Posts from January 2007

Given that I’m part of the Men Who Knit webring, it seemed like a good idea to write an entry about, you know… knitting.

First off, I gotta thank Lenore for a lovely christmas present. I’d on occasion eyed the Denise Interchangeable Knitting Needles. This set, which comes in a nice, folding case (with the name Denise stamped on the front in gold embossing… did I mention I really dislike the name ‘Denise’? And gold embossing?), comes with a large assortment of needle tips (ranging from 5 to 15US) and cables ranging from 5” to 19”. In addition, the kit comes with joiners, so you can join cables together for larger pieces, as well as attachable stitch holders (of which I’ve already lost one), so you can transform a cable into a flexible straight needle or a stitch holder.

The result is an incredibly compact, yet very flexible kit, which is particularly handy if you tend to knit on the go, as I do. And at ~$50 bucks, the kit is a huge bargain, as it easily replaces a very large needle collection. Highly recommended!

On the project front, the baby blanket continues unabated. All the components are finished and blocked, so all that remains is to sew it together. Yeah… that’s all. I just have to assemble a blanket from the ~30 parts I’ve made. Oh, and did I mention I’ve misplaced my tapestry needles?

Additionally, in my spare cycles, I completed a new toque for myself from some very cool, chunky yard made from part lambs wool… let me tell you, this sucker is warm. And it’s actually long enough to cover my ears! And with that done, I’m working on another Yellow Goofy Toque for Lenore, though this time slightly larger and in the same yarn I used to make Lenores Mittens and Lenores Scarf.

See? I knit. I’m just too busy to write about it. :)

When one thinks of mental illness, the first thing I think typically comes to mind is the sick homeless, left devastated by the ravages of their disease. It’s sad to note that, among the homeless population, a significant percentage (up to 15 percent, according to the UCSD) are mentally ill, often suffering from schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, both of which are treatable with modern medication. Worse, even if they are provided with medication, they often stop taking it when they begin feeling normal again, thus creating a terrible cycle.

The thing about these people is that, when you see them, it’s almost always the case that they’re already destitute, barely living on the streets. You never really get a picture of who these people were before their illness destroyed their lives. It seems natural to assume they’ve always lived that way, but these people were once sons and daughters. Mothers, fathers, and friends.

Which brings me to what I think was one of the most saddening things I’ve witnessed. We were in New York, waiting for the NJT to arrive so we could return to Newark Airport, when an older black man arrived. He was dressed in a suit and trench coat, a Samsonite-esque suitecase in tow, a newspaper stuffed into the front pocket, gray shot through his beard giving him a look of distinction, and a look of complete and utter confusion on his face. As I watched, he continually talked to himself, seeming to debate some issue that I couldn’t comprehend. Then, occasionally, he would stop, rubbing his chin in a thoughtful gesture, seeming to consider something before starting off again, all the while his eyes staring emptily.

It was obvious this was a man who, at one point, lived a good life. As he spoke, it seemed like he may have once been a lawyer or businessman, a salesman or accountant. He may have a family somewhere, wondering where he is. Or he may have none at all. But now, he was just a lonely man, lost in a fog of delirium.

I wonder how long it will be before he’s just another sick homeless person, dirty and starving, ranting on a street corner somewhere. Just another statistic, a stereotype, ignored and forgotten.

Yes, that’s right… day 4. Today, the flight plan was to catch a plane from Newark to Toronto at 6:20, with a connecting flight from Toronto to Edmonton later in the morning, which had us arriving some time before lunch. So, we awoke in our tiny hotel room at a mind-numbing 3:30, caught the E train to Penn Station around 4:10 (the subway is slow that early in the morning), grabbed the NJT at 4:40 (the plan was to catch the 4 :20, so we were already running late), arrived at the Newark Airport around 5:10 or so, waited in line for around ten minutes, cursing the slow people in front of us, and then discovered that our flight had been canceled.

Yeah. Cancelled. Reason: freezing rain in Toronto.

So, here I am, tapping away, waiting for a 9:20 flight to TO, and upon arrival, we’ll be hanging out in the airport for a good 8 hours, so we can catch an evening connecting flight back home. How I love air travel…

On the bright side, the ticket agent was very friendly and did his best to get us on a reasonable flight plan. And we got a free breakfast out of the deal, too (do you suppose The Great American Bagel Factory is affiliated with The Great Canadian Bagel? Because they make a fine fine egg sandwich on a delicious jalapeno and cheddar bagel). OTOH, now we get to fight through a day of travel. Woo. Woo.

