Hm, this week turned out to be a bit more meetingful than I had originally thought it would be:

I really need a 8 or 10 day work week to get everything I need done, done.

Satisfying a Bagel Craving in Beijing – City Room – Metro – New York Times Blog
An interesting thing is how Ms. Chen’s staff chooses to eat them. It is not obvious to them that bagels should be limited to being cut in half and spread with cream cheese or butter.

Ms. Chen says the workers will slice up the bagels into little strips and stir-fry them in a way similar to noodles. “They would slice it and slice it again,” she said. The bagel’s chewiness allows it to absorb flavor without becoming too soggy. “They tried it and it was very good, stir fried with cabbage and sometimes bean sprouts.”

Well that’s certainly interesting…

One of my favorite “jokes” is I like to tell people that I’d like to move back home eventually – where it is cheaper. Inevitably, the other person will ask “Where is home?”. Then when I say “New York”, the other person’s face will scrunch up in disbelief and confusion – as I just said that I ride a unicorn on a rainbow road to work.

This actually happened a few times over the weekend when I met with my classmates at orientation for Haas.

Today’s house price data confirms that I’m not making this up:

Home prices have fallen 7.6% over the past 12 months – Aug. 14, 2008
The most expensive metro area in the nation is San Jose, where a median priced home cost $755,000, off 12.7% from 12 months ago. The second most expensive area is San Francisco, where homes sold for a median of $684,900, down 19.1%. Honolulu was third, with a median price of $636,000, down 4.4%.

A big part of the confusion is that most people only think of Manhattan when they hear “New York”. But there’s more to NY than just Manhattan. (Unless you live in Manhattan I suppose!)

A few weeks ago we visited Independence Hall in Philadelphia. Thing sure have changed since I was last there in 5th grade!

First, you will need tickets to visit Independence Hall. You can book them in advance for a $1.50 charge at the website. I strongly recommend this. Note that tickets are for specific times.

Once you get there, you need to pick up your tickets from the visitor center which is a block away. It’s a bit of a schlep. You could reserve tickets the day of, but they get snapped up super fast apparently.

There’s a security screening area for independence hall, and they are pretty thorough about manually searching your bags. There’s a sign that says that you must have a ticket to visit the Hall, which is true, but it does not mean you must have a ticket to go past the security checkpoint.

This is an important distinction because it means that if you don’t have a ticket, or if you have a ticket for a tour at a later time, you still have a shot at going on an earlier tour. Just go through the checkpoint, and nicely ask the park ranger who manages the line if (s)he has any spare tickets, or if you could go on standby for an earlier tour. Sometimes people who tickets don’t appear for their tour, and there will be space for you. It depends on your party size, and how much luck you have.

Also, note that there are no tickets necessary for seeing the Liberty Bell.

The Urge to Merge – Making it in the Battle for a Lane – NYTimes.com
ONE AFTERNOON A FEW WEEKS AGO, Sam Morgan took me out to the Caldecott in his California Highway Patrol black-and-white, a big sedan that Morgan pulled to the shoulder so we could watch the lineupper-sidezoomer minuet from a neutral vantage point. I figured it would take a seriously dumb person to do something offensive with Morgan sitting right there, but lo, here came the exit-only-lane zoomers, gunning it past the lineup and then cutting in. Red Dodge pickup. Black Camaro. Blue Prius — great, Mr. Environmentally Superior, you have the personal-sacrifice thing down big time — white Toyota. Morgan watched them, alert but calm. “No violation here,” he said.

Morgan resembles John Wayne, except African-American and in a CHP uniform. Every time I tried to prod him into moral pronouncements about fairness, he assumed a serene Buddha face and reminded me that his job was to enforce the law. It is legal to use the exit-only lane for sidezooming — in California, at least — as long you do your cut-in before the lane line turns solid meaning no more lane-changing permitted near the end. It is legal to frontage-road sidezoom, as long as you observe the stop sign along the way. It is legal to be a full-on lineupper vigilante, for that matter, since you are “established” and therefore have priority in your lane, as long as your refusal to let a sidezoomer in doesn’t rise to the level of unlawfully unsafe driving.

And now you know.

A few weeks ago we had the fortune of getting tickets to attend tapings of Late Show with David Letterman and Late Night with Conan O’Brien. I think this is my 4th taping of Letterman to date, but my first at O’Brien. As a result, I finally had a basis for comparison. Here are some notes and observations.

Letterman:

