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Moving

Please take a hop over to my new site. Updates of links will be much appreciated. Its still kind of a work in progress, but I'll be posting over there from now on.

 
Weekend Fun

Oh, and I almost forgot that I had the best weekend hanging out with my brother. I got back from work Friday night to find my brother and his friends hanging out in the garden. We had been debating going downtown to the LES, but since they still didn't have power (and besides, the subway wasn't running!), we decided to go out to the bars in our neighborhood instead. But not until we finished a bottle of wine and all the beer left over from my parents party a couple weeks ago. In reality, there were four of us and I think we polished off 9 beers and a bottle of white wine, but my parents were amazed. Reminder: my parents, if they're splurging, might share a bottle of beer.

After we finished off the beer, and I finally consumed some dinner, we headed out to Amsterdam Ave, otherwise known as Frat Row. We decided to go to Jake's rather than The Gin Mill since Jake's is a bit roomier (i.e. cooler) and slightly less fratty (i.e. actually over 21). Before we went in, though, I predicted I would see at least one person I knew. Turns out I saw three, of which two of them lived on my ex-boyfriend's hall in college. Felt like I was back in Boston, but at least I could get away with smiling and mouthing hi without any awkward conversation. Anyway, it was fun hanging out with my brother and his friends. He's hung out with mine a lot, but it was probably one of the first times I went out drinking with his. Highlights of the evening: a tie. First was my brother and I kicking ass in darts against his friends. Second was a guy apologizing to my bro for hitting on me. And along that same line was the guy asking me straight up if he had a chance with me, since he had to go with his friends across the street, and me saying no - it was quite freeing. (Besides the fact that I didn't find him attractive, I think I was quite fair to him since I listed three solid reasons of why he had no chance - 1, that he was an investment banking intern, and therefore worked 60+ hrs a week, and I have now vowed not to date anyone who works more than me, 2, that he is getting his MBA in Chicago, ie not NYC, so would be gone in two weeks anyway, and 3, he was shorter than me).

Then on Saturday after my brother got his car inspected, we headed out to Queens with his friends to P.S. 1 for their Warmup series. When we first got there, it was really chill because it wasn't too crowded yet. For a while we just hung out watching all the adventurous ones on the dance floor get down. Then I found Sam, who was there with some of his friends, and hung out with them for the rest of the time. The highlight was definately Prohibitied Beatz, who came on around dusk. They are a drum and bass type of collective, performing live. Very cool, but would have liked to see it a bit closer up, since it was quite crowded by that point.

After PS 1, I split up with my brother and his friends and headed down to the Bowery Poetry Club, which was hosting the 1st Annual Accordian Punk Summit. Definately an interesting event, and a couple of the bands were quite good, though you wouldn't have guessed by the first one. I don't know if it had to do with the acoustics or the band's lack of practice, but the first band was quite out of tune and not very punkish at all. The second band, Stupid, rocked and lived up to the concert name, though I may have been partial to them because of their free homemade stickers (duct tape!). And Corn Mo was a riot. His music cracked me up, both for its resemblence to Bon Jovi ballads as much as for its content. I would definately see both of them again.

Then on Sunday, I enjoyed a nice traditional NY brunch - bagels and lox. One of my brother's friends had never had it before, even though she's been living in the city for 6 months! And proceeded to spend the rest of the afternoon trying to nap before swim practice and enjoying HBO's Sunday evening lineup. I don't know how I'll get through Sunday's at the end of this season. Anyone heard anything on the new shows coming up?

And since this week doesn't look any calmer, I'll have to wait till this weekend to catch up on sleep. There's nothing like free beer on a Wednesday afternoon.....

 
Blackout Aftermath

Ugh, I still have chills running down my spine.

After the blackout, I was a bit hesitant about the milk in my fridge. I'd only opened the fridge once, and its in the shade, so I was pretty sure things stayed relatively cold, but bad milk is pretty much my second biggest fear, behind huge crawly bugs climbing over me while I sleep. So naturally, on Saturday morning when we were looking for milk for our coffee, I made my brother taste my milk to see if it was ok. Which it was.

And why should I think it would be bad by today (beside the fact that in NYC, milk seems to have a lifespan of 3 days on a good week)? I smelled the milk and it seemed ok, so I proceeded to pour it into my cereal bowl. Clunk, clunk, clunk. That's right, its not a good sign when your milk more closely resembles cottage cheese. Now that I've sufficiently grossed everyone else out as much as me, I can start my work day.

 
Surviving the Blackout



So I managed to make it through the blackout safely, though not with great inconveniences. Since the trains were down, I offered to give all the other Manhattanites rides into the city, but we were a bit hesitant to leave since the traffic was pretty bad in Westchester and we had heard that there was no inbound traffic on any of the bridges into Manhattan. So we hung out outside the office for a while, and then another coworker who I had never met before who happens to live just a few blocks from me decided she was going to brave the traffic. By that time, there were only five of us who lived in Manhattan and one decided to stay over in Westchester, so rather than taking two cars, the four of us decided to go in her car and leave my car at the office. Despite all the warnings about no incoming traffic, we were able to get into the ciyt without any problems whatsoever.

However, when the power came on at 6 am this morning, I had the delimma of how to get into the office. None of the trains were running, and I didn't have my coworker's phone number. And I could take a bus if I got to The Bronx, but I didn't know the schedule and didn't know how I'd get there. And I could have stayed home but I would have to take time off since most people in the office drive normally and wouldn't have problems getting to work. So I ended up borrowing my brother's car. He got in safely last night from Chicago, and the only reason he even knew there was a blackout was because I called him to warn him (though he probably would have figure it out by the time he hit the city). And he was originally going to get his car inspected today, but given the lines at all the gas stations, that was probably not going to happen, so I'm driving my old car from college again. Let me tell you that for all my bitching about my car, it would be ten times worse if I was still driving that old thing.

So now I have to slog through this day and try and get some work done.......those of you in the city, enjoy your day off and think happy thoughts that you're not in the office like me.

 
Will This Week Ever End?

I can't believe that this week isn't over yet. Have been way too busy this week at work, which has apparently been playing with my mind since I'd been doing diddlysquat previously. But today my brother comes in for a long weekend, so I have something to look forward to since I haven't seen him since March.

 
It's Over!

All's well in the dollhaus as I have completed my first triathlon without dying! I was pretty happy with my time, especially since the bike portion was way harder than I expected, and during the run I didn't feel like I was about to have an asthma attack, always a good sign. This was probably because my legs felt like Jell-o, but hey, whatever takes my mind off my lungs. And best of all, now I don't have to feel bad about sitting on my ass while I should be working out.

 
What Am I In For?

Tomorrow I'm doing my first triathlon, which I am so not ready for but its pretty short so I think I can make it through. I am sooooo glad though that I am not doing the NYC Triathlon, which is also tomorrow (while convenient, its twice as long as the one I'm doing so I didn't want to commit to something that long). Because of all the horrible rain we've been having over the last week, the water quality in the Hudson River, where the swim portion of the tri was to take place, is literally sh-t. New York has their sewer system combined with the stormwater overflow system, so when it rains hard, the sewers overflow into the river. And as a result, the officials canceled the swim portion of the tri and made it a second run instead. And since swimming is my strong suit, so I would have been basically screwed. So wish me luck!

P.S. If you have time today or tomorrow and are in nyc, go see "No Such Roses" at the Henry Street Settlement - was great, much better than I ever expected (fof was the writer and director of the show so got dragged by f)

 
Another Movie I Can Cross Off My List

"This film evokes the feeling of wasting a rainy Saturday afternoon."

And even though it should be raining all weekend, I still won't be wasting my time on this.

 
More Hype

Turns out two of the guys I met at the bbq over the weekend were on Good Morning America on Tuesday in a piece on Metrosexuals. The problem with metrosexuals is that no matter how straight you know a guy is, if he's getting facials and manicures and spends more time is hair than you do on your whole morning routine, the question will always be in the back of your mind.

 
Another Reason to Hate the MTA

Not to keep harping on all my car issues and the inconveniences it brings, but....

One of the joys of my commute to work on public transportation is the need to take a Westchester commuter shuttle from the train station to the office. Theoretically, if you buy the bus ticket with the train ticket, you get a discount, but the MTA and the bus line are cheap and when you buy a round trip ticket, you only get one discounted bus ticket. Therefore, you get off the train, hand the bus driver your bus ticket (which looks almost identical to the train ticket) and you're set, but when you return, you have to pay $2 to get on the bus again.

Yesterday, I followed those normally simple instructions, and didn't notice anything out of the ordinary until I got on the train to go home and the train conductor pointed out that I didn't have a valid ticket. Apparently in the morning I had given the bus driver my train ticket instead of the discounted bus ticket and they didn't notice! I relayed this info to the conductor, but he must have been the most unsympathetic guy ever cause he still forced me to cough up $9 (yes, $9!!!!) So, my total cost of commuting yesterday should have been $15, but ended up being $24. On the upside, next time my car is in the shop, I have an extra bus transfer I can use to save me the $2 I normally have to pay in the afternoon.

