Post Tropical Storm Hanna outside my house

Hanna stirred up quite a storm last night, but as of this morning sunshine and a pre-fall cool has set in around NYC. I couldn’t imagine yesterday morning that last night would have been so torrential. While the rain was falling hard and falling for a long time, it was pretty tame.

There must be some folks in Long Island without electricity for sure, but other than that, not much damage was caused by the storm. When there are no injuries, it’s been a good storm.

Two of my friends were out in Flushing yesterday at the U.S. Open and they said matches only stopped as the storm progressed, but some of the main matches still went on. It’s like nothing really happened this morning. The storm pretty much did what it was supposed to and it seemed that with the free HBO weekend and long lines at Blockbuster yesterday morning, everyone was well prepared for a nice time indoors. The rain did look beautiful though when I went outside for a bit. It was soft and heavy, just a perfect combination. And since the darkness was overpowering what little lights I turned on outside my house gave a really wonderful aura to the entire scene.

And now we begin a Sunday that will lead us into a [hopefully] brisk Fall season filled with pumpkin juice, butterbeers and dances underneath the whomping willow. Holy Harry Potter reference Batman! I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore. End. post. now. K/Luv you/Buh bye!

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Courtesy of Acuweather

Tropical storm Hanna is estimated to hit New York tonight, meaning that it’s time to break out your heavy duty umbrella (i.e. not the $3 chinatown one) for this rare occasion that you’ll need it. Personally, I don’t intend to bike across the Williamsburg bridge, go swimming in the east river, or anything equally daring this evening, for fear of being washed away. Tonight might be a nice one to stay in, crack open a bottle of vodka, and cheers to the fact that you’ve got somewhere nice and cozy to dry off in — after we spend an estimated three hours searching Bushwick for tonic this afternoon, we certainly will enjoy the warmth and dryness.

ESTIMATED STORM PATH

SATELLITE OF STORM

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Dive into Sherman

I drove up to Sherman CT yesterday for an interview. Though the trip was an hour and a half by car - it takes the same amount of time for me to get to midtown from where I live on the outskirts of Queens right now.

But the benefit of driving an hour and a half is that you get to see the beautiful country that spreads across the upstate NY and CT area. Green lush trees fill the sides of the highways - all of them on the verge of shedding all their leaves - but not before putting on a brilliant fall display.

As if this was not enough, the closer I got to my destination, the road turned into 2-way lanes. Curving side by side, following a splendid lake being hit by the brilliant sunlight. I was in awe. It was truly incredible.

Just a few hours away from the middle of the busiest city in the world lies uninhibited, raw, natural beauty. Check it out if you can! The 3rd weekend in September would probably be the right time to see all the fall foliage.

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After a rather stressful week, I was happy to join my friends for happy hour tonight at the Stonewall Inn. Conveniently located in the West Village where I work, this bar is the historic site of the famous Stonewall riots - often cited as the first step towards gay rights.

On June 28, 1969, police entered the Stonewall Inn - supposedly there to make sure they were following alcohol control laws. They began making homophobic remarks and lining the patrons up outside of the bar (something that had happened frequently at that establishment), but this time the people resisted. Spontaneous riots erupted where bystanders joined in and shouted “Gay Power!”. The event sparked several gay activist groups and marked the early steps towards gay rights.

And now it’s a popular gay bar to go to for happy hour. The bar includes a historic vibe, gorgeous chandeliers, karaoke, and 2 for one drinks. Drinking my free drink and singing along to “Colors of the Wind” proved a good way to de-stress on a Friday.

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Some friends of mine had the ambitious idea to tour across the USA. They are starving mucisians and while I’m sort of biased, just head over to their Myspace page - it does really sound nice.

Anyway, their tour schedule is on Myspace and they are in town for a couple shows. I will probably check them out tomorrow at 10 PM at Don Pedro, in Williamsburg. Let me know in the comments if you come over.

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Yesterday I was on a flight out of JFK heading to Syracuse. All was well, I thought, as we boarded and taxied down the runway without incident. But upon takeoff, I smelled something funny, and looked up to see swirls of smoke beginning to fill the cabin. I didn’t freak out too much - I’ve flown probably half a million miles in the past 4 years so I’ve seen a lot of crazy shit - but a number of the passengers were alarmed. The captain turned the plane around and we landed back at JFK about 10 minutes after we took off. Shortest flight ever!

This news report says the plane was turned around due to an “unusual smell”, but believe me, folks, there was visible smoke all through the cabin. It wasn’t so bad that they had to deploy the oxygen masks, but it was visible. And smellable.

Apparently this is the second incident in a week of one of JetBlue’s Embraer jets returning to JFK due to smoke in the cabin or cockpit. I hope they figure out what’s causing it, because I sure as hell don’t want to fly in a smoking plane!

