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I realize that this blog is basically becoming “Nathan’s Pic of the Day” (if day = week, that is). That’s mostly because if I wrote about my day-to-day life, no one would want to read this blog, and I’d come across as a whining baby, desperate for sympathy. So instead I give you my photos.

Oh well. At least I post more frequently than than my brother posts on his supposed photo blog, Jason’s Photo Blog. That comment probably wasn’t necessary. But somehow I’m still not hitting the backspace key.

Here’s a photo I took while we were out in LA over Christmas. While waiting to meet a photographer, I saw this cool view out the window of the Hollywood Hills and the buildings around us.

(Note: this picture is supposed to prove that I can be “cool” and “arty” with my photos. Notice the security sticker and window frame, making it obvious that this was shot through glass. More importantly, the roof of the building in the middle distance is key. How artistic must one be to sense the deep meaning of a desolate rooftop adorned with stark HVAC pipes? Pretty freaking artistic, it says here.)

As mentioned earlier, I spent most of last week at the printers. Literally. Anyway, every day I would walk from 53rd and Lex to 53rd and Madison, which takes you through a great collection of modernist skyscrapers (the Seagram Building, the Citigroup Center, the Lipstick Building, the Chippendale Building, and so many others). On the corner of 53rd and Park is the Lever House, which is notable particularly because it was one of the first buildings to use a large plaza to avoid set-backs imposed by zoning requirements (in the case of the Lever House, it is an elevated plaza).

So as I was walking by, I liked the view, especially with the reflections from the surrounding buildings.

I tried to get to work early this morning (meaning prior to my typical 10:15 arrival time) but I just couldn’t drag myself out of the house. My motivation level seems to be at an all-time low, which is really saying something. So now it’s 11:00 am and I have two key achievements for this morning:

1.) I went to the cafeteria and got two slices of seven-grain toast (plain) and an apple. Both were delicious, although I bit into the apple and it sprayed all over my desk and my sweater.

2.) I figured out how to change the desktop image on my BlackBerry (yes, I realize that after having it for six months, I am a little slow). But I finally got sick of the clouds floating behind my icons and uploaded one of my Disney Hall pictures and set it as the background. This makes me happy and satisified.

Now, however, I have an indenture to draft. Suffice to say that this makes me neither happy nor satisified.

Hi everyone. My name is Nathan, and I write a blog. What, you mean you didn’t remember me? In two short weeks, you forgot all about my little blogging experiment? Frankly, I’m a little hurt.

Then again, even my blogging co-conspirator has been absent since a triumphant super bowl screed three weeks ago, so perhaps I have more pressing problems than the lack of reader attention.

Whatever the case, I finally have a free minute to post again. I have to say I feel dead today. I’m coming off a stretch where I billed 130 hours in eight days. Once you subtract out 24 hours for hours for sabbath, the means I worked 77.3% of the available hours, leaving me with a whopping 5.5 hours each day to do things besides work. when you think about it, that should really be more than enough time, right?

Anyway, I skipped work yesterday (I got home around 5:30a) and slept most of the day. I felt ok yesterday, but today I just feel terrible. I can’t focus on anything. I didn’t even want to get out of bed this morning.

So that’s what’s up with me. I’ve probably bored you enough with the details of my sleep schedule, so I won’t even bother explaining what was so urgent at work that it required 20-hour days.

Although it is now the 16th of February, Valentine’s Day is still close in the rearview mirror. To celebrate, Jannine and made the trek through snow and ice (Wednesday morning brought our first major snow storm of the year, complete with freezing rain, high winds and heavy accumulation) to our new favorite restaurant, Alias.

When I hear “Alias,” I think of Jennifer Garner flying around the world, taking down the bad guys with prejudice. So the name of the restaurant has it off to a good start in my mind. Alias had a great value for a Valentine’s Day five-course pre fixe menu, which is something of a rarity in New York, a city where it seems to be a sport of restaurants to see how much they can jack up their prices for special holiday meals. The food, as expected, was outstanding. Alias specializes in using fresh market ingredients for their food. The combinations are creative, and the dishes are generally seasoned so that the individual tastes of the components can stand out. The highlight was probably a baked acorn squash with wild rice, wild mushrooms, leeks and thin slices of cheese (I want to say it was pecorino, but I don’t really remember).

