Thirty Stories Up

Because I’ve spent so much time in them lately (almost enough to qualify for Premier status on United, which will be a nice little perk).

• Don’t go to O’Hare if you can possibly avoid it. If you’re standing in O’Hare, you’re either planning on getting out by air (ha! good luck making your connection!) or by ground (ha! better luck dealing with the road construction around it!). It’s also starting to feel very dated; it feels cramped, fairly dim, and very overcrowded. There are moving walkways, but only in the places you won’t need to go. Also, there’s an underground walkway there that I swear is based on the game Tranqulity.  The restaurants are decent, but always too crowded.
• Don’t go to Midway. It’s a very nice airport, expansive, well-maintained, with the absolute unfriendliest staff you’ll ever meet.  Even the New York airports are friendlier.  Pretty good restaurants, but even more crowded than O’Hare.
• Don’t go to LaGuardia.  If you though O’Hare was cramped, get ready to feel like you’re a giant in a clown car.   Also, the food is terrible.
• Don’t go to St. Louis, at least if you’re flying Southwest.  There’s only a terrible dive bar in that terminal.
• Above all, whatever you do, don’t go to Springfield, IL.  If you need a reason, you’ve never been to Springfield.

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Wow… Travel really takes it out of you. And being sick just really drains you even more.

Okay, that’s hardly an excuse, but here I am. I really do have a lot to write about: Illinois politics, Tampa’s Ybor City district, the new NHL jerseys, and of course, beer.

It’s also strange to think that, in two weeks, my company is moving from its building, which is of course what gave me the title for this blog. Instead, we will now be located downtown, on Wall St. That’s pretty exciting.

Stay tuned!

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Hey, everyone.  I know it’s been a while since I posted; entering the real world does that, especially when it comes in an especially memorable way.  Long story short, now that I’m a graduate of St. John’s University, the business of paying bills and such came around, and with it the necessity for a full-time job.  Of course, since I’ve already put in a few years with the consulting firm I’ve been interning with through my last few years at St. John’s, I thought it prudent to go ahead and take the full-time job they offered me.  I figured I’d kick back for a while in NYC, do some marketing for the company, maybe a little tech work from the office, etc. 

Instead, due to the circumstances of the thing, I’ve been pressed into service on the consulting end, and my relaxing full-time job in NYC has turned into an all-out race to get myself up to speed as a consultant, learning the ropes of business travel in the worst possible way (you try getting from NYC to Springfield, IL fast on the cheap), trying to manage travel expenses that run to twice my credit limit, and generally attempting to make less than a giant mess of things.  It’s been stressful, but I’m learning a hell of a lot in a short period of time, which I guess is what starting a career is all about.

Will I still have some time to write?  Sure, especially now that I’ve again cleared the somewhat imposing hurdle of having a very, very old post at the top of this front page and thinking ‘Huh… what’s one more day?’  Hopefully, it will even be good; I still have my impressions of last month’s annual Brooklyn Breweries’ Beer Dinner on tap, my impressions of the NHL draft and the new Washington Capitals uniforms, as well as the amusement of what it is to adjust to Springfield, IL when one is finally getting used to being a New Yorker.

 Some short takes -

• Renting a car as someone under 25 is hellishly expensive, but it’s still faster and cheaper to bite the bullet and drive 3 hours from Chicago than it is to connect to Springfield from O’Hare out of LGA or JFK.  You might also get lucky and get a ‘Premium Elite’ package Avalon for the price of a compact if they run out of the Ford Focus.
• The regional specialty of Springfield, IL seems to be the ’shoe’, a dish that would make any Pennsylvania Dutch cook proud - take garlic toast, top it with meat (generally buffalo chicken or sausage, although there are many other popular choices), cover it in french fries until the base is no longer visible, and then drench the whole affair in cheese sauce.
• The other regional specialty of Springfield, IL, is predictably cardiology.
• Consolidated Edison, like many predators in the animal kingdom, can actually sense weakness before moving in for the kill.

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The highlight of my trip on the Rangers Road Tour bus before last night’s game was most definitely the chance to sit next to de facto Rangers mascot Bobby Granger.  He’s either exactly like he is in the commercials or does an extraordinarily good job of staying in character for public appearances.

I like him.  Hockey needs more fan support just about everywhere, and Granger manages to be funny, energetic, and passionate about hockey even while playing the part of the guy who still lives with his mom and mooches off friends for tickets (so basically, your typical early-20’s Brooklyn guy).

