THEJNSREPORT

Toronto: Photo Walk 2014

Posted by THEJNSREPORT on November 27, 2014

Posted in: Image Gallery, Nature - Environment. Tagged: 2014, Architecture, Canada, Church Street, downtown Toronto, Image Gallery, Photo Walk, Toronto, Touring. Leave a comment

Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S: Toronto: Photo Walk 2014

It was overcast and chilly throughout the day but not as cold as the day before where temps were at -3 degrees Celsius.My friends and I were on our way to the metro heading toward downtown Toronto when we saw …Those are some pretty large nests.

Looks like we’re about to enter a portal ahead.

When you enter the station you can purchase tokens to enter the subway. These tokens are smaller than the ones the MTA used to use decades ago. One thing that stood out to me once inside the station was how clean it was as opposed to New York’s subways. The difference is night and day. It really shames NYC to be such a wealthy city and yet be so dirty compared to other large cities. The other thing I noticed was the width of the tracks and subway cars is larger than that here in NYC. Someone had foresight here and realized cramming many people into tight subway cars isn’t in the best interests of the riders.Once outside the metro we made our way through the streets in search of somewhere to have brunch.We ended up on the famous Church Street of Toronto the LGBT area of the city.

The first place we encountered that looked good for brunch was Lola’s Kitchen.There was a small wait once we got inside as this place seems quite popular for brunch.

The decor inside was interesting and had quite a bit of art work throughout.

Once we looked over what Lola offers we settled on our selections.

The margarita wasn’t that good to me. I guess I’m just used to getting more alcohol in the states. 😉 Once we finished brunch I decided to make a pit stop to the restroom before our photo walk continued. When I entered the restroom I was pleasantly surprised to see the stall door painted.Pretty cool I think. Anyway after paying our tab we ventured back out into the cold with full stomachs bidding Lola’s a fond farewell.As we walked further down Church Street we came across the Rainbow crosswalk.

Church has some pretty interesting things out on display.

Incredible public art displays were all over the place. Stay tuned for Toronto: Photo Walk continued…

Toronto: Canada Weekend Getaway

Posted by THEJNSREPORT on November 26, 2014

Posted in: Image Gallery, Travel. Tagged: Canada, Canadian Customs, Ipad, Leisure, lessons, North America, Photo Walk, Photography, Toronto, travel, Weekend Getaway. Leave a comment

Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S: Toronto: Canada Weekend GetawaySo it’s been a while since I got the chance to get out of the country and the opportunity presented itself just before the heavily traveled Thanksgiving weekend. Having never been to Canada (unbelievable right) before now it was a great trip I thought I’d share.

Arriving at La Guardia airport bar before the gate, I was surprised to find Ipad’s for ordering anything you want to eat or drink. This meant the elimination of having to speak to a human being unless being served. This is the wave of the future in the service industry I believe.

Of course browsing the web while one waits for their order to arrive is a no-brainer. I decided to check out who was voting on the site’s latest poll question.When I arrived at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport I thought I’d get through customs fairly quickly. How wrong I was…lesson learned here.

When dealing with customs agents whether it be foreign customs or domestic the best course of action is to answer their questions absent any hint of “attitude” regardless of how ridiculous the question may seem or how many times they ask the same question.

It was my first time to Canada so when I ended up being sent to more customs agents for further grilling after the first customs agent I came across, I was shocked.

I’m thinking I’m an American citizen with a legit passport, no criminal background to speak of so what’s the hold up? Apparently the first custom agent didn’t like the tone of my response to her questioning the purpose of my trip and why I had chosen to travel to Canada this particular weekend? I realized this when I looked at how my customs declaration paper had been marked with a highlight marker.

In addition they wanted to know who I was coming to see, what I did for a living, where I worked, what brand of toothpaste I used, & the color of my underwear (kidding about the last two). The second customs agent told me to have a seat while he did a background check on me. I was like “great”. I left my sunglasses behind by mistake along with my passport at the agents station while I sat and waited.

Having realized that I had forgotten my sunglasses at the custom agents station I went back to retrieve them. As soon as I got to his station the custom agent asked me if I’d ever been arrested. I told him no and he seemed surprised almost as if he was expecting me to say yes. I relaxed my disposition and told him that I came for a mini vacation and couldn’t wait to take amazing pictures of Toronto.

