JcSparks.com

Yeah, yeah. We’ve been very neglectful of the blog since I went to NYC and brought my husband home with me. I had every intention of writing up a big detailed post about my trip to NYC, but it seems so far back in the misty past now that I probably couldn’t remember everything we did anyway. But since that probably isn’t good enough for our rabid blog fans (heh), here are a few highlights:

The Met, the Cloisters, and the Frick, Revisited: Still no Madame X at the Met, and the lovely Ingres portraits of the Princesse de Broglie and the Comtesse d’Haussonville (from the Met and the Frick respectively) were also gone, but at least I got to see the latter two in October. The Cloisters was very busy the day we were there, and since we hit the Met the same day, it was more of a refresher visit than anything. There were street performers doing acrobatic tricks outside of the Met, and I had my first fizzy Izze there.

MoMA and the Neue Galerie: I had never been to visit these before, and Jeremy hadn’t been to the Neue Gallery either. We went to MoMA during their free Friday evening, and although it was very crowded, I’m glad we didn’t have to spend money for tickets. They had one floor with a large number of famous and/or important paintings (Dali’s Persistence of Memory, Matisse’s Red Studio and Dance, Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, Van Gogh’s Starry Night, to name a few) and the rest of the museum we ran through almost without stopping; I’d take the Met over MoMA any day. The Neue Galerie was of course much smaller, even more so because they were currently between special exhibitions and only one floor of permanent collection was available to us. We went there with Jeremy’s friend Bain, at his suggestion, and saw some interesting pieces by Klimt, Schiele, and Kokoschka.

Upright Citizens’ Brigade: We got tickets for this show and it’s a good thing we did, because the place was packed, probably beyond capacity. There were people sitting on the floor at the edges of the stage, and standing behind the back seats. But it was a great show, with—count ‘em—three familiar faces on the stage: Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers of SNL, and Stephnie Weir of MadTV.

Seeing Mandy Patinkin on Broadway: Literally. We walked past him on the sidewalk, talking on his cell phone and looking just like Jason Gideon in Criminal Minds. Since The Princess Bride is one of my favorite movies of all time, that was pretty cool.

Central Park: I finally got to see more than the edges, as we walked across it about three separate times. Also, there were vendors selling chocolate éclair Good Humor bars, which I haven’t seen in the store for years, so I got one and was very excited about that. Totally made my day. Well, that and going to the Frick.

Strand: We spent a lot of time here looking at books, and I don’t think we actually bought any. That was probably a really good thing, considering the volume of books and other packages we had to mail home as it was. Jeremy’s amassing quite the art book collection. At any rate, I did get a little canvas satchel with the Strand logo, just the right size to hold a hardcover book and my water bottle, and maybe a sock-in-progress.

Restaurants: Even though we only hit a fraction of the places on my list, the ones we did get to were all very good. Just to name a few:

-Fried egg sandwiches (twice!) and graham cracker ice cream sandwiches at ‘Wichcraft
-Pesto pasta at Ruby’s Café
-Roast chicken at Ouest
-Devil’s food cheesecake at Junior’s
-Ricotta and roasted pepper pizza at Lombardi’s
-Everything at Good Enough to Eat (with all the restaurants in New York City, Jeremy still contrived to get us there twice more before leaving!)
-Roast chicken at Pio Pio (but sorry, honey, I still think the yucca frites tasted like fried blocks of starch. And by the way, don’t walk there after spending an entire day wandering around the Met and the Cloisters—my feet were dead).

A special mention goes to the chocolate chip cookies and hot chocolate at City Bakery, which, in combination, nearly sent us into a sugar coma. It was the homemade marshmallow (put in our hot chocolate unrequested, so no charge) that pushed us over the edge.

Hope that satisfies for the time being. I need to post a knitting update as well: yes, more socks, but something infinitely more interesting as well. Also, we’ve been diligently documenting Jeremy’s rapid progress with artisan bread-baking over the past month, so perhaps he can be persuaded to write about that sometime soon.

