Relay for Life

So I attended the American Cancer Society's "Relay for Life". It's a 12hr relay walk from 6pm - 6am around a track to raise money for a great cause. Rained off-and-on and got a good 20 laps in before lightning cancelled the event. Needless to say this event, as well as the recent events I've attended, has inspired me to do something - to be more proactive in helping a cause/ raising awareness for those who need help.

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Cuba Restaurant NYC

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Celebrated a friend's graduation at Cuba Restaurant in NYC. What a fantastic place!

Started out with Empanadas Habaneras. This was THE BEST empanadas I've ever eaten. Crispy texture, wonderful shredded chicken and beef picadillo. Amazing.

Next was the Yuca Frita. Very smooth yuca with a light crunchy exterior. It was paired with a mayo-cilantro dipping sauce with a hint of garlic. Excellent!

For the main course, Ropa Vieja - shreadded skirt steak braised in tomato/pepper salse. This was presented in a lightly fried plaintain basket. Black beans and rice on the side. Classic cuban. Mouthwatering shredded skirt steak!

Dessert, a traditional Cuban flan. Now I've had my fair share of flan, and I must say that the way they created this classic Cuban caramel custard would probably be one of my favorites.

With pitchers of red/white sangria, and pitchers of mojitos on every table, the drinks were flowing, the food was great, and the company was excellent. This was one of my favorite places and I'll have to remember to come back here again on my next trip to the city.

Cuba Restaurant
www.cubanyc.com
222 Thompson Street
New York, NY 10012

World Community Grid - Technology Solving Problems

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So I stumbled upon the World Community Grid the other day and was excited at what I found. If you ever checked out the SETI@home site, you'll know what this is all about.
The World Community Grid website utilizes grid computing technology in order to help scientists/researchers solve projects ranging from protein analysis, to imaging cell structures. They take on finding a cure for cancer, fighting AIDS, and trying to cure muscular dystrophy.

Since it takes a lot of computing power to go through each matrix of results, these universities tap into IBM's grid computing technology to connect people around the world to help solve problems, in a combined effort using your computer's idle time. So all you have to do is to go to the website, register, then download their 'agent'. Then, whenever your computer is idle or in screen-saver mode, the agent kicks in to process the information from a project you've chosen to work on. It's that easy.

For the past week, I've been dedicating my unused processing time to Help Conquer Cancer & help research Human Proteome Folding (Phase 2). Give it a try!

www.worldcommunitygrid.org/