Giving Thanks for Thanksgiving!!

Ahhh, how is everyone? Stuffed to the gills after over doing it on Thanksgiving?? I am well and thoroughly enjoying my 4 day weekend, it's been so nice so far. The best thing being the amount of sleep I've managed to get. It's blissful, I should try sleeping for 8-9 hours a night more often, it takes years off me.

On Thanksgiving Day I had a mellow lunch with my friend Nigel, fellow Brit and fellow Thanksgiving orphan, at Spring St Bar & Natural followed by a movie, Unstoppable, which was not bad actually. Better than I expected it to be at any rate and pleasingly brief in this age of the 2+ hour movie, at just under an hour and 40 minutes. I always find that most movies could do with being shortened by a good 15-minutes, like the Harry Potter movie that I saw on Friday for example. It dragged on a bit in places and would have benefitted from quarter of an hour being chopped from the middle, although for the most part I enjoyed it.

It's amazing I got out at all to be honest. I was loathe to step foot outside my apartment on Black Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year when everyone and his dog is out and about doing their holiday shopping and the stores are abuzz with bargains. On the few occasions my parents have been in town for the Thanksgiving Holiday my mother has coerced me into going to Macy's with her - an experience I avoid at the best of times, but my mother thinks she'll miss out on a bargain if she doesn't jump into the fray - while my father gets to stay at home and tackle 'any jobs' I need doing - affixing kitchen roll holders to my tiled wall etc - and it was just as unpleasant as I imagined what with all the unnecessary pushing and shoving, feeling all overheated in your 3 layers of clothing and almost succumbing to an asthma attack while taking a short cut through the perfume department.

I do as much of my shopping online as I can and my mother accuses me of contributing to the decline of the High Street, but it's the fact that the High St is so clearly not in decline, if the number of people on the streets are any indication, that keeps me away from the stores and in front of my computer. I let the shopping come to me.

Typically post Thanksgiving marks the start of my hibernation period, but I've been staying in far too much this year, so prior to seeing the Harry Potter movie I took myself up to the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum on 91st and 5th to check out the National Design Triennial exhibit. I've been meaning to check out the museum for a few years now, but until this weekend I hadn't got around to it. I've no excuse really, because I only live about 15minutes walk away, but I can give no real reason other than that it would slip my mind - I've started keeping a 'to do' list of things I should check out in NYC. Between you and me I nearly ditched it on Friday in favour of staying at home and reading a book I'm really enjoying - Red Bones by Ann Cleeves - but then I happened to notice that the exhibit closes in early January and I just knew that if I didn't go there and then I would miss it, so I got my arse into gear and walked up to the museum, trying my best to skirt the shopper hoards clogging 86th street. I'm really glad I did.

Unfortunately photography isn't allowed in the Cooper Hewitt, so the photos below aren't from the exhibit, but other websites. The exhibit is categorized into 8 areas: energy, mobility, community, materials, prosperity, health, communication, simplicity.

My absolute favourite piece of the exhibit was this idea for invisible streetlights by Korean designer Jongoh Lee.

Image from Coroflot.com.

Aren't they beautiful? The lights can be wrapped around tree branches so that they are difficult to detect during the day as they mingle with the natural surroundings. They use a 'photocapacitor' that converts solar energy absorbed during the day into electricity, which is stored in a battery. The lights are able to store solar energy even on the cloudiest days and can release electricity at any time. I love love love them. I'm waiting for the day they are installed in Central Park.

Another invention that harnesses solar power is the Solvatten Water Purifier by Swedish designer Petra Wadstrom, a water container that uses the sun to make dirty water safe to drink. Apparently there are 1.2billion people worldwide living without clean drinking water and 1.2 million diarrheal deaths every year caused by water-borne diseases, mostly among children under five. The purifier opens to reveal two halves which are exposed to sunlight which naturally heats the water to a temperature high enough to kill any nasty beasties lurking within. When the water is safe to drink a light changes from red to green.

The short video below (1-min 33-secs) shows Petra demonstrating how the water purifier is used. What can I say Petra Wadstrom rocks!!