Truly, there are some benefits to attending a school in New York City. The International House had its annual George C. Marshall Visitor Program today. Yes, that is the same General George C. Marshall, Nobel Peace Prize recipient, and architect of the so-called Marshall Plan to rebuild war-torn Europe after World War II.

Today another great American general, Colin L. Powell, came to speak. What a rare treat to hear someone who has recently held both the highest diplomatic post, Secretary of State, as well as the highest military position, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It was easy to see why he would do well as a leader: he has that intangible quality that makes one able to trust that he has good understanding of the whole problem and will only work toward the optimal solution for the greatest good. It is something decidedly different from celebrity electricity or charisma.

He was quite sanguine about the future and excited about the way information now moves freely across the planet at light speeds. He seemed proud of his reputation as a ‘reluctant soldier’ and admitted that he was disappointed that the war in Iraq could not be avoided. However, he was even quicker to point out that once it was clear it could not be, he whole-heartedly agreed with George Bush, Tony Blair and John Howard that war was the only course of action.

A rare individual, and a great American.

I don’t mean to be unkind, but after speaking with several fellow New York students, it seems clear to me that when we arrived slightly less than two years ago there was still a significant wellspring of Post 9-11 mutual goodwill in New York City. The New York Attitude is a well known phenomenon, but it was not a part of my experience. When I arrived, I found New Yorkers were willing to offer simple courtesies and assistance whenever it would be welcome, often without needing to be asked.

It now seems that the well has run dry, or at least very nearly. During the last few months, I have noticed a subtle but perceptible change in the average denizen of The City. By way of example, it now seems that the overwhelming majority of pedestrians will assume that the other party should yield when space is insufficient for everyone to pass comfortably. If you’ve ever seen the average NYC sidewalk, you know that there are almost always more people than available space for walking.

This is just one of the more salient aspects of the appreciable change; there are others. It makes me sad, but I guess all things considered, five years is a significant amount of time for an unintended benefit to last. New York City is the epitome of what is best and, equally well, what is worst about our country. I return home May 27th. Though I do not think I shall ever want to call NYC my home, I also cannot imagine that I will not visit again.

- Jeremy

The reports are true: the Northeast is covered in a blanket of white. It has been snowing fiercly for the past 24 hours, though it seems to be letting up now. I can actually see the church out my window again—before it was barely discernable through the cloud of snow. Here’s a picture of the Riverside Church as seen through my window…. note the foot of snow on my windowsill.

- Jeremy

Tuesday - February 7th

Paul’s last full day in NYC. We decided that a trip to NYC without visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art would be incomplete at best, so early in the morning we made our way across Central Park to that mecca in the cult of culture. Here’s a shot of the facade.

We arrived before 10:30 and stayed until they started to close up at quarter past 5. A day well spent indeed, and despite the length of time we were at the museum there were whole room, nay, wings that we didn’t even set foot in. I have always thought that the Met is one of the few places in Manhattan that does not feel like Manhattan. Most locations attempt to pack so much in per square foot that there is barely enough room to maneuver (just ask Paul about sharing a room in the I.House). However, in the Met, there are vast open courtyards and entire rooms that are simply there to house, for instance, an honest-to-goodness Egyptian temple.

We saw too much to enumerate here, but the list includes Rembrandt, Vermeer, Goya, Velasquez, Poussin, Tiepolo, Duccio, Van Eyck, Rubens, Raphael, Titian, Cranach, Memling, Caravaggio, Sargent, Eakins, Whistler, Cassat, Homer, Van Gogh, Renoir, Manet, Monet, Degas, Rodin, Carpeaux, Cannova, Houdon, Negrioli, and Stradivarius, among many others.

