Glen Meets Manhattan - Part III: Including the chapters "Viewing Works of the Great Painters" and "Paying a Visit to Ground Zero"

Previously on “Glen Meets Manhattan”…

Glen recovered (albeit painfully and slowly) from his hangover. Witnessed the neighborhood of Harlem, Central Park and the American Museum of Natural History. Glen also witnessed the beautiful wonder that is the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center.

The question now is weather or not Glen can survive venturing out into Manhattan on all by him self!

You see, on Sunday, December 9, Andy had to head up to Albany for his brother’s graduation and I was left on my own to venture through the bustling borough of Manhattan. So, was I up to the challenge?

You better believe it!

I started the day early (around 9ish) by taking the N train and transferring to the 7 train at Queensborough plaza. I managed all that by my self without getting lost! I arrived in Manhattan… at the Grand Central Terminal. Absolutely beautiful! There were so many train and subway tracks and platforms. The large interior space inside was truly an amazing sight. It was still busy even on a Sunday morning. I took a moment to have breakfast there mimicking Holden Caulfield in “The Catcher in the Rye”.

From there I walked uptown on Park Avenue… and then I turned around and began to walk uptown for real when I realized the streets were declining in numbers rather than increasing (!)… one of the few times I got disoriented that day. I worked my way back over to the Rockefeller Center to look at the big Christmas tree again. This time I got a little bit more “up-close” and got some pictures of the Prometheus Sculpture and Ice Rink.

I then headed a few more blocks uptown to the Museum of Modern Art. This place was an incredible experience. I saw several impressionist and post-impressionist paintings that have become famous. Beautiful! A special exhibit of Seurat’s drawings, including a series of paintings that he made before completing his famous “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte” were on display. I saw my first Picasso! I saw many works from Monet and Matisse. And the big one for me… I viewed Van Gogh’s “Starry Night”. Such a beautiful painting! I did not spend too much time viewing the other 2 floors of works (there’s about 6 all together). I wanted to continue and see more of the city.

With that done, since I was in the neighborhood I headed back over to the Bryant Park Christmas Village to do some Christmas shipping. After that I got on a subway and headed downtown to the Financial District, getting off at Wall Street. I wanted to get a feel for what it would be like to be walking through the “concrete canyons” of the city where there is concrete, glass and steel sky scrapers of hundreds of feet on both sides of you as you walk at the bottom on a concrete and pavement covered street. It was like nothing I had ever experienced. I located the New York Stock Exchange and Trinity Church. I headed cross town to the former World Trade Center site.

As you emerge from the financial district towards Ground Zero you suddenly see this wide expanse of skyline in front of you that is completely empty and seems rather out of place. This is where the towers would have been. My interest in the events of September 11 is very extensive so being there to see it first hand and up-close was a noteworthy experience for me. It just hits me very hard to see the large scale of the damage. There is not much of a memorial yet, but the whole area is a construction site at this point. I took the time to navigate around the entire area and take pictures when ever I could. I can not imagine being there on those streets on that dreadful day. A particularly good viewing area (as suggested by our tour guide on Friday’s cruse) was the Winter Gardens at the World Financial Center.

After viewing Ground Zero, I headed down to Battery Park. There I found the sculpture that was previously located in the courtyard between the Twin Towers. The sculpture was recovered from the ruble in badly damaged condition and put on display in Battery Park with an eternal flame as a part of a memorial. From the park I was also able to view the Statue of Liberty in the distance.

By this time I was feeling cold, tired and a little sick. I headed back uptown towards the Christmas village in Columbus Circle to do some more shopping. With a headache and an increasing feeling of sickness… I grabbed dinner and headed back to Queens. I collapsed on the couch and watched football for the evening!

So that concludes my 3 part series on my experiences in New York City. Awesome experience! I want to go back and do all the things I missed and do some things all over again!

Glen Meets Manhattan - Part II: Including the chapters "I am Glad I Saw Harlem from the Safety of a Bus" and "Natural History with a Hangover"

Previously on “Glen Meets Manhattan”…

Glen met Tony the audio tour guide on the top of the Empire State Building… was introduced to hot cider + a cinnamon stick at the Bryant Park Christmas Village… survived a freezing cold sight seeing cruse… and toped things off with a bar outing (with an unknown number of rounds of drinks) that ultimately ended up with Glen’s first trip to a strip club!

Did I survive…

No I did not. I was severely hung over the following morning on December 8. *BLAH* So all sight seeing planned for that morning was put off until I re-gathered my mental and physical capacities.

By about 1 PM, I was ready to go. Andy and I hoped on the m60 bus that goes from Queens, across the Triborough Bridge and down 125^th street, which is the main street going down the center of the famous neighborhood of Harlem. The bus went by the famous Apollo Theater. We also drove by Columbia University… I was completely unaware that it was located so far uptown adjacent to Harlem. We were dropped off somewhere near 106^th street… where we saw “Toms Restaurant” which is the famous diner from Seinfeld.

Following that, we went to the American Museum of Natural History. The space section was pretty cool… they had a 15 ton solid iron meteorite on display. Part of the admission included a 20 minute planetarium video… which was a good time for me to sit down and do nothing, since I was still dragging from the previous night out. The museum was HUGE… 4 whole floors taking up an entire city block. We only spent 2.5 hours there and barely saw it all. Lots of animal specimens on display… lots of dinausaur bones… lots of displays of all sorts of ancient races of people. There was also a pretty neat geology section with mineral and gemstone collections on display.

We left the museum and it was already about 3:30 PM (!)… Being hung over in the morning made the day go by so fast! At that point, Andy and I took a walk through Central Park heading downtown. It was at this point that I realized I was seeing grass for the first time in about a day and a half! He showed me the Delacourt Theater, where they put on Shakespeare shows, Belvedere Castle and the Great Lawn, with some magnificent views of the city skyline. It took us a good hour to walk about 2/3 the length of Central park. We ended up at Columbus Circle where there was a second Christmas Village (and more hot cider!) set up at central park south.

From there, Andy took me to see Radio City and the Rockefeller Center… along with the great big Christmas Tree and famous ice rink! Absolutely beautiful to see at night… also SUPER CROWDED!

