Actually, it IS riding a bike.

Last weekend, my dear friend Gail was in town. She challenged me to go out and do something new each week. That could include exploring an area, going to a new place, meeting new people, etc. I’m tempted to be a home-body sometimes, so it was a good challenge. Although I might have overdone it last week with 3 things last week. :) (Karaoke with new people was the 1st item… if you decide to count)

This weekend, I finally went biking with my friend Sarah. This might not sound like a big deal… but I haven’t ridden any more than maybe 1 mile at a time since I was in high school. I rode 12 miles on Saturday. Here’s my trail, roughly.

We took a break for some Mr. Softee in Brooklyn. While at the Brooklyn Bridge park; we saw 5 different wedding parties taking pictures, people trying to maneuver 5 huge racing kayaks onto a trailor, a man loading port-a-john’s onto a boat, and much more. All from one bench… it was quite the people watching spot.

There was a sudden flash flood on the way to East Village, which made the ride even more interesting. Then, I biked home at sunset. I didn’t know if I’d make it home considering my lack of cycling abilities, but I made it! And it was great. :)

On Sunday, I explored Tribecca. I was prety amazed, I had no idea how pretty it is.

In a few minutes, I’m going to run down the the Starbucks in my building or to the cafe across the street to get a good seat on the filming of  “When in Rome”.

I’ve run into the filming of a few things near my apartment- The Fringe, Kings. “When in Rome” is definitely the biggest of the filmings. This is a Disney film staring Kristen Bell, Josh Duhamel, Danny DeVito, Jon Heder, Will Arnett, and a few others.

If I get any good pictures, I’ll post them up here later!

UPDATE:

None of the stars were at the shoot because it was an “action” sequence. I did, however, see all their stunt doubles.

Of course with the economy as it is right now, most companies are struggling. Starbucks is defininitely one of them. In attempts to draw more customers, they’re implementing a “menu deal”.

For $3.95, you will be able to order a latte with coffee cake or a drip coffee with a hot sandwich starting on March 3rd.  CEO, Howard Schultz, said he never would make the move to a “value menu” structure, but such a move is necessary right now.

Now, I’m really hoping these prices will also apply for NYC Starbucks. The latte I like to get is $4.90 after tax. With prices like that, I’d at least like to get a small snack with it when I do “splurge” for a Starbucks latte. Also if the overall price is cheaper, I could splurge more often; but I don’t believe those prices will make it to the city.

See USA Today Article

This week there are some fun winter events that I’m looking forward to.

First, we have Red Bull’s SnowScrapers. 24 snowboarders competing for $100,000 in East River Park on Thursday at 6pm, with snowboarding starting around 6:30pm. It will air on NBC Sunday at 5PM

I’ve been to a one of their extreme sporting events before, and it’s definitely a good time.

Winter Jam 2009 is also happening at Hudson River Park on Saturday. I went last year when it was in Central Park. I’ve read that this year in addition to sledding/tubing, there will be snowboarding and icewall climbing.