Friday, August 31, 2007

What if your commute looked like this?

glumbert.com - Commuting in Mumbai

Can you imagine? The doors don't even close! I think I'd rather walk...

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Squirrels




Yesterday had a squirrel theme......there's a squirrel's nest on a window ledge in my building at Columbia and a squirrel was stuck on the top of a foul pole at the Yankees game.

Monday, August 27, 2007

Big Apple BearHawks


This is our team name for our fantasy football team. We joined Matt's league and had the draft yesterday. It was in Richmond, so we made our picks over the phone. Ethan and I are new to this fantasy league stuff, but we managed to pick a pretty good team. We drew the #1 draft pick and choose LT. Must be beginner's luck! We also have Tom Brady (with Matt Hasselbeck as backup), I managed to sneak in two Seahawk players onto our team (we also got Deion Branch). We are excited to start the season in 2 weeks! This will be a good way for me to learn more about football.

Sunday, August 26, 2007

Hot and Sticky in the City

Ethan's college friend Ben and his girlfriend Kelsey came to visit over the weekend. They took the bus up from DC, about a 4 or 5 hour trip, depending on traffic. Their first night sleeping on the air mattress was quite eventful. Luna decided to play on the mattress and I came into the living room to find her pouncing on the sheets. After waking up in the middle of the night on a deflated bed, Ben and Kelsey found a few tiny holes that matched Luna's claws. Ethan got out his trusty bike tire repair kit and patched the holes right up. Luna is now banned from the air mattress.

Saturday morning we headed out to the LES (Lower East Side) to a really good brunch spot. The Clinton Street Baking Co. is always packed on the weekend and we waited about an hour and half. Vivek, another college friend, and his wife, Stuti, met up with us. They live in downtown Manhattan. That's all of us in the photo, waiting for our table. Saturday was miserably humid -the temperature got up to 87, but with the humidity factored in, it felt like it was 100. After a great breakfast of blueberry pancakes and fruit salad, we hit the streets, and met up with Ben's friend Tim, who took the train down from Massachusetts. We walked up to Union Square, stopping along the way to get a Mister Softee. In West Coast terms, this means an ice cream cone from the ice cream man. I ate the cone in record time, so it didn't melt all over my hands and shirt. By the time we got to Union Square, we were all very hot, sweaty and ready to go back to Brooklyn. I think it was the hottest day of the summer.


That night, Ben, Kelsey, Tim, Ethan and I went to an Upright Citizen's Brigade show. It's an improv theater troup, where many Saturday Night Live actors got their start in comedy. It's amazing how fast they can think on their feet and come up with clever stories in front of 150 people. Most of the skits were funny, especially one about a guy who has a blog that no one ever leaves comments on. Not that I'm hinting at anything. :)

The theater is in Chelsea and after the show, we went in search of some dessert. We walked by a HUGE gathering of NYPD cops, cars, and vans. There were black uniforms everywhere! It didn't seem like they were worried about anything, they were just standing around, taking up the whole sidewalk and creating a traffic jam on 8th Ave. Our theory was that a training of some kind was going on, maybe emergency response? I tried to take a picture, but it didn't turn out very clear.

We had a fun weekend and saw many new areas of town. We expect to explore some more in September with more visitors. Ethan's sister, Erin, is coming into town with a friend, and Ethan's parents come the next weekend. It should be a beautiful time to see the city, cooler temps and leaves changing color.

Saturday, August 18, 2007

Lombardi's and pinkberry

My friend Danica was in town this week for work. I took Friday off so we could hang out in Manhattan and do a little shopping. We headed down to SoHo in the morning and then went to Little Italy for lunch. I took her to Lombardi's, which according to the plaque near the front door, is America's first pizzeria.



It's the traditional NY coal oven pizza and so yummy. We had the white pie, my favorite. After lunch, we headed across the street for dessert. Remember a few months back I told you about the rice pudding place, Rice to Riches? Well, the popular California chain called pinkberry just opened up next door. People in CA rave about this frozen yogurt, which comes in 2 flavors---original and green tea.





There are lots of toppings to choose from (fresh fruit to Cocoa Pebbles). I went with the original flavor with strawberries and raspberries. It tasted like plain yogurt, a little sour, but the fruit helped by adding some sweetness. Apparently it only has 25 calories in a 5 oz dish, so I guess that's why Hollywood folks love it so much. Danica and I were happy to try it out but I think I'll stick with Ben & Jerry's.

