MOTD

I'm back from a highly enjoyable trip to the right coast. It was everything I hoped it would be. Yang met me at Green and we headed for Dim Sum in Westerly before continuing our catch-up coversation on the beach at Harkness Memorial State Park. Wednesday we drove to New Haven and caught the early train to Grand Central. We/Yang shopped our way up 5th Avenue before visiting the newly opened MOMA. Highly recommended. Having had my eyes opened comparatively recently (by Pedro) to Hopper's Nighthawks I was delighted to see Gas which has the same eerie lighting effect (the online versions do not do this one justice). The museum has a Rubik's cube, some Apple gear, a Vincent Black Shadow motorbike and some other great art. The space is huge, which is just as well as the queue was long (apparently about 25k people/day since opening on the Saturday). We then dumped our stuff at a nearby hotel (next to the Ukrainian mission) and went for food (Brazilian) and scored cheap tickets for a show (Dracula). In the morning we grabbed breakfast at a diner then headed for Broadway. Despite arriving comparatively late we managed to find a good view at the Broadway/7th Ave/44th St junction at the north end of Times Square. The temperature was in the 60's and the rain stayed away. I especially enjoyed listening to the kids standing near us as they became so excited when the various characters came past. There's some coverage here (although the order is wrong). The definite crowd favourite was Spongebob with Pikachu probably being a distant second. After the parade I left Yang to shop some more while I retrieved the luggage and then we caught the train back. Our Thanksgiving feast was Chinese food we'd bought on Tuesday night and a bottle of wine (no turkey, yay!). The next day we lazed and meandered about, eventually joining the Black Friday shopping crowds before catching a fillum. Food was excellent fish and chips at Flanders Fish Market ("Hidely ho, neighbor!"). We watched holiday crap on the television before bed and the next day I had to head back here (booo!).

The oddest thing waiting for me at work was an e-mail from Liping. She had apparently re-read a message she had sent to me over a month ago and decided that she had been a little too harsh at the time and was now apologising(!). I can only assume that some strange person has taken control of Liping's computer account or otherwise the pod people have taken over Illinois while I was away. Give me back the Liping I can argue and fight with! I also ran into my neighbour, Anne, in the car park. She (who is in her 70's) had become worried that my car had not moved for a few days and was considering asking the police to check on me in case I was ill. That is so sweet. I must let her know next time I travel.