Prepwork (Who doesnt like getting new toys?)

Yesterday Amber and I went absolutely crazy with shopping for nesssities for our trip to Thailand. I am very happy to say that I bought all sorts of new toys. I bought some new shirts (you, know the ones with the bamboo material), some new sandels (not Chaco! I'm trying something new called Rafters), a new headlamp (Petzl Tikka Series -I totally needed one of those!) and the holy grail of boardies (aka board shorts) complete with lazer sealed seams. This Monday night will be our prepack event to see if we need to get anything else though we are planning on packing light as a lot of the other nessesary items will be much less inexpensive there. More in a bit!

It's been a long time

OKAY! It has actually been a long, LONG while since I wrote in my beloved blog.
In the time between now and my last entry I have began to live life here in Sydney. I’ve been so busy in fact that I have not had the time to do any chronicling of my journeys. Admittedly it has not really been anything worth chronicling because as we all know it’s exciting to move to a different country and even more exciting to start making money. However after a while there are those things called “real life” and “settling in”. It happens to everyone –yes, that includes you Mike you cheap bastard! (Are you done renovating yet?????????)
As you have already guessed the biggest bit of news is that I have a killer position with Pfizer Australia as a Demand Analyst. They even like the work that I am doing. I can tell this because my boss decided that he would go away on vacation even though I have only been on the job for about three weeks now. In other news, what I hope to be my only school applications, are now submitted which means that now all I have to do is wait for a reply back from the schools. The schools that I have submitted to are Thunderbird (My #1!) and Olin. If all goes well I should be in early stages of male pattern baldness from the stress of my exams. I’ll let you all know when I hear back.

I am happy to say that, for what I think is the first time ever, all of my Christmas parcels have been sent out. They should love what they get. I tried to get as creative as I could this year as I am in Australia. With this task done my lovely lady and I have now shifted our attention to getting ready for our trip to Thailand (yes, despite all of the recent events!) We will be visiting Phucket, Koh Sumai, and Bangkok. It will be a great Christmas on the beach though admittedly I am missing the snow big time. It's kind of a weird feeling actually. I look out the window and it's raining. Did you know that two inches of rain equals about 20-inches in snow? Yeah, the rain is a total misuse of perfectly good precipitation. It's totally raining on the plans of skiers everywhere.

While on our vacation Amber and I are planning (in no particular order) to: ride an elephant, sit on the beach, go snorkeling, take a Thai cooking class, go shopping, and go on several hikes. I'll be sure to post plenty of pics after the fact.
Anyway, I really must be running now. Talk to you all later. I need to have a discussion with a certain camera shop sales man. That’s a story for a little bit later on.

MoeVision

Here is the progression of my Moe!


This was in the early stages when my moe began to poking through. If you squint you can almost see it.

This one is a little bit further along in development. It's getting nicer.

At this stage it was really freakin' uncomfortable. It began to iritate my lips.

This is just before I was about to cut it off. I was so happy!

Solid

We were sitting down enjoying our morning coffee and we started talking about CDs that have withstood the test of time. Here's our list in no particular order (more will be added!):

1. Alanis Morissette - Jagged Little Pill
2. Collective Soul -Collective Soul
3. Nine Inch Nails - Pretty Hate Machine
4. Buckcherry - Buckcherry
5. Bon Jovi - Slippery When Wet
6. Michael Jackson - Bad
7. INXS - Kick
8. George Michael - Faith

Billy Elliot

Last night Amber and I went to see the musical Billy Elliott: The Musical co-written by Sir Elton John at the Capital Theatre here in Sydney. It is a story about a boy who is taking boxing lessons because it is what boys are supposed to do. in reality though, he has absolutely no wish to participate in the sport. At the end of one class his teacher has to get going so he leaves the keys with Billy Elliot to give to the teacher of the next class. Billy obliges but only after realizing that he doesn't know who the teacher is let alone what she looks like. The next class turns out to be a ballet class. He "accidentally" ends up participating in the class and it is revealed that the little boy has a natural talent. You might say that, for a straight kid, he has 'perfect' technique if you know what I mean. (Wink, wink). To get the rest of the story you'll have to go see the show.

Over all it was a great story done in two acts. The first act was a more coherent story and the second act was decidedly more Tommy-ish in style with a whole plethora of well done dance numbers. The show is well worth seeing.

Before the show even began Amber and I learned a little something about child labor laws in Australia. It turns out that there were about 4-5 different children playing the character of Billy Elliott. Apparently labor laws here allow children to only preform about one show per week.

Mr. Muggles

I'm going to create a mental picture for you and then I'll explain where the heck the thought came from.


Picture being the family pet. Let's say you are a dog and your name is 'Mr. Muggles'.

Your owner, we'll call him Fred, is talking to you. He's saying, 'What a good little dog. Oh, do you know how good you are Mr. Muggles? Oh, who's the good doggie? Do you want a treat? Huh, do you? Treat?" as he mashes your head.

Your tail is wagging and all you hear is, "Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah, Mr. Muggles, Blah, Blah treat, Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah, Treat?"

