Spiders, Park Slope, and birds

Note: This is particularly interesting for those who love spiders and birds.

Yet another story, dear follower.

Yesterday we reached the magical temperature of approximately 70F! (Yes, once you're here, you have to get used to Fahrenheit, pounds, miles, feet...). It was so nice! And I was so happy I had to go to the NYU during lunch, so I actually got to enjoy this summer weather! This day definitely was 'skirts day'!

LOL, this morning was fun! I went to the bathroom, and there was this huge ugly scary creature in my bathtub! The first thing I did (of course), was getting my camera to make some pictures, the second thing I did (of course), was getting ready to kill the beast with a stone. However, I covered it with a glass so I could deal with it at a more descend time (it was 6am). Later, my new roomy and I removed it from the bathroom. Some research from my little sister learned us, it's a whip spider. Sadly, our little (about 2 inch) fellow (see picture) is dead now.. I hope there are no siblings coming to get their revenge!


Today was splendid again, however 'only' 60F, and the wind was pretty strong. I decided to enjoy my 'own' neighborhood (see pictures)! It was so good to see all the spring flowers, and hear the sparrows sing. Park Slope is nice, there are lots of bars, restaurants and nice little stores!

I have another story concerning animals for you! In 1993 the first red tailed hawk (Pale Male) was spotted in Central Park. Soon after, a love nest was build in a 12-story chic apartment on Fifth Avenue facing Central Park (I think this is one of the most expensive places to live in NYC). Of course (?) these rich people didn't like to have such great birds building nests on their houses, so they removed the twigs and branches. The bird couple made a new nest, and again the nest was removed. Finally (and luckily) the birds won their nest, and since then Pale Male has sired 23 offsprings, and they have entertained New Yorkers with aerial acrobatics! I haven't seen them yet, should try to get a glimpse of them soon! Nice to have some wild life in Manhattan!

PS: Don't forget to check the links I provide at the top right!

Ticking minutes

Wow, time is flying here, it seems like I'm living here in a city where time is in a hurry. Probably because we have New York Minutes here! The New York Minute according to the Urban Dictionary is 'the interval between a Manhattan traffic light turning green, and the guy behind you honking his horn', but also 'the smallest measurable amount of time in the universe'. The New York Minute originated in Texas in 1967, referring to the hectic pace of New Yorker's lives (a New Yorker does in an instant what a Texan would take a minute to do). Mm, thinking about this, my simple calculation tells me that I would have more time, because what would take me normally a minute, I can now achieve within an instant. There is a leakage in my theory here, because I don't have the feeling I have time left over! Anyway, I think you got my point, I'm mighty busy here.

Tonight is daylight saving time, which means within an instant I 'loose' another 60 minutes of my precious time here! But for sure it will bring a lot of good things. For example, for 15 days, I will only be 5 hours behind you guys. But also, the evenings will be longer light, which means we can do even more in the New York Minutes we've got every day!

Ready for Spring!

Whole New York City is ready for spring. The winter was exceptionally cold with a lot of snow, really tough. The beautiful snow I was so excited about last month, was just a little bit of all the snow that covered the streets this winter.
Now, I can't wait for all the snow to vanish (there are still some dirty icy piles on the streets in Brooklyn), and temperatures to be above zero again. And I can feel it's not only me, the whole city is fed up with the snow and the cold, and ready for spring!
This weekend was supposed to be snowy, rainy, and cold. Instead, the sun was shining, sparrows singing, dogs playing in the parks.. There was a whole different vibe in the city.
On Saturday I had a great walk on Manhattan Bridge and Bowery, and there I found this man playing urban golf, I loved it! Then yesterday at Union Square there were some art stands, the park was filled with happy people, and two guys were giving free hugs away. A hug and the warmth of the sun, I was a happy girl ready for spring :D. There was also this guy making great artwork of sand (see picture), sadly, today the rain they promised, arrived, so the colors are flushed away..
This city is buzzing with life, happiness, great and strange people, and a lot of fun! Yes, NYC is ready for spring and so am I.

"Waste not what not"

This is what my supervisor David told us (Yan and me) on our first day when we were synthesizing our nanoparticles and a tiny bit was left in the vial. We definitely had to get that out, even when it was difficult or impossible (impossible does not exist in his vocabulary, I like that). "Waste not what not". Samples are precious, you have to use everything. Great, this really fits my way of thinking!
On the contrary and really doesn't fit my way of thinking, we do waste all our consumables - hence the name (pipet tips, vials, small vials, bigger vials, more vials, tubes, tiny tubes, big tubes, gloves, ..). Where we washed that particular vial in Utrecht, here they don't even think about reusing it (waste of time - okay, maybe this is still in the 'waste not what not' range). I still have to get used to it. Like when a certain protocol doesn't work, don't try around too much, just get new fresh chemicals (even when the old ones are inorganic and not perishable). Or when we made a few cute pictures of our nanoparticles with the transmission electron microscope, just burn them to a CD, don't wait until you have enough to fill the whole CD.

In the cafeteria in the hospital you have these cardboard take away boxes, they're just used once (I always try to use it until it falls apart). There are also these kind of plastic plates for salads and stuff - only used once.
However, (and I really like this) in restaurants - no matter how luxurious - you can always get a doggy bag when you cannot finish your meal. Waste not what not, don't throw away your food. And now I have a nice lunch tomorrow!

