Manhattan Project- NY is The Bomb
I Like New York
A Personal Nautical Journey Through the Big Apple
"The whole object of traveling is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one's own country as a foreign land."
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The Big Apple Revelation
98 Names for Awesome
My mind keeps repeating this simple mantra: New York City is awesome! So awesome that the city of hyperbole and superlatives has 98 names.
I Like New York - The Official Declaration
The Skyline That Defines America
I, on the other hand, am not better than New York. I am, however better than I used to be. After all, doing things right the first time is an obscenity. Growing old isn't optional, growing up is.
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Culinary Awakening
Breaking Food Comfort Zones
🥘 From Steak & Potatoes to Sushi & Guacamole 🥘
As a student living in New York City, if your food comfort zones ain't broke, don't just break them, break it before someone else does. There were restaurants of every shape, size, smell and color, and that was what I was—a connoisseur in starvation.
Putting the fun in dysFUNctional meals, we had two staples growing up—Steak and Potatoes, and Spaghetti and Meat Balls. Once a month we would eat liver and bacon. No Chicken. And absolutely no fish. It was like living in a mansion but only using one room.
In my 20's, I studied German, but I didn't speak it or French or Spanish or Japanese yet—But I did venture out to eat a lot of Guacamole, Sushi and spent quite a lot of time in the cheese aisles at Balducci's. I even ate mangoes and soy beans, tofu and other banned items from our household menu.
When you meet someone who says "I'm really just a meat and potatoes guy," he's really telling you that he's most comfortable when things are the way they've always been. The way we eat is the way we think...Show me someone who's experimenting with Mexican cuisine this year (after mastering Japanese last year) and I'll show you someone who is a risk taker and not afraid to try new things in other aspects of his/her life.
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NYU College Years
Professor Baumol & The Happiness Assignment
📚 "What do you want to be when you grow up?" 📚
When I went to NYU, my Economics Professor William J. Baumol asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down 'happy'. He told me I didn't understand the assignment, and I told him he didn't understand life.
For all my culinary short comings, when I was a kid my mom always said that happiness was the key to life. She was right!
CNN verses The Alphabet
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1981 • Finding Direction
Watching the Wheels with John Lennon
🎶 "Just Watching the Wheels" 🎶
As I went through the meat grinder known as college, a four-year round vacation, Hamburger helper for me was listening to "Watching the Wheels"—the legendary 1981 single by John Lennon, released posthumously after he was shot, in 1980.
I wanted to be more care free and laid back, and I "just had to let it go" and get out of Gotham City.
Ed Reif (1981) Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow
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Urban Reality Check
New York Was Just My Roommate
Once the culture shock honeymoon period of leaving rural Long Island for the bright lights and big city was over, I made the switch from country bumpkin to city dweller. I was what I pretended to be—Urbane. Yet to be truly cultured and have worldly experiences, I couldn't just be a book worm.
In the end, New York was just my roommate, and we simply shared water and electricity. I never felt "at home". I bought the t-shirt "I Love New York". Love, however, is a verb, you have to do it. I was driving the bus but falling asleep at the wheel.
Personal NYC Memories - 2012
You don't quit cities, you don't quit jobs—you quit people. Rude, pushy, snobby, and always in a rush. Hell was other New Yorkers; their National Anthem, Frank Sinatra's "I Did It My Way." Rudeness was a fashion statement.
In fact, I really didn't see New Yorkers as they were, I saw them as I was—rude, pushy, snobby, and always in a rush.
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The Complete Collection
Unique New York - 98 Names
The city of hyperbole and superlatives truly lives up to its reputation. Here are all 98 names that New York City has earned over the centuries:
1. America's Leading Tourist Resort
2. America's Mecca
3. Father Knickerbocker
4. Gotham
5. The Babylonian Bedlam
6. The Baghdad of the Subway
7. The Baghdad on the Hudson
8. The Banking Center of the World
9. The Big Apple
10. The Big Burg
11. The Big City
12. The Big Town
13. The Biggest Gateway to Immigrants
14. The Burg
15. The Business Capital of the Nation
16. The Business Capital of the World
17. The Capital of Finance
18. The Capital of the World
19. The Center of the World
20. The City
21. The City at the Crossroads of High Diplomacy
22. The City of Cities
23. The City of Friendly People
24. The City of Golden Dreams
25. The City of Islands
26. The City of Light
27. The City of Orchestras
28. The City of Skyscrapers
29. The City of Superlatives
30. The City of the World
31. The City of Towers
32. The City that Belongs to the World
33. The City that Never Sleeps
34. The City with Everything
35. The Cleanest Big City in the World
36. The Coliseum City
37. The Commercial Capital of America
38. The Commercial Emporium
39. The Corporate Capital of America
40. The Crossroads of the World
41. The Cuisine Capital of the World
42. The Cultural Capital of America
43. The Cultural Center of the Nation
44. The Cultural City
45. The Empire City
46. The Entertainment Capital of the World
47. The Fashion Capital of the World
48. The Fear City
49. The Financial Capital of the World
50. The Financial Hub
51. The First City of the World
52. The Friendly City
53. The Frog and Toe
54. The Front Office of American Business
55. The Fun City
56. The Fun City on the Hudson
57. The Greatest All-Year Round Vacation City
58. The Greatest Industrial Center in the World
59. The Headquarters of World Banking
60. The Hong Kong of the Hudson
61. The Host of the World
62. The Hub City of the World
63. The Hub of Transport
64. The Information City
65. The Land of Surprising Contrasts
66. The Mecca for Young Adults
67. The Media City
68. The Melting Pot
69. The Metropolis
70. The Metropolis of a Continent
71. The Metropolis of America
72. The Metropolitan City
73. The Mighty Manhattan
74. The Modern Gomorrah
75. The Money Town
76. The Most Colorful Exciting City in the World
77. The Movie-Making City
78. The Nation's First City
79. The Nation's Greatest City
80. The Nation's Largest Communications Center
81. The Nation's Largest Port
82. The Port of Many Ports
83. The Printing Capital of the World
84. The Restaurant City
85. The Science City
86. The Seat of Empire
87. The Super City
88. The University of Telephony
89. The Vacation City
90. The Wonder City
91. The Wonder City of the World
92. The Wonderful Town
93. The World Capital of Fashion
94. The World's Capital City
95. The World's Fair City
96. The World's Financial Capital
97. The World's Metropolis
98. The World's Most Exciting All Year Round Vacation Center