Shock Culture Reverse

Spotted this classical music trio at Union Square. Music with a political message.

This past weekend, we all took the train into New York. It was great to be back in my hometown.

We walked from 34th Street to Tribeca, which is a longgg way. En route, we had lunch at Manganaro's Hero Boy (home to the six-foot hero). I had a meatball hero, which is one of my favorite New York sandwiches. Meatballs on fresh hero rolls, covered in tomato sauce (no cheese please, aside from a whisper of grated parmesan),

When our spirits flagged later, we popped into the Vesuvio bakery's cafe. Vesuvio is an ancient Italian bakery in Soho that added a cafe about four years ago. They serve some of the best espresso I've ever tasted (including Italy).

We went into and out of shops, ending up at the Odeon -- a New York institution -- for dinner. I had a great steak with spinach on the side. We split an apple tart at the end. Heaven.

Like I said, it was great to get back into town (and not for work!). I look forward to future excursions.

A really cold day today ... the first time it's felt like a real New York City January day.

Right now, the temperature is 33 degrees F, or 1 degreee C. It was even colder waiting for the train in New Providence or walking to work from Penn Station. Blowing winds didn't make it any more pleasant.

NOW I miss the milder London winters. And, in Bangalore, it's much warmer.

Got the new PC, got the digital camera. Guess it's time to start finally posting pics to the site.

So, here's a shot of our "old" new house in New Providence, NJ. We live in an odd little development that feels like a cross between Epcot and Williamsburg -- all reproductions of historical houses. We even have a cobblestone street.

Before India, our homes were an apartment in an 1851 brownstone in Brooklyn and an apartment in an 1850s -vintage row house in London. They had character and charm but enough quirks that Diane and I longed for a modern "white box."

We now have the best of both worlds: a house that's basically new on the inside but looks old on the outside.

You can expect more posts (is that a promise or a threat, you may ask :-) ).

I just set up the new computer. I've been posted from a laptop using an (as yet) unknown neighbor's wireless Internet connection (thanks, stranger). But now, I'm plugged in directly. Watch out.

Snow. We had snow showers last night, which left about 1 to 2 inches on the ground. We can expect more as winter progresses.

Growing up, you learned to expect snow in the New York metro area from December to March. But we spent last year in tropical Bangalore and the previous four years in London, where snow is a rarity (I can remember one wonderful snowstorm during our time there).

So, I'm getting used to snow again. Or as I told my family last night, "I ain't driving the new car if it's really deep."

This morning, it was not not deep. And the roads were pretty clear. But I still had to keep an eye open for icy spots.

Very nice. One of our new neighbors came by last night to drop off the key to our garage. And filled us in on the history of Murray Hill Square, the retail center-turned-residential-condominium-complex we are living in.

We moved out of our temporary apartment and into our new home over the weekend. At the same time, the first of three shipments of our stuff arrived, plus the new beds. The first batch consisted of furniture and other goods we had in London but left behind when we moved to Bangalore.

Still to come: stuff we left behind when we moved to London in 2001. And the few items we took with us to Bangalore or acquired there.

There was a small problem with the beds. We'd found the showroom models to be a tad on the high side (Diane and I are both vertically challenged) and ordered shorter versions. But the full-height beds were delivered on Friday. I called the company.

The right beds arrived the following day. As I told one of the delivery guys, I've given up my hopes of joining the Olympic pole vaulting team and didn't need the practice.

On New Year's Day, Jay and I went for a brief walk around the nearby Great Swamp, a national wildlife refuge.

We walked along two trails -- boardwalks through the swamp -- to observation blinds. Each blind had a bird feeder in view and you could watch various birds, including a cardinal and a blue jay, visit the feeder.

It was a cold and clear day, good for hiking.

I'd been to the swamp before, but it's about an hour out of New York and going there used to be more of an expedition. It's nice to have it in my backyard. Now, Jay and I can see the swamp change with the seasons.

Commuting. More than anything, this is the aspect of moving to New Jersey I'd dreaded the most.

But it hasn't been that bad. I have to hunt a little bit for a seat in the morning (the station I'm using this week is the last stop before the train goes express. So it's crowded). But I get a seat and, once I sit down, I settle in with the paper.

On the way home last night, I listened to National Public Radio's evening report. Nice.

Meanwhile, prices have gone up in the five or so years I've been out of the country (surprise! :-) ). A lunch that I'd swear used to cost no more than $5 was nearly $8 today. Oh, well.

Having a dishwasher. In Bangalore, we did not have one, probably because of the chronic power shortages that bedevil India.

It was not the first time I'd washed dishes by hand, but I'd forgotten how much time the process eats up. I had to add about 20 to 30 minutes to my morning routine.

Now, I just rinse 'em, stick 'em in the machine and start it once the load hits critical mass. Whoopee!

Folks, don't ever take your dishwasher for granted.