i go to new york

Ugh, sorry I missed this! Just didn't have the energy to go back out after getting caught in the rain on my ride home.

sorry to have bailed so early! sounds like caek had fun

it was nice to see everyone, and to meet some folks for the first time.
let's drink again.

especially max, because you live near me. there is a good wing night on mondays at brooklyn tap house, a ridiculous sports bar.

That was fun! Let's have mystery late-night Chinese food at least once a month, okay? Of course by the time dayo gets back from 6 weeks in HK he'll be like, bring me all the tacos in the land.

i fell asleep on the subway and work up at 145 st. what an adventure!

So towards the end when you went all quiet and frowny you weren't actually mad, just really drunk? I had too much tea w dinner and then couldn't sleep until 5am.

Ian!!! Wings and beer. Let's do it

no late-night food ever

wau sounds like you guys had a party!
tell me more about mystery chinese. i am imagining a drunken group of ilxors staggering around chinatown.

Your powers of imagination are noteworthy, the only missing element being that one of the ilxors spoke Mandarin and made it all happen for us.

I can't bleeve you made it to Chinatown after all them drinks.

I was p much out on my feet when I left before midnight, but popped into a Siegfried & Roy-themed bar night on 14th St. It was cool cuz a couple friends were there, but after one beer I fled.

max, i would be down for wings on the early happy hour side tomorrow if you are into it. eveningtime i going to see some ladies play rekkerds in manhattan.

Oh yeah I can't go to that btw. Something got moved to Monday that was supposed to be last week. Rats.

So towards the end when you went all quiet and frowny you weren't actually mad, just really drunk?

ha, you know me too well! i fell asleep literally the second i sat down (on the wrong train, as it happens).

i had a great time! let's do stuff again! i'm free mondays - sundays until 2016.

fuck, i want to go to new york

oh shit, i have pictures. ha, this is one that comes closest to having recognizable faces in it! was there another camera around?

http://i7.minus.com/ihsQUQXAvX3Xt.jpg

can anyone recommend any dark, not too noisy book-friendly coffee places or bars on the uws? the immediate columbia area seems like slim pickings.

here's a pic https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/9627011/pphotos/IMG_1042.jpg

it's nice how everyone else in the restaurant is looking at the camera too

thaurel birch

lol, that pic rules

was there another camera around?

feel like max and/or laurel got a photo when we had the largest group? I remember urging it but not having my phone out

I got one, but my photostream is refusing to upload it or something. Can I poke at it tomorrow?

Yeah, immediate Columbia area is not great for coffee spots. People rave about Hungarian Pastry Shop (Amsterdam and 111th? 112th?) but I think the service is lousy, also the lighting is deliberately bad and there is no wi-fi which is probably smart business. Amirita (110th just west of Frederick Douglass) is okayyy, not great. I used to hit up Zanny's (108th and Columbus) a lot just because I lived upstairs, it has really limited seating but a decent vibe and the staff are super friendly. Also over there, at 108th and the park, is a great basement Turkish diner, it's paper plate style but cheap and easy. My favorite diner diner up there is the Broadway Restaurant (Broadway & 102nd), solid prices and portions of your classic greasy spoon fare. Tom's is overpriced and coasting hard on the Seinfeld angle. I don't know Harlem as well but I think the part near Columbia, along Frederick Douglass between 110th and 125th, is increasingly riddled with coffee shops, upscale bars, etc.

oof! thanks!

hungarian is the ultimate grad studenty café, the service is fine, how can it be bad they just bring you some pastry

I did not add that accent aigu for the record my computer did that

On more than one occasion I've sat down an hour before closing time, paid for my drink and a snack and opened up a book to nestle in for a while, and then had staff come around to tell me they're closing in fifteen minutes. Well, if I'd known that I would have stayed home instead of going for a change of scenery to freshen up my reading!

I also think certain things are wayyyy overpriced. Don't get me wrong, place is fine and I love me some pastry but I can't wholeheartedly recommend it.

anyplace w/ unlimited coffee refills is automatically A+

the no wifi thing sux but is really the only reason there are every any seats ever

Oh, no, I totally understand the no-wi-fi thing, just think it's something someone should know before heading over there! They might as well just put up a NO ILX banner.

does anyone have a GP on the UWS (or anywhere in manhattan for that matter) they recommend?

http://www.yafferuden.com/

if you like americas wireless networks youll LOVE americas health care system

i am stoked!

oh wait, you mean like a walk in? you're probably gonna have to do a clinic or something unless you have american health insurance of some sort and even then I dunno how you would just walk up to a doctor's office.
we are insane btw

i mean i have what seem like some reasonable options for the insurance via columbia. and i figure if i'm getting the more expensive ones then i may as well get lots of fun tests done, since i haven't been to the doctor much ever in my life. but it seems like different plans give me access to different lists of gps, so choosing the plan involves choosing the gp too.

dr casino, which plan did you pick? i can't find anyone round here who didn't pick one of the two 100% options. the $11/month high deductible option is not available to me because of my visa : (

i am not ill now (although a (large, possibly bed?) bug flew into my EAR on amsterdam ave. on monday night and i had to go home and get in the shower and pull it out with tweezers and it really hurt!)

okay fuck that is horrifying

Uuuuugh re: bug story. We get the comprehensive plan as part of our program deal, I've just gone to Columbia health on campus for checkup type stuff. The way US insurance works is you have to go to an in-network doctor, and if you need to see a specialist, you have to get a referral to them from the in-network primary care provider. So that can be annoying but it's good insurance IMO - I had hernia surgery earlier this year and I think it ended up costing me... $32? I might be forgetting some other related bill in the $40 range or something but it's pretty good. Wish it had more in the way of vision/dental though.

"the" comprehensive plan? im being offered aetna, cigna and united, each in 80%, 90 and 100? did you get united 100?

That bug story makes my spine creep up into my brainstem and hide there.

Hmmm - maybe as a postdoc you have different options on the table? Normally for students there's the "Basic" and the "Comprehensive" plan choices, both Aetna AFAIK. http://health.columbia.edu/insurance/enroll-upgrade-waive

ah ok, i thought you were faculty!

laurel if it's any consolation the insect didn't seem to enjoy it much either.

I go to New York on Friday - anything fun happening next weekend?

Probably not, we're pretty boring.

JK um well the block I live on is having their annual biggest-event-of-the-year block party on Saturday, so I'll be at that.

http://www.cityparksfoundation.org/calendar/war-dj-set-by-dj-afro/

Coincidentally by being in NY I'm going to miss my own local block party, or "summer fete" in Britisher parlance. No bingo extravaganza for me this year :(

Also thinking about going to see Fanfare Ciocarlia in Central Park on Sunday.

going to see Dr Zhivago on Sat nite

flea market at oldschool noize dude bar 'daddy's' in brooklyn; i will be selling records. some other folks are selling tie dye shirts, tchotchkes, granola... that is daytime

am I going to melt y/n