I left NYC on August 25th. I don’t intend to come back. 18 years of my life were spent here. The 18 that counted the most in forming who I am today. The decision came not because of the economy (I was employed) or anything else but my decision to follow my heart and the one I truly LOVE to India.

My journey is not the first of its kind. I’ve found that New York City provides an excellent ground for seekers of the spiritual variety. It is the only place on the planet where acceptance is not just a concept but a daily practice. I’m sure a lot of shady things happen in the underground, but that’s just the nature of humans. I’ve found that NYC has heart, love, genuine kindness. . . whereas most of other portions of America serve up a plastic flight-attendant smile.

Anyhow folks, I’m here in Mumbai, I tweet regularly and blog as well. I’m sure I’ll see a lot, experience a lot and definitely will be back to NYC, but for now, I’m gone. So long.

Bloomberg tucking into a slice of pizza. Image copyrights Mary DiBiase Blaich for The New York Times

The NYTimes has a front page (web) article on the eating habits of Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Now this would be a waste of valuable e-newsprint, one may say. However the article brings into sharp contrast the positive motions the Mayor brings into the realm of public health, while at the same time having a completely different set of personal standards.

The article talks about the Mayor’s affinity for (of all things) salt.

Mr. Bloomberg, 67, likes his popcorn so salty that it burns others’ lips. (At Gracie Mansion, the cooks deliver it to him with a salt shaker.) He sprinkles so much salt on his morning bagel “that it’s like a pretzel,” said the manager at Viand, a Greek diner near Mr. Bloomberg’s Upper East Side town house.

This is while the city wages a battle against sodium. There are directives in place recommending restaurants reduce salt consumption by 20 %.

Some may raise a stink about the so-called “double standards” from the Mayor. And in this election season, I would not be surprised if it does. However what the Mayor in his own personal time is no one else’s business.

Even with all the excesses of salt, bacon and what not, the Mayor, at 67, weighs what he did in his college days. How many people can claim to do that. ?

I think the real story here is that he indulges in “sinful” eating but also exercises self-discipline by exercising and balancing his food intake on other days.

The only thing that irks me is salt on a bagel. That leaves a bad taste in my mouth :)

I was recently in Chicago and ate a lot of deep dish pizza. This is something Chicago is known for and I, a pizza fanatic, was fully aware of. After eating some deep dish at a friends home one night he asked how it compared to NY thin crust. I had to admit to him that the deep dish was unique and amazing and I loved it. Then I had to tell him that it didn’t compare in my mind to the coal fired brick oven pizzas made in NY. What can I say, I’m an East Coast kind of guy. NY pizza is king in my eyes, the crisp crust and fresh ingredients that you taste with all the lush flavors they hold. What about you? Don’t be shy, tell us how you really feel.

You’ve no doubt by now noticed that the sites got a bit of a re-design and some things got changed around last week. We wanted to highlight two changes to make sure everyone knows what changed.

The first and biggest is COMMENTS! Registration is no longer required to post a comment on any post. Of course if you already have an account you can still login to ensure your comments are attributed to you, but those who don’t can now post a comment without any long term commitment. Also, on the right you can see some of the recent comments so you’ll always know what the active discussions are. This was the most requested thing we’ve heard from people since our last redesign and we’re excited to see where it leads.

The next change is also something that was heavily requested, and that is a change to the ADS on the sites. You’ll immediately notice fewer of them, but what might not be as obvious is those smaller square ones to the right are specific to this city only and are being sold for a flat rate for a period of time rather than a confusing CPM/traffic/network model. Depending on the city, these range from $7-$175 for a full week. If you purchase one, during that time your ad will be the only one in that spot and will show on every page. We set these up both to make it easier for smaller local businesses to get their ads on our site, and also to help us bring in ads that relate better to our local audiences. Also, keeping these sites online is expensive and every little bit helps.

There are a bunch of other things we changed but we’ll leave those to you to investigate and take advantage of. Hope you like it, and we look forward to seeing you in the comments!!

Love,
The folks at MBHQ