Rather than post every TOAD I post on Flickr on this site as well, I’m going to do an end-of-the-month post every month and highlight the handful of photos I liked the most. I’m a little late with January’s faves but here you go…
Jan 1: The dismantling of the Christmas tree and the putting away of the ornaments always signifies the true end to the holiday season.
Jan 5: Making espresso drinks with the glorious Rancilio Silvia that Karen got me for Christmas is a daily ritual I find myself looking forward to. Now to learn more oft he ins and outs about beans, milk frothing, etc.
Jan 9: I took a trip with the UX group at Schematic to go visit the New York Times R & D lab and this is a photo from the lobby. As much as I like how this photo turned out, I’m choosing this one more because the content of the visit was so inspiring.
Jan 12: I don’t know why but I just really love this one. The lights. The typography. The snow.
Jan 14: Love that this guy wheels a whole piano onto the platform at 14th Street. I think I can get a better photo of him though.
Jan 17: The window of Buttermilk Channel looking out. Karen suggested the angle and she was right. Love how the lights outside look through the condensation. Also, their buttermilk fried chicken + waffles are awesome. Highly recommended.
Last weekend Karen and I did something I’ve had on my To Do list for a long time: go on the Atlantic Ave. Underground Subway tunnel Tour. The tunnel is officially the oldest subway tunnel in the United States and the only way to get there is to climb down the manhole in the middle of Atlantic Ave. and Court Streets. How cool is that?
Anyway, on to the highlights…
We got there expecting maybe 10-15 people and came upon this line and arrived and saw this:
and half the people had already climbed down below! Here’s the entrance in the middle of the major intersection:
I was ready.
Karen descended first.
Once you climbed down you were in a very low-ceilinged area filled with dirt with this little hole in the wall in front of you.
“Watch Your Step”
Here’s the other side of that hole:
We got down there and found the giant tunnel filled with people. Taken out of context, it looks like a scene from Cloverfield.
The climate was about 25 degrees warmer than the surface and replete with condensation.
Here’s a good view of how far the tunnel goes.
And here’s a quick look at my badass spelunking face!
In all seriousness, it’s a great tour if you’re into Brooklyn + general New York City history. It takes about 1.5 hours and the guy who gives it has a great personality that adds a lot of color to the historical events that led up to the tunnel’s discovery more than 25 years ago.
Hello, February! As usual, I have no interest in starting resolutions on new years day. I like to settle in to the new year, see how it starts and then decide what I’d like to work on for the rest of the year. Sounds like a good excuse for being tardy, right? (Shhhh. It is). Anyway, so here’s what I’m thinking of working towards for the rest of 2009:
Around the Block, Around the World
For a few years now the neighbor friends and TKS have discussed starting a dinner club of sorts—with a theme, of course! We’ve talked several times about a world cuisine version and have never kicked it off. I think 2009 should be the year for this to start. And as with anything worth working towards, it has to have a good name, like: Around the Block, Around the World. Watch out friends and neighbors, I’ll be emailing you soon!
Run a half marathon
The memories of lost weekends to long runs with whole pizzas consumed at two in the afternoon, followed by five hour long naps have not yet disappeared from my marathon training memory, so I don’t think I’ll be doing another full marathon soon, but I would like to do a half marathon this year, preferably the Brooklyn half in May.
Get more involved with the NYC design community
Now that I am back to hands on design again (yay!), I’d like to get more involved with the design community that’s here in NYC. I don’t know what qualifies getting involved yet—maybe become an AIGA member and attend more of their events, maybe join the UX book club, maybe start a design blog (there’s not enough of those, you know…). I’m open to ideas, but the goal probably needs to be measurable, so I am going to say that I’d like to make at least three good efforts at getting more involved in 2009.
Take an improv class
Ugh. I don’t know if I can actually do this, I’m actually stressed just thinking about it as a I type, but it’s been something I have been tossing around for a while. I sort of hate speaking in public and I think taking an improv class might help alleviate this fear a bit. Or it could make it worse! We’ll see. I figure if I put it out there, I may actually do it. Ha!
Blog more!
I haven’t blogged in… I don’t know….forever? Since we started this site as a way to journal what we’re up to, for ourselves to look back on, but also for our our friends in far off places, it’d be nice to keep up with this a little more. I’d like to get back to posting at least once a week.
Do a project!
What kind of project, you ask? I don’t know! That’s the problem and partially the reason I hadn’t posted this list yet. I’d really like a project for the year and I just can’t decide on one. In 2007 I said I would read 24 books in 12 months, in 2008 I took a photo a day, and 2009 needs a project. Today kicks off thing-a-day which I have been less than successful at in past years, but perhaps it will initiate an idea for the rest of the year.
So there it is, folks. I’ll post more as these goals progress.
March 15, 2009 by alex 
Posted in Projects, Thoughts 
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