Dispatch from the First World

This is a short update on our NYC-Washington-Boston-Cruise-Tampa-East-Coast-Extravaganza-Tour travels. We've only been gone for a few days, but there's much to tell. Most of it, unfortunately, is made up.

New York

We arrived at Newark International Airport a little over a week ago. As Laura chose to check her 348kg "carry on", we had to wait till the next day to fetch in on the luggage carousel, all the while being harassed by New Jersey cab drivers: "you gotta ride?", "you wanna ride?", "you don't wanna ride with dat guy, he's from Jersey City". Eventually, after exploring the mostly vacant airport (it was close to midnight on a Wednesday), we caught the shuttle to our hotel in Rahway, NJ. As it turned out, the hotel was a great deal (about 1/3 the cost of Manhattan) and they offered a free shuttle on-demand to the commuter railway station about a half mile away. As it also turned out, the hotel needed to offer a shuttle because it was close to absolutely nothing but the NJ Turnpike. I appreciated the non-shopping opportunity. Laura did not.

The train to Penn Station took about 40 minutes, and was filled with people going to work, shopping, or on a contract hit for someone. We had a great few days in Manhattan, did a bunch of touristy things, and had wonderful (warm, sunny) weather. One of the highlights was a visit to the school Dave would like to attend - the New York Academy of Art. Even for a "finer things neanderthal" like me, I was impressed. I figure if he can get in, he should go - if only so I can see the guy painting with roofing tar and portland cement again.

We were in NYC for 4 full days, and my legs hurt from all the walking. I was also "Art Galleried Out" and wanted to regain a piece of my personal bubble again. So, off to Washington on Monday via train.

Washington, DC

Laura's wonderful new carry-on/backpack/bag-with-wheels has it's limitations - whenever it's moved. We took Amtrak from Rahway to Washington and had to lift her new bag into the overhead space. Easy enough if it weighed, say, 20kg. Not so easy when it's 348kg. They don't weigh your luggage like an airline. Bruce would appreciate all the people bringing car batteries on board, getting ready for Hurricane Sandy.

Our place in Washington wasn't upscale, but it reminded me of the place we had in Istanbul - clean and well run - so that's all we need. But to give it two stars would be generous. Good thing Laura has a sense of humour. The location was great - only 8 blocks down the street to the White House. I had to decline dinner there, as I had to do a blog post that evening, and it would only be Michelle and the kids anyways (awkward!). We spent two days walking up and down "The Mall" and spending the requisite amount of time at each of the 4,325 Smithsonian Museums. On the last day, we rented bikes and took in the attractions that you couldn't easily walk to (at least not me). Arlington Cemetery and the Kennedy Grave Site (man, there's a lot of Kennedy grave-sites), The Lincoln Memorial, The Jefferson Memorial (who knew that a drycleaner in NYC could get his own memorial), the WWII Memorial - I was too upset to do the Vietnam Memorial (flashbacks).

Up at 6am on Friday to hail an Ethiopian cab driver - who pulled a U-turn in the middle of a busy intersection (his choice) to pick us up and take us to the train station. Then another 8 hours on the train to Boston, with stops in Houston, LA, Seattle and Chicago (I got a cheap fare). At least the trains now have WiFi - circa 1985 WiFi, but I manage (one of the sacrifices I make). Pulled into Boston at 4:30pm, and caught a cab to our VRBO. 

Boston

Boston was a hard place for me to find a room for less than $3500/night and within 400 miles of the city. I did find a small one bedroom place right beside North Church in the North End (actually, very central). Because we arrived late in the day, they left the keys for me in their Reality Office mailbox. So I grabbed them, ripped them open, asked the guy next door where the address was, walked to it with all our luggage, and then discovered I had taken someone else's keys. 

Trudged back to the office, got the envelope with my name on it, and actually found the right address. It's tiny - I'm sure the Airstream has more usable space - but it's OK. Again - location, location, location. And our location is right by a laundromat - and Laura needs one today (I've, of course, been hand washing for ten days in a contact lens container). Bought a cup of coffee (Americano - but had to explain just what that was) at the coffee shop beside the laundry, and can now resolutely say that Boston has no idea what coffee is. Tea, maybe (they have a history), but not coffee. Laura tried another Boston Coffee later in the day - same result. Something like discount Maxwell House instant with too much water. Yumm.

We keep monitoring the interwebs for news on the cruise (RCL Jewel) leaving Sunday. So far, it still looks OK. Weather here in Boston should be alright until Tuesday, and the ship should be well out to sea en-route to the eastern Caribbean by then. 

This morning it was bright, warm, and sunny .. but by 2pm the wind had picked up and the temperature had gone down - so the big storm is really on its way.

More later, if Laura lets me....

In A New York Minute

Laura and I are in New York.

Actually, we're in Rahway, New Jersey - but more on that in a minute.

We arrived here three days ago, and spent two full days in New York City. The first day was wonderful, the second day - less so.

I could fill you in on all the sordid details, but I won't. Instead, a few observations from a guy who was last in NYC in 1984.

• In 1984, there were only 3,568 people living and working in Manhattan. Now there are 123,345,874.
• There are only 3 public restrooms available to service all of them.
• There are three excellent restaurants at the Met Art Gallery. There were 1,239,758 people at the gallery today. The restaurants comfortable seat 32. In total.
• The walk from midtown to downtown is only a couple of kilometers. There are 5,349 pedestrian fatalities every 50m in Manhattan. And these are mostly the people that actually wait for the walk light.
• The Empire State Building is a 102 story captive-audience-sales-opportunity.
• There are 38 NYC police officers at every intersection in the city.
• Why is it that the 45 year old woman with a cell phone in her ear can walk straight into an oncoming FedEx truck and not even flinch. And not be a statistic.

Laura insisted that I add a couple of her points as well, and that the advice you get about visiting NYC is worth paying attention to ...

• We're staying in New Jersey, and taking the train into Manhattan every day. If I had to do this again - I would. The 40 minute train ride gives you some decompression time, and forces you to stay out and about all day. It's really the same as a commute at home, only you aren't driving.
• Use a washroom whenever you see one (we've been told that there is one, but haven't found it yet). 
• Take food with you if you don't eat junk. 
• Wear really comfortable walking shoes. Even if you do, your legs will ache after day one.
• Figure out the subway. It's worth the effort.
• If you're functionally literate, figure out the train schedule too - it will save you hundreds.

Payday

 Gisela Giardino via Compfight

As most of you know, I've been trying to commercialize my sleep blog (BuildBetterSleep.com) over the last several months.

I started the blog in November 2011, with the expressed intent that I wanted to

• have a forum to write about everything I learn about insomnia
• journal my own experiences from sleeplessness to sleeping well again 
• see if I could turn this experiment into a stream of income ... if I could, I'd replicate it with some other interests I have (Minimalist Travel is one of them)

An overall theme here is to create work for me that's location and time independent. This means I could do the work from anywhere, at any time. I've been very lucky to have a couple of friends in tech (Dave K and Mark N) who've also offered up some part-time consulting work.

Years ago, Dave K was the one who said "my ideal job would be a whole bunch of part-time jobs" - and that's what I'm aiming for... with a twist. 

All of this is neither here nor there! The point of this post is that the commerciality of BuildBetterSleep.com is starting to pay off. I've received my first cheque from Amazon.com, with another small one from SleepTracks.com in the hopper. They're both very small at this point, but it's a start.

Maybe this whole internet thing isn't just a fad???