SD ----------->>>>>> NYC

Posing in Santorini

2006-08-29T18:13:00.000-07:00

Katie and I had a great vacation in Greece with a stop in London on the way home. We took LOTS of pictures at Tim and Evy's wedding, around Paros and Santorini, Athens and London, which you can see more of at these links: WEDDING - PAROS - SANTORINI - ATHENS - LONDON

Sailing... takes me away... from where I'm going... Hmmmm Hmmmmm.

2006-08-29T18:00:00.000-07:00

Sailing with the Redmonds. I took Katie and her parents out on one of the boats I teach on for a sail in NY Harbor.

updates!

2006-08-06T19:44:00.000-07:00

So I have been busy (and lazy) and haven't been taking many pictures or updating the blog lately. I finally was able to catch up a little bit so see below for some updates on what I've been up to the past couple months...

Friday night at the beach...

2006-08-04T18:53:00.000-07:00

Went to Water Taxi Beach on Friday after work. Played some volleyball and had a great time. The view here is amazing, especially once the sun goes down and the lights go on...

Perks...

2006-08-01T18:47:00.000-07:00

Katie had a program at the Mandarin hotel in the Time Warner Center and had a room there for a couple nights. It was great timing as it came right in the middle of the heat wave and we got to stay there in the air conditioning. This is the morning view from our room on the 53rd floor...

Climbin' the Gunks

2006-07-15T20:00:00.000-07:00

My co-worker Evan is a rock climbing nut. He took another co-worker, Juan, and me up to the Shawanagunk Ridge a couple hours upstate. We had a really good time, although rain cut the climbing a little short. I was equally excited just to get out into the woods a little bit and hike around. Too bad I don't have a truck anymore :-)
This is me with the big boy harness on, getting ready to climb...

Here's me scaling the wall like Spidey. Each of the different climbing routes have their own name. I believe this was named after some sort of breakfast food.

They pay me to do this...

2006-07-10T17:17:00.000-07:00

I took my camera out with me on one of my Thursday night sailing classes that I teach. It's a pretty cool to teach sailing someplace where you can say "Just steer towards the Statue of Liberty for a while."

4th of July

2006-07-04T18:44:00.000-07:00

We watched the fireworks down by the Brooklyn Bridge this year. Macy's puts on quite a show. These were taken with my cell phone.

The skyline after the show.

The other Long Beach

2006-07-03T17:11:00.000-07:00

Does every state on the ocean have a town called Long Beach? Anyways, this is Long Beach, NY. We took the Long Island Railroad from Brooklyn to Long Beach and had a nice day walking the boardwalk and checking out the town. The beach is nice and clean, partly because you have to pay $7 to get onto the sand. A strange concept for Californian.

More Coney Island photos...

2006-07-01T16:47:00.000-07:00

I know I have a lot of Coney Island photos on this blog, but I love the place and I think it makes for interesting photos (and I usually seem to remember to bring my camera). Katie's parents gave us some tickets for the Cyclones game and we had a great time. Here are the Cyclones in action with the amusement park in the background...

Chillin' in Cold Spring, NY

2006-05-28T16:35:00.000-07:00

Katie and I took the Metro North train about an hour north of Manhattan to Cold Spring, NY. Cold Spring is located on the Hudson River. We went up to go kayaaking (is that a verb?) but the water temp was not high enough for the rental company to rent them out. Anyways, we had a good time walking around the town and hanging out by the river and outside the big city for a change.
The Hudson River...

Memorial Day display...

West Point Military Academy is across the Hudson. We found out later that the President was giving a commencement speech there that day.

R.I.P. Ranger & One Year Down

2006-05-16T19:55:00.000-07:00

I have made it through my first year in the magical place that is New York City. Without getting too philosophical, I can honestly say this has been the best year of my life. On a slightly sad note, I parted ways with one of my best and most loyal friends for the past ten years... my truck. I hadn't driven it since September when the California plates (and insurance) expired so it was best for both of us that we just move on.

Guest Blogger: Katie!

2006-04-16T19:27:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, here are some pictures from my trip to Brazil. We started off in Belo Horizonte and ended in Rio. Some of the highlights include Ouro Preto (a colonial village in the mountains of Brazil), the Big Jesus in Rio and the beautiful beaches of Ipanema...

We ate lots of fresh tropical fruit during our stay in Brazil. For some reason the bananas were always bruised.