Following that, we headed back up town to meet Andy’s roommate (Courtney) and another friend whom we attended Naz with (Jess). We had dinner at a Thai restaurant. By that point… Andy and I were running completely on empty, but we still went to see Jess’ friend (and a few other singers) sing some opera songs (Christmas tunes and other songs) at a place called O’Niels near the Julliard School. We were tired, under dressed and had to wait a LONG time to get a table in the corner where we could not see the singers.

By 9 PM, we called it quits and headed back to Queens. Sleep felt amazing that night!

So how do you think I would fare with adventuring through Manhattan all by my self… check out part III to find out!

Glen Meets Manhattan - Part I: Including the chapters "Where to buy pizza the size of your face" and "Baby's first lapdance"

WOW! That’s about all I can muster up the energy to say at the moment. For those of you just tuning in, I have recently went on a trip to New York City to pay a visit to my friend, Andy, whom was a former college roommate of mine while I was at Nazareth.

I spent 3 whole days exploring Manhattan. There is so much to tell, I will break down the trip into three different posts over the next few days. I want to get as much down on paper as I can so I do not forget it… and even as I type this account, there will be many details that will still slip my mind!

Here goes:

On the first day (December 7), Andy and I started off at the Empire State Building. This was a fitting place to start because you get the entire birds eye view of the city before jumping into it close-up. It was freezing cold! But it was also very quiet relative to the crowded noise of the streets below. From the 86^th floor observation deck, the audio tour guide (his name was Tony... that frikin guy, he's the guy I tell ya!) I was equipped with pointed out many of the bridges, buildings and neighborhoods that make New York City famous. I was able to see the East River, Central Park, the Hudson River, New Jersey, the Chrysler Building, the Financial District… and SO MUCH MORE!

Following that chilly start, we took to walking. Andy led me to Bryant Park, where an ice rink was set up along with a small “Christmas Village” of booths selling a variety of gifts for Christmas. It was there that Andy introduced me to hot cider. Mmmm… when you are freezing your ass off in Manhattan, there is nothing that can warm you up better than a cup of this stuff with a cinnamon stick floating in it.

From there, we worked our way on foot up towards Times Square (which is not really a square at all… I never really figured that one out). We quickly got the hell out of there because it was just way too crowded and frankly, it’s just full of neon billboards anyway. Nothing terribly unique seemed to be there.

We continued towards 9^th Avenue (or Columbus Avenue) uptown. Once we got WAY uptown (110^th or 111^th street) we ate at Koronet’s Pizza that sells slices of pizza the size of a cafeteria tray for $3. NO JOKE! Totally worth the walk!

Following that, we headed downtown where Andy pointed out the Metropolitan Opera and Julliard. We continued to head downtown to the 42^nd street pier to take a Circle Line Sight Seeing Cruse. It was at this point that it started to snow! SO FREAKING COLD! Our tour was from 4 to 6 PM, so as it was snowing, it got dark too. Many of the pictures I took (including those of the Statue of Liberty) did not turn out. But, we watched the whole city light up as we rode the boat. We saw many views of New Jersey, the United Nations, the numerous different piers, Financial District, Empire State and Chrysler Buildings, the Brooklin Bridge and the Verazano Narrows Bridge. The guide also pointed out where various tunnels were located as we floated over them. INCREDIBLE… despite the sold, snow and dark!

After that, Andy and I had dinner at a diner on 9^th avenue in a neighborhood of the city called “Hells Kitchen”… so called for the rough and tough Irish immigrants who lived there. It’s calmed down a bit over the years.

We were exhausted at that point, but we were scheduled to meet Andy’s friends from work (Jon, Zak and Nate) and another former roommate of ours (Joel) at a bar called Barcelona. Here’s where things get a little dicey! After a few rounds of drinks… Andy and I were not tired at all. And we also decided to go to a strip club. (!!!) Prior to that, neither Andy nor my self had ever been. I think Zak knew the bartender at the bar because he returned with a final round of drinks and 6 passes for free cover to the Hustler Club on 51^st street. So I had my first experience with a strip club Friday night. It was especially entertaining for all of us due to the fact that Joel is gay… and he also managed to attract the attention of two stripers who were all over him within a matter of minutes of entering!

Following the strip club… we returned back to the bar we were originally at where Zak bought us another round of drinks and Joel bought us a round of shots called Flaming Moes (yes, just like the Flaming Moe from the Simpsons)! That was pretty much where the night ended up… Andy and I took the drunken ride on the N train back to Queens.

How did I fair the following morning… tune in later and find out!

*UgggHhHhHhgggggggg...* No more turkey...

Hey everybody! What a great holiday break. Pardon my extended absence but things have been a little bit crazy lately.

I celebrated Thanksgiving last weekend with my family. It worked out to be more like 3 different Thanksgivings... the first one being just my parents and I, second grandparents, aunt/uncle and cousins from mom's side of the family and third grandparents from dad's side of the family. Turkey was had on all three days, hence my disdain for that particular food for the time being!

On my mother's side of the family, I have two little cousins. My aunt and uncle just got married about 3 years ago and made a few new additions to the family. Rosario is 2 years old now. She's the rambunctious one in the movie clips above. So full of energy! My apologies for the horrible quality video clips but I can't help to experiment with stuff like this. I took them with my cell phone. They also have an infant, Jon Diego... no more than 3 months old. He's adorable! When I first saw him about a month ago at his baptism, he basically did nothing but sleep! It was only a week ago that I finally saw him with his eyes open. Apparently he does have eyes after all! I will post a picture as soon as I can.

Other things that happened on my break... watched "Evan Almighty" and "Dodgeball", completed reading "The Accidental Tourist", went to Teresa's birthday party (happy 24th!), Jon also came into town for that. He got to meet my family and see my home town of Derby for the first time. Overall it was pretty cool. Very relaxing.

At the moment I am busting my ass trying to get things done and in order in the laboratory before a major quarterly meeting with all of the collaborators of my research. I leave for New York City immediately after the meeting. Then I return and have a few days to polish up my interim seminar for my masters thesis. DAAAAAAMN! Tough to find time to do much of anything other than work lately!

Now you see why I have not been active with the posts recently.

