Sept 1999 Trip to NYC

by Gerald Oskoboiny

Hugo, Charles, Maggie, Eric, Katy & I went to New York city the weekend of Sept 10-13, 1999 to visit Ian, Greg & Alex. (and to work a bit with Ian.)

See also: photos only, or other trips, photos, events in 1999, or my home page.

Friday

Got up around 2?, worked, packed, worked some more while waiting for Eric, Hugo, Charles, and Maggie to pick me up in Eric's Audi; left around 7:00, stopping at the ranch to make some quick car repairs. Eric drove in rain and heavy traffic for the first couple hours out of Boston, then we stopped for gas and some fries at Burger King at 9pm just before hitting I-84? or 85? Called Katy, told her we'd be late. Arrived in New Haven around 10:30, picked up Katy, headed out to a pizza place. Hugo taught us how to play the yes/no game in the back of Katy's truck. ("I am very good at this game." "Really?" "Yes. ... Doh!")

Ate/drank while Eric made some fuses for his car; got back on the road around 12:30am. I drove the Audi to NYC, missed the 3rd Ave exit, arrived at Ian's place on 2nd & 23rd around 2:15am in a steaming car.

Went inside, had a round of Newfoundland Screech&cokes, chatted with Ian. Watched the first bit of So I Married an Axe Murderer, others had a round of Gammel Dansk but I decided to pass due to heartburn (though it does seem more like medicine than alcohol.) Chaals & I finally crashed around 4:30am, others a bit earlier.

Saturday

Got up around noon, met Lani, headed to Veselka in the East Village for breakfast/lunch; I had fresh buttermilk waffles with raspberry topping and a Ben and Jerry's strawberry ice cream shake, all excellent.

Afterwards, we walked around a little bit through a market and to a nice park. Then Hugo and I headed to the World Trade Center while the others went to the cloisters, some kind of old burial ground or something. I decided not to go there to avoid getting bitten by encephalitus-ridden mosquitos that had killed 3 and infected 60 in the area lately, and since Hugo needed someone to sightsee with and since I'd rather do WTC etc. instead anyway.

Went to WTC, stood in a long line, went through security check, joked about payment, tourist photos, hand stamp, and tickets being needed for credit card/name info, FBI id, blood for DNA, and fingerprints, respectively.

Took elevator up 107 floors, walked around inside the glass taking pictures etc.; beamed messages to aliens from the roof using keypads; Hugo sent "what kind of side dishes do you enjoy with your frozen waffles?" from Homer, which cracked me up (in-joke); unfortunately I was too slow to get a picture of it. I sent something from "B.O. Problem", I forget what.

Hugo was excited to be using the same bathroom as Homer Simpson did in episode 4F22, The City of New York Vs. Homer Simpson, so I took a picture of him in front of it. (Note his t-shirt!)

Then we made a couple dozen people wait while we carefully lined up pictures of us crushing the statue of liberty between our fingers.

Next, we headed up a couple escalators to the 110th floor, and actually got to walk around on the top of the tower, with a helipad in the middle and only a short fence separating us from the view of NYC below. Very, very cool; I don't think I've ever been up there before. It was a beautiful sunny day, with hardly any wind at all. Walked around a lot up there, taking pictures, trying to get poses without other people in the background, etc.

Went back inside after a while, walked around a bit more, watched a video of a simulated helicopter ride around the towers and Manhattan, landing on the helipad we saw earlier; looked at a goofy picture of Hugo and I taken downstairs, available for $10 -- not!

Headed back down a couple elevators to the bottom, then walked around a little looking for Wall Street. Got lost, but eventually found it. Took a couple pictures; the NYSE building had a big ugly construction thing on the front. (would've been a good picture otherwise.)

Walked back to Broadway and along it, then tried to take the subway back to Ian's place at 6:40, but it was the wrong line, so we headed back up to the surface and caught a cab ($8.30+tip). Said hi to others, met Greg, Alex, and Melissa (Ian & Lani's friend); showered, left for dinner around 8:30.

Caught a bus and walked into Chinatown to "Sweet-n-Tart Restaurant" (20 Mott Street, 212-964-0380), ate great food, lotsa dishes, strange fruit drinks and desserts with tapioca? blobs in them. Eric showed up just as we were finishing dessert, having just run here from the place he parked Katy's truck on Grand, after going the wrong way from Canal St. due to bad directions. He finished the last of the desserts, then we paid $25 each and left on foot for a party at Ian's artist friend's cool loft in Soho, stopping to grab some beer.

Joined there by Katy and her friend, hung out for a couple hours, had a few Sierra Nevada Pale Ales, saw lots of tasty-looking food but wasn't hungry any more. Greg & Alex left early, then Charles & Maggie, finally the rest of us left around 2am. Hugo and I cabbed to Times Square, walked around a bit, took a couple pictures, then stupidly got hustled out of $100 by a guy with cards, tried to get it back unsuccessfully, then walked back to Ian's place, crashed around 4:30?

Sunday

Got up briefly around noon, talked to misc people about what to do today, decided I'd rather sleep and geek a bit than go watch Chaals play Australian football. So I crashed until 2pm, then read email and surfed for a couple hours.

Joined by Lani at 2:30 and Hugo at 4:00, then Ian, Katy, and Sasha (Eric's friend?) at 5:00, who had been caught in traffic on the way home from football due to a fire in Grand Central Station. Had a few snacks, started setting up our local network stuff at 5:30. Couldn't get it to work after trying for a couple hours.

Charles, Maggie, Greg, Alex, & Eric dropped by for a while after football, then Katy & Eric left for New Haven and the others went back to Greg's place. Meanwhile, Ian and Lani prepared dinner (roast pork loin, eggplant, salad, and wine, all tasty) which we ate with them and Sasha around 8:30 or so.

Then Sasha left, we messed around with the network a bit more, then finally gave up (bad hub!) and started watching a french movie that Ian and Lani had rented. (La Règle du jeu.) Lani bailed out after 15 mins, leaving only Ian, Hugo and I. Movie was okay, sort of boring in places. Afterwards, talked about meeting logistics for tomorrow, then Ian crashed around 12:30, Hugo at 1:00, me at 2:00 after watching TV for a while.

Monday

Ian came in the office at 7:30 to surf, then woke us again at 7:50 for our 8:00 sysweb meeting. Hugo and I called in on Ian's 2 phone lines after disconnecting his computer; Ian called in to the Comm team meeting at 8:30 on his cell phone. Had the meeting until 10:00, then lazed around, read a magazine, typed a bit until noon.

@@ work, lunch, dinner (Bamiyan Afghani Restaurant, 26th & 3rd), trip home, Mass state troopers, "step out of the car please sir", calling into team meeting using our 1 phone call

View from Ian's apartment:

Arrival in Boston:

Frozen waffles! Home sweet home!