The point:
I was in cycling class last night and the teacher at the front of the class room was giving instruction. I could not understand one word of what she was saying. I understood, "Begin, Faster, slower, and thanks for coming in." If I were Mr. Muggles I would be wagging my tail thinking 'treat'?

The lesson:
Here in Australia I still have to realize that I am in a foreign country and that, even here, language barriers do exist. Cheers!

My First English Breckie

Today I had the first English Breckie of my time here in Australia. It was the usual pouched egg, ham, fried tomato, and toast with a log black (aka cup of coffee). I have to say that it was delicious.

Eagle-Eye Needs Glasses...

Two days ago Amber and I decided to explore one of the movie theaters here in town. Our quest led us to a movie theater located in Chinatown down by the Hay Market. The of movie choice was ‘Eagle Eye’. It started off okay but then the first big bang ‘em up chase scene happened. At the end of this particular the scene FBI agents played by Rosario Dawson and Billy Bob Thornton (?) stepped out of the totaled car seemingly concerned only with what time it was. By the end of the movie, Billy Bob was subdued by a US Army Predator and Rosario survived a fall unscathed after falling into a lake of liquid nitrogen. She had to help the airman who had fallen with her because he had broken his leg.

Stuck in L.A.

We're not really stuck in L.A. -it just sounded like a cool title. Right now we are actually just on a layove. The anouncer says that it will be another 20 minutes while they refresh the plane. I have to say one thing before I go: BUSINESS CLASS RULES!

The Journey Down Under

After about a week of some severe stressing, Amber and I finally had our apartment closed out and our car arrived to take us to the airport for our flight to Australia. We got to the airport with our mountain of bags only to find out that our flight had been canceled as the plane never arrived. Luckily the airline put us up in a hotel. So here I am in the JFK Courtyard Marriott waiting for tomorrow to arrive.

Pretty much the entire plane ended up here -what a a debacle. The airline if footing the bill for the hotel along with meals. The room is nice but the food....I had a chicken burger and Amber had teriyaki salmon. Mine was barely edible and Amber's was barely that. Before actually getting the food we sat for a very long 45-minutes before we even saw our food. I got my burger and then by the time I finished mine Amber's came out. The couple sitting next to us finished eating the main course and then they ordered thei rdesert:

Woman: Excuse me, we would like to order our desert.
Waiter: Your cake will be right out...
Woman: Wait...what kind of cake are we getting?
Waiter: Oh...chocolate and cheese cake...
Woman: Can we order what what we want?
Waiter: ...oh...yes, of course...what would you like?
Woman: Two pieces of cheese cake please....

Long story short: ridiculous. There are people downstairs even now still waiting to sit down and then maybe get some food. If all goes well tomorrow we will finally be in the airplane and heading to Sydney.

In about another 16 minutes I the presidential debate will be beginning so I must now wrap this up.

The A Train (Chambers)

As the A train was creeping up town we made a stop at Chambers. The announcer, in one of his few comprehensible times, announced , "..and path train in service to Jersey!" He sounded very enthusiastic about Jersey.

Right before the train doors at chambers closed a guy walked onto the train asking us for money. No one actually looked at him as he walked up and down the car talking. Here's the only part of what he said that I can remember, ""....if I can't be a good crack head how can I be a good Christian? God bless, y'all!" Then a few people gave him some money and then he disappeared at the next stop.

Long live the MTA!

I ***heart*** Needles

Today I got my shots for my trip to Australia as my lady and I are probably going to be doing some interesting traveling in that part of the world. Have I ever said how much I hate needles. Well I do and I almost passed out.

Now, some people might call this being wimpy and it is but there is a name for this type of wimpiness. That name is the vasovagal reflex. First, due to your wimpiness, your heart beats faster and your blood pressure goes up. Then your heart slows down to make sure that you brain gets enough blood and that causes your blood pressure to fall. Finally may sweat, get pale, nauseous, light headed (you get the drift) and then you may or may not pass out. A quick way to fix it is to lay on your back, elevate your legs, and breath deeply. Note that it may take upwards of 20 mnutes to begin feeling like normal. When getting back up don't do it really fast as you may then pass out anyways.

I Love New York

At my Thunderbird Hospitality Weekend I had the opportunity to meet one of the cast members of the from the still asleep hit reality TV show "I love New York". The cast member in question is T-Money. I remember thinking that I had seen this guy somewhere before but I couldn't remember exactly where that was. I was going to let it go until his buddy, for whatever reason, just came out with it. I think he was embarrassed. Why on earth would someone be embarrassed at being on TV? I mean the guy is now a Reality Television Star. We're talking at least E-list here.

Go to this link. He is the guy at the 18-second mark about to be beat down by New York.

How soon we forget

I was at the airport this morning and everything was going rather smoothly. I checked in and even got decent seat assignments. Security was cleared without a hitch. After I put myself back together I made my way to my gate so that I would wait for the first leg of my flight to Arizona.

Walking down the hallway I noticed a lime green duffle bag just sitting under seat. There was no one anywhere around the bag. Being the good citizen, I made my way back to the security check point to tell someone about it. Security merely looked at me, shrugged, and then said not to worry about it. I blinked once and said, "Okay."

