News from Around the World

Quick post while Dave’s in the shower: I survived the flight. I got a job. (More details on that later.) We’ve managed to eat some pretty awesome food - some cooked by my sister, some cooked by chefs in a fancy-shmancy restaurant. I got a great early birthday gift from my sister - a pair of jeans that make my ass look fantastic. (How rare a find is THAT?) We’ve been to the Museum of Modern Art and Central Park. We (meaning Dave and I - and probably my siblings, but definitely NOT my parents) got way too tipsy last night at dinner. I’ve managed to only get into one fight with my dad so far. (I’m doing well. Trust me.) And today we’re going to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty before we head back to T’s apartment and eat way too much food for Thanksgiving. I’m wearing my fat jeans in anticipation. Hope everyone has a good holiday.

“Can’t too much go wrong next to a big statue of Jesus.” Before you read any further, to spark some genuine interest in this post, take a quick glance at this article from the New York Times, more specifically the picture. Yes, that is a 60 foot tall Jesus in the middle of nowhere Ohio (well, that would cover all of Ohio, but my contempt and hatred for Ohio will have to wait for some other time). I bring this up because I first discovered this completely tasteful icon while driving up to Ann Arbor from Atlanta for the weekend. With the exception of Dayton, Toledo and Cincinnati, Ohio is pretty much a whole lot of nothing for the stretch of I-75 that we drove on. It was approaching around 1 AM, after not seeing a pair of head or breaklights in about 20 minutes, when my friend who was driving while I was in the passenger seat reading exclaimed “Jesus Christ!” Yup, that was about right. Keep in mind it is about 1 in the morning, very dark, and I guess you could say that we “saw the light” because this thing errupted out of the darkness to the bewilderment of us all. Was it a magnificent, holy and humbling scene? Not quite. To be very honest, it scared the living crap out of me. At first we couldn’t tell was it was and the spotlights that light up during the night cast shadows around his eyes, which have the effect shining a flashlight under the face while telling a ghost story. And it is 60 feet tall. And his hands look close enough to the road to flatten your car if he decided to become animated like the Statue of Liberty in “Ghost Busters.” I prefer my giants to be either jolly green or carry and axe, wear flannel and have a blue ox as a pet. On the way back, the well lit Christ was far less breathtaking and simply prompted an “Oh come on” from our crew.

Detective Stella Bonasera is half Greek, half Italian and all New York. She speaks her mind and does not back away from confrontation. Stella’s unmatched desire to find answers for the victims of violent crime is due in part to questions about her own past. Stella is an orphan who lived a hard-knock life in “the system.” Everything she knows of Greek culture, language and community, she learned in a book. Her parents and background remain a mystery. Stella’s fierce independence and unflinching character led her to join the NYPD. To fellow officers, she is the Statue of Liberty, a woman standing tall with her head held high. These qualities, along with her intelligence, brashness and determination, earned her a coveted spot as a CSI alongside Mac Taylor.

6. Equality, Liberty, Fraternity: Or whatever the statue of liberty ever meant to imply. Whereas there is 5% overall unemployment for university graduates in France, there is 26.5% unemployment for “North African” university graduates. This is indicative of biases in the field of employment for the Muslims and Blacks. This is 21st century slave-owners mindset afflicting the racist France. Everything must be done to ensure affirmative actions to reserve quotas in employment for minorities so that they are at least represented well and compensated well in lieu of all tortures that mainland France has caused and benefited from the Muslims and Blacks so far.

