we started our day by going to two of erin’s classes at the eqinox gym.  it was very, very challenging.  after that bev and i strolled over to central park and sat around watching the people.  not as many people this time of year, but still, a good crowd.

…back at home, lester was busy watching the water.

i don’t know why i didn’t take a video of this great scene.  this scottie dog and old man were walking by this fellow playing some sort of homemade-looking japanese insrument.  the scottie stopped to listen, and after a while the old guy tried to get him to keep walking, but the scottie would have none of it.  he just wanted to stay there forever and listen.

the woman sitting next to us, a new yorker, said the japanese man was in the park every day, and her own dog also loved to listen.

when we got down the to bottom of the park there was this art instillation on 57th street.  i read the info plaque about it – some artist created these pieces out of concrete that were reproductions of the furniture in some mansion somewhere nearby; it was a juxtaposition of the classes, the concrete and the fancy-ness.

when we walked by this place a couple of days later, a homeless man was lounging right where i’d been.  as much as a person can lounge on concrete.

we met erin, her fiancee justin, and her roomate joe at the empire state building.  joe works at the LinkedIn office there, and he was going to give us a VIP tour.

wow, i just read all of this online about the empire state building – all i knew for sure was that it was where buddy the elf’s dad worked in the holiday classic “elf.”

The Empire State Building has been named by the American Society of Civil Engineers as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World. The building and its street floor interior are designated landmarks of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, and confirmed by the New York City Board of Estimate. It was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1986. In 2007, it was ranked number one on the List of America’s Favorite Architecture according to the AIA.

the linkendin offices are on three or four floors of the building, and we had to sign some agreement before going in saying that we wouldn’t steal their ideas or anything like that.  but luckily there are already plenty of photos online of the place, so they probably won’t be knocking on my door to arrest me for posting these.

here’s a vending machine for employees, full of stuff like earbuds and keyboards.

one of the many, many lounges and places to hang out.  this has a gas fireplace.

plenty of stellar views.  here’s a bar across the way, which joe said is a very cool place.

we came to this little room filled with old-fashioned wall phones.  joe punched something into his phone, and a phone started ringing.  i hadn’t been paying attention to what he’d been telling us, but i instinctively started picking up phone, trying to find the one that was ringing.  when i did, a part of the wall opened, to reveal a speakeasy inside!

 

 

last night when we were describing the place, amy asked, “is it all a bunch of 20-somethings?”  yes, i do think so.

i never watched “twin peaks,” but this is supposed to be an homage to a red room in that show.

this hallway was totally cool and blue.  it felt like we were in a “star trek” episode or something.

you can create art here on this wall full of toggle switches.  i mean, there was also foosball and pool and so much crazy stuff there.

the statue of liberty is directly in the center.

i made joe sit down at his desk and pretend to work.  a nice woman who was still there working offered us cupcakes and king cake from a mardi gras party they had earlier in the day.  of course i ate a chocolate cupcake!  the top was a little bit crusty from sitting around all day, but it was cream-filled and quite delicious.

soon i’ll post photos of the view from the top – i took a ridiculous amount of pictures, and managed to pare it down a little.

ok then,

mrs. very busy on sunday morning hughes.