NEW YORK 2011 SAGA 3:

"BIG APPLE" APPLE TRIP
New York City

I went to New York City on October 20-22, 2011, mainly to orient my two friends to Apple computer products. Meanwhile, I had a wonderful time sightseeing, dining out and getting a good visit in with Bill and David.

I also got to visit with the architect Giuliano Fiorenzola, my teacher/mentor for my 1982 Italian tour. It was wonderful!

We had lunch at BIRRERIA, the beer garden-type restaurant on top of a 14-story building with an open roof! This is partially owned by Sam Calagione, the owner of Dogfish Craft Brewery here in Milton, DE.

click to see: SAM CALAGIONE

I wore a Dogfish Head hoodie and the people at the restaurant got a big kick out of the fact that I was from Milton and knew Sam. In fact the manager, Mallory, waited on us and said to be sure to say "hello" to Sam for her. It was a delight sitting in an open air space, having a wonderful Tuscan sausage meal with DFH's "Punkin Ale" and overlooking the Flat Iron Building. The whole complex of restaurants and shops is called "Eataly."

David and Bill at Birrera.

I gave Bill a painting by Ray Petersen, a local Milton painter and friend, that he had seen in a book two years ago. He loved the image, so I purchased it for him to liven up his apartment. He was thrilled beyond belief. It's going to be wonderful hanging in his living room.

I just love being in NYC: the hustle and bustle, noise, tall buildings, etc.

I saw the new Freedom Tower building up close. It's three-fourths up. Will be the tallest building in the U.S.

Freedom Tower has the crane on top.

As I said, the main thrust of the trip was to help David get set up on his MacBook and iPhone. And to get Bill an iPhone.

First task was David's equipment.

He still had only "Leopard" as his operating system on his Mac. We went to two stores to finally find the last "Snow Leopard" disc available in NYC! (Otherwise, it would have to be mailed, which would arrive after my visit.) So, we were able to install "Snow Leopard." We updated it, then installed and updated "Lion," the current operating system. This all took about four hours. Then we started on David's iPhone—another two hours to install its latest operating system, "iOS 5." All-in-all we used up the better part of the first day.

On the second and last day, the mission was to get Bill an iPhone. He was unsure about it but we finally went to the AT&T store and purchased the iPhone 4, 8GB for $100 with a new 2-year contract. Over the next four hours we installed the new operating system "iOS 5," backed up the iPhone onto his newly installed iTunes on his PC, and did some instructing on its operation. He was very tentative at first but soon became very interested.

After I got back to Milton, we talked an hour on "FaceTime," a program that puts a picture of the caller on an iPhone or Mac, learning how to contact each other. This way, David and Bill can talk and see each other while David is on his two-week trip to the Middle-East—all on wireless at no cost!

All-in-all a very successful trip to the Big Apple.