more heartily, but we were there to relax and be active. From Lee's we drove to a grocery store called Albertson's to buy food to cook that night. Ted was cooking Thai chicken. Here's Ted ticking things off the shopping list.

After we got everything we needed we drove back to the place and Ted started cooking. I helped by starting up the barbecue on the back patio, with coals and lighter fluid and everything. The suburbs! Like every man in the world, I put too much lighter fluid on the coals and the flames were really huge for a while. I stood back and acted like I meant to do that. The dinner was excellent (I don't have photos of it).

After dinner I took a ride with Ted because I wanted to take a picture of the Strip at night. Summerlin is located at a higher elevation than central Las Vegas, so you can get a great view of the valley from some areas. He pulled the truck over and I put the camera on the hood and took this timed exposure. Click on it to make it big. The tower you can see just right of center is the Stratosphere and the shaft of light at the far right is the Luxor.

This next photo has the hood of the truck in the foreground, and I liked it, so here it is.

Then we went back to the place and called it a night. We had a big hike planned for the next day.

The desert photos to follow are from Valley of Fire State Park.

It was another beautiful spring day in the American Southwest. The sky was blue and the valley was the color of fire. Hence the name.

The landscape looks surreal if you're from another part of the country or world.

We climbed a mountain we affectionately named Fish Shit Mountain, because the sign explained that the area that is now Valley of Fire was once covered by ocean, and that many of the rock formations were the result of the plant and animal life in the sea. That would presumably include fish shit.

While Jenn and Sonny rested on a ridge a few dozen yards shy of the summit, Ted and I climbed all the way up. It was really windy at the top.

Here Ted gets into mountain lion attack position over Sonny.

This is lichen, savior of our nation in the Revolutionary War. I wouldn't know that if not for A.J. Jacobs, who wrote so eloquently of lichen and its benefits in Esquire as well as The Know-it-All.

We had a great hike. On the way back to Summerlin, we stopped by Jason's Deli for some chow, which was excellent.

We had to get cleaned up and turned around quickly for our nighttime helicopter ride over Las Vegas.

We enjoyed a brief loop above Las Vegas Boulevard and Glitter Gulch. If you want to see a short video I shot of our helicopter ride, click here for my Gridskipper entry.

After we were back on the ground we walked along the Strip to see some of the resorts. Not surprisingly, the Eiffel Tower below is is located at a resort called Paris Las Vegas.

Here's the MGM.

We walked into a pretty interesting resort called The Venetian, which I liked. I'm sure that the actual Venice is exactly the same, and perhaps smellier. No, I'm kidding. The actual Venice looks great, from what I could see on a recent episode of Globe Trekker. I've never been to Venice, Italy myself.

I do remember seeing a Modern Marvels show on the construction of The Venetian. One thing I remember from the show was that even though the canals in the casino are man-made and barely more than three feet deep, the gondolas are regulated by the Coast Guard. Mere weeks before the grand opening of the hotel, the Coast Guard became concerned that the gondolas were unsafe. They said that if an especially fat passenger leaned really far out of the side of the boat, it could potentially flip over or take on water. So the engineers were in a bind. Rather than redesigning the boats, which were all finished and very expensive, they decided to install seat belts in the boats so nobody could lean too far out over the side. That satisfied the Coast Guard. I peered inside the boats, and, sure enough, the seat belts were there. I was able to share with Jenn, Ted, and Sonny my story about why there are seat belts in the gondolas at the Venetian Las Vegas.

Here's the Wynn, the latest and greatest megahotel in Vegas. We went into the Wynn and decided to have a drink at a bar next to a big window that overlooked an outdoor patio and fountain area. Every half hour or fifteen minutes or some such interval there's a crazy show of some kind in the fountain. We were fortunate to see the frog show, where a big animatronic frog sings Low Rider or Slow Rider or whatever that song is called. You can just barely see the frog in this picture. He's at the top of the screen. You can click on it to make it big.

These are the lamps that were overhanging the lounge where we enjoyed our drink and frog show.

The next morning I went for another excellent run. I took this photo of myself as I was getting started.