Next day I catch the subway back to Time Square, like Vegas it’s no where near as interesting during the daytime. I decided to walk down Broadway to Macy’s the world’s largest department store. After this I walked through Soho towards lower Manhattan. I ran into Sid the guy from Boston (this was the 3rd time we had just ran into each other in the street, what are the chances of this in cities the size of Boston and NY), we then went and looked at the World Trade Centre site. I was here 2 years ago and not much has changed in those 2 years, one new Skyscraper has been re-built on the edge of the site but no building work has happened yet on the Freedom Tower. The Freedom Tower aims to be the tallest building in the world when it is finally built. Next we walked past the Stock Exchange and then down to the Staten Island ferry terminal where we caught a free ferry across the river. On this 30 minute transfer you get a great view of downtown Manhattan as well as the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. There is nothing to do once you get to Staten Island, so like most tourists we got back on the ferry to Manhattan without leaving the terminal.

David Copperfield has made the Statue of Liberty disappear, and David Blaine has spent inordinate amounts of time encased in things. But neither of them have ever performed a televised magic special underwater.

IT surprises me sometimes. . . where IT shows up. IT being the wounds and scars of an appalachian raising steeped in the legalism of fundamental faith. IT showed up this week on Tuesday night at my daughters volleyball game. Her team traveled to face off against a Christian school on the other side of the belt. Well they had played this team on our home court earlier in the season. Alledgedly the school called our school to say they were offended by our girls uniforms (classic volleyball athletic spandex uniform shorts) and that If they were to play them again then the girls would have to wear the big loose baggy shorts near their knee. I hadnt been told this but the tension started as I pulled onto the "campus" of the church sponsored school. SEveral beautiful colonial style buildings, A HUGE sanctuary, a lake for baptism complete with (drumroll please) their very own STATUE OF LIBERTY! Yes! I would guess a 1/500th scale replica of the symbol of freedom herself. . . .right there by the baptism lake. I entered the gym and recognized the sweeping skirts, plain women, decked out men immediately. When I saw that our girls were told to not wear their own uniforms I was so frustrated and so surprised at my own frustration. Now I can blurt out the modest speech with the best of all youth pastors. Those who have had any connection with my leadership through the years could probably quote the colorful speech right back at ya! But it births out of internal holiness, and of wanting girls to be free of legalistic limitations and sexual expectations that cause them to be trapped by the expectations of society> I want girls to be free from the LIES of fashion and media. But i also know these are teaching opportunities to instill the importance of holiness and heart. . . . . everything else is just icing. And thus why I struggle so with the legalistic control of sports uniforms (which are far from immodest) in the presence of a culture that oppresses women, obviously does not confront obesity and gluttony, displayed horrid sportsmanship in the game, etc etc. My daughter gets frustated I think of my cries of injustice. She rolls her eyes as every other 13 yr old girl and is certain that this is "no big deal". But it is! It has to be. I hope that she might see how I want so much for her. How I know for certain her heart cannot be hidden by long shorts. How wrong it is for others to insist you play by their close minded rules and in so doing the sin of their judgement is greater than the implied sin of your uniform. How wrong it is that she was so easily and wrongly judged. I want her to see How a statue of liberty by a baptism pool by a big fancy church that calls the shots - spits in the face of a savior, makes light of the gospel, and mocks the name of the one in which they baptize. For the sacrament of baptism did not come with a rule book. I want her to know that her true identity is present in the waters of that baptism poured on her heart. And that her identity as a daughter of God is NOT dependent on the length of her shorts.

In fairness, however, she could have done far worse. She could have ended up with Crawford, perish the thought, or Harvey, the latter of which still makes my bottom itch just at the thought of him. These two could bore the Statue of Liberty into a yawn; they could have sent Saddam’s troops screaming into the desert without a shot being fired; if you could bottle up their brain-addling conversation and sell it in Boots, it would be the number one best-selling natural antidote to insomnia within a fortnight. No, really.

You name it, New York’s got it. Let’s see, a trip to New York would naturally take weeks, if not months to complete and if you don’t go to the Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, American Museum of Natural History, The Guggenheim and Madame Tussard’s Wax Museum, you’ve not even been to New York even if your plane landed into New York! And there’s really a lot more to see in New York.

So reads the inscription on the base of the Statue of Liberty. For generations, it has called out to the poor and oppressed of the world, offering a haven that was regarded world-wide as a land of hope, freedom, and opportunity.

