Two Stanleys in One Day?!?

So.

There was a (shit)(rainstorm) yesterday. And there was Game 5 of the NHL Playoffs. AND THE KINGS WON THE STANLEY CUP!!! 

Thus, this morning was dedicated to slowly sipping coffee and reading funny hockey commentaries. And a bit of catching up on the World Cup, too. 

HELLO, BOYS!
Source.

I like hockey a lot. Not a total diehard fan, but fan enough to enjoy watching a game from time to time. I know, I know, Rangers are an OK team (I guess), they have a mighty fine-looking goalie and they ARE my town's team. But blood is thicker than water and LA Kings have Anže on their roster, so there you have it - me is LA supporter smack in the middle of #rangerstown. 

Anže is a big hero back home and he brought the Stanley Cup to Slovenia in 2012, which was all kinds of awesome. And he's bringing it home again this summer. AND he looks way better when he does not shave.  As do a lot of men.

Anže being adorable again.
Source.

In case you are craving more bearded Kings, Heather of the Fug Girls compiled a lovely gallery. The title of the post says it all: Well Played, Jubilant, Oft-Toothless Men in Beards: The Los Angeles Kngs Win the Stanley Cup. You are welcome. 

Why so sad, "king" Henrik?
Your team lost, but at least you are still very pretty.
Source.

On another note, today is a lovely Saturday. The nasty storm left behind crisp air, no humidity and streets without dust. Which can only mean one thing: take Stanley (not the cup, the bike) out for a spin. After the beard and coffee and that-other-Stanley overdose, of course.

First stop was Central Park (obviously), where I, by some miraculous stroke of good luck, managed to find a not-too-crowded spot in the otherwise-extremely-crowded Park to sit down, crack open my book, and read for a while. I boycotted the iPOD for once and listened to the birds instead. 

Chilling in Central Park with a book.

My next stop was the UWS Whole Foods. I do not shop there often, as I find the whole experience a tad pretentious and many of the things that I ordinarily buy are severely overpriced there compared to my local grocery store. But they do have virgin coconut oil that my local grocery store does not stock AND that does not cost an eye. Also, peonies.

Hipster Stan!!!

I came home late in the afternoon, just in time for some early dinner. Colorful veggie stir fry, roasted on my new coconut oil. Made the whole freaking house smell of coconut instead of onion and broccoli. 1:0 for coconut oil, I guess.

Having a Blair Waldorf  moment. 

Veggie stir fry. Made with coconut oil.
Joyful!

Now it's 9 pm and it's still light outside. Adore!!!

I'll probably go for a quick run now, since I have been a lazy ass for the past few weeks. 

And tomorrow is Sunday brunch-day!

Gotta love weekends. 

Jules

The Amazing Sunday

Perfect Sunday alert!

Oh, yes. After a wild, gin-infused Saturday night (ohmyiactuallywentouttoparty), sleeping in until 10-ish felt amazing. So did waking up with a clear head and a calm stomach. And so did having coffee and grilled cheese sandwiches in bed while binge watching three episodes of Scandal.

But enough is enough and three episodes were enough. Time to slap on some sunscreen and leave the house. And leave Manhattan, too. A bumpy ride on the 4 train and another one on the 2 train took me to Brooklyn Botanical Garden where the cherry blossoms are still blooming amazing. 

I headed directly for the cherry esplanade, found a spot under a tree, spread my blanked, took off my shoes and lay down. 

A minute and a half later (yes, those pink-clad branches against the blue sky demanded a bit of attention) I switched temptation of by activating my phone's airplane mode and cracked open a book. 

 

I zoned out for a few hours. Reading and sipping a chilled ginger lemonade. The only thing that disturbed my bubble was a freaking bird that parked its butt on a branch right above my head. 

Yes, it decided to take a #2. Which landed two inches away from my head. Could've been worse, I guess.