So did you know that there is a self contained sustainable city being built on the desert outskirts of Abu Dhabi. A city that will be the worlds first car free, carbon neutral, zero waste city powered by renewable energy sources???

I certainly didn't, although there's was a whole NY Times article published about it in September - okay so 2-months ago, I'm not THAT far behind the curve. Apparently the city will also be car free, so the only way to get around will be to either walk, bike or Segway but there's also the option to take one of the underground personal transit vehicles, or PRTs.

Image courtesy of autogreenmag.com.

Is anyone else experiencing images from the movie Wall-E flashing through their mind? I'm envisioning lots of obese people travelling around in these wee pods.

The city is designed by Foster & Partners and the current estimate for completion is at least 2020, 4-years later than the original deadline. The 6 minute video gives an overview of the project. It all seems a bit too "Logon's Run" if you ask me, will it be curtains once you reach the age of 35?

Other items in the exhibit include this plastic fur jacket by Maison Martin Margiela which is made from over 29,000 plastic garment label fastenings.

Image courtesy of Stylepark.com.

I love the idea of this, although unfortunately I doubt it will impress the fur loving ladies who lunch inhabiting the upper east side. Fur is still such a status symbol in New York and it never fails to repulse me when I see these ladies of a certain age swanning around the city in their full length minks and what not. It's really unnecessary if you ask me, it's not Siberia after all, although maybe that's hypocritical of me since if I had to kill my own food then there's no doubt about it, I'd be vegetarian.

Anyway there's lots more to chat about, but I'll end on that note since my Safari browser just crashed twice without reason. Uh-oh!! However I highly recommend catching the triennial exhibit before it closes on January 9th 2011.

Please Pass The Epsom Salts

Good Lord I'm Achy Today. My thighs, my calves, my bum. I ache all over after yesterday's hike and it was no fun running up and down the 3 flights of stairs with a bag of laundry first thing this morning. I gave my usual 9am Pilates class a miss today in favour of a gentle 70 block walk downtown to return a few bits to Anthropologie - I love that store - as I don't think my glutes could have taken instructor Kimberly's strenuous toning routine today.

Despite today's aches and pains the hike was wonderful, I really enjoyed it and we were very lucky as far as the weather concerned. It was a crisp, sunny autumn day. Perfection.

There were twelve of us on the hike, plus our affable guide Simon. Eleven women and two men in total. My friend Nigel goes on these hikes quite frequently and often grumbles that his fellow hikers are always married couples, I think he should start hanging out with me more often, I'm like a talisman for a single guy, since wherever I go I meet hoards of single women and gay men, but very rarely do I come across single straight men*.

We gathered at the meeting point on the upper west side early Saturday morning and set out on the two hour drive to Lake Minnewaska State Park just outside of New Paltz.

Heading out. The path from the car park gave way to flat graveled carriage roads, which were nice and easy walking.

A view of the Lake Minnewaska, at least I THINK it's Lake Minnewaska, but it could well have been Lake Awosting, but looking at google maps I believe it's the former, but then geography was never my strong suit. To be honest I'm the last person that should be let loose in nature, it took me long enough to get used to Central Park ;-)

Heading off-road.

I was quite pleased to find that I easily kept up with the group and that it wasn't an Inca Trail like situation with Melissa and I lagging the rest of the team. I was quite worried about how I would deal with the hike, which was classified as moderate (intensity level 3 out of 5), having never done much hiking as an adult - and really only had one school trip to Keswick under my belt which I did when I was about 10 - although I have to say after the Inca Trail it was pretty easy. I think even if I had been a regular hiker the Inca Trail would still have been something of a shock, although surprisingly Outdoor Bound, who I did the day hike with, only rates the Inca Trail as intensity level 3-4. I won't be partaking of any of their intensity level 5 activities I can tell you that for nothing.

The hardest part of the hike was all the leaves obscuring the terrain and, in some areas, making it slippery underfoot and the worst bit...the bathroom situation. Basically there isn't one. "You can't be shy when you're hiking" smiled Simon, who made us have mandatory water breaks. "I hope you are all drinking enough water, you're more dehydrated than you realise."