Essentially security didn't even lift a finger.

The point: Why does America seem to forget so quickly? Something bad happens and everyone is all up in arms and ultra paranoid. If anything is out of place even an iota then the area is cordoned off and all of the "right people" are called in to investigate. Not too far after an event, the extra precautionary measures, like breathing, are soon taken for granted and forgotten about. Security becomes more worried with the guy who isn't taking their shoes off at the security point.

NTPS 2008

Live coverage of the NGS 2008 (a.k.a. NYC Trapeze Pro Spectacular)

'Touched' (Again)

My iPod Touch died on me again.

I eventually figured out that it was a software corruption issue. I was downloading multiple application updates directly to my Touch when the battery died in mid-download cycle. After that the unit would not get past the initial boot screen. I went to this link to figure out how to fix the problem: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1808.

The result is a total factory reset of your unit and a little bit of reconfiguring...go Apple...I guess.

I have a huge complaint about the iPod Touch. Why, I repeat, why does it have to do the back-up every single time? Does Apple realize that it takes hours, I repeat, hours to do this? What a pain in the buttocks.

August's End (Pt 2)

The story continues...

The Monday after the Davis Family picnic I returned back to JFK and on Tuesday I went back to JFK the next day to meet Marcus's flight. We took it easy on his first day here with plenty of brews accompanied by stimulating conversation about both everything and nothing.

The next day we made the one-hour plus trip to Coney Island. I have been wanting to get out there and my brother's visit provided the ideal opportunity. Did you know that there are plans to redevelop Coney Island into upscale condominiums?

Here is some background. After opening sometime in the 1860's Coney Island became a major part of New York City's history. In the more recent past the area began being bullied by real estate development companies. Even though these parties have not succeeded yet in getting rezoning for luxury condominiums the company has started evicting various business in preparation for the anticipated rezoning action. There are groups who are trying to save Coney Island from redevelopment. Check out http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/167257276. It's an interesting read.

Getting back to the present...my brother and I got off of the subway and made our way to the legendary boardwalk and then down to the Baywatch-esk beach. It was the middle of the week so it wasn't too busy. The seagulls outnumbered the people and there were guys running around in their skivvies. After a quick dip we sat out on the beach and enjoyed the fresh sea air. We even threw around the frisbee hitting a few people in the process (Sorry peeps!). Soon we could hear the pang of hunger and we thought of hot dog and fries with out names written on them. We hurried ly made our way up there, ordered, and then grubbed out. Delicious!

To process the injested grease we walked to the end of the boardwalk. Along the way we passed a movie shoot, a russian community and a crazy cat that was running circles and digging holes in the sand. We stopped along the way to check out a group of people playing handball. As a cherry on the Coney Island Sunday there were the local bums taking their morning naps on the benches. It's all exactly the kind of thing that you'd expect to see there. A long story short: Check out Coney Island. Check out the boardwalk. Eat a hot (what-kind-of-meat?) dog.

Tired, we made our way into the city to get supplies and then it was back to the apartment to settle in for an evening for good eats and conversation. Dinner that night was a Marcus Special consisting of barley, carrots, onions, and chicken breast. That guy is a master of the food concoction. He could make a quality bisque out of nothing more than a dirty sock and a bouillon cube. My bro kind of reminds me of my old Army chef from my days in Vecenzia days. We'll call this guy 'Chef' and 'Chef' had similar culonary talents. Yes, my brother is the McGyver of the kitchen. Give him a tooth pick, a banana peel, and ductape. Why? Because he's gonna make some dinner.

The next day we paid a visit to Canal street and then it was onward to Central Park. We were questing for some rocks to boulder (aka climb) on. I honestly didn't believe that these rocks existed in Central Park but I was proven very wrong. We found a really great traverse complete with a killer crux. Needless to say I did it (ONCE!) and then was wiped. The next day I was feeling muscles that I had forgotten that I had. The day was wrapped up by a massive walking tour of NYC and a visit to Spitzer's Corner. See this link for further details. Through all of this hubnub we somehow managed to avoid Times Square. Lucky us!

...and the story ends.

August's End (Pt 1)

Happy September everyone and all. Here is a friendly reminder telling you that you can no longer wear white pants. Sorry. It's non-negotiable according to the F.P. (Fashionista Police). I serious. If you do it then you will be looked upon as a social pariah.

The last two weeks have been the busiest (and maybe the craziest) of the summer. It started with yet another family reunion in Detroit, MI and ended with a visit to my old college buddy Mike in Portland, ME. Over the next few days I will be filling you all in about these events.

The Davis Family Barbecue was held at a place whose name I can't remember but I definitely know is located somewhere in Michigan. It is the type of location where every family and/or large group loves to congregate. It offers a wide open spaces as well as numerous (and extremely large!) trash cans. Go city park, whose-name-I-cannot-remember, go! Usually you go to a city park and all of the cans are overflowing. My lady and I even bought a badminton set. It was one of those budget ones where the rackets were just like the real ones except they were missing the neck. It was more like we were playing Squash but without the wall or any of the rules that go with it. After playing the game for the first time in over a decade I realized just how much I really suck at the game.

