Category Archives: Life in New York City

New York City: AKC Meet the Breeds and Travel Show YAY

New York City Staycation

Hello from my New York City Staycation! If you have been following along, I have been doing a bunch of touristy stuff lately to give me opportunities to practice using my camera.

This staycation came from me having a cruise out of Manhattan and finding it easier to just spend a couple of nights in a hotel rather than get to the cruise terminal from Bensonhurst.

I booked the New Yorker Hotel using Wyndham points. This hotel is near Penn Station . When booking it, I thought I would enjoy just walking between my hotel and 53rd Street, which is a walk I took a million times back when I lived on Long Island and would travel to Manhattan to go see bands at The Ritz and Roseland. I waned to see if the parking garage near The Ritz was still there. We used to buy 40s and drink up there before shows. We also used to drink up there while waiting for Saturday Night Live to end, and the celebrities would begin pouring out. I also used to drink up there when I was dating a guy from New Jersey. We would meet halfway between his home and mine, at Penn Station and go drink on top of the parking garage. Classy.

But as I began looking into things to do, I realized my dreams of possibly visiting a parking garage roof was really not how I wanted to spend my staycation so I made actual non-pathetic plans.

On Friday night, I checked into the hotel. I am Diamond with Wyndham. This is my second stay at this hotel and second upgrade to an actual suite and also unsolicited late check out. This is great because my checkout time isn’t until three so I can board the cruise after my room is ready at 1:30.

I took some absolutely horrible room photos that I don’t want to share, but the room is pretty much the same one I had HERE.

Some new room view photos:

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New York City: Brooklyn Bridge Park and Dyker Heights Christmas Lights

Amateur Learns Aperture in New York City, Volume 2

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Continuing my new series “Amatuer Learns Aperture” about going outside in New York City to take a million test photos as I learn how to use my camera!

In this post:

The Grey Dog
All the pretty restaurants
Sweet Moments Cafe
Chinatown Lanterns
Juniors
Coney Island

I am having a rough time because my cell phone photos still come out better than my camera photos.

Here is the cute doggo that ~~greets~~ barks at you when you ring the bell to enter the building for photography class.

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Introducing New Series: Amateur Learns Aperture in New York City, Part One

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Welcome to part one of a new series, where I write about leaving my New York City apartment to venture outside and learn how to use my camera. I almost titled this “Bites and Sights NYC” as I will indeed be visiting some New York City attractions and sharing photos of cute restaurants, so the name fits. But I liked the idea of maybe working the amateur photography in the title so the intent here is clear.

My brainstorming session went like this:

Me: New camera, who dis?

Me: No

Me: Learning ISO taking photos like whoa?

Me: NO

Me: F-Can’t Stop, F-Won’t Stop?

Me: SHUT UP

Me: Photography school, shooting things that are cool?

Me: STOP TALKING

Me: What about Amateur Learns Aperture?

Me: WHY WON’T YOU…Wait. that’s not so terrible.

I am doubling down by also attempting to improve my mental health by not wearing pajamas in public while doing these things. This is increasing the amount of laundry I have to do, which is a downside. Continue reading →

Las Vegas: I Love Chain Restaurants

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If you have landed on this page and would like to read this Las Vegas trip report from the beginning, you can click HERE.
Another day working from my hotel room in Las Vegas. Linq morning room view. I believe this room is considered Strip view because of the postage stamp sized view of Caesars. I really miss the balconies. It would be so great to open the balcony door and inhale the pigeon poop these balconies were always covered in. Okay maybe I see why they removed them. Also I don’t know that I have ever seen a flock of pigeons in Vegas? Yet the balconies were coated in pigeon poop.

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Las Vegas 2003: Look At All The Things I Miss!

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If you have stumbled onto this chapter of an ancientLas Vegas trip report from 2003 and want to start at the beginning, you can go HERE.

I am up early at the world famous Boardwalk Hotel. I am showered and out of the room at 8:45. I’m going to really gamble and try the world famous Boardwalk Buffet. It relatively empty, but the short line is SO slow. I credit this more to the gaggle of women who all had travelers checks, who all had to be asked 983984798327489327483274329874328 times for ID, than I do to the cashier.

Well, all the stories you have heard about this buffet being terrible are true. Now I don’t think it is disgusting to the point I’ve read about. but it is just not good. I can’t think of one nice thing to say about it, other than “well, it is not as bad as the Frontier buffet.”

Off to gamble!

The casino had the air conditioning up so high i could barely handle it. it was FREEZING. I kept stepping outside to warm up.

Nap time before moving hotels! I set the alarm for 11:30. I sleep through the alarm and got woken up by “room checks” at about 12:10 ‑ ten minutes past check out time. Who knows how long i would have slept if I hadn’t been woken up?

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Las Vegas Spa Day!

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Welcome to day 4 of this trip report. If you are lost and want to start at the beginning, go HERE.

Work up at Paris on day 4 for yet another shitty shitty shitty shitty shitty day at work. I crawled out of bed to stand online forever for iced coffee. I am exhausted. Because I am exhausted, little tiny insignificant things annoy me. You order coffee at Cafe Belle Madeleine at the register and pick up at a counter near the entrance/exit. But the creams and sugars are all the way back near the cashier. So you order, walk towards the exit to get your coffee, then back to where you just were……I mean this whining is so stupid and dumb and useless. It is not far at all. But exhausted and so many people and “excuse me, excuse me, EXCUSE ME” followed by dirty look by the person who thinks you are an asshole for screamng EXCUSE ME at them. But I had to because you didn’t fucking hear me the first two fucking times. Yargh.

I worked all day without a break. Then once it was time to log off, the work texts began coming in. My manager posted my birthday is this weekend and I have people texting me to wish me a happy one. This is nice, but my phone going off for work related things is really making me anxious. I need a fucking break. Good thing I am off the next five days.

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Quick Trip to Resorts World Casino in Queens, NY

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A lot of people don’t know there is an actual casino in New York City. This is probably because while technically being located inside New York City, it is so far away from everything that taking a trip there is probably not a good use of a tourist’s time.

I decided once it opened, that I should never go visit this place. The idea of having a casino just a subway ride away was probably going to just result in degeneracy on a whole new level.

That said, I did end up going after MyVegas had announced rewards for this casino. The rewards are pretty lacking. There are dining rewards, gift shop rewards, but no free play. Why do you not have free play DAMMIT.

So off I went. I didn’t write about that first trip because it went kind of like this: I lost all my money in about ten minutes. And discovered that spending $50 in their gift shop = one hand lotion, one bar of pomegranate soap and one pack of gummy bears. Their selection of stuff is so tiny and extremely overpriced. I mean let’s be fair, all casino gift shops are over priced. But I was expecting more things to choose from. I was not expecting to go home with SOAP.

Then I boarded the A train to get home. That was a nightmare. The A train connects to the Air Train for JFK airport. When I got on the train, it was jam packed with so many people coming from their airport. With so much luggage (who needs that much stuff?!?) and even more entitlement. There were people who had clearly walked onto their train with their luggage and duffel bags, dumped their stuff right in the doorway and kept walking into the train. I had to step over a whole lot of stuff to get onto the train. Other people could not get out of the doorway and into the actual train, because of all the luggage blocking all the walkways.

I vowed I would never go to Resorts World again.

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