Monday, August 31, 2009
Smash
Had a bit of a car accident last week. I was coming home from a corporate class downtown, and I tail ended someone in the rush hour highway stop-and-go. Just after I changed lanes, the row ahead suddenly slammed on the brakes, and I was "too close" during the lane change to stop in time. I slammed on my brakes but I skidded (no ABS) into the car ahead. The damage looks about the same on both cars. A cop came by after and helped us straighten out the info for the collision reporting centre, and said the damage was probably in the neighbourhood of $2000 per car. The auto shops agreed with him when I got a repair appraisal done.
I didn't want to bother fixing it. (3rd party liability insurance) The car is probably worth less than $5000 already. All the electrical components still worked, so I set about replacing the missing plastic signal cowl masterfully with a plastic CD cover, speaker wire and some duct tape.
I wonder how much the insurance rates are going to go up by at the next renewal.
I notice that I'm leaving much more space in front as I drive now, and that I get stressed more easily if I have to drive during rush hour.
NO I HAVE NOT CRACKED OPEN THE DUTY FREE ALCOHOL YET.
Allen.
Monday, August 10, 2009
New York Sunday
Well we spent the rest of the weekend driving ourselves around New York City, we got tired of the whole taxi/shuttle business. It was an adventure of a different sort, related to parking tickets and a GPS that didn't know how to plot the way to the new Yankee Stadium.
We headed off in the morning to Manhattan Island again with a few destinations in mind. Gray's Papaya to break fast, the Carnegie Deli for lunch, a visit to Central Park, some shopping at B&H Electronics. (and of course, the Yankees game we'd gone to NY for in the first place)
The hot dogs in New York definitely taste a lot better than the hot dogs we get from the street vendors around here in Toronto. They remind me of smokies or bratwursts. Also they are not the jumbo things we get here, they actually are small enough to fit into a regular small hot dog bun. I'm told that getting a hot dog and a papaya juice is a classic new york meal. Gray's Papaya was the place we tried. They had a really tasty sauteed onion topping.
Here's their juice selection - tasted pretty decent
These were really tasty hot dogs. They were so good, we went back for more a second day
We walked all over the area south of Central park, there was a lot of shopping and a lot of people. By the time we wound our way up to the Carnegie Deli, we had worked up a bit of an appetite. However we were not prepared at all for the serious amounts of mouthwatering deli that awaited us.
I ordered a hot pastrami sandwich, and it was absolutely mountainous. Every bite was melt-in-your-mouth greasy goodness. Neither E or I could finish our sandwiches, running out of steam on the last quarter. F didn't even try to start the 2nd half.
Ordering a plate of onion rings and potato latkes on top of the 3 sandwiches was a bit of a mistake, but we couldn't pass them up. They were both excellent though - the rings were freshly battered and fried, and the latkes have put every other latke I've ever had to shame. (though admittedly I haven't had too many latkes before)
Afterwards we walked around Central Park to work off some of our lunch. We saw the John Lennon memorial mosaic, which was pretty nice:
After walking around Central Park for a good while, we decided to head to the B&H Electronics store was. F decided to take the transit to get there earlier. E and I walked, to get some more sights in on the way down, while F did his shopping.
We had some really bad smoothies at a Jamba Juice while taking a small break. I had a peach and E had a mango, and both of them tasted like ground-up cheap pez candy slush, with no real juice at all. Don't go there. Especially since the stuff costs more than the 2-hotdog and juice combo at Gray's Papaya. Something blew up in their preparation area and flooded the store with water (water, not juice) while we were there. I figured it was karma for selling us these gross drinks, I had to throw mine out before I finished a quarter of it. They also didn't have a washroom for customers. What the heck, Jamba people?!
Anyways we eventually got down to the B&H Electronics. They have a really cool system for delivering stock from the different departments over to the checkout - there was a motorized conveyor belt system overhead delivering green bins.
Did I mention they had a ton of everything there? It was incredible how much selection was available from TVs to professional mixing equipment, to astronomy telescopes. The only thing a little weird was the store hours - a huge electronics store that isn't open on Friday afternoon/evening or Saturday? I later heard that it was to observe the Jewish Sabbath though. I didn't know that religion played that much a role in running businesses these days.
After we wrapped up at the electronics store, we headed out to the Yankees game at the new stadium. It took a bit of trial and error since the GPS kept trying to direct us to the old stadium. While they are literally next door to each other, the available routes seems to have changed.
It was a pretty good game - The Red Sox were on top for a bit, and the Yankees took the lead in the end. Everyone was actually up out of their seats for the whole last inning and a half. Btw, we all got carded again for the beer we bought, each one of us at a separate area in the stadium.
Monday - we spent it driving back, basically. We stopped back in Manhattan to pick up some a custom order jersey for E, and I wanted another pastrami sandwich to bring back to Toronto. (it was that good and I wanted Kathy to try some, haha) Things were pretty uneventful, but we were happy that it was so, we were all pretty tired out from that crazy Sunday. We hit the highways - a couple of Timmies coffee breaks in between the driving, and we were back in Toronto.
Allen.
P.s. - Duty free alcohol is such a great deal. And they didn't card us either. :D
We headed off in the morning to Manhattan Island again with a few destinations in mind. Gray's Papaya to break fast, the Carnegie Deli for lunch, a visit to Central Park, some shopping at B&H Electronics. (and of course, the Yankees game we'd gone to NY for in the first place)
The hot dogs in New York definitely taste a lot better than the hot dogs we get from the street vendors around here in Toronto. They remind me of smokies or bratwursts. Also they are not the jumbo things we get here, they actually are small enough to fit into a regular small hot dog bun. I'm told that getting a hot dog and a papaya juice is a classic new york meal. Gray's Papaya was the place we tried. They had a really tasty sauteed onion topping.
