Live Life. Life is Short. Life is an Adventure.

Diary: 28 ^th December 2006 - Month 2

Now for anybody that travels this will make sense. Two of the “drugs” you have to have in your emergency supplies are for the treatment of vomiting and diarrhea. Now for this trip, I decided I would simply get it when I was in the US, something that would be easily available. The problem is, when you are having severe vomiting and diarrhea it’s too late to decide to get it, so my advice to all travelers is always have this with you.

And while on that note, as a result of my condition getting worse after 5 hours, I had to have people call 911 Emergency for a trip to hospital for treatment. My symptoms didn’t stop there, so drips in both arms, morphine and other drugs later pursued. Another motto here, is Travel Insurance will save me here, as I’m yet to see the bill.

Diary: 27^th December 2006 - Month 2

Well, today was another first. I mentioned previously the need to go out any buy warmer clothes so I could go jogging. Well today after leaving the building, I had to go back home, re-emerging a few minutes later now with beanie and gloves. It was at least 6-8C cooler then yesterday, being around 6-7C in total. I wonder if Rocky ran around in a beanie!

Diary: 26^th December 2006 - Month 2

In the US, they do not celebrate Boxing Day. For many the day after Christmas is just another work day. Thanksgiving, celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November constitutes generally is a bigger holiday, and also generally a 4 day weekend as most take off the Friday.

For me, I elected to take Boxing Day off as a vacation day (another Americanism, you don’t say holiday), as I’d planned to get a tour by a genuine NY local. Unfortunately that didn’t eventuate :-(, at least not yet so I headed out on my own again. The usual PATH train put me into 33^rd Street were I decided to head over to Grand Central Station first.

As with most other places the Christmas touch was there, so it was good to check out the Kaleidoscope Light Show. I also did a little more exploring including some shops and below into the Dining Concourse. Outside a good view of the Chrysler Building.

Afterwards off to the New York Public Library to reflect from the last time I’d seen it (In the movie The Day after Tomorrow. I don’t know what it is, but I seem to like movies that destroy significant American icons!!!) .

Behind the library is Bryant Park, the home of another Ice skating rink. It was a lovely afternoon, quite warm and clear, in comparison to earlier in the day being overcast. Would have been a great time to check out Ice Skating, but I’ll save it for another day, and hopefully with company.

The day ended up again, in Time Square, this time some photos of what it looks like in the day. Not much difference is there. Another movie I wanted to see Deja Vu was surprisingly interesting and intriguing.

Videos

Here are some videos.

Diary: 25^th December 2006 - Month 2

My goal this Christmas was to celebrate a White Christmas for the first time. I really wanted to do it, but unforeseen cash flow issues (SSN Woes, Credit Card Fraud and Banks), left me uncomfortable with no income for almost two months, $16,000 now on my CC, and with the additional expenses I was unable to make any plans until it was too late.

New York has had unseasonal milder weather, the best we got was rain. Here’s hoping it snows here soon. My second choice city when relocating to the US was Denver, and just a few days before Christmas they got, quoting “Snowbound Denver International Airport reopened at noon Friday, two days after a near-record blizzard and whiteout conditions forced it to close down, canceling thousands of flights and stranding frustrated holiday travelers during one of the busiest travel weeks of the year.” Reference. So that would have been white at least on the ground.

However the most amazing news is from Australia, basked in sunshine and the middle of summer, and bushfires, it snowed.
Four seasons in one day for Christmas quoting “In Tasmania, the weather bureau reported five centimetres of snow had fallen at the summit of Mount Wellington in Hobart.” Now I’ve lived in Tasmania, and indeed it was my first sighting of snow ever in 1994. I’ve got a photo of my car besides 15 feet of snow on Mount Wellington.

Reading more, it gets better Bushfire black turns into a white Christmas says
But in Victoria, it was the coldest Christmas Day in 150 years that brought “significant” amounts of snow to Victoria’s southern regions, including a 30mm drop at Mount Baw Baw, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
“I don’t think I’ve seen Christmas spirits like this for a long time. Maybe because there’s a sigh of relief because of the fire (threat) being dampened for a little bit longer … everyone is elated,” Mt Buller Chalet’s Eric Siewart said.
Country Fire Authority captain Andrew Kelly said the snow “settled” the fires in the region and gave crew members a rest ahead of more fires expected by the end of the week when temperatures begin to rise again.
“The snow’s been unreal, really good for Christmas,” he said.

