I love taking pictures in NYC; the city is breathtaking and picturesque from pretty much any angle (in color or in black and white), especially from the water. Below are some waterview pictures I’ve taken of New York City in the past two years, from Inwood Park at the tippy top of Manhattan down to the Brooklyn Bridge and Coney Island beyond. Enjoy!
B&W: New York on the Water
January 24th, 2011
Resolutions
January 19th, 2011
With the exception of bragging once in October about my baseball team winning my office fantasy league (woo-hoo!), I haven’t blogged in more than seven months. For a (supposedly) 365-days-a-year blog, that’s pretty atrocious.
Honestly, I don’t know where the time has gone, although one could argue that I’ve accomplished a lot in the past 230+ days. I planned a wedding, got married, honeymooned at Disney World (inspiring this equally sluggish blog), worked on a web series shoot, had jury duty, started back at work again full time, wrote 50,000 words during NaNoWriMo, and survived the holiday season.
And then came the New Year, which means – what else? – resolutions about what to do differently this year. 2011 can be better… stronger… faster… Or at least more productive. I’ve made a chart (’cause that’s how I roll) with my weekly goals for this year which include working on an iPhone app, editing the book I wrote in November, and, of course, blogging more. Like any resolutions, it’s possible that I’m setting myself up for failure (aren’t we all?), but efforts will be made. Wish me luck!
I’ve considered relaunching this site under a new name and design and with a focus on critical reviews of TV and film, as opposed to all of my random self-important posts (like this one!), but that change is still distant in the future. In the meantime, I’ve enjoyed reading the comments from readers who have stumbled on my blog, and I will post again. I WILL POST AGAIN!
To do list… check!
Fantasy Baseball Comes to an End
October 18th, 20102010 was the first year I participated in a fantasy baseball league, and after six months of changing rosters, player injuries, and electrifying rookie years, I ended the MLB regular season at the top of the scoreboard.
My original roster:
| POSITION | ATHLETE | TEAM |
| Catcher | Jorge Posada | New York Yankees |
| 1st Base | Kendry Morales | Los Angeles Angels |
| 2nd Base | Ian Kinsler | Texas Rangers |
| 3rd Base | Ryan Zimmerman | Washington Nationals |
| Short Stop | Derek Jeter | New York Yankees |
| Outfield | Matt Kemp | Los Angeles Dodgers |
| Outfield | Andre Ethier | Los Angeles Dodgers |
| Outfield | Adam Dunn | Washington Nationals |
| Utility | Billy Butler | Kansas City Royals |
| Utility | Dan Uggla | Florida Marlins |
| Bench | Chris Coghlan | Florida Marlins |
| Bench | Mark DeRosa | San Francisco Giants |
| Bench | Stephen Drew | Arizona Diamondbacks |
| Starting Pitcher | Roy Halladay | Philadelphia Phillies |
| Starting Pitcher | Yovani Gallardo | Milwaukee Brewers |
| Relief Pitcher | Jonathan Papelbon | Boston Red Socks |
| Relief Pitcher | Heath Bell | San Diego Padres |
| Pitcher | Carlos Mármol | Chicago Cubs |
| Pitcher | Scott Baker | Minnesota Twins |
| Pitcher | John Danks | Chicago White Sox |
| Pitcher | Edwin Jackson | Arizona Diamondbacks |
| Bench | Rick Porcello | Detroit Tigers |
| Bench | Michael Wuertz | Oakland Athletics |
My ending roster, with player stats:
| POSITION | ATHLETE | TEAM | R | HR | RBI | SB | AVG |
| Catcher | Jorge Posada | New York Yankees | 49 | 18 | 57 | 3 | .248 |
| 1st Base | Billy Butler | Kansas City Royals | 77 | 15 | 78 | 0 | .318 |
| 2nd Base | Dan Uggla | Florida Marlins | 100 | 33 | 105 | 4 | .287 |
| 3rd Base | Casey McGehee | Milwaukee Brewers | 70 | 23 | 104 | 1 | .285 |
| Short Stop | Derek Jeter | New York Yankees | 111 | 10 | 67 | 18 | .270 |
| Outfield | Matt Kemp | Los Angeles Dodgers | 82 | 28 | 89 | 19 | .249 |
| Outfield | Juan Pierre | Chicago White Sox | 96 | 1 | 47 | 68 | .275 |
| Outfield | Adam Dunn | Washington Nationals | 85 | 38 | 103 | 0 | .260 |
| Utility | Andre Ethier | Los Angeles Dodgers | 71 | 23 | 82 | 2 | .292 |
| Utility | Chris Young | Arizona Diamondbacks | 94 | 27 | 91 | 28 | .257 |
| Bench | Angel Pagan | New York Mets | 80 | 11 | 69 | 37 | .290 |
| Bench | Ian Kinsler | Texas Rangers | 73 | 9 | 45 | 15 | .286 |
| Bench | Delmon Young | Minnesota Twins | 77 | 21 | 112 | 5 | .298 |
| POSITION | ATHLETE | TEAM | W | SV | K | ERA | WHIP |
| Starting Pitcher | Roy Halladay | Philadelphia Phillies | 21 | 0 | 219 | 2.44 | 1.04 |
| Starting Pitcher | Mat Latos | San Diego Padres | 14 | 0 | 189 | 2.92 | 1.08 |
| Relief Pitcher | Jonathan Papelbon | Boston Red Socks | 5 | 37 | 76 | 3.90 | 1.27 |
| Relief Pitcher | Heath Bell | San Diego Padres | 6 | 47 | 86 | 1.93 | 1.20 |
| Pitcher | Carlos Mármol | Chicago Cubs | 2 | 38 | 138 | 2.55 | 1.18 |
| Pitcher | Neftali Feliz | Texas Rangers | 4 | 40 | 71 | 2.73 | 0.88 |
| Pitcher | John Danks | Chicago White Sox | 15 | 0 | 162 | 3.72 | 1.22 |
| Pitcher | Trevor Cahill | Oakland Athletics | 18 | 0 | 118 | 2.97 | 1.11 |
| Bench | Shaun Marcum | Toronto Blue Jays | 13 | 0 | 165 | 3.64 | 1.15 |
| Bench | Yovani Galardo | Milwaukee Brewers | 14 | 0 | 200 | 3.84 | 1.37 |
Of course now that we’re in the playoffs, most of my guys are out of the running for the postseason. I thought I might be torn over which team to root for, but now that it’s down to the Yankees, Rangers, Giants, and Phillies, the decision is easy.
