MORE gigs?!

The past 10 days we redeemed the last of the concert tickets we'd purchased way back in the day, when I actually thought I had money to buy things like this.

We went to Carnegie Hall last week to see Ben Harper play an acoustic set. It was my first time at this famous venue and it's much more like an old theatre back home. We were in the second tier of about five, sitting on moveable thickly padded comfy red chairs with only three rows (deep) of people and with our own little door to get into our section which the red jacketed staff opened for us.
This was the sight that greeted us on stage.

I think he just about used them all although at times it seemed he was deciding there and then which one he was going to play. 

Then on Tuesday we went to see Fiona Apple, as this crappy iPhone photo shows.

Really good, really loud compared to the albums and just the right amount of crazy as she rolled about on stage.

As we had to be there early to get a good view it means missing out on food at a regular dinner time so I enjoyed my first experience of being able to go to a diner and to be sitting having an omelette, fries and toast at midnight. The forty minute journey home gives you time to digest before bed!

I made a little error this week too. I was asked to walk our neighbours three dogs at 10pm but once out, I realised I had accidentally left the key on their worktop so was now locked out of their flat. They were at the cinema so didn't get back until just after midnight. As we have two cats, Heather kept them in the other room as I sat watching the laptop and keeping them out of mischief for a couple of hours. After a while the two little ones settled down on my lap to keep me warm.

Chris, Newt, Tubbs

In work permit news, it is now "In Production" according to the government website. So hopefully in the next couple of weeks I will have it in hand and be able to leave behind my life as a house husband and get out of bed before 9am... assuming I can get a job of course.

We are off to Washington DC this weekend to take part in the Army 10 miler. I am set for a PB... as I've never raced a 10 mile distance before! I'll try not to sight see too much, both before the race and during.

Brooklyn's finest

In my pursuit of my work permit I was told by the USCIS that I could get back in touch 75 days after the application was received in order for them to chase it up, so to speak.
Of course, the average processing time according to their website is currently around 90 days and when I called earlier this week they gave me another code/number and said they'd look into it and to please allow up to 15 days for them to do this. Thus taking it up to the 90 days anyway!

Last night we went to one of the eight sold out Jay-Z concerts taking place at the brand new Barclays Centre. The novelty factor was for once it's under 2.5miles from us and I love sports arenas anyway!

There has been the usual controversy about the arena being built in the first place and what it has done, or was supposed to have done for the area. Lots of stories involving the developer, the Russian billionaire owner of the Brooklyn Nets basketball team that have moved from New Jersey and some good publicity from co-owner and local boy Jay-Z.

It marks the return of major league sports to Brooklyn, which has been absent since the departure of the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball team to Los Angeles in 1957. Their old Ebbet's Field Stadium used to be in the same neighbourhood and the Jay-Z intro was pretty cool with a massive projection onto the stage of this and all the people that came from Brooklyn.



All the food concessions come from local Brooklyn restaurants so we shared a pulled pork sandwich from the Fatty Cue stand. I think I've said before, but that's one thing that is definitely better than back home, I don't know why they don't make a bigger deal of the food on offer at UK stadiums.
They even had a little Brooklyn Farmacy (the soda fountain place we went to a few weeks ago) cart in case you fancied a coke float!

The tickets only cost $30 and we were seated about three rows from the very very top. Plus it has those real steeply banked stands so you don't want to sit there if you suffer from vertigo!
Like flying above the clouds, we were so high we were above the lights, ha ha:

I didn't know all the songs he played, unlike probably 90% of the crowd but it was still really good. Still find it funny to see people sparking up a joint at a show like this. Heather did comment that it was probably the most mixed types and ages of people at a gig ever.

More walking & eating

On Saturday night we met up with some friends in Chinatown for tea. The restaurant was on a cool little one way street that looked like a movie set.

After sampling some soup dumplings and other shared plates we walked a couple of blocks into Little Italy where the annual San Gennaro festival is on.
It was a thought to brave the crowds but after switching my wallet and phone into my front pockets we went for it.

It was kinda like a street fairground. As well as food stalls there were games to win cuddly toys and even a couple of freakshow things, like the amazing snake boy!
We resisted that and had some canolis and I tried a fried Oreo cookie. Much like anything sweet that is fried, it is tasty but as usual, one is more than enough.

The next day we were up early and burned it all off by doing the same upstate hike we did before but this time leading different friends. Apart from a missed turn and a slight double back it all went good and the lack of humidity compared to in the middle of summer made a massive difference in how we felt during and afterwards. The hike photos were obviously the same as before, but the one below from the car park at the end of our hike was a nice surprise!

Then on Sunday night during the American Football due to an injury to the regular San Diego Chargers player, Heather's cousin got more game time and only ended up scoring three touchdowns!!!