I nodded obediently that I was indeed drinking enough water, but quite frankly I was lying through my teeth and only sipped at one of the 3 half liter bottles I'd brought so as to avoid having to squat behind a tree and risk mooning the rest of the group. If I decide to make hiking a regular thing I may well invest in one of those weird funnel cup things that allow you to pee like a man although some practicing at home may well be required.

Simon had his own 5 star system for bathroom breaks and would ask any brave souls who dared the elements how many stars they'd scored:

* one star if you dig a hole

** two if you dig a hole and have good aim

*** dig a hole, have good aim and have a great view

**** all of the above plus see an animal

***** all of the above plus see an animal taking it's own bio break

Generally we were a 3 star bathroom break kind of team ;-)

The view from the ridge, about 1.5miles into our hike. The scenery reminded me a little of my home county of Yorkshire.

This bit was trickier than it looks as there were small rocks under the leaves and so you really had to watch your footing.

A nice easy flat bit.

The last 3 miles were along nice graveled carriage roads, so we hiked at a fair clip to reach our destination, the beautiful Awosting Falls.

The pay off!!

*Although I did have the pleasure of running into the Creative Cutie and his good looking friend** in the cafeteria this week. Yay!!! I hadn't seen either of them in over a month and was concerned that they'd both been casualties of the recent reorganization of the creative department, but happily they are both still around. Creative Cutie just sort of furrowed his brow in my direction rather than stare the way he used to. I think the bloom is off the rose.

I used to see him on my floor all the time when he came to meet with his client account team or in the cafeteria and he would constantly stare at me, which is how I first came to notice him. He gave me a bit of a complex actually, because I'm not one of those women who immediately assumes a guy fancies her if he keeps looking at her, no my first thought is always "why is he staring, do I have something on my face?" And off I'll scuttle to find the nearest reflective surface. It took a few instances of him staring at me before I got it together to smile at him, but...nothing, zilch, nada, so maybe I did have something on my face afterall. He's very attractive and has bit of a look of the actor, Loren Dean, so I do like to see him around the building regardless of his interest, or lack of interest, in me.

**His good looking friend is one of those bookish looking hotties. He's tall and lean with salt and pepper streaked hair and trendy specs. I think he's very attractive, although Sarala begs to differ. "He's not bad, but he looks like someone's trendy dad." Horses for courses eh!!

What Possessed Me?

I'm going on an organized day hike this weekend. I don't know what possessed me. It seemed like such a good idea a month ago when the pain of the Inca trail was sufficiently distant, but the high of the hike was sufficiently close. Knowing that this particular hike sells out quickly I booked and paid for it a month ago, but now that the reality is just hours away and I am feeling extremely sleep deprived I am REALLY not loving the idea of getting up at 6am tomorrow to get ready in time to head over to the Upper West Side for an 8.30am pick up!! Ugh!! What was I thinking?

At least the weather is supposed to be nice and the company exceptional, since I am being accompanied by my Inca Trail buddy, Melissa, who is also a glutton for punishment and agreed to this harebrained idea of mine. I'm oddly nervous about the hike which the group site describes as "moderate...covering seven miles of wooded trails," and promises "jaw-dropping views of the Hudson Valley." I should be fine, it can't be that hard, but I can't help but get nervous knots in my stomach. I keep having to give myself the "get a grip, you'll be fine, you've hiked the Inca Trail for God's sake," pep talk.

The hiking is all part of my 'stop working so much, get out and about and see if you can rekindle your romance with New York' campaign. A couple of years ago I was out and about all the time, but recently not so much. Recently I've been working so hard that all I have the energy for at the weekend is the gym, chores and flopping on the couch in front of the TV and it's not exactly feeding my soul, if you'll excuse the self help type speak.

