I am back in NYC

Yesterday I landed back in NYC, one of my favorite places. I came for the Miami Ad School portfolio review that is going on tomorrow. There are many different agencies that are going to come and check out our books. I am excited for it to happen. I hope they come look at my book but if they dont, I have their emails and their numbers that I can raise some hell. I am hoping some good will come of this but I just dont know yet.

Shit I am digging!

Very cool social experiment that I really want to be apart of next time. I think I will use something like this in an ad. Very cool

Another really nice day.

I must admit that Boulder has had some really beautiful days since I have been here. The weekdays are always sunny with a clear view to the mountains. Every day I walk to work and I look at them. It is inspiration if you think about it, something so beautiful that is right out of your window is rediculous. Whne I was in NYC the only thing I could see is the buildings lining the street, which is pretty cool in it's own right but it doesnt have a natural beauty that mountains do.

I just hope this weather keeps up for the weekend, it always seems to take a turn for the worst on Friday. Hopefully this weekend is different.

Number 4 as a Vike maybe.

I was happy when Bret Farve retired for the second time because I thought he was done, and never going to come back. I was wrong. There is talk about him comming to the Vikings, which would have been great last year. But this year is going to be different. I dont think he is healed from his injury that took him out last season. He hasnt done surgery for it or anything. I dont know if it was the injury or the way the team reacted to him that kept him from staying a Jet but I really want to know. I think Farve is a vast improvement over the terrible QB staff Childress has assembled, but he is not the long term answer. Yeah he is better then Jackson and Rosenfelds but really who isn't right now. Jackson is one of the dumbest players I have ever seen, just looking at him you know nothing is going on inbetween the ears. Sage Rosenfelds is a better QB then Jackson is because he can think, but he has no arm, and for a position where you need to throw it you kinda need one.

Farve would be good in Minneapolis for a year but much longer then that I dont see him lasting and the Vikes need a long term QB to go with their upstart offense.

This weekend I made a choice.

This last weekend I had to make three choices on where I would like to go next quarter. It was really hard to choose because this quarter unlike the past didnt have very many choices to choose from. A lot of the agencies pulled out this year because of the financial crisis. It has hit the agency world hard. A couple of weeks ago Fallon in Minneapolis let go of 14 or so creatives. It isnt a fun time to be looking for a job, and I will have to do that in six months. But anyways, the three choices that I made where to go to BBDO energy in Chicago for an internship, McGarry Bowen in New York City for an internship, and to stay at Crispin Porter + Bogusky and do the portfolio program but if that fills up by the time that gets to me I would do the greenhouse. I really dont care which one of these I go to because I like them all. They are really cool and would be a lot of fun. I love it here at Crispin but I would also like to be paid. Wish me luck.

Really are the people running this country that Dumb.

I bet this whole fiasco started with someone in the white house saying, "Lets fly a 747 and a fighter jet over NYC to get really good pictures." Then waiting and watching a room full of rubber necks bob their heads up and down. Then he was like "Even better lets not tell anyone that we are going to do this." The rubber necks look over to the man in charge who is looking at them for approval then they all stand up because they are idiots.

April 27th comes around and there is two aircrafts flying over NYC at low altitude. Some take pictures while they run for cover thinking that it is another terrorist attack. They are also running for cover because there is a fighter jet right behind the 747 looking like it is going to shoot it down. It was only 8 years ago maybe our administration thought it has been long enough since the terrorist attacks to fly over NYC.

I guess this administration cares more about how our enemies (Iran, North Korea, Cuba, and Venezuela) look at our government but they could give a shit about the people that actually live in and love this country. Lets open the scar of 9/11 again, lets terrify our biggest city in our country just for a god damn photo opportunity. I think someone should pay for this, an apology would be really nice, a real one this time.

Mom's visit day three.

Today I had them meet me on my side of the park.  It is time to see the sights. 

I dragged them all over today.  We saw many many places, first was the Plaza Hotel off of 5th ave and E59th.  A really nice hotel that has everything rich folks would ever want.  It is probably the second ritziest hotel in NY.

Right across the street is the coolest apple store ever.  It is located under ground but it has this glass case to show people that it is there, really cool.

We walked down and went into the Trump Tower, that is right next to Tiffanies, St Patricks Cathedral and 30 Rock.  All of that in one shot was not that bad.  

Down the street was the Waldorf.  The most well known hotel in the City.  We had to go around to the side that faces third ave because they were shooting a movie in front of the hotel.  They had streets blocked off everything.  It was an Angelina Jolie movie called 'Salt.'  She was staying at the Hotel but I never saw her when we stopped in to have drinks.  I wish I would have, She could have joined us any day.  I am sure that my girlfriend Val is reading that and is fuming, but it's Angelina so if she would have I would have an even better story to tell.  I guess they rewrote the movie for her, the main character was suppose to be a man.