And to top that all off, one of the parts my mechanic fixed was supposed to be under warranty, since they thought they had replaced it earlier this year. As it turns out, they replaced the part next to the one previously fixed, so on top of all the other parts they replaced, I had to pay for that one as well. I am pretty sure that I have now spent more on my car in the past year than its blue book value......if it can only last me one more year.

 
To Change Or Not To Change

The past few days have been crazy at work, which is kind of nice for a change since I'm usually pretty bored, but quite annoying since my car has been in the shop, so in addition to working overtime, I have an extra hour on my commute each way (example: Monday I left my house at 6:40 and didn't get home until 8:45, but I only worked 9.5 hours). I suppose its just as well since the parkway I usually take flooded on Monday and was shut down, so it probably would have taken me just as long. Hopefully my car will be ready today - apparently all the repairs are done, but the computer they need to reset something so that my airbags work is broken, so my shop will probably drive my car over to another shop that has a working computer, like they had to do last time I had this problem. So wish me luck because I need my car tomorrow, or else I might get stranded in White Plains after my softball game.

Anyway, last weekend was fun and busy, but relatively uneventful. Went to see Pirates of the Caribbean and enjoyed it thoroughly, though some of the action scenes were a bit too long. Loved Johnny and Orlando and definately think that Johnny should attempt more comedy and less of the horror/suspense themed movies.

Then on Saturday I spent the day with my mom biking around Manhattan on the greenways and bike lanes. During this ride, I affirmed my belief that the west side is soooo much better than the east side since you can bike all the way from the Battery to Dykman St. on a bike path, while on the east side, you end up spending a large portion of it on St. Nicholas Avenue and 3rd Avenue. The ride took a lot longer than I expected, so I barely had time to shower before my college roommate showed up for us to go out to her friend's boyfriend's apartment, which is in my neighborhood, for a bbq on his awesome roofdeck. The bbq was much more fun than I expected, since it wasn't all lawyers (her friend and said boyfriend are about to go into their 3rd year of law school). And then Sunday was my mom's company's summer party, so I went for the free food.

So now that my car issues are worked out, my big decision is whether to keep Blogger, go with TypePad, or get another hosting service and use Movable Type. I get a 30-day trial with TypePad, so I'm going to tool around with that for a bit. I'm not sure I like that you can't edit templates, even though I'm no html pro, and I don't really want to pay for the Pro version. I do like the photo album idea though, so we'll see.

 
A Step Forward

I am very excited to see that the Port Authority seems to be moving forward in their design for a new Tranist Center. Calatrava's work is amazing and I think that along with Libeskind, the European architectural influence is just what the city needs.

Last year when I visited my brother in Chicago, we saw a tiny but amazing exhibit at the Art Institute about modern train stations. It made me quite jealous for the Europeans, though I was quite impressed by the designs for the new Penn Station.





I had the pleasure of seeing Calatrava's work in Lisbon at the Oriente Train Station, and can only hope that his work in NYC will be as representative of the city.

 
The Outer Limits

I don't consider myself a Manhattan snob. I mean, growing up, I was always willing to trek out to my friends houses in Forrest Hills and Park Slope, and even Rockaway on occasion. However, since I've moved back to the city, I just haven't had much need to venture out to Brooklyn, other than if I'm meeting my mom after work or getting my car from the shop. So you can imagine the rarity that I visited Williamsburg twice in one week.

I know I may be behind the trends, but I guess I just needed to check out all the hype myself. Granted, my first visit this week was to the primarily orthodox area, but my second visit was last night when I was dragged to open mic night at The Lucky Cat sponsored by Beekiller.net. I went because a friend of a friend was doing a reading, and my friend wanted to go so I said I go with her, partially just because I hadn't been to the heart of trendy Williamsburg and wanted to see if the hype was justified. And while the readings were ok and the music was ok, the people watching was great. Only one trucker hat in appearance at the show, but I think my favorite was the waitress/bartender who looked like a young Janeane Garofalo but with tatoos covering her arms.

 
Why You Should Be Afraid To Ask

I try to avoid bringing my car into the shop too often, since getting to work is a big pain otherwise, so when I do, I usually have them check all the things that I've noticed over the past few months between visits. The only reason I brought my car in was because the sensor for my airbag had to be replaced, because in the meantime, it wouldn't operate. Against my better judgement, I also asked them to check out the rumbling sound my car is making, as well as the fact that my car tends to stall while starting the car. And sure enough, the rumbling sound isn't in my imagination, as I had hoped. Its my exhaust system, which is apparently falling apart big time. So I get to pick up my car tonight, but next week, it goes back into the shop for who knows how long and how much money. Ah, the joys of being a car owner.

 
Mmmmm

Am too stuffed to write! I just had the best steak ever at Peter Luger's, after 24 years of waiting. It was definately as good as I had anticipated. But now I need to head to bed early because my car is in the shop so I must take the train to work. At least I'll have good leftovers for lunch!

 
I Love My Luck!

Suprise, suprise, someone actually found my wallet! With the money missing but apparently everything else intact...after I cancelled my credit cards. Getting it back though could be a hassle since the woman who found it works in a store in Park Slope, Brooklyn, and I have the fortune to work in Westchester. I will be in Brooklyn on Monday for my dinner at Peter Luger's, as well as to drop my car off at the shop again, so maybe I'll be able to swing by there. All that I really need from the wallet is my library card, AAA card and gym card, since I cancelled the credit cards, but at least it will save me those hassles. Plus, I will have an extra driver's license for free, on the off chance that I get my wallet stolen again.

Parental Woes

I have a fairly ideal situation going right now where I live at home, but in my own apartment upstairs from my parents. In exchange for doing some chores around the house, I have a rent free one bedroom apartment in NY. I know, you're all drooling. And to answer a question I have been asked on numerous occasions, I can (and have) brought guys home--my apartment is above my parents living room, so since they're pretty deaf, they are none the wiser. And as I was telling a friend of mine, what's really great is that I am never obligated to spend time with my parents since they see me almost every day. I generally pop in to say hi, pick up whatever mail gets misdelivered to them, and occasionally mooch food and cable tv off of them, and in return, they never guilt trip me about not spending quality time with them. As an example, when I lived in Boston, I probably visited my parents at their weekend house in Conn. at least once a month in the summer, but this summer, I haven't been up since Memorial Day.

However, there are some drawbacks due to my parents poor memory. In their old age (to be fair, they're not that old and can still kick my as on the bike, but they are towards the end of the "middle age" range), their memories seem to be going. My dad especially will often claim he told me things when I am quite sure he hasn't, and they always forget stuff I tell them, but have given up complaining about that. This memory loss seems to have gotten more pronounced in the past couple weeks when they have forgotten to tell me important details like a) reserve next Sunday for your Mom's company party at our house as it will be the one weekend all summer we won't be going to Conn, b) reserve the weekend after that to come up to Conn because your aunt and cousins from Seattle, who you haven't seen since your uncle's funeral last year, will be coming to Conn to stay with your aunt and uncle who live up there, and c) your brother is coming to visit in the middle of August. Now I haven't bothered to ask them when they knew all of these were occurring, but I found this all out in the past week, and it would have been helpful to know it a lot sooner.

I had been planning on going up to Conn. either this weekend or next weekend, and had settled on next weekend since I have a going away party for friend tonight so I won't be able to leave till tomorrow morning. But it wasn't until last night that my father informed me that next weekend is no good, so I'll be waking up bright and early to go up on Saturday. Now I'm sure some of you might be thinking, why rush to go up this weekend when you will be going up in two weekends when your aunt and cousins are visiting? But that is pretty much out of the question since I finally got my guts up and signed up for a triathlon that Sunday. Normally, I would just skip it, but I already paid the entry fee and have been psyching myself up for this all summer long, so I don't exactly want to bail. I only signed up for it last week, so once again, had they thought to tell me this earlier, I could have just not signed up, but no, they apparently forgot I can't read their minds. And as for my brother visiting, I don't have any conflicts as of yet, but the only way I found out was by asking if he was planning on visiting any time soon.

I know, this isn't really much to complain about, but its just a general example of my frustration when they expect me to know all the details of their life without ever telling them to me.

And For Additional Amusement

 
Taking the Plunge?

I have recently been deciding whether to take the plunge and actually set up my own site instead of using the free one. What brought this about? Primarily, I've been trying to create a site for my photos and realized that while I thought they would all fit on a free geocities site, that was way wrong. And I'm getting envious of all the Movable Type people....especially of their comments, since Klink has been on the fritz lately and my comments have gone missing. I've loaded Haloscan in the meantime, but I'm having issues customizing them (if anyone has any hints on how to change name of the comments, please help!)

