After The Latest Snow Storm... (Winter Storm 1/27/11)

It feels like I have posted more updates on the recent snow storms that have hit NYC, and the north east. So, here we go again!

This latest round was actually a two-parter because it rolled in one after the other, and in only a matter of hours. That was the surprising part. It was early Wednesday morning where the first system arrived and gave us about six to eight inches of snow. By noon, that storm had stopped, and late that evening the second system arrived.

I went to bed thinking that it wouldn't be so bad in the morning. Boy, was I wrong!!

When I awoke the next morning, I found a thick layer of snow already on the ground. It was thicker than what the previous storm had left behind, and the snow was still coming down in a thick, heavy downpour. From what I heard, the snow had come down in heavy waves during the early morning hours. It finally stopped around 11am.

Let me tell you, it left quite a mess!! Photos below!!

The amount of snow was quite impressive and nice to look at, but a pain to deal with. And, get this, I hear there's more snow next week!! Damn! Shoveling snow is really no fun :(

When will it end? This as been a rough winter, and I feel that the worst is yet to come.

Well, rest assured that I will document it here, Ha!

Until next time!

More Snow and other news!

Hey, Y'all,

It's Wednesday, and the snow has ceased for the moment, but there's another storm approaching right after.

It just doesn't stop!

I read that this new storm is supposed to dump an additional 6-8 inches of snow... GREAT!! (Sarcastic)

In other news, I recently sent out my 1st packet, of the new semester, which contains a partial first draft of my third semester project. I'm happy with it, but my thoughts are still mixed with the usual doubts, should I include this or cut that out of it?

I'll get into details of my project in another post, if I want to disclose it here :)

I have all semester to iron out the details of what I'll include in the paper, and like fiction writing itself, I'll keep making revisions!

I'm home, and watching Predator on AMC. If you live in NYC or the north east, I hope you're surviving the snow!

Until next post

Hey Guys!

Hey, all,

I know it's been a while since my last post. I apologize. The residency up here in Maine has been quite interesting and busy, to say the least.

This post will be brief as I will break up my experience here into sections.

Let me begin with my initial bus ride from NYC to Boston. My goodness! It usually takes about four hours to reach Boston, but because of the weather that fateful Friday (1/7) it took a whopping nine hours!!!

It became the longest ride I ever took anywhere. I mean, I've sat in on a plane for 7 1/2 hours before, but this was longer. I guess it is preparation for the trip to Japan, when ever that happens.

I sat there and endured the trip. There was nothing else I could!

By the time I reached Boston, it was a little after nine in the evening. As soon as I got there I bought my ticket to catch the next bus out of Boston to Portland, Maine. About twenty minutes later, I sat in another bus and was on the road again. Luckily this took only two hours.

With good timing, someone came to pick me up at the bus station, and drove me to the hotel. So, all things considered, my trip to Maine turned quite eventful!

More posts coming soon!

Below is a short clip I took while my bus crawled through Connecticut.

Packed and Ready for Maine!

Just a quick post!

I'm heading for Maine in the morning to attend my writer's retreat at Stonecoast. It's hard to believe that my third semester begins here, and then after a year more it will be all over. It's going so fast!

As you can guess, I'm all packed and ready to go. Hopefully my bus ride will not encounter difficulties leaving NYC as I know there is another snow storm heading our way.

I'll take pictures and video of my trip and through out the residency so keep an eye out for it!

Just thought I'd put a picture of what my suitcase looks like. It's not too bad, but it's filled to the max!

Talk later!

PS3 Status and Japan Society

Hello, all!

Happy New Year 2011!! I hope everyone had a great Christmas and are enjoying or at least planning a fantastic agenda for the new year.

Anyway, a few things I wanted to bring you up-to-date on.

Yesterday I had a pretty fulfilling day. A friend and I went to the Japan Society in lower Manhattan and registered ourselves for their spring semester Japanese course. We even signed up to become members, so we could enjoy the discounts to all their events and classes.