With the recent terror alerts for the New York City subways, we have decided we won’t ride them while we are there. In fact, we will monitor the news this coming week and make a decision about whether it’s worth the risk to go see the World Trade Center site and the Statue of Liberty, or just bypass the Big Apple altogether and head on toward Philadelphia. If it were up to me, that’s what I would do, but Glenda has never been to the east coast and I’d like her to get a little taste of every thing.

Can you believe this? The AP News is reporting that “French Bashing is Alive and Well in the U.S.” Who knew? They are citing an advertisement by the Subway chain which said “France and chicken, somehow it just goes together“, along with a photo of a chicken dressed like Napoleon. Take a look - AlphaPatriot has the details HERE. Now Subway claims they were only tauting French cuisine while describing their new Cordon Bleu chicken sandwich. The French took offense and Subway has removed the ads. However, take a look at Subway’s unabashed anti-American advertising the American corporation used in Germany: “Subway Ends ‘Fat Statue of Liberty’ Campaign“.

Arrived at JFK at 4:30 am, took the Air Train/subway to 34th St/Penn Station. Left bags at La Quinta hotel on 32nd st, and went to Ground Zero, Wall St, Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island. Took a nap, and had dinner at Ruth’s Chris Steak House. It’s raining lightly here, and it’s very very humid. There are way too many people living in NYC. It’s fun to visit, but it’s just too dirty and crowded to be a place of permanent residence.

If the Statue of Liberty is viewed as the shimmering gateway to America, Ellis Island was, from 1892 to 1954, the stern-faced security guard that evaluated immigrants before they’re allowed to enter the US. Walking through the rooms of the redbrick building, visitors can follow the immigration procedure step by step which starts at the Great Hall or Registration Room. Photographs, clothes, posters, ship logbooks, and luggage are displayed across three dozen galleries as well as interactive multimedia presentations that tell of the island’s history. The American Immigrant Wall of Honor, built behind the Main Building, lists the names of some 600,000 immigrants from various ports of entry. It is said that about 40% of all Americans can trace their family history to a man, woman, or child who entered the United States through Ellis Island. The park has free admission and is open daily except on Christmas day. For park inquiries, call (212)363-3200 or go to http://www.ellisisland.org

Distracted somewhat because I’m thinking of the role of Ojos in auto-tagging. Could Ojos recognize the face of the Statue of Liberty, say, and auto-tag it accordingly? Could they recognize places as well as faces?

I then head to get in line to go up to the top of the ESB. This involves waiting in line for like an hour, going through a security screening, watching the young couple in front of me kiss frequently and annoy everybody around them, become annoyed by the non-english speaking white tourists, and eventually take a series of elevators up to a view that’s so surreal that I can hardly appreciate it. I do realize that the Statue of Liberty is a lot smaller than I realize and I decided that this is enough view of it. In the end it’s an hour of waiting for 10 minutes of being crowded and feeling fat and in the way and I bolt pretty quickly. I’ve been told this would be more interesting at night, but I’m not sure. You’re really not seeing much you don’t see on any TV show set in NY anyway. Boo this building.

This White House doesn’t hate all pictures, of course. It loves those by Karl Rove’s Imagineers, from the spectacularly lighted Statue of Liberty backdrop of Mr. Bush’s first 9/11 anniversary speech to his “Top Gun” stunt to Thursday’s laughably stagy stride across the lawn to his lectern in Jackson Square. (Message: I am a leader, not that vacationing slacker who first surveyed the hurricane damage from my presidential jet.)

The prophecy came after a vision. In the vision, I saw the Statue of Liberty, New York, it’s shorelines, the US Capitol at Washington DC and a golden like bowl being poured out. This morning, while I was thinking about the vision and the word I had written down in my journal, I saw the Statue of Liberty in chains. This second vision only came in today while I was driving to work. The rest of the vision took place on Monday night. Here are the words I had scribbled down on my journal.