The delimma though is if I get a site and want to put my photos on it, then I'd like my friends and family to see them. However, most of them are not aware of my blog, and I don't necessarily want them to be.

Suggestions and cheap web hosting service recommendations would be more than welcome.

 
Protect and Serve

After wasting an hour at the DMV on Monday, I was informed by an ever so helpful employee there that the form I had gotten from the police department had the "lost" box checked instead of the "stolen" box. Now I wasted an hour of the gorgous Sunday afternoon at the local NYPD precinct while they filled out a case report (as if I actually expected to get my wallet out), purely to get this form so that I would not have to pay for a new license, and I get to the DMV and they inform me that its no good and I have to go back to the police to get the form filled out again! I guess this could be my fault since I didn't check the form to make sure the right box was checked, but I didn't really think to since I didn't think anyone would bother filling out that form unless it was stolen. Why would anyone bother filling all that out if they still had to pay?

Luckily, it didn't take quite as long the second time I visited my local precinct, but I still had to waste a second lunch going to the DMV to get my license. I was in a much better mood once that was all over, knowing that in 10 days I will once again be in posession of a permanent New York drivers license. And though I could have let the rain damper my spirits as I got soaked between my office and my car yesterday afternoon, I didn't. I went to the gym and ran on the treadmill, so as not to use the rain as an excuse of why I shouldn't run, which I was really tempted to do, and then had a lovely dinner with Edie, not letting the fact that I only had $25 bother me. And for that attitude, I was pleasantly rewarded with my cash card waiting for me at home!

All is good in the world!

 
Sleep Deprived, But Unscathed

My birthday celebration Friday was tons of fun, though there were a few flaws to the evening. I started off the evening with take out and wine at my place with a couple friends before heading out, and head every intention of getting to The Evelyn Lounge when I said I would, but we ended up getting there a bit late - not that it mattered since it was quite empty when we showed up. While trying to decide where to sit, since there were three rooms, we started chatting with the waitress in the back room. She was quite entertaining, and she offered to kick out a couple from the corner booth and ask them to move since she didn't want to have to watch them make out all evening. This seemed like a good idea at the time, since then we would have a big corner booth and plenty of space.

This turned out to not be the best idea. While our waitress was indeed entertaining, our location proved to be a bit too hidden for some people. Though plenty of people seemed to have no trouble finding my table, I was kind of suprised that no one from my office showed up, especially since my coworker K that I eat lunch with every day had told me she was planning on coming into the city with her new husband, since they hadn't gotten a chance since before their wedding (in May). So you can imagine my suprise when I crossed the middle room, where the dance floor was, going to the bathroom, and found a whole group of my corworkers there! Turns out they'd been there for a long time, but no one checked out the back room since there wasn't dancing going on back there. Or at least one person assumed that and no one bothered to check it after them. And worst of all, some people, including K and her husband, left since it was getting late and they needed to catch the train home.

Of the coworkers who stayed though, a couple of them were some good friends of mine so I was really glad to get to spend some time with them, and ended up spending the rest of the night dancing and consuming a bit too much alcohol, as everyone should on their birthday. Amazingly, I was able to get through the night, dancing and all, without twisting an ankle. My feet were killing by the end of the night, though, so I was quite happy to get a ride home, since some of my coworkers had driven down together and were parked near the bar.

All in all, I was out to about 3, so I was naturally quite disappointed when I woke up at 7:30!!!! I couldn't fall back asleep! And that was only the beginning of my bad day. I went out to Coney Island for the Siren Festival, but while there, got my wallet stolen from my bag! Since all my credit cards, including my cash card, and my driver's license were in there, this pretty much sucked as much as possible, except that at least I wasn't alone so I could get back home despite also having lost my MetroCard. Naturally, I didn't stay around for the end of the concert, though I was quite looking forward to some of the bands, since I wanted to get home to cancel my credit cards. And then today I had to waste an hour at the police station filing a report so that I don't have to pay to replace my driver's license. Hopefully I will be able to renew my license tomorrow without too much time wasted at the DMV, but I have a feeling that's a pretty high hope.

 
And The Minutes Slowly Tick By

I can't wait for this day to be over! Time seemed to be going by pretty quickly until lunch (maybe because I actually had some substantial work to do?) but it has now seemed to grind to a halt, which is always true when you can't wait for the weekend to begin!

On deck for this weekend

Tonight: Dinner and drinks at my place followed by debauchery at The Evelyn Lounge. Chances of me taking a cab home the bar, despite the proximity to my humble abode? Quite high.

Tomorrow: The Siren Festival! I am one of those rare few born and bred New Yorker's who have never been to Coney Island! Ever! So even though I hate rollercosters (anything where my stomach drops just doesn't appeal to me much---you don't hear people coming off turbulent flights saying it was fun, do you?) I will probably ride the Cyclone to just say I did it.

Sunday: I've been suckered into volunteering for another race in the Hudson, where this time I will hopefully do a better job with the sunscreen. At least this one is quick, so it will probably only take the morning instead of the whole day. In the afternoon, I'll probably stop by Central Park to watch the playoffs for frisbee, and maybe play a bit myself if there is pickup. And then Sex and the City!

 
Post Birthday Blues

Not that I'm depressed or anything, but after waiting for your birthday for a whole year, when its over, its kind of sad that you have to wait another full year for it to come again. But at least I get to drag it out a couple more days!

Last night, I had fun drinking with my engineering friends - I find it quite funny that I'm now the vice president of the young engineers group, and the sum total of my responsabilities so far is to create flyers for presentations throughout the year, which have yet to be scheduled, and to pick a night and location for our September networking night (i.e. drinking event). I will be making this a pub crawl in my neighborhood, since the 80's on Amsterdam Ave. was practically made for that purpose. Last night we went to The Joshua Tree, which made me kind of nostalgic for Boston since I used to live less than three blocks from this Joshua Tree, which I went to all the time. I'm pretty sure they're run by the same people since the front looks almost identical, as do the menus. The music was way to loud and the place was completely packed (kind of odd for a Wednesday night), so my throat is a bit sore now.

And my engineering friends made us do a round of shots in honor of my birthday. At least I got to choose the shot (Kamikaze), unlike last year (which may have been the last time I did a shot actually) when my "friend" ordered me a Prarie Fire as my last drink of the night. Anything involving tequila should not be the last drink of the night, especially if you have to go to work the next morning.

On deck for tonight: the Blur concert. Haven't gotten around to purchasing their new album (couldn't bring myself to shell out full price of $19 at Tower) but I love them from way back so hopefully it will be a good show.

 
Happy Birthday To Me!

Went out to dinner last night with my parents to Henry's End one of my favorite restaurants of all time, conveniently located near my mom's office. Between my cold and my still iffy stomach, I didn't want to overdo it, but I still had an amazing Chilled Corn Vichysoise (just the right amount of sweetness), and an appetizer portion of the Soft Shell Crab with a Moroccan Butter Sauce for my entree. The Soft Shell Crab was very good, but my mom's Macadamia Shrimp with Mango Salsa was excellent--one of the best dishes I've ever had. For desert, we all split the Creme Broulee Napolean which is to die for--I've gotten it before and remembered that it was good, but forgot quite how good it was. Mmmmm....talking about the dinner is making me hungry.

As for today, I'm not doing anything too special - I have an enginerd meeting for the board, since I'm now on the exec board of a local chapter of an engineering society, and we'll likely be going out for drinks after the meeting.

And then Friday is my party! Yay!

 
Clogged Sinis, Clogged Brain!

As Paul pointed out, I neglected to include the date of my party in my previous post, so for the record, my birthday is tomorrow, but the party is Friday, at 10:30 (I'll be getting there by 10 to secure some space), at the downstairs of The Evelyn Lounge. Come one, come all - just look for the tall girl with short hair twisting her ankle on her new shoes! I have a feeling I'll be walking home barefoot, but at least I won't be too far from home......

 
...You Could Cut A Knife

As I discussed Friday, I had A's b-day on Saturday evening and had still not talked to E, so I was kind of dreading it. I had a moment of hope when my college roommate had said she might come into the city, so that I would have someone to go with me, but she decided to stay in Jersey, so I was left to brave the party myself.

Maybe it was the fact that I was wearing new shoes (definately a danger to my health, but they're hott so I don't care) but when I walked in I was kind of shaking, and of course the first person I saw that I recognized was E. Sitting there with her roommate on one side and M on the other. So I kind of stared at her, said hi, and then spotted A and ran over to her to give her her present. A was hanging out with one of her friends from college, L, who I've met a couple times but haven't seen since sophmore year of college. A went off to socialize, so I ended up hanging out with L and some of his friends until they left.

