Let's go to Mike in Brazil

We have our Rio de Janiero Bureau Chief, MikeElliott, on the line. Mike can you tell us what the situation is down there? Can we expect to see you alive upon return?

Blackout

I was at home when the power went out. I thought I caused it as we had just finished painting the kitchen the day before and I had put in some new power outlets. Then I called my coworker Terry in Long Island who said his power was also out. I called our client in Toronto, Dylan, and his power was also out. That's when I figured it wasn't my fault.

Arielle and I left the building and headed out to the East Village to check out the scene. Lots of people on the streets drinking and having a jolly good time. Tompkins Square park was packed with garbage cans lit on fire. When we came back we realized we didn't have any water. We spent that night and the next day dirty and thirsty.

Got a few pictures of the saga here.

Philly

Just put up some pictures of the trip to Philly last weekend including a partial viewing of Ween and a visit to the Eastern State Penitentiary which was a nice excursion.

What the Dickens?

I was listening to Shpongle today and did a Google on one of its components, Raja Ram. One of the results was a page hawking a compilation of his. The copy read:

Meow

Boo wanted a quick word with Terry:

Fine Dining

A couple weeks ago, Arielle and I went over to her boss' apartment. She gave Arielle a bike and I spent 5 minutes fixing her computer. In return she gave us her corporate credit card to get a shmance meal. We picked Patria on Park Ave. South because I always used to pass it when I lived up that way with Eric and I'd heard good things about it from a couple people.

The appetizers and deserts were pretty amazing but the main courses weren't anything really special. For one thing they were tiny, just marginally larger than the appetizers. Give me a goddamn meal! The service on the other was spot on, what.

We went to get a video at Kim's and ended up with Twin Falls Idaho upon a "recommendation" of sorts from the girl at the counter, "I wouldn't say it was good, but you should see it anyway." Now that I've seen it I wouldn't say, "it was good" and I definitely wouldn't say, "see it anyway". Then again I don't work at Kim's Video.

iSight

I got one of these cameras last week and have been using it to do video conferencing for work since we're spread across NYC, Long Island, and Norway. Despite it being a little awkward, video conferencing improves our communication impressively. With just audio you're not sure whether you have the full attention of the person you're talking to or not. With both audio and video that isn't a problem.

Here's a screenshot of Terry and I talking: