Dear Northeast,
I'm sorry. 3 days ago, I was watching the Weather Channel and saw the fluffy snow hitting the ground in Colorado and started craving the warm, cozy feeling you get inside on a snowy day with hot cocoa and blankets, and tweeted this:
And then today, the forecast called for cold rain, with the possibility of snow mixed in, which would then turn into snow overnight with a possibility of up to 4-5 inches. But all afternoon, the current weather screen looked like this:
Walking around, our faces stung as the 20 mph winds blew freezing rain and snow into us. It was such heavy wet snow that my snowboots soaked all the way through, so much that I could feel the water sloshing around icily into my feet. Everytime I took out my phone to take pictures my fingers froze. My jeans got completely soaked on the way to the hair salon and didn't dry for hours, so my legs were numb. This was not what I meant when I asked for snow! I wanted big fluffy snowflakes, the type that, when they're falling, make you feel like you're walking in a winter wonderland. The type of snowfall that's just magical, not the type of snow that hurts and chills you to the bone.
Obviously, I don't think I caused it to snow. But I'm sorry for asking for it in October! I'm not mentally ready for this!
Love,
M
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Snow on the Way
I can't believe I'm watching special "winter weather" reports on the Weather Channel for a nor'easter.
They said there will be 2-4 inches of snow tonight. It's Halloween weekend! This is kind of crazy. Wind chills in the 20s? I don't even know what to do with myself as I'm not mentally ready for winter. I've been wearing skirts with bare legs for the past 2 days when the "feels like" temperatures have been in the 30s, so clearly I don't know how to deal with what's going on.
I can't believe how heavily it's snowing in central PA and it's already starting to mix in snow in Jersey. Just right across the river from us! Manhattan often gets insulated from some of the weather problems. (Seriously, I have pictures somewhere of the weather map where it snows all around us and there is a big hole on top of the city.) I guess we'll see if that happens again.
I still can't believe it feels like 28 degrees outside!
They said there will be 2-4 inches of snow tonight. It's Halloween weekend! This is kind of crazy. Wind chills in the 20s? I don't even know what to do with myself as I'm not mentally ready for winter. I've been wearing skirts with bare legs for the past 2 days when the "feels like" temperatures have been in the 30s, so clearly I don't know how to deal with what's going on.
I can't believe how heavily it's snowing in central PA and it's already starting to mix in snow in Jersey. Just right across the river from us! Manhattan often gets insulated from some of the weather problems. (Seriously, I have pictures somewhere of the weather map where it snows all around us and there is a big hole on top of the city.) I guess we'll see if that happens again.
I still can't believe it feels like 28 degrees outside!
Friday, October 28, 2011
Freezing
It's cold outside. Right now it's 39 degrees and feels like 32. This morning it was in the 50s. I was supposed to pack a warm pair of pants for tonight but I was late for work and forgot. The temperature just kept dropping all day, and it just kept raining. It was quite chilly walking home so I made a bunch of stops (including a renovated Walgreens, which I had no idea was even renovated). I can't believe it got so cold so quickly. It's even possible that it will snow (no accumulation) on Saturday. People must hate that since it's Halloween weekend. Crazy weather!
It's also not good for my illness. I'm coughing a little less today but still not feeling that well. The dampness and the cold rain really don't help. Really could use some sunny beach weather...
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Setback
I really didn't want to have to write this post, but this crappy illness has pushed me back a few steps.
After all the hope yesterday with the recovery, today has been rough. It was a rough night on all levels and very difficult getting to sleep, but I thought I was feeling better. Apparently not.
I have something sitting in my throat incessantly tickling it and have been coughing nonstop for the past 10-15 minutes. Right after I told people about how this was so much better than Monday because at least I can go 5 minutes without coughing. Apparently I am really good at jinxing myself. Tea, water, cough drop... nothing's helping.
Today is looking like it is going to be awesome.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Thanks CBS
Just heard that CBS ordered full seasons of Unforgettable and Person of Interest. Thanks CBS! Not only are they two shows I watch, but they're both filmed in NYC, so that makes me pretty happy.
I wasn't expecting to like Unforgettable. I had read some bad reviews before the season started, but was interested to see how her ability would be useful. Aside from the one horrible point in the pilot where she seemed to be remembering someone else's memory, it's been a pretty good (even if not very revolutionary) procedural. A good fit for CBS.
Person of Interest, as I mentioned yesterday, intrigues me. I can't wait to see where it goes next. Glad that we have a full season to find out!
Tuesday Morning
What a significant difference from yesterday at this time.
I wouldn't say that I am "well" but I am hoping this is the breakthrough point. I'm still coughing, but it's manageable (i.e., I can breathe and I can go 5 minutes without a coughing fit). I don't feel like I'm going to pass out. I didn't wake up in the middle of the night. I didn't wake up in the morning in the middle of coughing. These are all really, really good things.
Illnesses always remind me of how much I take for granted every day, including being able to breathe. So much to be thankful for.
Cura Te Ipsum
We just watched episode 4 of Person of Interest, titled "Cura Te Ipsum", tonight. The episode originally aired a couple of weeks ago on the day we left for Florida and we're still catching up on all our shows. We really like this show and so far it's probably our favorite new show of the season (still more to try out). In addition to having interesting storylines, it raises moral questions. What would you do if you were in possession of information that could change someone's fate?
In this episode, the name that comes up in the machine is a female doctor. If you've never watched the show before, Finch (Lost's Ben) created a machine which can predict crimes and pops up a name. The machine doesn't know if this person is the perpetrator or the victim, and comes to its conclusion from analyzing all sorts of big brother type information. Finch works with John Reese (the ultimate badass fighter who can take down armed people with one hand) to figure out what's going to happen and stop the bad act from happening. So, in this episode, they thought she was the victim, only to find out that she was actually stalking the guy with the intent to kill him and commit the perfect crime.
She wasn't a sociopath, but she was trying to avenge her sister's death, a suicide prompted by the sexual assault her sister suffered at the hands of this sleazy guy named Benton. From Reese's following of Benton, it's clear that he's a serial offender and that he hasn't stopped. The guy is the definition of a predator, slipping people date rape drugs and committing heinous offenses, and he has never been held accountable for his actions. Clearly the doctor's target isn't a great man. The situation raises a lot of questions. Should she be stopped? Should they just let events take their "natural course" and rid the world of this guy who will clearly harm again? Should they stop her because taking a life is just wrong? Should they stop her for her sake because taking a life would ruin her own, even though it could leave the guy to prey again? It's an interesting ethical dilemma for the characters.
Ultimately, the show left it open. Reese stopped the doctor from killing Benton, but did he do it himself? He had a "talk" with him but we don't know what happened after the end of the episode. Such an intriguing drama.
Two other random notes:
- The episode made me smile because they showed the doctor visiting the Frites n Meats truck. Food trucks are good for the city! Why can't the politicians understand that?
- I love that they actually film in NY. There's an authenticity that you get that other shows that pretend to be in NYC just don't have (coughCastlecough). I think I watch all the shows that film in NYC, other than A Gifted Man (which I was going to watch for a 2nd time but haven't decided yet if I want to). I like to think that it's because I want to support film in the city, but I think it's on a more subconscious level. Maybe I like a show more because the city plays a role in it (sort of like SATC where they called the city the 5th main character). It was a little distracting (in a good way) in the 1st episode of Person of Interest since they filmed it near my office and I was constantly looking to see if I knew anyone, but it was also kind of cool being able to watch knowing that I've been there!
More Sick Whining
I don't understand why I'm not getting better. I've been wondering this all night. The only time I ever feel "good" is when I'm in the shower. Post-shower, I feel slightly better than I did before the shower, but am still coughing. I can't stay in the shower all day!
I'm doing everything the doctor told me to do. Resting as much as I can. Drinking as much water as I can. Drinking tea, theraflu. Taking my medicine as directed. Staying away from negative external factors by working from home. Yet 4 full days of antibiotics later, I'm still sick. I know it takes a few days and I know I'm impatient and want to feel better, but I just feel like something should be happening by now!
