Flatiron District

Today we explored the area about 10 blocks southeast called the Flatiron District. It's named after this highly photogenic building...To the north of the building is Madison Square Park. It's the first large span of grass I've seen in a few months...I can't wait until it's nice out and we can hang out down here...There's even a little dog park...A lot of this neighborhood reminds me of Seinfeld, like the little corner delis...We found this restaurant, based on the incredibly successful movie of the same name...
It seems like everyone in this neighborhood owns a dog who, in turn, owns a doggy sweater. So of course, there's a Petco here. According to the sign in the store, tortoises are capable of identifying their owners and learning tricks. I doubt it...I totally want a chameleon...We stumbled upon a flea market at 6th and 17th...
It may look like a bunch of junk, but I assure you...it is...Some of the stuff was actually kind of cool, though. They had Playboys from the 70's and hundreds of old records. Best of Simon and Garfunkel, anyone? They also had some very cool, vintage Polaroid cameras and video cameras. There was even one guy trying to sell some Macbook Pros. I'd trust him... We, of course, bought something. We ended up splitting the cost of a Boss SYB-3 Bass Synthesizer Pedal in the hopes that we'll be able to make a profit on e-bay. We bought it at the flea market for $50, and they're selling for $120 on e-bay. Now we're just praying it actually works...For dinner, we ate at a super authentic steakhouse called Outback...
This is the only steak we can afford in the city...
Afterward we hung out in Best Buy (party!) and played Rock Band and Guitar Hero for a while. We decided that tomorrow we're going to hit up the Hell's Kitchen Flea Market, which looks a lot less junky, and waste our money away.

Steven Baggs and Mike Del Rio

Tonight after work I went to a concert at the Highline with my co-intern Stephanie to see a showcase of 4 bands. An A&R guy at Epic couldn't make it to the show, so he let Stephanie know and we got our names on the list to get in free.

One of the bands we saw was headed by a guy name Steven Baggs. They sounded great...The other band we stayed for was led by Mike Del Rio. They also sounded great...The show was really fun and we met the managers and got to hang out backstage for a while. Oh, I also keep forgetting to mention that Pat and I got tickets to the Colbert Report in April! Finally, we get to attend a taping of a show we actually watch!

Dinner and a Show

For the first time, we spent the weekend doing things that we could have done anywhere, even Adrian.  After craving pizza all day, Pat and I were presented with dozens of authentic pizzeria options. Unfortunately the standard NY pizza is cheese only, and toppings are $3-5 each.  And it's hard to justify an extra $10 just to make a cheese pizza into a Hawaiian pizza.  So we ordered out from Domino's.  We probably could have found a more delicious pizza, but only Domino's has the coveted Secretary of Taste seal right on the box...

After pizza, we went to a movie theatre in Times Square to see Coraline 3D.  The show we originally wanted to see (11:10) was sold out, so we bought tickets for the next show (12:10) and walked around Times Square until show time...

Next to the theatre is the fanciest McDonald's storefront ever...

The movie theatre is different than the ones in Michigan.  The theatre is really big, but is built up instead of out.  Coraline was showing on the fifth floor and there were more floors above that.  This is also how the K-Mart near our hotel is: separated by department onto different floors (and two are below ground).  Wanting snacks, but not wanting to pay what I can only imagine are outrageous concession prices, we used the time between shows to go to Duane Reade and pick out some candy. And there, on the shelf, I saw them: Chocolate Twizzlers.  With a taste that couples marshmallows and brown Neccos, these may be my new favorite candy...

Coraline was amazing and I loved the 3-D effects.  And look!  I am now the proud owner of a more economical pair of Ray Bans.  I'll just draw the logo on the sides with a silver Sharpie and and no one will be the wiser...

Work

Work has been great, and I got to design some things for national bands like The White Tie Affair and Chevelle. Pat has done most of the designing for the up-and-coming band NeverShoutNever. I'll post some images and links of our work once they've been put up online. Like I said before, we're pretty much paid in free tickets and CDs, and, between Pat and I, we've garnered quite the CD collection...
I got the Lamb of God album before its February 24th release...But no CD beats this awesome CD that I found while organizing one of the CD drawers in the office...That's right: "Too Cool For School Mixtape for Kids featuring Rachael Ray." And they were throwing them away! I just had to have one.

