9/26/03 Tourists Mount the Bull on B'way; Peter Fixes my Computers; Peter and I go to Joe's Ginger... same soup dumplings, different location:

I went to the post office this morning. It's on Broadway about 2 blocks from Broadway's southern terminus. In fact, it is right here that Broadway actually splits in two, one lane going on either side of Bowling Green Park, the oldest public space in Manhattan. This creates a triangle just north of the park in which there stands a statue... of a bull. The symbolism here is of a "bull market," which is a good thing. When the stock market goes up, it's called a Bull Market. When it goes down they call it a "bear market." There are no statues of bears anywhere near the financial district, as you can imagine. We're only about 4 blocks south of Wall St. here. Wall street gets its name because it was the site of a wall protecting the northern border of New Amsterdam from the wilderness and Native Americans on the rest of Manhattan Island. The wall was torn down in 1699 as the city expanded northwards from here, but the name of the street that ran alongside the wall remains as the home of our New York Stock Exchange. Anyway...

It is without fail that every single time I go to the post office, there are tourists getting their photo taken with this statue. They find it here and it apparently appeals to them. Perhaps it's the symbolism of the market nearby. Perhaps it's the location at the foot of Broadway. Perhaps its the scenery that frames it... Bowling Green Park and the beautifully ornate U.S. Customs House building in the background. Maybe it's the sculpture itself... the movement and life that it seems to suggest. Maybe it's all of these reasons. No matter. You can count on seeing a fully grown adult being reduced to playground status, trying to climb aboard this hulking piece of metal to get a photo "riding" the bull. Every hour of every day. And I laugh every time. And this time, I took a picture. Another one makes the climb.

Peter came over today with the original plan of coming shopping with me. It's no secret that I need help with my wardrobe, if you can call it that. I don't even own a pair of brown and a pair of black shoes, which is apparently a sin. And it has only been recently that I've had the kind of disposable income that I feel justifies getting down to the lower-tier priority of getting nice clothes. Of course, as I get older, that priority gets higher on the ladder, as I get more in tune to the connection between looking well dressed and attracting a significant other, etc. The difficulty arises in trying to maintain a sense of my individuality in my "look." So, it is a slow process. And Peter is far better dressed, and has put in far more thought than I have over the years about what to wear. So he came over to be my personal "queer-eye." But, my computer stopped working just before he arrived, and we spent the afternoon hours working on that together instead. It certainly was cheaper, and more productive, at least for me. So much of my videography business, being entirely digital, is dependent on computers, that without Peter's help over the years, what I do now would not have been possible. It felt like the old days when Peter and I shared a single computer for my editing and his futzing. We fought a lot over who would get to use it when, but we also worked together a great deal, and for that I have always been grateful. If anyone ever has a problem with their computer, Peter's the man to have on your side.

Here's Peter fixing a metrocard vending machine! Amazing!!! Just kidding. We got on the subway to get some Chinese food in Chinatown.

We went to Joe's Ginger on Mott Street. If this sounds like a variation on "Joe's Shanghai," our bi-weekly standard, it should. It's owned by the same people, but it's about 6 blocks north of the Pell Street location. The food is supposed to be very similar, and the famous dumplings with soup inside are exactly the same. Most dishes are a few bucks cheaper than the Shanghai location as, I suppose, they try to get people to come to this new location.

Peter enjoying a soup dumpling.

Me, in need of a shave. The decor is sparse, and its a bit brighter inside. It was almost empty when we were there, but we were early for dinner. People filtered in as the evening went on. It did lack some of the overcrowded charm of Joe's Shanghai. And I couldn't get my favorite dish, "Chicken Hoisen" which is something that Joe's Shanghai makes for me even though it's not on the menu. These folks just looked at me funny and made me get something else.

When eating soup dumplings, it's very easy to make a total mess. After 6 (of 8) dumplings each, Peter's bowl on the left, mine on the right. Getting all the soup in the soup spoon is very difficult and can be a fun challenge at the table... if you're bored. :) I may not be as well dressed as Peter, but I can eat a neat dumpling!

What's this? Something different from Joe's Shanghai. Over there, with the check, you are served slices of orange, usually very juicy and sweet. Here, in its stead, a gelatinous goop, mostly white, a little orange, in a goopy sauce. Lighter than tofu, and less tasty than jello, it was kind of a fun consistency. It was a little sweet, just enough.

And then, to my surprise, we got oranges anyway. So apparently the gelatinous goop is an added bonus to this location.

Hard to photograph. Harder to look at. Easy to slurp. Fun to eat.

Good times... but... overall, we'll still be going to Joe's Shanghai. Perhaps if we know we're going to be trying Joe's Shanghai during a serious peak time, and we don't want to wait, we can come here. It's a 10 minute walk (15 with a group) from one to the other.

Good times. Same wardrobe, for now.