sambecker.com/blog

High Line High Life

Sam — Mon, 03 May 2010 04:06:01 +0000

A humid afternoon on Manhattan’s impressive, uncompromising High Line

Flordida @ Dusk

Sam — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 23:14:14 +0000

(after a run)

Happy 2010 (from Bayport)!

Sam — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 00:08:06 +0000

(Note the Eli Schneider PhotoBomb!)

Sitges, Rietje & Santa Maria Del Mar

Sam — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 03:53:38 +0000

Streets of Sitges

Beaches of Sitges

Rietje of Sitges

Former Gophers!

Tibidabo Entrance

Tibidabo Carnival

Rietje @ Tibidabo

Sam @ Tibidabo

Sam @ Tibidabo, Again

Rietje at Bar: focyou.com

Quick Update for Annelie: Cathedral + Rietje

Sam — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 03:52:56 +0000

Santa Maria Del Mar 01

Santa Maria Del Mar 02

Rietje @ Night! She doesn't know I'm posting this one!!

Bus Tour Shots

Sam — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 03:39:56 +0000

Bus Tour

Click more to see Rietje on a bus. It will not disappoint!

Rietje on Bus Tour

Cool Building

Green Facade

Entrance to the Beach

Palm Trees

Beach View

Pier

Cool Design Book Store Bag

Rietje on Gelato Mission

Sam & Rietje in Barcelona

Sam — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 03:20:49 +0000

JFK American Terminal

Rietje at JFK!

American Airlines

Land Ho!

BCN (Desigual) Ad

Rietje

Palm trees outside airport

Ironwork

First Meal!

Market Food

Neighborhood w/ design bookstore

Barcelona apartments

Thoughtful book spines

Cool window graphics

Bready menu, near our hotel

Saturday morning (ex-hausted)!

Late Night Coffee On The Road

Sam — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 03:03:52 +0000

With complimentary marshmallows, purchased on the way up to Door County

Red Sox & Rick Fox

Sam — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 02:58:32 +0000

Yankees vs Red Sox in the new Yankee Stadium

Sam & Rick

Becker Road Trip 2008 / Day 3

Sam — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 02:45:33 +0000

All work and no play in Canada. Dad gets up early for the fitness “centre,” by the lobby, eh. The rest of the crew rises by noon and we cruise the strip for brunch. After scoping the street and our GPS suggestions, we swoop down on the Golden Griddle.

Fortunately for us, the breakfast buffet doesn’t close until 2pm—their loss! Brunch highlights: bottomless coffee, eggs to order and a full blintz-topping-bar. There was also complimentary 7-grain, pre-buttered toast. Outstanding. Our Canadian waitress remarks that she occasionally buys the New York Times in order to peruse the sex-and-the-city-type-listings.

It takes roughly four hours to get through customs and out of Canada. We pass the time watching Superbad and Ratatouille. Our cutting edge GPS device supports a Bluetooth connection. When there’s not too much static we run our laptop audio into the GPS device, like a handset, which can distribute all of its sound on unused FM radio channels. We arrive at Cornell after dark. The whole gang is there waiting for us: Andy, Hugo, Sammy. We dropped off Jack, but not a moment too soon.

The remaining six of us (dad, mom, Zoe, Em, Sam and Mike) could not have been prepared for our next reservation, the Binghamton Econo Lodge. We check in, pick up our keys, drive out back and enter the building. Mike was prescient in his initial observation of our room. “What is that smell,” he asked. “I don’t usually mind smells, but this is really something.” He couldn’t have known then that we (Mike and I) got the “good smelling room.” Room number two, we decided, smelled like rotten Brussel sprouts. The initial remedy, proved to be opening up the adjoining doors and letting the bad smells in each room (spoiled milk + cigarettes) mix and equalize. Zoe was an initial objector, but we were prepared to sit it out. After all, “everything is booked up in Binhamton” and we’ve been through worse. We began settling in when dad made a shocking discovery. He tempted the fates by slowly peeling back the comforter on his bed. And, as if he willed it, discovered a used, hairy bandage. And that was the gauze that broke the camel’s sense of dignity.

In no time flat we were back in the van, exploiting the Econo Lodge’s wi-fi to find a better hotel. At some point, Rietje woke up her parents in the middle of the night to see if we needed a emergency lodging. We decided to suck it up and do tomorrow’s driving tonight. Hello Bethlehem, PA, here we come!