It's been a busy week - surprise, surprise. Done something everyday - many experiences.
Monday: Naveen's friend Elise was still in town on business, so we went down to Houston St. for sushi. BTW, it's pronounced House-ton, not like the city in Texas - very confusing. So we met her and her cousin there - it had good sushi. We had some good conversation too. It strikes me that Naveen is very close to his friends - her really does treat them like family. He was already sharing dinner with Elise before I had determined what I was getting last weekend! So that was pretty fun.
Tuesday: I worked. Let me just say for those that wonder if I get anything done - I do work from 8:40 to at least 5:15, sometimes till 7pm everyday. So there. But today I went home early to go swimming. And I did 26 laps! I was so proud of myself - it was wonderful. For some reason it was an easy day, and I just flowed. I got a bit tired of the frog-stroke, but was awesome at free-style (that's the one with the regular kick, right?). I just chugged ahead. I gave myself 45 minutes, and when I had completed my goal of 20 laps, there was more time, so I just kept going. And made it to 26 in just under 45 minutes - go me. So that was the goal I set for myself. Now I looked it up - officially 1 mile is 29 laps (about), so now I'll go for that goal in the next 2 weeks while the pool is still open (closes at Labor Day - boo :-(). I love swimming. Then went home, got a quick shower and dinner, and Naveen and I headed to a concert of "Badly Drawn Boy" at Spiegeltent down on South Seaport. It was awesome - this semi-large tent (but only held maybe a couple hundred people) set up on the pier for concerts. Nice atmosphere - dark curtain-like material and booths lining the side, then a wooden floor in the middle in front of the stage. And the pier outside also was right on the water and had a bar and tables and a beautiful view of the Brooklyn Bride! Great spot! So we listened to the band and the guy from Manchester was just fabulous. Really into his music - emotional, passionate. He was in a funky mood, but he seemed to just play what he wanted and had fun with teh music. I liked his songs about wrestling with life. Naveen and I sorta bonded over the music. And the guy played several different guitars, harmonica, piano, and sung lead. Awesome. Just good fun. I sat and wondered - why Naveen likes somewhat melancholy music (lots of emotions and talking about the hardships of life and love) when he doesn't tolerate negative emotions in real life. I asked him after and he said it was just more poetic. And some of the songs of this guy made me just want to experience life more - that's when I really wanted to go and live in another country for awhile. Although I have to say, I'm doing a pretty good job of experiencing life now. :-). For some reason I thought Matt would've really liked the concert. It was just good stuff. Made me happy.
Wednesday: Work again. Stayed late, but got home and rushed out the door again to meet our guests for dinner - Bret (Naveen's roommate) and his girlfriend Alison. They are really fun people. They had seen this guy try this Kabob place on that show "No Reservations" where a chef travels around the world trying whatever food wherever, and tries to appreciate it. So we went to the place from the show in Queens. Sorta darker than Manhattan - a little different feel. But wow was the restaurant neat. Tiny place - like 5 tables crammed in a 8 x 25 foot place. Colorful eclectic art all over the walls. We sat down and asked the guy behind the counter if there was a menu. He said (in an accent) "I'm the menu. You nice to me, I give you good food, you not nice, you get no food." Ok then! We asked for drinks - they have no water. You have to order something. He listed a bunch of things that they had that day for food, and we said yes we like lamb, and then he said he'd just bring whatever he wanted for us and we'd really like it. Which was true. We had this awesome hummus and falafel place to start with pita bread. Then he brought 4 huge plates of meat sauteed with vegies and some were over rice. 1 was hunks of lamb (on the bone), one was beef ribs, one was beef kabobs, and one was chicken, rabbit and duck. They each had their own vegies which I loved - okra, squash and eggplant, tomatoes, greens. I don't even know about some of them. All was just so tasty - so much food! We were very pleased :-). Crazy place. As with a lot of places in NY I don't know the name and only vaguely know the cross streets of this place :-). But it was a great experience. And the company was fun too!
Thursday: Work again. But briefly this time - Naveen came to work with me and gave a talk at IBM - a fabulous talk, by the way. Went well. Then we left at lunch because a guy in my department organized a large paintball match for IBMers that afternoon. We had to drive 45 minutes to get to the paintball place in the middle of the forest. Holy cow. Paintball is a bit intense. I'm glad I tried it, but wow. So we put on all this camoflauge gear and we had a protective mask thing, then our paint-guns. It was a hot day and I had 2 layers of clothes on and heavy boots. So we sweated a lot. And we were just running through fields or trees shooting at each other, hiding behind little obstacles set up. Dude, I couldn't do real war - too scary. And believe me, it hurt to get hit with paintballs. I wasn't very good at first. Well, to give an example - although I bruise easily, I found 10 welts on my body when I came home - most larger than golfball size, even though the bullets are like quarter-sized. Ouch bruises. Naveen couldn't find any on him. His team won most of the time, and he definitely killed more people than I did, and ran more because he was in the game longer. But I had fun, and I felt like I was getting more tactics down by the end, but it maybe is more of a guy's game? Don't know - a bit intense really. We mostly played capture the flag on various fields. It was fun to play with work people, though, and we took pictures - I'll post them sometime I promise!
Today is Friday! I actually got 8 hours of sleep last night so that was fun. Our guests are here until Sunday morning, but another guest comes tomorrow (Sat) morning and leaves Monday afternoon. So I'm sure it'll be a full weekend of city things. Tonight we are supposed to go to see MacBeth in the park :-). And I'm sure dinner after that.
I've been having a ton of conversations lately about life, computer science, career, work/life balance. I'm slowly figuring things out, but it's hard, and there are always unknowns. I still really feel fortunate to have met some of the friends I have here - especially Emina and Shan Shan. It's fun to have these long conversations with people in a similar sitution. Awesome people. But basically I'm not cut out for cutthroat research. I don't know if other fields are like this, but often it seems like Comp Sci people - really successful ones - sacrifice their life for their career. And that just won't make me happy. In several ways I don't quite fit into this field - it's competitiveness and all. But I think I can still do good work and I can't measure myself by other's standards. Now I'm actually thinking of industry - I guess working for IBM basically. Industry does afford some work/life balance - more so than some academic jobs. And the culture is great here. But I wonder if I'd miss teaching. It's really that, or going to a lesser place to teach - not so stressful. Or moving to some random country and working at a coffee shop :-). We'll see. At least I'm evaluating things and it's nice to have these conversations!
Alright - enough for now. Happy weekend from NYC!
Friday, August 17, 2007
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Places I have lived
Here is a list of the places I have lived (not visited - although if there's interest I could enumerate that too - it'll just take longer). It's in order because I like that :-), although I only list places once.
Salt Lake City, Utah
Scottsdale, Arizona
Tucson, Arizona
Madrid, Spain
Durham, North Carolina
Austin, Texas
Portland, Oregon
New York, New York
Very fun. More to come I believe - I have the exploration itch.
In other random tidbits - I believe I am an engineer at heart. And women here mostly wear skirts or sundresses (out and about) - maybe it's a good Jewish girl thing. I need to find more good skirts.
More about how awesome last night was later (26 laps + Badly Drawn Boy). Good thoughts to you all.
Salt Lake City, Utah
Scottsdale, Arizona
Tucson, Arizona
Madrid, Spain
Durham, North Carolina
Austin, Texas
Portland, Oregon
New York, New York
Very fun. More to come I believe - I have the exploration itch.
In other random tidbits - I believe I am an engineer at heart. And women here mostly wear skirts or sundresses (out and about) - maybe it's a good Jewish girl thing. I need to find more good skirts.
More about how awesome last night was later (26 laps + Badly Drawn Boy). Good thoughts to you all.
Monday, August 13, 2007
Free at last
Phew - I'm finally coming up for air after my paper deadline! Feels good :-).
Some highlights of the last week - swimming 22 laps! Going to restaurant named "Hell's Kitchen" and seeing new Die Hard movie. Sleeping a lot. Department picnic up at mountain resort way north - with some great hiking (aka rock scrambling). Dinner at Tunisian place. Going to Bodies exhibit at South Seaport (old pier/harbor/port). Dinner with friends at a Mexican place, then dessert at a bonafide Chocolate Shop! Then (failed) attempts to play tennis.
So unfortunately we didn't submit the paper that I was working so hard on for weeks. Lovely to work that hard, then have it come to a not-so-satisfying conclusion. We decided to kill it the day of the deadline too. I don't regret working hard, and I think the project came a long way in those last weeks. And I think I proved myself to some people. But it's sad that we didn't get good enough results to submit the paper. We still believe in the project and will keep working on it to get good enough results to submit it to a future conference. But this research thing - it's tough, and draining on a person. Ups and downs. And now I might actually switch gears and work on some different project with IBM for the rest of my internship - we'll see. Luck is cyclic, right? (Because there is an element of luck in research) I'm bound to have 1 project work out if I wait long enough, right? :-). But I have to say Naveen was so good to me during the paper deadline. He saw how hard I was working, and although he was working just as hard, he tried to help me by making dinners and cheering me on. So nice to have that support - yay!
So I came home Tuesday and went swimming in Central Park to work out frustrations. I swam 22 laps and it felt great! Was very proud of myself :-). Still love that. Then Naveen and I crashed and slept 12 hours that night! Ah sleep :-). Wednesday we took it easy on ourselves - staying around the house in teh afternoon and cleaning a bit (so our place wasn't a cyclone). Then we went out to a movie! We saw the new Die Hard which was pretty entertaining. Then went and found a restaurant to eat at - we ended up at "Hell's Kitchen" which was very interesting. I had some tasty fish, and Naveen had spicy pork.
Thursday, luckily, my whole department at IBM was at a dept picnic not at the office! We spent the day at a beautiful Mountain resort up north. Mohonk for those in the know. Beautiful grounds, good food. Too bad we couldn't row or swim in the lake - that was beautiful. But we went hiking up to the Skytop which had a great view of surrounding green valleys. Well, so hiking actually meant climbing over and under rocks - big boulders. It was pretty fun. Then we got to "The Crevice" or "Lemon Squeeze". Basically there were places it was hard to squeeze through - especially with a backpack on! Between a rock and... another rock. And we went on narrow ladders up small canyons, then walked back into the canyon that wouldn't fit more than 1 person across, then had to rock climb out of this canyon! Scary, but a good workout :-). We had fun. And I have to say again, the 2.5 hour ride up and back with Emina and Shan Shan were my favorite parts! We totally geeked out and giggled and got to know each other. We talked about everything - morality, religion, science, women in Computer Science, boys, life balance, career, marriage. They kept referencing New York Times articles, so man do I have to read those more :-). But it was all very interesting and fun. We also talked about Naveen's latest theory that finding your one true passion - the thing you choose above all others - leads to maximizing happiness. And about criticism of people you are close to... It all makes a person think.
