Experiences this week

Here is a shot of the Penington. The arrow points to what will be my window on the 1st of May. It's a cozy little room, right next to the third floor's three bathrooms. Some of the rooms have beds high up off the floor with ladders going to them, but I chose against that because it makes the bed hard to get to. I only need three things: a bathroom, a computer desk, and a bed. As long as they are all easy to use and get to, I'm as content as a pig in mud.



Chips cleaners. They're 5 doors down from the Penington. They wash and fold my clothes for $10, which I can earn in under 15 minutes working on a website. If I do my own clothes, I'd have to find quarters for the washer and dryer, then use $3-$4 dollars in quarters. I'd spend my day hauling the clothes down, putting them into the washer, making sure the washer doesn't stall due to imbalance, moving them over into the dryer, cleaning out the lint filter, and folding them. Not to mention having to keep a stock of detergent. Yay for Chips!


I was walking along when I stumbled upon my favorite building: the Flatiron building. This building has always captured my imagination, although I can't say exactly why. One opinion from around the web:

The Flatiron Building is a favorite of New Yorkers and admirers around the world, perhaps because it symbolizes so much of how New Yorkers see themselves: defiant, bold, sophisticated, and interesting--with just enough embedded grime and soot to highlight the details.

The Flatiron building, on 23rd street, is among the first skyscrapers to be built in NYC. With a then-revolutionary steel frame, it towered to 285 feet. With its odd wedge shape, coming to a point at only 6 feet wide, the Flatiron building was known for the unusual wind currents around it. Specifically, it was known in the early 1900s because those winds would cause women's skirts to fly around, exposing their legs which at the time were rarely seen publicly. This caused young men to loiter around, hoping for a glimpse. The local police had to shoo the men away, and were said to be giving them the 23 skidoo. This phrase has passed out of common usage, but it's descendant, the word "scram", is still in use today.


Caught this guy writing something on the pavement with chalk. Unfortunately, I never went back to see what he wrote, and it's raining all this week.


I finally figured my way around my own subway station. It's a weird one, and I could never seem to come out of the exit I wanted to. Not only does it have that odd shape, but it's three separate floors which twist and turn all about. I spent a few minutes walking around it today until I got my head around how to identify my favorite exit every time.


Coming back from the Chat 'n' Chew on Wednesday, I stumbled across a Farmers Market! In my very own Union Square! They're open year round, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, from 8am-6pm. I just had to buy some cat grass (I gave it to Doan and Jesse's cat, Dippy). I picked one from the back row which probably didn't get fondled as much.


Would you be able to resist? (they had a bunch of pictures of cats snuggling up to the grass, in case you thought you could resist)


Wednesday was a beautiful sunny April day in Union Square. After walking through the Farmer's market, I stopped at a table and ate my BLT and Mashed Potatoes. While leaving, I snapped some photos of the people who were doing the same. It wasn't until I came back and looked through the photos that I realized what a statement they made about the diversity of New York City.


Starting last Thursday, a week and a half ago, I began going to Toastmasters meetings. The first one was rather painful--there were 5 guests and only 2 club members there. Amazingly, the Lt. District Governor of Education and Training was there, and she ran the entire meeting practically herself. Even so, when she started asking the guests to join, they were less than enthusiastic. They were, however, enthusiastic about my request to collect their emails and start what was later dubbed "the Troupe", a group of us going around visiting a bunch of clubs until we found the best one. So far, the Troupe has visited 7 clubs and grown to 15 members! We have a Harvard graduate (Meeta), a finance grad working as a business analyst (Aaron), and more. We have at least 2 more clubs to visit and we've expanded the Troupe to include other meetings and excursions, including walking tours and a possible group trip to Tokyo!


After one of the club meetings, we went to Connolly's. Aaron, one of the founding members of the Troupe, declared that Connolly's pot pie was the "best he'd ever tasted". A few of us were very excited about that, until, upon further investigation, it turns out he had only ever had microwave pot pies.