I'll try to write some more before my departure for NYC. I am sure that I will have LOTS to say upon my return!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Mmmmmm... TURKEY!

Kicking back and awaiting the Thanksgiving Feast.

So I at the parents house in the greater Buffalo region. Just a short hop down the NYS thruway is all the traveling I need to do for my holidays. The place has kind of ceased to be "my home" sometime over the past 2 or 3 years as I gradually shifted my life to Rochester. Now I refer to this as "my parents house". I am not even certain of an exact date in which I can clearly claim that I moved out!

You would think that as a twenty-something on the eve of Thanksgiving I would be hitting up the bars and partying tonight. Considering that is is POURING RAIN like buckets and COLD... I am not too keen on driving into the city and waiting in line outside of a bar to get in. It's odd though... I come back here and don't even feel like I know anyone anymore. I have lost touch with people. My friends are scattered in so many cities and corners of the world right now. Hmmm... :-/

Anyway, I watched "Evan Almighty" tonight. I enjoyed it. Classic Steve Carell comedy always cracks me up. It was one of those movies with subtle messages about faith and such. Not to the point where it is obnoxious but just enough so that you can appreciate it. My only complaint was that Lauren Graham bore a striking resemblance to Emily... which in turn led me to thoughts of her.

*sigh*

A day of shooting and shots in all possible shapes, sizes and varieties.

Yesterday was proclaimed by Jon and I as "The Day of Shooting and Taking Shots". Why? In one day we managed to pack in target shooting, taking some golf shots and playing "Call of Duty 2" and some other first person shooter video games. Shooting in all possible forms!

During my life, I have never been into hunting or guns, so yesterday was a bit of an adventure for me. The last time I have shot a firearm was over 10 years ago. So, I took a drive out to the rural town of Pavilion where Jon said we could partake in some target shooting with a few of the firearms that him and his father owns. Sure... why not!


We started out firing some handguns (pictured above). We chose a Smith & Wesson .22 caliber revolver (bottom right), a 9mm semi-automatic pistol (bottom left) and a .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol (top). This being the first time I have ever fired a handgun, I must say that it is A LOT HARDER to aim and shoot one of these things than they make it seem in the movies. I have a whole new respect for law enforcement officials who must demonstrate proficiency in handling such firearms.


Then we switched over to some rifles (pictured above). We chose a basic semi-automatic .22 caliber rifle (top). A bolt action .22 caliber magnum rifle (middle). And finally... a semi-automatic .223 caliber M-14 rifle (bottom). That last weapon was a standard issue weapon to troops sent into battle in the Vietnam War. It fires the hefty looking bullet shown in the picture below! DAAAAAAAAAMN! That's a bit more power than the simple .22 caliber rifle that I had shot 10 years ago. The simple .22 cal. was accurate and easy to shoot. The bolt action rifle felt pretty cool to shoot. With this weapon, you can kind of imagine what it must have been like to be Vasily Zaytsev from Enemy at the Gates or that other sniper from Saving Private Ryan.


The show stopper was definitely the .223 M-14 rifle. LOUD! One hell of a recoil kick... and powerful. It's pretty damn cool to hit an apple dead on at 20 yards and watch it become vaporized into applesauce in the blink of an eye. It gets heavy after a while to hold up and aim. Even though it is a rifle with a scope it still takes some skill to aim. Once again, not like the movies and video games. I have a new found respect for the men and women in the armed forces who have had to master firing such weapons.

To top it all off, the rule that Jon's father has is, "You shoot it, you clean it." So we had to go through the task of disassembling, cleaning and reassembling each firearm. Overall, quite a new and exciting experience! Thanks Jon!

Lois: "You're drunk again." Peter: "No, I'm just exhausted 'cause I've been up all night drinking."

*yawn* Feeling a little tired out at the moment. Perhaps that's because of last evening's drinking and celebration. Here's the occasion.

First off... Chris has returned from Sweden. He was there for about 3 weeks on a company trip. Basically Xerox sent him there and worked him like a DOG! So we had a little welcome home party for the guy.

Secondly... I received my grades for the Fall quarter. In my last class I will ever have to take I earned an... A! That means that I have carried a 4.0 through all my coursework at RIT.

Now that's reason enough for me to celebrate! MacGregors... lots of food, pitchers of beer flowing abundantly, joking around with friends, checking out women, shooting pool, hitting on the waitresses, throwing darts... general guy stuff! Doesn't get much better. Plus we got Brad really drunk to prepare him for his day of substitute teaching today. That was definitely entertaining.

And now, the weekend's ahead of me. I have been busting my ass in the lab since the completion of my classes. After talking with my boss today, some more deadlines have been handed down to me. The next few weeks leading up to my departure for NYC are going to be awfully busy.

I am standing upon the precipice of a great period of enlightenment and productivity.

As the title of this post implies, I am about to embark upon a period of great enlightenment. A mini-renaissance if you will. A time when absorbing new and exciting knowledge in all aspects of the world around me will become a day to day norm. A period in which productivity will balloon to a degree in which two... three... or more days worth of productivity will seamlessly be fit into each and every blessed day.

What is spurring this?

Tomorrow is my last formal class ever!

Well... unless I decide to go back to school again to get another degree. But following tomorrow, and the subsequent final examination held on Monday, time will not have to be wasted in stale classroom atmospheres. Hours will not have to be frittered away on studying and preparing homework assignments.

My time will solely be dedicated to research and managed as I see fit towards fulfilling my goals. I will be more immersed in the arduous task of of job/internship hunting. I will be directing more efforts towards philosophical endeavors such as reading and learning about other non-chemistry related things. I will have time to tackle the formidable list laid out last weekend!

Two other things are contributing to this monumental occasion:

1. Sidd (my coworker) will be leaving for India until December 11. That means having an extra empty hood in the lab to use and pretty much free reign over all the lab's glassware! That's going to make for some productive times!
2. Emily is still in England! Review some of my previous posts for my feelings on her absence. As much as I enjoy having her around, I don't have to worry about making time for and planning dates for a brief while. I refuse to let that extra time and effort be spent on obsessively missing her but rather wish to direct it towards constructive endeavors.

This is going to be exciting!

Those bastard Austrian chemists!