Here's their juice selection - tasted pretty decent
These were really tasty hot dogs. They were so good, we went back for more a second dayWe walked all over the area south of Central park, there was a lot of shopping and a lot of people. By the time we wound our way up to the Carnegie Deli, we had worked up a bit of an appetite. However we were not prepared at all for the serious amounts of mouthwatering deli that awaited us.
I ordered a hot pastrami sandwich, and it was absolutely mountainous. Every bite was melt-in-your-mouth greasy goodness. Neither E or I could finish our sandwiches, running out of steam on the last quarter. F didn't even try to start the 2nd half.
Ordering a plate of onion rings and potato latkes on top of the 3 sandwiches was a bit of a mistake, but we couldn't pass them up. They were both excellent though - the rings were freshly battered and fried, and the latkes have put every other latke I've ever had to shame. (though admittedly I haven't had too many latkes before)
Afterwards we walked around Central Park to work off some of our lunch. We saw the John Lennon memorial mosaic, which was pretty nice:
After walking around Central Park for a good while, we decided to head to the B&H Electronics store was. F decided to take the transit to get there earlier. E and I walked, to get some more sights in on the way down, while F did his shopping.
We had some really bad smoothies at a Jamba Juice while taking a small break. I had a peach and E had a mango, and both of them tasted like ground-up cheap pez candy slush, with no real juice at all. Don't go there. Especially since the stuff costs more than the 2-hotdog and juice combo at Gray's Papaya. Something blew up in their preparation area and flooded the store with water (water, not juice) while we were there. I figured it was karma for selling us these gross drinks, I had to throw mine out before I finished a quarter of it. They also didn't have a washroom for customers. What the heck, Jamba people?!
Anyways we eventually got down to the B&H Electronics. They have a really cool system for delivering stock from the different departments over to the checkout - there was a motorized conveyor belt system overhead delivering green bins.
Did I mention they had a ton of everything there? It was incredible how much selection was available from TVs to professional mixing equipment, to astronomy telescopes. The only thing a little weird was the store hours - a huge electronics store that isn't open on Friday afternoon/evening or Saturday? I later heard that it was to observe the Jewish Sabbath though. I didn't know that religion played that much a role in running businesses these days.
After we wrapped up at the electronics store, we headed out to the Yankees game at the new stadium. It took a bit of trial and error since the GPS kept trying to direct us to the old stadium. While they are literally next door to each other, the available routes seems to have changed.
It was a pretty good game - The Red Sox were on top for a bit, and the Yankees took the lead in the end. Everyone was actually up out of their seats for the whole last inning and a half. Btw, we all got carded again for the beer we bought, each one of us at a separate area in the stadium.
Monday - we spent it driving back, basically. We stopped back in Manhattan to pick up some a custom order jersey for E, and I wanted another pastrami sandwich to bring back to Toronto. (it was that good and I wanted Kathy to try some, haha) Things were pretty uneventful, but we were happy that it was so, we were all pretty tired out from that crazy Sunday. We hit the highways - a couple of Timmies coffee breaks in between the driving, and we were back in Toronto.
Allen.
P.s. - Duty free alcohol is such a great deal. And they didn't card us either. :D
Sunday, August 9, 2009
More NY
We got to New York in the evening - our hotel is just outside of Manhattan, so we took a shuttle bus over to check out Times Square. People there drive as if crazy, 4 rows of cars in 3 lanes of traffic. Driving in left turn lanes to cut back into the regular lanes at the front. It was never this road-rage aggressive and uncivilized even in the asian cities I've been in, they are absolutely barbaric here.
Anyways, we walked around the Times Square area and it was pretty cool. We saw some famous eats and sights, although the restaurant we stopped at, one of a number of Tad's Steak places, was not that good. I wouldn't recommend the gristly steaks they serve there or their rare-cooked 'chopped steak' burgers. We also got carded for the beer we had. I guess we look under 21 even though E is going to be FORTY in a few more years.
I also tried some of the chicken skewers/kebabs they have at the street vendors, and while it was tasty (better than the restaurant, in fact) it did not settle very well. So I downed a bottle of coke, reasoning that it would dissolve it, and it seems to be working.
After we got back to the hotel, the three of us flipped coins to see who got beds and who got the folding cot - I'm the unlucky one who gets the cot. Oh well. >_<
Tomorrow we will hit a deli for lunch and then catch the baseball game.
Allen.
Anyways, we walked around the Times Square area and it was pretty cool. We saw some famous eats and sights, although the restaurant we stopped at, one of a number of Tad's Steak places, was not that good. I wouldn't recommend the gristly steaks they serve there or their rare-cooked 'chopped steak' burgers. We also got carded for the beer we had. I guess we look under 21 even though E is going to be FORTY in a few more years.
I also tried some of the chicken skewers/kebabs they have at the street vendors, and while it was tasty (better than the restaurant, in fact) it did not settle very well. So I downed a bottle of coke, reasoning that it would dissolve it, and it seems to be working.
After we got back to the hotel, the three of us flipped coins to see who got beds and who got the folding cot - I'm the unlucky one who gets the cot. Oh well. >_<
Tomorrow we will hit a deli for lunch and then catch the baseball game.
Allen.
Saturday, August 8, 2009
On the road to New York
This weekend, E and F and I are heading down to NY,NY to catch a Yankees game and bum around.
We rented a full size car for the smoother ride, and left this morning.
The border crossing was packed when we arrived, and took almost an hour of queuing to get through. We burned as much gas waiting as we did getting to the border.
I didn't realize how many Tim Hortons there are on the route. There is a Timmys every highway rest stop. We stopped at one at lunch. The medium coffee here is the large one back home.
Cheers eh,
Allen.
--
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