NYC day 1

I flew into JFK today for business, and I thought I'd blog about the experience, mostly so that I would remember it myself. While I was in SFO, I did the self-service check-in. I had already selected seat 26A (window seat) weeks ago, online, but I thought it'd be interesting to see if I could get a better seat (closer to the front), so I hit the "look for other seats" button. BAD IDEA. The system knew I wanted a different seat, so it must've released my seat to the other people checking in. I ended up with seat 26E, no closer to the front of the plane. Worse than that, I was dead-center, middle seat of the middle block of seats. Just about as far from any windows as you can get. Poop.

Oh well. I took some delicious Unisom on the plane, and so was able to sleep for 3 out of the 5-hour flight. I have only recently discovered anti-histamine-induced sleep, but it's wonderful, I tell you. This is coming from someone who has desperately wanted to sleep on plane for years, but couldn't. I've tried red-eyes, I've tried not sleeping for 36 hours prior to the flight.. you name it. The only thing that works is Unisom, and so I am thankful for Unisom.

There were two other interesting things about my flight:

1. There was a blind man two rows ahead, who spoke very loudly. I was kind of annoyed, until I started listening to what he was saying. Fascinating. He works in SETI, and was telling the stranger in the seat next to him all about the new equipment they're working on, to listen for communication further out in the universe. Didn't catch many details, but my mind immediately turned this guy into the actor who played the blind SETI character in the movie Contact.

2. The other interesting thing was that the plane I was on tilted/turned to correct its path for landing VERY late in the game. I mean, you can see that you're really close to the ground, and all of a sudden, the plane jerks to the right, straightens out, turns, straightens, and then you land. I can't imagine how stressful that is for the pilot.

Anyway, after landing, I took a cab with co-workers into Manhattan to our hotel. I checked in and was told that the only room fitting my criteria that they had available was a "small room" with a queen-size bed. My other option was a king-sized bed on a smoking floor. (No thanks!) So I'm writing this from a "cozy" room in Manhattan, with a view of tall buildings and residual blue glare from Times Square's crazy lights.

We had dinner at a nice little french bistro-type restaurant called Balthazar, where we ate entirely too much food. We ordered and shared three appetizers: lobster risotto, foie gras, herb ravioli with stewed tomatoes. I didn't eat the foie gras, and had to explain that I truly was morally opposed to it. (side note: Someone recently told me that the chicken and geese who go through the horrendous force-feeding procedures actually *like* it. That's disgusting. Aaanyway, I digress.) The other two appetizers were really tasty and come recommended from our whole group. Then I had steak frites with maitre d' butter. Delicious, delicious. I'd do that again in a heartbeat. For dessert, we again ordered 3 and shared. I had their banana ricotta tart with banana ice cream. It was yummy, and the carmelized bananas kind of had a crispy creme brulee feel. The other desserts were also delicious: (1) profiteroles with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce, and (2) the peach/blueberry tarte. YUM.

We were all SO full after this huge dinner that we went for a walk to see the lights of Times Square. You know, this area is full of such a vast variety of retail establishments... and smells! I wouldn't describe any of the smells as being particularly "fresh," but it's very entertaining to walk through 10 different air currents in a single block. I definitely couldn't live here. I'm so suburban. =)