This White House doesn’t hate all pictures, of course. It loves those by Karl Rove’s Imagineers, from the spectacularly lighted Statue of Liberty backdrop of Mr. Bush’s first 9/11 anniversary speech to his “Top Gun” stunt to Thursday’s laughably stagy stride across the lawn to his lectern in Jackson Square. (Message: I am a leader, not that vacationing slacker who first surveyed the hurricane damage from my presidential jet.)

“The Statue of Liberty is no longer saying ‘Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses.’ She’s got a baseball bat and she’s yelling, ‘you want a piece of me?’ ”

Now, at stake in a dictatorship is the dictator's virtual ownership or loss of not an old car, but of the country's entire property. In 1990 Gorbachev virtually owned Soviet Russia, and in 1992 he was a pauper, living outside it (not the worst outcome either!). It is officially forbidden in China to refer or allude in the media to the Tiananmen Square movement, inspired by the West (recall the replica of the Statue of Liberty on the Square). Obviously, the West will be subverting, by its very existence, the dictatorship of China unless and until the West has been annihilated by the dictatorship of China or turned into its docile colony. It may be relevant to recall that Marx, Lenin, and Mao taught that the future of mankind is a single global Communist society, and Chinese military superiority may well be its midwife.

The sun sunk below the horizon leaving behind a burnt golden brown landscape enveloped in a burgundy sky interlaces with cirrus clouds radiating out like the spokes of a wheel from where the last glow of the earth's fiery sustainer had disappeared from view. 'Rather like the Statue of Liberty's tiara", dreamed Claire in awe of Nature's eternal beauty.

Crowbar is a great place to play with a heckuva PA system, only bad thing is the drive … This time took a picture of The Statue of Liberty but you can hardly see it … Took a picture of the “Electric Avenue” sign … The Yagertown sign … and the tree in the middle of the pond … Sorry if there’s too many road pics, but what else am I gonna do 4 hours in a truck? Jeff and I did the show as Dave and Alex couldn’t make it … That night all of us stayed in one hotel room … In fact, I even slept in the same hotel as Penn State’s football team … Why they stayed in a hotel is beyond me … Anyway, the room was in two halves … one side was Brian, Jeff and I and the other side Bass, Bob, Greg and Jordan …

Brad Pitt of the ball persons shows. Always vogueing, he wears shades and sports a Bjorn Borg do. He holds up his balls like he’s the Statue of Liberty.

Portland was a very clean and welcoming city which I could defiently live it, its not that big (about half a million) but has everything you could want from a city. The hostel I stayed at was a big old house with grass growing on the roof to be more enviromentally friendly. In Portland I did a nice walk along the river, I went to the Oregon Historical Society which had a special day offer where you could get in for 25 cents the same price the World Fair was in Portland 100 years ago. I also went and saw the Portlandia which is the second largest copper statue in the world after the Statue of Liberty. One evening I went to a local cinema called Bagdad, it was decorated in a middle eastern style, the cinema sold beer and pizza and only cost $3 as they showed second run films (before they reach DVD). When I left Portland to go to Seattle I booked the train and not the bus even though the bus is cheaper. The train ride was really nice and a lot more comfortable, its just a shame the train never seemed to go above 50 miles an hour. Compared to this, English trains are really fast.

The next time you hear the biggest hearts in Hollywood railing against how the government or corporations waste millions of dollars on their "toys" rather than helping the poor, think of the Hunter Thompson memorial service. Actor Johnny Depp spent a reported $2 million constructing a giant tower (taller than the Statue of Liberty) to shoot Thompson's ashes into the sky with some very loud fireworks.