I remember the last time I was sick like this and took antibiotics, there was this "breakthrough point" where after a long time of feeling like crap, it just started to feel better. I'm hoping that comes overnight/tomorrow morning because I do need to go to the office tomorrow and going like this would just suck.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Bleh
Hello from home.
That's right, working from home. I woke up last night after just 2 hours of sleep with a nice big coughing fit, and then when it was time to get up for work, I could barely get through a minute without coughing (and I wasn't even talking). Felt awful so here I am at home. Why are these meds not doing anything? Why can't I sleep through the night?
Somehow I managed to rest for an hour without a major coughing fit before getting up for real, so hopefully that is a good sign. While doing stuff for work, got through Blue Bloods (like the show but I'm finding the undercover story hard to believe since he's the commissioner's son) and am now working on The Good Wife. Most of the other shows on the DVR are "together" shows for A and me to watch together, so I'm not sure what to watch next.
Still coughing but hopefully lots of fluids, not going outside, and getting some much-needed rest (maybe?) will help push this illness on its way. Please! I feel like a broken record with every post being "I'm sick, it's sucks." Go away illness!
Happy Birthday to My iPhone
Today (well, Sunday, but mentally, it is still Sunday to me) was the one year anniversary of my switch to the iPhone. It has really changed my life. I held off on getting a smartphone for so long, partially because of cost and partially because I had my blackberry from work and never really "needed" it. But a year ago, I gave in, and I knew I could never go back.
Unless blackberry finds a way to really compete, I feel like it's dying out. The apps on that just can't compete with iPhone or Android. Before I got my iPhone, I kept seeing all the things you could do with a real smartphone that the blackberry just wasn't capable of handling. I remember when I got this model of the blackberry and I was so excited because the webpages it pulled up looked so much more like real websites than my old one! But having only one browser window and not being able to view as much as a real browser was such a limitation. Now my blackberry feels so ancient.
It also used to be that I would never answer my phone because I would forget to charge it or wouldn't even carry it with me ("just pin me!"), but now it's the exact opposite. Now I rarely bring my blackberry when I'm not at work, so pinning me is not the best way to reach me. How times change.
Another big way in which the iPhone changed my life - I don't bring my "little camera" (i.e., the non-SLR) with me everywhere because now I have my iPhone. Sure, my old phone had a camera, but that camera was a piece of crap. It took tiny low-resolution images that are kind of worthless except to jog your memory. My blackberry had a camera but it wasn't good enough as a replacement for the little camera. The iPhone one is, except in low light, but even then the little camera was temperamental. It has definitely cut down on the number of things I carry each day since now I don't need the little camera as much (except on the plane or with the gorillapod).
I could go on and on about it, not including the ways in which it just "enriches" the day with mental breaks for games, but I really need to get some sleep to try to fight off this illness. Just wanted to say happy birthday to my iPhone :)
Sunday Night Update
Sunday's done and the conclusion is that I felt worse than yesterday. How is that possible? Another day on antibiotics and I should be feeling better, not worse. Until late tonight, when I took a super hot shower to try to clear my sinuses and then downed a cup of Theraflu (mmm, it's like drinking apple cinnamon tea), I spent most of the afternoon and evening coughing every time I spoke. It's terrible! I feel like I have to remain mute to have the best chance of not coughing and I'm not very good at communicating through gestures.
I really think I would benefit from another day working at home tomorrow but I feel guilty about missing another day of work. Even though I would actually work from home. (I also think people should be encouraged to work from home when sick so they don't get everyone else sick, but unfortunately that is not our work culture.) I guess I'll see how I feel in the morning. If it's another night like last night, or if I wake up feeling as crappy as I do now, I think I'm going to have to stay home. Too many germs/aggravating forces on the way to/from the office and in the stale office air. Would also be coughing nonstop which would disturb everyone. Really not a great idea to go, but I guess we'll see.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Still Sick
It's Sunday, third day on antibiotics, and I'm still sick. Bleh.
I thought that some combination of 2 prescription medicines, Dayquil, Allegra and Benadryl would have done something by now. I guess it's a little better since a little of the congestion is released and I can now speak without coughing every time, but I was hoping for greater improvement with all the meds, fluids and resting over the weekend.
Of course, a restful night of sleep last night would have helped. I forgot to wear my fitbit last night (well, I forgot until I was already in bed and then didn't want to exert the effort to fix the problem) but I'm pretty sure my sleep efficiency was very low. I got up so many times between coughing fits and calf cramps, and in the middle, had crazy dreams.
Dreams including needing to send something from Midway Island and trying to figure out postage and part of it being Australian postage and part of it U.S. Somehow Vanuatu was also involved. Most of the dream has faded but I remember lots of running around and trying to get things done quickly, and weird shops and long lines. In another part of my dream, A was sharing an apartment with one of my younger cousins J (which makes absolutely no sense) and they decided to live in Washington Heights near the park (WTF?!). Whatever block they were on was really unsafe, but I was having a discussion about knowing people who lived in the area closer to the river who loved it (true). At some point someone was looking for brunch and we were thinking about Red Rooster or Sylvia's. Dreams all over the place!
Hoping for a restful Sunday to continue recuperating!
I thought that some combination of 2 prescription medicines, Dayquil, Allegra and Benadryl would have done something by now. I guess it's a little better since a little of the congestion is released and I can now speak without coughing every time, but I was hoping for greater improvement with all the meds, fluids and resting over the weekend.
Of course, a restful night of sleep last night would have helped. I forgot to wear my fitbit last night (well, I forgot until I was already in bed and then didn't want to exert the effort to fix the problem) but I'm pretty sure my sleep efficiency was very low. I got up so many times between coughing fits and calf cramps, and in the middle, had crazy dreams.
Dreams including needing to send something from Midway Island and trying to figure out postage and part of it being Australian postage and part of it U.S. Somehow Vanuatu was also involved. Most of the dream has faded but I remember lots of running around and trying to get things done quickly, and weird shops and long lines. In another part of my dream, A was sharing an apartment with one of my younger cousins J (which makes absolutely no sense) and they decided to live in Washington Heights near the park (WTF?!). Whatever block they were on was really unsafe, but I was having a discussion about knowing people who lived in the area closer to the river who loved it (true). At some point someone was looking for brunch and we were thinking about Red Rooster or Sylvia's. Dreams all over the place!
Hoping for a restful Sunday to continue recuperating!
Friday, October 21, 2011
Sinus Infections Suck
I'm officially sick. Apparently trying to will myself to feel better was no match for this brutal sinus infection.
I spent almost two hours at Duane Reade for an appointment at the walk-in clinic and a visit to the pharmacy. The pharmacy worker told me to come back later and estimated that it would be 90 minutes if I decided to wait for my prescription. Since there was no line at the time and no one seemed especially busy, I tried to explain to her that these were antibiotics I needed to start as soon as possible, and that I would really prefer to wait instead of having to go out again later. She told the pharmacist who said it was fine, but 30 minutes later, I still had no meds. I went back to ask her again and she had no recollection of anything that happened until I related the entire history. At least my memory hasn't been compromised by this infection.
Unfortunately I can't even "enjoy" my sick day by sleeping and watching movies, since I have to do work. Bleh.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Rainy Dreary Days
Being sick is no fun. A is much more sick than I am, but it still sucks.
Rainy cold days are no fun. Rainy cold dreary days with strong winds that blow your umbrella inside out and push you down the block suck.
But... in an attempt to think positive, since optimism is an immune system boost (even if it's not, I'm going to pretend it is, power of positive thinking), there were some things that were good today:
1. I learned that last week Chipotle added brown rice to all the stores so now we don't have to go all the way to 18th Street to get it.
