Paddy in the Big Apple @ #BoDzBeeTzZ!

Showing posts with label Travel USA. Show all posts

Showing posts with label Travel USA. Show all posts

The Office

I was browsing some old photos and found these pics which were taken when I worked in midtown Manhattan in 2004. I brought my missus to check it out. Not a bad view from my office back then. Now I have a windowless cube between the pantry and toilet in New Jersey. Where did it all go wrong?

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Tags: ..The Office..

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3 in 1 Camera Lens Kit for Apple iPhone

I've been playing around with some iPhone lens attachments which snap on over the lens via a magnetic ring you stick onto the phone first. I'm pretty happy with the results and for USD $20 you can't go wrong. Google "3 in 1 Camera Lens Kit for Apple iPhone" if you want to get your own. Click each individual image below to get a better idea of the difference.

Without Lens Attachment

Macro Lens Attachment

Fish-Eye Lens Attachment

Tags: .Sample photo images 3 in 1 Camera Lens Kit for Apple iPhone 4 in 1, 5 in 1 , 2 in 1..

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UNDERCITY New York City urban exploration

This is without doubt a side of New York you have not explored before. I read about this a while back but seeing it on film is 'believing'..
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Tags: ..expore illegal New York sewer subway underground climb Williamsburg bridge UNDERCITY New York City urban exploration w STEVE DUNCAN, dir. Andrew Wonder..

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Travel to Maine for a weekend

We decided to do a spur of the moment weekend trip to Maine to catch the Fall foliage and sample the famous seafood.

I scored some cheap w/e special flights with Continental for $139 and rented a car from Hertz using a corporate discount for $35 per day. After touchdown in Portland on Saturday a.m. we headed 30 miles north to the historic old town of Bath. A tip from a review on tripadvisor about a coupon on roomsaver reduced the hotel price from $189 to $89.

We spent Saturday and most of Sunday exploring the picturesque coastal inlets before heading back to Portland for the night.

Food highlights included haddock chowder, wood oven roasted whole sea bass, oysters with cranberry and garlic mussels. Beer highlights included a mandatory stop at the Shipyard brewery with free samples. The IPA is a personal favorite.

Las Vegas

Having arrived in New York with a lottery green card in 1995, I soon began my wandering ways and ended up in Las Vegas on my first US vacation. I still vividly remember the sight and sound of the slots in the airport terminal. Just in case you couldn't wait to get to your hotel, you had the option of pumping coins in the 'one arm bandits' immediately after touch down or before take-off as you were leaving.

Three Irish lads and a Scot explored all the brights lights and big city had to offer and then some. We expected our entertainment would be slightly limited since one of our group, my wee brother, was only 18. Vegas has always been considered a 'tolerant' city however, so luckily we were still able to do pretty much whatever we pleased. We partied and gambled the night away. One of our group (who shall remain anonymous - let's just call him Junior) partied harder and gambled more at the casino games than the rest of us combined. When I awoke the next morning, he was AWOL only to be found a while later still at the black jack table at 9am. His initial lucky streak had fizzled out in the wee hours and he would now need a loan from one of our group (who shall remain anonymous - let's just call him Senior) to subsidise him for the remainder of the trip.

This was to be the first of numerous adventurous 'Lads Trips' in the following years. I've mentioned a few on this blog before but if my memory allows, I'll try and share some more snippits of those trips here in the near future.

Have you been to Vegas? - How was it? - Share your experience in the comments below.

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USA, Las Vegas, 1995 from Paddy Quickroute on Vimeo.

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Tags: ..Las Vegas..

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Road Trip - East Coast, USA

Recent photos (not in order!) from short road trip Red Bank & Long Branch, New Jersey - aka Jersey Shore, then onto Atlantic City for some gambling (won all of $25 but lasted 2 hours on the poker table) then west to Wilmington, Delaware, home of my wife's ex-boss Du Pont, then Annapolis, Maryland for a bbq with good friends, then Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and finally Princeton, New Jersey - enjoy!

Tags: ..Road Trip - East Coast, USA..

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St Patricks Day Parade Hoboken (Debauchery rehearsal)

The parade is held a few weeks early every year in Hoboken - New Jersey, since the main event in New York City on March 17th overshadows everything else. I got to take part in the parade this year which was a blast. The bars open at 10am and charge $20 entry and the lines go around the block so we bailed out of the parade early and crashed a party complete with beer keg and games of beer pong. There is a really heavy police presence with a zero tolerance policy towards drinking or peeing outside or in a non designated spot. $2,000 fine if caught. Some enterprising local put up a sign (see pic below) offering toilet facilities for just u$d10!

Gotta Pee? $10 please!

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Tags: .St Patricks Day Parade Hoboken..

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Jersey State of Mind

Newark, New Jersey gets a bad rap next to its famous neighbor New York. It smells worse, it's a bridge or tunnel away, It's the reason for 'Jersey Shore' but it still has a sense of humor. This is a piss-take / parody of "New York - Empire State of Mind" by Jay-Z | Alicia Keys - Check it!

Tags: ..New Jersey State of Mind..

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Downtown Manhattan, NY with a big ass cruise ship as a bonus

One of the best sky-scapes in the world - second only to Hong Kong in my humble opinion...check out Statue of Liberty at 1:02....

Update: The one above is from my iPhone - I found this one below a few days later

NYC - Mindrelic Timelapse from Mindrelic on Vimeo.

