Hulloween

Halloween was quite the experience this year.  This was my first Halloween in NYC and I can see why everyone here enjoys it.  The weekend started on Thursday and ended somewhere on Tuesday afternoon.  Due to scheduling at Columbia, we got Monday and Tuesday off for the election day, as so the whole weekend turned in to a party fest.  On Sunday night the GSAPP kids and I had a get together reminiscent of those sweet parties you had in middle school where somebody's cool parents let you dance in the living room with the lights off.  Twice the campus police tried to shut us down and we just kept playing Fat Joe and Nelly.

Oh and by the way, the song of the night was City High - What Would You Do?

More from the Weekend

I am really having trouble posting everything as it is happening.  More awesome stories from this past weekend with no pictures.

Woke up at Ty's pad in a haze, walked to store and impulsively bought a watch.

Walked around the rest of the day, occasionally glancing at my watch to see the time and then saying to myself, wow thats a nice watch.... This sometimes led me to trip or walk in to various signs or people.

Wandered around the Upper East Side trying to find a barber, stumbled upon the Czech Street fest instead.  Eat potato pancakes, kielbasa, sauerkraut, and pierogies.

Walked across Central Park, something that not surprisingly never gets old.

 Napped.  Woke up and went to high line to hang out with my friend Vanessa.  Wandered Greenwich Village and drank Sapporo on the steps of a church.

Took train back uptown, waited for Trevor to come over then hung out with Trevor.  Drank a bucket of beer with Trevor.  Trevor is the coolest kid I know from Sacramento.  Trevor is also the only kid I know from Sacramento.

  This is Trevor

Finished the night with one of the great movies of all time.  Can't remember at what time during the movie I fell asleep but it was definitely after my favorite line, "you'll get nothing and you'll like it!"

 Needless to say it was a good Saturday.

(This post is meant to be read while listening to Ice Cube - It Was A Good Day )

A Weekend Snippet

From now on I need to remember to bring my camera with me everywhere.  I wish I had pictures for this post.  The weekend started late this past Friday as I ventured over to the upper east side to my friend Ty's apartment. (Sidenote: Ty is one of the coolest dudes ever, one of my college roommates and I should devote an entire blog to him.)

     He is currently staying at his Aunt and Uncle's free of charge in a wonderful spacious pad.  I wish I had photos to show.  Our other roommate Cory ventured down from Boston for the night, as well as a friend originally from France but now living a few blocks away.  We started out night with some Jager and ventured south to Soho for a night of partying with friends.
     We met up with some Columbia kids at Welcome to Johnsons on Rivington I believe.  This bar had a great scene, nice folks a $2 PBRs.  Although it is an extreme cliche drinking this beer, on a grad students budget you just can't avoid it.  Over the course of an hour I met a bunch of new people from the Historic Preservation program, and after deciding we all needed to D-A-N-C-E we ventured to Darkroom.
      Darkroom should have an entire post dedicated to how awesome it is.  Its in the basement of a building on Ludlow near Houston.  It has the feel of a classic speakeasy on one side with wide booth tables and wall size mirrors and then an empty area with a DJ and small dance floor on the other side/room.  We danced all around for the next few hours, enjoying the night and rocking out. 
      Staying at Ty's place that night we were able to take a cab back for the same cost of riding the subway, I slept on the couch staying with the two guys I lived for a whole year again.  It was a great night.

Dope Find

My friend Sarah and I ventured out to the Brooklyn Flea market this past weekend.  Found randomly was this vintage NY Giants hat signed by Jeff Hostetler.  If you don't know this story of this extremely strange character then you need to know.  The back up to Phil Simms for years, Hostetler was thrust into stardom when Simms broke his foot after the Giants already clinched the play offs in '91.  He took over and they won every game and the Superbowl, mostly because of a missed field goal by the Buffalo Bills.  He eventually was traded and did some good things as a journeyman quarterback, but only one superbowl.  I would have paid a lot of money for this awesome hat alone, to get it signed by the most random guy to win the big game for the GEANTS is even better. 

Unfortunately this hat did not bring the Giants luck on Sunday when they turned over the ball as many times as they could to Tennessee.  Still you can expect this True Blue to wear this incredible hat every game for the rest of my life.  Awesome, awesome find!

Now if I could just grow a stache as awesome as this!

First Get Together

So out of the blue on a Wednesday night I decided to have my first gathering of new friends from grad school.  I like hosting parties, I started in high school when my parents trusted me to be alone for the weekends so I have had a lot of practice.  This was furthered at UMass where starting on Thursday nights my college roommate and I turned our room in to Club 123.  Whats great about parties is you really don't need more than space, booze, music and activities.  At this first one we had Risk and Kings.

So far living on the Upper West Side/Morningside Heights has been awesome.  After concluding that it would not be a good idea to continue drinking and yelling while my neighbors in the building tried to sleep we ventured out to the local bars.  On Wednesdays nights the Lion's Head serves up $1 Rolling Rocks and Bud Lights from 10 to close.  Not too shabby for NYC prices eh?  We continued our drinking games with an hour long marathon session of never have I ever.  I can honestly say I can't be more excited about the next two years with these superb guys and gals.

Thank God I don't have class til 2 P.M. on Thursdays...

Brooklyn Bowl Thursdays

So for the past three Thursdays friends and I have made the trek from the Upper West Side to Billyburg for Questlove's DJ sets at Brooklyn Bowl.  Each time has been a blast as Quest cranks out great retro and current jams. Friends from high school, college, grad school and new friends I have met in the city have all come together to dance for hours in this spacious, hip club.  The first time we partied there Quest reminded me of one of the best mid nineties jams:

TLC - Creep

For those of you who haven't been to Brooklyn Bowl it is quite a sight.  A converted factory with many awesome touches it has a bowling alley, a bar, a restaurant, a concert venue, and the cleanest bathrooms of any club I have been to in the city.  Seriously I feel awful for the girls at Lit Lounge.  Brooklyn Brewery is located right next door and the two of them share a great relationship, with Brooklyn Bowl serving a slew of local crafted beers, including some made just for them.  My personal favorite is the Weisse, a good light German brew with a hint of bananas.  From a planner I think this shows a great example of historic preservation and building reuse.  As Brooklyn's north end continues to lose factories and buildings to new high rises and modern buildings we know some people are creatively using existing buildings. 

This Thursday is Quests' last set for the time being, I hope he returns soon.  The party goers at Columbia's GSAPP and I will have to find a new thrill on Thursday.

I'll keep looking for all things cool in this city and posting them

Bored to Death Season 2

If you haven't seen Bored to Death yet you better get started.  Season 2 just premiered this past weekend and I finally got around to watching it today.  This show has proven to me that Ted Danson is the greatest actor of the past 50 years.  Another wonderful thing is it is filmed in New York City, showing off great spots around town.  Check check check it out