Vacation

Columbian necktie

September 10, 2008 – 10:23 am

This is the only photo I took of our vacation

I took an actual vacation from work, but now I am back and I am trying to determine if the time off has made any difference. So far today it seems that all the work I left before is still here, plus a bunch of stupid crap that has piled up in the mean time. I don't mind it so much since I can pull the "hey, I just got back from vacation and I am swamped" for the next week or so. I suppose the fact that I don't mind this means the vacation succeeded in relaxing me adequately. I blew off just enough steam to once again resume my cog-in-the-wheel status.

In two weeks my office moves downtown, which would be interesting if it didn't mean I will have to start dressing up for work. I think I have to start wearing ties and shirts that tuck in. Does anyone know if they make pre-tied neckties that can be buttoned in the back? Not a clip-on, which is pretty obvious, this would be something that would look like a real tie from the front but be easy to attach in the back (the clasp would be covered by the collar). I looked for this but I couldn't really find any; doesn't this seem odd? Why do people waste valuable time tying their ties every single day? I thought about just loosening the knot so I could put it back on, but this tends to rumple the tie. Is this a million-dollar idea the corporate world has been waiting for?

Anyway, I'm back. Our vacation consisted of a short jaunt to the Greater Cleveland Area, to visit some people up there and generally not do anything. The highlight of the trip was holing up in the lovely Super 8 motel, eating junk food and watching cable television. Of course after 3 days of this, we were both totally sick of junk food and agreed that even with 60 channels there was absolutely nothing to watch (although we could almost get by on just Bravo and Animal Planet). We hung out with my sister's family and finally got to see lifelong friend James' new house. We hit up Corky & Lenny's, Tommy's Diner (soy milkshakes!), Aladdin's (best baba ever), and drank free Starbucks the entire time using the gift cards our bosses had given us last Christmas. We ran through the endless aisles of Giant Eagle and the non-crowded Whole Foods, went to the mall and bought some clothes, and remembered to swing by Big Fun on the way to the airport to buy some crap (actually I bought some tin crickets to help train the cats to do my bidding). In short, we lived like Ohioans, if only for a short time.

There is something to be said for sequestering yourself away from your life. I kind of scoffed at that sort of thing in the past, but the older you get, the more necessary it may be. Even if we hadn't gone to Cleveland, we could have booked a room at some local fleabag motel to get out of our house for a couple days. The remainder of our vacation was spent at home, and although we got a lot of work done on the house, that's exactly the problem: you can't sit at home and do nothing. I've tried before but sooner or later I find myself weeding, or fixing something, or god forbid, cleaning. In that Super 8 with the uncomfortable headboard and nonexistent maid service, we were forced to actually do nothing, which is harder than it sounds.

Anyway, when we returned to Brooklyn we set about out our tasks, which included hitting the newish Ikea. We've been in our house for almost 2 years and we still haven't bought any furniture or anything. My night stand is a storage chest; Jeannie's is a chair. Our couch (a gift from our pal Sean M, who has basically outfitted our entire home with his hand-me-downs) once was an elegant fixture from the 50's, but it has been used to the point that it cuts off leg circulation when you sit on it for a while. I don't know that I ever had any political issue with the opening of the Brooklyn Ikea, but if I did, I forgot all about it when I realized we could outfit most of the house for less than one couch from Room and Board.

Ikea was nice enough, we picked out tons of stuff, then came home and bought it online. Annoyingly, a few items were not available online, so we'll still have to go back there at some point. The shipping costs were also outrageous, but we still came in several hundred bucks below my intended ceiling. Who knows when we actually will get the stuff, this doesn't seem to be their strong point.

By Jimmy Legs | Also posted in Cleveland, Good Stuff, Job, Motel, Ohio | Comments Off

Dead eyes feeding your dead dead brain

August 26, 2008 – 1:10 pm

Oh god, life is passing me by! And by 'life' I mean summer. Summer kind of sucks for adults, especially when the weather is nice out, like it has been lately. Sure, most of the summer was super hot and I honestly didn't mind coming to my windowless office to bask in the air conditioning that forced me to bring a sweater to work. But it's been so temperate lately, I have been increasingly despising that force that drags me back into this hell hole every day.

Or maybe it's just because my job sucks.

Of course, some would disagree with me. Most of the time I don't have all that much to do. But in the past few months I have had to work like never before, often without much guidance. If I was doing work I cared about, this would be an awesome opportunity to really dig in and test my skill set and grow as a person. Unfortunately those jobs that would provide this rich, philosophically pleasing experience (Kittenhugger, Freestyle Rapper) do not pay the bills. Instead, I'm doing work I don't like for people who demand too much out of us.

Meanwhile I gotta deal with unhelpful tech people who always treat my questions with this weird threatened defensiveness, as if helping me do my stupid job somehow robs them of their elvish secrets and render them only +2 strength and agility. They're cagey and refuse to answer questions straight. They do ask me to call them, but frankly, their English is bad and their phone connections are scratchy and I fear this would be even more intolerable.

