Recreation

Flushing Meadow Park Take Two

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Today we went to flushing meadow park. Last time we went Teagan ended up sleeping through the Zoo and was only mildly interested in the Animals at the petting Zoo.  Today we wanted to take her to the carousel.  She has been riding her Lion like a horse so we thought she might enjoy the carousel.  First MC took her on a little train ride.  It was just a train that went around in a circle but it was a perfect ride for a 9 month old baby.  She enjoyed the train a lot, and I was able to get a bunch of good photos of her and MC on it.  The carousel on the other hand Teagan did not like as much.  I put her on one of the horses that move up and down since she always tries to rock on the lion we have.  She was very excited when she was sitting on the horse before we started moving.  As we started moving however she was less happy.  She didn’t really cry but you could see from her face she wasn’t having a great time.  I am not sure if it was the speed, the wind, or the going up and down that wasn’t fun for her.  Next time we will try a non moving horse.

After the rides we went to the petting zoo.  Teagan got to pet a few animals and feed one or two.  It was super hot and there weren’t as many animals out as there was the last time we went there.  After a short time at the petting zoo we headed home.  MC took Teagan to the pool in the late afternoon while I got ready for the reunion that I will write about in the next post.

T at The Beach for First Time (Sort of)

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Today for the 4th of July we went with my mom to the beach.  T was at the beach once in Florida but she never got out in the sand to play so today was really her first trip to play at the beach.

My mom’s beach club is near the beach club we went to when i was growing up in Atlantic Beach.  We got a late start but once we arrived my mom got a baby pool with an umbrella setup for T.  She had a blast playing around in the pool.  She also tried her hand at eating sand.  She didn’t like it, but that didn’t stop her from trying again, and again.

After the kiddie pool we took her to the ocean and stood her up and let the waves crash into her legs.  she had a blast doing that.  Since M, T, and to some degree I am sensitive to the sun we didn’t stay at the ocean that long.  After that T hung out in pool again, ate, and then we took her for a walk on the boardwalk and she feel asleep for a nap.  After that we headed home.  My mom was nice enough to give us a ride to and from the beach.  it was a nice day.

Getta a Schvitz

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Today M and I headed into Forest Hills again to do some apartment hunting.  Before our apointment we headed over to Mens Warehouse to look for Tuxedo’s for the wedding.  We ended up not picking a tux.  I need to go online to find one and then go back.  There were too many choices.

While we were at the store I did do some shopping for a suit.  I have been saying a need a new one for a year so I finally pushed myself to get one.  I found 2 I liked and ended up buying both of them.  There was a buy one get one free sale so it worked out.  I have to come back after vacation to pick them up.

The apartment we saw wasn’t anything to write home about.  After the apartment viewing we headed into Manhattan to use our life booker coupon at the Russian Turkish Baths.  We saw this place over the winter and wanted to check it out so we were happy when we saw only a few days later a lifebooker coupon for it.  It was really cheap but we had been procrastinating going for months.  We were glad that we went.  That place was great.  The different hot steam and sauna rooms were fantastic.  The cold plunge was even really good.  We each got a 50 minute massage.

After the schvitz we went to a sushi place called Kanoyama nearby.  It was good but TJ Asian’s by our apartment is still better.  I am totally loving the Sushi now.  I am still new to it.  I only started having some Sushi over Sashimi over the past few trips to the place by our apartment.  After dinner we went to ChikaLicious for desert nearby.  I had some really good macaroons, but the mini cupcake i had was only ok.  It was a fantastic Saturday spent with M!

A New Biking Location

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Ever since I moved I haven't biked as much as I would have liked.  Nothing beat going to central park and biking the loop or part of the loop.  The first summer I moved to LIC I went out once or twice and really couldn't find any place I liked biking too.  Last summer I went biking in Central Park once but otherwise didn't do much in the way of biking due to lots of work deadlines.

This summer I want to get out and do more biking and exploring.  Today I rented a bike right by the Intrepid (I didn't want to deal with traveling on the subway with my own) and biked on along the west side highway.  There is a great bike path all along the water.  Went from 43st down to the World Financial Center and back.  For my first outing of the year that was enough for me and my bike partner.

We opted for the by the water since central park is so hilly.  I am glad we did.  It was a great flat ride.  Only problem was a bunch of wind on the way back that was against us.  Overall a great afternoon out.