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Iced Coffee on the bar at Abraço

Food and Wine just listed Abraço Espresso - one of my personal favorites since before it began - as one of the top new coffee bars in the country today.

The tiny shop is located on 86  East Seventh street between 1st and 2nd avenues. While Abraço was under construction, I was merely passing by and when I approached partner Jamie McCormick about details, he was thrilled to talk and offered a hug. But I opted for the delicious individually dripped coffee instead.

Since then, there was love. Another partner Elizabeth whose last name I don’t know since I have only called her Elizabeth used to bake only vegan goodies. Being that I’m vegan she even changed up the menu one weekend to make all the food vegan & Jain.

The shop has an essence about it that is hard to beat. Brazilian beats playing on a turntable atop one of the highest shelves in the shop. Hand painted walls with beautiful art, a mosaic on the floor as you enter. A bay-window that opens up to the sidewalk. Some of the nicest people in NYC. Oh and the coffee isn’t that bad either. After not drinking it for about 3 months, when I first pressed it to my lips, a surge of energy went through my body and I completely fell in love with it all over again.

Definitely worth checking out - not just because Food and Wine says so - but because it’s damn good (and because I say so and so does the New York Times & NY Magazine).

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Hello Metblogs New York City! You’re all probably wondering who your new writer is.

Allow me to introduce myself: my name is Everett Bogue, I’m a twentysomething resident of Bushwick, Brooklyn. I’ve lived in the ’swick since December of 2006, and before that I was housing myself in a very tiny Williamsburg flat for a few years while I was wrapping up my service to higher education — and racking up semi-large amounts of student loan debt.

I enjoy coffee (especially Intelligentsia — hollah back Chicago), underground (like, in the basement loft) dance parties, vodka tonics at said parties, and more coffee. I bike to work every day, unless I’ve had too many vodka tonics the day before, or at least I will until it gets too cold in New York and my own snot starts to freeze to my face halfway over the Williamsburg bridge. At various points in my life I’ve been or wanted to be a contemporary dancer, journalist, photographer, photo-illustrator, and a photo editor. Right now I like writing short stories; these stories don’t make me money, nor does working at this blog. There’s something about working for free that’s just so much more fulfilling.

I also enjoy trees, nature, sitting in a kayak in the middle of a lake in upper Wisconsin with only the sound of frogs and a lone Loon circling overhead, sleeping on mountain tops upstate with friends, without tents, long hikes in, well, the wilderness with overcast skies and slightly damp earth, sitting on the edge of the ocean, alone or with a friend, and silently contemplating the grains of sand and their relationship with time and space, or the continuous pounding of waves across the shore. And I’m really incredibly upset that McCain’s vice-presidential choice Sarah Palin wants to kill the polar bears. Uh oh, I like things that aren’t concrete and more than twelve stories high! Ahhh!

All of this has lately brought me to this one sad conclusion over the last six or so months: Oh shit, what am I doing in this city? Aren’t I supposed to be rat-racing around with a pitchfork trying to make 60k a year in order to just pay my rent and eat at Moto once in awhile? Working 75 hours a week until my slave driver of choice turns a tidy profit? And breathing in epic amounts of carbon dioxide and other harmful chemicals? Conundrum.

So, I’m leaving this icky/filthy/smoggy city, as soon as I can. And thus I pitched Sean of Metblogs an idea. “Why don’t you let me be that blogger who is leaving?” I say — actually it wasn’t quite like that, but let’s pretend. “I have mad credibility!” I also said, in order to back up my pitch. And he said “that’s a great idea!” And now you have me here now. Theoretically I’ll be transferred the the Metblog in the city that I eventually move to.

Until I leave, I shall blog about the End of Times in New York City.

Cheerful!

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Wikipedia

It’s 8pm in Brooklyn and the sun has already set, one of the many reminders that it isn’t summer anymore. Another sign is last weekend’s final show at Greenpoint’s McCarren pool, once again relegated to a desolate reminder of good times, at least unti 2011, when the pool will reopen as a real, live, wet, swimming pool! The New York Times chronicles the end of (good) times here. We know you’ll miss them (or you missed them).

Yah, we know you all didn’t brave the lines at Yo La Tengo, but we will miss the crouching, sitting, lying on our stomachs on piles of chipping lead paint during the Tuesday movie nights — oh how hard it is to sit in one place for two hours on concrete. This summer we did manage to go to the nostalgic edition of Wet Hot American Summer, and that one flick about glam rock that we couldn’t concentrate on because we overindulged in that bucket of free Starbucks energy drinks. But what we’ll miss most, and we know you do, will be the after-pool traipse over to Matchless across the street, and the valiant attempts to score [an innocent chess] game with the crowds of lingering directionless hipsters.