2. We're caught up on Survivor South Pacific. The Samoa scenery each episode is really gorgeous and makes me happy.
3. Suburgatory made us laugh (which was good since Modern Family wasn't as funny today).
4. I had wedding soup at lunch.
5. News broke that they are going to do a US adaptation of Misfits, a UK show I really, really like.
Yeah... not a very eventful day. Hopefully tomorrow feels better.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Back from Orlando
Back from Orlando and already (sadly) out of the habit of blogging. I was hoping to blog more regularly during our (short) trip but I didn't bring my iPad because we weren't supposed to have free wifi (according to the website for the place we were staying). It turned out that the villas did have free wifi, so I could have brought my iPad, but all that means is that now I have to catch up!
We went to Orlando to visit Epcot for the Food and Wine Festival which we are going to recap over on the food blog. We spent a little over 2 days at Epcot enjoying the food and drinks and going on a few rides. We also spent one day over at Universal's Islands of Adventure, mostly to visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
I like long weekend trips because they're a good break from work (and I was really getting burnt out). But one problem is that they're so short that it feels like vacation shouldn't really already be over. We were at the airport returning to NYC and I felt like vacation should still be coming up. I guess I need another one to look forward to, but there's nothing on our calendar. They say part of the health benefit of vacation is the anticipation and having something happy on the horizon to think about. Time to plan another one!
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Fast Food Bubble
Hello from Orlando International Airport!
We're sitting in the main terminal food court and it's an almost perfect microcosm of the American fast food world (but not including fast casual). Carvel for ice cream, Nathan's for hot dogs, McDonalds for McDonalds/burgers, Panda Express for Chinese, Quiznos for sandwiches, Krispy Kreme for donuts, Chick-fil-a for chicken (our obvious choice) and Sbarro for pizza/Italian. I think all it's missing is a Taco Bell. (There is a Qdoba in the airside terminal with the Wendys but I consider that fast casual.)
I guess we can find comfort that at least all the people from abroad who come to visit Disney World can get a good representation of American fast food at the airport...
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Flu Shots
Today they were offering free flu shots at work. I have been getting flu shots since I was about 10 years old (asthma), so I went to get one. The surprising thing about this flu shot is that I barely felt anything at all. If I didn't know better, I would think I hadn't gotten a shot at all. I think that should be a compliment to the nurse, right?
Usually I feel at least a pinch, and often it actually hurts while the needle is in. (I don't usually look because it would make my muscles tense up, but I can usually feel when the needle is there.) This time, it was quick, painless and my shoulder isn't sore like usual. There wasn't even any blood on the bandaid. It really feels like I didn't have a flu shot at all! Maybe I should have looked...
Not Ideal Wedding Seating
Last night's dreams were weird. I remember two distinct threads, but have forgotten most of the story over the past few hours. Luckily I wrote some random thoughts down after I woke up (before snoozing) to jog my memory.
In the first part, there was a lot of running around. There was something relating to classes and videos, but mostly I just remember a lot of running around. I wonder if all the running that I do in my dreams makes it so that I'm not rested when I wake up. Anyone know if there is any truth to that?
In the second part, some friends of ours were getting married. (They are a real life couple, so it's not like my dreams were telling me to matchmake.) For some reason, the invitations went out electronically. And for some reason, A was invited but I wasn't. (They're technically his friends originally, so I guess we just thought it was weird but somehow made sense.) We decided he should go so he RSVP-ed yes. Apparently we then found out that the program sending the invitations was doing them in batches so mine arrived (much) later. One would think that would be a good thing, except you were seated in the order you RSVP-ed, which put us clear across the room from one another. That made me sad because I would want to sit with A at the wedding instead of a bunch of random people. We figured the idea was for people to get to know other people, which we are totally on board with, except we really wanted to sit together or at least nearby instead of on opposite sides of the room. If we had known about the seat-as-you-RSVP method, we would have waited for him to RSVP until much later.
So, I felt bummed. And then I was jolted awake after not hearing 4 loud alarms at all. Oops. Really need to do something about that. Wish we were headed to Europe soon to reset my sleep clock...
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Quirky DVR
Our new DVR definitely does some things better than our old one (mostly, it works), but it does have some weird quirks. For example, it claimed to still be recording New Girl tomorrow. But Fox switched it up and extended X Factor another half hour so New Girl isn't on. The guide reflected that, but our recording list didn't update to remove it. Our old DVR probably would have told us "conflict!" because it would switch the recording to X Factor and it would intelligently decide that we must have wanted that 2 hour show. But this one acted as if New Girl were still there. I specifically reloaded that day on the guide, but no change. I had to remove it myself. Odd.
However, it's really nice to have the "show will delete in x hours" notice again. Our old DVR box didn't do that for some unknown reason and we never knew what it was really thinking about how full it was. It's nice to get the little red triangles.
It's also nice that there is only one hour to record tonight - Ringer (we have still only seen the pilot, so not sure if we are sticking with it yet). Can catch up on shows we need to watch on demand!
Cookies
Ninth Avenue food fair, 2010. I don't even remember who was offering $1 cookies, but I like to take photos of chalkboards advertising specials and/or menus. I don't know why, but I love them.
I remember going to the Ninth Avenue food fair with my parents when I was younger. I don't remember too much about the area but it was different from how it is now. It's crazy to think that now I live in this neighborhood but when I was little, people were really concerned about safety. How things change.
Although NYC has a lot of food fairs, this one stuck out for me because of the diversity of food. I remember getting empanadas when we went when I was younger. I remembered that there was also Greek food and all these other cuisines. The idea of going to one street fair and being able to get all of that was fun. I also remember doing sand art. We still have those bottles in the kitchen.
This is the one street fair we try to make it to every year. This year we had an evening flight to Geneva but we still went to visit the street fair for lunch. Even though there are only a few local merchants nowadays, it's still worth it to check those out at a sampling price.
I remember going to the Ninth Avenue food fair with my parents when I was younger. I don't remember too much about the area but it was different from how it is now. It's crazy to think that now I live in this neighborhood but when I was little, people were really concerned about safety. How things change.
Although NYC has a lot of food fairs, this one stuck out for me because of the diversity of food. I remember getting empanadas when we went when I was younger. I remembered that there was also Greek food and all these other cuisines. The idea of going to one street fair and being able to get all of that was fun. I also remember doing sand art. We still have those bottles in the kitchen.
This is the one street fair we try to make it to every year. This year we had an evening flight to Geneva but we still went to visit the street fair for lunch. Even though there are only a few local merchants nowadays, it's still worth it to check those out at a sampling price.
Monday, October 10, 2011
Exhaustion
Why does every muscle in my body ache? Over this weekend, I never made it to the gym (A went to the one in our building) or to do C25K, but managed a little (very little) weightlifting and dance. Most of the weekend's "activity" was walking - over 21 miles for both days according to my fitbit - but does walking really make the body this tired? Is this some sort of fatigue? So tired that I keep forgetting to set my fitbit's sleep mode, which isn't even that difficult to do. What's wrong with me?
January 18
I got a page-a-day calendar for Christmas last year all about dogs. Not that you could easily guess that since, to me, this "soft coated wheaten terrier" looks like a llama.
If you've been to our food blog, you might have seen this calendar in action with the dog of the day in the background of my lunches. I like the daily calendars from this company and the photos are great. Instead of a tear-off, you move the previous day to the back of the box, and then halfway through the year, flip the whole stack around. I don't know what it is, but I always forget to tear the pages off (and end up months behind) and I remember to do these. The first calendar I had from them had backgrounds of islands. Maybe I'll do that next year too...
If you've been to our food blog, you might have seen this calendar in action with the dog of the day in the background of my lunches. I like the daily calendars from this company and the photos are great. Instead of a tear-off, you move the previous day to the back of the box, and then halfway through the year, flip the whole stack around. I don't know what it is, but I always forget to tear the pages off (and end up months behind) and I remember to do these. The first calendar I had from them had backgrounds of islands. Maybe I'll do that next year too...
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Pandas
You may have noticed that the title of this blog is "Rambling Pandas." Reason? We like pandas. A lot. We probably have hundreds of photos (if not over a thousand) of pandas from all of our visits to the zoos. One day we would really love to go to China and hold a little panda cub. And we think zoo pandas must have a pretty nice life - do whatever they want, sleep as much as they want, people bring them food and clean up after them, everyone thinks they're cute and loves them.
