My Christmas Miracle

From MarsEdit Images

As demonstrated in a previous post, I've had some troubles traveling this year. This is what happened:

After the previously blogged events, I stayed on the floor of DCA until 2am. At which time I was told that tomorrow I'd fly to Boston and get a connecting flight to Detroit. That was fine; I just wanted to get off the floor. They also offered me a hotel, but I'd have to take a cab. Since that was the case, I opted to just go home.

The cab got me home at 2:20am, and I was in bed asleep ten minutes later.

At 5am, the alarm went off and I was in DCA by 5:48am. I was slap happy and loopy. Words were hard to find, and my balance was somewhere between "humpty dumpty" and "drunken sailor."

Of course, I knew it wouldn't be easy. The ticket agent took one look at the piece of paper I had received the night before and started shaking his head. "Oh, no," he said. He went on to explain the myriad of reasons why it wouldn't work.

30minutes, 3 people, and one call to Jasmie on the help line did not raise my spirits. I still smiled and continued my exhausted politeness, but I had no idea what to do. I couldn't drive on two hours of sleep; there'd be no way I could make it by Christmas.

That's when my Christmas miracle happened. Somehow, I was booked on a direct flight from DCA to DTW. I don't know how, I fear some poor soul was bumped or otherwise inconvenienced to make it happen. But there was a ticket in my hand!

And so I arrived, well in time for Christmas. Despite everything, I did make it here. Topping that, was the fact that despite the incredible wackiness with my trip the entire staff of U.S. Airways worked to take care of and compensate me.

At this moment I'm in a car headed for Indiana, and grateful to be with my family (at last).

Location:Elizabeth St,Rochester,United States

Xmas Phase One Bragshot

Of note: Illustrated Paradise Lost, A Drifting Life, BPRD, Crumb's genesis, steel fingerpicks, wacom Bamboo, NPR quiz cards, flying time delorean, and Star Trek DVD in a nifty spaceship.

Phase 2: includes a Roku box, and and an angry mob.

Location:Barclay Ct,Troy,United States

Waiting for my Christmas miracle

I'm not going to complain too much. My flight was delayed 4 hours and then I was told the flight was oversold and that I would not be allowed to board the flight.



The staff of US Airways has been very helpful, but I am cold and lonely on the floor of DCA. I've been waiting for two hours just to get rebooked. But I am getting rebooked, and a pile of cash, and apparently a hotel for the night. That's why I shouldn't complain: it's been a crummy day, but that's all.

I wish I was at home.

Location:DCA

Arrival is the End

As you can surmise, I made it easily to Virginia. On reflection Ot probably went faster yesterday than any othe time I can recall. Without anyone on the roads I wizzed through four states until I finally got back to the NCR.

Speaking as a person from Michigan, this storm was pretty bad. The snow drifts are big enough to lose your kid in, and the gridwork of streets that make up my neighborhood haven't seen a lot of love from the snow plows.


This is like my winter dreams from childhood. We always would get a lot of snow, but this is a special thing that drives a city into its collective bunny slippers.


The roads are ice. Thick ice, going down near two inches in some areas.


Though it was predicted, everyone still seems surprised at the state of things. Even these chairs seem kind of dumbfounded.

The whole experience has been good for my local image as a rustbelter, experienced in the ways of economic decline, losing sports teams, and bad weather. I think that's difference between midwesterners and the east coast folk. Michigan folk never seemed to have any secret tricks for surviving snow storms, they just accepted whatever blew in. Snow always comes, as surely as trouble always comes. No sense in getting upset and running off to stock up on eggs when the weather man is grave; we'll get through this as we have so many other times.

Location:E Duncan Ave,Alexandria,United States

Off I Go

Claire and dog are Illinois bound, and the sun is getting higher. Sadly, I'm headed towards it.



I'm headed to DC. There's work to do and I've already cancled more flights than I care to in a month. Also, I have only the clothes on my back. As I told Claire's father, "right now it's 'what you see is what you get.'"



The worst thing for me is that I don't have my iPod. A few CDs won't see me through. Fortunately, Claire loaned me a BBC radio play of the Hobbit, so I can geek out and drive at the same time.