So it was a great Thursday away from actual work which was nice for me. Friday I actually went back to work for real :-). Although was in talks most of the day... But we are working on where I'll go next with my work with IBM - could be exciting. Friday night Naveen and I walked back down the 30 blocks to find the Tunisian place again and we found it! It was sorta like Moroccan food we thought. We had a great appetizer of brik. Which is like this egg and tuna and potato concoction in crispy phyllo dough. The for food I had the b'stilla which was awesome. Its this nice pastry thing filled with chicken and good stuff, with a little powdered sugar on top. And Naveen had some lamb chops, merguez which is lamb sausage, and some Mediterranean salad and salsa - both tasty.
Saturday we headed down to South Seaport for some fun, and the Bodies exhibit. I like the seaport, although the shops are basically mall shops. But there are a lot of eateries, and there was a brewery which Naveen likes, and some neat old sailing ships that you can tour. Some street performers too. So we saw the Bodies exhibit - woah did my head spin. Sorta literally. Maybe it was dehydration, but I came out of there a little off-balance - like after a rollercoaster. So if you haven't heard of it, it's an exhibit with real human bodies that shows one system at a time - skeletal, muscular, nervous, circulatory, digestive, urinary and reproductive, then fetal development. All real people, preserved. You walk around them and read all about how amazing human bodies are. It was really cool, but you can see the creepiness factor in it too. The last room had 2 bodies sliced - one vertical slices, the other many many horizontal slices. Very cool, and odd. You just have to desensitize yourself to it :-). The exhibit I think is a very good teaching tool. So after that, we needed some beer - so we got some at the brewery :-). Then we wandered up through the lower east side, China town, and then the East Village leisurely. It was fun just to walk, though a bit tiring. We got egg rolls off a street cart in Chinatown - 3 for $1 - awesome! And in East Village we found a ton of neat restaurants and drinkeries. We met friends for dinner - and I gave in to Mexican finally (Naveen's been wanting it). But it was a really cute place. Naveen's friend from college Elise was visiting, so she was there, as well as Emina and fiance Aled. Good times. For dessert we decided to head to Max Brenner's Chocolate Bar a block away. Emina LOVES chocolate :-). We all shared the Chocolate Mess for 4-6 people. Wow was it true to it's name! Sort of chocolate cake underneath with strawberries, whip cream, ice cream on top, and we could put our own toppings on top - sauces and sprinklings of different chocolates. Holy cow. Sugar rush. We were definitely satisfied.
Sunday was definitely a sleep in day. I definitely caught up on sleep from Tuesday night on last week :-). This day contained the many failures of trying to play tennis. We walked over 20 blocks to the 119th courts in Riverside Park (they were hardcourt whereas most in the area are clay). Along the way we stopped at about 6 stores searching for tennis balls, to no avail. Thinking maybe we could borrow some, we still went to the courts. We could've gotten a court for a little over an hour later, but we didn't have tickets. We thought we could buy passes at the actual courts, but no - we need to go to the courts at Central Park to get passes. Ugh. Then we decided to just cut our loses and run a bit around Central Park (after walking another 20 blocks back home). We did that, and checked out the courts at Central Park afterwards (drenched in sweat). They of course said to get courts there you had to show up when they opened at 6:30am to get a court for the same day. And if you didn't get there 15 minutes before your court time, the Tennis Mafia would steal your court - no joke. So yeah - playing tennis here is a bit tough! So we retreated home, made a fabulous dinner of blueberry pancakes, bacon, and fruit salad, and did chores around the house that evening :-). We have lately been addicted to this Iceroad Truckers show on TV.
So this is definitely a long enough blog! I am a little more well-balanced now. And looking forward to fun - we have guests this week/weekend. I wonder if I'll get to a real point of relaxation someday. I really haven't had a day of doing nothing for months I think. Maybe that's why people say reading about my activities exhaust them :-). But there's just too much to do now! Hope all's well...
Some highlights of the last week - swimming 22 laps! Going to restaurant named "Hell's Kitchen" and seeing new Die Hard movie. Sleeping a lot. Department picnic up at mountain resort way north - with some great hiking (aka rock scrambling). Dinner at Tunisian place. Going to Bodies exhibit at South Seaport (old pier/harbor/port). Dinner with friends at a Mexican place, then dessert at a bonafide Chocolate Shop! Then (failed) attempts to play tennis.
So unfortunately we didn't submit the paper that I was working so hard on for weeks. Lovely to work that hard, then have it come to a not-so-satisfying conclusion. We decided to kill it the day of the deadline too. I don't regret working hard, and I think the project came a long way in those last weeks. And I think I proved myself to some people. But it's sad that we didn't get good enough results to submit the paper. We still believe in the project and will keep working on it to get good enough results to submit it to a future conference. But this research thing - it's tough, and draining on a person. Ups and downs. And now I might actually switch gears and work on some different project with IBM for the rest of my internship - we'll see. Luck is cyclic, right? (Because there is an element of luck in research) I'm bound to have 1 project work out if I wait long enough, right? :-). But I have to say Naveen was so good to me during the paper deadline. He saw how hard I was working, and although he was working just as hard, he tried to help me by making dinners and cheering me on. So nice to have that support - yay!
So I came home Tuesday and went swimming in Central Park to work out frustrations. I swam 22 laps and it felt great! Was very proud of myself :-). Still love that. Then Naveen and I crashed and slept 12 hours that night! Ah sleep :-). Wednesday we took it easy on ourselves - staying around the house in teh afternoon and cleaning a bit (so our place wasn't a cyclone). Then we went out to a movie! We saw the new Die Hard which was pretty entertaining. Then went and found a restaurant to eat at - we ended up at "Hell's Kitchen" which was very interesting. I had some tasty fish, and Naveen had spicy pork.
Thursday, luckily, my whole department at IBM was at a dept picnic not at the office! We spent the day at a beautiful Mountain resort up north. Mohonk for those in the know. Beautiful grounds, good food. Too bad we couldn't row or swim in the lake - that was beautiful. But we went hiking up to the Skytop which had a great view of surrounding green valleys. Well, so hiking actually meant climbing over and under rocks - big boulders. It was pretty fun. Then we got to "The Crevice" or "Lemon Squeeze". Basically there were places it was hard to squeeze through - especially with a backpack on! Between a rock and... another rock. And we went on narrow ladders up small canyons, then walked back into the canyon that wouldn't fit more than 1 person across, then had to rock climb out of this canyon! Scary, but a good workout :-). We had fun. And I have to say again, the 2.5 hour ride up and back with Emina and Shan Shan were my favorite parts! We totally geeked out and giggled and got to know each other. We talked about everything - morality, religion, science, women in Computer Science, boys, life balance, career, marriage. They kept referencing New York Times articles, so man do I have to read those more :-). But it was all very interesting and fun. We also talked about Naveen's latest theory that finding your one true passion - the thing you choose above all others - leads to maximizing happiness. And about criticism of people you are close to... It all makes a person think.
So it was a great Thursday away from actual work which was nice for me. Friday I actually went back to work for real :-). Although was in talks most of the day... But we are working on where I'll go next with my work with IBM - could be exciting. Friday night Naveen and I walked back down the 30 blocks to find the Tunisian place again and we found it! It was sorta like Moroccan food we thought. We had a great appetizer of brik. Which is like this egg and tuna and potato concoction in crispy phyllo dough. The for food I had the b'stilla which was awesome. Its this nice pastry thing filled with chicken and good stuff, with a little powdered sugar on top. And Naveen had some lamb chops, merguez which is lamb sausage, and some Mediterranean salad and salsa - both tasty.
Saturday we headed down to South Seaport for some fun, and the Bodies exhibit. I like the seaport, although the shops are basically mall shops. But there are a lot of eateries, and there was a brewery which Naveen likes, and some neat old sailing ships that you can tour. Some street performers too. So we saw the Bodies exhibit - woah did my head spin. Sorta literally. Maybe it was dehydration, but I came out of there a little off-balance - like after a rollercoaster. So if you haven't heard of it, it's an exhibit with real human bodies that shows one system at a time - skeletal, muscular, nervous, circulatory, digestive, urinary and reproductive, then fetal development. All real people, preserved. You walk around them and read all about how amazing human bodies are. It was really cool, but you can see the creepiness factor in it too. The last room had 2 bodies sliced - one vertical slices, the other many many horizontal slices. Very cool, and odd. You just have to desensitize yourself to it :-). The exhibit I think is a very good teaching tool. So after that, we needed some beer - so we got some at the brewery :-). Then we wandered up through the lower east side, China town, and then the East Village leisurely. It was fun just to walk, though a bit tiring. We got egg rolls off a street cart in Chinatown - 3 for $1 - awesome! And in East Village we found a ton of neat restaurants and drinkeries. We met friends for dinner - and I gave in to Mexican finally (Naveen's been wanting it). But it was a really cute place. Naveen's friend from college Elise was visiting, so she was there, as well as Emina and fiance Aled. Good times. For dessert we decided to head to Max Brenner's Chocolate Bar a block away. Emina LOVES chocolate :-). We all shared the Chocolate Mess for 4-6 people. Wow was it true to it's name! Sort of chocolate cake underneath with strawberries, whip cream, ice cream on top, and we could put our own toppings on top - sauces and sprinklings of different chocolates. Holy cow. Sugar rush. We were definitely satisfied.
Sunday was definitely a sleep in day. I definitely caught up on sleep from Tuesday night on last week :-). This day contained the many failures of trying to play tennis. We walked over 20 blocks to the 119th courts in Riverside Park (they were hardcourt whereas most in the area are clay). Along the way we stopped at about 6 stores searching for tennis balls, to no avail. Thinking maybe we could borrow some, we still went to the courts. We could've gotten a court for a little over an hour later, but we didn't have tickets. We thought we could buy passes at the actual courts, but no - we need to go to the courts at Central Park to get passes. Ugh. Then we decided to just cut our loses and run a bit around Central Park (after walking another 20 blocks back home). We did that, and checked out the courts at Central Park afterwards (drenched in sweat). They of course said to get courts there you had to show up when they opened at 6:30am to get a court for the same day. And if you didn't get there 15 minutes before your court time, the Tennis Mafia would steal your court - no joke. So yeah - playing tennis here is a bit tough! So we retreated home, made a fabulous dinner of blueberry pancakes, bacon, and fruit salad, and did chores around the house that evening :-). We have lately been addicted to this Iceroad Truckers show on TV.
So this is definitely a long enough blog! I am a little more well-balanced now. And looking forward to fun - we have guests this week/weekend. I wonder if I'll get to a real point of relaxation someday. I really haven't had a day of doing nothing for months I think. Maybe that's why people say reading about my activities exhaust them :-). But there's just too much to do now! Hope all's well...
Monday, August 6, 2007
Highlights
I'm braindead and running on adrenaline. And coffee. Yay! I'm really hoping this paper comes together... So tenuous this research process.
But - before I forget: highlights. Thursday: swam 18 laps - yay! But it was tough that day. Also stayed home and got sleep - very yay. Always feel very cheerful and worthy after exercise too. Went for ice cream as a pick me up at Tasty D Lite at 11:15pm (yay NY) - Naveen and I both got Snickers soft serve. Yum.