The last time we visited a zoo to see pandas was back in January 2010 in San Diego (pictured). We were in Los Angeles for a wedding and had originally planned to stay there the entire time, but college football made that very difficult. We weren't able to find a room for one of the nights so we decided to drive down to San Diego. It's not that far and then we could go to the zoo!
In addition to visiting some of the restaurants we discovered and loved during our 2006 San Diego vacation, we went to the zoo both partial days we were there. The panda exhibit was quite crowded. But that's because we were really lucky. There was a young cub - Yun Zi - whose exhibit had just been opened to public viewing that week. We love seeing little panda cubs and our timing couldn't have been better!
Unfortunately for us, most of what little Yun Zi did was sleep. He half-heartedly played with his mom a few times, but he was mostly a snoozer like us. Prodded to get up, he stirred a bit and then went back to sleep some more. Just like us.
Hopefully we'll see some more pandas soon!
The last time we visited a zoo to see pandas was back in January 2010 in San Diego (pictured). We were in Los Angeles for a wedding and had originally planned to stay there the entire time, but college football made that very difficult. We weren't able to find a room for one of the nights so we decided to drive down to San Diego. It's not that far and then we could go to the zoo!
In addition to visiting some of the restaurants we discovered and loved during our 2006 San Diego vacation, we went to the zoo both partial days we were there. The panda exhibit was quite crowded. But that's because we were really lucky. There was a young cub - Yun Zi - whose exhibit had just been opened to public viewing that week. We love seeing little panda cubs and our timing couldn't have been better!
Unfortunately for us, most of what little Yun Zi did was sleep. He half-heartedly played with his mom a few times, but he was mostly a snoozer like us. Prodded to get up, he stirred a bit and then went back to sleep some more. Just like us.
Hopefully we'll see some more pandas soon!
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Planning Fail
Originally my plan for today had been:
Sleep early and catch up on rest
Get up at 9ish
Do a short workout
Get to Shake Shack when it opens at 11 for Shacktoberfest
Go to Container Store
Rest for a short time
Go for C25K run 1.1 (again)
Go to gym to lift weights
Shower
Dinner
Photo uploading (or else we are in trouble later this week)
And so far...
Went to sleep around 4ish because of the twitter backup debacle
Didn't hear alarms at 9ish
Woke up around 10:30ish
(All of the times are -ish because I was so tired that I forgot to turn on my fitbit's sleep mode)
Got out of bed after 11:30
Ate brownie for breakfast
Still not yet out of the apartment and at Shake Shack, which sadly means we will end up waiting in a long line and possibly not getting seats, but oh well. Hopefully the brat burger is good and worth the wait.
Nuggets
These randomly chosen photos of the day are really not lending themselves well to storytelling lately...
February 2011 lunch from Wendy's
I have a weak spot for Wendy's chicken nuggets and always have. These are the spicy nuggets, which I'm not even sure they still have. And I always get BBQ sauce. No matter what I intend to get when I walk into Wendys, I'm always tempted by the nuggets and, since I usually get salads, often get them.
I don't know what else to say except that I like the nuggets container ... and that I hope tomorrow's photo is better...
I have a weak spot for Wendy's chicken nuggets and always have. These are the spicy nuggets, which I'm not even sure they still have. And I always get BBQ sauce. No matter what I intend to get when I walk into Wendys, I'm always tempted by the nuggets and, since I usually get salads, often get them.
I don't know what else to say except that I like the nuggets container ... and that I hope tomorrow's photo is better...
I tweet a fair amount. OK, that's probably an understatement on some days. Sometimes I tweet a lot.
It's been tough for me to balance the blog with twitter. Microblog v. blog. Many of the things that used to end up on my old blog (e.g., one sentence thoughts about weird ads on tv), I would send to twitter instead because it seemed more appropriate. After I started using twitter a lot, my blogging frequency plummeted. I wasn't proud of that, but I figured, at least I was writing something, even if it was just in little bursts.
I thought I had been regularly saving my blog history, but unless it's on a portable HD somewhere in our apartment, it looks like I'm missing about 10 months of my twitter history since the twitter website only allows you to retrieve a certain number of posts. I can't get anything earlier than October 2010! That's so recent (to me)! Luckily I did find a file where I saved everything earlier than December 2009. But the entire period between those dates - which included our first married holidays, our first real trip to Europe, planning our reception - is gone. I know it can't be gone forever since apparently the entire twitter archive will one day end up in the Library of Congress, but I can't figure out how to get it.
I write so often nowadays of the fear of losing my memories. Tonight I went on twitter instead of sleeping "early" to relieve some bizarre out-of-nowhere compulsion to save my history and instead realized there's a lot missing that I thought would be there. Been trying to tackle this for over an hour and a half now.
I have gone through search sites and backup sites and don't know where to begin. I'm looking for something that can pull in my entire history so that I can back it up. Preferably free, but if it's a nominal one-time fee, I could go for that to save my memories. Not just the past 3,200 tweets as I am well beyond that number, but the entire history. I know no one really reads this blog but in the event someone does come across it, and has ideas on twitter backup, please let me know. I would really hate to lose all those memories forever.
And yes, I've also posted this inquiry on twitter.
Friday, October 7, 2011
Billboards
On my way to the office this morning, I noticed that ABC had replaced their giant Times Square billboard with an ad for Tim Allen's new comedy. I was surprised that they chose that instead of Once Upon a Time, which, as a more risky concept, I would have thought they would want to get some more visibility.
But then I started thinking that for Once Upon a Time, maybe it's a good thing that it didn't end up on the billboard. I don't remember how all the shows advertised there have done but I'm pretty sure the last 2 were Charlie's Angels (not great ratings and terrible writing - am I the only one watching?) and Expedition Impossible (good teams but also didn't get huge viewership). I guess we'll see if it makes a difference!
Eat Ham
This Photo Diary series started out with great pictures and now is pulling up photos like this one:
A little stuffed turkey with a sign saying "eat ham" sitting in a window. What can I even say about it? I know when I took the picture (December 2008) because of the album I found it in, I know where I took the picture because I actually do remember taking it (window of an office by a theater in midtown), and I remember why I took it (thought it was amusing), but I'm not sure what else there actually is to say about it!
A little stuffed turkey with a sign saying "eat ham" sitting in a window. What can I even say about it? I know when I took the picture (December 2008) because of the album I found it in, I know where I took the picture because I actually do remember taking it (window of an office by a theater in midtown), and I remember why I took it (thought it was amusing), but I'm not sure what else there actually is to say about it!
Hoping for a better photo tomorrow...
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Apple iThink
I didn't want to write this last night as I was still trying to process the magnitude of the man the world lost.
Let me also preface this by saying I am not, nor was I ever, an Apple fanboy. The only Apple product I own is a 4GB 2nd gen iPod Nano. However, the impact and reach of Steve Jobs goes beyond mere technology. I see words thrown around like entrepreneur, business person, and inventor, but none of those seem grand enough for a man who had a major hand in reshaping the world and how we all think and see things.
Steve Jobs was more than just an inventor. He was a visionary. Simply put, he knew what almost everyone wanted before they even knew they wanted it. He, along with Bill Gates, have revolutionized the technology industry. They made the computer personal, and with Apple, Jobs made the computer chic, almost a status symbol in an age where the computer was a commodity.
With the iPod he brought about another revolution. Portable music shrunk down to a device that could fit in your pocket. I thought last night about runners and what they used to do for music before the iPod was invented, and I'm at a loss because I simply don't remember. CD players seemed too bulky to carry, and walkmen/radios went out of style decades ago. What did people do before iPods came about?
