alpha HYPHEN graphics?
I won’t be using their typesetters anytime soon…
openHulu
A couple of months ago, NBC and Apple had a little fight. NBC wanted to raise the rates on its shows on iTunes. Steve Jobs (Apple) said no and thus NBC pulled all of its shows from iTunes. No more $1.99 clips of The Office, Earl, Sunday Night Football, or any other shows you might want to watch from the network struggling in 4th place.
In the last month or so NBC decided to put all of their shows online on a website called Hulu, all with ads like TV of course. Problem was it was open to beta testing for a while but filled up its limited number of slots quickly.
openHulu is an open source site that embeds the videos from Hulu and allows the rest of us to watch them (still with ads) without having to be a part of the beta testing. The list of shows is growing and includes shows from NBC and FOX. Don’t have cable/satellite? [Tucker, Melissa] openHulu is for you. Granted, with the writer’s still striking theres not going to be anything new for a while…
I want to wake up in the city that never sleeps…
but alas, tomorrow I will not. We are home.
I will try and write more about our trip. When I catch up. But I am guessing my wife will write about it so I may not have to.
The kid did great for the entire trip. And then he melted down when we got home. It might take a few days/weeks/months for him to get back in order. Too bad he’ll never remember all the things he got to see. He wasn’t awake for most of them anyways.
these vagabond shoes, are longing to stray…
A happy NYC Saturday morning to any who might read this. Sorry for not posting our pictures last night but it probably wouldn’t matter since most of you are an hour or two behind and probably just getting up anyways.
Things in the City are still great. Lots (and lots) of walking again yesterday. Cohen did well for the most part with only a couple of breakdowns around feeding times. The Macy’s/Banana Republic dressing rooms were sufficient enough to get him back on track and moving again. For the day run, he was once again strapped to my belly and seemed to enjoy the ride. For the evening, we decided to try the stroller route like all of the others we had seen. Bad idea. I am guessing the suicide rates of people using strollers in NYC are 8 times the national average. Don’t try it. Today we will move him back to the harness method and hope that he is good with it.
NYC is great in the daylight as well as night. You rarely feel unsafe in either situation. Melissa lives in a neighborhood that seems to be family friendly. Lot’s of kids with either their mothers or nanny’s. (Some are easier to distinguish).
We were able to start the day at the famous (I think) H&H Bagels to grab a NYC bagel. If I ever took the time to type or scan in my writings from my August trip to Colorado Springs then you would understand my feelings on bagels, so in turn I went with the cinnamon bun.
Next we ventured south to the worlds largest department store, Macy’s. After letting Cohen eat we jumped in the rather long line to put Cohen on the lap of the real Santa Claus. I’m not much for lines but I figured it was a one time opportunity and the 6 foot tall elf told me that it would only be about 25 minutes. Not too bad. It did go pretty fast. One of the reasons it went fast is that you only get a minute or so with Santa and the other reason is that there are either 3 or 4 Santa’s at any given point holding kids. Our Santa, we will call him ‘Rabbai Santa’ or ‘Santa Goldberg,’ was a nice enough fellow but I was hoping for at least a real beard. Either way, it was fun, didn’t take long, and can claim that we have now been through Macy’s Santa Land and seen the man himself.
Favorite moment not pertaining to my family at Macy’s: Mrs. Claus, even more realistic looking than her spouse, made the rounds through the line to keep the crowds entertained. The family behind us had two young’ens both older than ours. As she stopped to talk and welcome them she pointed out to the older boy that Santa was so excited to meet him; the young was taken aback at her comment and responded, ‘but I met him last year,’ quickly the Mrs. had to back peddle and cover her tracks. She did a pretty good job of cleaning up her mess but I would have liked to see his time spent with Santa to see if any questions were brought up.
After Macy’s we decided to go eat and found a nice place that served a little of everything. It was a chain but it was good. I had the guy make me some fresh cajun chicken alfredo while Melanie and Melissa each got some sort of pita sandwiches. Other options included oriental food, fresh salads, pizza, cheesecake, fresh baked goods, and so forth.