Ouro Preto - this picture shows the tropical landscape in this quaint village.

This is the famous Ipanema beach. Our hotel was located along this stretch of beach.

The Big Jesus!!! Can you believe it?

This is the amazing view from the Big Jesus.

Me and my co-workers, from left to right: Molly, Me, Julie and Arden. We really had a great time traveling after working hard in Belo.

Most fun ever!!! These are the traditional costumes of Carnival. Yes, that's me in the leopard suit. This was the best $1.50 I have ever spent.

Coming soon...

2006-04-11T20:16:00.000-07:00

Katie takes over the blog with her pictures from Brazil...

Guitar Hero!

2006-04-03T20:17:00.000-07:00

Katie and I had her nephew, Nolan, over last weekend for a sleepover. He brought his Guitar Hero video game, which is the greatest video game ever invented. We had a lot of fun and can't wait for his next visit.

More visitors!

2006-03-26T10:38:00.000-08:00

My Dad and Irene came out to visit last week, here we are in Union Square. It was my Dad's first time in New York City and he really had a good time. There's so much to see that they're already looking forward to their next trip.

We had some visitors...

2006-03-09T17:24:00.000-08:00

Our first overnight guests at our new apartment, Jeffrey Hooks and his girlfriend Laurie, came up from Philadelphia for the weekend. They were in town to see Billy Joel at Madison Square Garden, and we all met up afterwards with fellow expatriate Tierrasantans Nathan Richards and Eric Chase. I feel like I just wrote a caption for the Tierra Times.

Storm of the Century (of the week)!

2006-02-12T09:14:00.000-08:00

My first blizzard in New York City! Here is our street corner...

And this is Atlantic Avenue, normally a busy thoroughfare...

Puerto Rico! (Vamos a la Playa)

2006-01-31T15:17:00.000-08:00

You know, going to the beach in January didn't used to be such a big deal. But when you're coming from New York and the cold, rainy weather (albeit pretty mild for January) it feels pretty good to get some sunshine. I got sent to Puerto Rico to help give some training sessions to the local FEMA and planning board people there. I was there for a week and would love to go back some time and explore more of the island. My Spanish started to come back a little bit while I was there, and I enjoyed the "Criolla" food they have down there a lot. Lots of plantains, beef and, of course, rice and beans.

Apparently they were just getting around to taking down the Christmas decorations in Old San Juan. We actually got stuck behind a truck taking angels down off of lamposts for about 20 minutes. Good times.

This fort was built about 500 years ago. Unfortunately, this is as close as I got because we ran out of time. I'll have to make time for it next trip.

My co-workers, Dan and Juan. Juan had the unenviable task of translating the menus to Dan and I at every meal.

Vieja San Juan (Old San Juan).

Cristobal Colon = Christopher Columbus

First Snow!

2005-12-04T06:21:00.000-08:00

I woke up this morning and looked out my window to a snowy street. Of course I've seen snow before, but never outside of my own house! I'm not sure how long this love affair will last, but for now I'm pretty excited about living where it snows.

Thanksgiving in Tahoe

2005-11-29T08:49:00.000-08:00

Katie and I flew out to be with the family for Thanksgiving at Mom's house in Lake Tahoe. My mom took us for a scenic drive around the lake and this is Katie and I overlooking Emerald Bay, located on the south-west corner of the Lake.
Grandma Shirley and Grandpa Pete make an appearance on the blog! We had an early Christmas gift exchange since most of us won't get to be together on Christmas morning. Grandma got some chick-flicks for her new DVD player.

Keri comes to visit!

2005-10-20T11:19:00.000-07:00

My sister and her boyfriend Adam came out to NY to visit. While it rained most of the time they were here, they made the most of it. We went to go see Spamalot, the Monty Python musical, one night and we all loved it (even me, who hates musicals).
Adam had a couple friends from Minnesota (Eric and Heather) come meet us in the city and we all had dinner together at the Stanton Social, which was really nice. Here's a group shot that the waiter accidentally took in black and white. It's timeless!

TFL Draft 2005

2005-09-23T19:32:00.000-07:00

I took my first trip back to San Diego for the 9th annual T-Town Fantasy Football draft on the 8th of September. It was great to be back with some of my best and oldest friends.

Not a bad place to come visit...

The draft is underway...

