End of My Day and Week

Listening to: Screeching of the Subway Over My Mp3 Player

It’s been a long day and I’m stuck in a team meeting which has to do with formatting a word document. Everyone is going back and forth about sentences being italic, bold, etc… My stomach began to growl and my patience for this document dropped significantly. A few people left to go work on homework but I stayed to make sure everything got completed by our deadline which is today.



We submitted the document and the meeting ended. I sprang out of my chair and wished everyone a good weekend on my way through the door. I walked up the stairs that connect the 30th and 31st floor and looked out through the large windows to where the Brooklyn Bridge spanned across the river. Shadows cast down across the river from the skyscrapers blocking the sun but beyond the bridge the water glistened with sunlight.



I went back into my classroom, logged off from my computer and headed for my locker. I quickly shoved my books in and hurried to the elevator; I wanted to get out of there and start my weekend! I took the elevator down to the lobby and pushed my way through the revolving door into humid evening. I walked swiftly up the street, admiring the giants towering above me but kept with the flow of traffic towards Wall St. I walked down the stairs, swept past the turnstile with a beep echoing behind me. I walked down another flight of stairs and kept to the right trying to find a spot close to the uptown track. I wedged myself into the crowd and waited a couple of minutes for the train to arrive. I was lucky enough to get a seat as a rush of people swept onto the 3 train.



I reached for my paper but realized that I had finished reading it on my way to work. So I just sat there and thought about my day and my work. The train sped up and visible shapes turned to blurs which turned to black as we exited the station. We zoomed past stations where posts, people and shapes on the walls formed a pseudo-collage as we passed by. Dark fell again. Then all of a sudden a bright light flashed into the window across from me. I’d seen it the previous day but couldn’t figure out what it was. The train slowed just enough for me to make out silhouettes working on the tracks under bright spotlights hanging above them. More white canvases passed as we sped past the stations.



We slowed at Fulton, Chambers, Park Pl, 14th st, 34th st, 42nd times square, flew thirty blocks to 72nd and I departed at 96th…home sweet home.


View from my office building, 31st floor:

The End is Near

As my website expiration date gets closer (July 15th, 2007) I am considering not renewing the site and just moving to a free blog. It's $100 per year and I don't really use it anymore except for writing entries. When I think about it, it's quite expensive for just an online journal. I apologize to those who enjoyed getting the email updates but I encourage you to check my new site regularly. I will post the link when I make a decision whether to terminate this site or not. Thanks for reading!

Not in a writing mood but here's a forced one

Listening to: Travis - Selfish Jean

Not really feeling the writing flow lately, maybe it's because a lot of other stuff has been going on and probably because I've been tired lately from all that other stuff. Anyways, this past weekend I went to a rooftop BBQ at 56th and Broadway with an AMAZING view. I had a great time!












On Sunday, Andrew and I went out to Williamsburg Brooklyn to take some pictures and I got a couple good shots. The more adventurous part of the day was walking through south Williamsburg which is a large Hassidic jew community... Here is a blurb from an article on Williamsburg:

Despite the vast and rapid changes to the neighborhood, South Williamsburg remains almost exclusively the domain of the Satmar. This is an area where Yiddish is more widely spoken than English, strangers are regarded with suspicion, and most of the businesses cater exclusively to the needs of this devout, insular community

http://blatherfrombrooklyn.wordpress.com/2007/06/21/signs-of-south-williamsburg/



Let's just say we felt very uncomfortable and were stared at by pretty much everyone up and down the street. Imagine two white guys, with red hair holding cameras around their necks walking through the heart of an Hassidic jew community...yeah, awkward!

Wisconsin Trip Summary

Listening to: The National - Mr. November

Here I am typing away on my blackberry on the plane...pretty nifty!



We had a really nice trip to Wisconsin. My sister and my mom met me in chicago on thursday night after a long airport delay due to the threat of thunderstorms. The next day we drove up whitewater a back way that avoided most of the Illinois toll roads.