In that same moment he replied that I looked like the Japanese tourists with my camera around my neck and immediately stamped my passport and I was on my way. Lesson learned.

Stay tuned for the following day’s photo walk in beautiful Toronto.

Do you think The Grand Jury will indict Officer Darren Wilson for the killing of Michael Brown Jr?

Posted by THEJNSREPORT on November 24, 2014

Posted in: Social Commentary. Tagged: Darren Wilson, Grand Jury, Indictment, Injustice, Justice, Killing Unarmed Black Men, Michael Brown Jr, Police, Poll, Vote. Leave a comment

President Obama’s Executive Action on Immigration

Posted by THEJNSREPORT on November 21, 2014

Posted in: Politics, Social Commentary. Tagged: Executive Order, Government, Immigration Reform, Obama, People, Policy, politics, president, President Obama, U.S Constitution. Leave a comment

The Affordable Care Act…What is it?

Posted by THEJNSREPORT on November 17, 2014

Posted in: Politics, Social Commentary. Tagged: American health care system, health, Health Care, Health Insurance, Money, Public Poll, Wealth. Leave a comment

Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S: Harlem Tavern: A Quick Bite At The Tavern

Location: West 116th Street and Frederick Douglas Blvd

ETA: Afternoon

On an afternoon where we felt like a beer and a quick bite we stopped by the popular spot while it wasn’t crowded.

Sitting outside with this nice an unseasonably warm weather made all the sense in the world. And while In the festive mood of the season instead of having an ordinary beer, we went with the Pumpkin & Ginger Spiced Blue Moon on tap. This beer tastes really good!

For an appetizer oysters were in order.

In my opinion eating oysters with fresh lemon juice, a little salt, a little black pepper, & some tobasco sauce or hot sauce is the way to go.

Their flatbread pizza with steak and pepperoncinis. This was really good although I didn’t sample it personally. I mean how could it not taste really good, there’s steak and cheese and bread and pepperoncinis!

When I looked over the menu I settled on what else? Harlem Taverns Create your own Mac N Cheese. I wanted to think outside the box on this one. So looking at the list of options for creating one’s own Mac, N Cheese, I decided for spicy and meaty taste and texture. Jalapeños for the spice/heat and mushrooms for that meat like texture. This is definitely my new favorite Mac N Cheese variation. There was perfect melding of flavor and heat with not only the heat from the jalapeños but the mac n cheese itself. The mushrooms gave the mac n cheese another layer of depth that made my mouth sing and to be honest burn a little. ;).

Flatbread gets 5 out of 5 dinner plates

Create your own Mac N Cheese also gets a perfect 5 out of 5 dinner plates

Blue Moon Seasonal Beer gets 5 out of 5 Pint Glasses

Harlem Tavern is a great spot in West Harlem to stop in for a excellent bite to eat or for drinks. Price wise it’s worth the price of admission. Expect to spend $$$ Till next time this has been THEJNSREPORT’S: A Quick Bite At The Tavern

The Bronx: Scenes & Sunset

Posted by THEJNSREPORT on October 30, 2014

Posted in: Image Gallery. Tagged: Ferry, LaGuardia, Manhattan, nature, NYC, Photo Walk, Photography, Salt Marsh, Soundview Park Restoration, Sunset, The Bronx, Water. Leave a comment

Welcome to THEJNSREPORT’S: THE BRONX: SCENES & SUNSET

On a day where I ventured home to visit family along with my significant other, mom invited us to take a photo walk in order to collect memories of our beloved neighborhood. The future is coming pretty quick and life is seemingly flying by. .A lot of the marsh and trees along with overgrown bushes had been cleared since the last time I’d been here. Behind the fence they’ve apparently set up seating on stone slabs for outdoor concerts. Restoring this area near the water is going to make the neighborhood appreciate so much more than in past years.From here you can see the planes so close as they come in for landings & take off from LaGuardia Airport. This was so cool to capture.As we walked further along the path the sun began to set.in a few years a ferry that connects the Bronx to Manhattan will be here. Incredible that it wasn’t thought of sooner, but all things happen in their own time.Our walk took us next to an opening where you could fish and boats could potentially dock.

If I only had a boat right about now.As we continued our journey the path began to curve into more shady areas with lots of trees and the option to go several different ways which intersected.As the sun began to drop in the sky so did the temp outside. Nonetheless we stayed out to capture the sunset by the water and we weren’t disappointed.