New York: ex-lover, tomorrow’s destination

Headed out to New York tomorrow for the Greener Gadgets Conference, which I expect should be really enlightening. As usual, not staying nearly long enough to fall back in love — but I’ll definitely be around more than long enough to remember how freezing cold it gets.

It’s fortuitous timing, though, because that during my last visit in November I was profiled by On The Inside, which just went live this month. It’s probably way more detail than anyone really wants about me and my relationship with The City (still, thanks Thomas!), but the idea is to get a window into one’s relationship with New York through the recommendation of some off the beaten track spots. Some of mine that made it in are: Barcade, Otafuku, the MoMA Design Store, and May Wah.

Me and This Filthy Life

Wow, there I am with my pal Michi (well, her eyes anyway) in a John Waters movie afterall, laughing at jokes about John’s gold Comme des Garçons boots. Damn, good eye Sam Moody! If you do get a chance to check out This Filthy Life, I definitely do recommend it. I forgot how good it is!

I was in a John Waters movie?

Last winter when I was still living in New York some pals and I went to go see John Waters, of all people, perform a life standup act in the Lower East Side. I wouldn’t exactly call it a who’s who of celebs, freaks, and weirdos, but besides the man himself, Jeff Garlin (a fave of mine from Curb Your Enthusiasm) definitely made his presence known. Naturally I had to head straight to the front of the theater. No one really told us why, but the audience was filmed; today I come to find out that the footage went into the Garlin-directed John Waters documentary which shares the name of that show: This Filthy World. A reader of this blog, Sam Moody, apparently spotted me and emailed. Now it all comes together — no wonder they enforced a dress code and asked us to exaggerate our laughter. And now I’m immortalized (kind of) in a Garlin / Waters flick. Could this be the best day ever?

Heavy

I’m just posting this to officially say I’m not blogging here about James Kim — I’d rather be useful and reach Engadget’s audience with that. Needless to say, this has been a pretty shaken-up week.

But as if that horrible situation wasn’t enough, then BenQ touched the 9/11-nerve today. I wrote a possibly too-personal rant (perhaps because I lived in Manhattan on 9/11), which I’m glad I turned over to Pete. His much more metered and silver-tongued writeup can be found here. Needless to say, I’m ready for this week to be over.

Back to SF, now #1 on Technorati

Yeah, when gloating it’s probably better never than late, but even though it’s been a couple days since we hit #1 on Technorati I’m still glowing a bit. I can’t help myself. Engadget’s just become such an unbelievable brand, and it never ceases to amaze me how well people seem to connect with what we’re doing. Anyway, to anyone who’s ever linked to us, supported us, even visited the site, thanks and thanks again.

New York was plenty fun, albeit busy busy with meetings (and moving my things out of my old apartment — thanks AOL!). It was very disorienting being back — especially after so many years of going east to west — but so wonderful seeing the crew again. It’s amazing how familial this company is, how tight knit and close, totally unlike anything I’ve ever been a part of. And, of course, seeing Pete and Jill was especially great. She was even kind enough to take a few shots of Pete and I for iTunes; a little more finessing and I have a feeling I can get ‘em to return to SF.

Back in NY

Well, that wasn’t long. So I’m back in New York for the week to meet up with some peeps, move my things out of my former residence, spend some QT with the Weblogs, Inc. and AOL crew, and try to catch up a little on the last couple of months I’ve missed out here. Then from here I’m out Saturday evening to SoCal for family biz, then back home to SF Sunday. Give me a holla if you’re around!

Bye NY

Well, I guess this is it. I’m at JFK with Devo — we’re about to get on a plane to San Francisco, who knows when we’ll be back. My last five years here have been a whirlwind, absolutely amazing. I got here in early 2001 with $400 to my name, no job, a handful of friends, and not the faintest idea of how I was going to make it. New York has left an indelible impression on me, there’s no doubt about it; while I could wax poetic about this city’s stark, rough urban beauty and its austere historical mystique, there’s no need. What I’ll miss most is all my absolutely wonderful friends (some of whom took me for one last trip to the Lemon Ice King of Corona last night — see my photostream). It’s not goodbye though, it’s see you real soon.

Going away party Friday!

I am sincerely humbled that my pals Michi and Emily are throwing me a going away party this Friday, and additionally humbled by the awesome invite Michi made (number and address erased to protect the innocent!). How wonderful are they? Anywho, shoot me an email or something if you’re gonna try and make it, I’ll get you in touch with the event’s fantabulous coordinators.

Moving to SF

Man, it’s been a few weeks, hasn’t it? Well, they’ve been busy. E3 was crazy, hellish, and fun; somehow Paul, Joystiq, and I all managed to make it out alive, which is a real bonus consider the fact that for a few nights there I thought I might keel over from exhaustion. Interviewing Shigeru Miyamoto was absolutely wonderful — totally got to tick that one off from my 100 things to do before I die list. Afterward V and I drove up to NorCal; a week after I came back, Engadget’s Senior Editor and my good friend Marc Perton made his planned departure to his awesome new job (though I see he hasn’t yet written about it on his blog, so I won’t spoil the surprise as to where that is). We’ve also brought on a bunch of amazing new writers in the great summer blogger hunt of ‘06 (whose names you’ll be seeing a lot more of on Engadget in the coming weeks). So yeah, things have been busy around the office.

See, I told you lots of crazy stuff was going down at work; at home, too. Yes, the rumors are true, I’m moving my ass out to San Francisco. Why? No, it’s not some Web 2.0 renaissance thing; chalk it up to five long years (and a few days) spent in New York, the coming deadly humid global-warming-enhanced summer, the certain charms of a particular lady, and the ever constant pressure from the fam to move closer to home (that’d be SoCal). I may yet come back to the Big Apple, we’ll see, but I’ve been wanting to get out of New York for the past couple of years now, so it seems like it’s time. And yes, I’ll still be the Managing Editor of Engadget. Date: June 16th. See you on the west side! I’ll miss you New York, and New York peeps!

Low tech

Living in New York, you’re essentially obligated to give up on certain creature comforts and niceties: space, cheap rent, and often times household appliances (see: space, cheap rent). In the last five years I’ve lived in this city I’ve never had a washer/dryer (not even in my building), nor have the counter space in my “kitchens” for a microwave, nor a dishwasher. I never knew what I was missing until I was at Veronica’s apartment and she stopped me from reflexively doing the dishes by hand and taught me how to use a dishwasher. Imagine that, me, as entrenched in technology as anyone can possibly get, and New York’s forced wonderment and surprise by the concept of putting dishes in a closet and taking them out steamy-clean an hour later. Oh, and I just got a microwave. Take that, New York.