We met my moms cousin paulette and her daughter lauren at my grandma paulines's retirement home. My grandma has Alzheimer's disease so she doesn't remember us but ewe could tell that she warmed up when we were around and could tell we were family. The nurses said that grammy lit up every time a family member came to see her so we feel that she knows that we're at least family.



We drove through the Wisconsin countryside to get to a small town called black earth where my aunt, uncle and two cousin's live. It was so beautiful driving through the back country where rolling green hills and red farm houses were common to see. I wouldn't want to live in Wisconsin but it's a relaxing place to visit and get any from the hustle and bustle of city life. We took a few pictures of the surrounding area but were on a pretty tight schedule the whole trip. I would've enjoyed driving around for 1/2 a day just taking pictures of the beautiful landscape! But we'll have to save that for another trip.



Some things we did on our trip:

* ate at a restaurant in cross plains called the monk's retreat

* went to the farmer's market at the capitol square in Madison

* ate at the orpheum plaza in Madison

* bought an Ande's mint chip cookie and a piece of spicy cheese bread

* tried on cheese head's and hat's and got one!

* got ice cream from the daily scoop on the university of wisconsin campus (pb chocolate...mmmm)

* took a walk in the arboretum through a grassy plain and thick forest and saw a wild turkey poke its head out of the tall grass

* ate bbq'd bratwursts...SO GOOD!

* lots and lots of driving which I didn't mind so much



Overall it was a great trip and oddly enough one of the highlights was sitting in the airport with my sister for an hour and just chatting and catching up on things. I'm really glad I made the trip out there as it reminded me how important family is.


courtesy of ahna's camera

Remembering My First Internship

Listening to: matt nathanson - gone

I had a weird flashback come into my mind today and I'm not sure why. I was remembering when I got my first job in the summer of 2000 working for Cubic Communications.



When I went in for the interview, I wore my dad's old, brown (or grey) suit and I felt like an old man. I know I didn't look good in it but I felt I needed to dress up for the interview. One of the guys asked me how to solve the problem of battery life to which I had no idea.



At one point I decided to come in early so I could leave early (I think it was my second summer there). I remember staring blankly at my monitor and being so tired from waking up early. In the early morning, I came in through the back door with my lunch pale which I didn't have a keycard for. So I had to wait for someone to enter/exit because the secretary wasn't in the office yet. I remember working a 9/80 which meant working an extra hour each day so I could take every other friday off...man those were the times!



There was a lady with blond hair that was in way over her head financially just so she could own a BMW 3 series. There was another guy who I was convinced did nothing but surf the internet all day. He dated a stripper I think... The guy at the end of the hall to the right was responsible for updating and correcting documentation for new products. How much more boring of a job could there be? He was kind of a weird guy too...overly nice and an unusual sense of power and responsibility from his job title. Clancy was my boss and that's all I remember. I think I worked with a guy named Grant who I talked to the most because he was like a mentor and insisted I come to him with any questions.



My first job was to take old 5 1/4 floppy disks and copy them onto a network drive. I did that half the time and the other half I worked on a website. There's only so much monotonous copying I can take before I became bored out of my mind!



I talked with them a bit here and there but to my recollection, there was nobody even close to my age... I showed interest in web development at that time so I would go downstairs to talk with the intranet guy every now and then but they never let me work on their site.



At lunch, I would have to get out of there so I drove a couple blocks and parked in the shade, listened to the radio or a CD and just sat there for an hour. I found a new place the second summer that was by a golf course so it provided trees with more shade. There were other people with the same idea because the parking lot would be full at lunch time...everyone came down there to take a nap in their car.



The second summer I was given a less monotonous task but still equally boring and not at all interesting. The only thing I can remember from it was modifying PDF files of designs or documentation. I designed the front cover of one of the books and remember taking pictures for it but that was about it...more of my time was spent working on my own web development.

Red Hook Ball Fields = Delicious Weekend

Listening to: Travis - Standing on My Own

Just got back from one of the best food experiences in recent memory. My friends and I headed down to brooklyn on the F train to Caroll St (although Smith-9 st might be closer). We took a nice 10-15min walk down to Red Hook and feasted on some terrific, authentic mexican food.



