Train drool

I slept from W 4th street to 125th today. I believe there was drool. Copious amounts of drool. I was quite tired on the way home from work today as I had to get on the road at 3:15a.m. Of course my estimated time of arrival was roughly 1hr too early and I had to hold out in a gas station for fear of freezing to death before the plant opened. Back to the office by 8a.m. and had a Chinatown lunch to look forward to. Anything to get the blood and oxygen pumping. I was so tired. The rest of the day dragged on. I made it home. And now, must start some homework.

30th B-Day

I turned 30 yesterday. Big day. We began by heading down to Craig & Julie's baby shower held at their school's gym. Met up with Susan and Rob - big family gathering. (We're going to go fast here b/c I have to get on to studying finally). We ate, caught up and played basketball with little Ryan who remembered my name. He's 2. Susan, Rob, Anne and I caught a cab back home and were given a huge plate of cupcakes. We made it back up, then hung around for a few hours waiting for Daniel to make it down from Buffalo. He got a late start - something about a love-bug. Around 6, we got ancy and went for a walk - Anne and I took them on a version of our loop up by the park. We made it back home and decided to order sushi for the 5 of us. Much better plan than going to a restaurant - too stressful. Daniel brought me a pitaco from Amy's place in Buffalo - it was a bit soggy from the cooler of ice he brought it in (but it sure was great for breakfast this morning:). After dinner Daniel drove Susan and Rob to Penn station to grab the train back home and then drove Anne and I to Arlene's Grocery to meet up with friends for drinks. Anne and I were very impressed by Daniel's city driving in a sea of reckless cabs. Daniel dropped us off and headed out to meet friends up in the East Village. At Arlene's Basement - a list of those present: Anne, me, todd, olga, brian, calvin, ivy, andrew, phillipe, scott, lysa, paper, brent, annie, joseph, berger, anna, sue arch, rachel, daniel, sang-hee, ben, rachel j, will, jess, allison, darian. A lot of drinks. A very good time. A great birthday.

Parks so far

So far so good. The parks job lets me roam about outside all day. Not too bad coming from an office job.

I've been placed with two other rangers - Calvin and Andrew. Calvin is a transplanted Miami man who followed his girlfriend. A quick keyword finds him to have coined sayings like "sack of good luck pudding." He's the classic beat reporter with Ivy League wit.

Andrew was a disenchanted office worker and not unlike myself, found his way to the anticubicle. Before his stint in office worker hell, he was a peace corps volunteer down in the Domincan Republic. I still haven't figured out what he did down there, but know that he and Anne would hit it off well.

The two of them are pretty much Fric and Frac and I tag along.

Today we fished for an hour or so before the lure popped off from Calvin's 'fisherman's' knot. We then rescued a baby raccoon, which found itself in a garbage can. Shortly thereafter we hailed an ambulance for a kid who fell off the monkey bars. After lunch we went on patrol, which largely comprised of shooting the shit while scaling rocks and telling each other our stories, tree and bird identification.

More later.

Hair and such

I woke up around 7:10 this morning ready for my 2nd day working for the parks. I knew, however, that I had a job to do before heading out: buzz the rest of my head. I had charged my trimmer overnight and went at it. It ran out of juice around 3/4 of the way through a rough job. What to do . . .

A quick check online for the hours of the local Duane Reade had it opening around 7a.m. I needed a new shaver and I knew one quickly. So I headed down and after a little bit of haggling, which I didn't know was possible, purchased a new clipper set for $16, down from $26. The reduction had something to do with signing up for a new membership card. So maybe it wasn't haggling, but the selling of my e-mail address.

Bought it and headed back up. Quickly I might add. Very quickly.

The new clippers were ridiculously efficient. In no time at all I had my ugly mug with only a buzz cut to frame it. I made it with no time to spare.

Having roughly cleaned up the mess I'd created, I had to run out the door to make it to work on time. I made it. Breathless. I made it running. God I haven't run in ages.

Not quite . . .

Not quite a haircut. I started giving myself a haircut just a few minutes ago - but my clippers ran out of batteries after only getting to the front half left side of my head. Yup, I look pretty ridiculous.

Charging the dang thing now - hopefully it'll right itself before I have to show up at work tomorrow morning. Eeek.

Wish me luck!

1st day at the parks

I started training today for the parks job - received my smokey the bear hat and had full uniform. It took a little while to get over the dorkiness of it all. Actually, I'm not sure I'll fully get over it before the summer is through.