Update

Been a slightly frustrating time recently as I am still awaiting my work permit letter. The green card type thing will probably follow later but I need the work part of it in order to physically sign on at a job. As money is now tight I have been trying to time it perfectly by having something lined up as the letter drops through the mail.
I have applied for a couple of jobs and "unfortunately" got an interview and a quicker than expected offer of a job at the SoHo REI store which is a big outdoor style store. Would have been a great job for a large very well respected company (in a really nice building in a great location) but I had explained to them the situation and they couldn't hold the job open. The USCIS can't check up on my  case until 1st October, very annoying.

Maybe I shouldn't have spent money on buying tickets to gigs! I could've picked up a ticket for Andy Murray's US Open final victory especially after it was held over to the Monday but I couldn't justify spending the $100+ on one. At least I was able to watch it all on tv and didn't have to stay up to 2am!

Previous money was spent on upcoming concerts like Jay-Z in the new Barclays Centre in Brooklyn and Peter Gabriel away out at Jones Beach. But last week was Maximo Park at Webster Hall. They were big in Britain back in about 2005 but haven't been as popular since. It felt like a fan club show as there was probably only a couple of hundred people there and we were about seven from the front despite walking in literally as they walked on stage. Really good and plenty of English voices in the crowd!

©Heather Sina!

On 9/11 they had some memorial lighting at night after the remembrance ceremony. We could see it from our window but other people had better photos on Twitter.

Saturday walk and eat

Happy Birthday to me!
One of Heather's cousins is in New York for work and it was also her birthday during this time so we got a combined Fudgie the Whale ice cream cake, yum yum!

Plus we got to take her and her husband on a couple of guided tours during their stay. We went back to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and then had a long walk around Brooklyn.

 

Lunch was the amazing burgers at Shake Shack and then we had a late afternoon snack in the Brooklyn Farmacy, an old school ice cream parlour & soda fountain.

I'd read about this Italian bakery that sells something called Lard Bread so our last stop was to try that out. It was fantastic although it's just as well we don't live next door as I'd find it hard to resist. It is a loaf of bread with salami and cheese baked in.

Turned out we walked nearly 10 Miles from around 9am to 5pm. If you visit New York, be prepared to walk! At least it burned off a lot of the above calories that were ingested during the day.
Plus I'd definitely recommend visiting in September. The humidity has finally disappeared and there's not the need for a shower every time you step out the door.

Sports news

The Empire State building changes it lights nearly every night to commemorate some person or anniversary. While the Olympics has been on they had different lights on each side of the building representing countries flags.

We can see the east and south sides from our window but this photo from Twitter shows it in better detail.

© @isardsorensen

On Saturday the city had the second of three Saturdays in August where they hold Summer Streets and they close Park Avenue to regular traffic all the way from 72nd Street right down to near the Brooklyn Bridge.

On my newly acquired bike I set off over the Manhattan Bridge and managed to navigate my way down near the bottom onto the closed road. I've done it once before when I was here for summer and although it's definitely better if you take your time and take in the sights you don't normally get to see from the road, on this occasion I had to get up to Central Park before the road re-opened at 1pm.

I was later in leaving as that morning we finally got cable tv installed in our flat!

You have to keep your wits about you as the streets are full of people walking, running, skateboarding, roller blading, all ages biking and the usual unicycle sighting. Plus the usual idiot on a bike trying to race through the whole thing at speed.

© http://www.particularityblog.com

After a bit of a break and then another lap of Central Park, I headed over to the Westside Greenway.

The inaugural NYC Ironman triathlon was taking place. It started at 7am so around 3pm the winner was heading towards the finish. Most of it took place over the Hudson in upstate NY into the Palisades before they ran the mile long George Washington Bridge back into Manhattan.

I guess it's a big event with qualification for the Kona event available but I was still surprised to see the finish setup, complete with large finish spectator gantry and helicopter tv footage beamed onto a big screen.

I finished the day with a cycle back down the Westside and stopped for a couple of pics at the USS Intrepid. The Space Shuttle that was carried to NY a few weeks ago is now stationed under a bubble canopy on the deck.

After all that, I was out in the sun for five hours total. Just over three and a half hours cycling for about 40 Miles. Sunburnt arms and totally shattered! Too much sun.

Mumfords in NJ

One of Heather's favourite bands is Mumford and Sons. We recently went to their opening US tour gig across the Hudson River in Hoboken, New Jersey.

Held on a pier just across the water from midtown Manhattan made it pretty unique.

There were great views from the pier to lower Manhattan too, including the sun setting on the new One World Trade Centre develoment.

While waiting the FOUR hours before the main act came on, there was passing entertainment in the form of one of the big cruise ships heading past. The people on one of the ferries to the nearby terminal were waving to us too.

Once the sun had set the Mumfords came on and they were really good. They're not totally my cup of tea but they did sound amazing and the crowd seemed to love them and know most of the songs too.