NYC does have a recycling program, but it is quite different from what I am used to: all glassware and other packaging materials go in one trash bin. Most people don't make their stuff flat, so every week there are huge piles on the streets for the garbage men to pick up. Paper and cardboard is collected separately, I do understand that part!
But what is probably wasted the most here in NYC is warmth. When I arrived in the hostel six weeks ago, my room was like 28 C. We couldn't switch it off, so we opened the window (and of course the radiator is just underneath, you know how that goes). And it seems this was not a stand alone incident, I hear often people (mostly Dutch or European) complaining about their warm apartments. Thus much energy is thrown away, it almost hurts. It is a very old system which is driven by steam, and cannot easily be changed, that's what they told me.

Please, waste not what not!

The party train

I have two other stories I wanted to share with you last week, however, work became so demanding, that by the time I got home after work, I really didn't feel like using the computer again. Hopefully I find some time for these two stories this week (otherwise, I'm sorry about the dead sparrow).

As you probably all know, is New York City the city that never sleeps! This means that the city never sleeps, and really, never sleeps (although probably most people sleep some time every 24 hours).
Williamsburg is what makes Brooklyn proud (I guess?). Most youngsters, hipsters, artists, and other interesting people go there to party. There are loads of bars, and often live music. Yesterday was a strange mixture though, first hard rock (or just a lot of noise?), then some very nice Latino 'swing-that-ass' music. After that, all of a sudden, there was karaoke, eeh, well, time to go home ;)
The L train runs from Manhattan to Williamsburg (and back). So when we (that would be Fabian (I met him at the Utrecht Summer School some years ago, and now he lives in East Village - what a coincidence) and his friends entered the train last night around 3.30am, there were so many people in that train. Dancing, singing, making pictures, having fun; partying. Thus, the L train is better known as the party train! And yes, most trains are running 24/7, and you don't have to be afraid to be alone! Pretty convenient that you can't miss your last train! You can even still buy magazines and peanuts in the subway store if you feel like it at night!

The pictures I enclosed today are not from the party train, but from the bright blue sky above TriBeCa, so please, enjoy!

Walking the city

I like to walk around in New York City. On every corner there are things to see. And I love to watch the buildings! It is not just sky scraper after sky scraper, often there are gothic churches and other old houses squeezed in. It is nice to spot these buildings!
Walking the city and watching buildings is what I did this weekend. Yesterday I started at the Empire State Building. And I can tell you this, it was quite disappointing for me. You can see the building from miles away, but when I stood on its foot, I started doubting, I'd expected it to be much larger and taller! I walked down Sixth Avenue and Broadway and ended at Union Square. It was my first very gray day, and it was cold and windy! So at the farmers market I enjoyed hot apple cider, and that really made my day!
Today the sky was blue again! I started my walk at Grand Central, the train terminal. I've never seen such a clean building, especially for a train terminal it was just way too clean! It really is a beautiful building, however, my small camera couldn't make bright pictures of it. But if you're planning to go to NYC, just check it out! I continued my walk to the east side of the city, and then up to the north. Beautiful buildings everywhere, and I've picked my favorite sky scraper: The Chrysler Building, which was the world's tallest building in 1930! And then I was in Central Park again. The nice thing about this park is the quietness, you are in the middle of the city, and there is nothing else but silence!

Dumbo and Super Bowl

Hi!

It took me a while to write a new blog post, I'm sorry, but my routine (wake up, read in the train, work in the lab whole day, read in the train, eat, and sleep) is not too exciting to write or read about! Although, work is great so maybe I will write a blog post soon (for those who understand) on all the experiments I've done so far..

Last Sunday the weather was super bright and sunny again. Really, if you ignored the piles of snow, you would almost think it was spring! I went for a walk from the Brooklyn Heights Promenade to Dumbo (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass - check for more info about how Dumbo got its name the link). I had a spectacular view at the Skyline of Manhattan again, but the warmth of the sun was the best gift this day! From there I walked down to the small park underneath the two bridges, and bumped into the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory. The ice cream was the second best gift that day, especially when enjoyed in the sun!
Dumbo is I think a great neighborhood when you know the places and when you are an artist. There are a lot of strange shops (arts and stuff), you can do workshops (arts and stuff), and you can even have your portfolio checked (arts and stuff). And of course there are plenty of bars! The Manhattan Bridge gives a nice industrial touch to the neighborhood, I liked that!

Last Sunday evening was the big event: the SUPER BOWL! The Packers vs the Steelers (no, I have no idea). We watched the game with the lab members in the apartment of one of our colleagues (sorry, no pictures). The apartment was in Harlem (an hour by train) and was huge. Or maybe the tv was even bigger than the apartment itself! I'll be honest with you: I didn't like the game (most of the time these guys were laying on top of each other on the ground looking for some misshaped ball). So this was the perfect moment to socialize and get to know my colleagues better! I enjoyed the evening very much, and had some nice conversations with my supervisor. Sadly, we were not the only ones who ordered pizza.. (luckily? we did have enough booze).

And have a happy new rabbit year!