Instead of retracing my steps around the neighborhood I decided to run down the main road for a while. I noticed a gravel path that went off road in the direction of the mountains adjacent to Ted's neighborhood, so I started running on the path. Eventually I came upon these spray-painted refrigerators. I took a left and started gaining elevation. I took this cactus photo because I hadn't seen that many cactuses (cacti?) during the trip so far. There are far more cactuses in Phoenix than there are in Las Vegas. This much I can say.

I was feeling strong and vigorous in the desert sunshine and fresh air so I started climbing the mountain.

The photo above shows the switchback canyon that leads up to the summit of this unnamed mountain. I climbed up part of the way and rested in the shaded area under the ridge that you can see to the left in the photo.

This is the view down the mountain from where I was sitting. A hummingbird buzzed over my head and zipped down the mountain, poking at flowers and bushes. At first I thought it was a bug, but I figured it out when it was in the air longer than most bugs would be able to hover.

This is what people do for fun in America. In case you can't identify the red object I'm holding, it's a spent shotgun shell.

I got back to the apartment and showered and got ready to go out. Ted, Jenn, and I went to the old (in Vegas terms) Riviera hotel and casino to see a matinee show called Matsuri. Sonny met us at the hotel and enjoyed the show with us. Matsuri was an extremely high-energy Japanese acrobatic spectacle. We enjoyed it even more than we enjoyed Bite.

Here I am standing with Ted on the roof of the parking garage.

And here I am with Jenn, and the Wynn visible in the background.

That evening we all went to dinner at a wonderful Mexican restaurant called Viva Mercado's. I wrote a Gridskipper entry about it that you can read here. Our dinner was excellent and very filling. We were tired and stuffed so we went back to Summerlin to take our ease.

The next morning (our last day in Las Vegas) Ted, Jenn, and I drove back to Las Vegas Boulevard to meet Jenn's friend A.J. (not to be confused with my friend A.J. as they are different people) at Mandalay Bay. The photo above is Jenn with A.J. (at left).

The Mandalay Bay is connected to the Luxor.

As you can see, it's just like Egypt.

Finally we got to the casino I was the most excited about visiting: New York New York. Here it is in all its glory, exactly like the New York I call home. With minor differences.

Usually Ted is seven inches taller than I am, but in this photo I tower over him, thanks to the use of trick photography.

Here's another view of surreal Las Vegas. I like the town. I was impressed. Of course, the nice weather we experienced goes a long way toward making you feel good.

This is from New York, New York. It's supposed to be Greenwich Village or the Lower East Side or something.

Ted and I rode the casino's famous roller coaster, the Manhattan Express, and I couldn't bring my camera on the ride with us. This is what we looked like as we got off the coaster. It was great.

Here's the Brooklyn Bridge on the left and Las Vegas Boulevard on the right.

The name of this photo is Big Lion. The title refers to the mascot of the MGM Grand hotel and casino.

In the middle of the casino floor at the MGM there's a lion enclosure. I'm not sure how many lions they have at any given moment but here's a baby lion sleeping. Not too exciting.

Ted and Sonny got married in this wedding chapel in the MGM.

I don't know why I took this photo of the Hooters hotel and casino, but here it is. We did not go inside.

The Tropicana is another "old" Las Vegas resort. Unfortunately for the Tropicana, the Riviera, and other hotels like it, Vegas has little time for nostalgia. Out with the old, in with the new.

Here's the wizard in the Excaliber.

After walking through several resorts, we took the tram back to Mandalay Bay (where the vehicle was parked).

We said goodbye to A.J. and then Ted took us to the airport, where we caught our flight back to New York. We had a great time in Las Vegas, especially because we saw so much more of it than most tourists do. We have Ted and Sonny to thank for that, because they gave us the Grand Tour. Bottom line, I like Las Vegas a lot. The way of life out west is more laid-back in general, and you can't argue with that springtime weather. The natural beauty of places like Red Rock, Valley of Fire, Mount Charleston, and the Lake Mead area is almost overwhelming to an Easterner not accustomed to desert landscapes.

