antipaucity

I’m off to Sunnyvale CA for a week for some intensive, advanced product training for the software I install and handle on-site support for. Should be a long, tiring, fun week.

I’m a huge fan of the Discovery Channel series, Cash Cab. While in New York this week, I kept looking for the elusive 1-in-13000 cabs that Ben Bailey drives, hoping for the opportunity to hop in and play the game.

Well, I didn’t have a chance to get in, but I saw the cab Tuesday night: a minivan complete with flashing ceiling, and Ben driving with his ear piece in place.

It’s obviously not as cool as being on the show, but still pretty exciting.

From 273 W 38th St to 279 Water St in Manhattan is a bit of a hike. The way I walked was about 5.4 miles. Yes, I walked. If I’d known better how to get there, I could have done it in 4.2 miles. But I didn’t, so I walked the long way.

The only reason I wanted to go to the Bridge Cafe was because I had seen it on a Food Network special a couple weeks back, where they had highlighted the fact that it has been in continual operation as a business since 1794, making it (most likely) the oldest bar/restaurant in New York City.

When I got there, though, I saw a sign on the door indicating that food was unavailable because of a kitchen fire. “Great,” I thought, “I walked all this way and can’t even have a sandwich.” Well, I had walked all that way, and figured I should at least go in, since I was there. I walked in just as a couple other folks were leaving the bar, and asked the bar tender for a drink: after a walk that long, I needed one.

The bar tender drew me a Sam Adams Summer, and I sat down to enjoy a little break before heading out to find “real” food. That was at about 8pm. At the end of the bar, a couple seats down from myself, there was a woman sitting who asked how I’d gotten there because she hadn’t heard a cab door close. I told her I had walked. From 38th & 8th. From midtown – all the way down to below the Brooklyn Bridge. On foot. Just then, the bar tender wandered back over, since there were no other customers, and he and Lisa were in shock over how far I walked. Then he asked me why I had come, because, after all, it was one heck of a hike: and I told him I’d seen the place showcased on the Food Network, and wanted to give it a shot.

New York, especially Manhattan, is an eminently walkable city – it’s just that “normal” people take the subway, bus, or a cab if they have to go more than 8 or 10 blocks, apparently. Guess I’m not normal.

Adam, the bar tender, who also turned out to be the owner, started chatting with myself and Lisa, who had arrived only a few minutes before I had (but by bus and a short walk). Turns out that Lisa is a pharmaceutical editor who lives mere blocks from where I ate Monday, Virage. Don’t quite know what that means, but that’s what she does. Lisa’s also a hobbyist filmmaker. Adam’s an eclectic music aficionado. For five and a half hours I sat at the bar chatting with Adam and Lisa, and the couple other folks who wandered in later.

I mentioned, in passing, that I nearly stopped at a place on 2d, but the waitress whom I’d had Monday wasn’t there, so I kept walking. When pressed for details on the name of the place, I told them it was Virage, and Lisa then launched into a lengthy discourse on all the food places within a couple blocks of where I had been Monday, down to a place that only serves macaroni and cheese, called S’Mac.

Topics ranged from funky music (including Tom Waits) to film festivals. Discussions of Scotch, cake, bourbon, beer, Korean chefs, and the list goes on and on. As a side note, it turns out I know more about whiskeys, scotches, and beer than any of Adam’s bar tenders – he even told me (half-jokingly, I think, but maybe not) I should come work there if I have free time when I’m in New York.

Having been told about S’Mac, my grand plan was to finish my drink, get a cab or bus back uptown a ways, and go try some of this off-the-wall mac & cheese. That plan gradually faded through the evening. At 00:24 I checked my cell phone for the time, and realized I had long since missed the opportunity to get food. At least, to get food and still get back to the hotel for at least a solid nap before my last day at my customer’s site.

Fortunately, though, when I sat down I sat at the Scotch end of the bar. I am a huge fan of Scotch, and I think I went into some form of intermittent nirvana when looking-over the choices. I had a Laphroaig 15. I’ve had the 10 before, but the 15 was so much smoother I was amazed – I hadn’t yet met a Scotch that outdid my favorite Laphroaig 10, and now I have. A little later, Adam poured a pony of Bruichladdich Infinity to try. The smoky depth was palate-sparking.

Having enjoyed the Laphroaig, and sampled the Bruichladdich, I slid back to something less heavy, and tried the Six Points Ale on tap. Six Points is in Brooklyn, and smacks the pants of Brooklyn Brewery any day of the week.

At 1:24 I finally had to call it a night so that I could get a couple hours’ sleep before work today. As I was standing to leave, though, Lisa announced that she needed to find an ATM so she could get a ride home. Her apartment is literally a half block out of the way for the ride I was going to need, so we did a very un-New Yorker thing to do, and split the ride back uptown.

I don’t quite know when I finally hit the sack this morning, but I know it was after 2. The next time I’m in Manhattan for more than a few hours, I’m definitely going back to the Bridge Cafe, and see what kind of food they do have.

Thanks, Adam (and Lisa) for an entertaining, enjoyable, enlightening evening. It was the best night I’ve had out “by myself” in years.

…to bring you this update:

I just saw a guy climbing the side of the New York Times building here in Manhattan. Not sure if it’s the same guy who climbed the Eiffel Tower, but it was interesting.

Definitely not something you see every day.

I follow Joel Spolsky’s blog/news site, joelonsoftware.com. His most recent addition is “Adventures in Office Space“. Apparently, they’ve run out of space in their 8th Avenue office, and will be moving to 55 Broadway in a couple months, once their renovations are in-place.

