All posts by johncohn

Sundayish evening – Salaam from Abu Dhabi

February 5, 2012 johncohn 1 Comment

Greetings from the spotless floors of Abu Dhabi Airport.

The flight over was good !.. We went up over Greenland and Iceland then down through Russia, Turkey then down through the Gulf. The plane was packed.. but brand new.. Edihad Airlines.. never flown them.. but I recommend them now.

I had the good fortune to sit next to a really nice guy.. Chandarsan.. He’s a research microbiologist at Columbia . Before that he was an expert in Brewing. He’s worked all over the wheel. In his native Sri lanka in Belgium, Japan , New Zealand, New Orleans, New Jersey and New York.. (Always looking for soemthing ‘New’ he says with a smile).

His early work was on the science of brewing. His PhD thesis on Belgium Lambic beers is cited in many brew books include. Michael Jackson’s (not THAT michael Jackson !) Bible of Home Brewing which I have somewhere. We spent many hours talking about microflora of various beers.. It made the miles melt by..

But what’s most cool is that his daughter, Sonali goes to the University of Vermont.. Small planet.

What time I didn’d spend talkign to my seat mate or sleeping (> 6 hours !).. I spent listening to someone readoing Qurran on the airplane in seat sound system and watching ‘Breakfast at Tiffanys’.

I knew the movie (and that stupid song about it).. but I’ve never gotten around to watching it.. until tonight .. It was great and charming and stupid in the same way the Maryln Monroe movies that Chris was showing last (?) night at his event. So much to catch up on in the world, no ?

Now I’m just waiting for my plane to bangalore..in the Airport transit lounge. The place is beautiful, gleamingly clean and full of beutiful people window showing for beautiful things at places like Bulgary , Gevinchy. Burburry.. This must be the wealthiest Airport in the world. I’ve never been to Abu Dhabi or anywhere else in the UAE.. but I’d like to see it. On the way here they were showing videos that made the place seem like paradise.

I tried finding the lesat commercial spot to place a Samstone. The place I found was a Red C resent Donation box. I made a donation then placed the stone behind it. Welcome to UAE Sam..

OK.. I need to get up and walk a bit before my flight.. More form the road later..

nite all, nite sam

-me

ps. Max sent me some pictures of his latest project.. It’s a giant rear projection conformal mask.It’s a prop he’s building for a NYC bar. . Check it out ! Cool.eh ?

Saturday evening – Traveling

February 4, 2012 johncohn Leave a comment

Greetings from JFK airport. I’m off to a week in India. Excited about the trip because I’ll see so many friends. India is one of my favorite places to visit. it’s so alive and crazy and overpowering.. colors, smells, languages.. I love it. I just saw that its going to be 90 degrees there later in the week. Not looking forward to that.. but overall hope it’s fun.
Hmm.. not really much to report today. Hard to top yesterdays opportunity to dress up like Marilyn Monroe. I’m sitting at an airport restaurant awaiting a flight to Abu Dhabi . I’m watching CNN flicker on the TV set here.. without the sound it looks ridiculous,. They have been talking about the Nevada Republican caucus for the 45 minutes I’ve been here.. and have apparently stretched that 30 seconds of mildly interesting news into nearly an hour of repeating shots, talking heads and non-statistics. i can only imagine what it’s like with sound. making me pretty glad we don’t have TV at home.
hey looks like we’re about to board… more from Abu Dhabi

nite all, nite sam
-me

Friday night – The Monroe Doctrine

February 4, 2012 johncohn Leave a comment

You know, somethings are just too hard to explain.. but I’ll try. Tonight our good friend Chris put on his ‘Monroe Doctrine’ project.. Unlike the first Monroe Doctrine.. this was not a piece of stuffy legislation designed to prevent acts of colonization on US shores.. This was much simpler. Chris invited all of his friends to come up and dressed up like Marlyn Monroe, stand in Chris’s steam punk shower.. and try to hold your dress down as a huge gust of air tries to lift it as in this well know scene in the movie ‘Some like it hot’

All while Chris’s friend Matt took pictures and Gabe toke time lapse and video..

OK.. i told you it was hard to explain… but that what we did.. I’m guessing about 30 of us showed up to show off our legs.. Girls, guy.. all were invited.. and.. let me just say.. it wasn’t pretty .. But man, was it fun

Why did we do it ? I don’t know.. maybe it’s because Chris is a genius.. or because we’re all nuts.. or both.
I guess the real question is.. why didn’t we do it before ?

nite all, nite sam
-me

Thursday night – Trivia

February 3, 2012 johncohn Leave a comment

Some days you just have to to take a break. Today was insanely busy.. and I have lots to get done before my next trip.. but I had made a plan to go meet friends for trivia night down at Nectors.. and I couldn’t really blow it off.. so I closed my laptop around 6pm and head downtown. It was a fun mix of people. My buddy Tim, my friend John from work, Marie, Brit and a whole bunch of her friends. I hadn’t been in Nectors in years.. though I first remember going there in 1978 (*gasp*). The place was packed and full of folks I knew. Unfortunately, the home team advantage didn’t work to our advantage We ended up sucking (somewhat) in trivia. we landed somewhere in the top third but it was so much fun.

Answer ‘Perrier’

After getting thrashed at trivia, I corralled the group down to Burlington Center Park to see my friends Kat and Liggy’s installation. Kat had welded these cushy looking .. but far-from-cushy living room set out of steel. It was so cozy looking.. if not feeling. Liggy had done the lighting.