My two Yankees, Posada and Jeter, underperformed this year and my Ranger Kinsler was out for most of the season. Pitching ace Halliday, on the other hand, played a fantastic season and contributed greatly to my strong pitching scores this year. So I’m rooting for the Phillies!
GOOOOO PHILLIES!
Personality Tests
May 31st, 2010I took my first personality test in junior high as part of an assessment to determine which elective “career path” I should take in high school. The assessment may have been baloney, but the personality test was a fun glance into the inner workings of my psyche, and I’ve enjoyed taking them ever since. In college, I only had time for elementary courses in psychology and sociology, but I love examining the human mind and social, cultural, and behavioral patterns as much as the next former psych guinea pig who actually enjoyed being experimented on by upper level students.
My favorite personality test is the Carl Jung and Isabel Myers-Briggs typology test. In this questionnaire measuring psychological preference, there are 16 personality types and test-takers are rated on scales of introversion vs extroversion, intuition vs sensing, thinking vs feeling, and judgment vs perception. I am an INFJ – an Introverted (44%) Intuitive (50%) Feeler (75%) Judger (78%).
As an INFJ, your primary mode of living is focused internally, where you take things in primarily via intuition. Your secondary mode is external, where you deal with things according to how you feel about them, or how they fit with your personal value system.
INFJs are gentle, caring, complex and highly intuitive individuals. Artistic and creative, they live in a world of hidden meanings and possibilities. Only one percent of the population has an INFJ Personality Type, making it the most rare of all the types.
As part of Child of Our Time, a BBC project following 25 children over 20 years, there is a new Big Personality Test which questions participants not only on their psychological preferences but also on their childhood experiences, their physical health, and their relationship and job satisfaction. Researchers are hoping to determine if our personalities shape our lives or if our lives shape our personalities.
My results for this new test are below:
Openness: 94% (willingness to try new things)
Conscientiousness: 98% (dependability, organization, hard-working)
Extroversion: 60% (tendency to seek out pleasure-stimulating activities)
Agreeableness: 80% (sympathetic and consideration)
Neuroticism: 78% (response to stressful situations)
I found it interesting that I scored so highly in all traits, but the neuroticism sure didn’t come as a surprise!
After completion, participants are provided with a full break-down of their results and an explanation of how the researchers believe certain personality traits tie in with general life satisfaction and overall self-esteem. It’s a really interesting study, and I was happy to provide the researchers with a new profile to add to their pool of results. You should do the same!
Sex and the City 2 Underwhelms
May 30th, 2010I gotta say I’m surprised that Sex and the City 2 underperformed in its opening weekend, raking in only $32.1 million, less than Shrek Forever After, the pointless forth film in the animated series, which made $43.3 million in its second weekend. In NYC I saw hoards of young, fashionably-dressed cliques of girls waiting for sold out shows of SatC 2 in lines that stretched for avenues, but then again, this is the city that never sleeps. Perhaps the rest of the country has grown tired of the fab four and their endless exhibitions of hunky beaus and glitzy, high-end fashions.
With proceeds from Memorial Day on Monday, Sex and the City 2 could match the three-day, $56.8 million opening weekend of its predecessor in five days of theatrical sales. With nary another chick flick in sight (unless you count the underwhelming Letters to Juliet), it’s not competition that’s keeping the audience away. It’s more likely that the abysmal critical reception on Rotten Tomatoes played a part, especially compared to the first film’s lukewarm, but still half-positive, reviews (15% fresh versus 49% for Sex and the City).
Casual Sex fans like myself were disappointed with the first film, largely because it took two established, reasonably healthy relationships – Carrie/Big and Miranda/Steve (three, if you count Samantha/Smith) – and turned them on their heads, all for the sake of two hours of feature film drama. When I heard a sequel was being made, I was pretty sure all four ladies would be victims of relationship annihilation since sequels always seek to one-up the originals in terms of melodrama and spectacle. Fortunately, the reviews I’ve read suggest that the SatC sequel is two times the suck but without destroying two times the relationships.
Unless my girlfriends and I make a date for cosmos and a sequel, I won’t be seeing the new Sex film in theatres. I’d rather pocket the $12.50 and wait for the red-carpet roll-out to home video and premium channels.