Tags: ..Downtown Manhattan..

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Growing Old

Here's a few snaps from the Xmas / New Years holidays along with a few of home base during the same period. It's back to reality with a 'brrrrrr' now and the snow is still piled high on the footpath (sorry that's sidewalk in Yankee speak) outside. The warmth of Florida seems like a distant memory and more snow is on its way. I'm beginning to understand why the 'blue-rinse' crew fly south for the Winter. Could it be true that old people aren't daft after all? ...or am I just getting old myself?

Meanwhile down South.......

Click on Slideshow Below for more pics....

Tags: ..Holiday Travels..

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White Stuff Everywhere

Everybody is talking about snow and ice and cold and when you turn on the news it's nothing but blah blah blah about white stuff everywhere. I specifically flew south for Xmas to avoid this crap but what happens?....There's feckin' white stuff everywhere here too..

OK - I guess white stuff on the ground isn't always bad... and now Trivia time for Pensacola Beach:

1.) This beach was completely fu(ked by the BP oil spill earlier this year but thankfully has recovered rather well.

2.) The Native American Indian Geronimo (now there's a real American Hero) was sent here (Fort Pickens) after his capture. Must have been quite a contrast from his homeland of New Mexico.

Tags: ..Pensacola Beach, Florida..

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Badda Bing, Badda Boom

Indoors (the new apartment) is still a bit of a work in progress

but thankfully we're no longer sittin' on camping chairs (I miss the beer holder mind you :-(( Until the final touches are done you'll have to make do with some random photos of the local highlights including a large German style beer garden which has been officially classified as 'the local' (Irish Pubs are so yester-year!) Lot's of open walkable space round these parts and good views of Manhattan adds to the appeal. Ten minute walk to work is a minor detail!

Tags: ..Sopranos..

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No - Nay - Never - No More Gypsy No More!

I am so happy I'm speaking in tongues

Tags: ..New Apartment..

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Welcome (Back) to the Big Apple

It's been a while since the last update but as they say - Time flies when you're having fun and sometimes you have to fly before you get to have some fun, but these days flying ain't much fun, with ash clouds and security checks and baggage allowance restrictions and.....etc etc but I digress as usual.

I've been doing a lot of flying of late. I left Hong Kong two weeks ago and had a great time visiting family and friends in Dublin and London before finally touching down in what will be my new home, New York aka the Big Apple. I lived here before from 1995-2005 so it's not exactly a new home but it's refreshing being back on familiar turf and reconnecting with some old friends.

I've also finally rejoined the rat race after an extended absence so can no longer have a legitimate claim to being a feckin' 'bum' :-(( P.S. - If I owe you money then take a ticket and wait your turn.

If you google 'Paddy in BA' then this ol' humble blog (paddyinba.blogspot.com) is #1 top spot as it started way back as a way to chronicle my adventures as 'Paddy in Buenos Aires' and then morphed into 'Paddy in Buenos Asia' and now hither forth shall be known as 'Paddy in the Big Apple'. I hope to NOT 'Start spreading the news, I'm leaving today' - anytime soon!

Tags: ..Paddy in the Big Apple.

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Paddy in NY

New York

.......continued from here

It feels good to be back in New York, the city I called home for ten years. The energy, the vibe, the fast pace. Buenos Aires was 35 Celsius (95F) and humid when I left but New York is 2C (35F) with snow on the ground so it's taking a bit of getting used to.

We had a fantastic time when we lived here. We lived in a tiny apartment on 78th Street and York Avenue the upper east side. There's plenty to explore in this huge country so I signed up for all the airline weekend specials emails and about every 3 weeks we'd be jetting off for a weekend break to different cities in the US for a fraction of the normal fare. We visited 46 of the 50 states and also spent time in the neighbours to the north and south, Canada and Mexico.

Q. So if it was so good then why leave?

There were a couple of factors involved but here's the main reason. New York has a large transient expat population. A lot of people come to advance their careers and then move on. It's a stepping stone to somewhere else. Neither of us thought NYC was a place we'd see ourselves settling down and growing old. Both of us had achieved a moderate degree of success so it was time to step off in another direction.

Q. Are you coming back to live in New York?

I'd certainly consider it especially given the current job market world wide, but not right now. I was in touch with some old work colleagues while I've been here and things are pretty bleak right now. To give you an extreme example, an old boss of mine who had a senior position (she was a Managing Director) but has been out of work for a while is now driving a yellow cab.

So my quest continues. I didn't have time to meet up with as many people as I would have liked but maybe next time. I'm heading to the airport tonight for the next leg of the adventure. Catch you on the flip side.

Tags: ..Paddy in New York..

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New York, New York

Five days after the five week trip around Argentina, I headed to New York for a work opportunity to help subsidize my newly found life of leisure…hmm … working for leisure, isn´t that a oxymoron or something?

The work which was actually in New Jersey, involved disconnecting and removing computer servers at one data centre and reinstalling at another location. I clocked up 70 hours in the 5 days including an 18 hour day on Friday, which will buy a lot of beer vouchers back in B.A. even after the flight and shopping. While I was there, they turned on the Christmas lights in NY, including the tree at Rockefeller Centre and to cap things off, the first snow of the season arrived. It was great to catch up with some old friends but unfortunately I didn’t have time to catch up with everybody. As I write, the forecast is for more heavy snow and flights are being cancelled all over the north east, so fingers crossed I can get out on time.

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