New York, New York

I had a fun time over the weekend in New York visiting Nic and Heather. I went down there on Thursday to their place in Kew Gardens in Queens. It's a nice, leafy little neighborhood, if a bit outside the city.

On Thursday night I met Nic after work and we went to Heartland Brewery for dinner and then to McSorley's, a famous, old-timey bar. So old, in fact, that there are wishbones hanging from a chandelier that were put there by soldiers heading ... to World War II. I'm not kidding. Soldiers would put them on the chandelier when they left and take them off when they got back. The ones that are still there have quite a bit of dust on them. It's unsanitary, if moving.

Friday I got up late, then visited Liberty Island and Ellis Island for the first time. On my way home, I walked by the World Trade Center site. It was good to see some construction being done, some ten years later. After that, a movie.

Saturday we went to a dumpling festival. Seriously. Not my idea. Afterwards, we went to Katze's Deli for a potato knish. That was two eating strikes. The evening was better. We went to New York's largest (only?) beer garden in Astoria where Nic and Heather used to live. The Bohemian Hall! Way too much fun there, which led to a very, very slow Sunday. Patriot's won! Giant's lost.

And that was my weekend in New York. The best part?

Twitter

I totally get Twitter now. For the longest time the whole concept eluded me. Maybe there were too many jokes about not wanting to know what people were doing every minute of the day. But that totally misses the point.

The point isn't to follow one person and listen to what they have to say about everything. The point is to follow hundreds of interesting celebrities, politicians, business leaders, nonprofits, businesses, and rock stars and listen to whatever they're thinking about. It's like an avalanche. It's constantly refreshing. I'm following 87 people on Twitter and there are updates every minute. For some reason 13 people are following me (I still haven't figured that one out yet).

Anyway, I suggest you go to Twitter, start an account, and start typing in the names of people and things you find interesting. Then just check in once and a while. It's entertaining at the very least.

But don't sign up to Steve Martin's account. He hasn't really gotten the hang of it yet.

Stewart / Colbert Rally

I'm excited. In response to the cries of the internet and Glenn Beck's "Restoring Honor" rally, Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart are going to hold dueling rallies on October 30th on the National Mall. That they're dueling is pretty clearly a gimmick. But the rally is very real. And I'm going, and I'm bringing my friends with me. If ever there was a rally meant for me, this is it.

And what did it take to bring this about? Following Beck's rally there was a groundswell of support for a mocking, comedic rally in reaction. People were calling it a rally "Restore Truthiness." Then, a group of Redditors (the name for people who frequest the Reddit website) decided to up the ante. And up the ante they did. Figuring the best way to prompt Colbert was donating to his favorite charity they set about their work. In the end, they raised more than $250,000 for Colbert's favorite charity: DonorsChoose, a site that funds individual teachers and projects at schools around the country.

And that's all it took. Who knew? The cost of a satirical rally is $250,000.

See you on October 30th.