Waiting in line for the new iPhone

I'm outside the Apple store on Fifth Avenue. I've been waiting in line for almost 3 hours so far, but I should be inside shortly! It's completely sold out in most stores across the country, but I'm hope I'll have one soon. :-P

New York, New York (and Hoboken, Hoboken)

Note: This post contains a video. As usual, if you are reading this post in an feed reader or through facebook, you may have to click and view the original post. (But only if you want to see the embedded video).

I met a cool guy playing Ultimate Frisbee named Patrick. He's doing an internship at a structural engineering firm here. One of the things he's working on is the 9/11 memorial!

He told me about this blues place in Hoboken, NJ where they have open jam sessions on Saturday afternoon. I thought I'd tag along.

Here's a sign for Hoboken at the entrance for the PATH (Port Authority Trans-Hudson) train, which is how we crossed the river:

Here's the place. It's called Scotland Yard.

Patrick plays the drums. Some of you know that I used to play the drums, so it has a special place in my heart. :-)

Here's Patrick playing:

I wanted to try it too, but I was nervous since I don't ever really get to practice. I tentatively put my name on the chalkboard to play while I listened to the songs. When my turn came up I decided to go ahead and give it a try. I'm happy to say that I didn't screw it up too badly!

Hoboken is an interesting town; streets and ambiance much different from NYC.

According to Patrick, Hoboken's riverside gives the best views of the city and I have to agree with him:

Thinking about getting the new iPhone

There is still a constant line in front of the Apple store for the iPhone. Sunday I went to both major locations: 9th Ave & 14th street; also 5th Ave and 59th street. At both locations the line for iPhones is shut off hours early each day because of the time it takes to get everyone through the line.

This is a store in Hoboken, where there is no line. Also, there are no iPhones, hence the sign. :-)

A new way to spell "Thai"...

...and a new way to eat Thai food. :-P

My second class at Regis University

I finished the Computer Ethics class. The final project took a lot of time. It was a 7 page paper evaluating an employer or former employer about a lot of ethical questions. Grades haven't posted yet.

I just started my second class: Linear Algebra. I thought I was done with math, but nooooo. Oh well, at least it's not calculus. The problem is taking a math class online. I tend to do math very rudimentarily. I've never been good at word problems or conceptually applying advanced mathematics to anything other than what has been shown to me. I usually just watch what the instructor does, learn the "rules" and follow the pattern for other problems.

With this online class there is no whiteboard or chalkboard session. They basically direct us to the textbook and we have to learn it ourselves.

Before I whine or begin to doubt online instruction fundamentally, I remind myself that this was often my experience with in-person, classroom instruction too. Many times I've sat in class bored and/or confused to death, waiting for it to be over so I can go home and try to teach the subject to myself. The reason is poor, ineffective teaching methods (or dare I say teachers?) What's even more frustrating is when I arrive early to ask the teacher a question and they don't know or refuse to answer the question. That's happened a few times.

Fortunately, I've had very good luck with math instructors and it has never been a problem at all there. It's the other subjects where I've had more of that kind of trouble.

Ok, back to the present time, where I am for the first time having to teach myself some kind of math thing from a text book. I've never liked math textbooks. Actually, I've never really liked math. Just because you do well in a subject grade-wise doesn't necessarily mean that you're exceptionally talented in that area or that you have to enjoy it. I've said it before and I'll say it again: There are many geniuses who get poor grades for whatever reason. I am not one of them. I fall in the category of: work and study hard, get good grades. Doesn't make me "smart".

I think grades are more a measure of how meticulous you are. Are you motivated about your life? Can you organize things? Do you have at least an average memory? Do you not suffer from dyslexia or debilitating test anxiety? Then you can get good grades. But if someone puts a real world math or physics problem in front of you, can you pull the concepts together to come up with the solution? Can you think abstractly and apply principles that haven't been spelled out in detail recently? That is what makes a genius. I lament that I'm not in that category! It's a harsh fact when you realize one day that you're only average. I'm ashamed to admit that I grew up thinking that I was exceptionally talented, intellectually speaking. (There are reasons related to my background that I won't go into here.)

I admonish you: Don't give children too many accolades! Encourage them? Yes. Teach them organization skills? Yes. But don't flatter them. Put things in perspective. (Note to those who knew me when I was growing up: This isn't a reference to anyone in particular.)

