New York

I'm falling behind again, so this post and the next two will come in quick succession (so I hope) and read more like a travel blog.

In mid-November I spent a couple of days visiting the IBM Watson lab. I was on my way to Denver for the annual Supercomputing conference.  When booking, I had decided to spend the weekend in New York. It had been decades since my last visit to Manhattan. I wanted to see the new Highline park and ground zero. The last time I was there, the twin towers were too.

I was staying in Stamford, CT and took the train into Grand Central station.  Someone had told me that they had cleaned up the ceiling and that now you could see the artwork again. So, when I arrived I dutifully looked up. While I was standing there, a you woman broke off her group, walked over to me, asked "Are you ready?", stood next to me, shoulder to shoulder, raised her cell phone, and took a picture of the two of us.

Then she walked back to her group, they giggled, and walked off. No clue what that was all about.  I still had my billfold afterward. It was over in a few seconds. So, if you see a picture of me and some chick on facebook, it doesn't mean a thing; I swear!

On Saturday the weather was great, but I got there fairly late and by mid-afternoon it was already getting dark in the canyons of New York. The low Winter sun is great for taking pictures, but it disapears early and the tall buildings block out a lot of light early in the afternoon.

On Sunday I was there earlier, but it was raining. It was cool to see the upper stories of many buildings disapear in the clouds, but it made taking pictures more difficult for me. I like lots of color and golden sunlight. None of that was available that afternoon in New York.

As usual, the rest of my pictures are available on picasa.