**Info before you go**

Months: May to October

Days: Saturdays and Sundays

Times: 12-5pm

Distance:

From Midtown ~ 30min on Subway + 10-15min walking

From UWS ~ 45min on Subway + 10-15min walking

See http://events.nytimes.com/2006/08/23/dining/reviews/23unde.html for more information.



When we arrived, we were parched from our walk so we located a juice stand to the right of the entrance. They had large glass containers of different kinds of juices (see photos). I chose the Watermelon which was SOO good and perfectly refreshing for a hot summer day. A friend of mine ordered the cantaloupe which was equally tasty. I went back later to this stand to get an Orchata (a rice milk drink with cinnamon) which was the perfect after lunch drink...so refreshing!



We walked across the pathway to a blue tent which was selling Huaraches (among other things). They were HUGE and piling over the plate they were served on. I ordered a queso hurache con bisteck but others got the pork and said it was really good. The giant, elongated tortillas are homemade in front of your eyes alongside the sizzling meat and melting cheese. After the Huarache was cooked, they piled it with lettuce, onion and sour cream. I added guacamole and a fairly spicy red sauce to it.



The Huarache was so freakin delicious, messy and hard to eat but the strategy was to pull it out of the plat a little and wrap the plate around the rest. This seemed to prevent it from spilling everywhere but juice still squirted out the end...beware! I thought this was going to cost me a fortune just from the look of it but only set me back $5!!!! AWESOME!!! I will be going back here as much as possible this summer/fall, what a great place!



The monster huarache that's now in my belly!













Watermelon, cantaloupe, pineapple juices!

Our Trip to Coney Island

Listening to: Stereophonics - Maybe Tomorrow (Acoustic)

Today we ventured down to Coney island on a very long subway ride, it took an hour and a half on the D line to get down there. It was a really sunny and warm day so it was perfect to go to the beach...except I'd hardly call Coney Island an acceptable beach. It was swarming with crazy carnies and really shady people. That didn't stop beach goers from lounging out in the sand though. It made me miss the wonderful southern California beaches that actually have WAVES! Coney island looked like a giant stagnant lake...:-



Nonetheless, Michelle and I chomped down some tasty Nathan's hot dogs from the original location (they are the ones that do the hot dog eating contest every year on July 4th). We also made a trip up the boardwalk and went on the wonder wheel (it's a ferris wheel with swinging cars). We had a good time but it was relatively short since Michelle was feeling well and it was also bloody hot.



Tonight, for Michelle's last meal in New York we went down to the West Village and splurged on Bleeker St. Pizza...SO GOOD! I love that place!!!

Blackberried

Listening to: Alpha Rev - Wedding Day

Things are going okay today. This is the first time I am making an update from my blackberry which is pretty cool.



Along those lines, I don't think I've mentioned that I've been given a blackberry at work. Its actually quite a privilege since not everyone has one yet. It does add responsibility to my plate because I can access my email anywhere at anytime but its also a great organizational and time management tool.



I do find myself checking my email a lot more often at off hours so there is that downside of always being connected to work but I now have a device that let's me capture thoughts and tasks the minute I think of them. It also synchronizes my outlook calendar, notes and contacts so I can view them anytime I am away from my desk. I can jot down some quick thoughts when I'm waiting for a meeting or on the subway. I can set reminders very easily, both for work and personal, because I have this nifty device on me at all times. I can check morning email on my way to work in the morning so I am prepared when I get into the office. Even though everyone so far has told me this has been a leash wrapped tight around their neck, I have experienced it as more of a "getting things done" tool because it really helps me write down and remember things.

Michelle is a college graduate!

Listening to: Travis - Battleships

Just got back from a weekend in Boston. It was great to get away from the city even though it was going to another city although Boston really doesn't have a big city feeling like New York. The weekend went well even though it rained most of the time and unfortunately the hardest right when Michelle's graduation class walked onto field. Everyone was wearing ponchos and dealing with the rain pouring down but they managed to get through it and successfully get their diplomas. Congrats to the Graduate!



