Janna Goes To New York and Pretends to Not Be Totally Lost – Part 6

Posted in Backpack Hobo Adventure, Internet with tags , , on February 21, 2009 by Janna

Though I sadly haven’t had a ton of wi-fi access on this adventure (a product of spending most of my time wandering the streets semi-aimlessly), it’s been a fun experiment in high-tech vacationing.

In lieu of a real map, I just used saved maps on my iPod Touch all week. The lack of a map also aided in my quest to pretend to be a local (I learned to jaywalk, too!). And once I got better at finding places just by their address, I started using Google by text message when I wasn’t around an Internet connection.

I was also able to hide my tourist status at MoMA. Well, I had to, so no one would suspect I had gotten in for free using a friend’s membership card. The museum is very iPhone- and iPod-friendly; when you log into their wi-fi, you can listen to QuickTime files of all their audio descriptions directly on your own headphones. No need for those ridiculous lanyard gadgets that make you look like a German tourist!

Then of course I ended my trip at JetBlue’s JFK Terminal 5. The place clearly is trying to be the airport of the future (even moreso than the places at O’Hare where you stand on the moving walkway and hear the nice voice over the intercom as you pass under a bunch of neon lights and feel like you’re in an episode of The Jetsons). There’s free, open wi-fi everywhere, and plenty of places to plug in and recharge, including tables where you can prop up your laptop. Even the food court is high-tech – you order at a touchscreen from any of the restaurants, then pay on your way out. You can even order from the touchscreen at the laptop stations and have the food delivered to you, which I wish I had done after awkwardly hauling my soup back to my gate in the useless to-go box that wasn’t big enough.

And now I’m being a super geek and watching movies on JetBlue’s satellite TV, and editing blog posts on my iPod while stretched out over the entire row of seats I have to myself. :)

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Janna Goes to New York and Pretends to Not Be Totally Lost – Part 5

Posted in Backpack Hobo Adventure, Cell Phone Photography, Food, LA Fun with tags , , , on February 21, 2009 by Janna

So the big question is, LA or New York? I tried to avoid a lot of “LA” things in New York, like the organic pizza place I passed by, and both the Pinkberry’s I found (Pinkberry in LA? Fun and Korean! Pinkberry in NYC? Wrong, wrong, wrong.). But I did check out the Trader Joe’s, which was a horrible mistake (in New York, two-buck Chuck is … three-buck Chuck?!?! Photographic evidence below. This redefines “wrong, wrong, wrong”.). 3-buck-chuckThe place was too huge, and too crowded. They had employees who just stood at the end of the checkout line signifying the end of the line, which took up the whole store. I also tried to find ANY place that sold cool soda and came up emtpy-handed save a bunch of root beer and one place in Grand Central Terminal that sold all Jamaican food, includig Jamaican soda. So, LA and Galco’s still win, by a long shot in that regard.

But New York had its benefits, of course. I got around everywhere really quickly, SO many things were open late, and Central Park full of dead trees (and a little bit of snow!) on a cold, grey February day was amazing. It felt like a magical place out of a children’s book, maybe because it was all so old. Also, everything was old, which I always love. But after several discussions with my friends from college who now live in New York, this trip has only made me love living in California more. Beyond “just because”, I think a part of the reason for this trip was because, in another life, I could’ve lived in New York. NYU was my second-choice college (which I visited this week, and did not change my mind one bit), and I sometimes regretted not running off to New York right after college to pursue a broadcast journalism career almost two years ago. So I had to see it, to be sure.
In New York, life actually is different. Because you walk or take a quick subway ride everywhere and everything’s so close, you don’t get to take your time doing anything. You can’t veer off schedule or take an unplanned break, because you can’t be caught “wasting” time. My friends had very little free time, and the thought of taking 20 minutes to go more than one neighborhood over was fairly daunting to many. They were all pretty jealous to hear about the “bumming around” time us Californians get to enjoy.

Not that a fast-paced, crazy life in the city isn’t what I had dreamed of since I was an overly busy, overachieving kid, or what many people totally live for. But it’s just not for me anymore. A large part of what I’ll call my road to mental and emotional stability has been my ability to take some “me time” when I need a mental break from life, and the idea that none of my time has been wasted. If I fall behind in writing up schedules at work because I spent an afternoon helping resolve some sort of crisis with a customer, that time wasn’t wasted. If instead of making it to the grocery store on my day off, I stay at home catching up on news and discovering some music while letting my brain rest and playing card games on the internet, that time wasn’t wasted. If I walk through Central Park and wander off on a cool set of steps, then end up on the complete opposite side of the park from where I had planned on ending up, that time wasn’t wasted.

I actually had a conversation last night where I said, “If I lived here, I just couldn’t go to bed; I’d feel guilty for not utilizing that time,” and my friend explained, “That’s why it’s the city that never sleeps!” I’ve grown to absolutely adore living in California, and my awesome apartment in my great neighborhood in Los Angeles. I even actually enjoy my job and the people I work with! Who knows if I could’ve gotten to this state of mind had I moved anywhere else. If I lived in New York, I don’t know that I could say I worked two jobs and went totally broke and crazy for over a year to learn that my time wasn’t being wasted, and know that none of that year was wasted.