Update:

Okay, that Air Canada travel agent is frickin’ awesome. Not only did he get us on a flight directly to TO instead of my original flight plan of Montreal -> Toronto -> Edmonton (lenore was scheduled to go through Chicago), but for the TO leg, we’re in first class! Seriously, this is fantastic… nice, padded, not-rock-hard chairs. Tons of leg room. Two full armrests. Truly, this is the life. ‘course, last I heard, there was a gate hold in place, and we’re 25th in line for takeoff, meaning 45 minutes of taxi time, but hey, that just means more time in first class!

Update 2:

Good grief… we’re in executive class for the second leg, too! Air Canada ticket agent guy, I love you (in a platonic way)!

Update 3:

I have the New York Photo Gallery uploaded!

Well, it’s 11:06, and already we’ve had an adventure. For kicks, we decided to take a ride on the Roosevelt Island Tram which takes one from Manhattan, near the Queensboro Bridge, to Roosevelt Island. The plan was to see the Manattan skyline from both the tram as well as South Point Park, where we also planned to check out the Roosevelt Memorial contained therein.

Well, the tram ride was certainly enjoyable, affording an impressive view of the north-east skyline, though unfortunately obscured by fog and low rain clouds. Upon arriving, we hopped the bus (25c!) and rode around the north half of the island. We then took a walk to the south end, where we found this:

Yes… apparently that is South Point Park. I think the barbed wire is quite nice, but the corregated steel we encountered later was even nicer. We never did see a memorial to Roosevelt (as it turns out, there is no memorial on that site, despite it seemingly appearing on maps).

So we proceeded to walk up the east side of the island, which offered lovely views of what looked like a garbage dump in Queens, not to mention a rundown hospital, all the while occasionally encountering lovely little fire boxes, perfect for a nice picnic while enjoying this image which looks like a shot straight from the movie Conspiracy Theory:

Such a lovely place, don’t you think?

Anyway, on the bright side (for Lenore), Bloomingdales is just down the street from the tram (on the Manhattan side), which has given her time to shop, and me time to tap this out.

(Now in the Pierson Airport)

So after Bloomingdales, we decided to split up. I went off to TKTS to secure our place at… well, any show with seats available. Meanwhile, Lenore decided to head off to Old Navy. The funny thing is, I ended up second in line, after arriving at around 1:30 pm (it opens at 3:00, as you may or may not recall). On the bright side, I got to enjoy conversation with a very nice, friendly old British couple and a nice young Irish woman who was visiting with her Aunt. And I also got my choice of shows, and that meant Phantom of the Opera! Of course, this also meant I was done around 3:10, and the plan was for Lenore to meet me there at 3:30. For the record, she arrived at 4:00. Thanks Lenore. ;)

We spent the rest of the afternoon walking back to the hotel to drop off Lenore’s various purchases. Though, along the way, at my beckoning, we made a stop at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, which is, without question, one of the most beautiful buildings I have had the pleasure to explore and my favorite building in Manhattan. Enormous vaults, beautiful frescos and alters to various saints, a stunning pipe organ… it dwarfs the AMNH in grandeur, and trust me, that’s saying a lot. I tried to capture a bit of it on film, but as is often the case with such buildings, you really had to be there.

Anyway, once we dropped Lenore’s gear off, we walked to our restaurant of choice, a nice little Italian place called Nocello’s, also coincidentally well-rated by Zagat (I actually found the place online). I had a fantastic Risotto with fried scallops, sun dried tomatoes, and what was, hands down, the best shrimp I have ever had (very simply grilled… I don’t know what they did to them, but they were amazing). Meanwhile, Lenore had a terrific mushroom tortellini, and we lead the whole thing off with a wonderful grilled calamari. Yes, grilled, not fried! Again, very simple, but incredibly delicious, and presented over a very nice salad. Mmmmm…

And then there was the show. I think it goes without saying that it was absolutely amazing. The stage, the costumes, the singing… all absolutely wonderful. And there we only two people who tried to take pictures!

So day two in NYC, and the big plan is the American Museum of Natural History! Apparently rated the number 2 tourist attraction in the United States, this Museum boasts an extremely large and varied collection of displays, artifacts, and attractions covering an incredibly wide range of topics, as well as a planetarium and IMAX theatre. Definitely enough stuff to keep us occupied for a full day. And let me tell you, definitely did that.

We started with breakfast at a place called Pax, which is a kind of new-agey fast food restaurant which offered a variety of breakfast options, not to mention pastries and deserts (we proceeded to eat here a number of other times, as the food was quite good, and it happened to be just up the street from the hotel). Afterward, we enjoyed another subway debacle. The plan was to take the E line to the 50th street station, where we’d transfer to the A and take that straight up to the museum. Sounds pretty easy, until you realize that, thanks to the holiday (turns out this was Martin Luther King Day weekend), the A line wasn’t stopping at the 50th street station. Doh! Of course, we didn’t discover this until after we’d gotten off at said station. So we had to wait until another E arrived so we could continue to the 49th street station, where we caught the A.