The reason I mention this is that I interviewed with Fog Creek last December for a systems administration position. They flew me up, put me up at the W on Times Square, and reimbursed my food and parking garage fees for leaving my truck at RDU for a couple days. All-in-all, it was a fun two days.

After my interview on Wednesday, I went to see Cirque du Soleil‘s Wintuk.

I did not quite fit their employee model, because I was not offered the position. (Joel relayed the interview results to me directly, and indicated that it was not a technical issue, but that the personality fit didn’t seem to be there.)

I’m still interested, potentially, in getting a job in “real” city (not that Raleigh is not a ‘city’, but it’s not the same as a San Francisco or a New York), where walking to work seems normal, but for now what I’m doing with HP’s professional services is pretty fun and challenging.

So, my hat is off to Joel and his crew, because they must be doing something right to be needing more office area. Best of luck!

I’ve now been to 1611 Broadway twice. Once last December when I was interviewing at FogCreek, and then again Tuesday this week after hitting the Museum Mile Festival in Manhattan. As a side note,walking down the middle of 5th Avenue is a blast – what’s normally a bustling, jam-packed 20 blocks was cordoned-off by the NYPD, and open to pedestrians wanting to see the various museums on the mile-long stretch. I went into the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and though several areas were closed-off to the throngs massing through the giant block party outside, it was still kind of interesting.

They advertise themselves as offering lunch, dinner, and pre/post theater drinks.

Both times I have been impressed. And both times I got nearly the same thing: portobello mushroom sticks. Last night I ordered a bowl of vegetable beef soup, too.

Mushroom sticks sound pretty weird first-off, but were awesome (both times!). They take strips of portobello mushroom, wrap them in cheese, coat them in batter, and deep-fry them – they’re like mozzarella sticks, but with no mozzarella and they add mushrooms.

I must say that I wasn’t as impressed by their vegetable beef soup, though, as I was the mushroom sticks. It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t spectacular.

For you beer folks, they only have a couple on tap. Last night it was Guinness, Stella Artois, Bass, and Bud Light. (Not that the last one is “beer”, but it was there.)

I have no idea how their entrees are, as I’ve only sampled their appetizer menu, but the dishes I saw being brought out looked good.

When I eat out by myself (which happens a lot when I’m traveling), I like to sit at the bar because it’s not weird to just start chatting with the bar tender, other patrons, or passers-by. Whereas if you sit at a table, it’s kinda weird to just start chatting with someone a table or two over. As a little bit of “it’s a small world”, the bar tender grew up about 2 miles from where I did in upstate NY – he’s from Waterford, and I grew up across the bridge in Cohoes.

Continuing my new theme of including restaurant reviews of places I have been, I must praise Virage in Manhattan. On the corner of 2d Avenue and E 7th Street, is a self-proclaimed “mediterranean-style” restaurant.

I ordered their Monday special, which on that visit was lamb chops with roasted gnochhi and a charred tomato and pepper hot salad. For dessert, I went with their house sorbet – they had raspberry and lemon to choose from, so I got both: and the side-by-side presentation and flavor was delightful.

If you’re a fan of drinks, they have $5 margarita Mondays, and every one that went by on a tray looked really good.

As with most cities, there are hundreds or thousands of places to eat in New York. I can’t say I intend to try every one, but Virage was well worth my 45 block walk.

I’m a member of TriLUG – the Triangle Linux User Group.

Mostly I’m on the mailing lists as a lurker, sometimes as a contributor.

But this week I asked a couple questions which the friendly community jumped-on to assist me with.

Thanks guys!

I met a friendly girl (Shelly) today at the subway station at 40th and 8th in front of the New York Times building.

But the only reason I bring this up is because she asked me how to get to the number 7 subway.

There I was, calmly reviewing the subway map so I could get to the Museum Mile Festival, and she comes over asking me if I knew how to get to the #7. Mind you, I live in Durham NC, and have only ridden the subway in Manhattan once before today. But she asked me how to get back to Main St in Flushing.

I must have inherited the “ask me directions to anywhere, I can get you there” invisible sign that my dad has. I’ve been asked directions, now, twice on this visit to New York. I couldn’t help the first guy, but Shelly I could.

I pointed-out to her that she had gotten off at the New York Times, and not Times Square. I showed her on the map where the 7 terminates on its west point (Times Square), and mentioned I was heading there myself. To which she asked if she could follow me. Sure, why not?

So up the stairs we headed towards Times Square. Once there, we headed into that subway station, and she found the 7 with no issues, while I went over to find the 3 to head up to Central Park North for the block party thing.

I really do wish I could see that sign, so I at least knew I wasn’t crazy the next time I’m asked for directions by some random person on the street – because I know it’ll happen again.

A horrible comparison has been drawn in the following AP article about TimeWarner: http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jwm8wu3jZWZLcKfIlycqFqFegknwD9126HN8A. “You’re used to paying extra if you use up your cell phone minutes, but will you be willing to pay extra if your home computer goes over its Internet allowance?”

There’s a problem with that statement: lots of cell phone users are going to unlimited time and text plans. I just switched because my personal phone is also my home phone is also my work number. So, switching made a great deal of sense.

My roadrunner bill was for “unlimited” usage. Of course, it’s de facto limited by the speed cap. If they want to meter usage, they could just drop the top speed. It’s how my hosting provider operates: I pay for an ”unlimited” 2Mbps pipe to the outside world. I can’t push content faster than that. No per-gig funkiness required.

(Thanks to Ben P on the the TriLUG mailing list for pointing this story out.)