Barack the Vote on November 4!

Anthony and I have had a chance to see Barack Obama many times over the past year and a half. Anthony went to the historic Apollo Theater in Harlem fairly soon after we got to New York and then volunteered at a rally in Washington Square Park. When we were in Portland we had a chance to see him at the convention center. We headed up to New Hampshire to go door to door before the New Hampshire primaries and after listening to polls that said he was going to win by 10 points we decided we had jinxed him (and that many people may still be harboring racist feelings) and are sticking to donations and voter registration. Anthony volunteered at a fundraising event and shook his hand. I went to a Women for Obama breakfast event at the Hilton in midtown Manhattan. I was probably about 50 feet away from the stage but was not able to get a good photo with my iPhone because of the bright lights. I had a chance to hear Hillary Clinton urge women to vote for Barack and sat next to a young woman whose sister is Barack's scheduler! I cannot imagine why anyone would not vote for Barack especially now after all of the republican free market, deregulation policies have fallen on their face at the expense of taxpayers who are losing their jobs and their homes. It is an outrage that we are even considering privatizing profits and socializing debt. I think the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. After 28 years of republican rule i think insanity is an understatement for where our country is from a psychological perspective. The rest of the world is watching and probably wondering "what did they think would happen?" Barack warned us almost a year ago and continues to be proven right on many of the big issues our country is facing right now. Vote Barack in November!

Chinatown: every morning!

Anthony has the pleasure of emerging from the subway every morning to the sights, sounds and smells of Chinatown. Ahhh! Take a deep breath as the smell of garbage merges with fish and rotting vegetables. Chinatown is where you go to get cheap food that is on the verge of going bad. Venture down to Columbus Park and watch people play majong and cards and listen to traditional chinese music while people do Tai Chi. This is one of the great things about New York - you can be transported to another part of the world simply by walking down the street. Across from the park on Mulberry Street grab some dim sum for $5 and sit at the park to people watch.

NY Tourist

We have had a great time playing tourist since we landed in New York. With concerts and rickshaw rides in Central Park, a circle line tour around the island of Manhattan, a tennis exhibition match between Federer and Sampras, to a Pink Martini concert at the Lincoln Center, we have not even scraped the surface of all there is to do...but we have two more weeks and my list has been honed and prioritized!

Scenes from Brooklyn

We live in such a beautiful part of Brooklyn - Fort Greene/Clinton Hill. With stunning brownstone buildings on tree lined streets and bustling commercial main streets packed with amazing restaurants, Brooklyn is an urban planners dream of utopia (sans 20' high piles of garbage, noisy trucks and car service horns). Our favorite main street is Dekalb Avenue where across the street from NY's only South African restaurant Madiba, you can watch a mean game of hoops. We live about a mile away from Prospect Park, which is probably Olmstead's best work. We met after work for a picnic dinner and concert in the park.

Walk over the Brooklyn Bridge

The Brooklyn Bridge is so beautiful and on a gorgeous sunny July day, Anthony and I set off from our place on Myrtle Avenue to walk across it along with locals and tourists. It is truly an awe inspiring architectural and engineering masterpiece and if you ever get a chance to walk across it you should.