The draft board, a new addition this year, made for the most organized yet most chaotic draft ever.

Draft completed!

Ahhhhhhh... why did I leave this place again?

The post draft body surfing session (in my underwear) was a highlight of a great day. Here's Ryan and JT charging the surf.

What a great way to end the day, 6 of my favorite people stuffed into a booth at the Saloon. I can't wait 'til next year!

Annapolis

2005-08-15T15:55:00.000-07:00

Katie came down to visit me in Alexandria, Virginia for the weekend. We headed over to Annapolis on Saturday for the day. If I had thought about it more, I would have opted for a museum day in DC because it was a real nasty hot, humid day. We started out at the Naval Academy, where we were able to walk around and check out the impressive campus.

The copper roofs at the Naval Acadamy are quite lovely.

The sailing center at the Naval Academy, where I once wiped snow off my boat before a regatta while in college. It was about 93 degrees and humid on this day, though.

This is the City Dock area of Annapolis, with the Maryland State House in the background. The State House is the oldest state capitol building still in use, and was built in 1788 without any nails.

We had Maryland crab cakes and mussels at McGarvey's near the docks.

Large old boat at the City Docks.

Complete Game Shutout

2005-08-07T20:05:00.000-07:00

I had to be in the D.C. area for work on Monday morning, so I headed down a little early and caught the Padres playing the brand new Washington Nationals. They play in RFK stadium, which is an old football stadium and has all the atmosphere of playing in a giant soup bowl. It was 90 plus degrees with a ton of humidity, but the beer was cold. I met up with my friend Ben, a former co-worker at ER Mapper from years ago. Jake Peavy threw a complete game shutout to give the Padres a 3 game sweep of the Nationals. Also, I got phone calls from three different friends during the game telling me I was spotted on TV in San Diego!

Ben and I scalped some great seats down the first base line in the third row.

I did some accidental sightseeing on my way back to the hotel from Ben's house.

The capital building out the driver side window... while driving.

My Office...

2005-08-03T18:05:00.000-07:00

Here's the view from my office window. I work in Long Island City, directly across the East River from Midtown Manhattan. For those who wonder, that's the Empire State Building, United Nations, Chrysler Building and the Trump Tower from left to right.

My cubicle!

Another shot from the other end of the suite.

Katie takes over the blog...

2005-07-31T17:25:00.000-07:00

I let Katie borrow my camera for her work-related trip to Portugal. Here she takes over the blog to narrate the beautiful pictures she took.

Katie says, "This is a craft fair in Cascais, a beach town near Lisbon. I bought some pottery there (and some earrings for myself)."

"Still at the craft fair."

"This once was the summer home for the Portugese royal family. We drove up a steep mountain from Sintra to get there."

"Portugal is known for its unique tile designs as seen here."

"View from castle."

"This is Lisbon, from the balcony of the Four Seasons Hotel. Lisbon reminds me of San Francisco with the steep hills, the colorful buildings, and this bridge that was designed by an American company to resemble the Golden Gate Bridge."

"These are my co-workers (hard at work). I can't remember the name of this restaurant but it was the best meal of my life."

"This is Ginchu Beach. I spent an afternoon there getting burnt :-) "

"Sunset at Ginchu Beach"

"Quelez Palace. This is where we had our final night dinner for the group."

"The dining room at Quelez Palace. Beautiful!"

"The city of Sintra."

"Cascais Harbor"

"Fisherman at Cascais Harbor."

"An afternoon in Cascais"

"More tilework in Cascais"

"This is where we ate dinner our last night in Portugal."

First week of work!

2005-07-22T17:05:00.000-07:00

Well, I survived my first week of working a real job in New York City. So far I am loving it. I really like my co-workers and the project I'm working on is interesting and giving me experience in GIS, which I am happy about. I am working on a flood-plain mapping project for FEMA. So far, I have been mapping all of the rivers, streams, creeks, etc in New York and New Jersey, one county at a time. Also, I had my first day of work at the Manhattan Sailing School. Instead of teaching a class, I just had to take out some young ladies from Popular Mechanics magazine and an ad agency for a pleasure sail. I sailed them out to the Statue of Liberty and back while they drank beer and enjoyed themselves. I know, tough job, but somebody's got to do it. I will send pictures of my office view when my camera returns from Portugal with Katie. The office is located in Long Island City, across the river from Manhattan so there are some great views.