Friday: Low on sleep. Everyone keeps telling me I look a little whiley or harried. What is up with that? Anyway - made it through the day - stayed until 7:45pm at work. Rode train home. We went to Artie's - an awesome Jewish deli for dinner. Got pastrami reubens PILED high with meat, layer of cheese on top and underneath: sauerkraut and Russian Dressing. On rye bread - open faced and huge. Ooooh so tasty. Yum. And pickles to go with. Got a spinach knish that we had for lunch the next day - yum. Walked home in TORRENTIAL rain - very fun, but very wet. Story. Everyone looked as us funny - they all hide in doorways when it's like that until it stops, which of course it did shortly after we got home :-). Yay all 15 blocks.
Saturday was catch up on sleep day - woohoo! Slept in, then took a nap later. Sooo nice naps. Working, working, chugging along. We ended up going to dinner at Asian fusion close to our place - Ozen. Very tasty. We had 1 drunken noodles chicken dish which was awesome. Brown sauce. Other dish - breaded fish in a tangy, slightly sweet curry with eggplant and vegies. Also very tasty. I was very satisfied! Also got green papaya salad to start - can you guess if I liked it? :-)
Sunday - Naveen was up all night, went to bed in the morning. I slept semi-reasonable hours, so got up and went and got bagels from a nearby place. Tasty. Then went on a 10 mile bike around Central Park - love that place. So happy and peaceful. Actually saw a nun in habit riding her bike around on the bike road too :-). Made me smile. Good to get out. Worked, worked. Naveen and I decided to take a break at night and go see Henry V in Riverside Park! I can't believe I tore him away. It was actually fun, though my mind raced. We brought food from close Caribbean place - whole roasted chicken and fried plantains. Play was good - very impressed with main actor - King of England (Henry), but was long and hard to follow at parts. But good to get out again. Worked late (again).
Monday - almost there! I can make it! Just gotta keep telling myself this. And God, please help my results to shine. Go PFGC :-). Research is scary and does scary things to people. That is all - have a good week. More when I am sane...
But - before I forget: highlights. Thursday: swam 18 laps - yay! But it was tough that day. Also stayed home and got sleep - very yay. Always feel very cheerful and worthy after exercise too. Went for ice cream as a pick me up at Tasty D Lite at 11:15pm (yay NY) - Naveen and I both got Snickers soft serve. Yum.
Friday: Low on sleep. Everyone keeps telling me I look a little whiley or harried. What is up with that? Anyway - made it through the day - stayed until 7:45pm at work. Rode train home. We went to Artie's - an awesome Jewish deli for dinner. Got pastrami reubens PILED high with meat, layer of cheese on top and underneath: sauerkraut and Russian Dressing. On rye bread - open faced and huge. Ooooh so tasty. Yum. And pickles to go with. Got a spinach knish that we had for lunch the next day - yum. Walked home in TORRENTIAL rain - very fun, but very wet. Story. Everyone looked as us funny - they all hide in doorways when it's like that until it stops, which of course it did shortly after we got home :-). Yay all 15 blocks.
Saturday was catch up on sleep day - woohoo! Slept in, then took a nap later. Sooo nice naps. Working, working, chugging along. We ended up going to dinner at Asian fusion close to our place - Ozen. Very tasty. We had 1 drunken noodles chicken dish which was awesome. Brown sauce. Other dish - breaded fish in a tangy, slightly sweet curry with eggplant and vegies. Also very tasty. I was very satisfied! Also got green papaya salad to start - can you guess if I liked it? :-)
Sunday - Naveen was up all night, went to bed in the morning. I slept semi-reasonable hours, so got up and went and got bagels from a nearby place. Tasty. Then went on a 10 mile bike around Central Park - love that place. So happy and peaceful. Actually saw a nun in habit riding her bike around on the bike road too :-). Made me smile. Good to get out. Worked, worked. Naveen and I decided to take a break at night and go see Henry V in Riverside Park! I can't believe I tore him away. It was actually fun, though my mind raced. We brought food from close Caribbean place - whole roasted chicken and fried plantains. Play was good - very impressed with main actor - King of England (Henry), but was long and hard to follow at parts. But good to get out again. Worked late (again).
Monday - almost there! I can make it! Just gotta keep telling myself this. And God, please help my results to shine. Go PFGC :-). Research is scary and does scary things to people. That is all - have a good week. More when I am sane...
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Thoughts of the week + softball
Hi. I'm in the thick of craziness, and I just apologize to all people I haven't emailed back for awhile. Paper deadlines really help you ignore the world :-(. But I'm now at the point where I'm addicted a bit, which is fun. You get caught up in it (you have to), and you want it to succeed and you want it to be useful, and you want to have a good paper to tell others how awesome your research is, even if it's only applicable in these restricted situations :-). I really believe in this and want to make it happen! So it's ok that I'm running myself into the ground a bit and working almost every waking moment. Although I do need sleep - I'm working on that. So yeah, it's good. It's coming along. Go page-friendly garbage collection! (that's my paper title)
But I was thinking the other day while swimming in Central Park. Great way to either take out the aggressions of the day, or just let your mind float away from them! Anyway - I was thinking about New York. About how I love it. It's just so diverse - so many things, people, opportunities. The park just cheers me up when I walk into it. I can't tell you how many running teams, triathletes, biker teams, athletes I passed. There are so many good communities here. And again, you find your own. The guys at the pool are fun to talk to as well - although more hard core than me. I'm working up to swimming for a full mile! Tuesday night I actually swam 17 laps in 1/2 hour! Each lap is 55 meters, so around 13 is supposed to be 1/2 mile. I think if I up my laps by a couple every time I go, I'll be able to make it :-). And no, Carol, I'm not doing a full tri with you. I just like swimming.
But anyway, people are friendly here. My ride home last night agreed that people here are pretty chill (in comparison with Paris), and they understand you have to make certain allowances for living in a place with very dense population. So they are pretty friendly overall. And there are just different parts. Naveen and I have tended to like the "grittier" parts - the W Village, maybe the east - we don't know it as well. Funky people, crazy shops, interesting restaurants. I like the real parts - not the pretentious parts where people work in trading and make oodles of money and can't live w/o their Blackberry and pay extravagant sums of money for very odd and sorta ugly fashions if you ask me. Although there are very revealing dresses, and most are short - show off legs. And these people go to the trendiest clubs to spend $12+ per pretentious tiny cocktail (with trendy name and concocted by said club). And it's not like you can actually have a real conversation in these places, either - too crowded and loud. It's like high school - the "in" crowd all over - the popular kids with money :-). But I digress - this is why I think I like Harlem. Although I get lots of looks, and see a cop arresting a guy across the street, it is real. People are people, and they sell incense along the street, and rasta hats :-). And I like the more down to earth places in the city - midtown isn't particularly this either. Time Square is a freaking circus - for tourists. And Rockefeller Center is sorta the same - and surrounded by high end clothing stores. But people are more real down in the villages, and I find it fun :-). There's always crazy things going on - not like the upper west side which is mostly sorta middle to upper class families who are quieter.
So out of all that, I came up with the fact that living here and getting used to things makes me feel way more worldly (there's people here from every country too) than most of the tourist world traveling I've done. Not that I didn't learn about other countries from those travels - I did. But you are somewhat isolated from life - from the nitty-gritty because you are a "rich" tourist. So I'm just saying living in NY is broadening my horizons even more than some world traveling can do, which is fun :-). No more being sheltered.
On a related note, I find that I really like and relate to people from old cultures. This makes me happy. Not that it's exclusive, but I've found that I get along well with people from other countries (or cultures), but that have some perspective on America, too. Look at Negin, Carol in Austin, Emina and Shan Shan here, and of course Naveen everywhere :-). I guess Naveen has made me more aware of the distinction between old culture and some of American culture, but it's more humble, more respectful, more family/group oriented than individual-oriented. And I like a lot of those values. I'll have to think on this more - it's definitely not exclusive, but it's interesting.
One other thing - given the amount of sleep that I get, and how stressed I've been lately (it shows on my wrecked face), I think exercise, again, is what's saved me. I insist on exercise, and it makes me happy and keeps me healthy.
So yeah, those are the thoughts of the week. In concrete news, softball was yesterday. WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS! But it was sorta a technicality. The other team forfeited w/o enough players. But we had played them before in the playoffs and beat them, so the lineup was weird (we only played 2 of the 3 teams in the playoffs, but the 3rd team lost to the other 2 so they were out of the playoffs). So we ended up just scrimmaging last night, which was fun! And Go Bytecodes! Though we were the last team in the regular season, we pulled together as a team for the playoffs. They said I was the ringer, but I don't believe them. But it was great fun :-). All of our team players were really nice, and very encouraging! One inning in the scrimmage I got 2 outs in a row at first to end the inning! So we dumped the cooler on our captain, and went and drank beer, and ate chips and pizza at someone's house. It was fun to just chill and celebrate. But no more nights off! Just have to survive until Tuesday....
Yippee to life :-).
But I was thinking the other day while swimming in Central Park. Great way to either take out the aggressions of the day, or just let your mind float away from them! Anyway - I was thinking about New York. About how I love it. It's just so diverse - so many things, people, opportunities. The park just cheers me up when I walk into it. I can't tell you how many running teams, triathletes, biker teams, athletes I passed. There are so many good communities here. And again, you find your own. The guys at the pool are fun to talk to as well - although more hard core than me. I'm working up to swimming for a full mile! Tuesday night I actually swam 17 laps in 1/2 hour! Each lap is 55 meters, so around 13 is supposed to be 1/2 mile. I think if I up my laps by a couple every time I go, I'll be able to make it :-). And no, Carol, I'm not doing a full tri with you. I just like swimming.
But anyway, people are friendly here. My ride home last night agreed that people here are pretty chill (in comparison with Paris), and they understand you have to make certain allowances for living in a place with very dense population. So they are pretty friendly overall. And there are just different parts. Naveen and I have tended to like the "grittier" parts - the W Village, maybe the east - we don't know it as well. Funky people, crazy shops, interesting restaurants. I like the real parts - not the pretentious parts where people work in trading and make oodles of money and can't live w/o their Blackberry and pay extravagant sums of money for very odd and sorta ugly fashions if you ask me. Although there are very revealing dresses, and most are short - show off legs. And these people go to the trendiest clubs to spend $12+ per pretentious tiny cocktail (with trendy name and concocted by said club). And it's not like you can actually have a real conversation in these places, either - too crowded and loud. It's like high school - the "in" crowd all over - the popular kids with money :-). But I digress - this is why I think I like Harlem. Although I get lots of looks, and see a cop arresting a guy across the street, it is real. People are people, and they sell incense along the street, and rasta hats :-). And I like the more down to earth places in the city - midtown isn't particularly this either. Time Square is a freaking circus - for tourists. And Rockefeller Center is sorta the same - and surrounded by high end clothing stores. But people are more real down in the villages, and I find it fun :-). There's always crazy things going on - not like the upper west side which is mostly sorta middle to upper class families who are quieter.
