Daily Commute
February 2, 2010
Every work day starts with a brisk walk to my subway stop in Harlem followed by a long trip underground to Union Square.
This morning an old man on a bicycle accompanied me down the sidewalk at the start of my commute. Taped to his handlebars, was a boom box playing an orchestral arrangement of Somewhere Over the Rainbow at top volume. Life has a soundtrack indeed.
Dahling
January 30, 2010
This is my first official photo shoot. We were on location in Asbury Park NJ, you know – where Bon Jovi (aka BoJo) and Bruce Springsteen grew up? Heard of a little movie called The Wrestler? It was filmed here. I recommend visiting in the winter. The boardwalk was clear and the ocean was booming onto the beach. I know – random.
Out of Commission
January 24, 2010
My laptop was in the shop for a dead screen for two weeks. The intense feeling of being disconnected from my online habits was extremely uncomfortable for the first few days. I’ve adjusted over the past few weeks and swooped in to use Nate’s laptop when it’s free. Finding a laptop repair service in Manhattan – not easy and very expensive. I can’t quite give up on it and buy a new computer. With Santa Barbara just a few weeks away I’d rather spend my vacation money on vacation. Lame post and infrequent updates – apologies. Will be back soon.
Online Goody
January 14, 2010
Recently I’ve been looking around for a DVD player. We don’t have one. Done laughing? Good.
Check out this Firefox add-on called Invisible Hand that sits well out of view until it is called upon by you looking for a specific product. It will magically appear at the top of your browser and let you know the price that other retailers are selling your desired product for. UK based company focused on US audience that also offers the extension on Chrome.
Night Court
January 9, 2010
I grew up watching a half hour sitcom called Night Court (remember Bull)? Last night, in a cold medicine haze we had to get out of the house and so we went. Imagine late night court proceedings with the People, the Defense and the accused…at 11pm. It looked like an episode of Jersey Shore for the most part with the first court room we visited addressing driving under the influence charges. One kid’s dad was in the audience. I said a little thank you to myself for having chosen the path I did when I was kid.
In the second court room across the hall (room 130) there were more serious offenses like a man accused of stabbing a woman while she was running away from him. The defense lawyer for the accused used his current girlfriend who was in the audience with her two children as a character reference to try and get the guy excused from the proceedings for the night. It looked like it might fly until the People read off the restraining order his girlfriend currently had out on him. He was escorted to whatever goes on behind the door near the judge.
We agreed that it felt voyeuristic and we experienced some guilt for watching these proceedings that were affecting real lives. But part of me wanted to see where my tax dollars are going and the other part of me walked out feeling like the problems I have are not so big and at least cannot be held against me in a court of law or are recorded in some roster of ‘how well have you been living life?’.
In closing, a recent photo of Owen. I check in with Adi daily. I bet you can’t stop yourself from smiling looking at him.
Beetz in the City
January 3, 2010
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| Christmas in Colorado |
After spending Christmas in Colorado with Nate’s family, snow shoeing, eating, eating and eating we came home to New York to find sub-zero temperatures and my friend Sarah who I hadn’t seen for three years. She and her man Jassim arrived in New York for a visit over New Year’s Eve. Seeing her, it was like no time at all had passed.
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| New Year’s Eve NYC 2009 – Click for all pics |
Dinner at Almond then dancing to Los Lobos at City Winery. Can’t wait to see what 2010 brings. Whatever comes, I know it’s going to be good. And never, ever boring.
Merry Christmas
December 24, 2009
Through a few weeks of painting Christmas bulbs for gifts, I discovered that I’m no artist. Sent them off to Georgia last week and promptly opened my sister’s gift to me last night. I’m an adult. I see no reason to wait for Christmas morning.
Spent last weekend in Scranton PA for a special Tuesdays on the Ridge party and a couple of gigs that Nate played. I hadn’t been there in a year and found it to be a friendly, picturesque town again.
Home on Sunday night to find a few feet of snow and then promptly came down with what feels like the flu. Leaving for Colorado tomorrow to spend the Christmas holiday with Nate’s family. Home sick, curled up and feeling awful I received a lovely bouquet from Mort in Florida. Timing couldn’t have been better.
Thinking of you all down in Georgia together for the holiday. Love you.
Online Goodies – December
December 13, 2009
My day to day at work includes a lot of surfing new apps, social networks, user-driven services. I get to see a lot of new ventures take off and I love that part of my job. People are so clever and innovative.
A few recent favorites that I’ve found:
Groupon.com – select your city, register, and get at least a 50% discount on a local service (i.e. spa), restaurant or product. The service gives locals a good discount on something they might otherwise have walked by.
Glyde.com – the average American household has $3000 of unused media lying around (DVDs, CDs, books). In these hard times Glyde offers a familiar concept similar to Amazon or eBay (one of eBay Motors’ founders started Glyde) that gives you a marketplace to easily list your stuff and sell it. Pretty slick, check it out.
Gliider.com - planning a trip online (airfare, hotel, attractions, restaurants, etc.) can be a mess of bookmarks saved up for months leaving you scratching your head and wondering why you saved a page. Gliider is a simple add-on to Firefox (or Safari) that allows you drag your copy and pasted content from any page to it’s friendly floating console. You call on the console when you need it and hide it when you don’t. When you’re ready to book your trip, all the things you want to do are neatly sorted by category (shopping, dining, attractions) and stored on Gliider’s server for you.
GateGuruApp.com - this iPhone app is for the frequent traveler who finds themselves stuck in an airport a good deal of the time. Search by the airport you’re in and GateGuru tells you which services, restaurants and shops are before security and beyond security.
I don’t know why these all start with G. Weird.
Hello Winter
December 6, 2009
After Saturday brunch at Schiller’s with a lovely new friend Ashleigh, I was trying to find a subway stop that would lead me to the 1, 2, 3 line. I think I was in the Flatiron District (could have been in Chelsea, or the upper Village…sigh) when it started to snow for the first time this year. Getting lost is in my DNA. I’ve made peace with it. If I say go right, do yourself a favor and go left.
Fat flakes coming down, ear buds in, listening to the Black Keys – it was a sweet moment I had by myself in the city.
Wind Warning 2009
November 29, 2009
On the windiest day of the year so far, we thought it would be a good time to go walk the elevated park in the West Village – The High Line.
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| From atop the elevated High Line Park, New York |
After freezing our…well, we stopped for coffee and pushed our way through the wind in Chelsea to check out some galleries. This is an excellent way to spend an afternoon for free in Manhattan. I’ve only seen a handful of the show spaces and will be back.
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| From Chelsea galleries |
