so the birthday yesterdy was a weird one. I spent the morning working in excel and the afternoon working in a conference room so soul sapping that a visit to Starbucks actually provided some light relief.
New York Starbucks aren't the same as Starbucks in other places. They're smaller, theere are very few places to sit and the places that are there are in the major walkways guaranteeing that you'll be nudged and that your table will be sticky.
There's an air of disappointment about them too. Of staff worried about making the rent rather than happy to have found a good and decent employer. This disappointment is usually masked by a attitude of disinterest with a coating of surlyness (weirdly this doesn't apply to the Grand Central Starrbucks - the one right by the Poughkeepsie platform - open to the world with no doors and always with a smile on its face)
Anyway finished the soul destroying afternoon and came back to over-eat, overindulge in wine and generally attempt to inhale my age in crap. Which I managed.
Today is gonna be more social. I have the gym (gotta keep working at my age), I have a friend for qa bikeride across the bridge and into town, I have a movie lined up and we have plans for The Slipper Room and a little raunchy show to keep our fancies squirmy.
We'll see how it all goes....
Saturday, September 08, 2007
Friday, September 07, 2007
It;s my birthday today
and I'm celebrating by writing cost agreements, visiting a financial institution to talk with some MBA grads and walking my dog through the filthy streets of "Second Stop" Brooklyn. Rather splendid actually.
Also sitting by the phone waiting to hear on the MI apartment. Today should do it - after which my visits to Jude will see me sleeping in the bed above (or to the side or wherever)
Lots of great movies opening this weekend - so lining up friends of different filmatic persuasion to maximized the post film discussion / fist pumping / beard stroking.
That said it's time for coffee, the bread I made the other night and a wee peak at the morning news.
Have fun y'all
Also sitting by the phone waiting to hear on the MI apartment. Today should do it - after which my visits to Jude will see me sleeping in the bed above (or to the side or wherever)
Lots of great movies opening this weekend - so lining up friends of different filmatic persuasion to maximized the post film discussion / fist pumping / beard stroking.
That said it's time for coffee, the bread I made the other night and a wee peak at the morning news.
Have fun y'all
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Another early morning here
and still no real word on the apartment. We gave references yesterday - they're being checked today. We're hoping for a contract tomorrow. Haven't managed to catch up with out current landlord yet... which is a worry as he could 'say anything.' We're hoping that 3 years in the building, no damage done and every payment on time will stand us in good enough stead with him to make his recommendation good.
News here talking about "Popcorn Lung"... there's a chemical in microwave popcorn that gives it a buttery flavor.. and gives people in the factory lung disease. Now it seems that lardy microwave popcorn users have the same condition. Who'd have thought? Two bags of popcorn a day, from a microwave oven, with a chemical topping tyhat tastes 'buttery' could be bad for you.
Oh and Pavavorotti is dead. How's that for an obit?
News here talking about "Popcorn Lung"... there's a chemical in microwave popcorn that gives it a buttery flavor.. and gives people in the factory lung disease. Now it seems that lardy microwave popcorn users have the same condition. Who'd have thought? Two bags of popcorn a day, from a microwave oven, with a chemical topping tyhat tastes 'buttery' could be bad for you.
Oh and Pavavorotti is dead. How's that for an obit?
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
unbelievable summer
the weather here continues to make all of the cionstruction, dirt and noise bearable. My friend Gareth claims that there's a secret 'minimum noise level' in New York and that when the city gets too quiet the mayor sends out men with jackhammers and vehicles with sirens. He may well be right. It's a city that prodes itself on excitement (and the fact that New Yorkers now live longer - that's what a falling murder rate and city set up like an obstacle course that has to be walked quickly will do for you) and the energy levels are usually Red Bull high.
It's not a jahhed, coked up London energy either/ No aggressive delusions of grandeur here - just an awareness that we're a small island off teh coast of America that votes, eats, drinks and worships differently to the union to whom we're tied. Yup this morning I'm glad to be a New Yorker.
