The A-Team in NYC ...

[lurch70]

before i even read the last sentence, I realized that you liked the TX-CA part better than NYC ...
if you come from a chilled out place, NYC can definetelly stress you out in a jiffy. I noticed that for the 2 days thru TX to CA ... you didn't drink.

i am not really surprised that everyone is pretty much nuts here. the chaotic way off life can definetelly take a toll on you ...

 

[J.]

Texas is great.

Well.....duuuuuuuhhhhh. Most laid back and chillin' people in the US.

 

[NAD]

It's pretty amazing how fast NYC is, and how really bad the traffic is. Los Angeles traffic is like nothing compared to NYC, there is no way I could drive back there. And if I did, I'd have to have something like a MINI so I could dart through traffic.

I figured I was prepared for the real big city, since I've lived within an hour of Los Angeles almost my entire life and go there several times a year, but it's just an entirely different world in NYC. It's much much nicer than LA, just much much faster.

 

[lurch70]

NYC traffic is not bad at all actually. There is chaos and a lot of cars so it seems bad, but traffic (outside of rush hour) is not bad at all.

Speaking of MINI, we are having another run this Sunday, 24 cars at sunrise ... all around Manhattan ... the streets are literally dead at that hour and it will be like our big private playground

 

[J.]

even the measly 3-4 days I was in NY surprised. Everyone is in such a damn rush, no one just takes their time to relax. I'd like to visit there again, but there ain't no way I could live there. I'm much too chill for that place. The Plaza was nice, though. And so was the Broadway show we saw.

Yeah, I thought I was gonna die every time I got in a cab. They don't believe in lanes in NY. Texans may drive like it's the Daytona 500, but at least we observe lanes. Those sand-my pals drivers were freakin' scary.

 

[NAD]

My concern with the traffic (and it was only in the busiest of areas) is that there's a total disregard for traffic laws. I mean yes we have the "California Stop" out here (rolling through stop signs and right turns on red), but I saw so many people just making up lanes and doing stuff that would've killed the uninitiated. My hypothesis was right concerning driver skill though, many more risks in NYC but with enough skill to avoid wrecks.

You need to take pictures of those MINI runs.

 

[lurch70]

Those sand-my pals drivers were freakin' scary.

hahaha ... that is true. Imagine doing what they do for 12-14 hour stretches a day.
Yellow cabs in NYC never sit idle. They are literally on the road 24 hours. As soon as one driver goes home another one gets the car.
The "medallion" (a badge that is on the hood of each yelloy) is said to be worth in the six figure range.

You guys should have hung out in the outer boroughs a bit, Brooklyn, Queens.
They are like night and day compared to Manhattan and really cool. I tried to get Nad there on Saturday night ... but we just did not have enough time.

I could not live in Manhattan either ... i go when i need to or to hang out once in a while ... but live there ... no way.

 

[lurch70]

You need to take pictures of those MINI runs.

i have tons of them ... hehe

here are some from a run we did up to Orange County Choppers a few Saturdays ago.
http://www.netcontactonline.com/temp/occ/

 

[JayKeeley]

A couple of things to add to NAD's cool story:

- On Friday night, at 4am we went to a diner for breakfast as NAD pointed out. Thing is, he forgot to mention that there were two (near) brawls in there. One push/shove match was between a couple of drunks, and the other one was between the waiter and his boss!! We think the latter was fake though. Good acting either way.

- NAD also forgot to mention we went to CBGB's. Well, we went in, saw the cover charge, and headed off to the next pub.

- On Sunday, I met up with NAD at his uptown hotel and we took the subway around Manhattan (to Times Square and then to Union Square). You can't come to Manhattan and not put your life on the line on the subway, hehehe. It was weird at Times Square because it was just jampacked with tourists and natives (including one guy dressed like Spiderman and charging $5 for a photograph!), and then we went into Manny's music store to check out some geetars and the place was just as silent as a mouse. Outside hussle bussle, inside soft acoustic guitars and a room full of bass guitars with not a soul insight. Very surreal.

- We also ate at Tabla. It's one of the best restaurants in Manhattan. NAD only forgot this because I picked up the tab. Dirty jew.

- Further discussion took place about Cradle of Filth's bass player, and how to get some riffs over to NAD electronically so he can add me a bassline.

- I stayed at the Metropolitan Hotel in midtown and it was grrreat! I got lucky through hotels.com.