As for the museum itself, thanks to our Super Saver passes, we had access to the Butterfly exhibit, the IMAX production which told the story of the Spirit and Opportunity Mars rovers, and a Planetarium show entitled “Cosmic Collisions”. And then there was the rest of the truly massive museum to visit. Frankly, I don’t think I can properly express the scale of this thing, but I can tell you that, in our full day there, we only saw a fraction of what was offered. Not only was there a bewildering number of things to see, but each item was also labelled with a variety of historical information, meaning there was a ton to read too. One of my personal favorites was a display on astronomical scale. Using the planetarium sphere as a baseline, it would then present models to provide perspectives on different objects, ranging from galaxy clusters all the way down to hydrogen atoms. As an example, it would present a sphere, and the description would be “If the Sun was the size of the planetarium sphere, the this model would be the size of the earth”. Truly awesome.

Then there was the butterfly exhibit. Though, in order to get there, we had to go through a room which I can only describe as breathtaking. Vaulted ceilings reaching up three stories, massive columns, gorgeous murals on the wall… just wonderful, particularly for an architecture junky like myself. As for the exhibit, it offered a variety of information about butterfly species, growth and development, evolution, and so forth, and then led you into an enclosure with a wide variety of the insects flying freely. It was quite incredible, and allowed me to capture a few wonderful shots of some of the species represented. And I was even lucky enough to have a butterfly land on my finger (while taking a photo) and the top of my head! Unfortunately, we weren’t fast enough to photo-document either event.

As for other exhibits, I also quite enjoyed the vast collection of central and south american artifacts they had, including an enormous head created by the Aztecs, as well as their extensive meteorite and gem stone collections. Really fantastic stuff.

And, of course, there are the diaramas, which attempt to depict various animals and peoples in their native habitats. The artwork really is wonderful, and the descriptions to go with the displays are quite interesting.

As for the IMAX and Planetarium shows, both were very good, though admittedly, I have seen more impressive presentations. Still, quite enjoyable.

Of course, lunch was eaten at the Museum (pizza and mozarella sticks… I don’t think we could’ve eaten a less healthy meal). As for dinner, we decided to try out the fancy-appearing restaurant that was, literally, next door to our hotel. Turns out it’s rated fairly well in the Zagat guide, and for good reason, as Lenore’s Filet Mignon was quite nice, and my tuna (rare) was delicious as well. We bookended the meal with a nice wild mushroom ravioli in a truffel sauce, and a fantastic hot chocolate gateau which encased a soft chocolate center, accompanied by a hazelnut ice cream. Delicious. Especially with the glass of 40 year old port I ordered.

So not a bad day. Certainly better than day 1.

Our first day in, and it sure didn’t take long for things to get interesting.

At the outset, we knew we would need to grab some food, so we decided to head over to Macy’s, having eaten there before. This would also allow us to satiate our appetite and possibly do a little shopping at the same time. They have a decent little fast-food pasta place down there, and so that was the goal… unfortunately, the pasta bar wasn’t open when we got there, and in fact never opened. Jerks! So we ended up at a bar/grill next store, which actually worked out reasonably well.

After that, we took the subway from Penn Station up to 53rd and Lexington, at which point it was a quick walk to our hotel. Well, on the walk from the station to the hotel, we came across a small fire station, built right into the bottom of a high-rise (in retrospect, I really should have taken a picture, as it really was quite strange, and positioned up the street from what appeared to be a makeshift police detachment, composed of a series of trailors (yes, trailors) consuming one of the lanes). Not too remarkable by itself. Until you add the firetruck outside with a bunch of firefighters standing around. Oh, and the other firefighter scaling the wall of the building, trying to worm his way in through an open window a storey up.

Apparently, they locked themselves out.

So, after chuckling to ourselves, we moved on to our hotel, which, as it turns out, was just completing a large series of renovations, transforming itself into The Pod Hotel. And why “The Pod”, you ask? Well, the name better reflects the rooms, which can only be described as little pods… in our case, a 2-300 square foot little space with enough room for a slightly-larger-than-double bed, sink, and weird little combined shower/toilet area, all decked out in modern, Ikea-style chrome and melamine. Pretty nice, actually, considering the price and location. And, really, what else does one need other than a bed and shower (though, as we discovered later, the shower drain was either slow or non-functional, and allowed water to leak into the room, thus soaking the carpet… good thing we only planned to be there for four nights).

If only the rest of the day turned out as well. It was best described as semi-controlled anarchy. First, we figured we’d check out TKTS, with the goal of seeing a show some time in the evening. ‘course, we arrived at around 3:30, at which point the line up was three rows wide and down and around the block. Yeaaaah, no.