I'm only a little bitter that I won't hear the thrilling conclusion of the story I was listening to on the way out here.

I will, however, be taking it nice and slow on the way back. This will be a new experience for me, since I am always rushing. I'm looking forward to it, a bit. A little time to rest my mind in preperation for my Further Holiday Travels.

And of course if this doesn't work I'll just pop in to Mike O'Brien's homestead and try to talk my way into a warm bed for the night. Either that or I'll move in with Keith. They won't mind, right?

Location:Georgetown Blvd,Ann Arbor,United States

Secret Mission

And so, with little fuss, we arrived in Ann Arbor. The first night was a harrowing drive, today's was utterly mild. Besides a struggle to find my sock this mornig (it was in the boxers I was wearing) we faced no adventure.


The Ann Arbor Holiday Inn has really grown on me, but it does make me a little sad to do these whirlwind trips through here. I'll be leaving tomorrow morning, without having paid my respects to the Gargoyle, eaten at my favorite haunts, written loving grafitti outside the offices of Prof. E.S. Rabkin, or Prof. Rubadeau, or sought out the ellusive Absofacto or #MattThompson.

Claire will be heading off to the mysterious Barker family compound tomorrow, and I'll trudge back the way I came. I sincerely hope things settle down for us. Between th Holidays, work, school, and dog it seems like there isn't a moment to stop and think.

What's foremost on my mind is getting back into the NCR. As I understad, it is still snowing there. I am quite worried that I won't able to get back!

But the Vibe has been excellent on its first winter trip. However, for the sake of drama, I will pose this question: CAN I MAKE IT BACK ALIVE?!



...stay tuned!

Location:Plymouth Rd,Ann Arbor,United States

Snowstorm

The NCR is all in a tizzy about a massive snowstorm that hit the area last night. With that looming over us, Claire, dog, and I made a break for Pennsylvania in an effort to get to Ann Arbor.

We spent last night at a Red Roof just at the end of the PA turnpike. We missed the bulk of the storm, thankfully. Only two inches or so this morning, but it's still falling.




The weather has made Tenzing ecstatic. He's much more active in the cold, due in no small part to his massive fuzziness. And his favorite toy is the snow.




We're about to leave again. With the mountains behind us, as well as most of the storm, we should make good time.

Location:Pennsylvania Turnpike,Cranberry,United States

Life after Nanowrimo

Now that Nanowrimo is past behind, I need to turn my mind to a new project or else run the risk of completely losing my marbles.

Last year about this time I recorded two hours of conversation and music with my dad about music in this family. Eddy's need not have it pointed out, but others may not be aware that music is, uh, kind of important around here.

That and freakishly strong coffee.

Anyway, there was a massive technical cuss-up and I thought much of that recording was lost. Instead, I found that my computer had created some 500 5-second audio clips. I've just finished putting these snippets back together, and I'm turning my attention to cutting them apart again into something that the average person would enjoy listening to.

I don't know when or if this project will be done, but that's what I am going to be taking on in my spare time. If you're interested, feel free to suggest a title. My working name for the project is "Psycho Evangelistic Cha-Cha: Music in my family."
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My other blog is also alive and well. Take a look! I'll be posting more on this little audio project here and there as well. wmeddy.com

I Am Just a Tool for the Octopuses

Oh my goodness the little octopus.



You can read more on the Wired science blog. And see adorable little octopus eyes peeking out of a coconut (oh my goodness).

I've always loved octopuses, and this is just one more reason: tool use.

Come to think of it, I really like animals that have the higher levels of intelligence that give them personality: octopuses, crows, dogs, etc. But the humble and clever octopus will always have a special place in my heart.

UPDATE:

EVEN STILL YET MORE OCTOPUS ACTION

I Am A Winner

I had a great time with my family over Thanksgiving.
I had a pretty terrible drive back to Virginia, but Claire and Dog helped a lot.

But right now I am more concerned with the fact that I am a winner.



I just finished National Novel Writing Month. I am actually mid-sentence in the novel, but wanted to claim my win before anything could happen.