From lunch we headed south to Ground Zero, not much you can say either while you are there or after the fact. You really have to see to understand. I know there has been progress made since the last time I visited but it doesn’t look like much has changed. I recommend seeing it at least once, and visiting it any time you are here. I would make a point of visiting it once a month if I lived here.
Our feet carried us from there to the bottom of the island and into Battery Park to view Lady Liberty without taking the ferry. She’s a little far away but you can her still standing there after 121 years. One of the very few things the French should be credited for.
Getting late in the afternoon, we hopped the Green Line back to the apartment and let the little one rest for a while. I think I napped longer than he did.
For dinner we again headed out, due partly to being in NYC and wanting to make the most of it and partly to the only offerings from Melissa’s fridge were two frozen Eggo waffles and a South Beach TV dinner. Yummy. Instead we got soup at some joint in Rockefeller Plaza and then took some time to see the tree and ice skaters. Good times. Across the street from the GE building (Reckefeller/NBC studios) stands Saks Fifth Avenue and St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Both must sees. Saks’ windows were all dressed up as well as many of the shops along 5th Avenue as we walked. By the time we made it to FAO Schwartz, they had just closed up so we headed home.
We are in the process of getting ready to head out again for the day. Slow start but probably needed it. We are probably headed to SOHO, Little Italy, Chinatown and such. More walking. Will try and keep track of it all.
Note: Possible chance to see Kyle this weekend. He’s arriving at his base some time late afternoon today in Jersey. Once checked in he is going to find some information about getting here. If he can get a ride/cab to Trenton, he can catch the train right in. Would be good to see him if possible.
Note two: Heisman trophy presentation tonight here in NYC. Not exactly sure where they do it, might head to TS to see if it’s a mad house down there. It’s either got to go to Tebow or McFadden. I don’t like the Gators so I will root Woo-Pig-Sooie.
Pics of the day:
Cohen – bedtime, Christmas PJ’s
Empire State Building
Macy’s Entrance
Santa line
Santa Land
Santa Land
Kris Kringle himself
Old fashioned Santa correspondence
Fancy new internet Santa correspondence – note that Santa is a Mac man
Ground Zero
Statue of Liberty from Battery Park
St Patrick’s Cathedral
Keeping warm
Rockefeller Plaza/Tree
GE Building
Rockefeller Plaza/Tree
Start spreading the news…
We have arrived with 7 week old in tow and intentions of painting this town red. Plane rides were pretty good. On time from DFW to the dirty, dirty (Atlanta) with mostly sleep involved and only a little fuss towards the end. Hartsfield was like most other, just an airport. Atlanta to LaGuardia was fine until the lengthy sit on the tarmac. I was warned.
Made it to the City about 5pm local and got picked up by a hefty 15-passenger van. Apparently van and mini-van are hard to decipher over the phone when English isn’t your first language and your taking the reservation from a man in Texas. Either way, plenty of room was available and provided for an exciting trip from LGA to the upper east side.
Melissa’s 300 sq/ft is cozy, can’t believe it goes for only 2500/month.
Once settled, we bundled up to venture out. I strapped Cohen to my belly and we headed west. Grabbed a real NYC pizza (pie) at Totonno’s (like every other pizza joint in town it was of course voted best pizza by somebody). Was as good as I remember. The place was festive, some nice Christmas decorations and a few menorah’s scattered about. Speaking of menorah’s, there are a large number of Jews in NYC and tonight it was very evident. Rabbi’s, families, boys and girls with yamaka’s, tracts, menorah’s, and blue ‘Christmas’ lights abound.
From Totonno’s we walked (yes, I walked) to 77th and Lexington to catch the 6 (subway) to Grand Central. A quick ride on the S (subway shuttle) kicked us out in the middle of Times Square. Bright lights and a pretty small crowd made for a nice walk around for a few minutes. Of course we stopped in at Starbucks to keep warm as we walked. One quick spin through the TS Toy’s R Us to see the (indoor) ferris wheel, lego creations and more. We decided it we were pushing it on C’s eating schedule so we started making our way back.
A good way to start the trip. Will try and keep updating as we go along. Agenda for tomorrow to probably include the Statue, Ground Zero, Macy’s and Santaland, and any other fun we can stir up.
Some pics below.
