I’m still home sick today, but it is mostly recovery now. I’m feeling a million times better, still have some congestion, but my fever is gone, and I was able to get almost a full night of sleep. I guess I will be going to work tomorrow.

Perhaps today is a good day to be home? Yesterday we had an ice storm which left about an inch of ice everywhere. Today it is snowing.

I don’t know if you can see it, but that blurriness on the Hyundai is the ice. I hadn’t cleaned off the ice from my car, and now the snow is only going to make it just that much more of a pain to clean later on today. If I get too lazy, I might not even deal with it until I leave for work tomorrow morning. It’s a toss up: stay at home sick and avoid the nasty weather, or having to deal with the aftermath of the nasty weather in any event? Only four months till Spring! (sigh)

Woke up this morning sick as a dog. Fever, headache, sinus congestion, and at least one other impolite body function. Went to the doctor, got prescriptions and other OTC stuff. Didn’t go to work, won’t tomorrow, doubtful for even Thursday.

Since I live alone, I really have nobody to cry to when I’m sick. All my friends are married or otherwise engaged. So I’ll post here, a semi-captive audience,and hope for at least one pity “awww” from someone

For the long New Years holiday weekend, a friend and I decided to go to Atlantic City, and we stayed at the Trump Plaza, which was a bit of a disappointment. The actual hotel had that old and worn-down feeling, and the casino floor was not very big. We both like to play craps, so we checked out the tables here. I wasn’t feeling the love. The tables did not have many players, there was no energy, and the dice were not being kind. I didn’t play, but my friend came out $21 in the hole. Not a huge loss, but still…

We went over to the Borgata, where we had much better luck. There were twice as many tables open, most of them were full to capacity and the players were very energetic. I came out $500 ahead. Sweet. That pays for the entire trip with some leftover.

Probably the best I could say about the Trump hotel was the view of the Atlantic Ocean. From the room:

Due to the angle and the building, you can’t see it, but we are directly over the boardwalk. We walked out to the water, and I dug up a nice shell.

I’m not a “beach person”. I don’t flock to the beach in the summer and tan myself to leather. I’m more of an “ocean” person I guess.

It is the middle of winter, and kind of cold, probably about 38 degrees right now. It’s also very windy. Standing here, listening to the tide, watching the restless sea roll in and out, you can start to forget about modern day issues: no cellphones, no computers, no traffic or cars. About five minutes, most of the cares feel like they’re washing away. I’m definitely not a “romantic” in terms of the word, but there is a poem titled “Sea Fever” which captures some of the emotion.

And of course, no beach would be complete without the ever-present birds.

Not too far away from Atlantic City is Lucy the Elephant,  who is actually on the National Historic Register.

The town is very proud of Lucy.

Here is me, standing on the beach near Lucy. You can see Atlantic City in the distance.

Here is a zoom to Atlantic City. It’s about 5 miles from here, I imagine you could walk.

It’s still a day away, but I’m going to take a long weekend vacation, so I’ll post now, and wish everyone a Happy 2009!

Psst, give us a clue for HKO Open Beta!

I tried to find an appropriate lolcat, but when I saw this, I was floored, and the sentiment does not actually apply

Here are some miscellaneous areas you can explore in New York. This is pretty much the end of my tour of New York. The only quests which were available were related to the “Save Christmas” arc, and as you might have noticed, some of the buildings and areas lack NPCs, so hopefully they’ll more fully populate the city in Open Beta or release.

Central Park:

The finanical district:

This is just outside of Central Park. I call it Times Square, but only because the big billboard. It’s not properly shaped to be Times Square:

The docks. By the way, the New York farm manager is located here, as well as a seed vendor:

And then we have a secret visitor:

Finally, just as a commentary on how well I think HKO captures the visual image of a place, look at this one below. There’s nothing really exciting, but notice the fire-escape and the snow on the railings, and look at the snow piled up in the curbs. I took this screenshot because this attention to detail is something which actually says a lot. I know, like the rest of HKO, it’s very “cutesy” and the components are probably just built with a toolkit, but still, it says a lot about the imagination of the artists.

This is the entrance to Lincoln Center.

If you’ve spent any time exploring New York, you might have noticed a particular character whose image is plastered all over the place. So much that you might just wonder, who really runs this town?

Sorry for the lame commentary

Grand Central Station, or more accurately, Grand Central Terminal, is one of the busiest, and probably oldest, transit stations in New York. As for myself, I actually never need to use this station; when I need to go in to NY, I will usually go to Hobokon and then take an underground (PATH) or a ferry, depending on where I want to go.

This is a pretty image. Probably the only time you’ll see the station ever empty. I wonder how hard it would be for them to make the clock actually work? Not shown on the screen is a railroad, just below the main foyer. You can see the barrier ropes.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art… Not much to say. I’m actually conservative in my opinions on art. I prefer art from prior to the 19th century, romanticism, rococo and stuff like that. I don’t like any of the “modernism” or “neomodernism” or the dozens of other genres. I just don’t get it. I can’t really look at a cubist painting and say “Hmm, the artist is trying to tell us…”.

Be that as it may, the Museum of Art is famous. Here is the outside.

Exploring the inside:

The Empire State Building was named after the nickname of New York state, The Empire State. It was the tallest building in New York for many years, and sadly, now holds that title again. It is also the second tallest building in the United States. It’s on the national landmark register, and has been officially recognized for its architecture and engineering. There’s a lot more that can be said about the building, but if you’re in NY, you can visit the building.

Here is the lobby of the HKO Empire State Building. I wish I could read whats on the sign behind the desk. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a shot of the exterior. I have no idea why…

Ah. Mom, apple pie and baseball. What could be more American than baseball? Actually, contrary to popular folk-lore, baseball wasn’t invented in America. We might have been one of the first nations to codify and popularize baseball, but we didn’t invent it.

Be that as it may, America and baseball are still near-synonymous, and of course, we have Yankee Stadium in New York. But, this most famous baseball stadium is actually closed, having hosted the last baseball game on September 21, 2008. The new stadium will open in April 2009, and while the old one is scheduled for demolition, it will remain an iconic image for years.

Hey batta batta batta

I got it! I got it!