Travelling without a car is such a luxury in the NYC metropolitan region. Leaving Brooklyn on Thursday at around 12:30PM (I had breakfast with Peter and then went back to his place to read the paper while he went off to work) and walked four blocks to the subway station. I waited five minutes for a 2/3 train which took me directly to Penn Station. A $10.05 (why the extra nickel??) NJ Transit train ticket and a wait of 15 minutes, I was on my way back to my beloved state of New Jersey. An hour later, Jim J (a former Lville colleague) picked me up at the newly finished Hamilton train station and I was at my destination. Total travel time? Two and a half hours. Much better than the Baltimore to Washington journey of earlier in the week.
Jim and I played golf at the Lville course. Now you have to realize that one of the foundation of my friendship with Jim is sports and gambling. Since we are fairly even in golfing ability, the game was to beat the other person on a hole so the loser had to carry the golf bag on the next hole. This theme will continue. I will report that I was off my game (I carried on 6 holes) and had some bad luck (none of the six holes were par 3's).
That evening, I went to my dear friend Tim A. home (he's traded up homes since I last saw him here in NJ in 1998) where I had dinner with his friends Elvin and Patrick. Tim and I have a history and he always makes me laugh. I slept at Tim's house.
In the morning, I went to visit another friend in Doylestown, PA. I tried being smart and taking the back roads from Princeton to Doylestown but ended up getting lost a couple of times and the actual distance between the two places is much farther than I though.
The afternoon was spent "down the shore" as Jim and I fed our gambling itches and went to Atlantic City. We arrived around 2PM, played Spanish 21 (a alternative form of Blackjack) and I won money immediately. Unfortunately, if I win money to quick, the itch to play has not been fully dealt with so I continue to play. Alas, by the time Jim and I walked away, I was only up $25, having at one point been up at least $150. I started with $100.
Jim and I then went down to the beach, stuck our feet in the sand and also waded in the Atlantic Ocean. The New Jersey shore is gorgeous and don't let anyone ever tell you otherwise. Jim and I returned to the tables for a second round of Spanish 21. We gave ourselves a time limit and when we walked away, Jim won $5 and I won $55. Not too shabby.
On the way home, Jim and I continued our betting ways but making proposition bets. An example, would the next car that passed us be driven by a male or a female? Will the next overpass have a street name that begun with the letter A-L or M-Z. You get the picture.
Friday, July 09, 2004
Wednesday, July 07, 2004
I HEART New York
If you ask me to try and describe NYC, my personally held stereotype of this city is one of being overcrowded, unmanagably large and overwhelming. But everytime I come here, these adjectives are completely dispelled. The city is completely walkable, the overwhelming aspect is actually a chance for discovery and there are all these nooks and crannies of privacy and quiet in the city that appear seemingly out of no where.
Transportation in and out of the city, is also quite easy. I took the train up from DC and it took three hours and dropped me off right in Manhattan at Penn Station. From there, I took a cab up to 61st and Madison to have lunch with my dear friend Jennifer C.
Insert picture of Ernie and Jennifer here (it is MIA because my camera is testing my will and not focusing, instead giving me pictures of blobs the resemble my friends and I)
I'll be giving you a meal by meal description of my two days in NYC. Jennifer and I had sushi at a restaurant in Midtown. Jennifer and I met 14 (yes 14) summers ago on the famed "Love Boat". Afterwards, I went to her office to hang with her and met a person who works in her office that at one time worked for Enron. I got one of his cards, it might be worth something on Ebay someday.
I spent the afternoon in midtown and down in the West Village. I then met up with a former Lawrenceville student, Marta HB.
Insert picture of Marta here
She is starting her masters at NYU and has just moved into a great little place on West 4th Street in Greenwich Village. We walked over to the East Village to Little India (East 6th Street, thank you Nora B) for food. Marta is a "starving" graduate student and so I felt like a Dad taking his little girl out to eat. On our way home, I channelled Sue Chen, as I saw some discarded chairs on the sidewalk and picked them up and brought them to Marta's apartment for the entire collection of Marta's furniture is an air mattress.
