April chit chat

So everyone, new year's resolutions . . . how are they holding up, three months in?

New York weather up date for anyone interested. It is snowing and we have a blizzard watch. 

The calendar says spring but the weather is not ugh.

April 2nd.............. snowing.

Winnie Mandela has died she was 81

Hi Lizzy, I'm going to vacation in New York late June.  I want to go to an Opera or Ballet.  I found Don Quixote at the Metropolitan Opera, I think it's a ballet.  Have you seen it?  And can you recommend some fun things to do.

George Clooney if you're out there, can my friend and I borrow the new condo for the week?

Ladybug - I don't know what you like to do or what your budget is for your trip, so I'm not sure what to recommend. Don Quixote is a ballet, and I'm sure you'll enjoy it. If the budget allows, you can go to a Broadway play. The TKTS booth is a great source for last minute tickets. For freebies you can go online and try to get tickets to a tv show, although it may be too late for that.

If the weather's nice the best thing to do is walk. Stroll down 5th Avenue, go to the Central Park zoo, see the Statue of Liberty or take a ferry ride to Staten Island and back. Go to Coney Island (in Brooklyn)  if you want to go to the beach - or go to Brighton Beach and see Little Odessa (the Russian community that has grown up there). And then there's the Brooklyn Museum - not to mention all the museums in Manhattan - the Met, Guggenheim, MOMA, Natural History.

Last, but certainly not least, there's shopping! From the high end like Sach's and Bloomingdales to discount outlets everywhere - there's something for every budget.

Oh, and food! You name it, we've got it. Anything recommended in the hotel brochures is bound to be more expensive, so maybe ask a local or find a place on your own. Look for  places that seem busy. Just be sure the place looks clean and isn't ridiculously expensive.

Most important - don't over plan. Leave yourself time to just wander around and experience the feel of the city. I'm sure you'll have a great time!

Thanks so much Lizzy!!!  I'm super excited!!!

Envy ...

Ladybug, reading Lizzy’s  great suggestions for your New York trip makes me want to head back up there for another visit.  Just would like to add that I really enjoyed  visiting Ellis Island.  Nice boat ride (especially in June) over to the island and you can do both Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty in the same trip.  I wish I could have made it to Brooklyn (never been) but ran out of time.  But the neighborhoods of Soho and Chelsea are really nice and not as much hustle and bustle as midtown.  Bring your walking shoes!!!

Hi Donna

I'm glad, I have the opportunity to travel there.  I'm going to Amateur night at the Apollo.  I want to go to the Ballet.  I want to spend a day in Brooklyn.  

Soho is where Amal is currently living, right?  I here a lot of talk about Soho.  Is that a part of Brooklyn? 

I'm extremely into ancestry research, Ellis Island and  Statue of liberty sounds absolutely great.  I want to plan a lot of things, however I'm going to take Lizzy's advice and leave a day open to just "wing it".

Thanks so much for all of the input..

Ladybug - SOHO is a Manhattan neighborhood, south of Houston St.. It's popular with celebs. Wherever you decide to spend your time, take Donnamarie's advice and wear your walking shoes. And if you do go to Brooklyn plan your day ahead of time because it's more spread out than Manhattan.

LizzyNY wrote:Ladybug - SOHO is a Manhattan neighborhood, south of Houston St.. It's popular with celebs. Wherever you decide to spend your time, take Donnamarie's advice and wear your walking shoes. And if you do go to Brooklyn plan your day ahead of time because it's more spread out than Manhattan.

Thanks, it sounds like non celebrities and attorneys  hang out there too.

Sounds like it's going to be a fabulous trip!  Have you been to New York before?

Admin wrote:Sounds like it's going to be a fabulous trip!  Have you been to New York before?

Yes, I can't remember the year, it was after 911 and before the Twin Towers were rebuilt.  I stayed in Manhattan and I went to the museums, Empire State Building, and other tourist attractions.  I took the subway to Harlem and stopped at the corner of MLK and Malcom X I thought that was so funny. 

I did go to a restaurant listed in the hotel brochure (lol), I told myself I would not do that again.  I tried New York pizza, the best pizza I've ever tasted.  I remember seeing the Metropolitan and thought about how nice it would be to see a show there.  This time I want to venture outside of Manhattan, I'm definitely going to visit Brooklyn as Lizzy suggested.  I have a ticket to Amateur Night at the Apollo.  I really want to see the ballet Don Quixote.  This time I'm going to pre-plan some things and leave time open to just wing it.

I want to share, I saw an Irish Dance show, I think it was Rhythm of the Dance, the best live show I've ever seen.  After seeing that show, I made a commitment to experience classic live dance, music, singing... from different cultures.

