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NYC notes...
Jan. 21st, 2002 11:17 pmLast Wednesday, I was visiting a small robotics company located in New York City... apart from their work for several NASA missions, they also did the animated Coke sign in Times Square. They are located on the upper floors of a building that was once one of Edison's dc power generating stations, back when ac and dc were competing to be the power distribution standard. There apparently are businesses in NYC, especially in the garment district, that were grandfathered such that ConEd is required to provide them still with dc power.
The business is expanding slowly, and needs more room. The co-owner commented that the landlord was going to open up underground vaults that stretched under the street, sealed for 65 years (to avoid paying taxes on them). He said, "but this is Little Italy -- we're almost afraid of what we'll find sealed up in there since the Depression." Bodies, or guns, or ??? Certainly a change from the safe, low-key, lookalike suburban sites where NASA centers and aerospace companies tend to locate ;-).
Reverting to college days (in the late 70s and early 80s, the Kendall Square area in Cambridge used to be streets full of old warehouses and little shops, mostly empty at night), and following advice from clairaide, I wandered the streets until 1-2am both nights. Lots of little vignettes, a few of which I mentioned last week. But my NASA colleagues thought I was crazy to go out after dark, alone... one (from Alberquerque) said, " I wouldn't set foot on those streets alone without a .45 handy." Sigh.
And then there was dinner, Wednesday night, with a friend (F) that I knew only from IM/IRC, e-mail and newsgroup postings (not LJ, though:-). We sometimes IM for over an hour before I even notice the time... so we both felt comfortable sharing personal details of our lives with the other. But we were both just a collection of electrons, so to speak. I really didn't care what F looked like, or sounded like. In preparation for a face-to-face meeting, I prepared by imagining F in a variety of shapes, sizes and postures, so I hopefully wouldn't stare or act silly when we met.
(F's apt. building has an actual elevator operator, by the way... a short guy (Carlos) in a little outfit that manually stops it at a given floor and pulls the doors open. Only in NYC, I guess...)
I was taken aback, anyway. F proved to be talented, lovely, charming, and witty. F played the harp and sang (!!), with a beautiful voice. It was fun, once I got over my initial nervousness. F said I looked about as expected. And F seemed initially a bit nervous, likewise. But we talked, we went out for a late dinner up Broadway, talked another couple of hours, hugged outside F's building, and parted. I took the subway back to the hotel.
Both of us at various times did little start-to-reach-out-then-pull-back moves, managing to not hold hands or cuddle. Probably not wanting to give any signal that could be over-construed as an invitation on F's part, and not wanting to seem forward or pushy on my part. Hard to get body language right, early on... impedance-matching.
We've IM'ed once since then, and it still felt comfortable. Which I had been worried about -- would I start reacting differently now that I could envision the beautiful, charming person on the other side? Would I start gushing, or be less open or incisive? Or flirt more? I'm very glad I met F, but in some ways it was easier not knowing...
The business is expanding slowly, and needs more room. The co-owner commented that the landlord was going to open up underground vaults that stretched under the street, sealed for 65 years (to avoid paying taxes on them). He said, "but this is Little Italy -- we're almost afraid of what we'll find sealed up in there since the Depression." Bodies, or guns, or ??? Certainly a change from the safe, low-key, lookalike suburban sites where NASA centers and aerospace companies tend to locate ;-).
Reverting to college days (in the late 70s and early 80s, the Kendall Square area in Cambridge used to be streets full of old warehouses and little shops, mostly empty at night), and following advice from clairaide, I wandered the streets until 1-2am both nights. Lots of little vignettes, a few of which I mentioned last week. But my NASA colleagues thought I was crazy to go out after dark, alone... one (from Alberquerque) said, " I wouldn't set foot on those streets alone without a .45 handy." Sigh.
And then there was dinner, Wednesday night, with a friend (F) that I knew only from IM/IRC, e-mail and newsgroup postings (not LJ, though:-). We sometimes IM for over an hour before I even notice the time... so we both felt comfortable sharing personal details of our lives with the other. But we were both just a collection of electrons, so to speak. I really didn't care what F looked like, or sounded like. In preparation for a face-to-face meeting, I prepared by imagining F in a variety of shapes, sizes and postures, so I hopefully wouldn't stare or act silly when we met.
(F's apt. building has an actual elevator operator, by the way... a short guy (Carlos) in a little outfit that manually stops it at a given floor and pulls the doors open. Only in NYC, I guess...)
I was taken aback, anyway. F proved to be talented, lovely, charming, and witty. F played the harp and sang (!!), with a beautiful voice. It was fun, once I got over my initial nervousness. F said I looked about as expected. And F seemed initially a bit nervous, likewise. But we talked, we went out for a late dinner up Broadway, talked another couple of hours, hugged outside F's building, and parted. I took the subway back to the hotel.
Both of us at various times did little start-to-reach-out-then-pull-back moves, managing to not hold hands or cuddle. Probably not wanting to give any signal that could be over-construed as an invitation on F's part, and not wanting to seem forward or pushy on my part. Hard to get body language right, early on... impedance-matching.
We've IM'ed once since then, and it still felt comfortable. Which I had been worried about -- would I start reacting differently now that I could envision the beautiful, charming person on the other side? Would I start gushing, or be less open or incisive? Or flirt more? I'm very glad I met F, but in some ways it was easier not knowing...