Monday, August 13, 2007

Weekend in Richmond



Ethan and I headed to Richmond, VA last Friday to visit his brother and family. Matt and Courtney had a baby girl (Alison) seven weeks ago. It was great to spend time with them and play with the kids.

Peyton is almost 3 and has so much energy. He loves trains and sports --- throughout the weekend he showed us how he can hit a golf ball, bump a volleyball, play baseball, catch and throw a football, make a layup, use a badminton racket and run faster than Ethan. He is such a fun kid!


Alison is precious and so adorable... and thought Ethan was pretty funny. She loves her Uncle Ethan!





We went to the botanic gardens in Richmond. It was beautiful and the perfect place to go on a hot day. The children's garden has a water park with fountains and spraying nozzles. Peyton had a blast.

On Sunday we went to a Richmond Braves game, Atlanta's AAA team. It was a hot afternoon and luckily our seats were in the shade most of the time. It was fun and reminded us of being at an Aquasox game.

Nice hat, Peyton!

The stadium served helmet cups of ice cream and Ethan saw they had 4 teams to choose from---the Angels, Reds, Braves and Mariners! He went to get some ice cream and they were sold out of the M's cups. I think that's a good sign there really are some M's fans on the East Coast.

And in honor of the NFL preseason and fantasy football, we leave you with a message from Peyton (and Ethan).

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

A Tornado in Brooklyn

The Northeast had some crazy weather this morning. We woke up to a thunderstorm around 5:00 a.m. --the lightning lit up our room and the thunder seemed to be right above our apt. It seemed like your typical East Coast thunderstorm, until the morning commute started.



It took me 3 1/2 hours to get to Columbia....an hour wait to push my way onto a packed F train, another hour to get into Manhattan and then I find out the next train I need to catch is not running. Commuters poured out onto the streets and either walked the rest of the way or figured out what bus to take. I have never caught the bus in Manhattan, so I called one of my coworkers for help. She told me where to go and which bus to catch. I walked into the office at 11:30. Normally, commuting by subway is great, I have no complaints. However, on a day like today, I wish I worked closer to home...




I found out tonight that reports of a tornado in SW Brooklyn have been confirmed by scientists. A tornado in Brooklyn!?! Ethan and I are closer to the NW part of the borough so our neighborhood was spared (and luckily our ceiling didn't leak).

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

NJ and Long Island

Last weekend, Ethan and I went to New Jersey and Long Island. Ethan's supervisor had the annual squad picnic at his house in Westfield, NJ. We bummed a ride from Ethan's coworker Seamus and his wife, otherwise we would have taken the train and had someone pick us up at the train station. Times like that it would be nice to have a car here, but usually we get around pretty well without. I got to meet some of Ethan's squadmates and their families. Definately not the same comeraderie as the Seattle squad, but they were nice (except for the guy who bugged me about hating the Yankees). :) The war is on between the Mariners and the Yankees trying to win the Wild Card....


On Sunday, we headed out to Jones Beach State Park. It was a bit of a trek. We walked 3/4 of a mile to the 1 train, went 2 stops to the Long Island Railroad (LIRR), got on the train, went 3 stops to the Jamiaca Station, transferred to the train to Freeport, got on a bus in Freeport that took us to Jones Beach. It took about an hour and a half to get there, but it was worth it.

Jones Beach was packed --- I had never seen so many people swimming in the water. We rented a beach umbrella and trekked down the beach to find a not too crowded spot. The photo below is what Jones Beach would look like on a "slow" day. We were there on a very busy day, apparently, the parking lots can hold up to 23,500 cars!

I didn't bring my camera because sand, a camera and leaving it unattended aren't a good combination. So I got this photo from the Internet. We spent the day reading and cooling off in the water. The Atlantic Ocean was a little chilly but not too bad once you get hot enough on the sand. We survived our first trip to a NY beach without a sunburn.

This week, Danica arrives for another NYC gift show. She'll be in town for a week. Looking forward to hanging out with her.

This weekend we head to Richmond to visit Matt, Courtney, Peyton and our new niece, Alison.