Johnny Depp, who starred in the 1998 film of Hunter's "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas", has spent about $1 Million on the construction of a 153ft high gun - slightly taller than the Statue of Liberty. It's been built on Thompsons "shooting range" where Hunter S. liked to fire his .44 Magnum into an old television set. The cannon ends in a double-thumbed fibreglass fist with a dagger and a peyote button attached. An eclectic mix of 250 of his friends is expected to farewell the Gonzo over "the clinking of ice and whisky" as specified in his will. See the full story here:

I bet a lot of you wonder how to get to the Statue of Liberty. All you have to do is hitch a ride on a helicopter. If you land in the water close enough to Ellis Island you climb out of the water onto it. Note: If you want to check to make sure you got it, move the right analog stick so that you are looking straight up.

DENVER, Colorado (AFP) - The ashes of the US writer Hunter S. Thompson are to be fired from a tower the height of the Statue of Liberty in a ceremony at his Colorado home on Saturday befitting his eccentric and controversial life.

We took the ferry to Staten Island since it goes right by the Statue of Liberty and that was really awesome. All the times I’ve been to New York over the years and I’ve never been that close to it. The ferry was cool - they’re kinda big and more than a little scary but I just took my seat and hummed, “Let the river run/let all the heroes wake the nation/come, the new Jerusaleeeeem.” Tell me what movie that’s from and I’ll love you forever. Maybe not forever but I’ll be so taken with your movie-watching prowess that I will sit back in awe for at least 2-3 minutes.

“The Statue of Liberty is no longer saying ‘Give me your poor, your tired,your huddled masses.’ She’s got a baseball bat and she’s yelling, ‘You want a piece of me?’ “

Staten Island Ferry: it's free, and a great way to cool off out on the water. You get wonderful views of lower Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty.

After a 15 minutes walked I arrived at Ground Zero. It is still a very strange feeling to be there. People were staring at the construction site, a lot with tears in their eyes, few were looking at pictures of friends and relatives they lost on September 11, 2001. Nobody could pass by without looking up in the sky and trying to complete the missing parts. I walked to the World Financal Center to take a picture at the inside. 5 seconds later I was surrounded by two security guys who told me that I’m not allowed to take pictures. They even checked the pictures on my camera and asked my why I was taking pictures… I walked to Wall Street and Battery Park and enjoyed a wonderful view at the Statue of Liberty in the middle of the night! It was wonderful. Before I took the subway at Wall Street to get back home, I had two cheeseburgers, french fries and a coke at Mc Donald’s.

In case you didn’t know, this is a parody of the words on the Statue of Liberty, which if I remember right are the same except for the last line… and if you don’t know what Soylent Green is your pop culture knowledge ain’t so good. I urge you to find out.

The show was a solid two hours of Diamond standards. Nothing too surprising and nothing too high energy, although “America”—with a video montage in the background featuring picutres of 19th century immigrants and the Statue of Liberty with the Twin Towers in view over her shoulder—brought the crowd on the floor to its feet. And while Diamond himself is slowing down a bit, he definitely still has it with the ladies. There must have been about ten women shouting “I love you, Neil!” at various points in the night in my section alone.

That being said, the US visa does look quite pretty, with a big picture of Abraham Lincoln impersonating the Statue of Liberty (well, actually, I assume it’s the Lincoln Memorial – interesting they choose a representation of a representation, rather than a simple picture of Lincoln himself), as well as some text in the kind of monumental typeface (very much not a Swiss sans-serif) that reminds you how European the UK is. The same thing happens with money: the clean lines and bright colours make Sterling notes and Euros almost indisitinguishable next to the 19th century stylings of the Dollar.

So I took Faisal downtown today to do a bit of site seeing. "A bit" turned out to be "a lot," and we actually pretty much covered all there is too see in downtown Manhattan. We passed through Battery Park, went on the Staten Island Ferry (saw the Statue of Liberty), toured the Financial District, visited the World Trade Center site, walked over the Brooklyn Bridge, went up to Chinatown, Little Italy, SoHo, the Village, Washington Sq. Park, and I think that's pretty much it. We left after Jumuah (~ 2:00) and got back around ninish. Yeah, a lot of walking today.

