Today started like any other weather-challenged day. There was a thick layer of clouds covering the city when I woke up, making it difficult to see the buildings across the street, and when the clouds slowly faded, they gave way to torrential downpours. The rest of the day saw more clouds, wind, rain, humidity and other "fun" weather.
I ended up going for lunch at Potbelly, since I chose to leave for lunch at the exact moment Mother Nature decided it should rain. I didn't bring an umbrella since it wasn't raining when I left for the elevator, but the hard raindrops began pelting me in the head almost immediately. Potbelly is in the Rockefeller Center Concourse, and when I go by the concourse, it means I only have to walk 1.5 blocks outside and can walk the rest underground. Even taking the concourse, my already curly hair (which seems to get curlier the older I get and which I did not bother straightening today since it was raining) got even bigger.
On the way back from Potbelly, I chatted with my mom about last night's (completely awesome) episode of Scandal, filling her in on everything she missed in the first season. I hung up because our elevators have terrible reception, and called her back as I unpacked my lunch at my desk. We continued to chat about Scandal but I couldn't tell you exactly what because what happened next wiped those memories from my brain.
While we were talking, I heard a buzzing noise pass my ear. I was annoyed, thinking a fly had followed me into the office and now I had to battle it and try to get it to leave before I ate my lunch. I didn't see anything flying around though, and a buzz that loud could only come from a decently large fly. I heard the buzz a few different times but each time couldn't see anything flying around. I have decent peripheral vision though and I suddenly saw something black drop out of my hair.
Out. Of. My. Hair.
I barely had time to consider the fact that the large black object had fallen out of my hair, because I realized that said large black object was sitting on my upper arm. I grabbed one of the napkins off my desk and tried to swat it off my arm.
Didn't move.
If you don't already know, I cannot handle insects. Bit of a phobia here. Everything after that was a bit of a blur. I remember screaming on the phone when it dropped out of my hair and onto my arm. I remember swatting at it with a napkin like a crazy lady before I finally knocked it off my arm.
But I couldn't find it anywhere. I didn't see it fly off but it was nowhere to be seen.
My office neighbor came by to see if it was a rodent because I guess she heard me scream through the wall. I could deal with a mouse. I cannot deal with a big fly.
Not wanting to eat lunch near a fly that clearly loved to torment me, I escaped to our office cafeteria and finished off a (very) late lunch while watching NY1. I returned to my office, looked all over the floor, but still couldn't see the fly. Every so often throughout the afternoon I would hear a buzz, turn around, shake out my hair, look into the air, but I didn't see anything. I started to get more comfortable and thought that maybe it had finally flown off. I still couldn't believe that while I was on the phone with my mom it was buzzing and flying around in my hair. I guess that's the problem with thick and curly hair. I figured that, as panicked as I had been and how traumatic it had been, one day this would be something I could laugh about. A bug taking up residence in my hair and flying around inside it?! My hair's not that big!
Once my guard was down, I started to hear loud buzzing again and saw something black fall onto my desk. I think it must have been watching me from the ceiling because it tumbled from quite high. I started to panic again but this time grabbed the Pledge multi-surface cleaner spray bottle from inside my desk drawer and started spraying in the general direction of the fly. I kept spraying, it kept buzzing, I kept spraying, it kept sputtering, and then it finally stopped.
I was thinking maybe it was not your normal large fly because it didn't seem to fly as much as others. When it fell to the desk, it kind of flew around between things on my desk but didn't go very far (lucky for me). I thought maybe it was sick, felt a little bad, then remembered they spread disease and it was on my arm, and then thought maybe it was having babies (I know nothing about insects in this department and I've been scarred for life by Charlotte's Web (and yes I know this is not a spider)) and there would be little flies all over my office.
A was very kind and came over after work to clean up the fly for me. After the spray bottle incident, I kept looking over to see if it was still there. I guess I thought it would just start flying again because I was that afraid of it. Once the fly was gone, it was time to clean my stapler, my mirror, my poor page-a-day gallery calendar of islands pictures, all of which got a little bit drowned in my fight the fly campaign.
What an afternoon.
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Monday, September 24, 2012
Poor Little Cub
Today was not a good day in the panda world.
If you hadn't guessed by our blog name, A and I are panda fans. While we have always had a soft spot for the furry black and white animals, our "addiction" really began with Tai Shan (aka Butterstick), the panda cub at the National Zoo in DC that we visited back in 2006. He was adorable, playful and just clicked with us (and so many others). After visiting the zoo, we plunged headfirst into a world of panda lovers - meeting new people, participating in forums, watching the panda cams all day, staying up to date on worldwide panda news, making return zoo trips. We loved it. Eventually as time passed we became less involved as there just wasn't enough time in the day, but it didn't mean we loved pandas any less.
Since Tai Shan, there hasn't been another cub at the National Zoo. (Unlike San Diego, which has seen so many cubs thanks to the amazing Bai Yun and Gao Gao match.) Tai Shan is now an adult and living in China, but his parents, Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, are still at the National Zoo. We had heard rumors that they could be sent back to China soon if there were no cub, which made us sad, as they were our first "panda family."
Then last week, there was great news. There was finally a new cub at the zoo! We were so thrilled and began thinking about when we would go to DC. We planned on the spring so that we would be there at the time cubs are cutest. (When they're about 6 months old, they do the cutest waddling around. It's absolutely adorable.) There's a cub in San Diego this year too, born in July, but it's a little easier for us to get to DC.
I was watching soccer this morning and reading Twitter when I saw a tweet with breaking news that the cub had died. It said it was news reported by the AP but I was still thinking it had to be some sort of sick joke, that someone had played a prank on the news sources. How could a cub at the zoo die?! Of course I had heard before of cubs who didn't make it but I never imagined that it could happen to "our" pandas. I kept searching like crazy since everything referred back to the AP. Then I saw a tweet from the National Zoo's official account and my heart sank. I felt the tears coming for a cub that I had barely even seen, except for a few photos on Facebook, and didn't know at all. I ran in to tell A the heartbreaking news - that the tiny cub that we couldn't wait to get to know and love was gone.
The more I read, the sadder the news got. The panda lovers from the group that we had been part of were commiserating over the news. I guess earlier in the morning people trying to catch a glimpse of the cub on the panda cam had seen Mei Xiang, the momma bear, in distress, and then the panda cams were abruptly disconnected. After they reconnected the cameras, she was clearly still distressed, looking for her lost baby who would never return. I won't go to the panda cam to watch that, and I don't want to imagine how that is. I know some people object to us placing such human emotions on animals, when we don't know all the details of how they think and feel, but I definitely believe that a mother animal knows when its child is in trouble and feels loss and anxiety when it's missing. I feel so awful for Mei. I can't even imagine what it's like for the zookeepers. This is their life - taking care of the animals and helping to keep watch over the new cub. It has to be devastating.
I don't know what's going to happen with the pandas in DC now or if we'll see Mei or Tian again (or if they'll be sent back to China). I don't know if they'll ever know what happened with the cub (since they said they saw no signs of trauma or infection). There are so few pandas in the world right now and every cub loss is incredibly sad. Poor little cub. Sorry that we'll never get to know you.
If you hadn't guessed by our blog name, A and I are panda fans. While we have always had a soft spot for the furry black and white animals, our "addiction" really began with Tai Shan (aka Butterstick), the panda cub at the National Zoo in DC that we visited back in 2006. He was adorable, playful and just clicked with us (and so many others). After visiting the zoo, we plunged headfirst into a world of panda lovers - meeting new people, participating in forums, watching the panda cams all day, staying up to date on worldwide panda news, making return zoo trips. We loved it. Eventually as time passed we became less involved as there just wasn't enough time in the day, but it didn't mean we loved pandas any less.
Since Tai Shan, there hasn't been another cub at the National Zoo. (Unlike San Diego, which has seen so many cubs thanks to the amazing Bai Yun and Gao Gao match.) Tai Shan is now an adult and living in China, but his parents, Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, are still at the National Zoo. We had heard rumors that they could be sent back to China soon if there were no cub, which made us sad, as they were our first "panda family."
Then last week, there was great news. There was finally a new cub at the zoo! We were so thrilled and began thinking about when we would go to DC. We planned on the spring so that we would be there at the time cubs are cutest. (When they're about 6 months old, they do the cutest waddling around. It's absolutely adorable.) There's a cub in San Diego this year too, born in July, but it's a little easier for us to get to DC.
I was watching soccer this morning and reading Twitter when I saw a tweet with breaking news that the cub had died. It said it was news reported by the AP but I was still thinking it had to be some sort of sick joke, that someone had played a prank on the news sources. How could a cub at the zoo die?! Of course I had heard before of cubs who didn't make it but I never imagined that it could happen to "our" pandas. I kept searching like crazy since everything referred back to the AP. Then I saw a tweet from the National Zoo's official account and my heart sank. I felt the tears coming for a cub that I had barely even seen, except for a few photos on Facebook, and didn't know at all. I ran in to tell A the heartbreaking news - that the tiny cub that we couldn't wait to get to know and love was gone.
The more I read, the sadder the news got. The panda lovers from the group that we had been part of were commiserating over the news. I guess earlier in the morning people trying to catch a glimpse of the cub on the panda cam had seen Mei Xiang, the momma bear, in distress, and then the panda cams were abruptly disconnected. After they reconnected the cameras, she was clearly still distressed, looking for her lost baby who would never return. I won't go to the panda cam to watch that, and I don't want to imagine how that is. I know some people object to us placing such human emotions on animals, when we don't know all the details of how they think and feel, but I definitely believe that a mother animal knows when its child is in trouble and feels loss and anxiety when it's missing. I feel so awful for Mei. I can't even imagine what it's like for the zookeepers. This is their life - taking care of the animals and helping to keep watch over the new cub. It has to be devastating.
I don't know what's going to happen with the pandas in DC now or if we'll see Mei or Tian again (or if they'll be sent back to China). I don't know if they'll ever know what happened with the cub (since they said they saw no signs of trauma or infection). There are so few pandas in the world right now and every cub loss is incredibly sad. Poor little cub. Sorry that we'll never get to know you.
Friday, August 3, 2012
Happiness List - 08.02.2012
Every month I try to reboot the process to overhaul my life for the better. August didn't start out that well, with a late night at work, lots of time entries that I started way too late, and just sheer exhaustion. I really need a mental health day. And to appreciate the little things that make me happy. Today's list:
1. Seeing former coworkers at a goodbye party. Reminded me of what I think of as the "golden age" of my time at the firm. It was before the economy crashed, when things were good, before the dismal reality of the industry set in to my mind. It was the largest our group had ever been but there was lots of work, and everyone clicked both on professional and personal levels. Seeing everyone reminded me of how much time has passed and how people have moved on and how things used to be, but it was also nice to have that memory.
2. I went on an unsubscribe binge after claiming my Outlook email address this morning. I'm trying to separate the emails I get by priority and by mailbox to try to keep life in order. To do this, I ended up unsubscribing from a number of different email lists that I don't even know why I was still on. For example, a political party in a state far away from here that I don't live in and have never even visited. I don't need to be on the list. I deleted the emails constantly. Why didn't I just unsubscribe? In some other cases, I didn't mind the emails but there was no way for me to change the address on file so I just unsubscribed. Felt good to preemptively mentally declutter my inbox.
3. Followed the women's gymnastics all-around on twitter and news site liveblogs to find out that Gabby Douglas won. Yay! Wish I could have watched it live but I was at work and NBC online viewing isn't so great.
4. Outlook.com. I abandoned some of my hotmail addresses a long time ago (usually after I didn't log in for awhile, lost all my saved emails, and got frustrated). I had multiple since in the days before gmail I would always hit my quota size. The new Outlook looks great. It's clean. Gmail has gotten a little cluttered, especially with my gigantic multiple thousand email *inbox* and the integration of plus and other features.
5. Bar snacks. Rice balls, fried calamari, fries, meatballs at the party and a chicken sandwich slider at home.
6. Third day in a row I took my vitamins! I can't remember the last time that happened. Months ago, for sure.
TGIF!
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Olympics
It's been an... interesting (and kind of rough) time here. Over the past week and a half, I probably could have used a happiness list but writing one didn't even make it on my radar. I'm not sure I could have done it if I tried. Sometimes you need to let yourself feel the emotions you feel without forcing yourself to be happy. Happiness lists are good when you're having an annoying or frustrating day and need to appreciate the little things in life. But when there are big things that aren't good, sometimes you just need to let it out, feel what you feel, cry if you need to cry, and just take it one day at a time.
But I'm not going to talk about that. Instead, the Olympics opening ceremony was today and I'm going to talk about that.
I love the opening ceremony of the Olympics (generally). It's full of hope. Everyone still has an opportunity to win and take home a medal for their country. Everyone is together, in the same place, watching the same ceremony, soaking in the same spirit of the Olympics. A spirit of togetherness, of sports transcending the everyday barriers that exist between nations, a tournament that unites the world. As a geography nerd, it's probably no surprise that the Parade of Nations is one of my favorite parts. I love watching all the countries parade around.
Since I like lists, here's what I liked about the opening ceremony:
1. The video with James Bond, the Queen and the royal corgis. I think this is my favorite segment of the entire ceremony. It mixed pop culture, British culture and royalty, and adorable corgis. It had humor and lightness. And who wouldn't smile seeing those little dogs waddle around?
2. Parade of Nations. I love looking at the outfits but there were too many business suits.
3. The Hey Jude singalong.
4. Mr. Bean! That was funny.
5. The Frankie and June segment (mostly). I liked the look back at pop culture of the 20th and 21st centuries. The music, the TV, the film, the dancing. That was all good, but the segment was a little long.
6. The fact that they paid tribute to their national public health care system. I didn't love the actual segment but I like the idea of it.
7. The attention to literature (although that prompted a terrible Matt Lauer comment that Harry Potter made reading cool (or fun or whatever he said)) and JK Rowling reading to us.
8. The corgis! There were 2 of them, so they get 2 slots.
And stuff I didn't like:
1. The NBC commentators. People on Twitter had it right. It's like watching the Thanksgiving Day parade. It's fine if you're giving useful information, but there was so much useless chatter (and bad jokes) when we would have rather just watched (and listened to) what they were showing on screen.
2. The NBC commentators pretending the Queen was really jumping from the helicopter. Do you think we're that dumb?
3. The opening video to the ceremony. I don't know if it was supposed to be a bird's eye view or a bug's eye view or what, but it was kind of frantic and it gave me motion sickness. I kept closing my eyes as it jerked back and forth like a bad ride. Not a good start.
4. The Industrial Revolution segment was depressing. I realize it's a walk through history but it was just so bleak. It reminded me that work sucks. Industry destroying the previous pastoral way of life made people miserable. Whenever they did the top view of the stadium it just looked like a wasteland. A reminder that we destroyed the earth.
5. NBC gave Mitt Romney camera time during the Parade of Nations that was equivalent to the world leaders from other countries. He is not our leader. He is a candidate to be our leader, but he is not our leader. I didn't think that was appropriate.