- Get NAD and Lurch drinking some, and I think they can come up with some money making ideas. Certainly there was talk about making it rich through real estate in India, heh.

Next trip: San Fran, seeing Slough Feg and the Hammers co-headline a pub filled with 20 people. Leave with tattoo of some kind.

 

[NAD]

- We also ate at Tabla. It's one of the best restaurants in Manhattan. NAD only forgot this because I picked up the tab. Dirty jew.

Haha, oh yeah! I can still taste that food too! If we're meeting in San Fran we're going to the Pier 39 Crabhouse, best seafood I've ever had. Crablegs the size of your arm!

- Get NAD and Lurch drinking some, and I think they can come up with some money making ideas. Certainly there was talk about making it rich through real estate in India, heh.

I remember the Indian real estate but don't remember adding anything to the conversation. Do I go investment planner when drunk?

 

[NAD]

*drooooooooooooool* Man I haven't gone on any twisties in about a month. Last time was out in Joshua Tree, averaging around 75mph through the turns and then hitting 125mph on the long straight away out of the park. Around 130mph my car loses stability but I hit 143mph the first week I had it. :zombie:

 

[lurch70]

Certainly there was talk about making it rich through real estate in India, heh.

there is good investment opportunities in India, but my only problem is that India relies on outside countries too much. If a Dell or IBM pulls out of there, from a certain city, there is nothing there that can replace it. Hate to say it, but India's economy is far from self sufficicent. And with Kerry "possibly" coming into office and very against outsourcing ... I would watch that part of the workd very carefully.

I got lucky through hotels.com.

how was she?

*drooooooooooooool* Man I haven't gone on any twisties in about a month. Last time was out in Joshua Tree, averaging around 75mph through the turns and then hitting 125mph on the long straight away out of the park. Around 130mph my car loses stability but I hit 143mph the first week I had it. :zombie:

my car grips like a bastard, i just can't get past 120 as I only have 115 horses. I was flooring it most of the time and praying for downhills
I do wish to take a WRX on a similar 'scape.

 

[NAD]

You and Ali should drive to SF! Either that or I'll drive back there my next trip. I'll probably take you on acceleration but I doubt I can outhandle on the twisties. Unless I get my COBB sway bars, Prodrive springs, and thinner rubber first, then I might have a chance.

I wouldn't be surprised if Kerry got telecommunications to pull out of India, but then again that would probably just slip underneath his anti-outsourcing radar... accidentally of course.

 

[neal]

yeh come up to SF, its only bout an hour away...course, you probaly wouldnt invite me to hang out...sigh. oh well, at least i mad NADs sig haha.

 

[NAD]

You can hang if you bring the Steel Reserve.

 

[JayKeeley]

yeh come up to SF, its only bout an hour away...course, you probaly wouldnt invite me to hang out...sigh. oh well, at least i mad NADs sig haha.

First of all, I'm a limey at heart. Driving more than 2 hours is like going to a different country for me, so when I come to SF from NY, I'm flying it boyee.

Secondly, yes we would invite you to hang out. And if the Hammers are playing, we shall convert you into the Snake Cult of the August Engine.

 

[neal]

You can hang if you bring the Steel Reserve.

oh ill bring the steel, but the question is can you hang? 211 crew up in this biotch.

 

[neal]

First of all, I'm a limey at heart. Driving more than 2 hours is like going to a different country for me, so when I come to SF from NY, I'm flying it boyee.

Secondly, yes we would invite you to hang out. And if the Hammers are playing, we shall convert you into the Snake Cult of the August Engine.

well, ive tried to listen to the bastard a few times and usually make it to about track 3 before i put on something else...but ill listen to the whole thing right now....heh its kinda cheesy.

 

[NAD]

oh ill bring the steel, but the question is can you hang? 211 crew up in this biotch.

I've been drinking Keystone and Milwaukee's Beast in my beer pong league for several weeks now, I think I'll be up for it.

Also don't give up on the Bastard, it took me awhile to get into. Have you heard The August Engine yet? I liked that one immediately, and much prefer it to El Bastardo.

 

[JayKeeley]

Yeah, The Bastard concept is complete cheese. It's about an ax made in hell, a father abandoning his son, a dragon, a forest, a village full of idiots, etc, etc. If you read between the lines, it's actually just making fun of itself and that's what makes it so ingenius in a monty python 'ish kind of way. Bands like HoM and The Lord Weird Slough Feg (I mean, come on, what a band name!) tend to enjoy life through wit.