SUSHI, SUSHI, SUSHI

I'm getting ready to post a "Day in the Life of Mas." Its really not all that exciting, but first I need to take a few more pictures of the Subway. In the meantime, I wanted to share with you one VERY REGULAR event: sushi. There is a small sushi restaurant across the street from where I live (one in my building too, but it isn't as nice). I have made it a habit to frequent this restaurant 2-3 times a week. It's really addictive, but I haven't too many intentions of cutting back...well, I might cut down to once a week (budget constraints and all).

So, here's how it works. I go in. Sam (the sushi chef) knows what I like and don't like. He makes whatever he wants to. Usually its creative and always good (and reasonably priced too!).

Any way, I took my camera in tonight and wanted to share this dining ritual with the two or three people that view this website. Click Here for the other pictures.

Brooklyn's Prospect Park / Coney Island

Prospect Park. Began with Prospect Park, which is a fairly large park right in the middle of Brooklyn. The majority of the park consists of lengthy trails for bikes, trails for walkers, and trails for runners. Seemed fairly safe. It also had a large Botanical Garden and a small farmers market. One vendor at the farmers market sold "farm fresh eggs" for $3.50 a dozen...I buy mine in Moscow for $1. Was going to ask the variety of chickens, but too many people were trying to buy the eggs and didn't want to disrupt the flow of business, especially since I wasn't in the market for buying eggs. Any way, I took pictures of the Park and Botanical Gardens. Click Here.

Coney Island. The Park was an unplanned stop as I accidentally got off at the wrong subway stop, so I figured I would take the little 2 hour walk through the Park. I really intended a trip to Coney Island. I went there with the expectations of seeing the same thing...small, community-based piers, streets, and the like. Nope. Its basically a really old amusement park that borders the Atlantic Ocean. Had lunch at this place called Nathan's, which is home to a huge hot dog eating contest. It was pretty good, but then found another place selling other kinds of hot dogs, so I had a second lunch. Within about 30 minutes, I managed 3 large hotdogs, two orders of cheese fries (had to support the potato industry), and two "original lemonades." It was a bit difficult to manage and figured I would need to walk it off. Went through the major section of Coney Island (amusement park on one side, beach on the other) and out onto the pier. Lots of people were fishing on the pier...some for crab...some for striped bass and flounder...some for anything that swam. It reminded me of the Little Salmon River during fishing season: people were practically shoulder to shoulder. All I know is that I definitely wouldn't eat anything out of that part of the ocean and I certainly wouldn't be swimming in it. After nearly 6 hours of walk around, I got back on the subway and fell asleep until my stop...reminded me of the Seinfeld episode where Jerry fell asleep and woke up next to a naked, fat guy reading the newspaper. Ok, this posting is long enough. Here's some pictures of Coney Island. Click Here.

Tomorrow's agenda: the Reading Room of the NYC Public Library; Inside Grand Central Station; and Fiesta Night at a friend's house.

Harassment to Post Pictures, etc

As I've said before, I try to use this website as a means to post pictures that might shed some light on what I'm doing. This summer I'm in NYC working in the tax practice at Deloitte, which is absolutely great. I love Deloitte and am addicted to NYC. Its GREAT.

I wanted to take a moment to post recent pictures from NYC, as well as a few others from before I left for NYC. Because I was so far behind in posting pictures, I made up for it with three postings today. The first of three was a trip to Southern Idaho to see the Kuwana Grandparents. The second was the scattering the ashes of my Wall Grandparents. The third, and most recent, was of my first full weekend in NYC.

Although I certainly wouldn't expect it to happen, I plan to post pictures on a fairly regular basis. I am busy, but I'll hear it from my Mom if I don't post regularly...so I guess I'll try to do it as often as possible--even if there's only two or three people that frequent the site.

So, take a look. As you'll see in NYC pictures, I'm seeing great things and am having a GREAT time. Its now 9:07pm and I still haven't eaten, but this is the city that doesn't sleep. Now, the only challenge is deciding between two sushi restaurants, multiple Italian restaurants, and a couple of pub-like places--all of which are within a one-block radius. Enjoy the pictures!

Central Park, Dinner, and Times Square

For Christmas, my sister gave me a deck of cards. Each card provides a unique attraction in NYC. On one side, it explains what it is, what else is near there, etc. The other side has an easy to follow map. I knew I had a dinner engagement later in the evening in the city, so I pulled out the cards and randomly picked from the deck. Pulled South Central Park and that's where I went.

Central Park was great. It was packed with people. Nearly every patch of grass was covered in blankets and people picnicing. The amazing thing about Central Park is that it is so diverse with activities. Shortly after seeing the mass of picnicers, I found myself watching acrobatic rollerbladers. After that was a mass of people all around Marc Anthony (had to ask someone who he was...married to Jennifer Lopez...aka JLo...I didn't care, so I didn't take a picture). Then a HUGE MASS of people were celebrating Puerto Rican Day, for which I must ask: why can't we also have an Idahoan Day? Then, behind the Puerto Rican Day festivities was a MASS of police officers. Yes, you'll note that I use "mass" as a descriptor...its the only way I can explain it...its New York!

