Mini pharmacy at work = hella convenient

I love that cough drops, cold medicine and every OTC pain killer known
to man is freely available at work. They've also got allergies and
diahrrea covered, just in case your Thai takeout goes bad.

The Yanks are up in arms...

...about this ad that is running in Mexico.

The map shows the US/Mexico border before the 1848 war, when Mexico gave up Cali, Texas, Arizona and New Mexico.

People are screaming 'boycott' left right and centre, citing Germany Anschluss references and insensitivity to the small but very real Mexican 'reconquista' movement that wants to get this land back.

What do you think? Over-reaction or bad taste on Absolut's part?

This is what I'm talkin' 'bout

How Sex and the City is this?

1530 calories = 3 x Big Mac

This TV ad made me laugh:

• -triple thick applewood smoked bacon
• -smoked cheddar cheese
• -jalapenos
• -crunchy tortilla strips inside the burger

Is it just me or do these burgers look gross?

How much does NASA certification cost?

I guess this is how you fund a space program.

Celebrity sighting #26

Chris Cooper, a chameleon of a character actor, was shooting a scene on 6th Ave a few blocks down from our place in Greenwich Village. The set was all lit up on a dreary, rainy mid-week evening and he was waiting outside a store. I just saw him in the film "Married Life" last night, which was a kind of boring film but he, as per usual, was excellent.

The next day, ostensibly for the same movie production, a huge toilet truck for the crew parked itself outside our building. It arrived at about 5am and was there until about 1am, humming away. Ah, to have a poo-mobile parked beneath your window in the wee hours.

The view from above:

Walking on the wild side

Since the weather is so much warmer I have been walking to and from work pretty much every day. It's about 30 minutes, 25 blocks, and a nice way to wake up/wind down and squeeze in incidental exercise.

This morning I noticed daffodil and tulip flowers bursting from their buds, which made me happy. The planters around the city are going to be yellow, purple and red beacons of colour in a matter of weeks. Green buds are visible on the trees too and the air feels lighter.

Depending on my mood I have four ways to walk home. I can do the straight shot down 6th Ave, which takes me past Macy's at Herald Square and a whole bunch of cheap wholesale jewellery stores on the edge of the garment district.

Or I can take 5th Ave and pass the Empire State Building, hit the Flatiron Building (above, at dusk) at Madison Square and walk past all the chain clothing stores (BCBG, Gap, JCrew, Banana Republic, Anthropologie, Club Monaco, H&M, Intermix) and check out what's on sale.

Or I can start off down 7th Ave at Times Square, pass Penn Station mayhem and the Fashion Institute, swing by a supermarket in Chelsea to pick up dinner or breakfast things.

Finally I can go diagonal on Broadway, which takes me through ripoff handbag central and the grimier parts of the fashion district, via all the squares, and cut back at W23rd to 6th.

And when I have to cut through to 6th Ave I usually do a zig zag, so I end up on a different street each time. There are still streets I wander down and realise I've never been down it before. What, a tapas joint just two blocks away? What's this beer and chicken shop within 5 minutes walk? Three enormous stationery stores in a three block radius? Who knew?

I never know which way I'm going to go until I head out the door.

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The thing I love about the internet #5277

I have discovered 'machinima' and I think I could become obsessed with it.

Machinima (as in 'machine -ama' to rhyme with cinema) is when people make movies and music video clips using video games. They create characters and sets within the game, write scripts, create soundtracks and do voiceovers and make their own movie. There are millions of these movies online and some of them are fascinating, some are hilarious.

Check out the mock documentary below, which explains machinima using a machinima movie.




This is one creative hobby.

A weekend of contrasts

Jus and I hit a burlesque show on Friday night. It was date night so it was time to do something saucy. Got all the pasties we could handle at a dinner & show in SoHo. It was actually quite tame, which was a good thing as we were about a foot from the stage and I might have gagged on my pork roulade if I had have looked up at the wrong moment and caught sight of something over the top. They were encouraging all kinds of debauchery, which culminated in a 'dance off' among three 25 year olds to 3 Britney songs. Britney comes out looking squeaky clean after their examples of raunch culture. Ech, to be 20 something again. No thanks.

On Saturday, slightly hung over and spaced out, I joined Jennifer and Rose for a peace march to commemorate the 5th anniversary of the Iraq war. There was an event on W14 St, one block away, where people were linking arms from river to river the entire width of the island, to form a human chain. The chain then folded in on itself and rallied at Union Sq, where there were speakers and singers and lots of placards and press. It was a moving moment. So much of the time you can forget this country is at war because there is so much frivolous stuff being reporrted on, but the last week has seen a lot of protests and mourning of the 4000 dead US soldiers and the 1 million dead Iraqi civilians.