Next we went to the Empire State Building where I could show her NY, it was at night because I believe that is the best time to be up there.  It did take a long time to get up there, the lines were a bitch but thats ok when it is worth it in the end.

Mom's visit day two.

I am not going to bore you again with my traveling over to the west side.  I have never been over to the west side this much and it is really kind of boring, I am glad I live on the East side of Manhattan.

We went down to SOHO today to do a little shopping.  All the hustle and bustle down there was actually kind of fun when you know that you wouldn't be spending your money.  My mom wanted to see some of the fancy ritzy shops that are not in the Des Moines Area.  Our cab actually put us right in front of a really really cool Prada store.  It was really nice the way the place was laid out, it was off of Broadway and I am sorry I dont remember the by street but it is down there.

Walking around the couple of blocks got a little tiresome so I took them to my favorite restaurant in NY Lombardi's and got a pie.  Having my taste buds explode one last time was amazing as ever.

Since we were right in the area I took them to China town (even though my mom hatted people trying to sell you everything), Little Italy (what's left of it), Tribeca, Greenwich, and the west Village. 

It was a productive day, but not that productive.  Tomorrow I will get them.

first day with my mom in NYC

She had just flown in to NYC with her friend.  My mom had never been here before.  I walked across the park to get to the hotel she was staying at to meet them.  It was rainy by the time that I met my mom on the Upper West Side, but I was excited to see her non the less.  

We had lunch at a little place on the corner, I dont really remember the place that we went but it was a burger place.  It was a little mind blowing, not because of the food but the menu.  They had so options to choose from, I really didnt know if I made the right choice or not.  They had about thirty or forty different options for just about everything.

Since it was rainy out we decided it would be a good day to go to one of the many museums in NY.  I will admit that I had gone to a lot and there was only one left that I wanted to see, the Guggenheim.  We took a cab all the way back to the Upper East Side to the Museum mile and tried to go in side.  The damn thing was closed, they don't open on Thursdays.  The only thing that we could go into was the store that they had.  So since we were there we went in.

We walked from E89th to E80th to the MET.  I had already been there with my girlfriend, but I didn't get to see all of it, because it is so massive.  It really reminded me of the Louvre in Paris, so many paintings and artifacts that if you read every single one your mind would explode.  So when we entered I turned to my mom and said, "Unless you want to be in one exhibit for the entire day don't read everything, skim it."  Luckily for me she did.  We went through the Ancient Egyptian, American, and Modern art exhibitions while we where there.  I took a picture of my favorite piece that Jackson Pollock did, it is a little out of focus but I love it so I put it as a picture.

We went back to the hotel to chill out for a little bit before we went out for dinner.  It took a long time before everyone was ready to go.

We walked from the hotel on W77th to mid town before we ducked into an Irish Bar.  I swear I don't think I have gone to any other kind of bar since I have been in NY.  I don't know why but I always find an Irish bar and that is the one I always go into.  It might be because there are so many of them but a bar is a bar.

After dinner I decided to take my mom to Times Square, we were in fact a block away from it and why not, we would have to see it sometime why not make it right now.

I left them in Times Square because it was getting late and they wanted to go back to crash.  I told them where to get a taxi from and I walked the other way.  I ended up walking right by the Radio City Music Hall on my way home.

Until Tomorrow.

St. Pattys day.

Yesterday was a great day and should be considered a national holiday.  Proposition 317.  But anyways I went to the NYC StP day parade and it was interesting for a little while.  Then it got to be the same thing over and over.  It was just people walking down the street.  It was lead by the US Army's fighting 69th.  I can not believe how they can march like that.  I guess they train for it all the time but still, marching in unison has to be really hard. 

The bands were interesting.  Of course you had people in Kilts playing bagpipes, but then you would also have people dressed up in civil war gear and revolutionary gear.  Playing the instruments of the day.  I liked that, it was better than watching just regular marching bands.  It made me feel like I was in that period if only for a second.

That bastards flooding my apartment

The person that lives in the apartment above me is flooding my apartment.  For the past hour and a half my bathroom has had a constant stream of water flowing from the ceiling.  This isnt the first time this has happened but it has never been this bad.  It is even dripping outside of the bathroom.  I have pots and a bucket trying to gather all of the water and I have already had to dump them twice.  I have standing water in the bathroom and it is leaking to the hard wood flooring.

The SOB isnt even in his apartment.  I hear the water dripping from his door, what the fuck is he doing.  He either takes one bath a month and just leaves the tub full or I dont even know.  The water is a dark yellow color.  I have taken all of my valuables and taken them off of the floor.  

I have contacted the person that I sublease from but that cant do anything until the douchebag gets home

Shopping time.