I bet a lot of you wonder how to get to the Statue of Liberty. All you have to do is hitch a ride on a helicopter. If you land in the water close enough to Ellis Island you climb out of the water onto it. Note: If you want to check to make sure you got it, move the right analog stick so that you are looking straight up.

The worst part of this film — computer-generated wolves that escape and intend to feast on Jake Gyllenhaal and friends as they board a ship (sitting in the middle of a New York street) to find penacilin to save Emmy Rossum. In this film, we watch the Statue of Liberty swallowed by water, the Capitol Records building annhilated by tornadoes, helicopters frozen in mid-air and golf ball-sized hail dropping on China. All of that looked credible and awesome on screen. These wolves were a joke and basically ruined the credibility of the rest of the film for me. That being said, the film makes you think and it makes you gape in awe at points. I think in a disaster movie, that’s pretty much what you’re looking for.

Belfort is a place of great military importance and a leading industrial center. As a fortress it distinguished itself in the Franco-Prussian war in which it successfully withstood the German bombardment in 1870-71. The siege is commemmorated by an imposing citadel on the summit of a rock 220 feet high, in front of which is the colossal Lion of Belfort, 36 feet high and 72 feet long, carved in red sandstone by Bartholdi, the celebrated French sculptor who designed the Statue of Liberty, in New York Harbor, France’s gift to America.

I have to admire this site and the reasoning behind it. Matt set out from the Statue of Liberty to the Golden Gate Bridge, and took a photo for each mile along the way.

The New York logo was very lively and vibrant. The use of merging the Statue of Liberty with an athlete was also clever. However, it seems like a very American logo. It gives off the impression that Americans are winners, which may be a good idea to promote given the Word Trade Centre attacks. Nevertheless, it doesn’t seem to encapsulate the international nature of the Olympics. To me, as well, the use of the olympic colours in the words is a bit overused. That being said, where’s the black in the word “NYC2012″ and where’d the light blue come from?

“We get the Statue of Liberty. You get OpryLand. We get Intel and Microsoft. You get WorldCom. We get Harvard. You get Ole Miss. We get 85 percent of America’s venture capital and entrepreneurs. You get Alabama.”

Yesterday (Tuesday) was Claires 21st Birthday. We went to see the statue of liberty, was cool to see it in real life...also went to Ground Zero, was weird it had an erie quietness about it, also saw the wee chapel were everyone went, it was full of missing persons posters and wee poems to ppl that died, it was very sad, but gud to see.

I started this site to get my voice down on "paper". I don't really care if I get five or 500 hits in a day. I'm doing this because I care about my country. I yearn for the days when we can again proudly live up to this inscription that can be found on the Statue of Liberty:

I’m not much of a swimmer and the current is perky, so I stay aboard to, you know, man the guns and flog the loblolly boys and that. When I go swimming in deep water it’s more a matter of concerted not-drowning than easy enjoyment. But I’ll take my plunge on the next trip anyway, as I do every year. Taking those few panicked strokes in the Hudson River, anchored off Liberty State Park between Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, gives a guy some decent bragging rights.

I bought Ghostbusters the other day, it's been a while, it brought back many confused memories of which film was which. And that the statue of liberty thingy was in the second film and it wasn't the statue of liberty vs the stay puft marshmellow guy if thats his name.

America is truly the Land of Opportunity. "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free" are at the foot of the Statue of Liberty. The waves of immigrants who have come to our land in the past and are still coming know that these words are true.

That puts Niagara Falls in the same category as such landmarks as the White House, Statue of Liberty, Grand Canyon and the Rocky Mountains.

Along for the concert were my wife's friends. They enjoyed tremendously seeing my wife play the principle flute, and the piccolo during the Stars and Stripes forever; which was its usual rousing nature. This year the conductor, Mark Johnson, who usually dresses as Uncle Sam for this piece, came dressed as the Statue of Liberty. At the end, the huge American Flag dropped, and the conductor, his wife, and fellow soloist Scott Rogers let loose firework streamers and confetti.

