My biggest goal this summer was to run a 5K. I started running last fall to stay in shape while I was in Bologna, since my friend and I were too cheap to join a gym, and I really liked it. At the beginning of the summer I was running about 2 miles each time I ran (maybe 3 times a week) and I decided that a 5K race (which is 3.1 miles) in August would be a good goal. If you had asked me last summer if I would ever run a 5K, I would have laughed. But today I DID IT!
I searched for a 5K run training schedule online, and decided on this one. I didn't do every single run it suggested, but I more or less stuck to it for 6 weeks. This morning, my mom and I drove to Southampton for Ellen's Run, which raises money for breast cancer research. It was really hot, and there was almost no shade on the route, but there were hundreds of people, and it was a lot of fun. My time was 30 minutes and 39 seconds - which averages out to a 9:52 minute mile, although I was running faster and slower at different points. I was sooooo surprised with that time, since I was expecting to do about a 12 minute mile, and I was very happy. Not bad for a first run! The adrenaline must have kicked in somewhere along the way. I'm sore now but very satisfied. My mom walked the route (but ran for one minute!) and came in at about 57 minutes. Hopefully next summer I can talk someone into running the 5K with me!
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Monday, July 6, 2009
Twelfth Night in Central Park
Last Tuesday, I finally got to see the Shakespeare in the Park production of Twelfth Night. Because of my work schedule, Tuesdays are the only days I can wait in line for tickets, and so far every Tuesday in June has been rainy. But the weather seems to be improving, and we lucked out last week. It was a gorgeous day to wait in the park for tickets, and it didn't rain at all in the evening, which was a concern because it's an outdoor theater.
We aimed to get to the park at 6am, but we didn't make it until 6:30am due to a confusion about which trains were running. There was already a long line when we got there, but we were at a good place in line, and didn't have to worry about whether or not we'd get tickets. We brought chairs to sit on and I was able to break away from the line for a quick Starbucks run, so we were nice and caffeinated. Some people were there with blankets, sleeping bags, pillows, and coolers. People really settle in because they know they'll be in line for hours - the tickets are given away at 1pm. (We also brought a decent stash of food along.) They're free, so it's worth the wait. By 9am the line had wrapped around the Central Park reservoir, but a few hours later when I took a walk to look at the line it didn't go that far, since they had already sent all the people home who were too far back to get tickets.
Security is really intense in line. They told us that you had to wait in line the entire time (except for trips to the bathroom and the concession stand by the theater) and that not only could no one join your party, but you couldn't switch out your place in line with anyone else either. A little before 1pm, they actually asked the line of people if they had seen anyone cutting or switching out, and that now was the time to tell them. If someone had been turned in, their whole group of people would have to leave the line. It was really intimidating, but no one where we were had any complaints, probably since everyone knew they were far enough in the front to get a ticket. (My mom had actually switched out with her student teacher, Amanda, around 8am, and I was a little worried that someone would report us, but we weren't getting any more tickets, since each person can get two for free.) It was interesting because I think the line consists mostly of New Yorkers, since tourists probably won't want to waste an entire morning waiting in line for tickets. And I imagine that New Yorkers get pretty worked up about Shakespeare in the Park tickets, were someone to cut the line.
It was a beautiful day in the park to wait for tickets, even though a bird pooped on my hand and a bug flew into Amanda's eye. After we got the tickets, I was able to go home and nap for a bit. There was a huge thunderstorm between 5:30 and 7pm, but by 8pm the skies were clear again. The outdoor theater was beautiful, and watching Shakespeare outside in the middle of the park was wonderful. The set was entirely green astroturf with trees and flowers, so it felt like we were sitting in the middle of a park, not a theater.
The show was one of the best Shakespeare productions I've ever seen. It was flawlessly directed, and the Shakespearean English was made very understandable. I'm pretty familiar with Twelfth Night, but there were some jokes and physical comedy that I had never caught before when reading the play. Anne Hathaway played Viola, and Audra McDonald and Raul Esparza were also in the production, as well as some other theater and Shakespeare in the Park veterans. The music was one of the most unusual parts of the show - they had a "symphonic rock band" named Hem onstage in costume playing period music, and at points the actors sang as well. It complemented the plot, as well as the setting, very well.
I couldn't believe that I had never been to a Shakespeare in the Park show before, and as soon as it was over I wanted to see it again. Now I want to try to go to every performance, especially since they're free. The waiting in line isn't even that bad - in fact, it was fun to be in the park in the morning, people-watching and dog-watching.
These are two NYTimes articles about the show:
The Three Sisters of 'Twelfth Night'
I Love You, You're Perfect. You're A Girl?
It closes July 12th, but if you get a chance this week, go see this show! You won't regret it.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Rich City, Poor City
In a span of 24 hours, I visited two museums that represent the abject poverty and opulent wealth of late 19th- and early 20th-century New York: The Lower East Side Tenement Museum and The Frick Collection.