6. NBC allegedly chose not to show the memorial, and then complained that there was no moment of silence for other tragedies. If you're taking that stance, you should show whatever moment of silence there was instead of ignoring it for an interview that you could have played on any other day and was completely irrelevant to the opening ceremony.
7. NBC ignored most of the countries around the U.S., showing just seconds of them to keep going back to the U.S. athletes (coughUruguaycough). Why not split the screen? Or just show the US for awhile and then show the other countries? It's not like we're watching live.
8. We're not watching it live.
9. The outfits didn't have that much variety this year. Business suits and warm-up suits. A smaller percentage of countries who went for something not in those 2 categories. I appreciated those. Still not a fan of the U.S. team looking like Team France in berets.
10. Poor David Beckham. I realize he got to play a part in the torch thing but otherwise the video makes it seem like he's not even allowed in the stadium. Stuck outside on the boat. Poor guy. Does all this work to help London get the Olympics, doesn't get on the soccer team, and stuck outside on the boat.
11. The NBC commentary. I know it's the common theme here but it was just that terrible. We yelled shut up at the TV so many times.
I guess there were more annoying things than good things but I still like the Olympics and opening ceremonies. And there were corgis, which makes everything better. I just wish I could watch a clip of that segment again because it was so, so awesome.
But I'm not going to talk about that. Instead, the Olympics opening ceremony was today and I'm going to talk about that.
I love the opening ceremony of the Olympics (generally). It's full of hope. Everyone still has an opportunity to win and take home a medal for their country. Everyone is together, in the same place, watching the same ceremony, soaking in the same spirit of the Olympics. A spirit of togetherness, of sports transcending the everyday barriers that exist between nations, a tournament that unites the world. As a geography nerd, it's probably no surprise that the Parade of Nations is one of my favorite parts. I love watching all the countries parade around.
Since I like lists, here's what I liked about the opening ceremony:
1. The video with James Bond, the Queen and the royal corgis. I think this is my favorite segment of the entire ceremony. It mixed pop culture, British culture and royalty, and adorable corgis. It had humor and lightness. And who wouldn't smile seeing those little dogs waddle around?
2. Parade of Nations. I love looking at the outfits but there were too many business suits.
3. The Hey Jude singalong.
4. Mr. Bean! That was funny.
5. The Frankie and June segment (mostly). I liked the look back at pop culture of the 20th and 21st centuries. The music, the TV, the film, the dancing. That was all good, but the segment was a little long.
6. The fact that they paid tribute to their national public health care system. I didn't love the actual segment but I like the idea of it.
7. The attention to literature (although that prompted a terrible Matt Lauer comment that Harry Potter made reading cool (or fun or whatever he said)) and JK Rowling reading to us.
8. The corgis! There were 2 of them, so they get 2 slots.
And stuff I didn't like:
1. The NBC commentators. People on Twitter had it right. It's like watching the Thanksgiving Day parade. It's fine if you're giving useful information, but there was so much useless chatter (and bad jokes) when we would have rather just watched (and listened to) what they were showing on screen.
2. The NBC commentators pretending the Queen was really jumping from the helicopter. Do you think we're that dumb?
3. The opening video to the ceremony. I don't know if it was supposed to be a bird's eye view or a bug's eye view or what, but it was kind of frantic and it gave me motion sickness. I kept closing my eyes as it jerked back and forth like a bad ride. Not a good start.
4. The Industrial Revolution segment was depressing. I realize it's a walk through history but it was just so bleak. It reminded me that work sucks. Industry destroying the previous pastoral way of life made people miserable. Whenever they did the top view of the stadium it just looked like a wasteland. A reminder that we destroyed the earth.
5. NBC gave Mitt Romney camera time during the Parade of Nations that was equivalent to the world leaders from other countries. He is not our leader. He is a candidate to be our leader, but he is not our leader. I didn't think that was appropriate.
6. NBC allegedly chose not to show the memorial, and then complained that there was no moment of silence for other tragedies. If you're taking that stance, you should show whatever moment of silence there was instead of ignoring it for an interview that you could have played on any other day and was completely irrelevant to the opening ceremony.
7. NBC ignored most of the countries around the U.S., showing just seconds of them to keep going back to the U.S. athletes (coughUruguaycough). Why not split the screen? Or just show the US for awhile and then show the other countries? It's not like we're watching live.
8. We're not watching it live.
9. The outfits didn't have that much variety this year. Business suits and warm-up suits. A smaller percentage of countries who went for something not in those 2 categories. I appreciated those. Still not a fan of the U.S. team looking like Team France in berets.
10. Poor David Beckham. I realize he got to play a part in the torch thing but otherwise the video makes it seem like he's not even allowed in the stadium. Stuck outside on the boat. Poor guy. Does all this work to help London get the Olympics, doesn't get on the soccer team, and stuck outside on the boat.
11. The NBC commentary. I know it's the common theme here but it was just that terrible. We yelled shut up at the TV so many times.
I guess there were more annoying things than good things but I still like the Olympics and opening ceremonies. And there were corgis, which makes everything better. I just wish I could watch a clip of that segment again because it was so, so awesome.
Sunday, July 8, 2012
July 8
One year ago today, our backs hurt from old Poang chairs, I had Korean fried chicken for lunch with summer associates at work, and I was annoyed by Google+ trying to take over every part of our internet lives. (Today, backs still hurt, even though now on sofa, we had Korean fried chicken last week, and I'm still annoyed by Google+.)
Two years ago today, I had a Japanese food crawl lunch and then a midsummer reception after work (for work), while A went with his coworkers for a BBQ feast in Brooklyn. (We had BBQ last night.)
Three years ago today, I had a summer associate lunch at a Mediterranean restaurant (seems to be a popular day for summer lunches?), sushi for dinner while working late, and somehow had enough energy to exercise at home after leaving work at 11 pm. (Need wedding energy and motivation again.)
Four years ago today, we worked a lot, our air conditioning was broken, and we were in the middle of planning a birthday party for my dad. (Thank goodness we have A/C today.)
Five years ago today, we got engaged. :)
No matter what happens, July 8 will always be a special day.
Two years ago today, I had a Japanese food crawl lunch and then a midsummer reception after work (for work), while A went with his coworkers for a BBQ feast in Brooklyn. (We had BBQ last night.)
Three years ago today, I had a summer associate lunch at a Mediterranean restaurant (seems to be a popular day for summer lunches?), sushi for dinner while working late, and somehow had enough energy to exercise at home after leaving work at 11 pm. (Need wedding energy and motivation again.)
Four years ago today, we worked a lot, our air conditioning was broken, and we were in the middle of planning a birthday party for my dad. (Thank goodness we have A/C today.)
Five years ago today, we got engaged. :)
No matter what happens, July 8 will always be a special day.
Friday, July 6, 2012
Happiness List 07.05.12
Been awhile since I did one of these but the need to appreciate the little things in life that make us happy doesn't ever end.
1. Celeste zesty 4 cheese frozen pizza.
2. A new episode of Awkward.
3. The Cabo episode of Trip Flip, with the surprise visit from the sea lion on a fishing trip, proving that even extensively planned travel days can be full of amazing surprises.
4. The reasonable prices at Earl of Sandwich.
5. Not being a contestant on Love in the Wild where they had to pick up and carry tarantulas.
6. A mini marathon of the early episodes of New Girl. I stopped watching early in the season because it wasn't clicking but started to love it at the end. Watching the early eps again but knowing the characters better from the later episodes makes the early eps seem better now.
7. Finally got to watch Teen Wolf. One of the best summer shows. When did MTV get good TV (between this and Awkward)? Of course there's no more music, but I'll take good TV.
8. My knee didn't hurt the way it did yesterday when it felt like it would snap.
1. Celeste zesty 4 cheese frozen pizza.
2. A new episode of Awkward.
3. The Cabo episode of Trip Flip, with the surprise visit from the sea lion on a fishing trip, proving that even extensively planned travel days can be full of amazing surprises.
4. The reasonable prices at Earl of Sandwich.
5. Not being a contestant on Love in the Wild where they had to pick up and carry tarantulas.
6. A mini marathon of the early episodes of New Girl. I stopped watching early in the season because it wasn't clicking but started to love it at the end. Watching the early eps again but knowing the characters better from the later episodes makes the early eps seem better now.
7. Finally got to watch Teen Wolf. One of the best summer shows. When did MTV get good TV (between this and Awkward)? Of course there's no more music, but I'll take good TV.
8. My knee didn't hurt the way it did yesterday when it felt like it would snap.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Foursquare Update
Dear Foursquare,
I like most of the new features of the web upgrade and the new iPhone app but, in the event you find this post, here are a few things that need improvement.
1. Bring back the old trending places list! One of my favorite things about the old Foursquare was that I could see where everyone was. The hundreds of people checked into a show or a sporting event or the airport on a Sunday. It was a good way to see what was going on around town that we might want to check out. The new "trending" option on explore is not the same and doesn't bring up most of the popular places. Maybe this is your way of stopping the [insert holiday]-apocalypse places but there has to be another way of doing that.
2. The grouping of checkins needs improvement. I understand the motivation - trying not to clutter people's news feed if someone is, for example, on vacation and checking in at a lot of different places. The problem is that, with the groupings, it groups together too much. Two checkins 20 hours apart probably shouldn't get grouped together. Maybe there is a way to group together checkins that are consecutive on the feed and not broken up by someone else's checkin? That seems to make more sense. As the days have gone on since the update, it seems like more and more is grouped together.
3. Specials. Not really any good way to see what specials are nearby and people do go to places because they have a special. (I have.)
4. Mayorships on the app feed. I don't know if someone is a mayor at the place unless I click into that particular checkin for more details.
That's all I've got for now. I'm not one of the people who cares about the nearby v. worldwide filter, the fact that it's harder to find the scoreboard, or the change in the check-in button. But I do think those things need some work.
Hope that helps!
I like most of the new features of the web upgrade and the new iPhone app but, in the event you find this post, here are a few things that need improvement.
1. Bring back the old trending places list! One of my favorite things about the old Foursquare was that I could see where everyone was. The hundreds of people checked into a show or a sporting event or the airport on a Sunday. It was a good way to see what was going on around town that we might want to check out. The new "trending" option on explore is not the same and doesn't bring up most of the popular places. Maybe this is your way of stopping the [insert holiday]-apocalypse places but there has to be another way of doing that.
2. The grouping of checkins needs improvement. I understand the motivation - trying not to clutter people's news feed if someone is, for example, on vacation and checking in at a lot of different places. The problem is that, with the groupings, it groups together too much. Two checkins 20 hours apart probably shouldn't get grouped together. Maybe there is a way to group together checkins that are consecutive on the feed and not broken up by someone else's checkin? That seems to make more sense. As the days have gone on since the update, it seems like more and more is grouped together.
3. Specials. Not really any good way to see what specials are nearby and people do go to places because they have a special. (I have.)
4. Mayorships on the app feed. I don't know if someone is a mayor at the place unless I click into that particular checkin for more details.
That's all I've got for now. I'm not one of the people who cares about the nearby v. worldwide filter, the fact that it's harder to find the scoreboard, or the change in the check-in button. But I do think those things need some work.
Hope that helps!
Saturday, June 9, 2012
Recovering
It's been a long week. We returned from vacation a little over 10 days ago, but it feels like we've been back for much, much longer.
I got sick shortly after we got back (this happens every time). I had started feeling congested the day before we flew back to New York and the flight, of course, didn't help at all. Although I did my best to fight it, taking decongestants and gently forcing myself into an earlier morning routine and trying to feel normal, I wasn't strong enough to beat it on my own. By Wednesday night, I was at the doctor's office with a deep chest cough and sinus pressure that was so bad that I thought my face was going to explode. I worked from home on Thursday due to my sinus infection, hoping the antibiotics would work quickly. But recovery progressed very slowly and I still wasn't feeling 100% after the medicine was done. On top of all that, last weekend was my 10th college reunion, which I agonized for awhile over cancelling but ultimately did (and now it remains to be seen whether we will see a penny of what we paid refunded).
Work has been insane. I started working on a deal last Wednesday which really kicked into gear last Friday... because it needed to close by this morning. A deal is doable in one week but on a lean team, it's not easy. It explains why I was up until 3 or 4 in the morning this week, wrecking my sleep schedule and officially losing all the benefits Europe had left on my internal clock. It probably didn't help that our client and everyone we worked with were in California, pushing the schedule later and more toward my natural timing.
After all of that, I was really looking forward to today. End of the week, deal closing, over a week after I started antibiotics so hopefully I would be feeling better, etc. It was a long day but at work, it wasn't so bad. The deal closed. Another emergency project took up the afternoon but ultimately was resolved to everyone's satisfaction. I was exhausted and kept passing out, but decided to feel better by napping through the end of Team USA's crappy performance (despite the win) against Antigua and Barbuda in the World Cup qualifier. I was able to see A for both lunch (kofta!) and dinner (salad box full of healthy vegetables from Maoz). Finally, the week was ending. Finally, I could try to relax and get some sleep. Finally, things were looking up.
But Azure had other plans.
Azure is our car (yes, I named my car when I got her). About a month ago, we accidentally left the light on in the car and it killed our battery. We had to get a jump, drove the car for awhile (at least 20 minutes, which everyone told us was all the battery needed to get back to normal), and everything was fine. The battery didn't seem to go completely back to normal, giving us little fits every so often, but we really didn't think it would be dead when we got to the garage today.
Nope. Car wouldn't start. Had to call our garage's person again for the jump (which costs $30 each time but we're in a garage and don't have another option) and then we were ready to go. A released the parking brake and - boom - I felt my body drop straight toward the ground. Not a good feeling. Not a pretty flat tire either. Not low. Completely flat.
Off to the gas station and the free air pump (thank you Hess!).
Eventually we were on our way and then we hit traffic on the New Jersey Turnpike (shocker!). It was for construction where they were narrowing all the lanes to one lane. But the "construction" was less than the equivalent of one city block and the one lane traffic went for miles. Seeing all that empty space was frustrating.
Also frustrating was that, with one thing after another piling itself on, the week just refused to end!
Almost two hours after leaving our apartment, we finally reached our destination. It is finally the weekend (although I'm now sleeping 2 hours after I planned). It is finally time to recover from a really long week.
I got sick shortly after we got back (this happens every time). I had started feeling congested the day before we flew back to New York and the flight, of course, didn't help at all. Although I did my best to fight it, taking decongestants and gently forcing myself into an earlier morning routine and trying to feel normal, I wasn't strong enough to beat it on my own. By Wednesday night, I was at the doctor's office with a deep chest cough and sinus pressure that was so bad that I thought my face was going to explode. I worked from home on Thursday due to my sinus infection, hoping the antibiotics would work quickly. But recovery progressed very slowly and I still wasn't feeling 100% after the medicine was done. On top of all that, last weekend was my 10th college reunion, which I agonized for awhile over cancelling but ultimately did (and now it remains to be seen whether we will see a penny of what we paid refunded).
Work has been insane. I started working on a deal last Wednesday which really kicked into gear last Friday... because it needed to close by this morning. A deal is doable in one week but on a lean team, it's not easy. It explains why I was up until 3 or 4 in the morning this week, wrecking my sleep schedule and officially losing all the benefits Europe had left on my internal clock. It probably didn't help that our client and everyone we worked with were in California, pushing the schedule later and more toward my natural timing.