Then I had to decide if I wanted to go over and talk to E, which I really didn't want to do since I thought it should be her to come talk to me. I did want to say hi to M, though, but the three of them were together the whole night, not really talking to anyone else. So I hung out with some of A's med school friends and then talked to M and E's roommate while E left with A to go talk in another room. Also awkward because I'm sure they know about the email I sent E, and probably about how she didn't respond, but we made small talk for a while, until everyone started to leave. And unfortunately, E was still talking with A in the front room, so in order to say bye to A, I had to talk to E as well. She basically ignored that I was there, except for saying bye, and that was that.

I guess I'll take that as a clue that she never wants to talk to me again, but I still don't really understand how someone who is your best friend all through high school, and who you stay in close touch with all through college and after, would just decide to stop talking to you for no reason what so ever. And A has no clue as to what is going through E's mind on this topic either. She didn't realize we hadn't talked, and in the whole time they were talking, they apparently didn't discuss it at all.

On a side note, my suspicions were right and E's boyfriend wasn't invited, but this was because they broke up a few months back, apparently because E had come to the realization that he wasn't "the one", which is funny because the last time I did talk to her, she had essentially planned out when they would move in together (next fall), and when they would get married, have kids, etc. Just goes to show how much changes in a couple of months.

Bad Timing

What's worse than being sick? Being sick, in the summer, on you're birthday. Saturday morning I woke up with my throat hurting, but I just thought my mouth was really dry and that drinking water would solve the problem, and Sunday it didn't bother me, so I didn't think much of it until I woke up this morning with the desperate need to blow my nose, and I've been sniffling and sneezing all day since. Hopefully this will be a 24-hr thing because I want to be healthy for my birthday, to fully enjoy my birthday dinner (haven't discussed it with my parents yet but I'm assuming we're going to a nice dinner on my birthday since that's tradition).

Only once before have on been sick on my birthday, when I turned 15 and was on a bike trip in Maine. I pretty much started off with the same type of thing as I have now (the other kids on my trip would joke about how they could hear me coughing all night), except that apparently, intense physical activity and lack of treatment other than sudafed doesn't bode well a cold because after a few days, it got so bad that I lost my sense of smell, and as a result, my sense of taste as well. So on our last night, when we went to a fancy dinner in Bar Harbor, I ordered pasta instead of a lobster dinner since I couldn't taste it anyway. Apparently it turned into a bad case of sinisitis, so my mom (who is a doctor) put me on antibiotics, and it was still over a week before I could taste again. My parents enjoyed my lack of taste, though, because I was significantly less of a picky eater.

Here's to hoping this isn't a repeat of last time.

Birthday Decisions

And I've pretty much decided to have my birthday festivities at The Evelyn Lounge. Being lazy, I haven't actually been there, but I've heard from a number of sources that it's a fun place and its in my neighborhood, so that works for me. I was going to check it out on Friday, but my friend who I was going to go out with got a migraine at the last minute, so rather than wandering over and checking it out myself, I was lazy and watched TV instead. My only reservation is that there might be a cover charge (am going to call and find out) and I didn't really want to pick a place with a cover, but its my birthday so people can just deal. So for all you in the New York area, I'll be hitting the lounge by 10:30, so stop by cause I'd love to see everyone.

 
On The Upside

My coworker got a new phone a couple months ago and is on the same phone plan as I have, and she hadn't gotten rid of it yet so she gave it to me!! So it may not be snazzy or the latest thing, but at least I didn't have to pay the through-the-roof retail price.

 
Reason I Wish I Were Still Away

Today is the birthday of one of my oldest friends, A, that I still keep in some kind of contact with. While our contact in the past year hasn't been the best, she's in med school so I understand why I don't see her much and I do hear from her every once in a while, so while I was in Africa, I still bought her a present. My high school friends and my college roommate are the only people I buy birthday presents for regularly (not even my parents fall into this category) but seeing as I haven't been talking with my high school friends recently, I wasn't sure about this. However, I figured I'd get her a wooden carving--it'd cost me all of $5 bucks and then I'd be off the hook, and if I didn't see her, I'd just give it to someone else down the road. But she is having a huge b-day party at a bar tomorrow along with another friend of hers from med school. I saw the evite and practically their whole med school is invited. The only email addresses I recognized, other than a couple of med school people I know, were of A's college roommate who I know somewhat and will probably be equally lost among the med school masses, and E's.

If you remember, I never got a response from E to my confrontational email, and she will be attending, which is exactly why I wanted to address this earlier. I didn't really want to get into this at A's birthday, and then there is the whole issue of my birthday as well. I am not looking forward to this at all and am contemplating not going in order to avoid it, though that's stupid because I do want to see A and celebrate her b-day with her since I don't get to see her much. And E is probably bringing a friend of hers, M, that I always get along with really well and have always felt I should hang out with outside of her, but since its her friend, we never do. So I want to go cause otherwise I won't see M. Oddly, though, E isn't bringing her boyfriend, and he isn't on the guestlist otherwise (he's in med school with A). I suppose this probably means that he's out of town for the summer, but its still a bit odd.

I will probably give A a call this afternoon and wish her a happy birthday, and also see if she's talked to E at all about the situation between E and I. At least that way I have some way of gaging what to expect. Overall, though, I am not too excited for this party....a bunch of people I don't know who are all really good friends with the b-day girl, and the one person I know really well who is guaranteed to be there is someone I haven't talked to in 6 months.....makes me almost wish I was still in Africa and could just ignore the issue.

 
Back to Reality

So I made it back from the great unknown in one piece! Let me tell you, you'll never appreciate public transportation more than after a visit to a third world country. My heiny is definately thanking me tons right now. Other than some bruises and tons of mosquito bites (don't worry, I'm on my malaria meds so I should be ok), I had a minor bout with heat exhaustion but am otherwise unscathed. I will do a full write-up of my vacation, with pictures, when I get everything developed (my digital camera doesn't take regular batteries, so I was dependent on a bulky film camera) and have time to write (re: this weekend). The trip was great though, and I'm really glad I went, though equally glad to be home and clean for the first time in two weeks.

And now that I'm back, on to the minutia of the rest of my life like:

......buying a new cell phone and not getting ripped off for it, since I lost my cell phone on the way to the airport (the only reason I brought it was because I thought I'd kill some of my time on layovers making calls, but in the back of my mind, I knew it was a bad idea). My dad called Verizon and suspended my service, so I can't even check messages, and now I have to beg them to not make me pay full price for a phone since I don't have insurance (won't make that same mistake). And by the way, if I had your phone number, assume I lost it with my phone and email it to me again, and if you do want to get in touch, email's the way to go.

......get back into shape--still want to do a triathalon this summer so must get back to running. plus, frisbee league has playoffs this wekeend and don't want to look like a total loser. the plus side of going to a third world country is that i probably lost 5-10 lbs, but i'm pretty happy with the way i look, so not sure if that's a particularly good thing.

......plan my b-day party! thanks to joe and paul for advice, although i think joe kinda ignored the "no frat" thing i'm going for (though i'd be happy to join you there any other night of the week as i luuuv jake's with all my heart), so i'll be doing some research this weekend and will hopefully have a decision by next week. other insights still welcome!

 
Parting Words

OK, before I head out, I'll leave everyone with something to think about over the next few weeks. A week after I get back, on the 16th, is my birthday, my first in NY in a long time. I'm planning on organizing something for the weekend after, rather than trying to go out on my actual birthday, so now comes the hard choice of where to go. I'd like something nearish to my neighborhood of the Upper West Side, since I've stood on the corner of 1st Ave. and Delancy a few too many times, waiting forever for a cab. And no place too frat like (which of course rules out the bulk of the bars in my immediate vicinity). Someplace that doesn't have a long line either, because it sucks when people are coming and going.

So over the next two weeks, think about it, and I'll be back before you know it.

 
Vacation Plans

Though I've been talking about my vacation for a while now, I realized I probably never went into any depth as to why I'm actually going to Africa, so here's a bit of a description of what my vacation will be.

One of my best friends (and senior year roommate), S, from college entered the Peace Corps in January 2002, and was sent to Mali. She was in the states around Christmas, but won't be back again till she finishes up next spring, and while she was here, she started convincing L and H, two other senior year roommates of mine, to come visit. L is in vet school so she has the summer off and was already planning on a backpacking trip in Europe, and figured if she was already in Paris, she might as well hop over to Mali (being a former French colony, all the flights are on Air France via Paris). And H works for our alma mater as a computer person, so I guess they didn't have issues with taking all that time off, so she decided to come as well.

I only get two weeks of vacation a year, though, and had already be planning go skiing with my family in March, so I wasn't sure if I would be able to take the time off necessary for the trip. I talked with my boss and he said rather than taking some time off unpaid, I can basically get an advance on my vacation days, so I decided to join my friends. I figured I'd never be able to take a trip like this when S left the Peace Corps, and this way I would be travelling with friends. Unfortunately, we are only going for two weeks, which is good for me because I probably couldn't borrow any extra time off, but still not enough time to really see the country.

