NYC Living

So today the Columbia library (Butler Library) had a wine & cheese reception for PhD students.  It wasn't as lame as it sounds.  They had candy corn, wine, cheese, crackers, cookies, and brownies. And it was great to meet other non-engineering students.  After that, there was a happy hour at Covo Lounge (135th St) for Women in Science at Columbia (WiSC). I took the 1 subway up to the 137th st stop, and then walked a block and then walked down a ton of stairs, because there's basically a huge cliff on the western side of Manhattan.  Anyway, Covo had great brick oven pizza and we had tons of tickets for free drinks so it was a good time.  Some guys even came out to support WiSC (aka get free pizza and drinks).  But I'm still learning the ropes of the subway system -- a couple weeks ago, I was taking the 2 uptown, and since there's been a ton of construction, the 2 and 3 have been making 1 local stops.  So I figured the 2 would stop at 116th St - Columbia University.  Not so.  The 2 line has a 116th St stop -- but at Malcolm X Blvd.  Let me tell you, a white girl should never be on a Malcolm X Blvd after dark, no matter what city it is.  So while I was waiting for a taxi, which apparently are very rare in Harlem, this guy comes up to me and tries to tell me that it's not a bad walk back to 122nd and Amsterdam.  Yeah, right, buddy.  He even offers to be my 'escort'.  Haha, um, no thanks.  I get in a taxi and and get dropped off at my door -- that $10 was definitely worth it to not have to walk through Harlem alone late at night.  Anyway, that was my first subway mistake, and today at 137th St., I walked down the stairs, swiped my MetroCard, and then realized that I was on the uptown platform -- and I wanted to go downtown -- and there was no way to get between the two without paying again.  Uggh!!  So I took the uptown train to 168th, where there was a free transfer.  Not too bad, but annoying. 

Parenthood

So this is the second season of Parenthood, an hour-long drama on NBC revolving around a large extended family.  Sounds pretty basic, right?  I would agree.  I never sit down and watch it and expect to cry, like I do with Grey's Anatomy, or to laugh out loud, like I do with Modern Family.  Watching Parenthood makes me feel....hopeful.  Which is kind of weird reaction for a tv show to cause.  Perhaps because the setting and characters and dialogue in Parenthood are so normal, that when I see the characters struggling with certain things (Autism, single parenthood, unemployment), and dealing with them (realistically, not in a wrap-everything-up-in-1-hour time frame) and still being happy, friendly, productive people, it gives me confidence and hope for human relationships.  Don't get me wrong, this isn't a show where everyone mopes about Autism or unemployment, or whatever.  The way these issues are integrated so seamlessly into a extraordinarily normal  family is amazing.  I would dare to say that with so many characters and relationships, every viewer can find a little bit of themselves in at least one of them.  I know I can.  I can definitely admit that most of the shows I watch I enjoy because I look at them for ways to improve my relationships or to solve relationship problems.  Grey's Anatomy, Parenthood, and Everwood (R.I.P) are some great relationship shows. 

One relationship I particularly love to learn from is the one between Julia and Joel.  From the NBC website:

Julia (Erika Christensen, "Traffic") is a successful corporate attorney trying to juggle work and motherhood, alongside her loving but increasingly restless stay-at-home husband, Joel (Sam Jaeger, "Eli Stone").

Joel

Julia

It's the first show I've seen that looks at the often ugly power dynamics when a highly successful, type A woman works while her more relaxed, easy-going husband stays home.  At first you want to believe that it's perfect, to disprove the notion that men aren't made to be stay-at-home dads.  But that would be too pretty for this show.  Instead, Parenthood uncovers all of the awkward situations that most people would never bring up in conversation, but that they experience very frequently--like how Julia is paranoid and jealous because Joel is around other stay-at-home moms all day, who flirt with him and find him attractive simply because he's a stay-at-home dad.  Julia is in a no-win situation, because if she doesn't say anything, who knows how much temptation Joel can take before he gives in? Some would simply say "Julia should have confidence in Joel and their marriage. Isn't that the whole meaning of marriage".  However, this is quickly dispelled as too idealistic for Parenthood.  Despite all of Julia's best intentions, Joel feels increasingly marginalized, ignored and powerless because of his stay-at-home role.  Even though Julia isn't causing these feelings purposefully, Joel pins them on her, and welcomes the attention of the other stay-at-home moms as a way to flaunt his freedom and decision-making power that he feels he has lost in other arenas.  Eventually another mom kisses Joel (but Julia and Joel manage to clear that hurdle).

