Where next?

Susie and I just had a nice brunch and then went to the farmer’s market in Greenpoint. Its beautiful and breezy out and it got us thinking about where we want to be next. We’re not going anywhere for a while, I’m going back to school and the job is good. But the breezy weather and farmers market made us think about criteria that helps make us happy. Bad weather, cramped spaces and cars make us cranky. We’re looking for suggestions for places with the best breezes, close to the water, farmers markets, bicycle friendly and are affordable. I’d love if bands played within an hour as well.

Savannah, Georgia?

Somewhere on Long Island or Maine or Rhode Island?

What about Kentucky or Tennessee?

Italy? France?

Mexico City reminded me of a Berlin dropped into India, with the history of Rome.

www.flickr.com

The web and my platform(s) for obsession(s)

I've always been around computers and the web. I like to understand the medium, but not to out-geek you (I won't) or make mad cash (I'm cursed by my family - I'm sure multiple fortunes have slipped through my hands.)

I see this as a massive feedback loop. I kind of work in media, and the comments sections in articles have turned the world in which I work upside down.

I started this blog (and then moved onto other platforms) to keep in touch with my friends, and to geek out on products. I'm constantly trying to learn. That being said, my girlfriend inherently gets all of this much faster than I do, and is my bellwether when checking out new things.

I am doing the Friendfeed thing, and its cool, because it allows me to integrate my Flickr sets with my other web activities (mostly Tumblr - my favorite thing on the web since EBay.)

This week, I attempted to catalog 2 cool things on Flcikr that also feed into Friendfeed. The International Branding Expo (all the big brands just doing bang up business) and taking pictures of all of my ticket stubs. I even sent my ticket stub photo set to 15 friends via email. These are people I went to these shows with. I get next to no action on these sets. But I take a pretty picture of sushi I had for dinner tonight, and wamo bango. Comments galore.

The Licensing International Expo 08

I just got back from the Licensing International Expo at the Javtiz center. I read something in the NY Times about old brands being bought by firms that then build the brands back up and this expo was mentioned. I looked it up and registered to attend.

Any time you hear anything about 'well so and so, well its just a BRAND" was represented at the expo. Really weird. Anything in a toy store or on a t-shirt. Was here.

Commentary on what I saw:

Besides Marlyn and Elvis, John Wayne and Jimi had booths. The guys talking shop were saying things like 'yeah, we have this big deal re-issue thing coming out...' I didn't see any Grateful Dead stuff, but come to think of it, their brand has kind of dwindled in the past five years. Or maybe I left San Francisco.





More rock and roll stuff



If you had a blockbuster movie out this summer, you had to have it in Lego!




I recognize this from the sugar breakfast cereal aisle, but I don't know his name.


PICKACHU


They will put anything on a T-Shirt. FAIL.



More movie tie ins (old and new). Made me feel like I was in front of Mann's Chinese in Hollywood.



You know those cows they painted and put in all the cities? They had a booth here. I can just imagine this woman talking about what she does for a living "You know those cows they painted and put in all the cities? Well I license them! We can make you miniature ones for your shop! Make t-shirts, coffee mugs...whatever you'd like!"


Oh boy, GI JOE next summer. FAIL.


WTF?


CAT FANCY!


For Susie





The whole set of photos is here.

I love branding and feel like a fan boy for going and taking all these pictures. If you're in the biz...drop me a line.

FYI, the folks who rep Paris Hilton's brand also rep The US Army AND L.L. Bean AND the WWF (as in the World Wild Life Fund) - if you care.

A Trip to Flushing Meadows park - site of the 64 World's Fair.

Last weekend Susie and I took the 7 to Queens to check out the park. You see the Globe at the center of this park when you are coming into the city from La Guardia (You also see it in the intro to The King of Queens).

Taking a trip to the park and then researching the 64 World's fair has had a stronger effect on me than I thought it would. The 64 World's Fair represented the potential for America's future and is now kind of just a run down park. The 64 World's Fair also became the prototype for Disney World in Florida (and Epcot, I assume), as Disney did 4 of the attractions here. You can read more about the 64 Worlds Fair at Wikipedia.

A picture from a 1965 National Geographic article about the fair.


A picture of the same area, as taken by me last week.

Kinda moved blogs...

Ron, this is basically a post for you. I like the Tumblr platform for easier short blogging, so that's basically where I blog now. I am not going to shut this down per se, Blogger is good for multiple pictures in an entry (the reason I originally started this blog), but I don't really write alot any way. I am always in too much of a hurry.

So, check out 'Ready To Go' SaveItForYourBlog.com. Much like this blog, my url name and blog name are not the same. Horrible for SEO, but not really a goal.

Frontyard and back patio on GMaps

Front Yard


Back Yard

Our friend's kid is so adorbale!

Susie found us a new apartment

Susie mentioned wanting outdoor space a few weeks back, so she started looking on craigslist for a new place to live.

She found us a new apartment pretty quickly. The new place has a huge kitchen, three huge rooms and a huge patio (did I mention HUGE?)

And the park where this Flight of the Concords skit was filmed is basically our front yard.



We'll have you over for a bbq asap. We move in on May 1.