Since we only have two weeks (really 12 days since it takes a full day of travel to get from the States to Mali), we won't be seeing too much, and I'm not sure what S has planned for us, but this will be the general itinerary:

6/25 - Fly from Newark to Paris (via Detroit--yes, Detroit, which of course is my punishment for using Hotwire)
6/26 - Arrive in Paris ~11:15, Leave for Mali ~4, Arrive in Bamako, the capital of Mali ~11pm. Pray my luggage gets there as well (Everyone else pray for me too because apparently this happens all the time.
6/27 - Leave Bamako to head for The Dogon, which is the region where S lives. This is the "touristy" region, which kind of resembles the southwest.
6/28-6/30 - Camp out in the Dogon, check out S's village, etc.
7/1 - Return to Bamako
7/2 - Start heading to another region on the other side of the country for a July 4th party - all I (and apparently S as well) know about this is that the region is supposed to be cool and that the party will be huge.
7/5 - Begin our trek back to Bamako for our flight home
7/8 - Fly to Paris
7/9 - Arrive in Paris ~6am, Leave for the States ~10, get back to Newark ~5pm.

We'll see how this relates to my actual travel plans.

What I surmize from this is that I am essentially travelling half way around the world to spend a lot of time on busses and go to a July 4th party. But S will be eternally grateful, and I still can't wait to go.

 
The Countdown

My last day of work before vacation! It's always the most unbearable, because you can actually see the end in sight, but aren't quite there yet. Today is especially horrible because I really don't have very much to do and can't start on anything new. I am supposed to be finishing up a memo that my boss wants me to send out, but he's at a meeting all day, so he can't review the additions I made which is quite frustrating.

And last night, instead of packing up my big pack, I spent it loading up MiniDiscs for my trip, and burning CDs for my friend in the Peace Corps who I'm visiting. When she left, I promised I would keep her up to date with modern music, since all she has is the cds she left with in January 2002, and the BBC World Service. I haven't been the best about that, so I decided I needed to go all out when visiting. I burned a bunch of CDs (Evanescence, Coldplay, Radiohead, Pearl Jam, Flaming Lips) that I've been listening to recently, and I figure she can take them if she wants since I have all the music on my computer. Also, I made her a CD of what's popular on the radio these days. This tends to be a problem for me since I generally listen to NPR when I'm driving to work, but last week was fundraiser week, so I listened to the radio and inspected the play lists, and this is what I came up with:

1. The White Stripes - Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself
2. Creed - One Last Breath
3. R. Kelly - Ignition (remix version)
4. John Mayer - No Such Thing
5. Coldplay - Clocks
6. Evanescence - Bring Me To Life
7. Kinky - Mas
8. Michelle Branch - All You Wanted
9. Sean Paul - Get Busy
10. Uncle Kracker - Drift Away
11. Queens of the Stone Age - Go With the Flow
12. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Can't Stop
13. Radiohead - There, There
14. Wayne Wonder - No Letting Go
15. The Ataris - Boys of Summer
16. The White Stripes - Seven Nation Army
17. Kelly Clarkson - Miss Independent
18. 3 Doors Down - When I'm Gone
19. Foo Fighters - Times Like These

I know the John Mayer song is old, but I don't think I put it on any of my previous mixes so I thought I should add him on since they still play him on the radio. And while the Kinky song isn't exactly burning up the charts, you hear it all over the place on commercials and the like. Same goes the Michelle Branch song (how many movie ads have used it now???) Normally I would break up modern rock and pop/r&b since the styles don't go together all that well, but I didn't really have time to look for more songs, and I think she'll appreciate it, even if it doesn't have the normal mix balance I strive for. The only music I should probably have gotten for her is Justin Timberlake's album, since I know she has a weakness for the boy bands. If I get done packing early, maybe I'll download that too - somehow I have managed to go through Justin's whole run without hearing a single song of his (that I was aware of, at least), so maybe I'll suprise myself and actually like it. That or I'll just remember what a great friend I am.

Any other glaring music omissions on my part?

 
Why My Job Rocks

Today, I was highly amused when I found out I was no. 2 on google's list for the search "What does an Environmental Engineer Do?" Apparently, even
though my job isn't the cat's meow, I must be doing pretty well because today I got a raise! And not a shabby one either! The HR department wanted
to cap the raises at 4%, and since I started at my job in August and reviews were done in April, I would only have gotten 3% raise (proportional to when
I started). However, my bosses went to bat for me (without my knowledge) and got me a whopping 6.25% raise! This isn't only because I'm such a
stellar worker (which I'm obviously not since I spend way too much time blogging) - some people who are at the same level as me started off with
higher salaries based purely on their negotiating skills, so my bosses wanted to fix those disparaties. Regardless, hooray for me! Best part is
that the raise goes into effect in the next pay period, while I'm going to be on vacation.

I'd go out and celebrate hard core if I didn't have so much packing to do in the next 44 hrs. That's right, 44 hrs. until I leave my house for my
African trek!

 
Buddhism, the Tour

Was walking by the Beacon Theatre yesterday and did a double take when I saw this on its marquee

 
Cha-Cha-Cha-Changes

So I did it. I took the plunge and got my hair cut. The stylist totally ignored my instructions of keeping it down to my jawline, but I think it looks pretty good and it is so easy to take care of.


Before


After

 
Dont' Drink and Drive

I have a problem most New Yorkers don't come across, and that's the issue of drinking and driving. Since I work outside of the city and drive to work, I usually encounter this dilemma if I go out after work, such as for happy hour on Friday evenings, or after our softball games on Thursday nights. This is not a problem normal people have in the morning! But alas, after last night's happy hour with Gothamist and 601am, I woke up and felt the oh so wonderful combination of still being tipsy and starting to feel hungover. Why is it that when you leave the college world, your tolerance decreases and no matter how little you drink, you still feel it the next day? Which isn't to say I didn't drink much, because that would be a lie, but I wasn't overly excessive either. In the future, though, it might be a good idea to eat more than a few bite of leftover chinese before going out drinking. I'm starting to feel better now, but I can't believe I actually came in to work today! I left early yesterday because I was "sick", so I totally could have stayed home today as well and no one would have been suprised. Damn.

Why Its Good to Live Alone

I was just reading Cati's post which made me laugh out loud, as well as remember a fun little story of my own.

Last year, when I was living in Boston, I lived in "three bedroom" with two other girls. Three was kind of an exaggeration though because it was really a one bedroom duplex, where someone put some walls up in the attic and decided they could call them bedrooms. I, the tallest, got to live in one of the attic rooms (lost the coin toss), while the roommate I was actually friends with got the master bedroom downstairs. One weekend, her ex-boyfriend came to visit and even though he was an ex, he was still sleeping in her room. So naturally, when I woke up around 8 am and noticed the house shaking, I assumed it was because they were having sex downstairs. I roll over and go back to sleep. Eventually, I turn on the TV and find out there had been an earthquake in Boston around 8 am! And no, even though he tried, she did not have sex with him.

 
Blogger Problems....My Benefit

So the hits from Blogger keep pouring in, but something odd must be going on there. Whenever I click over there, it lists the most recently updated blogs as of 4:46 PM. This is odd, since I posted mine last night at 11:14 pm, and have been getting links from Blogger ever since then. Somehow, it must be still showing up for some people, but not for me. Weird.

By the way, can you tell I'm bored at work and the company firewall is being nice to me today? Oh how I abuse thee. My boss is out of the office and I have no idea if he's coming back from his meeting or just going home. And there is work I should be doing, but I need information from these people in another office and they are both out today, so there is literally nothing for me to do. So I think I may go home sick since my stomach is a bit queasy and I want to go to the happy hour tonight.

 
Update

Since one of my new visitors, Imran, asked, I did not get any response to the email I sent E. And granted she is moving this weekend, and she generally does not do anything personal on work time, but I expected something. I know she read it because my work email tracks those things, but I guess I'm not that suprised since she's blown me off for the past 6 months, so why would she start paying attention now, since she obviously doesn't care about the friendship.

And in other unresponded emails, I wrote the mba guy a couple of days ago to let him know I was playing pickup on Tuesday, but once again, no appearance and no response, so at least I gave it a second chance. Did I really want to date an unemployed Christian guy from Nebraska? Not really, though I thought he'd be a fun guy to hang out and play frisbee with.

As for Jewish employed guys from the NY area, I do have a date for brunch on Sunday with the financial guy. We've been trying to get together for about two weeks now but have had completely conflicting schedules and I wanted to get it in before I head out (6 days left!). I have higher hopes for this one as he is employed and making over minimum wage. Of this last four guys I've been on dates with, one graduated from an MBA program and is unemployed, one is going to journalism school in the fall and has been doing part-time tech work (ie pretty much unemployed) until that starts, one worked for Teach for America and one was a musician who worked part time as a teacher's aide.... I have single-handedly felt the impact of the recession!