The food was amazing! I lost count of how many different types of foods they had there. There were the usual items like fried chicken, steak, greens, corn, beans, mac and cheese, and bread. Desert offered chocolate cake, brownies and peach cobbler. The food offered a variety of pleasant assaults on our culinary senses. To top it all offer there was plenty of Faygo! What is Fayo you ask? Read on...

Faygo has been around for 101 years and seems to be a major part of the Michigan culture. they have all of the classic flavors and plenty of sugar! They give the other soda makes a run for their money. Faygo seems to have held onto their identity while remaining innovative at the same time. A quick example is their website. It has that cutting edge norm of the website that maintains the classic retro look and appeal of the product. This is still the case even after being bought out in 1987 by the National Beverage Corp (NASDAQ:FIZZ).

There were a few other games. Two that were played were the 'Tug-of-War' and the other was the water balloon toss. The water balloon replaced the raw egg years back from obvious reasons. I'll let you, the reader, decide what that reasons. The picnic ended as quickly as it had began. There was the big cleanup and then everyone went home.

Join me tomorrow for the next part of the craziness.

燒酒 a.k.a. 소주

While studying the other day a memory floated into my head. Back in my days in the military I can remember Soju even though I had never really been stationed in South Korea. I had my first (and last!) experience with Soju while I was stationed at Ft. Bragg, NC.

There was this one guy, previously stationed in South Korea, who had been reassigned to the ‘Nam. He brought back about 4 or 5 liters of the offending liquid with him. His name last name was Colter and I can remember that he was decidedly 'country'. He loved Nascar and usually wore a John Deer baseball cap, high tops, and tapered leg jeans with a white t-shirt. He completed the package by having a pack of Marlboro Reds rolled up in the sleeve. A cigaratte was always perched at ready in his right ear.

After meeting we bonded over a bottle of Soju. Before I knew it I had downed half of a one liter bottle and then the rest is very fog. This is where the phrase “never again” comes into play. So, without further adieu: NEVER AGAIN!

I did the research on the Internet’s most reliable source (Wikipedia!) and found the follow “statistics”. More than three billion bottles of Soju were consumed in South Korea in 2004. In 2006, it was estimated that the average adult Korean (older than 20) had consumed 90 bottles of Soju during that year, with each bottle equivalent to seven shots (500 ml). Yep, That means I had about 11 shots (that I know of) from a one liter bottle.

Soju is traditionally distilled from rice but other starchy items such as potatoes, wheat, barley, sweet potatoe can be substituted. This is very similar to our own homegrown stuff. If you’re wondering about the taste Soju: just think Vodka but with a sweeter finish.

Where To, Bub?

After a month or so of contemplation we can now say that it is official. Amber and I know where we are going for her next rotation: Sydney, Australia!

Craftbar Koffee

Last night we went to Craftbar located at 43 East 19th Street (off Broadway). This place had great ambiance. When Amber and I arrived we had to wait for our friends to get there so we decided to sit down for a quick cocktail. It was about normal for a beer and a glass of wine ($18) but then by the end of our meal, and after ordering the exact same drinks, we had paid $6 more. Something was fishy but then we didn't notice until well after we had left the restaurant for the night -dear reader, be aware!

The food was good too -it was excellent in fact! However, after receiving my meal I had to pause for a minute or two because I could have sworn that I had ordered ravioli. I couldn't see anything except for the sauce and its garnishes. After poking the meal a little bit with the fork and found that there was a piece or two of ravioli in it.

There were five pieces to be exact. Doing the math that's about $4 per piece of ravioli...it's all in the presentation right? If you listened really close you could have heard my stomach growling at the end of the meal. Over all the food tasted great but a little more quantity with the quality would have been a nice touch. The over all experience was VERY overpriced. You can check out the restaurant on the web at http://www.craftrestaurant.com/.

I finished up my meal with a cup of diner quality coffee. We've all tried Denny's coffee right? The coffee cost a mere three and one-half dollars American. After departing the restaurant we went to The Coffee Shop.

The Coffee Shop, located at 29 Union Square, is actually a very cool lounge. Hidden away in the bowels of the building it is one of New York's hidden jems. The DJ was really great even though as the night wore on the mix started shifting towards pure noise. Not to worry though because it was about one in the morning and that means that it was time to go.

The majority of online reviews for The Coffee Shop given by users give this place a lower rating for service but that seems to be for the restaurant on the main level. The lounge in the basement is something totally different and so it should be checked out at least once.

Spitzer's Corner

Last Thursday night I went to what I believe to be the ultimate beer bar. They offer a wide range of premium beer both on draft and in a bottle. They have no Bud Weiser and they have absolutely no mixed drinks. They do however have a small selection of wines. I wasn’t able to sample the food as I was too busy marveling over the selection of malt and barley goodness. The only negative so far was trying to close my bill once it was time to go. I could have easily left without paying the bill, but I do want to go back for a future visit. Yes, the place was that good. When my brother comes into town, he is in for a treat.