So, after the rally was over, with thoughtful hearts we wandered over to the other side of Union Sq where some uni kids had organized... a mass pillow fight! For hours, we had watched thousands of teens and adults amass around the square with their pillows (and goggles and costumes) to take part in this annual event. Pals Olivia and Damien rocked up, touting our pillows, and we joined in the throng. It was a free for all wack fest. Anyone with a pillow was fair game for a thump on the head. You just wandered into the fray and went for it. It was so therapeutic. I squealed and flailed my arms around and hit strangers with abandon. In the face. In the back of the head. Sideways. The air was thick with feathers and down and I was almost choking on the fluff as pillows burst open around me. It was 30 minutes of true pandemonium. Check out the photos on Flickr and videos on Youtube. It was hilarious. Jus had to pick the last feathers out of my hair this morning before work.

It's been awhile, hasn't it?

Ok, so I have not been a very diligent poster lately but you'll see it has been worth the wait with the veritable activity-fest I'm about to update you with.

The pics above are from an art gallery opening I went to for an exhibition called RMB City by a Chinese artist whose subject matter is Second Life. (Yeah just let me nerd out for a moment here.) The exhibition included visual art, models, walkthroughs of the city she created in Second Life and a short documentary actually set within Second Life. It was fantastic: it showcased some of the most amazing locations in-world and a whole bunch of avatars that made you feel like you were watching real people.

Eerily, one of the walkthroughs was projected onto water and dry ice (the second image above) so the picture had this dreamlike quality to it. Unique. Jus loved it: look out for dry ice features in your upcoming renovation plans.

Before Bec and Nathan went on to Las Vegas, Mexico and LA we took them out for dinner in Williamsburg so they could get the contrast with Manhattan - rude waitresses but cheaper!- and we ended up in one of our local diners, Joe Jnr, for a 'bite' of dessert. Bec has a slice of pie and icecream, and Nathan is fighting with the biggest slab of NY cheesecake every quarried.

Spring has sprung

My fruit guy's stand is back outside my subway stop, Bryant Park is back being a lawn at lunchtime, it rarely dips below zero during the day and Mister Softee is doing the rounds once more. I do believe winter is over!



And I didn't have to resort to visiting a solarium for a dose of heat and Vit D! I do believe I am officially the palest I have ever been. Sun spots have emerged that until now had always been hidden. What's with pigment? I thought I was immune from that kind of skin stuff.

Bec and Nathan hit town for a trade show this week and we caught up with Bec for her birthday dinner at Public, a delicious restaurant in Nolita that must have some Antipodean's out the back because the wine list was dominated by Aussie & Kiwi drops, and the menu featured sticky toffee pudding. It seems that sticky date/toffee is only found where Australians eat.

Andy, Aussie colleague, was kind enough to deliver a packet of Tim Tams, BBQ Shapes and Twisties after a recent trip home. Onya mate! I am afraid I shall return home from work today and Jus will have mowed through the lot. I think last night's Tim Tam count was up to 4 and Jus is a major chocaholic.

I gave away some at work, expecting swooning , and was told that there might be an American Tim Tam equivalent: Keebler Elves. But I've looked through them and can't see anything that looks remotely like the King Tim Tam.

In other choc food news: Cadbury's chocolate has just arrived en masse. It is suddenly everywhere. So the American chocolate scene is very comprehensive. But you know what, with Easter two weeks away, there is barely any promotion of chocolate, bunnies, hot cross buns or anything. It's not really a retail event, which I don't understand since this is the land of retail promotion and religious people.

BTW Jus is heading home for three weeks from March 26 for work.

Scrabulous, indeed

Mum and I have been playing a friendly international game of Scrabble on the internet, and low and behold, I thrashed her! This is unheard of in our family. To put this in context:

• Mum has pretty much memorised all the 2 letter words
• she has been playing for decades
• she has been playing every week for years.

I just couldn't miss this opportunity to gloat for a bit. Next game will be an entirely different story I'm sure...

What's your world view?

In a meeting the other day I was drawing web page concepts on a whiteboard and drew a world map to show how a user could select the region they were in. My colleagues chortled , "What kind of world map is that? Why is Australia in the middle?" and I said "This is how I always draw world maps: Australia and Asia in the middle, then Europe and Africa to the left and the US to the right." They were utterly confused.






I asked them to draw their view of the map and they drew a version with the America in the left, Europe & Africa in the middle and Asia & Australia off to the right. It was a really fascinating moment understanding how we viewed the world so differently and how we used different cues to work out where the continents were situated. Perhaps they so strongly associate with being 'the Western World' that the Americas and Europe could only ever be on the left.



