Set the Tone Monday: A Bigger Life

"If you want a bigger life, be a bigger person".

- Marianne Williamson

Happy Thank a Veteran Weekend!

Happy Memorial Day Weekend 2010!

More pics by me of Fleet Week on my Flickr page.

Basera: Good Indian Cuisine in Hell's Kitchen

One of the things about being stranded at home on sick leave is that you don't feel like cooking so you tend to discover as yet untried carryout and delivery...

And while one's taste buds are affected by the meds or the bacteria, or the microbes, one can still go for the spicier things to at least be able to taste something...

I'd had a brief taste of their wares at the Ninth Avenue Food Festival a coupla weeks ago... So I checked out Basera an Indian restaurant along Ninth Avenue...

Portions were big enough for two meals (a pre-requisite for my carryout satisfaction)... And if I weren't so piggy the second portion with some added veggies coulda easily qualified as two smaller lunches...

And Basera is the first Indian Restaurant to ever ask me if I had a preference for my Chicken Tikka Masala as spicy, medium or mild... (I selected medium, and it was perfect... But I can see myself some days getting the hottest version when the mood strikes for braver adventure...)

Their Saag Paneer was excellent too...

And the nan bread was still piping hot even after I got it home and unwrapped it to eat...

Service was excellent. The hostess invited me to sit on a stool and rest and even offered me a glass of water while I waited... Never had that happen at two other neighborhood Indian places that I have supported in the past...

I'll definitely be back to Basera... and Regularly!

Basera
745 9th Ave
@ 50th St.
New York , NY 10019


(212) 757-9787

A Thursday Gratitude List

Here's a Thursday Gratitude List just for kicks:

- That I'm able to take care of myself today with sick leave, doctor care, sinus rinses (Thanks, Donner), prescribed antibiotics, and inhalants...

- That friends are stopping me on the street and places all over town to congratulate on the one year milestone mentioned the other day, and how much I have helped them over the last year... And I'm collecting nifty little gift coins (instead of antacid tablets).

- That I discovered a spot in Hell's Kitchen for great takeout Indian Food that I'll blog about it soon (Stay tuned, Keith)...

- Grateful for A/C on especially muggy days like this one when it's inherently less comfortable indoors than out...

- The concern of friends who are checking up on my health...

- And last but absolutely not least: Unfolding clarity.

(Image from Life's Chocolates)

Wednesday's Word: Shoo-In

shoo-in (plural shoo-ins)

Def: (idiomatic, US) A candidate or contestant generally agreed upon as the presumptive winner; somebody who is well-liked or widely agreed upon.

Usage: Though Andrew Cuomo is clearly a shoo-in as NY Governor, I just don't trust him...

Source: Wiktionary

Under the Weather

I've been pushing through a nasty cold flu thing for weeks now. Four weeks to be exact, and it still lingers... And it's now at a nasty sinusitis and bronchitis stage... So, a few days off from work and a fistful of prescriptions are called for... It's gotta go...

Set the Tone Monday: Gertrude Stein

"Anything one does every day is important and imposing and anywhere one lives is interesting and beautiful."

 - Gertrude Stein 

Remedy for Unbridled Frivolity

Kinda dreary today... Good... I need a break from all that unbridled frivolity of the workweek... LOL

Just spent an hour between Walgreen's and CVS comparison shopping for things... CVS was the winner by a long shot when you factor in sizes and prices... I didn't even bother comparing to Duane-Reade as it's now owned by Walgreen's anyway... And Rite Aid was too far out of the way for me today... But there's one pretty expensive thing I always find is best priced at Rite Aid so I'll look next time I'm back that way...

Woke up feeling like I had a hangover today, except I quit drinking... Must've been something I ate yesterday... Feeling somewhat better now after my favorite breakfast and coffee...

Jeez, I fell asleep last night at 6.30pm... Been doing a lot of over-sleeping lately. Could be that (sarcastically aforementioned)  stress at work...

Still have a lingering sinus infection, perhaps it's kicking my butt more than I realize... Will see a doctor this week and we'll see if I warrant antibiotics... I generally HATE taking all meds and avoid them whenever possible... Also waiting on a verdict about cholesterol levels after more drastic lifestyle and diet changes... We'll see...

Ninth Ave is SOOOO much quieter this weekend without the Ninth Avenue Food Festival...

Remembered to grab a coupla Hallmark cards for Father's Day and his Gemini birthday... And stocked up on sympathy cards... Sad but true, but am at the age where I seem to need to send more and more of them...

Looong list of chores and stuff needing to be done today... At least, I can check off the shopping and the blog post from "the list"...

Have a great Sunday, everyone!!

Quarter of a Million

Sometime during the last week, the Quarter of a Millionth reader (or webot??? LOL) hit upon Postcards from Hell's Kitchen... Kind of amazing... Now let's work for a half million... LOL

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Happier Hours

I made a firm personal decision a year ago...

