alex.polvi.net

In a stint of creativity and angst, I created this last night: http://socialrecession.com/

In other news, I realized last night that I can go from idea to product in less then 4 hours… this includes registering the domain, setting up the webserver, mail, graphics, copy, and the actual HTML. The barrier to entry on the Internet is very low.

There is just so much to do!

This week has been no exception. I got the opportunity to meet up with my Aunt Margaret and see the Hambletonian.

George Forman was there too

The Hambletonian is the most prestigious harness horse race in the country. Aunty M was traveling with a friend who was the mother of the favorite driver, Brian Sears. While he did not win the big race ($1.5mil pot!), he won another very prestigious race. We got to go in the winners circle!

they are taking a photo of us!

It was a very unique experience!

Things got even unique’r when Apple decided to use its SoHo store as a venue. Dri and I saw “The working title” (a name which I think is hilarious).

work’n the $1 horn

Then just to top off the night, Dri, Eric, Chris, Adam, and I all went to a crazy roof-top on 5th ave.

Chris, he has a sweet accent

This is the largest single unit of beverage I have seen.

folks, yes, that’s a liter

I am holding it up like that so you can compare it to the size of my head.

The next big thing was McCarren Pool, Bloc Party’s venue.

that’s a big pool

Blurry photo time!!!

Bloc Party’s Kele Okereke

It was a little warm… but still a good time.

… as the bright red text reads on my drivers license.

The theme of this post is tradition.

Coney Island
What is the most traditional place in the world to celebrate a birthday!? A theme park, of course! A group of folks including Kim (Brandon), Rux (fellow intern), John (my host), Suzanne (co-worker) and some of her friends came along to the Siren Music Festival at Coney Island. I did not intend to go to a theme park for my birthday, it was just a venue, but it worked out.

Coney Island is known for it’s hot dogs and amusement rides (among other things). So, we made sure to check that stuff out.

Whee, I’m getting spun around and shot in the face with water! Ahh..

Ruxandra on top of the Wonder Wheel… we call her T-Rux for a reason.

Kim eating light/healthy at Nathan’s Famous (hotdogs)

Post-minor activities
Suzanne and I had a good conversation last night. She asked if I was excited about turning 21 in the city. See, I’m the sort of person that wants to experience all those traditional things. For that reason I really wanted to make sure I had a good time on my 21er. I ended up taking the option for the summer that put me in a completely new place, with zero friends, with no idea how I would celebrate. NYC complements all of that with an EXTREMELY robust nightlife.

Anyway, it worked out. The pictures can talk.

The wild Kimbo randomly decided to join the festivities. It was great to have such a close friend there!!

Steven and Eric enjoying fancy Belgium beer at a quiet bar (whispering only!! seriously!)

John, my host, and I seem to get along

Cake!
I live 3 blocks away from a cupcake store! A cupcake store!! They have those!!! For that reason I had a cupcake with Kim before she took off.

Mmmm

It tasted amazing!!!

Closing notes
I sort of feel like this is the last birthday that is worth noting. Not that I plan on passing away or anything, but the birthday era (0-21) of my life was satisfying. I’m sure I’ll have some awesome times in the future… after all, in theory I’ll be 21 most of my life.

Things always work out. One thing I was wondering about was what I going to do the actual night of the 16th. Well, it turns out that Steve’s parents are in town and want to take Eric and I out for dinner! Woohooo, I even get a birthday dinner! What more could I ask for?

Scavenger Hunt

The past two days have been nuts!! It all started yesterday (Thursday) around 1:30pm. Google arranged a “scavenger hunt” for interns. We got into teams and bounced around the city. We started at Bryant Park, moved to Grand Central, then wrapped things up at Rockefeller Center. Our team ended up getting 3rd (out of 8), not too shabby!

Ozomatli

Andriana and I decided it would be a great idea to join the Salsoogers (salsa dancing googlers, I made that up) for the Ozomatli concert.

This is a latin/hip-hop group that I had never heard of. The concert was pretty good, but it went FREAKING CRAZY when they got off the stage and played in the audience. First it was like, “OK, this is cool — they are walking through out the audience.” But then they stopped… RIGHT IN FRONT OF US.

No zoom, I was literally right under him

Then they made the entire crowd sit down!!

Everyone is sitting, that is why the girl in red is so tall

Danced hard, rocked hard. Wow. That was a good concert.

The rest of Thursday evening
We tried to meet up with some different co-workers for metal/punk-rock karaoke… but I got carded and they actually did the math correctly. The conversation went something like:

Bouncer: Holding my id “What day is it?”
Me: “…”
Bouncer: Looks at sheet
Andriana: “Comon, it’s like in 2 days”
Bouncer: “The police don’t care”

No worries, this will not be a problem in about 24 hours.

So then we went to an awesome Japanese restaurant instead! I taught the waiter how to say “vanilla”. After that Andriana and I wandered around the city and had a fantastic time just chilling out!

