NYC prospects

[jay]

Another week, another business trip... this time to a strange land where I haven't been in 14 years -- Manhattan. There's a robotics company in the SoHo/downtown area. For some reason, this seems weird... why more than if it were, say, in downtown Boston or LA? I'm staying in the southeastern tip of Manhattan, near Canal St. and Lafayette -- any friends (clairaide ?)have any suggestions for restaurants or things to do down there?

Wednesday night I will meet a friend (for the first time) that I've been communicating online with for months, in the alt.poly newsgroup and in chat. I've never tried the "meet online and then in person" approach to making friendships before, and I'm a bit nervous...

I also feel a bit strange because this meeting with Honeybee has been already postponed twice... originally it was set for 9/11, then bumped to 9/13 because Honeywell moved their RLV review to 9/10-11 in Phoenix. I was due then to stay in the WTC Marriott, across the street from one of the towers. I don't think the hotel exists anymore. Creepy. And the 9/13 meeting obviously got bumped again, ultimately to this week.

Comments

[hopeforyou.livejournal.com]

If I think about it, sinboy and I could probably come up with some places to see...but clairaide has been there more recently and would know about places which are definitely still open.

BTW, I still have some keys of yours. Let me know in email if there's some chance you could stop by and pick them up, or if I can drop them off at some point.(with side note that if I can put off sitting in the car for now -- I will)

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Done...

[treacle-well.livejournal.com]

Enjoy Manhattan! And the visit with your friend. A.P. cons aside I believe I've met two people in person for the first time after being friends online (via newsgroup and email, plus a bit of snail mail), and both meetings went very, very well. That's a datapoint that might subdue a small amount of your nervousness. I wish you similar good vibes.

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

Thanks! It is reassuring that your experiences have gone well. I think
alt.polycons are a bit different, given that lots of folks haven't met face-to-face (but there is a kind of safety in numbers).

And this trip also reminds me that after the 9/13 postponed meeting, I also missed going to Boston the following day ;-(, where I would have seen you there. This time, my MIT colleagues are (slightly ironically) at a conference in Reno, so I'll have to see them later...

[rosefox]

Um. Gosh. *) What sort of info do you want?

Food: Eat lunch at a hole-in-the-wall in Chinatown and then walk up to Little Italy for dessert. Get steak at Soho Steak (just what it says) or roti canai at Penang. Have coffee at my favorite cafe. Find real New York pizza at John's or Patsy's-on-23rd or Grimaldi's (it's just over the Brooklyn Bridge) or Ray's Famous Pizza of Greenwich Village (not to be confused with any other Ray's Pizza). Try to keep a straight face while ordering steamed little juicy buns at Sammy's Noodle Shop.

Sights: Skip the Statue of Liberty. Visit Ground Zero if you want to, though there's not much to see these days; it just looks like a construction site. But it still may be worth making a pilgrimage. Go up to Rockefeller Center, read the inscription at the rink, and then go down the block and stare at St. Patrick's Cathedral for a while. Visit the Cloisters if you have time to go uptown. Grab one of these books for more suggestions; 50 Best Places To Find Peace & Quiet is one of my favorites.

Use http://www.ny.com/ and http://newyork.citysearch.com/ with abandon. Or just wander. Explore. New York is one of the world's best walking cities. You'll find far more than I could ever tell you about.

Have fun!

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

Wow. Thanks. That's more than I can manage in one 36-hour business trip, but maybe I can hit a couple and wander. I admit that I'm slightly apprehensive about this trip because it is unfamiliar ground. Almost anywhere that I visit in the US will be smaller, less teeming and complex than the SF Bay area, generally, but this time the converse will apply. Overseas, I give myself time to acclimate and observe. (I won't debate whether there's a language barrier here :-) Thanks for the pointers and encouragement :-). And I noted that you didn't mention South St. Seaport...

Actually, I found myself sitting in the cab from Penn Station, watching the streets and visualizing you there in your jacket with buttons... in your native environment, so to speak.

Now, out of the hotel and off to dinner, somewhere.

[rosefox]

There is nothing to mention about the South Street Seaport. Don't bother. *) The best thing I can say for it is that a Discordian I know who worked in the Financial District used to get his Friday hotdogs there.

My native environment... yes, it is that. Maybe sometime I'll get to show you around in person and you'll see just how much I change--watch the set of my shoulders relax as I cross West 14th Street from Chelsea into the Village, and no matter where I am I'll be walking at roughly 1.5 times the speed I walk in SF and environs. I feel at home here, but when I'm in New York, the city welcomes me, wraps around me and hugs me and sets up a big neon sign over my head that says "I belong here". Ask wcg or kshandra what it's like to walk through the Village with me. *grin* I don't really know what it looks like, I just know how it feels.

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

Shown around in person? Now *that* would be fun sometime... not just because it is Your City, but to watch how it changes you. (Imagining Rose in Washington Square or walking up Greenwich Avenue... grin)

[rosefox]

Heh. Yeah. I look... different. Maybe sometime we can walk through the Haight on a Saturday night or something... that might approximate it. Sort of. *)