Loganotron » New York

Center of the Universe

logan — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 01:56:11 +0000

Yep, that summarizes it pretty accurately.

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How I Fell in Love with Central Park

logan — Sun, 23 May 2010 17:43:03 +0000

Yesterday I had brunch with an old roommate and her parents in midtown Manhattan. After we parted ways, I spotted a Baskin Robbins. I haven’t been to a BR in years, so I popped in. I got a single scoop of my childhood favorite flavor, World Class Chocolate. I sat outside next to an office park water fountain and ate my scoop. The weather was perfect and a cool breeze was blowing. Life was perfect, and was about to get even more beautiful.

I finished my scoop and figured I would just head back to my hotel and figure out what to do from there. As I walked toward the subway, I noticed I was only about four blocks away from the South end of Central Park. Change of plans!

I entered the park and grabbed a quick look at a map of the park on my iPhone. With my bearings in tact, I headed North, wandering along trails and enjoying the natural beauty and the sights of happy people all around. Eventually I came upon the Bethesda Fountain and rowboat pond. A crowd had gathered to watch an acrobatic comedy troupe perform. I decided to stay and watch too. These three guys were hilarious. They really had the crowd engaged, and people just kept flooding in to watch. The whole performance lasted about a half hour and was riotously funny. I was so engrossed and laughing so hard, I lost track of time. When the show was over, my cheeks hurt from laughing and I had a little tear of happiness in the corner of my left eye.

I crossed over the rowboat pond bridge and entered “The Ramble.” What a perfect name for this area. Trails lead you this way and that, always yielding some beautiful view of a small meadow, a hidden nook of the pond, or just a quiet tree covered hideaway. And I did in fact ramble about, forgetting my Northbound goal. I’m sure I didn’t see even half of this section of the park, but the parts I did see were such a peaceful experience.

When I exited The Ramble I headed North again. I decided I wanted to make my way to the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Resevoir (or “The Big Lake”). I stopped for a pretzel and a soda along the way. When I finally got to my destination, I was impressed with the size of the Big Lake. I decided to circumambulate the reservoir with all the other joggers and walkers. About half way around I realized that the lake is much larger than it looks. Despite my feet feeling a bit tired after two hours of walking through the park, I kept on going.

Once I reached the North end of the lake, I decided not to go any further North into the park. Instead, I continued around the lake, took some pictures, and found my way back through the park toward my hotel. Essentially I started at 55th Street, meandered through the park up to 97th Street, then Walked back South to 77th Street where my hotel was.

Three hours of walking in the park left my heart swollen with peace and happiness. The laughing of children in playgrounds, the cheerful barking of happy dogs running about, the canoodling of lovers on blankets, the laughs of the crowd at the acrobatic performance, the shouts of excitement at the baseball and volleyball parks, the groovy beats and moves at the disco roller-skate park. All of these wonderful sights and sounds filled me up with joy and made me feel connected to nature and my fellow man. There’s no question that yesterday I fell in love with Central Park

And, though I am returning home to San Francisco later this evening, I’m quite certain that I’ve left my heart in Central Park.

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Gay Marriage In The News

logan — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 19:07:51 +0000

New Jersey Senate to Consider Gay Marriage bill next week. Will they get a bill to Corzine before the end of his term? Fingers crossed.

New York Senate Kills Gay Marriage Bill 38-24. Will Patterson force the issue again? Probably not if the votes aren’t there.

The state of Washington’s domestic partner law (everything but marriage) went into effect this week. This is big news and gives tons of rights to gay and lesbian couples, much like California’s domestic partnership law.

Washington, D.C. approves same-sex marriage bill in first of two necessary procedural votes. Congress is unlikely to block the bill going into effect. Again, fingers crossed.

Ireland to consider Civil Partnership bill. There will be some resistance, but it has a fighting chance.

And finally, a news item that’s not related to gay marriage but is still pretty awesome: John Perez, an openly gay politician, might become the first gay Speaker of the California Assembly. We wish him luck.

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Post tags: gay marriage, Ireland, New Jersey, New York, Washington, Washington DC

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Gay Marriage Update: NY and DC

logan — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 23:03:07 +0000

The New York State Senate voted down a gay marriage bill today. The State Assembly had already passed the bill and Governor Patterson said he was ready to sign it into law. Well, there goes our chances at New York for another year.

On the bright side, Washington D.C. City Council voted in favor of making gay marriage legal in DC. This is the first of two votes necessary to pass the law. Our chances look good.

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Post tags: gay marraige, New York, Washington DC

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Gay Marriage Update: New York and New Hampshire

logan — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 01:30:43 +0000

New York Governor Patterson has called a special session of the Legislature for next Tuesday. On the agenda will be same-sex marriage.

Also, anti-gay bigots have been feeling like hot shit after their Maine win. Unfortunately, that means they might be considering a repeal of New Hampshire’s gay marriage law too. Oy vey, here we go again.

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Post tags: gay marriage, New Hampshire, New York

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San Franciscans Like New York

logan — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 19:21:00 +0000

I saw this the other day and loved it. Pretty much hits the nail on the head:

New York: There is one place that San Franciscans believe is better than San Francisco, and that place is New York City. San Franciscans love New York City, and almost all of them aspire to one day make enough money at their humorous bicycle zine to become bi-coastal.

Apparently, there’s just something about ridiculously expensive rent that makes San Franciscans scream for more. San Franciscans think that New York and San Francisco are like The Conservatory and The Lounge in the game of Clue: there’s a secret passage beneath them that allows a player to go all the way across the board in one move.

When their friends and business associates announce that they are moving to New York you will often see a slight tightening at the eyes of any San Franciscan within earshot. This is one way that San Franciscans pretend to have emotions, and the emotion they are affecting here is jealousy. Then they will ask the person where they are moving to, and the answer will almost certainly be either Williamsburg or the East Village.

But it’s not enough for the movee to specify a neighborhood. San Franciscans want cross-streets, because nine out of ten San Franciscans actually knows the geography of New York better than they know how to get around their own neighborhood after 12 Red Stripes. continued…

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Gay Marriage: VT, IA, CT, MA… and New York?

logan — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 22:11:20 +0000

Governor David Paterson introduced a bill into the state legislature that would make gay marriage legal in New York. Senators Schumer and Gillibrand are in favor of gay marriage in the state.

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Post tags: David Paterson, gay marriage, New York

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