Random Thoughts of Mine...

I've tried multiple times to do this post, but MyOpera kept crashing on me.

Anyways, about 2 weeks ago I was in New York City with Kerstin. I picked her up from JFK Airport on Sunday, the 18th. It was windy, about 50F (10C) and drizzling that day. She wanted to go into Manhattan, so we hopped on the subway. We took the train to the World Trade Center. This was my 1st time being there since 9/11. We then walked along the Hudson River down Battery Park City to Battery Park. We were cold by that time, so we took the subway up to Times Square. Times Square is a bustling area. I remember growing up how different the area had been, especially 42nd St. between 7th and 8th Ave. The area was more rundown, but now it has been revitalized. The Times Square Information Center was not around when I was growing up. We went there and Kerstin did this quick post from there. We ended up in Times Square and Starbucks everyday Kerstin was there.

The next day we took the subway to Grand Central on our way to the United Nations. It had been years since I had been to the UN. They were doing construction so the Security Council building was off limits to the tours, which lasted about 45 minutes. We took the subway down to the Brooklyn Bridge, which is near City Hall. The weather was warmer that day & sunny. We walked halfway across the bridge taking pictures. Then we went to Chinatown, Little Italy and Greenwich Village. We ended up at the Apple Store on 14th St. that one of my cousins had mentioned. This one was 3 stories, thus being the largest Apple store I've ever been in. It's larger than the one outside of FAO Schwartz that we went to later in the vacation. It's no secret that Kerstin is an Apple fan, so we went to the store almost everyday too.

Later, we went to the 86th Floor Observation Deck of the Empire State Building. There are actually 2 observatories: the outdoor 86th floor one, and the enclosed 102nd floor. I've never been in the 102nd floor observatory, but it does seem quite small from the 86th floor. That day was sunny but, it was a bit smoggy out so you couldn't see as far as you would on a very clear day. You could still see pretty far though as you can see in one of her pictures. Kerstin & I got some good pictures from up there. We went to Central Park, FAO Schwartz, the Apple Store, Louis Vitton, and Rockefeller Center. The Ripley's Believe It or Not exhibit used to be in the basement of the Empire State Building, but is now expanded on 42nd St. That was a pretty interesting place to see.

The day we went to both Ellis & Liberty Islands, the weather was 70F (21C), sunny with a slight breeze blowing. I was very happy with it. Too bad the next day, it dropped 20 degrees. Anyways, I'm glad that they opened up the Statue of Liberty again. It had been closed for a number of years after 9/11. Now you have to get there early if you want some of the limited tickets to get access into the Statue. We had missed it by the time we got there, but getting to walk around both islands was well worth the trip. When we went to the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Harlem, we happened to arrive when the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra was practicing there. Neither of us had any idea that would happen, so we got treated to a free, relaxing concert that day. We then hopped back on the subway to walk through Central Park and see the Great Lawn near the Metropolitan Museum.

It was another cold, wet and windy day when I took Kerstin back to the airport. I can honestly say that I had a great time with her in my city. I'm very glad that we met here on MyOpera and became friends. It was great to have been able to finally meet her in person. Maybe next time, I'll have to visit her in Sweden, which sounds great since I love to travel. Also, here is my NYC photo album of the trip.



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This past weekend I went to a Christmas party that some friends of mine were throwing. I couldn't remember where the place that the party was going to be, so I called one person and he knew the address. I went and picked him up and a friend of his also came along. I had a fun time at the party, and the friends that planned that party are also talking about having another party in the Spring.

My PC suffered the dreaded Blue Screen of Death too. I had installed a flight sim game on the computer and downloaded a patch for the game. I played with the game a little to make sure it was running fine, which it was. Also downloaded the latest patches for Windows too and had to reboot the PC for the installation to finish. I rebooted the computer and that's when the BSoD struck! I called Dell tech support and we ran this test and that test. We even repaired Windows, all to no avail. So I had to reinstall Windows and call back when it was finished. While on the phone with them, the mouse & keyboard stopped working. We ran more tests which were passed but still didn't solve the problem. I had to reinstall Windows again in order to fix it. When I tried to reinstall my DSL, I had forgotten the password, but I guess I exceeded the times so that locked up on me too. Had to call the phone company and reset the account in order to get the DSL working again.

I was surfing the Internet a little earlier today when I saw the follwing article online:

'Throw shoes at Bush' games appear online
Therapeutic, great fun

THROWING SHOES at US President George W. Bush has suddenly become a very popular online game. Or games, actually, because at least two have turned up on the Internet so far.

Iraqi journalist Muntadar al-Zeidi punctuated a press briefing in Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone by throwing his shoes at US President George W. Bush last Sunday, December 14th. Bush successfully ducked the flying footwear, but the moment was captured on video.

Facing the soles of your shoes toward anyone's face, striking them with your shoe soles, or throwing your shoes at them are considered to be grave insults in Arabic cultures. All Arabs regard streets and, by extension, shoe soles as unclean, and view being struck by shoe soles as a form of extreme disrespect. Iraqi al-Zeidi's action was thus an act of outraged protest.

He shouted at Bush, "Here is the farewell kiss you DOG! This is from Widows and Orphans and those killed in Irag! YOU are responsible for the Deaths of THOUSANDS of Iraqis!"

Read the rest of the story and play the games here. The video clips in that story only show a small portion of the press conference that the shoe throwing incident took place at. You can view the whole 9 minute video here.



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I wanted to take this opportunity to wish Sarah(same Sarah here) and her twins a happy, wonderful Birthday!!!


H A P P Y B I R T H D A Y!!!



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Happy Birthday Kerstin!

Have a wonderful, fun-filled day!



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Today I went with a friend (we'll call her Jane) to a plant nursery in another town south of here. I called her the other day and she suggested it, so I decided to go along. It was a beautiful, sunny day today with a cool breeze blowing. So, you can see that the weather was perfect!

Jane has been on the website of this place, which was having an open house this weekend & the next one that is open to the public. They have this only once a year, so you can come there and buy plants you see in the gardens are also in the greenhouses for sale. This was my first time being there and it was amazing to see all the wonderful plant life that was arranged in the gardens, as you can see in some of the photographs at the beginning of this post. There were also a lot of other people there at the gardens also. Many people walking around with their cameras taking pictures, just like I was. I was wondering how many people it took to do the wonderful landscaping at the gardens, so I asked one of the helpful staff. That lady had been there for 8 years and she said that her and another guy on the staff did much of the landscaping. She said that they also have volunteers and interns that help out also. She hinted that volunteers also get some free plants, since there was no employee discount. Jane was thinking about becoming a volunteer so she could learn more about gardening, and also get some free plants too. It was a good time in the beautiful Spring weather today. I'm glad I had remembered to bring my camera today so you can see more pictures in my new photo album.



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