eastcoastwestcoast

New York Seal

From the NY Times: "A seal in the Hudson River, off West 79th Street, on Monday. This is not such an unusual sight in recent years, park rangers say, perhaps because the river is cleaner." (Photo: Joyce Dopkeen/The New York Times)

More here - So cute!

Sharpie Solution

Recalling the Treehugger issue, wherein my ambitious move to save some paper by using a refillable mug for my daily Starbuckian action and found it thwarted by a barista who would continue to write my order on a paper cup and just throw it out when he gave me my mug... here is my solution. Take mug. Take Sharpie permanent marker.

(and in the "Great Minds Think Alike" files, Karleigh had written me an email a mere hour after I had done this, suggesting that this would be a good solution - - you know it, soul sister!)

Centro

On a Wednesday night in January, three friends met for an 8:30 reservation in the West Village at a sparkling new Italian restaurant where the bartender poured us sparkling glasses of prosecco. All three of us had managed to squeeze in a workout in between work and dinner, so the drink was particularly thirst quenching.

It's Hard Out Here for a Treehugger

This is my morning routine during the workweek.

I hop off the Jersey Transit bus at Port Authority, where it's always better to get a little backed up in the bus traffic so that we get let off closer to 9th Ave than 8th Ave. I speedwalk through the terminal against the flow of people moving towards 8th, zigzagging through crowds so that I can reach the 9th Ave exit.

It really doesn't matter which Avenue I choose, my building stands between 8th and 9th, but there is a vast difference between the two: trees instead of stripshows, sweet cafes instead of jampacked souvenir and electronic stores, little schoolkids and locals walking their dogs instead of random sketchballs and clueless clumps of tourists.

On 9th Ave, I feel like I'm in a neighbourhood where people get to know each other. The same panhandler jingling his cup with a smile. The man with the silver greyhounds. The traffic cop on 48th, waving at the schoolkids and talking to the doulble amputee in his motorized cart. Everyday, there they are.

The line forming outside Amy's bread, with its amazing selection of scones and pastries. And then, a block later, the Starbucks where they know my drink before I even order it. And then I say good morning to the old man at his usual table near the exit, and he waves with a smile as I head to work.

It's a fabulous morning routine, a great way to wake up and kick off the day.

My New Year's resolution this year, one of them, was to start living the Vancouver routine in the Big Apple by carrying a mug with me. A venti paper cup everyday. Every single day. That's easy to fix.

It takes a pretty big effort to be eco-friendly in New York. Certainly, we all take public transit and walk a lot, so this is one good step. But recycling is essentially non-existent. Bins around town? I've only seen some near Union Square. Bins in the workplace? There's one (one!?) for cans and bottles in the cafeteria and one for paper near the printer (though it's often contaminated with food) - - which means when I see the custodian push his trash cart past my door at night, it's overflowing with paper and water bottles and cans, all headed for the landfill.

So I let the paper pile up in my office to carry to the one recycling bin. And I collect bottles and cans in my drawer to either bring down to the caf or carry back to my apartment where I recycle them.

And I now carry a reusable mug.

Except that this is what happens now when I order my morning drink: I hand the mug to the cashier who calls the order to the barista who then takes a brand new paper cup and marks my drink order on it and sticks it into the reusable mug so that he can keep track of the order.

Seriously.

This is the thing with New York - the name of the game is efficiency of commerce. So if it's more expensive and cumbersome to have to sort recycling bins, the city doesn't do it. And if the barista needs a protocol for remembering drink orders that involves writing the drink order on a paper cup, then that's the protocol - in all cases.

Undeterred, I can be efficient in eco-friendly commerce too - if they won't adapt, then I will. My solution to be implemented: I'm going to bring a post-it note with my order on it and stick it on my mug everyday.

The trees of British Columbia will thank me!

Midtown Elmo

Spotted on my way to the subway station at 8PM on a Friday night. I like how he's wearing his backpack.

Cowboy Bar

After strolling around Smith Street in Brooklyn, including a stop at Angry Wade's to watch the football game while surrounded by green-clad Packers fans, we headed back to the subway and the island of Manhattan.

Wanting to still maintain the relaxed attitude of the day, we made our way to a cowboy dive bar on the Upper West Side where we played some darts and danced to classics like "9 to 5".

January in the Empire

It's pretty at night, after an icy day where the cold wind clears out the clouds from the pristine skies, leaving a violet dusk. The moon comes out into the evening like a wafer of ice, white and shiny. The lights in the metropolis shine brightly and the Empire State Building peeks in and out from between skyscrapers in this city of wind tunnels.

Smith Street

On Sunday, we headed from brunch at Penelope's to the Brooklyn-bound subway and emerged at Borough Hall into a frigid wind. Walking towards Atlantic Ave, we hit Smith Street and the nice cozy shops, stopping for a hot chocolate and then popping into Angry Wade's just as the Giants/Packers game was starting.

Fashion District NYC

High Speed Internet Means You Can See Videos! [for my parents, who just upgraded from dial-up]

Cozy Puppy from eastcoastwestcoast on Vimeo.

One morning over Christmas break, Dutch did his usual routine where, following his walk and chowdown, he came to scratch on my door and wake me up. I opened and he clicked into the room, sniffed around a bit and then looked at me, all the while, lazily wagging his tail. I scooped him up onto the bed where he cozied up, and started his deep yoga breathing routine (if your volume's up, you can hear it). A little sniffing around, a massive yawn and then he collapsed into sleep. I love how he crossed his paws at the last second, getting totally comfortable.