It is now time for a negative review. It is Restaurant Week here in NYC and so we decided to check out one of the featured restaurants. We were in the mood for steak so a little muse (me!) suggested a different place: BAD MUSE!

We arrived early to Angelo and Maxie’s and were seated promptly. It was about 5-minutes before anyone even came around to give us water, which we had to ask for. It was much too long of a wait in my mind as there was something like 20 waiters and waitresses all in little groups having their own little conversations. They were probably talking about how slow it was in there! The waiter got us our ice water and then he came back about 20 minutes later to get our order. This too was way too long as it was a prefix menu!

The prefix was $35 per person and we thought that it was cheap until we found out that we had to order the vegetables ala cart. This greatly increased the cost of the meal. Amber ordered the filet minion and I went with the New York Strip. When they brought out our food the first time they got my order wrong. They took it away to keep it warm until they corrected the. The food correction was done pretty quickly but when they brought it back, Amber’s food was cold! Needless to say they corrected that little mess-up by bringing out a totally new filet for her. Summed up, the food wasn’t that great. The bread had onions and garlic in it (dragon breath!) our spinach was bitter with way too much garlic (more dragon breath!) and our mushrooms were dry and over cooked. My steak was burned and amber’s filet, even after sending it back and getting a new one, was not at all up to par -that’s a nice way of saying really bad. Basically the restaurant is a tourist trap and not fit for consumption by New Yorkers.

More on the dragon breath: did you know that you cannot brush your stomach? It is now almost 24-hours later and the little lady wants to be nowhere near me. I’m breathing and sweating garlic and onions. Jerk anyone?

After completing our little restaurant we went to see the epic sequel ‘the Dark Knight Returns’. No spoilers follow! The script writing, though it had it’s moments, wasn’t as good as in the first one. The story didn’t have too many holes in it and then special effects were awesome! I think my favorite line in the movie was, “I’m going to make this pencil disappear!” The movie was really -go see it!

On Heath Ledger: Yes, it was very tragic that he died. It might have even been senseless. However, before he died nobody could have given two poops about when his next movie was coming out. Does anyone remember any of his movies after Brokeback Mountain? I thought so.

Fajitas con Tapas

Tonite was yet another night of festivities for Amber and myself. It started out at Volstead located at 125 E 54th St. Upon first walking in you are first greeted (sized up) by the doorman (aka bouncer) who then tells you to enjoy yourself. You walk down a flight of steps where you will find a very well designed venue. The cross dressing DJ BabyBlu greets you with his multitude of beats -think Clinger from television’s M.A.S.H. but with more style. The guy does a crazy mashup of old skool and and new skool. So check him out! On the negative side: the beer selection is horrible. Their menu says that they have Amstel Light, Budwiser, Heineken, Stella Artois, Heineken Light, Brooklyn Winter Ale and Smithwick's. Everytime I've been there however, they never seem to have the Brooklyn Winter Ale or the Smithwicks. I asked the waitress and she said that they were phasing out those beers. Poop. For you mixed drink folks on the other hand: Do not worry. They have all of the top (and for you “budget” minded types the bottom shelf) variety. At the end of the day though the place serves as a great place to unwind after a long hectic day. Their website is http://www.thevolstead.com/. Check them out.

At around 7:30PM Amber and I had to head out for her friend Nagina’s birthday dinner. The restaurant, called Yuca Cafe, featured a Latin American style cuisine. Someone in our dinner party asked for Fajitas and they were promptly told,
"No!" -they then settled for the strip steak. Amber ordered the Pechuga de pollo (chicken) and I had the Puerquito c u bano (pork). Both were delicious but mine tasted the best! As far as service they handled our large group of abotu 10 people very well. A great time had by all but Amber and I had to take off early as she had to do some work for the next day. Check out their website at http://www.yucabarnyc.com/.

Random thought time: have you ever been to a place that claims to be ‘authentic’ Mexican but then you find that they don't have Fajitas? What kind of a Mexican restaurant doesn’t serve Fajitas? It sounds Mexican doesn’t it? Is it kind of like Chop Suey being authentic Chinese or Pizza actually being an Italian creation? I’ll have to look into that...I’ll get right on it...

Happy Birthday Nagina!

Friend or Foe?

What is it about Facebook that makes it a part of the greatest (and the worst) cultural evolutions ever? It isn't the first but it definitely is more...refined(?) It's a confusing maze of a thought actually. It is refined but then the question needs to be asked: Is that 'refined' in a positive or a negative context?

Facebook was originally a method of staying in touch with your friends and then all of a sudden there was this natural evolution. People that you used to know in high school, people with whom you wouldn't associate with (and vice versa) suddenly wanted to be your 'friend'. The request shows up one day in your e-mail inbox for you to 'Confirm' and then (BAM!) you become friend number 1,024 and the friend requester becomes a part of the spam mail problem. News of their new found friendship is sent out to all of their 1,023 other friends and then suddenly they all want to be your friend and the process starts new. More Spam please!

If you have ever wanted to safely poke, hug, pinch, or buy a shot for someone without any reprocussions then you are in luck because you can do that too. So go for it because you know you want to! Not to worry because the e-mail will be sent to everyone.

