as everyone else in the world other than me already knows, new york city has become a really marvellous place to be. from the 80s and 90s, new york had a terrible reputation for crime and smut and scum and nastiness that may or may not have been deserved - i can't say because i had never been there.  all of my life, i'd seen movies shot there, had seen familiar sights there, and generally felt that i had some kind of a grasp on what it was like that rather sublimated any strong urge to go there. i mean - i live in a big metropolis now, right?  a centre of culture and industry and fashion and style for an entire nation - i was certainly not going to be impressed with new york, was i? i couldn't have been more wrong.  the new york that i saw and the new yorkers who i met were unquestionably of the highest calibre imaginable.

the city, dirt and garbage included, was a magical world bejewelled with what i am now completely certain is the most awe-inspiring collection of buildings in the world - so very many skyscrapers as far as the eye can see - all of them fascinating and detailed and beautiful - so many with beautiful art deco adornments and rich, enduring materials - such a far cry from the glass and steel of modern buildings.  the nights in quiet parts of the city had a deep, profound silence and presence, saturated in history and context and the sense that for 400 years, life's adventures have been laughed and cried and bled out onto them.

the new yorkers who i had the chance to meet - in fact all of the americans who i had the chance to meet - whether they were attached to the conference or not - were such a far cry from the perception that canadians have.  the new yorkers who i had the chance to meet were open, friendly, helpful, cooperative, intellectual without pretence, and universally very very funny.  i don't think that i've laughed so much as i have with these people ... ever.  every group activity i did at my conference, every time i went out for a meal or to starbucks, and even every time i had to ask for directions or for help, even in the cases where there was that inimitable new york crappy customer service attitude, every interaction was a little challenge and a surprise that made every encounter an adventure.

and then there's the attractions of the city itself.  i've already written a little about the buildings which, when i first emerged from penn station nearly made my head explode with delight.  but what was in them... amazing. the museum of modern art, the metropolitan museum of art, the cathedrals, the world-class unique shops, the streets and streets of million dollar apartments, the streets and streets of corporate headquarters, the centres of media and entertainment, the broadway theatres, the overpriced but incomparably stylish restaurants, the elite clubs, the posh hotels.  or what's not in buildings - the wide streets of taxi cabs, the budding trees on the boulevards with their cheery cherry blossoms, and of course, the crown jewel of manhattan - the park in the centre. i went to central park just about every day during my trip and still didn't get enough - it was utterly sublime.  armies of joggers, tourists, revellers and wanderers all rejoicing in the beautiful, unusually warm springtime weather.

in fairness, it was probably the very best possible time of year, with the possible exception of autumn, to visit new york and take in the sights - and it was the best possible circumstance, being on vacation and attending a conference on good user/customer experience where everyone was positive and open and bright. but even so, i've never been to a city where as soon as i got there, and every day after that, my whole being cried out to move there!

more on the adventure in upcoming entries. for now, just look at how many photos i have to go through!

- g

ps.  as an aside, everything from the moment i got to newark international airport to the time i left it went like clockwork.  the border security was friendly and helpful, i was able to navigate, figure out methods of transportation, tell where i was going and how to get around, and i was never late and i never got lost even once. when i got back to toronto, i had to unpack all of my luggage and i learned that there was a transit strike so i had to take a cab back home that took almost an hour to go 9km because congestion on the roads was so bad.

song of the day for loving new york: i love new york, madonna

ok - i couldn't leave without making one more timelapse video.

i'm excited because this afternoon, i was able to pick up a fanny-pack thing that has the perfect compartment for my camera, which MEANS... i should be able to take a timelapse video of my run around central park!!!  i so can't wait!!!

happy vacation everyone!!

- g

song of the day for saying goodbye to your cats for five days: hold on to me, armin van buuren with audrey gallagher

for the past year and a half, i've been working on a client site doing some really great and interesting work, as well at times as doing some less exciting and rather frustrating work. yesterday was my last day at that site, and now, i am moving on to a new client to once again resume doing great and exciting work in a completely different vein - work that is really interesting to me and also happens to be interesting to my company. it's a great opportunity and i couldn't be more thrilled about it. and best of all, the client is back in my home province of alberta, in calgary.

when i decided to stay here in toronto a year and half ago or whenever it was, i never expected to have the opportunity to have the best of both worlds - to be able to do leading-edge work that i rarely rarely saw out west, but to be able to do it for my beloved toronto-based company in a place that was so very close to home and my old friends. i've never lived in calgary before, but i can't wait to take advantage of being so close - closer even than when i lived in edmonton - to my beloved rocky mountains, to drumheller, and even on a larger scale, to vancouver and victoria! all of this is during the best time of the year to be in alberta! there are so many great ways that i can take advantage of this opportunity outside of the great work that make this gig even more precious and wonderful to me. it's like a dream come true.

there are many many logistical obstacles to be overcome first. i need to find a place to stay for three to four months. i need to get my cats to calgary so that i can be free to take care of them over the week and leave them alone for just a few days while i reconnect to the west. i will probably need to drive my car across the country so that i can get the cats there, and to have my car available for the many many roadtrips that will be involved in seeing everyone i know in the west. i need to find some time to fly back to toronto once in a while to maintain the bonds of friendship that i've made here and make sure that no one ransacks my apartment in my absence. and i need to figure out all of these things more or less the day after i get back from new york next week.