Ladybug - I don't know what you want to see in Brooklyn, but one easy day trip is The Brooklyn Museum which is right next to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens and a short walk to Prospect Park and the Prospect Park Zoo.

Across Grand Army Plaza -which is a block away- (and the main branch of the Brooklyn Public Library) is the Park Slope neighborhood which is home to some celebrities and has many interesting shops and restaurants.

As I said before, Brooklyn is a lot more spread out than Manhattan, so unless you're driving (which I don't recommend since there's almost NO street parking anywhere!) different locations are best visited on different days or you'll spend a lot of time getting from place to place.

Ladybug - If you're looking for the "revamped" areas of Brooklyn, Park Slope and Williamsburg are your best bets as they're both easily accessible from Manhattan - and Park Slope is easy walking distance from the museum. if you choose to go there. Just double check online for their opening days and times because they're not open every day.

Williamsburg ?   I think Laura Spencer does "Flea market Flip" there from time to time.  I hope it's open when we're there.  I would LOVE to go there.

Ladybug, 
this sounds like an awesome trip!
I've been to New York once, in 1996, and would love to go again... I loved the Guggenheim Museum back then (the architecture is just breathtaking) and had the chance to visit the MOMA exhibition when it went to Berlin in 2004 due to reconstruction.
If we went this year we'd definetely need to see Springsteen on Broadway (which would mean to have to take our son as well, so I'll better forget about that...)

Some days I just LOVE my life...  

Avast there, me hearties!  I got my pirate George avatar back!  Now I feel a lot more like me.

Katie

Ciao pirate 

There was a huge fire at Trump Tower one man died four fire fighters were injured

anemarie - Just saw it on the news. The fire was in an apartment on the 50th floor. A 67 year old man was taken to the hospital, where he died. Four fire fighters suffered minor injuries. They don't know the cause of the fire yet.

I wonder if Trump will get involved.

I think he will have something to say.

Well he did thank the NY Fire Department.  He tweeted “very confined (well built building)”.

Well, it turns out it wasn't - and the building has no sprinkler system..........

He is such a fool of course he would pat himself on the back when a man has died and others are injured.

PAN - Apparently there is a sprinkler system on the commercial levels, but not on the residential levels. I'm not sure why they would do things this way, but it might be to minimize water damage for tenants in the event of a minor fire. Just guessing.

i am guessing it would have to do with the fire codes as to what and where sprinklers have to be installed. Also , I would think depending on the year the building was built what the codes were back then.

But since this is trump i don't put it past him to cut corners to save a buck.

I'm not sure it's a question of cutting corners. I don't think sprinklers are required for residential units - just smoke detectors. Can you imagine the outcry if a small fire broke out in a luxury building and sprinklers went off in all the apartments? All hell would break loose! (Not defending Trump though. I wouldn't put it past him to cut corners wherever he could.)

Oh. My. God.  [yes, I still live in the 90s]

Have you guys seen this: https://www.facebook.com/iwantthatvideos/videos/564674943918425/

Ewwwwwwwwwwww! Ick, ick and double ICK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Are they serious??!! Cheese and pickle juice and wine all in one? Ewwwww!

Quick question. Has anyone tried to close their Facebook account? I thought I had ages ago, but a friend just told me that it was still there. I haven't looked, in case they're wrong and checking it reactivates it somehow.

I've heard there's a 90 day waiting period for the account to be deleted and if you log in to check it resets back to the beginning and takes another 90 days. Does anyone know if that's true?

I'm with you Lizzy no just no.

It's not cheese AND pickle AND wine! You choose one thing to make the shot glass from (eg: cheese) and then fill it with a complementary drink.

I'm not sure about the pickle juice shot glass myself although maybe it works with tequila?

The one that caught my eye was the chocolate shot glass with whisky. Yum!

Lizzy: haven't tried myself (couldn't live without facebook) but apparently yes, you get 90 days before it goes and if you log in, you stop that process. Not sure if it's another 90 days.

If you wanted to check, you could ask one of your friends to show you what they see when they look at your profile. Note: even closing your facebook account doesn't delete everything, but only the things that YOU added. All photos posted by your friends will still be there (whether you were tagged or not) as well as any of your comments on other people's posts. And, as we've just learned the past few days, facebook seems to hold on to your information for ever. Just in case.

