Queens Concrete Designing NYC Pride Parade Float

New York City’s Pride parade will occur on June 27th, 2021 in the middle of Manhattan. Millions of NYC residents will be in attendance, some marching and others watching from the sidelines and celebrating diversity. The goal of the parade is to promote a future where all people experience equal rights. Many concrete companies will be attending including Queens Concrete, a family-owned concrete service who has volunteered to build a parade float. After speaking with the owner, Mike, they’re not sure what their float design is going to be yet, but they’re doing their best to come up with ideas that support the overarching ideals of inclusion. Mike and his team have asked for community support in coming up with a design that covers their services but also sends the right messaging to the people of New York. For services, Queens Concrete provides cement installation and repair, structure creation, retaining wall design, sidewalk repairs, stampcrete installs, catch basin builds, patio design, and also refinishes staircases. There has to be some way to tie the diversity of concrete services into the diversity of people, but they haven’t quite figured it out yet.

new york city manhattan skyline

On June 27th, the employees will have a 9:00 AM meeting and quick brunch with the CEO prior to heading to the event. Queens Concrete is also promoting wellness, so they’ll be walking to Manhattan over the bridge. Once there, the floats are ordered, so the team will hop on and wait for the signal from the police that it’s ok to proceed. The floats go from Midtown East down 5th Avenue to West 8th Street, or at least that’s what it was a couple years ago. The walk is only about 20 blocks, which should be manageable. The float is just a wooden structure that goes over a company vehicle. The driver, Sarah, will be putting cruise control on 1 mile per hour and slowly creep forward as the rest of the Queens Concrete company’s employees walk around the vehicle heading south through Manhattan. The march typically ends on Christopher street in lower Chelsea, which is fitting based on the crowd in the parade.

After the event, Queens Concrete has invited all other float volunteers to a large lunch at the Friedman’s Heralds Square. Their company will be purchasing enough pancakes and waffles for everyone, but it’s first come first serve. Hopefully, we’ll see you there!

Flight Charlotte to NYC

I work as an executive assistant at a multinational company that I can’t share the name of for security reasons. My boss, Mike, is a frequent flyer, traveling back and forth to the company’s different offices in New York City, Charlotte, and Dallas. On 1/23/21, we have a 3-day trip to Queens County for a leadership conference. Mike is giving a speech on his experience in manufacturing as a front-line manager and how he transitioned into an executive, c-suite level employee at the firm. Instead of flying a commercial airliner, we’re going to rent a private jet in Charlotte at Charlotte Douglas International Airport and fly into LaGuardia in Queens, New York. I’ve booked the jet for Saturday morning at 10:00. The nice thing about chartering private jets is you don’t really have to rush.  You go through security in a special line, the rules are not nearly as strict, and the pilot waits for you before they take off. Is it worth the few thousand dollars for the flight? I think so.

When we arrive on Saturday, we head straight to the Hilton hotel to check in and drop our bags. Then, we have a lunch with our local leadership team. We’ll probably spend a few hours at lunch since it’s going to be at a fancy steakhouse. After that, we have an indoor golf outing arranged at Top Golf in New Jersey. It takes about an hour to get there, we’ll hit some balls under the space heaters, then we’ll head back. I have the rest of the day off, so I may go to Madison Square Garden and catch a game. I have some NYC friends I haven’t seen in a while that are wondering where I’ve been since college. If I don’t do a game, I may just rent a movie from the hotel or maybe pop on some Netflix and just watch it in bed.

The conference starts at 8:00 AM on Sunday morning. The day is jam packed with 7 speakers, so I know it’s going to be a lot of note taking. During Mike’s speech, I’m supposed to record it so we can share it with upper leadership when we get back to the office on Tuesday. It’s going to be a long day, so I don’t want to stay out too late on Saturday night. The last thing I need is to be fired for falling asleep at such a visible conference. After the event ends on Tuesday, we fly back to Charlotte and work for a half-day.

queens restaurants

Queens Hood Cleaning Reviews 3 Neighborhood Restaurants in Queens, New York

Hug Esan is a family-owned restaurant that opened its doors in May of 2017 to provide authentic Thai food to the local Queens residents. Their restaurant serves traditional food from the Isan region of Thailand, such as marinated jerk meat, freshwater fish, rice noodle soups, and more.

Queens New York Thai restaurant

The owners shared their story in the NY Times, stating that the food they’re cooking now is the cuisine their mother fed them when they were growing up. If you’re in the area, stop by their location in Elmhurst. They have a large assortment of meals to try, but one of their famous dishes is called Moo Dad Diew. It’s a specialty dinner from Northeastern Thailand that has fried strips of marinated pork butt with a side of Jeaw; Jeaw is a mix of sugar, fish sauce, tamarind, and rice powder. It’s delicious and has helped them earn some great reviews.