The one negative of the dinner was the atmosphere. The restaurant wasn’t particularly busy, and the heater didn’t seem able to keep up with the cold winds outside. So we felt too exposed as our extremities slowly froze. Also, Alias didn’t seem prepared to serve a multi-course meal successfully, and kept us waiting for far too long between courses. However, given the quality of the food and the great price, it still comes out as an extremely good value.

As we were walking through the Lower East Side to the restaurant, we passed Clinton Street Baking Company, our favorite brunch place. In celebration of the holiday, they had made a beautiful light display on their front fence.

More as a note to self than anything, but also as a heads-up to the culinary-inclined NYC readers:

Was chatting with the first-year associate who’s working across from me on my current deal tonight. We always have good convo about random subjects when we call each other to ask questions, get information, etc. Anyway, tonight the talk turned to restaurants and he recommended what is regarded as one of the top Thai restaurants in NYC.

It’s called Sripraphai, and is located in Woodside, Qns. Apparently, it is only about a block from the 7, so it is pretty accessible.

When I have more time, I definitely want to check it out, so I decided to add this post so I won’t forget the name. From what I’ve seen online, you should check it out too.

Around New Years, Gary, Erica, Kevin, and David all came out to NYC for the weekend. We were wandering through the East Village and the Lower East Side when we saw this dog sitting in a chair at the salon. (I think it was one of the ones on Ave. A around St. Marks, but I don’t remember exactly, since it was like six weeks ago.) So we stopped to snap some pictures (me + four tourists = a lot of cameras suddenly going off). Unfortunately, the picture came out a little bit blurry, due to the hurried nature of the situation and the twilight conditions. This is why I wish I had an SLR with a 1.4 prime that would allow me to effectively shoot hand-held in low light. Anyway, it’s still a pretty cute dog (but you have to think he knows how cute he is.

AMNewYork reports a new study has found that New York City buses run late (an average of 5 minutes, 15 seconds behind the posted schedule).

This study was done by the New York City Transit Riders Council. I sincerely hope they didn’t spend too much money on it, because they could have just gotten on any bus and asked the riders if the buses run late and gotten the same answer.

The one semi-valuable conclusion of the study is that delays are caused by traffic and other conditions outside the control of the MTA. It’s valuable, because at least we know why there are delays. On the other hand, we basically have a study that tells us what we already knew (buses are late) and that there’s nothing that can be done to solve the problem. Thank you NYCTRC!

A couple weeks ago (could be longer — I don’t have a particularly good sense of time anymore), my sister Rachel came into NYC for a quick trip. It was actually part of a much longer trip, as she had been in Arizona and Colorado and Connecticut and was headed back home to Maryland via LaGuardia.

Since she was getting to the airport early, Jannine and I got a Zipcar (a mini!) and drove out there to meet her. We took her to Chinatown in Queens and had a very yummy lunch at a vegetarian Chinese restaurant. Rachel even came bearing Christmas gifts from my family.

Here are some pics.

Today, I met my friend Josh for lunch. Josh, who attends Advent Hope with me, is a corporate finance lawyer who works a few blocks away from me in the Financial District. We went to Cafe Doppio, a nice little soup/sandwich/salad place on Broad and Beaver. I recommend it if you’re in the area for lunch. The food as good and the prices are reasonable for the area. And it’s certainly better than the Hale and Hearty Soups next door.

Anyway, we’re sitting there eating our food, and in walks Tom, another guy who goes to church with us. He comes up to me and says, “Hey Nathan, what are you doing here? Do you work around here?” I said yes and we exchanged our pleasantries.

Josh is trying to catch his eye and give him the whole “hey, I know you too” look. Tom looks at him, sticks out his hand, and says “Hi, I’m Tom. Nice to meet you.”

Josh paused, then said, “Hi, I’m Josh.”

Then there was an awkward silence, and Tom turned to get in line to order his lunch. No, that wasn’t uncomfortable at all.

At least not as uncomfortable as it will be when Tom sees Josh at church.