So out of all that, I came up with the fact that living here and getting used to things makes me feel way more worldly (there's people here from every country too) than most of the tourist world traveling I've done. Not that I didn't learn about other countries from those travels - I did. But you are somewhat isolated from life - from the nitty-gritty because you are a "rich" tourist. So I'm just saying living in NY is broadening my horizons even more than some world traveling can do, which is fun :-). No more being sheltered.
On a related note, I find that I really like and relate to people from old cultures. This makes me happy. Not that it's exclusive, but I've found that I get along well with people from other countries (or cultures), but that have some perspective on America, too. Look at Negin, Carol in Austin, Emina and Shan Shan here, and of course Naveen everywhere :-). I guess Naveen has made me more aware of the distinction between old culture and some of American culture, but it's more humble, more respectful, more family/group oriented than individual-oriented. And I like a lot of those values. I'll have to think on this more - it's definitely not exclusive, but it's interesting.
One other thing - given the amount of sleep that I get, and how stressed I've been lately (it shows on my wrecked face), I think exercise, again, is what's saved me. I insist on exercise, and it makes me happy and keeps me healthy.
So yeah, those are the thoughts of the week. In concrete news, softball was yesterday. WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS! But it was sorta a technicality. The other team forfeited w/o enough players. But we had played them before in the playoffs and beat them, so the lineup was weird (we only played 2 of the 3 teams in the playoffs, but the 3rd team lost to the other 2 so they were out of the playoffs). So we ended up just scrimmaging last night, which was fun! And Go Bytecodes! Though we were the last team in the regular season, we pulled together as a team for the playoffs. They said I was the ringer, but I don't believe them. But it was great fun :-). All of our team players were really nice, and very encouraging! One inning in the scrimmage I got 2 outs in a row at first to end the inning! So we dumped the cooler on our captain, and went and drank beer, and ate chips and pizza at someone's house. It was fun to just chill and celebrate. But no more nights off! Just have to survive until Tuesday....
Yippee to life :-).
Monday, July 30, 2007
Sometimes a hamburger is soooo satisfying
So had a good weekend, despite circumstances.
Friday there was an interesting modern dance show at Central Park's Summerstage (thanks to Chris I'm into modern dance). There was also a bunch of interns going out to dinner and drinks. There were also Shakespeare plays in Riverside park. And what did we do? None of these. But I don't begrudge that because.... we went out for sushi - yum!! So tasty! Love salmon, yellowtail, and super white tuna. It's just so... buttery. Nothing else can fill that craving for rich sushi taste. Yum. Nuf said. So after that Naveen's good friends called us - they were in town from Illinois. We hurried to meet them. They are an awesome awesome couple from Brazil that are just now graduating from UIUC and moving to Seattle to start real jobs. See Mom - it's possible to graduate! So we had fun wandering around the city - after meeting at Rockefeller Center - and finally stopping for a couple of beers. Awesome people. I'm excited for them.
Saturday was lazy - slept in. I left for a storytelling session in Central Park at 1pm. Ok, I know, I know - I'm above 10. But seriously - it's my secret hobby (among others). My Mom knows that I love fairytales and when I go to different countries I like to get books on their culture's tales. It's just fun. So the title of this storytelling was "Mosquito Stories from Opposing Ends of the Earth (Africa and Scandinavia)." So it wasn't just a story, but from other countries - and hey, it said all ages. Of course I was the only non-parent above 10. I got there before others and the storyteller asked why I was there (politely) - if I studied storytelling. He said there are awesome workshops and teachers of storytelling in New York that I should check out. Very funny. Can I jump to that life briefly? To be a professional storyteller - how bizarre. But anyway - heard some great stories A couple of little ones from Mexico. An awesome one from Tibet about a magical castle seen in the lake and a male cinderella. One silly one from eskimo country about a boy who ate too much. One from W. Africa about why mosquitoes bite us. And one from the Ukraine that had a neat song and a magical boy (Telesic) who turned into a boy from a stick. And he had a magical boat, and there was a dragon lady who wanted to eat him. Good stuff. I was transfixed by the guy - he was pretty good. And it struck me how except for a few details (like a yak), it didn't matter where the story actually came from - they were just all good human stories. Fun stuff. So I left feeling happy, and ran into a farmer's market and decided to get lunch! Made fresh insalata caprese - using fresh mozarella and tomatoes. Got some really creamy and tasty sheep + cow cheese and some sourdough rye bread and some blueberries on the side :-). It was a great lunch if I do say so! Fun that that's possible here - just walking home and picking up fresh lunch. So we worked the rest of the day at Starbucks. Then went out in search of the Tunisian place I'd heard of that was 25 blocks away. We looked for it and we couldn't find it! I was so bummed. And we were hungry after all that walking. So we ended up at City Grill. Despite me swearing off American food, we really enjoyed our meal! Had a very tasty cheeseburger and fries and a shrimp, tomoato and eggplant quesadilla. Naveen and I share everything of course. Naveen got a red ale to drink and I a sangria + margarita mix - very tasty! They love sangrias in this city! But for dessert we picked a mixed drink, actually. I did rather :-). But it was so good! Godiva, Kahlua, and Baileys with vanilla ice cream - almost a mild chocolate/coffee milk shake. So tasty! We were happy :-).
Sunday was a good day. We got up and ran. It was only in the 70s, but I thought I'd die with the humidity! We went to the reservoir in Central Park which is a nice track. But we were drenched after just 1 loop! But we made it both loops. Came home and made the BEST omelet. I feel like I really like food :-) - I talk about it a lot. But it had onions, red and green peppers, cheese, broccoli, and mushrooms - most from our farmer's market out front. Very satisfying. Then we worked all afternoon again - oh - after a nice nap :-). We tried to go to the last showing of Shakespeare's "As You Like It" in Riverside Park, but failed. Though it wasn't raining anymore, they cancelled it because the performance area was wet. Bummer :-(. But Macbeth starts next week. But on the way home we got a pizza at our favorite place - sausage, eggplant, and mushrooms. Did I say I've been obsessed with eggplant lately? And pomegranate (mostly juice) :-). And we worked the rest of the night - but felt like a good weekend!
My carpool friend Shan Shan is at a conference this week, sadly, so I'm taking the subway+train+shuttle. Miss her. And I'm optimistic about my paper - keep on chugging! I hope I hope. And I wish my lower right back wasn't spasming with pain every time I move, but such is life right now. Happy week to you all!
Friday there was an interesting modern dance show at Central Park's Summerstage (thanks to Chris I'm into modern dance). There was also a bunch of interns going out to dinner and drinks. There were also Shakespeare plays in Riverside park. And what did we do? None of these. But I don't begrudge that because.... we went out for sushi - yum!! So tasty! Love salmon, yellowtail, and super white tuna. It's just so... buttery. Nothing else can fill that craving for rich sushi taste. Yum. Nuf said. So after that Naveen's good friends called us - they were in town from Illinois. We hurried to meet them. They are an awesome awesome couple from Brazil that are just now graduating from UIUC and moving to Seattle to start real jobs. See Mom - it's possible to graduate! So we had fun wandering around the city - after meeting at Rockefeller Center - and finally stopping for a couple of beers. Awesome people. I'm excited for them.
Saturday was lazy - slept in. I left for a storytelling session in Central Park at 1pm. Ok, I know, I know - I'm above 10. But seriously - it's my secret hobby (among others). My Mom knows that I love fairytales and when I go to different countries I like to get books on their culture's tales. It's just fun. So the title of this storytelling was "Mosquito Stories from Opposing Ends of the Earth (Africa and Scandinavia)." So it wasn't just a story, but from other countries - and hey, it said all ages. Of course I was the only non-parent above 10. I got there before others and the storyteller asked why I was there (politely) - if I studied storytelling. He said there are awesome workshops and teachers of storytelling in New York that I should check out. Very funny. Can I jump to that life briefly? To be a professional storyteller - how bizarre. But anyway - heard some great stories A couple of little ones from Mexico. An awesome one from Tibet about a magical castle seen in the lake and a male cinderella. One silly one from eskimo country about a boy who ate too much. One from W. Africa about why mosquitoes bite us. And one from the Ukraine that had a neat song and a magical boy (Telesic) who turned into a boy from a stick. And he had a magical boat, and there was a dragon lady who wanted to eat him. Good stuff. I was transfixed by the guy - he was pretty good. And it struck me how except for a few details (like a yak), it didn't matter where the story actually came from - they were just all good human stories. Fun stuff. So I left feeling happy, and ran into a farmer's market and decided to get lunch! Made fresh insalata caprese - using fresh mozarella and tomatoes. Got some really creamy and tasty sheep + cow cheese and some sourdough rye bread and some blueberries on the side :-). It was a great lunch if I do say so! Fun that that's possible here - just walking home and picking up fresh lunch. So we worked the rest of the day at Starbucks. Then went out in search of the Tunisian place I'd heard of that was 25 blocks away. We looked for it and we couldn't find it! I was so bummed. And we were hungry after all that walking. So we ended up at City Grill. Despite me swearing off American food, we really enjoyed our meal! Had a very tasty cheeseburger and fries and a shrimp, tomoato and eggplant quesadilla. Naveen and I share everything of course. Naveen got a red ale to drink and I a sangria + margarita mix - very tasty! They love sangrias in this city! But for dessert we picked a mixed drink, actually. I did rather :-). But it was so good! Godiva, Kahlua, and Baileys with vanilla ice cream - almost a mild chocolate/coffee milk shake. So tasty! We were happy :-).
Sunday was a good day. We got up and ran. It was only in the 70s, but I thought I'd die with the humidity! We went to the reservoir in Central Park which is a nice track. But we were drenched after just 1 loop! But we made it both loops. Came home and made the BEST omelet. I feel like I really like food :-) - I talk about it a lot. But it had onions, red and green peppers, cheese, broccoli, and mushrooms - most from our farmer's market out front. Very satisfying. Then we worked all afternoon again - oh - after a nice nap :-). We tried to go to the last showing of Shakespeare's "As You Like It" in Riverside Park, but failed. Though it wasn't raining anymore, they cancelled it because the performance area was wet. Bummer :-(. But Macbeth starts next week. But on the way home we got a pizza at our favorite place - sausage, eggplant, and mushrooms. Did I say I've been obsessed with eggplant lately? And pomegranate (mostly juice) :-). And we worked the rest of the night - but felt like a good weekend!
My carpool friend Shan Shan is at a conference this week, sadly, so I'm taking the subway+train+shuttle. Miss her. And I'm optimistic about my paper - keep on chugging! I hope I hope. And I wish my lower right back wasn't spasming with pain every time I move, but such is life right now. Happy week to you all!
Friday, July 27, 2007
Exciting Exercising week - and my building
Hi all - good things happening this week! Tuesday and Wednesday night were some awesome softball games. Wednesday night I came home to this catastrophe in my complex.
More on that later. Then Thursday I stayed home in order to sleep in despite the construction crews, then worked from a coffee shop and went swimming at the pool in Central Park that has lap swim from 7-8:30 every weekday night! So much fun after not swimming for awhile... And now it's Friday - yippee!