Next delema: With the spam issue put to the side, all of this poking and pinching is filling up your e-mail box. Who has the time to keep up with the pokes and the tugs? Given that we are all model citizens so that means that we all have day jobs. Just trying to keep a blog relatively up-to-date is hard enough...

It is best left to the user make a 'friend or foe' decision on Facebook. In the meantime, I just got a new friend request...

Thurgood

A few weeks ago, Amber's friend Karen came out to NYC for a visit. She was a taking a break from the grind of Washington, DC.

During her visit we checked out a play written by George Stevens Jr.'s called Thurgood. It was a one man show featuring Laurence Fishburne (from the Matrix and Death Wish II). It was limited showing at the Booth Theatre (222 West 45th St) The play was about Thurgood Marshall's life from the starting from the streets of Baltimore to the halls of the US Supreme court. I thought that it was a truely great show. I found myself 'uh-huhing' and 'ah-hooing' with the audience from start to finish.

Thanks to Karen for treating us to a great and enlightening show.

Maggie Brown

Today Amber and I had to move our brunching activities up by a day as we will be busy tomorrow trying to get her mother back to New Jersey so that she can catch her bus back to D-Rock. This weekend's brunching activity was to Maggie Brown.

Maggie Brown is a converted ground floor of a brownstone. You walk in and it is nothing but atmosphere. They are trying to go for a relaxed old world style. They key to this place is all in the details. All of the wine glasses are in different shaped glasses though we were assured that they are all the same size glass. When we noticed that the glasses were different sizes we were compensated with some complementary OJ just to make sure. The bartender got a nice little tip for her trouble.

Breakfast was great. I had an Omlette with Spinach, mushrooms, and Brie complemented with salad and home fries. The salad had a raspberry dressing on it. Now that I think about it the jelly that they had for the biscuits was raspberry. Even their butter was raspberry flavored. I guess that you could say they they restaurant had a raspberry theme. Amber had French Toast that was topped with kiwi and strawberries. Amber thought that the French Toast was pretty mediocre; it was pretty bland actually. Amber's mother had Buttermilk Pancakes and a side of chicken sausage (very classically split down the middle and topped with parsley). Check out location details at http://www.maggiebrownrestaurant.com/.

Moving the Car

As of yesterday and I have exactly three weeks until my GMAT. Tomorrow is my last last Manhattan GMAT class. Yesterday I was sitting in my car waiting for it to be 10:00 so that I can go upstairs to the a-p-t and complete yet another GMAT practice exam. It was my second practice exam that I scored only slightly better on from the first one. It's improvement. Tomorrow AM I will be taking my third and then it will be time to lay off for a few days to do some exercises from the question Manhattan GMAT question bank.

Looking at my watch I could see that I still had another four minutes until 10 so it was time for a rant...

The guy across the street next to me is sitting in his Ford Explorer listening to a reggae-rap mix. I have no clue of what it is. It sounds like a mix of Bob Marley with some Jazzy Jeff. People are driving by me as they are looking for a parking spot. They see me sitting in here and slowly come to a stop. There is the wave through the closed window very articulately mouthing, "Are you leaving?" I then mouth a very articulated, "No," and then they drive on. Parking cars has become somewhat of a challenge because they are resurfacing the perfectly find street. Correction it was a perfectly fine street until they scrapped the living poopies out of it.

Kickin' it Veggie Style

I totally missed my friend Julie this weekend –she was doing her own sightseeing in NYC. Either way, Amber and I had our plan B. Read on y’all!

On Friday night I took the subway to meet Amber up at work so that we could go to dinner at Gobo. Our reservations were at 6PM and we had to hurry to make them. In a rare occurrence we actually made it about 30 minutes early! Gobo is a gourmet vegetarian style restaurant that bases the experience on the five senses -taste, touch, see, hear, and smell. I had gone there the night before to scope out the menu and the service; obviously, I was very impressed. On my scoping out mission I tried an appetizer of ‘steamed spinach dumplings’. It was delicious!

Returning back to Friday: Amber started off with the ‘vietnamese spring rolls with spicy honey dip’ and I had the ‘pine nut vegetable medley with lettuce wraps’. Amber’s was a lighter version of the traditional spring roll that we all know and love. The appetizer that I had was more in line with the lettuce wraps at P.F Chang’s. By the time dinner had rolled around we were already kind of full but we kept going anyway. The combination of our appetizers was already a meal in itself. The main course consisted of ‘sesame protein braised in sweet & sour sauce’ for Amber and ‘ginger glazed shitake & konnyaku on steamed greens’ for myself. Of course we shared our plates… yum! My selection tasted better than hers. Sorry babe!

After dinner we went to check out Rooftop Films (http://www.rooftopfilms.com). Each weekend they have the show in different locations in the NYC boroughs. This past Friday’s showing, ‘All is far: Romantic Short Films’, was at the former Seward Park High School (350 Grand St - L.E.S.). It was a unique mixture for different viewing tastes. Script writing in some of the shorts were Kimya Dawson-esk (remember Juno?) minus the speed but with all of the witt. Some of the concepts were a little bit more disjointed abstract then I like, but the overall experience was well worth it.