Clearly I'm feeling burned out. The remedy: vacation! It's been a year since the last one, and this one promises even less work than the last one! Yes, I'm actually hoping to have no contact with the office while I'm out. Of course, it's pretty doubtful this will be possible, but I swear I won't check my email until I return.

And where does the burned-out web grunt go to unwind? Cleveland, Ohio! Yes, one of the most sought-after cities for people looking for an immersively relaxing experience, Cleveland is synonymous with luxury and sheer happiness. Who can stay stressed out while the soothing fingers of the Cuyahoga river caress their aching muscles? Who can refuse a third helping of zebra mussel salad? Who can resist the temptation of that part of town so relaxing it's called 'The Flats'? I'll be flatlining in no time!

By Jimmy Legs | Also posted in Famliy, Friends, Job | Comments Off

A Day late, A dollar short

January 3, 2008 – 12:21 pm

Pot Pie, originally uploaded by Jimmy Legs.

I didn't notice it so much during the past week, but when the last of our visitors had successfully decamped, I realized how exhausted I was/am. The upside is that the whole Christmas visit thing went fairly effortlessly; the downside is that it left little time to really relax.

We picked up nephew Devon on Friday. Man, JFK really needs to get their story straight about picking up unaccompanied minors. We ended up running all over Terminal 8 trying to get him, being variously told to wait by baggage claim, the security check-in, or that we were supposed to have visitors' passes to meet him at the gate. No two people had the same answer. Even with everybody conferring on cell phones it took a long time to snare him.

Jeannie's mom came up the next day, and her sister (who lives here and we see all the time anyway). We did a lot of the touristy stuff; Little Italy, Chinatown, Panna II, Pearl River, (veggie) sushi, South St Seaport, The Bodies Exhibit, the J&R computer store, Thai food, World Trade Center, the Natural History Museum, an abortive trip to Rockefeller Center. The latter was like being in a Night of the Living Dead movie, except instead of rending human flesh the zombies assault you with their manfactured Christmas cheer.

Other notable moments: we thought we should see a movie to pause from the frantic running around. None of us had ever seen an IMAX movie so we got tickets to see I Am Legend on 68th St. We totally blew it, getting caught in the unforseen rains on Wednesday and not making it to the theater until it was too late to find a seat. In short, everything the movie was supposed to alleviate stress-wise ended up only compounding our aggravation. The one good thing to come out of the day was stopping at Economy Candy which never seems to be open when I'm there normally. We saw the movie the next day; it was okay, but that big huge screen scared the hell out of me!

Christmas Day was festive, though I learned the hard way that the grocery store actually does close that day. I made another vegan pot pie, even better than last time (I swear I just want to make this recipe and nothing else all year). Devon, however, was in dire straits as we didn't pick up much of the meaty variety (hey I thought the store was gonna be open!) We did have some hot dogs and frozen pizza at least, which everyone knows they had at The Last Supper.

Later in the week we did end up getting a game console, a Playstation 3 specifically. The games seem interesting, if very complex. I particularly liked the casino game that is known for being #1 Aussie Casino Bonuses at www.EasyMobileCasino.com, you can even win real prizes. For my money though, I am more excited that the console acts not only as a gaming device, but also as multi-function DVD player. It's got that Blu Ray technology, so now suddenly I hope to god that format wins out over HD-DVD. But it also plays video files in the Divx/Xvid formats, the primary format I get movies from on Usenet. Which reminds me, No Country for Old Men kicks ass, but the Joy Division movie, not so much (and I'm a fan from way back).

The week ended with us getting Devon's return flight time wrong. We thought it was Sunday afternoon when it had actually been at 7 in the morning. His mom was able to reschedule for the next day, meaning we'd have to leave for JFK by 4:30 AM. So we just stayed up all night.

We took a car to JFK and waited in a huge line for no good reason. Why can't everybody use the kiosk things? I know we had special circumstances but was this true for all the other people in line with us? Anyhow, we get up there and I fill out some form, at which time they tell me I have to go with him to his gate. Jeannie would have to wait outside the checkpoint. A little awkward, but whatever. I figured I would take him to his gate, where he would be met by an airline rep, who would chaperone him the rest of the way. Devon was asked to pony up $75 for this privilege.

So we go through security and to the gate, where we proceed to wait for an hour. We ask what he's supposed to do and they tell me to hang out and he'll go on after everybody else is on the plane. Then they tell me I have to stay until the friggin plane takes off. What?

So Devon finally gets to get on the plane, after asking "So what did I just pay $75 for?" and I stand around like a chump. I wait for a while, thinking that if I bail, someone will arrest me for child abandonment. But eventually I slip away, find Jeannie and hop on the Airtrain home. It doesn't take all that long to get home, we end up on the exact train that we normally pick up at Halsey Street every morning. We go home and pass out. Consequently, New Year's Eve was a decidedly low-key affair this year.

Here's some photos from the week. I kept forgetting my camera, as usual, so they are a little abrupt. Meanwhile I finally found time to build that cat shelter!

