Gems of Contradiction

Make a wish and it better be Sexaaaay

2010-11-29T16:47:00.005-05:00

Most years I sign up to donate gifts to specific children through New York Cares. They send you a note from the child where they describe themselves and say what they would like to receive. Usually I end up sending something fun off the list and then something useful like socks or scarves from GapKids.

This year's kid is asking for items from Victoria's Secret. Mind you, it's body spray (perfume) and a hoodie, but... really, Victoria's Secret?

I try not to editorialize with the gift giving and will of course pick something from the list. But seriously, the first time I've been into Victoria's Secret in over 10 years and it will be to buy a present for a tween. Shame on you VS and your advertising/products targeting children.

Ok off the soapbox now. Yes, I'm old.

The Process (a.k.a. Designing The Stop Sign Video) - ORIGINAL

2009-12-07T14:37:00.001-05:00

Found this again.

Why Squirrel Hate Me?

2009-05-04T21:27:00.005-04:00

A Visit to Citi Field & Let's Go (Mostly Former) Mets

2009-04-04T09:34:00.015-04:00

Larry and I braved the unbelievable cold last night to venture out and watch the Mets play their first game in Citi Field. Driving up to the stadium reminded me of the first time I went to Camden Yards. Up until then my only view inside of baseball stadiums had been the Oakland Coliseum and Shea, both scrappy tin cans that reflected the maverick spirit of the teams that played there.

But even in the bitter cold, Citi Field was warm and inviting. Whether sincere or not, every employee from the person who sold us a parking pass through to the random "Guest Relations" folks who came up and offered unsolicited (but welcome) help during the game wore a smile and offered a friendly greeting. I noticed the Guest Relations name tags listed the bearer's home town, reminding me of Cruise Directors, an apt comparison I think.

Our seats were at the back of the field level behind the visitor's dugout. Fans were standing behind us on the walkway for the entire game. Back at Shea, these folks would have been rushed along, told to get to their seats. Whether it's the new venue or the new attitude of the staff, people were encouraged to wander the stadium as if it were an amusement park... sample food, sit at picnic tables, linger in the stores, re-visit history in the beautiful rotunda, visit the bars, play games and oh by the way, watch a baseball game if they were so inclined.

As mentioned, it was unbelievably cold and right around the seventh inning stretch I had that itch to hit the road and beat traffic (heck it was only an exhibition game!) and then it hit us... oh my golly there's something to look forward to in the eighth and ninth innings! So we stayed put and weren't disappointed.

The educated fans gave new set-up man (the unfortunately named) J.J. Putz and much needed, very welcome, new closer Francisco Rodriguez (who I've been told likes to be called Frankie, not K-Rod) rousing cheers and were rewarded with a preview of the guys who will surely save the Mets from a September collapse this year.

Seeing those two close out the game renewed our energy and led to a lively discussion on the drive home. The exercise? Field the best World Series team of Mets from all history. This alternate universe scenario asked Larry to pick Mets players at each position who essentially had the best single year all around stats (yes defense was taken into consideration), no extra consideration was given for career longevity or multi-year consistency. Some consideration was given to "clutch" (or high pressure situation) performance. Let's see if you agree with the choices.

C - Mike Piazza (not so close second when you look at the stats: Gary Carter)
1B - Update: Gordon reminded us about my favorite Mets first baseman, John Olerud, and his great year in '98. So he replaces original choice: Keith Hernandez
2B - Edgardo Alfonzo
3B - David Wright (close second: Howard Johnson)
SS - Jose Reyes
RF - Darryl Strawberry
CF - Carlos Beltran
LF - Cleon Jones
SP - Doc Gooden (shocked it's not Seaver? take a peek at Doc's '85 season. He was 20 years old.)
RP - Jesse Orosco
Closer - Billy Wagner (close second: Armando Benitez although we couldn't fathom putting him out there in any important game)
Manager - Gil Hodges

Three of those guys still play for the Mets and if we did this again at the end of the year, would Frankie be replacing Wagner? We'll see. I think it'll be a good year.

When we got home we had a chuckle over discussing players who were Hall of Fame caliber but didn't do their best work for the Mets (end of career, injuries, etc).

C - Yogi Berra
1B - Eddie Murray
2B - Roberto Alomar
3B - Ken Boyer
SS - Larry Bowa
OF - Willie Mays, Rickey Henderson, Duke Snider
SP - Warren Spahn (363 career victories, 4 of them for the Mets over 20 starts in '65, ouch!)

Will the signing of Gary Sheffield yesterday continue the Mets sad tradition of being the team where good/great/amazing players come to die? I guess we'll reserve judgment on that one.

Pirate, Mr. Met and Kevin Burkhart welcome you to Citi Field.

Larry's set of photos from the evening.

Sunday is Scattered Thoughts Day

2009-03-15T19:54:00.009-04:00

I'm really without words lately, but maybe you can get a peek into my brain by what I'm reading.

Tabs open in Firefox right now or recently:

Alice Waters (and the Edible Schoolyard)
NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament
NABC in Houston
Clay Shirky
Roto Baseball Pre-Season Player Rankings
Aion
Michael Ian Black
Discovery Lifts Off
SXSW
Elizabeth Gilbert on genius (TED)

And I'm not looking at these RIGHT now but I'll take any opportunity to plug:
Tony Hightower's - DSO Trivia
Anne's Etsy Store - Felt It

See? I told you I'm boring.

Bleh.

2009-03-12T17:51:00.002-04:00

I haven't had anything to say in months and today is no different. Sorry.

'Air and Simple Gifts' John Williams at Obama Inauguration

2009-01-21T20:45:00.002-05:00

Bare Walls

2009-01-09T11:34:00.011-05:00

Now that I have all these freshly painted walls, I've been noodling over what to put on them. Larry and I went through our accumulated pieces and we have several cool things; animation cells, the cast of characters from Springfield, an original Charles Schulz drawing of Snoopy as well as Schulz's Stan Musial and Charlie Brown. Appropriate for the basement game room but if we put them up in the living room, people might think we've never grown up. (While this may be true, why advertise?) I've been looking on etsy.com for handcrafted pieces, but coming up a bit short when it comes to assembling a set of pieces that may go well together.

My thoughts turned to photography. I have some beautiful photos taken by a former co-worker, Claudine. As stand alone pieces they're great, but there's no unifying theme. Pondering on it a bit more, I was inspired by the many photographs I cherish from the trips my friend, Peter, and I took to to Walden Pond. So I began toying with the idea of assembling groups of photos from places Larry and I have lived or spent significant time. I started poking around on etsy and assembled a small gallery of photos to either acquire or inspire. I'll start working my way to photographer sites soon.

I need inspiration or direction though so if you have ideas or photographers to point me to, I'd appreciate it. I know several folks who may read this are talented photographers (Smrz, Messley, Caro, Havekost - I'm talking to you!) so your input would be especially appreciated. The locales I'm particularly interested in are - San Francisco Bay Area (SF, Berkeley, East Bay), Manhattan, Queens, upstate NY (Troy, Albany), DC Beltway (College Park MD, Fairfax, DC), Baltimore, Northern NJ (Nutley, Montclair, the Oranges) and Cambridge MA.

Etsy Gallery:

Etsy
Buy Handmade
dascher

Happy Holidays from Wunderman & Gems of Contradiction

2008-12-18T16:10:00.004-05:00

diana has produced a brilliant new TV spot using innovative new robotic technology. It's truly a gift to the world, and comes just in time for the holidays. Watch this marvel of high-tech brilliance now, then stick around to create your own personalized commercial that you can send to your friends.

See it now.

See the creation process.

Random Weekend Notes

2008-12-14T10:38:00.015-05:00

Completely random self-indulgent stuff that doesn't really fit anywhere else:

Now that I have a proper home office (one that isn't shared with the main TV in the house) I was able to add speakers to my computer again and have been rocking out to holiday music and NPR all weekend when I've been hanging out online. Things I've learned? The Charlie Brown Christmas Album and George Winston NEVER get old.... Christmas with the Chipmunks does.

Another Saturday spent baking cookies. This weekend's batch turned out much better though and we will definitely be able to take them to work and distribute to the masses. This is good news as we don't actually like to EAT cookies, but rather we enjoy the process of making them. Now this way they won't go to waste.

You can see last week's gingerbread creation in the back. And peeking out at the top is the cool fish plate Craig gave me years ago. It usually finds a place of honor on the table but has been displaced to the window sill with the radio to make way for cookie land.

And below, you can also see tucked in there are the jars of yummy sugar cookies Anne gave us this week (blue and red lids).

In the middle of writing this entry, I found a use for the mutant cookies from last week... squirrel bait. I threw some pieces out onto the deck amongst the tree bits that fall from the neighbors' trees. All the better to lure squirrels to taunt Robin.
I very much wanted to go to the Bust Holiday Craftacular today but health issues have me sidelined. We still have next to no decorative items for the house and I wanted to try and find handmade items for my nieces and friend's kids for holidays... and I just eat up the folksy, crafty stuff so I'm more bummed than seems possible by not being able to summon the energy to go. But I can't tucker myself out on the weekend and then be rendered useless during the week for work.

Speaking of decorating... the house isn't coming together as quickly as I would like but it's livable certainly. Random bits...

Kitchen side table with the new menorah:

Rustic bench from Mom that goes great with kitchen table that we may be able to use for actually eating sometime after cookie season:

And to continue with the complete randomness... I really enjoyed SNL last night. It's the first time in a long time I remember laughing consistently throughout the show. Amy Poehler really went out on a high note.

To wrap up... fun with glitter pens...

Really? Who Knew?

