We Shall Shortly

This is crazy. Issues of LIFE magazine on Google Books full of delicious old ads and useful info, just sitting there for you to flip through.

Saw this in the latest issue of The New Yorker (The Mail, January 18, 2010):

James Surowiecki, in writing about Tiger Woods, states that “by most accounts” athletes started endorsing products in 1905, when Honus Wagner put his name on the Louisville Slugger baseball bat. Professional and amateur cyclists had been endorsing products for at least a decade before that. In 1894, for example, my great-grandaunt, Annie Kopchovsky, carried a placard advertising Londonderry Lithia Spring Water on the first of two bicycles she used in an around-the-world bicycle trip, and the company used her image in at least one newspaper ad in Denver when she passed through, the following year. Indeed, she travelled under the name Annie Londonderry and also appeared in advertisements for Sterling bicycles, the brand of the second bike she used on the journey. And she wasn’t the only Annie to endorse Sterling cycles: Annie Oakley, the sharpshooter, did as well.

Peter Zheutlin / Needham, Mass.

I was curious and consulted with Google. Turned out that Peter Zheutlin wrote a book about his greatgrandaunt, and that book appears to be the only source people refer to on the internet (including the Wikipedia entry for Kopchovsky). The above advertisement is taken from the Annie Londonderry site (set up by Peter Zheutlin).

My last eye exam was in August of 2008. My contacts are running out and I finally dragged myself to the LensCrafters nearby today. I had to take my contacts off right away and I was blind like a bat inside the store (my eyes are bad).

Two things I know about bats:

1. They’re not really blind but rely mostly on their hearing to, uh, get around.
2. Bats are mysteriously dying in mass, and it has something to do with a fungus that causes the white nose syndrome. Frogs, too. That much I remember from a New Yorker article.

Without contacts, I can’t see shit, and my hearing isn’t so good these days either – I blame it on extensive headphone use and subway noise.

It was a full day of interviews and we picked up Indian Food today. Danny checked in via Foursquare for a free drink, the dude behind the counter studied the message on the phone for a while and then offer both of us hot chai.

You’ll find these floating hats at the R train 23rd Street Station. This particular hat belongs to Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain). There’s an interesting story behind the hats.

I have always been fascinated by the mosaic at each subway station, but I don’t think I’ve ever taken pictures of them… until this evening. The 6 train Spring Street station is convenient but very loud.

My awesome teammates were here in the city last week, and now they’re all back home. I’m going to start posting some pictures of New York City, just to keep them updated. It was a little harder than I expected to lug around my massive D80 and snap photos while rushing to and from work. This one was taken this morning.

Our last week in Taipei. I miss New York! In no particular order, I miss:

• My friends.
• Our (quiet) home.
• My office.
• WNYC.
• Soho.
• Brooklyn.
• Cafe Grumpy.
• Indian food.
• Farmer’s market at Union Square.
• All the great book stores – 192 Books, Three Lives, St. Marks Bookstore, Strand.
• NY Times.
• The High Line.
• Author talks and random events.
• MoMA & MoMA Cafe.
• The morning air.

Ah, New York, how I miss you.

We were walking in Tianmu and Judy told me to look at the little animal across the street. She told me it was a pig and I thought she was crazy. I wasn’t convinced until I went across the street and saw the little fellow’s face up close – it was a pig! The owner was nice enough to let me take a picture of it. The fur on the pig is beautiful, and it was so dignified. We thought about having a pet pig, but I fear our pork-eating past would haunt the relationship.