So then we went to scope out the American Museum of Natural History (the plan was to go on day 2 or 3, but we wanted to check out “the sitch” first), then perhaps dinner and a movie. Well, part one worked out, and we got a tiny preview of what was to come. The trip to the movie wasn’t nearly so smooth… turns out the V line, which takes one from 50th and 8th down to the NYU area doesn’t run on the weekends… grrrr! Unfortunately, by the time we figured that out, we were already too late for the film…

Okay, no movie, let’s try for The Soda Shop for food and desert. Hop the E, get off on 8th Ave and Washingon (if I recall), walk down a few blocks and… Le Bonbonniere?? sigh Yeah… I took us to the wrong frickin’ restaurant.

Okay, backtrack, hop back on E, take it down to Chambers. This time it works! A bit of walking, and we find ourselves at a cute little restaurant and ice cream shop in what I think is called the West Village. Tasty food, yummy desserts, and a selection of candy that I hadn’t seen in years. Good times were had by all (I think).

Lastly, before headin’ back to the hotel for some much earned rest, we decided to walk down to the WTC site and memorial. Definitely a sobering experience… though, now all that’s left is a construction site that makes it hard to believe the two massive towers even existed (apparently the plan is to build a new tower on the old site… I have very mixed feelings about that plan, but, such is life). The memorial that’s currently there (a new, permanent one is planned to be built sometime in the future) is also very moving, with various photos and so forth. Though, I gotta admit, the constant reference to the victims of that attack as “heros” irritates me more than a little.

And that was day 1… confused, disorganized, and basically par for the course.

So, in a fit of excessive boredom with my existing collection of music, I decided to start expanding my musical horizons. Fortunately, the wonders of the Internet make it incredibly easy to explore and discover new music and musical artists. Particularly, the Rolling Stone List 500 Greatest Albums of All Time and Wikipedia, combined with some filesharing software, has given me the opportunity to listen to a whole bunch of new stuff.

See, it all started with the Nirvana, MTV Unplugged album. In it, Kurt Cobain makes reference to a man by the name of Leadbelly. Curious, as I’d never heard of this fellow, I decided to look into it, discovering that he was a proto-Blues musician born just before the turn of the century (the 20th, that is). Surprised that Mr. Cobain would be familiar with such an artist, I simply had to find some samples of his music, and managed to track down a “Best Of” album. It’s very cool stuff, and his work has influenced (and been covered by) many people.

So that’s how it all started. My next step, I figured, was to track down a list of influential albums, and so I came across the Rolling Stone list. Obviously, it’s a list of their own opinions, but it did provide some good suggestions for stuff to check out, so I started with the weirdest thing I could find: Captain Beefheart’s Trout Mask Replica.

Now, before anyone considers exploring Beefheart, I gotta tell ya… this is, hands down, one of the weirdest albums I have ever encountered. Filled with a bizarre fusion of free jazz, blues, and other styles, it initially comes off as sounding like so much noise played on raw guitars, drums, and other jazz instruments, combined with non-sensical lyrics voiced by a very strange “singer”. The result is something that is, frankly, way way out there, and I haven’t yet decided what I think of it… but it is interesting.

Next, I decided to give Bob Dylan a shot. I’ve derided the guy for his “singing” voice on more than one occasion (and I stand by my derision!), but I figured there must be something that causes people to identify with him. So I decided to grab one of his most heralded albums, Highway 61 Revisited. The first track opens up with an interesting mix of rock, country, and folk, with some very beautiful arrangements, but as I expected, it isn’t until you listen to the lyrics that you realize why Dylan is considered so brilliant. But he really can’t sing.

After that, I thought, a little Tom Waits would fit the bill. After all, I was already exploring blues, folk, and jazz, and the bizarreness of Tom Waits sort of appealed to me. So I decided to check out Swordfishtrombones, which represents his first exploration into more experimental blues. Is it kinda strange? Absolutely. Anywhere near as weird as Captain Beefheart? Absolutely not. And, again, brilliant songwriting, combined with a deep, gravelly voice and some haunting music. I like it!

Lastly, I found myself on Wikipedia, following this path:

Captain Beefheart -> Free Jazz -> Jazz -> Polyrhythm -> Babatunde Olatunji

Olatunji is considered the progenitor of “World Music” as a genre, having recorded the smash hit “Drums of Passion”, a collection of African percussive music. Ultimately, he released a few other albums, and I decided to sample one in particular: “Drums of Passion: The Invocation”. This is a collection of Yoruban spiritual music, comprised of chanting and fantastic drumming involving complex polyrhythms. Really wonderful stuff.