Archive for September, 2005
Moon Shot
Thursday, September 29th, 2005New Neighbor
Tuesday, September 27th, 2005It’s a good idea to keep my head down while riding my bike, but the other day I glanced up at a building with a new sign on the block just north of our apartment building. We are going to have a new neighbor – The Red Cross. The timing of this was interesting because I saw the sign appear just days after hurricane Katrina made hit the South.
Soccer – Myth or Reality?
Monday, September 26th, 2005Astoria is an area of New York City known for it’s Greek population. Yesterday I was in Astoria and came across one of the busiest corners in the area to find a celebration going on. The Greek soccer team must have won some important game. People were screaming, waving flags, cars were honking their horns . . . wait, that sounds like a typical day here.
Most of the world takes soccer very seriously. Here, it’s a phenomenon that is soon forgotten when kids realize the game they have been playing since they were age 4 seems to be a fantasy or mythical game because you can’t find news about it on TV or in the newspaper. That and it’s rare to fine cheerleaders at school soccer games.
Oh Brother
Tuesday, September 20th, 2005My brother is in town for a week. On Sunday we borrowed a bike from Blue and took a bike tour through portions of Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan. We dropped by 5 Ptz, a building complex famous for graffiti and I snapped this picture of Brian.
He looks like a pretty upstanding citizen. This person on the other hand, I don’t think he can be trusted.
The crazed mess that is my hair is going on 10 months without an encounter with any sharp metal object. How long will the mayhem continue? Stay tuned . . .
Lumacom Pictures
Monday, September 19th, 2005The Lumacom saga continues on BAB, now in living color. I got my camera back from the shop and headed up to the roof last night – the weather was beautiful. I can’t say the same for Lumacom’s financial prospects. Here are some photos, and as always, my award winning commentary . . .
First we have a glimmer of hope, an ad for Century 21, a large real estate company.
Next we have Clear Channel, one of the largest ad companies in the U.S. that I am sure has signed on to sell ad space.
Next we have one of Clear Channel’s bright ideas. The ad starts with a scroll that says, “The Faces of New York . . . “ and then they show a bunch of faces like this –
Brilliant! A bunch of heads! What the heck is that supposed to mean? Probably one of the worst ads I have ever seen. If you want a true replication of the faces of New York, each face should have contorted lips that replicate a driver or pedestrian exchanging heated words.
Then we have an ad for New York. I guess this makes sense, but who is the “I”? When someone wears a T-shirt I can understand their adoration for the greatest city in the world, but can a building love New York?
Then we get patriotic. This is actually pretty cool. It shows up very well and the flag waves as if in the wind.
And last, but certainly not least, we have . . . drum roll please . . . the time! Man, I’m sure glad they put the time up there. I mean if the batteries go dead in my watch, cell phone, and palm pilot and my VCR, microwave, and alarm clark all break, I can look at the Lumacom sign. Long live redundancy!
Sorry Lumacom folks, I gotta call it like I see it. Until I see the likes of all that is wrong with America on that board (read McDonalds, Coke, and Oil Companies) it does not look good for the stock price.
Fashion Week
Thursday, September 15th, 2005It’s Olympus Fashion Week in NYC and all the designers are showing off their spring fashion. The design life cycle of clothing has always fascinated me. It’s fall and the industry is having a spring fashion show. I know, retailers have to see what’s going to be produced ahead of time in order to place orders, and factories need time to pump out the lines, but the timeline always seems a little off to me.
Anyway, Ariel interned with Anna Sui all summer long and the culmination for her was the runway show for Anna Sui that took place last night. Two years ago, we walked by the fashion tent that is set up in Bryant Park for the show each year and Ariel said some day she would be inside. Some day was yesterday. She attended the show last night and was among “the beautiful people.” Next time she is in the tent Ariel wants to see some of her own designs on the runway.
Katrina “First Contact”
Tuesday, September 13th, 2005Like most people I have been exposed to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina on T.V. I began to wonder if and when I would have contact with a victim of the storm. “First Contact” came yesterday.
After the storm, colleges and universities across the country opened their doors to displaced students. The school I work for was one such school and we had a displaced student join us yesterday. Most of his possessions are now underwater, but his education is going to continue here.
I can’t take much credit for anything related to him getting here, but now that he is, I’m responsible for assisting him with straightening out some of his federal paperwork. It’s not much, but I’m glad to be a part in even an infinitesimal way.