The training group was relatively eclectic - several people just out of college and from all over the U.S.

The training consisted of basic procedure/protocol, the parks organizational chart, radio usage etc. Quite boring - but it was all classroom stuff.

Tomorrow we'll be learning about the programs we'll be putting on for the public - I'm really looking forward to it. Tomorrow will be in Inwood Hill park. I love that park.

We were asked to put our top three boroughs for placement down on an index card with no guarantees. Someone will be heading down to Staten Island. Luckily, I may be too far from there to be a serious consideration. My top choices: 1) Manhattan; 2) Bronx and; 3) Brooklyn. Looks like Brooklyn is out of the question as so many have requested it.

At first I was against working in Central Park. But after walking around today - so much deep 'woods' and lots of quite spots, it grew on me and I switched to to #1 choice. I wouldn't be disappointed in the least if placed in the Bronx. Van Cortlandt park is supposedly a great place to work, with tons of trails and all.

Wherever I'm placed, there will apparently be no shortage of canoeing . Haven't canoed since 1999 - lake Washington abutting University of Washington's campus.

Last day

Today was my last day at the Board. I'm taking leave without pay for the summer and am going to be working as a park ranger for nyc parks. Phew.

I've needed a break for a long time.

And tomorrow morning we're going to Wisconsin for a few days to visit the family. If my neck didn't feel as if it were going explode, I'd be the happiest man alive. But my neck feels as if it is going to explode.

With the certainty of the sun rising in the east and the spring following the summer, I injure myself roughly twice a year. This time? My neck. A bicycling injury - overused and under stretched. I've done it before. Feels like a 3-day injury. Not too bad.

Back on the bike

Roughly a year ago, maybe July or August, I injured my left leg - the back of my knee (bok) to be less than exact. Since then I've been to a number of physical therapists as well as doctors, including a knee specialist - an orthopedist. The doctor suggested I go to a physical therapist; the physical therapist suggested I find another doctor. It's all been quite depressing. As if i don't have enough structural damage to my body to begin with.

Today, despite not feeling as if my leg has healed - actually it may have gotten worse - I went for a ride. I rode down the Hudson River Park to around 95th street. It felt great. What a beautiful day. I found a bench and drenched in the sun. Took off my shoes. Socks. I called my mother and we chatted for around 20 minutes. 'Yes mom, I am wearing my helmet.'

I have to remember to bring my camera down there some time soon - someone builds these large sail-like structures out of driftwood and lines them up along roughly 110s-120s or higher. I remember seeing them last year and was surprised to see them up again. I guess the sculptor's commission isn't up yet. The picture above is from Tom Lobak's flicker account. Apparently he's the sculptor. Check out the site for more pics of his art. It really is quite something.

I'm now icing my bok - it felt stiff on the walk up to our apartment. We'll see if I can walk later on.

Mandolin that never was . . .

We arrived at the Living Room with time to spare, however, much to our chagrin, the show was sold out. Bummed! We then went for Thai around the corner - Jeeb Thai - and we were bummed no longer. My pad thai was heavenly. And I know my pad thai - it's my go to dish.

A night with a mandolin

Anne, Darian, Allison, and I are headed out to the Living Room to watch Chris Thile play his fire hot mandolin. He's currently playing with the band Punch Brothers. I believe tonight is a solo show, but I wouldn't be the slighest bit dissappointed if his band were there.

I first heard of Thile around 2002 as part of the progressive folk group Nickel Creek. I immediately purchased the album - self titled Nickel Creek - and love it. I rarely, if ever, buy cds. But this was a time in my life when I was really into folk music - I had been living in Ithaca, NY, which is ripe with the genre. On Sunday nights I would go to Bound for Glory, which took place on Cornell's campus. Each week, Phil Shapiro, from WVBR, would host a live production with acts, local as well as out-of-staters. It was a good crowd - easily 60 people each Sunday.

I miss those Sunday nights. Seemed like a great community - not woven entirely of Cornell people, but members of the community who have been living there for decades and have grown old, had families, and danced around the may-pole together.

Anyway, tonight should be fun. Though it does have a start time of 11p.m. and is on the Lower East Side. Tomorrow morning will sting. But Thile is a phenom and it'll be well worth the sacrifice of sleep.

Eggplant couscous

1 eggplant
2 carrots
1 cup couscous
a few shallots
a few cloves of garlic
a bit of butter
some salt
a bit of olive oil
one Presidente light - and we have ourselves a meal!

