Wednesday, November 30, 2011

MnD in FIDI, Downtown NYC

MnD visited FIDI (Financial District in Downtown New York City) yesterday. First thing was the free ferry trip to Staten Island. I have done that too, more than once. And it's prettty cool I have to say. Good view, nice breeze & all that, for FREE. Then I walked them through the famous Wall Street of New York City and we reached NYSE, The New York Stock Exchange. Not only that, but I took them for a visit of NYSE Trading Floor. We walked on the trading floor, roamed around & took pictures and thenw e enjoyed the famous "Closing Bell" too. Pretty Cool!! Then we walked to the Trinity Church. After spending half an hour there, the next stop was the 911 Memorial. Currently, you need to get special entry passses from 911memorial.org. Then get there & get in. Not bad at all. The museum is still under construction. The two waterfalls are ready. I would like to go there again.. Then a visit to Century 21 aftter a long time, for a quick but short shopping spree cuz they gave me $10 after my last disastrous experience there. It was okay....

So the visit to FIDI, Downtown NYC was totally AWESOME!!!!!

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Thanksgiving Weekend....

This Thanksgiving was nice. Didn't do much though.. What did I do? What did we do?? Was at home all day. We had a nice lunch I think & normal dinner. No turkey, ofcourse. Did watch Parineeta (8/10), very nice movie. What else? Nothing I think.. Oh yeah, we didn't go out. I mean, we didn't go to Thanksgiving Parade as my dad was not up to it. So, we just watched it on TV. Although we did go for Black Friday Shopping to Best Buy & Target after midnight. It was my first time & it was cool to see huge lines & find people waiting since 5 pm in evening. FUN, I would say...

I worked (from home) on Friday, so nothing happened. Really nothing!! Except I did watch Your Highness (5/10). However Saturday was the real FUN-Day. We went on our road-trip aka long-drive to Bear Mountain. It's awesome. It's surprisingly nice to see/realize that there are so many nice natural places around NY/NJ, mountains, hikes, rocks, beaches, forests etc-etc. It's just cool. You don't really realize that when you are living in the city aka Manhattan. But anyways, Drive to Bear Mountain is nice, & so is Bear Mountain itself. Beautiful scenic view, nice trails, good hiking & all that stuff. There is State Line (something) on the way & that's nice too. A nice view of Hudson River & the town on the river. On our way back, we went to Rangnath Temple in Pamona. It's a nice temple with prasaadam (holy food) available round the clock. It's nice, calm & serene as well with lovely design/architecture & beautiful environment. Went to Macy's before returning & bought a nice Coat for Dad, with >60% discount. A very good day indeed!!

Sunday was slow & relaxing. Just awesome food again. I mean, awesome food is being made by MnD, mostly Mother, everyday. We did watch Aarakshan (7/10) on my dad's special demand. It's a nice movie with good concept & very good performances. Although, the execution seems to weaken in second half where movie loses its direction, and from grueling discussion of Reservation system in India, it becomes about Education & Private tuition & Coaching center & Poor basic education etc. Still not bad, but movie loses its rhythm, the note it set in beginning. Good overall. Although, my Thanksgiving weekend was great, just great overall. So, what do I say? Just THANKS.

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving 2011.. THANKS

Happy Thanksgiving to Everyone.. No turkey for me, but still thankful to god, to my MnD (who are here with me), my sister (who doesn't have MnD with her these days) & myelf (just cuz I am awesome!!) and "everyone" else, for "everything wonderful" I have.. THANKS!!

Saturday, November 19, 2011

MnD in Manhattan & Hugo 3D (8/10)

We finally went to visit Manhattan today.. me, MnD & Tani. After a nice & elaborat enorth indian thal/meal - paratha, palak paneer, aloo bhindi, dahi vada, arhar/toor daal, salad & kheer; we went out to  the city. Took PATH from Jersey City (to get 25% discount with PATH Smartlink Pass, you need to buy 10 trips for $15 or more) & then Subway to Central Park. Enjoyed the skating rink in Central park (just watching) and then the swing on children's park (I am very good with swing, very good!!). Took a walk to Columbus Circle where they have put two new elephant statues, seems  there are lot more all the way uptill 200 street or so. Then walk to & through Times Square (the second center of the world). My dad just loves Times Square, reminds me of my initial love for Times Sq. I think it has that charm, you see it first time & you are in awe, the lights, the buildings, the signs, the people, the place & everything is awesome. Although, after living just 3 blocks from there, for more than a year, walking through Times Sq every day with  all those tourists around & all that; you just get sick of it. I didn't :-)

The next stop was AMC Times Sq.. I had invitations for Hugo 3D Premiere in NYC, an upcoming movie directed by Martin Scorsese, based on The Invention of Hugo Cabret written by Brian Selznick. Brian's partner is friend of my last Roommate's girlfriend. Anyways, it's a nice movie about this boy Hugo, who winds clocks ina station in Paris & is trying to fix this automaton, his father was trying to fix before his death. And thers is osmething weird about the old man at the Toy Store, George Melies. Surprisingly enough, half of it aka the story about George is true, inspiring!!.. So, that was all about my awesome weekend.. really awesome!!