Seems I was in the wrong continent and season! There is always next year, and I’ll be making plans much sooner!

Diary: 24^th December 2006 - Month 2

It’s been interesting week before Christmas. Plenty to see in New York City. A picture tells a thousand words, however I’ve found the benefits of my compact Olympus 720SW which takes video.

Photos

Here are some of my photos of Lincoln Center, Saks Fifth Avenue, Washington Square Park and Columbus Circle Shopping Center.

You can view them all at NY Lights December 2006

Videos

Here are some of my videos on my You Tube Playlist of Rockefeller Center, Lincoln Center, Saks Fifth Avenue, Washington Square Park and Time Square.

From a tee-shirt I saw at Central Park, NY

TV add

Something I said after over lunch discussion. Read more why here. Thanks Frank

Diary: Saturday 16^th December 2006 - Month 2

After lunch with Michelle and Farhan today in Jackson Heights, I headed into 5^th Avenue to check out the Christmas mayhem, and to take some photos. My adventure started at 57^th Street and heading down to 31^st Street. Check out my photos.

You will see photos of The Rockefeller Center complete with Christmas Tree, Ice skating rink and mega crowds. There are also some lights shows that will require some video to give you the true experience.

Across the road is Saint Patrick’s Cathedral. With plenty of people and stores, it was an interesting walk finally down to Empire State Building. I ended my night heading across to Hoboken to be able to take some skyline photos. It was a great clear night so they tuned out very well.

Tonight I got a chance with a clear sky to take some night photos. This is a photostich of 4 photos, which I think is quite a good photo. You can also view a Larger Image.

Some more pan photos courtesy of AutoStitch. These are of Killington Ski Resort.

As part of the journey home from my Killington Skiing trip, and then onto my job next week, I managed to visit 6 US States between 2pm and Midnight on Sunday.

Starting in Vermont, through Massachusetts, to Connecticut, New York, New Jersey and ending up in Pennsylvania. Not bad for 1 day. Not a single photo (this time)

Diary: Sun 10^th December 2006 - Month 2

Here are some quick videos I took with my Olympus 720SW compact camera skiing at Killington. This trip courtesy of George’s Meetup Group.

I’m a little bit disappointed with the conversion quality on You Tube, need to work out if that can be improved.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CXuVnNJgYI - George and the stairs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZYbGTkZ7d0 - George and the stairs a second time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4GD3WM4Yos - Allen also having a go with the stairs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCuXBvQrcS0 - Rita and her boarding skills.

Diary: Sun 10^th December 2006 - Month 2

Today, I got my first skiing in for the season. Woot! With new NY friends George, Allen and Rita (and locals Jill & Mel) we spent the weekend at Killington Ski Resort. Here are the photos of the weekend with my compact camera.

Diary: 8^th Dec 2006 - Month 2

I’ve just arrived at Killington Ski Resort for my first skiing of the sason. I’ve headed up from New York, it’s taken us about 6 hours, but I’ve now got three new friends in George, Allen and Rita. I met all of these people for the first time today, having joined on George’s NY Meetup group. (And just for interest, it was Rita that was the most impressed that I worked for MySQL. Probably the first person I’ve meet of late that thought it was cool!)

We have this amazing lodging for the weekend, thanks to George, Mel and Jill. Let me tell you what we have.

At our entry, we have two options, down or up. Heading down stairs we enter a large kitchen area, with dining table for about 10, a large living area with fireplace and TV and every cable channel you can thing of. There is a downstairs bedroom and bathroom, and through the bathroom is a sauna (which would seat 4-6 people easily). Outside on the balcony is the first outdoor hot tub spa, easily handling the 6 of us.

So back up the stairs, to the first floor we have another kitchen, a games area with pool table and fireplace and 3 beds. A bedroom (the one I got), a bathroom, and another sauna, as well as an outdoor hot sub spa.

So up to the top floor, a bedroom, bathroom, no sauna, but a final master bedroom which had 2 double bunks and a main bed. All up you can sleep a lot of people hear.

I should not forget the outdoor hot tub spa at the front door (probably easily supporting 8 people), enabling people that are skiing past on an official ski run for the resort to check you out. It was unfortunately there was not enough snow at the moment for it to be open to skiers.

Sounds too good to be true. Check out the Flickr Photos I took. You can also check out the digs for the weekend at the website SkiOnSkiOff, select The Penthouse.

PS: I forgot, it also have two washers and two dryers. Yes there is a lot of duplication at this place.