I am stunned I am so happy. It has been a great experience, and I hope that all of you, even if you know you won't finish and don't even like writing, will at least give it a try next year. It has been a phenomenal experience for me, if only because I have finally finished a project.

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Actually, it's not finished. But I did reach a major goal, so who cares? I am a winner.

So Many Words

I need to write So Many Words tonight, because I am so far behind with NaNoWriMo.

But it will happen, I have to make it happen.

In the meantime, please enjoy this delightful music video that was brought to my attention by Cathy. It features Tom Waits and Kool Keith, brought together as part of the N.A.S.A. music project (no relation to NASA, mind you).

Enjoy the eye candy while I start typing.

National Novel Writing Month

It's really not a very good excuse as to where I have been since October, but I am taking part in National Novel Writing Month.

National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo to its friends, is like a marathon. Participants labor away in whatever way they see fit to produce a minimum 50,000 word novel by the end of November. Like a marathon, pacing is key, and most participants try to produce 1,600 words per day.



Unfortunately, like most things I take up, I have a tendency to fall behind. But right now, I am ahead of schedule by a few hundred words. The weekend was good for something, I guess!

I'm breaking my work-induced silence (which I have been regretting, as you know from previous posts where I regret not posting) is that I have reached a major milestone: I am halfway.

25,000 words. I cannot believe I have come this far. I'm excited, but truth be told terrified at the prospect of the next 25,000. For the moment, I will revel in my accomplishment.

You can follow my progress here, as well as learn a little bit more about what I am working on. I'm keeping it pretty close to the chest for now, since the emphasis of NaNoWriMo is quantity, not quality. In an event like this, there isn't time for editing or second guessing. I have to plow ahead with whatever is on the page.

In the end, I think this kind of approach to writing is good for me. In other projects, I can barely get past the first few pages because I make the mistake of starting at the beginning, and trying to make it right the first time.

The pace of NaNoWriMo takes care of the second problem, and a neat program I am using called Scrivener is taking care of the first. It's like a magical three-ring binder that lives in your computer and lets you jump around with your writing and hold all your research in one place.

Confession: part of why I am trying to finish this book so I can get 50% off Scrivener. It's just great. I don't think I would have made it this far without it.



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Regarding the novel: again, I don't want to say too much since it's very silly, but I know that you, gentle readers, are surely chomping at the bit to find out what's going on.

My novel is set in the very early 1400's, a time period I know very little about. A monk arrives in the city of Hamelin as part of an effort to produce an ornate and definitive history of the city. Along the way he discovers that this very town is the setting of the Pied Piper legend, and begins to ask the townsfolk about the strange event in the name of historical accuracy.

This unleashes a torrent of disparate stories, strange tales, and bizarre events that will (of course!) lead to the town's undoing.

Really, the whole thing is just a framing device to introduce different variations on the Pied Piper story. So far, each more disturbing than the next.

For me, this whole process was kicked off by hours browsing Wikipedia. I learned from the Pied Piper article that this story is much weirder than I originally thought, and has some basis for truth.
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For updates on my NaNoWriMo novel, keep watching the blog and keep an eye on Twitter as well. You can also stop by my NaNoWriMo user page, if you like.

And thanks for stickin' with this ol' blog as well. I'm grateful for each and every one of you!

Claire Makes A Prehistoric Tool

When I picked up Claire from the train station on Tuesday (in a red Pontiac Grand Prix, while my vibe is being repaired) Claire set a large rock down in the back seat.
"Drive carefully," she said. "I just flaked that thing, and it could decapitate us if we were in a crash."

Thus, I entered the crazy world of stone tool making. As part of her classes at GW, she's engaging in a little experimental archaeology and is learning more about how early human ancestors made tools.

Some fun facts: a freshly flaked stone -- that is, a stone hit with a harder stone that removes a "flake" of material -- is sharper than a scalpel edge. In fact, obsidian tools are the sharpest tools available.

When I came home today, Claire was out on the shared balcony with the dog. After setting down some groceries and getting out of my work clothes I walked out to meet her.
"Are you barefoot? Go put on some shoes and bring the broom." The ground was covered with razor-sharp shards, the fruits of her labors.

