Happy First Monday of 2009!

Enjoy it!  Before you know it, we'll be sitting down to the last Monday of 2009. 

One year in 40 seconds from Eirik Solheim on Vimeo.

Looking on the Bright Side

This one's from Tessa. 

Overheard in a store on New Year's Eve:

"It was a so-so holiday, but hey, I slept with my first cousin so that was cool."

This Week's Quiz: Names, Opera, and Skyscrapers

Santa recently brought me the Almanac of New York City which is filled with facts that I find FASCINATING and which I will be flinging at all incoming groups and plastering all over this blog.  For today, a potluck quiz of miscelleny:

--What is clearly the most popular name for boy babies in New York City?  (The Almanac gives the years 1980, 1985, 1990, 1995, and 1997-2005 and this name ranks first every single time.)

--What is the most frequently performed work at the Metropolitan Opera?

--What are the three best attended cultural institutions in the five boroughs?  Hint:  These were the only institutions with more than 1 million attendees in the year 2003.  (2003?  This almanac came out this year and the most recent records are from 2003?)

--Of the many skyscrapers we have in the city, which are the only four taller than 1000 feet?

Happy New Year!!!

A little "Tid-byte" from Cayce:

On January 1st, we love to celebrate the new year. So, while we revel in the optimism of a fresh start, let's remember some great people who love or loved New York and who happened to celebrate their birthday on this date.

Alfred Stieglitz

Frank Langella

Betsy Ross

J.D. Salinger

Finally, we celebrate his birthday January 25th, but we think of him more now because he wrote the lyrics to "Auld Lang Syne"--the lovely Robert Burns. To learn a little more about him, watch this: