I feel like I have to defend my neighborhood choice to most of my Manhattan-centric friends in NYC, except for those who specifically live in Brooklyn. Yes, it's safe, beautiful, has great restaurants, shops, and Manhattan-like demographics... all without the Manhattan-like hassles and annoyances. At the same time, I can get to most points of interst in Manhattan with ease: Chinatown/Canal Street in 3 stops, Union Square in 4 stops, Times Square in 6. It's also nice living beside the 2nd largest Greenmarket in NYC (after the one in Union Square), Prospect Park (Olmstead's self-proclaimed masterpiece, even over his other creation, Central Park!), a huge public library, a museum of art (2nd only to the Met), and 2 restaurant rows?
The American Planning Association came out with a list of America's Top Neighborhoods, and Park Slope was the only NYC neighborhood to make the cut:
http://www.planning.org/greatplaces/neighborhoods/parkslope.htm
As a side note, I'm also impressed that Elmwood Village in Buffalo made the list. I actually really loved that area when I was still studying in Buffalo!
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Monday, July 21, 2008
Weekend Upstate and Up North
This past weekend was a blast, despite travel delays at the tail end that almost entirely ruined my good mood. I won't dwell on the gory details of what happened with the travel delays, but I'll just say that sitting in the Buffalo airport for a 4 and a half hour delay was no fun.
I flew in Friday noontime, and me and my 2 closest friends there ate out at a Japanese Place we always would go to before. I'm still amazed at what the same amount of money could buy you for lunch there! We also watched the Batman Dark Knight movie... which was amazing. If you haven't seen it yet, you better schedule some time in the near future!
On Saturday, me and my friends went up to Toronto. It's an amazing city, and if it were in the USA, it might just be my city of choice to stay. Not as huge as New York City, but almost just as busy and lively. I also got a sense that the diversity there is more like a true melting pot, rather than a smorgasbord like New York.
Sunday was a pretty slow day. I just had mass in the morning in UB, back at the old mass I used to attend regularly as a student. The homily was really good in a mass that could be hit-or-miss. Then I had brunch at IHOP with my friends. In many ways, I miss how simple and fun brunch could be in a non-sophisticated atmosphere (read: IHOP, Friendly's, some random diner) rather than the dress-to-kill brunch-cocktail menus more typical of New York City.
But at the end of the day (a VERY LONG day), I got back home and have no regrets about my location or work arrangements, even if others find it really weird or even incomprehensible.
I flew in Friday noontime, and me and my 2 closest friends there ate out at a Japanese Place we always would go to before. I'm still amazed at what the same amount of money could buy you for lunch there! We also watched the Batman Dark Knight movie... which was amazing. If you haven't seen it yet, you better schedule some time in the near future!
On Saturday, me and my friends went up to Toronto. It's an amazing city, and if it were in the USA, it might just be my city of choice to stay. Not as huge as New York City, but almost just as busy and lively. I also got a sense that the diversity there is more like a true melting pot, rather than a smorgasbord like New York.
Sunday was a pretty slow day. I just had mass in the morning in UB, back at the old mass I used to attend regularly as a student. The homily was really good in a mass that could be hit-or-miss. Then I had brunch at IHOP with my friends. In many ways, I miss how simple and fun brunch could be in a non-sophisticated atmosphere (read: IHOP, Friendly's, some random diner) rather than the dress-to-kill brunch-cocktail menus more typical of New York City.
But at the end of the day (a VERY LONG day), I got back home and have no regrets about my location or work arrangements, even if others find it really weird or even incomprehensible.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Going Back
This weekend, I'm looking forward to going back where I spent the first 2 years of my journey here in the US. I still have fond memories of Buffalo, and my closest friends there are still there studying for their Ph.D. In many ways, I miss being a student. Grad school was the most "fun" time I had in terms of learning and really getting into topics I loved to study. The same can't be said of most of high school and at least half of the classes I took in college. But it's the people who make the experience wonderful. Without them, there would really be no reason to visit an out-of-the-way upstate NY city that has seen better days.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Dorm Life with a Paycheck
I recently came across a New York Times article detailing my company's flexible work schedules and plans. I think it is fairly straight on in its descriptions, and it's got me thinking about my overall regard for how we treat workers and workplace flexibility.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/31/nyregion/31vacation.html?pagewanted=all
Dorm life with a paycheck... that is how I explain my current work arrangements to friends and relatives. It almost feel like graduate school all over again in terms of my daily work. I do take a bath in the morning and I don't go to work in my PJ's in my living room. I do dress up, make breakfast, and still proceed to formally "work" from home. And I love the flexibility I currently have. Although my current employer is just pretty average in terms of salary and medical benefits, the flexibility is unmatched by anything else I've seen out there.