After leaving the Met, we met up with Tara, Loren and Jee for another dinner, this time at a little French Bistro known as Camaje. Oddly, this was one of the first restaurants that I found in NYC: it is charmingly small, comfortable, and affordable (considering it’s location in NYC). Paul enjoyed the halibut while Jee and I took the shrimp and avocado salad sandwich, Tara a panini sandwich, and Loren the Kobe burger (in which he found no end of delight to the fact that it was less expensive than the burgers in Kobe are). We shared a couple of crepes for a (pre-dessert) dessert. All agreed the food was delicious. And in a sign of his magnanimity and despite sincere protestations, Paul refused to allow the rest of us to pay for our portions of the meal.

After the meal, we walked up the block to view the Washington Square Arch near the campus of New York University. (It was awfully cold that night.)

Then on to another dessert place near Amy’s Bread, where we sat and debated matters both of import and banality as only graduate students may, all the while munching on a variety of dainties and dessert beverages. Several hours later, we decided to call it a night and thus ended another enjoyable evening, as well as Paul’s sojourn in Manhattan. Back to the grind for me…

- Jeremy

Monday - February 6th

Unfortunately, my real purpose for being in NYC reared its head on Monday, and Paul was forced to entertain himself the entire day, as I was in class from 9:30 in the morning until 9:30 at night. I understand that he made another pilgrimage to Good Enough To Eat before heading on to visit the American Museum of Natural History properly. They are having a special Darwin Exhibit there. Between the special exhibit, the world’s most powerful and accurate planetarium, an Imax movie on (what else, but) Galapagos, a conservatory of live tropical butterflies and the five floors of the permanently installed exhibits I understand that he was easily able to pass the day away.

- Jeremy

Sunday - February 5th

I know that Paul is a big fan of the perennial college favorite Saturday Night Live. Unfortunately, SNL tickets are even more difficult to come by than Spamalot tickets. So I did the next best thing and reserved tickets for the Upright Citizen’s Brigade Theater. Much like Chicago’s vaunted Second City, it is a troop of improv comedians who weekly tickle the funny bone of New Yorkers. It might not be SNL, but there were two current SNL regulars (Jason Sudeikis and Weekend Update co-anchor Amy Poehler) there on Sunday. The other four comedians were excellent as well. I’ve been to the UCB theater twice previously and it is always a good time. Paul believes it may have been the highlight of the trip. I’d speak more on the content, but as Amy admonishes, the freeform nature of improv comedy means that, though it seems funny when present at the time, it is absolutely not funny the next day when trying to explain it to your friends.

But that is how we capped off Sunday night. Earlier Paul and I had a whirlwind tour of lower Manhattan. We started off in the Upper West Side, and since Grant’s Tomb is directly across the street from my flat at the International House, we made a brief stop at the largest tomb in North America. We also made a quick stop to see the main quad of Columbia University. Here’s a picture of the library of that esteemed institution.

Then a 40-minute subway trip down to the Triangle Below Canal street aka Tribeca. Since my school is there in Tribeca, I’m probably more familiar with that neighborhood than most others in Manhattan.

We started down West Broadway to reach Ground Zero. I always feel a bit like Doubting Thomas when I head down to see the scar where the Twin Towers no longer reside. The site is always busy, though, so apparently it is in human nature to need to personally experience the reality of a traumatic event. It is amazing to me that, given the extent of the damage, they were able to restore subway service so quickly (the New Jersey PATH trains come into the WTC site as do 2 major NYC MTA lines). Equally impressive is how little has been accomplished in rebuilding the actual site. It was one of the first places I visited in NYC and, to my eye at least, it look exactly the same now as it did nearly two years ago.

Not far from the WTC site is one of the most famous streets in all the world: Wall Street. We walked a couple of blocks down and saw the Trinity Church which sits like a capstone to Wall Street proper. Wall Street is so called because it was literally where the city wall was located back when New York was known as New Amsterdam (much like Canal Street is so called because that is where the city canal used to reside). The most interesting feature to my mind is how incredibly narrow the street is—it looks much like any normal town street, just wide enough for two vehicles to move through (not that they actually allow anyone to drive on many parts of Wall Street any more).

Right after the church, one happens upon two of the more interesting buildings there, the Federal Building with a statue honoring George Washington on the steps.