2008-11-23T16:53:00.000-05:00

You are a
Social Liberal
(76% permissive)

and an...
Economic Liberal
(18% permissive)

You are best described as a:

Socialist

Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid
Also : The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

House Update IV - The Menace from Below

2008-11-16T10:21:00.008-05:00

So this should be the last update before we write all the big checks. A mere three months after we started looking and two months after we picked the house we are finally cleared to close. Tuesday we will be meeting several people we've only ever dealt with by phone or email and giving them a bunch of money in exchange for some keys.

The biggest concern over the last month has been an abandoned oil tank under the driveway. This is apparently not uncommon in New Jersey and it was one of those things the realtor mentioned in an offhand way as we were grinning from ear to ear after the first showing... "yeah it looks great... I guess the only thing we have to be worried about is an oil tank". And as it turns out, besides a mortgage broker who kept making life difficult for the attorney and realtor, finding the oil tank turned out to be our only major problem.

Its possible existence was discovered during the initial inspection and that set off a chain of events that seemed to drag on for no good reason. First we had to let the seller know, then we had to pay for an "oil tank sweep" where they come in with sonar and see if there's really something down there, then it's time for the permit parade. In theory the seller's attorney or realtor was supposed to take care of all the permits but they didn't seem to have any interest and eventually our realtor had to do the driving around to pick up all the permits. Finally on Friday, during the light rain, they came to dig a big hole in our (soon to be) driveway and endear us to the new neighbors by storing the dirt on their driveway during the process. Howdy neighbors!

When they pulled it out, it was full of water. I find this incredibly interesting but Larry didn't ask why there would be water in the tank, he was just happy it was "full" as that gave everyone strong reason to believe there was no leak. Still, there's a process to all of this and soil samples still needed to be sent to a lab so all the agencies that care can be assured there is no oil seeping into the innards of Englewood.

Because it was full of water and not oil and also because we have issues with our loan if we don't close on Tuesday we managed to convince everyone involved that Tuesday is the day and now the wheels are finally in motion. I'm taking it on blind faith that the contractors will be able to work inside the house next week and the paint will be freshly dried on the walls as the new furniture is delivered next week and we move in next weekend. But we'll see how that goes.

Hopefully the new neighbors don't hate us already.

Random Election Memories

2008-11-04T13:33:00.008-05:00

The evening of November 7, 2000 we were parked in front of Gramercy Tavern about to join Craig, Chris and Les for dinner. It was around 7:00 or so and NPR had just called Pennsylvania and Florida for Gore. I remember calling my mother and breathing a sigh of relief as we exited the car, confident that we could enjoy a nice dinner secure in the knowledge that the election was going to go "our way".

Out of town visitor, Les, providing a nice reason to get together and dinner was assuredly wonderful and tasty. (One lovely block of East 20th houses two of my favorite restaurants; Gramercy Tavern and Veritas.) I'm sure Craig and Chris were their usual snarky selves and I imagine the conversation was spirited and entertaining as it always was with these two.

When we turned on NPR on the drive home, the mood began to dim. Florida had somehow moved back into the TBD column and the election wasn't as sure as it had been before dinner. Things start to get fuzzy after that but I believe it involved watching CNN until the middle of the night, continued uncertainty at daybreak and then days/weeks of confusion and illogical activity on so many fronts winding down to the sheer craziness that was Supreme Court involvement and eventual decision. We were officially in crazy-upside-down world.

Four years later, I sat on a couch in Georgia and listened as someone said, with complete confidence, that John Kerry had dual citizenship (US/France). They had bought some half-baked conservative talk radio BS hook line and sinker and hadn't bothered to consider educating themselves about the candidates.

Today, presidential election "cycles" start shortly after the inauguration and these candidates we are considering don't even have time to do the job they have already been elected to (senator, congressmen, governor, whatever) because they're so busy campaigning. It's ludicrous on every level by EVERYONE involved.

You would think that with more news outlets and 300+ television channels there would be room for more detailed, nuanced reporting but instead everyone is in a non-stop contest to latch on to the easy label for each candidate and wrap their stories around that. Talking points used to be a starting point for educated discussion, now they're just repeated verbatim by interchangeable pundits as "fact" with no need for illumination or context and we're deep in the land of "If we say the same thing over and over again it somehow becomes true." That works for two year olds and for selling soda or movies... not for making important decisions that so heavily impact one's life.

I was disappointed on many fronts by all candidates in the race this year (and years past). But I'm also disappointed in us. We don't demand better of our news providers. We accept the half-assed crap that passes for journalism these days, blindly and with little effort to educate ourselves. I count myself among the uneducated. I watched all of the debates, I read a lot of position pieces and seeming "objective" reporting on the candidates and still at the end of the day knew very little and ended up voting for someone I hope will at least hurt us less than the other guy.

My 20 Year Anniversary in Social Media

2008-10-21T20:39:00.020-04:00

This is one person's journey through social media. It's been plodding around in my head for a few weeks and appears here unedited. Sorry in advance if it puts you to sleep.

One sunny day some time in the late 80s, I walked into the mall to visit a new friend who worked at the software store. I was there specifically to see this new friend as I had no need for software. While I had been raised around computers my whole life with a father working in Silicon Valley, a mother working in telecom and an older brother who was an early computer geek, I had no personal need for them and couldn't even recall firing up our home machine up until that point. Sure I played Atari like everyone else, but early PC gaming was out of my league and since I wasn't programming or desktop publishing as a teenager, the computer wasn't really on my radar.

Tucked in the back of a bookstore in the mall, this software store consisted of 3 or so aisles and two more or less bored employees; my new friend, Wayne and his friend and co-worker, Rob. It was quickly uncovered that Rob knew my brother and I found myself with another new friend. The store had a computer they used to demo software but also to communicate with the home office and upload reports each evening, via a 1200 baud modem, lightening quick in that day.

I don't recall if Rob was bored or just showing off for the new girl hanging out in the store, but he decided to use the store computer to login to a local multi-line BBS and show me how he used it to chat with friends and play games. The chatting wasn't that interesting to someone as shy as me, but games any time day or night with willing bodies, that was intriguing. Standing in that store that day, he showed me how easy it was to set up an account, pick a handle and join in on the fun and just like that I was launched into cyberspace. I suddenly had a use for computers.

I returned home to check out our setup and it turned out we had an adequate machine with a 300 baud acoustic modem and I was able to join the POPnet community, playing multi-player games often.

I quickly learned that the multi-line BBSs were not the norm. More often than not, individuals would set up single line BBSs that only one user could dial into at a time. Folks would post messages in threaded forums, send mail within the system, play single player games or make a move in a game they were playing one move at a time with another user. All of this data activity taking place on dedicated machines, often on dedicated phone lines, offered as a free service simply by enthusiasts who wanted to put something out there and give folks a place to gather electronically. For the most part, these systems were self contained. Posts and mail were held within that BBS alone and networked BBSs were a few years off for most users.

Because these were regular phone calls people were making with their modems, folks didn't often join BBS communities outside of their local area. However, it was the norm to be a member of several BBSs and with all this cross pollination of like minded folks, it was not at all unusual to have regular get togethers with folks for games, movies or other common interests. This early social networking was actually social in the traditional sense. The BBSs were just a means to support the "offline" friendships that were no different than any other high school or college clubs consisting of like minded individuals.

Rob introduced us to his pal Randy who ran a single line BBS called The Jester's Realm (sounds like the comic book shop on the Simpsons, I know). TJR was a popular BBS with a strong, active user base that engaged in friendly competition for high scores in games or participated in special subject matter forums on obvious topics like Computers or Games and non-obvious topics like Politics and Cooking. Randy and Rob spent hours refining the code for the system, taking pride in new features and seemingly simple things like adding colors to login screens. Randy and Rob pushed the boundaries of what could be done with single line BBS and it became clear to them that they were going to have to come up with something new. It was time to franchise.

Rob started his own BBS, run out of his home a few towns over from Randy's. Wayne and I were roommates by now and started our own system from our home a few more towns over. Rob and Randy wrote some code to network the three systems with nightly calls that would send data from system to system and ImagiNet was born. (See the entry detailing TJR, Dragnet & The Writer's Block at this link.) Randy, Rob and Wayne concentrated on running the individual systems and I concerned myself with managing the user base, keeping the content fresh and monitoring the forums to make sure folks weren't killing each other. I also acted as de facto project manager, keeping an issues list of things that needed fixes and ideas for improvements to the systems.

Most everything I do in my job today can be traced back to learning how to run a team of coders and admins and trying to successfully support a user base. My interest in user experience was born of direct interaction with the humans that used the systems we were constantly tweaking to make them happy.

A few short years later, commercial Internet use was still foreign to most folks but I had already started to branch into the "anonymous" online experience by joining The Well and participating in forums with folks I did not already know otherwise. It was discourse simply for the pleasure of it.

I started messing around with Usenet through a dialup meant for teachers at a local university. (Thankfully my pseudo hacking was rather tame compared to some folksI knew during that time.) As soon as Netcom became available, I went legit and joined the small ranks of non-collegiates/scientists on the Internet. I remained relatively anonymous. We were still a few years away from the text based WWW and us non-scientists were using the Internet to do what we did on BBSs; play games, send mail and read forums. Telnet opened up a new world as now you could dial in to your local 'net provider and connect to games (Bridge, Backgammon, Chess, MUDs/MOOs) and 'net friendly BBSs that were previously a long distance call. There was certainly enough exploring to do to keep a reasonably inquisitive mind occupied for several hours a week.

In 1993 I moved to the East Coast and an interesting opportunity presented itself. Despite having no formal coding schooling, I was encouraged to interview at America Online. When I started with them, AOL was housed primarily in one building in Herndon, VA. I found a home there and merged my BBS/Internet hobby with my telecom work experience and crafted a new future as a project manager in interactive media. My career experience and trajectory is a story for another day, but by the time I left AOL for NY in 1997, they had a huge campus in Dulles and those four years reinforced my passion for user experience and finding elegant ways to solve project and process issues.