The interesting conundrum I see in this situation is that it seems unavoidable.  No matter what Julia says or does, Joel will inherently feel disenchanted and unsatisfied in his role as stay-at-home dad, and will eventually find other outlets that will provide him with the satisfaction that he needs.  Unfortunately, because Joel mistakenly pins his unhappiness on Julia (even though it's actually a result of a mismatch between his personality and needs and the current situation he finds himself in) he doesn't see Julia as someone who can provide that satisfaction because he thinks she took it away. This Julia-Joel relationship on Parenthood has made me think, a lot, about how, or if, a stay-at-home Dad situation could ever be successful.

Chinese Food

So I cooked chicken and broccoli (a Chinese dish) for dinner tonight.  And my roommate (from Hong Kong) came in and was like "What did you make? That smells really good".  Cooking WIN. 

Parking in NYC

So I would really like a car in New York.  I can't find anything I want in grocery stores around here and I feel trapped.  So I've been looking into my options.  There's a parking garage on my street that costs like $350 per month, which is insane.  There's free street parking on my street, and you only have to move your car from 11 am to 12:30 pm Monday and Friday for street cleaning.  That's not too bad.  And then that same garage on my street has a ton of Zipcars.  I have a love-hate relationship with Zipcars.  At first, they seem like an awesome idea but they're really only good for short trips.  They don't allow you to drive it from point A to point B and leave it at point B.  So if I wanted to use it to drive to New Haven, I would be paying the daily rate of $66 for however many days I was there.  But, I looked it up and there are a ton of Zipcars in New Haven.  So I could conceivably take the train to New Haven and then just use Zipcars for any places and fun things we wanted to do there.  And then I could also use a Zipcar in NYC to get to places I'm dying to go to, like this shopping mall called Gateway Center that has a Best Buy, Target, Home Depot, Bed Bath and Beyond, and a BJs.  All of of those names sound heavenly to me, after being stuck in Manhattan for the past month with only little dinky independent stores with crappy selection and high prices.  I am not ashamed to admit that I would choose a chain store any day, with it's spacious aisles, good selection, quality goods, low prices, and pleasant atmosphere.  Perhaps I should just move to a NYC suburb and commute in? Hah, we'll see : )

Question of the day

Since all bread is square/rectangular, why do they make the pre-packaged sliced turkey/ham/chicken etc. in round slices? 

Chlorine

So I've been going to the Columbia gym about once a day since I got here.  The gym is actually entirely underground, underneath the main quad.  And the path that I walk must go right on top of the pool, because it always smells of chlorine.  And I've been realizing that the smell of chlorine is a very happy one for me -- it's linked very strongly with memories of endless summer days by the pool, where the hardest choice was whether to play Marco Polo or do to handstands in the shallow end.  I just thought it was funny how such a mundane, industrial smell can instantaneously put me in a good mood.  Are there smells that do that for you? 

Boston - Friday night and Saturday

So for Labor Day weekend, Daniel and I went up to Boston to celebrate our 4-year anniversary (on September 8).  We both took buses from our respective cities, and met up at the Boston bus station around 11:30 pm on Friday night.  I really enjoyed my bus ride -- it was on Megabus, leaving from Penn Station.  They just told us to meet on a random street corner, but when you get there, they have this whole efficient operation in place.  Buses are leaving literally every 5 or 10 minutes -- to Baltimore, Boston, Philly, DC, you name it -- so they have 2 or 3 guys directing incoming buses, having people form lines for each destination, and then announcing boarding.  I was very impressed -- all those steps only took like 10 minutes, from the bus stopping to the bus leaving again. 