After all of that, I was really looking forward to today. End of the week, deal closing, over a week after I started antibiotics so hopefully I would be feeling better, etc. It was a long day but at work, it wasn't so bad. The deal closed. Another emergency project took up the afternoon but ultimately was resolved to everyone's satisfaction. I was exhausted and kept passing out, but decided to feel better by napping through the end of Team USA's crappy performance (despite the win) against Antigua and Barbuda in the World Cup qualifier. I was able to see A for both lunch (kofta!) and dinner (salad box full of healthy vegetables from Maoz). Finally, the week was ending. Finally, I could try to relax and get some sleep. Finally, things were looking up.
But Azure had other plans.
Azure is our car (yes, I named my car when I got her). About a month ago, we accidentally left the light on in the car and it killed our battery. We had to get a jump, drove the car for awhile (at least 20 minutes, which everyone told us was all the battery needed to get back to normal), and everything was fine. The battery didn't seem to go completely back to normal, giving us little fits every so often, but we really didn't think it would be dead when we got to the garage today.
Nope. Car wouldn't start. Had to call our garage's person again for the jump (which costs $30 each time but we're in a garage and don't have another option) and then we were ready to go. A released the parking brake and - boom - I felt my body drop straight toward the ground. Not a good feeling. Not a pretty flat tire either. Not low. Completely flat.
Off to the gas station and the free air pump (thank you Hess!).
Eventually we were on our way and then we hit traffic on the New Jersey Turnpike (shocker!). It was for construction where they were narrowing all the lanes to one lane. But the "construction" was less than the equivalent of one city block and the one lane traffic went for miles. Seeing all that empty space was frustrating.
Also frustrating was that, with one thing after another piling itself on, the week just refused to end!
Almost two hours after leaving our apartment, we finally reached our destination. It is finally the weekend (although I'm now sleeping 2 hours after I planned). It is finally time to recover from a really long week.
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Frosting
Do you use bath scents that smell like baked goods?
Our current body wash is this bath gel I got free from Sephora as part of my birthday gift one year which smells like vanilla cupcakes. I don't usually go for super-sweet scents so the first time I opened it, it was overwhelming and powerful (and not in a good way but kind of like that overly sweet frosting on Magnolia cupcakes). I couldn't imagine using it on my skin because all I could think of was cupcake frosting. Why would I rub cupcake frosting on my skin if I were trying to get clean? I think I actually cringed the first time I had to use it. I don't know that I could use it as a bubble bath (its other use) without feeling like I was stepping into a vat of frosting.
Over time it's gotten to be less of a powerful response but it still smells really sweet and I don't really like using it. Also, the scent fades a lot once you're out of the shower so you don't walk around smelling the inside of a cupcake shop.
Is this just a matter of personal preference and I'm never going to like this body wash? If you like these scents (but didn't in the past), how did your tastes change? I only ask because I'm not sure if there is another one of these in the closet and I would really prefer not to waste it...
Our current body wash is this bath gel I got free from Sephora as part of my birthday gift one year which smells like vanilla cupcakes. I don't usually go for super-sweet scents so the first time I opened it, it was overwhelming and powerful (and not in a good way but kind of like that overly sweet frosting on Magnolia cupcakes). I couldn't imagine using it on my skin because all I could think of was cupcake frosting. Why would I rub cupcake frosting on my skin if I were trying to get clean? I think I actually cringed the first time I had to use it. I don't know that I could use it as a bubble bath (its other use) without feeling like I was stepping into a vat of frosting.
Over time it's gotten to be less of a powerful response but it still smells really sweet and I don't really like using it. Also, the scent fades a lot once you're out of the shower so you don't walk around smelling the inside of a cupcake shop.
Is this just a matter of personal preference and I'm never going to like this body wash? If you like these scents (but didn't in the past), how did your tastes change? I only ask because I'm not sure if there is another one of these in the closet and I would really prefer not to waste it...
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Goodbye to The Finder
The Finder is gone. No one watched it and that's a real shame.
If you've never heard of it, it's about a guy (Walter) who finds things. That sounds simple, like a detective, but it's not. It's an overwhelming compulsion to find things where he can't rest until he does. And he's good at it. All season, they alluded to the fact that bad things happen when Walter can't find something. In the season (series) finale, they showed it.
I only got around to watching the finale this week, but with how they left things, I'm really sad it's over.
The Finder started during Bones last season as a backdoor pilot. I hated that episode. I was convinced I was going to hate The Finder as its own show since I hated that episode of Bones (I actually think I fell asleep, it was so terrible), and maybe I wasn't alone since it definitely didn't have the audience that Bones does.
But I tried it out, since I like to give new shows a chance, and I liked it. It was lighthearted. It had spirit. It had humor. It had potential. It was about finding things (or people) but it was also a show about characters. All along I felt like the people who said it belonged on USA had a point. Characters welcome? This show is all about characters. The quirky main character with his odd system of finding things. His best friend/sidekick with a sad backstory who will always be there. The girlfriend/marshal who really grew on me. The "problem child" who is placed with them but comes to find a place in the "family" threatened by her other "family." It started off a little rocky, trying to find its chemistry and its place, but by the middle of the season, there were some truly enjoyable episodes which led up to a final few that were really great.
Which makes me really sad that it's gone. The show was different. It was a procedural but it wasn't about solving crimes. And now that we finally know more about who these people are, what they care about, and what they are willing to sacrifice for each other, we will never know if they find their way back to each other. (Spoiler alert, even though it's been over for a few weeks now!) We'll never know how Walter gets out of jail (although I'm sure he will). We'll never know how he solves the problem of the painting he's been looking for for 4 years, and what will happen to him if he doesn't (now that we've seen just how "talented" he is). We'll never know if Willa made it into the sunset to escape her family. We'll never know how the characters made it through the tough times and back into each other's lives to find things and help people along the way.
It's sad when shows end on a high note, with so much promise for the future, and you know they will never get it. Very sad.
If you've never heard of it, it's about a guy (Walter) who finds things. That sounds simple, like a detective, but it's not. It's an overwhelming compulsion to find things where he can't rest until he does. And he's good at it. All season, they alluded to the fact that bad things happen when Walter can't find something. In the season (series) finale, they showed it.
I only got around to watching the finale this week, but with how they left things, I'm really sad it's over.
The Finder started during Bones last season as a backdoor pilot. I hated that episode. I was convinced I was going to hate The Finder as its own show since I hated that episode of Bones (I actually think I fell asleep, it was so terrible), and maybe I wasn't alone since it definitely didn't have the audience that Bones does.
But I tried it out, since I like to give new shows a chance, and I liked it. It was lighthearted. It had spirit. It had humor. It had potential. It was about finding things (or people) but it was also a show about characters. All along I felt like the people who said it belonged on USA had a point. Characters welcome? This show is all about characters. The quirky main character with his odd system of finding things. His best friend/sidekick with a sad backstory who will always be there. The girlfriend/marshal who really grew on me. The "problem child" who is placed with them but comes to find a place in the "family" threatened by her other "family." It started off a little rocky, trying to find its chemistry and its place, but by the middle of the season, there were some truly enjoyable episodes which led up to a final few that were really great.
Which makes me really sad that it's gone. The show was different. It was a procedural but it wasn't about solving crimes. And now that we finally know more about who these people are, what they care about, and what they are willing to sacrifice for each other, we will never know if they find their way back to each other. (Spoiler alert, even though it's been over for a few weeks now!) We'll never know how Walter gets out of jail (although I'm sure he will). We'll never know how he solves the problem of the painting he's been looking for for 4 years, and what will happen to him if he doesn't (now that we've seen just how "talented" he is). We'll never know if Willa made it into the sunset to escape her family. We'll never know how the characters made it through the tough times and back into each other's lives to find things and help people along the way.
It's sad when shows end on a high note, with so much promise for the future, and you know they will never get it. Very sad.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
We're Back!
Been awhile since the last post, but things should go back to "normal" soon. We're back from Barcelona!
It was amazing being gone for 10 days (I love tacking weekends on to the trip!) which really let us get to know Barcelona at a more relaxed pace and let us feel more like locals traveling (although there's only so much of that feeling you can get in a foreign place). Although we had planned for a number of possible day trips, we really only took one (to Girona), instead deciding to enjoy Barcelona itself. And with all of that time, there are still things we wanted to see that we never got around to doing. Next time!
Recaps to come!
It was amazing being gone for 10 days (I love tacking weekends on to the trip!) which really let us get to know Barcelona at a more relaxed pace and let us feel more like locals traveling (although there's only so much of that feeling you can get in a foreign place). Although we had planned for a number of possible day trips, we really only took one (to Girona), instead deciding to enjoy Barcelona itself. And with all of that time, there are still things we wanted to see that we never got around to doing. Next time!
Recaps to come!
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Fall 2012 TV Schedule
Haven't posted in awhile. It's been so hectic here with work, getting ready for our trip and just everyday life. This week has been exciting because of the announcements of the fall TV schedule at the upfronts. I look forward to this every year so I can see what the offerings are (and figure out what the problem time slots will be...). So, one last break before I get to packing, to set the DVR and look at the fall schedule!
Monday
8 pm - Bones (FOX - on demand) and maybe Partners (CBS) but I can't remember what it's about
9 pm - Gossip Girl (CW), Mob Doctor (Fox)
10 pm - TROUBLE - Castle (ABC), Hawaii Five-0 (CBS), Revolution (NBC) ... I guess Castle will end up being on demand
Tuesday
8 pm - Maybe Ben & Kate (Fox)?
9 pm - TROUBLE - Happy Endings & Apt 23 (ABC), New Girl (Fox), maybe Go On and/or New Normal (Fox), maybe Emily Owens, MD (CW)
10 pm - Vegas (CBS) since I gave up on Parenthood last year and Private Practice this week
Wednesday
8 pm - TROUBLE - Suburgatory (ABC), Survivor (CBS), Arrow (CW)
9 pm - Modern Family (ABC)
10 pm - Nashville (ABC), Chicago Fire (NBC)
Thursday
8 pm - Last Resort (ABC), Vampire Diaries (CW)
9 pm - TROUBLE - Person of Interest (CBS), Glee (Fox), Beauty and the Beast (CW), Grey's Anatomy (ABC - on demand)
10 pm - Scandal (ABC), Elementary (CBS)
Friday
8 pm - Community (NBC)
9 pm - TROUBLE - Grimm (NBC), Fringe (Fox), Nikita (CW)
10 pm - Blue Bloods (CBS)
Sunday
8 pm - Once Upon a Time (ABC), Amazing Race (CBS)
9 pm - Revenge (ABC), Good Wife (CBS)
10 pm - 666 Park Avenue (ABC), Mentalist (CBS)
Why does every day other than Sunday have a trouble spot? Bah. And this is just with what I know so far about the shows, and I haven't seen trailers for most of them. Problem is that a lot of the trouble spots contain (1) shows I already watch and like and (2) the pilots I knew about and was really looking forward to. I don't want the new shows to suck to make scheduling easier! I guess we'll figure it out. Midseason should be another mess but that's a long way off.
Now to finish setting the DVR so I can pack...
Monday
8 pm - Bones (FOX - on demand) and maybe Partners (CBS) but I can't remember what it's about
9 pm - Gossip Girl (CW), Mob Doctor (Fox)
10 pm - TROUBLE - Castle (ABC), Hawaii Five-0 (CBS), Revolution (NBC) ... I guess Castle will end up being on demand
Tuesday
8 pm - Maybe Ben & Kate (Fox)?
9 pm - TROUBLE - Happy Endings & Apt 23 (ABC), New Girl (Fox), maybe Go On and/or New Normal (Fox), maybe Emily Owens, MD (CW)
10 pm - Vegas (CBS) since I gave up on Parenthood last year and Private Practice this week
Wednesday
8 pm - TROUBLE - Suburgatory (ABC), Survivor (CBS), Arrow (CW)
9 pm - Modern Family (ABC)
10 pm - Nashville (ABC), Chicago Fire (NBC)
Thursday
8 pm - Last Resort (ABC), Vampire Diaries (CW)
9 pm - TROUBLE - Person of Interest (CBS), Glee (Fox), Beauty and the Beast (CW), Grey's Anatomy (ABC - on demand)
10 pm - Scandal (ABC), Elementary (CBS)
Friday
8 pm - Community (NBC)
9 pm - TROUBLE - Grimm (NBC), Fringe (Fox), Nikita (CW)
10 pm - Blue Bloods (CBS)
Sunday
8 pm - Once Upon a Time (ABC), Amazing Race (CBS)
9 pm - Revenge (ABC), Good Wife (CBS)
10 pm - 666 Park Avenue (ABC), Mentalist (CBS)
Why does every day other than Sunday have a trouble spot? Bah. And this is just with what I know so far about the shows, and I haven't seen trailers for most of them. Problem is that a lot of the trouble spots contain (1) shows I already watch and like and (2) the pilots I knew about and was really looking forward to. I don't want the new shows to suck to make scheduling easier! I guess we'll figure it out. Midseason should be another mess but that's a long way off.
Now to finish setting the DVR so I can pack...
Saturday, May 12, 2012
Goodbye to Best Friends Forever
Best Friends Forever, you never had a chance.
I had no idea what you were about or that you even existed, but saw a free preview on Hulu before the TV premiere and checked it out. Best comedy I've ever seen? No. But I have sometimes found that comedy ensembles take time to hit their stride (glad I gave Community that chance) and to connect with the audience. And, considering BFF was better than some other comedies out there that are succeeding (laugh track comedies and 2 Broke Girls, I'm looking at you), I hoped NBC would give it a chance.
Oh well.
If you never tuned in, BFF was (is?) about 2 best friends (with a truly believable friendship, as I think they are also real life friends?), one who recently split from her husband and another in a serious relationship. The recently split one moves in with her best friend and her boyfriend, and they find a way to make it work in their crazy NYC lives.
I guess we'll never get to see more than a handful of episodes but it's getting burned off sometime at the end of May/beginning of June, so it's still possible to catch it. But it's tough to commit to a show when you know it has no future. I think this one had potential so it's kind of sad to see it go.
So, goodbye Best Friends Forever. I'll tune in to the burn-off so I can see how the season would have gone. Thanks for providing me with some laughs and a portrayal of a good friendship.
I had no idea what you were about or that you even existed, but saw a free preview on Hulu before the TV premiere and checked it out. Best comedy I've ever seen? No. But I have sometimes found that comedy ensembles take time to hit their stride (glad I gave Community that chance) and to connect with the audience. And, considering BFF was better than some other comedies out there that are succeeding (laugh track comedies and 2 Broke Girls, I'm looking at you), I hoped NBC would give it a chance.
Oh well.
If you never tuned in, BFF was (is?) about 2 best friends (with a truly believable friendship, as I think they are also real life friends?), one who recently split from her husband and another in a serious relationship. The recently split one moves in with her best friend and her boyfriend, and they find a way to make it work in their crazy NYC lives.