And of course the New York Stock Exchange. I’ve been too timid to take pictures of this NYSE before; there have always been heavily armed NYC police before the building the other times I’ve been and I wasn’t sure they would take kindly to me pointing a camera in their direction. However, and perhaps it was simply because it was a Sunday, Wall Street was surprisingly unoccupied (meaning there were probably only about 40 other people there). Here’s a picture of the facade.

We then walked over to see City Hall and the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn Bridge. As interesting as the buildings are at City Hall, there aren’t very many good vantage points from which to take photos. There is, however, a very interesting building which is also easy to photograph right next to City Hall, the Hall of Records, renamed the Surrogate’s Courthouse in 1962. I used to think that I was simply not interested in architecture, but after living in NYC for the better part of two years I now know that I simply wasn’t interested in the bland neo-fascist architecture that one finds for federal buildings on the West Coast. This Beaux Arts style building is really beautiful.

We then moved further south to Battery Park (so named because that’s where the gun batteries to defend the island previously resided). It’s the most southern portion of Manhattan and also where one catches the ferries to the southern islands (Staten, Liberty, Ellis, etc…). In addition to some of the other other monuments at Battery Park, there is this steel and bronze sphere.

It was once the centerpiece of the main fountain at the WTC site. Though obviously damaged, it has survived somewhat intact and has been installed in Battery Park as a temporary memorial to the victims of the 9/11 attacks. Perhaps you can just make out the eternal flame at the base.

We hopped on the Staten Island Ferry and took a ride down the Hudson and past the Statue of Liberty. We then promptly disembarked and turned around and got right back on the ferry for the return trip to Manhattan. Here’s the requisite photo of Lady Liberty.

After returning on the ferry, we headed across (okay, under) the East River to Brooklyn. I lived in Brooklyn Heights last year and there is an excellent view of lower Manhattan from the promenade in Brooklyn Heights. We also wanted to meet up with Miss Jee Lew, who was going to be accompanying us to the UCB Theater later that evening. Though there aren’t many good places to shoot the Brooklyn Bridge from the Manhattan side, the view from the Brooklyn side is much more photogenic. Here’s a shot of Paul and Jee at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge in Brooklyn.

Also at the foot of the bridge is one of the most famous pizza parlors in NYC. Grimaldi’s is known for using a real coal-fire brick-oven to cook their pies. (Apparently they can still do this because they are grandfathered in.) Anyhow, not wanting to miss out on a real NYC pizza, Paul ordered up a half-n-half. One side had sausage, pepperoni, olives, mushrooms and garlic — the other had sun dried tomatoes, ricotta cheese (a NYC favorite), fresh basil and garlic. I had previously had a pizza at Grimaldi’s and it had cooked at such a high temperature that the cheese started to separate… fortunately it appears that was an isolated bad experience. The pie we had on Sunday was absolutely fabulous. If you ever do manage to go to Grimaldi’s make sure to order the pizza with garlic on it—it made a huge difference. Exceptional pizza.

After devouring every last bit of the pizza, we found that we still had some time to kill before comedy hour at the Upright Citizens Brigade. So we continued our gluttony by continuing on to another exquisite food stop for some dessert. Amy’s Bread is one of the better bakeries in NYC. Jee got a cupcake, Paul opted for the Black and White cake, and I, what else but the German Chocolate cake. Amy’s has some of the best cookies I’ve ever tasted so I also picked up a couple of cookies for us to snack on later. If you are ever in NYC, don’t fail to pick up one of the amazing Kitchen Sink cookies at Amy’s—I promise you won’t be disappointed.

We then did a bit of window shopping in The Village. We happened upon a Mediterranean food’s store called Oliviers & Co.. The manager of the store, Toni, went out of her way to have us taste some of their fancy olive oils and exquisit balsamic vinegar. Next time Julie and I need balsamic vinegar, I know where I’m going to be ordering it. The olive oils were also sumptuous and Paul couldn’t resist picking up a can to bring home with him.