During my time at AOL, the text based Web started to gain use by early adopters. Folks set up their home pages, which were truly just their web browsing "start" pages where they stored the lists of sites they liked to visit regularly. At some point folks begin to realize these home pages could be used to broadcast and they began to use the rudimentary HTML language to craft places they wanted their friends to visit. Still, everything was primarily text based. (Lynx being the "browser" of choice.) I was living in a house on the campus of the University of Maryland at that time. A great group house with friends who went to the school. My first site was coded on a non-graphics capable dumb terminal (part of our home network, hooked up to the local university system). I didn't own a truly graphics capable PC in my home until 95 or so.

By 1994 or so I was running my own site which included writings I found fascinating, lyrics, picture galleries, a few games I had cobbled together, links to sites I enjoyed and an anonymous "blog" where I mused on topics great and small. It was an active site and I was back to my BBS days of paying an active interest in providing content and an experience that would be compelling to the visitors. Folks could add comments or new information to things I had posted. Interaction was facilitated by message boards.

With the advent of Web browsers available through commercial services like AOL and Compuserve, there was an explosion of interest in content and quite literally everyone and their mother was online. This was good for business but not as interesting to me on a personal level, I begun to feel that I had nothing unique to offer with my site and closed it down for good.

The commercial Internet seemed to follow the magazine model for a good long while after that. Content was aggregated. Everybody was concerned with creating portals. Mainstream consumers looked to brands they knew (the content on AOL or Compuserve, Time Magazine, CNN, Encyclopedia Brittanica) as the trusted and consistent sources of information online. Before Yahoo or Google, there was no easy way for the casual user to find homegrown content. Folks were primarily consumers of information rather than providers. For interaction, people fragmented into single interest sites (iVillage, gaming sites or the like).

Over the years, it became easier for folks to build and maintain their own web sites. WYSIWYG HTML editors begun to put the tools in the hands of the casual users. They could broadcast to friends or create a blog that might create some buzz and become hot. Yahoo and Google made these sites easier to find. We began to see a more active mix of folks not only consuming, but providing content for others to enjoy.

LiveJournal launched and made it easy for folks to blog, MySpace launched and made it easy for folks to broadcast how many friends they had and what their interests were, Friendster built on this model and Facebook let you poke your college friends. LinkedIn let you validate your business connections.

Still working in interactive media, I had a professional interest in this new fangled social media. However to me, it was nothing new. These sites (most successfully, Facebook) were giving folks the ability to login, pick a handle, connect, play games, post stories, comment on their friends' contributions and build interactive communities that manage to be both self-contained AND portable depending on the tools used.

It's been 20 years and that basic idea that engaged me in the back of that bookstore hasn't changed. The tools, infrastructure, technology and reach have just made joining in and broadcasting available to the masses. Social media isn't new, it's just shinier and more accessible.

(Personal side note: After years away, I delved back into non-anonymous broadcasting to a certain extent with Facebook and this blog, and my friends list includes folks from the POPnet days through to today. As for Rob and Wayne... Rob broadcasts his own brand of humor at LOLtheist.com. Wayne is active on Facebook and I believe he also has LiveJournal blog, but I haven't seen it. And all three of us work in jobs that are somewhat related to what we did back then. I'm still a project manager, Rob is a developer and I believe Wayne is working in hardware testing.)

It's Almost Official - House Update

2008-10-15T13:11:00.010-04:00

So... we can almost officially say we've bought the house.

The inspection happened two full weeks ago, but the wheels have been moving slowly since then. There was a delay finishing the inspection. There was a delay getting a list of fixes to the seller. There was a delay getting the seller's attorney to actually talk to the seller about the fixes... etc.

Things seem to be moving again finally. The seller has agreed to the inspection fixes but they haven't been scheduled yet so I'm fretting a bit about that. And this morning we heard that our loan was definitely (this approval is the one that means you're truly approved) approved.

However it seems certain to me that we've missed our real window of opportunity to get this done in time to move Nov 1... so now we'll actually be trying to hold off on closing til mid-November to avoid paying rent two places for the month of November.

At any rate, soon it seems I'll be able to wrap this all up with a very special "What We Learned as Novice Home Buyers" entry but for now I'll just turn my attention to the more pedestrian problems associated with moving... packing, movers, utilities on and off, acquiring furniture, etc. That should be enough fun to hold me off until THIS, next summer:

Fun side note: Wanda came by the other day with a binder, drawings, samples, photos and all sorts of planning just to re-do her bathroom.... just a bathroom... and I have a whole house :( Apparently I'm behind on making binders and drawings of all the house changes we're gonna have to do. I need to hire Wanda. :)

diana's playlist (or, when did I get so old?)

2008-10-04T18:28:00.004-04:00

At 2:00 on Saturday, NPR gives us Tavis Smiley

I was in the car and that wasn't gonna fly... so I hit shuffle and my playlist gave me:

shawn mullins
the frames
toad the wet sprocket
porcupine tree
psychedelic furs
the plimsouls

Am I stuck in the late 80s? Perhaps. But a lot of music nowadays ... well... it sucks.

This was on the way back from the movie theater where I was reminded of my disgust with previews nowadays. Even if the movie looks promising (which doesn't happen often), so often I'll turn to Larry and say "Well that looks interesting, too bad we just saw the movie." Basically studio marketing departments seem to think we're all so dumb that they have to give us every laugh, every major plot point, etc in the preview. Are they that scared we won't see the movie if we don't know where the big moments are? Months later this is often accompanied by knowing howls of laughter all around as people respond to the joke they've heard over and over in the trailer shown in theaters and on tv. It's the movie watching equivalent of folks who won't shut up at concerts til the band plays their big hit single.

Sheesh I'm old. Maybe soon enough I'll have a lawn to shoo the kids off of.

Bye Bye Shea

2008-09-28T18:37:00.005-04:00

Random thoughts on today's game/closing events:

The doom set in as soon as it was announced that Zambrano wouldn't be pitching for the Cubs... bye bye wiggle room.

GD Wes Helms. He's one of those utility players who used to kill the Mets when he was with the Braves. GD Wes Helms.

So nice to see Robin Ventura, Fonzie, John Franco and other players I really admired when I started watching the Mets. (And of course, Willie Mays!)

Howard Johnson, Ron Darling and Keith Hernandez seemed to be having a day as bad as the current team. It's clear they still live and die with the fortunes of the team.
Good for them.

The way they put Piazza up on a pedestal during the closing ceremony (next to Seaver) makes me think it's a done deal that he's going into the HoF as a Met. Good for him.

No active players (Reyes, Wright?) in the closing ceremony? I guess considering how today ended that's a good thing, but I still missed them.

I'm reminding myself that we all firmly believe one more game, one more series, whatever... the Mets weren't going deep into the playoffs. Teams don't win with no bullpen. No matter how hard they try.

I am a Consumer? - Home Edition

2008-09-27T07:37:00.016-04:00

Another consequence of being a first time home seeker/buyer is when you actually decide on a house and start the process, there never seems to be a definitive line where you can say "this house is ours" with complete confidence. I mean of course when you sign the papers and they give you the key and the moving truck comes and goes... you have a pretty good idea but until then, the process makes it feel like anything could happen and the whole thing falls apart.

That said, we maybe, probably, could have... bought a house. (... during the worst financial crisis we're likely to see in our lifetime. Hurrah timing!)

As last updated, two weeks ago (9/13) we finally got inside to see the house we liked so much on paper. Two days later (9/15), we went in again with a buyer's agent (ours is named Rhoda). In the evening light, everything still looked good and so we asked "how do we do this?". And this is what we've learned:

First you formulate an offer. I've watched enough HGTV to know that we have to know how houses are selling in the area in order to decide what to offer. ("What are the comps?" I asked confidently to our bemused realtor.) The next day Rhoda ran the comps and found that of the two similar houses that had sold recently in the area, neither had sold for close to the list price of this house. They were both 20K+ higher. That said, as the house had been on the market for a year we decided to go in with an offer $15k lower than the list, fully prepared to pay list if they countered. So on Wednesday, we submitted the offer. They didn't counter. They accepted our first offer late that day (9/17).

kitchen

Then you re-engage with the mortgage broker who has given you the pre-approval to tell them about the offer, and let them know the process is rolling. They start to formalize your loan application. The broker, Kim, ran our preliminary app again and told us, "ok you're approved". What does this mean? Well we're pre-approved and approved, but they still haven't gotten the whole application.... the one with the W2s and stuff. I still feel like they can say no, but everyone, including Kim, assures me they know enough at this point to have said no, all we're doing is backing up what we've already told them, and they've already checked, with paperwork. Suuure.

On Thursday, in the midst of me having an ear infection and being mostly miserable, we signed the contract and on Friday we entered Attorney Review. (I keep stumbling and calling it Legal Review after all my years building web sites and applications that always have a phase where the corporation's lawyers get involved and approve all the copy.) Rhoda recommended a lovely attorney named Kelly and now she's on the case. We're told Attorney Review typically takes about 3 days, we begin on Friday (9/19). So if you're keeping track, not even one week after seeing this house inside for the first time we're in contract to buy it.

more kitchen

After the attorneys haggle over the small print, the next step is the inspection. We're in a hurry to have this process complete (more on that later) so Larry schedules the inspection for today (9/27) anticipating we'll be out of Attorney Review by Thursday or so. On Tuesday, Kelly gets back to us with a list of changes the seller's attorney wants to make in the contract and her list of changes. By Thursday everyone seems happy with the changes, we sign a revised contract and wait. Friday, Larry hears that the seller's attorney is MIA and we can't close Attorney Review. Our so carefully planned ahead of time inspection appointment is now DOA.

