2010

Happy New Year!

The first snow

Authorities were getting ready for the forecasted snowfall since Saturday.
Today it snowed. They have been caught off-guard again. It was not even a big snowfall but the removal equipment was nowhere to be seen. Many streets turned into skating rinks. It took me 50 minutes to get home. It usually takes me 20.
But I got the chance to test my car. It did really well although it doesn’t have winter tyres.

2 years ago

2 years ago, December 14′th. I was heading for the most incredible vacation in the US. I remember each day like it was yesterday. 3 days in NYC at Christmas time, the Rockefeller Christmas tree, Macy’s and Lord & Taylor “dressed” for the occasion, the Christmas lights tour on a double decker bus, that cold that I felt in my knees for a week…

Then Florida… West Palm Beach and dear friends, malls all day long, Miami and that incredible view, the Star Island, Fort Lauderdale and those big boats for those rather small canals, Boca Raton and the beautiful hotel, Florida’s Hollywood, NASA, Epcot.

The Accidental Husband

Another movie in NYC, familiar places and wishes to be there.

Besides that…
The movie is about Emma Lloyd, who has made a career out of her sensible, mature and responsible approach to relationships. She has a hit radio talk show, an impending book deal, and a loving relationship with her fiancé, Richard, a conventional sort-which is precisely what Emma is drawn to.
Then Emma finds out that she is already married to a man she’s never met before, a result of a misguided prank that leaves her bewildered and very confused. Worse than that, her plans for the future are now threatened. With her wedding just around the corner, Emma must find the mystery man and obtain an annulment. Emma tracks down her “accidental husband” – Patrick, a charming neighborhood fireman, with a big secret…that he was behind the “accidental” marriage. Unable to fess up, Patrick goes along with the ruse pretending to be just as baffled as Emma. While at first their opposite approaches to life create much tension and chaos, Emma soon starts to admire his carefree passion for life and doubt her own conservative, button-down views on life and love. As Emma’s wedding draws near, she is faced with the choice between her safe life with Richard or the chance to live in the passionate and spontaneous world that Patrick inhabits.

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York

Tonight I will definitely watch Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. Because of NYC of course and the Plaza Hotel and the Central Park, and also because of Macaulay, his adventures and funny faces.

Kevin and his family are heading down to Florida for Christmas, but when Kevin gets mixed up at the airport and gets on the wrong flight, he ends up in New York. Instead of complaining or panicking, he just plain enjoys it. He goes on the ultimate tour with his father’s bag of money and credit cards and cons himself into the Plaza Hotel claiming he’s there with his dad. But the Wet Bandits who have now re-named themselves as the Sticky Bandits are in New York as well and are planning on stealing all the money from a toy store that is going to be given to the children’s hospital. But Kevin is going to make sure that they don’t mess around with the kids and has set his uncle’s abandoned apartment up for a fun house of traps.

Home Alone

Yesterday, on the eve of Saint Nicholas, I’ve watched the first Home Alone movie. I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve seen this movie. My favorite of the series is Home Alone 2. I guess it is for NYC and the Plaza Hotel.
Home Alone is both one of the best holiday films of all time and one of the most popular movies from the 90’s. It’s one of those “feel good” movies, the kind that make you want to cuddle up on the couch with family and relax and enjoy it.
I can hardly imagine Christmas without it. I’ve always enjoyed seeing Macaulay Culkin at that age. He was an extremely talented kid and this movie made him a superstar.

Tropicana Juice

This brand among many others reminds me of America. There was hardly a morning without the Tropicana Orange Juice.
100% Orange Pure & Natural… that’s how it is promoted and it sure feels like it.
It is made with fresh oranges, there are no water, sugar or preservatives added.

To make the best juice, Tropicana works with some of Florida’s most established groves. Tropica is the largest single buyer of Florida fruit. They are making sure they pick the fruit at the perfect time.

The orange oil is extracted from the peel to capture the from-the-orange taste and aromas which are later carefully blended into the juice for consistent quality and flavor.
Oranges have a limited growing season, and because there is demand for juice year round, an unspecified quantity of juice (some or potentially all) is deaerated and then stored for future packaging in chilled tanks to preserve quality. The aseptic tanks protect the juice from oxygen and light and hold the liquid at optimal temperatures just above freezing to maintain nutrition. It has been reported that deaerated juice no longer tastes like oranges, and must be supplemented with flavor packs derived from orange oils before consumption. Tropicana also uses small quantities of high-quality orange juice from Brazil to supplement the Florida crop.

Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving Day is a harvest festival celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada. Traditionally, it is a time to give thanks for the harvest and express gratitude in general. While perhaps religious in origin, Thanksgiving is now primarily identified as a secular holiday.

Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States and on the second Monday of October in Canada. Thanksgiving dinner is held on this day, usually as a gathering of family members and friends.

Giant balloons, floats, marching bands and clowns with confetti are part of Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade held in New York.

This year, for the first time, the parade route bypassed Broadway, which cuts a diagonal slice through Manhattan, as it made its way south from the Upper West Side to the finish at Macy’s flagship store in Herald Square.

The new route traverses the grid of the city’s streets and avenues, includes turns around five corners, and is slightly longer than in previous years.

Remembering London

A couple of weeks ago I’ve seen some pictures from London. The pictures of a friend in London. And I’ve remembered places. I don’t know if there will be posts about London as there were about NY or Washington. I do not like London so much. I like places in London but there’s no chemistry between us.
I have photos, videos and memories. I don’t feel the need or desire to return.

It was in 2008 for my 30th birthday. I have mixed feelings about the trip. I cherished some places and I have good memories of them, I cherished others but the memories are a bit hurtful. Especially the ones from June 4th.

And I really tried and succeeded in enjoying Greenwich.

If only it weren’t for the count down…

NYC Subway

While in NYC in 2007 the subway seemed a little bit complicated as I only took it once. In 2009 I got so used to the NYC subway and I even began to like it, especially the Shuttle, the connection between Times Square and Grand Central Station.

The 7-day Unlimited Ride MetroCard, which includes unlimited subway and local bus rides costs 27 dollars.

The NYC subway is one of the oldest and most extensive public transportation systems in the world, with 468 stations in operation (421 if stations connected by transfers are counted as a single station).
Among the world’s busiest metro systems it is the only one to run 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Subway stations are located throughout the New York City boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx.

Many lines and stations have both express and local service. These lines have three or four tracks: normally, the outer two are used for local trains, and the inner one or two are used for express trains. Stations served by express trains are typically major transfer points or destinations.

The Times Square–42nd Street station is the busiest station of the New York City Subway.

But the entrance/exit right near the Police Department in Times Square is the smallest one I ever seen.