One of the many things in life that gets me pissed off is when a laboratory procedure published in the literature does not work! I am repeating some previously published work done by some Austrian chemists that is closely related to what I am doing. I am working on making this molecule you see at your right so I can mess around with it my self under some different conditions. The molecule is ready for purification and according to their methods, the molecules they made were purified via silica gel chromatography with 50:1 cyclohexane:ethyl acetate.

My crude product however is not soluble in 50:1 cyclohexane:ethyl acetate!!! WTF!?

A simple 1-2-3 procedure that should take me no more than a day from start to finish is now complected. Bastards! Did I forget to mention that I am a little bitter towards these guys because they kind of published something slightly similar to my research 3 days after I proposed my research! Grrrrr.

My apologies to all those out there who have no clue what I am talking about. Just some inner rage at the moment.

If only my internal body clock was aware of daylight savings time adjustments.

I am not a fan of daylight savings time right now. The clocks do roll back one hour to give that extra hour of sleep, but what good does that do when the sun comes up earlier? Not to mention, I have an internal body clock that only allows me to get precisely 7.5 hours of sleep a night. No joke, regardless of how tired I am or what time I go to sleep, 7.5 hours and I am awake and ready to go. I practically don't even need an alarm clock.

I watched the movie "Breach" last night. It was a good movie. I would give it a 3.5 out of 5 stars. A drama/thriller type. The plot had a touch of espionage and politics. It is based on a true story too making it even more interesting (in my opinion).

The great thing about this movie is that it takes place in Washington D.C. Having traveled there this past March, as I watch the movie I recognize the metro stations, buildings, highways, monuments and skyline backdrops in the film. I have walked through these places. I have been there. There's something kind of romantic (for lack of a better term) or provocative about that. It's as if you had a hidden affair with the city allowing you to connect on a deeper level to the film set in that city.

I think this is why I am so excited about going to New York City. I want to have an affair... with another city. ;-)

You know what... a girlfriend abroad *is* worth 16 [monogamous] weekend benders... or in my case, 7!

I recently read this article and wow... it hit the nail right on the head! I refuse to be mired in feelings of missing Emily's presence for the next 2 months. (*DISCLAIMER... remember, I do miss Emily, but I am trying not to let those feelings and thoughts overtake my day to day thoughts. I AM NOT AS TERRIBLE OF A BOYFRIEND AS YOU MAY THINK! HA HA HA.)

So anyway, this article discusses how to deal with significant others who are abroad for a summer. I am in that situation at the moment and am stuck here feeling jealous and nervous. How can that be dealt with? By one-up-ing everything it is that they are doing with your own experiences at home! How does this work? This quote from the article may put it into perspective:

"But the truth of the matter is, no matter how excruciating [his or her absence] is for you, no one will ever ask you 'so, tell me about your summer of celibacy'… Unless, and this is a big unless, you have what it takes to blow that stupid summer abroad out of the water."

So yesterday afternoon over lunch, Jon and I put together this list. I know I am already on the right track because we did this even before I read this article. Jon is fully on board because he's just that kind of crazy adventurous good friend who will do stuff like this! I can't ask for more!

1. Published my first scientific paper. The day before Emily left, I (with the help of my adviser) wrote, revised and submitted my first scientific paper for publication. I am damn proud of that! Other things in my posts recently have kind of overshadowed that. As soon as it is accepted, I will be happy to post the actual paper here.
2. I'm going to New York City! I've never been there. Andy, one of my college roommates lives there. He has a guest room. He's welcoming me. I'll be there for about 4 nights or so in the beginning of December. We're going to rip it up.
3. Hit up the driving range. Jon and I are working on our golf skills. We need to improve them a bit if we're actually take up this sport.
4. Crazy random Band of Brothers/Movie drinking day. Buy some beer and booze. Pop in some movies, mini-series, video games or something. Commence watching and drinking. Get rowdy and see where things go.
5. Wine tour. Get some friends and take some time appreciating the flavors, textures and colors of the finger lakes wines. (And maybe get sloshed too.)
6. Crazy drunken limo bus. Get some friends together. Pool our money for a limo bus and alcohol. Have a night out in the city.
7. Get something published in the Library of Congress. That would just be some awesome and random bragging rights!
8. Test drive a Porsche. Need I really explain that one!
9. RIT hockey game. I hear they are pretty crazy.
10. Play some tennis. In the interest of our wanna-be rich preppie-country club snub nosed inner child, we'll take up this activity too.
11. Find a place to learn and play some curling. 'Cause 'dem Canadians have one crazy sport, eh.
12. Make a short mocumentary film. We're accepting ideas right now for the script. We already know that this scene must be included!
13. Get my passport! When I was a teenager I equated having a car with freedom to travel. Now I equate having a passport with freedom to travel. With this document, Jon and my other friends can continue our randomness on an international scale. And when the opportunity arises for me to blow everything off here and travel abroad... I can do so without hesitation!
    

Something inspirational I have been meaning to post.

I get into these semi-sappy inspirational stories of people triumphing over difficulties in life. I know it's cliché but I can't help it. It gives me hope!

*SiGh* I am not suposed to feel happy right now... but you never feel unhappy when a nasty storm passes.

I simply do not know how people in relationships survive together. No joke here! I just can not comprehend it. How do two people who have strong opinions and feelings of their own stay together for 25 years, 50 years or longer without physically killing one another! If anyone out there would like to comment on this and tell me how it's done I would love to know. On the grand scale of relationships, I am a rookie. I need all the coaching I can get.

It's bizarre really. You can tell from the countdown timer on the right that Emily will be abroad in Wales, UK for the next 2 months. What's bizarre about this is that I don't necessarily feel like I miss her. Given the stress that we experienced in the time leading up to her departure (a bit too personal to discuss in further detail in this blog), it is amazing that one of us did not kill the other or just call the relationship quits. That is why I am so perplexed why relationships find a way to survive. Now that she is gone, the stress has dissipated and left a feeling of relief, a calm, a peacefulness. I hope the reader does not consider me a terrible boyfriend. Don't get me wrong, I do miss her a little, and that feeling will likely grow as time progresses. Right now however, this is how I feel.