Next came the iPhone, a genuine marvel of technology. Before, smartphones were nearly non-existent. You'd have the occasional Palm device, and Windows had a failing mobile division, but nothing could challenge RIM and its Blackberry devices when it came down to functionality and usability. Business people everywhere could be seen scrolling through their emails on the giant black or blue devices. No one thought they could ever be tumbled. Then in 2007 came the iPhone, and in the past 4 years, no single phone has come even close to matching the volume of sales that the Apple device has put out. Not to be denied, growing technology company, Google, came out with its own Android devices that have shown to compete well in the market. But this isn't an Android vs iOS debate, this just shows what Steve Jobs was able to do for the industry. He created a device in a market that no one had been able to tap, and he created a need. Bring the smartphone into the home. Make it something usable and wanted by everyone. And in doing so, he also spurred on the development of other platforms to try and keep up. He blew up the industry and allowed it to flourish (unless you're RIM).
I could go on and on about the technological advances that Steve Jobs and Apple have figured out, but it won't show how well he's able to predict human needs. Pixar was a small graphics group started in 1979 as part of Lucasfilm. In 1986 Steve Jobs bought it and acquired it for Apple. From there he grew it and created a new genre of animated film. No one knew they wanted to see more realistically drawn figures and more realistic animation, but then it came out, and everyone fell in love. Now, I'm not saying that Jobs was solely responsible for Pixar being successful, but he was the man with the vision to allow it grow and become what it was, and he was also credited in Pixar's first major hit, Toy Story, as an executive producer. In the end, who knows, maybe it was just his vision.
Look around you in the world, and it's nearly impossible to not see the effect of Steve Jobs and his companies. Whether it's an effective and usable touchscreen device, a shiny and sleek designed tech item, or even a rival company's product. Steve Jobs, his inventions, his vision, helped remake this world, and we're so much better off having had him in our lifetimes regardless of whether or not we knew him personally. He did his best to touch everyone that he could through what he saw and what he created.
Let me also preface this by saying I am not, nor was I ever, an Apple fanboy. The only Apple product I own is a 4GB 2nd gen iPod Nano. However, the impact and reach of Steve Jobs goes beyond mere technology. I see words thrown around like entrepreneur, business person, and inventor, but none of those seem grand enough for a man who had a major hand in reshaping the world and how we all think and see things.
Steve Jobs was more than just an inventor. He was a visionary. Simply put, he knew what almost everyone wanted before they even knew they wanted it. He, along with Bill Gates, have revolutionized the technology industry. They made the computer personal, and with Apple, Jobs made the computer chic, almost a status symbol in an age where the computer was a commodity.
With the iPod he brought about another revolution. Portable music shrunk down to a device that could fit in your pocket. I thought last night about runners and what they used to do for music before the iPod was invented, and I'm at a loss because I simply don't remember. CD players seemed too bulky to carry, and walkmen/radios went out of style decades ago. What did people do before iPods came about?
Next came the iPhone, a genuine marvel of technology. Before, smartphones were nearly non-existent. You'd have the occasional Palm device, and Windows had a failing mobile division, but nothing could challenge RIM and its Blackberry devices when it came down to functionality and usability. Business people everywhere could be seen scrolling through their emails on the giant black or blue devices. No one thought they could ever be tumbled. Then in 2007 came the iPhone, and in the past 4 years, no single phone has come even close to matching the volume of sales that the Apple device has put out. Not to be denied, growing technology company, Google, came out with its own Android devices that have shown to compete well in the market. But this isn't an Android vs iOS debate, this just shows what Steve Jobs was able to do for the industry. He created a device in a market that no one had been able to tap, and he created a need. Bring the smartphone into the home. Make it something usable and wanted by everyone. And in doing so, he also spurred on the development of other platforms to try and keep up. He blew up the industry and allowed it to flourish (unless you're RIM).
I could go on and on about the technological advances that Steve Jobs and Apple have figured out, but it won't show how well he's able to predict human needs. Pixar was a small graphics group started in 1979 as part of Lucasfilm. In 1986 Steve Jobs bought it and acquired it for Apple. From there he grew it and created a new genre of animated film. No one knew they wanted to see more realistically drawn figures and more realistic animation, but then it came out, and everyone fell in love. Now, I'm not saying that Jobs was solely responsible for Pixar being successful, but he was the man with the vision to allow it grow and become what it was, and he was also credited in Pixar's first major hit, Toy Story, as an executive producer. In the end, who knows, maybe it was just his vision.
Look around you in the world, and it's nearly impossible to not see the effect of Steve Jobs and his companies. Whether it's an effective and usable touchscreen device, a shiny and sleek designed tech item, or even a rival company's product. Steve Jobs, his inventions, his vision, helped remake this world, and we're so much better off having had him in our lifetimes regardless of whether or not we knew him personally. He did his best to touch everyone that he could through what he saw and what he created.
Donuts
The "best" part of this randomly chosen photo is that, until it came up, I had no recollection of the event.
It's from August 2008 from a dinner we apparently had at Breeze, a restaurant in our neighborhood. I remembered that we had gone there once before this year but I really had no memory of getting donuts. It's a little hard to write about something when you don't remember anything about it. The online menu tells me that they offer "Thai donuts" which I'm guessing we ordered but I have absolutely no memory of it.
I guess that's why I want to start writing more and hate that I'm losing my memories. I hate looking at something, even something as minor as a plate of donuts, and thinking, "I have no idea what this is about" or "I don't remember this at all." The prospect of losing memories terrifies me because it makes me wonder just how much I've forgotten and how much I will forget. Something like a photo should at the very least jog my memory. I guess some things, like Thai donuts, might be forgettable while vacations make more of an impression on the brain. That would make sense. But I do wonder how much I have lost.
I used to keep a journal (on paper) but that trickled away as things got busy during college. I used to try to "catch up" and remembered what I had done each day in order to do so, but never ended up catching up and now all those college memories are gone. My memory must have been so much better back then!
It's from August 2008 from a dinner we apparently had at Breeze, a restaurant in our neighborhood. I remembered that we had gone there once before this year but I really had no memory of getting donuts. It's a little hard to write about something when you don't remember anything about it. The online menu tells me that they offer "Thai donuts" which I'm guessing we ordered but I have absolutely no memory of it.
I guess that's why I want to start writing more and hate that I'm losing my memories. I hate looking at something, even something as minor as a plate of donuts, and thinking, "I have no idea what this is about" or "I don't remember this at all." The prospect of losing memories terrifies me because it makes me wonder just how much I've forgotten and how much I will forget. Something like a photo should at the very least jog my memory. I guess some things, like Thai donuts, might be forgettable while vacations make more of an impression on the brain. That would make sense. But I do wonder how much I have lost.
I used to keep a journal (on paper) but that trickled away as things got busy during college. I used to try to "catch up" and remembered what I had done each day in order to do so, but never ended up catching up and now all those college memories are gone. My memory must have been so much better back then!
ABC is Unavailable
Our trusty DVR came up with a new excuse today. It's almost like it is begging us to turn it in for a new (or more likely, refurbished) one at this point.
We flipped on the DVR after getting back from dinner and found that it claimed to be actively recording Survivor and Modern Family. That is impossible. Survivor is on at 8 for an hour and Modern Family is on at 9. They do not overlap time slots at all. We guessed that neither had actually taped and the DVR was just being an idiot.
Sure enough, it was, as we tried to play both and ended up with black screens for the entire time. Time to reboot the box. Again. This morning, on demand was completely unavailable, so I guess the box was due for yet another reboot.
Before rebooting we decided to check the recording log since Suburgatory was supposed to record at 8:30 but wasn't on the recorded list. Here is where our DVR showed us that it really can continue to surprise us.
Suburgatory apparently was, according to the log, "not recorded because the channel was not available."
Are you kidding me? ABC was unavailable? In what TV universe is ABC unavailable, Time Warner Cable? If ABC was unavailable, then I guess none of the channels were available! (Which the black screen would seem to confirm.) So we lost out on tonight's Survivor, Suburgatory and Modern Family, and due to box errors yesterday, also didn't get Glee.
Hopefully we can swap our box tomorrow before the DVR comes up with another brilliant excuse. Unavailable. Seriously.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Hawaiian Pineapples
I have always liked pineapples, even the canned Dole pineapple pieces. Pineapples are that perfect combination of sweet and tangy fruit that I love.