What follows is a recording I made while she worked. Unfortunately, the iPhone didn't capture the bright, ringing sound the rocks made when struck. Having worked on this achulean handaxe for several hours, Claire tells me that the sound is key to knowing were to strike the stone.

From Alive and Kicking

We're here (in Chicago)!

Our plane came back a little early and now we're just going to relax in the airport until our ride arrives.

It was a fabulous trip, and once I can get WiFi and access to my laptop I'll share the end of it with you.

The plan now is to drive to DC with Claire and Tenzing over two days. We're all exhausted and aren't too interested in the torturous 14 hour drive to the East Coast.

Leaving

We've got a cab coming at 7am.
I haven't slept well. To be honest, I haven't slept much at all.

I've still got one day of pictures and a short story to tell, so I'll throw that up once we touch down in Chicago.
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And Happy Birthday, Jamie!

The King of Snails

As predicted, most of yesterday was spent indoors. It's important to remember that the central function of a vacation is to be enjoyable. Yesterday, we took great enjoyment napping all day.

After the rain let up, we started to move around a bit more but didn't accomplish much. We're fine with this. Our sloth meant that we only got one meal, but we hadn't exerted ourselves to the point where we required more calories.

And the hotel lamb was delicious.

After dinner, we strolled the path along the tram line. It was there that we met the King of Snails, his Queen, and the Slug Duke.

Like other legendary creatures -- Nessie, Big Foot, Thomas Pynchon -- all the photos we took during our court meeting with these royal gastropods were blurry at best. It was, however, an experience we'll carry in our hearts forever.
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From Sweden

From Sweden

From Sweden

From Sweden

From Sweden

From Sweden

Today begins slowly as did yesterday. Our goal is to return to Djurgården and see the Botanical Gardens, the Vasa Museum, and the Biological Museum. The last of these I hope will provide some fodder for the Crappy Taxidermy blog.

Tonight's dinner will mark the end of our Swedish adventure, and we'll be flying out at 10am arriving in Chicago at Noon. After that, we drive back to DC over two days to preserve what little energy our transatlantic flight will have left us, and return to Virginia on Sunday afternoon.
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Going To Foreign Zoos

Short story: Claire and I napped and then went to Djurgården where we enjoyed the sites of the Skansen open air museum, and spent most of our time exploring the zoo.
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Sleep has been an important feature of this trip, as I imagine it is for most trans-atlantic travelers. Today, I slept five hours later than I had the previous day (meaning that I woke up at an obscenely late 10:30am). Yesterday, I wound up taking a four hour nap.

This nap was vital to the events that followed since it gave both me and Claire the energy necessary to tour the expansive Skansen open-air museum on the idyllic island of Djurgården.

I would compare Djurgården to Belle Isle in Detroit, except much much nicer. The island boasts a series of museums and other attractions -- many of which are left over from a 19th century World's Fair that was held on the island.

Foremost among the attractions is Skansen, which I had assumed to be a massive sculpture garden of some sort. However, Greenfield Village at the Henry Ford Museum is a far more accurate parallel. Skansen has several old-timey attractions, and examples of old Scandinavian architecture dotting the landscape.

Skansen is also noted for having the only zoo in Stockholm. Though it is modest, it is also quite charming. We first visited the aquarium which was also where the designers decided to house several primate exhibits -- most impressively a room full of ring-tailed lemurs.

From there we drifted around the park seeing bears, lynx, european bison, wild boars, wolves, and "elk moose." Particularly impressive were some old farm steads set up with fences made of birch branches and secured with strips of bark. We ended at the top of a hill with a beautiful view of the city.

After a quick tram ride and walk, we ended our day with dinner in Gamla Stan.
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It was a great time, but one that thoroughly exhausted us. Fortunately, today was a rainy day and we spent it sleeping and mooching around the island of Lidinö.

I took some time to add more photos and captions to the ones in the album, so enjoy the ones below and take a look back through the ones from earlier in the week as well.