Spent much of the early evening touring the area. Caught some pictures of some fairly well known stores and buildings (ie The Plaza, Tiffany & Co., and the Trump Tower). I have some other random building pictures, but couldn't tell you what the buildings were.

I was pleased to have a dinner invite from a group of Idaho politicos. They were in town for meetings with the rating agencies (Moody's, Standard and Poor's, etc). I hadn't visited with most of them in over a year, so it was great to meet up with them again and chat Idaho politics. Plus, I must say the dinner was fantastic.

Finally, after walking my Idaho friends back to their hotel, I figured I take the short walk down to Times Square. It was dark and everything was lit. It was amazing. I was down there last week, but didn't take the time to walk around. This time I did and it was GREAT. Loved it. Will plan more trips down there.

In the future posting of pictures, you'll see pictures of where I work, both sides of my building (the World Trade Center site on one side; the Hudson River on the other), and perhaps a picture of "the capsule," which is the nickname that I've given my apartment cause its SOOO very small. As for touring, at the suggestion of my friend Joe from Lewiston, I'm planning a trip to the Reading Room at the NYC Public Library and whatever else might be in that area.

I've included pictures from Central Park, the dinner, and my walk around Times Square. I plan to tour every weekend and will bring my camera along. CLICK HERE.

The Scattering of Ashes

Just a few days before I left for the East Coast and about a week after my Grandpa's funeral, we scattered both his ashes and my Grandma's (she died a few years ago). They had expressed to us a desire to be scattered along the Clearwater River (and Idaho river), so that's what we did over Memorial Day Weekend. Lisa, a friend of the family, allowed us to use her family's place, which had its own beach and access to the river.

Knowing my strong distaste for anything involving water, especially moving water, I opted to play photographer, while my uncles, mom, and sister ventured out into what had to be incredibly cold water. I've provided a link to pictures below.

We had a great send off and I would write more, but I'm sure my Grandpa would be saying, "you should be working and not playing with the computer." So, I'll use that as my excuse to simply provide a link to this event. CLICK HERE.

City of Rocks, Albion Teachers College, and the Grandparents

Shortly after we had my grandpa's funeral, I took a quick trip to see the other set of grandparents (the Kuwana side). Had a great time. Went fishing. Watched movies. Helped plant some tomato, pepper, and stawberry plants. Oh, and was also able to see 2 out of my only 3 cousins.

Took my camera along with me during a drive with the Grandparents. We drove the short distance to the City of Rocks. Had lunch in Almo at the Outpost--where I had a hamburger that was definitely in the top 5 ever, but it was an Idaho restaurant and most things Idaho are usually the best. Not really shocked...Oh, I should mention that City of Rocks is known for its usual rock formations and is frequented by rock climbers. In fact, you'll see in the gallery below that I took a picture of a rock; it's not just any ordinary rock, but one scaled by my sister, her boyfriend (at the time) Aaron, and my three cousins.

On the way back to Declo (hometown of the Grandparents), we stopped by Albion. Grandma was in search of pinecones...very specific pines cones. During that search, I took a few extra steps to get some photos of the old teacher's college in Albion. This was a fully functional teacher's college, until LCSC (in Lewiston) took over most of the teaching program for the State of Idaho...I could have that wrong. The bottom line though, this used to be a teacher's college and is no more, but I thought the buildings looked nice, so I took some pictures of them.

You can reach these pictures via clicking on this LINK. Enjoy!

Pictures of Alaska

So, apparently, I am pretty bad at updating the blog-photo gallery. That all changes now. I am finished with all my classes (and finals). I have nothing, but free time...

I took several pictures during a recent trip to Alaska to do taxes for native Alaskan villagers. I've included in the photo gallery general pictures from the trip. Click here to access the general photos. In a seperate gallery, you'll find several photos of one of the canneries. I was trying to play artistic photographer...not sure I succeeded. Although the cannery looks desolate, apparently it is in full operation during the fishing season. You can see those pictures here.

I'll do my best to continue posting pictures during the trip to NYC this summer.

Pictures of Tilda (the weenie dog) and of Seattle

Went to Seattle for Thanksgiving, Seattle being the home of my sister. Took lots of pictures and have added two new folders of pictures. The first folder that I added is of Tilda. Tilda is my sister's new weenie dog. She is absolutely GREAT (both the sister and the dog). So, those pictures are in one folder. Click here for pictures of Tilda.

The second folder are some pictures that I took while in Seattle. Went around with the grandparents touring Seattle for a couple of hours. Also in the folder are some other pictures that I took of my grandparents while they were in Moscow (they picked me up in Moscow and we drove to Seattle. Click here for pictures of Seattle.

I am a little behind in getting other pictures posted. Will get them posted soon.

Pictures of White Bird

Roommate took this and a few other pictures of White Bird. The picture with the fog was incredible. The wind was pushing the fog over the top of White Bird Hill and cascading over the hill like fingers. Amazing! Several others were also pulling off to the side of the road to take pictures.


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Golf Crew

Have been going golfing every week as a means to get away from the law school and to take some time with friends to gripe about the law school. Unfortunately, I think our golfing days are over. It has turned cold and rainy here and I am definitely a fair weather golfer. Any way, below are some pictures from the weekly event.


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