Reflections from my days in New York last week…

• There is no other country in the world where I dread entering a public toilet more than in the US. Sure enough, after a 9 hour flight, I was hoisting my suitcase over a disquieting puddle on an airport restroom floor. Deplorable conditions which I have never experienced in any other country.
• The New York Times crossword puzzle is more difficult in the actual newsprint version than when you print it out at home. I have no logical explanation for this.
• Foods I made a point to eat, in chronological order: roast beef sandwich from Terrace Bagels with a Stewart’s root beer; egg and cheese sandwich, vanilla-hazelnut coffee; one slice (also with root beer); dumplings from Rickshaw (why didn’t anyone tell me they don’t do fried ones anymore??); coffee and pie at a diner; Five Guys burger with fries (and a root beer – apparently I missed root beer a lot); b-r-u-n-c-h: chocolate chip banana pancakes.
• Current price of a bag of Reese’s peanut butter cups miniatures: $6.99
• Never come to New York when the UN is in town. Just don’t do it.
• After complaining that the Pink Lady apple I was buying at a street cart was bruised, the vendor tried to give me a nicer one for free. I was unable to not pay him for the fruit.
• Six varieties of “Law & Order”? Don’t mind if I do.

You may know that in Barcelona, as elsewhere in Europe, the date is written dd/mm instead of mm/dd as we do in the States. You may not know that 9/11 also has a different meaning in Barcelona. It is the national day of Catalonia, celebrated annually on September 11.

The History Channel has produced an excellent interactive video feature about America’s 9/11: http://www.history.com/content/9-11/102-minutes.

Great group of Catalonia’s 11/09 pictures on Flickr:

Link: http://www.flickr.com/search/show/?q=onze+de+setembre

As an interactive feature, this anatomy of the perfect cheeseburger from the NY Times doesn’t really cut the mustard. It offers some rollover hot spots describing the attributes of a fantastic burger and some links to recipes for tarragon pickles and brioche buns. Other than that, it looks like the designers in the multimedia department were tired after building the massive Michael Jackson interactive timeline and had little energy left for this tasty snack of a graphic.

But who cares about the design? This graphic is simple, but in my opinion, so is the perfect cheeseburger. As a side dish, read the accompanying article and enjoy!