Society-wise, as much as Vegas is considered Sin City, however, it just doesn't have the edge that New York has. Of course we had a relatively straight-laced time there and didn't go crazy gambling or anything, but to say most of the man-made spaces are contrived would be a an understatement. They are, and they mean to be. Aw heck, what am I even talking about. It's a great place to visit. Would I want to live there? Mmmmmmaybe.

Yankees Stadium

2006-04-29T17:21:00.000-04:00

Yes, I will be posting photos and telling the tale of our recent trip to Las Vegas, but it's such a daunting task that I can't tackle it right now. I'll work on that tomorrow. In the meantime, last night (Friday night) Jenn and I went to Yankees Stadium in the Bronx to see the Yankees play a game of baseball against the Toronto Blue Jays. We were guests of our friends Jen and Will, who have season tickets. The seats are quite good, practically next to the left field foul pole. Above is a view from the seats.

That's us in the photo below.

Since Japanese baseball sensation Hideki Matsui plays left field, he's the closest player to where we were sitting. That area is also popular with Japanese baseball fans. That's Godzilla in the photo below.

Sadly, the Blue Jays defeated the Yankees by a score of seven to two. Jen and Will were cold, so we left in the seventh inning, when the Yanks' fate seemed sealed. At least we witnessed a nice two-run homer by Bernie Williams, who is one of my (and every New Yorker's) favorite players. The ball sailed right behind the fence at center field. One thing you get from seeing a baseball game in the stadium as opposed to on television (which offers superior viewing in many ways) is an appreciation of the size of the field and the distance the ball travels and the players have to run. It's a long way from home plate to the center field fence, 430 feet, if memory serves. So that was exciting. Otherwise, as Pete Hamill (I think) said, baseball is really about losing. So we had a real baseball experience.

Burrito

2006-04-26T23:01:00.000-04:00

We are back from a great trip to Las Vegas. Stay tuned for photos and commentary. Here's a burro from Red Rock to tide you over in the meantime.

God Save the Queen

2006-04-18T11:24:00.000-04:00

For a description (with video) of my Saturday afternoon aboard the Queen Mary 2 in Red Hook, Brooklyn, please click here. You can read the main site when you have time.

Peep Platter

2006-04-16T23:01:00.000-04:00

Happy Easter everyone! Here's a serving suggestion for your leftover Peeps. A fruit plate of sliced orange and banana (and sometimes grapefruit) topped with a yellow Peep. Divine.

There's much to write, as I've been running around like a weasel over the past couple of days, but I'll have to save the update for now. All's well.

Strictly 4 My Peeps

2006-04-13T21:38:00.000-04:00

It's Peep season once again, which means it's time to see Peep stories in newspapers, on TV, and online. I just searched Google News for Peeps and got 549 results. A picture of a Peep is automatically hilarious. And everybody likes saying the word Peep. Say Peep and try not to at least smirk a bit. Peep. And I like the idea of Peep Jousting, a game played with two Peeps armed with toothpicks in a microwave.

I got this Peep at work and took it home to photograph and eat. Looking at the photo, I can say it is a pretty odd-looking creature. It doesn't look like an actual chick to me, but my mind seems to want to make it a chick because it's so good and delicious. Peeps are really just gooey sugar-coated marshmallow blobs with two supposedly indestructable dots for eyes, but the texture of the sugar coating and the sweet flavor of yellow #6 make them sublime.

Spring Sunset

2006-04-11T22:48:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the delays. I've been quite busy of late. I shot this photo on Sunday evening after a quick jog in McCarren Park. This is the entrance, changing rooms, and sun terrace at the now-shuttered McCarren Park Swimming Pool. I liked the way the sun was hitting it. Now it's Tuesday night and I've been working on a freelance story. Busy busy busy.

Snowy Spring Day

2006-04-05T22:43:00.000-04:00

We are two weeks into spring and it snowed like crazy this morning. You can't see the flakes too well in this photo but there were big, thick, heavy, wet flakes falling all over New York for a good hour or so in the late morning.

This photo was taken facing uptown (north) from the southeast corner of 58th and Broadway. It shows the Trump International Hotel and Tower in the center and the lollipop building (undergoing renovations) in scaffolding and curtain on the left. The snow melted on contact with the street and ended up sloppy, but in the sky it looked very pretty and also a bit weird. It's a bit late in the year for snow, but what can you do?