Larry has been home on medical leave after his hospital stay. His primary job for the past few months has been to be a patient and see his doctor. This has helped with the process as between Wii Fit workouts his other job has been buying a house. He has Rhoda, Kim and Kelly all on speed dial. I keep going to work and getting periodic updates, but in some ways because of a busy time at work and having that ear infection for a week of this I've been a casual, yet concerned, observer.

deck

So last night we took a break from it all and got on a boat to cruise the harbor and see the NY Waterfalls which are gone in two weeks. It was a nice diversion. I haven't been to the South Street Seaport in nearly ten years and didn't remember it being quite so built up before. It borders just on the acceptable side of touristy and could easily have been crowded and uncomfortable, but the cool grey skies and occasional raindrops were keeping most folks away. We sailed around the harbor for an hour and didn't think about RFP responses, budgets and project plans (my job) or inspectors, realtors, sellers and attorneys (Larry's job). It was a fun hour.

Just as we were docking on return, Larry's phone rang and it was Rhoda saying the seller's attorney had surfaced and signed off on the contract. We could move on to inspection.

Sadly, it's too late to reschedule the inspection for today, but hopefully it can happen early next week and we can keep this train moving. Our lease is up at the end of October and I'd really like to give our current (and last?!) landlord notice and start the moving process rolling. (Oy! Add utility companies, movers and handymen/contractors to the growing list of folks that have to be dealt with in the next month). But when is it safe to start that with confidence? When can we say we have a new house? I still don't know.

So, as per my (and apparently all the women in my family's) norm, I'll just continue to make lists and check things off. So what's left on the list? Inspection (and subsequent fixes if necessary), then appraisal, then formal loan approval, then closing? I'm not sure, I lose track of it a bit after the appraisal. Thank goodness for Larry.

As you may suspect, there's no clean ending for this entry. Just a note that it's to be continued...

(Random non house related things that our on my mind but couldn't fit in this entry.... OMG 2 years in a row with the Mets? sheesh, no words... Watched the debate last night at Andy's and saw a bunch of folks I haven't seen in so long, was a blast... I miss hanging out with smart people and especially these smart people. I feel like we did that thing where people have kids and disappear for a while, minus the kids. For us, it was just too much work and being too far away. Hopefully with the house settled and an actual place to entertain people, we'll get back into the swing of things.)

The Further Wisdom of the Chris - Don't Go Into the Light Edition

2008-09-16T15:27:00.003-04:00

[14:17] diana: heh my maybe house shows up on googlemaps street view with the for sale sign, it's been on the market so long
[15:03] chris: have you asked why the house has been on the market so long?
[15:14] diana: yes, indian burial ground

So... where were we?

2008-09-13T21:26:00.008-04:00

So we were off to Bermuda and then our carefully planned (yet carefree) roadtrip to Pittsburgh.... that sounds exciting eh? Well.. it was a nice trip, but there was a black cloud over the whole thing as Larry was fighting what he thought was fatigue/allergies/maybe pneumonia for the whole time. Our activities were curtailed but he soldiered on thinking he was just going through something that would pass.

I knew something was terribly off, but I've known the man for over ten years and while he's the most affable, agreeable person I've ever known... when it comes to being pushed to do what he does not wish to do, he is incredibly stubborn. He's nice about it, but stubborn none the less. And in this case, what he did not wish to do was bother with a physician.

In the interest of privacy, we'll end our story right there but suffice it to say he eventually did see that physician and a month later, we find ourselves in a completely different state of being than where we were before heading off on vacation. I can't say things are back to normal, we just have a new normal now. But that's how life goes right? My pal Chris told me last month he's off animal products for good now. Not even forty yet but changed his whole diet for his amazing wife and precious daughter. Good for him eh?

So needless to say the house hunt hasn't been as aggressive as we thought it would be this month due to the diversion, but we did expand our search to Northern New Jersey (as close to the GW as possible) to see if we could get more for our money. Last Sunday was our first serious day of actually looking at houses and we were a bit discouraged. We went to several open houses and thought some places were fine, but we just didn't have that "wow, we need to live here" feeling.

We were scheduled to see a house in Englewood that looked really good on paper (it has a pool for starters!). We had had several exchanges with the realtor on his bad cell phone and he appeared to tell Larry to just use a certain code on the lockbox and let himself in. That sounded odd to us, but we wanted to eyeball the house anyway, so we went on over. Not surprisingly, the lockbox was impossible for us laypeople to deal with but the yard was beautiful, the outside looked very clean and we peeked over the fence to see a nice deck and the promised pool. Things were looking good. (That's the house in the picture above.)

We left another message for the realtor asking him to call us while we were out there so we could see it before heading back to Westchester. Never heard from him so we went on with our day and saw all the other houses we had planned. I didn't give up though and called him back on Friday and said "Listen buddy, meet us there at 10:00am Saturday and show us the damn house". And so off we went this morning and finally got to see the inside.

It did not disappoint. The kitchen is huge, with professional appliances and so much storage and space that I thought heard Larry giggling with glee under his breath. The rest of the first level is very open and made up of a living room space with a fireplace and tasteful built-in shelves, a dining room space and a study.

The kitchen also has 2 beautiful skylights over a large area for a kitchen table so there's really no need for folks like Larry and me to use the dining room as a dining room... but I'm getting ahead of myself. :) Both the kitchen and the dining room have sliding doors that open to a deck that overlooks the built-in bbq pit and pool. To be fair, that's it for the backyard... no other useful space... just the big beautiful deck and pool.

The second level has a large master bedroom with a sitting area and walk-in closet. There's a nice sized bathroom and a second bedroom that also leads to a finished attic that was clearly also used as a bedroom at some point. The basement is a finished rec room with a wet bar, complete laundry room and full bathroom with a (no lie) footie bathtub and double shower.

The front is beautifully landscaped with a cobblestone path to the front door and a smallish driveway leading to the detached garage at the side of the house (it's pretty big). The neighborhood is also very nice, not too far away from civilization, but clearly suburbia. At some point I stopped tallying all the things we liked about the house because you just get this feeling of "yes, this is the one... yes yes yes" and you start making mental notes of the things you'd want to fix before moving in and the projects you'd love to undertake to make the place really your own.

The location is just off the George Washington Bridge, which is a bit scary when it comes to traffic. But it's so close that you're only dealing with it for 2 miles. We also noticed on our way back that it's a short in town detour to get to the Palisades Parkway so you can come at the GWB from Rt. 4 or the Palisades and if you can get an accurate traffic report, at least you have options.

So what luck eh? Our first actual scheduled visit to see a house and we find something we really like. The seeming ease is bit deceiving though as I've been furiously combing listing services, for sale by owners, foreclosures, craigslist and any other source for the past month and making notes, phone calls and doing drivebys when I can to scope out neighborhoods.

When we got in the car and looked at each other, it was a whole lot of "ok, now what?". People buy houses all the time, but neither of us ever have. We told ourselves not to get too attached as all sorts of things could go wrong and this may not end up being the house for us. (We did inquire, and the house has been on the market for a year and with all the difficulty we had with the seller's realtor, I suspect they don't have people banging down the door to buy it. So I didn't get a sense of urgency that one might in these kinds of situations. This was one small area of relief, at least for today.)

That said, the fear still starts to set in... Any time a large financial transaction is involved, there's always that underlying feeling that you'll forget something, take bad advice or not know what to ask causing the transaction to cost significantly more than it should. So, on my mother's advice, we called the only buyer's realtor I had any contact with thus far to tell her we had seen a house we're interested in and needed help.

And that's where we stand now. Maybe a month from now, we'll have yet another new normal that involves dealing with mortgage brokers, handymen, movers and furniture suppliers. I guess we'll see.

House Hunt Update and Off to Bermuda

2008-08-09T06:56:00.010-04:00

The first day was actually fruitful. We drove around for six hours and saw a lot of houses. We got a really good feel for what areas we like (the Yonkers hills) and ones we don't (anything near downtown Mt. Vernon). We happened upon several open houses and darted in for fact sheets to get an idea of prices in various neighborhoods. We confirmed we aren't being unrealistic in what we can expect for the price we can afford to pay. All in all, I'm still encouraged and I feel like when we get back from vacation we'll be ready to officially start seeing some houses and being more direct with the search. I'm still in the optimist column. We'll see what happens when we start poking more seriously at some of these houses.

In a few hours we're leaving for Bayonne. Why would anyone go to Bayonne? To get on a boat to Bermuda of course. I woke up this morning at 4am or so and found Larry kinda lingering around awake as well. When I asked him why he said he was too excited to sleep. If anyone knows Larry, this is such a weird statement. He's the most laid back guy. You never see excitement out of him for good or bad. It was such an odd beginning to this day.

We've been on several cruises before. I like the days full of activities, (the drama classes with RADA on the Queen Mary 2 were amazing!), not worrying about where to drive, what to eat, etc... everything is just very easy. It's fun to see various cities in the same trip without unpacking and schleping somewhere else. And, like any good trip, as long as there is a casino nearby I can duck in and win enough to cover a good portion of the cost of the trip (thank goodness for blackjack!).

When our original plans to be in Vegas for the Summer Bridge Nationals were dashed due to the two family weddings, we looked around for something else we could fit into the vacation time we had left and a trip to Bermuda on the RCCL Explorer fit right in. Then a random conversation about baseball stadiums within driving distance led to a quick check on the Pittsburgh Pirates schedule for next weekend and low and behold... they're playing the Mets.

We're getting off the boat, and road tripping to Pittsburgh to see two Mets games at the Pirate's (relatively) new stadium. It's a 6 hour drive but we're breaking it up with a stop overnight in Hershey. Pure touristy towns like Hershey would normally never be something we'd consider but it was nearly exactly half way between here and there and we decided it may provide some kitschy fun. Plus maybe we can pick up some belated birthday presents for our friend Gordon, the music loving, Mets loving, chocolate loving, wannabe pope.

Ok, I have to go pack and find the pirate. Like Larry, I suspect he's very excited about conquering Bermuda. (Photo above is of pirate eyeing the Explorer as we passed it on a mini-cruise to Canada we took back in July.)