This morning, Marta and I walked out into the Village looking for something to eat. The great thing about NYC is that even though we really didn't know what we wanted, we knew that if we pointed ourselved in the right direction, we would find something. And there it was, Tartine, a French Bakery, and there was breakfast.
Marta and I went our separate ways and I met up with Jose (the missing member of the Sex and the City group I am friends with). Jose moved to NYC back in April and is loving it, and making the requisite adjustments. Lunch was eaten at a small hole in the wall Cuban restaurant on 8th Avenue. Remember, conversation topics between SATC members is to remain amongst members, but let's just say some dishing was going ON. Afterwards, Jose and I talked our way into getting a tour at the new Chelsea Piers gym by claiming we were transplants to NYC and were looking for a gym. I think the woman who gave us the tour say through our rouse. Afterwards, we walked along the Hudson River and watched the "scenery" go by and sat along the benches. The entire day has been done on foot, no wheeled transportation as of yet. I think this is why I don't really see many obese people in NYC, everyone walks.
Right now, I am on Canal Street, awaiting my friend Ian M. who is going to take me to his favorite Vietnamese Restaurant. Following dinner, I will trek to Brooklyn Heights and stay with my Cornell friend Peter S.
Granted, I am seeing friends back to back to back and therefore being entertained constantly, but the city itself is invigorating and fascinating. I heart NYC..........
Transportation in and out of the city, is also quite easy. I took the train up from DC and it took three hours and dropped me off right in Manhattan at Penn Station. From there, I took a cab up to 61st and Madison to have lunch with my dear friend Jennifer C.
I'll be giving you a meal by meal description of my two days in NYC. Jennifer and I had sushi at a restaurant in Midtown. Jennifer and I met 14 (yes 14) summers ago on the famed "Love Boat". Afterwards, I went to her office to hang with her and met a person who works in her office that at one time worked for Enron. I got one of his cards, it might be worth something on Ebay someday.
I spent the afternoon in midtown and down in the West Village. I then met up with a former Lawrenceville student, Marta HB.
She is starting her masters at NYU and has just moved into a great little place on West 4th Street in Greenwich Village. We walked over to the East Village to Little India (East 6th Street, thank you Nora B) for food. Marta is a "starving" graduate student and so I felt like a Dad taking his little girl out to eat. On our way home, I channelled Sue Chen, as I saw some discarded chairs on the sidewalk and picked them up and brought them to Marta's apartment for the entire collection of Marta's furniture is an air mattress.
This morning, Marta and I walked out into the Village looking for something to eat. The great thing about NYC is that even though we really didn't know what we wanted, we knew that if we pointed ourselved in the right direction, we would find something. And there it was, Tartine, a French Bakery, and there was breakfast.
Marta and I went our separate ways and I met up with Jose (the missing member of the Sex and the City group I am friends with). Jose moved to NYC back in April and is loving it, and making the requisite adjustments. Lunch was eaten at a small hole in the wall Cuban restaurant on 8th Avenue. Remember, conversation topics between SATC members is to remain amongst members, but let's just say some dishing was going ON. Afterwards, Jose and I talked our way into getting a tour at the new Chelsea Piers gym by claiming we were transplants to NYC and were looking for a gym. I think the woman who gave us the tour say through our rouse. Afterwards, we walked along the Hudson River and watched the "scenery" go by and sat along the benches. The entire day has been done on foot, no wheeled transportation as of yet. I think this is why I don't really see many obese people in NYC, everyone walks.
Right now, I am on Canal Street, awaiting my friend Ian M. who is going to take me to his favorite Vietnamese Restaurant. Following dinner, I will trek to Brooklyn Heights and stay with my Cornell friend Peter S.