I can't help but think that this must be what Meursault must have felt at the beginning of Albert Camus' novel "The Stranger". The novel starts with the death of his mother. Meursault never cries at the funeral ceremonies. He acted rather ambivalent towards the whole situation. People around him who saw this perceived it as the signature of a cold hearted emotionless man because he did not react in the way that society expected him to react. As a result, Meursault became a victim of his emotions and feelings. Internally, he was free to feel any way he wanted, free to cry or not to cry. Despite this freedom, he was judged based upon those feelings and actions.

I guess I am judging my self a little bit right now.

I could not resist the urge to warn you all of this DIRE THREAT!

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Drunk elephants kill six people

What kind of a world do we live in where the elephants are now getting drunk and going on murderous rampages... *tisk tisk*

DAAAAAAAAAMN... It could be a lot worse...

Don't get confused about my last few posts. I am not a cynical person who is constantly in a disenchanted state due to current events... I am only in that state sometimes (!). But that's what this blog is all about. Sometimes I will be posting things of a more personal nature, what have I been up to, etc. and other times I will rant and rave about what's pissing me off in the world.

But I do have hope now. Why? Last night I went out with Emily and her roommate Meredith and a few others to Acme's. I know I mentioned Acme's before in this blog. One of the best places in the city... where you can spend less than $5 and that will take care of cover charge, a couple of beers and a slice of NY style pizza the size of your head!

Meredith had a particularly stressful day working at the hospital (she's training to become a nurse) in which according to her for one reason or another all of her patients were covered in shit... literally! And that in turn required cleaning and so forth.

So the quote of the night, according to her was;

"Things could be a lot worse, there could be shit EVERYWHERE."

I think I am going to remind my self of that every time I am experiencing a tough time!

Al Gore v. U.K. High Court v. Alfred Nobel... and once again that queasy feeling is returning to my stomach.

OK, I am going to do something here that I did previously in my last blog post. I am going to take two pieces of information in the news and lay them next to each other and observe the effect. Now these pieces of information are not necessarily reported in the main-stream media but will be related in some way nonetheless.

1) Yesterday you probably heard about Al Gore and the IPCC (International Panel on Climate Change) splitting the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in spreading awareness regarding the threat of global warming. Gore has shifted his efforts from running for President to making the movie/book documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" and promoting that information on a tour tour all over the world.

2) Now ironically, a few days before the announcement of the Nobel Peace Prize award, there was a court ruling by a High Court in London (click here and here for more) stating that in order for "An Inconvenient Truth" to be shown to children in classrooms a disclaimer must be announced pointing out up to 11 flaws in the science and logic reported in the movie.

Hmmm... Right about now is when a nice queasy feeling sets into my stomach and I feel kind of... well... disgusted with the Nobel. It has lost its alure to me now that someone who has essentially delivered propaganda as irrefutable scientific fact is being rewarded. It disappoints me as a scientist because it is not ethical. I have watched "An Inconvenient Truth" and done a fair share of my own research on both sides of the debate. There are flaws in Gore's documentary, and he is exploiting people's ignorance in an attempt to make them accept his opinions as irrefutable fact.

Uggghhh... not even the inner rage can make the queasiness go away with this one!


***Little known fact: Alfred Nobel the founder of the Nobel Peace Prize made his fortune from the discovery of... wait for it... dynamite! That coupled with some other explosives made him a fortune as they were quickly put to use by miners and engineers and mainly by the military. That secured his reputation with the French who called him "The merchant of death" in a fake obituary which also stated "Dr. Alfred Nobel, who became rich by finding ways to kill more people faster than ever before, died yesterday." Well, turns out Al had a guilty conscience, and decided to leave his fortune to funding the Nobel Prizes to reward people who did things that had a bit more of a positive effect on society. (!!!)

A congressional double standard (again) regarding religion and the government... political corectness strikes again!

I was recently tipped off to this story this morning while listening to "The Glenn Beck" radio program. Yes, I reluctantly admit am a listener of talk radio in the mornings while I am working. I am only interested in this particular show because it is so interesting.

Here's what I learned today!

First off, it became public today that a 17 year old Ohio Eagle scout was given a flag certificate for a flag that was flown over the nation's capital to honor his grandfather. The certificate had the following statement:

"This flag was flown in honor of Marcel Larochelle, my grandfather, for his dedication and love of God, country and family."

However, when the young scout received the certificate, the word "God" was omitted because the U.S. Capital Architect feels that the word "God" is an inappropriate religious word for such certificates.

Now... at the same time this week, our congress decided to pass a resolution recognizing the Holy Month of Ramadan. ***At this point I must take a moment to laugh immaturely at the Moro Islamic Liberation Front... watch the movie "American Pie" and you will understand why it is impossible for me not to snicker at a group by the acronym MILF!***

I was happy to read further that 42 congressmen voted "present" and refused to vote yes or no. Unfortunately none of them were from NY.

What a double standard, wouldn't you say? It's kind of making me sick to my stomach. Or maybe that's just remnants of the cold I had this weekend.

And by the way... I watched every second of the Bills game last night. It was one of the best games I have ever watched. Buffalo lost but how could you not be impressed. The 32nd rated defense in the league intercepted Tony Romo 5 times (!) and really rattled the cage of the undefeated Cowboys. Even with a loss, every one of those players must have woke up this morning feeling pretty damn confident coming off of this game!

No matter what the state of your health, the race must still be run.

Ugggghhhh... I hate sinus infections. If you get them on occasion you will know what I am talking about. If you do not get them... you are very lucky!

I ended up coming down with one Thursday and it has pretty much drained much of the energy from me over the past few days. Despite that, I still felt compelled to run a 4k cross country race today, the Golden Flyer Invitational - Alumni/Open 4k.

Drugged up with a dose of Sudafed that allowed me to breathe yet left me with a distinctly unpleasant dry mouth despite drinking countless bottles of water, I threw my self into the race. It could have been worse. Brad (a former teammate of mine) decided to run the race with a hangover following a night of partying.

I posted a time of 18:25 (pace of 7:22). It was an unseasonably hot day with the sky clouding over during the race and finally letting loose a solid downpour in a thunderstorm just as our race wrapped up. Given my bodily condition, I am glad I simply finished the race!

