Momofuku To You Too

This little noodle bar, Momofuku, does huge things with food in a tiny exposed kitchen. When we go there the conversation always becomes about the kitchen. Sitting at the bar you see everything going on: two chefs and one noodle cooker in a space that is barely big enough for two people to squeeze past each other. Everything has its place, everything gets used, cleaned, and put right back where it came from. And they bang out the best food in the shortest time in the smallest space. It's an operational marvel. Seriously.

Press Enter to Continue

This is my nerdbox moments before deleting the partitions and wiping down the harddrive.

I started this project Saturday 4/23 at 8pm. I had already backed up all my files, fonts, favorites, photos, music, movies, game saves, everything i could think of saving. Some things i backed up twice just to be safe. I took an inventory of all my programs installed, checked for install CD's and security codes to unlock. Prioritized in order of Critical, Must Have, and Nice To Have's.

Then at 1:22am, I found myself face-to-face with this screen.
...
....
.and.
......
...and... I let it sit until I could boot up my ThinkPad and check the network hard drive to TRIPLE check everything was safely and securely backed up.

It was.

"/ENTER/"

P.G. King's

Yes, these are urinals.
This is in one of NYC's oldest bars. (So old I can't find a link to it online.) Outside it's not much of to look at, and location-wise it's stuck in the worst section of town; nestled between Empire State Building and Hearld Square.

But inside it's classic tiled floors, heavy oak bar, and these enormous marble urinals. The walls are covered in sports memoriabilia throughout the decades, and TV's are hung intermittenly throughout the bar. It's a classic bar but not in the Irish Pub sense. Instead, you get the feeling this is a true New York sports bar that has grown through the ages.

I was here with the kungfu crowd after a good double-class workout. The burger was awesome but they had Bareknuckle Stout instead of Guinness. It's just not the same without a Guinness.

This Is Why I Got Into Sales

Here it is, summer has come to New York City early. I am on my way to meet a colleague to go see a potential client, try to drum up some business, get some leads, and make some money. The client happens to be just west of Bryant Park and I just happen to be early. It's 70 degrees, no humidity, lots of sun, and plenty of spring bloom in this island of green surrounded by the midtown concrete grey.

Having 15 minutes to sit back and enjoy some iced tea in this weather in this park is one of the reasons I got into sales.

The visit to the client was a waste. But the trip was well worth it.

Back in the Burgh

I flew home to Pittsburgh to see my family for the weekend. It was my Grandma's birthday and my parent's present to her was flying each of us out-of-town grandkids back home for the weekend.

Saturday afternoon I watched my cousin Jennifer take her advancement test at her kung fu school. The picture above is in front of her house showing off her new sash.

Below is Jennfer, Kathleen, and Grandma on the porch swing at Grandma's a few hours later.

Stop to Smell the Tulips

Busy day today. Lots of errands to run, lots of places to be.
12:05 leave work
12:10 pass through Rockefeller Center, take a picture and keep moving
12:23 pick up dry cleaning on 9th Ave
12:25 pick up laundry (washed, folded, organized, and sealed in a plastic bag)
12:27 drop off dry cleaning and laundry in apartment, pick up gift #1 for torin
12:33 find present #2 for torin in Times Square Toys R Us
12:37 pay, then wait in line at gift wrapping only to find out they want $11 to wrap a gift
12:40 get to the subway
12:47 take subway one stop, get out of penn station as quickly as possible (which isn't easy considering that place is a gigantic underground maze)
12:53 arrive for lunch w LM

But most important was that at 12:10pm i stopped, however briefly, to smell the flowers.

Heading Uptown

I was on my way to see a client in the first car on the 2 train heading uptown. We're pulling into the 72nd St station here.
As you cruise along the tracks and get the chance to watch from the lead car, you are looking through two panes of thick glass. Each signal light on the track is reflected multiple times making for an interesting display. Unfortunately those shots didn't come out, they were just too dark. This shot will have to do.

Lion Dance in Flushing, Queens

My school's Lion Dance team performed at a dinner party on Friday night. Fast Rai moves out of view while a few others (Phil, Oliver, Jon) stand around and try to stay warm. It was a good performance, small restaurant, and we used two lions. We did our thing then went around the corner and had a fantastic meal.

Grace Cousin Dinner

Kate Grace came to town on a college tour. We got the cousin's together and went to Grand Sicuan for some delicious chinese food. Everyone was so exapserated that I was taking pictures ONCE AGAIN for my geeky photoblog.

Above, That's Kate on the left and Maryclaire on the right.
Below, Hattie and David

And then me and Lai Ming

Rainy Sunday

Ah spring in NYC!
I was heading to pick up LM at work and we were going out to kick around NoLita for the day. It was cold, grey, rainy day in the city. I passed the Post Office on 33rd & 8th and snapped this shot.

Buffalo LinkStation HD-H250LAN

Ah yes, the Buffalo Technology LinkStation Network Storage Center HD-H250LAN. My roommate and I split the cost on this big boy. It's a 250GB hard drive you plug directly into the network. It acts as a file server, FTP server, and print server. And a geek server.

Within an hour of frantically tearing open the box we had a static IP address, login ID's assigned, grouped, and password protected, FTP port open on the firewall, and folders for TV shows, movies, music, and personal stuff. If it were a bike, we'd be getting major air off some rad jumps.