I love the weather. You can always talk about the weather. We should talk about the weather more. That's some weather out there. Oh yes. Some weather.

Columbus Circle Redux

2006-04-01T00:39:00.000-05:00

Friday was a seventy-degree day in the city. I didn't wear a jacket to work for the first time this season. I met Jenn during lunch and we took a walk to the Columbus Circle entrance to Central Park and sat in the sun for a few minutes. A group of acrobats were performing their routine. People were eating lunch on the benches or just hanging out. The guy in the photo wearing orange was a human statue, but not quite as compelling as some of the other human statues I've seen, such as the golden cowboy ready to draw his guns.

Below is the lollipop building under renovations. Is it possible to make the city's ugliest building beautiful? Only time will tell. Here's what it looked like before the renovations started.

My latest Gridskipper entry can be found here. This is a rundown of my recent stuff. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Night Run

2006-03-29T21:43:00.000-05:00

Today was a beautiful early spring day but I was cooped up in the office for most of it, so when I got home I immediately changed from my clammy work clothes into a sweater, shorts, and sneakers and hit the park for a short run to get the blood flowing a bit. The sun had gone down and the temperature had dropped but once I started running on the track my body was warm and my face was pleasantly cool. The track is made from an advanced spongey material so it's really easy on your joints, even if you have lousy shoes and a clunky running style. It was good to get my heart rate up and breathe some fresh air.

Vegas Baby

2006-03-26T17:03:00.000-05:00

I received this quarter in change at David's Bagels this afternoon, as I was picking up some onion bagels and egg salad on my way home from karate. It was the first time I've seen the Nevada quarter, which is one of five state quarters coming out in 2006. The others are Nebraska, Colorado, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Have YOU received a Nevada quarter yet? It's pretty cool-looking, at least when it's still really shiny. It shows three wild mustangs galloping across the desert plain, with the sun peeking over snowy mountains in the background. Sagebrush is also represented.

Nevada was our 35th state, admitted into the club on Halloween Day in 1864. It joined the union before the end of the Civil War in 1865.

The New York quarter, which came out in 2001, is also nice.

Anyway, I thought the new Nevada quarter was especially neat because Jenn and I will be traveling to Nevada next month, to visit Ted and Sonny in Las Vegas and get out of the city for a few days. [This is Ted's Blog with photos of Nevada life.]

Jenn has been to Nevada (primarily Las Vegas) a number of times, but it will be my first-ever visit to the state. Our plan is to see the highlights of the Las Vegas strip for a day or two, spending the rest of the time concentrating on active outdoor pursuits, such as hiking and adventuring in the surrounding desert and mountain areas. We may also take the damn tour.

Getting back to my bagel shop story, I pointed out the new quarter to one of the two counter girls running the register (I think most of the employees at David's Bagels are from Thailand). She said "ooh, let me see it" and I handed it to her and she checked it out admiringly. Then she told me that earlier in the day a customer attempted to pass a counterfeit $20 bill. She ran that special counterfeit-detection pen over it and it gave an unambiguous verdict of fake. She showed me the pen and mimiced the motion of running it over a bill. It was her first counterfeit bill detection, she told me, somewhat proudly. I told her matter-of-factly that counterfeit money comes from North Korea.

Speaking of counterfeiting, I'm not sure about the legality of reproducing images of money, so please do not print out a page of this blog and attempt to purchase something with it. It has no value except what it means to you. Thanks.

Otto

2006-03-25T13:21:00.000-05:00

On my way home from work last night Seth and I stopped in for a quick one at Otto's Shrunken Head on East 14th Street, a tiki bar.

Marissa's Dog

2006-03-21T22:54:00.000-05:00

I dropped by Seth and Marissa's place after work today. This is Betty the dog. Nice dog.

The Unusual Auto

2006-03-21T22:50:00.000-05:00

As requested, here are a few more photos of that strange car Jenn and I saw on Sunday. Thanks for reading my blog, Allison! The above obviously is a profile shot of the car.

This is the nose of the car.