We've only got one more day, but I'm certain we'll make the best of it.
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From Sweden

From Sweden

From Sweden

From Sweden

From Sweden

From Sweden

From Sweden

From Sweden

Best Laid Plans

Short story: We arrived at the boat landing very early and discovered that our tour did not exist. We then napped al fresco, and spent the rest of the day mastering the Stockholm transit system and bumming around the older parts of this beautiful city.
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I got some pretty good pictures today. Here's the highlights:

From Sweden

When it was clear that our boat to Uppsala did not exist -- or if it did, it wasn't leaving from where we were -- we decided that the best course of action was for a break. Claire, her father, and I deposited ourselves on Ridderholmen island looking out at the beautiful city hall.

From Sweden

This is Claire asleep in my lap.

From Sweden

After resting, we went over to the Riddarholmskyrkan, final resting place of many great Swedish kings. Unfortunately, photography was forbidden. Inside the floor is covered with worn down smooth marble panels with the name of the monarch that rests below. Off to to the sides and below were great gilded coffins, holding whole generations of families. At the altar, two sarcophagi with carved images of kings reclined upward -- staring at the massive silver chandelier.

Use your imagination.

Next we sought out Grace's Tea Shop, but found a beggar fox-woman along the way.

From Sweden

Does anyone know what fairytale she belongs in?

Lunch at Grace's was excellent. It was a set meal of Jasmine tea, mushroom soup, steamed dumplings, and a fruit and yogurt salad. While a pretty traditional Chinese restaurant in Stockholm is an unusual find, stranger still was the price: 300KR total for the three of us. That's unbelievably cheap for a warming meal on a cool morning.

Our next task was to find the Central Station, and then to conquer the Stockholm rail system. Which we did. Bending the system to our will, we went out to the Historiska Museet to see the famous Gold Room.

Inside were shelf after shelf of Viking and medieval gold hoards. It was a very impressive collection, sadly not photographable. My favorites were easily a nicely preserved helmet with a horse-head mohawk that lead down to a tiny startled-looking head that rested below the nose of the wearer. There were also some belt buckles depicting battles with horrible monsters, which I adored. One of them seemed to show a man fighting a man/bear or man/wolf -- which I think to be a reference to berserkers. This might be the same one.


(linked from Wikipedia)

I wish I could have taken them all. Including the incredibly ornate crucipix with a "piece of the true cross" in it. I know it's fake, obviously, but I had never seen one of these famous relics before.

Then we did a little shopping in the trendy district, where I found all of 1997's websites.

From Sweden

With the rail system now under our thumb and obeying our every command we headed back to the old town island -- Gamla Stan -- and took in a meal of Swedish meatballs and reindeer. We followed this with ice cream, and some final wanderings around the old city.

From Sweden

Spot the 7-11!

From Sweden

From Sweden

HEY GUYS.

From Sweden

From Sweden

After using the Swedish metro rail system (which is from the future) we hopped the tram back to our island -- Lidingö. This was definitely a heavy rattling relic from days gone by, whose every noise just emphasizes the weight of the train. It was utterly charming.

And then, off to bed. Here's Chuck (father of Claire) and Claire outside the nicer end of our hotel.

From Sweden

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Today, Claire and I will meander down to Djurgården, and spend the day in its idyllic splendor. We're taking it easy today.

We're Here

Terms like "yesterday" and "tomorrow" and "today" have little meaning after a trans-atlantic flight and a 7-hour time difference.
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Broadcasting to you from Stockholm, Max Eddy is back on the internet. Unlike our trip to Iceland, Claire and I have excellent wireless internet in the hotel and I'll try my best to keep you all up to date as to our adventures.

This will primarily be done in pictures.
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Our adventures on Sunday were focused on the Carl Milles sculpture garden (conveniently located directly next to our hotel), and our dinner in downtown Stockholm.

Carl Milles will be familiar to anyone at the University of Michigan. Milles moved to Michigan where he made over 70 statues, one of which being the fountain of Triton between the Michigan League and the Hill Auditorium through which students process at the beginning and end of their academic careers.

You know, this one.