If I thought I loved pineapples before, I never realized just how good they could be until we went to Maui. On our second trip there, we stopped by the farmers market in Honokowai and picked up some pineapple pieces. Best pineapple we ever had! It was so perfectly sweet. Loved it.
When my parents were in Maui for the wedding, they went on an excursion to the pineapple plantation. That's one of the best things about Maui - the fruits and vegetables grown there are so fresh and just better, because of the volcanic soil. On the pineapple excursions, you get to take souvenirs home, so my parents brought home a giant pineapple. When we went to visit one weekend after returning to NYC, we broke open and split the pineapple, a wonderful memory of Maui.
If I thought I loved pineapples before, I never realized just how good they could be until we went to Maui. On our second trip there, we stopped by the farmers market in Honokowai and picked up some pineapple pieces. Best pineapple we ever had! It was so perfectly sweet. Loved it.
When my parents were in Maui for the wedding, they went on an excursion to the pineapple plantation. That's one of the best things about Maui - the fruits and vegetables grown there are so fresh and just better, because of the volcanic soil. On the pineapple excursions, you get to take souvenirs home, so my parents brought home a giant pineapple. When we went to visit one weekend after returning to NYC, we broke open and split the pineapple, a wonderful memory of Maui.
Up At Night
I don't know what my problem is. I'm stuck in this unending cycle of sleep late - wake up late - tired all day, and don't know how to get out of it!
I can barely pull myself out of bed in the morning. I know part of it is going to sleep late, but it doesn't seem to matter how much sleep I get. I always feel like crap. There have been some "brighter" pockets of days lately when I manage to wake up with some amount of energy, but mostly I don't. Is it because of the weather, cold and cloudy? Is it because the "sun lamp" alarm (whether it's really a sun lamp, I don't know) hasn't been going on lately? Is it a side effect of bad seasonal allergies? Is it burn out because I didn't get to take a sabbatical?
By late afternoon, I'm usually crashing. Food coma? Maybe. But for weeks, I thought I was narcoleptic as I could barely keep my head upright and my eyes open through the entire afternoon. So many of the symptoms lined up. I'm still not convinced that I'm not.
And despite feeling like it was time for bed at 4:30 pm, I manage to get a second (third? fourth?) wind by the time it's actually time to fall asleep and don't manage to sleep until at least 3 am. It's not that I'm exercising too late all the time since I don't even make it to the gym when I feel like I'm going to pass out from standing.
Last night I planned to sleep early as I was a physical wreck through the entire day. What time did I actually manage to get to bed? 3 am, as usual.
And my back is sore all the time with horrible knots all over my shoulderblades. Nothing seems to help. It's like I need 4 hour daily massages for a week and to get a real ergonomic (they claim the current one is but that's hard to believe) office chair (neither is an option).
Any ideas? It's so hard to force myself to go to bed when I know I'm just going to get frustrated at tossing and turning if I'm no longer tired. What do I do?
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Grand Place
Brussels, September 2010.
There was some festival going on at the Grand Place. An orchestra playing songs. A marching band performing in the middle of the plaza. People on stilts. Large crowds. To this day, we're not really sure what was going on. But it was fun to watch.
We went to the Grand Place/Grote Markt, one of the most popular locations in Brussels, to sightsee. If you've ever seen the Flower Carpet, this is the place, but it wasn't on display while we were there. It had been a disappointing day. Our suitcase wheel broke on the walk from the crappy metro station to our hotel, a walk which went straight uphill. We waited forever in our hotel lobby to check in while one family monopolized guest services. We tried to see Mini Europe and failed because it was already closed. Then we tried to see the Atomium but didn't want to pay the expensive fees for an inadequate amount of time in the exhibit. We were not really liking Brussels and then we got to the Grand Place, hoping things would get better. But it was crowded, people were pushing and shoving, it really felt like we were back in NYC, and then we decided to have dinner, thinking that would be the turning point to the day. Sitting outside in the middle of the square was absolutely wonderful but the service (spilled beer, neglect, forgotten fries) made us feel like second class citizens. Brussels was not our favorite place when I took this picture.
But, damn, that is one photogenic city.
Looking at our photos from Brussels, the city looks gorgeous. The streets that frustrated us or that looked not-so-nice when we were there turned out really good-looking on camera. The buildings of the Grand Place, which we thought were amazing in person, were absolutely incredible in photographic form.
We stayed at the Grand Place through dinner, listening to the marching band and taking in the sights and the setting sun, and if we ignored our rude and unhelpful waiter, it was actually pretty nice. After dinner, the sun was gone and the sky turned the most amazing shade of blue for blue hour, and I got some of my favorite photos from our entire trip. The contrast of the old ornate lit buildings with the deep blue sky was striking. We may not have been the hugest fans of Brussels on that day, but the city sure knew how to look good.
There was some festival going on at the Grand Place. An orchestra playing songs. A marching band performing in the middle of the plaza. People on stilts. Large crowds. To this day, we're not really sure what was going on. But it was fun to watch.
We went to the Grand Place/Grote Markt, one of the most popular locations in Brussels, to sightsee. If you've ever seen the Flower Carpet, this is the place, but it wasn't on display while we were there. It had been a disappointing day. Our suitcase wheel broke on the walk from the crappy metro station to our hotel, a walk which went straight uphill. We waited forever in our hotel lobby to check in while one family monopolized guest services. We tried to see Mini Europe and failed because it was already closed. Then we tried to see the Atomium but didn't want to pay the expensive fees for an inadequate amount of time in the exhibit. We were not really liking Brussels and then we got to the Grand Place, hoping things would get better. But it was crowded, people were pushing and shoving, it really felt like we were back in NYC, and then we decided to have dinner, thinking that would be the turning point to the day. Sitting outside in the middle of the square was absolutely wonderful but the service (spilled beer, neglect, forgotten fries) made us feel like second class citizens. Brussels was not our favorite place when I took this picture.
But, damn, that is one photogenic city.
Looking at our photos from Brussels, the city looks gorgeous. The streets that frustrated us or that looked not-so-nice when we were there turned out really good-looking on camera. The buildings of the Grand Place, which we thought were amazing in person, were absolutely incredible in photographic form.
We stayed at the Grand Place through dinner, listening to the marching band and taking in the sights and the setting sun, and if we ignored our rude and unhelpful waiter, it was actually pretty nice. After dinner, the sun was gone and the sky turned the most amazing shade of blue for blue hour, and I got some of my favorite photos from our entire trip. The contrast of the old ornate lit buildings with the deep blue sky was striking. We may not have been the hugest fans of Brussels on that day, but the city sure knew how to look good.
Monday, October 3, 2011
Tapas
In December 2004, we were living in Chicago. It was my last year of law school and a few college friends had come to visit. One of the first things we did that weekend was to go out for tapas at our favorite tapas place in Chicago, Cafe Iberico. From the photo it looks like we got patatas bravas (spicy potatoes in tomato sauce), tortilla espanola (Spanish omelette), champinones a la plancha (mushrooms in garlic and olive oil) and something else with potatoes that I can't identify. Yum. We loved the patatas bravas and tortilla espanola (sorry, don't know where the tilde is on here), and I think we got them almost every time.
Iberico isn't the only tapas place in Chicago. There was a place closer to our apartment but on my first visit there (and A's second), we didn't have a great experience. We were with my parents when they came in the summer and attempted to eat at that place. They offered us a table inside or outside, and we chose inside since my parents aren't huge fans of eating outdoors. Promptly upon sitting down, we were told that we could not sit inside because of the sleeveless shirts we were wearing. Well, why didn't you say something about this when we said we wanted to sit inside? The fact that this was never mentioned when we put our name in at the door, and they proceeded to let us wait 15 minutes for an inside table, and then told us we couldn't sit there was ridiculous. If we were not dressed "appropriately" for an inside table, then why let us wait for one? Why not just tell us at the first moment that we could not sit there so we could decide if we wanted to wait or go somewhere else? Why wait until we were sitting down at the table to tell us this wasn't an option? We obviously left but I have no recollection of where we ended up going. Although I had heard good things about the food, I had no desire to ever go there again after that experience with their service.