The crux of the matter is that New York and I are experiencing the 10-year itch at the moment and I am not sure that my feelings about the city aren't biased as a result of my feelings towards my job or whether they are as a result of a need to get out for a while, but whatever the reason I just don't get the same tingle about living in the city that I used to. I'm trying not to do anything rash since maybe I am just taking the city for granted, but I miss the tingle. I get a slight frisson when I walk through Grand Central Station, but that's about it, so I went looking for the tingle in San Francisco and...um...well I didn't really experience much of a tingle there either, but there was a certain excitement about exploring somewhere new and part of me thinks that although my heart belongs to New York, I may need to get away from the city for a year or so to allow myself to fully appreciate it.

We'll see. Anyway I plan to take my camera tomorrow, so with any luck I will get a few nice shots of the beautiful autumn foliage to post on Sunday.

Cheesetastic

Okay, so posting this is so not going to do anything for my musical credibility, which has been questioned several times of late by my Rage Against the Machine loving team member, but who cares, I love this song, it lifts my mood when work is getting me down, although the video leaves something to be desired.

Getting Out & About: Canstruction 2010

I've been spending way too much time indoors of late, especially on weekends when I really should know better, but between either working or doing housework I can't seem to find the time, or the energy, to get out. The living room of my small apartment faces onto the back of the building and is not that well lit. Quite honestly I'm in danger of turning into one of the mole people and well...enough is enough I've decided I'm going to force myself to go out, starting this weekend.

I've intended to visit New York's Canstruction exhibit for the past two years now, but have never quite managed to make it. I decided that this year would be different, so I braved the elements - actually it was freakishly warm and sunny in New York today, people were out and about in t-shirts - and walked from my upper east side apartment all the way downtown, with a brief stop in SoHo for breakfast and a browse around the shops. I don't know what's wrong with me today, but I've been an exercise fiend, since not only did I walk for 4 hours straight, but I came home and did the lovely Tracy Campoli's kick ass Pilates DVD. Move over Michael Phelps, there's a new calorie burning machine in town ;-)

Speaking of calories - do you see what I did there? - Canstruction is a food charity that believes 'one can make a difference' - do you see what Canstruction did there? - holding multiple design and build competitions to construct giant sized sculptures from canned food. When the exhibits close all of the food used in the structures is donated to the local food banks for distribution to community emergency feeding programs.

I love it!! You can also donate canned food to City Harvest at the exhibit. Can you believe there wasn't a can to be found in any of the stores I popped into en route down there? I made an online donation when I got home instead.

BabushCAN by Thornton Tomasetti is made with 3,472 cans - tuna fish, peaches in pear juice, beef broth, vegetarian beans in tomato sauce, pork and beans in tomato sauce, pink beans (pink beans???? I've never come across those before) and green beans - and will feed 2,000 New Yorkers.

FEASTer Island by Leslie E Robertson Associates is made with 2,500 cans - black beans, green beans, mixed vegetables, peas and carrots, spinach, sweet peas and tuna fish - and will feed 1,300 New Yorkers

Cups Can Only Spill... by Gilsanz Murray Steficek, LLP is one of my favourites. It's made with 5,180 cans - tuna in water is listed as the only ingredient - and will feed 1,600 New Yorkers.

Comida Cubes, by GACE Consulting Engineers PC, was made from 2,680 cans - tomato sauce, green beans, corn niblets, pears, tomato ketchup - will feed 2,100 New Yorkers.

It's pretty impressive how all these green cans stay balanced like that. A tourist obviously felt the same way as he reached out to touch the sculpture, despite the white rope, lurid green cones and 'DO NOT TOUCH STRUCTURE' signage clearly indicating that it wouldn't be a wise move. I'll admit that I braced myself for a crash, but fortunately nothing happened.

Downside-Up is by HLW International and is made with 3,350 cans - beans, vegetables, soup and chili - and will feed 3,200 New Yorkers.

Battleships!!! I used to love that game when I was a kid. It's a Hit (to Hunger) is by Ennead Architects and is made with 7,146 cans - tuna fish, sardines and tomato paste - and will feed 3,000 New Yorkers

A Smart Way To End Hunger is by National Reprographics Inc is made from 6,072 cans and 192 bags of beans - tuna, cut green beans, vienna sausage, guava paste (fancy!!) and black beans - and will feed 2,300 New Yorkers. I love the use of the bags of black beans for tires.