Yeah, for a person who zoned out for 3.5 hours, I took an astonishing amount of pictures. But dudes, look at all the pretty pink fluffy blooms!!!

Since I made the trip to Brooklyn and paid for the ticket, it occurred to me that there's more to the Garden than just the cherries. So, after 3.5 hours of pure bliss (minus the freaking pooping bird), I burst my bubble, folded up the blanket, removed some fallen blooms from my shoes (and my hair, and my butt) and left my slice of heaven. The stroll through the park's grounds was delightful, although it was quite crowded. But it was not half bad. Actually, the rest of the garden was just as beautiful as the freaking cherries.  

Next up was a mediocre ice cream (boooooo), redeemed by some very decent iced coffee. 

Brooklyn, I really do like you. 

SOTD: The Avett Brothers - I And Love And You. 

Because it sounds just like Prospect Heights.

Before I knew it, it was 6 pm and time to make it back to Manhattan. Destination: the IMAX theater at Lincoln Center. Movie: The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Snack: salted caramel popcorn. AMAZING indeed. One of the cooler superhero movies around. Of course, nobody puts Iron Man in the corner, but the rebooted Spidey comes a very close second. Woo-hoo!

Happy Monday or whatever.

Jules

New York, New York

Oh, New York. 

The city of 8000 stereotypes (and all of them true to the dot).  

The New York Times recently published a series of haikus about the city in honour of National Poetry Month. They made me smile and they made me stop for a minute to revisit all the reasons why I chose to move to this city in the first place (Yes, it was for a job, but it was also for a dream I had for a long time). 

Some of the haikus are a bit random, of course - 17 syllables are not easy, but overall, they are a delight. You can read them here. 

Keeping with the theme, here are some more passionate New York tidbits:

NYC Tips and Etiquette by Nathan W. Pyle - made me laugh.

8.4 Million New Yorkers Suddenly Realize NYC is a Horrible Place to Live - dystopian much.

Humans of New York - Brandon is great romantic. See for yourself and become addicted.

A Cup of Jo's Guide to NYC: 10 Ways How to NOT Look Like a Tourist - very similar points to mr. Pyle's, but told by more "ordinary" New Yorkers.

Opening sequence of Manhattan - Oh, Woody.

Now that I managed to sappily fall in love with New York all over again, it's time to leave the laptop and go for a walk in Greenwich Village and continue this love affair. 

Jules

Triathlon. According to Jules

Oh, hello Hudson River.

Full disclosure: I am not even close to a triathlete. So please, do not take the title of this post seriously. 

1. BIKE:

The perfect springy Sunday. So you decide a bike ride is the best possible way to spend it, although the alternative, sitting on your ass and binge watch Criminal Minds, sounds just as appealing. In the end, you go the classy way, put on your neat helmet and shove the bike in the elevator. Pushing pedals under the cherry trees all the way up to George Washington bridge is nice. 

Staaaaaaan!

2. SWIM:

It's Monday and you're STILL totally high on all the goodness Sunday brought. So you make big plans to make it to the pool after work. Only to see your dreams shattered when you find out two of the three experiments you ran on that lovely Monday didn't work and you find yourself stuck in the lab until 10 pm. No pool. And crushed spirits. So you decide that, instead of doing laps, you'll open up a Guinness and order a pizza. Then you decide to open another Guinness and do laundry. Suddenly, it's 2 am and you decide a bikini wax will be an awesome idea. Before you know it, Tuesday rolls around. You feel bloated because of the late night pizza binge. There are very few instances when pizza is NOT a good idea. Midnight being one of those instances. But you manage to escape the lab and get to the pool for a swim. Ole'! 

Hometown glory!

Excited.

Swimming doesn't go according to plan, mostly because instead of keeping track of laps you get continuously distracted by how much you want to bang the cutie from the 12th floor. So, you give up laps and switch to sprints and butterfly instead. Because killing your own arms is a good diversion from thinking about cutie's buff arms. Holy biceps!