Haha! I finally ran into one of the infamous New York Dog Walkers. These are people whose job it is to walk New Yorker's dogs while they work. New Yorkers are my kind of people - they believe in delegation!


On Thursday, a throng of people started a riot in the city! Well, ok, it was actually only 12 people, and they were only staging a peaceful protest against some new housing fees. Most people walked by like it was just another day in the city. Which it was.


The redhead in this photo is Elizabeth, the Big Onion tour guide for the day on Thursday. We did a tour of Immigrant New York, where we looked at the history of the Irish, German, Jewish, and Chinese immigrants to the city.


During the tour, we passed one of my earliest memories of NYC. Pictured here is the spot, under the steps to City Hall, where I first went on a Big Onion tour. It was the Brooklyn Bridge tour, and I had just come off of the plane. I actually hauled my luggage (one bag) around with me during the entire tour.


NYC is the place to be if you appreciate architecture.


Another "You know you're in Chinatown when..." picture.


The Nom Wah Tea Parlor (in the background, red sign) has been open since 1920. It was the first restaurant in the city to serve the now famous dim sum.


Hope you can read Cantonese. Or at least Mandarin.


Spotted in the Lower East Side. Apparently, there have been a rash of Harley thefts there.


Shannah! I found our dream restaurant - New York style Pizza, Falafel, and Ice Cream, all in one!


"You know you're in Times Square when..."


One might begin to wonder what exotic cuisine this throng of people is awaiting to partake:


Ah, it's the rare and exotic Dallas Barbeque.


A shot looking down Wall Street, and a shot looking at the interior, of the Trinity Church, right next to Ground Zero at the corner of Wall Street and Broadway. At a height of 281 feet, it was the tallest building in NYC for 50 years in the late 1800s.


Beth, the tour guide for Big Onion who guided us through the history of New York's Financial District.


A side shot of Charging Bull. This 7000 pound statue was built by an artist out of his own pocket for $380,000 in 1989. He trucked it down in the middle of the night and planted it outside of the New York Stock Exchange to rally the spirits of the stock brokers after the stock market crash of '87. The police impounded the statue, but after much public outcry it made its way to its temporary spot, a few blocks over, facing up Broadway. It is still sitting there, "temporarily", today.


Delmonico's, the oldest restaurant in the United States. It was opened in 1827. It moved around numerous times and changed hands numerous times, but the name lives on...


Subway trains get pretty full at rush hour. The guy on the right is just daring anyone else to try to get on...


A violinist in Grand Central Station. She stopped to thank me for my donation. The old guy standing next to her was instructing her. He was probably just a passerby, knowing New Yorkers!


After Friday's Toastmasters meeting, a huge group of us (14 people, 5 from the Troupe) went to the Jewel of India, an indian restaurant. I instructed a few people on some good starter Indian dishes, and purchased a nice bottle of Rosemount Shiraz to split among a few of us. In the end, I needn't have assisted with the Indian food, because it all came out very mild and very tasty! Everyone was passing around their serving dishes and trying out the various foods. It was excellent. We ended up with a $400 bill and when everyone had put in their money, it was $100 short. Turns out the waiter had asked us if we wanted the rice or the naan bread with our meals, making it sound like it was included, when in fact, it wasn't. I stayed out of the negotiations, but pitched in nearly triple my cost to help out. It was worth it to me, the evening was a ton of fun. I really got to know Aaron and Meeta much better. They are two of the founding members of the Troupe.


Here we are calling it a night after four hours...


On the way home, still chatting with four of the group, I walked into Grand Central Station and was stunned. I hadn't been in this part of Grand Central Station. The ceiling is huge, the room is huge, and there are constellations all across it.


David, the tour guide for today's Historic Harlem tour. Note the distinctive specimen of a New Yorker on the right - blackberry in hand, dog in jacket, knock-off Prada purse on arm, ready for the tour.

It was COLD and WET today. I wasn't prepared, and it kept getting colder as the wind picked up. Eventually I made a wrong turn into a nice warm subway station instead of following the group on the rest of the tour.

What a week! I'm going to bed.