Save It For Your Blog (dot com)

A few years ago I registered the url Save It For Your Blog (dot com) thinking I would make t-shirts of the phrase and get rich. I never really did anything with the url so I can't say if I was going to get rich or not. (I tend to think not - phrases on t-shirts don't have the same cache as they did, say in a Wham video from the 80s)

I decided to use the url for my Tumblog. I just officially started using it yesterday, and I love it. Hits that sweet spot between Flickr and this blog.

Me...and my Tumblr

I am trying out something new. Twitter seems too self indulgent for me.

Without further adieu, I present my very own Tumblr blog.

Basiclly, its like a mini blog I can update from the road. As I see the action happen. I may then blow that out to something larger on this blog. I can also email pictures directly to my Tumblr and Flickr. I wish I could port text from Tumblr to my Facebook status though.

Its all just a big test. We'll see.

A lot to celebrate/we get what we want

Alot has been going on, kind of like expected, but one never knows until things pan out. I got my final pay out from the last company I worked for and was made an offer for a new job (a good offer, a job I want, at a company I like).

The lil lady suggested we celebrate. A plate of tacos and a 6 pack of Corona always seems like the way to go and would make us happy. But we decided to go to the best place we could think of.

So I booked Jean Georges for Friday night.

Not really the type of place you take pictures, but I snuck in 2.
The Lobster


The desert plate


Oh my goodness. This really was the best meal of my life. And for how much a fancy meal can set you back in the city, it really wasn't that ridiculous. Not for everyone, and not for everyday, but definitely a meal I will continue to dream of.

We also bought a bed frame, something I've wanted for years. All of the beds I'd seen were either too expensive or too ugly or to cheap. To quote Goldilocks, this one was just right.




One sacrifice I've had to make with all of the life change is not being able to go to SXSW this year. I thought I would have the time, so I used a voucher and dropped a few hundred dollars on a plane ticket. I called United on Friday to cancel, and was told I would have to eat $400 on the ticket. SO DON'T FLY UNITED. THEY TREAT YOU LIKE SHIT! If you find a cheap deal, use them, but certainly DON'T COUNT ON UNITED.

I've been seeing bunch of flyers on Facebook and the blogosphere as to all of the fun my tech friends are having this week and music friends will have next week. Maybe next year...who knows. I've done it for 10 years, but haven't been back in 4. I may be eating $400 on the plane ticket, but would loose alot more than that in pay if I ditched on my 2nd to last week at this job.

This guy looks weirdly like me

Saw this on Youtube main today.

He looks like me, except for the larger schnaz.

You can drink me now.

Everywhere with Helicopter

Before I lose the memories, or the links, posting two pictures of Robert Pollard wearing the hoodie I gave him.

Gridskipper covers our local watering holes...

Gridskipper has a great roundup of our local bars. They missed a few, but that's probably a good thing.

I've had every sammy in Manhattan on this list

And Esquire is right. They are all amazing.

Playlist test

Braised Short Ribs from Alice Water's 'The Art of Simple Food'

I've been meaning to cook something from this Christmas present for a while now, but just got around to making the short ribs this evening. It's going to be pretty cold tonight and this is the perfect winter meal. Its also pretty decedent for being a cheap cut of meat. It just takes some time.

The book


The recipe



The meat



Salt and pepper the raw meat



Prepare the mirepoix and add garlic



Roast the meat for 25 minutes at 450




Add tomatoes, sage, bay leaf, tyme, wine and chicken stock to the mirepoix after you've roasted the meat



Place the meat on the veggies/liquid and place in the oven for another 2 hours.


Take the meat out of the oven


I broiled the meat to give it a crunch.


I then removed all the veggies and used the juice to make gravy for the baked potato.

Final meal:


That was yummy.

Well New York City really has it all

Did you know this is what Joey Ramone is singing in Shena is a Punk Rocker? He must mumble the lyrics because it wasn't until I heard Rancid doing the cover yesterday that I learned this. I was digging through our million CDs on Friday night to get some new music for the iPod. I ripped the Ramones tribute record Susie had picked up a few years back (when it came out). I appreciate that Kiss, Marilyn Manson and Rob Zombie were all influenced by the Ramones, but why did they end up on this record? The only two redeeming covers were by Rancid and Tom Waits.

It had been a few months since I hung out in the East Village, but I heard the call of cheap wine, new glasses and ramen. You can't call yourself a real New Yorker until you've had to deal with an f'ed up L on a weekend.

Side of egg w/ ramen.


New glasses


The 3rd ave L stop was closed so I decided to walk down my old street (13th btwn 2nd and 3rd) to get to the 1st ave stop. There are 2 major construction projects with a third one scheduled. Weird to see a block that was unchanged for the 3 years I lived there to look so different just 5 months later.

A new condo? building going in where there used to be a random parking lot.


This building (two doors down from my old building) was totally vacated and sealed up.



I won't recognize this street/neighborhood in 5 years.

How cute!

Scenes like this really make me happy that so many people 'feel the power' of change.
These kids are adorable.


(No I haven't made up my mind on who to endorse yet. But the fact that there is so much energy and passion in the air is exciting. That last round with Kerry was so umph :(

And then I saw this. Cougars looking for boytoys. Being billed as a sport. How New York. I actually expect to see an uptake in dating events like this now that the stigma is basically removed. But to say this is political...puleeze...