Also on our bus was the other well-known MSG fixture, Larry (better known perhaps as that bald dancing MSG guy).  I like the Rangers PR and Fan Zone guys, they’re all outgoing and really trying their hardest to be ambassadors of the sport even though they’re not actively playing it.

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Originally uploaded by StudentNYC.

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So after work today I caught a trip on the Rangers Road Tour bus, which starts down at 31st and 7th before playoff games, and takes a couple of turns up through Times Square to rally the troops before swinging back down to the arena for the game.  I showed up both because it’s an awesome chance to spread some hockey love to the Man in the Street ™, and because they raffle off free stuff on the bus.

It was actually a hell of a fun time.  It was evident that everyone aboard was a huge hockey fan; I ended up talking to another local college guy who actually played, and will be doing part of his team’s radio broadcasts next season.  It was also evident that he had played street hockey too, since we both used the ever-present ‘Car!’ and ‘Game on!’ shouts to warn the other riders of incoming traffic lights (always a danger when standing up and cheering on a double-decker bus).  I didn’t actually win anything (that pair of tickets would have sure been nice), but everyone aboard got a Rangers hand towel for waving, which gives me a set of two (one big one and I’ll start looking to complete the whole bathroom set).

Originally uploaded by StudentNYC.

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As a reward for finishing my research paper on time (and under budget), I let myself get sucked into an awesome New York Rangers playoff party at The Big Easy (2nd Ave. and 92nd-93rd).  Awesome crowd, great bartender, good drinks!  I think I may have a new favorite New York Rangers bar (although Down the Hatch still takes the general hockey bar crown).  The Rangers sweep the Thrashers on the heel of a great 4-2 game, proving me almost right (I thought the Thrash could take one, but the Rangers were just too much for them!)

Originally uploaded by StudentNYC.

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So with the Great Nor’Easter of 2007 tapping at my window, flooding my streets, and making the prospect of venturing outside mildly unpleasant in all respects, I sit here with no Nationals game to listen to.  That’s a blessing right now, because the Nationals stunned the Mets yesterday with a strong outing from our unexpected ace Shawn Hill and some actual offense backing him up.  This is encouraging, because it means the Kasten Kops are at least playing to the best of their meager ability; the dedicated Nats bloggers have been predicting this for a few games now, because the Nats are simply playing so far below every reasonable percentage (especially their batting averages with bases loaded and runners in scoring position); there’s simply not a way for a group of reasonable, fairly competent human beings to perform as badly over the long haul as the Nationals have been lately in high-leverage situations.  The weather lets us escape for now with a 1-1 push against the Mets, as no makeup date has been announced.  It also gets us out of the week with two unexpected wins against far superior teams, and has us playing .250 baseball (who’d'a thunk it?)

Of course, far more exciting than watching the Nationals play the Official Chad Cordero Game (are we getting 1-2-3 Chad or Bases Loaded Chad tonight?) is the flurry of activity that is the NHL playoffs.  The Lightning surprised me by taking one against Brodeur and the Devils, and the Isles under DiPietro’s evidently recovered watchful eye took one against top-seeded Buffalo.  I can’t blame the Isles for rushing DP back, and it seems to be working, but you have to wonder if he’s seeing still seeing twice as many pucks as the rest of us.

The big news of the playoffs so far, however, has been the Thrashers benching young goalie Lehtonen after a shaky playoff debut in favor of Johan Hedberg.  They found themselves in a tough spot after Lehtonen’s shaky start in Game One, but the decision to bench Lehtonen has a lot of consequences, especially since Hedberg couldn’t get the job done either.  Now they have to balance whether to put Lehtonen in and hope that he can gain some playoff confidence quickly, or keep the more experienced, more assured Hedberg in and risk shaking Lehtonen’s long-term confidence.  The fact is that they’re between a rock and a hard place; Lehtonen is clearly the future of the franchise, but they gave up a lot to get into the playoffs this year, and a four-and-out is going to be devastating to the club over the next few years.  The fact that Lundqvist is as solid at the other end as he has been since January, and in general the Rangers are imposing their game on the Thrashers, means that unless everybody from down south steps up for game 3 and 4 at the World’s Most Famous Arena, this is a franchise looking at trouble.