I guess we'll never get to see more than a handful of episodes but it's getting burned off sometime at the end of May/beginning of June, so it's still possible to catch it. But it's tough to commit to a show when you know it has no future. I think this one had potential so it's kind of sad to see it go.
So, goodbye Best Friends Forever. I'll tune in to the burn-off so I can see how the season would have gone. Thanks for providing me with some laughs and a portrayal of a good friendship.
Goodbye to The Secret Circle
(FYI: If you haven't seen the full season of The Secret Circle, there are spoilers in this post!)
On Thursday night, I stayed up late, glued to the finales of The Vampire Diaries (one of my favorite shows) and The Secret Circle (not as great as TVD but entertaining nonetheless). I knew The Secret Circle was a bubble show, but out of all the cancellations in the past few days, this is probably the one I was least expecting. I had resigned myself to Nikita getting cancelled (but happily, it was renewed), as well as two other CW shows I had given up on over the course of the season - Ringer (which was cancelled) and Hart of Dixie (which I was surprised had been renewed but I guess I hadn't paid much attention to the rumors and ratings lately). I guess if you were to give me a choice between Nikita and The Secret Circle, I would probably choose Nikita (despite being 4 or so episodes behind right now), so I can see where the CW was coming from.
The Secret Circle had a lot of promise, especially for the CW's usual audience. I like shows that center around high school and magic so, even though I haven't read the book(s?), I knew I was going to watch this. I also thought, since it came from the same team as TVD, that it would have the same awesomeness that TVD does. I still think it could have, but it just didn't match up to TVD.
For example, pacing of the story. TVD moves really, really quickly. Things that would be season finales on other shows happen in the middle of the season and not even during sweeps. You never know who is going to die (or be brought back to life) or face some other supernatural circumstance. The Secret Circle was slow. Maybe part of that was due to them being new to witchcraft and maybe they thought it would be a good idea to show their journey. But after watching TVD, the Secret Circle just seemed to crawl. Once they bound their circle, they didn't do much magic at all. I wanted to watch people do magic! Talking about magic and spells isn't anything like seeing them done. In the finale, they unbound the circle, got their individual powers back, and it was fantastic. I feel like if this had happened at midseason, maybe things would have been different.
From the finale, it looks like the direction they were going to head in was filled with a lot of dark magic and people discovering what they could do individually with their powers. I think that would have been really interesting and just wish that had happened earlier. We could have skipped over the whole drug dealing and creepy guy with girlfriend in a coma part and maybe we would have gotten here sooner. I'm sad that we won't be able to see the directions the characters are going in, since, other than the hilarious foaming jellyfish that turned into a crystal skull, the finale was actually pretty good and had potential.
I guess we'll find out on Thursday what the CW is going to pair with the Vampire Diaries next season. Maybe Cult so that Alaric stays close to his Mystic Falls pals?
On Thursday night, I stayed up late, glued to the finales of The Vampire Diaries (one of my favorite shows) and The Secret Circle (not as great as TVD but entertaining nonetheless). I knew The Secret Circle was a bubble show, but out of all the cancellations in the past few days, this is probably the one I was least expecting. I had resigned myself to Nikita getting cancelled (but happily, it was renewed), as well as two other CW shows I had given up on over the course of the season - Ringer (which was cancelled) and Hart of Dixie (which I was surprised had been renewed but I guess I hadn't paid much attention to the rumors and ratings lately). I guess if you were to give me a choice between Nikita and The Secret Circle, I would probably choose Nikita (despite being 4 or so episodes behind right now), so I can see where the CW was coming from.
The Secret Circle had a lot of promise, especially for the CW's usual audience. I like shows that center around high school and magic so, even though I haven't read the book(s?), I knew I was going to watch this. I also thought, since it came from the same team as TVD, that it would have the same awesomeness that TVD does. I still think it could have, but it just didn't match up to TVD.
For example, pacing of the story. TVD moves really, really quickly. Things that would be season finales on other shows happen in the middle of the season and not even during sweeps. You never know who is going to die (or be brought back to life) or face some other supernatural circumstance. The Secret Circle was slow. Maybe part of that was due to them being new to witchcraft and maybe they thought it would be a good idea to show their journey. But after watching TVD, the Secret Circle just seemed to crawl. Once they bound their circle, they didn't do much magic at all. I wanted to watch people do magic! Talking about magic and spells isn't anything like seeing them done. In the finale, they unbound the circle, got their individual powers back, and it was fantastic. I feel like if this had happened at midseason, maybe things would have been different.
From the finale, it looks like the direction they were going to head in was filled with a lot of dark magic and people discovering what they could do individually with their powers. I think that would have been really interesting and just wish that had happened earlier. We could have skipped over the whole drug dealing and creepy guy with girlfriend in a coma part and maybe we would have gotten here sooner. I'm sad that we won't be able to see the directions the characters are going in, since, other than the hilarious foaming jellyfish that turned into a crystal skull, the finale was actually pretty good and had potential.
I guess we'll find out on Thursday what the CW is going to pair with the Vampire Diaries next season. Maybe Cult so that Alaric stays close to his Mystic Falls pals?
Renewals and Cancellations
Before the age of Twitter, I remember eagerly anticipating the upfronts. I anxiously awaited news of which TV shows were going to come back next season and which were going to be saying goodbye. Every so often I would catch news of a show's fate earlier than the upfronts but I remember most of the news being broken on the blogs during the day of each network's upfronts.
How times have changed.
Now, knowledge is instantaneous. Networks have been throwing out renewal and cancellation news for days, as well as news of the new shows they're ordering. Tonight ABC was making announcements on their shows as late as 10 or 11 pm here, with the world learning about it seconds later. (Not exaggerating, I saw the renewal news for Don't Trust the B-- in Apartment 23 within seconds, as I refreshed Twitter right after James Van Der Beek tweeted about it.) I love being able to satisfy my curiosity and anxiety but it almost seems like the upfronts are becoming a formality in terms of renewals and cancellations and all the news will be out before then. Are there going to be any shows with fates unknown by the time of the upfronts? The scheduling aspect of the upfronts is always interesting so I guess there is still plenty to watch for, but it's just so fascinating to me how technology has changed things.
I had been planning to write goodbye posts for all the shows I like that are headed off to the TV graveyard but now the news has come so quickly that I haven't gotten around to writing any of them! I'm still hoping to do it so let's see how many I get through!
How times have changed.
Now, knowledge is instantaneous. Networks have been throwing out renewal and cancellation news for days, as well as news of the new shows they're ordering. Tonight ABC was making announcements on their shows as late as 10 or 11 pm here, with the world learning about it seconds later. (Not exaggerating, I saw the renewal news for Don't Trust the B-- in Apartment 23 within seconds, as I refreshed Twitter right after James Van Der Beek tweeted about it.) I love being able to satisfy my curiosity and anxiety but it almost seems like the upfronts are becoming a formality in terms of renewals and cancellations and all the news will be out before then. Are there going to be any shows with fates unknown by the time of the upfronts? The scheduling aspect of the upfronts is always interesting so I guess there is still plenty to watch for, but it's just so fascinating to me how technology has changed things.
I had been planning to write goodbye posts for all the shows I like that are headed off to the TV graveyard but now the news has come so quickly that I haven't gotten around to writing any of them! I'm still hoping to do it so let's see how many I get through!
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Today is a Rainy Day
I installed the Uniqlo Wake Up app on my iPhone yesterday and I love it.
If you've never had the pleasure of visiting Uniqlo, you might just think the app is a clean, interesting, customized alarm. But if you know Uniqlo (which is one of my favorite stores and one of the few these days where I actually buy clothes), you would immediately recognize their style.
The app is simple. You set an alarm with an option to snooze (and you have to leave the program open when you turn your phone off to sleep). It recognizes your location and wakes you up with information about the date and the weather. It also adds music, so today it melodically told me that it was a rainy day. Somehow Uniqlo can even make dismal rainy days sound cute and happy.
If you're looking for a change in your alarm (or if you love Uniqlo as much as I do), I definitely recommend trying out this app (and I've only had it for one night). Best of all, it's free!
If you've never had the pleasure of visiting Uniqlo, you might just think the app is a clean, interesting, customized alarm. But if you know Uniqlo (which is one of my favorite stores and one of the few these days where I actually buy clothes), you would immediately recognize their style.
The app is simple. You set an alarm with an option to snooze (and you have to leave the program open when you turn your phone off to sleep). It recognizes your location and wakes you up with information about the date and the weather. It also adds music, so today it melodically told me that it was a rainy day. Somehow Uniqlo can even make dismal rainy days sound cute and happy.
If you're looking for a change in your alarm (or if you love Uniqlo as much as I do), I definitely recommend trying out this app (and I've only had it for one night). Best of all, it's free!
Monday, May 7, 2012
Weekend Happiness
It's been a fun and busy weekend so I haven't gotten around to doing my happiness lists every night. So here's some stuff that made this weekend great:
1. Our friends' kid R is almost one and he had a birthday party this weekend. I haven't spent much time with him before this weekend but it was so much fun and he is absolutely adorable. What a cute age.
2. AVENGERS. Not sure I need to say more than that but we've been looking forward to this movie for a really long time and it absolutely lived up to our expectations.
3. Good food - japchae, Korean tacos, pizza, Korean fried chicken, Shake Shack custards. Yum.
4. This afternoon it was finally sunny and warm enough to go out without a jacket. After days of waking up to a cloudy sky (almost a week now), it was so great to finally see the sun.
5. Walking around parts of Jackson Heights we've never seen before reminded me of how big and diverse this city is, and how we should explore more often.
I would repeat Avengers and cute babies over and over again but I'm not sure that's productive. Fun weekend!
1. Our friends' kid R is almost one and he had a birthday party this weekend. I haven't spent much time with him before this weekend but it was so much fun and he is absolutely adorable. What a cute age.
2. AVENGERS. Not sure I need to say more than that but we've been looking forward to this movie for a really long time and it absolutely lived up to our expectations.
3. Good food - japchae, Korean tacos, pizza, Korean fried chicken, Shake Shack custards. Yum.
4. This afternoon it was finally sunny and warm enough to go out without a jacket. After days of waking up to a cloudy sky (almost a week now), it was so great to finally see the sun.
5. Walking around parts of Jackson Heights we've never seen before reminded me of how big and diverse this city is, and how we should explore more often.
I would repeat Avengers and cute babies over and over again but I'm not sure that's productive. Fun weekend!
Avengers Set
We saw The Avengers this morning (awesome, of course) and it reminded me of last September when we walked around the city all the time and went to go see the Avengers set by Grand Central. It was at night so they weren't filming at the time but we did get to see some of the debris.
Even if you haven't seen the movie yet, you've probably seen the trailer, so you know that NYC is in the middle of ... some "tough times" during the film. Filmmaking these days is crazy to me - the sidewalks and streets here look so calm and not too messy, but the actual movie is so different and the entire scene is transformed. When we could tell the scene was coming up, we were so excited. We were there!
We loved the movie and would definitely go watch it again. So happy about The Avengers!
Friday, May 4, 2012
Another Cloudy Day
Another day, another day with difficulty getting up. I just feel so exhausted. Is it the cloudy weather that we've had for at least the past 4 days? I've been gradually sleeping earlier every night but it doesn't seem to matter. I feel just as tired no matter what happens before it. Do I need to sit in front of the sun lamp?
It's supposed to go up to 80 degrees today and have no chance of rain for about 2 hours. Since it's only 57 now, I guess I'll believe it when I see it.
It's supposed to go up to 80 degrees today and have no chance of rain for about 2 hours. Since it's only 57 now, I guess I'll believe it when I see it.
Happiness List - 05.03.2012
1. Community, like most Thursdays. (SPOILER ALERT) The writers of this show are so brilliant; I didn't even realize that they were portraying the stages of grief over the course of the episode until someone pointed it out online.
2. The Incredible Hulk. Fun movie. Moving delayed our Avengers-prep Marvel movie marathon and we're only on movie 2/5. We have to at least make it to movie 4 because we really need to watch Thor before the Avengers.
3. Spicy pork rice platter from Big D's.
4. Basil fried rice.
5. Fitbit Aria (the excitement has not worn off yet).
6. A good conversation about life and happiness with a friend I haven't seen in awhile.
7. Songs that I should have already known about, but discovered thanks to Glee, like Kelly Clarkson's Cry, which I listened to all day.
Funny how Tuesday morning it felt like a Saturday morning, but now it's Friday (yay!) and it feels like it's only the middle of the week. My brain is confused.
2. The Incredible Hulk. Fun movie. Moving delayed our Avengers-prep Marvel movie marathon and we're only on movie 2/5. We have to at least make it to movie 4 because we really need to watch Thor before the Avengers.
3. Spicy pork rice platter from Big D's.
4. Basil fried rice.
5. Fitbit Aria (the excitement has not worn off yet).
6. A good conversation about life and happiness with a friend I haven't seen in awhile.
7. Songs that I should have already known about, but discovered thanks to Glee, like Kelly Clarkson's Cry, which I listened to all day.
Funny how Tuesday morning it felt like a Saturday morning, but now it's Friday (yay!) and it feels like it's only the middle of the week. My brain is confused.
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Happiness List - 05.02.2012
Attempting to force myself to sleep at 2 am tonight (I realize this is not very early, but it would be the earliest time this week), so I only have time for a quick post. Luckily (or unhappily?) today's happiness list isn't really that long.
1. Free cupcake thanks to Sweetery and the Food Network. Brought back memories of Hawaii. I miss paradise.
2. Don't Trust the B--- in Apartment 23, quickly becoming one of my favorite comedies.
3. More dancing in my chair to music, especially to "Feel So Close" by Calvin Harris, which I listened to all day.
4. Watching X Factor UK clips in order to follow One Direction. I'm up to Week 5.
5. Our Fitbit Aria arrived and I love it!
Yeah... I think that's it.
1. Free cupcake thanks to Sweetery and the Food Network. Brought back memories of Hawaii. I miss paradise.
2. Don't Trust the B--- in Apartment 23, quickly becoming one of my favorite comedies.
3. More dancing in my chair to music, especially to "Feel So Close" by Calvin Harris, which I listened to all day.
4. Watching X Factor UK clips in order to follow One Direction. I'm up to Week 5.
5. Our Fitbit Aria arrived and I love it!
Yeah... I think that's it.
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Off Schedule
I was so tired last night that I forgot to set my fitbit to sleep mode. I hate when that happens because all that sleep time doesn't get tracked (to show me how restless I am) and because it then tracks all that beneficial sleep time as bad sedentary time.
I don't know what happened to my sleep schedule. I was doing so well last week. I was getting up when the alarm first went off. I got up earlier than I had been in weeks. It was like I was working on an energetic European jet lag. I hoped it would last but apparently this week it's been back to old habits and I can't get to sleep early and can't wake up early. I felt so much better when I was waking up early to meet the day and now I just feel like I'm wasting daylight.
Is it the cloudy weather? Is it because I got home late last night because of time entries? Is it all the stuff that's now in our apartment bringing me down with its presence? Is there some sort of sleep inducing toxin that attached to the stuff from the old unit that is now permeating the new one? It can't be lack of exercise because I wasn't really exercising last week either (sadly), but at least I was really productive and energetic (despite being tired and fatigued all the time - I know that sounds incompatible but it's not). Did I just run out of energy?
