Day 104 - Farewell to the Tache

Today is the day that I say farewell to the Ginger Lip Cap! Thank you to everyone that donated, put up with, starred in disgust and admired (admittedly there were not many of the latter).

The weather in NY is getting rather chilly and I think I am going to miss the face protection that my furry lip friend provided me with.

Day 103 - Pre-Historic Communication

The phrase;

"the pen is mightier than the sword"

is not really relevant in today's society. I feel that this phrase needs to be modernised, so to be in parallel with today's world;

"The tweet is mightier than the sword"

I will admit, that I am an avid user of such forms of modern communications but I am also partial to writing a letter once in a while. Although, it may seem an agent form of communication, compared to what we can send in a matter of nano seconds, I believe that the prowess of holding a letter which someone has taken their time to craft for you, beats a 140 character message any day!

Day 102 - Christmas Tree Lights @ The Rockefeller Centre

I went to see the Christmas Tree at Rockefeller Plaza have its lights switched on tonight. In my head it sounded like an awesome idea! I'd get in the festive mood, see a world famous event and watch a few global pop stars live, for free.

In reality though, my three hour wait, in two degree weather, on my own, unfortunately made it less than satisfying. It certainly was a YODO (You Only Do Once) moment rather than a YOLO (You Only Live Once) moment! It became clear that this wasn't going to be my evening for a decent picture, when a garbage truck pulled up right in front of the promenade that looks directly at the tree! Fantastic.

However, so I don't sound completely like a scrooge, I did really enjoy seeing Kermit, Mariah Carey and Rod Stewart perform. My ratings of the evening are below;

Christmas Tree Countdown and Switch on: 10/10

Atmosphere: 7/10

Mariah Carey's Miming: -3/10

Rod Stewart's ability to hit on his saxophone player while still singing: 10/10

Overall: 10/10 (I am in NY after all, so I can't complain too much).

My entry for photo of the year award.

Day 101 - $500 Million

After researching that I am eligible for the NY lottery, I thought it would be rude not to get caught up in the hype and buy myself a ticket!

I read earlier, that at the peak of ticket buying madness, 6 million tickets will be sold an hour! I should be an odds on favourite to win then! Watch this space.

Day 100 - TRIPLE FIGURES!

One hundred days have passed since I stepped onto NYC soil! It is very surreal to think that earlier this year, I was walking back from my lectures in Newcastle, pondering over whether my application to the Mountbatten Institute would turn into a reality and I would actually move to New York.

To carry on my fairytale, I decided to treat myself to a very fancy breakfast at Maison Kayser (3rd Av 74th Street). To any future visitors of mine, you can most definitely expect a visit to this outstanding 'Artisan Boulanger'. I highly recommend the chocolate pecan pastry and caramelised onion, spicy sausage and scrambled eggs on wholewheat bread combo. Fantastic!

Day 99 - Ground Zero

I visited Ground Zero today to pay my respects to the 9/11 monstrosities.

After an hour of staring at a blank screen and pressing my delete button over and over again, I have struggled to write what I deem to be a suitable entry for this delicate subject and have considered it to be beyond my blog composing capabilities.

One thing that I did notice about the memorial site, was that for the first time since I have moved to NYC, all I could hear was the sound of the fountains that were streaming into the abyss of the two pools. It was as if there was no traffic, no sirens, no constant buzz of the city, just a stark memory of what happened on September 11th 2001.

Day 98 - New York 7's

Today, the Mountbatten Bandits triumphed in the New York Sevens tournament; the largest and longest running sevens tournament in the United States! A group of the Mountbatten Institute's finest athletes (ahem!) grouped together, with very limited preparation and entered themselves into the Mens Social League.

The first game did not bode well for the longevity of our tournament. In simple terms... we lost to a canadian team from Quebec called Les Chabels and entered into the Mens Social league 'bowl'. However, this was to be the last loss of our time on Randall's Island.

Apart from the slight dilemma of being momentarily disqualified from the tournament for not turning up to a game on time, there were no further issues with our progression (N.B - I refuse to accept this as our fault. We were on the side of the pitch waiting to be told by the field captain to enter the field of play. This communication never took place! Even after a number of enquiries from various members of our team asking when we should step foot on to the pitch). We won each game all the way to the final, with an end result of 5Wins and 1Loss.

Our concluding game was a dead heat at 12 - 12 when the final whistle blew and we found ourselves playing for the golden point. The Mountbatten Bandits received the kick off and held possession for five phases, until the ball was then passed with haste, down the back line to the final receiver, ME! I sprinted down the touch line with what seemed like the pace of a cheeter on fire, however in reflection, I probably resembled a donkey stuck in quick sand. Not to worry though, I was in support by the rest of my beloved team mates and I off loaded the ball for them to go on and score!

You would think that after the efforts that we had put in, we would all run and celebrate to the empowered try scorer. Instead we gave a measly cheer, pathetic punch to the sky and a hefty collapse to the floor.

Who cares though... WE WON! Massive congratulations to;

Antoni Domanski, Nick Abbott, James Greenwood, Will Cooper, Matthew Arundel, Dillan Montoute, Arron Foy, Ruari Wheeler, Dan Bedford, Toby (some bloke we met on a night out), Craig (a self entitled 'sevens prostitute' who played for us on the day - and about 6 other teams!).

The winning try! Good Effort Will.

The blood is from the first game, when I managed to bust my nose! 

Day 97 - Black Friday

To those of you who are not in the know, Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving where retailers open ridiculously early and put on store wide promotional sales.