I took Megabus from NYC to Boston

The lobby of the Ames Hotel

Guestroom in the Ames Hotel

Inside the Paramount

Typical food at Paramount for brunch

I had fun riding up to Boston since I managed to get the front seat on the 2nd floor of the bus.  So I had this huge, expansive window in front of me and I had a great view of all the stuff we were driving by.  I got a good glimpse at the new Yankee stadium on the way out of NYC!  On the way up there, we ran into Hurricane Earl on the outskirts of Boston, but it really wasn't much, just a rainstorm.  So Daniel and I met up at the bus station and caught a taxi to our hotel, the Ames Hotel, right in the middle of Boston. We were right next to 2 subway stations, and across the street from the Old State House, one of the key landmarks on the Freedom Trail.  Since we were tired from our trips, we went to bed like right away.   The next morning, we asked our hotel concierge for a good place to have brunch.  We tells us it's the Paramount, in the Beacon Hill section of Boston.  It was about a 15 minute walk over there, but really lovely, since we walked through Boston Commons and the quaint residential sections of Beacon Hill.  But, the Paramount was SO good that everyone in Boston knows it's good, so there was like a 1 hour wait.  We waited it out, though, partly because we'd already waited awhile, partly because we were hungry and the food looked good, and partly because we had just gotten to Boston and had no idea of another place to eat.  The Paramount is a made-to-order place, so you grab a tray, tell 'em what you want, you see it being made, and then you pick it up and pay for it.  I got some delicious chocolate chip pancakes and then ate some fruit from Daniel's fruit bowl : ) 

The red brick line -- the Freedom Trail!

Granary burying ground

Mosaic at the site of the first public school

With our stomachs full, we set off to conquer the Freedom Trail.  The Freedom Trail is a collection of historic buildings in Boston -- churches, graveyards, houses, statues, monuments, etc.  But they're not marked or labeled, so they make some money by selling you booklets that guide you along the path (which is marked on the street by a brick red line!), or by going on guided tours.  I bought a booklet in the visitor's center, and we set off.  The weather was absolutely perfect, so we took our time strolling through Boston Commons. One interesting stop was Granary burying ground, where Sam Adams, John Hancock, etc. are buried. The gravestones were mostly from 1660-1800ish, and alot of them were in bad shape and illegible, as you would think after 300 years. But there a couple that were crystal clear, and it was amazing.  People have started leaving pennies on the famous guys' headstones, for good luck I guess. We wandered to some other churches and graveyards, and then went to the site of the first public school.  There was a beautiful old building in the Federal style, marble with columns, but it's been turned into a Ruth's Chris Steakhouse.  Still, there was a pretty mosaic on the sidewalk outside commemorating the public school. 

Me in front of the Old State House and Boston Massacre Site

Next was the Old State House, which is the only building on the Freedom Trail with its own museum and gift shop and stuff.  They had a little tour about the site of the Boston Massacre, which was right outside, and it was basically a narrative of what happened that night, and how it was used by the rebels as propaganda for their cause.  The museum inside was pretty interesting, a basic overview of revolutionary Boston and a room of artifacts.  Daniel found the cane that Senator Preston Brooks (from South Carolina) used to beat another Senator with, from the debates about slavery before the Civil War.

After the Old State House, we wandered to Faneuil Hall.  It was pretty touristy, with street performers, souvenir vendors, and chain stores.  The actual historic building has a food marketplace on the first level, and the historic meeting room on the second level, which is actually still used for a lot of civic events.  We ended up eating at a pub there, because we had to quickly catch the subway to go to a Boston Red Sox game!

Us in front of Faneuil Hall

We took the T to Fenway Park, and our seats ended up being great!  They were like in the first level on the 1st base line.  Definitely the closest seats I've ever had at a game, and the view was amazing.  We got some typical stadium food, like beer and icecream.  Unfortunately, the Red Sox lost to the Chicago White Sox : (

The view from our seats

More to come on Sunday and Monday's activities tomorrow....