Admin note: I added two new links on the right...

my pal Craig's Wine Blog. I highly recommend his recommendations :)

and my pal Anne's etsy page. She's really creative and crafty and I'm thrilled to see she's started to make some things available on etsy. Buy lots so she'll add more stuff.

Buying a House - The Back Story & Day 1

2008-08-03T10:01:00.008-04:00

We're four months from the end of our lease on the 1st floor of a two family house in Yonkers. As has been well documented in my Facebook status messages, this is a nightmare house in the summer. It has 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, a huge kitchen, all on one floor. It's beautiful place and a very short commute into the city. The landlord is nice and (until recently) we had nice upstairs neighbors. (The people up there now have a dog, leave the front door open at all times of day or night and make a LOT of noise... but I digress.) When we first found this place last winter, I had every reason to believe we'd be here for a while. Then summer hit.

The beautiful slatted windows don't hold an air conditioner. They won't even hold a vent hose from a portable air conditioner. To make matters worse, these huge slatted windows apparently face the sun all the time. (Don't try to throw logic at me regarding the Earth moving and how that's not possible... you try living here.) After a morning of this constant sun, our beautiful brick house is now better suited to cook pizza than to hold people.

We have a beautiful tiled hallway that doesn't get direct sunlight. It's heaven. The cats live there when they aren't hiding in the also cool-ish bathroom. It's a chilly reprieve when moving from the hot living room into the only slightly sweltering master bedroom. It's also big enough to contain maybe one human at a time, making moving in for the summer an unattractive option.

At one point we purchased film to put on the windows that may help with the sun coming in. It may also incur the wrath of the nice landlord so we kept putting off putting it up. We also looked at the summer stretching in front of us and realized we'd be away nearly every weekend in July and for a ten day stretch in August. We have a nice shower to cool off in, we could live through this.

It's not been pleasant. My co-worker Dave is currently in India and he and his wife, Jenny, write touching missives about the beauty and poverty there. I am often reminded I don't have it so bad. I know this. But I am human after all and I have the means to improve my situation, so somewhere in the middle of July my heat-adled brain turned to moving. (It was also helped along by my nightly war with the bugs either on my very clean floors or flying around eating my Off-soaked flesh.) Again, nowhere near the suffering found in India... but this is Yonkers!

Since moving to NY in 1997, I've lived in Northern NJ, Queens, Long Island, Manhattan and now Yonkers. In terms of neighborhood features, house size and ease of commute I have the most affinity for Yonkers. I like grass. I like backyards. I like houses that aren't connected to the house next door. I am from California, I need green, I need space.

For all sorts of reasons too complicated to get into here, I am not a fan of debt. Even debt that's "good for you", like buying a house. From a psychological perspective, I've enjoyed the freedom and security offered by not owing anything to anyone. I really like the job I have now, but if they decide they hate me one day or I've had enough, I could walk out and the world would not fall down around me. There's a comfort in that. (I've also been taking care of my father financially for more years than I care to remember, so instead of a healthy savings account, I get to not feel guilty... hurrah for being raised Catholic.)

But I'm getting old, I want to unpack the hundred boxes of books for once not thinking I was just going to be putting them back in the box in a year. I'd like to hang the art we've been accumulating over the last seven years. I'd like Larry to have a room for all his cool sports memorabilia. I want a garden. We'd like a hot tub. Larry needs to unpack all of his kitchen gadgets. We'd like to have friends over for game nights. It's time to buy a house.

I sent an email to a mortgage lender. She quickly called back, got our details and told me the next day that we could qualify for a mortgage that would allow us to buy a house in Westchester. She explained that she'd give us a pre-approval letter we'd take with us while looking at houses so we could move forward any time we wanted. Is that it? That's all it takes? We shoulda tried this a long time ago. Is it really going to be this easy? (Part of the motivation for posting about this is as a reminder of how naively optimistic I am at this point.)

Larry and I made a list of the things we are shooting for. We figured we could aim high and then pull back if we're having no luck. We were also realistic. While I prefer a ranch layout, that's just not gonna happen in Westchester in our price range.

Our list:

Single family detached home
3 BR (2 if it's an extraordinary place)
2 Bath
Open lot (backyard with grass, room for garden and hot tub)
Garage
Large Kitchen
Large Living Room
Close to transit, within 30-45 miles of Manhattan.
In good shape now, no handyman special for us on our first house purchase!

The mortgage lender suggested we could save by searching for "For Sale by Owner" properties. I started browsing online and the pickings were bare, but I have some sites set up now to send me alerts when houses are added.

I had much better luck with Realtor.com and found 20 or so houses within range. We fired up the printer this morning, printed out the listings. At least one has an open house today so we're gonna do some drive bys, go to an open house and officially start the search.

Wish us luck.

Bork Bork Bork

2008-07-21T15:07:00.005-04:00

This will end up being (or is already) some sort of ad for some product I don't care about but what the heck, it's the Muppets.

(Thanks again to Tony Hightower for posting about this first.)

Ira Glass on Storytelling #1

2008-07-10T11:52:00.007-04:00

I recommend this whole series of videos from Ira regarding storytelling. Video #3 about pushing through those times where you just aren't as good as you want to be is quite encouraging and relevant to almost anything you want to apply your creativity to. (Thanks to Tony Hightower for reminding me these are out there.)

Random Saturday

2008-06-28T22:29:00.009-04:00

Random stuff in no particular order:

I hid in the bedroom when the new maids came today. I really don't like to meet new people unless I have to. These were the slowest maids in history and I was in there for hours.

The Mets were in rain delay and my books were in the other room, so I looked for a movie. I landed on Oliver Stone's World Trade Center movie. I kept getting anxious as I was watching and tried going to another channel for a while and coming back to it. Never got any easier to watch. And not because it's Oliver Stone. It's been almost seven years now. When does it stop causing a physical reaction when I remember that day (and the ones that followed)?

I went to get my hair cut today in anticipation of my sister-in-law's wedding shower tomorrow. Was talking to my stylist about it and realized I had never been to a shower before. Not having close female friends pays off sometimes. I was actually looking forward to this one though (surprising even to me!). But, unfortunately it turns out my streak will continue as too many things to mention have conspired to make it impossible for me to go tomorrow. Oh well. I'll be thinking of A&D and hoping it's a nice day for them.

HBO is showing a marathon of George Carlin specials. It's too awesome for words. My grandfather was a very early subscriber to HBO and I could swear I recall seeing one of the specials when visiting him one weekend... somewhere along the way Carlin just became associated with HBO to me. Well until he started showing up in Kevin Smith movies. Now it's HBO & Kevin Smith when I think of him.

So You Think You Can Dance is the least cheesy reality show out there. I feel no shame in admitting I watch it. Those dancers have real talent and there's nothing fake about anything they do, no sliding under the radar, and no payoff for being bad and trying to substitute great legs/personality/hair for actual talent like so many other shows (American Idol I'm talking to you.) I look forward to watching it every week.

I try to avoid talking about politics with people I don't know very very well. I get so... well.. angry when people are underinformed and talk out of their backsides... myself included. But a few words about the hypocritical climate as it were...

I'm going to vote for Obama. I mean really, is that any surprise? However, I'm baffled by how many Obama supporters this week I hear saying things like "when is he going to start actually saying something?" or "I'm disappointed that he didn't do anything about the telecom bill", etc. Hello?!? I'm glad the blinders are finally off and maybe you all won't be so impossible to talk to. But really, all those Hillary (or whoever) supporters who were saying "Hey your guy isn't actually saying anything of substance, just Change Change Change" .... is there a point where you get off your high horse and admit they had a point? Yeah I'm not holding my breath.

Ok back to Carlin.

I am a Consumer - 6.20 Edition

2008-06-20T10:41:00.005-04:00

I haven't been a consumer for a while since we've been saving for vacation. But here's a random tally of the nonsense acquired recently.

David Sedaris' new book. Chris Farley's biography and other assorted summer reading

Mario Kart (with Wii Wheel!), Dance Dance Revolution (don't laugh it's a good workout and nobody has Wii Fit :( ), Wii Winter Games, Smarty Pants and Agatha Christie mystery game (for Larry)

Plane tickets, hotel and car to go to Janel & R's wedding in a few weeks.

Age of Conan (so I could play with my oldest pal Rob)

A terry hoodie to wear on the cruise to Bermuda in August

New blended iced tea lemonade drink from Starbucks (verdict? It's good)

Tickets to see Get Smart in a few hours

To be purchased soon.... assorted shower and wedding gifts for the two upcoming joyous occasions (hurrah for A & D, J& R!).

Who is It?

2008-06-19T17:58:00.002-04:00

Our poor parents... when they wanted to make pop culture references, they'd have to rely on their faulty memories. Us? We have YouTube.

One of my faves from childhood.

I haven't seen much children's programming in the last 20 years, but can you still get away with a plumber having a heart attack?

Beating the Heat

2008-06-16T09:42:00.008-04:00

The quiet calm of Saturday morning had come and gone. Larry had finished cleaning the kitchen and the urge to "do something" hit. The thunderstorms that would burn off the heat that was now bearing down on us weren't due for several hours so we decided to check out Yonkers Raceway.

Normally slot machines are just something you rush past on the way to the blackjack or poker tables, but apparently scores of people head to Empire City every day for the sole purpose of feeding their hard earned pennies into the one armed bandits. Despite the fact that it was already sprinkling, the huge parking lot was full and the place appeared packed. We drove 5 minutes to get there, but it's apparent that people come from all over for their shot at a jackpot.

We arrived around 3:30, thinking there would be enough time to get bored of slots before we decided if we wanted to stay and watch the harness racing. Surprisingly enough, the time flew by and before we knew it it was was 6:30 and the racing was due to start. It seemed fairly certain the rain was going to wash out the Mets game so we decided to head up to one of the several restaurants and have a nice dinner while playing the ponies.