I need to find someplace in Queens I can really get to easily to bike around…

iPhone 3G Reset

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My afternoon today was thrown for a bit of a loop when I tried to go out today and tried to play some music on my iPod. There wasn’t any. That was odd since I always have about 8gigs of music on it. I then went to sync it up again with my Macbook. That is when things got interesting. I kept getting an error saying the phone couldn’t sync and I had to reset it. I figured a quick reset and I should be good to go. Well that didn’t work either. I reset the phone and then it kept giving me an error. I couldn’t sync it, or boot it up. An Apple KB article said to reboot the computer so I did that. After about 3 more tries the phone reset and started restoring.

This is the problem with one converged device. I almost can’t go anywhere without it. It is my phone (only one except Skype until I get my blackberry from work). It is also my music player, and PDA. I am sunk if it doesn’t work. Today was a perfect example of that. 3 hours later I am back and semi running with the phone. My only lingering issue that I know of is my icon’s are all in the wrong order. I am more concerned with the fact that I don’t know if this will happen again, and I have no backup plan. I guess that is my operations mindset going. I always need a “plan B”. I am thinking about that, but for now I am just happy things turned out as well as they did. It could have been allot worse!

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Moving The Bike

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Today I finally took my bike (a Trek hybrid) out for the first ride of the season. That meant I needed to air up the tires since the bike sat dormant in my bedroom for the entire winter. Yes, you read this right it sat in my bedroom. When I moved into my new building they didn’t have a bike storage spot, so i found a corner in my bedroom for it to go. So in addition to taking the bike out for my first ride of the year, I got a space in the new bike storage room that opened in my building. It is now safely hanging on a wall somewhere. it is actually kind of cool.

I didn’t ride around that much on my first trip out. It was a beautiful day and I rode down by the water near my apartment. It was nice. I have to find a good route to ride for a work out. When I was in Manhattan, I just rode to central park and biked half the loop. I am too far to feasible do that now. I will need to explore a bit.

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I also checked out the pool in my building. It wasn’t as nice as I thought, compared to other apartment complex’s I have been in. Oh well, this is still one of the nicest buildings I have ever lived in. If the weather is nicer I will take a dip next week.

Sunday in the Park

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The weather cleared up today enough so i was able to get a good ride in Central Park in the afternoon. I don’t know why (maybe the lack of any exercise all week) but i was more tired after my work out than i can remember ever being on the same route. Even last week wasn’t that bad. I guess that means i need to do my own self made course more often to build up my stamina. Hopefully i can get out a few nights this week.

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First Ride of the Season

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I headed out to the bike store today to get air in the tires of my bike. Sitting in my apartment all year left them needing a quick refresh and then I was off on my first ride of the season. I took it easy today since I know I am a bit out of shape and I don’t want to over do it. I rode a bit in Central Park, and then headed home. If the weather stays the way it is I hope to get a few more rides in this week.

My Exercise Routine

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So far I have gone for 3 rides on the new bike. I just got back from one a while ago. Man I was tired. I think if you feel like you are going to puke you did a decent work out? I remember that feeling when I was in training for the life guard test my senior year of High School.

I think I have a routine I am going to follow until I get more stamina and build up the cardio. I leave my apartment and head over to Central Park. I take the bike road/trail up to the 102st service road (cuts the look down by a mile or so), then I cut over to the west side. I ride on the west side until just 72nd street (i think). From there I can cut back over to the east side and ride back uptown to the exit from the park by my apartment. From there it is all down hill back home. The hardest part is the big hill south of 102st on the west side, and another incline on the east side north of 72st. those two areas alone give me a crazy work out. Well honestly I can’t make it up the hill on the east side just yet. I walk the bike each time I have tried it.

My goal is to get in decent enough shape that I can expand my ride to eventually include the entire 6+ mile look of the entire park. From my progress so far I need to work on my condition a bit before I can try that. The good thing is the last 2 times I rode I actually looked forward to the ride. That is a good sign to me!

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A New Old Hobby

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Today I finally went out and did something I have been saying I was going to do for a while. I bought a bike. Since the winter time I have wanted a bike to ride for a few reasons. First I need to exercise a bit more (aka at all). Second as a backup mode of transportation. I was fed up with walking during the transit strike. The funny thing is that biking for me is not something new. When I was a teenager and younger I used to bike everywhere. I did it all the time, and I enjoyed it. Even when I was old enough to drive I still would use my bike to go places locally.

Since college my off and on outdoor exercise has been roller blading. It is fun, but it is not something you want to do if you want to travel long distances. The more I think about it, I don’t know why I didn’t go out and get a bike sooner? After recommendations from friends I bout a Trek bike. The model I originally wanted was out of stock. It was a bike specifically designed for urban areas like Manhattan. I ended up with something similar in the same price range. So far it seems great.

My goal is to ride a few times a week, weather permitting. I have one ride down today! I need to force myself into this, since I think I need to exercise!

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