To learn more about the former Seward Park High School project go to http://rooftoplegends2007.blogspot.com. You will be impressed with what they have done with this location. It’s a total case of taking a lemon and making Lemonade.

Saturday was a blast too. Much to our delight DDT came over! We showed her around our neighborhood which we have been simply dying to do. She was probably getting sick of hearing us RAVE about our hood so she had to come and see it for herself. The tour was nothing huge. We did a loop down Dekalb touching on Fort Greene, hooking a left on South Portland then Fulton, cleverly navigating a route past our wine shop destination-of-choice Olivino. After the little walk we were famished so we tried yet another new restaurant in our hood called Red Bamboo. (www.redbamboobrooklyn.com/). Just like Friday night this was another unique take on (the terrifying and sometimes adventurous) the concept of vegetarian victuals. On this particular evening I had Buffalo Wings (veggie style) and then to top it off I had the Pork ribs (veggie style of course!) For me they didn’t taste anything like the real white meat but both dishes were tasty none-the-less.

Before I even get started on Sunday's festivities I would like to be the rhetoric and ask this: What is it with Sunday and torrential downpour????? It was raining cats and dogs (and then some) for a very large portion of the day. It has been like this for the last few weeks now. I mean come on!

This past Sunday’s brunch adventure was at Jane, which is located at 100 West Houston. Service was almost instant and we even got our food in a decent manner despite the fact that the restaurant was packed. The waiter, with his extremely intelligent English accent, opened with, “Can I offer you some sparkling, tapped or bottled water?” We went for the sparkling tap water. We started with a “side” of French toast that was actually an entrée. For our actual entrées, Amber ordered the ‘Salmon Scramble’ and I ordered the ‘Mushroom Omelette’. Both meals were delicious and both resulted in a debilitating food comma. The French Toast wasn’t nearly as good as ‘202’. Just ask Amber. GO, 202, JUMP ON IT! Check them out at http://www.ctrnyc.com/JANE/index.html.

To get rid of our food comas we went to check out ‘Sunday Best!’ In Brooklyn. Every Sunday they have a different act at this location that is literally rocks and leaves. On this particular day they were kicking it old skool with Afrika Bambaattaa. I am a total new comer to A.B. but I can tell you that I am now a fan. One song that you all may know is called Planet Rock (circa 1982). I think that they are on iTunes. Amber was dancing up a storm. She seemed to know every song and sample that was played along with the moves that go along with them. The crowd was unpretentious - not at all like the experience in other venues here in NYC. It’s worth checking out more than once. Check the schedule out at http://www.sundaybestnyc.com/.

A quote: There's a message in my cereal. It says, "Oooooooo..." -Peter Griffin

Back From the Dead

I have to give props to the Apple Genius Bar. All of those issues that I was having with my iPod could not be resolved on the the spot so you know what they did? They gave me a brand spankin' new one complete with the software upgrade (unfortunately not iPhone 2.0 -for that I have to wait until sometime in July) on the spot. I must have done something really nice in a previous life.

I have 38 days, 18 hours and 24 minutes until my GMAT.

Meatball Mountain!

Finally! After 2-years of battling it out with the environmental organizations, Brooklyn finally has an Ikea! Yes, Brooklyn is now complete. Later on this summer I am going to go make the pilgrimage to Redhook. I will go shopping. I will park my car in one of those Ikea sized parking spots. I will have an all mystery meat Ikea dog. I will have the world famous mountain of Ikea meatballs with the plastic style gravy. I will buy stuff that I will never use. I will not go there without at least buying something. Yes! I will buy some candles!

But first...

Today I have to go to the Apple store as all of a sudden my iPod Touch is acting like a fool. It is now sluggish, it overheats, and the screen even locks up to the point that I have to let it run down before I can do anything. This last glitch has occurred twice in the last week and quite frankly it's annoying. I have an appointment with an Apple Genius. Another glitch: while I am using the unit the back light will turn off so I am barely able to see the screen. It had better be fixed today...grrrrr. Anyway, I must be heading off uptown now. It's my appointment and then I have my GMAT preparatory class.

I have 39 days 17 hours and 13 minutes until my GMAT.

Row Boats and French Toast

This past Saturday Amber and I went to the Adventure NYC event with some of her Sternie friends Nagina and Ibrahim. We went there thinking it would be all hardcore for the adults. But we missed the small print where it said fun for the whole family. Needless to say, the kiddies were everywhere. I think that the most exciting part was when the partition fell onto the side of the water slide enclosure and spilled water everywhere.

Despite the fact that the activities were a wash (yuck yuck!) the displays were awesome. We entered into some drawings for gear and we even got some free shwag. There were also trampoline demonstrations. The tricks were great.

After all of that we headed deeper into Central Park down to the boat house. Guys - if you want to wow your lady - take her down to the boat house and rent a row boat. Now I have to say something. PEOPLE LEARN HOW TO ROW! There were boats everywhere. It seems like the people who were watching out (i.e. Amber and I) are the magnets for the people who are watching for everything but other boaters. Hell those people will even hit a bridge and they’re stationary. It was bump, bump, and then even more bump everywhere we went. It's a deal for a mere $12.