• We showed up at the theater at a bit before 2:30pm to pickup tickets (which is when they asked us to be there). There was already a long line. They asked us what our favorite bits were. In general, it’s better to go earlier than later. (BTW, while you’re waiting in line, look up at some of the other buildings – one of them has an absurd billboard for a fictional “The Tony Mendez Show”. He’s the cue card guy for Letterman.)
• Tickets are generally handed out in a numbered, first come first serve basis – with exceptions.
• We received tickets with a sticker on it, which meant that we had to come back at an earlier time. We would then get seated in the first three rows. This is cool and uncool – it’s cool in that you’re closer, but it’s a bit uncool because there tends to be heaps of gear (boxes, cameras, people) obstructing your view.
• Some received tickets that had CBS handwritten on them. This meant that they would get the best seats in the house, with no obstructions. Unfortunately, this means you’re sitting in the balcony.
• They say there’s no bathroom, but there is. You just might not be able to access it. Fortunately, you can walk a few blocks south and use the bathrooms at the W Hotel or the without problems.
• Before they let you into the theater they give you a long spiel about how you should laugh at everything. How you should not go “awww” or “wooooo”. How you should laugh at everything. That you should have a lots of energy (especially if you’re in the first few rows). How you should laugh at everything. And, did I mention, how you should laugh at everything? At one point they even go so far as to say “This may sound like bullshit, but Dave saves his best stuff for his best audience.”
• Once they let you in, it is very orderly and they direct you to fill in each row.
• The Warm Up Guy comes out to explain how you should laugh at everything. How you should applaud. When you should roar. He also makes a few funny topical remarks and warms up a little.
• You watch clips of the time David Letterman worked at a Taco Bell’s drive through. Every taping I’ve been to, they’ve shown this. I remember seeing this bit when it first aired – I sure wish they would do remotes again. The Late Show always produced the funniest ones.
• The Warm Up Guy introduces the band as they come in. They then play (very enthusiastically) the same Green Day song I’ve heard them play before.
• 90 seconds before they go on air, Dave bounds out and makes some humorous topical remarks. Sometimes he asks if there are any questions, and if so he’ll provide a funny answer and then refer to it at the beginning of the show (which the home viewer will scratch their heads at.) This time, he made a remark about the air conditioning, and then at the beginning of the show he joked about threatening to turn it off. He also saw someone wearing a brand new Late Show t-shirt from the CBS store around the corner, and had a staffer reimburse her for it.
• Before the taping, during the taping, after the taping, Letterman is the confident king of his set. Before taping he takes a microphone and whacks it against the camera. Canon deserves props for building equipment that can survive the abuse he must dish out night after night. During the taping, David strolls around or stays at his desk, conversing (more like yelling – because the band is playing loudly) with others. It all looks very serious most of the time – probably borderline acrimonious. But when they come back from commercial, Dave is all smiles again – the home viewer doesn’t know a thing.
• At the end of the taping, Dave says goodbye, and people easily exit the theater and file out into the streets.
• The theater itself is very very very cold, pretty big (though smaller than you would expect) and you can really appreciate the construction of the set.

Conan:

• First, the process for getting tickets to Conan is a bit tricky. You pretty much have to call a few times per week to figure out when (and if) they are offering tickets for the time you will be there. If they are, you then, have to stay on the line until a human answers. You might have to try a few times as you may be routed to voicemail. That said, once you do get a ticket, they e-mail you a confirmation which is nice.
• With your printed e-mailed confirmation in hand, you are supposed to report to the mezzanine area where they will be handing out tickets. Finding this area was a little tricky. My suggestion: go to the NBC store through the front (near the ice skating rink) then exit through the rear into the office building. Look for the nearest set of stairs that will allow you to go up, and back towards the wall where the NBC store was – there you will be able to line up and redeem your e-mail for a ticket.
• Tickets are generally handed out in a letter, then numbered, first come first serve basis.
• You’re then suppose to meet in the lobby at a certain time. If you are there too early, guards will shoo you away. Don’t worry since you already have a number.
• Before they let you into the theater, they give you a simple speech on turning off your cell phones, and going through security. You then are marshaled through metal detectors while your bags are x-rayed, and then you take the NBC elevators up to the studio.
• You are led in small groups through the hallways to the studio. The seating is somewhat directed, but it’s a little more free for all than Letterman.
• You watch some past clips of Conan, and then the Warm Up guy comes out. (I suspect its always the same clips night after night). The Warm Up guy was pretty awesome and spent a lot of time with the audience. He was great and it was pretty damn funny. Truly fantastic. I’m pretty sure he’s a writer on the show, and actually on this particular taping, he was in a sketch. He asks the audience to laugh and applaud.
• The Warm Up Guy introduces the band as they come in, and they play some music very enthusiastically.
• Eventually Conan walks in and walks right up amongst the audience. He tells a few jokes, builds camaraderie with the audience. He spends much more time with the audience than Letterman does.
• During the taping, things are very different with Conan. During the commercial breaks, Conan barely talks to anyone, drinks a lot of water, walks around, disappears backstage or through a door. He looks somewhat nervous and jittery in my opinion. I read that in the first few months of his career, Conan was so nervous that they would have people mopping him down from sweat during the breaks, and that it was a result of his nervousness that they had to have Andy Richter. Clearly things have improved in the 15+ years since – but still – the difference compared to Letterman (who has been on TV since electricity was invented) was quite noticeable. Of course, once the breaks were over, it was all smiles and the home viewer wouldn’t have known the difference.
• After the taping, Conan sang a little bit to the tune they play during the credits, and then showed a segment they were going to air in the future where Conan visited a UPS facility in New Jersey. The entire cast and crew stood/sat around and watched.
• Leaving the studio took a while as people had to file through the hallways and wait for elevators.
• The studio itself is very tiny – the camera angles they use (invented by Letterman’s crew) really help making it appear larger than it really is. It’s a pretty nice set. It’s also somewhat cold, but not nearly as cold as Letterman’s.

Regardless, if you plan on going to New York, I would highly recommend that you try getting tickets to either of these two tapings. It’s worth the time even though they take a good chunk out of your day. Note that Conan is moving to LA in 2009, so you should probably go soon.