So first - Tuesday's softball game. 5:30 game - nice humid weather. I totally bruise myself during batting practice - for some reason the end of the bat on my follow through hits the back side of my wrist. And when repeatedly hit, forms a large goose egg :-). But the game... So after the 2nd inning we were down like 8-1. Yippee for us. For some reason we weren't working as a team. Then all of a sudden we worked as a team. We got some great hits, kept getting like 3-4 runs per inning and then shut them down at D(defense). So then all of a sudden it's the bottom of the inning and we're up like 13-10! I was so jazzed - it's more fun when it's competitive and you don't feel bad for the errors that've been happening. I was batting really poorly that day too. So we jsut needed to stop them in that last inning. Unfortunately our star pitcher (he really is good) walked like 3 people in a row. So needless to say they scored - 2 runs. So it was 13-12 and the runner that was to tie the game was on 3rd. But we got some outs in there - pop flies, and 1 at a base. And we won! Go Bytecodes! Love that camaradie feeling :-). Great day :-).
Wednesday - another game. Got some more batting practice which was great. Did some good throwing - also fun. And did warmup sprints - I'm the only one that does them. Even warmer day. I'm hazier on the scores here, but our coach gave us the advice to start out strong and shut them down at D (as opposed to Tuesday). And that really helped because we did :-). We had some great out-field catches. And again - after we learned NOT to hit it to their center outfielder, we were great. We were getting around the bases. I got a nice base hit (which someone told me was an RBI), and then ran the bases to get a run. Actually I almost got out at home, but since I don't know how to slide I ran around the catcher (who wasn't very good) and tagged the bag while the ball rolled past! Go me :-). Got some good outs, too - fielded a ground ball and threw to first. Caught an awesome pop-fly - I think everyone was surprised I caught it, but it hit the sweet spot :-). And I swear I got a person out at 2nd when the short stop threw it to me, but he was called safe. But I felt like a good team player :-). I just need to work on batting and having a faster start off the plate! Anyway, our team pulled together and won by like 5 runs in the end! We were really excited! Literally our team has sucked the whole season - we are 4th of 4 teams... But apparently it took the season to pull us together as a team because we are now in the CHAMPIONSHIP GAME! We'll play next week Wednesday at 5:30 and I'm so excited. :-). I love pulling together as a team and encouraging each other and being positive. Softball is great.
So I get a ride home from my crazy Manhattan friend who likes to share his life story :-). He's really nice. But lo and behold I come to 97th and Columbus (my corner) and see at least 5 fire trucks. And 97th is closed off to traffic. Firefighters everywhere and flashy lights. So I had a bit of warning - when I called Naveen to tell him I was coming home from softball, he told me about what happened. So context: There is a huge construction site literally under my building (well, in front but we look down on it from floor 16). They start promptly at 7am everyday using cranes and the big machines with claws that haul dirt - lucky for us it sounds like a jet plane landed there and they were compacting it like trash - crushing metal and glass into a ball. It's loud :-). The site itself is a bit hole - they are supposedly putting in a Whole Foods, but maybe there will be an underground parking lot because they've dug down by a few stories. So I guess they were doing some dynamite blasting that day... The have huge steel beams holding up the dirt walls of this big hole. Well, apparently Wednesday night, after the crew had gone home, one of the walls basically collapsed, the steel beams fell at an angle into the hole. This might've been ok but this particular wall was semi-under another building in our complex and might be a structural necessity. So they evacuated the building, and those folks couldn't come back until the next day - glad we aren't in that building! I heard they went to a neighborhood school. But there were more firetrucks on the site too (at least 8?) and tenants were up in arms. It was neat to have a view of all of this from our window :-). They stopped the construction work, but not before they took most of Wednesday night and all of Thursday to construct a huge pile of dirt and rocks in the hole created so it would be more structurally sound. Yay noise. Some excitement... :-).
Thursday was a good day - I stayed home in order to get sleep. It's really a shame I work best at night - it doesn't work with anyone else's schedule. But I slept in which was nice :-). Then worked for the afternoon from Starbucks with Naveen. Then we came home and I biked to Central Park's pool! I just found out about their program to open up the pool to adult lap swimmers in the morning and evening - early bird and night owl. Get this - it's 7-8:30am and pm. Doesn't seem particularly early or late to me :-). But the bike ride over there was really nice. And I got a card saying I'm a night owl lap swimmer :-). Central Park's pool is huge - in the winter it's a skating rink. And it's funny - they section off like a slice in the far part of the pool for 2 lanes. Only 2. Although we use the areas on either side of the ropes as lanes too, so there are 4. But it wasn't crowded - maybe 4 people per lane. And the culture was nice and friendly - the guys that sat around the edge of the pool were talking about doing triathlons and a 4 mile swim across Long Island Channel for charity this weekend... I felt on familiar turf :-). I was nervous because I hadn't swam in over a month, but I love the water. It was so beautiful to be swimming in Central Park - well, the bike ride was beautiful too :-)! The laps were long - 55m. So I did 14 laps - over 1/2 mile. I was proud of myself! Did it in 25 minutes - added only a few minutes to my times of a month and a half ago. Or 2 months ago? Wow time flies. Everything felt natural (although I was sore afterwards) and fun. There were gray skies, but after I got in the chilly water, it didn't bother me. Beautiful time to swim. The last lap I looked up at the sky and was just happy to be there. I'm always proud of myself after swimming - well, any exercise. Good feelings :-). Went home and finished up laundry and to bed!
Today was fun - my whole group went out to Indian food for lunch - a buffet and they had dosai! Some of my group members are very cool people to talk to.
Wow, so I just realized everything I was excited about this week was exercise. Must be because I didn't go out to dinner :-) or other events. Yay paper deadline. We are going out to sushi tonight though - yum! And really - wish me luck on the paper. I hope I'm still sane at the end of this, but currently I'd just like to see performance numbers that are good. Happy Weekend!
More on that later. Then Thursday I stayed home in order to sleep in despite the construction crews, then worked from a coffee shop and went swimming at the pool in Central Park that has lap swim from 7-8:30 every weekday night! So much fun after not swimming for awhile... And now it's Friday - yippee!
So first - Tuesday's softball game. 5:30 game - nice humid weather. I totally bruise myself during batting practice - for some reason the end of the bat on my follow through hits the back side of my wrist. And when repeatedly hit, forms a large goose egg :-). But the game... So after the 2nd inning we were down like 8-1. Yippee for us. For some reason we weren't working as a team. Then all of a sudden we worked as a team. We got some great hits, kept getting like 3-4 runs per inning and then shut them down at D(defense). So then all of a sudden it's the bottom of the inning and we're up like 13-10! I was so jazzed - it's more fun when it's competitive and you don't feel bad for the errors that've been happening. I was batting really poorly that day too. So we jsut needed to stop them in that last inning. Unfortunately our star pitcher (he really is good) walked like 3 people in a row. So needless to say they scored - 2 runs. So it was 13-12 and the runner that was to tie the game was on 3rd. But we got some outs in there - pop flies, and 1 at a base. And we won! Go Bytecodes! Love that camaradie feeling :-). Great day :-).
Wednesday - another game. Got some more batting practice which was great. Did some good throwing - also fun. And did warmup sprints - I'm the only one that does them. Even warmer day. I'm hazier on the scores here, but our coach gave us the advice to start out strong and shut them down at D (as opposed to Tuesday). And that really helped because we did :-). We had some great out-field catches. And again - after we learned NOT to hit it to their center outfielder, we were great. We were getting around the bases. I got a nice base hit (which someone told me was an RBI), and then ran the bases to get a run. Actually I almost got out at home, but since I don't know how to slide I ran around the catcher (who wasn't very good) and tagged the bag while the ball rolled past! Go me :-). Got some good outs, too - fielded a ground ball and threw to first. Caught an awesome pop-fly - I think everyone was surprised I caught it, but it hit the sweet spot :-). And I swear I got a person out at 2nd when the short stop threw it to me, but he was called safe. But I felt like a good team player :-). I just need to work on batting and having a faster start off the plate! Anyway, our team pulled together and won by like 5 runs in the end! We were really excited! Literally our team has sucked the whole season - we are 4th of 4 teams... But apparently it took the season to pull us together as a team because we are now in the CHAMPIONSHIP GAME! We'll play next week Wednesday at 5:30 and I'm so excited. :-). I love pulling together as a team and encouraging each other and being positive. Softball is great.
So I get a ride home from my crazy Manhattan friend who likes to share his life story :-). He's really nice. But lo and behold I come to 97th and Columbus (my corner) and see at least 5 fire trucks. And 97th is closed off to traffic. Firefighters everywhere and flashy lights. So I had a bit of warning - when I called Naveen to tell him I was coming home from softball, he told me about what happened. So context: There is a huge construction site literally under my building (well, in front but we look down on it from floor 16). They start promptly at 7am everyday using cranes and the big machines with claws that haul dirt - lucky for us it sounds like a jet plane landed there and they were compacting it like trash - crushing metal and glass into a ball. It's loud :-). The site itself is a bit hole - they are supposedly putting in a Whole Foods, but maybe there will be an underground parking lot because they've dug down by a few stories. So I guess they were doing some dynamite blasting that day... The have huge steel beams holding up the dirt walls of this big hole. Well, apparently Wednesday night, after the crew had gone home, one of the walls basically collapsed, the steel beams fell at an angle into the hole. This might've been ok but this particular wall was semi-under another building in our complex and might be a structural necessity. So they evacuated the building, and those folks couldn't come back until the next day - glad we aren't in that building! I heard they went to a neighborhood school. But there were more firetrucks on the site too (at least 8?) and tenants were up in arms. It was neat to have a view of all of this from our window :-). They stopped the construction work, but not before they took most of Wednesday night and all of Thursday to construct a huge pile of dirt and rocks in the hole created so it would be more structurally sound. Yay noise. Some excitement... :-).
Thursday was a good day - I stayed home in order to get sleep. It's really a shame I work best at night - it doesn't work with anyone else's schedule. But I slept in which was nice :-). Then worked for the afternoon from Starbucks with Naveen. Then we came home and I biked to Central Park's pool! I just found out about their program to open up the pool to adult lap swimmers in the morning and evening - early bird and night owl. Get this - it's 7-8:30am and pm. Doesn't seem particularly early or late to me :-). But the bike ride over there was really nice. And I got a card saying I'm a night owl lap swimmer :-). Central Park's pool is huge - in the winter it's a skating rink. And it's funny - they section off like a slice in the far part of the pool for 2 lanes. Only 2. Although we use the areas on either side of the ropes as lanes too, so there are 4. But it wasn't crowded - maybe 4 people per lane. And the culture was nice and friendly - the guys that sat around the edge of the pool were talking about doing triathlons and a 4 mile swim across Long Island Channel for charity this weekend... I felt on familiar turf :-). I was nervous because I hadn't swam in over a month, but I love the water. It was so beautiful to be swimming in Central Park - well, the bike ride was beautiful too :-)! The laps were long - 55m. So I did 14 laps - over 1/2 mile. I was proud of myself! Did it in 25 minutes - added only a few minutes to my times of a month and a half ago. Or 2 months ago? Wow time flies. Everything felt natural (although I was sore afterwards) and fun. There were gray skies, but after I got in the chilly water, it didn't bother me. Beautiful time to swim. The last lap I looked up at the sky and was just happy to be there. I'm always proud of myself after swimming - well, any exercise. Good feelings :-). Went home and finished up laundry and to bed!