Sunset in Central Park.

3. RUN:

Thursday is yet another good day. And again, you make it out of work in the daylight. Time for a quickie run through the park. It is still ridiculously beautiful with trees in bloom everywhere. But since you are a crappy runner, you don't give a damn about miles, speed, breathing, interval training and all that jazz. Your run exactly as fast as you like and stop to smell the flowers (literally!) exactly when you like it. Despite all, you manage to do 5-ish miles (or so Google Maps says). Which makes you a little smug. And very likely means that a month or so will pass until your next run. 

And that, my dears, is how Jules does cycling, swimming and running. 

Now if you'll excuse me while I go stretch my stiffened legs.

Jules

The Toronto Diaries, Part 3

Friday, April 11th 2014

Pretty sunny day, homemade smoothies. 

I could live with that, yes.

A noon choir and organ recital. The best felafel I've ever had, the Aquarium, ethiopian food for dinner, red wine galore, a guitar, and then gin martinis. And Jameson. 

So far, so good. 

Davie's saying hello (Bloor and Bathurst)

Roy Thompson Hall ready for the Orpheus Choir

Aquarium. Done right.

People in front of a giant tank of jellyfish. Obviously.

Leaving the Aquarium was a sad, sad moment.
Luckily, Lake Ontario's shore really tried hard to make it up to me.
Freaking show-off.

Holy mother-of-binge!

                         

Apparently, Toronto knows all and every single one of the ways to my heart, that I can tell. Oh, you sneaky, sneaky charmer, as if I haven't told you that I belong to New York. That smelly, loud big cousin of yours, you met him, I am sure.

SOTD: Everything is Awesome (The LEGO Movie OST). Duh!

That'd be all, folks. Thanks for keeping up.

Toronto was great, but now it's time to swing back to the real world. File taxes, do laundry, split cells, go for a run, paint nails, fall in love with spring in New York. You know the drill.

Jules

p.s. Many, many, MANY thanks to N for making these past few days beyond memorable. I owe you. BIG TIME.

The Toronto Diaries, part 1

Wednesday, April 9th 2014

I dragged my butt down to the lab at 8.15 in the morning. Say whaaaaaaaaaaat? 

Well, a postdoc's got to do what a postdoc's got to do. In my case, it was tissue culture. Wouldn't want the vicious killer cancer cells I so lovingly grow to starve while mommy goes out in the world, non?  

It was a quick and painless 1/3 day at the lab and then off to LaGuardia to catch my flight. All went smoothly and before I knew it, we touched down in sunny Toronto. Oh yes, I kid you not, the North Pole outdid itself weather-wise. 

First impressions were lovely. Canadian dollars look adorable, so do tall blonde immigration officers with hipster glasses and crooked smiles. Free wi-fi at the airport didn't hurt either. 

One other adorable thing I couldn't help but notice was the fact that people here read actual books on the subway. On my first few rides I swear I saw more people reading books than playing with their phones. A bit retro, but undeniably cool. 

My first activity in the city was a leisurely walk down cool Bloor street and further down to Chinatown, where a fantastic place called AGO, aka The Art Gallery of Ontario, is located. 

AGO architeture.
Cool indeed. 

             

I went in and spent a few hours wandering the galleries. It was really beautiful. And the building itself pretty marvelously matches the beauty of the collection stored inside, courtesy of one Frank Gehry. 

AGO & CN & clear blue skies.
Just a wee sample of Toronto's finest.

Before I knew it, it was time to go meet my CS host, which turned out to be tougher than originally planned thanks to my incredible abilities of typing the wrong address into Google Maps and thus ending up half way up to the Northern Territory. The error was rectified thanks to two very nice bus drivers and, about two hours later than planned, I found my way to a shower, a fresh shirt and the obligatory get-to-know-you beers. All was well. 

Incredibly well, actually. 

Melt away!

Ha!

A warm day! A sunny day! A Saturday! All happening at the same time!