I had been planning to enroll at the Japan Society for some time, but never really committed to it or I didn't have the money for it. So, it was a big deal for me once I finally went there and enrolled. I'm excited to say the least! One thing is for sure; my hands are gong to be quite full during the next five months. My schedule and live will be divided between my part-time job, teaching martial arts, grad school and now Japanese classes.

My plate is pretty full!

On the good side, I have a year left of grad school before I'm finished with my MFA! This semester I will handle the infamous third semester project. I have a couple ideas of what I want to do, but I'm still a little nervous about it. I sure that during the residency I'll get a chance to speak to several potential mentors and get a better idea of what I will work on.

Also, my martial arts teaching schedule is going to shift a bit, and that will allow for flexibility. Yeah, I'll find my middle ground to balance the work load that will hit me during the next few months.

On another note, I finally put my PS3 back into working order. A few posts before I had mentioned several hiccups that I ran into during my PS3 upgrade project. Luckily, all those bumps are past me and I completed the upgrade flawlessly.

Out with the old! I backed up the hard drive to my portable storage device before removing the old 60 gig HDD.

I never was able to remove the tray, so I bought an extra tray. Funny, out with the old, entirely!

Originally, I was going to replace the 60 gig with a 320 gig. In the end, I settled for a 500 gig.

Afterward, I uploaded the backed up data onto the new hard drive. I was surprised when I realized that everything was transferred over. The entire process took about two and a half hours. An hour to back up the data, and another hour to upload it again, with twenty minutes in-between to swap the HDD.

I spent several hours afterward downloading game updates, synchronizing my trophies and installing games on the new hard drive.

Like I said, a pretty eventful day!

Well, that's it for this post. Until next post!!

Happy New Year 2011!!

Well, another year has left us, and in its place a new year begins! I have a lot of hopes and desires that I want to accomplish, and I hope I can meet those challenges.

With hard work and commitment I know that I will accomplish those goals.

I wish the best for all of you out there who venture and read my blog entrees. Aim high in everything that you do, and don't settle for less.

Happy New Year from me to you!!

Feliz Año Nuevo!!!

明けましておめでとうございます!!! (I'm going to start learning Japanese too!)


Until Next Time!

NYC Snow Storm 2010 (Video Added)

Hey all,

As most of you out there probably already know the northeast was hit by a very moderate snow storm system. I sure many of you out there dealt with this little bad boy, and have stories to tell.

Since you are here reading my blog I thought I'd post up some pictures I took. These pictures are from Monday, the day after the storm hit us here in NYC.

I truly believe that this storm caught many people by surprise. I myself didn't expect the storm to be so severe, but the 50mph winds made the whole situation worse. Yesterday (Sunday), the sky was gray and dark, the snow came down in steady streams, and the wind blew that steady stream horizontally that it created a screen of white dust that obscured visibility.

Oddly enough, the sky was clear and blue today. However, the wind continued to persist. In addition, mass transit was crippled through the city with major subway and bus lines suspended or delayed by hours. It was horrible to say the least. The news reported even greater stories of unpleasantness. There were people who were unfortunate enough to be trapped in trains for hours, or were caught and stranded on the highways.

I can't imagine what that must feels like. I hope all those people were okay and managed to get to where they were going safely. All three airports had canceled service, but the last time I saw the news they were scheduled to resume at about 6pm.

Who knows how that is going at this point. It is a little after 6pm right now as I write this blog post.

In retrospect, today wasn't that bad. The sun was out and it was quite pleasant outside. Until, the wind blew and sent a deep chill through your body. Of course, digging a car out was not much fun either.

The only down side is that all this snow will stick around for a few weeks. It just becomes a nuisance, and it just further makes me appreciate rain during situations like this.

Anyway, hope everyone is staying warm and dealing with this weather safely.

Until next post!

****

Hey, I added a link to a video I took after the storm below. Check it out! There's another on my Youtube page.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhY1owwfsVc