I hope everything in my schedule cooperates because I am going to try really hard tonight to get to sleep early. I keep hoping to get up early to fit in at least a 10 minute workout before work but it hasn't happened yet. Here's hoping for energy and rest and getting stuff done today.
I don't know what happened to my sleep schedule. I was doing so well last week. I was getting up when the alarm first went off. I got up earlier than I had been in weeks. It was like I was working on an energetic European jet lag. I hoped it would last but apparently this week it's been back to old habits and I can't get to sleep early and can't wake up early. I felt so much better when I was waking up early to meet the day and now I just feel like I'm wasting daylight.
Is it the cloudy weather? Is it because I got home late last night because of time entries? Is it all the stuff that's now in our apartment bringing me down with its presence? Is there some sort of sleep inducing toxin that attached to the stuff from the old unit that is now permeating the new one? It can't be lack of exercise because I wasn't really exercising last week either (sadly), but at least I was really productive and energetic (despite being tired and fatigued all the time - I know that sounds incompatible but it's not). Did I just run out of energy?
I hope everything in my schedule cooperates because I am going to try really hard tonight to get to sleep early. I keep hoping to get up early to fit in at least a 10 minute workout before work but it hasn't happened yet. Here's hoping for energy and rest and getting stuff done today.
Happiness List - 05.01.2012
Another night of sleeping too late, but here's today's list:
1. Crisp Africa salad.
2. Larb gai.
3. Music and being able to dance in my chair at work to keep me awake.
4. Feeling like I got things done at work (despite it pushing off finishing my time entries later and later, causing me to stay later than I planned).
5. Finished the Breakout Kings finale. Such a well-done show. (Still annoyed at the network and Time Warner Cable for messing up season 1 availability and access. Thanks to them, I missed so many episodes.)
6. Good music on Glee tonight.
7. We're behind on Once Upon a Time but we finally watched "The Return" and it was every bit as good as I thought it would be.
8. Our Fitbit Aria scale shipped! I. Can't. Wait.
9. Sent my vacation absence memo at work.
10. The clip from Ellen where she looked up her audience members on Facebook & posted their pictures. So funny.
Another uneventful day, but at least there was some good TV.
1. Crisp Africa salad.
2. Larb gai.
3. Music and being able to dance in my chair at work to keep me awake.
4. Feeling like I got things done at work (despite it pushing off finishing my time entries later and later, causing me to stay later than I planned).
5. Finished the Breakout Kings finale. Such a well-done show. (Still annoyed at the network and Time Warner Cable for messing up season 1 availability and access. Thanks to them, I missed so many episodes.)
6. Good music on Glee tonight.
7. We're behind on Once Upon a Time but we finally watched "The Return" and it was every bit as good as I thought it would be.
8. Our Fitbit Aria scale shipped! I. Can't. Wait.
9. Sent my vacation absence memo at work.
10. The clip from Ellen where she looked up her audience members on Facebook & posted their pictures. So funny.
Another uneventful day, but at least there was some good TV.
Sleep Issues
Ever since M and I started our move I've had major issues sleeping. Maybe it was moving until at or past midnight every day which wired me up and kept me awake late, but even when I stopped moving things at 10pm I couldn't sleep. It's persisted even after we finished moving everything up. I've tried shutting down earlier and trying to sleep, but it really just isn't working. It's started affecting me more and more the less I sleep. Aside from the fatigue and lack of focus, I've started getting migraines again. I hadn't had one since last summer when we were visiting my parents. I hate that I can't sleep, and I hate what the lack of sleep is doing to me physically. Even now it's 1:30am, and I'm sitting here writing this. Just another night in a seemingly endless cycle.
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Happiness List - 04.30.2012
1. Turned in the keys to our old unit. Officially done with that stage of our lives. Time for a lot of hard work to get the next stage in order.
2. Youtube videos of talented and creative people.
3. Daydreaming.
4. Healthy salad for lunch.
5. Suburgatory (finally watched the episode with the hilarious breakfast food pajamas).
6. Two expired Metrocards with money on them. Now I just need to get the MTA to transfer the money to new cards. (I'm trying not to think about older cards or cards I threw away that might have money on them.)
7. Potato salad.
8. Basil.
9. Loading up the May custard calendar on the Shake Shack website at midnight.
Uneventful day, apparently.
I can't believe it's already May. Where has the year gone?!
2. Youtube videos of talented and creative people.
3. Daydreaming.
4. Healthy salad for lunch.
5. Suburgatory (finally watched the episode with the hilarious breakfast food pajamas).
6. Two expired Metrocards with money on them. Now I just need to get the MTA to transfer the money to new cards. (I'm trying not to think about older cards or cards I threw away that might have money on them.)
7. Potato salad.
8. Basil.
9. Loading up the May custard calendar on the Shake Shack website at midnight.
Uneventful day, apparently.
I can't believe it's already May. Where has the year gone?!
Monday, April 30, 2012
Happiness List - 04.29.2012
What a long day. I should have been asleep hours ago but we were determined to finish moving and that much activity leaves me wired. But I bet you can guess what's on today's happiness list...
1. We finished moving! Finally. I was getting so tired of moving. But now begins the very difficult task of unpacking, organizing, decluttering, sorting, etc. All the things we desperately needed to do in our old unit but never did, causing so much clutter. We are determined to do it right this time around. We're not "officially" out of our old unit yet since we still have the keys but we want to check our mail tomorrow in case there are more places where we need to change our address since forwarding may still not be working.
2. We went out to Williamsburg and had a fantastic dinner at Forcella. Salads, croquettes, pizza, dessert. It was also a fabulous price, since we got a prix fixe voucher from Gilt City. We loved the pizza (especially mine with porcini mushrooms, pesto and bufala) and would definitely go back.
3. We went to the Gourmet Food Truck Bazaar at the Hell's Kitchen Flea Market for lunch and had cheesesteaks, lobster roll and our favorite slush!
4. We explored a different part of the city by randomly walking around Brooklyn after our Forcella dinner.
5. Google Maps cube game.
6. We got so much done today and were so productive. Hopefully it will be like this every day until we are finally done with our decluttering.
Super late for bed and must go to sleep since it will be an early morning. Going to be exhausted tomorrow but I had to write this list because we finally finished moving! Such a relief to be done with that step.
1. We finished moving! Finally. I was getting so tired of moving. But now begins the very difficult task of unpacking, organizing, decluttering, sorting, etc. All the things we desperately needed to do in our old unit but never did, causing so much clutter. We are determined to do it right this time around. We're not "officially" out of our old unit yet since we still have the keys but we want to check our mail tomorrow in case there are more places where we need to change our address since forwarding may still not be working.
2. We went out to Williamsburg and had a fantastic dinner at Forcella. Salads, croquettes, pizza, dessert. It was also a fabulous price, since we got a prix fixe voucher from Gilt City. We loved the pizza (especially mine with porcini mushrooms, pesto and bufala) and would definitely go back.
3. We went to the Gourmet Food Truck Bazaar at the Hell's Kitchen Flea Market for lunch and had cheesesteaks, lobster roll and our favorite slush!
4. We explored a different part of the city by randomly walking around Brooklyn after our Forcella dinner.
5. Google Maps cube game.
6. We got so much done today and were so productive. Hopefully it will be like this every day until we are finally done with our decluttering.
Super late for bed and must go to sleep since it will be an early morning. Going to be exhausted tomorrow but I had to write this list because we finally finished moving! Such a relief to be done with that step.
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Happiness List - 04.28.2012
I was supposed to go to sleep hours ago in my continuing attempt to fix my sleep schedule, but I was cleaning/unpacking later than expected. One reason is that everything tonight was later than we hoped since our car battery died, delaying us. There were other minor annoyances - shower rack fell off the wall (what did the previous tenants do?!) but A was able to fix it, I was really cold all day (didn't wear enough for this chilly late April weather), tons of traffic all over the west side (what was going on?!), loud screaming manners-less kids at the museum (sigh), the stupid refs and Lebron flopping all over the place during the Knicks game (so aggravating that I'm just not going to watch if this keeps up) - so this seems like a good day to do a happiness list (even though I am half asleep) to remind myself of the (big and) little things that made it a good day.
1. My grandparents returned from their long trip and we had a family dinner. I missed seeing them and the rest of the family.
2. Warm sunny weather in the afternoon.
3. The underwater parts of the Creatures of Light exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History. (The fireflies part, not so much.)
4. Really good Chinese food. Fried flounder, Japanese tofu, assorted Chinese vegetables, rice with perfect texture, garlic garnishes, green leafy vegetables - all good.
5. Looked at and put away (yay) the rest of the boarding passes from our European honeymoon. I didn't even realize they weren't in the box when I re-sorted everything last week. Glad I found them (since Netherlands/Belgium tickets are still yet to be found in our boxes).
6. A and I took a self-photo on the crappy front facing camera on my phone but it actually came out kind of nice.
7. Weighing ourselves on all the scales at the Rose Center (although I forgot to photograph my weight on the moon). I do not want to be on a neutron star where I would weigh over 2 trillion pounds.
8. Found my green Metrocard.
9. It's ridiculous how satisfying it feels to shred paper, but it just feels really good. Somehow it's therapeutic.
10. My mail forwarding went through correctly this time so hopefully I will get forwarded mail now.
11. My aunt's oatmeal cranberry chocolate chip cookies.
12. The clearance sale at CVS on generic Nasalcrom and finding a CVS that had a ton of boxes left.
What made you happy this Saturday? Did your car battery not die today? Ha.
1. My grandparents returned from their long trip and we had a family dinner. I missed seeing them and the rest of the family.
2. Warm sunny weather in the afternoon.
3. The underwater parts of the Creatures of Light exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History. (The fireflies part, not so much.)
4. Really good Chinese food. Fried flounder, Japanese tofu, assorted Chinese vegetables, rice with perfect texture, garlic garnishes, green leafy vegetables - all good.
5. Looked at and put away (yay) the rest of the boarding passes from our European honeymoon. I didn't even realize they weren't in the box when I re-sorted everything last week. Glad I found them (since Netherlands/Belgium tickets are still yet to be found in our boxes).
6. A and I took a self-photo on the crappy front facing camera on my phone but it actually came out kind of nice.
7. Weighing ourselves on all the scales at the Rose Center (although I forgot to photograph my weight on the moon). I do not want to be on a neutron star where I would weigh over 2 trillion pounds.
8. Found my green Metrocard.
9. It's ridiculous how satisfying it feels to shred paper, but it just feels really good. Somehow it's therapeutic.
10. My mail forwarding went through correctly this time so hopefully I will get forwarded mail now.
11. My aunt's oatmeal cranberry chocolate chip cookies.
12. The clearance sale at CVS on generic Nasalcrom and finding a CVS that had a ton of boxes left.
What made you happy this Saturday? Did your car battery not die today? Ha.
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Finally
Finally the USPS got something right.
After the debacle over the 1st change of address/mail forwarding card, where the post office thought I resided on the 83rd floor, I submitted a new card at a different post office (not the main one but a branch one). The guy I got it from looked like a seasoned post office vet. I told him that the USPS on the phone had told me I could get a card there, and he asked me what happened. I answered that my forwarding didn't go through correctly. He told me it happens all the time and he wasn't surprised.
That's great. Even the post office workers aren't surprised that people aren't getting their forwarded mail.
I submitted the new card, taking extra time and effort to make the apartment numbers super clear. There was no way they could misread it. I still didn't trust them though.
Luckily today we checked the mail and both the old address and the forward address are correct. I have yet to get any forwarded mail but it does take a few days to kick into effect, so hopefully I'll get something soon.
A's still having problems with his. He gets some mail forwarded, some not. But the address in his confirmation was wrong and he had to submit a correction. We'll see what happens. What a mess.
After the debacle over the 1st change of address/mail forwarding card, where the post office thought I resided on the 83rd floor, I submitted a new card at a different post office (not the main one but a branch one). The guy I got it from looked like a seasoned post office vet. I told him that the USPS on the phone had told me I could get a card there, and he asked me what happened. I answered that my forwarding didn't go through correctly. He told me it happens all the time and he wasn't surprised.
That's great. Even the post office workers aren't surprised that people aren't getting their forwarded mail.
I submitted the new card, taking extra time and effort to make the apartment numbers super clear. There was no way they could misread it. I still didn't trust them though.
Luckily today we checked the mail and both the old address and the forward address are correct. I have yet to get any forwarded mail but it does take a few days to kick into effect, so hopefully I'll get something soon.
A's still having problems with his. He gets some mail forwarded, some not. But the address in his confirmation was wrong and he had to submit a correction. We'll see what happens. What a mess.
Happiness List - 04.27.2012
1. Taco bar! (aka Mexican catering for lunch)
2. Watched L&O: Community a few more times. Still so, so awesome.
3. More good TV from Thursday (Scandal, Vampire Diaries, Secret Circle, Person of Interest, etc).
4. Got some unpacking done. Every time we finish a box or can consolidate into another box, it feels good.
5. Paper shredder arrived. I love Prime.
6. Ma po tofu.
7. Dry sauteed string beans.
8. Seamless pick up from my iPhone app. So. Easy.
9. Found more restaurant business cards for our collection in our piles of random crap, as well as more Metrocards. What's nice about the business cards is that they immediately have a place to go and what's nice about the Metrocards is that I can photograph them in the morning and then get rid of them.
10. Also found our tickets for the airport bus in Brussels. I love international transit tickets. I didn't remember actually getting tickets on the bus but I guess we did. I do remember our bus ride early in the morning, roundabout after motion sickness inducing roundabout. Thank goodness for Haribo.
I know I keep a "happiness list" so that I don't dwell on the unhappy or frustrating parts of life but (a) why is it so cold at the end of April?! (I was freezing on the way home and my legs felt like ice), (b) why does the Post Office suck so much?! (I don't think any of our mail is getting forwarded at this point), and (c) why am I so dizzy?! (It makes it really hard to pack and move). I'm sad I missed the NASA flyover but that's more bummed than frustrated or upset. Just one of those days.
2. Watched L&O: Community a few more times. Still so, so awesome.
3. More good TV from Thursday (Scandal, Vampire Diaries, Secret Circle, Person of Interest, etc).
4. Got some unpacking done. Every time we finish a box or can consolidate into another box, it feels good.
5. Paper shredder arrived. I love Prime.
6. Ma po tofu.
7. Dry sauteed string beans.
8. Seamless pick up from my iPhone app. So. Easy.
9. Found more restaurant business cards for our collection in our piles of random crap, as well as more Metrocards. What's nice about the business cards is that they immediately have a place to go and what's nice about the Metrocards is that I can photograph them in the morning and then get rid of them.
10. Also found our tickets for the airport bus in Brussels. I love international transit tickets. I didn't remember actually getting tickets on the bus but I guess we did. I do remember our bus ride early in the morning, roundabout after motion sickness inducing roundabout. Thank goodness for Haribo.
