View from ground level of the Citigroup building – Trading floor appears on far right (tan structure w/wide windows) – last week, while patiently waiting for Steven to come down. 21May08.

Can’t help but notice the continuing upward trend (as of Tuesday 20May08) despite our need and desire to “drive” in town back and forth to and fro. There’s Steven filling-up at the Bedford Shell last week. Shell’s V-Power which we use, is currently $4.67/gallon as of this morning, so this photo is already out-of-date (don’t enjoy documenting/photo-taking every time we fill-up). 20May08

To my fellow bloggers:

We are all exposed…to a self-deprecating, narcissistic degree…in a blogger’s world.

I am referring to my reaction to “Exposed,” by Emily Gould, the cover feature story of the Sunday NY Times Magazine to be published this weekend. Her image is plastered on the NYTimes online version, set for release in hard copy on Sunday (25May08). Her multi-page first series to be subsequently published in upcoming issues, sends a somewhat chilling yet real sense of why we share our lives to the world, even if we are targeting only a handful or circle of family and friends.

Her crescendo in realizing her on-going mistakes of “blogging” is well documented as she offers a play-by-play account of appearing on Larry King Live in defense of “Gawker.” We have – sadly – reached a point of saturation with useless, unnecessary information (at least for those who wish to give every detail of their supposed victim – celebrities – in Gawker’s case) their last piece of privacy as they know it. Many times when one encounters a prominent figure, you have a choice. Treat them respectfully as you’d do any stranger and leave it at that, or as Ms. Gould would offer in her earlier days as a blogger, post her “sighting” online. Imagine if our neighbors or strangers posted our whereabouts 24/7 no matter what we were doing, presuming it was a private matter? There’s no need to interfere or “stalk” them to the point of intrusion, so I would have to heartily disagree with Ms. Gould that the public need not know the whereabouts of their “targets.” We are no longer speaking of our network of associates, family or friends.

Strangers are just that – neither they nor you know them personally – so please leave them be.

Suffice to say, much can be learned from one’s own mistakes. To learn from others is paramount even if one can learn through their mistakes second-hand. Great lesson!

Ah! It’s Friday, which means the weekend can now begin.

Aside from doing local errands in town, a stop at our new neighbor and local cafe – The Bedford Post Inn – must be mentioned since it is receiving a lot of buzz lately. We like the quiet realm of town, and the stillness of most things natural in this world’s-away locale, so one must venture a visit to this much anticipated cafe (a larger, formal restaurant slated to open later this Fall) is in the works as we speak.

Enjoy the less harried, chaos of The Bedford Post Inn and try chef Brian Lewis’ organic, exotic concoctions.

There she is herself, the reverent Aruna Sairam accepting a bountiful bouquet for her wonderful – almost chilling – performance live. We were delighted to hear of her agreement to visit New York, since we learned that Asia Society struggled to gain this venue after a several year attempt to entice her to come to the U.S., according to Rachel Cooper, Director of Cultural Programs and Performing Arts before introducing Ms. Sairam last night, co-sponsored by the Citi Foundation. 9May08.

Here we are before the performance of Indian-classical singer Aruna Sairum at the Asia Society lobby behind one of the Rockefeller’s favorite Hindu Ganesha sculptures on full display. Apparently, heavy networking was taking place off the side where the Asian-American Yale Alumni were meeting with the usual corporate sponsorships, including Citigroup. 9May08

Because when one lives in town and country, you have little choice in where you buy your gas since many have monopolies and perhaps driving around to look for “cheaper” gas per gallon just wastes time and is money lost – not to mention creating more idle, unnecessary emissions – when trying to go for that one station with the target low(er) price. Hmmm. Here are our usual stations downtown: Canal St./West Side Highway and in the meat packing district, 15th/10th Avenue just off the West Side Highway. Plus of course, the Bedford monopoly-Shell. 9May08.

There’s a man filling-up next to me, in the nearby stall while Steven fills-up our gas guzzler. Ah! With two thirsty V-8 engines; his and mine, we’re bound to “downsize” soon enough. A Tesla perhaps times two??? Hmmm? Canal/West Side Highway. 9May08

Here are gas prices on 15th Street and 10th Avenue, 7May08

There’s Steven after filling up at the Mobil station on Canal/West Side Highway after work yesterday. 9May08

Within a matter of days, continuing an upward trend, here are Bedford Shell’s current gas prices, rising steadily at a four-cent pace per few days. 9 May 2008.

Alas, Bedford Shell’s recent gas prices. This was actually a few cents less than the $4.37/gallon rate on Tenth Ave/15th Street downtown in the meat packing district, but what do you do when you need gas and need to get to the outer regions of the city?

Interior dome of Riverside Church, UWS before the UK Boys Choir, Libera concert began. Apr08.

Pausing from the schuhplattling dances and festive mood of the evening, here we are in a quiet moment away from the drunken madness. Of course we “sipped” only. How else could we handle the “responsible” drive home? 21Apr08

Yum. Yum. My favorite crab cakes from the appetizer menu at the Boathouse. They win hands down for using the real deal, crab meat, not the canned variety, which I discovered many chefs try to do to compensate for lack of fresh crab.

Mediterranean salad, topped w/alfalfa sprouts.

Trying not to think of work, Steven relaxes waterside and contemplates rowing if only the boats were available on this early Tuesday evening.

So here we are after work cutting through Central Park on our way to the Boathouse for an early dinner. The row boats aren’t available just yet, but Spring uh, er rather came quickly, last month, offering a premature Spring arrival, but then, what? It’s only 45 degrees today!

Hooray!

We did it!

After little persuasion with constant reminders from our environmentally-conscientious network, we collectively participated in tonight’s 2008 Earth Hour at exactly 20:00 EST for one full hour. As simple as turning off all lights, we spent part of our Saturday evening finishing dinner early and joining this great cause.

See you again next year!