Seriously, this winter has been a serious pain in the ass so far, thus, the collision of the above-mentioned concepts that finally happened today made me beyond extatic. 

I started the day by opening my windows and taking a long deep breath. The air finally feels fresh and crisp and not bloody freezing cold and wintry stale. I've had enough of the wintry stale air.

Breakfast aftermath.

After devouring my bagel & cream cheese breakfast & coffee, it was time to take Stan for a spin. Since he's been dormant for a good two and a half months, his tyres needed a bit of air. And the nutcase needed a good dusting. 

Accessorizing 101.

After the pit stop at the bike shop (I do not own a pump, because who would ever need a pump when one owns a vintage bike, non?), it was time for the big loop in Central Park. 

Beautiful. 

Sure, it looked like all New York runners currently in existence decided to occupy the paths at 10 am this morning, but I couldn't possibly care less about the crowds. Everything was so darn perfect. Almost puke-inducing-it-is-so-saccharine-perfect. 

It was actually warm enough for short sleeves, so naturally, I exposed my pasty arms to the February sunrays. It honestly felt weird - with all the (melting) snow and with about half of the people around me still bundled in all-winter gear. But again, I couldn't possibly care less!

Bye, bye snow.
Hello blue skies!

Riding Stan (ok, that kinda sounds marginally inappropriate, but do your homework and you'll learn that it is actually not) after such a long time was really fun. And actually setting foot (and wheel) in the Park felt like returning home after a long-ish absence. Made me feel all warm and nice and gooey inside. All the biking paths were clean and dry, whereas many of the smaller, bikes-not-allowed trails were still covered in yuckily melting, sad looking snow. Good. 

And by blue skies, I mean BLUE skies.

I made it back home a bit before noon, just in time to go to the pool for a swim before heading to the lab. Because yes, nothing better than killing some cancer cells on a lovely Saturday afternoon. 

My today's thoughts exactly.
Source.

The bike ride and the swim and the sun gave me so much positive juju that the prospect of spending the rest of this lovely day in our grim looking lab did not sound dreadful at all. Phew.

This one is a bit random,
but let's all accept it is photo proof of my trip to the pool.
The pool is awesome!

Actually, I am at the lab now, running yet another western and killing some more cells. The sun is slowly sinking behind the skyscrapers and I just feel happy that it decided to show its face at all today. 

Sun, I love you and and I have missed you. Why don't you hang out here for a while?

SOTD: Zmelkoow - Čau s(l)onček. Because it's perfect!

The weather people are, of course, forecasting another shitload of snow for Tuesday, but now it's not the time to be bothered about that. We were given a perfect springy day and let's just roll with that. 

Cheers to spring!

Jules

I just swam a mile.

My girl M and I made a solemn pact before I went back to New York and she made her big move (both flights out happened in a matter of days, so you can imagine the degree of gooey emotions and all-around panic).

Yards, feet and inches. Say what?

We had agreed we'd pick up our good, but sadly neglected, habit of swimming regularly. As a way to fell better, and, more importantly, because being in the water is the best freaking thing in the history of forever. So she found a pool close to her home in her new city, with me following into her footsteps in my own city a few days later. We're on, bitches!

Cool vintage looking locker room. 

And we both loved our respective ones. My pool is a community one in my neighbourhood, exactly halfway from home to work (yup, convenient!). And being a community affair, membership is really affordable and the whole atmosphere is very down to earth and relaxed. Not a very common good here on the fancy UES, by the way. And I figured I'd go and splurge and bought a 3-month membership. Talk about commitment.

Putting those Miami Beach flipflops to good use.
No comment on that fish cracker there, not mine.

