So here I am finally blogging about my trip to NYC/Russia/Scandanavia. My first day was supposed to consist of a Jet Blue flight from San Jose to New York...then a Finnair flight to Finland...then a Rossiya flight to Moscow. When I arrived at the gate at San Jose airport, the counter agent told me that the plane was being delayed since the pilot had discovered a hole in the cargo hold when he was doing his preflight checks. Apparently, the plane had been struck by lightning the night before and the crew didn't think to check the plane upon landing. Instead, they left it to the next crew (who only arrived an hour before takeoff) to do the checks. I had built in a little time that I'd still be able to make my New York connection but at this point, I was getting the sinking feeling that this was going to really mess up my trip. In the end, I managed to get to JFK hours late which meant that I lost all of my connections to Moscow. Thankfully Jet Blue took responsibility enough to get me a hotel room in New York and gave me a free round-trip ticket to use in the future. Every time I had to talk to a Jet Blue person to advance my case, all I had to really say was that I had a hole in my plane before they really did their best to take care of me. Since my new flight to Helsinki wasn't until the next day in the afternoon, I decided that I'd make the best of it and do a day trip in New York. Anyways, I've resolved now to try never fly out of San Jose if I have a connections to make. If I was at the San Francisco instead, I probably would have made it.

I used food to cheer me up that first night...unfortunately, it wasn't very good food. I got delivery to the hotel.

Food is food though and at least it was hot.

Can anything beat Hot and Sour soup on a cold day? I think not.

Since my hotel was near JFK, I had to take the hotel shuttle back to JFK before making my way to New York via AirTrain. The train station at JFK is quite neat...you can go all over the place from there.

Many more tall buildings in New York than in San Francisco...

And look at all the colors!!! Downtown New York is much more of an entertainment center than San Francisco. Our downtown is much more shopping oriented.

YOSHINOYA!!! I miss the San Francisco location...gawd, I could go for some Yoshinoya right about now...I'm currently in the new convention center in Boston and there is almost no places to eat around here.

Now THAT is a marquee...

It's been a long time since I've been to New York...I'd love to live here for a few months.

Diane Sawyer was doing her show...didn't see her or anything.

The New Year's Pole...apologies for the ad placement...they're everywhere in New York.

Sea of yellow

Took some time in setting up this shot...

The m&m store is HUGE.

So is the Hershey store. Notice how the building itself looks like a giant chocolate bar.

Has Sean John really been a force of black power? Does he really have the right to pull a Black Power salute??? Well if he was providing jobs to black people (without forcing them to perform/act out in front of a camera), then maybe. However, his clothes are made in China or Vietnam. Those oh-so-popular $240 snorkel jackets were made with dog fur. He's an astute marketeer but as far as advancing the interests of his race, I'd say he's keeping them behind by selling this stuff to his target demographic. He should be more like Stephon Marbury who's endorsed a $15 shoe line. Sure those kicks aren't superb quality (though he's been wearing them in games) but given that most consumers of basketball footwear are regular joe-schmoes (and not NBA stars), they're perfectly fine and nobody is going to get killed over them (oh yes, people get into fights and get killed over shoes). Now that kind of social awareness is powerful in my opinion. I may enjoy a P Diddy song now and again, but to me this is kinda offensive.

Wait!!! Who's that crossing the street with a camera crew in front of him?

Why it's one of my favorite actors, Simon Pegg!!! Interesting t-shirt, Mr. Pegg!

Simon Pegg looked pretty tired since it was early in the morning. He was there shooting a scene for "How to Lose Friends & Alienate People" which will be out in 2008.

Simon Pegg waits patiently for his photo to be taken.

Simon Pegg re-enacts a scene from "Shaun of the Dead". Poor guy.

I think I'd rather park on top.

I missed the Friday morning Beach Boys concert at Bryant Park.

This man was very comfortable.

Emily's Dreamland

I'm not sure how they make that claim. I'll have to check that out.

The Empire State Building is still an imposing structure.

World Trade Center Ground Zero...last time I was here was maybe 17 years ago. Very different from the place that I remember. Sobering.

Qatar and Shanghai might have a ton of the world's cranes, but there were quite a few working the area as well.

Still exposed rebar everywhere.

The area is still under heavy construction.

This is "Double Check" by J. Seward Johnson which he made in 1982. He survived the 9/11 events and was relocated to this spot. He's supposed to be a businessman.

Let's see...a tape recorder, a matchbook, a calculator, and some pens. Where is the laptop, the pda, and the cellphone??? :-D

Not sure if the guy was happy or sad...I wonder if it was the artist's intention to make this stock broker's mood intentionally ambiguous. Since he's double-checking his briefcase, he must be nervous.

Urban art is cool...not enough of it in SF. Isamu Noguchi's Red Cube

Wall Street New York Stock Exchange

Quite an imposing structure...CZZ is a Brazilian company that was listing that day.

Federal Hall, at 26 Wall Street, is where George Washington took the oath of office in 1789 and briefly served as the first US Capitol.

This man was talking to the police and asking if they wanted to be part of his security team. lol He had some spiffy clothes though. I just wonder if he "lost his shirt" in some stock mishap.

Even while talking to the guy, the police kept scanning the crowd.

Wonder what show these guys were putting on.

For some reason, I thought about Washington's ownership of slaves...Wikipedia has a pretty good writeup here.

Uh oh...standard lens.

Hey, it's the Sony F828! Dad and I used to use Sony cameras.

Now that's a sweet lens!

Statue of Liberty from the Ferry Terminal...I didn't have enough time to go there and still make my flight. Didn't want to risk it.

Nothing better than a nap at the park

Statues of Liberty

Kids can dress up all they want because they look so cute!

"For three decades, this sculpture stood in the plaza of the World Trade Center. Entitled "The Sphere," it was conceived by artist Fritz Koenig as a symbol of world peace. It was damaged during the tragic events of September 11, 2001, but endures as an icon of hope and the indestructible spirit of this country. The Sphere was placed here on March 11, 2002 as a temporary memorial to all who lost their lives in the terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center." In actuality, the statue is actually very close to how it looked before the event. There are only a few holes in it probably caused by falling beams.

Arturo Di Modica's Charging Bull. Kids like getting their picture taken near the posterior of the bull... the story of the bull is actually quite interesting. Turns out it wasn't commissioned by anyone...the artist made it and dropped it off in front of the stock exchange where it was promptly impounded. The public loved it so much though that it was installed at the current location.

A few kids got up on top of the bull...given that I was nervous enough about having so much expensive camera equipment out in the open, that wasn't an option.

It's a really cool sculpture.

New York's Grand Central Train Station...reminds me of Union Station in Washington D.C.