Stockholm is a beautiful city, and its a great time to be here. THe days are bright, the weather is on the cooler side of fair -- which is perfect for me. Despite being jetlagged to hell and technically having been operating for something close to a continuous 48 hours, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Of particular note was the Prinsen restaurant. I don't know what I ordered but I got it in lieu of meatballs since they were out. It was small potato chunks with sauteed onions and delicious chunks of beef. The beef was tender, juicy, seasoned as if for a god. The potatoes were quite good on their own, but eaten with a fresh raw egg yolk poured over them. The effect is a really rich eating experience.

Keep in mind that I am not a fan of softboiled eggs, or even runny scrambled eggs, and I still thought this was delicious.

Also of note was the Underdog beer. It looks like a pilsner, but is in reality a Lager of some kind. When you take a sip, the initial flavor is very strong, similar to that of Guinness. The twist is that there's no finish to it; after that first burst of mouth-filling hop-flavor the beer finishes with a refreshing mild crispness.

Ba will be pleased to know that I sampled several varieties of pickled herring at the beginning of the meal, and loved them all.

Here's the image of the day for Sunday.

From Sweden

Click the photo for the entire album, or just click here.

Obviously there isn't much explanation right now. The idea is that I'll post a few pictures when able and backfill with information as I go.
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It's currently 8am on Monday in Stockholm. The plan for today is to take the boat to Uppsala, stopping for a few hours in Sigtuna. We'll take the train back this evening.

Volvo Meatballs

Sorry to say it's still not quite time to talk about Tacoma. Funny how these things happen.
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But who cares?! I'm leaving for Sweden tomorrow! Claire and I will reprise our roles as Sojourners to Scandinavia as we did two years ago in Iceland.

This will be my first time in mainland Europe, and as excited as I am (AND I AM), it does make me long for the lonely mountains and sky to sea horizons of Iceland.

But no matter. It's off to Chicago and then to Stockholm -- which I am told is the Venice of Scandinavia. The city is an archipelago, navigated by ferries and small boats. We'll spend most of our time exploring the city and its many islands, aside from a brief trip over to Uppsala. You know, just to be in Uppsala.
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I won't be able to do much iPhoning (noooo!), and my WiFi is a mystery. I'll try my best to keep in touch, and am committed to sending postcards while I am there.
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For fun, take a look at some of the distances involved with the trip. This will be the furthest I have ever been from home.


View Sweden Trip! in a larger map
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I'm leavin' tomorrow after a half day at work. So long, for now!

This is how I look on my 23rd Birthday

How did you look?

HELLO, BIRTHDAY

Well, I came back from Tacoma safe and sound -- despite the best efforts of Washington state's unseasonably warm 104º weather.

But that's not important right now.

All that matters is that it is my birthday. And that is sweet.
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(it's also Claire's birthday, but this is my blog so direct all praise towards me. Thanks!)

TACOMA

Just in case you missed it, I am in Tacoma, WA for the rest of the week. I'm here for work, not pleasure, and the weather has been accommodating of this goal by setting record highs for the area.

Today it was 101º. I'm told "normal" is around 60º, maybe 70º.

I'll be running around Fort Lewis for the next two days, and will have periodic internet access. I'll try to post some pictures up, probably of the gorgeous Mt. Rainier, but I can't make any promises on this.
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In other news, I have Google voice.

It's awesome, but I haven't set it up yet on account of having not picked out a new number. What do you think? Should I stick with a (248), or should I do something radical like (363)WMEDDY1?

Your thoughts matter to me!

Yew Nork

New York.
What can I say?

(NY Trip July 11 - 14)

The People

(Apologies for the crazy image sizes, but Flickr doesn't play nice with Blogger.)



I lived with Justin for two years in college. He's a great guy; unflappably relaxed, quick to laugh, and brilliant behind the editing console. He's one of the first people I've met who just pours out creativity, and is relentless in his pursuit of artistry. Justin was kind enough to let me and Kris spend several days in his lovely East Village apartment.



Kris is my longtime pal, currently residing in Boulder, CO where she does magical things with hard drives. Kris was the art director at the Gargoyle for three tumultuous years, and her artistic accomplishments speak for themselves. Despite working with me while I was editor we've remained friends -- a rarity at the Gargoyle.