And besides, Manhattan is SOOO far from any Target stores, that immediately excludes it from any list of places I’d ever be able to live.

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Janna Goes to New York and Pretends to Not Be Totally Lost – Part 4

Posted in Backpack Hobo Adventure, Cell Phone Photography, Food with tags , , , on February 21, 2009 by Janna

So how about another round of distinctly New York adventures I’ve gone on this week?

  • I went to a Broadway show! Hadn’t originally planned on that, but then I was introduced to the concept of “student rush”, and, after fate denying me both Billy Elliot and In The Heights, ended up seeing The Little Mermaid. It was as ridiculously Disney-tastic as one would expect, and a lot of fun!
  • I saw snow once, in Central Park:02180912271
  • I heard MGMT on the radio and realized I had never heard them on the radio. Maybe cause they’re a New York band? Oh, no, probably just because I listen to the radio no more than once a month.
  • Overheard from a kid at the Rockefeller Center subway station: “This isn’t a subway, it’s a mall!”
  • Being entirely stubborn and refusing to end my walk before reaching my destination even though it was pouring rain, I made it all the way to the U.N. Plaza. Only to find they had taken all the flags down due to the weather.
  • You know how in every movie and TV show somebody moves to New York and ends up in the miserable apartment with the train that goes noisily right by the window? I was totally on that train!
  • Saw a random band playing traditional Colombian music. Then showed off my mad pool-playing skills and beat a bunch of locals. They should all just be glad we weren’t playing poker…
  • Went to a “story slam” at a bookstore and hung around a bunch of New York literary types and felt super cool about it.
  • I happened upon the cafe (exterior) from Seinfeld. It was kinda bizarre, maybe just because I was so close to it, way closer than you’d ever see it on the show.
  • I ate SO much junk. I slept in on Friday (my feet hurt. Late night Thursday. I’m on vacation! I have a million excuses), and had plans for dinner at a normal-ish time, so decided to skip lunch and just snack ALL day. I had some Dunkin’ Donuts for the first time in something like four years (yep, they’re donuts), and drank some Jacques Torres hot chocolate (Different. Didn’t hate it, but it was different, very very chocolatey. Also the place was cool because you could see all the machines and whatnot but it was full of people I think I would hate). I visited Dylan’s Candy Bar, which was basically a big, huge candy acid trip. Ran into Marc Summers taping a Food Network segment, and came away with about a metric ton of gummy bears in wonderful flavors. Shown here, a stanchion marking the checkout queue. Filled with gumballs.candy And finally, I visited Magnolia Bakery, of Sex and the City and “Lazy Sunday” fame. I intentionally skipped the branch I ran into earlier in the week and headed out to the original location in the West Village. The tiny space was not organized very well for the amount of traffic they get, since you have to go in one direction to pick up your cupcake and then go in another to pay, while in a sea of people, half of whom I think were on one of those Sex and the City New York tours. The cupcake was good and cheaper than one from my beloved Sprinkles, and the chocolate frosting tasted like ice cream, but it was smaller and still not as good and magical as those from my favorite West Coast cupcake spot. Then today the last thing I did before heading off to the airport was pick up some delicious buttery popcorn from Garrett’s on Fifth Avenue. Not sick yet!

And, lastly, mini-pizza review #3: Two Boots, West Village location (holy crap this does exist in LA!)- the cheese didn’t quite stand up to Grimaldi’s but I think my favorite overall. Their pizzas all come named after choice ridiculous fictional characters, like “The Newman” and “The Tony Clifton”, which I had and greatly enjoyed.

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Janna Goes to New York and Pretends to Not Be Totally Lost – Part 3

Posted in Backpack Hobo Adventure, Internet with tags , , on February 21, 2009 by Janna

One of the things I absolutely had to do on this trip was check out the Fifth Avenue Apple Store. As a fan of both Apple and weird architecture, it was one of the first places on my list.

Of course, it was cool, and packed with people. The store itself Is located underground, beneath the glass “cube” itself. And down there it’s really just an Apple Store, to be perfectly honest. The interesting part was the cube itself, and the spiral staircase going down into this bizarre hole in the ground on Fifth Avenue – there’s no way to go but down. And the poor girl who had to stand at the top of the staircase as the greeter, by the open door in the cold and the rain. Sadly I wussed out on asking them how often drunk people wandered into the store, which is open 24/7, and fell down the staircase.

I did visit the other NY Apple Stores, as well. The SoHo store was unimpressive, just a regular old Apple Store a la The Grove or San Francisco. Bit the 14th St. store is officially my new favorite of all Apple Stores ever. It was huge – three stories, built into an old, brick building, with big windows filling the place with sunlight. You could even sit in the window sills, waiting for your Genius Bar appointment or utilizing the wi-fi.