A group of about 5 alums went out for food and reminiscing after the race. It was nice to get together with former teammates I have not seen in quite a while.

So now I am feeling pretty dead tired right now. Somehow I need to find the energy to work on writing a manuscript for my boss concerning my research. With any luck, I will be a published scientific author within the next 6 months! :-)

I'll write more when my bateries are recharged and my health is restored.

The everlasting battle of graduate school and how life is kicking my ass.

Yeah, so it has been a while since I have posted anything. That is not to say I have not wanted to write. The present moment in time is very busy and stressful. I am reminded of a famous quote by one Marge Simpson:

"Bart, don’t make fun of graduate students. They just made a terrible life decision."

Well, let me tell you a little bit about what I do.

At minimum I put in 10 hours a day, showing up at the lab at 8 AM and leaving no later than 6 PM, and just for good measure I put in another 5 hours or more of studying, reading, writing or cleaning up the lab on Saturday or in the evening when my energy permits. I am almost done with the boring menial task of taking classes. I am down to only one this quarter. I am one of the lucky ones who is receiving funding from an external grant for my research (thank you very much Bausch and Lomb). That money keeps me out of the teaching laboratories where I would have to deal with the juvenile complaints and excuses from undergrad chemistry students. Instead I spend my time in my research laboratory doing as many experiments as possible. Some give me the desired result while others continually mock me and require seemingly endless patience as I try try again. It's things like that which contribute to a low level of natural inner rage* I seem to carry with me throughout the day.

After I work, I try to fit in a good solid workout because I still have this residual addiction to running due to my days of running cross country and track. That also serves as a good and necessary release for the inner rage.

Now if I ever have time after that... I try to do some leisure reading. Oh yeah... and all that other stuff necessary for running one's life, like paying bills, laundry, grocery shopping (see September 23's post for an explanation of my disdain for such activities). Those activities actually contribute to the inner rage so that brings me back to square-one!

Oh, and on top of that I am taking on the monumental task of finding and applying for a job to launch my career as I do not plan on being a graduate student forever. It's not much of a lucrative position.

And... I do have a girlfriend whom I like to spend time with. The inner rage really bites me in the ass on this one. The lack of time and extra stress adds up lately to one strained relationship with two frustrated people involved. :-( Not all things are for blogging, so that's about as personal as I am going to get with that topic.

*Inner rage: This personal phenomena (whose name I attribute to Tim) is best summed up with the fact that at any given moment there is something on my mind that is really pissing me off and if brought to light in just the right way will set me off very nicely. A healthy level of inner rage is often what pushes me through the really difficult moments of any given day.

We figured out what we want in order to be productive in life!

So earlier this week Jon and I figured out a few things that would really help us to become much more productive in life. Here goes.

1. The ability to function without any sleep. We have to spend about 8 hours a night to function at our best and we can't seem to work to our fullest potential when we are even feeling sleepy. Imagine what we could do with those extra 8 hours.
2. The ability to function without eating. Not only will this free up the actual time spent eating, but also free up time spent preparing food, grocery shopping and doing dishes. All activities that are a pain in the ass.
3. The ability to function without bathing and have an unlimited supply of clean cloths on hand. Showering and getting ready for a day at work or a night out ranges from 10 to 30 minutes. Always being clean and always having clean cloths would save that time. And there would be no need to do laundry, another pain in the ass activity!
4. Maintaining a healthy physique without spending time at the gym. I do enjoy the gym, but imagine how that time could be used if it did not have to be spent at the gym.
5. Functioning without the need to use the bathroom. Let's face it... POOPING TAKES TIME! Time that could be spent else ware.
6. And finally... Teleportation. Commuting to work and having to walk from building to building, office to office and lab to lab... all a pain in the ass.

That's it. So basically, we want to be gods. Is that so much to ask!

Lately I have been functioning while being stretched pretty thin. Hence why I have been contemplating these things that will never be attained. Oh well. All I can do it keep at it.

Yesterday was a much needed break from the day to day struggles with the many aspects of my life. More on that later.

Yesterday Emily and I played miniature golf. It had been on our "to do" list for date ideas for quite some time. The place we played at also had a golf driving range. So we bought a bucket of balls and took some shots. Neither one of us are particularly talented golfers, but it was fun to fake it.

We then went to "Lollypop farm" which is a humane society for dogs, cats and other animals in need of new owners. I think there were about 6 dogs that Emily wanted to take home. There were also a couple of goats in the farm animal area that were fighting for my attention and eating my shorts, no joke!

We went to church late in the afternoon. I must mention here that we were entertained through mass by a small blond haired girl about 2 years old who kept making faces and smiling at Emily and I. I think that Emily just has a natural attractive quality with children and they gravitate to her has a result. I always tell her she will make a great teacher and mother someday.

We wrapped up the Saturday with a very fancy dinner at the Mendon House with Emily's family for her parents 25th anniversary.

And now... another work week!

Fucking Yankees, Reports Nation | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

Fucking Yankees, Reports Nation

Yeah... that about says it all! I'm not into the whole Boston/New York fan rivalry thing, but I can not believe that a team that was 14 1/2 games back at their worst point in the season is now 2 1/2 games behind and in a position to overtake Boston!

I mean WTF?

FUCKING YANKEES... they do this every year!

Sabres vs. Penguins at the Ralph Wilson Stadium, January 1, 2008!

Sabres Game at the Ralph Wilson Stadium

COUNT ME IN! This is going to be incredible!

The first time a regular season NHL game has EVER been played outdoors and it's happening right in my backyard!

SWEEEEEEET!

Geekin' it out over the past few days... and watching football in the process.

Here I am on a Sunday evening watching the Patriots get out to an early 7-0 lead with a stomach full of a garbage plate from Pennfield Hots. How did I get here since we last spoke?

Thursday I went out to McGregors for beer and food in the company of the other RIT graduate students (Matt, Tim, Erin, Mary, Patrick). We were there primarily to welcome Jarrad as one of the new 2007 batch of students. He seems like a nice guy... he will fit in just fine. The food was greasy, the beer was cold and fufilling and the discussion was witty as per our usual custom!