I can meet up with friends for dinner, after they get off from work. I can have lunch in the different neighborhoods of Brooklyn and not having to settle for mediocre and overpriced cafeteria food. I can watch TV while waiting for long and slow Perl scripts to finish running. I can also read my Java, SOA, and whatever technical books on the bed, much like what I did sometimes in grad school!
So there, it does feel like a college dorm rather than real work, except you are getting paid to finish the projects and not just receive a letter grade at the end of the term. I do know other more "mature" telecommuters have their reasons why they prefer to work from home which are different than mine. But then, it works out for me and I'm generally happier with the setup. So does anyone want to have lunch somewhere on 7th Avenue one of these days?
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/31/nyregion/31vacation.html?pagewanted=all
Dorm life with a paycheck... that is how I explain my current work arrangements to friends and relatives. It almost feel like graduate school all over again in terms of my daily work. I do take a bath in the morning and I don't go to work in my PJ's in my living room. I do dress up, make breakfast, and still proceed to formally "work" from home. And I love the flexibility I currently have. Although my current employer is just pretty average in terms of salary and medical benefits, the flexibility is unmatched by anything else I've seen out there.
I can meet up with friends for dinner, after they get off from work. I can have lunch in the different neighborhoods of Brooklyn and not having to settle for mediocre and overpriced cafeteria food. I can watch TV while waiting for long and slow Perl scripts to finish running. I can also read my Java, SOA, and whatever technical books on the bed, much like what I did sometimes in grad school!
So there, it does feel like a college dorm rather than real work, except you are getting paid to finish the projects and not just receive a letter grade at the end of the term. I do know other more "mature" telecommuters have their reasons why they prefer to work from home which are different than mine. But then, it works out for me and I'm generally happier with the setup. So does anyone want to have lunch somewhere on 7th Avenue one of these days?
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Behind Enemy Lines
I've been meaning to post this for a while, but I'm just reminded of it now. Nothing can waste your time more than waiting for long command line scripts to run at work, so I've taken to watching youtube videos in between the batch jobs after programming them.
Some of the most moving youtube videos I've seen lately are of the NY Philharmonic Orchestra performing in North Korea. In the entire concert, I think the best one was when they did "Arirang", a traditional Korean folk song. Whether in North or South Korea, I hear that this is a cherished by all people young and old. Here is the entire 10-minute clip:
Some of the most moving youtube videos I've seen lately are of the NY Philharmonic Orchestra performing in North Korea. In the entire concert, I think the best one was when they did "Arirang", a traditional Korean folk song. Whether in North or South Korea, I hear that this is a cherished by all people young and old. Here is the entire 10-minute clip:
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Once You're Lucky, Twice You're Good
This book has been sitting on my shelf for the longest time, and I regret not picking it up sooner. It's an amazing read and makes me more want to get the non-profit website project up and running. All the big names of the Valley are covered, and then some.
Back to Civilization... and to Work
Finally got my cable TV and broadband internet up and running. It's weird how cable companies here in the US always schedule appointments by giving you a "span" which the technician will show up. It would be no big deal if it were 30 minutes or 1 hour. But in this case, it was a 4 hour span... 12 noon to 4 pm! Of course, the technician only arrived at 3:45 pm, effectively wasting 3 and 3/4 hours of my time this afternoon.
Anyway, after that, I'm back to civilization. It's difficult to imagine life without internet access. I'm not even sure how everyday life was like over a decade ago in 1995 when we first had our ultra-fast (at the time) 28 kbps dial-up connection. I also got a new land line phone, courtesy of the company that should not be named.
