Day 332/365 - I Cover the Waterfront

Caught the 9:30 train up to New York today, checked into my hotel, swung by TKTS to get a discount seat for "The 39 Steps," and then headed over to the South Street Seaport to tour some old ships, check out the Seaport Museum, and wander along the riverbank for a while.

Then it was back to the hotel to change and off to dinner at Wolfgang's Steakhouse. I hadn't been out for steak in a while so I figured I'd go get a good one while I was in New York and I did. I ordered the filet mignon and it was several inches thick and as soft as butter. Damn, it was good. After dinner, it was time for the show. "The 39 Steps" is a comic adaptation of the old Hitchcock movie about spies and murder. The cast of four plays dozens of parts in a hammy, over-the-top style and there are lots of quick costume changes. It's even got shadow puppets. It's a funny, imaginative play.

When the play ended, I stopped by the Junior's in Time Square for my post-theatre cheesecake and coffee and then headed back to my hotel to listen to an episode of the old Damon Runyon Theater radio program on my iPod before falling into bed.

Thus went the first day of my weekend getaway.

(Taken with my Nikon D90)

Day 331/365 - Choo Choo Ch'Boogeying

A couple weeks ago I decided to spend Labor Day weekend in NYC, so today during lunch I walked over to Union Station to pick up the ticket for my train ride north tomorrow morning. I had been waffling over whether or not to go until I got lucky and snagged a $159 a night rate at the Best Western at the South Street Seaport off Quikbook. When I looked into booking directly through BW, they were going to charge me over $300 per night. No, thanks. Then I found the same room at the same hotel for half-price on Quikbook. Yes, please. Damn, I sound like a commercial.

Anyhow, tomorrow I head up to NYC. The plan is to see the mariner's museum, Highline Park, the Cloisters, the City Museum, 125th Street (the 'main street' of Harlem), have dinner at Wolfgang's Steak House and a beer at McSorley's Ale House, catch "The 39 Steps" on Broadway, get some cheesecake from Junior's, go to a jazz concert at Birdland, walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, and spend some time sitting on the beach at Coney Island. And maybe squeeze in visits to the Met, Central Park, and the MoMA. All between 1 p.m. Saturday and 4 p.m. Monday.

Ambitious, but do-able.

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Day 330/365 - Good Stuff

I met up with Jenn and Erin for lunch at Good Stuff Eatery on Capitol Hill today. Good Stuff is a gourmet burger joint owned by "Top Chef" alumnus Spike Mendelsohn. We'd planned on lunching at Sonoma, but it turned out they were closed for the week (?!) so we fell back on Good Stuff.

Erin and Jenn were nice enough to wait for me, even though I was 15 minutes late (sorry!) due entirely to poor planning on my part (I didn't think the line at the bank would move that slooooooooowly). I hate being late. It's just rude and inconsiderate.

I'd been to Good Stuff a couple times before and had tried their patty melt and a bbq bacon cheeseburger. Both were yummy. This time I opted for the turkey burger with a dollop of old bay mayo, a small order of rosemary fries, and a strawberry shake. Yum on all counts. (Note for next time, try the toasted marshmallow shake)

The company today was even better than the food. The three of us held forth on such varied subjects of discourse as the inanity of "Twilight" and its fans, the fact that Nicholas Sparks is just plain mean, Jenn's decade long sabbatical from eating pork (which she'd broken just in time to get bacon on her burger today), melon soup, and the blasphemous heathens who are the new owners of Julia Child's old house in Massachussetts.

Good stuff, indeed.

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Day 329/365 - Iron Man

For this week's self-portrait we have me reflected in the soleplate of my iron. I hate ironing. The only downside to casual Friday is having to iron my shirts. My dress shirts for the rest of the workweek are all wrinkle-free, so that's not an issue. Someone needs to make wrinkle-free casual shirts.

It's not bad during fall/winter because then I can just throw on a sweatshirt along with my khakis and be good to go. But summer/spring require ironing. Or just saying 'the hell with it' and leaving the house all wrinkledy. I am known to do that as well.

Okay, time to quit stalling and go iron up this batch of shirts in a steam-powered frenzy of flattening.

(Taken with my Nikon D90)

Day 328/365 - Scrabbleccino

For a change I actually got to play Scrabble against a human being tonight instead of jousting with my PC/iPod/iPhone. Erin M and I met up at Peregrine, a locally-owned coffeehouse in the Eastern Market section of Washington, DC, for coffee, pastry, and a rousing game of Scrabble. Although it verged on being a bit chilly by the time the game wrapped up, we sat outside on the patio and enjoyed the 'false fall' weather. We both suspect that DC is due for at least one more bout of hot, muggy, and nasty weather before we move into real fall.

It was a well-played contest. She started out ahead, but I slowly chipped away at her lead and edged into the front and then just as I was starting to anticipate a victory, she stormed back to the fore with a brilliant jowly/curry combo that made double use of a "Y" on a triple letter score spot and ran through a double word score space to boot. There was just no coming back from that. She wound up winning 309-300.

Rematch!

(Taken with my Nikon Coolpix S200)

Day 327/365 - Post-It Note Impression No. 10

Time for another one of my patented Post-It Note impressions. Quick, who am I this time?

(Taken with my Nikon D90)

Twice on Sunday Bonus Photo - One Thousand Paper Cranes

This week's extra photo from my archives is a shot I took of a thousand paper cranes hanging in the window of a salon in Georgetown a while back.

(Taken with my Nikon D90)

Day 326/365 - Flicker

flick⋅er /ˈflɪkər/ [flik-er]

–verb (used without object)
1. to burn unsteadily; shine with a wavering light: The candle flickered in the wind and went out.
2. to move to and fro; vibrate; quiver: The long grasses flickered in the wind.
3. to flutter.

–verb (used with object)
4. to cause to flicker.

–noun
5. an unsteady flame or light.
6. a flickering movement.
7. a brief occurrence or appearance: a flicker of hope.
8. Slang. A motion picture.
9. Ophthalmology. the visual sensation of flickering that occurs when the interval between intermittent flashes of light is too long to permit fusion.

Origin:
bef. 1000; ME flikeren (v.) OE flicorian to flutter; c. D flikkeren

This was just a fill-in shot because I spent the entire day sitting on my couch watching old movies about Broadway and touring companies, producers trying to stage shows, understudies becoming stars, and lots of singing and dancing. Because of that I didn't have anything to take photos of today, so I just looked around my apartment and shot this candle. After I started trying to think of a title for it though I realized it was the perfect shot for today.

Flicker is 1930s slang for a movie and its homonym is Flickr. So this shot manages to capture two of my loves -- old movies and photography. Plus it sort of looks like a melted tomato, and that's just cool.

(Taken with my Nikon D90)