Self-guided tour

2005-07-13T13:50:00.000-07:00

It was too nice to stay indoors on Monday, so I took out a couple cards from a box of self-guided walking tour cards my sister gave me for my birthday (thanks Keri!) and decided to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge and head through Chinatown, Little Italy and the Lower East Side. Much better than sitting at the computer looking for jobs and typing emails. Here is the beginning of my journey across the Brooklyn Bridge. It is such a beautiful bridge and to think it was built in the 1870s (opened in 1883). It was also a nice clear day, so I took lots of pictures...

Downtown Manhattan and South Street Seaport to the left.

Empire State Building and Manhattan Bridge to the right.

Another shot of mid-town and the Empire State Building.

The sights and smells of Chinatown. These crabs are alive, by the way.

Chinatown streets.

Confucius Plaza

Street Market at Confucius Plaza. If I knew how to cook this stuff I would come here a lot. Everything looked very fresh and good.

Mulberry Street is the heart of Little Italy. They close down the streets to cars at night during the summer months. Luckily Katie knows some good places because I don't have any idea how you would be able to choose where to eat on this street, there are so many Italian restaurants.

Some kids cooling off in a park on the Lower East Side.

The tenement buildings of the Lower East Side. During the late 1800s, immigrants would flock to the Lower East Side and would live in these crowded tenement apartments. They usually consisted of three rooms (front room, kitchen, bedroom) and often would house entire extended families and other boarders. Kind of reminds me of college.

4th of July

2005-07-07T07:09:00.000-07:00

We started our 4th of July afternoon at the Brooklyn Ice Cream factory in Brooklyn Heights. They make the ice cream on-site and it's really good. There is always a line here. Also, sitting at one of the tables inside when we were ordering was Jerry Springer. So, to summarize my celebrity sightings so far in NYC: John Turturro, Steve Buscemi (twice), the celebrity hairstylist guy with the reality show Blow Out (don't ask me how I know who he is), a girl from Law & Order (also in an ice cream store), and Jerry Springer.

We were invited to a party at the Office of Emergency Management, located directly underneath the Brooklyn Bridge.

As the sun set, we got ready for the Macy's firework show.

Police helicopter fly-by over the Manhattan Bridge.

The fire boat gets us into the spirit.

We get to our front row seats for the fireworks show.

Getting darker...

A shot of the group with their glow sticks.

The show begins...

There were a lot of cool new fireworks that I hadn't seen before.

A great show and a great way to wrap up one of the best weekends ever.

Amazin' seats!

2005-07-04T10:48:00.000-07:00

Katie scored some great seats to the Mets game last Friday night. My friend Eric Chase was in town and he and Katie's friend Katie came with. We were in the third row behind home plate. I've never sat in seats like these before, the face value was $163! The players took their warm-up swings about 10 feet away. This is the real reason I moved to New York, to take advantage of the perks from Katie's job! I forgot my camera, so these photos were taken with Eric's camera phone.

There was a short rain delay before the game started. We were prepared with our ponchos, but we didn't need them long. Here we are making our selections from the ballpark menu. That's right, waiter service in these seats!

More pics from Eric's camera phone.

We had better seats than the guys in the dugout!

Mermaid Parade

2005-06-29T08:22:00.000-07:00

The Mermaid Parade in Coney Island is an annual event. I hadn't heard of it before this week, but it's a pretty big deal and a lot of fun. The theme is loosely aquatic-based, mixed with the burlesque and freak-show themes of Coney Island. My camera ran out of batteries (doh!) before I got to take some pictures of the beach area, where you could hardly see any sand because there were so many people.

These ladies had a nice dance routine going on. These grocery carts, which here I believe symbolize crab traps or something, are really common in the city. I actually own one, and use it to haul laundry and/or groceries to and fro.

I had to get a shot of the buttless chaps.

Ummm... outer space mermaids?

Burlesque Mermaid Woman and Fish-head Marching Band!

This swamp thing was just walking down the street. Not sure if he was "dressed-up" or not.

Your guess is as good as mine.

Team Zissou representing.

Here's me in front of the famous Coney Island Cyclone roller coaster. I still haven't ridden it yet. Maybe after the next Cyclones baseball game.

Pink cyclists? Check.

Another cool float that I have no idea what to make of. Is it a submarine? spaceship? rickshaw?