They thought I was nuts and my version was just an idiosyncratic preference until a few days later when we were auditing a whole range of international websites and one, from Japan, featured the world map with the continent layout exactly how I had drawn it.

It blew their minds. We decided that if this firm we're designing the site for really wanted to come off as global then perhaps we should use a different projection of the world.

How do you draw the world map?

What to do with your million$$$

This is the floor plan of an apartment that was advertised in the weekend papers recently. Click on the image to see a big version. I so want to see inside this display home.

Bloggy blog blog

Justin and I went and explored Tribeca the other weekend, a pocket we hadn't yet spent much time in and didn't quite 'get'. Where was it exactly and what was there? So we jumped on the train in frigid weather and wound up and down the streets: along Canal past the cinema where De Niro's Tribeca Film Festival is headquartered, down Varick, Hudson and past a clutch of the city's fanciest (Nobu) and star-spottingest (Bubby's) restaurants. It all became abundantly clear when we walked past our fifth spa/designer furniture/old style apartment building on cobbled streets that the area certainly has a cool vibe and a quiet, non-tourist, let's-get-on-with-living-in-Manhattan vibe. So now we know what we're in for .

The apartment flourishes, with a bit more furniture, some art and a growing book collection. It's definitely feeling homey and less of an echoing box.

Looking forward to spring as our palm (whose name is Gloria) is not coping too well with the automated heating. The heating is connected to a building-wide thermostat, so we can't actually adjust the heat or set the temperature. It's pretty toasty most of the time, which makes Gloria one thirsty plant whose leaves are in danger of getting crispy. We'll also be able to buy some flowers for spring and put them on our tiny balcony, so we can open the door and have a vista of flora.

Melbourne friends Jennifer and Mark have just moved to NY and we celebrated their Rose's 4th birthday at the park at Union Square. Dressed in her new ice skating outfit, Rose blew out candles on her unbelievably, deliciously rich chocolate birthday cake (it was breakfast for Jus and me- hello sugar rush) and we all sang happy birthday. It was pleasant to hang out in the sun. Then we realised it was -3c ,and we thought how inhumane people would think we were if we attempted to celebrate a child's birthday outdoors in below zero weather at home. When in Rome, though...

Took a wonder through the Columbia University campus on the Upper West Side too. It has stately historical buildings and grand grounds that reminded me of the South Lawn at Melbourne Uni. Quite striking with a smattering of snow.

If you've ever wondered, and you probably haven't, what Boston Cream Pie looks like, then here it is. Layered sponge with chantilly cream filling, chocolate frosting with nuts, with whipped cream from a can and a cherry on top, served with as much vanilla icecream as you can fit on the plate.

Sometimes when you go to a diner, your curiosity gets the better of you and you just have to order that exotically named item (Philly cheesesteak, silver dollar griddle cakes, corned beef hash) . Then it comes, and you wish you'd stuck to the burger, the club sandwich or the cherry pie.

I could not tell you how many hamburgers, turkey clubs and chicken salad wraps I have eaten in the past 9 months (and who really cares). I've realised that because of the extensive menus that diners have, they can pretty much make anything you feel like. So the menu is simply a guide and you can throw any combo of ingredients together to order exactly what you want. Substitution is the tip of the iceberg: if you feel like roast (broiled) chicken, with roasted pumpkin, grilled tomato, peas and gravy just like your nanna used to make, they'll work it out. But you better tip.

Snowy Day

happy snowman in central park
Originally uploaded by Meesy

Yay, it snowed. The novelty has not worn off at all. At work when the flurries start I wonder over to the window and watch awhile. It's so relaxing. I watched snow collect on the tops of skyscrapers and water tanks. The city softens for a moment in a pristine blanket. The sounds are muffled.

Jus went for a walk today in Central Park, where people were having snowball fights and building snowmen, skiing. He's doing a day trip to upstate New York on Sunday for a ski: $70 includes breakfast, bus, all day lift ticket and snack on the way home. The bus leaves from just around the corner. Ridiculously convenient. The prospect of spontaneous spring skiing is high. The locals know that east coast skiing isn't that wonderful but when its so close and so cheap, who cares?

We have a new winter ritual. On Saturdays we sip hot apple cider as we walk around the Union Square farmers market. The farmers can't shift the autumn apples fast enough: there is apple cider, apple juice, apple pies, apple cake, chutnies. And hot apple cider has been a revelation: spicy, warm, sweet, zingy.