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Baby Girl for Abhishek & Aishwarya

Me & my mother had predicted this already. We were talking last week and bothof us said that it would be a girl.. & so it is. I am usually right with such predictions anyways. So, Amitabh Bachchan is grandfather to a new baby girl born to Abhishek & Aishwarya today. Congratulations to Bachchans!! (Share http://timesofindia.feedsportal.com/fy/8at2EuS0TepVC1F8/story01.htm)

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Coney Island & Traffic in Manhattan

So MnD & I visited Coney Island today. Dad wanted to see a beach & this seemed closest to Jersey City & most optimal, with nice beach, boardwalk & all that. It's really nice too. The boardwalk extends into sea and people were fishing and nice view of water all around. Sky & clouds looked beautiful. Weather was lil cold but nice. Must be great in summers!!

However from Jersey City, the best way as per Google Maps is to go through Manhattan. It's 17 miles & should take 31 mins one way. It tool an hour to get there & 2.5 hrs to come back. Yeah!! Whiel returning, we were stuck for 1.5 hrs in Manhattan itself from Brooklyn Bridge to Holland Tunnel. Sucks, huh?? Anyways, that's why I like to avoid driving in/through the city. Driving through city reminds of India a lot too, very unlike US. People honking, cutting, not driving in lane & all that. But anyways, we made it and got another experience... and, that's New York City!!

Friday, November 11, 2011

11.11.11

SO.. today is 11.11.11 - The special day. Palindrome & all that. I hear lot of stuff about today actually - Auspicious Day, Dooms Day & all that. I don't know. But I do know that I wanted this day to be special at some time. Years & Years ago, I wanted to have my baby born at this day. Really!! Well, that's not happening.. not that I know of!! & Years ago I thought I'll get married on this day. That's not happening for sure. What's happening is that I am writing a blog about all this. Which is COOL... You don't need special days to make days special in your life. They are just special, cuz they are SPECIAL!!

The new Batman - The Dark Knight Rises has been shooting around my work, aka Wall Street. My friend got pics with Christian Bale & Gary Oldman and saw Anne Hathaway & Joseph Gordon-Levitt. I saw Gary & Joseph too. They didn't let me take pics though cuz they were dressed at the time & were in "character". Anyways, I don't even care much. I am waiting for the movie though, very much!!... The week has been fine since return from DC Trip. Nothing special & nothing happening overall. The weather has been okay too except it's lil chilly today. Parents are enjoying there time here & All izzz Well!!
Happy 11.11.11... Happy Veterans Day!!

Monday, November 07, 2011

Bronx Zoo - $100 $avings

How?? Bank Of America has this Museums offer every first weekend of month, these list of museums are completely free to visit. I went with my parents and got in free at Bronx zoo instead of paying $30 each for the tickets. Also there is free street parking on Southern Boluevard over weekends, so I saved $10 for parking as well. At Bronx Zoo - They have lot of lemurs, polar bear, reptiles & frogs, monkey & birds exhibit and sea lions as well. The weather was warm & nice today and we really had fun at Bronx Zoo!!

Saturday, November 05, 2011

Trip to Washington DC

I came back from my awesome & great FUN trip to Washington DC with my parents today. I drove from here (aka Jersey City) to Washington DC and back. I was the only one driving and it was totally fine actually. I took NJ Turnpike & I-95S toll road and drove 225 miles to DC in 3.5 hrs. Drove back toll free on I-95N & US-1N for 265 miles in 4.5 hrs... AWESOME!! & No tiredness or anything either.. Just AWESOME!! We were staying right in DC in China Town so everything was walking distance. So, this is what we saw/did:
  • National Mall: Well this includes the area from Lincoln center to Capitol Hill and Washington Monument & World War II Memorial & The White House falls in it as well. It is kinda a lot of walking but all this can be done in half a day as we did. FYI - White House has a better view from the back, specially for pics.
  • Capitol Hill: This gets a separate mention here because I did an inside tour of Capitol Hill (Thanks to Tani) and also got to sit at the visitor gallery in the Congress in Session. FYI: You can't take any backpacks or bigger bags, no food, drink or even water etc is not allowed.
  • US Botanical Garden: It's right next to Capitol Hill, its ofcourse FREE like everything else there & its NICE. FYI: They have a nice audio tour where you can call a no# from phone, enter code given next to the plant or place u seeing and get lot more info.
  • Smithsonian Natural History Museum: Now this is a really BIG Museum. You can wander here for days. It has dinosaur's fossils & skeletons, many other pre-historic skeletons of animals & humans, stones & rocks & minerals, Hope Diamond and LOT of other stuff. We almost completed it in half day. FYI: Start from the Dino exhibit because it's most interesting & entertaining. Most of the fun stuff is on the ground floor only.
  • National Air & Space Museum: There are two Air & Space museums in the area, one is in DC at National Mall & other is in Chantilly, the Udvar Hazy Center. If you have to do one & you can manage to get out of city, do Udvar Hazy. It's bigger I think & has real space shuttle & a sky observatory to see 38 miles around & planes landing. It also has Enola Gay there & first passenger Concord  FYI: There's a $15 car parking at Udvar Hazy.
  • ISCKON Baltimore: This is an Isckon Temple in Baltimore, Maryland called Kulin Gram. I always confuse this with the big Isckon Temple at Potomac, Maryland which has cows & bigger temple & fields & all that. But its still nice. FYI: It's just a small residential looking building on side of the road, so make sure you look for the board/sign outside at the location.

Wednesday, November 02, 2011

RA.ONE - 8/10

Yeah, that's my rating for this movie which I saw today in 3D. More details to come soon...