Oh, Lord help me!!!!!
Yesterday, my friend Jane took me to the new Forest Hills “hotspot”– Martha’s Country Bakery. It’s a cute place and they bake on the premises. So we sat down and each ordered a pastry and an iced mocha. The pastry was overpriced, and the mochas had to be sent back for more chocolate — too much coffee taste.

And it wasn’t crushed up like a “frappucino”. So I turned to Jane and said “Starbuck’s is better”
“Lord help you” she replied.

I had not realized, prior to moving here, how desperate the housing situation really is. To get what i want, I need to shell out $4,000 for a “spacious” studio. But I don’t have $4,000, I have maybe $1,000 and that’s even a stretch. I’m not going to complain about rent prices because I understand economic principles and  New York City is the Queen of Economy. What I AM going to complain about is the egregious situation that I had gotten myself in upon signing my lease.
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Well, not all of it. Just 2 blocks between 1st and 2nd avenues.

If you live on my block (and the one next to it), you are one of over 300 customers that are affected by Time Warner’s Internet service outage. No worries, you can still watch crappy TV but you can’t get online.

The problems started on Sunday afternoon and up until the time I left the house this morning, there still wasn’t any service. Have I called to complain? Of course I have. Twice. The first time I was told that the issue should be resolved quickly. When I called back last night, I was told that they did NOT have any time frame on when this would be fixed. Nice. I do appreciate the honesty though.

The poor woman that I spoke to was at a loss for words. I can tell that she really wanted to say that this problem was really going to be fixed in a jiffy, but she just kept saying how sorry she was. What she DID suggest was that I call back Time Warner as soon as the problem is fixed and make sure that I get a credit for those days that I didn’t have service. Yes, I will do that, but in the meantime… I need to get online!

What have I done with my late night online time? I’ve cleaned out my closets, mopped the floors and went through all of my paperwork. Not bad for 2 nights. Tonight… it’s laundry night!

OK, OK… So it isn’t NYC-specific, but Google has added an AWESOME feature to their already very helpful Google Maps program. Now, in addition to being able to view plain maps, satellite views, and even traffic patterns, the massive interactive giant has implemented a new feature that allows users to actually view street-level images!

Here is an example of the new feature, in the form of a “street view” of the intersection of 50th Street and 6th Avenue. This image was taken as if you were in the center of the intersection, facing east toward Radio City Music Hall. You will notice that you can easily zoom in (although the resulting image becomes blurry), and you have 360-degree pan ability. You can also click on the arrows on the street to go to another image further down the road.

It is pretty simple to use. Just go to Google Maps, and type in the destination you want to view. Once there, click the “Street View” button, and you will see some streets get a blue outline. Just drag the little yellow man into the area you want to view, and the rest should be intuitive. This is a limited roll-out, so not all areas are available… But much of Manhattan can be viewed, as well as a fair chunk of the major routes in the outer boroughs.

This launch appears to be in response to the impending launch of MSN Live’s powerful yet apparently cumbersome similar feature.

It doesn’t quite get any more romantic than driving through a green-tree laden East Village in the early days of summer. It doesn’t get quite more New York than having Jonathan Schwartz providing the soundtrack for the ride. It does get clearer if I had an HD camera or even a higher pixel camera, but this will have to do for you now. You will enjoy this video.

Any of you guys into video blogging? I am trying to help a friend set up a video blog for his “weigh loss motivation” blog and we are at a point where we think we need a little more help. Anyone out there interested?

It’s common for people to ask me the way my name is pronounced. It is also common for most of my friends to have things named after them in open daylight. Jennifer Cafe, Bruno Bagels, Mike’s Pizza, Ray’s Famous, etc.

My name, which for those of you who don’t know, rhymes with shovel. . . is a site less likely to be found anywhere in the United States. Back in the old country (India) it’s probably comparable to Adam. Every 4th kid has the name… OK so that’s an exaggeration, but then again there are a billion Indians so…

Anyway, I was walking down the East Village and what do I see but a backwards D and a backwards G on a store that bares my name. In the heart of the East Village! That’s deep.

This has to be a fillip for all the artists and creative personnel who are stumped by some of the paranoid tactics of the city.

Thanks to Mumbai-based filmmaker Rakesh Sharma, documentary filmmakers shooting in New York will no longer require a film permit to shoot a slice of the Big Apple.

In a settlement issued on Wednesday in a lawsuit filed by Sharma, New York City has not only agreed to waive the film permit policy for cinema verité (documentary) style filmmakers shooting in the city, but also decided to create written rules governing the filming and photog raphy of the city.

The New York Police Department (NYPD), which had detained Sharma in May 2005 while he was shooting in midtown Manhattan with a hand-held camera, has agreed to pay the filmmaker an “unspecified sum” in damages for an out-of-court settlement to the suit filed on his behalf by the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU).

[ link]

I am sure a lot of documentary film makers around the world who throng to shoot in NYC will thank Rakesh Sharma for taking up the challenge and fighting the city.

I know most people dream of getting away from the city in the summer. They get summer shares, go to the beach, anything to be away from the sweltering heat and pollution.

I don’t…at all. This will be my first summer in NYC and I’m gleefully looking forward to it. With the cold spell we’ve felt all year, I’m excited for warms days where I don’t overuse the Subway just to stay warm. I’m looking forward to strolling through the city, even if it means I need to shower twice a day.

I think part of my excitement lies in the fact that this city in the summer reminds me of all my trips abroad. Most of my experience with city life has been in the summer, so I’m super excited! Wahoo!

MatthewI met Matthew (pictured) today. He’s an artist with a knack for sales pitches. He’s located between the Apple store & Kid Robot; both of which Matthew doesn’t really support strongly. Something tells me that if voice wasn’t hoarse as it was today, he would have stopped me on the street for longer and given me his views on even more things…

He informed me that SoHo, NY has the highest rent prices in the country (disgusting), he informed me that he loves working on paper and free NYC subway posters because he can’t afford anything else. He told me he likes paying $0 for rent – he sticks his art on a window and props it up against steps. When I told Matthew that I’m sorry but I can’t buy the art – I didn’t have $20 on me for one of his MTA-poster-art things – he said he was sorrier than I was. He likes to eat apparently. He did thank me for noticing him though, so at least something positive happened in that conversation.