Celebrity sighting #25

Lou Reed, spotted at PS1, a contemporary art museum in Long Island City. He looked surprisingly healthy in a martial arts jacket from 1986, wandering around a feminist art exhibition.

Nuff said

Trippy little website with trippy content, such as Tom talking about KSW. Does he think he's Jesus?

I hope he can

Everyone's talking about this clip, which Black Eyed Pea will.i.am put together over one of Obama's speeches. Lots of Obama posters on cubicles at work. He seems to have inspired a lot of iconical poster art.

As the parties get close to selecting their preferred candidate there is constant talk at dinners, drinks and lunchrooms about who who who for the Democrats. I've heard countless people say 'it's nice to have a choice' and 'i don't mind who gets in. they're both good', but I think it would be a bigger step for this nation, and mean more, if Obama was the Democratic candidate and elected.

To be honest, I don't think the US is un-racist enough to vote him in. Race still matters here, big time. If he did get in I think the world would have to reassess their perception of the US, as they take a fresh look at themselves.

Imagine the day when Australia has an Aboriginal prime minister...

In defence of germs

I used an office bathroom this morning where:

• the loo automatically flushed as I was rising
• the soap was dispensed automatically as I put my palm under it
• the tap turned on automatically when I put my hand under it
• the paper towel dispenser spat out paper automatically when I waved my hand under it

I didn't have to touch anything!

I couldn't tell whether I was impressed or disappointed that someone thinks that's a good use of funds & technology. Maybe they have fewer staff who get sick? Maybe the auto flush is a wee-sized flush volume and they're saving precious water? (I haven't seen any dual flush here). Or maybe the thought of public bathroom germs is just so gross that any attempt at hygiene is appreciated?

All I know is I wont hesitate to shake hands with anyone who works at the World Financial Center.

The rise and rise of 'no worries'

I thought this was a strictly 'no problem' land and that nobody would say 'no worries', but it is used all the time.

Sorry Day

I've been reading The Age online this morning about Sorry Day and Rudd's historic speech (and Nelson's disappointing and misguided contribution. just don't get it, do they?). Goose bumps material. It was the lead story on the front page of the NY Times.

I'm sad that I'm not at home to be part of this momentous occasion. The air of optimism, relief, hope and renewed excitement in Australia and what it means to be Australian was palpable from the video footage and articles.

I'm sitting here at my desk on a sleety day at 10.30am in the morning and have got all teary. Australia should feel so proud today!

It finally snowed

Helicopter Blows Deer Safe

While most of the rest of the country is getting its fair share of snow, NYC has been eerily snow-free. Until yesterday! We finally had some 'accumulation' and had snow on the ground for several hours, before it turned to grey slush.

So pretty when its all white and fresh, so gross once it is grey, stained with dog pee, and being sprayed as slush from passing vehicles. I came out of the subway and stood on the corner to cross the road and the puddle of melted snow was about 3 feet around and inches deep. Me, and a whole bunch of other commuters sans boots, had to step into the freezing water and slop home though the snow with wet feet. Lesson learned. Wellingtons on today!

Sprucing the goose

Decided to make a few changes to the old blog template. All those links I had on the right have now turned into widgets so you can actually see the time in New York, click to call me directly on Skype, preview some of our photos on Flickr and sync with my Facebook status.

For the blog's one year anniversary -only 3 months away!- who knows what I'll do.

All hail Vail

BBQ master in the snow
Originally uploaded by Meesy

Got back from a ski trip with the Lilleys last week in Vail and Beaver Creek (love The Beav, my best skiing ever). Great amounts of snow (59" base, 20" fell while we were there), some beautiful clear days with views to the Rockies, the coldest temperature I had ever experienced -17c + windchill, truffle fries, elk steak, boozy lunches and all the floor length fur coats you can handle. And Bo and Ruby providing off-mountain entertainment.

Now we are BROKE! Was it worth it? Hells yeah. Always.

A few photos...

chuckle on the way home from work

NY street humour
Originally uploaded by Meesy

New Year's resolutions be damned! Saw this outside a deli selling the fattest bagels, jelly donuts and beer.

I Heart iTunes

Have been listening to Pandora a lot and stumbled upon some new music that I've subsequently bought on iTunes.

Namely The Pimps of Joytime (funk like your daddy used to make), Chromeo (electro pop from some Montrealers) and Royksopp, and then just a bit more Cassie, Kelis, Kanye, Missy Elliot, Talib Kweli, Common and Timbaland just for Jus (he hates the RnB, G, but when it kicks in on the iPod when he's on the cross-trainer at the Y then he's all over it).

