We were blessed with sunny skies and a tolerable temperature yesterday, so Rob and I walked from my apartment (at 2nd and 79th), through the park (past the boathouse and the fountain) where I took some photos, to 5th Avenue to do some shopping, and then to Times Square to have dinner and see Altar Boyz. It was a lot of walking.

The show was excellent. I highly recommend it. It’s about a Catholic boy band. It’s very funny.

The park was also excellent. I highly recommend it. It’s about trees and stuff. It’s very pretty.

My first thoughts about the new Star Wars Episode III trailer:

1. They should have chosen better actors to play Amidala and Anakin. Normally Natalie Portman isn’t bad, but I think the problem is that we know she’s Natalie Portman. They should have chosen someone not so famous. And as for Hayden Christensen… he reminds me a little bit of Keanu Reeves. A little too much intensity without much believability.

2. At the end of the trailer, they shouldn’t have used the same music that’s at the end of “Star Tours.” Bad, bad move.

Still, I’m really psyched to see the movie. Ever since I saw the original movies, I wanted to know “what happened before that?” And it’s wonderful to finally see it happen.

“Where do you work?” she asked me, as we lunched with our mutual friend.

“There,” I replied, indicating the huge office building across the street.

She looked quizzically at the quaint dry cleaners at street level, trying to determine why I would work there.

“Not the cleaners. Behind that.”

Last night’s commute home was horrible. After losing the Avenue Q lottery, I ended up on a bus that got stuck in the ice three times (once in the middle of an intersection, blocking all traffic for ten minutes). It took about two hours to get home. It was better than walking, though; people outside were grabbing onto the sides of buildings, trees, poles, etc. to keep from being blown over by the wind.

Today I decided to add my photos of The Gates to the Gates Memory project (introduced here). Hopefully they don’t mind dissension in the ranks.

I finally decided to contribute to Jason Kottke‘s web site today. I’m intrigued by his idea of being supported by his readers, like public television, and I want to see where this goes. More importantly, though, I want a shot at winning a free gift.

Sure enough, although it was, at its height, 63 degrees yesterday afternoon, today it’s snowing profusely.

It’s a very pretty snowstorm though, provided you’re looking at it through a window instead of standing in it. No snowstorm is pretty when you’re standing in it. It’s difficult to notice beauty when you’re being pelted in the eyes with it.

It’s currently 63 degrees outside, which is phenomenally warm for winter in New York.

I was able to sit outside at Starbucks today and enjoy the nice weather, and I’m really glad I did since this is apparently the warmest high temperature we’re going to get–by about 20 degrees–for the rest of the month. It’ll go back to being in the 40’s (with lows in the 20’s) by tomorrow.

Oh well. It was nice to have a preview of spring to remind me that it can actually be pleasant here.

Chelsey and I happened to stop by the Loews State movie theater (inside the Virgin Megastore in Times Square) last night, and we discovered that it has an ongoing Times Square Centennial Film Festival on Monday nights.

Tonight they’re showing Fame and Midnight Cowboy. And as an added bonus, you can “come in costume or in drag and get free admission!” How sweet is that?

There’s a very large building across the street, two blocks up, with scaffolding all over its facade. Quite often when I glance out the window, I see a large bucket floating upward in front of the building. I can’t see any wires or cables from here, so it just seems to levitate. I like it.

To be honest, I’m pretty sure Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper tastes exactly like normal Dr. Pepper. Actually, I think I taste a hint of the cherry flavor. But really it tastes overwhelmingly similar to Dr. Pepper. I’m not impressed, but also not surprised.

I was just thinking: Since “stewardesses” is the longest word that can be typed (using the standard touch-type method) using only the left hand, there should really be more stewardess-themed porn sites on the internet.