Today was fun - my whole group went out to Indian food for lunch - a buffet and they had dosai! Some of my group members are very cool people to talk to.
Wow, so I just realized everything I was excited about this week was exercise. Must be because I didn't go out to dinner :-) or other events. Yay paper deadline. We are going out to sushi tonight though - yum! And really - wish me luck on the paper. I hope I'm still sane at the end of this, but currently I'd just like to see performance numbers that are good. Happy Weekend!
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
George - my cool doorman
Hey. Been busy lately - sorry about not posting. I'm very tired today and out of it. Reminder to self: don't stay up working until 2am when you have a fixed ride to work with an early morning person. I thought I could just push through the sleepiness, and while I can... my brain is way less functional. Fun :-).
So life is good. New York is awesome. I find again that it's all about people. And really - New Yorkers are friendly - those that see you everyday and sorta know you. Not necessarily strangers, but even people in restaurants are usually pretty nice. Naveen pointed out that New Yorkers really only hate tourists because they are clueless and get in the way of us who know where we are going :-).
So updating from last week - my softball game was rained out last Wednesday evening - bummer. But spent a nice night at home instead - what a concept! We make up the playoff game tonight - hope my brain mush doesn't affect my throwing and catching! At least it'll be easy to stay awake in the beautiful weather (outside is infinitely better than sitting in front of computer screen).
I digress... Thursday I convinced other interns to go out to lunch and we went to a nearby organic farm owned by the Rockafellers. But they grow all vegetables themselves, and have pigs, chickens, ducks, sheep, etc. And they have a farmer's market there some days. We went up through their beautiful grounds and had lunch at their cafe. It was expensive, but boy was it tasty! All the salady concoctions w/ vegies were awesome. Then we all got duck panini sandwiches which were wonderful! Very moist :-). We went back for dessert - they have homemade pastries and desserts too - yum. I got an oatmeal cookie - I have to say that I'm sorry Dad for all the times I made fun of you for eating those. I really feeling like I'm coming into my adulthood because now I love coffee and all the other things I hated as a kid - namely granola/oats/bran. They are really tasty to me now! Yum. I got some scones for Naveen and I for the next morning for breakfast and they were also really tasty - 1 currants and ginger, the other bacon, chives, and cheddar. Of course I liked the sweet and Naveen liked the savory the best. (Yes, I hear Grandpa Sartor saying "Sweets to the sweet and nuts to the Nutty!") And this place also had their own yogurt drinks with 8 cultures! We all decided we have to go back there and often :-).
Thursday night I joined a bunch of interns to go to the Harry Potter 5 movie! Yippee! Watching the movie got me so hyped up about Harry Potter again. So much fun. And I loved Luna. We were all buzzing after the movie - so exciting. What made our movie even cooler was that we went to an IMAX showing and got 3D glasses, so the climax at the end for around 20-30 minutes was in 3D! That was so cool - especially when they were flying. Really felt real! That night I was struck with how lucky I am to have the friends I do here. I have really been bonding with 2 people in particular - Shan Shan my carpool driver, and Emina my labmate. They are awesome, and everyday I have new conversations with them and bond over something new (and we've been opening up to each other more). I feel like we relate to each other even though each of us have different backgrounds. I love it. I was so full of love that night when I got home for how cool friends are in general. How they really make life wonderful. How it's just fun to bond with people. So really - if I don't go to every museum in NYC, I'll be ok. I think what I would rather take home are the experiences with these 2 awesome girls. :-). So my weekend was basically: Saturday - hang out with Emina; Sunday - hang out with Shan Shan. Of course Naveen came to all events.
But before the weekend we have Friday! Was very grateful to get to Friday. I came home early, but Naveen and I ended up working until like 10:30pm. Ooops. It's addictive (at times). So we headed out on the town then and subway-ed down to Greenwich Village to explore. Naveen really liked the grittiness of it. The punkness down there. And believe me you see very different kinds of people there. And couples - combining any 2 random, very different people :-). But it was really fun. We wandered down 4th and finally decided on a Spanish restaurant for food. We literally sat on the sidewalk and it was fun to people watch. We had some tasty paella and fish and sangria. Boy is alcohol expensive here! Crazy... Anyway - then we went to "The Slaughtered Lamb" pub for a beer afterwards. Definitely traditional pub with dark wood and funky atmosphere - fun! I really recommend Youngs Double Chocolate (made with real dark chocolate) if you can get your hands on it - it's a beer and it's tasty. :-). Nice night - we cabbed it home.
Saturday we slept in and worked. But this was the day of days for work - we finally fixed our bug that was holding up my research project. Well, ok - my partner fixed it! I was soooo excited - you have no idea what a relief this was to me. So now I'm fully in paper mode and scared... August 7 baby. But anyway... finally got dressed and went to meet friends for Ethiopian food. Yes, Mom - I was scouting out for when you visit :-). Funnily enough the place was on "Curry Row" street in the East Village - basically full of Indian restaurants. But we met Emina and her now fiance Alad (they got engaged a couple weeks ago the same day we hung out with them!). Awesome food, awesome company, random conversation - my favorite. Emina's friend Rishie joined us and we went to a she-she bar where everyone dressed in the latest NY fashions. And I have to say they are very weird! Poofy hair, short dresses. We definitely didn't fit in :-). Emina said she doesn't even get the appeal of these bars that are loud and basically for the popular people to be seen at and spend oodles of money in. Very trendy. Naveen and I had more fun when we left (although their cocktails were good) and got dessert at a 24-hour diner-type place. Yum cinnamon twist and red velvet cake. Then - the long way home. It just seemed long because we walked a lot and I had heels on :-).
Sunday - up early, but for a good cause: Dim Sum in Chinatown with Shan Shan! Oh yeah! Seriously - why didn't I discover Dim Sum before? Tell me this? It was so awesome going with a Chinese person. She did everythign for us :-). And everything was wonderful. Chinatown itself is very funny - there are stalls everywhere trying to sell you handbags and watches and fruit (but they don't really press the fruit on you). We bought some dragonfruit to try! But Dim Sum was awesome - tons of little dumplings and things - all tasty. Naveen and Shan Shan liked the chicken feet, but there's not the best to me. Of course we got the buns with the sweet pork in them too, and the sesame balls. We ate to our contentment and we were full! And at the end, it was only $10 per person - woohoo! We are so going back. We meandered along streets on the way back - through Little Italy (which Chinatown is really encroaching on). Unfortunately the gelato really doesn't seem authentic. We found a Paul Frank store - the guy with the monkey apparel - and I bought a funky "Lollipop Dragon" shirt. My first NYC clothing - yippee! Very cute. Then we headed home. We've had very nice weather let me add. So the rest of Sunday was basic - went grocery shopping (which is very frustrating when people come to the counter with n items and see the total is above what they want to pay, and then make them take back like 3 of the items). Then we went to Starbucks and work for a few hours again. Being productive :-). With coffee :-D. I decided I was done for the evening because I really wanted to go to this movie in the park thing. Naveen decided to work, so I went by myself to Riverside Park. I saw the 1938 movie "Bringing Up Baby" with Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant. I love old movies! We sat on a grassy hill - actually laid - which was perfect. I swear everyone but me brought their dog. But it wasn't that crowded. The movie was so cute - I laughed out loud at the jokes about people and clumsiness :-). And of course it was sorta a romantic comedy so it was liked by me. Very cute story - I recommend it. I wonder why movies aren't still like that? Maybe I just liked it so much because I related to Katharine Hepburn's character - getting into trouble/clumsiness at every turn :-). I was so happy to have gone. I came back and chatted with George my awesome doorman about movie night. He recommended I go to Bryant Park for movies, too, which is awesome because it also shows old movies. He said he saw "Look Who's Coming to Dinner" there with Sidney Poirtier which is an awesome movie. Lo and behold Casablanca is playing the week after our deadline - I hope we can go! Yay :-). I just am happy because people are friendly and I really look forward to seeing George every time I leave and come home. And all the security dudes wave to me too :-). Nice people. Needless to say I feel a bit more welcome here now. Although really there's no way to know ALL of this city. Just gotta know your part. I enjoy seeing the guys that give me my paper every morning on the way down the subway steps. One calls me "Beautiful" :-). It's the little things...
Ok so I have to go play softball. I'm in paper mode now so don't know how much I'll blog, but I'll try... But know that everything is well :-). Here's wishing wellness on you too.
So life is good. New York is awesome. I find again that it's all about people. And really - New Yorkers are friendly - those that see you everyday and sorta know you. Not necessarily strangers, but even people in restaurants are usually pretty nice. Naveen pointed out that New Yorkers really only hate tourists because they are clueless and get in the way of us who know where we are going :-).
So updating from last week - my softball game was rained out last Wednesday evening - bummer. But spent a nice night at home instead - what a concept! We make up the playoff game tonight - hope my brain mush doesn't affect my throwing and catching! At least it'll be easy to stay awake in the beautiful weather (outside is infinitely better than sitting in front of computer screen).
I digress... Thursday I convinced other interns to go out to lunch and we went to a nearby organic farm owned by the Rockafellers. But they grow all vegetables themselves, and have pigs, chickens, ducks, sheep, etc. And they have a farmer's market there some days. We went up through their beautiful grounds and had lunch at their cafe. It was expensive, but boy was it tasty! All the salady concoctions w/ vegies were awesome. Then we all got duck panini sandwiches which were wonderful! Very moist :-). We went back for dessert - they have homemade pastries and desserts too - yum. I got an oatmeal cookie - I have to say that I'm sorry Dad for all the times I made fun of you for eating those. I really feeling like I'm coming into my adulthood because now I love coffee and all the other things I hated as a kid - namely granola/oats/bran. They are really tasty to me now! Yum. I got some scones for Naveen and I for the next morning for breakfast and they were also really tasty - 1 currants and ginger, the other bacon, chives, and cheddar. Of course I liked the sweet and Naveen liked the savory the best. (Yes, I hear Grandpa Sartor saying "Sweets to the sweet and nuts to the Nutty!") And this place also had their own yogurt drinks with 8 cultures! We all decided we have to go back there and often :-).
Thursday night I joined a bunch of interns to go to the Harry Potter 5 movie! Yippee! Watching the movie got me so hyped up about Harry Potter again. So much fun. And I loved Luna. We were all buzzing after the movie - so exciting. What made our movie even cooler was that we went to an IMAX showing and got 3D glasses, so the climax at the end for around 20-30 minutes was in 3D! That was so cool - especially when they were flying. Really felt real! That night I was struck with how lucky I am to have the friends I do here. I have really been bonding with 2 people in particular - Shan Shan my carpool driver, and Emina my labmate. They are awesome, and everyday I have new conversations with them and bond over something new (and we've been opening up to each other more). I feel like we relate to each other even though each of us have different backgrounds. I love it. I was so full of love that night when I got home for how cool friends are in general. How they really make life wonderful. How it's just fun to bond with people. So really - if I don't go to every museum in NYC, I'll be ok. I think what I would rather take home are the experiences with these 2 awesome girls. :-). So my weekend was basically: Saturday - hang out with Emina; Sunday - hang out with Shan Shan. Of course Naveen came to all events.
