Glad I took the opportunity to wander around Manhattan yesterday before the rain came. After the MP3 Experiment wrapped up, I bid farewell to runstaverun, kikibird, and windexcowboy at the tragic fire, wandered back through Battery Park City, and wandered around for a while. Chatted with periol from TriBeCa through the Village, the Meatpacking District, and up into Chelsea. Attempted to give cessna182 tech support from Union Square, and chatted with maidoftheshore from Madison Square Park, walking around the line for the Shake Shack. I continued to wander and explore until after the sun had set, just enjoying the weather. I was in the mood to go on a hike, but didn't want to have to deal with parking, so the city had to do. It worked out nicely. Far too much of this summer was spent inside or rushing somewhere, it was nice to just stretch my legs for a while with no particular destination, even if I spent the time pestering the outside world or having it knock on my door.

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My local Rita's Ice offers delivery. Through an online delivery service. That's right, you can have a Misto Shake delivered to your apartment without having to talk to a soul. This is not the future I signed up for. Despite the fun gatherings co-ordinated online, they're far from Bruce Sterling's "Maneki Neko," but what did you expect? Instead of Neal Stephenson's Metaverse we've got the over-hyped Second Life (aka "Sadville"), a ghost town populated by the reporters assigned to write about it and people creating waves of flying dongs. Though I am delighted that instead of Chinese military-grade icebreakers diving into the core of a megacorp's AI we shut down pools.

Current Location: Hoboken, NJ
Feeling: rejuvenated
Listening to: Bourdain