Anne's Dresser

Is broken. The drawers have come off their tracks - ball bearings have fallen about. I don't know how to fix it and her clothing is now strewn. We're talking desperate situation here.

A night with Al Gore

Anne and I went to see Al Gore speak last night as part of a speaker series at Radio City Music Hall. It was sort of spur of the moment - I got an e-mail from Audience Extras (a surplus theater tickets organization, which we're members of and highly recommend) at around 3pm stating there were still seats for an 8pm show. Called Anne and $4 later, we had two great seats to hear and see the former future president of the United States.

The talk was billed as on America's position in the world and outlook on foreign policy. He was great. His routine was almost that of a stand-up comedian. It was very practiced and sounded so. His message was not so much the U.S. foreign policy, but rather reiterating his documentary, An Inconvenient Truth. He talked of the polar ice caps, points of no return, etc. However, he did talk about our failure to lead the surge toward environmental change and most of the world's disgust and intolerance of our message of not-in-my-backyard.

The host tried at least 4 or 5 times, during the question and answer period, to get Gore's position on the current political race between Obama, McCain, and Clinton. He was less than willing to claim support for either of the democrats and refused to acknowledge whether or not he had any intention on reentering politics. He did say that he wouldn't rule out the possibility, but made it clear that he thought the democratic primary season will shortly come up with a candidate. And before the convention.

One of the more salient points he made, something I've heard him make before, came at the end when he posed 1 of 2 questions will be asked by future generations regarding the climate crisis: 1) What in the heck were they thinking? and; 2) Where did they come up with the courage to act? This drives home a sense of moral obligation and immediacy our situation necessitates. But what am I to do? I'm not a scientist. I'm not in politics. I can't change the course of business and consumption.

We did just purchase a compost bin for the kitchen. We'll be bringing the compost to the Ring garden down the street - is that all we can do? We have slowly been changing our light bulbs, try to re-use things as much as possible, use public transportation, recycle. But as I look out of our window, I see other building's oil furnaces burning off black soot. It's all just very depressing.

Gore mentioned a few statistics that drove home the notion that we actually have the capability to be oil free with existing technology. If, he said, we were to build on a 90 mile x 90 mile tract of land in the Southwest a field of solar panels, we would have enough electricity to power the entire United States. So, why don't we build it? What is stopping us?

Well, he gave one possible answer - the oil companies. Apparently, according to Gore, the oil companies drive up prices reducing supply and then depress them in a telling pattern. As soon as the political will swells to a light boil, the companies reduce prices/increase supply. And we, really the pols that be, fall for it all the time and the political will it is vanquished.

He blamed this on the culture of short-sightedness, quarterly returns, over-night polling numbers and the like. We don't plan for the future. We don't understand longevity. And thus, without a change in perspective, we're pretty much screwed.

How much for a quarter?

It's Friday early afternoon and I've just come back up stairs after putting several loads of laundry in the dryer. 5 quarters has equaled 40 minutes for roughly 2 years at 8 minutes a quarter. Today, my 5 quarters yielded 35 minutes. 1/8 of our drying value has disappeared right before our very eyes without nary a mention.

I went up to the owner and asked about the new pricing and he matter-of-factly said, 7 minutes per quarter. Then thinking that I had done the math wrong, just nodded and walked away confused, going over the multiplication tables in my head. Just to make sure I wasn't crazy, I used the 9x5 benchmark by curling my thumb - yes 45 - I wasn't going crazy. I guess what I had expected was an apology or an explanation: 'due to our increasing energy prices we have been forced to defray some of our expenses to you the consumer.' But no, nothing more than 7 per quarter. I don't blame him.

I guess 50 more cents for two loads at the dryer won't put too much of a dent in our budget as would say filling up our tanks if we drove.

The picture above is captioned 'dancing at the laundromat' - doesn't really apply here - but then again, for that extra 50 cents, maybe they'll throw in lessons. Now there's an idea.

I love my building . . .

But I don't love it enough to pay double rent. Apparently, that's exactly what I've done. Somehow I scheduled two rent payments for the month of May. Checking out my balance threw me for a loop this morning. I'm trying to figure it out as we speak.

On the phone with the management company now. Looks like it'll be okay. Going to stop payment on one of the checks. Phew!

Glad I didn't overdraft - a $30 fee is not what I consider enjoyable.