I really should stay home more.
Poor me, right? Always doing fun things and spending a ton doing it, but I really would like to save more, stay home, play video games, drink my own home brewed beer, and pet my cat.
When she lets me.
But living for the moment does have it's benefits! Here are some moments I managed to get my phone out and capture between all my hours at work!
A mini-JET reunion
We had ramen, karaoke...
And a little honesty?
My favorite things about Astoria are the people.
I get to run into them at cool events like this bloc party at the Strand
These shoddy photos are from outside The Strand on Broadway in Astoria. Less than a year old, and they're already throwing bloc parties! I didn't even ask who was going, I just went, and sure enough... saw about a dozen friends from the 'hood!
Somehow I didn't get any photos, but after this, I rode my bike halfway home tothe lovely home of a JET-couple who threw a killer BBQ on their deck! It was several more hours of delicious food, good conversation, games, beer, and dessert!
Theses two photos are taken from about the same spot. One looking into the restaurant, the other looking out! If you enlarge it, you can see the band playing on the stage in the middle of the street. They were strange, but quite rockin'!
Another (the next?) weekend, us former-JET-types dressed up in yukata and jinbei for a Brooklyn pub crawl!
Every few months my coworkers and friends get together for bowling too!
Ryan's b-day party at the beer garden!
Hugh and I at his wife's going away party. He was very torn up.
More friends with Janelle, a.k.a. the one going away. She's working the coolest job ever, so I bet that helps pass the time.
Not often enough, Wendy and I go on double-dates
This friendly raptor invited me to a juggling convention!
The latest NYC craze is the Cronut, a croissant-like doughnut. The flavor changes every month. I've had lemon and coconut mint. Apparently this month's flavor is "fig and mascarpone". Getting one involves lining up outside the one bakery that invented them at 6 am and waiting until they open at 8 to buy one before they sell out, so needless to say, it's a commitment.
Remember that juggling raptor? Here he is playing the 8 string bass with his band "You Bred Raptors?"
Another weekend I gave a couple lectures to this year's new JETs heading to Japan on Japanese etiquette. This guy, Steve, surprised me by being one of the group because we first met as fellow foreign exchange students in Japan in 2004!
This guy works at the Czech-style beer garden near my house! The beer is good and CHEAP, but the food is pricey, so I only go about once a month.
Every year I wonder what to do for New Years, Halloween, 4th of July, etc. But this year, once again, I was lucky to be invited to friend-of-a-friend's apartment for a Japanese-style BBQ and then viewing of the Macy's fireworks on the Hudson from the communal deck in New Jersey. It was such a fun and comfortable environment, we got to know a lot of new, cool Japanese people while enjoying drinks and Japanese food!
We love sake!
So much food!
The view was amazing even before the fireworks!
Another fun day out and 2nd year running (no pun intended) - This year we did the Color Run, a 5k "fun run", in Brooklyn. Last year in Philadelphia was better scenery, but really, it's more about who you run with!
This is our "after" shot. Hence the name "Color Run"!
Here is the post run brunch I got in Greenpoint! Nom!
Then I went home and shaved my hair!
I got to the beach only twice this summer, but on this lucky day I took 4 lovely ladies with me!
Saw the NY Philharmonic play with Mariah Carey in Central Park
And my buddy Dan held his annual, insanely good BBQ in Astoria!
So that's pretty much my summer! WINTER IS COMING!
As I sit contemplating how to catch you up with my life these past couple months, my first thought turns to our absolutely unpredictable weather!
This spring, New York has been hot and cold, raining on and off like that Katy Perry Song! Ultimately, I shouldn't complain. I've managed to dodge going out for too long in the rain (except once coming back from shooting a story at "Internet Week NYC"), and I've managed to avoid getting sick for months!
This blog title refers to the motto of House Stark: "Winter is coming." If you don't know House Stark, then you probably haven't seen HBO's series "Game of Thrones", but I bring it up because, after watching the first 10-hour season in less than 24 hours, I started downloading the unabridged audio books for my commutes to work. Calling the book series, A Song of Ice and Fire, extensive would be an understatement, with each audio book clocking it at over 30 hours. This means I have had more than three months entertainment of, basically, crack for the fantasy-lover. Best of all, thanks to my brilliant, librarian girlfriend pointing it out to me, I've been able to download each audio-book, for free, from the New York Public Library, without even leaving my house! I am currently about two thirds of the way through book 4, A Feast for Crows, and since there will be at least seven books when the author George R. R. Martin finishes the series, you can be sure I won't be talking to anyone on my way to and from the office for several more months.
This also means I have been neglecting my favorite podcast, "The Joe Rogan Experience", but I managed to make up for that by finally seeing him live! Yes! I paid a fortune to buy originally $40 tickets online from "StubHub", which is basically sanctioned, online ticket-scalping, but whatever! Not only was Joe Rogan hilarious and worth the money, the show was opened by my two favorite podcast guests Duncan Trussell and Joey "Coco" Diaz! Duncan brought the house down early with his spiritual pot-head brand of humor, and Joey, a New York native transplanted from Cuba, told stories about the tumultuous "good old days" in NYC and New Jersey, and punching prostitutes "just out of respect" (His humor is not for everyone, but if you enjoy bawdy, there:s no one better!). After the show Wendy and I hung out to get our pics taken with them, so I have these as mementos!
Sir Duncan Trussell
Two of my most favorite people in the world
As soon as I returned from my vacation in Thailand, North Korea decided to attempt to launch a satellite into orbit, or as some people put it: "Test a long-range missile", funny how different two perspectives on the same event can be... But anyway, that meant long hours following their UN representatives, asking for comments, and kept my jet-lag going, basically for the entire month of April.
Work these past few months has flown by, too. Often times, the weekend comes and before I feel like I've had a break, it's suddenly Sunday night! But no sooner do I think, "Where did my weekend go?", than it's already Friday again! Here are some photos I've taken while on interesting jobs, just from the last month:
These are a few of my coworkers on the roof of our building, overlooking the Hudson:
The Space Shuttle comes to NYC
Don't forget to click on photos to see them larger.
Halfway up the new 1 World Trade Center
71st floor, shooting stand-up report in front overlooking Brooklyn
We were where the top edge of the glass stopped
Inside the first floor of 1WTC
The smaller test engine is for the Mitsubishi MRJ
At Pratt & Whitney in Hartford, Conn.
Craig Newmark of Craigslist.org giving a speech about the internet.
Internet Week in SoHo (in between rain storms)
My reporter interviewing Krishna, a Google+ user
My first trip to the New York Stock Exchange
I got a little artistic on this one, but we were in Times Square covering Facebook being traded on NASDAQ
Hope you've enjoyed! Tune in next time to hear about a Doctor Who-themed bar in Brooklyn and lots of photos of delicious food!