Granted, I am seeing friends back to back to back and therefore being entertained constantly, but the city itself is invigorating and fascinating. I heart NYC..........
Tuesday, July 06, 2004
Movie, Museum and Food
What other way is there to spend an afternoon with friends in DC? After arising on this national day off, we dined on blueberry muffins (whipped up easily as only Leah can do) continuing the fresh blueberry theme of the weekend. Soon the dishes were done and a plan for the afternoon was concocted. My friend Charles E., a one-of-a kind sort himself, joined us.
Leah and Rich (alas, no Charles and yes, still having camera issues
Stop 1 was an afternoon matinee to see Napoleon Dynamite. I must qualify that this movie was reviewed favorably on NPR so I take full responsibility for selecting this flick. Perhaps one of my three mates liked the film, but I again agreed with Roger Ebert and gave it a low mark. I think there is an element of me being so trained by the structure of a movie that I expect there to be an introduction and some event to happen to send the movie into its main plot line. Here in Napoleon Dynamite, I just kept waiting for something to happen, and it never did. One thing, however, is that there were so many memorable scenes in the movie that I, and the other three, kept bringing up that it must have affected me in some way. This is NOT a traditional movie, but I think it might become one of those cult classics.
After the movie, we moved down to Chinatown and had a late lunch at Full Kee. This was a full meeting of math club. Of course you know I am a member. Charles is a founding member of Math Club. Rich is a lawyer who majored in Math and Leah used to teach Math with me at Lawrenceville and has a PHD in Statistics. You know we talked Math, most importantly the Central Limit Theorem. I have to admit that the three of them nailed me on my decision NOT to see Fahrenheit 911. Charles hypothesizes that I am doing it for contrarian reasons. Leah says I'm succumbing to "willful naievete". It hits home, so I will not yet go on record in this blog with my "supposed reasons". This is to be continued.
The last stop of the day (minus Charles) was a trip to the International Spy Museum. For those of you who visit or live in the DC area, it's an interesting place, but ultimately kind of disappointing. First off, skip the special exhibit on terrorism. It's kitchy and lame. As for the main museum area, it starts off with SO much potential. There is this place where you take on an identity and you think you are going to follow this theme through the entire museum. After the first room, it gets completely dropped. As for the rest of the museum, there are some great things, but also some information overload. The museum is worth a visit, but not something to build the day around if you are visiting.
Lastly, I've always said the DC Metro and the BART are essentially the same. Rich has helped me change my mind on that. BART brings people from around the Bay Area into SF and dumps them there. Here in DC, the Metro goes to most parts of the city and you can hop on and off easily within the district itself. DC's Metro is much better designed than BART.
Stop 1 was an afternoon matinee to see Napoleon Dynamite. I must qualify that this movie was reviewed favorably on NPR so I take full responsibility for selecting this flick. Perhaps one of my three mates liked the film, but I again agreed with Roger Ebert and gave it a low mark. I think there is an element of me being so trained by the structure of a movie that I expect there to be an introduction and some event to happen to send the movie into its main plot line. Here in Napoleon Dynamite, I just kept waiting for something to happen, and it never did. One thing, however, is that there were so many memorable scenes in the movie that I, and the other three, kept bringing up that it must have affected me in some way. This is NOT a traditional movie, but I think it might become one of those cult classics.
After the movie, we moved down to Chinatown and had a late lunch at Full Kee. This was a full meeting of math club. Of course you know I am a member. Charles is a founding member of Math Club. Rich is a lawyer who majored in Math and Leah used to teach Math with me at Lawrenceville and has a PHD in Statistics. You know we talked Math, most importantly the Central Limit Theorem. I have to admit that the three of them nailed me on my decision NOT to see Fahrenheit 911. Charles hypothesizes that I am doing it for contrarian reasons. Leah says I'm succumbing to "willful naievete". It hits home, so I will not yet go on record in this blog with my "supposed reasons". This is to be continued.