Celebrate Brooklyn Concert in Prospect Park

2005-06-29T08:20:00.000-07:00

After the Mermaid Parade, we went to a free concert in Prospect Park, right around the corner from my house. It was a Canada Day tribute with a couple of my favorite Canadian bands, Stars and The New Pornographers.

Geography of New York City walking tour class

2005-06-27T12:27:00.000-07:00

I took a Geography of NYC - Ground Proof class/walking tour last Thursday with Jack Eichenbaum, an urban geographer with vast knowledge of NYC history. The class was called Ground Proof and focused on areas in New York City where topographic, historic, demographic and economic change is greatest. This photo is from Long Island City, directly across the river from midtown Manhattan. This park has been redeveloped from vacated industrial brownfields, specifically where trains loaded cargo onto barges.

Newtown Creek (seperates Long Island City, Queens to the North and Greenpoint, Brooklyn to the South).

PS1 in LIC. This is one of the first public buildings in Long Island City, originally a public school, that was built by the City of New York after the 5 boroughs (Manhattan, The Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island) were consolidated in 1898. Today, this building houses art studios for international art students.

This is an example of the beautiful brownstones in Brooklyn. This is in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood.

An eclectic block in Bed-Stuy.

Brooklyn College campus in the Flatbush neighborhood.

Along with the theme of the class, this is a change in housing types after crossing an old train track in Brooklyn near Brooklyn College. I never knew Brooklyn had this type of housing.

This is the other side of the train track.

The hill in the distance is Park Slope, where I live.

Tenement buildings in the Lower East Side/East Village of Manhattan.

An example of the gentrification on the Lower East Side. There are many nice restaurants and bars on the Lower East Side and in the East Village that have sprouted up in the last ten years. This is probably my favorite part of the city to hang out in.

Directly across the street from the previous picture, this is what most of the Lower East Side and East Village looked like ten years ago.

Some urban art on Clinton Street (it was trash day).

More urban art.

A very tall sculpture in a private garden in the East Village. This place felt like you were in the 1960s.

Same garden.

This is the old meatpacking district. Most of the meat markets are now in The Bronx and Harlem, so this area is being quickly gentrified as well.

Fancy hotels and apartments in the meatpacking district.

We finished the class in the West Village at Corner Bistro for a beer and burger. This place has the best burgers in the city and probably the only place in Manhattan that you will find a $2 draft beer. I will be sure to take you here for a burger if you ever come out to NY. This was around 5:30 in the afternoon. If you came in the late evening (or very early morning), there would be a line out the door.

After the class, I walked around the Chelsea Market, which is a really neat little mini-mall type thing. Supposedly, it is a former Nabisco factory where the Oreo cookie was first produced. The offices upstairs are home to The Food Network, Major League Baseball and NY1 TV Station, among others.

Chelsea Market concourse.

Chelsea Market

Chelsea Market lighting.

My New Neighbor...

2005-06-24T08:11:00.000-07:00

OK, now I'm not a celebrity enthusiast or easily star-struck by any means, but I have now encountered my favorite actor of all time twice within a couple blocks of my house. That actor is none other than Mr. Steve Buscemi. This morning it was at the bagel shop, where he walked in and stood right there next to me near the counter. Since I ordered my bagel toasted, it took a little longer, and he got a head start out the door. As I was crossing the street to head home, I noticed him entering an apartment on 5th street. That's right, Steve Buscemi and I live on the same street!

Brooklyn Cyclones Opening Night

2005-06-22T09:47:00.000-07:00

Katie's parents gave me two tickets to the Brooklyn Cyclones opening night game for my birthday. The stadium is very intimate and right on the boardwalk in Coney Island. A really neat place to watch a baseball game. The Cyclones beat their rivals the Staten Island Yankees 10-7. Also, Constantine from American Idol sang the Star Spangled Banner AND God Bless America. One thing that bugs me about the Mets and Cyclones fans: When singing Take Me Out to the Ballgame, they sing "Root, Root, Root, for the HOME TEAM" instead of "Mets" or "Cyclones". Don't they know who the home team is? Oh well, I had a lot of fun rooting for my new home team!

Mookie Wilson is the Cyclones manager and third base coach. He also happens to be Katie's favorite baseball player of all time.

scoreboard! (photo by Katie)

reverse angle

Astroland Park, just down the boardwalk from the ballpark, is like the travelling carnival that comes to town once a year, except that it never leaves Coney Island.