With our tummies full of pizza and cake, there was nothing left but to continue on to the comedy club and laugh ourselves sick. A most memorable and enjoyable day.

- Jeremy

Saturday - February 4th.

Though we spent some time planning out his visit, ironically, Saturday turned out to be the most free-form day we had together. Personally, I have never been a big fan of musicals. There are, of course, exceptions that I do enjoy, but for the most part they lose me when things go badly and then everyone breaks out into song. Call it an inability to suspend my disbelief, but it shatters the magic for me. As a result, I’ve never taken the time to figure out how to get Broadway tickets. Paul, however, felt that a trip to NYC might be considered incomplete without a show, so after speaking with Tara and Loren (who have been good New Yorkers), they let us in on a way to get same-day tickets at 50% off. Sounds too good to be true, I know, but I assure you it is all on the up-and-up.

Apparently, the tickets that aren’t sold in advance are given to a theater development group to sell, and are then sold in a first-come-first-served fashion in Times Square on a cash-only basis. Again, you don’t know what will be available before you go, but we decided to give it a shot and see. Spamalot, the musical based on the seminal British comedy, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, is seemingly everyone’s first choice, however, as we were informed that they never have those tickets through this venue.

Our second choice was the sort of fuzzy sounding, Avenue Q. The most salient way to describe this musical would have to be “Sesame Street for grown-ups.” I’ll let you read the full description on their website if you are curious to know more and haven’t heard of the musical. Suffice to say, I never in my life expected to see muppets engaging in intercourse. To be fair, the show really does have a purpose (inside joke for those who have seen it) and does a good job of portraying the anxiety of graduating from college and trying to find your way in the world. Hit numbers included, “Everyone is a little bit racist,” “What do you do with a BA in English?” and who could forget “The Internet is for porn.” Despite the sound, it is quite an excellent show and they did win a number of Tony awards for the production.

As for my feelings about musicals, I have to say that I can recognize that the talented performers on Broadway are a cut above and I can appreciate why people would love the experience of going to a show, but for me, I’d still prefer a good (song-less) play.

The requisite trip down to Times Square to procure tickets afforded Paul and I the opportunity to explore one of the most famous blocks of NYC. Here’s a picture of Paul in the middle of 42nd street. Bear in mind that no one picture really does justice to the sensory-overload that is Times Square—you have to understand that it pretty much looks the same in every direction, with several Jumbotrons and moving images in every cardinal direction.

We also stopped in the Times Square Toys ‘R’ Us, which has a full (and working) ferris-wheel inside, not to mention a life-sized animatronic (and vocal) T-Rex.

After the show, we returned to my flat in the Upper West Side to look up a restaurant the Paul had heard of from one of his friends back in Oregon. It is a little Peruvian place in the Upper East Side called Pio Pio. What a treat. We shared a combo meal that included a full rotisserie chicken, an avocado salad, saffron rice with beans, fried plantains (a relative of the banana) with a oil-based garlic and basil sauce and lightly fried yucca (a relative of potatoes). Everything was wonderful, the fried plantains were my favorite, especially with the garlic sauce. Paul really liked the yucca, which were not unlike eating a really thickly textured baked potato. The chicken itself was wonderful and juicy and was served with another sauce which was extremely spicy by itself but on the chicken seemed perfectly mellow and really enhanced the flavor of the rub they had cooked the bird with. There was more food than the two of us could eat, and the most amazing part was that we had it all for less than thirty dollars.

A Broadway show and dinner… no wonder Julie was jealous. The only way it could have been better (for me at least), is if she had been there to share the day with us. I’ll have to try to recreate this experience when she comes back out for graduation in May.

- Jeremy

Well, as you may know, my excellent-good friend Paul has taken some time out of his schedule to visit me here in New York City — a.k.a. NYC, the Big Apple, the City, Old-New-York, New Amsterdam, Gotham City, Metropolis, the Capitol of the World and Ground Zero. Friday was the first full day of NYC sightseeing. Here’s an abbreviated accounting of some of the mischief we’ve managed… with subsequent days to follow…though due to the way postings appear on the blog, you will likely be reading them in reverse chronological order. I hope that isn’t confusing.