And I've stuck to it...

And there's great power in that!!

And, acceptance definitely IS the answer to all my problems today... Just sayin...

So, I have 365 days at a time, today!!!

That's 8,760 happier hours...

Happy Friday everyone...

Site of the week: Proxify

Want to surf the web anonymously??

Or surf sites that are closed to you regionally??

Want to surf without advertising??

Hate cookies??

You can select a custom level of security...

Then see what you want without them seeing you...

Try Proxify.com

Wednesday's Word: Crickey

crickey

1. an expletive to express surprise or happiness; 2. a euphemism for Christ

Crickey, I'd never heard this word before til a friend started using it on her FaceBook updates.

Adapted from Urban Dictionary and Merriam-Webster.

The Most Popular Video on YouTube

Lady Gaga...

Bad Romance....

Set the Tone Monday: Love My Life

"Everyday I wake up and decide: today, I'm going to love my life"

- Carrie Hamilton

Ninth Avenue Food Festival Continues

The famous Ninth Avenue Food Festival continues today...

Try something new...

Forget anything old, borrowed, or blue...

It might not be safe to eat...

Another largely gorgeous day promised by the weather people...

Where's Marine Boy When You Need Him?

The corporate monster BP... Beware...

Big Hell's Kitchen Weekend

Here it comes again...

... One of the biggest weekends in Hell's Kitchen...

I speak of the Ninth Avenue Food Festival...

Also, the International Tattoo Convention is once again at Roseland Ballroom...

Depending on the weather, a gazillion people will be strolling the avenues...

I'll slip out and take some snapshots for my Flickr page, I'm sure...

Meanwhile... I just TGIF...

Site of the Week: Down for Everyone or Just Me?

I suggest you save this one to your tool bar for future reference...

Ever wonder if a certain website is dragging or whether it's being caused by your own bad connection or faulty computer??

Then click on Down for Everyone or Just Me?

type in the website address you are wondering about and it checks and let's you know if it's their problem or yours...

Wednesday's Word: Dunno

Dunno, the state of not knowing, as in "I don't know"

Usage:

Interviewer: "What word will you use this week for the Wednesday's Word post on your blog?"
Todd HellsKitchen: "Oh, I dunno..."

Iron Man 2

Caught Iron Man 2 during the opening weekend...

Yes, I am partial to the genre... And I've yet to meet a Marvel movie that I didn't like... (Unless Hellboy was a Marvel movie? Was disappointed in that one...)

Anyway... I liked Iron Man 1... And now... I think the sequel is actually better than the original... The franchise has hit a stride...

A perfect summer blockbuster... And when you're as anxious as I am to start a summer vacation, Robert Downey, Jr. hits the spot...

Set the Tone Monday: The Road Less Travelled

"Sometimes the road less traveled is less traveled for a reason".

-- Jerry Seinfeld

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Happy Mother's Day!!

PSA: How To Remove FaceBook Apps?

This is a Public Service Announcement (PSA) to my readers... And those who might be conducting a search engine search to a simple (but complex) question...

Here's the way to delete those pesky third party apps from your FaceBook account... FaceBook consistently makes simplest tasks almost impossible to achieve...

So after a half hour of trial/error, and chat board searches... Here's how I deleted my third party FaceBook apps:

Settings ----> Application Settings

You'll see a drop down menu ----> Click Authorized

Then the full list of subscribed applications appear.

Click the "x" and it will prompt you to see if you really want to delete it.

Yes, FaceBook, I really want to!

FaceBook is a privacy nightmare...

Still... I'm sticking with it, for now, as it's a great tool to stay in touch with soooo many past and and current friends and associates...

But, they really should let subscribers feel like they can control their data and participation better...

A recent prompt to attach my profile to a zillion web pages (that could all potentially access my personal info) was also difficult to avoid. I had to go in individually and manually un-check each and every one of their suggestions... When a "None" key woulda made it so much easier for the subscriber...

I know they are trying to get a business model that works... But trickery and manipulation is not a good business strategy...

Recharging, Rebooting, & Reinvigorating

First off, I am in my second week of a nasty cold... It's something that's been going around... And it lingers... Many associates at work have the same thing and a few have made it out the other side after three weeks of a sinus infection... Also aches and lower digestive nastiness... It's an occupational hazard... I'm pushing through, but am hopeful the weekend of R&R will give it the final boot out of my system....

Speaking of systems... Here's a computer update: Virus and spyware scans were clear... An odd little archaic dial-up modem was the apparent culprit... Now that that little internal dinosaur was disabled, the pesky little exclamation point in the device driver is removed... But still, I couldn't get a clean re-boot this morning before work... An overnight D Drive ScanDisk found and repaired errors... And, so, I need to run a similar scan on C drive... That could easily take up most of  the entire weekend judging from the size of that drive. I was able to upload all my important Word Docs to Google Docs in the interim, and all my best photos were already uploaded to Flickr anyway... So I wouldn't be heartbroken if a massive crash cost the whole system to implode anyway.... God's way of house cleaning, if you ask me...