Other things we did in no particular order:

- Ate at Bertucci's (I AM OBSESSED WITH THEIR BREAD!)

- Went on a duckboat tour around Boston which was a lot of fun. I always enjoy hearing about the history of the city and we also got to go on the Charles river and see the city from afar.

- Walked part of the freedom trail

- Walked through the public garden

- Ate at Cheers

- Ate at Ruth's Chris (YUUUMMMMMMMM!)

- Ate at Mr. Bartley's!

- Stayed at Michelle's friends apartment (Thanks Joe!)

- Got drinks at Sunset Cantina



I'm sure I'm forgetting something but that's all I can think of now.



There's lot of new music out that I've been listening to including the new Travis album, the national, white rabbits, Elliott smith and maroon 5. I'm still waiting for Travis to announce tour dates and for the Stereophonics to come back to the US! I missed them the last time because I didn't know that many of their songs but now I realize how good they are and desperately want to see them live.



The temperature is starting to rise up and up although it's been quite nice the last couple of days. BUT, it's supposed to hit 90 by the end of the week which spurs plans for a rapid movement towards the west coast and to the beach! I'm not looking forward to a full summer of sweaty subways and blistering humidity...grumble grumble. It would be so nice if it could stay 72 all year round which I have decided is the perfect temperature for Gabe.



I've decided to renew my lease which wasn't too hard of a decision because of the costs and absolute hell and horror stories I've heard the moving process is in NY. I want to avoid it at all costs and stay here in my nice apartment another year. Unfortunately that means forking over a rent increase which really sucks because I really don't have a lot of income left over every month. Ya gotta do what ya gotta do though and this place is far too nice to give up. I'll sacrifice going out a few times a month for staying in a nice place in a very nice location. I have a feeling by this time next year I will be preparing to move though...but we'll see when the time comes.



I've been yelping a lot lately on http://www.yelp.com which is a site for reviewing restaurants (among other things) around the city. There are a lot of people that review places and I like to provide my own food critique as well as look for new places for Michelle and I as well as GSEEC to try out (gseec is GS Exploratory Eating Council which I am co-founded with two other exploratory eaters). That's one thing that NY has an abundance of: restaurants! There are so many to try and lately I've been very adventurous with my eating. One of my new favorites is Bleecker St Pizza which I first discovered with Michelle and then shortly thereafter took my Mom when she visited. The pizza is so craveable that I think about it whenever pizza pops in my mind. Other pizza places just don't seem appetizing anymore because all I want is Bleecker...sounds like of like crack to me. Haha! Anyways, you can check out some of my reviews if you'd like and also take a look at the places I've been recently: Yelp - Gabe F's Reviews.

New York Springtime with Mom

Listening to: New Travis Album

We've had a great weekend so far and it felt so good to take Friday off; I really needed that. My mom came into town on Thursday night and after a chaotic, latenight trip back on the subway we finally made it to my apartment. We got the trip off to a good start by eating mcdonalds sundaes as a midnight snack. Hey, it was the only thing open and I blame Michelle for getting me hooked on them!



Friday we started early and still had to endure an hour and a half wait for the Ellis Island/Liberty Island ferry. We had a nice boat ride although there were 798 other people besides us on it. Once we arrived at the island we had a very nice visit and learned a lot about the immigrants who came over. Over six million of them passed through the gates of Ellis Island...phenomenal. We tried to find my great, grand mother, Signe Johansson, but couldn't tell if the one we found was her or not. We're going to do some more investigating on the Ellis Island website.



After we returned to the city, we walked through downtown and over the Brooklyn bridge to one of my favorite spots in the city. We ate at Grimaldi's (DELICIOUS!) and my mom was so impressed with our olive, onion and sausage pizza! That's because it's absolutely divine. Mmmmmm, I can taste it now! We polished off the meal with a trip to the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory only a minute away.