The last stop of the day (minus Charles) was a trip to the International Spy Museum. For those of you who visit or live in the DC area, it's an interesting place, but ultimately kind of disappointing. First off, skip the special exhibit on terrorism. It's kitchy and lame. As for the main museum area, it starts off with SO much potential. There is this place where you take on an identity and you think you are going to follow this theme through the entire museum. After the first room, it gets completely dropped. As for the rest of the museum, there are some great things, but also some information overload. The museum is worth a visit, but not something to build the day around if you are visiting.
Lastly, I've always said the DC Metro and the BART are essentially the same. Rich has helped me change my mind on that. BART brings people from around the Bay Area into SF and dumps them there. Here in DC, the Metro goes to most parts of the city and you can hop on and off easily within the district itself. DC's Metro is much better designed than BART.
Sunday, July 04, 2004
A DC 4th of July
CP: New industry term......."BLOGGABLE MOMENT"
Unbelievable!!!! Simply Unbelievable!!!
I am not a man to use exclamation points, but if you read this entry, you will understand the reason for the excessive use of exclamation points I used in the title. Ok, here goes....
After leaving Boston, I drove to Lawrenceville to meet up and stay the night with my friend Jim. On Sunday the 4th of July, he and I got up early and swam with his swim team in Philadelphia at a long course outdoor pool. Except for the green color of the water and the excessive amounts of chlorine, it was a refreshing swim.
After lunch, Jim and I drove to suburban Baltimore to pick up Raymonde and Erin, two former Lawrenceville teachers, and then drive to DC to see the fireworks. Due to various circumstances, Ray, Erin and Jim decided to stay in Baltimore instead of trekking to DC. During our conversation, I mentioned that my car was in South Bend being fixed. It turns out that Erin and Ray will be in South Bend next weekend to visit Erin's parents. I was planning on driving to South Bend on Sunday July 11th and staying in the motel 6 that night and waiting it out. Now, it looks like I will be dining with Erin's family and having people I know to hang with in South Bend. Unbelievable #1.
But it gets SO much more unbelievable. Because the three were not going to DC, they drove me to Baltimore's Penn Station so I could catch a train to DC. I got on the AMTRAK and it should have taken me about an hour to get to Washington's Union Station and then from there I would get to my friends' Leah and Rich's apartment to watch the fireworks from the roof of their building. All great plans go awry. The train gets to it's first stop, the BWI rail station. We sat there for five minutes and then the conductor told us that due to a substation power outage down the line it would be at least two hours until the train would start moving. WHAAATTTTT!!!
The train riders, including me, all poured off the train and started forming groups to share cabs to different points in the DC metro area. I got into a group but then things start to get weird with this pushy guy and I kind of moved away from that group and got into my zen mode again and thought to myself "it will all work out." Unfortunately, there are NO cabs at the rail station. Instead, we had to get on the shuttle bus to take us to the airport itself and from there we would catch cabs.
At the airport, as we are all getting off the bus, I look over and see
My friend Nora B.
Yes, it is Nora, my friend who lives in the DC area. She was on my same train coming down from New York City. We hugged and I learned that she had called her boyfriend and he was coming up from Virginia to pick her up. It was decided that they would drop me off at a metro station and I would continue my journey from there. It was going to take Matt, her boyfriend at least an hour to get to us, so we got something to eat and caught up on our lives in the year since I've seen her.
Unbelievable!!!! If the train had not stopped, I would never have known that a dear college friend of mine was on the same train I was on. Now she was bailing me out of an unfortunate situation.
We got me to the New Carrollton Station and I eventually made it to Leah and Rich's around 8:30PM. That gave me about 45 minutes to spare in order to catch the fireworks.
UNBELIEVABLE!
After leaving Boston, I drove to Lawrenceville to meet up and stay the night with my friend Jim. On Sunday the 4th of July, he and I got up early and swam with his swim team in Philadelphia at a long course outdoor pool. Except for the green color of the water and the excessive amounts of chlorine, it was a refreshing swim.