With Larry in a plain t-shirt and jeans, I was a bit worried about a dress code, but as I looked around I realized it was needless worrying. Despite the upscale prices, it was still the track and apparently anything goes. We got a nice seat by the window, a racing booklet and we were set.

I know zero about any kind of horse racing so of course I played the "what horse/driver names do I like" game and it netted out okay. We cashed in several of the races and even hit the daily double on the last 2 races. Larry was our money man so I didn't really have a tally, but we weren't betting a lot and ended up about $40 ahead. Not enough to cover dinner certainly, but we had a great time.

I bet on driver Pat LaChance every time he came up. That worked out okay.

A pile of losing tickets under the glass of port that went very well with the warm chocolate cake.

O RLY?

2008-06-06T17:09:00.013-04:00

Several months ago my former co-worker and current annoy each other via IM all day buddy, Chris, gave me these cool pics of graphically illustrated net speak. I am completely ignorant as to their origin. (I'm sure he knows.) But, I think they're nifty although I'm unable to really describe why. I hadn't put the pix up in my office yet as I've still not really felt completely "here" here. But today Chris was having a bad day and I remembered the pictures so I decided to put them up, take a photo and send over, hoping to cheer him up. So I'm sharing with all.

I threw in a few more shots of the rest of the office disarray... the posters I haven't hung.. the chairs still missing a table... the corner of the white board (propped up on an ottoman right now) leaning against the bookcase... everything is a bit undone.

I'm Old... or Maybe Not.

2008-06-01T12:41:00.010-04:00

Anne had extra tickets for Paul F. Tompkins at Comix last night. She was nice enough to invite so Larry and I joined she, Chris and 4 of Anne's friends from work for the show. I've seen Seinfeld, Janene Garofalo and a few others in theaters in the last few years but I haven't actually been to a comedy club in NY that I can recall.

I guess that makes me feel old because in my very early twenties, comedy clubs were a weekly (or more) activity. Comedy and "alternative" music (like Green Day) at Berkeley Square and the smaller clubs in and around San Francisco, were pretty much the only thing that could pull me away from my otherwise geeky pursuits (singing, acting and games of all kinds).

It was a great time for both music and comedy in San Francisco. I remember going to see Paula Poundstone on two consecutive nights and seeing completely different shows. She could go for hours. Kevin Pollack, Bobby Slayton, Kevin Meaney, Will Durst, A. Whitney Brown, Kevin Nealon, Murphy/St. Paul, Jim Carrey, Kathleen Madigan, Mark Maron... the list is endless.

I remember being even more introverted than I am now ("not possible!" say some of you), but it didn't seem to matter much because if you cared enough to come out for a comic or a lesser known band, you were guaranteed to be around folks with similar sensibilities who had a common goal for that night... to be entertained and share in the experience of art being created.

When I moved to NY (another hip, happening, music and comedy mecca)... I figured I'd be equally as enticed to venture out into the world and be entertained. However, as I braved my first few shows I quickly found that something had changed. Maybe it was me, maybe it was the world. Most of my memories of Suzanne Vega at the Bowery involve the people behind me who wouldn't shut up. Toad the Wet Sprocket in NJ was all about the people on their cell phones, non stop talking, folks pushing to get to the bar and basically people uninterested until the band played their big hit singles. Other tickets I had acquired gathered dust as I just couldn't be compelled to go out where I was sure to be frustrated by folks intent to do anything but actually watch the show they had paid to come to. It was just not worth the time.

So I wasn't expecting much to be different with the trip to Comix. The show was good, make no mistake... and everything is more tolerable with good company around (Chris and Anne) but the evening still had the usual trappings of a club crowd. There was Little Miss "It's All About Me" who felt compelled to pipe up repeatedly and offer unsolicited advice and comment to Tompkins.

Tompkins rolled with it as good comics do. And I guess that's the difference. Self-involved idiots can completely ruin a music show but they have much less power against comics. It made me think I could rekindle my interest in seeing good comics live again... all thanks to Anne and Chris.

I have to close this entry because I need to finish watching online as my friends play in trials to see who can represent the US in a world Bridge competition, before I can go out and pick up Mario Kart for the Wii. So yeah, I'm still a geek... but maybe not that old.

Kitty said what? - Morphing Kittens

2008-05-21T22:53:00.002-04:00

So when driving home with Larry today I went through a long rant about our electoral process, politicians, "one man, one vote", corruption and public apathy. I was thinking I'd gather those thoughts and write them when I get a chance, but of course I'm exhausted and can't make a coherant argument to save my life, so all I have is this:

I feel dumber for liking this but 6 months later I still find it funny. I have no damn idea why.

Transfer the Blame

2008-05-20T10:44:00.003-04:00

My company went "green" and replaced paper coffee cups with personal mugs and a pool of visitor mugs. I average one cup of company sponsored coffee every couple of days. Maybe I am not typical and folks have several cups. But if I'm only having one cup of coffee a day, washing my cup and then using 2 paper towels to dry it and take it with me lest it get taken by someone else while it's drying, how much paper are we really saving here?

Manny Being Manny

2008-05-16T10:09:00.003-04:00

View

2008-05-08T17:13:00.007-04:00

It seems I have one of the only offices in Manhattan with a window that looks out onto almost nothing architecturally pleasing to the eye. (Ok maybe slight exaggeration, but still.) I wonder if this is what it feels like living in Dayton.

You wouldn't know it from looking but that tall building in the right corner is the Empire State Building. (And no, the Empire State Building doesn't count as interesting to the eye.) If I lifted the shade in the office enough to see the whole thing I'd be blind in the afternoons. Well that is if it's ever sunny again.

Long Live Squirrel Cop

2008-05-02T11:06:00.021-04:00

Last night Larry and I went to see the live simulcast of the This American Life stage show. We went to Lincoln Center last year when Ira and the gang were out for the live stage show and so I thought the simulcast would be an easier, more comfortable option this year. And hey, we could get popcorn.

We really enjoyed the pre-show puzzles which started off as rather straight forward Hangman-ish puzzles but had nice twists with non alpha numeric characters and cute hangman victims. At the end of the show, I was pleasantly surprised to hear Ira credit Greg Pliska (someone I remember from many a Williams Trivia contest) as the author of the puzzles.

As expected the stage show was great and I'm really looking forward to the second season of the television version of the show. One of the neat features of the series is animated versions of stories, drawn by Chris Ware. If I recall correctly, the animated stories were originally stories from the radio show.

This begs the question, where art thou Squirrel Cop?

Squirrel Cop is legend. Going on memory here so excuse me if I get things wrong but I believe... It was originally included in a show about First Days. (Skip to around the 20 minute mark if you're in a hurry.) But a more apt theme for the story was illuminated when it was dropped on the TAL compilation CD Lies, Sissies and Fiascoes. Propping up the Fiasco tentpole, the one-two punch of Squirrel Cop and Jack Hitt's story of a disastrous opening night, never fail to bring me to tears. On more than one occasion (no lie!) I've had to pull off the highway because I was blind from tears and convulsing in laughter.

Last year, an episode of the sitcom Back to You featured a subplot that appeared to be outright theft from Squirrel Cop and I wondered if royalties to TAL were involved. Despite Larry and I looking at each other and saying, "Hey that's Squirrel Cop!" it just wasn't the same thing.

Squirrel Cop deserves the full Chris Ware treatment.

Notes for Larry

2008-04-26T22:21:00.004-04:00

Just in case I wasn't clear the 800 other times this has come up...

When I see a bug and freak... your only job is to kill the bug dead. Please don't swat at it so it falls on the floor and scurries away only to remain on my mind and make me paranoid itchy the rest of the night.

Thank you and much appreciated.

(No picture for this post because it was creeping me out just considering looking at bug pictures to pick one.)

I am a Consumer - 4.26 Edition

2008-04-26T11:18:00.002-04:00

A random tally of this week's purchases:

Went a little nuts at Best Buy replacing some accessories that have been breaking down for the past few months, a few new things and a toy for Larry:

Logitech-Headset for Notebook Computers

Logitech-G15 Gaming Keyboard with LCD Display

Geek Squad®-4GB USB 2.0 Micro Flash Drive

Rocketfish™-Gaming Mouse Pad

Garmin-nüvi 200 GPS

A pillow for my sister, Janel.

Flowers for Sydell (the former UX Dept coordinator)

My first Jamba Juice!

And You Thought All The Cool Acts Were on SNL

2008-04-26T11:01:00.011-04:00

Pop Vultures posted this great list of Top 5 Musical Performances on Sesame Street.

Like any great critical assessment, this list invites debate.

I have found memories of "The Beetles" version of Letter B. Now of course it doesn't qualify for this list as the intention seems to be real musical acts. But when I start to think about it, my favorite Muppet moments are often the gang on their own.

Long before Cirque du Soleil brought us Love, Kermit gave us an Octopus's Garden on his own and with help. Fozzie performed it on the Ed Sullivan Show with an assist from some punny pals.

Like so many girls, Miss Piggy has a problem cause Kermit just won't dance. But when left to his own devices he finds his Happy Feet and his white leisure suit.

Poor Kermie... stuck sick in bed and dreaming of exotic cures.

You can't miss with Floyd and the Electric Mayhem... bringing us a New York State of Mind, the be-boppy, ragtime-y Mr. Bassman, the scat-tastic Ain't Misbehavin' and a rockin' Brick House.

If mellow and heart warming is what you're after... it doesn't get much cuter than Robin dreaming of going Over the Rainbow.

Seems fitting to close with supporting characters going to the psychedelic side with The Devil Went Down to Georgia.

