Old Cities are Beautifful!

I had a very intelligent and lively talk with my son who is bound to the Rutgers campus in New Brunswick this Saturday.

We both agree that the revival of the old and "undesirable" cities like Hoboken, Jersey City, Harlem, Bronx, Brooklyn and Harlem is rooted on sheer economics and not the all wisdom of the politicians, with the exception of Mr. Corzine and Mr. Bloomberg.

Residents in a community will sense something is going right irregardless of political representative.

Moon in Jersey Tonight

The moon is unsuallly bright tonight...a prelude to total eclipse.

Anything can happen tonight and tommorrow, up beyond the stratosphere.

Enjoy the sky!

Something to Green (Grin) About

I just finished a three-day conference in midtown Manhattan today that started Friday and went through over the weekend.

It was always gratifying to visit the City this time of the year to see it myself and watched visitors looking up those tall buildings and fancy billboards, not looking at their foot steps as they strolled the streets of Manhattan. :)

I decided to commute to the City by light rail train in Newark and the Path train from Penn Station, Newark to Penn Station on 33rd St, Manhattan by Broadway.

It cost me 24 cents to a mile!...and less greenhouse effect!

I was proud of it.

The Central Railroad of New Jersey at Liberty State Park

I had the chance to visit Liberty State Park while I was in Bayonne.

It was one exit away, just like any Jersey folks talk about exits, :). I am proud of it because it is accurate and avoid much of the descriptive terms when giving directions. County roads are named by numbers and consistent throughout the state...no proper nouns!. These numbered county roads are directed north, south, east or west. That way, a commuter/driver knows the bearings.

At any rate, the park has full of history. I am an immigrant but I am not part of that history. It happened several decades ago, but I do share similar sentiments with those folks.

A Visit to a Suburb of Atlanta, GA

It was my first visit to Georgia.

I had the opportunity to visit the suburb of Atlanta, up north to a suburb
(???town) called Apharetta. It sounded pleasant to my ears when the local folks said it.

The personnel at the airport were polite and courteous.

From my flight in Newark, I and my daughter decided to avail its public mass
transit. It seems adequate and efficient, but apparently under-utilized. It was a weekend...maybe it had no popular ridership on these days. I heard stories about the traffic conditions in the area..

At any rate, I had a fantastic time on the first wedding in my wife's family side.

Dust in the Wind in Our Universe

I was trying to upload a photo that I collected from NASA website for my profile. I was not successful. I need to be more precise with my URL.

So, I decided to to Google "universe, galaxy, etc".

I ended up with this awesome photos.

A cannibal black hole...

Colliding galaxies creating a bigger galaxies...

We are dust in the Universe and very alive Universe!

Photos courtesy of MSNBC and NASA...

My New Jersey Version of BBQ Vegan Grill

I had the responsibility to cook tonight.

We have many vegetables in the fridges.

I thought of cooking something grilled vegan, but tastes somehow weekend BBQ or tailgate event.

So, Google it and ended up with a French-Asian fusion recipe with a great deal of my modification and my sense of adventure on culinary universe. It reminds me of Vietnam or Cambodia.

It consists of grilling on high heat the veggies (in my case zucchini, eggplant and peppers), dubbed with Montreal Steak (Bistecs Montreal by French words and made by McCormick) and ground fresh chili paste. The chili paste can be procured from any Asian food store.

Cook the veggies for about 10 minutes on high heat.

It could satisfy someones craving for a grill taste but can be truly vegan!

It could be side dish for good steak or fillet fish...

Or hot dog or burger on a bun!... which we had!

My Date with My Wife Tonight

It may not be an impressive date to most couple.

We were doing our grocery shopping together at ShopRite in Chester, NJ. I enjoyed her company.

Having dinner at Trattoria Pesce Pasta in the Soho district, Lower Manhattan or doing groceries at ShopRite in Chester, NJ...

I always have a good time with my wife!

Warm Summer Days, Green House Effects and my Truck

It was humid in northern New Jersey today despite a recorded 79 Fahrenheit. But I felt cooler as I commuted back home. I don't turn on my ac most of the time in my commute. I let the ambient air cool me off.

It is the presence of trees that provide the cooler climate. They are carbon neutral, utilizing the CO2 expelled by human beings and animals, NOT from my truck! We in turn consume the O2 expelled by plants to create energy.

I don't know the specific biochemistry behind them but somehow I recognized some significance of those boring college biochemistry class.

Nowadays, it is called green house effects.

A Monastery...Priory in Newark?

I passed the building once located on 13th Ave and S. 9th St in the westward district of Newark when I had to make a detour because of road construction on Bergen St by the University Hospital.

From the outside, it looked modest but it caught my attention. I thought it was a drug rehab facility or a psychiatric clinic.

I learned from today's local paper that it is Franciscan monastery called Franciscan Friars of the Renewal founded in 1987. It appears like that their order has a good recruits despite the general downward trend in priesthood.

The Order will open its door to the public this fall for religious retreats and show the public their vow of simple life and poverty.

Newark has something to be proud of.

My Son and His Friend's Visit to Brooklyn, NY

This is a consecutive weekend that my son and his friends visited the City.

This time it was not about music, but one of his friends was having a tattoo. My wife became concerned about our son getting a tattoo, but he promised he would not get one.

As usual, my and his company drive to the Newark Penn Station, parked and took the train to Manhattan then bound to Brooklyn.

Our son and his company arrived in Tewksbury just after I and my wife finished dinner.

Our son had no tattoo, thank goodness! His friend had a tattoo on his left forearm depicting New Jersey's state bird, the yellow finch. I think that was cool.

I could have advised them to a closer tattoo parlor in Belleville or Kearny, NJ.

In any event, they had a good time.

My Flickr....My Town

Tewksbury is having a thunder storm. Sid and Sha-sha seems to be quiet with all the the thunder and lightning.

It sounds good to me . I like rain, thunder and lightning.

In one of my Flickr photos, someone has commented on my pig roast party.

It was a message I could respond to.

A Summer Dinner in my Town

My daughter is out to summer camp in upstate New York for several weeks. We will miss her but she will have a fun time.

Since it turned out to be a pool day, sun and blue sky, my wife decided a cook out grill dinner. She invited a family friend.

We had grilled sliced rack of lamb and roasted zucchini. Drinks consisted of red wine and white sangria.

At dinner outside by the pool, mellow sound of crickets, clear blue sky with few bright stars, and at 84 degrees Fahrenheit with low humidity...dinner had the proper ambiance.

It was a country feeling but so close to greatest city in the world, Manhattan.