But before the weekend we have Friday! Was very grateful to get to Friday. I came home early, but Naveen and I ended up working until like 10:30pm. Ooops. It's addictive (at times). So we headed out on the town then and subway-ed down to Greenwich Village to explore. Naveen really liked the grittiness of it. The punkness down there. And believe me you see very different kinds of people there. And couples - combining any 2 random, very different people :-). But it was really fun. We wandered down 4th and finally decided on a Spanish restaurant for food. We literally sat on the sidewalk and it was fun to people watch. We had some tasty paella and fish and sangria. Boy is alcohol expensive here! Crazy... Anyway - then we went to "The Slaughtered Lamb" pub for a beer afterwards. Definitely traditional pub with dark wood and funky atmosphere - fun! I really recommend Youngs Double Chocolate (made with real dark chocolate) if you can get your hands on it - it's a beer and it's tasty. :-). Nice night - we cabbed it home.
Saturday we slept in and worked. But this was the day of days for work - we finally fixed our bug that was holding up my research project. Well, ok - my partner fixed it! I was soooo excited - you have no idea what a relief this was to me. So now I'm fully in paper mode and scared... August 7 baby. But anyway... finally got dressed and went to meet friends for Ethiopian food. Yes, Mom - I was scouting out for when you visit :-). Funnily enough the place was on "Curry Row" street in the East Village - basically full of Indian restaurants. But we met Emina and her now fiance Alad (they got engaged a couple weeks ago the same day we hung out with them!). Awesome food, awesome company, random conversation - my favorite. Emina's friend Rishie joined us and we went to a she-she bar where everyone dressed in the latest NY fashions. And I have to say they are very weird! Poofy hair, short dresses. We definitely didn't fit in :-). Emina said she doesn't even get the appeal of these bars that are loud and basically for the popular people to be seen at and spend oodles of money in. Very trendy. Naveen and I had more fun when we left (although their cocktails were good) and got dessert at a 24-hour diner-type place. Yum cinnamon twist and red velvet cake. Then - the long way home. It just seemed long because we walked a lot and I had heels on :-).
Sunday - up early, but for a good cause: Dim Sum in Chinatown with Shan Shan! Oh yeah! Seriously - why didn't I discover Dim Sum before? Tell me this? It was so awesome going with a Chinese person. She did everythign for us :-). And everything was wonderful. Chinatown itself is very funny - there are stalls everywhere trying to sell you handbags and watches and fruit (but they don't really press the fruit on you). We bought some dragonfruit to try! But Dim Sum was awesome - tons of little dumplings and things - all tasty. Naveen and Shan Shan liked the chicken feet, but there's not the best to me. Of course we got the buns with the sweet pork in them too, and the sesame balls. We ate to our contentment and we were full! And at the end, it was only $10 per person - woohoo! We are so going back. We meandered along streets on the way back - through Little Italy (which Chinatown is really encroaching on). Unfortunately the gelato really doesn't seem authentic. We found a Paul Frank store - the guy with the monkey apparel - and I bought a funky "Lollipop Dragon" shirt. My first NYC clothing - yippee! Very cute. Then we headed home. We've had very nice weather let me add. So the rest of Sunday was basic - went grocery shopping (which is very frustrating when people come to the counter with n items and see the total is above what they want to pay, and then make them take back like 3 of the items). Then we went to Starbucks and work for a few hours again. Being productive :-). With coffee :-D. I decided I was done for the evening because I really wanted to go to this movie in the park thing. Naveen decided to work, so I went by myself to Riverside Park. I saw the 1938 movie "Bringing Up Baby" with Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant. I love old movies! We sat on a grassy hill - actually laid - which was perfect. I swear everyone but me brought their dog. But it wasn't that crowded. The movie was so cute - I laughed out loud at the jokes about people and clumsiness :-). And of course it was sorta a romantic comedy so it was liked by me. Very cute story - I recommend it. I wonder why movies aren't still like that? Maybe I just liked it so much because I related to Katharine Hepburn's character - getting into trouble/clumsiness at every turn :-). I was so happy to have gone. I came back and chatted with George my awesome doorman about movie night. He recommended I go to Bryant Park for movies, too, which is awesome because it also shows old movies. He said he saw "Look Who's Coming to Dinner" there with Sidney Poirtier which is an awesome movie. Lo and behold Casablanca is playing the week after our deadline - I hope we can go! Yay :-). I just am happy because people are friendly and I really look forward to seeing George every time I leave and come home. And all the security dudes wave to me too :-). Nice people. Needless to say I feel a bit more welcome here now. Although really there's no way to know ALL of this city. Just gotta know your part. I enjoy seeing the guys that give me my paper every morning on the way down the subway steps. One calls me "Beautiful" :-). It's the little things...
Ok so I have to go play softball. I'm in paper mode now so don't know how much I'll blog, but I'll try... But know that everything is well :-). Here's wishing wellness on you too.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Cool subway experience
So I got on the semi-crowded subway this morning, the free "AM New York" paper in my hand. Many people were standing and holding poles - no seats today. But then a man nearby moved his bag that was taking up a seat to let me sit down - very nice. He looked like a subway (MTA) official. I sat down next to him and paid him no attention and read my paper. BTW, read about the blast in Midtown yesterday which scared a lot of people apparently - it was just a steam pipe explosion though... After a few stops, the guy turned and asked "Do you speak Spanish?". Mind you he was a black man and he spoke with no accent - it didn't seem like he actually spoke Spanish himself. So I was puzzled as to why he was asking me. I said "a little", and looked at him quizzically. He said "Where are you from?". I said "The West". He apparently thought I was from South America with my curly hair, and today I happened to be wearing a green skirt with lots of brown swirls and dots and weird patterns. So I don't know if the skirt contributed, but I was flattered :-). I said that no, I was from Arizona., but it was cool he thought I was South American. Then I got off on the next stop :-). But wow - add that to my Kung Fu buddy asking me if I was part black, and I get mistaken for everything but what I really am - German! Fun times. Maybe that means I will be accepted in any part of the world - here's hoping!
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Erica's Visit: success
Well, of course I've been busy lately with my visitor Erica. We have had a great time these last 4 days!
She flew in Friday evening - actually arrived late, but that worked out with me. We walked down Amsterdam looking for a place to eat, and finally decided on a yummy Thai place. We really liked the drunken noodles dish, and I enjoyed my HOT squid and vegies dish. The place was called "Land" which seemed sort of modern/trendy but the food was great! I swear the restaurant was only 8 feet wide, but it was deep too. Very fun.
I got to sleep in on Saturday which I thoroughly enjoyed. Naveen went and helped a friend in the building move (from 1 floor to another). She was very appreciative! Then we set off for our Statue of Liberty adventure. The subway that went to Battery Park of course wasn't going this weekend, so we got off at Wall Street and got to walk through that which was fun. Finally I saw lower Manhattan - and I think I like Midtown the best. But anyway - the Statue was all about standing in line. We stood in line for like an hour to get on the ferry (and yay - security). But we got to see funny people dressed as the statue for tourists to take pictures with. Also saw a Spiderman! And a bunch of booths - soft pretzel and art stuff - along the way. Then we took the ferry over, and stood in line to both use the restroom and get food on Liberty Island.
Not particularly worth it. But it was really fun to walk around the Statue and take pictures. Then my favorite part - going up the base of the statue! They limit the number of people inside, so it was actually lacking all lines, and it actually felt very empty which was awesome. We heard a neat tour about some of the symbolism of the statue that made me very proud. We saw the original torch. We heard that the statue's face is modeled after the sculptor's Mom, but the body after his wife :-). Hehe. It was originally copper, but of course it oxidized because it was outside. The frame inside the statue was converted to steel. The symbolism was awesome - the shackles at her feet representing freedom; the toga she wears in the style of old Rome which represents democracy; the "book" she holds that has our Independence date on it is in the shape of a keystone - holding up the foundation of our country; the seven-spired crown representing the 7 continents; and of course the torch of light. The statue is actually facing outward not to welcome people, but to spread liberty and democracy to the rest of the world. Fascinating stuff! We walked up the 156 stairs to get to the top of the base... We had beautiful views of the water and city from the base of the statue and it was fun to see up into the statue itself. Maybe one day it'll be open to people again and I'll drag Naveen back to brave the tiny winding staircase! So that was our statue experience. Then of course we got in line for another 45 minutes to catch a ferry back. Unfortunately we missed the last ferry to Ellis Island. Naveen and I are thinking of going back because I hear the museum there is really cool to see, and to do it justice you need another 3 hours anyway.
So we got back to the mainland, and wandered a bit. We walked up to the World Trade Center sight which now is just a big whole in the ground because they had to take up the foundation because they were worried about the pressure down there and water and it affecting other buildings around. I definitely felt a powerful sense of solidarity of Americans when I was down there, even though there wasn't a clear place to see it from. There were plaques up with people's names who died, and commemorate sculptures and a small museum and stuff. It was really amazing to just see. To be there and feel the community there. Interesting. Then we walked more through lower Manhattan to get to Little Italy for dinner. But we walked past City Hall and a bunch of the court houses which Erica and Naveen were really excited about because they were pretty sure they were the sight of Law and Order :-). We finally made it up to Little Italy on Mulberry street and there was a small festival or something because the street was closed to traffic and there were a bunch of people all over. Very fun! We picked a neat Italian restaurant and ate very well. I got my veal and eggplant dish again - Veal Sorrentina. :-). And we got gelato afterwards, but we decided it wasn't authentic (more like ice cream). But mine was cannoli flavored! So after being gone almost 12 hours, we took the subway back home! Long day with lots of being on our feet :-). We were testing Erica for sure!
Sunday was a lot lower key :-). Naveen and I went for a run in the park - around the big hilly road again. Didn't quite make 4 miles, but close. It was hot. Went back and got ready for Sunday brunch! We went to Le Pain Quotidien - "Daily Bread" in french. Even though there are more than 1 of this store, everyone RAVES about it. I think they started in Europe because the list store locations in Belgium and the UK too besides Manhattan. But their bread is AWESOME! I really like rye bread it turns out :-). So we got a bread basket and some awesome jams to put on it - apricot, red fruits, and an interesting praline butter spread. Yum. Then Naveen and I shared a quiche and some prosciutto. All very tasty. I got a crumble with raspberries and strawberries to go and had it the next morning for breakfast and it was FABULOUS! Yum. Wow - I want to go back to this place. They do wonderful pastries, breads, coffee - everything. I haven't even tried their tartines (sandwiches), but I want to. They had a great pesto drizzle on the side salad that I'd love to try on a sandwich! So, being highly satisfied with food, we went home and napped. Then headed to Riverside park in the late afternoon to see a dance show, but unfortunately got a bit waylaid when we couldn't get into the park where we thought because of construction, and arrived too late to see dancing. But we did make it to the pier to see a later concert - a rock opera singer/quartet that "defies category". I wasn't so sure about the defies category until she did a bit of falsetto, but it was definitely interesting. Very nice night just sitting next to the water and chilling. Good conversation. Unfortunately right when we left it started raining huge water drops! We cabbed home :-).