Choking Back Tears
Monday, September 12th, 2005I finished up the century bike ride yesterday but still felt like I had a little fuel in my tank. Thus I decided to ride some extra miles and chose to ride from Central Park around the southern tip of Manhattan and back up the West Side pedestrian/bike path.
This little venture actually goes right by Ground Zero. I had no idea what would be going on in the middle of the afternoon but I thought it would be interesting to ride by. It was indeed interesting.
Over past few years I must admit that I have struggled with the meaning of patriotism. I guess to put it simply, I have grown increasingly cynical over the past few years. Do I agree that America is a decent place to live? Yes. Do I think we have a lot of problems and ironies that seem to go overlooked? Yes. Am I guilty of being ignorant of all the consequences and repercussions of my actions? Yes.
Why am I saying all this? Well, as I reached Ground Zero yesterday, I heard a low rumble. As I rode past all of the news trucks the rumble grew louder. When I reached Vesey Street, just north of the Ground Zero site, I saw that rumbling, idling motorcycles occupied two of the three southbound lanes of the West Side Highway. As I rode on, I could barely hear myself think and the fumes that filled the air were enough to cause my eyes to water.
I thought the procession would end after a couple of blocks, but I guess I underestimated the patriotism of those involved. The idling procession went on to 10th Ave, that’s over 30 city blocks. Obviously the thousands of motorcycles were going to be allowed to ride by the site, but they were waiting, idling away.
As I rode by I could not turn off my cynical sensor. As the bikes idled and put out noise that together would give an active airport a run for it’s money, I could not help but sense the irony in the air. Who can honestly say that we would not be so interested in the Middle East if it were not for oil? There is a lot of turmoil in Africa – 9.5 million refugees and hundreds of thousands of people slaughtered in the past few decades. But I don’t see stories about our troops in Africa on the news.
My cynical sensor could not come to grips with the fact a lot of the oil the U.S. imports comes from Saudi Arabia. Where does the mastermind behind the 9-11 attacks hail from? Saudi Arabia.
Don’t get me wrong. I think it’s great that those on the motorcycles wanted to show their support. They took their time to get together and organize and obviously care a great deal. I just think that it might have been a more fitting tribute if they would have turned off their bikes, set them to neutral, and walked them by the site. A site such as that would have caused me to shed tears for a very different reason. The silence would have been deafening.
September 11 Century Ride
Friday, September 9th, 2005This coming weekend will mark my second September 11 spent in New York City. I don’t know about other people, but twice I have found myself asking if what I had planned for the day was appropriate.
Last year we had a party at our place and spent some time on our roof. We could see the light tribute to the twin towers and it was great to be around other people. At first I was hesitant, but in the end, the party was a success and a lot of people told me it was nice to spend the time with others.
This year, I’ll be on my bike for a majority of the day. There is a century ride around New York City this Sunday. Why they call a 100-mile ride a century I have no idea. Last time I checked the word century denoted time, not distance. I’ve ridden my bike 100 miles many times, but I don’t plan on riding it for 100 years. I don’t think there is a seat made that is that comfortable.
The ride is sponsored by Transportation Alternatives and it’s an annual event. I don’t know if they planned specifically to have the ride on September 11 this year, but now that I think about it, there is probably no better way to appreciate New York City and what it’s all about than riding all around it. Here’s the route:
Astoria Beer Garden
Thursday, September 8th, 2005After nearly two years of hearing my friend Blue rave about a beer garden near his place in Astoria, we finally went last Friday night. Living in New York City, I expected the place to be small and cramped – it was exactly the opposite. The place is huge and wide open. It is outdoors and I would guess that it could seat about 300 people comfortably, about double that not so comfortably. There are indoor spaces as well but it was a beautiful summer night and we spent it under the stars. I’m sure they were there, we could not see them, but I could imagine them.
Pitchers are $12, which ain’t too bad for these parts, and the sausage is nice and greasy with all the sauerkraut you can eat. They feature a full menu, but they also have an outdoor grill with picnic style variety foods. They have a large selection of European beers on tap and the Spaten was my favorite. If you must take someone who has no interest in beer, they have a full bar as well.
The place is only one block northwest of the Astoria Blvd. stop on the N-W line. A must visit for anyone with even a moderate interest in beer. I might have to visit during Oktoberfest. For more information, you can click on the following links: Link 1, Link 2.