Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Times Square Snowball Fight

How great are these photos!

Monday, December 21, 2009

PsychCentral Article

Great article with tips on fostering healthy behaviors in your family: http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2009/12/15/what-makes-a-family-functional-vs-dysfunctional/

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Humble Pie

Sometimes, expressing yourself on a bad day isn't the best choice; especially if how you feel in that moment is different from how you'd feel under normal circumstances.

As always, you live, learn, and try to avoid making poor choices -- choices that hopefully become fewer and fewer as time passes. However, for me, if there's one thing never gets easier, it's forgiving yourself for making them. Especially when the consequences have an impact far beyond what you could've imagined.

"Our lives are like the course of the sun. At the darkest moment there is promise of daylight." - The London Times

Sometimes, all you can do is keep reassuring yourself of this, and press on.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

On Free Will by Rumi


Friday, December 4, 2009

Lit-Nerd Alert!

I wouldn't consider myself a lit-nerd, per se, because I don't get to spend nearly as much time as I'd like reading; I especially wouldn't consider myself a lit-nerd when I look at others that I know who could run circles around me when it comes to discussing literature.

Then again, I can see myself getting accused of being a lit-nerd compared to some other people I know. Of course, the people I'm referring to also happen to be complete buffoons who seem to take pride in the fact that they've never read an entire book in their lives.

Like many things in life, lit-nerd street-cred can be relative, I suppose. As I often say, to each their own. People have a right to ignore things like reading, learning, and expanding their knowledge, if they so choose.

There are other ways to learn and expand your horizons, afterall. You know what I mean--living and experiencing life instead of reading about it. But, I tend to believe neither one has to be mutually exclusive. Finding a nice balance of doing both is where it's at, if you ask me!

I can read a fantastic, inspiring piece about what its like to experience a baseball game at Fenway Park, but it will never compare to actually being there. Then again, you could spend your whole life in a cycle of waking up, eating, going to work, and going to sleep without doing either.

Nevertheless, a good story can be a great way to forget the real world and escape your troubles.

And with Christmas just weeks away, I'm reminded of one of the classic stories that can do that for you: Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.

I recently saw the new version in theatres with Jim Carrey, and thought it was pretty good. But it's tough to beat the 1938 classic that you've grown up watching every year. As for the book, it's been a long time since I'd read it. So long, in fact, that I don't even remember much about the story outside of what is shown in the movies.

Minus one lit-brownie-point from my total for that one.

Then I read a story a few days ago in the NY Times about the original written manuscript being displayed at the Morgan Library and Museum in Manhattan. Apparently it's the authentic pen-to-paper original, which includes all of his edits, and you can apparently see how the story was shaped and how it evolved into the story we know today.

I'm sure this is just so fascinating, right. By now you're probably thinking something like:

(a) "Wow, that's cool! I'd love to see that"

or

(b) "So what?"

I fall into the (a) group.

Aw, crap. I am a lit-nerd!

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Parking Issues? There's An App for That!

Considering the heavy traffic and all the means of transportation available in NYC, it almost seems weird for someone to actually have a car. But, dented bumpers and gridlock notwithstanding, there are apparently some who do. And for those people who also happen to own an iPhone, there's now an application that helps you find a parking space!

This of course, means that the other person needs to have an iPhone as well, but it's a very cool idea.

New York City car drivers, the phone application is free!

Happy parking!

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

A New Gig

I have something new to share: I've been accepted as a contributor to Examiner.com.

On one hand, I'm excited about it. On the other hand, I don't really want to make too much of a big deal of it, because I'm not sure yet how much traffic I can generate, or if anyone will be interested in reading it! I don't see myself getting enough hits on the page to make much money from it, but the topic and general idea behind it suits me. I think it will be fun for me to write about my favorite subject: NYC.

But, it will be a little different from what I post here. Since this is a personal blog, anything goes, really. It's been an outlet for the many various and usually random topics that run through my mind.

The topic I signed up for is called NY Life In Photos, which is a topic that's perfectly suited for me.

As you may know by now, I love photography and writing, so it will be a place for me to seek that perfect marriage of words and pictures. The only difference is that I will probably spend more time on the writing part for those contributions, as I sometimes tend to get lazy here and submit posts before they've really been properly edited.

In any case, for those of you who are kind enough to stop by and read the personal posts I leave here, I hope you'll also check out my contributions to Examiner.com.

I love hearing from each and every one of you, so as always, feel free to say hello or leave a comment if you want.

Here's my examiner.com page:

http://www.examiner.com/x-31106-NY-Life-in-Photos-Examiner?showbio

If any of my fellow bloggers out there want to make contributions on a topic of your choosing, they are looking for writers. If you're accepted, please let them know I referred you, since they provide some monetary incentive for this.

All you have to do is go the link below once you're accepted, and put in my Examiner ID code, which is 31106:

http://www.examiner.com/refer