That was just yesterday

Today I finished up my first project at work, then headed out for the ops off site. We went to this neat restaurant near the river. The place was nice, but the food left a lot to be desired. It was located conveniently at the other end of 79th (where I live), so I was able to just walk home.

Tomorrow is the Siren Music Festival. The most exciting part is that Kim will be joining us!!!!

I’m sure there will be plenty of photos and stories from this weekend! Stay tuned!

Did I mention I’m having a lot of fun!?!?

Went to an Armin Van Buuren concert. It was outside, but covered, under the Brooklyn Bridge! nuts!! It was funny to see all the people with “Armin” shirts on… I didn’t realize he had such a following. We were talking to this one guy that had gotten up at 3am the morning before to so he could make it to the show. That’s dedication!!

Too bad I forgot my camera… However, this weekend I will not be forgetting my camera! As this weekend is my 21st birthday. Not only is it my birthday, it happens that there are 4 21ers happening this week. I’m putting together a bar crawl for Saturday night… should be crazy! Stay posted for more details.

Anyway, not much else to report. Sorry if this post let you down.

Steve took Eric and I to a Panic! at the disco concert last night. I had not heard of this artist, but since Steven goes to Yale I thought I would trust his taste.

The music turned out to be pretty rock’n. By far the most exciting part was when they covered “Tonight, Tonight” by the Smashing pumpkins. The whole time I was getting a “we’re trying really hard to be an Adore era pumpkins knock off with a poppy twist that will make the teenies love us” sort of vibe. They did a good job of it. In particular, they had the gothic clown style make-up and sideshow thing going on. My guess is they figured most of the people in the audience were not familiar with the pumpkins. They were probably right.

A few notable things happened.

1) The Dresden Dolls played. They also had a dark poppy gothic feel. This makes me wonder if this sort of music is becoming mainstream again. If so, Billy better get crack’n on his next release!

2) I met a celebrity. She thought I was in high school and I thought she was 16, turned out to be some good laughs. I ended up carding her for proof — and yep — she was of age. Then she told me she had a VIP pass… I had never seen a VIP pass before, so I asked to see that too. Yep, she was VIP! Then she told me she was a geek and I didn’t believe her there either… but then she pulled out her video camera. Yep, she was a geek too. Look at her website for more proof.

3) The venue was below MTV. This also explains the teenie bopper theme. $3 to check a coat!

Anyway, that was fun. Show was over by 10:30pm — I’m sure so everyone could make their curfew.

This weekend I’m planning on seeing We are Scientists, Jose Gonzalez, and Belle and Sebastian (it’s a long weekend). Gooooooood times. I <3 NYC.

Went by the apple store with Amid and Aaron… pretty sweet.

Aaron was wondering how they would fill a store with so few products. However, when we arrived he quickly realized, “Oh, they just put a lot of the same product out!” He was correct. Lots and lots of ipods.

On the walk home I tried to take a photo of some fireflies. They were not as clear as I wanted, but the photo turned out to be pretty interesting.

Look for the tiny neon green dots

And finally, there was a Google field trip for interns to see a Yankees game.

We lost, oh well. It was cool place to eat a hot dog and some crackerjacks, if nothing else.

Still having lots of fun!!

Today started about 72 hours ago.

Steve, Eric, and I decided it would be a good idea to go to a night club. So we did.

Steve and Eric

Markus Schulz

the crowd

Turns out that the featured DJ in a club comes on around 3am. Lesson learned! I ended getting home around 5am that morning…

Promptly at 10am the same morning I woke up and headed to the cloisters with some other Googlers. The museum was pieced together using chunks old castles and cathedrals, mostly coming from Spain. The stained glass was my favorite.

Wrapping up Saturday we went to one of the co-workers house to lunch. I got a rare glimpse of Gramercy Park, one of the last private parks in Manhattan. Only residents near the park can have a key which costs a few hundred dollars each year to keep! It’s like a country club for city people!

Today was the first Summer Stage, in central park, I was able to attend. The featured artist was Feist.

Along with Feist I saw Buck 65. That guy was weird! Which was very entertaining!

Central Park rules. While it does still feel completely fabricated compared to back home, it is a little reminder of the corn town.

That’s about it for this weekend. Next planned event it a Yankees game Tuesday. Time to walk home!

When I walk into work, I see this:

swirly!

Then when I have lunch on the balcony I see this:

note the “who”

Then when I go out and see Martha Wainwright she looks like this:

She was a lot clearer when I saw her

Then when I see Gomez my view is this:

Well, that’s an arm… but it says “Gomez”

Ah, armless, there’s our guys

Then when I take the subway home it looks like this:

This one is way nicer and has a lot fewer people than the one I actually ride home

That was yesterday… today I took salsa dancing lessons with some co-workers and went out to a bar/restaurant to test out my skillz! The girl I asked to dance just made things really awkward (more so then me, even!) so I lost all confidence and just people watched for an hour or so.

Tomorrow is a Markus Schulz concert — this will be my first live trance experience. I’ll take my camera!