Later that night we went for a nice walk in central park when we took many pictures of the spring flowers and green trees. My mom loved being out in a place that bloomed so vibrantly. I took her to the Great Burrito for dinner, which she loved (it's definitely the verde sauce that's the key) and yolato for dessert. All in all, it was a great day!



Today we made our way up through the top of Manhattan to the Bronx. We visited the New York Botanical Garden and had a absolutely amazing time. The flowers are so gorgeous and the grounds are very well kept there. My favorites were the cherry blossoms and my mom found Lilac's which turned out to be her favorite. They do smell quite good, I'll give her that.



Now we're resting up before hitting up a new Italian place on the UWS and getting a new pot for my kitchen.



Spring Time Photos! Check the rest out on my flickr page

Spring Weater Means Exploring

Listening to: Fall Out Boy - It's not a scene it's an arms race

After an usually hot week last week, spring weather is all around. Almost all the trees are in full bloom and the weather is a pleasant 65 degrees with a nice breeze. Michelle and I explored the west village, Greenwich village, Soho and little Italy yesterday. We grabbed a few slices of pizza at Bleecker Street Pizza (the Nonna Maria is SO GOOD!!!!) and had dinner in Little Italy at La Mela. The meal at La Mela was decent but not incredible. Afterwards we walked up Mott st and FINALLY had gelato from Ciao Bella. I had been wanting to go to this place for months and it did not disappoint; very yummy gelato.

Crunch Time is Coming to an End

Listening to: Embrace - Even Smaller Stones

I've been so busy at work that it's almost hard to contemplate how hard I've been working... I'm not even going to go into details because it makes me tired thinking about them. The good news is that the end of all this hard work is at least in sight. Today I finished the big presentation that I spent hours and hours (of my "free time" since it's for an extracurricular committee) preparing, tweaking and practicing. Ay, it feels so good to get that out of the way and with such success. I felt very confident presenting my material even though it was in front of my entire department of 170 people including senior management. It's finally over with and I don't have to spend my time in meetings.



My project and enhancements are wrapping up as well. How come everything has to come in the same week? It always seems to work out that way...a lot of big projects and tasks always create a crunch time because they fall on the same day or week. Not cool but that's life, right? I'll be finishing phase I of my project this Friday and I will also be rolling out my enhancements which is a big thing to get off my plate.



Hopefully things will cool off for a bit because I've seriously gained like 5-10 lbs during the past 3 ridiculously hectic weeks. I need to get some exercise!



And more good news is I finally had time to fix the email script that sends out a notice when I make a post. Enjoy!

Listening to: Orbital - The Box 2

It's been a GOOD Friday. I thoroughly enjoyed sleeping in today and catching up on some much needed sleep. It's been quite hectic around here the past couple of weeks and I haven't had any time to update, not like there's a whole lot of action write about. I take that back, I meant to write about Michelle's birthday last weekend but I didn't get a chance. In short, we had a GREAT time both hanging out in a lounge on Friday and going to a tapa's bar and club on Saturday. A lot of Michelle's friends came down from Boston to celebrate which added to the enjoyment of the party weekend.



So...back to today. We headed out late this afternoon for a walk through central park. It's fairly cold for April with temperatures hovering around 40 degrees. I was surprised that I needed to pull my long, winter coat out of the closet this week since it is indeed April. I'm not complaining though, more cold is fine by me. :) We walked across the park to the east side and checked out this gelato cafe I've been wanting to go to since I looked it up last July. Unfortunately, to my disappointment it was closed but Michelle promised me we'd go back so I'm holding that to her. We walked down a few blocks and admired the striking differences between the upper east and upper west. The street's are narrower, cleaner and slope more often. The feel and vibe of the UES is completely different, it's just hard to explain.



We continued walking down Madison ave until we reached 84th street where we headed into the Metropolitan Museum of Art. There were some great exhibits in there, far too many to see in one day. We vowed to return for another day of the Met. On our way to the met we passed by a restaurant that we thought only existed on 64th between 2nd and 3rd ave, at least that's the only location citysearch told us about. It was called Jackson Hole and known for it's super size, 7oz burgers. We ordered two and come chili cheese fries which was far too much for us to eat, even though we were really hungry. The food was SO GOOD thought, especially the giant burgers! YUM-O!