The Further Wisdom of the Chris

2008-04-24T16:55:00.004-04:00

chris sent along a link to some random something as usual...

diana: weird i cant get sound to work on that site although i have it everywhere else, maybe my computer is censoring me
chris: yer not missing much
chris: other than the awkward comedy of it all
diana: akward comedy is the best
diana: it's almost as good as the comedy where people fall over
diana: or off of things
diana: or like when a puppy hits a wall
diana: but they cant get hurt of course, then that would be sad
chris: what are you on?
chris: :)
diana: heh
chris: that REALLY should be the name of your blog: puppy hits a wall
diana: hahaha

From the Unholy Sounds Stuck in My Head Dept

2008-04-21T22:23:00.011-04:00

Thank goodness for Robin Sparkles and the best one and a half weeks of her life.

I can finally get That One Night out of my head. (A hardy thanks to the writers of The Office for the last 2 weeks of that hellish song in my noggin.)

Pope Bits

2008-04-19T17:45:00.011-04:00

The buses that dropped the 25,000 people off at the seminary up the hill parked at the horse track/slot machine parlor down the street.

The children of NY gave the pope a gift of breads representing all the countries of the world.... just as observant jewish folks all over are selling or hiding their bread for Passover.

The local network coverage of the pope's visit isn't important enough to show as scheduled instead of the NBA basketball game despite what the WABC website said. ("Program Note: Sunday's NBA playoff game to be shown on ESPN2 due to pope coverage... Click here to e-mail us your Pope pictures....") When turning to channel 7, it was still all Kobe.

You know that saying about "kissing the ring"? People actually do that. There's a Secret Service like entourage (both clergymen and laymen) who surround the Pope and keep people coming and going when they greet him, kiss the ring, give/get a present, and move on. It's a well-oiled Pope machine.

Kelly Clarkson sounds great singing Ava Maria. Good way to bring that song to the "masses". Simon would be proud. For her sake, I hope they're gonna sell this version. I think it's interesting that they set her up to face the Pope to sing it rather than the gathered crowds. The announcer said she "insisted" on singing this for the Pope. I wonder what the heck that means.

The EWTN announcers, all excitement and passion, sound very much like local sports announcers. They seemed particularly excited about the (their words) Pope SWAG bags they and the fans received on their way into the event.

On to Yankee Stadium...

I am a Consumer - 4.19 Edition

2008-04-18T21:02:00.013-04:00

So here's the random tally of things purchased this week:

3 small handmade animals (2 for Larry's nieces and 1 for Emma)

an egg based garden thing from Redenvelope.com, a passover gift for Amanda.

a waffle iron for Larry (inspired by Alton Brown)

tickets for the This American Life stage show

Zoe Lewis CD at her house concert at Gordon's

REM's new album from iTunes

not purchased:
anything Pope related

The Wisdom of the Chris

2008-04-18T11:19:00.004-04:00

chris: illinois is actually on a bigger fault line than california. it's just much more stable
diana: didnt know that
chris: there's next to no geothermal activity in illinois but there is just south of the state
diana: you just said geothermal
chris: uh... huh?
chris: is that the word of the day?
diana: it's really hard to arrange a chance to say that in casual conversation
chris: did you just start screaming ala pee wee herman?
diana: yes
chris: AWESOME!
chris: I hope you scared Ben

Things I Can't Do Since Smashing My Arm

2008-04-07T22:47:00.004-04:00

So this morning I had just been dropped at the train station and Larry was leaving to park the car before joining me on the train. I had 4 mins to make the train. I usually leave the car and walk behind it so Larry can pull away safely and quickly, but for some reason I walked in front today. Just as I was thinking how selfish that was to slow Larry down my ankle turned on a pebble and down I went, crashing down into gravel filled parking lot.

So once it was decided that (although I was shaken and sore) nothing was broken, we went ahead and drove to work because I was particularly concerned about some deliverables that needed to get out today. (I also got a cool new project, so that was a good decision overall.)

On the drive in it became apparent that this wasn't going to be a soreness I could just ride out. I reached up to pull my hair into a loose bun (my messy look most days) and found I couldn't bend my arm in a way that would accomplish this. Larry attempted to do it for me as we stopped at red lights but let's just say it's good he doesn't have children, namely girl children.

I tried to keep my spirits up as I knew I had a busy day ahead of me. Luckily Elizabeth arrived at work shortly after I did and was kind enough to pull my hair back for me. (The amazing things we ask of co-workers.)

As the day wore on Ben did not hold back in showing his amusement when I discovered yet another thing I couldn't do because of this lack of arm mobility. This happened with alarming frequency today.

The ever growing list:

Brush and pull my hair back.
Adjust chair height on office chairs (something I do every time I go to a meeting or have to sit in someone's office).
Put on headphones. (That one was a surprise.)
Open a Vitamin Water.
Open Altoids.
Open a car door, close a car door.
Use a mouse unless it's positioned in front of me.
Do several popular dances of years gone by - The Cabbage Patch and others Ben helpfully pointed out in between bouts of uncontrolled laughter.
Take notes comfortably while sitting on Jayson's couch for a meeting.

I will say that I think I covered pretty well. I didn't yelp out loud too much when each new thing I can't do was discovered. For now, typing doesn't bother me (obviously) but it is getting in the way of applying the ice pack so this list is going to sit as is.

1943 Guide to Hiring Women

2008-04-03T20:45:00.006-04:00

diana: http://i28.tinypic.com/2ih75hg.jpg
chris: yeah, that's making the rounds today
diana: yeah, i'm so predictable, just like a woman
chris: nah... are you picking a fight?
diana: why are you so defensive? did you miss your lipstick and hair straightening break?
chris: Who's defensive? I'm not f****** defensive!
chris: I don't need a break for that because I'm working from home today. TAKE THAT!
diana: you suck, end of discussion
chris: I win. Go lick your wounds

Dirt Charity

2008-03-19T20:47:00.000-04:00

diana: http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/cubegoodies/98ab/
chris: awesome
diana: indeed
chris: it will be mine!
diana: cool , "The Grow Your Own 1Up Mushroom does not come with any soil. You need to provide your own. It can be found on the ground, generally outdoors."
chris: why do i have to do everything?
diana: you buy it, i'll get you some dirt
chris: i don't need your dirt charity!

MIT Graduate Qualifying Exam

2006-03-31T22:15:00.004-05:00

Ah... the old stuff we used to laugh at when nobody had blogs and everyone had full blown sites with tons of links like this:

-----

Instructions: Read each question throughly. Answer all questions. Time limit - four hours. Begin immediately.

History: Describe the history of the papcy from its origins to the present day; concentrate especially but not exclusively on the social, politcal, economic, religious and philisophical impact on Europe, Asia, America and Africa. Be brief, concise, and specific.

Medicine: You have been provided with a razor blade, a piece of gauze, and a bottle of Scotch. Remove your own appendix. Do not suture until your work has been inspected. You have fifteen minutes.

Public Speaking: 2,500 riot-crazed aboriginies are storming the classroom. Calm them. You may use any ancient language except Latin or Greek.

Biology: Create life. Estimate the differences in subsequent human culture if this form of life had developed 500 million years earlier, with special attention to the probable effects on the English parliamentary system. Prove your thesis.

Music: Write a piano concerto. Orchestrate it and perform it with a flute and drum. You will find a piano under your seat.

Psychology: Based on your knowledge of their works, evaluate the emotional stabilty, degree of adjustment and repressed frustrations of each of the following: Alexander of Aphrodisias, Ramses II, Hammurabi. Support your evaluation with quotations from each man's work, making appropriate references. It is not necessary to translate.

Sociology: Estimate the sociological problems that might accompany the end of the world. Construct an experiment to test your theory.

Management Science: Define management. Define science. How do they relate? Why? Create a generalized algorithim to optomize all managerial decisions. Assuming an 1130 CPU supporting 50 terminals, each terminal to activate your algorithm, design the communications interface and all the necessary control programs.

Economics: Develop a realist plan for refinancing the national dept. Trace the possible effects of your plan in the following areas: Cubism, the Donatist controversy, the wave theory of light. Outline a method from all points of view. Point out the deficiencies in your point of view, as demonstrated in your answer to the last question.

Political Science: There is a red telephone on the desk beside you. Start World War III. Report at length on its socio-political effects, if any.

Epistemology: Take a position for or against the truth. Prove the validity of your position.

Physics: Explain the nature of manner. Include in your answer an evaluation of the impact of the development of mathematics on science.

Philosophy: Sketch the development of human thought; estimate its signifigance. Compare with the development of any other kind of thought.

General Knowledge: Describe in detail. Be objective and specific.

Extra Credit: Define the universe. Give three examples.

Camus

2006-03-27T22:19:00.004-05:00

Two passages from Albert Camus' The Plague:

He wasn't thinking about the rat. That glimpse of spurting blood had switched his thoughts back to something that had been on his mind all day. His wife, who had been ill for a year now, was due to leave next day for a sanatorium in the mountains. He found her lying down in the bedroom, resting, as he had asked her to do, in a view of the exhausting journey before her. She gave him a smile.

"Do you know, I'm feeling much better!" she said.

The doctor gazed down at the face that was turned toward him in the glow of the bedside lamp. His wife was thirty, and the long illness had left it's mark on her face. Yet the thought that came to Rieux's mind as he gazed at her was: How young she looks, almost like a little girl! But perhaps that was because of the smile, which effaced all else.

"Now try to sleep," he counseled. "The nurse is coming at eleven, you know, and you have to catch the midday train."

He kissed the slightly moist forehead. The smile escorted him to the door.

---

When the doctor entered his apartment he found the nurse already there. He looked at his wife. She was in a tailor-made suit, and he noticed that she had used rouge. He smiled to her.

"That's splendid," he said. "You're looking very nice."

A few minutes later he was seeing her into the sleeping car. She glanced around the compartment. It's too expensive for us really, isn't it?

"It had to be done," Rieux replied.

"What's this story about rats that's going round?"

"I can't explain it. It certainly is queer, but it'll pass."