Plus, I was chatting with another guy who is also employed in the financial industry, though in nj, but i haven't heard from him since I mentioned I would be going to Africa for 2 weeks. Don't know if its just that he's been busy or if he didn't want wait until I got back.....

 
The Cold World of the Ice Cream Business

This morning I received my Daily Candy, discussing the opening of a Cold Stone Creamery right here in good old NYC. Apparently, the rest of the US has been enjoying this for quite a few years now but they are finally ready to tackle the big apple. And what makes them different than the run of the mill ice cream shop? Their mix ins--apparently you pick the flavor ice cream and whatever "toppings" you want and they will mix it all together for you on a board in front of your eyes.

Now, for those of you from Massachusetts, this may seem a bit familiar to you. For anyone that has ever visited Herrell's and experienced their world famous "Smoosh-Ins", this might seem very familiar indeed.
To quote the NYTimes, "The process [Herrell] invented -- mixing the candy, ground up, with a scoop of a customer's favorite flavor of ice cream -- was an immediate success. That was just the beginning."
The New York Times, December 4, 1989

Now, before I call anyone a copycat, I do my research. Cold Stone Creamery was started in 1988. Herrell's, 1980. And before that, Mr. Steve Herrell owned Steve's Ice Cream, though when he sold the name to a national company, it did not fare too well. Now I suppose Cold Stone Creamery can do whatever they want, especially since Herrell's is only found in the Boston and Amherst areas, but us in the know will always judge them against their predecessors.

However, I will make an attempt to stop by Cold Stone Creamery for the taste test, if for no other reason than the fact that half their profits at the NYC store go to the Make-a-Wish Foundations.

Other great Boston ice cream stores include Emack and Bolio's and Toscanini's. Emack and Bolio's has made the leap to the big apple (and is now the closest ice cream store to my home since the Haagen Dazs in my neighborhood apparently closed, but being in Macy's kind of bother's me.

Herrell's Stories

Back in college, during my junior year and the summer before, one of my best best friends Steve worked at Herrell's. For Steve, this was a dream job (and not just because he had the same name as the founder). The two jobs he had always wanted to do at some point in his life were working at an ice cream store, and working at a flower shop. Why these job, do you say? Because ice cream makes people happy, and so do flowers, and Steve was the type of guy who always wanted people to be happy. Now some of this may have had to do with the hyperness that was a side effect of ADD, but I think a lot of this was just because of his good heart.

My room in my apartment that year faced the street, so Steve had a habit of stopping in if my light was on, which it often was because I was quite the night owl in those days, and Steve was always up late (thanks to the hyperness). So he used to take orders from everyone in my apartment and when he got back from work between 1 and 2 (they stayed open to 12 and he often walked home to burn energy), he'd drop them off if I was awake. The great thing about having a friend in the ice cream biz was that we always had at least 4 quarts of hand packed ice cream in our fridge!

However, the best was if we showed up at the store when his manager wasn't around. One time, on my friend's b-day, we went out to dinner in Cambridge and then marched over to Herrell's to visit Steve. Naturally, we got whatever we wanted to eat, and the b-day girl was allowed to make her own Smoosh-In behind the counter. In addition, we somehow ended up in the basement of the store, which happens to be connected to the basement of the other shops on the block, including a bank a couple of doors down. And yes, you guessed it. A few minutes later, we were roaming around in the staircase of the bank. No one was stupid enough to try and open any of the doors, luckily, though a few people might have tried to get on to the roof. I still can't believe the bank didn't lock the entrance to the stairs though. (BTW, there was some drinking involved at dinner, but not much, and Steve didn't have anything since he didn't partake in any alcohol or drugs).

The one thing we never got around to doing while Steve worked there? Hotboxing the Fish Bowl after closing (for those of you who have never been there, the store in Cambridge is in a former bank and the "Fish Bowl" is an old vault that is painted like its undersea.

 
I Love Blogger

Last night after I posted, I randomly decided to check my Site Counter and noticed an influx of traffic. And based on the references, it was all from Blogger. I clicked over to see what was going on and I was no. 1 on their most recently updated blog list. Half an hour later, they hadn't updated that list and the hits were still coming. And by 9am this morning, I had almost 200 hits, seemingly all from Blogger (guess they don't update that list too often). For me this is huge, as I normally get about 20 hits per day (and I love all you regulars!), but if you newcomers decide to come back, could you sign the guestbook so that I can see where you all are hailing from, that would be great. Now, on to today's regular post....

 
Hair Troubles

I've been thinking of cutting my hair and was hoping to do it before I leave for Africa (7 days!) so that it would be cooler (like its really going to help). I don't want anything super short, like Felicity when she chopped her hair off completely, but I'm thinking Felicity around end of season 3. Does anyone know of photos of a cut like that so I can show the stylist?

Update: And yes, I love Felicity and am seriously contemplating buying the dvd set. In a random fact, the guy who wrote the Felicity theme song, Andrew Jarecki, directed a documentry Capturing the Friedmans that has garnered rave reviews and I hope to see it before I leave on vacation but if I miss it, it's going to get shown on HBO sometime in the next year.

 
Bone Tired

Ran the Nike I RunNY race today and did ok. Didn't stay around to see Everclear at the concert afterwards though because by then I was getting cold and didn't have any clothes to put on. So did what every sensible New Yorker would do and went home and ordered Chinese. Am now going to hit the sack so that I can rest up for the Gothamist and 601am Happy Hour. If you're around, come join us!

 
Life w. Brian

I'm a generally unfuckwitted, liberal, disgustingly generous, seizure-inducingly boring spod!
See how compatible you are with me!
Brought to you by Rum and Monkey

Woo hoo! I'm 75% compatible with Brian!

 
Long Lost Friend

A bit of history...

When I was in high school, I had two best friends, and I more or less kept in touch with them through college. However, one of them, A, tended to be flakier and went to school in Philly, whereas the other one, E, went to school in NH, so I saw her a lot more in college and we kept in better touch. Both of them moved back to NYC after college, and A started in med school right away. Therefore, when I would come and visit, I usually saw E more anyway, since she wasn't as busy. And it was one time when I was home visiting that she came out with me and a couple of my college friends who were visiting the city with me, and she ended up meeting a guy and they have been dating ever since. I was incredibly happy for her because her boyfriend was a really great guy and I thought they made a good couple.

And when I decided I wanted to move back to the city, E was very excited for me and claimed she couldn't wait. I thought this would be great because E moved to an apartment 10 blocks away from me, and her boyfriend was in med school (ironically the same school as A, in the same dorm, down the hall!) so it wouldn't be like she was going to spend all her time with him. Since A was in med school, and I only had one friend from college who was living in the city, E knew that she was the one friend I was really depending on when I got back here. However, within a few weeks, it became pretty apparent that I was not going to be spending as much time with her as I expected. And she had tons to friends from college around, so was always busy, and I often felt as if I was just tagging along. Eventually, I got fed up with always being the one to make the effort and make plans, and as a result, I haven't talked to her since January.

About a month ago, I got an email from A, sent to all her friends appologizing for dropping off the face of the earth (haven't spoken with her since February) due to med school, boards, etc. She said that come June, she would have more time since she would be done with the first round of boards and her 2nd year of med school, and this got me thinking about E. I figured that I would probably see her sometime over the summer, since both A's and my birthdays are in July and that I should say something to her before then. However, I have kept putting it off, but last night I got an email from her. Just a short mass email, warning everyone of her change in address, as she would be starting law school in the fall and wanted to move closer to school. So I feel like this was the push I needed to actually get me to write to her, tell her how much she hurt me, and question why she would even bother updating me about her move if she obviously didn't care about keeping me as a friend.

I know this doesn't make the most sense, but I just needed to talk it through a bit, so thanks for listening.

 
Waking Up Is Hard To Do

Last Friday, I rolled over in bed to look at my clock, and was quite suprised to see that it read 6:45. Why this may seem way to early to most of you, you have to understand that I am supposed to leave for work by 7, and that my alarm was supposed to go off at 6:15. I have no recollection of having turned off my alarm, and I definately had not hit the snooze button. In fact, I was quite lucky to have worken up at all.

Fast forward to this morning, where I once again roll over and think to myself, not again! How can I be turning off my alarm in my sleep! And I drag myself out of bed and get into the shower, rushing slightly, but as concerned as I should be about running late (work is slow and my boss gets in after me anyway). It is not until after I get out of the shower and walk into my room that I look at my clock again, and realize it say 6:05. Not 7:05, as I expected, but 6:05! I woke up half an hour before my alarm! And this with having gone to bed after midnight (though I did take a nap yesterday afternoon since I wasn't feeling so hot). No wonder my kitty thought I was a spaz and didn't want to get out of bed.

