Knockoff New Balance from Istanbul

While walking around Istanbul in November I passed through one of those underpasses that is filled with miscellaneous retail. This one in particular was after you cross the Galata bridge and head into Eminonu Square. I took a very brief and semi-useless video that gives some idea of the place.
I cut the video right before it pans to the wall of knock off sneakers. Normally I'm not stopping to check out knockoff sneakers. Plenty of opportunity to buy those here in la CDMX. But they had the New Balance type that are currently fascinating my wife and her friends. So I picked up a pair for the nice price of 600 TRY (approx 17 euro, cash only; credit to the guy manning the stall who took my 20 euro and gave me the TRY equivalent in change rather than simply telling me the price is 20 euro take it or leave it).

Comfy so far. TBD how long they last, but I feel confident I will get 17 euro of value out of them.

Takeout from Tahin Lebanese Grill (Istanbul)

Needed a quick dinner to-go one night while working from the hotel. Tahin Lebanese Grill was 150m away or so and looked decent. So I ordered this mixed assortment of neutral-toned food. I recall it tasting better than it looked. With more time and under different circumstance I could see myself enjoying a more leisurely meal on-premise. But last November 10 with work to be done, this box o' snacks hit the spot.

View from my room at Novotel Istanbul Bosphorus

Back in November I had the opportunity to visit Istanbul for 5 nights. My company held its annual end-of-year meeting there. This was my first visit to the city and you do feel its vibrance and energy immediately. Our location for the week was the Novotel Istanbul Bosphorus. I forget my room number. 208 maybe? Low floor. Solid room that I took zero pictures of apparently. View was to to the rear, overlooking Mumhane, which is full of restaurants and cafes, some of which are open to the early hours (1, 2, maybe 2:30am?). Fortunately the windows were very well insulated and I had no issues sleeping. At one point during the week I tried a doner wrap and have to say I didn't love it. I see now that the reviews for Izmir Isi are decidedly mixed. Looks fun and interesting, but food not always on point maybe. Could also be a rookie move to try it for lunch take out rather than swinging by in the evening when they are buzzing and have the A team cooking.

KAOS on Netflix - we're enjoying it

I added KAOS to my list a few months ago. Just started it this week and we have been digging it. Clever conceit. Compelling performances. Only 2.5 episodes in so not sure how the whole arc plays out, but I'm disappointed to hear that there won't be a second season.

I'm back

I've been dialing down my social media activity for a few years now. And I have toyed with the idea of revisiting my old blog habits (my blogging heyday was circa 2006-2010). Think it's time to try it back on again, see how it feels. Will start here. If I keep it up I might even invest in a domain name and try to do it modern style, without the blogger training wheels. We'll see.