Friday, I succomed to Jon's requests to allow him to update my laptop to make it operate faster. I am quite impressed with what he has done. With the purchase of a bit more memory it will get even faster. Additionally, RIT is getting rid of dozens of computer monitors from computer labs by GIVING THEM AWAY FOR FREE! They are not flat panel monitors... but who cares. I picked one up and made a nice dual monitor set up for my work station at home. (Hence the "Geekin' it out") So, this may lead to increased productivity... or increased procrastination.

Saturday I demonstrated that the extra monitor does indeed contribute more to productivity rather than procrastination by cranking out some serious thesis/journal paper writing during the day on Saturday. Then I went over to Em's apartment where we shopped for ingredients at Wegman's for "Pizza Meatballs"... a recipe we randomly found online. And for desert, miniature graham cracker pie shells filled with instant chocolate mouse. The meatballs were stuffed with mozzarella cheese that melted and oozed out of the meatballs upon cooking. They were incredible... I think I had a "foodgasm" while eating them! We then watched "Stranger Than Fiction", which we both enjoyed.

Sunday I was happy to have my parents and also my brother come up to visit me. The last time I saw them was probably towards the end of the summer. We chatted a whole lot about everything while watching the Bills game. I took them over to Emily's new apartment to show them. Em and I entertained them there for the remainder of the game (a 26-3 loss to the Steelers). We then went for a dinner of garbage plates at Pennfield Hots. This was the first time my parents had a garbage plate. They seemed to enjoy it! Then we said goodbye.

That brings me to the here and now... in which my garbage plate is still gurgling through my stomach (!!!) and the Patriots (much to my disapproval) have expanded their lead to 17-0.

Re: 9/11

Jim Hill : What was it like to be at Disneyland and/or Walt Disney World six years ago today?

Take a moment to check out this link. This is incredibly surreal.

Everyone remembers where they were when the planes hit. Did you ever think about what it must have been like if you were in an incredibly happy fun place at the time when it happened?

9/11/01

On a comfortable, sunny, cloudless Tuesday morning I was coming out of English 101 class being held in the "trailer classroom", a temporary classroom set up as an extension of the space in Carroll Hall at Nazareth. My upon exiting, my friend Drew told me of a plane hitting the WTC. My initial thoughts were, "Those buildings are huge, how could a pilot, accidentally hit them?" I then proceeded to Biology Lab, thinking about all the hundreds of people who must have perished in such a terrible accident, confident that some major aviation malfunction was to blame.

About one hour into my lab class, I was practicing my micro pipetting technique as my lab partner (Sarah) drowsily helped set up experiments. A few others in the class speculated about what had happened. It was then that Dr. Temple (my favorite professor in the Biology Department at Nazareth) entered the classroom and filled in Dr. Hallahan on the more recent events that had occurred over the past couple hours. I over heard scary terms like "second plane hitting", "multiple planes hijacked" and "possible terrorism". Dr. Temple then filled us in on the details and announced that all classes after 12 PM were canceled. I then headed back to my dorm room to turn on CNN.

My room was dark... empty... unnecessarily warm, as most rooms in the O'Connor residence hall tend to be in early September.

I turned on the TV and chanced the channel to CNN.

My jaw dropped... I gasped.

I took a step back from the TV in disbelief as I tried to comprehend what I was seeing.

And the rest is history.

Please... NEVER FORGET. Or history will be destined to repeat its self.

Another work week commences.

It's been a while since I have posted. Personally I blame that on my job/school. Classes have begun last week and I have instituted a strict 10 hour work day (8AM to 6PM) into my schedule to increase productivity. I have been getting some very important high demand directives sent down from the chemists at B&L that are supervising my research and since they are also funding me... they are PRIORITY #1! I will give a bit more details about my job in time.

Yesterday Emily, Meridith (Em's roommate) and I ran the Bruegger's Bagels 5k Road race. The weather was a cool 65° with a cold rain. The weather was great for competative running. Much more comfortable than 90° and humid. I ran splits of 6:42 and (a surprising) 6:37 for the first and second mile then followed it up with a disappointing 8 minute third mile/finish. I still ran a season best by topping my Fishes and Loaves 5k by 9 seconds. Plus... I must give mega props to Emily (who admits she is not a runner) for topping her Fishes and Loaves 5k time by 2 minutes! GOOD JOB! This was only her second road race and she has already picked a third she wishes to do in late October. She is now a "runner in denial" as I say. :-) I am proud of you Em!

Now, very quick before I get to work, I direct your attention to the "Blogs of Note" section. "Jon's Exotic Adventures" is a relatively new blog by a former teammate of mine from Nazareth. This guy graduated last year and will be going to Mozambique with the Peace Core to teach science for 27 months! I find that very impressive. It is going to be quite an adventure to follow. Also, if you want to learn more about the city I live in, read Richard Shade Gardner's blog. This guy actually hiked around Lake Ontario, Lake Erie and dozens of other lakes in the Finger Lake region of New York! I also recommend The "Freakonomics" Blog is quite interesting and one that I read frequently. If you enjoyed the book you will enjoy the blog.

I'm out! Time to be productive!

I have not left the building!

Don't you worry. After a steady and consistent string of posts during the past month of August I don't want you to think I have already given up on this blog like my previous ones. I have been preoccupied with relaxing over the holiday weekend and starting work/new school year (extremely demanding and hectic). Also, I have had some problems with my internet connection at home... mainly being that it works only when it feels like working. The other residents and I are working on that.

In the mean time I will say I had a great holiday weekend (tell me about yours in the comments section!) even though my first day of classes was yesterday. Yes, no joke. RIT starts class on Labor day! One of the sucky perks that comes with attending RIT.

On the IL league baseball front, Rochester was defeated by Buffalo again on Saturday (in the 10th inning) thus eliminating Rochester from the playoffs. The following day Rochester returned the favor and took Buffalo out of the playoffs with a 3-0 victory. So much for rooting for Buffalo baseball in the post-season. Who cares! Next weekend is opening day for the Bills anyway.

Hopefully I will be able to tell a bit more about what has been going on these days once I get my home internet connection fixed.

