Katrina
August 31, 2005 | Filed Under Uncategorized | 3 Comments
Wow! I can’t believe what I’m reading on ajc.com today. Hurricane Katrina may have been the largest natural disaster in this country since the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco. Thousands of people may be dead, and 10s of thousands are now stuck in a city that is calling for a mandatory evacuation. Over a million people are without electricity.
Georgia is experiencing a gas shortage, and prices have climbed above $3 a gallon. Of course, this isn’t the worst part of the storm. It’s almost hard to believe that we experienced all the devastation we did.
AJC: Gas getting even costlier; lines reported
We really need to be praying for the relief efforts in Mississippi and Louisiana.
NYT:
Bus Convoy to Move Thousands From Superdome to Astrodome
AJC: Mayor: Katrina May Have Killed Thousands
update – 9/1
New Orleans is in near anarchy. I can’t believe the looters! They had to stop the emergency evacuation from the Superdome yesterday because of gunfire.
NYT: Officials Struggle to Reverse a Growing Sense of Anarchy – this one has a graphic image associated with the article
from the article:
Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco of Louisiana said that the death toll from Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath would be in the “thousands,” based on reports that she was receiving from officials throughout the state, The Associated Press said.
watch what you say
August 29, 2005 | Filed Under nyc, rant, travel | 3 Comments
OK, I’ll admit it… I think there is something to be said for the concept of karma. Well, it’s more that I believe sometimes what you say will come back to you. It’s like the stories of people who find a genie in a bottle, make a wish, and then find that what they receive is more than they anticipated. (moral: Careful what you wish for…. yada yada)
This weekend while we were in Atlanta, I complained about the fact that I have to ride the elevator everyday. I didn’t just say it once… I think I said it to everyone I ran into. So, I get to work this morning, and guess what… the elevator’s busted, sucka! My options are walk up the stairs or walk down to 9th Avenue and take the elevators at the back of the building.
As self-punishment, I chose the stairs… I walk up the 7 floors to my office and find that, lo’ and behold, the door to my floor is locked. Locked! So, I walk back down 7 floors, down a block (a city block goes on forever)... did I mention it’s 85 and humid… and then I have to take the back elevators. That will teach me. No more complaining about the elevators.
scheduled maintenance
August 24, 2005 | Filed Under techie | Leave a Comment
NYCNortons.com will be down for maintenance this weekend. Look for it to be back up early next week.
When we return, I’ll post about Dad’s wedding (this Saturday) and our first trip back to Georgia.
bronx zoo
August 21, 2005 | Filed Under activities, nyc | Leave a Comment
Ashley and I went to the Bronx Zoo yesterday. It was a great day for a zoo visit because it was relatively cool out and overcast, so the animals were out and about. This tiger walked right up to the glass separating us from the tiger exhibit.
bronx zoo – tiger
Originally uploaded by dnorton.
The Bronx Zoo is wonderful. We spent hours at the zoo yesterday and probably only saw 1/3 to 1/2 of the zoo. It’s alright though… we bought a zoo membership so that we can go back whenever we want. The membership also includes admission to the Central Park Zoo, the Queens Zoo, the Prospect Park Zoo, and the New York Aquarium.
We also discovered the best way to travel in New York… the express bus! It’s a $5 ride from Madison Square Park (26th and Madison) to the Bronx Zoo on a posh tour bus. Honestly, it beats the subway, taxis, and regular buses.
Happy Birthday, Ashley!
August 18, 2005 | Filed Under birthday | Leave a Comment
Yes, this year, Ashley turned two five.
a quarter century. it’s great to be alive.One more time and she’ll be fifty.
Now, rent a car. Won’t that be nifty.
Let’s all give a shout out to Ashley on 25 wonderful years. Happy Birthday!
sanibel
August 17, 2005 | Filed Under travel | Leave a Comment
Hello, this is Ashley!
We had a great time at Sanibel this year! Mom, Dad and Tay left at 4am and beat me to the Fort Myers airport since my plane was delayed from JFK. This is the point of the post where I give Song Airlines a shout out! The TVs in every seat is awesome! The construction of the new causeway didn’t look great but we were all pleased there was vegetation left on the island after Charley. If you never saw the island without the Australian Pines you wouldn’t know anything had changed. You can now see the lighthouse at all times and biking on Periwinkle is HOT! Bailey’s and Joan’s Book Nook survived. The Sayana condo was wonderful and the waves were non-existent! It was a beautiful clear blue ocean. Let me know if you would like the link to all our pictures on Ofoto. The highlights include Mom’s and my 12-mile bike ride to Captiva and Tay and Dad swimming in a dark pool at 9:15pm because mom grabbed the bike key instead of the condo key. Ahh, memories. We did miss Daniel and have no alligator pictures because he couldn’t come. Next year expect to see pictures of Daniel and me riding Segways around the island! The last night there we started my birthday celebration with a homemade cake, balloons, sparkly flip-flops and a subscription to the Sanibel weekly paper. Hopefully my tan will last a while. 
After a week, I flew back home on Song and Daniel met me at the airport. His ride on the subway took over an hour to get to JFK! Anyway, it was a great trip and can’t wait until next year. If you want to see “our” beach, check out the following live beach cam: http://tweencam.tween-waters.com/twcam/twcam.html
It’s amazing how close I got to this egret!
second visitors
August 8, 2005 | Filed Under food, nyc, visits | 3 Comments
Ashley and I had dinner with the second set of Atlanta visitors last weekend… and by last weekend, I don’t mean the weekend that preceeded today. I mean the weekend that started Friday, July 29. I would mean the real last weekend if I wasn’t so lazy and had not waited over a week to say that we had dinner with friends from Atlanta.
Anyway, Lee and Melanie Blackburn were in town for a vacation. We had dinner at Lombardi’s, a great Neapolitan brick-oven pizza restaurant just north of Little Italy. It is our defacto restaurant to take out of towners (simply because we really like it and most people have not heard of it.) We also walked back to the apartment building to visit the roof. Again, it’s going to be a defacto standard for visitors because it’s so cool. And by so cool, I mean I’m not very creative and couldn’t think of any better way to describe going to the roof.
tourist tips courtesy of Conan O’Brien
August 5, 2005 | Filed Under humor, nyc | Leave a Comment
Before you come visit us, you might want to watch this clip from Conan O’Brien. He gives some helpful tourist tips. Just a warning, this is a clip from the Late Show, and if you think his humor is a bit off-putting, you might not want to view it.
To watch the video, you need to have Windows Media player. I don’t know why.
seriously??
August 3, 2005 | Filed Under Uncategorized, humor, nyc | Leave a Comment
A few weeks ago, Ashley dragged me up to Rockefeller Center for New York City’s olympic bid. The NYC organizing committee put on a show to entertain us before the presentation started, and I’m not lying… this guy actually got on stage with a rock band and hoola hooped. HOOLA HOOPED to a rock band!! Only in New York…
Would someone please point out this picture to Garrick O’Malley? I think he would truly appreciate the humor.
seriously??
Originally uploaded by dnorton.
who are you?
August 1, 2005 | Filed Under Uncategorized | 6 Comments
We hear people say they have visited and enjoy nycnortons. But we don’t always know who you are. So, we encourage you to leave comments on the site. It means a lot to us to hear from you, and we promise to reply every time you write.
– Ashley & Daniel—update: okay, so far only Taylor has left a comment. we would like to hear from the rest of you (Osbornes, Nortons, Leitchs, Jacksons, etc)
—update 8/5: Hi Grammy! Anybody else want a shout out?