one of the biggest problems that i have in achieving all of this coordination is that i won't have a computer next week. normally, that would be a pretty good thing - to not have to be tethered to the internet at the hip. but i gave up my imason workstation when i got my client laptop, and i gave up my client laptop when i left the client yesterday. my new laptop is still on order and won't be available to me over the trip, and all of the other imason floaters are accounted for. so i will be relying upon internet cafes and hotel shared pc's for connectivity - so no VPN access to work and limited access to file storage to my home PC and its production tools. accordingly, during one of the most exciting weeks of my life, i will probably not have a chance to blog and i don't see how i will have time to catch up once i start my new project in calgary.

sigh.

these are pretty minor problems for someone who has received such amazing gifts from work like the chance to go to new york for a great conference, to go to work so close to his far away home, and to do some work that i've been itching to try for a very long time. but it's a problem, nonetheless. if you don't hear from me for a couple of weeks - please promise that you'll come back later. this is only a temporary black-out. i promise.

- g

song of the day for leaving the matrix: session, mr. han of linkin park

ps. i totally missed a great timelapse opportunity today and i'm kicking myself hard. maybe in a month or two, my new hair stylist will let me film a timelapse haircut. i would have loved that even though there wouldn't have been any cats in it.

so i'm preparing for my first ever trip to new york city next week - the greatest metropolis ever known to mankind. i never would have imagined that a visit to a CITY could be so intimidating! i have five days to so and do almost anything that i can imagine. i've freed up all of my available credit; i've got three days with no obligations or commitments; i can do anything i want as long as it doesn't break any homeland security laws or land me in a hospital; and i'm going alone so i don't have to worry about doing things that are too boring or too esoteric to share with a travelling partner. all of this freedom is frankly terrifying!

i've had no shortage of recommendations of things to do from my friends who have been to the big apple before, but the fact remains that i'm stressed about wasting my opportunity to exploit this experience to its fullest. and in the back of my mind is the fact that i'll be leaving my precious cats alone for the longest period ever in about three years. central park! the empire state building! ground zero! the statue of liberty!!! the new york public library!!! wall street!!! broadway!!! times square!!! omg - my mind is collapsing just thinking about all the things that i need to plan to do next week! i've been procrastinating on setting my itinerary but i know i have to have it set before i leave or i will be limited to going to places within walking distance of my hotel, and that will be a tragedy of epic proportions.

this weekend, i took some time for myself to relax and enjoy myself. i watched some summer blockbusters like hitman, live free or die hard, and battlestar galactica... but my big achievement is finally getting to see what i do when i sleep(nap). i have some ideas for timelapse films in new york, but even that is stressing me out.

maybe this (my reluctance to self-indulge) explains why i have 14 days of unused vacation time over 2007 and why i can't focus on anything other than work and making a better 2009 than my current year will allow.

- g

song of the day for enjoying a lazy weekend nap with your favourite cats: "into the dark", ferry corsten with howard jones

ps. if you have time, check out my buddy jim's post on the toronto sun. chances are that wherever you live, you have a shitty tabloid newspaper rag like the sun that profits from fear-mongering and sensationalism. having empirical data to support your loathing of such an institution is a great great thing. thanks, jim!!!

i've been making my own pizza for many years now - the crust, the toppings, the whole enchillada, er... pizza. here's how i do it:

• 3 cups unbleached flour
• 1/3 cup grated parmensan cheese
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 2.33 teaspoons of dry yeast
• 1.33 cups of warm water
• 1 teaspoon of sugar
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 red pepper
• 1 green pepper
• 8 - 10 large white mushrooms or their sliced equivalent
• 200 ml can of sliced ripe black olives
• 200g proscuito ham
• 200g sliced
• pepperoni
• 200g salami
• 250g mild cheddar
• 250g mozerella
• 5.5oz can of tomato paste
• oregano, thyme, onion salt to taste

add yeast to warm water and sugar to activate the yeast. allow it to froth for at least 10 - 15 minutes. in a large bowl, mix the 2.5 cups of flour, parmesan, salt and garlic powder. add the olive oil and half of the yeast water. mix. add the remaining yeast water and mix thoroughly. your dough will probably be wet at this point - take some flour and add until the dough reaches a doughy, kneadable consistency.add some extra flour to the bowl and allow to set for half an hour. after half an hour, stretch and knead the dough and allow to set another half hour, after which time, it will be good to go. use this time to prepare your toppings. cut the peppers, mushrooms, pepperoni and any other toppings that you have into usable pieces. grate the cheese. when the dough is ready, divide it into half. you should have enough dough for two 14" - 16" pizzas. grease pizza pan with some extra olive oil. stretch the dough until it will cover the pan. make edges against the sides of the pizza pan. add half of the tomato paste and season to taste. add the meat. add the vegetables. top with cheese. bake in oven at 375 degrees F for about 20 minutes. cool. slice and serve.

i prefer to use the tomato paste to prepared pizza sauces because i can control the amount of salt in the mix much better this way. also, it's a huge relief to know what is going into your pizza, as opposed to ordering it take out and not knowing how it's been prepared. i typically make two big pizzas and freeze them (thanks melanie!!) so that i can have a healthy available lunch on demand.

oh, and i would recommend screening your ingredients for cat hair, just in case your furry friends have been sniffing around your kitchen while you were off doing other chores.

- g

song of the day for makin' pizzas: "everything", tiësto featuring jes.