As I said in a post a while back: I'm still waiting to find something in which I'm exceptionally talented.

Back to the subject at hand: Linear Algebra. Tougher than Algebra but thankfully not as tough as Calculus or Physics. Part of what I'm adjusting to with this class is the pace. Each week, assignments are due Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Sunday. Each assignment is relatively small, but the amount of study and thinking involved (sniff, sniff...is something burning?) to do a few math problems correctly is substantial.

Then there's the other problem: How do you enter math equations into a computer using a keyboard? There are several methods that people have come up with to solve this problem, such as point and click equation editors or substituting words or letters for special symbols, i.e.:

x(sub1) + -3x(sub2) = x ^ 2

But this is really cumbersome to read and standards vary. I didn't want to deal with that annoying distraction (not to mention the time wasted retyping stuff), so I just bought a new scanner today. (I left my old one in Richmond.) Now I just scan my notebook paper and it converts it to a PDF file. Done.

By the way, I highly recommend the Pentax DSmobile 600 scanner. So far it's worked great for me, and it's small and portable! Only scans single pages though (no books--you'll need a flatbed scanner for that). For me it suits my needs: receipts and notebook paper.

By the way, I've had two bad online shopping experiences lately. One with a used book seller on amazon.com (never got the book), and the other with half.com (never got the book). I got a refund from half.com; I'm waiting for the same from amazon. The problem was that I needed by textbook for my class quickly and as a result of those experiences I still didn't have it at the beginning of this week! Turns out bn.com (Barnes and Noble) has SAME DAY shipping in Manhattan. Sounds great, right? And it is, under the right circumstances. I ordered mine pretty late in the day though so it wasn't shipped out until the next day. The first delivery attempt missed me because I was either outside or failed to hear the doorbell because of this loud air conditioning unit that I installed in my window the other day.

Since there was no way for me to "pick up" the book after hours from the carrier (called LaserShip), I had to wait for the next delivery attempt the next day. This time I did thankfully hear the doorbell and voila, book is in hand! Worst case scenario would have been that they forwarded it via USPS, so all things considered it's not a bad deal. My only complaint was that they (LaserShip customer service) didn't respond to my email! Shame on them!

Switching gears....

You might be wondering about how I'm adjusting here. You know...do I like it here? Is it expensive? Stuff like that.

I feel it's too early to really have formed an opinion. I've been here less than a week and every time I go outside my senses are hyper alert. There's always something going on everywhere you look. People walking by, children playing, shouting, basketball, soccer, traffic, shops, streets, etc.

I notice how many people--especially in Midtown--walk with such a sense of urgency and purpose. Meanwhile I'm strolling along slowly just soaking it all in.

Regarding: Is it expensive? Ok, what I'm about to say might sound really dumb to people very familiar with New York City, but I'll say it anyway. The city center (midtown and lower Manhattan) is indeed very expensive, but other areas aren't too bad. Rent-wise, I'm only paying about 100 dollars more per month than I was in Richmond. (Part of that is because I got a good deal; the other part is that I'm far away from all the hip stuff!)

Case in point: A foot long Subway sandwich in my neighborhood costs $5. That's the same $5 you'll spend in Virginia. However, today I got a foot long at Quizno's in Midtown. (Yes, Quizno's is more expensive than Subway, but I've never paid more than 8 bucks for a sandwich there.) It came to almost 12 dollars and I didn't even get a drink! I had already walked out of TGIFriday's (at 34th and 8th avenue) after I noticed that a burger cost $15.99!

If you're curious about the rent, just go to Craigslist and browse for rooms there. You'll see that there aren't many rooms (if any!) in Midtown/Lower Manhattan that cost less than 1000 dollars per month. That's just for a bedroom people, not an apartment.

By contrast, there are many rooms available in Washington Heights (my area) that cost between 500 and 1000 dollars per month. Your mileage may vary.

By the way, my neighborhood is 90% Spanish speaking people. It's pretty amazing being a minority in your own country!

Ok, well that's enough writing for now. Best wishes to all of you and I hope you have a great 3 day weekend.

J. Hood Wright Park

Here's a better picture of the bridge, taken from the nearby park.

Sunset in my neighborhood

I live very close to the George Washington bridge.