Oh, and back to the District, United got shelled 4-2 by Kansas City.  All we need is yet another D.C. team starting out a season miserably and spending the rest of the year trying to live up to aspirations of mediocrity.  Speaking of aspirations of mediocrity, would anyone in the NFL, the media, or the civilized, football-playing world be shocked if the Redskins’ Joe Gibbs (who thinks draft picks are icky) trades his number-six pick for some candy and a pat on the back?  I foresee breaking news alerts on NBC4 if Gibbs holds out for something awesome like a Snickers or a Twix, instead of the candy nobody wants like a Take 5 or a fun-size Almond Joy.

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Our company’s semi-monthly social event was last night; first, a turn through the New York International Auto Show at the Javits Convention Center, and then a happy hour at Dalton’s Bar and Grill on 9th Avenue between 43rd and 44th.

After a little delayed start getting everyone together at the Javits Convention Center, we finally got our tickets and went in. I certainly had no idea beforehand of the scope of the show; the convention center was huge, and there were two levels of displays. My co-worker and friend Andrew and I set out to see the sights; it turned out it didn’t take long until we stumbled upon a thing of pure beauty.

This is the Shelby GT500 KR, one of the prettiest cars I’ve ever seen. I’ve always had a thing for the classic Shelby Cobras; even though I’m generally a bigger fan of the smaller Euro-style classic racers than American muscle cars, the Shelby Cobra has always stood out as a special car.  The new one preserves enough of the lines and styling of the classic that there’s no doubt exactly what you’re looking at, even before seeing the distinctive cobra on the front grille, yet it looks modern (not that the original Cobras ever really started looking dated).

That’s not a focus problem in the first picture.  That’s motion blur.  And it wasn’t even moving at the time.

That wasn’t the only Shelby at the show; though the KR concept was up on a pedestal, they had the ‘regular old GT500′ (it physically hurts me to think of any Shelby as ‘regular’) out on the show floor.

Of course, having heard that classics are back, Volvo had to get into the act.

And while I was making life difficult for the guys whose sole job was to wander around the show floor and and keep the cars polished, there was one more car I just had to touch; a pretty, pretty Benz.

Hyundai, as always, was looking to shed their ‘generic’ image; this time with a paint job for the Tiburon designed by Billy Art.

Of course, we couldn’t get out of there without Andrew getting to spend some time with his dream car, a Jaguar XJ.

And I had to take one more parting shot of my own new dream car.

After the auto show, we all headed to Dalton’s Bar and Grill for a happy hour.  I was immediately discouraged, as their promised display of the NHL playoff games was a no-go, as they didn’t actually have the Center Ice package (what the hell kind of sports bar doesn’t have all the sports channels?).  Also, I was looking forward to trying some Magic Hat and McSorley’s draught; both of those were also no-gos.  Fortunately, there was plentiful Brooklyn Lager, which was surprisingly good, and after the ten minutes it took me to actually get my first beer, I never had an empty glass in front of me without a full one waiting.  The appetizers were also pretty tasty, though as there were about a dozen starving consultants, rather short-lived.  Still, if I were going to go into Manhattan for a sports bar, I’d rather go to Down the Hatch, a sports bar that appreciates some good hockey.

So a few hours later, it was time to take a nice long walk in the pleasant evening air and head home.  All in all, a pretty good evening; the auto show was impressive, and just about every company had at least something interesting to look at.  The bar would have been disappointing had I been paying for it, but for a company event it wasn’t bad.

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Slow couple of days due to exams, research papers, and saving every spare moment to watch the NHL playoffs or listen to the Nationals on the radio, so nothing terribly interesting and activity-related until the weekend (I’m heading to the New York International Auto Show and Dalton’s Bar and Grill tonight, so I hope to have something interesting to say about those tomorrow).

So here’s what I’ve got for you today, inspired by my forgetful nature; I forgot to bring a book to read on the subway on the way home from work on Wednesday, and my iPod didn’t quite have the juice to make it, so I was forced to brave the city’s news stands to try and find some entertainment for myself.  I noticed while looking that navigating the variety of New York City’s finest broadsheets that I was following much the same process as I do when I’m deciding what delicious beverage to consume with my dinner.  Each has its own flavor, its own texture, and (just as important for public consumption) its own niche in the rich NYC social ecosystem.

The New York Times, of course, is the standard by which other New York newspapers are judged.  Like Guinness, it’s your basic dry stout; the typical news writing gives all the information dryly without the personality or lively writing of some of the other papers, and the sheer weight and depth of it gives a complexity and completeness to it that make it an experience that can be savored on its own.  Nobody can accuse a Guinness drinker of being entirely unsophisticated, though you suspect occasionally that some who order it would be happier with a lighter lager, just as some who conspicuously read the Times in public would rather be reading something else if they didn’t think other people noticed.  I skipped over it on Wednesday; I too was looking for something lighter, something to read on the move; had I been planning to sit in Bryant Park and read for a while, the Times would have been the obvious choice.

