Julio’s Musings Around Columbia County, New York

Needing to escape the horror of a baby shower in Carroll Gardens , Brooklyn, my father and I took a quest to some of our old haunting grounds in Brooklyn. We took the look drive (long because any drive in Brooklyn is long) to Sheepshead Bay to visit a place from my youth call Roll-N-Roaster. It is just celebrating it’s 39th year in operation on Emmons Avenue.

Of course on the way there, something (who knows what) was going on the Belt Parkway and decided to take the side roads. 86th Street was the way to go , home of the soldiers of cosa nostra. Of course the West End elevated subway occupies the last few mile stretch which resulted in an obstacle driven, mayhem filled stop and go 3 miles to the vicinity of Sheepshead bay and the entrance to Emmons Avenue.

Nevertheless the long slow drive was worth the wait to get to the order line. A succulent roast beef sandwich, a dripping cheeseburger, some fries and french fries were ordered with the seltzer water as the drink of choice. The anticipation building, now the next wait behind all the other orders. It was 2:30pm on a Saturday but it may as well been the height of lunch time.

The wait squared did not disappoint though. It is still scrumptious just like I remember during my youth and just like my youth, dad paid which was an added benefit.
Oh, and it is not a chain. You have no choice but to visit Brooklyn to enjoy. That remains one of my favorite things about New York City. Oh yeah, of course most if not all chains including an Applebees no less on Emmons can be found but it is still a place for the entrepreneur to stake a claim as the best of something. Most fail of course but here is to Roll-N-Roaster and 39 Years of delighting New Yorkers and the few non-New Yorkers that know.

[tags]Julio Hernandez-Miyares, Brooklyn New York, Roll-N-Roaster]/tags]

I am now one of the slowly growing army of Kindle owners and users.

Dear Julio H Miyares,

Congratulations on your purchase and welcome to Amazon Kindle.

We built Kindle with the goal of creating an exceptional and hassle-free reading experience. As such, we wanted to point out a few details before you get started.

I put in an order recently as I had grown weary of lugging various books around on the subway easily weighing me down 10 pounds or more. Reading on the subway is another story and one none to easy especially during the crush which seems like all the time but that is beside the point.

Requesting 1 day delivery , I anxiously ripped the box to shreds when it arrived , waited the hour or two to have it charged and have not looked back.

I have already purchased and downloaded two Issac Asimov novels, just did the same for “Innovator’s Dilemma” who’s first chapter is great and who knows what tomorrow will bring.

There is something magical to me to go from wanting the book to having it delivered right to my fingertips in minutes. Well of course I could do the same thing if I went to the bookstore but it is not exactly the same. I mean at any time of the day as long as the book has been digitized and rights conferred (that is another story).

Well, just for the record, I do have to pay for these downloads. They do go for less then the hardcover versions but not by much and as usual, the technical references I like to buy from Amazon are still pricey in my estimation even though there is no inventory cost , or mailing cost.

A Little Kindle information at Love Network

Tags: Julio Hernandez-Miyares, Kindle, Love.com

I found this juxtaposition worthy of snapping it with my camera. A vacant storefront on Broadway on the Lower East Side with one of the ubiquitous hot dog stands selling its dirty water hotdogs.
Actually the few blocks around where this picture was taken has a disproportionate number of empty store fronts which is indicative of what is happening all over as people just pull back in their wanton spending habits.
Though I have not taken a scientific survey I would suspect the “Hotdog man” is doing just fine. How can you beat a lunch of hotdogs and soda which probably comes to less then $5. Forget about the health effects, who cares! They taste good and the economics are just right and you won’t die from it till many years into the future anyway.

Tags: Julio Hernandez-Miyares, New York City, Recession

How far from New York City does one need to go so that references to “the city” don’t mean it but some other self-described city? Probably not far, I haven’t actually done the experiment.
Is it a sense of self-importance as if it is the proper definition of what a city is and “the city” can only possibly be it , as opposed to say, Newark, or Philadelphia? or some others in-between.
No doubt the sense of itself as the City, the conceit and hubris is what apparently drives folks outside of New York to despise it. Well perhaps also that it is chock-full of a self-indulgent liberal community commonly referred to as the Liberal Elite
Now that it finds itself in the same predicament as the rest of the USA with falling (some would say collapsing) home prices, shedding of jobs especially of the high income variety, those that indulge in the wish-full thinking of New York’s demise are wringing their hands. Of course “The City” doesn’t help itself with it’s politicians both on the national and local stage thinking every problem can be solved with a tax-hike which can be usually viewed as a way to protect some civil service job. Now civil servants in “The City” as well as most places serve major or critical functions. They operate the subways, protect , teach pick up our garbage and countless other things without which it wouldn’t be worth living here. Regardless at least in “The City” they have arcane work rules and efficiency is viewed as sometime from another planet and heck, why should they ever be exposed to the same “job risk” as most people in the USA. Well, unless something really drastic happens, “The City” will be in for a period of economic austerity during the next few years. It appears unavoidable but as it has previous times before, it will rebound. It has to. Though one may find it unappealing at times, when someone thinks of “The City” at least when in the USA, what would we prefer come to mind? Endless ribbons of clogged highways, Box Stores, Strip mall after Strip Mall with every conceivable choice of Chain Food? Well admittedly “The City’s” highways are clogged but at least their is a Green alternative of the Subway albeit with some pretty weird denizens at all hours of the day.