Last week, my aunt came over and told us that her partner's (she's in a relation with a lovely man for decades but they both decided not to marry because they both are widowed) granddaughter just got married. She's 20 and is pregnant which was quite a shock for their families. (One of my mum's friends likes to say: 'When you're playing at a casino, there's always the chance that you're winning the lottery.') She's still training to be a nurse, so since she's not allowed to work at the hospital being pregnant, she's on a break, will just go to school and then stretch her training. Everything's fine - apart from one big issue: Her - now - husband has Turkish roots and is a muslim, and my aunt's partner can't cope with that at all. But he seems to be very nice and caring person (I met him last year at my aunt's birthday party, and we had a very nice chat), has a very good and well-paid job, has lived with his parents so far and supported them financially (his father's unemployed), and he simply seems to adore his wife. And I remember that, some twenty years ago, it was a big issue that her parents married because she's Italian, and at that time, my aunt's partner couldn't vope with that either.

Some hours later, my niece called me and told me that she's pregnant and due in less than six weeks. She had had no idea that she's expecting, although we had noticed a certain weight gain over the last months and had asked her, but she had always denied it. She had drunk alcohol quite a few times during her pregnancy, left work immediately after she knew she was pregnant (which will certainly mean that there won't be a job for her after ger maternity leave), she and her partner are deep in debt, have lost their home and car and are now living with my sister, have two big dogs. He's just started working after having been unemployed for more than ten years and treats her quite badly, telling her that she's too stupid for everything. He's German by the way and an absolute a..hole.

So I called my aunt afterwards, told her about that and asked her what's worse: to have a great-grandchild with a muslim father or to have a great-grandchild with no perspective...

Oh gosh, what a situation to be in, carolhathaway!  I'd guess that your aunt's partner is probably too old to really change his mind about people now but you made a good point.

Admin wrote:
The one that caught my eye was the chocolate shot glass with whisky.  Yum!
 Katie - didn't see that one. Never got farther than the pickle, cheese and wine .The chocolate and whisky sounds a lot better.

Lizzy: haven't tried myself (couldn't live without facebook) but apparently yes, you get 90 days before it goes and if you log in, you stop that process.  Not sure if it's another 90 days.  

If you wanted to check, you could ask one of your friends to show you what they see when they look at your profile.  Note: even closing your facebook account doesn't delete everything, but only the things that YOU added.  All photos posted by your friends will still be there (whether you were tagged or not) as well as any of your comments on other people's posts.  And, as we've just learned the past few days, facebook seems to hold on to your information for ever.  Just in case.

Thanks for the advice. I had already asked a friend to check for me. Luckily my profile was gone, so I don't have to jump through hoops to get it deleted. I know they don't want to lose users, but considering what happened they should make deleting an account as easy as possible.

Lizzy,
last week I saw a note on my smartphone saying that facebook had been modified. I had never installed facebook and it wasn't visible on my screen either. So I checked my apps and had to realize that it must have been preinstalled. Since I never had an account, I guess I just delivered the usual datas, but of course I deinstalled the app immediately. I'm really p...ed of!

Not a fan of the stalking feel to Facebook - and the ability to make enormous amounts of money from people as a result.

Very very interesting to me that Zuckerberg was hauled over the coals for endlessly apologising for Facebook's behaviour online since 2003 and in all the legal cases brought to court (which of course he couldn't recall!) Facebook has not had to pay out any money to anybody.

This is interesting

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiLoyGuEPQs

Luddite that I am, I'm a firm believer in direct contact whenever possible. If you have something to tell me, call me on the phone. If that doesn't work, email me. If you want to invite me to something or announce something, use snail mail - or again, email me (although I think it's really tacky to do it that way).

DO NOT post whatever it is on Facebook and assume that I will see it. I have neither the time nor the inclination to check your Facebook page every day. You are not the only person I know and, strangely enough, I do have other things to do.
End of rant.

PAN, does it surprise you that Zuckerberg doesn't know what's happening in his own company? He came up with an idea, turned it into a bazillion dollar business, and is now just sitting back and enjoying the profits. I'm guessing he has limited contact with the kind of things being called into question.

Happy New Year to anyone celebrating!

All my friends in Thailand and Sri Lanka are off for the next four days, so I'm guessing it's a Buddhist thing?

Milos Forman passed away at the age of 86. He directed such amazing films as 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest' and 'Amadeus'.

RIP
Loved Amadeus

Milos Forman was brilliant. "Cuckoo's Nest" made such a lasting impression on me that I still find it too disturbing to watch again. "Amadeus" was amazing! For some reason I thought Forman had already passed. RIP.

That's such a blast from the past! Loved Amadeus when I was young. Wonder how it would hold out now?

I'm learning that it's not always a good idea to revisit much-loved films after a long time. Some of them haven't stood the test of time so well. Anyone else find that too?

Rent the anniversary edition dvd of Amadeus.  Fabulous Fabulous interview with Forman.