I just cannot get this song out of my head. Listening to it over and over feels like gluttony. The site won’t let me embed, so you will just have to go to YouTube.
A friend complained that I’ve taken too long to post anything new here, so here goes.
1. It’s true, I haven’t written in a while. Work is still busy. Also, I haven’t been posting as much since I started writing in my moleskine pocket journal. In the month of May, I became very sick and didn’t want to bother with computers or technology. I completely withdrew from television and print media. And something strange happened. I started having cinematic, vivid dreams. Sometimes, while I was awake. Sure, you can blame the medicine, but I think the absence of media consumption forced my brain to return to its imagination. It was straight out of Thoreau’s Walden.
2. I am starting to grow weary of New York City. I went home the other day, and as the historic downpour continued, I realized how beautiful it was out on the island. Suddenly, the rain turned from something to resent into something to relish. You could smell the earth, the trees, and all of the vegetation. Everything was so green. All I smell in New York is car exhaust, garbage, fetid steam vents, overly burned meat on a stick and the farts of the guy just up the street.
3. More than anything, a lot of the excitement of New York seems to have left. Ever since the economy tanked, the energy is just not there. The massive layoffs in New York have affected everyone, including the still-employed. Bars are morose, parties are muted. I, for one, don’t like partying as much knowing that many of my friends are in debt, unemployed through no fault of their own, and hoping to ride out the storm. There’s just less to celebrate these days.
4. I just went to the Beyonce concert last night. Man can she sing. I don’t think that there is any female artist today who even comes close. Our children are going to be hearing stories about her, the way people talk about Ella, Tina, and Aretha now.
5. I am obsessed with building a home theater PC, or HTPC. I know all the parts I want, but I just can’t settle on a case I like. It is ridiculous to me that Time Warner can charge 100 bucks a month for cable TV, when Hulu is out there pushing content for free. The entire business model of Time Warner is going to change, and I think they know it, which is why they are trying to promote bandwidth-use caps. Unlike Netflix, which is attempting to craft creative solutions to its soon-to-be-obsolete business model, Time Warner takes an opposite approach, similar to the one taken by the MPAA and RIAA, and one that is destined to fail. The HTPC will be a symbol of that failed business strategy, as hopefully I will be able to view all video content that I currently watch on cable through my HTPC, for free or near-free. Soon, episodes of shows will pop up via RSS feed, allowing you to watch right then and there. I expect the back-end to be sleeker than Google Reader, so that it is a video-friendly interface that automatically downloads and updates the shows you select. I think Boxee already does this. If you are interested in a similar project, I recommend you read up on the forums at AVSForum and Silent PC Review. In case you are wondering, I am thinking an E5200, 4GB ram, 1TB WD Green, LG Blu-Ray, and either the Zotac 9300 (mini-ITX) or the Gigabyte 9400 (mATX).
6. Speaking of media, this preview for “The Pacific” gave me chills. It’s the sequel to Band of Brothers, and it looks incredible. I can’t wait.
*Of sandwiches.
And it is glorious.
Feast your eyes on this:
A buddy and I just went out to lunch and had this, the king of all sandwiches. He found it randomly by surfing Midtown Lunch, a website subscribe to but clearly I have been underutilizing it, since I hadn’t heard of this place before.
Midtown Lunch calls this sandwich from Free Foods a triumph, and they are right on. The sandwich isn’t even on the overhead menu, you have to ask for it, and I would have never known to were it not for ML. Anyway, the sandwich is awesome. Tender, juicy duck, swiss cheese, russian dressing, and is that tiny bits of orange? A genius made this sandwich. A goddamn genius. A mother#$@#, lyrical wordsmith, mother @#!$@ genius.
I just returned from a much-needed week in the Bahamas. I had never been to the Bahamas and haven’t really seen much of the Caribbean. Unlike my trip to Guatemala, I didn’t keep a trip journal, since it was just a beach trip. But taking a cue from my friend Swati, who had a well organized breakdown of her trip to St. Maarten, I thought I’d share some tips.
Accommodation – We stayed at the Sheraton in Nassau, which was only $60 a night if you used 4,000 Starwood points per night. The resort also charged $15 a person extra, so the total cost was $90 + 4,000 points + taxes (about 12%) per night. They have a nice pool, a great beach, and you can use the pool and beach at the nearby Crystal Palace Casino and Resort (they are interconnected). By comparison, The Atlantis was about $499 a night, and The Cove was about $710 a night. The Sheraton was hit and miss – the food/restaurants overcharged and underdelivered, and the maid service was spotty at best, but for less than $100 a night, I thought it was a great value. The GM, Mr. D’Angelo, was great, and definitely addressed our concerns when we raised them.
Transportation. During the day, there are frequent buses which can take you downtown (shops, bars and restaurants) and to Paradise Island (where Atlantis is). At night, you’re stuck taking cabs. Cabs to Atlantis (or almost anywhere else) were $20. You can get a moped for about $50 a day downtown.
Food. Food on the resort was subpar and overpriced. We found it was better to venture out.
The restuarants in Atlantis were great, especially Cafe Martinique (perhaps one of the best restaurants I’ve been to). Terrific service.
The first night, we checked out Compass Point (food was ok – very overpriced).
We also went to Dune, a restaurant in the One and Only Resort. The grounds were beautiful but the food was awful. Both of our meals were overcooked and had to be sent back. The other patrons and I were literally laughing about how bad our meal was. The service was unimpressive.
Downtown Athena Cafe had the best Gyro I’ve ever had anywhere. Great service too.
Finally, we checked out the Fish Fry. I thought the food was great, but it was a bit shady at night.
Other Stuff. We did the water park in Atlantis ($120pp), did some jet skiing ($100 for 45 min), some gambling in the Crystal Palace Casino and Atlantis Casino and some drinking and shopping downtown. The aquarium in Atlantis was very cool. The only club worth going to is Aura, in Atlantis, which is open Wednesday through Saturday.
The last three months have been ridiculously busy. I don’t have as much time as I’d like to post, but here are some quick thoughts that are running around in my head.
1. Why the hell doesn’t Ford make a Hybrid Crown Vic? Every taxi cab in the country is a Crown Victoria. Every city wants hybrids in their taxi fleets. This is why the American automotive industry is in the dumps.
2. I have billed 830 hours in the last 3 months. That was more than I billed the first 6 months of 2008. It has been brutal, but an amazing learning experience.
3. As a result of 2, I asked, and got permission, to go on vacation. It was a last minute scramble, but tomorrow, I’ll be sipping pina coladas in the Bahamas. Someone recommend a book to read!
4. The new Wordpress is SICK. So glad I started out with them.
5. This winter has been awful. Every morning is a punch-in-the-crotch.
6. When I saw the new Terminator trailer, I peed in my pants a little. It’s that good.
Photography can be an amazing thing. Take, for example, this Pulitzer prize-winning series by Renée C. Byer, which moved me profoundly. Start with the first image (below, click to see the rest) and keep hitting next, being sure to read the captions. While it is sad, it is important to see images like this in order to put life into perspective.
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