So, what the heck kind of car is this?

Spring has Sprunged

2006-03-20T22:41:00.000-05:00

Spring began today with the vernal equinox at 1:35 p.m. I'm pleased with its arrival, and look forward to warmer weather.

I shot the photo above during a walk I took with Jenn on Sunday afternoon. This American compact was parked on Lorimer Street. Can anybody identify what model/make this is, and what year? All I can tell is that it's a Ford, if the front left hubcap is any indication. It's a pretty keen-looking vehicle, I must say. You can click on the photo to make it bigger.

This next photo was also taken during our Sunday walk. I've shot this orthodox church many times, but I liked how the winter sun was setting behind it.

It is Monday night as I write this, and I am tired. After work today I got my 2005 income tax returns prepared. Have you done your taxes yet?

Panda Face Cookies Part VII

2006-03-20T08:17:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I posted a Japanese Sakusaku Chocolate Panda Face Cookie cartoon. I was prompted to post this after I saw a stylishly funky Japanese girl eating panda cookies on the L-train platform at Lorimer Street on Saturday.

This particular panda cartoon has me stumped, and if anybody out there (Miki?) cares to translate it, I would appreciate it. Here's my best estimation as to what is going on. (Click on the cartoon to make it big.)

Panel One (Top Right)
Chocolate Panda looking in mirror "Oh no, I'm starting to get acne or some other condition that is deforming my face!"

Panel Two (Bottom Right)
"Perhaps there is a medication of some kind that can remedy this affliction?"

Panel Three (Top Left)
Glug glug glug.

Panel Four (Bottom Left)
"Uh oh, this is chocolate milk, which means, in essence, that I have just drunk my own blood!"

So, am I close? If you speak Japanese, or even if you don't, please help translate this important cartoon by leaving a comment below. Of course, I'm sure that my translation is spot on, but just in case there's another interpretation. I am also curious about what it says on top, whether just Sakusaku or a lede-in to the narrative.

Here are links to the previous panda entries:

Panda I
Panda II
Panda III
Panda IV
Panda V
Panda VI

Saint Patrick's Day in New York

2006-03-19T16:33:00.000-05:00

Friday was Saint Patrick's Day, and my plan was to go home after work and hide from the hooligans. Much like New Year's Eve, the evening of St. Pat's is considered amateur night by many New Yorkers due to the influx of booze tourists via the many bridges and tunnels to Manhattan, and it was especially so this year because it fell on a Friday. I enjoy the parade, and green is my favorite color, but I'm not Irish (though I've been told I could pass for Irish to anyone but an Irishman) so the holiday doesn't have too much significance in my life.

That said, I'm not a complete party pooper, and I do love a good Irish pub, so when Steve K. called to see if I wanted to get a quick drink after work in honor of the day, I consented. We met at Union Square at around 6:20 p.m. and walked to a nearby Irish pub that I used to frequent, but haven't in a long while. The pub is called Shades of Green, and it is located on East 15th Street between Irving Place and Third Avenue. There's a photo of the front of the pub in my blizzard entry here.

I shot the photo at the top of this entry by sticking my camera up in the air and pressing the button, just like the professionals do. I did have it aimed a bit better, but nothing was happening (didn't see a flash) so I started to pull my hand down to take a look a the camera. Perhaps my battery was low. Of course, at that moment the flash went off and this is the photo I got. Ironically, I think it captures Saint Patrick's Day in New York pretty well. I never realized what a green ceiling they have at the pub, but there you go. One of many Shades of Green.

Here's a more traditional angle.

The pub was crowded, but not overcrowded. It was still early. We made our way to the bar, and, in keeping with tradition, Steve and I ordered Guinness Stout. Guinness is one of my favorite beers, and once we toasted the day and had a taste I was reminded of how delicious a perfectly poured pint of draft Guinness can be. The texture of the bitter, foamy head stands alone among beers. I frequently buy Guinness in bottles, which itself is yummy, but there's no comparison to Guinness on draft, properly poured by a proper Irish bartender in a proper Irish pub, even when served in plastic cups for $6.50 apiece. I'm sure the plastic cups were just for the holiday hordes. Normally they use pint glasses. I forgive them.