The exhibit runs through November 22nd and is open from 10am-7am every day on the second floor of the Winter Garden of The World Financial Center.

Love this!!!

Hmmmm, maybe I'll move there tomorrow ;-)

Summer in San Francisco from Michael Winokur on Vimeo.

San Francisco Days 2010

Ugh, I was so tired today - my first day back at work after my long weekend in San Francisco. I rushed in because I thought I had a meeting with a new client - new to me anyway, not to the agency - from 8am-1pm, so I was up at 6am - well 5am actually, because our clocks went back this weekend when I was on the west coast and for the most part my gadgets take care of themselves, except for my old fashioned style alarm clock, which I've returned to using after reading this New York Times article about how it's a v v bad idea to use your Blackberry as an alarm as you immediately check your email on waking when you do that - so true - and don't get sufficient mental downtime. Unfortunately the old fashioned alarm clocks don't align themselves with the stars - or whatever technical sorcery it is that the new fangled gadgets use to automatically set themselves to the appropriate time twice a year - so I forgot to turn it back an hour and was up at 5am and pottering around for 15minutes or so, which felt a little like being up at 3am as I was semi on West Coast time, until I realised and happily flopped back into bed for an extra 30more minutes, except it wasn't a useful extra 30minutes, because my brain was nattering about sleeping through the alarm clock, so all I did was lay there and fret about not waking up in time to be in work for my 8am client meeting, which....wasn't at 8am at all, but in fact at 11am.

Sigh!!

It didn't occur to me when I accepted the reschedule notice that arrived on Monday that my BB was on Pacific time - I had to change the time zone for the Google map directions to work with the timing for SF public transport - and that the meeting was still from 11am-4pm, so I was up with the larks, jumped into a cab, ran into Starbucks a couple of blocks from work for an egg white wrap and a latte because I assumed an early morning meeting would mean breakfast would be served, which would mean pastries and I am trying hard to be healthy, and then hot footed it into work to read my emails and prep for the meeting, which is when I realised what had happened. Duh!!

SF was fun anyway. I spent a lot of time wondering if I could live there and to be honest there are things about SF that I love: the more relaxed way of life, the crisp ocean air, the manly Monday night bartender at Ferry Plaza Wine Merchant Wine Bar. Helloooooo. I was sat there innocently reading my book - Let Me In by John Ajvide Lindqvist, I highly recommend it - and my eyes kept trying to escape outside of my head to ogle him in his well fitting jeans. Good Lord he was attractive. Actually there were lots of very attractive men out there, seemingly straight ones too), and of course things that I don't love so much like the fact that often the city seems a bit deserted. It struck me last night that I encountered more people crossing the street to my local corner deli in New York - for ice cream, it's woman's week, chocolate Hagen Daaz is a medical necessity. Sorry TMI? - than we ever came across when going out for dinner in San Francisco. I easily encountered a dozen people crossing the street last night, but in SF we got off the bus in the Mission on Saturday night for an 8.45pm dinner reservation at restaurant of the moment, Flour + Water, and in the 6 blocks we walked from Potrero Avenue to Harrison St we only came across 3 people. THREE!! It was a similar story when we were leaving, walking along Folsom St for the BART train back to Union Square, although the restaurant was heaving, so I don't know where everyone came from. There were plenty of people partaking in the vino too, so I can't imagine they were all drinking and driving, but perhaps I am wrong on that score. Anyway that's definitely one thing I would struggle to get used to, I'm also not a massive fan of the whole homeless situation in SF, in particular the one that invited me to sit on his face as I explored solo on Monday after my travel buddy, Sarala, had flown back to NYC, and the fact that I don't know anyone out there - although so many people at work have said they would be interested in living in SF too, Sarala for one, so perhaps that wouldn't be as big of an issue as I think. I also think it would do me good to get out of my NYC comfort zone and my gut tells me that I need a change, so we'll see. I may procrastinate a while longer, but I think I would like to live there at some point, at least for a short time.