Jennifer is the only person I know that sent in an unsolicited application to the Gargoyle. Talented with words, the Gargoyle was not enough to contain her and she's worked at all kinds of places (including the hardly reputible Michigan Daily). She met Justin during a hectic evening we all barely recall, and is now living with him in beautiful Yew Nork, NY.



From left to right: Kris, Me, Jennifer, Justin



Hyatt(hyatthyatthyatt) is another former roomate. Like Justin, he majored in film but spent a good deal of time focused on stagecraft. Currently living in Brooklyn, Hyatt is involved in some kind of theatre company. Unfortunately, the play he's working on opened after we left. Fortunately, he worked on a faux-blaxploitation movie that you can enjoy.



Cathy is the current editor of the Gargoyle and a skilled artist besides. Another film major (how does this happen to me?), she used my apartment on Madison street as a set for a student film. I'm not in it, on account of nearly dying from the flu. She's spending the summer in Yew Nork working as an intern for Conde Naste, the publishers of several magazines -- including the Yew Norker. I'm not in the least bit jealous.



Justin's Friends were many and varied; they were all so welcoming, if confused by us and our strange ways.
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The Places



If pressed I'd have to say that we spent 70% of our time in Justin's apartment. Watching movies, laughing our heads off, and wondering what to do next it was the perfect staging ground for our adventure(s). Not having a TV, Justin has made do with his laptop hooked up to a massive HD computer monitor. The affect of which, coupled with his seemingly inexhaustible supply of hi-res films, was quite impressive.

I slept on an air bed. Not an air mattress, an air bed. It was about three feet thick with a slow leak that meant I entered stranger and stranger positions throughout the night. Given that, it is odd that I not only slept well, but enjoyed the challenge.

Justin's apartment has three gold records and one platinum record on the walls. How cool is that?

I can talk at great length about the restuarants. We experienced phenomenal pizza, delictable Italian food, and uniquely Ukranian quisine throughout our travels. Chicago is the food capital of the US, of course, but NY gave us some phenomenal options. And the bars weren't too bad either.

After much recommendation from my parents, and friends, we made sure to hit up Essa bagel. While I have had several NY-style bagels, this was a unique experience. With a variety of fillings and toppings, complimented by a laid back experience and a truly massive bagel it should not be missed.

We also made a meal out of soup-filled dumplings. There's not much more to say about this except that it was awesome.

There were several encounters and experiences in a Halloween shop, followed by an overwhelming trip to Forbidden Planet -- the famed NY comic shop. I was excited to see the place, having heard so much about it on the Internet but left a little disappointed. We couldn't figure out the organization of the place, and the only staffer I spoke too was brisk to the point of rudeness. The place has serious potential, but could use a little refinement. However, I don't regret a moment (or a cent) of the time spent there.

We did amble around Battery Park, discovered secret statues of dogs in Central Park, and paid our respects to the flashing light gods of Time Square. We attempted a museum trip but were deflected by strange scheduling, instead paying a visit to a few galleries where we saw Seuss and Dali on the same street. Quite a time.



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The Things

A series of strange and wonderful movies Justin provided

Barack Pharoh-bama



Large, Ukranian meatballs



A clutch of art pens

Mattresses designed to give the sleeper a nautical adventure on a cushion of air

Small notebooks, filled with giggling sketches

Postcards

Old cameras valued for their peculiarities, rather then their photo prowess

A straw hat that's been everywhere

The sweat stain I left on the plastic bench in the 4 train

The homeless man that explained the Amtrak system to me

A gawdy gilded newsletter professing the wrath of God and the terrors of satan, complete with bedazzled cross clipart and a photo of the Elvis/Cash hybrid preacher

The quiet voice of a man as he passes quickly buy, quietly broadcasting his trade in fake IDs amidst the pulsations of Canal street.

A pizza joint that has a Major Award



The shirt that your friend also bought, that you don't wear on the same day

Finding yourself acting like you did 4 years ago

The future machine



A book about Sartre that you take off your friend's shelf, read, and makes you realize that you don't really like Sartre all that much



All these pictures come from the Flickr pool we put together. It's named for the Tom Wait's song, and will hopefully grow to include a complete if bizarre pictoral account of our trip.