Julio’s Musings Around Columbia County, New York

Took the kids and the old wife to see this show on Saturday night. Quite a head trip for all concerned. The video doesn’t do it justice, you need to be there but gives you an idea.

Tags: Fuerza Bruta

Ah, Spring time 2008 in New York City. My favorite time of year. This picture taken across the street from the American Museum of Natural History which is probably the only museum in the world I can tolerate.
On this balmy spring day, restaurants actually had outdoor seating with a willing clientele soaking up the warmth and the street scene which is always interesting in New York City.

New York City, Julio Hernandez-Miyares,Spring Time

Stacking the left-over firewood over at the Miyares Farm during the beginning of Spring 2008. With fuel oil well north of $3.00 a gallon, the winter heat has been provided mostly through the old fashioned burning of wood or through no heat at all and just going cold. I can afford the price tag but just can’t bring myself to letting all that money flow out so some ego-maniac in Dubai can build another skyscraper no one will inhabit.

The Blogging has taken last place with just about everything else lately with work consuming most of my waking hours. That won’t go on much longer , in fact I resolve that as soon as I am caught up at work….
Well that’s a trap, you can’t catch up, not in my place.

Time to put that aside and concentrate on building the chicken coup and make a living selling fresh eggs.

Tags: Julio Hernandez-Miyares, Columbia County

I love when it snows in New York City. This is a view of a the canyon of skyscrapers on 6th Avenue looking south from Radio City Music Hall on a recent early evening. The buildings look even more majestic then they usually do their tops disappearing into the haze produced by the falling snow.

I also like it better when the snow is substantial; like a foot or more ; though this particular snowfall was no where near that amount. Unfortunately just a few inches that barely barely slowed the rush of rush hour traffic. Watching New York City grind to a halt in the wake of a major storm is one of my favorite sights. I could have used the break that normally comes from Mother Nature capriciousness. Meetings canceled, timelines for projects extended, quiet around the office and the implicit recognition that nothing much matters or changes if things end up being late by a day or two.

Tags: Julio Hernandez-Miyares, New York

At a distance, barreling into the 71st Street Continental station, an F train headed West towards Manhattan during the wee hours of the morning one weekday during Christmas holidays.

Have been spending most of my time in New York City the past few months and of course that generally means making use of that unique institution which the New York City subway is. Standing room only at 5:00am, seats so narrow or people so obese they take 2 or more seats not to speak to those that use it as a private bed taking an entire half of the car
Watching the rats have a field day with the daily picking of trash on the track bed while waiting for the trains to arrive late at night.
Getting that choice spot at front of a train and being able to watch one of the most incredible engineering marvels on earth of endless tunnels coming and going , converging on multiple levels.

I think I am going to start a whole section to this blog (The Subway Series) and keep my camera handy. I will have to be discreet as you know, no eye contact on the Subway and that probably includes taking pictures of anything remotely human.

I think between the denizens and the panhandlers there should be more then enough to keep the shutter busy and they won’t know or mind.

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

Actually the storm occurred over nght from the 30th to the 31th though it was snowing again on the 1st with expected accumulations of about 3 additional inches.
It has been an active winter season here in the Columbia County, New York. Numerous snow storms though none yet of the 2 foot or more variety. Regardless, enough snow cover to keep the ski resorts happy and make it difficult for the non-skiers to travel up to this bucolic area well north of New York City.

Tags: Columbia County, Julio Hernandez-Miyares

Try to eat anything in this situation!
Had a number of visitors up in Columbia County, New York during the New Year’s Break

Tags: Dogs, Columbia County, Julio Hernandez-Miyares

Back from summer warm and chaotic India to the serene scene captured here on a Saturday afternoon in Columbia County a few days after the first 2007/2008 winter storm. Currently snowing some more on Sunday morning as I write this post. Not a living creature in sight as the snow and cold has frozen out all of the “day-trippers” . Now begins the long hard Columbia winter leaving the county to the true hardy residents to appreciate the smell of burning logs and the rustling of the few leaves that are didn’t end up under the canopy of snow.

Tags: Columbia County, Julio Hernandez-Miyares

I met a few friends and colleagues at the Heartland and Brewery down at Union Square Part near 14th Street in Manhattan.
Though I frequent the one near the office in Midtown Manhattan across from Radio City Music Hall on 6th Avenue, this was the first time I have been to the Union Square location.
I would say its a big difference. Not in the sense of the food as its the same. In the sense of the clientele. The downtown location is definitely hipper (except for myself and one of the pals) and represents the cross-section of the beautiful New York downtown crowd including our waitress. The midtown location is frequented by “suits”. Not that there is anything wrong with that but .. if you are looking for a more New York like crowd, go to the Union Square one.

Tags: Julio Hernandez-Miyares, New York Connoisseur, Restaurant Review

We are in that part of spring as we barrel into summer where the days here in Columbia County, New York are often gray, rainy and gloomy.

This photo taken on Saturday May 19th, 2007 on the way back from visiting the temple (Wal-Mart) in Hudson, New York.

This spot largely deserted as most are in Columbia County as it seems everyone is on their way to or at Wal-Mart.

The day is rainy and quite lugubrious which is absolutely fine with me. Perfect day to spend by the fire (yes it is still cool up here) and work on some PHP coding I have been doing recently. PHP has become persona non-grata of sorts lately in my place of employment but for building web-sites, there is nothing better then the combination of Apache,PHP and mysql.