The photo above is of Park Avenue looking south towards Grand Central Station from around 60th Street. The station is not visible as it is blocked by 2 large skyscrapers almost immediately on top of it.

Tags: New York City, Julio Hernandez-Miyares

Though the collapsing economy has hit New York City hard, that is nothing new in its long history. Yes, there are more open pits or barricaded lots that may revert to mosquito laden urban lakes or parking lots while waiting for the next boom instead of boom cranes constructing the next skyscraper. Nevertheless the just ended boom was so vast that the city is still a sea of Kangaroo cranes with the skyscrapers inching skywards and 10’s of thousands of construction workers still gainfully employed.

As good fortune would have it, the World Trade Center site viewed above is such a sea (though not only one) of construction. Funded by Insurance proceeds and the good credit of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey it’s financing has not dried up due to the insolvency of so many financial institutions. In the background barely discernible in the photo is the core of 1 World Trade Center with steel over 100 feet above grade.
In the foreground is the recently installed crane for 4 World Trade Center, the shortest at 975 feet of a group of 4 massive towers that will be rise in tandem.

Tags: Julio Hernandez-Miyares, World Trade Center, New York City Skyscrapers

New York City is certainly a grungy place. Even in the best of times; which just recently ended by the way, it is full of filth , vermin, cracked sidewalks, potholes , garbage waiting to be picked up and garbage just laying around. I have often wondered if that is part of its charm. That may be counterintuitive to most especially those that beehive in the suburbs. It is always easy to spot when a film where the plot is supposed to be occurring in New York is actually shot in another ostensibly look alike location. Its missing the graffiti , the cracked curbs and everything else I referenced above.
Anyway I believe quite rapidly we will return to the Grungy New York of our youth - the 1980’s and 90’s. The typical approach for the senile elite in New York to solve an economic problem is to raise taxes to protect the special interests that in New York generally represent the ossified municipal unions.
That has the reverse effect of solving anything and creates more economic dislocation, decrease in economic activity , less tax revenue in the short to medium term and a cascading effect of decreasing municipal services. But it does create something weird. Artists like the grunginess and they flock to places that exhibit it to the greatest extreme ie Lower East Side, Williamsburg , The Bowery, and the cycle repeats itself.

Thanksgiving ala Cubana circa Thanksgiving 2008. Another Thanksgiving came and went and now getting ready for the work sprint through to the end of the year. Always a hectic time especially when you are in the world of Technology Development.

Ala Cubana means Cuban Style or at least I intend it to. Cuban Stuffing which is a family secret, Yucca (Not Sweet potato), Plantains , white rice and black beans. Actually all quite healthy and relatively non-fattening. Spent most of the day (approximately 8 hours) cooking the meal in a small, cramped and airless New York City apartment kitchen which can be seen in the photo.

Tags: Julio Hernandez-Miyares, Thanksgiving

Wow, its now been like two weeks since I moved my base of operations back to the Empire State. I have not really had much chance to truly enjoy it as I have been neck deep in work and other then walking around the East Village looking to refill my Starbucks container for Free , 4 walls is all that I have really seen. 4 Walls look the same whether you are in Northern Virginia , New York or just about anywhere.

On the other hand, besides the Starbucks refills there is always dinner and there is much to choose from around the “Village”. Lunch unfortunately has to be 2 slices of pizza in 5 minutes time during the few minutes that I can be “fashionably” late between meetings.

I have not noticed much different yet from the fallout of the stock market and financial collapse of the past few weeks. Almost as if people are in denial of sorts. That is often the case in Manhattan but I believe things will change quickly if the economy doesn’t right itself soon. Those restaurants need patrons after all and all the storefronts have businesses with the odd one or two closed for renovations or for a new business opening soon.

Tags: Julio Hernandez-Miyares

New Yorkers enjoying a beautiful Spring day in late May 2008 on the Great Lawn in Central Park. Dropped a pretty penny at Tavern on the Green. Took the extended family for brunch and since I guess I look like the rich one in the group, was handed the check no questions asked.

Tags: Central Park, New York City, Julio Hernandez-Miyares

“Congratulations!! If you’re reading this, you are now officially a part of the Yelp Elite Squad! Woohoo!……”

With those words from Yelp, I finally made it to the big time. I am part of Yelp’s New York Elite Squad.. This is a tremendous honor and privilege. Well, I am exaggerating to some extent of course but its still good fun.

I suspect I will need to continue to work at keeping my Elite Status as my little badge says ‘07. Now when you see that badge on totally unrelated posts, you will know what it represents.

Tags: Julio Hernandez-Miyares, Yelp, New York Connoisseur