Gotta love the Zipper!

Spooky!

Coney Island is also the end of the line for the F train. In case anyone was wondering who cleans the trains, it's this guy.

The Mets

2005-06-16T11:18:00.000-07:00

Katie got some free tickets to the Mets game on June 12th. I got to see Pedro Martinez pitch against the Vladimir Guerrero and the Angels. It was a close game, but the Mets lost 4-3 with the Angels scoring the go-ahead run in the ninth.

Great seats!

After the game, Katie's parents took us out to dinner at Alma, a great Mexican (yes, good Mexican food!) restaurant in Red Hook, Brooklyn with a nice view of downtown Manhattan from the rooftop deck.

The Q Train

2005-06-15T11:12:00.000-07:00

The view of downtown Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge from the Q train, which goes over the Manhattan Bridge from Brooklyn to Manhattan.

Here's me riding the Q. Photo by Katie.

Free Furniture

2005-06-14T11:09:00.000-07:00

This is the bookcase that I found on the street. My roommate helped me carry it home and upstairs to our apartment. I actually had to take it apart to get it into my room. Now I've got my eyes out for a nice desk and chair.

Coney Island

2005-06-13T11:04:00.000-07:00

Katie and I went to Coney Island on a hot Sunday afternoon, June 5th. It was a busy day down there, which was neat because the one time I had been there before was on a Tuesday in September 2002 when no one was there. This is the famous Astroland park, home of the Cyclone roller coaster.

They even have a McDonald's on the boardwalk.

This is the original Nathan's hot dog stand.

One year ago...

2005-06-10T06:02:00.000-07:00

It was one year ago that I first met Katie while following the Padres on a road trip from Boston to New York. The picture above was taken by Katie with my camera (very late) that night. I am so lucky to have met such a great girl and I couldn't be happier to be with her in New York now.

Anyone ever seen the movie Smoke?

2005-06-04T11:40:00.000-07:00

This is the intersection where Harvey Keitel's character's cigar shop is located and where he took a photo at the same time every morning. It's about ten blocks from my apartment. If you haven't seen the movie, it's highly recommended.

This mural is a good representation of Brooklyn life.

2005-06-03T11:39:00.000-07:00

It's located on 4th Avenue in Park Slope.

The Gowanus Canal

2005-06-02T11:36:00.000-07:00

My apartment

2005-06-01T11:04:00.000-07:00

So, I finally moved into my new place. It is 4BR/2BA apartment on the second floor of the building in the picture above and is located in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn. It is a block from 7th Avenue, a street that has many great restaurants and businesses, and a block from Prospect Park, which is a 500+ acre park with a lake and beautiful meadows. My room is rather large for this area, and the apartment has a huge living area. I think I got pretty lucky. For those who have asked, my mailing address is now:
570 5th ST APT 2
Brooklyn, NY 11215

This is 5th Street, from in front of my building looking east towards Prospect Park.

Me and Nolan

2005-05-29T21:12:00.000-07:00

I went over to Katie's parents house for a Memorial Day BBQ on Sunday afternoon. I got to meet Nolan, her nephew, along with the rest of her extended family. It was a lot of great food and they all made me feel like part of the family. Katie's grandmother really doesn't like my beard, though. Oh well!

The Wrens

2005-05-27T08:26:00.000-07:00

This is a photo I took of the Wrens at Bowery Ballroom way back in October 2003. I'm going to see the same band at the same venue tonight. One of the reasons I've always wanted to live in New York City is because of all of the amazing live music venues and the depth of great bands coming through town. So far, on my very limited budget, I have had a chance to see Spoon, The Good Life, Built To Spill, The Faint, Bright Eyes, Portastatic and Rilo Kiley. If you know my musical taste, you know that those are some of my very favorite bands and that I am very happy to see the Wrens tonight at my favorite venue.

Rooftop Carne

2005-05-18T16:05:00.000-07:00

I took a day off from job hunting to join Nathan on the roof of his apartment building in Williamsburg while he cooked Carne Asada for his roommate John and I. That's the Manhattan skyline in the background (of course).

5th Avenue Street Fair - Park Slope, Brooklyn NY - 5/16/05

2005-05-16T09:05:00.000-07:00

The 5th Avenue Street fair in Brooklyn started just two blocks from Katie's apartment on Sunday. We walked the whole thing and ate some good food and drank some beer and sangria.

