New York

We were supposed to head to New York today to celebrate my wife’s upcoming birthday. Unfortunately there was a snow storm in the forecast so we had to scrap the plan.

We left yesterday instead.

So now instead of spending hours on the road today trying to get here, we are looking for things to do on what is literally a bonus day in the city.

We are about a block away from the Empire State Building, and our hotel room is facing it. As an added bonus, we can see the new One World Trade Center building (aka the Freedom Tower) from our room too, and if we look out a different window we can see the top of the Chrysler Building.

This suite is pretty sweet!

CameraBag for Mac #2

Here are a few more filters out of CameraBag 2.5 for Mac. Today’s guinea pig is a pic from the 9/11 Memorial in New York.

Here’s the original:
World Trade Center, 9/11 Memorial.  New York, NY.

This is a camera simulator called Cinema. It was another of my go-to choices on the iPhone app:
memorial - magazine camera

This one is new to me. It’s called Skater Camera. I kinda like this one:
memorial - skater camera

This camera is called Autochrome:
memorial - autochrome camera

This one is called Dusklight. Again, I likes it:
memorial - dusklight

Just Checking

DSC_0071 by robj_1971
DSC_0071, a photo by robj_1971 on Flickr.

Just seeing how the facebook/wordpress direct post works in the new template.

Addendum: It didn’t work well. It used too small an image. I changed the image tag to use the 2048 x 1360 resolution. That looks better.

New York Flashback

1 gig card 030 by robj_1971
1 gig card 030, a photo by robj_1971 on Flickr.

The first time my wife and I went to New York was in September of 2007. As soon as we parked the car we found a tiny little Italian Restaurant that was out of this world. Last weekend we were trying to remember where it was and what it was called.

It was Ralph’s Ristorante Italiano and it was near 9th and 56th.

My obsession with vacation photography pays off at last!

New York, the Rest of the Weekend

Get ready. Here comes a bonanza of New York pics. Basically, everything that doesn’t involve Ground Zero.

We stayed at the Omni on 5th Avenue. We started our Saturday with a nice walk down 5th.
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We came across St Patrick’s Cathedral. It is entirely under renovations. Inside and out.
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We did not go to Radio City this time, but I always feel the need to acknowledge it.
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I’m sure there is a logical reason for big tanks of Nitrogen to be out on the street. I’m sure of it.
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A bunch of the stores on 5th had Christmas window displays. I want to say that this is Sacks, but I’m not sure. I’m not even sure I spelled Sacks correctly.
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We visited the Rockefeller Center tree on Sunday, but not on Saturday. This was taken as we passed by, from across the street.
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Down the street from the Empire State Building. We didn’t go there either. It’s not the tallest building in the city anymore.
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5th Ave, babie.
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Modern Art, or geometry homework? You be the judge.
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The obligatory subway adventure. Get ready for blurry train pics.
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Told you.
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My love. My wife. She who had the ridiculously irresponsible idea to visit the city. Good thinking, love!
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We happened upon a movie shoot. Or at least some trucks and a caterer.
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I took many, many pictures of random buildings.
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I love finding the normal looking buildings hidden behind the gigantic sky scrapers. Look at this little two story runt.
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A razor, a shaving brush, and a stand to hang them off of… $300. I love New York. (no, we didn’t buy it. My beard (or the ugly crap that passes for it) ain’t worth that much)
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On this corner is located a place that needs to be saved for future reference. Last time we were in New York we stayed across the street from a restaurant that had a Sunday brunch. On Sunday we went there without realizing that their Sunday brunch was $100 a plate. Oh my stars it was worth it though. The bacon… oh the bacon.
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The Christmas lights looked more impressive at night, but what are you going to do, right?
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Concrete next to glass and steel. Old next to new.
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After lunch we went back to the hotel for a while. When we went out again it was dark out.
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That cop came up on us while we were crossing the street. We were in the way so a bus couldn’t pull through the red light to let the cop by. Sorry about that, officer.
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This is on Park Avenue. Jen thought it was the Helmsley Building.
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The Christmas lights really are much better at night.
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Because we booked the hotel at the absolute last second, we were able to snag a massive discount on a fantastic room on the top floor of the Omni hotel. Granted, it wasn’t the suite on the top floor of the Omni hotel. This plaque is on the wall outside of said suite.
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On Sunday morning we went for another walk. This time we wanted to go to the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree.
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There were three Christmas light cats. At least we only saw three. The third one is coming later on.
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Back at the tree.
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This trip was our Christmas present to each other. Merry Christmas, Jen. I love you so much!
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We didn’t go up to The Rock’s observation floor. It was freezing out on the ground. It would have been much worse a billion feet in the air.
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And we finish with the third Christmas light cat. I hope you enjoyed my pointless pics from our Christmasy weekend get away to New York.
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Another Celebration

Did you celebrate last night? Did you party into the wee hours? Did you join in the love fest felt all across Red Sox Nation?

We Sox fans have had a lot to celebrate this month. First we clinched a post season spot. While we had our eyes on a bigger prize, we did not get too out of control for that one. Rightfully so. We clinched the American League East. That was the bigger prize. The bubbly flowed free in the Sox clubhouse that night, and many a fan let their glee free as well. Then came the most recent excuse to go crazy in celebration. It happened last night.

The New York Yankees were eliminated from post season contention.

Yeah, baby! Send those damn Yankees home! Give them their little three inch tall participation trophy and wish them a happy off season. I hope you all go on great vacations as you spend your Yankee fortunes. Don’t let the playoff door hit you on the ass on the way out!

It’s only the second time in the last 19 years that the Yankees failed to make the post season.

And it feels so very good.

Go Red Sox