Sooooooo much going on at work... Mayor is threatening massive layoffs, union contract is in limbo, a major upheaval in my own immediate organization has been unexpectedly stalled by a third party lawsuit... So much uncertainty makes things pretty damned uncomfortable for so many at work... And they do their best to make everyone else just as uncomfortable... Misery loves company... One must remain on their toes...

So, let me just say: Thank God it's Friday... And I really mean it...

I Don't Care Much For The Sound of This: 'Failure Security Options'

Something's crashed at my home desktop 'puter...

'Failure: Security Options' is emblazoned across the monitor screen...

Not sure what the problem is at the moment...

But, it's gonna take a block of time to sort it all out...

And it's gonna take some time til I have that block of time...

Sooo... Blog posts, social media updates, emails, comments, and tweets will be sparse til I can sort it all out...

Stay tuned...

Wednesday's Word: Numbnuts

Numbnuts, (nuhm-nuhts); Noun

Definition: 1. The stupidest of the stupid. A complete dumbass, one whose intelligence quotient does not surpass that of the average rock; 2. An utter disgrace of humanity; 3. One whose purpose in life is meaningless; a complete and total waste of life; 4. An ignorant, arrogant asshole.

Usage: According to the New York Post, Teacher union chief Michael Mulgrew thinks the current Chancellor is numbnuts... And he's certainly not the only one!

Source: Urban Dictionary.

Sum of Its Parts

Saw the Sum of Its parts: A Group Exhibition of Collage and Assemblage at the local Fountain Gallery.

"The product of a unique vision, Fountain Gallery is a not-for-profit cooperative run by and for artists living with mental illness. Beginning with a handful of artists in the summer of 2000, the Gallery has grown to include nearly 40 artists, supported by a small professional staff and numerous dedicated volunteers. These gifted artists are members of Fountain House, an internationally renowned organization dedicated for more than 50 years to improving the lives of individuals living with mental illness".

I've always had an affection for collage...

I guess it's because it's an art form that I think I could do myself if I studied it...

Painting?? Me? Nope...

Sculpture? Um... That's not gonna happen...

But collage?? Yeah, I could be down with that...!

Do I DO it?? Nope... But I definitely admire it!!

These artists are masters of composition and style... My favorites: Richard Courage, Thomas Jones, Penelope Josephides, Keith Pavia, BSpin, Deborah Standard, and Derrick Williams.

Sooooo... this current show is GREAT!! Stop by if you're strolling up or down Hell's Kitchen's Ninth Avenue...

Set the Tone Monday: Give Love

"You must give love as it is needed, like your money".
-- Quentin Crisp

A Quiet Hell's Kitchen Sunday Morning

First weekend in May and it's already hazy, hot and humid. A/C just went on for the first time this year...

It's a quiet Sunday morning in Hell's Kitchen, USA... And that's saying something after last night's Times Square excitement a stone's throw from here...

So, there was a big car bomb attempt in Times Square last night... Not surprisingly, I was in that very spot earlier in the day yesterday... Glad it all had a happy ending... Perhaps the politicos in the mid-west that hog all that Homeland Security money can realize that it is best spent here rather than, say, in Montana...?

Had a good day yesterday before the city heated up too much... Had an Atomic Wings lunch, followed by a stroll through the Hell's Kitchen Flea Market, and a stop for a piece of Sour Cream Apple Walnut pie at the Little Pie Company.

Will blog soon about the new collage show at the Fountain Gallery...

Remember how nice my desk looked a few months ago? Let's just say it doesn't look like that today... And I just don't even feel like dealing with it... Yes, it's that point of the year, where I feel I'm still in the long dark tunnel, and that light at the end is still eight weeks away...

Am I the only one who still uses cash? It seems like that from the New York Times article on the trend away from cash, and the checkout line at Borders Books yesterday... My cash transaction went far quicker than the credit/debit users in front of me... Makes ya wonder if every store should have an express cash line...

Despite their bushy tailed hostess... Job cuts at ABC leave workers stunned and downcast. Another reflection of these turbulent times...

Stunned and downcast kind of depicts the mood at a lot of workplaces lately, it seems...

In other news... I worked out at the gym this morning... Down to 187 pounds. That includes the weekly "cheat day" Nice.

We Are Happy to Serve You

Leslie Buck died. He was 87.

He designed that iconic Greek coffee cup in the 1960's....

Cardboard. No handle.

Called an Anthora

They sell a ceramic version at the MoMA design Shop...

Kitschy fun.

Rest in Peace...