Then hurriedly he begged her to forgive him; he felt he should have looked after her better, he'd been most remiss. When she shook her head, as if to make him stop, he added: "Anyhow, once you're back everything will be better. We'll make a fresh start."

"That's it!" Her eyes sparkling. "Let's make a fresh start."

But then she turned her head and seemed to be gazing through the car window at people on the platform, jostling one another in their haste. The hissing of the locomotive reached their ears. Gently he called his wife's first name; when she looked round he saw her face was wet with tears.

"Don't," he murmured.

Behind the tears the smile returned, a little tense. She drew a deep breath.

"Now off you go! Everything will be all right."

He took her in his arms, then stepped back on the platform. Now he could only see her smile through the window.

"Please, dear," he said, "take care of yourself."

But she could not hear him.

Pooh

2006-03-27T22:18:00.002-05:00

Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind.

"Pooh!" he whispered.
"Yes, Piglet?"
"Nothing," said Piglet, taking Pooh's paw.
"I just wanted to be sure of you."

A. A. Milne
The House at Pooh Corner

Willy the Shakes

2006-03-25T22:20:00.002-05:00

When, in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries,
And look upon myself, and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possest,
Desiring this man's art, and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, - and then my state,
Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate;
For thy sweet love remember'd such wealth
brings,
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.

W. Shakespeare

Oh no!

2006-03-24T22:21:00.003-05:00

English: Oh my god! There's an axe in my head.
Bosnian: boje moj! sjekira mi je u glavi.
French: Mon dieu! Il y a une hache dans ma tete.
Visigothic: Meina guth, Ikgastaldan aqizi-wunds meina haubida
Swedish: Ah, Herregud! Jag har en yxa i huvudet!
Dutch: O, mijn God! Er zit een bijl in mijn hoofd.
Latin: Deus Meus! Securis in capite meo est.
German: Oh mein Gott! Ich habe eine Axt im Kopf!
Japanese: ahh, kamisama! watashi no atama ni ono ga arimasu.
Norwegian: Herre Gud! Jeg har enks i hodet!
Spanish: !Dios mio! !Hay una hacha en mi cabeza!
Hungarian: Jaj Istenem, de fejsze van a fejemben!!
Middle Egyptian: in Amun! iw minb m tp-i!
Greek: hristo mou! eho ena maheri sto kefali mou!
Tagalog: Ay Dios ko! May palakol sa ulo ko!
Danish: Oh min gud! Der er en oekse i mit hoved.
Afrikaans: O God! Daar's 'n byl in my kop!
Polish: O Moj Boze! Mam siekiere w glowie!
Maori: Ave Te Ariki! He toki ki roto taku mahuna!
Italian: Dio mio! C'e' un' ascia nella mia testa!
Portuguese: Meu Deus! Tenho um machado na cabeca!
Klingon: ghay'cha'! nachwIjDaq betleH tu'lu'!
Bengali: Oh Allah! Amar mathar upor bash poreche.
Finnish: Voi Luoja! Paassani on kirves!
Icelandic: Gud minn godur! Thad er o:xi i ho:fdinu a mer.
Ancient Greek: O Theos mou! Echo ten labrida en te mou kephale!
Babylonian: iliya pashu ina reshiya bashu
Assyrian: iliya pashum ina reshimi bashu
Welsh: A nuw! Mae bywell yn fy mhen i!
Alsatian: Lever Gott! Es esch a Axe en miner Kopf!
Swahili: Siyo! (Huko) Shoka yangu kichwanil!
Slovenian: Moj Bog! Sekiro imam v glavi.
Irish: Mo Dhia! Ta' tua sa mo cheann.
Esperanto: Mia Dio! Hakilo estas en mia kapo!
Marathi: Aray Devaa! Majhyaa dokyaat kurhaad aahay.
Hindi: Hay Bhagwaan! Mere sar mein kulhaadi hain.
Russian: Bozhe moi! Eto topor v moyei golove!
Hebrew: Eloi! Yesh'li ca-sheel ba-rosh sheh-li!
Malayalam: Entey Deiwame, entey thalayil oru kodali undei.
Latvian: Ak Dievs! Man ir cirvis galva!

log

2001-09-11T12:39:00.001-04:00

we hadn't left for work yet
i had just switched the tv from espn to cnn,
something we rarely do
in the mornings
it was just about 9am
i was putting on my shoes
we saw the reporter on the top of larry's building
(he works at 5 penn plaza, a building that also houses CNN)
and the wtc smoking in the distance
just as it was registering that there was some sort of fire
(we didn't even consider it could be anything nefarious at that point)
the second plane hit
i don't even remember seeing the 2nd plane, just the sudden explosion
my very first thought was for my best friend, craig
who works at the american stock exchange, about 2 blocks away
i began frantically dialing, only to encounter the dreaded fast busy
at both his cell phone and the main number for the exchange
within minutes i told larry there was no way he was going to work
we had no idea what the scope was, but i wasn't letting him anywhere near the island of manhattan
i voiced a concern the buildings might fall, destroying all below
but larry said "oh, no worries, they're built to withstand this kind of thing"
i called my boss and said i wasn't coming in until i found craig
just as reports of a plane hitting the pentagon began to come in
i found out that my company was closing down sending people home
our company is housed in one of the the tallest buildings in newark
and we're owned largely by israelis, there was concern for the safety of the building
were we at war? how could this happen?
then the first tower went and larry and i began discussing how it was possible that such a symbol of nyc could be gone
then the second tower
more frantic calls, why couldn't i get craig on the phone?
surely he had fled the area as soon as this happened
"i'm sure he's fine", i think to myself
called the parents, in san fran and atlanta
sure i'm 10 miles away in nj, but to them, i live in ny
e-mails and IMs, people checking in
finally, the phone rings, craig is walking up the
FDR towards the UN
"no no, head inland" i say, still not sure where this was gonna end
he reports that they were kept in the exchange
because the "powers that be" thought they'd be safer inside, away from possible debris falling
from inside the building, they watched on CNN as
the 2nd plane hit
still, they were told not to leave
craig had called me at work, he left a message
it hadn't occurred to him to call me at home at 9:15
the first tower falls
the powers that be changed their mind and told everyone to flee
craig exits the building into what he calls a blizzard
he can't breathe
they walk a block or so and duck into a bank
seeking fresh air
the second tower falls
they see the debris falling outside the bank
but fear staying and flee, not looking back until they can see water
he finally gets me on the phone, turns inland and continues the long walk home to w71st and broadway
craig, one of the crabbiest people i know
has a blister by the time he's reached his home
but even he knows better than to complain

i didn't grow up here, i migrated here
i always looked to the twin towers every time i entered the city
ALWAYS marveling that these symbols i had only
seen on tv or movies as i was growing up were now a part of my daily life
in a way, it was kind of comforting because it reminded me of my childhood fantasy ny
instead of the blocking the box, everyone for themselves, cold reality of daily ny life

Trains

1996-11-01T12:30:00.002-05:00

i spend a lot of time on trains
the metro mostly
every working day i spend nearly an hour, in the morning
(and again in the afternoon)
in the company of an ever changing sea of people and scenery
there's actual a certain comfort to the whole process

the middle-aged couple in the warm tone colors they normally wear
their happiness in each other and the world is infectious
and i cant help but smile when i see them
then there are the the men with the wedding rings
looking slyly over their sports sections
at the women with the short skirts and perfectly coiffed hair
or the artsy types with their interestingly sized portfolios and bags
i wonder what creations are contained

between rhode island avenue and union station
stands this old, decaying building
there is trash strewn behind it
and the loading docks are overgrown with foliage
at the top of the building is an ironic sign announcing the building's name as
the "sanitary grocery company"

i turn and look at the some of the beautiful people on the train
and wonder how many of them are overgrown with foliage inside

sometimes, i listen to my own chosen soundtrack
or to the snippets of conversation around me
or to the sound of the train progressing

at union station
the train goes underground and stays in the artificial light for a while
right before it comes back into the sunlight
i close my eyes
and experience the sunlight behind closed eyes
the light filters underneath my lids
washing over my face before finally, i open my eyes

there's been this huge push lately to get driver's license
and while i am sure i will appreciate the time and freedom driving again will give me
i wonder if i will miss the daily train ritual
staring at the trees
watching the people
losing myself in a book
feeling the world shoot past

Dysphoria-I

1993-12-01T12:29:00.000-05:00

In other eyes,
Staring at the horizon filled
Irrelevantly are the shapes
Of objects melting small
Caring for their remoteness,
I lost my joy.

Mine hypnotized by
A coin to the zenith taken
Almighty-fingers flipped
The gloomy face of dark around
A clear tail of sunlight.

Crossed out seconds
From a calendar in
Strokes of blue
Of falling stars,
Aware of what will
And now goes on
I shut my eyes.

written by mitch, based on something i said

quote file

1993-01-01T12:35:00.001-05:00

in the olden days, we all had quote files... here was mine:

You don't seem to take any joy in your pessimism' - pwm (about me)

'Kisses are a better fate than wisdom' - ee cummings

'Drama often obscures the real issues'
'Savor kindness because cruelty is always possible later
'Hiding your motives is despicable'
'Use what is dominant in the culture to change it quickly'
-jenny holzer

'All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, to make it possible.' - t.e. lawrence (the seven pillars of wisdom)

'In the time of your life, live, so that in that wonderous time you shall not add to the misery and sorrow of the world, but shall smile to the infinite delight and mystery of it.' - william saroyan

'Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds' - einstein

'Imagination is more important than knowledge.' - einstein

'Actually, the secret of life is that there is no reason for anything. That in mind, it's a lot easier to get through the day.' - jeff wagg

'Talking to you is like being cut into little pieces and bathed in salt water' - anonymous (regarding me, and said as a compliment)

'Hell is other people' - sartre

'My favorite quality of a woman? The ability to say yes, repeatedly and with real legal conviction.' - tom