Author: Sean

Last week I joined M&D on the middle Upper East Side for a minor pub crawl. Between the Upper East Side proper (around 86th down to the 70’s) and midtown (below 59th) is a very nondescript area that is mostly only seen by B&T’s coming over the Queensboro Bridge. I lived beside the off-ramp of said conveyance for four years until I moved out in 2002.

These days I don’t head uptown unless it’s to visit my dentist, so I seldom get to haunt the old haunts. M, D, & I took in the classic Subway Inn and Becky’s. I’ve described the Subway Inn before (I think), and it’s only changed a tiny bit. They finally put in a urinal instead of the sawed-off pipe. I think they may have dusted as well. Becky’s is a decent little neighborhood bar on 1st ave and 63rd. It’s one of the first places I ever got indigestion from a meal so painful that I had to buy Tums from next door. I was 27-years-old, and like many young people, thought most ailments were something just on commercials. I miss my iron stomach. My new stomach is much larger, but less dense.

Becky’s was also the first bar I went to alone, not expecting to run into someone I knew. It’s a good skill to have to be able to keep yourself company over an after work pint. It’s a very bad skill to be able to keep yourself company over a dozen after work pints, unless it’s on Cheers.

It was great to visit those two bars and I felt fine walking around the neigborhood. My old grocery store is now a Chase bank. Diners have changed names. Stores have changed inventory. I couldn’t remember where a train station was that I had visited 500 times in 2001. Mostly though the place was the same.

It’s always a mixed blessing visiting your former home. It’s wonderful to reminisce about the friends and the good times, but it makes you miss them too.. Jerry and I once accidently ran up a $300 tab at the sushi bar on 64th. An ex and I made up over boar’s meat at the Tuscan place on 60th. Tyler and Tricia ate my first batch of meatballs at my Super Bowl party crammed into my dark apartment. I walked by Scores everyday but never went in. There is an unbelievable (and groovy) super market built into the underside of the 59th Street Bridge. The streets were lined with daffodils during the Spring of ’02 that were a gift from Holland to show support after 9-11.

You know, I have no regrets about living in the middle Upper East or any of the things I did back then, but I don’t want to go back. I just wished I’d blogged more of it.

Today’s pic is what a wing sees before it dies at Becky’s. That Beck’ makes fine wing.

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Bored with my trip down memory lane? Check out this review of Grindhouse, which is a lot better than Grindhouse:

I watched a video-cam pirated copy that I stole off bittorrent and I still want my money back.
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Site of the Day: Not sure where I got this link, but this Tower Defense game has become my new crack. I spent all weekend coding a new STC.com and playing this game. If I can kick the Tower Defense habit, I may actually finish the new version of the site.
UPDATE: Via MartyZ and the Your Tubes, how to beat it.

Here’s a clue to all you single gals out there. The path to a man’s heart goes through the butt of a pig. My wtb cooks a fine ham every Easter, as you can see here as she’s smiling at the head of our table. It’s her ham skills that made me buy the rock. And I do think that is romantic.

Site of the Day: From several friends, a virtuoso violin player in a train station is just noise.

Guadalupe Peak / El Paso Vacation

Hike Statistics
Date(s): 4/1/2007
Hikers: Dan, Ben, Erik, and me
Route: Guadalupe Peak Trail from Pine Spring Campground
Distance: 8.2 miles round trip
Elevation Change: 2927 ft. from parking lot to peak at 8749 ft.
Time: Up- 3-1/2 hours, Down – 1-1/2 hours
Guadalupe Peak is in the middle of nowhere, sort of. It's nicely between El Paso and Carlsbad Caverns, NM, but it is the only thing between them other than antelope. Everything really is bigger in Texas, and you see it as soon as you hit the Dallas airport. It's huge and even the restaurant tables are about ten feet further apart from one another than any town I've ever been in. Two hours later on another airplane and you are still in Texas. One hiker I met said, "The sun has ris', the sun has set, and I still ain't left Texas yet."

We hit the Wal-mart Super center for BBQ beef, beer, and other supplies in El Paso and then drove two hours to the Pine Springs Campground in Guadalupe Mountains National Park. Like most national parks, the facilities were excellent, clean bathrooms, no trash, and good signage. Fires are forbidden and a few minutes in the wind and dry brush explain why. The first night was cold, but that also meant the days weren't so blazing. I recommend hiking the peak in the Spring. Guadalupe is famous for high winds, but we got very lucky and the air was mostly still. The desert is a fantastic place. Sunglasses and a hat are a must. Because the air is so dry, the temperatures can vary 30 degrees from the sun to the shade.