It's not a jahhed, coked up London energy either/ No aggressive delusions of grandeur here - just an awareness that we're a small island off teh coast of America that votes, eats, drinks and worships differently to the union to whom we're tied. Yup this morning I'm glad to be a New Yorker.
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
News today
we should get news on Judith's swanky pad today. From what we heard over the holiday weekend the news ought to be good - with only the fine details of contracts holding us up. We shall see, we shall see. Busy week for me this week - lost a day to the holiday (though I actually did a lot yesterday in terms of concept re-writes, client calls and revised research plans) and have two days of training to attend (we're giving it, I'm a viewer and able pair of hands) as well as a day of follow-up to that training. Have to watch the weight during all of that too - as there's food always at hand and candy prizes aplenty to be had. One dense paragraph this, I'm sorry.
Sunday, September 02, 2007
Weekend in Ann Arbor
I am an idiot. This I have known and confessed at regular intervals for some time. But this weekend proved it. Jude was down in Ann Arbor - getting ready to start school and staying in an Extended stay Hotel 'Efficiency'... I was doing nothing here so I threw caution and checkbook to the wind and jumped on the first flight I could find to be with her over a 'long weekend'. Of course it could have been a longer weekend as tomorrow is a public holiday here. A fact that I forgot. So as I landed in a deserted NYC (the route from airport home was eerily quiet) Jude was sitting in her hotel room miles from anything but the mall.
The weekend was good though. Hertz provided transportation in the form of a new but oddly creaking Economy Vehicle that cost a mere $30 (that's 15 quid) a day. Said vehicle took us to a monsterous WholeFoods (Jude had been living on mall food), to all of the spots we needed to be on campus, to a gay bar that served brunch to very un-gay couples on a Sunday as well as to a park, a lake and a couple of hours of canoeing.
It also ferried us to look at a few houses. There were scant few that matched the 'close enough to walk to school; bright enough to need no lights, cool enough to compensate for not being NYC ' brief but the one pictured did and we put in an offer to take it. Now it's wait and see time as the owners contemplate the offer, the chance that we might one day want to move pets there and the idea of having Jude move in almost immediately. We're hoping that they say 'yes' whilst trying to stay relaxed about the possibility of an 'no'. It would be perfect for Jude - one Bedroom, an upstairs study, a rooftop balcony and almost immediate occupancy. And of course not being New York adds the considerable advantage of it also being affordable. Let's hope it goes our way.
Now that I am back I'm not entorely sure what to do with myself. Ordered food and beer to be delivered (I figured that 2 hrs on the water had earned me a Wombat dinner) - checked e-mails, stroked the very excited (and newly groomed) dog and texted Jude to the point of distraction. I guess all that's left is to try and catch up with the TiVo (easy this week as fall season is still 7 days away) and to see who's looking good in the tennis.
The weekend was good though. Hertz provided transportation in the form of a new but oddly creaking Economy Vehicle that cost a mere $30 (that's 15 quid) a day. Said vehicle took us to a monsterous WholeFoods (Jude had been living on mall food), to all of the spots we needed to be on campus, to a gay bar that served brunch to very un-gay couples on a Sunday as well as to a park, a lake and a couple of hours of canoeing.
It also ferried us to look at a few houses. There were scant few that matched the 'close enough to walk to school; bright enough to need no lights, cool enough to compensate for not being NYC ' brief but the one pictured did and we put in an offer to take it. Now it's wait and see time as the owners contemplate the offer, the chance that we might one day want to move pets there and the idea of having Jude move in almost immediately. We're hoping that they say 'yes' whilst trying to stay relaxed about the possibility of an 'no'. It would be perfect for Jude - one Bedroom, an upstairs study, a rooftop balcony and almost immediate occupancy. And of course not being New York adds the considerable advantage of it also being affordable. Let's hope it goes our way.
Now that I am back I'm not entorely sure what to do with myself. Ordered food and beer to be delivered (I figured that 2 hrs on the water had earned me a Wombat dinner) - checked e-mails, stroked the very excited (and newly groomed) dog and texted Jude to the point of distraction. I guess all that's left is to try and catch up with the TiVo (easy this week as fall season is still 7 days away) and to see who's looking good in the tennis.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)