Later that night we went to see 300 at the Lincoln Center IMAX theater. What an experience that was! We both really enjoyed the movie and thought it was awesome to see it in an IMAX theater since the sound was great and the screen was HUGE! As soon as we walked out of the theater Michelle said "that was definitely a guy kind of movie." So true.



After gorging on burgers, fries and coldstone we decided to walk to 30 blocks back to my apartment. It was a really nice night for a walk and we barely noticed the distance. It actually isn't that far and it was so quiet at midnight. There are very few people out and the streets are relatively calm. We both really enjoyed our nice stroll back to 215 W 95th.

Addition: There was also some snow flurries that swept through the city on Friday which was really weird to see in April...

The Follow-up

Listening to: Death Cab for Cutie - Summer Skin

I'm following through on my promise from the last post, this entry will contain lots of pictures. I've changed my mind slightly though, I feel like writing tonight. Well...at least I felt like writing up until I starting organizing my music. I need to upload pictures if this is going to be a picture post so that's going to take some time. I'll write until the upload finishes.



I downloaded itunes the other day for a number of reasons. First, I've been curious how it compares to Winamp. It has it's ups and downs and annoyances. It's not an easy switch from winamp to itunes because the import playlist utility is absolute crap. I tried adding my existing playlists and none of them imported correctly. It's extremely frustrating to go through all my songs and delete the ones that imported incorrectly...ugh! Besides that, I really like the application. I like the look, feel and features more than winamp. Itunes is kind of a memory hog though which isn't bothersome unless I'm importing my whole music collection which is very large! The other reason for trying out itunes is due to my dying mp3 player. It's on the way out and it's replacement will be an ipod. I'm preparing for the future by starting to use it before my player takes a dive.



Michelle's birthday is coming up in less than a week. We're going to celebrate here in NY and all her friends from Boston are coming down to party. It looks like we're going to have a fun-filled weekend in two weeks.



I'm still enjoying the oranges immensely...so juicy and sweet! I went to Trader Joe's on Sunday, which is quite a trip for me since it's in union square, and I bought lots of good stuff. I found a variety pack of peppers that I used in my eggs this morning. It made them so much better! I've revolutionized my breakfast by adding a simple vegetable. I'm going to try adding tomatoes and mushrooms tomorrow. Mmmmm.



And now it's time for pictures! I've uploaded a ton more than you see here so be sure to check my flickr page for lots more!

You Must be Saying FINALLY!

Listening to: Stereophonics - Mr. Writer

Apologies for the hiatus. I've been really busy lately including a trip to Chicago last week and Michelle visiting this week for her spring break. I cannot recall details from the past 3 weeks because that's just not how my brain works but I have some pictures from a walk through the west village and dusk over the Chicago river that I'll add to the next entry which will be nothing but images.



One detail I do recall is receiving a very densly packed box yesterday. Michelle and I walked into the mail room and I saw a slip hanging on my box indicating a package has arrived. I didn't recall ordering anything and wasn't expecting any packages so I was puzzled. Five seconds later a light bulb popped on in my head and I had a very educated guess at what it was. We rushed upstairs to my apartment and opened the box. The sweet scent of fresh orangies wooshed out of the box and engulfed my mind with a sense of euphoria. My thoughts instantly wandered to the orange groves at home and how wonderful they smell during their peak season. Oh how I miss home.



...More to come, including MOZZIES!