After the hike we sat around in shorts and t-shirts while the beers in the shade were cold to the touch (and drink). The trail is well-maintained and only slightly rocky. Good views are seen all the way up, but then the panorama at the top is incredible. It outclassed any other view I've yet seen. The dry air and surrounding level West Texas plateau allow you to see for hundreds of miles. We could see salt flats and gigantic green circles created by spinning irrigation. About ten degrees left of north way off in the distance was some snow covered peak that I need to look up.

Everyone did excellent on the hike, mostly due to Super Gorp and pb&js. The only wounds were some minor stiffness, one blister on my toe treated trailside, and some spots of sunburn where we missed applying. A big thanks to my aunt-in-law-to-be Dora for the hiking map and this geologic info:

Sean climbed the face of an ancient Permian reef. The way the rocks have been faulted up and then subsequently eroded is really neat because it preserved the topography of the ancient Permian seafloor. As he drove north from Van Horn he was on the deep ocean floor and then when he saw the escarpment of El Capitan – he was looking up the reef face. His hike to the top of Gaudalupe Peak was within some of the fossiliferous reef section. If he went to Carlsbad Caverns then he was within the reef proper. Geologists from all over the world travel to Gaudalupe Mountains to study this ancient reef complex to get a glimpse of how to model reefs in the subsurface.

You can view the pics in Picasa with the link above. All the pics are by Ben and Erik, which you can see near the end where they captured each other shooting each other simultaneously in their matching orange shirts.

When I got back from Texas I found these lovely flowers waiting on my desk. They are a b-day present from the iltb (in-laws-to-be). Thanks!

Or you could say, it survived us. Tons of great pictures (all taken by Ben and Erik) on the way.

I’m packing late, getting ready to leave at dawn to conquer the tallest mountain in Texas, Guadalupe Peak. Check the weather there to see if I am frozen.

I’ll be back soon with pictures that are not me in my robe. Peace!

I’m a very hard person to buy for and also prone to getting myself gifts to ease my hangover. Two days before my birthday I recovered from my early birthday party by treating myself to God of War II, the best video game out there that I have wanted for months. It was so good that Erik came over to check it out and we were trying to conquer it when the wtb got home. She asked what we were playing and when I told her, she walked back to the bedroom and produced a second copy, her planned gift for my actual birthday. Needless to say I got it tossed to/at me in a less the pleasant fashion.

It’s all fine now though. We’re just pretending that she bought me the original. A my age now, if I tell myself something I begin to believe. In a year we will both just remember an uneventful birthday where she simply handed me a gift.

I love my gift, btw.

I turned 33 today, which as many people have pointed out, is the age Jesus rocked the resurrection. I'm certainly not planning anything so magniloquent, but I did try and take a picture in a Christ-like pose while simultaneously tweaking my dimple with a pinky, Dr. Evil style. Unfortunately, it's impossible to make a cross and tweak because I only have two hands and so-so Photoshop skills. Also there is a fear of hell. God reads the Web.
Today's shot is me looking at me on a new Media PC. I got it to organize my vast digital photo and music collection. I've called in sick and already had coffee with a side of cookie dough for breakfast and I plan to tinker with this new toy all day, only breaking to jog across the Brooklyn Bridge and later eat steak au poivre with the wtb. If you can imagine a better birthday that doesn't involve saving humanity and immortality, please add it to the comments.
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Site of the Day: Good friend Andy Christie won The Moth Grand Slam last night.

It’s been super busy here at STC land and I’ve been unable to post. We had a great party this Saturday that was so much fun, that I never took a picture. If you attended, thanks for coming and please email me any shots you may have snapped. If you didn’t attend, you suck or I suck for not emailing you. Send me a note telling me I suck.

I also have some more dead mice coming soon.
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Today’s shot is Ben’s hiking shoes. He and some other fellas are joining me this weekend to conquer the highest point in Texas. Ben wants to know if he should buy new shoes because these soles are worn or if I think they will be fine. I told him all serious hikers use flip-flops. Please repeat that message if you see him.

Note to randoms who stop by here, DO NOT GO HIKING IN FLIP-FLOPS. It’s a fine way to die.

PS I won’t let Ben die in Texas, but a shot of him in flip-flops like a Spartan would be funny.
PPS I think these shoes are fine for a one day hike with no pack.
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Site of the Day:

From left is Chuck, his girlfriend, their pug Buster, and me. I met these nice people at Buck’s Lodge last night while I was barflying. They love dogs and scuba diving, two hobbies my wtb is desperately trying to get me to participate in. I love meeting people in bars.

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Site of the Day: Eiwe has a video of song for uber-geeks, Kill Dash Nine.