I know I keep a "happiness list" so that I don't dwell on the unhappy or frustrating parts of life but (a) why is it so cold at the end of April?! (I was freezing on the way home and my legs felt like ice), (b) why does the Post Office suck so much?! (I don't think any of our mail is getting forwarded at this point), and (c) why am I so dizzy?! (It makes it really hard to pack and move). I'm sad I missed the NASA flyover but that's more bummed than frustrated or upset. Just one of those days.
Friday, April 27, 2012
1+1=3
(Touch, episode 1.2, originally aired March 22, 2012)
One of the midseason shows I was most looking forward to was Touch. I was intrigued by the idea of a genius child trying to communicate with his father and making connections all over the world. Then again, I do love anything that reminds us that we are living in such a small world and are truly all interconnected. And I watched 24 from the beginning and kind of miss Jack Bauer sometimes.
We recorded the pilot of the show when it aired during the January "preview" but didn't end up watching it until the show was almost back on the air. We liked it but weren't sure where it would go. Then we fell behind between packing and moving and the second episode disappeared from on demand. I finally caught it online a few days ago but since A didn't have time to see it, I recapped it for him yesterday morning. I still haven't decided whether to stick with the show for its run - there are things I like about it and some things I don't - but it occurred to me how ridiculous some of the plot points were. I can suspend disbelief but only so much.
For example (and apologies if you haven't seen the second episode of Touch, but it's been over a month since it aired, so I will talk about it freely):
- Kiefer/Jack Bauer (what's his character's name? Martin? He'll always be Jack to me) sees a dog for a few minutes while transporting him. Yet at the end of the episode when he sees the dog he immediately knows it's the same dog and recognizes it. Seriously? There are no other dogs that look like Lyov?
- No one can just waltz onto the field in the middle of the day at a baseball stadium and scatter ashes. That guy would be tackled by security in seconds.
- The Russian mobster grew a heart? Really? Because his kid thinks he hurts people? I watch enough crime shows on TV to know that he would have just postponed the beating while on the phone with his kid, not let the guy off with all of his debts paid.
- I still can't get over the fact that they took the kid away from Kiefer because he was "unfit" to care for him when the school is the one that keeps losing him (or the social worker) and the kid has a perfectly nice home to live in. I know it's the premise, but it makes absolutely no sense that he would be an unfit guardian when he can clearly take care of his kid! This is probably the toughest part of the show to me because the storyline of taking him away just feels so contrived. I am willing to be spoiled if you tell me they dropped this plot point because the ridiculousness of it is taking away from the show.
- The dog ran from the airport (which I think is supposed to be JFK) to the baseball stadium? I thought they had said it was the Yankees but maybe I was wrong. Either one, you want me to believe the dog ran there and was there when you got there on public transportation. It's like they're using Castle's map of New York in all of its screwed-up-ness.
- Jack kept pace running with the bus his kid jumped on until the bus stopped to let him on. Right... I know Jack Bauer is kind of superhuman but he can now run as fast as a bus?
I'm sure there were more things but that's all I could think of right now. I will continue to watch for now to see how I feel about the show. The timeslot is tough because Person of Interest is much better, The Secret Circle is a guilty pleasure, and Grey's Anatomy has been better lately than in recent years. Luckily, other than Person of Interest (grrrrrrrr CBS), the other shows can all be watched in some alternate format (online, on demand). I haven't paid attention to how it's doing in the ratings and whether people think it will be back, but so far, I'm still curious to see where it goes.
One of the midseason shows I was most looking forward to was Touch. I was intrigued by the idea of a genius child trying to communicate with his father and making connections all over the world. Then again, I do love anything that reminds us that we are living in such a small world and are truly all interconnected. And I watched 24 from the beginning and kind of miss Jack Bauer sometimes.
We recorded the pilot of the show when it aired during the January "preview" but didn't end up watching it until the show was almost back on the air. We liked it but weren't sure where it would go. Then we fell behind between packing and moving and the second episode disappeared from on demand. I finally caught it online a few days ago but since A didn't have time to see it, I recapped it for him yesterday morning. I still haven't decided whether to stick with the show for its run - there are things I like about it and some things I don't - but it occurred to me how ridiculous some of the plot points were. I can suspend disbelief but only so much.
For example (and apologies if you haven't seen the second episode of Touch, but it's been over a month since it aired, so I will talk about it freely):
- Kiefer/Jack Bauer (what's his character's name? Martin? He'll always be Jack to me) sees a dog for a few minutes while transporting him. Yet at the end of the episode when he sees the dog he immediately knows it's the same dog and recognizes it. Seriously? There are no other dogs that look like Lyov?
- No one can just waltz onto the field in the middle of the day at a baseball stadium and scatter ashes. That guy would be tackled by security in seconds.
- The Russian mobster grew a heart? Really? Because his kid thinks he hurts people? I watch enough crime shows on TV to know that he would have just postponed the beating while on the phone with his kid, not let the guy off with all of his debts paid.
- I still can't get over the fact that they took the kid away from Kiefer because he was "unfit" to care for him when the school is the one that keeps losing him (or the social worker) and the kid has a perfectly nice home to live in. I know it's the premise, but it makes absolutely no sense that he would be an unfit guardian when he can clearly take care of his kid! This is probably the toughest part of the show to me because the storyline of taking him away just feels so contrived. I am willing to be spoiled if you tell me they dropped this plot point because the ridiculousness of it is taking away from the show.
- The dog ran from the airport (which I think is supposed to be JFK) to the baseball stadium? I thought they had said it was the Yankees but maybe I was wrong. Either one, you want me to believe the dog ran there and was there when you got there on public transportation. It's like they're using Castle's map of New York in all of its screwed-up-ness.
- Jack kept pace running with the bus his kid jumped on until the bus stopped to let him on. Right... I know Jack Bauer is kind of superhuman but he can now run as fast as a bus?
I'm sure there were more things but that's all I could think of right now. I will continue to watch for now to see how I feel about the show. The timeslot is tough because Person of Interest is much better, The Secret Circle is a guilty pleasure, and Grey's Anatomy has been better lately than in recent years. Luckily, other than Person of Interest (grrrrrrrr CBS), the other shows can all be watched in some alternate format (online, on demand). I haven't paid attention to how it's doing in the ratings and whether people think it will be back, but so far, I'm still curious to see where it goes.
Happiness List - 04.26.2012
1. The Crepes Truck and their delicious Iberian crepe (with chorizo).
2. Deciding to order a paper shredder.
3. Teaming up to clean out the Snuggle random box of crap.
4. Finding the papers confirming that I passed the bar exam. That was such a relief when it happened.
5. Korean fried rice.
6. The Community Law & Order episode. So, so awesome.
7. Don't Trust the B in Apt 23 and Best Friends Forever continue to be funny. This is a good time for comedy.
8. Caught Wednesday's Revenge. One of the best new shows this season and still getting better!
9. Got up early again with my alarms - and today there was no sun, only a thick layer of clouds. It's sad how much of an accomplishment being able to timely get up is, but it is what it is.
10. It's May Sweeps time!
2. Deciding to order a paper shredder.
3. Teaming up to clean out the Snuggle random box of crap.
4. Finding the papers confirming that I passed the bar exam. That was such a relief when it happened.
5. Korean fried rice.
6. The Community Law & Order episode. So, so awesome.
7. Don't Trust the B in Apt 23 and Best Friends Forever continue to be funny. This is a good time for comedy.
8. Caught Wednesday's Revenge. One of the best new shows this season and still getting better!
9. Got up early again with my alarms - and today there was no sun, only a thick layer of clouds. It's sad how much of an accomplishment being able to timely get up is, but it is what it is.
10. It's May Sweeps time!
Problem Child
One of our projects tonight was to clean out a Snuggle box of random crap that we brought up from our old unit. We started looking through the boxes of random crap downstairs, but with so much paper to go through and shred, it just made more sense to do it in the new unit. Of course, that was the theory behind throwing everything in a box when we left Chicago - "we'll go through it when we get to NYC" - but this time we are really committed to doing it. The cycle of clutter has got to stop.
One of the things A found in the box was a hard to read list of items on my stationery. A scan of it told me that they were notes from one of my dreams, probably written as soon as I got up and very quickly so that I wouldn't forget anything.
So, what was I dreaming about on October 7, 2005? (Yes, I know, it's embarrassing the amount of clutter we have.)
There was a problem child who was put in our apartment. He knew how to clone himself. We thought there was only one clone at first but then we found out that he made 5 clones of himself. [6 problem children?! Yikes.]
[Somehow in the middle of those ideas I wrote "some relation to shoeboxes." I do not know what problem children and clones have to do with shoeboxes.]
There was a lot of deception going on. It was also scary because he kept finding us and trapping us. [In many of my dreams, I run around a lot. This must have been one of those.]
["Some trailers sitting around table" - no idea what that meant.]
Next I wrote "can transform" but I'm not sure what the clones were turning into.
After that I was describing an image that I can actually still see in my mind after reading this. Apparently the problem child put a candle inside a girl which caused the candlelight to shine out of her like sun rays on a child's drawing. After the light came from her in every direction, she could no longer be saved. She was in a trance and followed whatever he did or told her to do. In addition to being tragic and awful, it was also really creepy.
We felt like the situation was hopeless. I looked at [illegible person/being] and said to them that they needed to do something about it because he/she/it was an angel.
That's all I have in my notes. What a disturbing dream! Some sociopathic child creating clones of his sociopathic self and putting other people into trances. It's like he was building some army of evil. Shudder.
On the plus side, we found my official law school transcript and I found the paper proof that I passed the bar exam. That was nice to find.
One of the things A found in the box was a hard to read list of items on my stationery. A scan of it told me that they were notes from one of my dreams, probably written as soon as I got up and very quickly so that I wouldn't forget anything.
So, what was I dreaming about on October 7, 2005? (Yes, I know, it's embarrassing the amount of clutter we have.)
There was a problem child who was put in our apartment. He knew how to clone himself. We thought there was only one clone at first but then we found out that he made 5 clones of himself. [6 problem children?! Yikes.]
[Somehow in the middle of those ideas I wrote "some relation to shoeboxes." I do not know what problem children and clones have to do with shoeboxes.]
There was a lot of deception going on. It was also scary because he kept finding us and trapping us. [In many of my dreams, I run around a lot. This must have been one of those.]
["Some trailers sitting around table" - no idea what that meant.]
Next I wrote "can transform" but I'm not sure what the clones were turning into.
After that I was describing an image that I can actually still see in my mind after reading this. Apparently the problem child put a candle inside a girl which caused the candlelight to shine out of her like sun rays on a child's drawing. After the light came from her in every direction, she could no longer be saved. She was in a trance and followed whatever he did or told her to do. In addition to being tragic and awful, it was also really creepy.
We felt like the situation was hopeless. I looked at [illegible person/being] and said to them that they needed to do something about it because he/she/it was an angel.
That's all I have in my notes. What a disturbing dream! Some sociopathic child creating clones of his sociopathic self and putting other people into trances. It's like he was building some army of evil. Shudder.
On the plus side, we found my official law school transcript and I found the paper proof that I passed the bar exam. That was nice to find.
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Chorizo
So, 12 hours or so after writing a long post here about "Meat Day," I go out and get chorizo at lunch. *shrug* It happens.
The chorizo crepe was so worth it. No complaints about meat here!
Happiness List - 04.25.2012
1. Hope, cautious optimism, flashes of self-confidence. (Sorry for being cryptic but some things have to stay private.)
2. No line at Shake Shack! Every time I've gone there for custard, for the longest time, the line has been out the door. I guess I just got lucky with the timing today because the line was out the door within a couple of minutes after my arrival. Shackburgers instead of just custard!
3. Delicious Khmer sausage sandwich from Num Pang for lunch.
4. Walking over 10,000 steps on a Wednesday that I went to work.
5. Getting up extra early with my alarms, before the sun really came streaming in, proving to myself that I really can do it.
6. Finally watched the Once Upon a Time episode from weeks ago where we found out why Regina hates Snow White. I. Love. This. Show. (How are we so behind?!)
7. I got every question right on the Survivor reward challenge except for one. Who would have guessed that was the person at camp who doesn't work? (Don't want to spoil.) That clearly doesn't match the edit I saw.
8. Went through a few more magazines. Every little bit counts.
9. I walked through Grand Central Terminal in the afternoon. Still one of my favorite indoor spots in the city.
10. My page a day islands calendar at work had a photo of little islands in Palau. Gorgeous. Maybe someday we'll see Palau. A girl can dream.
2. No line at Shake Shack! Every time I've gone there for custard, for the longest time, the line has been out the door. I guess I just got lucky with the timing today because the line was out the door within a couple of minutes after my arrival. Shackburgers instead of just custard!
3. Delicious Khmer sausage sandwich from Num Pang for lunch.
4. Walking over 10,000 steps on a Wednesday that I went to work.
5. Getting up extra early with my alarms, before the sun really came streaming in, proving to myself that I really can do it.
6. Finally watched the Once Upon a Time episode from weeks ago where we found out why Regina hates Snow White. I. Love. This. Show. (How are we so behind?!)
7. I got every question right on the Survivor reward challenge except for one. Who would have guessed that was the person at camp who doesn't work? (Don't want to spoil.) That clearly doesn't match the edit I saw.
8. Went through a few more magazines. Every little bit counts.
9. I walked through Grand Central Terminal in the afternoon. Still one of my favorite indoor spots in the city.
10. My page a day islands calendar at work had a photo of little islands in Palau. Gorgeous. Maybe someday we'll see Palau. A girl can dream.
Meat Day
I was around 10 years old when I stopped eating red meat. I just didn't really like it. As I got older, I decided I was also abstaining from meat for health reasons. I never stopped eating poultry, fish or seafood. Just red meat (and other meat like pork).
For some time, I was really strict about it. If there were bits of bacon, I picked them out. Roast pork in the fried rice? Picked that out too. Some people thought that it made me picky but I could find something to eat in almost any restaurant, even steakhouses. I just stayed away from meat.
People asked me sometimes if I missed a big juicy steak. Never. I never liked steak, which is possibly why I didn't care that I stopped eating red meat. What types of things did I miss during the years when I didn't eat meat? Meatballs. Hot dogs. Hamburgers. Ground meat in some sort of wrapper (Jamaican beef patties, samosas, etc).
Gradually, I began introducing more meat into my diet. I think it started with my "ballpark exception." Rationalizing that there wasn't much to eat at the ballpark other than hot dogs, and since hot dogs don't really taste like meat anyway, I decided I would be OK with eating hot dogs at the ballpark. Eventually it became hot dogs at home. Swedish meatballs. A bite of A's lamb dishes. I still didn't really eat much meat but I would try it when I had the opportunity and then just go back to what I was otherwise eating.
A few weeks ago, it hit me that I seem to have completely given up on my meat restriction, instead just choosing certain types of it (ground meat... perhaps pink slime does taste good, ha) over others (steak). I could eat kofta everyday. I decided that, considering my lifestyle, this can't be good. This much red meat while not working out, and as a general matter, can't really be a good thing. Besides, I always feel better when I eat vegetables anyway.
