I went to Manhattan, and it was okay.
Feb. 24th, 2003 07:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mangosteenI headed down to Manhattan this weekend. It was good to travel again. It had been a while.
I had to find something to do on Friday night for a couple of hours after I arrived, as the person I was staying with (that being L.) wouldn't be back in Manhattan by the time I got there.
Observation: You know you're turning into a native Bostonian when it doesn't even occur to you that one of your options when waiting for a friend is "find something to do in Manhattan from 10:30pm to 12:30am on a Friday night".
As it turns out, I ended up hanging out uptown at a bar with AF., talking about everything and nothing rather simultaneously, having a good time and good beer, until L. came by in his car and we headed back downtown.
Observation: If you have to have a car in Manhattan, get a Honda Civic. Think "smaller, faster mammal."
I spent the next day hanging out with M. I haven't actually gotten a chance to sit down and talk with her for months, and that was good fun. Good conversation is a beautiful thing. In addition, she joined me in my pursuit of Food From Generic Greek Diners. They may be thick on the ground in the NY metro area, but there is nary a one to be seen up in Boston. I miss them a lot.
The first Generic Greek Diner experience involved a very unsatisfying greek omelet. Now that I've gained some proficiency in omelet making, I almost instinctively started reverse-engineering what choices they made that resulted in a disappointing omelet experience. Mostly, the heat was too high, and they used a pan that was too big. This results in a semi-vulcanized egg, and slightly singed filling.
Realization: I'm starting down the road to culinary obsession, and it's paved with eggs, spinach and feta cheese.
One interesting thing we talked about, M. and I both being LJ denizens, is how one perceive one's friends list. This was after I noticed M. referring to it as a single entity. This got me thinking....
[Poll #105767]
During the second Greek Diner Experience, a ketchup bottle exploded all over me. Enough said about that.
M. and I got back to where I was staying, we looked through some old pictures, a past LJ posting about furniture classification, talked a bit more, and then we parted ways.
After realizing that I had been undersleeping for the better part of a week, I blinked my eyes, noticed 10 hours had past, and moved onto Sunday. I obtained a Krispy Kreme doughnut (it was a priority item), and, deciding that it was a wonderful day for a walk (it being merely rainy, as opposed to the monsoon-like soul-sapping deluge of the day before), I made my way over to B+H Photo/Video. It's an amazing store. Like any store in Manhattan that has been successfully selling goods to normal human beings for several decades, it's crowded, but very efficiently laid out. The system they have for inventory control, taking your cash, and getting any and all merchandise to the customer only after they're 100% sure that they have your money is quite impressive. I escaped having only bought a used lens, an electronic release, and some film.
Now I have to figure out what to do with a 80-200mm telephoto zoom. That's not to say that I didn't want to get one, and ended up with it, in that "nice komodo dragon, but why?" kind of way, but rather I've never done any real telephoto work before, mostly for lack of tools.
Observation: Wide-angle shots shouldn't be about "you couldn't step back far enough". Telephoto, on the other hand, has a lot to do with "you can't get close enough". The bird in a nest on a twig at the top of a tree for example, to say nothing of the bog.
In the end, I climbed into an aluminum cylinder yesterday evening, which ferried me back to Boston with all due swiftness, and I arrived home at some point. And that, as they say, is that.
I had to find something to do on Friday night for a couple of hours after I arrived, as the person I was staying with (that being L.) wouldn't be back in Manhattan by the time I got there.
Observation: You know you're turning into a native Bostonian when it doesn't even occur to you that one of your options when waiting for a friend is "find something to do in Manhattan from 10:30pm to 12:30am on a Friday night".
As it turns out, I ended up hanging out uptown at a bar with AF., talking about everything and nothing rather simultaneously, having a good time and good beer, until L. came by in his car and we headed back downtown.
Observation: If you have to have a car in Manhattan, get a Honda Civic. Think "smaller, faster mammal."
I spent the next day hanging out with M. I haven't actually gotten a chance to sit down and talk with her for months, and that was good fun. Good conversation is a beautiful thing. In addition, she joined me in my pursuit of Food From Generic Greek Diners. They may be thick on the ground in the NY metro area, but there is nary a one to be seen up in Boston. I miss them a lot.
The first Generic Greek Diner experience involved a very unsatisfying greek omelet. Now that I've gained some proficiency in omelet making, I almost instinctively started reverse-engineering what choices they made that resulted in a disappointing omelet experience. Mostly, the heat was too high, and they used a pan that was too big. This results in a semi-vulcanized egg, and slightly singed filling.
Realization: I'm starting down the road to culinary obsession, and it's paved with eggs, spinach and feta cheese.
One interesting thing we talked about, M. and I both being LJ denizens, is how one perceive one's friends list. This was after I noticed M. referring to it as a single entity. This got me thinking....
[Poll #105767]
During the second Greek Diner Experience, a ketchup bottle exploded all over me. Enough said about that.
M. and I got back to where I was staying, we looked through some old pictures, a past LJ posting about furniture classification, talked a bit more, and then we parted ways.
After realizing that I had been undersleeping for the better part of a week, I blinked my eyes, noticed 10 hours had past, and moved onto Sunday. I obtained a Krispy Kreme doughnut (it was a priority item), and, deciding that it was a wonderful day for a walk (it being merely rainy, as opposed to the monsoon-like soul-sapping deluge of the day before), I made my way over to B+H Photo/Video. It's an amazing store. Like any store in Manhattan that has been successfully selling goods to normal human beings for several decades, it's crowded, but very efficiently laid out. The system they have for inventory control, taking your cash, and getting any and all merchandise to the customer only after they're 100% sure that they have your money is quite impressive. I escaped having only bought a used lens, an electronic release, and some film.
Now I have to figure out what to do with a 80-200mm telephoto zoom. That's not to say that I didn't want to get one, and ended up with it, in that "nice komodo dragon, but why?" kind of way, but rather I've never done any real telephoto work before, mostly for lack of tools.
Observation: Wide-angle shots shouldn't be about "you couldn't step back far enough". Telephoto, on the other hand, has a lot to do with "you can't get close enough". The bird in a nest on a twig at the top of a tree for example, to say nothing of the bog.
In the end, I climbed into an aluminum cylinder yesterday evening, which ferried me back to Boston with all due swiftness, and I arrived home at some point. And that, as they say, is that.
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Too fast on the Submit button...
Date: 2003-02-24 08:12 pm (UTC):^(
no subject
Date: 2003-02-24 11:06 pm (UTC)Greek diner
Date: 2003-02-25 05:27 am (UTC)Re: Greek diner
Date: 2003-02-25 06:00 am (UTC)we go there a lot -- it's quite tasty, and not at all expensive.
mmmmmtaramosalata and greek yogurt...
Mmmm, Greek food
Date: 2003-02-27 02:33 pm (UTC)The place on Mass Ave in Cambridge is the Greek Corner Restaurant, which I've been to as well, again, tasty Greek food. Steve's is the one on Newbury St (at Hereford St); I've eaten there as well. The food is good, and despite being on Newbury St, it is neither snooty nor ludicrously expensive.
None of these are true diners, but all are good Greek places, and decently priced.
And now I want Greek food.