Identifying My Strengths

Listening to: John Mayer - Gravity

I recently took a class on being a self-leader in the workplace. The class wasn't all that exciting but I received a few good points from it so I guess it was a good class. I learned more about identifying my strengths which really leads to identifying my natural talents. The presenters only summarized the issue and made me curious, I had to take the next step. Recently, I talked about leadership and responsibility with my manager who recommended a book to me entitled Now, Discover Your Strengths. I felt inspired from the class and from the talk with my manager so I spent $15 and bought the book which came with a great tool for identifying my talents. The survey consisted of 168 questions that asked me to rank my point of view on a certain situation. Afterwards, it listed my five main strengths. At this point I felt like I was taking a self-help test in a therapists office so I really didn't have any faith that it would be accurate. I read through the descriptions and felt some of them fit me but that they were off a bit. As I continued to read the book, it mentioned that the five themes resulting from the survey shouldn't be looked at as separate entities but instead built off one another. It was then that I compiled a few sentences summarizing each strength into one paragraph:

I am a problem solver who takes ownership of my commitments. I am honest and loyal and don't enjoy conflict. Alternately, I seek areas of agreement as well as treating everyone equally. Also, I work hard and take great satisfaction from being busy and productive. Lastly, I have a craving to know more and enjoy collecting and archiving all kinds of information.

Oddly enough, that does really sound like me...kind of crazy that a survey could summarize my strengths like that. Also, it's peculiar that the last point in the paragraph wasn't included as one of my five themes but I felt very strongly that it should. What do you think? Does that sum me up?



To try something fun and new, I'll recap my weekend in a stream of thoughts:

Fun, relaxing, sleep, Michelle, The Great Burrito, incredible Mexican food, entourage, entertainment, humor, closeness, Texas BBQ, pulled pork sandwich, central park, walking, playing, double Jamba juice, exploring, midtown, Moma, art, creativity, Picasso, Monet and snow!

Now for some more snow pictures! :) Be sure to check out the rest on my flickr page, there are lots!

Snow Snow Snow - Wintery Goodness

Listening to: Howie Day - Be There

I'll be eating a homemade chocolate covered banana while writing the first part of this entry. They have become a tasty treat of mine that are very simple to make. However, after this past weekend I shouldn't have anymore sweets for the rest of the year. I think getting Michelle a giant heart shaped cookie-cake from Mrs. Fields was a very bad idea... It was sooo good at the time though and I've been enjoying it the entire weekend. Michelle ate a few pieces but I admit that I did the most damage. Every time I went into the kitchen I would slice off a piece of the pie and little by little I made my mark. I'm guilty as charged. Another sinful treat was the chocolate covered strawberries I made for Michelle. I bought some ghiradelli dark chocolate and pulled a recipe from foodnetwork.com and went to town. They turned out really well!! What made them even tastier was some champagne I picked up that turned out to be very good for the price.



A very fun experience Michelle and I had was going to the play Avenue Q. We tried a few weeks ago to get lottery tickets but didn't get any. This time we lucked out and Michelle's name was chosen first from the big bucket of names. We were both really excited about getting front row seats for only $20 each. It was my first Broadway show too and what a show it was...SO FUNNY!!!! We both had a great time and are going to try to get tickets for Wicked next weekend. :) Overall, Michelle and I had a great weekend in the city together. Although we didn't do a ton of stuff it was still fun to hang around the apartment and stay out of the cold. We made some yummy food too and I just had an all around good time. --Thanks for making the trek down here sweetie!--



So on the the title...there's been snow on the ground for the past week and it's been very exciting. It's cool to see white covered cars, trees, patches of street (although most of it is an ugly brown by now) and it's stayed cold enough so the snow hasn't melted. Warmer temps are predicted for the coming week so I set out today to get some pictures of central park before the white blanket disappeared. When I first arrived it was such a breathtaking sight...the entire park was as white as could be except for a few paths carved out. It was amazing and gorgeous and great for pictures. I loved walking through the cold, snowy fields and just feeling winter all around me! This is what I was waiting for the whole year and it was hard to take it all in. I tried to capture some of what I witnessed but I messed up the settings on my camera so a lot of the pictures came out grainy or too light. For the techies, my ISO was set too high and the exposure was too long so the pictures were blurring and grainy. I snapped a couple of good ones though as long as you don't zoom it all the way.