I will leave with this. On the way to a Labor Day party on Saturday, Emily and I managed to see and spook a chipmunk at the foot of the wall to her apartment building. Now chipmunks are like mice on speed given the fact that they are the super-hyper skittish kings of the rodent world. This one was no exception. We meant no harm as we walked by yet he decided to flee from us by jumping head first into this drain pipe (you see his tail sticking out?). He did manage to escape after a moment, so no chipmunks were harmed in the construction of this blog post!

A night at the ball park.

Emily, scarfing down some cotton candy and a beer.

Erin (A.K.A. "Spaz") and Tim (A.K.A. "T-$").

Buffalo is winning 8 to 4 in the top of the 7th.

***Buffalo went on to finish the game for a 10-7 win. YAY BUFFALO! My apologies, but I have to cheer for my hometown team. Now Rochester and Buffalo are tied for the wild card position in the playoffs!

Check it!

So the song "Extreme Ways (Bourne's Ultimatum)"... track 10 from the "Bourne Ultimatum Soundtrack" has been running through my mind, car stereo and iPod nonstop. You know how some songs seem to elicit a certain image or scene in your mind's eye? As this song was blaring on my car stereo while Jon and I were out the other night we formulated the BEST FILM SCENE EVER!

So here's how it goes down... It bears a slight resemblance to the opening scene of "Reservoir Dogs". Now I'm no Quintin Terantino, but Jon and my idea is 1,000,000 times better, at least! The scene is of course is all happening with the above mentioned song playing in the background. Two guys (Jon and my self) roll up to a curb in a jet black Escalade. The doors open and we get out of the car [all happening in slow motion]. We both have black suits on, white shirts with an unbuttoned collar, black tie still around our necks but with a loosened knot. [The viewer has no idea who these guys are and how they got there or even if they are good guys or bad guys.] One of us has a bit of a gash on our face, looking disheveled like we have been in a fight... the other bobbing his head as if he is jamming to the music being played to the sound track of the movie. The guy with the gash reaches into his coat pocket and pulls out a crushed pack of cigarettes [which got crushed in the fight he was in], and pulls one out [the last one], that is bent [because he in a fight], and he puts it in his mouth. He pulls out a Zippo lighter and in slow motion, whips open the top in a swift motion. The camera takes a closeup slow motion view of the sparks flying off of the flint as the wick of the lighter bursts into flame. At the instant the flame ignites the camera pulls out to reveal a massive fireball-explosion that destroys the hideout of the bad guys as Jon and I walk away.

We are not sure if this should be the beginning or end of a movie. Or maybe it should just be stretched out into one continuous movie!

So yeah, am I the only one who makes up these crazy scenes in their heads like this?

Well, needless to say, Jon and I need some investment capital to film this. So any film producers, feel free to leave contact info and we will get back to you and tell you where to mail the check.

HA!

The Lemmings are back!

And by Lemmings I mean college freshmen around RIT. Fall classes start next Monday and the new freshmen have moved in. It's kind of funny how Lemming populations mimic the population of an incoming freshmen college student class on a campus...

"It is unknown why lemming populations en mass fluctuate, roughly every four years, before plummeting almost to extinction."^[2]

They are so fun to watch! All of them wandering around with that uncertain dear-in-the-headlights look on their faces. It's priceless. I almost miss it.

Don't get me wrong, I was a freshmen "Lemming" my self complete with dear-in-the-headlights look and all. I think I even had that as a sophomore too! It seems like SO LONG ago for me though. As a graduate student, on Monday I am starting up what I hope to be the last class I will ever have to take.

Last night I went to Acme's. Check the pictures below. Jon and Jen are in the top picture and I'm in the bottom picture with Emily sneaking a kiss. She will likely kick my ass for posting that!

I almost ended up in Washington D.C. today at the conclusion of last night. No joke! Jon and I were really into the idea of a random trip. He enticed me by offering to pay for air fair to D.C. to visit our friend Chris (another member of "The Four Drunken Horsemen of the Apocalypse"). We were so floored about the idea we actually stopped at the airport, which is just off the highway on my way home! Since it was 12 AM, and their were no flights until morning we kind of got bored with the randomness and called it a night.

Tuesday night out!

Fun times at Acme's!

Three days in to a four day weekend!

Life is good when your boss is away at conferences. You can either do work at your own relaxed pace... or in this case, as per his suggestion to my fellow group members and my self, stop doing work all together for a brief moment! I have since decided to reward my self with a four day weekend by taking Friday and this coming Monday off. Once my batteries are recharged, I will hit the ground running for the new academic year.

Friday evening I saw "The Bourne Ultimatum" with Emily. The movie was excellent! There was more action and thrill in this movie than the first two Bourne movies combined. We followed up the evening with some conversation, cappuccino and hot chocolate (she does not drink coffee) at Canal Town Coffee Shop. Canal Town was the location of one of our very first dates... *cue the sentimental romantic music* And here comes a big sappy *Awwwwwwww!* from the studio audience.

Last night I went out with Tim, Matt and Jon. Tim and Matt are fellow grad students I go to school with while Jon is a long time college friend of mine who belongs to a group of my college friends (including my self) that we proudly refer to as "The Four Drunken Horsemen of the Apocalypse". It ended up being just us four guys with our girlfriends either staying home not wanting to go out or tied up with other things. It was good times indeed... this bar-hopping thing is really catching on for me!

First up we went to "The Old Toad". I have not been to this place in a LONG time. It is an authentic English pub. Almost all of the bartenders are from different parts of England. After a few Jack-and-Coke's, we were having a good time. After a few drunk phone calls later we decided to abandon plans to walk to Oxfords (another bar) to rendezvous with other people there. Turns out it is in a completely different section of the city, so we will hit that up next time.


Instead, Matt suggested we check out "The Blue Room". Not going to lie, for a two dollar cover charge, that place plain sucked! There was a very small crowd. The outdoor patio was about all you paid for at this place. The music was not that good, just a classic rock radio station being played over the sound system. The pool table was nice though. A few drinks seems to make the game of pool a lot more interesting. After that we headed home because Matt and Tim had girlfriends at home who were kind of left behind for the evening despite them not wanting to go out. I hope no one was in the dog house due to girlfriend neglect at the conclusion of the night!


I have to give mad props to Tim (A.K.A. T-Money or T-$) for his duties as D.D. and also to Jon for D.D.'ing my sorry semi-drunken ass home last night!