So Monday I went to work. I told Erica I actually go to work to relax :-). It was a nice day at work. I guess Erica had a fun day seeing Rockefeller Center and the Empire State Building and Time Square and reading in Central Park :-). After I got home we did the wandering thing for dinner again which does seem to take a long time. But we settled on a Spanish tapas place. The tapas were awesome - artichoke hearts, 3 types of mushrooms marinated, roasted red peppers, shrimp, scallops, and yummy meatballs. All very nice sauces too. But in my opinion they were sorta expensive for the quantity you got, as was the Sangria! But a fun time for sure...
Tuesday was also a great day. I worked from home which was a treat. I slept in (necessary for me). Then I actually took my bike out for the first time and rode around in Central Park - 10 miles! It was beautiful and a lot quicker than walking :-). A fun ride, despite constant hills. A good workout. I love just looking around as I go through the park. No lack of greenery and peace and things to see. Makes me happy. So I joined Naveen in a coffee shop to work for the afternoon. Starbucks is where it's at here, which I actually quite enjoyed - good coffee - not like IBM! And I had a tasty piece of marble bread in the afternoon. We went home and joined Erica after her day of seeing the Metropolitan Museum of Art which she seemed to enjoy. We all agreed that it's just too big! We were all excited to have pizza at my favorite neighborhood place, and of course tasty garlic knots. These are serious, too - drive away people and vampires within an 8 foot radius :-). We especially enjoyed the "special" slice of pizza too with thinly sliced sausage, pepperoni, mushrooms, peppers, and onions. Then we made our way to the Great Lawn of Central Park for an awesome outdoor free NY Philharmonic concert! This is a real treat - they are one of the oldest orchestras in the world, and the oldest in the US. Quality music! And some of the pieces had a solo soprano singing too which was awesome. I loved how the classical pieces really came to life, and we could just sit on the lawn and relax listening to them. Since 1/4 of Manhattan showed up to this neat event, it was a bit crazy and crowded, but we made it through the reams of picnics to a spot to sit. The view of the park around us and city buildings further off as it grew dark was really magical to me. Very NY communal thing to do :-). And it was fun to see fireworks explode above after the concert. Some really pretty ones! I think actually the finale might be my least favorite because you can't make out the distinct fireworks - it's just 100 going off at once in chaos. But it was a beautiful night again, and we walked home after a great event.
And Erica flies out today! I hope we didn't tire her out too much - all the city walking! But we had a great time and I think experienced a lot of fun Manhattan-y things. Yay for a successful visitor trip :-). And fyi - she said our futon couch bed is very comfortable.
Tonight is supposed to be a playoff softball game for me, but I woke up to torrential rain, so we'll see. Even part of the highway was flooded on the way to work! And tomorrow night I go with other interns to see the Harry Potter movie - woohoo! Always more adventures and fun :-).
She flew in Friday evening - actually arrived late, but that worked out with me. We walked down Amsterdam looking for a place to eat, and finally decided on a yummy Thai place. We really liked the drunken noodles dish, and I enjoyed my HOT squid and vegies dish. The place was called "Land" which seemed sort of modern/trendy but the food was great! I swear the restaurant was only 8 feet wide, but it was deep too. Very fun.
I got to sleep in on Saturday which I thoroughly enjoyed. Naveen went and helped a friend in the building move (from 1 floor to another). She was very appreciative! Then we set off for our Statue of Liberty adventure. The subway that went to Battery Park of course wasn't going this weekend, so we got off at Wall Street and got to walk through that which was fun. Finally I saw lower Manhattan - and I think I like Midtown the best. But anyway - the Statue was all about standing in line. We stood in line for like an hour to get on the ferry (and yay - security). But we got to see funny people dressed as the statue for tourists to take pictures with. Also saw a Spiderman! And a bunch of booths - soft pretzel and art stuff - along the way. Then we took the ferry over, and stood in line to both use the restroom and get food on Liberty Island.
Not particularly worth it. But it was really fun to walk around the Statue and take pictures. Then my favorite part - going up the base of the statue! They limit the number of people inside, so it was actually lacking all lines, and it actually felt very empty which was awesome. We heard a neat tour about some of the symbolism of the statue that made me very proud. We saw the original torch. We heard that the statue's face is modeled after the sculptor's Mom, but the body after his wife :-). Hehe. It was originally copper, but of course it oxidized because it was outside. The frame inside the statue was converted to steel. The symbolism was awesome - the shackles at her feet representing freedom; the toga she wears in the style of old Rome which represents democracy; the "book" she holds that has our Independence date on it is in the shape of a keystone - holding up the foundation of our country; the seven-spired crown representing the 7 continents; and of course the torch of light. The statue is actually facing outward not to welcome people, but to spread liberty and democracy to the rest of the world. Fascinating stuff! We walked up the 156 stairs to get to the top of the base... We had beautiful views of the water and city from the base of the statue and it was fun to see up into the statue itself. Maybe one day it'll be open to people again and I'll drag Naveen back to brave the tiny winding staircase! So that was our statue experience. Then of course we got in line for another 45 minutes to catch a ferry back. Unfortunately we missed the last ferry to Ellis Island. Naveen and I are thinking of going back because I hear the museum there is really cool to see, and to do it justice you need another 3 hours anyway.
So we got back to the mainland, and wandered a bit. We walked up to the World Trade Center sight which now is just a big whole in the ground because they had to take up the foundation because they were worried about the pressure down there and water and it affecting other buildings around. I definitely felt a powerful sense of solidarity of Americans when I was down there, even though there wasn't a clear place to see it from. There were plaques up with people's names who died, and commemorate sculptures and a small museum and stuff. It was really amazing to just see. To be there and feel the community there. Interesting. Then we walked more through lower Manhattan to get to Little Italy for dinner. But we walked past City Hall and a bunch of the court houses which Erica and Naveen were really excited about because they were pretty sure they were the sight of Law and Order :-). We finally made it up to Little Italy on Mulberry street and there was a small festival or something because the street was closed to traffic and there were a bunch of people all over. Very fun! We picked a neat Italian restaurant and ate very well. I got my veal and eggplant dish again - Veal Sorrentina. :-). And we got gelato afterwards, but we decided it wasn't authentic (more like ice cream). But mine was cannoli flavored! So after being gone almost 12 hours, we took the subway back home! Long day with lots of being on our feet :-). We were testing Erica for sure!
Sunday was a lot lower key :-). Naveen and I went for a run in the park - around the big hilly road again. Didn't quite make 4 miles, but close. It was hot. Went back and got ready for Sunday brunch! We went to Le Pain Quotidien - "Daily Bread" in french. Even though there are more than 1 of this store, everyone RAVES about it. I think they started in Europe because the list store locations in Belgium and the UK too besides Manhattan. But their bread is AWESOME! I really like rye bread it turns out :-). So we got a bread basket and some awesome jams to put on it - apricot, red fruits, and an interesting praline butter spread. Yum. Then Naveen and I shared a quiche and some prosciutto. All very tasty. I got a crumble with raspberries and strawberries to go and had it the next morning for breakfast and it was FABULOUS! Yum. Wow - I want to go back to this place. They do wonderful pastries, breads, coffee - everything. I haven't even tried their tartines (sandwiches), but I want to. They had a great pesto drizzle on the side salad that I'd love to try on a sandwich! So, being highly satisfied with food, we went home and napped. Then headed to Riverside park in the late afternoon to see a dance show, but unfortunately got a bit waylaid when we couldn't get into the park where we thought because of construction, and arrived too late to see dancing. But we did make it to the pier to see a later concert - a rock opera singer/quartet that "defies category". I wasn't so sure about the defies category until she did a bit of falsetto, but it was definitely interesting. Very nice night just sitting next to the water and chilling. Good conversation. Unfortunately right when we left it started raining huge water drops! We cabbed home :-).
So Monday I went to work. I told Erica I actually go to work to relax :-). It was a nice day at work. I guess Erica had a fun day seeing Rockefeller Center and the Empire State Building and Time Square and reading in Central Park :-). After I got home we did the wandering thing for dinner again which does seem to take a long time. But we settled on a Spanish tapas place. The tapas were awesome - artichoke hearts, 3 types of mushrooms marinated, roasted red peppers, shrimp, scallops, and yummy meatballs. All very nice sauces too. But in my opinion they were sorta expensive for the quantity you got, as was the Sangria! But a fun time for sure...
Tuesday was also a great day. I worked from home which was a treat. I slept in (necessary for me). Then I actually took my bike out for the first time and rode around in Central Park - 10 miles! It was beautiful and a lot quicker than walking :-). A fun ride, despite constant hills. A good workout. I love just looking around as I go through the park. No lack of greenery and peace and things to see. Makes me happy. So I joined Naveen in a coffee shop to work for the afternoon. Starbucks is where it's at here, which I actually quite enjoyed - good coffee - not like IBM! And I had a tasty piece of marble bread in the afternoon. We went home and joined Erica after her day of seeing the Metropolitan Museum of Art which she seemed to enjoy. We all agreed that it's just too big! We were all excited to have pizza at my favorite neighborhood place, and of course tasty garlic knots. These are serious, too - drive away people and vampires within an 8 foot radius :-). We especially enjoyed the "special" slice of pizza too with thinly sliced sausage, pepperoni, mushrooms, peppers, and onions. Then we made our way to the Great Lawn of Central Park for an awesome outdoor free NY Philharmonic concert! This is a real treat - they are one of the oldest orchestras in the world, and the oldest in the US. Quality music! And some of the pieces had a solo soprano singing too which was awesome. I loved how the classical pieces really came to life, and we could just sit on the lawn and relax listening to them. Since 1/4 of Manhattan showed up to this neat event, it was a bit crazy and crowded, but we made it through the reams of picnics to a spot to sit. The view of the park around us and city buildings further off as it grew dark was really magical to me. Very NY communal thing to do :-). And it was fun to see fireworks explode above after the concert. Some really pretty ones! I think actually the finale might be my least favorite because you can't make out the distinct fireworks - it's just 100 going off at once in chaos. But it was a beautiful night again, and we walked home after a great event.
And Erica flies out today! I hope we didn't tire her out too much - all the city walking! But we had a great time and I think experienced a lot of fun Manhattan-y things. Yay for a successful visitor trip :-). And fyi - she said our futon couch bed is very comfortable.
Tonight is supposed to be a playoff softball game for me, but I woke up to torrential rain, so we'll see. Even part of the highway was flooded on the way to work! And tomorrow night I go with other interns to see the Harry Potter movie - woohoo! Always more adventures and fun :-).
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