Trip Out East

August 2007: Johnson and I flew out to Toronto to visit Rob and Jeremy. It was a week of hanging out, doing stuff, sight-seeing, good food, and most importantly -- good friends. Some highlights...

A Dodge Callebaut (Dodge Caliber) as a rental car (Rob also called out a Mitsubishi Galaxy [Gallant]). The Caliber sounded really weird when you give it more gas, until we figured out that it has a continuous-variable transmission.



I cooked lunch one day and no one was poisoned. Johnson cooked for us that night:



Johnson and I downloaded as many crappy demos as we could find on Rob's Xbox 360.



We went to see Jeremy win a hockey game at Rinx:



Drove to Montreal. Actually, we managed to drive right through Montreal by accident, and had to turn back to get to our hotel.



We stayed right by the Guy Favreau Complex, and thus was born Rob's favourite French phrase ever:



Went to Centre Island in Toronto:



Being challenged by the maze on the island:



Rob denies plugging up Jeremy's toilet:



Getting wet at Niagara Falls:



And basically, our whole trip was 'sponsored' by Starbucks... I'm pretty sure we had at least one a day. :-)

ThoughtBoarder Kicking Horse

ThoughtWorks had its annual snowboarding trip at Kicking Horse again this year. We had four condo units for three nights. It was great to sleep in, play Xbox 360, and spend some time on the hills with my co-workers.





There were so many cameras around this time that I barely took any pictures. Check out these huge icicles just outside the front door of our "party house"!



Or how about this amazing view from the top -- mountain peaks jutting out of a sea of clouds!

The Internet is Awesome for Travelers

I'm staying at a hotel near New York's JFK airport tonight. There's a restaurant here, but I felt like taking a walk and getting a deli sandwich. The hotel's located in some sort of a residential neighbourhood though, so it wasn't obvious where I could find a deli.

The hotel comes with free wireless internet, so I whipped out the laptop and fired up Google Maps. I punched in the address of the hotel, clicked on Find Businesses, typed in deli, and bam! -- there's Annie Mini Deli about five blocks away. Now, I'm back in the hotel room with a delicious roast beef sub and coffee!

What did we do before free internet access and online services? I guess one would have gone down to the lobby to ask the concierge. I wonder if such a request would have yielded directions to the same little neighbourhood deli though. Hmm...

New York: Third Weekend: Saturday

Took the subway downtown and came out at Wall St. Since it's the weekend, downtown was pretty quiet. Huge financial institutions lined the street, exactly as I had seen in Die Hard with a Vengeance. :-)



I went to the New York City Police Museum, which showed uniforms, medals, weapons, and so on.



Since I was close to the water, I took a walk. You can see the Statue of Liberty in the distance, but since I've been there before (when I was young), I didn't go again.

At some point, I started walking away from the water and came across a church cemetary. What was neat was seeing pumpkins left over from Hallowe'en. The combination of pumpkins and the head stones just seemed cool.



Next, I got to Ground Zero (World Trade Center site). Now, it's pretty much a big hole in the ground. At one corner, folks got their pictures taken with some members of the police force. A little further down at the fire hall, visitors eagerly took pictures of anything related to the FDNY (fire department).

It was a cold and windy day, so I warmed up in the walkways of the financial center buildings. From there, I found myself by Hudson River again, so proceeded to walk uptown. Along the way, I came across the Irish Hunger Memorial. It interested me because it was an elevated garden platform in the middle of this urban jungle... and it totally reminded me of this level in Halo 2 called Terminal. Man, I miss playing Halo 2.



Back in midtown, I walked by Nintendo World at Rockefeller Center and was surprised to see a huge line-up outside the store. It turns out they're lining up to enter the store to try out the upcoming Nintendo Wii system. It looked like you could try out some baseball game where you use the controller as your bat. As much of a video game fan I am, I didn't line up (hard to believe, isn't it?!?).



Late afternoon, I hooked up with Dan, an ex-colleague of mine, to see an NBA game at Madison Square Garden -- NY Knicks played the Indiana Pacers. The basketball game itself was so-so (Knicks lost), but the game was interspersed with a lot of interesting side-shows like kid talent displays, city kids, cheerleaders, etc... Plus, we got a free hat out of it!



On my way back to the hotel, I decided to check out where Dave & Buster's is located in Times Square. Right next door to it is a McDonald's, whose lights rivaled those of the one found on the strip in Las Vegas (I think?). Also, across the street was a line-up of people going to see Al Green! That'd be a good show... I know Al Green from watching Ally McBeal way back when.

Drycleaning Rocks

I've always washed and ironed my own work clothes. Recently, because I'm on the road for 6 weeks straight, I got them drycleaned instead. OMG, my shirts look and feel so nice! I don't know if they starch the shirts or something, but they certainly look very sharp! Thank you, Symphony Cleaners on 49th!

New York Subway Tips

There're many train lines with different colours, and letter or number designations running through some of the same stations, so it's intimidating to ride the first few times. Basically, if you're illiterate, you're screwed. If you don't know whether you're heading 'uptown' or 'downtown', you're screwed.

Fortunately, there are maps at every station to help navigate this complex system. Here're guidelines I made for myself:

1. Find the station you want to travel to. Look below the station name. There, you will actually find the designations of the trains that will go there. For instance, 42 St Bryant Park has the letters B, D, F, V under it. Those are the trains that will actually go there. I didn't realize this all through my first weekend here... it's a wonder I actually got to where I wanted to go!
   
2. Now, you just have to figure out what connections you need. Don't assume that you just have to cross the platform to make a connection! Sometimes, you have to go up/downstairs. Sometimes, you have to walk to another station to make the connection. This is where reading signs is extremely important.
3. You also have to read some other signs. Some trains run differently at night or on weekends.
4. Have a map with you! I picked up a tour pamphlet in the lobby and it shows the stations in Manhattan, and has been really helpful for the places I went. I think you can get a full map at one of the bigger stations.
   

Having said all that, I have yet to get lost, so it's not all bad. Just be patient, and good luck!

New York: Second Weekend: Sunday

Living on 45th St is awesome. This afternoon, I simply walked "east" (why is "east" in quotation marks?) and hit the UN Headquarters!



Anyway, after going through a security checkpoint, I took a guided tour of the UN Headquarters. The "earphone" from which delegates listen to near-real-time interpretations in different languages is neat - you just hang them from your ear.



The neat thing about this place is that it's UN territory. According to our guide, we technically left the US when we went into the UN. Wow!

The mosaic on display is put together from many, many glass pieces. Neat!



Outside, there's the spherical sculpture which is a gift from Italy, and up the road a little bit is another interesting piece consisting of pillars and a ball.



When someone mentions Broadway, you'll likely think of Broadway shows. So, since I live so close to the Broadway theatres, I decided to see the late show of Avenue Q. Pretty funny stuff with muppets! This show is doing for muppets what South Park is doing for cartoon kindergarten kids (that should give you an idea of the kind of show this is).