My first week in Brooklyn...

2005-05-16T09:01:00.000-07:00

Downtown Brooklyn: a view from in front of my new favorite sandwich shop where I have eaten 3 times in the first week.

I went to meet Katie after work one day last week. This is her building- The World Financial Center.

This boat is waiting for the right time to set the Transatlantic single-handed sailing record. This is the little harbor behind the World Financial Center.

Katie and I ate at this great BBQ joint, Biscuit, which is a five minute walk from her apartment in Park Slope, Brookyln. Sooooooo good.

I think I'll pass on the Mexican food here for a while.

I had a five-dollar lemonade at Whole Foods in Union Square before seeing a free Spoon concert at the Virgin Megastore. It was a really good lemonade though.

Spoon played a free in-store on the day their new record was released. This stuff just doesn't happen in San Diego.

Katie and I went for a nice walk in Prospect Park on Saturday. Here she is in front of the Audubon Center.

A gentle (not gentile) moment at Prospect Park Lake.

We Made It!

2005-05-09T06:31:00.000-07:00

Scroll down to where the pictures start to see our progress from the beginning, then work your way back up.

It was a great trip, everything went very smoothly and we had a lot of fun along the way. Once we made it to NYC, we got to celebrate our good friend Nathan's 30th birthday with some friends that flew out from San Diego and elsewhere. Now that everyone has gone back home it finally feels like the trip is over and I'm ready to start my new life here. Thank you so much to everyone who has offered such kind words and support, I am very lucky to have such great friends and family. I'll keep updating this site with photos and words, in case anyone is curious about what I'm up to (or just bored).

Thank you,

Chad

Day 8 - New York City!

2005-05-07T11:40:00.000-07:00

Jeffy Hooks joined us for the final push from Philly to NYC.

We made it!

Ryan makes it to the final show of the tour on time.

Ryan rocks the Sin-e in Manhattan.

The encore featured Mikey, Jeffy and Nathan on hand-claps.

Happy 30th Birthday Nathan Jr.

The NYC entourage

Ryan and Katie do the Roger Rabbit at the afterparty.

Three Amigos

Day 7 - Philadelphia

2005-05-06T08:39:00.000-07:00

The view from Jeffy's rooftop patio in Philly.

Jeffy lives at the very end of super-hip South Street.

There's a big broken bell in Philly that everyone makes a big deal about.

Ryan joins the tour group.

The Real World House. No Landon sightings, though.

This guy was hanging out at the Betsy Ross house.

North Star Bar, the club where Ryan performed in Philadelphia.

Our Philadelphia entourage... Jordan, Jeffy, Maria, Karen and Ryan.

Afterparty!

3am cheesesteak run. Mmmmmm.

Day 6 - From South Carolina to Philadelphia

2005-05-05T10:35:00.000-07:00

Gaffney, South Carolina - Peach Country. Starting out our 650 mile day to Philadelphia.

Richmond, Virginia. Big wow.

This overturned trailer cost us about 45 minutes. But since that was the only major accident or delay on our trip, we'll take it.

Tunnelling through Maryland. We finally arrived in Philadelphia around 11pm.

Day 5 - Atlanta

2005-05-05T01:44:00.000-07:00

Pulling into Atlanta on Tuesday evening.

The 10 High Club in Atlanta.

Outside the 10 High Club, our "bus" compared to the headliner's.

Ryan rocks the 10 High Club. We take off right after the show, making it to Greenville, South Carolina. This way we can arrive in Philadelphia a day early.

Day 4 - From Austin to Gulfport, Mississippi

2005-05-05T00:33:00.000-07:00

After a really great night in Austin, Texas, we had breakfast with with Jodi, our most gracious host. She took us to Barton Springs, where I went for a swim. That night we met up with The Good Life and Consafos. Way too much fun this night makes for long Day 4 drive.

Doing some work on the laptop after breakfast on Day 4... ready to drive to Gulfport, Mississippi? C'mon, it's only 650 miles!

Moooooo...

We drove 650 miles on Day 4. We crossed Louisiana and ended the day in Gulfport, Mississippi. We ate Arby's at midnight.

Day 3 - West Texas

2005-05-05T00:13:00.000-07:00

We ended Day 2 in Fort Stockton, Texas. Breakfast at Subway, then we drove to Austin.