We had that Guinness and then another. Steve and I talked about writing and how hard it can be to get good writing jobs, noting that the fault lies within ourselves, so you can't really blame circumstances. Steve had to dash off to meet Tiffany, so we finished our beers and I showed him to the 6-train platform and I took the L train home to Brooklyn. I shot this last photo on our way out. Happy Saint Patrick's Day, everyone!

Haiku Geisha

2006-03-18T01:02:00.000-05:00

Jenn scored some tickets from a friend, so on Thursday night after work we went to the Perry Street Theatre in Greenwich Village to see a play called Sake with the Haiku Geisha. It was wonderful. We don't go to the theater often enough.

Ripping up the Road

2006-03-15T20:35:00.000-05:00

There was a low rumbling sound when I woke up this morning, and it wasn't my stomach. At first I thought it was from the ongoing work going on in the apartment next door (they've been smashing and banging things all week) but I was wrong. Actually, a road crew was in the process of tearing up Leonard Street. It was quite a suprise when I walked out the front door to see that there was no longer a street there. All the cars where gone, and the big scary machines pictured above were scraping and sucking up the street. Fortunately, I do not own a car (haven't owned one, in fact, since 1992), so it doesn't affect me much, but it was still a bit odd. The street wasn't even in particularly bad shape before, but I guess they're gonna do what they're gonna do with our tax dollars.

So I continued my walk to the subway. On my way I snapped this picture below of a newly-built apartment building that appears to be just about ready for occupancy. If you would like to buy a place there, too bad. The building is sold out. Each unit went for 3 gajillion dollars. That's the new Williamsburg for you.

Huge Development for Williamsburgers

2006-03-14T22:48:00.000-05:00

New York City subways can be a funny thing. Sometimes a station will be named after a street that you can't actually get to from that station. The West Fourth Street station in Greenwich Village is an example. There are no stairs that connect the station to the street that bears its name. It should really be called the West Third Street Station.

Until recently, in our neighborhood in Brooklyn you could only access Lorimer (the street) from Lorimer (the station) on weekdays until 9:00 p.m. and on weekends and holidays not at all. Getting home in time to be able to use the "Lorimer Street stairs" was actually a motivating factor in leaving work or wherever early. It saved a five-minute walk up Metropolitan Avenue from Union Street, which is where the main entrance to the Lorimer Station is. The subway attendants (the ones who organized that wonderful strike a couple of months ago) delighted in shutting the gate in your face at 8:57 p.m. Ha ha, I'm the boss of this gate, they would think. I am an authority figure.

Well, the MTA has decided, in its wisdom, that there is no good reason to shut down the Lorimer Street entrance during evenings and weekends anymore. It is now open 24/7, and that is great news. A five-minute walk doesn't seem like a big deal, but day in and day out, round trip, it could be a real drag. So Huzzah to the MTA for coming to its senses and opening up a subway entrance that should have been opened all along.

Now, about those weekend service shutdowns. It's true. The MTA hates hipsters. It is absolutely miserable when L-train service between Brooklyn and Manhattan is suspended. The G to the A to the F. My commute looks like alphabet soup sometimes. But that's a story for another time.

Hearst Tower

2006-03-09T20:56:00.000-05:00

I took this picture yesterday (Wednesday) afternoon when Jenn and I met to go buy lunch at the JY Deli. This is the neat-looking new Hearst Tower at the southwest corner of 57th Street and Eighth Avenue, and it's where I'll be working in a couple of months, once Esquire and the other Hearst titles move in. What's especially cool about this building is that they didn't destroy the original historic building it's replacing (the first Hearst Tower, originally named the International Magazine Building), rather, they preserved the facade and built right through it. Here's a link with more information.

I'm not sure what floor we'll be on. All I know is that Seventeen will be on 17.

It's Thursday night and I'm beat from a busy week, and now I've got to finish transcribing an interview I did last week. I am listening to classical music, specifically, Antonin Dvorak, Concerto for Piano in g, Op. 33, performed by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Amsterdam (conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt). Pierre-Laurent Aimard is the pianist. Good stuff.