Of course, to quickly cover the spectrum of possible readers, many news stands place the New York Post right beside the Times, which is kind of like placing a tap for Budweiser next to the tap for Guinness.  The Post, owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, is the obnoxiously promoted news rag possibly best known for the most opportunistically sensational headline to ever cover a paper, ‘HEADLESS BODY IN TOPLESS BAR’.  It’s a light paper that has that unique flavor that can only come from being owned by a multi-billion dollar corporation; still, it’s occasionally all that one can find in some places, much like Budweiser is the standard for so many sporting events (need I mention the Post’s extensive sports coverage?).  Fortunately, they had more options at the nearest news stand, so I quickly moved on from the Post.

The Onion is always an option for a little light reading,  but it’s hardly substantive.  Much like a Mike’s beverage (I know I’m cheating, they’re not beer), The Onion is a funny little satire paper that tastes very little like news.  Two problems: much as it’s impossible to actually get drunk off of Mike’s, it’s impossible to actually read The Onion and feel like you’ve taken anything away from it.  If a serious person is to consume it, they do it in the privacy of their own home where other people won’t see.

I work in midtown Manhattan, so another ubiquitous choice is the Wall Street Journal; this is an interesting case.  By and large, nobody who can’t actually stomach the unique flavor of the Journal even tries; in this way, it’s like Hop Devil Ale, a Victory Brewing Company concoction that is appropriately described by their website as ‘menacingly delicious’; beer for people who know exactly what they want from beer.  An astonishing number of people think highly of the Journal that don’t (and couldn’t) read it; the idea of it is more interesting to most than the execution.  Sounds like an appropriate likeness for a beer that won ‘Champion American Beer’ at the 2002 Great British Beer Festival.

I finally settled on the New York Daily News, the news rag opposing the New York Post.  While I call it a rag, it is in fact a reputable newspaper in tabloid layout; it has 9 Pulitzer Prizes to its name, though it sometimes tries to outdo its lesser-respected little brother in sensationalism (as when it dubbed Queens Boulevard the ‘Boulevard of Death‘).  Of course, one of my favorite domestic beers is Yuengling, which many don’t realize comes from one of the United States’ oldest breweries (established 1829).  The traditional lager is quite flavorful but still has a good, complex taste when compared to your better-known domestic beers.

Anyway, there’s as many New York news sheets as there are beers in the city’s bars (except for McSorley’s), so I must have missed some.  What sort of beer would you compare your favorite newspaper to?

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We finished off the evening’s festivities with a trip home on the F express, the proper usage of which is demonstrated here by Russo.

Despite the potential for massive gastric discomfort from the night’s festivities, I actually came through just fine. I gulped down a Vitamin Water (a product of Queens, by the way) from the local 7-11 on the way home, caught some sleep, and woke up feeling just fine.

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Originally uploaded by StudentNYC.

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After our automat adventure, we decided we still had one more hazardous food experience in us for the evening. We walked down 2nd Avenue and looked for the first big crowd of people, which happened to be gathered not far away from us at Pommes Frites, the most upscale of all fry shacks. What you see here are two ‘Regulars’ (as opposed to the other three dishes there; the Large, the Double, and poutine), with a side of vinegar for Russo and a cup of wasabi mayo for me. The frites are fantastic, and the sauces here are famous; with a selection of about two dozen, you could spend some time stopping in here and trying things out and still not get bored.

The Wasabi Mayo was even better than expected, although keep in mind that at this point my stomach also contained jalapeño-drenched hot dog and Tabasco-drenched teriyaki burger. It had just the right amount of wasabi bite, and the ‘mayo’ was actually more of a honey-mustard consistency. The tables and bar both contain round holes to rest their cones of frites, and the sign on the menu says that patrons are welcome to bring in beer from the deli next door (a treat of which I did not partake; the PBR was acting as referee between the three kinds of heat in my stomach, and I didn’t want to distract it with a friend).
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Originally uploaded by StudentNYC.

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The Bamn! ‘Teriburger’, an interesting take on the standard cheeseburger. It would have been disappointing except for the Tabasco sauce I added, which gave it a nice bit of flavor (the meat in it disappointed, not unexpectedly).

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Originally uploaded by StudentNYC.

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