Back in New York after almost a month away:

One of the coolest pictures ever taken of the Empire State Building -- totally undoctored, too: (The other two coolest pictures are later on this page.)
Dina, my neighbor Jessica, and I went out for coffee and, um, shopping on one of the days before school started. Dina and I love our "Grey Dog Coffee":
Gordon and I went to the West Village on the Saturday before classes. The West Village is awesome because of street signs like this. It's not a mistake or a joke -- there really is an intersection of Waverly Place and Waverly Place.
New York City has the second largest cathedral in the United States, the Cathedral of St. Patrick. It is a Gothic-revival building on 50th St. and Fifth Ave, just forty short-blocks uptown from Rubin.
I like to visit St. Pat's periodically and admire its lovely pointed arches and ribbed vaults. I can't wait till I can see real Gothic cathedrals in Europe, but this one suffices for now.
On the night before classes started, Susanna and Shea and I went out to eat s'mores! In the absence of bonfires, New Yorkers go to the restaurant chain Cosi to get a table s'more set. It was awesome, and really any pyromaniac's dream. Our marshmallows kept catching on fire.
Here's the best emo pic ever. I turned yellow!!

On January 19, snow finally arrived in New York! Look at the park bench in Madison Square:
The Empire State Building looks ghostly on foggy days. I think it is beautiful.
When I left the Real Estate Library on 42nd St. after work that night to walk back to Rubin, I saw the Public Library and Bryant Park covered in swirling snowflakes! I should qualify all this by saying that a mere 0.25" of snow wouldn't be quite as thrilling as it was except for the fact that it's the second biggest snowfall I've seen this year. Also, New York looks cool with falling snow:
My face is cold and my breath is visible, but I love snow more than you can imagine.
My walk back to Rubin was lovely. I usually don't think much of the Empire State Building's looks, but it sure was spectacular on 01/19:
I passed through Madison Square Park again on the way back, and the snow was sticking there more than on the streets:

The next morning, Washington Square Park was [sort of] transformed.
This is the Silver Center, where most of my classes are located:
And lastly: here is "the Row," which lines the northern edge of the park. These houses are old and really valuable -- I think NYU owns most (or, knowing NYU, all) of them, though.