I decided that instead of Meatless Monday I would do "Meat Day." I would aim to only eat meat (this does not include poultry, fish or seafood which are unlimited) once a week. If I had it more than one day a week, that would be fine and there was no point beating myself up or feeling guilty about it, but once a week was just a health goal to aspire to.
I don't think about it most of the time but I just try to be conscious of what I eat. It did occur to me today, as I picked up our Shackburgers, that today was clearly going to be Meat Day for the week. Sausages for lunch and Shackburgers for dinner. Definitely Meat Day.
For some time, I was really strict about it. If there were bits of bacon, I picked them out. Roast pork in the fried rice? Picked that out too. Some people thought that it made me picky but I could find something to eat in almost any restaurant, even steakhouses. I just stayed away from meat.
People asked me sometimes if I missed a big juicy steak. Never. I never liked steak, which is possibly why I didn't care that I stopped eating red meat. What types of things did I miss during the years when I didn't eat meat? Meatballs. Hot dogs. Hamburgers. Ground meat in some sort of wrapper (Jamaican beef patties, samosas, etc).
Gradually, I began introducing more meat into my diet. I think it started with my "ballpark exception." Rationalizing that there wasn't much to eat at the ballpark other than hot dogs, and since hot dogs don't really taste like meat anyway, I decided I would be OK with eating hot dogs at the ballpark. Eventually it became hot dogs at home. Swedish meatballs. A bite of A's lamb dishes. I still didn't really eat much meat but I would try it when I had the opportunity and then just go back to what I was otherwise eating.
A few weeks ago, it hit me that I seem to have completely given up on my meat restriction, instead just choosing certain types of it (ground meat... perhaps pink slime does taste good, ha) over others (steak). I could eat kofta everyday. I decided that, considering my lifestyle, this can't be good. This much red meat while not working out, and as a general matter, can't really be a good thing. Besides, I always feel better when I eat vegetables anyway.
I decided that instead of Meatless Monday I would do "Meat Day." I would aim to only eat meat (this does not include poultry, fish or seafood which are unlimited) once a week. If I had it more than one day a week, that would be fine and there was no point beating myself up or feeling guilty about it, but once a week was just a health goal to aspire to.
I don't think about it most of the time but I just try to be conscious of what I eat. It did occur to me today, as I picked up our Shackburgers, that today was clearly going to be Meat Day for the week. Sausages for lunch and Shackburgers for dinner. Definitely Meat Day.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Happiness List - 04.24.2012
1. I got up an hour earlier than yesterday! I wrote all about it this morning and was really excited about how great it made me feel. Let's hope that tomorrow (well, technically today) I can successfully get up an hour before that!
2. Snow pea tips at lunch. And I discovered that they take credit card at that Chinese place because the person in front of me paid by credit card. I always thought they were cash only.
3. I think I am finally done with going through 2006 issues of US Weekly that we found in our old unit.
4. A good One Republic medley here.
There were a lot of stressful things today, both good stress and bad stress. I need to get better at dealing with stress but I haven't been able to go to yoga or massage therapy for quite some time. Hoping tomorrow (technically today) will be a lucky and happy day.
2. Snow pea tips at lunch. And I discovered that they take credit card at that Chinese place because the person in front of me paid by credit card. I always thought they were cash only.
3. I think I am finally done with going through 2006 issues of US Weekly that we found in our old unit.
4. A good One Republic medley here.
There were a lot of stressful things today, both good stress and bad stress. I need to get better at dealing with stress but I haven't been able to go to yoga or massage therapy for quite some time. Hoping tomorrow (technically today) will be a lucky and happy day.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Good Morning Sunshine
One of the things I hated the most about our old unit was the lack of morning light. For me, natural light in the morning was either one of the things I never knew I needed until I didn't have it or something I've needed more and more as I've gotten older (or both). I've never really been a "morning person" (something I would love to change) but I used to be able to get up to alarms instead of being in a hibernation-like sleep all morning.
The old unit faced west so it had great afternoon light but it was so dark in the morning. It was on a low floor so that didn't help either. We tried leaving the blinds open at night, but since we were on a low floor, we had a streetlight right outside the window. I thought maybe being exposed to light all night made it more difficult to get up because the sunrise didn't make much impact. We tried closing the blinds and using a light alarm, but that didn't work. In the old unit, after the first winter set in, I think I was only able to get up early when I was coming off a welcome European jet lag or during the weeks we slept in the living room (which faced east) because the bedroom A/C was broken. What a backwards unit. Bedrooms should face east! We both were in such deep slumbers in that old unit.
We made some changes with the new unit. Hopefully some combination of them is making a difference, because it would be really great to feel like a "regular" person, not to mention the fact that I desperately need this "getting up early" thing to stick.
So, what changes did we make?
First, our new unit gets a ton of natural light in the morning. It was a big reason (in addition to increased space) why we liked the new unit better. The sunlight comes streaming in through the window. We face south but we still get a lot of light. I've always loved southern exposures. We're also high enough that we can leave the blinds open at night with relatively little light coming in.
Second, I read somewhere that snoozing your alarm is one of the worst things you can do. I think I always knew that, but I was so tired that I didn't particularly care. Now that we have sunlight, which seems to raise my energy levels (and is why I hate going to my office which lives in the shadow of another skyscraper and has no light), I thought we might try to set our alarms for the time we actually want to get up, instead of letting them go off for an hour before that in the hopes that maybe we would hear something through the fog. If your brain knows there's no time for snoozing, hopefully it will respond better and actually just get up.
Third, and I discovered this by chance, we set the TV to music choice instead of NY1. I love NY1 and I love the news but I kind of just keep sleeping when it's on. I noticed that one day when we forgot to change the channel to NY1 that I got up in the morning a lot earlier when the music was on. I wonder if it makes a difference. I used to get up to the radio all the time when I was younger so maybe that's what I've needed all this time? We didn't use a music wake-up in the old unit for the past few years, ever since my clock radio broke.
Last, we got a new bed. It's really comfy but perhaps it also just provides better sleep.
I've been trying with Project Life Improvement to get up earlier in the morning for the longest time (and to go to sleep earlier since after 2 am isn't really a great bedtime). I really hope it will actually stick this time.
The old unit faced west so it had great afternoon light but it was so dark in the morning. It was on a low floor so that didn't help either. We tried leaving the blinds open at night, but since we were on a low floor, we had a streetlight right outside the window. I thought maybe being exposed to light all night made it more difficult to get up because the sunrise didn't make much impact. We tried closing the blinds and using a light alarm, but that didn't work. In the old unit, after the first winter set in, I think I was only able to get up early when I was coming off a welcome European jet lag or during the weeks we slept in the living room (which faced east) because the bedroom A/C was broken. What a backwards unit. Bedrooms should face east! We both were in such deep slumbers in that old unit.
We made some changes with the new unit. Hopefully some combination of them is making a difference, because it would be really great to feel like a "regular" person, not to mention the fact that I desperately need this "getting up early" thing to stick.
So, what changes did we make?
First, our new unit gets a ton of natural light in the morning. It was a big reason (in addition to increased space) why we liked the new unit better. The sunlight comes streaming in through the window. We face south but we still get a lot of light. I've always loved southern exposures. We're also high enough that we can leave the blinds open at night with relatively little light coming in.
Second, I read somewhere that snoozing your alarm is one of the worst things you can do. I think I always knew that, but I was so tired that I didn't particularly care. Now that we have sunlight, which seems to raise my energy levels (and is why I hate going to my office which lives in the shadow of another skyscraper and has no light), I thought we might try to set our alarms for the time we actually want to get up, instead of letting them go off for an hour before that in the hopes that maybe we would hear something through the fog. If your brain knows there's no time for snoozing, hopefully it will respond better and actually just get up.
Third, and I discovered this by chance, we set the TV to music choice instead of NY1. I love NY1 and I love the news but I kind of just keep sleeping when it's on. I noticed that one day when we forgot to change the channel to NY1 that I got up in the morning a lot earlier when the music was on. I wonder if it makes a difference. I used to get up to the radio all the time when I was younger so maybe that's what I've needed all this time? We didn't use a music wake-up in the old unit for the past few years, ever since my clock radio broke.
Last, we got a new bed. It's really comfy but perhaps it also just provides better sleep.
I've been trying with Project Life Improvement to get up earlier in the morning for the longest time (and to go to sleep earlier since after 2 am isn't really a great bedtime). I really hope it will actually stick this time.
Happiness List - 04.23.2012
Despite the weather being cold (back to the 40s!), there were some things today that made me happy:
1. Tropical punch G2 is pretty good.
2. One of the Metrocards I found in our cleaning up was (a) not expired and (b) not empty! It had 15 cents left on it. Rather than letting those 15 cents go to the MTA, I added $2.10 to my card and now have enough for a trip. I saved 15 cents from going to waste!
3. They were doing a Blackberry Be Bold promotion on 42nd Street. If you had a Blackberry, you could enter to win free tickets (I don't remember for what, other than the Yankees). Not many people stopped. Blackberry is really fighting an uphill battle right now since the technology just isn't anywhere close to what Android and iPhone can do. But since I still have a Blackberry for work, I could enter the contest for the tickets (you need BBM). Maybe there will be less competition. Ha.
4. I still love the Seamless pickup option on my iPhone app. I've used it 3x over the span of a week. It's so easy. Almost too easy.
5. Missing is a really good show. I don't understand why more people aren't watching. It's thrilling, the characters are good, the kids aren't annoying, lots of smart people and action. And it's filmed in Europe! You can't replicate that with a set.
6. When cleaning up a pile of crap, I found a bunch of work papers that I forgot years ago to bring back to the office. At least those are easy to get rid of!
7. Diner waffle fries.
8. Opportunity and hope.
1. Tropical punch G2 is pretty good.
2. One of the Metrocards I found in our cleaning up was (a) not expired and (b) not empty! It had 15 cents left on it. Rather than letting those 15 cents go to the MTA, I added $2.10 to my card and now have enough for a trip. I saved 15 cents from going to waste!
3. They were doing a Blackberry Be Bold promotion on 42nd Street. If you had a Blackberry, you could enter to win free tickets (I don't remember for what, other than the Yankees). Not many people stopped. Blackberry is really fighting an uphill battle right now since the technology just isn't anywhere close to what Android and iPhone can do. But since I still have a Blackberry for work, I could enter the contest for the tickets (you need BBM). Maybe there will be less competition. Ha.
4. I still love the Seamless pickup option on my iPhone app. I've used it 3x over the span of a week. It's so easy. Almost too easy.
5. Missing is a really good show. I don't understand why more people aren't watching. It's thrilling, the characters are good, the kids aren't annoying, lots of smart people and action. And it's filmed in Europe! You can't replicate that with a set.
6. When cleaning up a pile of crap, I found a bunch of work papers that I forgot years ago to bring back to the office. At least those are easy to get rid of!
7. Diner waffle fries.
8. Opportunity and hope.
Monday, April 23, 2012
El Correo
Those ads with the Post Office begging and pleading that we send more mail? Perhaps people would send more mail if they didn't have to deal with your bureaucracy and your blatant attempt to force people to pay you for services that used to be free.
Case in point: changing your address.
It used to be that those cards to change your address were everywhere at the post office. Easily accessible, easily filled out, dropped in the mail, forwarding done. Now it's hard to find the cards. We went to the main post office and first they told us you could only do it online. But changing your address online means paying them $1! When we noted that, they "found" a few cards for us to fill out and we thought we were done.
Not so fast.
Apparently, despite my not very sloppy handwriting, they interpreted an S to be an 8. Really, are there a lot of apartment buildings with more than 80 floors in Manhattan? Do you use your brain?
I called them today and mentioned their mistake. Their only solution? Cancel the previous request and put in a new one. And if you do it over the phone or online, that'll be $1, please.
Are you kidding me?
You messed up my mail forwarding and you want me to pay you? If I had paid you the first time, you would make me pay you twice? For your own incompetence? (And by "your", I don't mean the nice lady on the phone, I mean the USPS in general.)
Neither of us has received any forwarded mail. I know it takes some time but now we're out of that window period and we should be getting forwarded mail, not mail at the old address and people telling us their mail got returned. There are still so many other places where I need to change my address as a general matter (so much to do, so overwhelmed!) that this hassle is really something I was hoping we would not have to deal with. Now we're at the point where the forwarding may not start until after we no longer have access to our old mailbox. Fantastic.
Off to the Post Office over lunch (exactly how I wanted to spend lunchtime) to see if I can find another one of those stupid cards and to see if this time they realize that I don't live on the 83rd floor. If they mess it up again, I'm not sure what to do.
Happiness List - 04.22.2012
It's been awhile since I did one of these happiness lists. Considering how overwhelming life is with moving and everything else going on (not all of which I've talked about here), I want to concentrate on the good, the little things (and sometimes big things) which I am thankful for, the things that make me happy.
So today's list (for Sunday) of things that made me happy:
1. We got to see friends who live far away. R and C were stopping by NYC on the way back home and we met up with them at Newark Airport for a couple of hours. R is one of A's good friends from high school, so it was great to catch up, even though it was only a couple of hours and we hung out on the check-in line and in the airport food court.
2. We had a good dinner at Bonefish Grill. It was A's first time at Bonefish Grill and possibly mine (I can't remember if I went to one years ago). We had healthy grilled seafood with lots of veggies for sides. The fried calamari wasn't so healthy but it was tasty. We were quite happy with dinner.
3. The rain washed a lot of the pollen out of the air. I could breathe today (for the most part). According to the pollen forecast, it won't last and on Tuesday it will be up near 11 again, but a day off from tree pollen was very necessary.
4. I found even more gift cards that still have money on them. Yay!
5. While going through piles of stuff, I found some old photos that brought back good memories, like the time at Foxwoods when 6 of us crammed into a photo booth. I really don't want to forget any of the good memories but my brain feels so overloaded...
6. Going out to Jersey and driving on the Turnpike reminded me of another reason why we're working so hard on the move and unpacking (even though it is so hard to have enough energy these days). Once everything is neat and in order, we can go out and do things and not have to worry about our apartment and decluttering! It will be so liberating!
So today's list (for Sunday) of things that made me happy:
1. We got to see friends who live far away. R and C were stopping by NYC on the way back home and we met up with them at Newark Airport for a couple of hours. R is one of A's good friends from high school, so it was great to catch up, even though it was only a couple of hours and we hung out on the check-in line and in the airport food court.
2. We had a good dinner at Bonefish Grill. It was A's first time at Bonefish Grill and possibly mine (I can't remember if I went to one years ago). We had healthy grilled seafood with lots of veggies for sides. The fried calamari wasn't so healthy but it was tasty. We were quite happy with dinner.
3. The rain washed a lot of the pollen out of the air. I could breathe today (for the most part). According to the pollen forecast, it won't last and on Tuesday it will be up near 11 again, but a day off from tree pollen was very necessary.
4. I found even more gift cards that still have money on them. Yay!
5. While going through piles of stuff, I found some old photos that brought back good memories, like the time at Foxwoods when 6 of us crammed into a photo booth. I really don't want to forget any of the good memories but my brain feels so overloaded...
