My second trip to NYC... wait.

Yeah, so I left off with the hot dog. So what? I got my ass handed to me by Karen for not getting her one... she likes hot dogs too. Especially the ones down from her building, which are cooked, not boiled.

But I digress... into something else.

About a year and a half ago, I was working at McGraw Hill, their Sweets division, which is construction publications. I was also working for The Learning Annex. So, one clear October day I walked down to Arcadia Gallery and talked to the owner, Steve, about purchasing a limited edition book that had just come out of Malcolm Liepke's work. I'm a big fan of his, for many years, since college. Walked in, started talking about the book and Steve did something very evil. He walked me to the back of the gallery and showed me a wall of Liepke watercolors.

Ever seen something that popped out at you and just said, in big neon letters BUY ME... even though you didn't have the money, and certainly not that much blood to sell?

I know, I sell a lot of blood, quiet.

Well, this is the one that said BUY ME... but more came over and slapped my face and did the whole devil-on-the-shoulder thing... no angel on the other.



Took me forever, working two jobs, to pay this off, but I love it.

So I walked up to the gallery and talked to Steve and saw the knew Bill Hick's show, which is simply gorgeous. The work is... well, you should click on that gallery link and view his work.

Went back downtown and stepped in this puddle:



Took a photo of the Ghostbusters firehouse:



Took a photo of this wine store I worked at for 4 days last year... read all about that on my myspace page



Then Karen and I went for lunch at Zen Palate. I took this photo of her holding the Bill Hick's book... not sure why she was holding it...



This is just begging for a "Will Work For..." something something photochop. We'll see what I can come up with (read as 'what I can get away with').

I had:



Tofu and vegetables. The tofu was awful, very soft... she had:



The portobello mushroom burger with yam fries! YAM FRIES!

We both felt like we were going to die from bloating and gas build-up, and made a pact not to eat healthy any more.

They had their own little JoBu at the restaurant.



Reminded me completely of this... you see the resemblance, right?



Walked around some more. I caught these four birds trying to summon a bigger demon bird:



And I prayed to the miniature Statue of Liberty... I was gonna try and have Karen take one of those pictures where you hold something up that's in the background, but I was going to try and eat the Statue, decided against it.



Saturday night we went to my all time favorite place to eat, my friend Pete's restaurant, Picolo Angolo.

Yes, don't worry, I'm gonna fix his website for free. From the cab, I took one of those CRAZY night time photos!



I think I'm on to something there...

Here's the shot I took of the restaurant.



I don't know who those people are, but that guy's ass was making me hungry!

No... wait. The smell... of the food! Was.

Making.

Me.

Hungry.

(headshake)

Had this Chicken Fioretina... good lord, it was so amazing:



Went home, woke up, went over to Pete's place and played Rock Band for 6 hours... oh man. So much fun, I couldn't stand it!

Here's the bar I've been hanging out in for about 9 years, Barrow's Pub:



Went back to Karen's. Had dinner... called it an early night (we were both exhausted) and left her place at 6am to catch my 8am flight.

There you go. My first NYC trip back to my home of NYC.

My fingers are a bit tired... more later!