Roller Skating Babies

If you ever thought kids matured early in New York, this spot for Evian Water proves it.

A Trip to NYC

I recently traveled to New York City to speak at a conference and had a full day to wander around and see the sights. It turned out that I only took photos with my iphone, so they were already online, but I will post a few notable ones here.

This is one of my favorite buildings in New York, the Flatiron Building. It sits where 23rd Street, 5th Avenue and Broadway comes together, creating a small triangle of real estate. One of the things that has changed in the area is the creation of public spaces where Broadway used to have three lanes of traffic. It now has one and there is a place with tables and umbrellas, planters and large rocks. It is nice spot to sit and rest after a long walk. New York is a walking city and they really seem to understand creating public spaces for sitting.

In the shadow of the Flatiron Building is Madison Square Park. Years ago, this was run down, dirty park, largely populated with homeless and drunks. Today it features a large grassy meadow with public sculptures, a playground, a dog park, tables and chairs for sitting (in addition to the ubiquitous park benches), and the best part of all, one of NYC’s trendiest burger place, The Shake Shack. While I did not eat anything at the Shake Shack, I did wait in line for a little while. Even their website acknowledges the line by displaying a live web cam view of it.

In addition to lots of walking around, I also dropped by my old agency to say hi. I worked there nearly 20 years ago, but as holiday cards transitioned to LinkedIn, I have remained in touch with my old boss, who is one of the agency principals now. It wasn’t that hard for her and her brother to wrestle control from their dad and uncle as they advanced in years.

But it was odd to see my old desk. I had to take a picture of it of course.

So after my friend, Kipp, arrived, we picked a place for dinner and started walking. One of the advantages of using review sites in NYC is there are lots of reviews. Just pick a type of food (Italian) and a neighborhood (Greenwich Village), and check out the results with the best ratings. We chose a place called Lupa Osteria Romana. It was opened by Mario Batali and crew in 1999, and is modeled after a traditional Roman trattoria, providing classic Roman cuisine in a festive atmosphere. Since we did not go to their website before eating there, I just discover this. I also found they are on Twitter and Facebook, but not very engaged. I had a raw tuna “cooked in vinegar” seviche-style with cannelini beans and red onion. We shared a fettuccine dish with chicken and pork. I had Saltimbocca for my entree. Everything was delicious, but the best dish was the crispy duck “agrodolce” that Kipp had. It had been prepared confite style, and then roasted. It was super tender and very tasty. I also had a glass of the Vermentino Colli di Luni Giacomelli 2006. It was drier than the NC one we reviewed from Raffaldini.

Next it was off to Little Italy to find cannoli. That night the Feast of San Genero was going on, but we still managed to find Ferrara’s. We got regular and chocolate covered cannoli. It was a long walk back to our hotel, but it was a nice night, so it wasn’t too bad. Well, except I was really wiped out from all the walking.

The next day was the conference and a flight home. We walked around some, but no notable sites or pictures. Here’s a link to all my photos on Flickr.

I Lego NY

Illustrator Christoph Niemann blogs for the New York Times blog, Abstract City, and he recently posted a series of representations of New York using Lego. He currently lives in Berlin and he posted “During the cold and dark Berlin winter days, I spend a lot of time with my boys in their room. And as I look at the toys scattered on the floor, my mind inevitably wanders back to New York.”

My initial expectation when I clicked on the link was that I would see a series of notable NYC landmarks or complex Lego cityscapes. But what he did was create the smallest details of New York in Lego. Anyone who has spent any time in New York will recognize the difference between Starbucks and street vendor or deli coffee cups above. And just a note, regular coffee in NYC comes with milk and sugar. This post is a reminder that even the biggest things are made up of a series of minute details. Here’s a link to the post.

Social Media in NYC Hotel

On a recent trip to NYC, I chatted with Brian Simpson about the Roger Smith Hotel’s involvement in the New York social media community. Read more

9-11 Artifacts

Screen capture of series of photos stitched together to make panorama by Raymond McCrea Jones/The New York Times

Here are some interactive photos from the NY Times, with narration, of artifacts from the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center towers. The distinctive steel tridents are recognizable from the fascade of the towers.

Steven Weintraub, a consultant to the Port Authority on the preservation of 9/11 artifacts, and Jan Ramirez, the Chief Curator and Director of Collections of the National September 11 Memorial and Museum, describe artifacts from the World Trade Center now held in an 80,000-square-foot hangar at Kennedy Airport. The museum is to open in 2012.

New York Photos

Peter in front of Pete’s Tavern, NY’s longest continuously operating bar, since 1864

Grace in front of the Grace building