In the morning I took a quick tour of Yale, one of the more grand Ivy League universities.  One building of note was the almost windowless Skull and Bones Society building.  This is one of those stupid "secret" societies that is not really a secret at all.  But rather than simply getting each other out of parking tickets, this society supposedly runs the United States and therefore the world:  major decisions and backhanders are made here, before finding their way through legitimacy in Washington (or sometimes, in the case of the current president, he will push his will through without Congress, declaring himself above the law... doesn't that make him a tyrant?).  Anyway, myth or reality, the building was kinda creepy to look at.

I drove to New York City, over the rip-off Throgs Neck bridge to Long Island ("Lorrrn-Guy-land" and left my car in Port Washington where my ex-colleague Peter lives.  Peter did some contract work with JAS and when I resigned he and I spend a month working together to effect the handover.  Among other things, Peter now bears my old responsibilities at JAS.  I really enjoyed working with him, it was great to be able to bounce ideas off each other and to say, honestly, whether or not they are good ideas without fear of being branded a trouble-maker or non-line tower, and to have ideas taken seriously.  He is far a better "people person" than I.  He very kindly offered to host me when I was in NYC and I gladly accepted.  He'll not be back from JAS til tomorrow so I took the train to NYC and am staying in the heart of Manhattan in a brushed-aluminium hostel, the Chelsea Star. 

Wow, this city is big.  One hundred plus streets hatched by 10 or so avenues makes around 10,000 blocks, all of them (from what I have seen so far) filled with skyscrapers and millions of people.  Just looking down 7th Ave past Madison Square Garden as I ascended from Penn(sylvania) Station made me stare.  The city seems endless, far bigger than (flat) Los Angeles or (small) Boston.   I can't wait for my first "hey, fuck you" from an impatient native.

I am about to go out for dinner.  New York pizza calls, I think.  How you doin'?