You can only see the Tenement Museum by guided tour, and the tour I did was called "Getting By." We visited two apartments, one furnished as it was when a German-Jewish family lived there during the Panic of 1873 (which was described to be a lot like last October...) and the apartment of an Italian-Catholic family during the Depression of the 1930s. Both of these families lived in cramped quarters, but the Italian family had it a lot better than the German family had 60 years before. In 1873, the building on 97 Orchard Street had just 4 outhouses in the backyard, which were used by the residents of the 20 apartments. That's probably an average of 5 person per apartment...you do the math. Gross. No running water, and little air ventilation. This picture from the museum's website shows what their kitchen likely looked like. They would have to haul buckets of water up from the backyard (the water supply, by the way, was right next to the outhouses - not quite sanitary). The stove, which was cast iron, would heat up the whole apartment, which is great in the winter, but not so great in the summer. See any sanitary or efficient means of storing food? Nope. Not so much.
Around the same time that the 100 or so residents of 97 Orchard Street were using the same 4 outhouses on the Lower East Side, on 70th Street and 5th Avenue, wealthy industrialist and art collector Henry Clay Frick was living in the lap of luxury. According to Wikipedia, he was once known as "America's most hated man," and this past April, CNBC named him one of the "Worst American CEOs of All Time." Frick's mansion spans the entire block, and in the 16 galleries, houses works from Frick's personal collection, including works by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Duccio, El Greco, Titian, Turner, Monet, and Whistler...to name just a few. Frick got to wake up every morning and stroll into his outdoor courtyard (which is now covered), right in the middle of his mansion.
Visiting these two museums, in such quick succession, really made me think about the vast disparities in wealth that can be found on one small island. While poor immigrants were starving downtown, rich socialites were gorging themselves uptown. The Tenement Museum tour guide told us that Wall Street was wired for electricity in 1888, but the building on 97 Orchard Street didn't get electricity until 1924. Have things changed since then? Some have, some haven't...but hopefully we're moving in the right direction.
As a side note, at the Tenement Museum visitor's center, they show two short videos about immigrants and the museum. During the credits of one of them, in the special thanks section, "Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities" appeared on the screen, which I thought was quite ironic and funny. Several other people sitting in the audience snickered.
You can only see the Tenement Museum by guided tour, and the tour I did was called "Getting By." We visited two apartments, one furnished as it was when a German-Jewish family lived there during the Panic of 1873 (which was described to be a lot like last October...) and the apartment of an Italian-Catholic family during the Depression of the 1930s. Both of these families lived in cramped quarters, but the Italian family had it a lot better than the German family had 60 years before. In 1873, the building on 97 Orchard Street had just 4 outhouses in the backyard, which were used by the residents of the 20 apartments. That's probably an average of 5 person per apartment...you do the math. Gross. No running water, and little air ventilation. This picture from the museum's website shows what their kitchen likely looked like. They would have to haul buckets of water up from the backyard (the water supply, by the way, was right next to the outhouses - not quite sanitary). The stove, which was cast iron, would heat up the whole apartment, which is great in the winter, but not so great in the summer. See any sanitary or efficient means of storing food? Nope. Not so much.
Around the same time that the 100 or so residents of 97 Orchard Street were using the same 4 outhouses on the Lower East Side, on 70th Street and 5th Avenue, wealthy industrialist and art collector Henry Clay Frick was living in the lap of luxury. According to Wikipedia, he was once known as "America's most hated man," and this past April, CNBC named him one of the "Worst American CEOs of All Time." Frick's mansion spans the entire block, and in the 16 galleries, houses works from Frick's personal collection, including works by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Duccio, El Greco, Titian, Turner, Monet, and Whistler...to name just a few. Frick got to wake up every morning and stroll into his outdoor courtyard (which is now covered), right in the middle of his mansion.
Visiting these two museums, in such quick succession, really made me think about the vast disparities in wealth that can be found on one small island. While poor immigrants were starving downtown, rich socialites were gorging themselves uptown. The Tenement Museum tour guide told us that Wall Street was wired for electricity in 1888, but the building on 97 Orchard Street didn't get electricity until 1924. Have things changed since then? Some have, some haven't...but hopefully we're moving in the right direction.
As a side note, at the Tenement Museum visitor's center, they show two short videos about immigrants and the museum. During the credits of one of them, in the special thanks section, "Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities" appeared on the screen, which I thought was quite ironic and funny. Several other people sitting in the audience snickered.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
The High Line
Yesterday I visited The High Line, the newly opened park on the old elevated railroad on the west side of Manhattan. Right now it runs from about 13th Street to 20th Street, but will extend much further uptown.
The southern entrance to the High Line.
They incorporated vegetation - trees, plants, and flowers - with old train tracks and rails.
