Open House NYC 2010: New York's Laid an Egg!

Roar! Yesterday was Open House NYC, the day where a ton of cool private areas in the city are open for tours! It offers a rare chance to see some of the more hidden aspects of city life and I'm always excited for the chance to learn more about the city I love! This Open House NYC I signed up for the Digester Egg Expereince with the New York City Department of Evironmental Protection. I've always wonder what went on inside those huge towers on the shores of Greenpoint and yesterday I got the chance to find out!

  

Here I am way up in Greenpoint on my way to the Digester Egg! It's so ominous the way it looms over the East River like that! I wonder what goes on inside?

Here I am inside the egg, about to go up to the top to learn about exactly what it is this things does! Roar!

Turns out this sweet digester egg cleans contaminated water and turns it into safe drinking water! It's actually super neat! The egg uses a process of anaerobic respiration, just like at Fresh Kills Park, to break down waste products and leave us with safe, clean drinking water! Go DEP!

The top of the Egg also offers some truly unique views of the Manhattan skyline! Roar! 

Back at the DEP station they had all these great water fixtures to celebrate clean water. Then I go a drink from the water fountain! Mmmmmm! Fresh from the egg!

On my way out the staff was having trouble moving these old lockers to the trash! They were so happy that a big strong T-Rex like me came around to help them! Roar!

What a great place to visit on Open NYC! I love learning all about the neat things that go on behind the scenes to help make New York City my favorite color, Green!

Exploring Eastern Queens Part 1: Royal Flushing

Roar! Today I decided to head out to eastern Queens to check out another of the Key to City sites. But first I rode over towards Flushing to see what was happening in one of my favorite neighborhoods.

My first stop was over in Flushing Meadows Corona Park at the copyright-infringement-free Jurassic Playground. Roar!

The Jurassic Playground was so cool! Here I am hanging out with a Brontosaurus friend of mine. This reminds me of when I was hanging out with the snake in Gerritsen Beach. Roar!

There were all sorts of great little touches in the Jurassic, like this Stegosaurus shaped jungle gym.

There were even little fossils worked into the stones around the playground!

The rib cage of this plesiosaur was even turned into a water fixture. Actually, that one is a little bit creepy. Roar!

Here I am hanging out with the memory of some of my ancestors. Though these guys are a little bigger than I remember them being...

I left a contextually appropriate tag on this slide and continued on my way. ROAR!

Next, I passed this cool new skate park they put in by the Unisphere in Flushing Meadows park. The skate park is apparently a collection of famous skateboarding spots from all over New York City.  Let's see if anyone can do some sweet tricks!

WHOA! That was really amazing! That guy totally slid down that rail! I've never seen anything like that before. Roar!

Next, I left the park and headed over to Flushing Main Street.

After all that action I was feeling pretty hungry so I went and got a big box of delicious pork steam buns!

MMM!!! Oh man, these Pork buns are delicious! ROAR!

Next, I headed down main street where a local committee was out promoting recycling in order to help keep Flushing my favorite color: Green!

Mr. Met was even there to let everyone know how important recycling is. He's like Queens royalty. It sure was awesome to meet him.

Here I am doing my part to help keep Flushing green. Roar!

For recycling they gave me this sweet bag. I'm not sure but I think it might be a little big!

SO MANY COMICS MEDIUM RARE!

Roar! Yesterday was the first Saturday in May and that meant free comic day! Free comic day is when all the different publishers send out all sorts of promotional comics to comic shops to give away for free! I decided to ride around my area of Brooklyn to a few different comic shops to see what they were giving away.

First, I rode over to the Comics Bakery in Williamsburg. This is a really cool shop that has all sorts of independent and underground comics. They also had the most interesting stuff for free comics day and gave out a lot of free samples of small press comic books.

Next, I rode over to this shop in Bedstuy I heard about but it was closed. I guess things aren't easy for the comics industry right now. Roar...

The last place I went to was this comic store in Woodhaven. They had all the super hero books Marvel and DC were giving away plus they were giving away extra stock and up to five free back issues! These guys are super nice and I definitely recommend checking out their shop!

Woah! Look at all these free comics! One of them even has the president on the cover! It sure was a great morning but I wonder what I'll be up to later this evening?

Why, I went to see Peelander-Z at Brooklyn Bowl! They are this crazy punk band who are from planet Peelander and dress up like squids and tigers and jump rope! It was a really great show! Roar!

Peelander Red had the audience pick him up so he could play his bass while standing on their hands. I bet he learned how to do that in outer space!

Things got really crazy at the concert and they started flying through the clouds! Then the dressed up like a squid and bowling pins and went human bowling while their fans played their instruments on stage!


They even played S.T.E.A.K. which is my favorite song of theirs! ROAR!

Here I am after the show with Peelander Green, my favorite Peelander. It was such a great show. Definitely go see them next time they play! It's guaranteed to be entertaining. Roar!