Unless we're planning to send the Statue of Liberty back to the French and abrogate our offer: "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free," we should reconsider our attitude toward those who come to us in need.

It is 90 years into the future, and familiar landmarks in the New York City skyline like the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building are nowhere to be seen. Rather, the city looks like Star War's Coruscant, interrupted by the sudden appearance of a huge pyramid hovering above the city.

Friday the GAO released a new report titled, “Actions Needed to Better Protect National Icons and Federal Office Buildings from Terrorism,” which addressed the task of the Department of Interior in faces places like Mt. Rushmore and the Statue of Liberty. It also evaluated the Government Services Administration efforts of securing the many leased and federally owned office buildings occupied by Government agencies across the country.

Then on to The Battery where you can buy a ticket for a boat ride out to Liberty and Ellis Islands. You pass thru security screeners and get on board a ferry that takes you past Ellis Island and around to the back side of Liberty Island, passing directly in front of the statue of Liberty. This offered a great view of the statue for photos. We didn’t get off the ferry but remained on till we got to Ellis Island. About 15 yrs ago they turned this deserted island into a National Monument and restored it into the way it used to look but turned it into a museum that is fascinating. It covers the history and story of the immigrants who came to this country and faced careful scrutiny before entrance into the US. They were tested for physical and mental health, criminal record, financial capability, and other criteria. Those rejected were deported back to their homeland, causing severe hardship for many of them who had just spent their life savings getting there. If you go to NYC and have even a slight interest in history, GO to Ellis Island!

The first phone call came as I was waiting in line, a number I didn’t recognize. I didn’t answer; they left no voicemail After my sandwich, I did decide to return to my room and change into pants, since some clouds had rolled in and the city had cooled down a bit. I was only there for 15min before I decided that, since today was really my only “free” day, I’d better take full advantage of it. I made up my mind and decided to make for Battery Park and the statue of liberty. As I took the elevator to the lobby, I found myself hoping that I didn’t bump into any of my colleagues on the way out. I walked through the lobby, and paused at the escalators that would put me back on the conference floor. “I should just run down for a few minutes,” I thought, “Make and effort, make a show of being there, maybe help someone out…” I hesitated, and then turned and strolled out towards the subway.

… was a long day. We visited the Statue of Liberty, the Columbia University in NYC (an ivy league member) and afterwards went to a Jazz Club, the Blue Note. It is called (within the guide and our humble brains in several TV shows) the best Jazz club in the Jazz capitol of the World, NYC. It was a great show. Unfortunately we had no seats so we have to stand two hours after a long day on our feets.

And of course we’re going to be doing all stuff everybody does; Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, get mugged, etc. I’m pretty excited. I’ll have sketches to post when I get back.

After we’d eaten we headed down to the Statten Island ferry to meet up with Amelie and Olly. Was really great to see them again… after seeing them a few weeks ago in Auckland. We all headed on the ferry over to Statten Island and back in order to get a good view of the Statue of Liberty. After we’d done that we headed to see Ground Zero… not a nice experience but certainly one worth seeing. I was totally amazed by the shear size of it. In the early afternoon after having lunch at Wendys we headed to the UN building for a tour around there. Very interesting and adding a bit of education to the day ;-) We are now all going to head out for our tea before heading up the Empire State building for a view of the city from up there! The weather here has been so hot all day that it was quite refreshing to come out of our UN tour to a little bit of rain. That quickly turned into a thunder and lightening show so we’ve taken shelter in here…. its now finished so we can go and eat ;-)

NEW YORK - Joel Casamayor didn't want to see the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building or the World Trade Center on his first trip to New York shortly after defecting to the United States from Cuba in 1996. … he told his new promoters - Team Freedom's Leon Margules, Roger Haber, and …