After about an hour of boating we went off in search of some grub. The first place that we tried was an Italian restaurant on 2^nd Ave called Mediterraneo Restaurant on Second Ave between 66th & 67th. Talk about pretentious. It was like they were doing us a favor by allowing us to eat there. It all started with Amber cutting her leg on the raggedy wicker chair while being seated. It was bleeding pretty badly so she went into the restaurant to get something to clean herself off with only to discover that they didn’t have a first aid kit. No Band-Aids and not even alcohol scrubs to clean the cut with. It turns out that a customer had to help her with an alcohol scrub AND the Band-Aid. Now here’s my question: What happens if a cook in the kitchen cuts himself? Next: did I mention the small print on the menu? It actually says that there is a "$20.00 minimum per person". Afraid that a fountain drink would be $10 (like the appetizers!) my fiancé asked the waiter how much a coke costs. The answer that we got was a sleazy, “I don’t know…I’ve never thought about it…$3.50…I guess…maybe…I’ll give you another 2-minutes, “ and then he walks off even though we were ready to order. Right now I’m thinking about something that starts with euro and ends with trash. Needless to say we left. It was a good glass of water at least. DO NOT EAT HERE.

We ended up at the Silver Star Restaurant, which was about a block up. That place was solid. First: the menu is huge. Second: the staff is attentive. Third: they make a mean Bison Burger. Fourth: a soft drink drink only cost $2. The only down part was they dropped the lower part of Amber’s hamburger bun on the ground but fixed the problem x2. It is a unique eatery consisting of a wide range of Greek and American style food. It’s a NYC gem. DO EAT HERE.

After that Nagina and Ibrahim parted ways and Amber and I headed back into Central Park to check out out Vampire Weekend and Kid Sister. We finally got to the line only to find out that they were over capacity. Also it started to rain cats and dogs but, honestly, the people who didn’t get into the show were the lucky ones. Outside of the music venue it was a regular beach party. Beach blankets were out and beach balls were bouncing. The foreigners were selling beer out of
their backpacks. The frat boys, In their best A&F outfits, were pounding the beers and flexing on the ladies. The young college coeds were sporting their latest H&M swimwear purchases. The Woodstock wannabe/leftovers were hangin’ and smokin’. We were loving the sheer diversity of the atmosphere. When it started raining we were the umbrella. Everyone else was crowding underneath the trees. We eventually decided to head home. We were going to head out again that night but the weather was not cooperating and we decided to stay in and watch a movie.

The next thing we knew it was Sunday morning and 10:00 AM. Are we getting old? No. Not yet. We were only enjoying doing nothing.

It was Sunday and Amber and I have a ritual where we try brunch at a different location every weekend. This past weekend’s site was down in the meatpacking district was called ‘202’. They had an article that said that they had the best French toast in NYC. We arrived there at about 1:00 PM in the afternoon and by 2:00 PM we were seated and waiting to order. What an ordeal that this was. The first problem was getting water, which we did not get that until we asked for it. Luckily we were able to order pretty quickly. Amber ordered the French Toast and, after a lot of debate, I settled on the Goat Cheese and Spinach Omelet. Our appetizer came in about 10-minutes and it was tasty. After that we didn’t see any food at all. I have to admit though that they did a great job with making sure that everyone who came in after us had their food and even got their bill in a timely fashion. After about 45-minutes, and a few complaints, an order of food was brought to our table. It turns out that it was for the table behind us. Good stuff. After that the Manager named Maurizio had to step in and I must admit that he got it done…almost. He had food out to us within 5-minutes. Amber’s was fine but mine was cold. In the end I ended up telling them to forget about it and I ended up sharing in on Amber’s food. In the end the meal ended up not costing us a nickel and the New Yorker Mag was absolutely correct. ‘202’ has the best French Toast in NYC. Amber and I do plan on giving ‘202’ a second try because they did fix the problem (though we’re not exactly sure why it happened in the first place). Well done and thanks, Maurizio!

I saw the Hulk today. All I gotta say is this: HULK SMASH!

I have 42 days, 7 hours and 14 minutes until my GMAT.

Vampire Sisters

Currently I am sitting in Tillie's on Dekalb enjoying an Americano. There is a guy across the street sitting on the newspaper drop-off box drinking out of a 1 gallon fruit punch container. Young hipster families and couples are walking by as the pigeons duke it out over the sustenance offered by the sidewalks.

In a few hours I will be going to the Adventures NYC event in Central Park. It is a day of adventure sports in the park consisting of climbing, kayaking, canoing as well as obstacle courses -just to mention a few. There'll also be a whole hump load of displays and demos there. The day time hours will be wrapped up by a Vampire Weekend/Kid Sister concert. Vampire Weekend is one of those cleverly named alterna-pop bands -they're a mix of The Decemberists and The Shins. Kid Sister of something akin to Lil Mama (does anyone understand her when she talks?) and Fergie - but Kid actually has her own beats.

I have 43 days, 21 hours and 10 minutes until my GMAT.