Friday - February 3rd.

Started off with day having breakfast at what has got to be one of the best breakfast restaurants in the known universe. I have long held that the ubiquitous pancake is more-or-less the same no matter where one acquires it (though the same cannot be said for syrup). However, the food at a little place on Amsterdam and 83rd has set me straight. Julie, Paul and Jee (the three people I’ve shared with the knowledge of this knowledge) all will heartily attest that the name of the establishment is quite a bit of an understatement—the breakfasts there are more than just “Good Enough to Eat“. In fact, the name really only works when eating somewhere else and realizing that breakfast anywhere else is emphatically NOT Good Enough to Eat. The food is simply amazing. Even something as commonplace as an omelet is surprisingly exceptional there (so light, so fluffy). Just look at their online menu… but, if you should find that my ramblings are simply too weak to persuade, consider this: As Paul and I were enjoying our wonderful meal, who should happen into the restaurant but Kevin Bacon. He sat not two tables away and had breakfast, and with a name like Bacon, you just know that he’s only going to eat at the best of breakfast places. (Though, sadly, Paul points out that our Six-Degrees-of-Kevin-Bacon number has now dropped precipitously.)

After having breakfast, Paul and I wandered over towards the park, stopping at the American Museum of Natural History on the way. Roosevelt played a large part in the founding of the museum and there is a large equestrian statue of him, led by two Native Americans, on the front steps of the main entrance. We really didn’t do anything more than pop our head in the lobby (which has a full brontosaurus skeleton, rearing up on its hind legs, no less). Paul will return and visit the museum properly on Monday while I resume my regularly scheduled classes. Julie did the same thing…I may have to just take a day and go back on my own sometime. I do wish there was time in my schedule to join him. Here’s a picture of Paul looking at one of the skeletons in the lobby.

After, we walked accross Central Park and made our way down to what is probably my favorite museum in Manhattan, The Frick Collection. Unfortunately, the famous Ingres portrait was on loan to a show in London, as is Sargent’s Madame X, from the Met. If they are both destined for the same show, I wish I could be in London to see it. No matter—the exquisite Holbeins, Titians, Rembrandts, and the inimitable Bellini were still accounted for. A few well-spent hours later (sorry, no pictures allowed in the museum), we emerged and decided to continue our stroll down 5th Avenue on the Central Park side. We did a bit of window shopping when we reached mid-town, including a walk through the exorbitant Bergdorf Goodman. It seems that if money is no object, Bergdorf’s can set you up with a shirt, tie or scarf of any hue under the rainbow. The salespeople must have noticed that we were in fact not members of the group who can attest to the requisite stipulation and opted to let us window-shop unmolested.

Here’s a picture of the gold-plated equestrian statue of General Sherman which one may view in the south-east corner of Central Park, which is just kitty-corner to Bergdorf’s.

I think it is interesting to compare this equestrian statue to the one of Thedore Roosevelt on the steps of the American Museum of Natural History. Sherman is of course infamous for his march to the sea, during which he accelerated the end of the Civil War by razing every city he passed. It reminds me a bit of Truman, and the decision he faced, knowing that there was a way, unspeakable though it may be, to bring about a rapid end to conflict. Each man was haunted for the rest of his days with the worry whether the price they paid was worth the lives that were theoretically spared by their actions. But I digress…

Then further down 5th Ave. to St. Patrick’s Cathederal and Rockefeller Center. Some things in Manhattan are difficult to photograph, because one simply can not get far enough away to shoot the entire subject without there being something else in the way…. one must perforce be more creative.