So there, no more going over to the Brooklyn Public Library simply to VPN to work or trying fruitlessly to *ahem* borrow from the neighbors. All this just in time for a multitude of conference calls starting just about tomorrow (welcome back to work!).
Anyway, after that, I'm back to civilization. It's difficult to imagine life without internet access. I'm not even sure how everyday life was like over a decade ago in 1995 when we first had our ultra-fast (at the time) 28 kbps dial-up connection. I also got a new land line phone, courtesy of the company that should not be named.
So there, no more going over to the Brooklyn Public Library simply to VPN to work or trying fruitlessly to *ahem* borrow from the neighbors. All this just in time for a multitude of conference calls starting just about tomorrow (welcome back to work!).
Thanks For Coming!
For anyone in this picture (+ Seng and Alex, who left early), thanks so much for coming to the housewarming/July 4th BBQ.
Monday, July 7, 2008
To-Do List
1/2 into 2008, and I've only started to think that it's actually a good idea that I have resolutions or goals for the next 365 days, so this will be mine. I realize how boring my life has been the past, er, "n" number of years... so here are some things I want to do to make it a bit more interesting.
Hopefully I'll check back next July 4th to see if everything has gone well or if I was just incredibly delusional. But at the very least, I'd have more to look forward to and assign myself the tasks of Of course, real work and not-so-real-but-more-real work would take up my time, but below are lists of things I'd want to do aside from the two obvious ones.
Hopefully I'll check back next July 4th to see if everything has gone well or if I was just incredibly delusional. But at the very least, I'd have more to look forward to and assign myself the tasks of Of course, real work and not-so-real-but-more-real work would take up my time, but below are lists of things I'd want to do aside from the two obvious ones.
- See and Volunteer at the New York Hall of Science
- Volunteer at a local Intel Computer Clubhouse
- Chip in a few hours at the Park Slope Food Coop
- See the Brooklyn Museum of Art
- See the Guggenheim Museum
- See the American Museum of Natural History
- Bike to the beach on the perfect Brooklyn ride
- Play tennis in Prospect Park
- Skate in Brooklyn's own Wollman Rink
- Go kayaking on the Hudson River
- Take the Circle Line Cruise around Manhattan
- Visit the other not-so-touristy NYC neighborhoods:
A New Start
OK, so I got through moving without a scratch and miraculously under-budget given today's low ball estimate movers. The new apartment is cozy and small, yet it is charming and almost my idea of a starter New York City apartment nestled in a brownstone neighborhood. Kids play on stoops, families eating at cafes of 7th Avenue, young activists getting others involved on the streets, and all this a short subway ride from Manhattan. Over the past 2 years all I've wanted was to live in a more vibrant area and I'm pretty sure that has been done.
So to start off my time in NYC, there is no better way to do it than to celebrate 4th of July (and the rest of the long weekend) with friends. Post-lunch housewarming, Macy's fireworks, Salvador Dali exhibit at the MoMA, a hot bowl of shoyu ramen, a corned beef and adobo rice dinner, and watermelon on a Tribeca apartment rooftop overlooking the Hudson River. How New Yorker-ish, you could say.
But reality starts when all the festivities end, and life starts to set in. Made my final goodbyes to friends and family last night in Penn Station, with the sea of people going back to where they came from. I took the lonely 2 train back to Grand Army Plaza and walked right into my new "home" for at least the next year.
So to start off my time in NYC, there is no better way to do it than to celebrate 4th of July (and the rest of the long weekend) with friends. Post-lunch housewarming, Macy's fireworks, Salvador Dali exhibit at the MoMA, a hot bowl of shoyu ramen, a corned beef and adobo rice dinner, and watermelon on a Tribeca apartment rooftop overlooking the Hudson River. How New Yorker-ish, you could say.
But reality starts when all the festivities end, and life starts to set in. Made my final goodbyes to friends and family last night in Penn Station, with the sea of people going back to where they came from. I took the lonely 2 train back to Grand Army Plaza and walked right into my new "home" for at least the next year.
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