All right, back from my 1 day hiatus from blogging. Yesterday was a bit full and I just never really got around to it, especially since I went out to a pub later in the evening with 4 other interns.

I got a bit of a late start yesterday, trying to take care of some things around my room. I had a light bulb in my bathroom basically pop out of its socket and then begin to smoke a day or two ago, so I had to report that. I'd rather not be the reason a 40 story hotel burns down.

I headed uptown, deep into the swanky neighborhood of the Upper West Side, enjoying a sub on the sidewalk while watching Maybach and Rolls Royce cruise by. Nannies pushed strollers along Central Park, seemingly all of them from some Caribbean nation, huge contrast to the Bowery and Chinatown that I'd spent time in the day before.

My eventual destination was the American Museum of Natural History. I paid the entrance fee, was extremely excited to enter and-- well, it was sort of a letdown. There's no less snobby way to say it, but I was really spoiled by my visit to the British Museum last May where everything was laid out and organized, artifacts were easy to see and the building had a flow to it. Sure, AMNH had decent exhibits, some things that were worth seeing. Very few of the items were actually dated or told where they came from, so I couldn't really fully appreciate it. Did this ancient Japanese sword come from a thousand years ago, or did someone buy a repro in Chinatown? was sort of my thought throughout. Clearly reproduced artifacts were amongst real artifacts and I found myself in dead-end hallways. Much of the museum was under renovation and, when I finally reached the part I was most excited for, the visitors were ushered out by security and not even told why they couldn't enter. I missed nearly all of the dinosaur skeletons because of this and so I eventually left. If you come to New York, I highly discourage a visit here. I expected better from such a well-known museum.

I stopped in Central Park for a while, read a bit of Anthony Bourdain's new book, Medium Raw, and then found some food at Otarian, a surprisingly delicious vegetarian restaurant. Not having the risk of ingesting dairy has been well-worth going without meat for a few meals!

I came back to my place, got ready and met Esteban, Greg and Andrew at Grand Central and then we took the train over to 41st and Lexington to Public House, a bar and restaurant where one of the other CBS interns was tending bar. Another intern, Matt, met up with us and we spent a few hours there, then went looking for another place. After wandering around and not finding much, I headed back downtown to my place.

I woke up today and headed to Chelsea, hoping to visit Chelsea Market where they film the Food Network shows and have a huge selection of fresh markets and restaurants. I got down there and walked around for a bit, but it seems that the tourists have really discovered it since I was there 2 years ago. I left, stopped in for lunch at Blossom du Jour and ate a shockingly tasty vegan sandwich. (Yes, that's 3 vegan meals in 3 days. Steak, pronto!)

I've got to say: I never thought I'd be able to stomach all of the vegan food, but it's actually good here and reasonably priced. I figured it would taste unnatural or, much worse, bland. In my experience thus far, it's very good. I'll never give up bacon, steak or ribs, but it's been fun to try a new food style and expand my horizons. Sure, eating at a vegan restaurant means waiting in line with people who own dogs the size of guinea pigs and the shelves are lined with books and literature that could almost shame a butcher into putting down his cleaver, but if the food doesn't suck, they play The Smiths over the loudspeakers and the food offers some health benefits, why not?

I've been fairly lazy today, just a trip to Chelsea and a quick run up to Times Square area to look for new slide wheels for my longboard without success. I'm not sure what the rest of the day holds, but I think it'll be pretty low-key.

Until next time, enjoy your Friday!

A Few Things I've Learned Today (and Yesterday):
1. New Yorkers aren't really as unfriendly as most people think. Busy? Aloof? Yes. But if you need something, it seems like most people are willing to give directions.
2. It will be well worth my time and money to just buy a monthly Metrocard.
3. There is no such thing as a clean car in NYC.