Archive for the 'hockey' Category

9/29-10/6

Lefty September 29th, 2007

With the advent of fall and the welcome relief from NYC summer heat, I’m planning a busy week!

Sunday, 9/30: It’s time to start getting in shape for hockey season. I think I’ll head out to the beautiful new rink at Aviator Sports for open hockey in the morning, and then fill up on tacos at the Red Hook ball fields for lunch with Emily.

Wednesday, 10/3: This is going to tough - there are three events that I want to check out, all featuring varying degrees of geekiness:

- First, my pal Todd Seavey is holding another edition of Lolita debates on the LES. This program is the descendant of the Athenaeum Society debates I used to run, but I haven’t had a chance to attend much over the last couple of years. The topic is “Is the Ivy League Superior?”, which is sure to stir up controversy.

- Second, the NY Tech Meetup is going on. Every month 500 or so folks that are interested in technology in NYC get together and watch while six people demo something cool to the larger community. I’m not sure what’s on tap for this week, but I’ve heard good things about this event and I’ve wanted to attend for awhile.

- Third, Dorkbot NYC is getting together. Their motto is “people doing strange things with electricity” and this month’s meeting features an inventor of an interactive haunted house, a presentation on the topic “Robots on Fire”, and a demo of the mysterious “SensorBib.” This is another one I’ve been meaning to check out for awhile.

And, of course, on Thursday, 10/4 is the kickoff of Stern’s annual business plan competition. I had a great time participating in this program last year, when me and the crew from Materialite made it to the semi-finals. I’ve got a few ideas I’m thinking about entering this year as well.

Random Personal News

Lefty March 12th, 2007

It’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve written on here, since I’ve been super swamped with school and work. Here’s a post that qualifies as “random personal news” if there ever was one:

- Materialite, my team’s entry into the Stern business plan contest, just got passed through to the next round. We’ve just got three other teams to beat out now in order to win the $100,000 first prize.

- I had a great poker night at Michael Malice’s on Friday. I was the third to get knocked out (out of six players), but the company, Chex mix, and Modelo Especial were a big hit. I also walked out the door with a brand new copy of the Batman: Year One graphic novel, courtesy of Scott.

- Guitar Hero 2 rules. My love for karaoke now has a serious rival.

- Emily, Champ, and I are heading up to the Catskills this weekend (specifically Roxbury, NY in Delaware County). I’ll post some Flickr shots of our planned snowtubing outing when I return. (link to Googlemap)

- We finally hooked up our Netflix subscription a few weeks back. I was skeptical about signing up for a long time, but now I’m totally sold on the service. They make it so much easier to watch and rent films. Movies rented so far: Dog Day Afternoon, Grey Gardens, The Departed, and Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. Up next I have about 30 Japanese samurai movies, starting with Shogun Assassin!

- My ice hockey team, the Tanya Hardings, upset the #2 team in the league in our first round playoff game by a score of 3-2. Semi-finals, here we come. (I was also fortunate enough to score a goal in the game, the credit for which I give entirely to my hard-nosed, never-say-die teammates.)

- Gotham Girls Roller Derby finally got a new practice space - it’s a big warehouse in Astoria. I haven’t been up there yet, but I hear it’s looking pretty good. The plan is for the season to start up again in the spring sometime.

- No SXSW this year for me. My entrepreneurial finance class was on Sunday, and I really didn’t want to skip it (since it’s the best class I’ve taken yet at Stern.) I’m hoping to hear some good stories of A-Town adventures upon people’s return to NYC.

That’s about it for now. I’ll write something more tech/entrepreneurship/nyc related next time, I promise.

On Ethics, Puppies, and the Shortcomings of Playing Ice Hockey in NYC

Lefty February 5th, 2007

1) I just got back from taking a three day intensive course at NYU entitled “Professional Responsibility: Markets, Ethics, and Law”. The class focused on defining the role of ethics in a business context, and we touched on a number of noteworthy topics: globalization, discrimination, privacy, market failures, whistleblowing, corporate espionage, insider trading, and several others.

We also had to read a course packet containing about 90 articles, the subjects of which ranged across all the various topics covered in the class. I think my favorite was an article the NY Times Paul Krugman, who addressed some of the criticism of globalization in the provocatively titled “In Praise of Cheap Labor.” I highly recommend it for a quick overview of some of the tough issues involved.

2) Man, was that a great Puppy Bowl yesterday, or what? This was my third year watching this great American institution, and I was pleased to see more mixed-breed dogs this year, as well as the big banner for Petfinder. There was even a puppy that was predominantly Pit Bull, but the announcer delicately referred to his breed as “All American”.

3) I just found out that my scheduled ice hockey game for tonight was cancelled by the Central Park authorities because it is too cold. Isn’t that like canceling a swim meet because it’s too wet? I swear, it’s times like this where I’m ready to pack my bags and move to Canada (or at least Minnesota). What an embarrassment. (For the record, it’s 17 degrees right now, with wind chill at around 0 degrees.)

Goodbye 2006. Hello 2007.

Lefty January 2nd, 2007

As the calendar turns to a new year, it’s a natural time to reflect upon the year that’s past as well as to new goals and resolutions for 2007. Highlights of 2006 for me included:

  • Our winter trip to Costa Rica, including lots of surfing, canopy touring, and monkey viewing
  • Another great year of successful GGRD bouts
  • Quitting my old job and starting at my new company
  • A year of learning at NYU, and entering the business plan competition with students from ITP
  • Hundreds of walks around the Prospect Park lake with my dog Champ
  • Two trips to upstate New York, including snowtubing, a visit to the Catskills Animal Sanctuary, and lots of exploring of small towns
  • Hockey at Lasker Rink
  • The Prince Lefty and his Ramblin’ Kings grand finale at Great Lakes in Park Slope
  • Going to Austin for DJ Saturn’s wedding

Things I’m looking forward to in 2007:

  • Going to Great Exuma next week with Emily
  • A productive work year at my new company
  • Deeper involvement in the tech and entrepreneurship scenes in NYC
  • Planned trips to Portland, OR, upstate NY, Las Vegas, and possibly Mexico or Austin
  • Fixing up the Windsor Terrace apartment
  • Developing a few other business ideas I have, and continuing deeper into the NYU biz plan contest
  • Hundreds more walks around Prospect Park lake with Champ, more announcing GGRD bouts, more Stern classes, and more hockey!

dad & hockey

Lefty November 27th, 2006

Last night I went to the Rangers vs. Buffalo game with my dad. It was a fun game, with the Rangers fighting back from a 2-0 deficit to tie it, and then losing in overtime. The Rangers took way too many penalties, but they hung in there with the best team in the east, so I’m not too broken up about it. Anway, partially to chronicle this glorious event, and partially to test this site’s photo-posting feature, I am posting this picture of my pops cheering at MSG:

dad

In addition, my dad came out to my weekly hockey scrimmage at Lasker rink at the northern end of Central Park last Sunday night. Check out this shot of me rocking my Bobby Orr moves as I carry the puck end-to-end! I’m too fast for modern digital technology to capture!

skating