We got off the train around 12am at Penn Station, which just so happens to be right round the corner from Macy's! Being British, I am used to queuing, however, these were just crazy! The lines down fifth avenue were wrapping around the blocks, with many stores having ques outside of the shops. Even Skechers had a massive que! SKECHERS!

Day 96 - Happy Thanksgiving

I have to admit, I have a pretty big appetite but nothing could prepare me for the amount of food that I was going to eat today!

We started the day off by having pancakes and bacon at the local iHop. Common sense would tell you not too eat too many as you will be having a big meal later on! Mine did not come through and I ignored the diet angel in my head and instead followed the lard devils instructions. EAT!

The Thanksgiving meal was fantastic! The pictures will do a better job of explaining its immenseness.

I obviously managed to squeeze in some American Football and Macy's Day parade watching when I wasn't overloading on the carbfest.

Day 95 - Thanksgiving Eve

I considered myself very lucky for my first Thanksgiving in the USA. I was invited to my flatmates relatives in Princeton, NJ (where Einstein taught). To warm up for the feast that we were going to tuck into the next day; we ate steak, drank beer and did lengths in the hot tub! You can never neglect the cardio after all.

To reconfirm that I had made the right decision for Thanksgiving, their house had a MAN CAVE. It included a poker table, a pool table, a ping pong table and copious amounts of beer. Perfect!

Day 94 - Open Sesame

I visited Scream coffee house (42nd Mad Av) for a pre-meeting pick me up. Wishing only for a beverage, I was instead presented with a connendrum.

The door to the restroom had what I thought to be a very tricky puzzle to gain access. After a solid 20 seconds of staring in bemusement, I became convinced that the secret password to gain access was;

Missionary.

I asked the barista whether I was right, and I will be honest with you, I expected to be given a well done star and some gold plated toilet paper! I was instead gazed upon like an idiot and told that there was no password, I just had to push!

This is the biggest disappointment NYC has handed me so far.

Day 93 - Little bag of thanks!

I was very appreciative of the sugar coated giving of thanks on a Monday morning. Thanksgiving week is going to be fun!

Day 92 - A Traditional NY Family

After class, while on the way to rugby training, I walked past the craziest family. As I did not want to be seen by any of them, I had to take a 'stealth shot' just in case I got eaten by the Dad who was the size of a Polar Bear... on steroids!

I am going to attempt a detailed description of each member. So here goes...

Family Member 1 - The Man - He was, with no exaggeration, one of the biggest men I have ever witnessed. He was pimp swaggering down 34th, with all white Dre. Beat headphones in and F1 driver style sunglasses. To compliment his white headphones, he was wearing a white beanie; white trackies; a white puffa jacket and of course, all white Nike Air sneakers. If you just picture a polar bear in a 50 Cent video, you are not far from what he looked like.

Family Member 2 - The Women - She barely reached the mans belly button. She did however make up with her height by wearing more jewellery and makeup than Macy's and Bloomingdales put together. Kim Kardashian watch out!

Family Member 3 - Child No. 1 - V. Cute. All brown, knitted onesie and baby UGG's. Clearly the leader of the bunch.

Family Member 4 - Child No. 2 - This kid doesn't walk. This kid doesn't listen to music through headphones. This kid doesn't drive with her arms at ten to two... Wait! Drive?
This pampered princess was driving in her fully automated mini-jeep, leaning one arm on her door, while the other is casually resting on the top of the steering wheel. As she drove down the middle of the pavement, she was in no way scared of using her horn to nudge people that wouldn't move. And of course there was a boom box strapped to the back of her miniature gangster wagon playing at full blast.

This family were the epitome of swagger! HONY if you are reading this, they would be your profile picture for sure.

Day 91 - Eataly

Weird comment coming here, so brace your 'raised eyebrow, scrunched up face' look.

I miss Tesco! I mean the supermarkets over here are a very frustrating experience. There doesn't seem to be any order or logic as to where items are placed and the most distressing part is that there are far too many choices of peanut butter!

However, this was until I came across Eataly. Just over the road from Madison Square Park, it is an all encompassing, indoor, italian market. They sell an awe inspiring range of delectable good and fancies. We're talking freshly made, in front of your very own eyes pasta, the leanest of meats and fishes and not too mention an endless supply of terribly good looking pastries. This is a definite must for anyone coming to NY.

One downfall is that I am not sure the Mountbatten stipend can cope with a weekly Eataly shop! Thus meaning that I am going to have to put my shoulder pads and gum shield in and head back on down to Associated (the local supermarket).

I will be the first to admit that these pictures are probably my worst so far, as they don't really show Eataly off in all its glory. This may have something to do with my regular lunge towards a counter top to grab the many freebies on offer.

Day 90 - Friday Feeling

To celebrate that it's Friday, an office genius came up with the great idea of ordering Thai for lunch. Idea's like that will definitely put you on the pathway for promotion in my eyes! As I will be moving to Bangkok in little over nine months, I also saw it as an appropriate opportunity to develop my Thai palette.

Even mentioning that I will be moving to Thighland after living in NYC just seems surreal! I thought that 2012 was going to be pretty hard to trump but by the looks of what I have on my agenda for next year, I am not too sure know!

Day 89 - Lids

As promised in an earlier post, I am still on target to see all the major NY sports teams. I have decided that each team I go see, I am going to get their cap!

To those of you who know your US sports teams, you will recognise a Boston Red Socks cap in there. I am very aware that this isn't a team from the Empire State! I decided that to bulk up my collection, I will get the local teams cap of the new land that I discover. I believe this to be on the same scale as Christopher Columbus discovering America and bringing back treasures from the new land...