Life Across The Pond

Mmm.....Spam

1 hour and 42 minutes after my 36th post...my first blog spam. 24 minutes later, a suspected, more cleverly disguised 2nd.

posted by Peter @ 1:16 PM 0 comments

Top 3 List

I met up tonight with a coworker of mine whom I used to work with in the Berkeley office. And while we still both work for the same company, he's now in the San Francisco office and I'm here in New York so, unfortunately, we don't get together with the old group of regulars for happy hour anymore.

After the requisite "what's so-and-so up to?" and "have you heard from such-and-such since they left?" questions, he asked me how I liked living out here in New York and specifically, what my favorite three things were. Of course, I'm never good at these favorites questions. Favorite food - depends on the day. Favorite movie - maybe Home Alone?

Anyhow, so I gave it some thought and the best I could come up with were:
3) Delivery everything
2) Cabs everywhere (most of the time)
1) ....

Well, that's as far as I got. I think this is going to be my project for the transcontinental plane ride this weekend - come up with top 3 lists for everything so the next time people ask, I can pull out my laminated list.

posted by Peter @ 12:36 AM 1 comments

Productivity

Today marks the end of the first full 5-day week that I've actually come into work at the office in several months. Sadly, I honestly can't remember when the last time this occurred actually was. Admittedly, only one of those five days was anywhere close to a full 9-hour working day. Still, this qualifies as some level of achievement to be celebrated. To top it all off, today my desk phone actually rang with legitimate work-related calls. The most disturbing part of this all is that my expectations of any work satisfaction has been scaled down so low that I actually feel like I've accomplished something today. I believe this is the highest lowest point of my working career...or is it the lowest highest point?!?

Random related fact: Florida is the state with the lowest highest point in the U.S.

posted by Peter @ 5:46 PM 0 comments

The Wrath

Update: Apparently it's not a good idea to mention a majority of the major religions with an air of skepticism in a blog post. On my way home from work today, I was pooped on by a bird. Sorry, God, G_d, Allah, Buddha, and karma (and any other deities which I may have failed to mention).

posted by Peter @ 8:01 PM 0 comments

The Western Wall, the Dome of the Rock, and Google

With the recent events in the Gaza Strip, I decided to spend some of my free time at work Googling some of the historical context behind the conflict there. I found one explanation on ChristianAnswers.Net. Curious that you'd go to a Christian site to find answers regarding Muslim and Jewish conflicts.

Anyhow, after some searching, I found that the best information I got was actually from the guy that sits next to me at work. He provides me with unbiased background info on Judaism from the perspective of a somewhat jaded and cynical Jew. Now if I could find a cynical Muslim, a jaded Christian, and maybe a disenchanted Buddhist to sit by me, we could turn our corner of the office into a nice non-practicing, religiously skeptical, theological learning center.

*Disclaimer: this post is in no way an attempt to promote any one particular religious doctrine nor belittle any other.

posted by Peter @ 5:38 PM 0 comments

The Bronx, check.

The Stadium
Originally uploaded by crazypete04.

After having lived in New York for nearly a year and a half, I've finally made it to my fourth borough. Granted, just going to Yankee Stadium doesn't really give me any real representation of what the Bronx is really like but I'm counting it as a visit nonetheless.

Next up, Staten Island.

posted by Peter @ 1:27 AM 0 comments

City of Brotherly Love

This past weekend, I caught one of the many Chinatown busses out to Philadelphia. Sadly, having been on the East Coast for over a year, this is only the second East Coast city that I've managed to visit (not including New York, of course).

I did managed to do some touristy stuff however. First was my trip to the intersection of E. Passyunk Avenue and S. 9th Street. It's at this corner that Pat's King of Steaks and Geno's Steaks duke it out over who invented the Philly Cheesesteak and who currently makes the better one. Unfortunately, I only tried Pat's so I can't cast my ballot yet.

I also managed to catch glimpses of the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. I didn't manage to actually go inside Independence Hall. Turns out, in order to get into the building where our country's Founding Fathers discussed ideas like unreasonable searches and seizures, you have to stand in a forty-five minute line to walk through a metal detector and have your belongings x-rayed. Ironic.

posted by Peter @ 1:27 AM 0 comments