 
Let's Try This Again

Since another internet window stalled while I was trying to blog, so forgive me if this is a bit brief. So Satruday night was not quite as crazy as I thought it would be. I spent all day Saturday on the boat, enjoying the beautiful weather and getting only a minor sunburn. And luckily the race ended before the downpours began. Managed to get the subway right after it started, but it was over by the time I got off the subway, so I didn't care too much. I only had about an hour between getting home and going to the after race party, so I didn't have any time for a nap. I checked in with my friend who' b-day it was to see what the plan was, but she still didn't know. She was going out to dinner, and that out afterwards, and I was planning on meeting them after dinner, since I was having food at the party, and she was going to call after they were done with dinner.

So after the party (which ended pretty early since all the swimmers were wiped out), I went home and ended up taking a little nap, expecting to wake up when my friend called. Imagine how suprised I was that I woke up at midnight (see a trend with my saturday nights?) So I got myself into bed and went to sleep for the rest of the night, kinda pissed off, but then again, having only gotten 4 hours of sleep the night before, I wouldn't have been much fun. All in al, I wasn't al that suprised either since every time I make plans with this friend, she ends up flaking for some reason. The next day I got a call from her, though, and it turns out she went out without her phone last night, so she couldn't call anyone since she didn't know anyone's phone number. Plus, it sounds like they ended up going to someone she didn't even know's bridal shower, so it doesn't sound like I missed much.

In other news, last week I went out with a pretty cool guy--just graduated from a joint mba/international relations masters program, so obviously not empty up top. However, seeing as these days aren't the best for finding jobs, especially in that industry, he is unemployed, and paying rent on a one-bedroom sublet in the city. So we went out to dinner and had a very nice time, and I insisted on splitting, since I have a job and he doesn't. We had only emailed before hand, but I called him to tell him I was running late, and even though he would have the message and the number in the phone already, he insisted on entering it in his phone. And, we made plans to hang out and play frisbee over the weekend. I told him that I was playing in a league, so I had a game on Sunday, but that I'd be tossing around before hand, and that there were always people playing on the sidelines, so he should come anyway. But he didn't show up, even though it was his idea, and I haven't heard from him either. I think I might email him, but I don't see why anyone would suggest plans and enter my phone number into their phone when they dind't need too, if they didn't intend on showing!

Edie went through a similar situation a couple weeks ago, but for some reason I thought this would be different.

 
He is a very baaaad man

As I was driving to work this morning, I was listening to NPR as I usually do, when I heard this piece. If you take a listen, the section where they interview an Iraqi about what he thinks of the current mayor of the town in question. His response is almost exactly the same (and in the same tone) as that of Babu when Jerry inadvertantly gets him deported.

 
When Good Bands Go Bad

I was just listening to No Alternative and was once again struck by how different the Goo Goo Dolls song on it (Bitch) is from everything after. It sounds more like a metal band and I sincerely doubt Jonny was fronting on this one. I wonder what they think when they listen to their old stuff though. Do they think their old stuff is crap or do they resent that they've sold out?

On a side note, one of the best concerts I went to was Bush in '96, when No Doubt and Goo Goo Dolls opened for them. Back when they were all fairly new and fresh and distinctive.

 
The Coolest Commerical Ever

I believe I've mentioned this before, but everyone must check this out. I have yet to see it on tv, but this is probably one of the most intelligent commercials I've seen in a long time.

Saturday Dilemmas

I realized this week that I've made up for my lack of social life by getting involved in a few too many other activities. One of those is a masters swim team (team is a bit of an exageration since we only swim once a week) and a couple of people on the team are swimming this weekend in the Manhattan Island Marathon Swim and I volunteered to help out with the race. So I am spending all of Saturday (starting at 5am!) on a boat around Manhattan making sure some crazy who is swimming doesn't drown. The reward for the volunteering (besides the warm fuzzy feeling) is that we get to go to the post race dinner/party at the Boat Basin Cafe. In addition, it a college friend of mine's birthday, and I also had plans to hang out with Edie. Can I fit them all in? And get some sleep in as well? Only time will tell.

 
Another Blogger Meet-up

Gothamist and 601am have taken it upon themselves to host a blogger happy hour next Thursday, so if you're in the NYC area, I'm planning on seeing you there.

 
Weekend of Bore

So Friday night was not as great as I would have hoped. Had a nice dinner with Mr. Adorable, but no sparks. So early night on Friday, and then spent Saturday sitting on my ass in my apartment, taking adavantage of the crappy weather by cleaning up my apartment, especially the pieces of rubble left on my floor. But when Sat. night rolled around, I was totally ready to go out and hang with Cati and company, but after eating dinner, felt incredibly nauseous. I lay down for a nap in the hopes that it would go away and I could go out. When I woke up, I did feel better, but also found that it was midnight and I didn't feel like leaving the house then in the rain and all (sorry Cati!). Sunday I actually left the house, busy with frisbee and swimming (sore arms today!). That and cleaning up the cat puke off my sofa (grrr).

 
Woo-hoo! So I didn't scare off Mr. Adorable. Just got off the phone with him and am meeting him later for dinner. A friend of his is coming in from out of town is coming in later to go out in the city, but he invited me to come along with them. I'll play it by ear....

 
Dating Update

I know there hasn't been much to report recently, but in the past week, a whole bunch of new prospects appeared. Started chatting with a financial guy who seems pretty cool and might see next week. In addition, there are two other prospects that just popped up yesterday and seem like real down to earth guys. One of them wants to get together this weekend for coffee, which is fine by me because the emailing back and forth gets a bit redundant when you're carrying on essentially the same conversation (what's your job, where do you live, where did you go to college, etc.) over and over again. And the other one sent me this really great email about how he thought I was adorable (love that!) and how he was going to grad school in the fall but would have all summer to play. I got this in the morning at work and really was going to write back, but I got so busy that I didn't have time, and at 5 I still hadn't written back, though I had the reply box open all day. So instead of writing the same old stuff, I told myself f*ck it and wrote to him that I've been super busy at work so I've been bad at emailing, and did he want to just get a drink sometime this weekend and skip the intro stuff. Haven't heard from him and in hindsight am thinking maybe that wasn't the smartest thing to do as I may have scared him off. Honestly, though, he just seemed like he'd be a really fun person to hang out with I just wanted to meet him rather than wasting time I didn't really have on relatively pointless emails. Other than that, will hopefully be partying it up with Cati and crew Saturday night, and maybe even enjoying a Sunday without rain....

 
The Sky is Falling

There I was, newly showered after coming home sopping wet from a run (it was supposed to be light rain!), heating up leftovers to eat for dinner, when I hear some trickling in the chimney (which has been stopped up for probaly 40 years minimum). I look and see a couple pieces of brick in the fireplace (located inconveniently behind my desk). But there was a piece of cardboard covering the chimney and I could hear stuff falling on it. And sure enough, a minute later, it all came crashing down. A huge pile of brick pieces and dust that had probably been accumulating above the cardboard for 20 years. I called my parents (also my landlord) to tell them and my dad seemed supprisingly blase. Aparently, when its stormy out, stuff falls down the chimney and the water probably caused stuff to fall. Its all up now, filling up a whole shopping bag with the dirt, but who knows when more stuff will go pouring down into my fireplace. Ah, the troubles of living in an old house, to quote my mother.

Quote of the Day

President Bush told reporters today "I'm the master of low expectations." So true, but quite suprising to hear him admit it himself.

 
Going Head to Head With Mr. Bloomberg

It was 6:45 as I pulled up 82nd St and I see two spots - one in the school zone which would require to actually leave for work on time (by 7am) or at a meter, which isn't free until 7 pm. I opt for the meter spot, knowing my sleeping paterns of late and pull into the spot, quite sure I have a quarter in my wallet. However, when I get out of the car, I see that there are 4 minutes left on the meter and I only have dimes in my coin section. I look left - there is a newstand where I can get change. I look right - there is the bus that will take me to the gym. Do I risk the ten minutes without money in the meter, despite the cops on the rampage. I do, and on the way back from the gym I check my car. Score!! No ticket!! Take that Bloomberg - I just ripped to city off for a quarter!

 
Rain, Rain Go Away

I know I've been kinda bad about posting the past couple of weeks, but its really because my life has reached new levels of boringness. If it didn't keep raining, maybe I would have actually done something over the weekend other than sit on my ass, but no. The highlight of my weekend was instead buying this new computer. Thanks to Gizmodo for the help on choosing it.

 
Partying with the Chicks

Well, it has now started to downpour, so I guess I won't be going for that run soon, but I am still excited for this weekend because my college roommate is going to be in town tomorrow and hopefully we will get ready to par-tay! Unfortunately, her friend will be out of town, so the f-o-f P will not be there, but he probably was interested in someone else as I suspected, or I would have heard from him. Regardless, he's a cool guy and I would have enjoyed hanging out with him, but it will have to be a girl's night out! One out last girls night out, this happened. We'll have to see if we can top that!