Anyhoo, so good to have some fresh music to listen to. I've taken to noting on the phone every time I hear a song I like and then looking up the artist on iTunes and buying some. I don't think I've ever been this attentive to new music since I was a teenager listening to the radio while I did homework and taping songs on cassette, usually losing the first few bars while I worked out if this was the song I liked.

iTunes has just released rentable movies too. You can download a movie for $2.99 for 24 hours and watch it on your laptop, or transfer it to your iPod or iPhone. After 24 hours it 'self-destructs' and disappears. We are getting away with this no TV thing like pros.

Any favourite songs/albums/artists from last year that you wanna share? Email me, homey.

New York is funny (and so can you)

• A $2400 stroller with DVD player, iPod dock and temp gauge.
• The Missed Connections section of NY Craiglist is the home of unrequited love.
• The You're Loved Self-Esteemizer - good for those winter blues that are months away for most of you
• $31 million full floor apartment floor plan on 5th Ave, overlooking the Met: 11 walk in closets!
• Barbecue & comfort food menu at Bone Lick Park. Brisket, catfish and baby back ribs with candied yams and collard greens, momma.

Should I go out this weekend or stay home and watch a DVD?

TimeOut published a formula, to help you decide:

(a+b)-(c+d)= e

a= no. of days since you last danced (outside your home)
b= no. of days since you were up past 1am and not online
c= no. of days you've had that unwatched DVD sitting at home
d= no. of days since you last flirted with someone not counting your pet

If e= positive number, go out! Your pet needs the space.
If e= negative number, stay home. You need the rest.

My last dance = Xmas party = 30
Up past 1am= Friday night = 5
unwatched DVD= 0. downloaded Transformers and watched it last night. Apallingly B-grade flick!
last flirted with someone= 0. every day at work man! just joking. last flirted = do BC dates count?

I'm going out anyway!

I'd like to make weekend plans with you and your husband...

Not what it sounds like, and too close to the bone:

Would you drink the milk from a cloned cow?

The US Food & Drug Administration is hot on the heels of its EU equivalent with its announcement that meat & dairy products from cloned animals are safe to eat. And they aren't issuing a requirement that cloned foods be labelled as such, so consumers won't be able to make a conscious decision about whether they want to eat cloned food or not.

Here there is also no labelling about whether agricultural products have been genetically modified or not. So now we will have cloned cows eating genetically modified grain. Sounds like something out of Oryx & Crake. So Big Food is real!

The decision feels a little premature to me. Dolly was only cloned 11 years ago, and she lived to 6, not the usual sheep lifespan of 12-15 years, because she was euthanised to relieve her from lung disease and arthritis. Cloned animals are known to suffer from poorer health than conventionally bred animals.

Why don't they clone endangered species instead? We know there are enough cows in the world.

Vegetarianism never looked so good.

What we got up to on the weekend

Come winter, many gardens and patches of earth have been planted with decorative cabbages. They are everywhere and seem to be one of the only plants hardy enough to withstand the snow and ice. Who knew the humble cabbage would have a place in New York's city streets?















Justin made icecream sandwiches from scratch on the weekend. He baked ginger cookies and then shaped the vanilla icecream into a tube, sliced off ice cream patties and refroze them to make the most delicious icecream sandwich ever. It was so thick it was more like an Icecream Burger. I think he invented something.















Wandered around Chelsea with the aim of popping up into the mryiad of galleries there but they're all closed on Sunday. So we know that for next time.

Doorway of someplace that really wants to be found.

"Climate change and wine"

I read this headline on Wine Spectator and felt true panic. Pacific islands disappearing and more prevalent hurricanes and snowless winters are one thing, but a risk to wine production is another altogether. Remember the 9 months Australia endured without bananas? People were losing it! There is a conference in Italy to discuss the issues, thank god.

At work this week I stumbled across the Climate Confidence Index published by the bank HSBC: it reveals that people in developed countries are more apathetic and pessimistic about climate change than those in developing countries. I took their environment quiz and only got 50%. Alarmed but not alert, it seems we are.

My favourite NY news story of the day: "Corpse wheeled to check-cashing store"

You gotta read it to believe it.

I want to say 'Only in America' right about now...

And I'm also loving the arrival of the term 'Big Food' (along the lines of Big Tobacco, Big Pharma) and the 'Nutritional Industry Complex' (along the lines of the Military Industrial Complex).

Celebrity sighting #24

Craig Ferguson
Originally uploaded by Darko.

Craig Ferguson, who Drew Carey Show fans will recognise as Mr Wick, was at the mountain we skied at in Vermont with his family.

He has a TV show here called The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, where I discovered he actually speaks with a heavy Scottish accent. Who knew?