Thankfully, we’re going to have a public pool of epic proportions if all goes well with Bloomberg’s budget, construction, and all. Hopefully the VIP line won’t be as long as the one into MGMT on that one soggy day in early August. And, I suppose, we’re equally scared of the lines everywhere else next summer, when all of the label PR kids and their legions of tag-along writers are trying to get into, when there is no universal pool event to house them all. Glasslands: watch out, they’re coming for you.

Everyone, get out of the pool. [NYTIMES]

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I can’t find exactly when the hearing is, I believe it is this week though at City Hall. A hearing on whether or not the White House Hotel - one of the last remaining flop houses of the Lower East Side, can be renovated or not.

Usually these things are simple. A hotelier comes along tears down a building - places its residents in other places. But this time around, it is not that simple. What’s happening at the White House hotel is that the landmark folks - people that decide whether or not a building holds historic value - have stepped in.

They’re saying that the White House hotel may be a historic landmark and therefore cannot be torn down. Or at least, the facade would have to be maintained before anything happens. So they’re going to decide what happens next week.

From what I understand of flop houses and hoteliers, this is one of those battles that will continue being fought until people lose interest in NYC and forever invest in countries like Dubai.

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Photo from yelp.com

I tried out a new lunch spot today in the West Village. When my lunch companion said she craved something spicy, I suggested we go to a place I’d passed many times but never visited - Spice.

With a funky decor, Spice has a modern feel. This restaurant serves all the Thai favorites - including many spicy options and vegetarian choices. Like Cafetasia, this establishment has a lunch special of an appetizer and entree for a good price. I got vegetable dumplings and a black, broad noodle dish with tofu, while my friend opted for something a bit spicier. The food came fast and, while not the best Thai noodles I’ve had, was definitely tasty. The bill was a happy $15 for us combined, making this spot a place I could certainly afford to revisit.

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Maybe it’s just me, but this summer has been pretty awesome in terms of overall weather condition and everything. I just loved it over here in your city [NYC]. This is one of my favorite snaps which I took walking across the Brooklyn Bridge from Manhattan to Brooklyn.

Even though I have to go back and I do look forward to people over there in Berlin, I am also gonna miss this place a lot, lot, lot, …

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No, it’s not Fringe week just yet. Don’t get all Shakespeare-eyed on me and reminisce about those days you became an unpaid stage hand just so you could watch the gritty and real life of off-off-Broadway productions. Don’t think of that time you did gigs with your band for free drinks. Don’t even try to recall the PA gig you did on the Sopranos in hopes that some day you will make Second Second Assistant Director.

No. Forget those dreamy gigs you’ve taken in the past. Live in the now. Let’s snap back into reality as Eminem would say. It’s time to take a deep look at your wallet, your pocket, your bank account and measure it against your lifestyle.

Are you living with more than 2 people you’ve never met before you started living here? Are you working multiple jobs and having barely enough time to sleep? Do you survive on Cup of Noodles and Mac n’ Cheese? Does the thought of free food still excite you?

It seems that a lot of people did take into account all of the above and the big moves have finally started. A few of my personal friends have done so, but this New York Magazine article proves it: people are fleeing NYC for more affordable places where their dollar goes farther. Places like Buffalo, NY - imho one of the biggest architectural nightmares ever. But you know what? It beats sleeping on an air mattress.

Are you moving?

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One of my biggest issues with the subways are that you never really know when they run. When taking a bus, there is always a schedule at the stop which gives you an estimate as of when a bus might come, but I did not see something like that on the subway - maybe yet.

Of course I could check out the tripplaner website beforehand, but let’s reserve my beef with the tripplanner for another blog post.

So while I am really glad that the subway system runs all around the clock, I have also found myself numerous times standing on a platform in the middle of the night wondering when my dear train comes to bring me home. Just add to the uncertainty of time, the uncertainty about the overall service (”It’s the weekend, does the 2, 3 stop here?”), rats and all kind of weird people to make this experience a lasting one.

Last weekend I went out with some friends in Williamsburg and to get their I took a L-Train from Manhattan to Bedford Avenue and I noticed that the L is the first one of all the lines I’ve used that actually displays the time of when the next train runs right on the platform. At least in Brooklyn.

And while I was waiting for the the train at Spring St, they kept announcing an ETA for the next train every three minutes. Not that you need it so often, but it’s still a nice service.

So this is still pretty rare for NYC and the system is probably a pilot. All the people I talked to about it so far were joking about the MTA raising prices soon to compensate the spending on the panels. ;) Even though I oppose raising the prices (Of course!), I feel like this system is long needed.

Does anyone share my enthusiasm and know more?

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