Today I am going to probably buy some discount movies and games. The Virgin Megastore in Times Square is going out of biz. This is awesome. I went with a friend last Sunday and they had a ton of stuff. I didnt buy anything then because things were not discounted enough, only twenty five percent. I am hoping that five days later it has moved up to fifty percent. I hope the items will still be there but you never know. I would say they are because they had hundreds of copies of what I wanted.

Honk honk honk

Every weekday I get the same wake up call at 7am. I know, I know many people get up at 7 or before everyday. But I like to sleep until 9. So when I am rudely awaken at a time I do not even what to know it makes it really hard. They honk at everything, if there is a red light they think if they honk or lay on the horn long enough it will change to green. My favorite is when they honk when the light turns green, at that instant they honk, before a person could ever let off of the breaks they honk, I just cant believe it.

When I move I am going to miss NY a lot, but I will never miss their incessant honking.

Little Italy isn't all it is cracked up to be.

Today was the second time that I went to NYC famed Little Italy, located off of Mulberry street.  It is only two blocks of just restaurants and little knick knacks shops.  The people stand outside of the restaurant and bug the shit out of you to get you to come in.  No other place is like this in NYC.  There isn't much difference from menu to menu down the block.  

I have gone into two restaurants and they have been mediocre at best.  The first restaurant was completely awful, the worst Italian food that I ever had in my life.  The one that I went to today was OK, nothing to make me go back.

If you come to NY and want good Italian food, I recommend not going Little Italy.  There are a lot of really good Italian restaurants that are not in that area.  I recommend going there.

Empire State

I went to the top of the Empire State Building like King Kong.  All stretched out looking at the city in a gaze.  Little fires lined the streets, some red, some orange and a rare hint of blue, making the light brighter than the moon.

All is silent at the top of the world.  No more sirens, honking and screaming that echo's below.  Just you, the sky and about a hundred people that are all struck in a gaze not caring what happens below.  Your in a whole new world when your atop of the Empire State.

Really good restaurant for lunch

For the past two days I have gone to the Isle Thai restaurant for lunch.  I know I know I need to find a new place but its so good.  I went by myself the first and had a very pleasureable experience.  I got the Pad Thai and the chicken and shrimp steamed dumplings because it is buy a meal and get an app for free.  I washed some of the best Pad Thai I have ever had down with some green tea.  My bill came and it had to be over $15 for you to use your card.  So I ordered desert because I was five dollars short.  Banana's wrapped in an egg roll shell, honey and a pink ice cream.  This was absolutely amazing as well, capped the meal off really well.

Today I went with Virgina and Gustavo two other interns, back to the area.  It's not a far walk from where I intern at so might as well.  We were looking for a restaurant in the West Village and I told them that I ate there yesterday and it was good.  They wanted to try.  So today I had Summer roll app and Drunken noodles.  Washed that down with another hot tea called Japanese Brown Rice.  That was good as well.

I highly recommend this restaurant.  Some of the best Thai I have ever had

While they delayed my flight they stole my pants from under me.

Last thurs I was suppose to move from Des Moines to NYC.  I even woke up early to get on my flight that was suppose to leave from Des Moines International Airport (I really don't believe this airport is international because it really only redirects flights to MSP, Detroit, Chicago, ST Louis, and so on but that is a different subject) to Detroit at 10:10.  So I got there checked my bags that cost me $105 because NWA has a $15 followed by a $90 fee because it was over weight.

But of course my plane got delayed by an hour and a half.  I missed my connection to JFK, but that was OK, I like the detroit air port.  This is only the second time I had been there but I think it is a cool place.  So NWA transferred me over to Delta, because they didn't have any more flights from detroit to jfk.  So I waited and waited for a plane to go to JFK, it became delayed then delayed even more until they finally cancelled the flight all together.  

While everyone was waiting in the line that wouldnt move to get their tickets changed, I walked over to the counter that was boarding, there was no line and no one was even boarding any more.  They put me on the plane, in fact it was the one they were boarding.  My new destination to get a connection to NY was Atlanta.  I had to run across the airport to get on the plane to LaGuardia.  As soon as got on the plane it took off.  It was the only plane for the day that I didn't have to wait for.  

When I went to the baggage claim to pick up my over weight bag.  And it didn't make it.  The people who are in charge of that sort of thing said it was in JFK and that they will have it delivered to me the next day.  They delivered it to my apt.  That was awesome.  I opened it all excited cause I could finally change out of the clothes I traveled and walked all over NY in.  Open it put everything away and some of the new cloths I bought right before I came were gone.  DELTA STOLE MY PANTS!  A brand new pair of jeans that I never got a chance to wear, gone.  So they made me wait and the stole my pants right out from under me.