Brain vs Brawn

Our biggest meeting room wall is (supposedly) regularly re-wallpapered to freshen up the 4th floor.

This time is was my turn to create something for the wall, so I came up with this brain vs brawn design. Admittedly I got the idea from a british illustrator. I'd like to quote Picasso here, "Good artists copy, great artists steal", but in reality I just saw something online I thought was cool so I made my own version.

Chris Kline is the brawn.

I'm jealous.

Village Chess Shop

King me! Oh, hang on..

Air Conditioning rain

"Hot town, summer in the city. Back of my neck getting burned real pretty"

Summer in NY has a lot to recommend about it. For a start it gets hot and then stays hot for four months! None of that teasing that British weather does. It actually gets really god damned hot. This summer I didn't wear a jumper for three months. Even the nights are in the mid 20s.

The downside of all this lovely heat is the total reliance on air con units to keep your apartment manageable.

Most people have one of these little window units. While they are meant to be securely fixed to your window, the vast majority of them are kept in the window by the weight of the glass resting on them. Opening the window would result in the air con unit plunging hundreds of feet to the ground below.

While this is a frightening prospect, a far more common threat is air conditioner rain. The compressors in the old units tend to create condensation that rains down on the poor souls below. As it's often mixed with compressed gas you really don't want to drink this rain.

So, to summarise. For many reasons, avoid walking under the air conditioners.

Client offices

Interbrand has big clients. They are the only people who can afford us. Big clients come in big buildings in big areas.

This means you get some spectacular views from their offices. 

I'm afraid I can't reveal the client this photo is taken from, it's a large financial company and this is the view from the 55th floor of their offices in the financial district.

The view below is of Governors Island, a tiny island between Manhattan and Brooklyn where gigs and events are staged. It also has a nice little crazy golf course!

Kayaking on the Hudson

In an attempt to try and be healthier and meet more strangers in NY I joined a club that kayaks on the Hudson river. It's a pretty spectacular experience, and amazingly completely free! The club owns all the kayaks and the space, and people volunteer to look after you once you're out there.

A view of Jersey city from the harbour side.

NYC and volunteers

The crazy looking building below pumps air into the Holland Tunnel, but it looks like it should be a vampire fortress or something. It's also probably the best place to be in the event of a zombie uprising.

For anyone coming to NY I couldn't recommend kayaking more highly, damned good for you and just the most spectacular place you could possibly go on the water.

(i haven't written a post for a while and I'll get more eloquent as I write more of these things.

Hello again

Wow, it's been so long since I last posted that the entire blogger interface has changed and gone all Google 2.0.

Sorry for the delay, it wasn't because I'm not having fun in NY anymore, or because I was bored of blogging. I've just been doing a large amount of stuff, so fitting the blogging in has become tricky.

I swear to update this blog on a far more regular basis from now on (although my mum is here in a weeks time so that will probably curtail blogging for a while)

During the next week I need to a) save money, and b) catch up with what I've been doing in the last few months. So you'll probably see a flurry of postings coming up. Hopefully...

I'm glad to be back!