It's a great area, with benches and lawn chairs all along, and a view of the Hudson River. It also runs through buildings, and there are a few metal tables and chairs to sit on. It's a very interesting amalgamation of urban architecture and park greenery. Go take a stroll if you're in the area!
The southern entrance to the High Line.
They incorporated vegetation - trees, plants, and flowers - with old train tracks and rails.
It's a great area, with benches and lawn chairs all along, and a view of the Hudson River. It also runs through buildings, and there are a few metal tables and chairs to sit on. It's a very interesting amalgamation of urban architecture and park greenery. Go take a stroll if you're in the area!
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Museum Mile Festival, Vynl, and Jury Duty
Last night was NYC's Museum Mile Festival, and every museum along 5th Avenue between 81st and 105th streets was closed between 6pm and 9pm. The street was closed to cars, and there were street performers all along 5th Ave. A few of my friends and I went to see the "Frank Lloyd Wright: From Within Outward" exhibit at the Guggenheim. There was a long line to get in, but we only waited about 15 minutes because it moved so quickly. The exhibit was pretty interesting, and it was fun just being inside the museum for free! I hadn't been to the Guggenheim since a 9th grade school trip, so it was nice to be back and see the structure. We also walked through the 19th-century painting section, which I loved. As we were leaving, everyone was exiting the museum, since it was almost 9pm, and it was very bizarre to look across the circle at all of the people walking down the spiraling floors. Everyone was moving at the same pace, so it looked as if the building was moving and not the people. Very strange.
After the museum, we went to a restaurant called Vynl in Hell's Kitchen. The food wasn't anything special, but it was fun because the theme of the restaurant was vinyl records. The fronts of the menus were covers of all different record albums, and the bathrooms were each unisex private stalls themed with different artists, including Elvis, Cher, Dolly Parton, and Nelly. (I used the Dolly bathroom - it had a mosaic of Dolly on the wall and one of her songs was playing on a speaker just in that room.) There were also vinyl records on the walls of the restaurant, and hanging from the ceiling.
In other news, I had jury duty today. After so much anticipation, it was quicker and easier than I ever could have hoped. They didn't need to call any jurors at all, all day. We were let out a half hour early for lunch (and since the courts are only a 15 minute walk from my apartment, I was able to go home for a bit, which was nice) and then they let us out an hour and a half early in the afternoon. In the morning, we were told that we would AT LEAST have to come in tomorrow, even if no one was called today, but by the afternoon it had been such a slow day that they didn't even need us to come in tomorrow. Hooray! Now I'm off the hook for the next six years.
After the museum, we went to a restaurant called Vynl in Hell's Kitchen. The food wasn't anything special, but it was fun because the theme of the restaurant was vinyl records. The fronts of the menus were covers of all different record albums, and the bathrooms were each unisex private stalls themed with different artists, including Elvis, Cher, Dolly Parton, and Nelly. (I used the Dolly bathroom - it had a mosaic of Dolly on the wall and one of her songs was playing on a speaker just in that room.) There were also vinyl records on the walls of the restaurant, and hanging from the ceiling.
In other news, I had jury duty today. After so much anticipation, it was quicker and easier than I ever could have hoped. They didn't need to call any jurors at all, all day. We were let out a half hour early for lunch (and since the courts are only a 15 minute walk from my apartment, I was able to go home for a bit, which was nice) and then they let us out an hour and a half early in the afternoon. In the morning, we were told that we would AT LEAST have to come in tomorrow, even if no one was called today, but by the afternoon it had been such a slow day that they didn't even need us to come in tomorrow. Hooray! Now I'm off the hook for the next six years.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
New Summer Header
Yesterday I uploaded a new picture for the header picture at the top of the page. I took it last week at Atlantic Beach in East Hampton. The day was pretty cloudy, so I took the liberty of doctoring it up a bit in iPhoto. Now it looks nice and sunny, and appropriate for summer!
Monday, June 8, 2009
Fresh-Baked Challah
This weekend I baked challah for the first time. I'll admit that I kind of cheated because I made the dough in a bread maker, so I didn't have to knead it, but I did braid it and bake it myself. It turned out pretty well; I followed the bread maker's recipe for challah, except I replaced the sugar with honey.
It was a huge loaf. You can't really tell scale from this picture, but that plate is the size of a dinner plate, not a dessert plate.
The Challah for Hunger chapter at Vassar always sells a "flavor of the week" challah in addition to traditional and chocolate chip, and one week they made chai challah. It was so amazing that I had to email them for the recipe. Next time I'm going to attempt to make chai challah, and maybe experiment with some other flavors as well.
It was a huge loaf. You can't really tell scale from this picture, but that plate is the size of a dinner plate, not a dessert plate.
The Challah for Hunger chapter at Vassar always sells a "flavor of the week" challah in addition to traditional and chocolate chip, and one week they made chai challah. It was so amazing that I had to email them for the recipe. Next time I'm going to attempt to make chai challah, and maybe experiment with some other flavors as well.
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