Labor Day Weekend Unveiled

My best weekend to date in NYC was (by far) Labor Day weekend with the arrival of San Diego friendy Wendys to the Big Apple. Unfortunately my work schedule was still running when they came, but still had the nights and weekend to enjoy the city with them. Below are the pictures I was finally able to get

The great Central Park fountain with the Angel of the Water statue


The girls on the steps


This is most likely the cover of our CD


A snippet of our half an hour debate on whether or not we should rent bikes to ride in the park (we didn't)


Me and Ronnie in what looks like a bad photoshop version of myself


"Jungle Love" is a fresh coconut hollowed out and inside is iced coconut milk, mango and banana or something like that. Delish!


Me and Priya in Strawberry Fields


Me and Priya napping in Sheep's Meadow


Grand Army Plaza in front of the Plaza Hotel


The Girls in front of the Plaza Hotel


Me and Ronnie :)


I was thankful for Ankita, who goes to Columbia U and has spent a significant amount of time in NYC to be able to lead us around to some great places, including a rooftop bar in the Flatiron District... this is us taking the elevator up


Here's a group shot of us in the complementary robes available for that windchill factor


...and another


And me and Nilam laughing, although I don't remember over what


Look at the view of the Empire State Building from this place!


Us in front of a plaza with a section of the Berlin Wall (though you can't really see it here)


One night we went to Gotham to see some stand up comedy. Our favorite, and the headliner, took a picture with us afterwards


And us in Times Square




And us taking the subway out to the Lower East Side where we spent our nights






Kamikaze shots!


...and my first Yankees game with Pam and Doug on Labor Day


Sooooo thanks for a fun weekend Pam, Doug, Sri, Priya, Palak, Nilam, Ankita, Sirj, and Ronnie

Autumn Is On The Way

Yesterday was the first time I went into the subways and it wasn't hot, stuffy, or even warm. As a matter of fact, it was actually a little cool.

Autumn is coming, and it's my favorite season of the year. Everything from wearing scarves, drinking holiday flavored Starbucks, football games, falling leaves, and the anticipation of the holidays.

To me, fall is more of a rebirth than the spring. When the academic year starts every fall, and your life revolves around academia and it's calendar, it's always in the fall that you go shopping for new clothes, new school supplies, and life starts over in new classes, making new friends, learning new things. To me, starting over means the fall.

The only problem is that I just know that the cold weather is going to hit way faster than I think it will. Lately, although it's much cooler, with cool winds and breezes, I can still get away with shorts and short sleeves. But I hear the snow can hit as early as October some years, so it's going to take a dip for the worst, and I'm completely unprepared!

Sushi & Singing

Ronnie and I spend all day intermittently chatting on gchat during our work days. Yesterday I told him I was craving sushi, and he told me that he was dying to do karaoke. I was too tired and absolutely refused. Still, somehow he wore me down, and he stopped by my office to pick me up, and we also recruited my coworker Jayna to come with us.

We ventured into SoHo to a venue Ronnie found that was both sushi and karaoke! It was that type that was your own private room, and it was awkward when we would be singing, and then our waiter comes in to bring us a beer or appetizer and we jump, and get really awkward. Still, it ended up being great fun, just look at Ronnie's expression!



After our dinner and session there, we walked to the next place we found in East Village for another round of drinks and singing. Here is a list of the really magical numbers we graced the stages with last night:

-Total Eclipse of the Heart
-Dirty Diana
-Reunited
-Twist and Shout
-Good Morning Baltimore (this one may have been just me :P)
-Careless Whisper
-Papa Don't Preach

It turned out to be quite a fun mid-week outing, and really fun to spend it with Jayna too!

Welcome to the World James Andrei

My aforementioned wonderful friend Alice, who turned 24 in May, gave birth to her first baby this past weekend on Sunday, September 5th. James Andrei is the adorable little baby boy born to Alice and her husband Andrei.



I always knew it would be a boy! Back in February, Alice and I had been playing phone tag, and she finally got ahold of me in the morning as I was getting ready for work. She asked if I had a moment and I said not really, since I was running late (story of my life) and she said "I just have one thing I really need to tell you, it will only take a second". I had an inkling, but still wasn't sure, and i braced myself and said okay, and then a moment and then... "I'm pregnant". I gasped involuntarily and the minute she had said it, I saw her in my mind's eye with a little boy.

I missed her baby shower back in July since I was already in New York. I considered going home for it, but then decided that I would rather be able to meet and hold the baby, so I decided to wait until Christmas. For a gift, I sent Alice a package with a purple "I <3 NY" shirt for her, and a tiny little green baby's "I <3 NY" shirt for James.

Alice and her baby:



The papa and his boy:



And my absolute favorite here is Alice's dad Ted with the baby



(Thank you Facebook for the pictures!) I know quite a few people who have had babies, but for some reason none of them affected me the way Alice's baby has. Knowing her since we were just little 7 year olds and remembering growing up, it's just so emotional to see her with a baby. And as I told her... if that kid is half as mischevious and we were, she's in big trouble!

The Face of a New Yorker

I was never so naive to think that I was the only person to move to New York City this summer, but I have been surprised to see the sheer amount of people constantly influxing into the city, and also the amount of people leaving. I was always meeting someone just coming or going. And in light of that, of all the people that I have met or run across so far, only THREE of them were actually "from" New York, in the sense that they were either born here or moved young enough that they went through the public school system here as kids.

One of these three was my coworker Joe, who was born and raised in Manhattan and "studied abroad" by going to college in Colorado. I asked him if it bothered him that people from all over the country and world crammed in here into his city. His response was "No, because that's a New Yorker. Once you live here for like six months, you're a New Yorker." I thought that was pretty profound, especially coming from someone who had the most right to claim New Yorker-ship. Yet, the more I think of it, the more it's completely true. It is the only city I've ever been to with such accepted diversity. It seems like the identity of a New Yorker is intertwined with emigration in some form or another.

In short, there is no face of a New Yorker, no pre-requisite of accomplishments or looks, just the fact of living here and trying to survive... and I suppose a love the Yankees doesn't hurt you either.

San Diego Comes to New York City

This morning before going to work I got to welcome my Friendy Wendys from San Diego come to spend Labor Day Weekend in the Big Apple!!

Welcome Sri-san!!



And welcome Priya and Pam!!



...and DOUG



Rumor has it that Palak, Nilam, Sirj and Ankita are also in the city, but I haven't seen them yet... hmm!

All that's missing is my little Raf Man :'(



I cannot wait to get off work and hang out!! Yahooooooooooooooo!!

Walking a Kitty in NYC

...doesn't work. I thought Dip was young enough to get adjusted, but maybe I missed the boat. Dip was also born on a farm upstate, so I guess she's a country cat.

I bought a harness and a leash for the cats so I saddled up Dip, which took forever anyway because I couldn't figure it out, and then had to tighten it, all the while she was fidgeting and stepping out of it.

She was already a little nervous walking down the stairs, and once out on the street, it was just too much for the kitty. She was howling like crazy, clawing the hell out of me, and running every which way everytime she heard a car, bike, bus, or people (who were laughing at me), and she was dragging herself on the harness and it just LOOKED like animal cruelty.

My goal was to make it ONE BLOCK to the park where it would be serene and grassy, but I didn't even make it to the corner before I had to call it a day.