I've been playing a lot of guitar lately and it feels so good! I love jamming with my electric on Guitar Rig. It's probably one of the best pieces of software I have and it makes the guitar experience so much richer. There are hundreds of settings and thousands of combinations to choose from...it never gets boring. I've been trying to record some new stuff but Sonar has been giving me problems lately (it's the software I use to record). I recorded some long solo's just for fun but they are just too raw, there's lot of mistakes and switching...it's basically just 9 minutes of experimenting which nobody wants to listen to, haha.



Without further ado...

SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Missing in Action

Listening to: Howie Day - Don't Panic

Don't worry, I'm not dead...just really lazy. :)

My Addiction to Chocolate

Listening to: The Killers - When You Were Young

I'm not going to lie, I'm in love with the chocolately goodness that resides in the most decadent of treats. I'm a fan of the dark, the creamy and the irresistibly delicious scent of cocoa wafting in the air. The most dangerous provider of my sinfully wondrous addiction is a patisserie called Financier. With three convenient locations in Manhattan all of which are dangerously located near my office, it is known as the house of sinful indulgence.



Today I succumbed to the ever dangerous white & dark chocolate layered mousse cake. I witnessed its true power as I am now incapacitated by its richness. I am sitting here breathing heavily from dark chocolate blow this dessert has dealt me. Never again...but we both know the day will come again. =)

Listening to: Fading sounds of Incubus ringing in my ears

WOOOOW!!! WHAT AN AMAZING SHOW!!!! Incubus was simply incredible. They played a ton of great songs with a spectacular light show to complement the set. The crowd was high energy which made it all the better because the band really picked up that vibe. Let's start from the beginning though...



I arrived at Hammerstein Ballroom, 34th st between 8th and 9th ave. At first it didn't look like there was a line to get in but oooohh was I wrong on that one. The line kept going and going and going...until finally I had almost made a full circle around the block...ridiculous! Now for some reference. My friend Eliot was supposed to go to the show with me but he was really sick and couldn't go...great! I emailed all my friends to see if anyone was interested but no dice. I've gone to a couple of shows alone, when I REALLY wanted to see the band and this was another one of those occurrences.



So I tried to ready myself for seeing a concert alone...the problem is it's boring when you don't have anyone to talk to. I decided to step out of my shell and be extroverted for the night. When I arrived at the back of the line I talked to this guy and girl from long island who both went to school at Stony Brook. They weren't very responsive but I didn't take it badly, I just separated from them when we through the doors to find a more lively bunch.



This venue was HUGE. The floor was massive and it was only about ¼ full at the time I came in. I made my way up to the middle of the floor and parked myself next to a group of four. I wanted to chat with them but I couldn't hear anything they were saying. After about 10 minutes they stopped talking and I asked the front guy if he'd seen Incubus before. He said he'd seen them 5 times and that started a whole conversation which led to me having people to talk to for the hour we had to wait before the show started. Two of the people were from Philadelphia and the other two went to Rutgers. It was very cool talking to them throughout the show and one of them even liked Phantom Planet!



On to the show...the opener Albert Hammond Jr. was really good. I downloaded his stuff last night and listened to it all day. I really dig his music and he's actually from NY so he plays around here a lot. I liked a lot of his riff's and the lead guitarist could rip it up although he only saved it for the end of the set.



Incubus came on and played Quicksand which transitions into Kiss to Send Me Off. I loved the way those two songs mix into each other...brilliant!! The light show was awesome and I tried to capture some of it with my camera but it just couldn't get enough light. That made me think about what I'd learned with my new camera. I turned the ISO (sensitivity to light) all the way up and turned continuous mode on. The combination of those made it easier to take a bunch of pictures very quickly and hope that one of them turns out. They come out grainier but at least they're not blurry.













Have I said the set was incredible yet? In the middle, Brandon and Mike sent the guys off and played Pardon Me and Drive acoustic...it was so amazing it's hard to fit it into words. They played some of my favorites which included Dig, Anna Molly, Wish You Were Here, Paper Shoes, Circles, Sick Sad Little World and many more off Morning View...honestly I'm drawing a blank because I'm still getting over the shock and fatigue of seeing them live. It was definitely worth it though. What an experience and adventure!