But on to happier things - the tapas at Iberico are good. Before we left Chicago for NYC, we did a "favorite foods" tour in Chicago to hit up our favorite places one last time and we made a stop there. We don't go for tapas that often here in NYC. There are plenty of places but it can get really pricey and places get crowded. But now I'm craving tortilla espanola and patatas bravas!
(I'm really enjoying this random photo thing. It's allowing me to tell stories about the past and I love it! It's so interesting how something like a photo can jog your memory.)
Iberico isn't the only tapas place in Chicago. There was a place closer to our apartment but on my first visit there (and A's second), we didn't have a great experience. We were with my parents when they came in the summer and attempted to eat at that place. They offered us a table inside or outside, and we chose inside since my parents aren't huge fans of eating outdoors. Promptly upon sitting down, we were told that we could not sit inside because of the sleeveless shirts we were wearing. Well, why didn't you say something about this when we said we wanted to sit inside? The fact that this was never mentioned when we put our name in at the door, and they proceeded to let us wait 15 minutes for an inside table, and then told us we couldn't sit there was ridiculous. If we were not dressed "appropriately" for an inside table, then why let us wait for one? Why not just tell us at the first moment that we could not sit there so we could decide if we wanted to wait or go somewhere else? Why wait until we were sitting down at the table to tell us this wasn't an option? We obviously left but I have no recollection of where we ended up going. Although I had heard good things about the food, I had no desire to ever go there again after that experience with their service.
But on to happier things - the tapas at Iberico are good. Before we left Chicago for NYC, we did a "favorite foods" tour in Chicago to hit up our favorite places one last time and we made a stop there. We don't go for tapas that often here in NYC. There are plenty of places but it can get really pricey and places get crowded. But now I'm craving tortilla espanola and patatas bravas!
(I'm really enjoying this random photo thing. It's allowing me to tell stories about the past and I love it! It's so interesting how something like a photo can jog your memory.)
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Flashback - October 2
What did we do on October 2?
One year ago today... we got haircuts, watched the sunset and played around with the self-timer on our SLR in Riverside Park South and then had our own little Oktoberfest - wurst platters and potato pancakes from Hallo Berlin and a Bavarian-inspired concrete (cranberry almond streusel) and beer from Shacktoberfest.
Self-photo shoot - I love this photo
Two years ago today... we went to Plate by Plate, a fundraiser event, which was one of our last NY activities as an engaged couple. Two days later we would be Maui-bound for our wedding prep week! Plate by Plate brings in restaurants from all over NYC for a tasting event and there was a lot of good food. After we got home, we were unpleasantly surprised by an apartment that smelled like garbage because the cover popped off some onions in the fridge. Oops.
Black truffle tuna sandwich from Geisha at Plate by Plate - apparently we got the last one and it was so so good
Three years ago today... work day. Obsessed with the election. A provided me commentary on the VP debate while I finished up the day at work and then we went for dinner somewhere in our neighborhood. (My recordkeeping was not as good back then!)
Four years ago today... also a work day (Tuesday). I was thinking about how songs keep getting repeated on TV shows, making them the "song of the season." There's definitely some songs like that this year like Hello.
Five years ago today... it was a Monday so I assume we went to work. But I have absolutely no idea. No blog posts, no chat logs, no calendar entries, no (uploaded) photos. I suppose I could check my work time entries but I really don't want to do that.
Six years ago today... we went to the Pickle Festival on the Lower East Side and had dinner at Republic in Union Square. It was warm so we also had a nice time just walking around.
Testing out the pickles
I can't go back any further than that unfortunately, but it was a nice walk down memory lane!
One year ago today... we got haircuts, watched the sunset and played around with the self-timer on our SLR in Riverside Park South and then had our own little Oktoberfest - wurst platters and potato pancakes from Hallo Berlin and a Bavarian-inspired concrete (cranberry almond streusel) and beer from Shacktoberfest.
Two years ago today... we went to Plate by Plate, a fundraiser event, which was one of our last NY activities as an engaged couple. Two days later we would be Maui-bound for our wedding prep week! Plate by Plate brings in restaurants from all over NYC for a tasting event and there was a lot of good food. After we got home, we were unpleasantly surprised by an apartment that smelled like garbage because the cover popped off some onions in the fridge. Oops.
Three years ago today... work day. Obsessed with the election. A provided me commentary on the VP debate while I finished up the day at work and then we went for dinner somewhere in our neighborhood. (My recordkeeping was not as good back then!)
Four years ago today... also a work day (Tuesday). I was thinking about how songs keep getting repeated on TV shows, making them the "song of the season." There's definitely some songs like that this year like Hello.
Five years ago today... it was a Monday so I assume we went to work. But I have absolutely no idea. No blog posts, no chat logs, no calendar entries, no (uploaded) photos. I suppose I could check my work time entries but I really don't want to do that.
Six years ago today... we went to the Pickle Festival on the Lower East Side and had dinner at Republic in Union Square. It was warm so we also had a nice time just walking around.
I can't go back any further than that unfortunately, but it was a nice walk down memory lane!
Cranberry Sauce
Today's numerically chosen photo of the day is...
Cranberry sauce from a can.
This photo is from Thanksgiving 2009. We had dinner at my parents' house and unlike most years, we didn't drive out the night before. We stayed in the city and went to the Thanksgiving Day Parade which was being held in Times Square that year. It wasn't that cold out but I didn't remember the parade being so boring! (I had gone once before as a kid.) We didn't know who all the balloons were (we were Yo Gabba Gabba-dumb until the kids in front of us started talking about it) and after awhile, we (and others near us) just wanted Santa to come already so we could leave! We had invested all that time; we had to at least stay for Santa. Somehow, collectively we took almost 350 photos of the boring parade.
Dinner was delicious as usual. In addition to the turkey (which is my least favorite part of a Thanksgiving day meal - I love sides), there was stuffing, mashed potatoes, carrots, pumpkin pie and our contribution - brussels sprouts with chestnuts. Love brussels sprouts. So healthy and hearty. There was also cranberry sauce that came out of a can. That's how cranberry sauce is usually served at our holiday dinners, but it makes A sad. One year he made his recipe for cranberry sauce which included lots of actual cranberries and fruit. It was really good, but I guess a lot of people in my family are so used to the canned cranberry sauce that that has become a tradition of sorts. I liked A's cranberry sauce for dessert but I don't usually use the canned stuff because I'm not a big fan of putting fruit into my regular food.
Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays of the year. I would say that I can't wait for it but that would send time speeding along even faster, and I don't want to do that. But I am looking forward to Thanksgiving!
(Side programming note: It may seem like we are posting more, and we are definitely trying to post more. I miss blogging and feel like I don't really write anymore, not anything "real." So I am trying to get that back. Also, I like looking back to see what I was doing a year ago, 2 years ago, etc. and I can't do that if I don't blog. So, consider blogging more to be like a new years resolution. That was conveniently made on Rosh Hashanah.)
Cranberry sauce from a can.
This photo is from Thanksgiving 2009. We had dinner at my parents' house and unlike most years, we didn't drive out the night before. We stayed in the city and went to the Thanksgiving Day Parade which was being held in Times Square that year. It wasn't that cold out but I didn't remember the parade being so boring! (I had gone once before as a kid.) We didn't know who all the balloons were (we were Yo Gabba Gabba-dumb until the kids in front of us started talking about it) and after awhile, we (and others near us) just wanted Santa to come already so we could leave! We had invested all that time; we had to at least stay for Santa. Somehow, collectively we took almost 350 photos of the boring parade.