Not far away is a restaurant in Jackson Heights called Papa’s Kitchen. This is another Asian restaurant that was inspired by classic dishes. With a Filipino background, you can expect affordable meals and authentic cuisine, in addition to karaoke.

Queens NY Filipino restaurant

Maribeth Roa, co-owner of Papa’s Kitchen is on a mission to bring variations of foods from Manila and the Bicol region for all of us to try. Their meals are hearty and packed with flavor.

Driving further into Queens, you’ll come across a large area known as Flushing. Flushing is packed with hundreds of Asian restaurants because it contains a mix of people from all over Asia. Just past Murray Hill, located on Francis Lewis Boulevard is an easy-going Cantonese restaurant called Yummy Noodle House NYC that serves great noodle dishes.

Queens NY Chinese restaurant

Choose meats from shrimp, fish, beef, pig, squid and more. And when you stop in for a dish, make sure to try their best option by customizing the dumpling soup. Other traditional Chinese cuisine that’s available is hot pot rice and noodles. On the menu, they mark off when certain foods are spicy or hot, so choose wisely. With more than 100 reviews on Yelp and a 4 star rating, Yummy Noodle House NYC is a great choice for a quality meal in the neighborhood. If you don’t want to sit down, they also offer take out.

Queens Hood Cleaning has been serving Queens, New York for several years. Their professionals provide kitchen hood cleaning for restaurants and commercial kitchens to prevent grease fires.

Queens Points of Interest

Let’s start with the fact that Queens, New York is awesome! Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s cover some of the Queens points of interest that you may or may not know.

Queens, NY

Flushing Meadows Corona Park

Flushing Meadows Corona Park is the #1 point of interest in Queens. Situated between the Van Wyck Parkway and the Grand Central Parkway, this wide open park is the perfect place to hang out with your family and grill on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon. It has the Playground For All Children, literally called that, some water in the center called Meadow Lake, and plenty of green grass and trees to enjoy the view and fresh air. If you were looking for a place to bike ride or hangout and people watch, this is the Queens area park for you. Flushing Meadows Corona Park is also the home of the Queens Wildlife Conservation Center, numerous baseball fields, and the spot where they shot the movie Men In Black.

Citi Field

The 2nd Queens point of interest is Citi Field. It’s the home of a terrible baseball team known as the Mets, but it’s also a really fun time to sit in the stadium and watch them get their butts kicked. Visit Citi Field sometime and grab a seat under the overhang on the upper deck of the stadium. You’ll have a great view and be able to get some food and drinks delivered to you while you watch the Mets get destroyed by every other team in the MLB. I wouldn’t bother trying to take a car in and park in G Lot; you’re better off taking the train so you don’t get stuck in traffic.

US Open Tennis

Now, technically this is part of Corona Park, but who’s counting? In early September, you can visit Queens to watch the best tennis players in the world duke it out for the US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, NY. If you want to watch tennis, this is the stadium to do it from. You’ll have a great court-side view as Roger Federer and Raphael Nadal fight for the title.

If you’d rather play some tennis instead of watching, come here and take some lessons. Or, bring a friend and grab a court. There are tons of open courts where you can hit tennis balls for hours. It’s the best tennis spot in Queens, or all of New York City for that matter.

Rockaway Beach

Rockaway Beach has to be near the top of the Queens points of interest list because it’s amazing! Rockaway is a 14 mile stretch of beaches that are completely free. Lifeguards are on duty from mid May through early September, so it’s a safe place to take your kids and go for a swim between the hours of 10 AM and 6 PM. Swimming isn’t technically allowed when lifeguards aren’t there, but people do it anyways all the time. The Rockaways are located in Southern Queens and they’re the perfect spot for swimming or surfing. Every time we get some of the famous Queens NY weather and a rainstorm, or a hurricane effect from the south, the waves become huge. The parks department shuts down the beach, but surfers go in the water anyways to ride the big waves with their wet-suits on.

Cunningham Park

After checking out the surf at the beach, head back to Cunningham Park for a nice walk through the grass, some great scenery, and some barbecued food. Families bring their kids and make it a day trip all the time. Grab a barbecue pit before they’re all gone and enjoy some hamburgers and hotdogs under the afternoon sun while the children play in the fields. This is a quiet, relaxing place for a picnic or even a bike ride.