I finally made it to there today after work. The pool itself is small. A half-size, so 20 yards long. Which roughly translates to 18-something meters. I had no idea the yards vs. meters thing would give me such trouble. The original plan was to do 1000 meters + a little warm-up and cool down, which translates to 55.5 aka 56 lengths (I did the advanced maths all on my own!!!). Since I am colossally out of shape, I figured that would be a good start.I am by no means a serious swimmer, but having virtually grown up in a 25/50 m pool, I am sort of used to those lengths and, apparently, so are my strokes. I lightly bumped either my head or my arm into the edge a few more times than I care to admit and I shall never speak of it again. Back to serious workout now. I'm going to talk imperial, as it's just easier in this context. 

The first 400 yards, aka 20 lengths, were pure hell. It was awesome to be IN the water, but moving around in it? Strange. Very strange. Fortunately, after a while I found my pace and boy it felt good. So good in fact, that I ended up doing a mile. A MILE, as in 1.61 km. I feel on top of the world right now. 

Coolest cap & goggles ever.

You, proper swimmers who munch miles like it's nobody's business, can shut up and let me have it, ok? It is very likely that I won't be able to get out of bed tomorrow morning, so I am enjoying my endorphin buzz while it lasts. Dinner also helps.

SOTD: From Disney's The Little Mermaid - Under the Sea. 

Because: duh!

As mentioned before, I will very likely resemble something dead tomorrow morning when my muscles decide today's adventure was a bad idea. But until then, I'll enjoy my buzz and do some work around that sciency thingy I love doing so much. 

Source.

Just do what Dory days, just do what Dory says, just do what Dory says.

Jules

A horsey bowley beery weekend

So. Two major things happened this past weekend. One was the lunar aka Chinese new year. On Friday, the water Snake left us and the wooden Horse began its gallop into the year 4712. 

Chinatown. Colorful. Cheery. Confettied.

Supposedly, the year of the wooden Horse will be a fierce one, so watch out and be prepared to pick your battles.

Probably one of my favourite shots from Saturday.

I order to bid the Snake a proper farewell, I spent Saturday afternoon roaming Chinatown, drinking ginger tea and eating away my weight in red bean cakes and coconut custard tarts. It was fun and colorful...

... And a great intro in a dorky Saturday evening spent in the lab. Oh, lentiviral transfection, how I cherish thee!

On Sunday, I had actually planned to return to Chinatown to watch the parade, but instead, 75 % of the day got eaten by annoying student paper grading. Which did not exactly put me in the best of moods. Luckily, there was this great Superbowl beer party in the evening. I mean, I have no idea what american football is all about, but judging by the amount of buildup going on all around New York, the Superbowl is apparently a ginormous deal. Europeans, think FIFA Champions League finals on freaking steroids! I mean, I get that it's the final game of the season, Clash of the Titans of some sort that determines who's this season's champion. But the marketing stuff was just so intense with ads, all around the city, since the fall, you would think Earth's destiny was going to be decided or something.  

Source.

Things have been hyping up a lot (hello, junk food and beer on super sale everywhere for the past ten days) and there was no way I was going to miss this quintessential American thing. 

Even the Empire State Building was lit up in
NFL's colours in honour of the 48th
Superbowl

Honestly, I got into it mostly because of the beer and the company. And even more honestly, I still am not sure that I understood what the game is all about (ups!), because the Broncos (orange team) did not do much on the field and they seemed to be totally smitten by Seattle's action. So, rookie dilemma: is that what NFL games usually look like? One team standing there while the other hammers the crap out of them? 

And WHY for the love of all that's holy is the sport called FOOT-BALL? They hardly ever touch the ball with their feet. Unlike in proper football... 

Moving on.

It's Monday. So I guess The Compulsory Complain-About-The-Weather Note is to make its entrance: after a balmy weekend spent wearing cute flats and a light jacket, this morning looked like this:

Snow-covered UES

I'm so over winter!

SOTD: Bruno Mars & Red Hot Chilli Peppers - XLVIII Superbowl's 

halftime show. Because every now and then, even I dig Bruno Mars.

I like the month of February well enough, but I am seriously waiting for spring!
Jules