Then down to 42nd St. and the Manhattan Public Library. Okay, there are many, many branches of the Manhattan Public Library. But this is the mid-town research library. You may also recall seeing this building at the beginning of the seminal 80’s theater experience, Ghostbusters. It is a beautiful building, which also happened to be showing an exhibition of rare maps. We stopped in for a quick look at the cartography and learned some interesting things about the way the world was once perceived. For example, there seems to have been a long stretch of time where it was believed that California was an island off the west coast of North America. We also learned that Australia was once referred to as New Holland. Our most surprising discovery, however, was not on the maps, but rather when we learned that the Manhattan Public Library also had on display a copy of the Gutenberg Bible. It was a rare treat indeed to be able to see full extant copy (apparently there are still 45 copies left in the world) of the first printed book. Here’s a shot of a portion of the library.

Friday nights, the Museum of Modern Art allows patrons to view their collection free of charge (interesting…is one still a patron when not paying?). Though we had little time before our dinner reservations with Tara and Loren (more on that to follow), we decided to stop in MoMA and view the most seminal works with much celerity. I’ve talked about MoMA before, so I won’t belabor the point, but suffice to say that as one of the first museums to seriously collect modern art, they have many of the most important works of the early 20th century. The hour we could spare was definitely short shrift, but it really was all we had.

Then back to the west side of town, to a restaurant in Central Park known as Tavern on the Green, where we met up with fellow Willamette alumni, Tara and Loren, who were kind enough to make the reservations for dinner to celebrate my birthday. What did I ever do to deserve such congenial friends? Oddly enough, we recognized the interior of the restaurant as also having been used in the movie Ghostbusters (the scene where Rick Moranis’ character is finally overtaken by Zuul, the demon-dog, and he every-so-briefly interrupts the dinner of the New York well-to-doer’s. Fortunately, our dinner was only to be interrupted by a slightly forward photographer. They seem to have a racket in selling personal snapshots of one’s experience at Tavern on the Green. Notwithstanding, the meal was excellent. And, as it was restaurant week in NYC, they had a prix-fixe menu that allowed us to enjoy a three-course dinner at a more affordable rate. Here’s a picture of the four of us after due fêting.

As our meal included a dessert, there was nothing left to do but to end the night with some British comedy. I retrieved my DVDs of the second-funniest British comedy ever conceived, Black Adder, and we watched a few episodes from the excellent second season before calling it a night.

Two museums, and a walking tour of central Manhattan seems a good way to spend a day in NYC.

- Jeremy

I arrived early this morning in my sometime home-away-from-home New York City. Due to the pounding rain, and the somewhat cookie-cutter nature of large-city airports (not to mention the lack of any significant contiguous sleep) I had a bit of a surreal moment deplaning where I felt I hadn’t actually left Portland at all. But a 10-hour hop, skip and a jump after leaving Salem, I find myself back in the Upper West Side.

I’m glad this is to be my final semester. It’s not that I dislike The City—it’s just getting harder and harder to leave home each semester. With only four months remaining until commencement, the end is very near.

The Christmas break was excellent, if brief. Julie and I managed to catch a couple of movies, King Kong and Munich. Both were very well done and well worth seeing. We also had an opportunity to hit the Portland Art Museum and see the Hesse exhibit that was visiting. There was a real first-rate Hans Holbein Madonna there. What an amazing artist.

We also had a bit of bad news. Rocky, our eldest male ferret, has been showing some signs of insulinoma. A trip to the vet confirmed that is the case, so he’s on some medicine now that should help to keep his blood-sugar level high enough to prevent any significant problems, though it does nothing to remove the underlying problem (a pancreatic tumor). You may remember that Rocky is a cancer surviver, who had his right adrenal gland removed a couple years back.

Much less significantly, but no less costly, Julie’s PC decided to go toes-up. Unfortunately this happened on the day I was to leave, so there wasn’t enough time for me to get replacement parts and assemble them myself. But we’ve ordered parts, and my excellent good friend, Paul, has graciously agreed to put it all together when they come in. Hopefully Julie will only be without a computer for a week or so.

Four weeks seems like such a long time at the onset, but much less so at the end of the time. I suppose I should bear that in mind for the coming semester. There is still so much to do. Wish me luck.

- Jeremy