By Jimmy Legs | Also posted in Holidays, The City, Video Games | Comments Off

Lovin' every minute of it

December 21, 2007 – 10:51 am

Funboy, originally uploaded by Jimmy Legs.

Whoa, what a long week. We've been preparing the house for our visitor all week, which was a lot more work than I thought. And now I'm not even sure the house looks that much better than it did before (there's only so much a broom and a sponge can do when you've got mismatched moldings and poorly-patch ceilings). But things should be stable enough to weather a couple of people coming over for a few days.

Speaking of visitors, Mugsy the feral cat showed up after disappearing for almost half a year. We assumed he was dead, but as you can see he's as beautiful as ever.

We have a bunch of brochures for stuff to do this week. Lucky for us, we haven't done anything culturally-relevant since moving to Bushwick. We'll probably go to that Bodies exhibit, even though I think it might make me hurl. There's another brochure that advertises a "Tour Simulator," some kind of IMAX type thing with footage of the city. I love the idea that people travel here from all over the world then see a simulation of what they ostensibly are here to see.

Last weekend, our interior designer Sean (so named because we keep furnishing the house with stuff he's throwing out) lent us an Xbox plus a bunch of games, so that should keep everybody occupied for at least a half-hour. I still can't tell the difference between the PlayStation and the Xbox; the Wii still seems like the most fun, but I usually get broed with video games after a couple days anyway. What's really fun is … building cat shelters!

This weekend I am hoping to finally assemble the shelter I ordered from FeralVilla, it's basically a 2-story, shingled-roof house for cats. If the cats don't use it, I'm moving in.

By Jimmy Legs | Also posted in Cats, Feral, Strays, The City, Video Games | Comments (2)

The house is an ancient tomb: be warned

December 10, 2007 – 12:08 pm

So much stuff is going on, and all I want to do i lie around on the couch. No such luck, however, as the Holidays are upon us.

I gotta remember to take a picture of our Xmas lights, it's so lame. Rite Aid has a sale on lights so I bought a couple strings and put them around the perimeter of the windows on the ground floor. They're white lights too so they don't even look all that festive; it looks like a dressing room mirror. Oh well, I'm a Jew, your traditions are 'strange' and 'frightening' to me.

Great upheaval includes the departure of our tenants. Yep, they moved up to Greenpoint yesterday, piano and all! Incredibly, we were able to sleep through most of the actual move, except when one of the movers loudly bet another that he'd pay him a hundred bucks to ride Buzz's bike down the stairs. Without going into it too much, they decided to move due to some safety issues, for which I totally don't fault them. We knew going into it that Bushwick is not exactly the safest place on earth, and I always felt a little bad that we sort of dragged them here in the first place. Still, they got a darned cheap rent for a duplex apartment! But money isn't everything and now they're in a neighborhood that's not only one of the safest in town, but is full of those amenities that everybody normally aspires to: grocery stores, restaurants, book/record stores, and an Irish pub right across the street. Damn, I could use one of those!

That's what sucks about home ownership; we're stuck here. Eventually this might turn into an advantage, say, if the neighborhood gets all fancy around us and we make a killing in real estate. Of course, the way things are going, this doesn't look too likely in the foreseeable future (for instance, all eyes were on the local corner property that was about to open, as a litmus test of the area; it opened as a wig store.) But I still like the house and, barring any personal violence I might endure, I'm okay with the neighborhood. But what are we gonna do with this house?

For the time being we are going to see if we can afford the whole joint without rental income. This comes mostly because the house, as it is set up, is unworkable for a rental to any but those we can wholeheartedly trust (and of course, my motto is: Trust No One). It's a legal 2-family, but there's no actual division between the units. To divide the house properly would take quite an undertaking at this point, and honestly wasn't something I was planning to do for a while. But if push comes to shove we'll have to jumpstart the renovations. Assuming we win the lottery, no problem!

Having the house to ourselves at this point has another big advantage: we have people coming for Christmas. Jeannie's mom and nephew are coming up for the Holidays, so they will be camping out on separate floors, on their respective futons (futons currently make up 50% of our furniture now, classy!) We certainly won't feel crowded. Now the problem is, what do we do with a 13 year old kid?

The nephew looks like he's in his 20's, he's 6 feet tall and otherwise precocious, so he's pretty flexible. But the law is not. So we can't just blithely take him to shows and bars as we would do with, say, Jeannie's mom. We're trying to figure out what a kid from St. Thomas would want to do in the city, but we're coming up short. Worse still, Todd P, purveyor of all ages shows, just announced he's cutting back on his bookings, meaning shows we could get a kid into will be in short supply. Argh.

I dunno, if I was a kid raised in the Caribbean, NYC in the winter sounds like Siberia. Hell, now that I've visited the Caribbean, NYC feels like a gulag to me too. Don't get me wrong, I love it here, but I just don't wanna have to leave the house. Aside from the requisite tours, museums, restaurants, what do kids do here? Should we give him some spray paint or what?