After lunch, Jim and I drove to suburban Baltimore to pick up Raymonde and Erin, two former Lawrenceville teachers, and then drive to DC to see the fireworks. Due to various circumstances, Ray, Erin and Jim decided to stay in Baltimore instead of trekking to DC. During our conversation, I mentioned that my car was in South Bend being fixed. It turns out that Erin and Ray will be in South Bend next weekend to visit Erin's parents. I was planning on driving to South Bend on Sunday July 11th and staying in the motel 6 that night and waiting it out. Now, it looks like I will be dining with Erin's family and having people I know to hang with in South Bend. Unbelievable #1.
But it gets SO much more unbelievable. Because the three were not going to DC, they drove me to Baltimore's Penn Station so I could catch a train to DC. I got on the AMTRAK and it should have taken me about an hour to get to Washington's Union Station and then from there I would get to my friends' Leah and Rich's apartment to watch the fireworks from the roof of their building. All great plans go awry. The train gets to it's first stop, the BWI rail station. We sat there for five minutes and then the conductor told us that due to a substation power outage down the line it would be at least two hours until the train would start moving. WHAAATTTTT!!!
The train riders, including me, all poured off the train and started forming groups to share cabs to different points in the DC metro area. I got into a group but then things start to get weird with this pushy guy and I kind of moved away from that group and got into my zen mode again and thought to myself "it will all work out." Unfortunately, there are NO cabs at the rail station. Instead, we had to get on the shuttle bus to take us to the airport itself and from there we would catch cabs.
At the airport, as we are all getting off the bus, I look over and see
Yes, it is Nora, my friend who lives in the DC area. She was on my same train coming down from New York City. We hugged and I learned that she had called her boyfriend and he was coming up from Virginia to pick her up. It was decided that they would drop me off at a metro station and I would continue my journey from there. It was going to take Matt, her boyfriend at least an hour to get to us, so we got something to eat and caught up on our lives in the year since I've seen her.
Unbelievable!!!! If the train had not stopped, I would never have known that a dear college friend of mine was on the same train I was on. Now she was bailing me out of an unfortunate situation.
We got me to the New Carrollton Station and I eventually made it to Leah and Rich's around 8:30PM. That gave me about 45 minutes to spare in order to catch the fireworks.
UNBELIEVABLE!
Camping in Boston Harbor
The Exeter conference wrapped up on Friday morning and I drove down to Boston to meet my friend from college, Jeff O. I parked the car at the Riverside T stop (information for you Boston lovers) and took the T to Government Center and met Jeff. We camped on Lovell's Island in the Boston Harbor National Park Area. These glacial drumlins are small islands (ranging in size from less than and acre to a couple hundred of acres) that have been preserved as a national park area in which camping is allowed.
Jeff and I took a boat from Long Wharf to George's Island, the most built up of the islands in the harbor. From there we took a smaller interisland shuttle boat to Lovell's Island. During the early 1900's these islands were used by the military, as forts and gunsights were built to protect Boston from attack during the Spanish-American War as well as WWI. Since then, they have fallen out of service, but you can still see the remnants of these structures on the islands. We were about five miles away from downtown, but could see and hear the flights coming in and out of Logan Airport as well as see the fireworks that were being set off in the town of Hull.
After a night's sleep on what turned out to be mighty hard-packed sand, Jeff and I took the boat back to Boston. We ate in Boston's North End, which is now quite accessible given the freeway is underground due to the infamous Big Dig. After a great Italian lunch we had dessert at Mike's Pastry's. Order online and have fresh cannoli shipped to you. Yum.
It was a great way to spend a night in Boston with a dear friend. Lastly, here are three memorable topics of conversations revolved around three main topics. 1) alternative voting methods to plurality voting, 2) the death penalty and 3) how we both tend not to tell our mother's very much about our lives and why. But Mom, you have to admit that this blog is keeping you updated, huh?
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