Day 2 - Arizona and West Texas

2005-05-02T09:33:00.000-07:00

Leaving Arizona...

The Thing was kind of a bust...

...

...heading towards Texas...

...lots of driving today...

We made it to Texas!

Sundown in West Texas

We ate dinner at Chuy's in Van Horn, Texas before closing out a 650-mile Day 2. We wanted to spend as much time in Austin the following day as possible.

Day 1 - San Diego toTempe

2005-04-30T09:42:00.000-07:00

What was left behind...

What came with...

Leaving Alpine after my last San Diego Mexican Food for quite a while...

The Grand Canyon State Welcomes Us...

There were scary monsters around the (Gila) Bend.

End of driving day #1 (aka the easy day).

Ryan kicks the tires on his new one-man acoustic road show at Stinkweeds in Tempe.

Katie's Coming!

2005-04-14T12:39:00.000-07:00

Katie is coming to town tonight. It will be our last weekend together in San Diego for quite some time. In fact, it will be the last time we are ever just visiting each other. Next time I see her after this weekend, we'll both be living in New York!

Tour dates finalized...

2005-04-05T14:13:00.000-07:00

The dates that Ryan will be playing on our cross-country adventure have now been finalized. Shows are booked in Tempe, Atlanta, Philadelphia and New York City. Hopefully he can still get on the show with The Good Life in Austin, but we'll have to wait and see about that one. At least there are four dates booked. Now we can play connect the dots and figure out how to get there. I can't wait!

Re-route...

2005-03-30T14:54:00.000-08:00

Ryan told me last night that an Atlanta show has been booked between Austin and Philadelphia. Never been to Hot-lanta so that will be cool!

The plan...

2005-03-29T14:03:00.001-08:00

So, one reason for this blog that I forgot to mention before is that I will be driving cross-country in 8 days with my friend Ryan Ferguson, who just happens to be an awesome musician. He is starting a solo career after performing for many years with a band called No Knife. He'll be playing a few shows on the way, which will make the trip even that much more exciting. Our first night, 4/29, will be in Phoenix, where Ryan will be playing at a record store called Stinkweeds along with an Arizona band, Rueben's Accomplice. Ryan has known the Reuben's guys for quite a while from touring with No Knife, so we're hoping we can crash at their place. After Phoenix, we'll make our way across Texas to Austin by 5/1. In Austin, we're hoping Ryan can get on a bill with The Good Life, friends of both of ours who happen to be playing Austin that night. The following day, Ryan will be playing an in-store performance at Waterloo Records. Then, we have to make our way over to Philadelphia for a show on 5/5. I think we'll probably make stops in Memphis and Columbus between Austin and Philly, but we'll have to see about that. It would be great if he could pick up another show somewhere in between. After Philadelphia, where we'll stay with our life-long friend Jeff Hooks, we'll head up to New York. Ryan will play a final show in NY and then fly back to San Diego the following day or the day after. My hope is that I will have internet access most days at some point so I can update this blog with updates and pictures. We'll see how that goes, but that's the plan.

Shea Stadium

2005-03-28T13:22:00.000-08:00

I can't wait to see the Padres come play the Mets at Shea Stadium. The games are July 19-21, in case anyone wants to come out to visit me and go to those games. I took the picture above at a game in September 2003 when I was visiting Jeff Hooks in NY. The Mets played the Expos that day and Jeff and I got hooked up with these great seats by a really nice Mets season ticket holder we met outside the stadium. I liked Shea a lot more than I thought that I would.

In the beginning...

2005-03-28T10:59:00.000-08:00

OK, so I stayed home sick from work today (I actually am sick too) and I decided that it would be cool to start a blog documenting my journey from San Diego to NYC and at least the first couple months of living there, finding an apartment, finding a job, trying to make friends, etc. In the past I have been terrible at keeping any kind of diary or journal so I'm not terribly optimistic about the success of this venture, but hopefully I will prove myself wrong. I hope it will give me an excuse to go out, take pictures and document the day to day of this transition. It would probably be a lot more entertaining if I was, say, Larry David, but I guess entertainment will be a secondary benefit of this enterprise. Not sure what the primary benefit is yet, hopefully to keep in touch with family and friends and something to reflect back on at some point. So, anyway, here goes-- my first post to the Blog Universe... see you again soon!