(nothing ever happened with that coworker--haven't seen him much since i missed his b-day party, but I still have hopes for the future)

 
Playing Hooky

There is something great about not being at work on a gorgous day, and knowing that everyone else is stuck there.

Since I worked last weekend, I have rewarded myself with a day off. So far, I have managed to get my oil changed, go to the post office to send off my visa application for Mali (yes, I'm going to Mali in West Africa at the end of June - one of my college roommates is in the Peace Corps, and I'm going to visit her with two of our other roommates and its going to rock!), dropped off my Mom's old sewing machine for repairs in the hopes that I will one day finish the quilt I started, and will be picking up my bike from the shop later this afternoon (and yes, I am pissed off that it was supposed to be ready last friday and they just started working on it yesterday).

Plus, I've even managed to get a bit of a sunburn while waiting for my car!

 
Workaholic? Moi?

Somehow, over the past week, I became a workaholic, much to my dismay. I sank to an all time low when I went into work Saturday morning on my way up to Conn. to hang with my family for the long weekend, and stopped there on my way home today. I was the only person in my group that was there past 3 on Friday and I probably would have stayed much later than 5:30 (not impressive unless you take into account I was in the office by 7am) but had luckily made plans with Jen to see "The Matrix" and we already had tickets, so at least I got some fun in over the weekend. Have no fear though....deadline is tomorrow and I will hopefully go back to my usual slacker self by Wednesday.

 
Welcome Back

OK, I gave up on the referrals and will just have to rely on my site meter from now on. But isn't everyone glad my page is back to normal?

 
Spice Up Your Life

Who would have thought that I'd ever become Sporty Spice!

Saturday (5/17) - ~2 1/2 mile run
Sunday (5/18) - 2 hrs of ultimate frisbee (my team lost, but much closer than last week), ~9 miles of biking, and 2 hrs of swimming (~2.5 miles)
Yesterday (5/20) - 1 hr of ultimate, 4.5 miles of biking
Today (5/21) - Running with Nike
Tomorrow (5/22) - Company Softball game
This Weekend - Getting my ass kicked while biking with my parents, if the weather holds out in Conn.

Yeah, I rock. I suppose this week makes up for last week when I sat on my ass instead.

When I was in high school, there were five of us in my group of girlfriends, so naturally we figured out which Spice Girl we were in the group, but back then I was always Scary Spice. And no, I'm not black, but I am tall with curly hair, so I guess I looked the most like her. That and no one wanted to be Sporty since she wasn't sexy like the rest of them

Update
Well, maybe I'm not as sporty as I thought I was.....my dad emailed me at work telling me he was getting work done on my mom's bike--new gears--and that if I wanted her old ones, it would only cost me $70, which is a steal since a tune-up alone would cost $50 and the bike I am currently using's gears are crap and the chain falls off half the time you switch gears, so instead of running, I brought my bike over to the shop. Yes, theoretically I could have run on my own, but by the time I got home, it had already started raining again, and Law and Order was almost on.....

And as for tomorrow, the softball game has a strong possibility of getting rained out, and I have strong doubts about me getting my ass to the gym if it is.

 
I've Been Working on the Railroad...

The moment I always dread when meeting new people is when they ask, "So, what do you do?" Inevitably, if I tell them the whole truth, that I'm an environmental engineer, I get a blank look back at me, followed by the question, "So, what does an environmental engineer do?" Now let me tell you, there is nothing that can detract from flirting more than explaining my job. Therefore, if I don't feel like getting into all that, I will usually just answer the job question with "I'm an engineer" without the environmental part. People get the point that I'm semi-intelligent, and then I don't have to give a science lesson. When I was discussing my job with Mr. Tunes, he suggested that if anyone ask why kind of an engineer I was, I should just answer, "You know, the train kind."

Funnily enough, when I was discussing job stuff with Jen, whose dad does what I do, she told me that growing up, she thought her dad worked on trains all day long.

 
Blogger Bash!

Had a glorious time at the blogger bash on Friday. Highlights included finally meeting Jen and Jake, who I already felt like I knew so well. Naturally Paul was there, doing his hosting duties, and I was quite excited because Edie showed up later on and it was great to meet her after reading her for all this time. Other cool people I met were Anil, the guru of all blogging, Hands Free, Marc, Zeebah, and the illustrious Jane Galt, among others. Overall, it was a great deal of fun and must pester Paul that we shouldn't wait until September for the next one.

 
Nostalgia

I can't believe how emotional I just got.....watching Dawson's and hearing the song "I'll Be" by Shawn Mullins just got me on the verge of tears. Too many memories of my sophmore year in college and my boyfriend then who I convince myself I'm over until I hear songs like that.

And "Have a Little Faith In Me".....there must be something about getting your heart broken once, no matter how bad you knew the relationship was for you, that makes all those sappy songs seem meaningful.

For more on Dawson's nostalgia, see Gothamist

And I agree with Gothamist that Pacey and Joey are better....Dawson has been quite lame the past couple years and is a workaholic, so I like the ending.

 
Mission Accomplished?

I only got two of my weekend items done, much to my dismay. I played a bit too much frisbee and biked to Central Park to do this, but am now quite sore and didn't do any significant biking since I tried to put air in my tire and instead of filling it up, I let all the air out and now can't pump air into the tire. I am going to try this again in the hopes that it will be more cooperative now since I still am planning on going on this bike ride on Sunday. I might cancel though because my old roommate from Boston might come this weekend to visit. However, she might come with two friends who I don't know at all, in which case they can't all fit at my place because my sofa bed isn't too large and there isn't much extra floor space.

And I would have played with my new mini-disc player had I not been preoccupied with the fact that my wireless networking device spontaneously stopped working Sunday morning and hasn't started since! However, the other computers using the internet all work-quite annoying! Maybe the new version of Morpheus has corrupted my computer...

 
Listening To



Dulcinea by Toad the Wet Sprocket

Favorite Track: Windmills

How bummed am I that I missed their reunion tour? Still mad at myself for not paying attention!

 
Another Strikeout

Total ammount of alcohol consumed last night:

2 Bud Lights - The Black Bear
4 Yeunglings - Mustang Harry's
2 Budwisers - House party in Alphabet City

Summary: Went to happy hour after work but had to leave by 8 to meet the J-date guy at 9 and ended up being quite late. He showed up wearing jeans and a button down plaid flannel shirt, reminding me of my ex from college who was practially always in that outfit. Plus, we were sitting at the bar and he kept looking straight ahead at the Celtics-Nets game (he's from Boston) which is quite annoying when you're trying to have a conversation with someone. Hung out there with him until midnight, when the bartender brought us a check rather than giving us new rounds of beer before we even finished our last ones. So we walked to the train station and said goodbye and I don't expect to see him again. I was going to get on the train home but my friend A had called earlier telling me that C was having a house party, so I called to see if she was there. (Background: C just moved here in January from Seattle and is quite hot...we hung out one night at my place but haven't seen him since). Turns out A was at a birthday party and was about to leave it anyway, so I met her and we headed down to the C's house. Interesting group of people and C is as cute as I remember. A has decided that she's going to try and set us up, which is fine by me for sure. Anyway, around 4 in the morning the roof at C's got a bit chilly so we headed home. Woke up this morning feeling quite hungover, even though I was never really drunk at any point in time....aaahh, the effects of getting older.

 
Weekend Plans

As for the rest of the weekend, here's what you might find me....

Playing ultimate frisbee in Central Park
Going to see Wigfield at the Jane Street theatre (but this will probably get moved to next week since I think this weekends tickets are sold out)
Cleaning up my apartment
Catching up on sleep
Getting on my bike at least once since I might ride in this next weekend
and
Playing with this brand new toy.

 
Mysteries?

Well, apparently I was completely wrong about my date with Mr. Tunes because despite his words promising to call, he hasn't. Now normally this would not bother me, but in this case, I am bothered by the fact that it was completely unexpected. When we talked on the phone before the date, we talked for hours, and the date went very well, once again talking for hours and standing in front of my building for at least half an hour before he had to head back to Westchester. And when he said goodbye, I gave him a hug and was quite suprised when he laid quite a long and not so innocent good night kiss on me. He then departed to catch his train, promising to call and basically skipping down the block. All this would normally tell someone that they are interested, but no, no call. And even more so, I'm not sure if I was all that attracted to him, but I did really like him and thought that regardless, we had a lot in common and could be good friends, so I'm kinda bummed on that part.

On the other hand, it makes planning my weekend easier since I am going out with a different J-dater tomorrow night who is a bit more my type (though my type tends to be guys that are bad for me dating wise). Promise reports over the weekend...