Also for this trip, I was working off a few to-do lists, from friends or the internet or just ideas I picked up as I went along. Among those were a LOT of pizza suggestions. I certainly didnt get to them all, but I still ate way too much of it, hence mini-pizza review #2: Totonno’s Pizza: I didn’t realize until I left that there was a much cheaper 2-slice special, so I got an entire small pizza for myself. But that was fine, since I nearly ate the while damn thing! It was good pizza, and I think the best mushrooms of the bunch, but sadly the place was empty (2:30 on a weekday), so I couldn’t get a complete feel for the joint.

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Janna Goes to New York and Pretends to Not Be Totally Lost – Part 2

Posted in Backpack Hobo Adventure, Public Transportation with tags , , on February 17, 2009 by Janna

A few observations from my day so far:

  • When the sun is out and you’re walking a lot, 35 degrees feels awesome.
  • I appear to have developed some sort of reverse-jet lag. I should be feeling like it’s 2 pm, not the actual 5 pm here in the Eastern Time Zone. But since I’ve been up for what feels like forever following my red-eye flight, it feels like 11 pm, and time for bed already. That’s not how that’s supposed to work, is it?
  • I think the size of the Statue of Liberty is grossly misrepresented in Ghostbusters 2 (it’s smaller).
  • People in New York actually read newspapers. Never has the sad state of the LA Times been more evident than when you compare the percentage of people on public transportation reading newspapers, of any kind – NY Times, NY Daily News, whatever. I can’t even remember the last time I saw anybody reading the LA Times anywhere, for that matter. Not a good sign…
  • Due to the labyrinthine design of the New York City subway system, I seem to have fallen back into my old habit from sophomore year of college where I come up from the subway and have lost my orientation, and can’t tell which way is North or South. I personally find this extra-frustrating, as I’m usually so good at keeping track of such things. Hopefully it’ll come back to me as I get used to how these subway stations work.

Finally, Mini Pizza Review #1: Grimaldi’s Pizza – great! I think I really liked the cheese.

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Janna Goes to New York and Pretends to Not Be Totally Lost – Part 1

Posted in Backpack Hobo Adventure, Cell Phone Photography with tags , , on February 17, 2009 by Janna

At the airport last night, I luckily brought my combination surge protector/iPod charger instead of just a regular iPod charger (when I bought it, it was on sale and cheaper than just the regular one). I ended up sharing with everybody else at my gate:

Shown here are my iPod touch, two iPhones and a BlackBerry, all coexisting at the Burbank airport. A Sidekick was soon to follow, and the BlackBerry owner’s traveling companion was reading from a Kindle – gadget overload!

So far, New York has been fun – I am loving how old the subway stations look. And two people got in a fight on the plane as soon as we landed. Yay, New York City! I will probably have pizza for lunch. And then again tomorrow, and the day after that, etc. The only downside so far has been my complete lack of a sense of time. I went to “sleep” at about 9:30pm Pacific Time, and “woke up” for the day at around 2:00am, Pacific Time (and the time in which my body’s been operating). It’s not unusual for 2:00am to be the time I’m actually going to bed. Well, I haven’t gone back to sleep yet, we’ll see how long this lasts…

Also, I’m happy to report that I am way less of a wuss than I made myself out to be in this weather – I can even go outside without a hat on!

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Fun with Freeze Frame

Posted in Cell Phone Photography, LA Fun, TV with tags , on February 5, 2009 by Janna

Recognizing local LA landmarks in the background of all sorts of movies, TV shows and commercials is nothing new. Neither is skimming shows for MTA buses disguised as city buses in any number of other cities being portrayed (or being able to identify a filming location by the bus stop sign. It’s bad, I know.). In fact, a TV commercial is being filmed right around the corner from my house this weekend! And there will apparently be things on fire involved!

But I was still overly happy to see one of my favorite little hidden pieces of architecture, the Franklin Avenue Bridge in Los Feliz, make a cameo in an otherwise overplayed and annoying Carl’s Jr. ad:

franklin-bridge-ad

I think when I start noticing these things in quick, 2-second shots, it means the commercial has officially been played on TV 3 million times too many.

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Adventure Wednesday

Posted in Cell Phone Photography, LA Fun, Public Transportation with tags , on February 5, 2009 by Janna

I had Wednesday off. So I did a lot of things.

I was granted a clean bill of dental health (no cavities!). I wore flip flops and read a comic book. I missed my bus stop, and had to walk six blocks in Sun Valley, half of which didn’t actually have any sidewalk. I failed to plan for rush hour traffic, and somehow found myself somehow at the North Hollywood Red Line station. I did not go to any furniture stores. I tried out the Orange Line for the first time (Basically a nice Rapid Bus where you don’t have to show your pass and can enter anywhere. Feels like it was kind of trying to imitate the light rail in San Francisco.).

I ran into an old friend from back home:

rydell

I accidentally happened upon a USC vs. UCLA basketball game (I spaced and forgot it was happening tonight!). I ate pasta and chocolate and drank lemonade. I decided a laser tag game would be somewhere in my future.

The End. :)

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