Valentine's Day!

For Valentine's Day, Pat and I walked around, mostly on 5th Ave.  This is the Empire State Building.  It was lit up red, pink and white at night, how cute...

This building looks so cool.  It sticks out like a sore thumb compared to all of the newer/nicer buildings on 5th Ave...

While walking we came across a Gray's Papaya knock off.  Don't be fooled!  Gray's got better reviews...

The flatiron building at night...

Herald Square at night...

We then came back to the hotel to look up the address of an Italian restaurant in the West Village called Gaetana's.  The restaurant got excellent reviews online, some even claim it's the best Italian restaurant in Manhattan, so we went out to try it.  The restaurant was truly authentic Italian and the prices were unbelievable...

Pat got Clams with White Sauce on Linguine which was excellent...

I got one of their Valentine's specials: Heart Shaped Lobster Ravioli.  It was AMAZING.  It was the best ravioli, and possibly the best Italian dinner, I've ever had.  I could barely stop eating it to take a photo.  And when I did, something weird happened.  Our waiter was very attentive, making sure we always had bread and water and asking us if we needed anything else.  Then, when I pulled out my camera to take a photo, the light right above our table got brighter.  Pat and I looked at each other, but we were like, that has to be a coincidence.  But then when I went to put my camera away, the lights got dim again.  Talk about service! 

The whole meal was amazing and I would highly recommend Gaetana's to anyone who comes to New York City.  We will definitely be going back.  We finished out the day with a huge box of chocolates. Yum!...

A Cursive Memory

On Thursday night, we went to the Highline Ballroom again to see The Friday Night Boys, A Cursive Memory, and Automatic Loveletter...

There were 2 opening bands, and then The Friday Night Boys were up...

The bassist apparently lost a Superbowl bet and had to play in his underwear...

I've been sick for the past 2 weeks, and started to feel bad during the show so I sat down on the floor for the first half of A Cursive Memory's set.  But the crowd was pretty small and the lights made the floor look cool, so it worked out well and made for some neat photos...

I got a free ticket to the show because Automatic Loveletter is signed to Epic, but really I was most excited to see A Cursive Memory.  They sounded great and I eventually made my way closer to the stage...

The last band was Automatic Loveletter...

As a side note, the train stop closest to the Highline is the 14th street station.  I love this station because of the tiny bronze statues that collectively make up a series of public artwork called "Life Underground."  Some of the statues are very bizarre, and most have to do with money or people with moneybag heads...

Midtown West Eats

To keep from going broke, we try to keep our nightly dinner around $5 each.  The previously mentioned Fay Da Bakery and $5 Footlongs are always a cheap and tasty meal, but lately, we've been searching around the Hell's Kitchen/Chelsea neighborhoods for other options.

While not cheap enough to eat every day, Ichiban Sushi (3 blocks south on 8th Ave.) has pretty cheap sushi.  When we went I tried their sushi bento box and Pat had the sushi combo.  Both were delicious...

A few blocks north on 8th Ave. yields another cheap (really cheap) and delicious restaurant: Gray's Papaya... 

This strange, little shop is a step above a street vendor (it's not a cart), but a step below a fast food restaurant (there are no tables/chairs)...

We both tried their "recession special" which consists of 2 hotdogs (topped with caramelized onions and sauerkraut) and a papaya fruit drink...

Gray's hotdogs aren't extraordinary, but they're grilled and certainly better than the ones from a street vendor.  And the papaya drink is so tasty!

Last week, we went out looking for a Spanish restaurant in Hell's Kitchen that had rave reviews on the Internet.  Unfortunately, it doesn't exist any more.  So we kept walking and eventually found a tasty-looking Mexican restaurant called Fresco Tortillas...  

What a delicious find!  Pat and I both ordered fajitas and they were amazing.  For only $5 each, our meals came with enough rice, beans, lettuce, salsa, sour cream and meat for two dinners (with drinks included!)... 

Everything was really good, and the best part was the homemade tortillas.  Made fresh by an Asian woman.  Yes, this delicious Mexican restaurant is actually owned and operated by an Asian family.  All in all, Fresco is amazing, but you don't have to take my word for it.  Just look at those notable recommendations on their menu from 1991...