6. Going out to Jersey and driving on the Turnpike reminded me of another reason why we're working so hard on the move and unpacking (even though it is so hard to have enough energy these days). Once everything is neat and in order, we can go out and do things and not have to worry about our apartment and decluttering! It will be so liberating!
Home Stretch
One week. That's how much time we have left until we need to be completely cleared out of our old unit and moved in to our new one. I can't believe that the bulk of our moving time has already passed. It seems like we should have so much more time. My usual lament of "where has all the time gone?" seems especially applicable here since, as we look around our old unit, we still have SO MUCH STUFF. It's not like we haven't been moving. We've both been moving and unpacking just about every single day (I had to skip a day or 2 due to getting home too late from work). How do we have so much crap?!
Our bedroom and bathroom are the most "zen" rooms of the new unit. They're pretty much done other than some little things here and there and started out fairly organized so I'm hoping we can maintain that. Considering the amount of stuff we need to go through and unpack and organize in our living room, I need our bedroom to remain an oasis, a spot of tranquility in our chaotic unit. I've always wanted a room for an escape from the crazy world, but our old unit never got there because we just had so much clutter and so much stuff. I truly believe in de-stuffing and am really trying, but it's just so hard. I did go through 10 magazines between last night and this morning and that felt good. I also went through my Metrocard collection this weekend, photographing them so that I can throw them out. Just one less thing to keep around and find a place to store. Must keep going with Project No More Clutter!
Our bedroom and bathroom are the most "zen" rooms of the new unit. They're pretty much done other than some little things here and there and started out fairly organized so I'm hoping we can maintain that. Considering the amount of stuff we need to go through and unpack and organize in our living room, I need our bedroom to remain an oasis, a spot of tranquility in our chaotic unit. I've always wanted a room for an escape from the crazy world, but our old unit never got there because we just had so much clutter and so much stuff. I truly believe in de-stuffing and am really trying, but it's just so hard. I did go through 10 magazines between last night and this morning and that felt good. I also went through my Metrocard collection this weekend, photographing them so that I can throw them out. Just one less thing to keep around and find a place to store. Must keep going with Project No More Clutter!
Friday, April 20, 2012
I Don't Want the Paper
After getting call after call on our landline with no one there, this morning there was finally someone on the other end of the line. Unfortunately he was trying to sell me the New York Post. I thought our number was on the "do not call" list...
I tried not to let him get too far through his speech and told him we were not interested. Over and over and over. I told him we don't get any papers (true) and have no intention of subscribing to any papers (also true), so we were not interested in his free trial. Why would I get a week of the paper and then put the burden on myself to remember to call to cancel something I knew I didn't want in the first place? After 5 or 6 times, including one where I tried to make clear that it's not HIS paper (although I am not personally a fan of the Post) but any paper, he finally gave in, although he sounded like he didn't believe me when I said we do not get any papers and do not buy any papers to read (true). We don't buy any papers in print. We read what we need to online (this can't be surprising these days). And we certainly don't want newspapers adding to our clutter. We have travel magazines for that.
I know the guy was just doing his job but if someone doesn't get any papers and makes it very clear that they're not going to, probably better to just cut your losses and call someone else. I really thought we put our number on the list to avoid these calls...
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Need Rain
Allergies suck.
I haven't had a good night's sleep in a really long time. I can't even remember the last time. These days I usually wake up 2-3 times per night (sometimes 5+) with crazy sinus pressure, or a need to sneeze, or bad congestion, or just an urgent need to blow my nose.
I don't get much sleep as it is. I just want to sleep in an uninterrupted block overnight. (I know I move and according to my fitbit I am "awake" but at least I'm not actively awake during those intervals.) I wish my allergies would calm down enough to let me do it.
Part of the problem is that it hasn't rained in a really long time. No rain means nothing to wash the pollen out of the air and that the pollen blowing around will just keep increasing.
Hoping tonight will be a good night for sleeping.
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Friday, April 13, 2012
Pile of Crap
Here's a quick update on our move from my perspective. After dealing with some cleanliness issues for our "ready to move-in" apartment, we finally started moving some stuff up on April 2nd. It was slow going at first as we didn't want to clutter the apartment before getting our new bed delivered and also our cable/internet/phone installed on the 7th. Once that was finally done we went into cleaning/moving overdrive.
So far we've managed to get our TVs, M's dresser, our coffee table, one of our bookshelves, our couch, my computer desk and computer, and our nightstands moved up. We also moved up a smaller bookshelf that used to be in our closet. I managed to move almost all of our kitchen supplies/gear up as well. The worst part about this move is that no matter how much we move up and organize, there seems to be an endless pile of crap still in our old apartment. I don't understand how the two of us could have put together such a monumental pile of serious crap in our lives. Frankly, it's a bit disgusting. Hopefully we can get rid of enough stuff during this move that any subsequent moves will be much easier.
So far we've managed to get our TVs, M's dresser, our coffee table, one of our bookshelves, our couch, my computer desk and computer, and our nightstands moved up. We also moved up a smaller bookshelf that used to be in our closet. I managed to move almost all of our kitchen supplies/gear up as well. The worst part about this move is that no matter how much we move up and organize, there seems to be an endless pile of crap still in our old apartment. I don't understand how the two of us could have put together such a monumental pile of serious crap in our lives. Frankly, it's a bit disgusting. Hopefully we can get rid of enough stuff during this move that any subsequent moves will be much easier.
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Do Not Buy Lists
I read an article not long ago about people putting together "do not buy" lists for the grocery store so that they didn't buy too much or buy repeats of what they already have. I think I need to put together a "do not buy" list in general. It's interesting that there is such an overabundance of stuff, since I am much more about buying "experiences" than buying things as a theoretical matter (something else which has come up a lot in articles lately), but I really need to stop the consumption.
So what am I not allowed to buy (except in extraordinary circumstances or until I use up what I have)?
- Lotion
- Underwear (except for the ones I can get with free coupons)
- Antibacterial hand sanitizer (except for the ones I can get with free coupons)
- Bikinis (except pieces to complete the mismatched halves I have)
- Bar soap
- White socks
- Magazine subscriptions (except free to keep airline miles active)
Any other ideas for things I might have too much of which I should add to the list?
Little Bottles
I forgot about another bucket of bath and body products (mostly from hotels we've stayed at), but now I think we are finally done with the cabinet in the bathroom.
The top shelf has some random stuff, poorly wrapped bar soaps to be used soon, lotion overflow and sewing kits. (Perhaps this should be renamed the hotel supplies and sample size closet.) The second shelf has face washes, conditioner/creme rinse and dental floss. (By the way, where did we get all that dental floss?!) The third shelf and the fourth shelf are both primarily lotion. This is in addition to bottles of creams and lotions in the linen cabinet (the part that looks like a Bath & Body Works). The bottom shelf has chapsticks, shampoo and a few random items. My main question after seeing all this is: how do we have so much lotion?! It's not like I never use it, so how can we possibly have so much?! I don't think I'm allowed to buy lotion for a long time unless there are extraordinary circumstances (and I can't think of any at the moment).
It does feel really good to say something is completely done. We are also completely done with the bathroom in the old unit other than some essentials (like soap and toilet paper). It's getting there. Slowly, but getting there.
The top shelf has some random stuff, poorly wrapped bar soaps to be used soon, lotion overflow and sewing kits. (Perhaps this should be renamed the hotel supplies and sample size closet.) The second shelf has face washes, conditioner/creme rinse and dental floss. (By the way, where did we get all that dental floss?!) The third shelf and the fourth shelf are both primarily lotion. This is in addition to bottles of creams and lotions in the linen cabinet (the part that looks like a Bath & Body Works). The bottom shelf has chapsticks, shampoo and a few random items. My main question after seeing all this is: how do we have so much lotion?! It's not like I never use it, so how can we possibly have so much?! I don't think I'm allowed to buy lotion for a long time unless there are extraordinary circumstances (and I can't think of any at the moment).
It does feel really good to say something is completely done. We are also completely done with the bathroom in the old unit other than some essentials (like soap and toilet paper). It's getting there. Slowly, but getting there.
Monday, April 9, 2012
Moving
Moving is such a long process. We're currently in the middle of our overlap period between the old place and the new place, and every day has brought lots of moving and things to do. The good news is, we've been really productive and not just sitting online all day. The bad news is, there's still so much more to go. Living in our new unit currently feels great. There's so much space, it feels so much more zen than the old place, so much more organized, and so much more peaceful. It's full of possibility. A big part of that relaxing feeling is that all of our stuff and clutter is downstairs. Oh well.
On the way to work, I tried to make a mental list of the things we've completely finished moving and unpacking into their new organized spaces. I came up with:
- canned goods
- refrigerator and freezer food
- underwear and socks
- bath and body products (we finally have a linen closet - super exciting - which looks like a cross between a Bath & Body Works and a Walgreens)
- vitamins
- non-prescription medicine
- dishes and glasses
- Wii and accessories
- paper products (like towels and tissues)
- TVs and DVD players
- dresses
There's a lot of things we're almost done with (like food, night tables, etc), but wow, there is SO MUCH more left to do. Can't wait to get home and get to "work"!
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Difficulty with Dust
Trying to get rid of the dust in our lives is such a crappy circle of suffering. In order to make it better, need to get rid of all the dust collecting items. In getting rid of the dust collecting items, have allergy attack. Allergy attack prevents further looking through dust collecting items. Over and over again. Ugh. Really need our air filters to step it up!
Allergies Suck
Today I woke up and immediately started sneezing.
After my sneezing fit, I had really bad sinus pressure, just like the past few days, and I realized my eyes were so swollen that I wasn't sure they would stay open.
Great. Our apartment is in a state of upheaval with the start of moving month coming up and, combined with the tree pollen blowing around, our (multiple) air filters don't seem up to the job. I realize there's a lot of dust in here, but aren't the filters supposed to clean that out of the air?
Perhaps packing and moving during the height of tree allergy season wasn't the best idea (but of course that wouldn't be an issue if we didn't have 6.5 years of clutter stored up).
That said, it's not any better at work where I also have 6.5 years of files stored up. I think I need a "clean room" to get the pollen out of my system because these terrible allergies are really stealing all of my energy. Ugh.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Exhausted
As A mentioned, we found a new apartment and are moving soon. Really soon. Like this weekend soon. Luckily we don't have to move everything in one weekend, but, considering we will be working and moving at the same time, it isn't really that much time at all. We're digging through 6.5 years of crap. I'm actually doing that both at home and at work. It's another job in itself!
We're excited about the new place but one unintended negative side effect has been on our health. After work, there isn't really enough time to go to the gym and do any significant packing up at home while still getting sleep. There's barely enough time in the day to do everything without the packing. How do people do it?
Another "bad" health effect is on sleeping. By moving around and packing late at night, it makes us more awake, leading us to sleep later and wake up exhausted. I looked at my fitbit stats this morning and it was crazy. I was restless and moving about a lot for most of the night (I don't remember all the details of my dream but I think it was part work and part running around), until my alarms started going off. Yes, that's correct. My deepest, most restful sleep was after the first alarm in our bedroom went off. Something about that just isn't right. It's like the alarm signaled to my brain that it's its last chance to get some sleep.
These days it seems like what wakes me up is a combination of the alarm and realizing the intense congestion and sinus pressure that built up overnight due to my allergies. At some point it becomes unbearable and I have to go running for the tissue box. Nice to know that my body doesn't want to get up except to deal with allergies.
Going to have to try harder to sleep earlier and efficiently pack before it. The problem last night was that we had to rush around clearing a lot of space so someone could look at our apartment today. (We didn't think anyone would need to see it until after we started moving out, based on our conversation with our leasing person, but I guess they are insisting on seeing it now even though the same unit on another floor is vacant to look at ... which is what we looked at for our new place... but whatever.) Granted, it is cleaning and packing and organizing we would need to do anyway at some point, but it just put more pressure on us to make sure that all got done in time. Hopefully tonight will be better and we can get more rest.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Cleaning and Packing
Recently M and I started looking for a new panda dwelling to inhabit. We did a few unguided tours around some of the outer boroughs in NYC, and we did a broker-guided tour of the Financial District as well. We found a place that we really loved. It was big, had great closet space, a washer and dryer in the unit, and the rent included the use of their gym and pool in the building. Things didn't quite work out as miscommunication with our broker about fees made us miss out on this unit. In the end, this was a blessing as we found ourselves a new home.
Now comes the hard part. When we moved from Chicago nearly 6.5 years ago, we weren't the most diligent packers. We had an entire week to pack up all of our stuff, and instead of getting to work on that, we packed intermittently while also enjoying all of our favorite restaurants one last time before we left. What this resulted in was a sleepless final night followed by a great deal of random boxing of remaining items before cramming everything into our rented truck. We had initially only reserved our building freight elevator from 9am-noon as they booked out 3 hour blocks. Thankfully no one else had reserved the freight elevator all day, and we didn't end up leaving until after 8pm.
Now, that would all be well and good since we've had 6.5 years to figure everything out, but the worst part is that we never actually unpacked after getting to NYC. Sure we unpacked most of our boxes and set up our apartment, but we have boxes that, until recently, we hadn't even opened yet. We've also been very delinquent with keeping our apartment clean, and that was also hindered by our unfinished unpacking job. So now we're in a panic cleaning up all of the dust that has caked itself on to most of our items, throwing away/donating things we don't want, and packing up. Thankfully we have an entire month to pack and move as we opted to double up rent for one month, but with the amount of pure crap we have, even that might not be enough. At this rate we're hoping to avoid another last minute cram and move of our remaining items, but the more we look at the daunting piles around our apartment, the more worried we become that this will become a reality. After all, we still have to work for this month, and that only leaves us with a few hours each night to clean, pack, and move. For now we'll cross or fingers, keep plugging away at our mess, and hope for the best.
Now comes the hard part. When we moved from Chicago nearly 6.5 years ago, we weren't the most diligent packers. We had an entire week to pack up all of our stuff, and instead of getting to work on that, we packed intermittently while also enjoying all of our favorite restaurants one last time before we left. What this resulted in was a sleepless final night followed by a great deal of random boxing of remaining items before cramming everything into our rented truck. We had initially only reserved our building freight elevator from 9am-noon as they booked out 3 hour blocks. Thankfully no one else had reserved the freight elevator all day, and we didn't end up leaving until after 8pm.
Now, that would all be well and good since we've had 6.5 years to figure everything out, but the worst part is that we never actually unpacked after getting to NYC. Sure we unpacked most of our boxes and set up our apartment, but we have boxes that, until recently, we hadn't even opened yet. We've also been very delinquent with keeping our apartment clean, and that was also hindered by our unfinished unpacking job. So now we're in a panic cleaning up all of the dust that has caked itself on to most of our items, throwing away/donating things we don't want, and packing up. Thankfully we have an entire month to pack and move as we opted to double up rent for one month, but with the amount of pure crap we have, even that might not be enough. At this rate we're hoping to avoid another last minute cram and move of our remaining items, but the more we look at the daunting piles around our apartment, the more worried we become that this will become a reality. After all, we still have to work for this month, and that only leaves us with a few hours each night to clean, pack, and move. For now we'll cross or fingers, keep plugging away at our mess, and hope for the best.
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