Dinner was delicious as usual. In addition to the turkey (which is my least favorite part of a Thanksgiving day meal - I love sides), there was stuffing, mashed potatoes, carrots, pumpkin pie and our contribution - brussels sprouts with chestnuts. Love brussels sprouts. So healthy and hearty. There was also cranberry sauce that came out of a can. That's how cranberry sauce is usually served at our holiday dinners, but it makes A sad. One year he made his recipe for cranberry sauce which included lots of actual cranberries and fruit. It was really good, but I guess a lot of people in my family are so used to the canned cranberry sauce that that has become a tradition of sorts. I liked A's cranberry sauce for dessert but I don't usually use the canned stuff because I'm not a big fan of putting fruit into my regular food.
Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays of the year. I would say that I can't wait for it but that would send time speeding along even faster, and I don't want to do that. But I am looking forward to Thanksgiving!
(Side programming note: It may seem like we are posting more, and we are definitely trying to post more. I miss blogging and feel like I don't really write anymore, not anything "real." So I am trying to get that back. Also, I like looking back to see what I was doing a year ago, 2 years ago, etc. and I can't do that if I don't blog. So, consider blogging more to be like a new years resolution. That was conveniently made on Rosh Hashanah.)
Boots
While I love the cooler weather that fall brings, I hate saying goodbye to sandals and other summer shoes. I know a lot of people like fall because it means boots season, but I don't feel that way. Boots are not really my friends. I wore boots tonight for hours and was on my feet walking and dancing, and now I feel like I need to soak my feet in ice buckets. The cold bathroom floor feels so good.
Two main problems with boots for me - (1) my leg shape isn't long and lean so a lot of them don't fit and (2) they feel like I'm walking on blocks of wood/stone and it's so painful. I don't know how people do it and don't have problems with their feet!
Any recommendations for comfortable boots? I haven't found one yet which has a nice cushion and doesn't make my feet angry at me. All suggestions welcome!
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Sun Rising
Writing on a regular basis is hard when all you do is go to work and eat (and the food is covered by the food blog). To try to write more on my old blog, I would randomly choose a photo and then write about it. I think we'll do that here too (and tag them "Photo Diary"). Before, on my laptop, I used either the Windows photo viewer that sat on the desktop or my screensaver, and wrote about whatever came up. This time I picked a numerical combination and applied it to my web albums and came up with this:
Ah, Greece is such a beautiful country. We still haven't finished recapping our honeymoon (regular recaps or food recaps) but this photo was from the end of it. We were heading to the Athens airport for our flight to Munich. We were very sad because our honeymoon was over but excited to fly to Germany for a few hours.
It was early in the morning. We were catching either the first or second metro run of the morning and we were expecting it to be empty. It was anything but empty. By the time we switched trains at Syntagma (a very central stop), the platforms were packed with people, many of them returning home from a late Saturday night out. I had completely forgotten that, since the trains don't run late at night, people would have just stayed out until they could catch the first train home. There were lots of people sleeping on the metro, but also a lot of people who were very awake for 5:30 in the morning!
The line that goes to the airport terminates at either the airport or a stop called Doukissis Plakentias. The train we were originally on stopped at the latter, and we had to wait for the train that went to the airport (which I think only came every half an hour). The station was nice - not very exciting but unlike our subway stations, it was clean, there were seats and it wasn't unbearably hot and gross. We rested and shared a bologna and cheese sandwich that we got from our hotel before departing. Eventually the train came, we boarded with our luggage and then got to watch from the windows as the metro left the underground tunnels and journeyed through the suburbs outside Athens. (It rides along the highway reminding me of the blue line in Chicago.) At some point, the sun started to come up and the sunrise was gorgeous. I love early morning light. There's something so renewing and hopeful about it. The optimism of what the new day will bring and feeling like you have an entire full day ahead of you.
This is the only good photo I have of our outdoor ride to the airport. I think we were near an area called Kantza. Pretty soon after that, we had arrived at the airport and it was time for our last honeymoon adventure!
Ah, Greece is such a beautiful country. We still haven't finished recapping our honeymoon (regular recaps or food recaps) but this photo was from the end of it. We were heading to the Athens airport for our flight to Munich. We were very sad because our honeymoon was over but excited to fly to Germany for a few hours.
It was early in the morning. We were catching either the first or second metro run of the morning and we were expecting it to be empty. It was anything but empty. By the time we switched trains at Syntagma (a very central stop), the platforms were packed with people, many of them returning home from a late Saturday night out. I had completely forgotten that, since the trains don't run late at night, people would have just stayed out until they could catch the first train home. There were lots of people sleeping on the metro, but also a lot of people who were very awake for 5:30 in the morning!
The line that goes to the airport terminates at either the airport or a stop called Doukissis Plakentias. The train we were originally on stopped at the latter, and we had to wait for the train that went to the airport (which I think only came every half an hour). The station was nice - not very exciting but unlike our subway stations, it was clean, there were seats and it wasn't unbearably hot and gross. We rested and shared a bologna and cheese sandwich that we got from our hotel before departing. Eventually the train came, we boarded with our luggage and then got to watch from the windows as the metro left the underground tunnels and journeyed through the suburbs outside Athens. (It rides along the highway reminding me of the blue line in Chicago.) At some point, the sun started to come up and the sunrise was gorgeous. I love early morning light. There's something so renewing and hopeful about it. The optimism of what the new day will bring and feeling like you have an entire full day ahead of you.
This is the only good photo I have of our outdoor ride to the airport. I think we were near an area called Kantza. Pretty soon after that, we had arrived at the airport and it was time for our last honeymoon adventure!
Another DVR Mishap
I feel like all I talk about these days is needing to work out and how much our cable box sucks. The DVR just keeps malfunctioning! Granted, this time, it was a program that recorded way back on August 2 (the next to last episode of Covert Affairs) but it's been giving us grief for months now. Must do our best to get a new box this week!
This time, we were watching Covert Affairs and it was doing fine until about halfway through the program. Then abruptly it started getting glitchy, became pixelated and then just stopped. The trouble with catching up on shows so late is that, if it messes up like this, we might never find out what happened before watching the next episode. Luckily Hulu still has this one up (since it's no longer on demand). Hopefully the finale recorded!
Work Out Like an All Star
When we first moved to Manhattan ~6 years ago, I was really excited when I discovered our new cable package included FitTV. We had never had the station before and it was like having exercise classes available 24 hours a day (ok, to be fair, it probably wasn't 24 hours as there were some infomercials in the early morning/late night hours). Fantastic! I would just exercise to whatever was on when I turned it on, whether it was Gilad or Sharon Mann (both were perfect half hour pre-work workouts) or something else. Didn't matter as long as I was moving.
As the years went on, I saw the programming start to shift from all day workouts to pockets of workout programs and pockets of "lifestyle" programming (e.g., let's watch how other people get in shape or eat which doesn't really help the viewer get in shape). I couldn't just turn the channel on and exercise. Eventually, the workout programs were gone. Now the channel is part of Discovery Health (or something) and workout programs are relegated to ExerciseTV on demand (which sometimes doesn't work because our cable box sucks).
During that half-and-half stage of FitTV, they did have some good programs that I really liked - especially Namaste Yoga (a half hour yoga program with serene backgrounds and good sequences) and All Star Workouts (hour long workouts which varied from Bosu to exercise ball to boot camp to stretch class to kickboxing). I loved All Star Workouts. It was different every day. I recorded a whole bunch of them on our DVR so that I could workout when I had time to do it (instead of only at 9 am and whatever time it was rerun during the day), except I sadly had to keep deleting them as we ran out of space and then lost them altogether when we had to trade in our malfunctioning DVR box (thanks, Time Warner Cable). I thought I would just re-record them later, but when I tried, I realized they were just gone. Nowhere to be found. My favorite workout program, gone.
ExerciseTV on demand isn't bad. There are a lot of programs and it's available whenever you want (provided that the cable box is working and that you're not DVR-ing 2 things at once in that time period - another advantage of previously having them on the DVR). Today I was looking for a half-hour workout and came across a Kendall Hogan boot camp workout. It reminded me of the hour-long All Star Workout that he did and I started missing the program again. It was a great workout and I'm still soaked from it, so at least I know I can do that one. I still miss All Star Workouts though (and from reading online forums, I'm not alone). I think it will always be my favorite.
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