Star Magazine - My Paparazzi photo
As you probably know, mainly b/c I am telling everyone I see on the street, I took a photo of american idol vote off - jason castro shopping for an engagement ring with his girlfriend. Below is a quick scan from the August 6th editoin of Star Magazine.
For the full resolution version see my flickr
Starting
Amy and I started the long process of finding, bidding on and buying an APT in the NYC area. As scary as the thought was, we made our first steps this morning. We met with a friend who works at corcoran.com and starting looking at a few places in brooklyn. We saw 2 places both were nice and we were able to explore a couple neighborhoods. We are still very much up in the air on which neighborhood or borough we even want to live in. We are going to a few more open houses tomorrow as we start to narrow in on the areas of town to refine our searches to.
Another man’s trash …
I picked up these beautys while on assignment by barb at a flea market in hells kitchen this weekend. I was there to chat and take some photos of the junkmarket Style Maven Sue Whitney. While walking around I saw these shoes out of the corner of my eye. On my approach to the shoes all I could think was - PLEASE be my size! PLEASE be my size! I navigated my way to the shoe and as I rolled back the tongue there it was - US SIZE 12. They are slightly worn, although no wear on the sole and only a little bit of dirt on the outer edges. They set me back an entire $20 bill. Well worth every penny.
Sorry for the camera phone shot.
More mobile testing
Testing photo upload
Setting up moblog
Sent from my iPhone. Test.
falling out of the sky
I was walking down Park Ave the other day when I noticed a brown object falling from a building. It was about 15 feet in front of me and there were a few people in between myself and the now fallen object. Everyone just stared at it and walked by. I went up to it bent over and stared at it. Someones wallet pouch thing. I opened it up and saw credit cards, medical coverage, etc… and looked up and around. Immediately I thought I was on candid camera show. I took the wallet pouch to the front of the building and to the doorman - who had that “I’m from another planet” look when I handed it to him.
Excuse me sir - this fell out of your building. Have a nice day.
Wait… what do we do?
Last week amy and I decided to head downtown to get out of the neighborhood for the night and check out a new place for dinner. We walked around the lower east side looking in the windows of the restaurants we walked by. After stopping a number of times (cuban, mexican, thai) we saw an Ethiopian place that caught our eye. I told amy “Well I don’t think I have ever eaten Ethiopian” and she had an equally blank stare on her face - so we went in. The restaurant was very small, maybe 4 or 5 tables, and moderately decorated. The wait staff was friendly and brought our food out quickly.
We started the meal with some wine and an avocado and tomato appetizer. The waitress brought the dish over - which consisted of finely chopped tomatoes, chopped avocados mixed in a zesty dressing - served on a thin flat piece of bread. Amy and I sat and waited for some silverware and discussed how good the appetizer looked, until i finally realized that - we weren’t getting any silverware. Finger food. I looked around at the other tables and everyone was diving in digit first. Amy actually called the waitress over to clarify that she wanted us to eat this half soup appetizer with our hands. The answer was yes. Everything is served with Teff - a wheat alternative mashed up into a flat tortilla like stack. You basically just grab the teff pancake and scoop up some of your dish.
We had a fun night and got to try something new. Ethiopian as you can imagine is very similar to a lot of Indian food you might be familiar with, very similar spices and food combinations.
saving the day
Like many doors here in Manhattan, Amy and I’s new apartment door locks when you pull it shut behind you. This is a nice feature, but one that I am not use to as my old apartment needed to be locked upon exit. The other day while doing laundry (amy in her PJs and me barefoot in my knicks shorts and a white t-shirt) I pulled the door shut behind me without thinking about it locking. Sure enough, neither of us had keys and the doorman had just given us our spare and it was sitting on our entry way table. After a brief panic (especially after amy remembered she had food in the oven) I went downstairs to see what advice the on duty doorman had for us. He said that a locksmith at that time of night is around $300 bucks in this neighborhood and would probably take a while to arrive. But he mentioned that if I had credit card I could try to pick the lock. Well I didn’t have a credit card - I didn’t even have pockets in my shorts. So he lent me an old room key card he had from a hotel somewhere in Puerto Rico. I was like you think this will work? He said probably not, but its worth a shot.
I came up to deliver the news of the cost of a handyman and told amy to prepare for burnt food as I started to wiggle the room key around our door. The problem with picking our door is the gap where the lock is, actually isn’t visible and is hidden from site by an overlapping metal piece of the door frame. So, to pick the lock, one would have to maneuver around the door frame into the door gap and then down into the lock. I didn’t do a great job explaining it, but it was a daunting task. After a few unsuccessful tries I made a little progress and felt the lock jiggle. Just as I was starting to get discouraged again - BAM… she popped right open. Our dinner, laundry, and wallets were saved! Whew.
the mail
The last few months have been really tough mail months… you know what I am talking about, right? When every time you get the mail its that one big bill you forgot about or your taxes were figured incorrectly and now you owe an “adjusted sum”. Well I have been having one of those mail slumps this summer - where nothing good has come through my mailbox. Today seemed like no different. There was two letters from the IRS (assuming it was about interest on 2006 tax - as usual), a wireless envelope from att, and what appeared to be a credit card bill.
After letting the pile sit on my coffee table for a while I tackled the painstaking task of sorting through it. The first letter from the IRS turned out to be a refund of $51 of overpayment! Ok not looking too bad… next IRS Letter - a statement notifying me of 2006 overpayment and a refund would be sent out shortly. Well I got the refund at the same time as the statement - no delay! Great, feeling good. I go after the credit card bill - which turns out to actually be an electronic payment from my bank from someone who sent me money! Things are really looking good - who cares if the att envelope was a bill! As I open the sure to be att bill I feel something hard inside… hmm. Bam, it was a credit card… wait no… it was my rebate from my recent cell phone purchase in the form of a debit card!
What a good mail day!
jitba the apt hunter
Amy and I, after visiting more apartments than we can count, have put in our application. We faxed the application late yesterday and in the pouring rain we stood outside the rental management’s office this morning to ensure that they had all that they needed. Apparently multiple applications are in for the apartment that we applied for so our fingers crossed that they pick us. Otherwise, it’s back to hitting the streets.
back and (almost) settled
After 15 days away from my 400 square feet of nyc concrete paradise I am almost settled back in. After I sit down to go through my bills, stack of magazines and unpack everything will be back to normal. Until that is, I move - just over a month from now.
Blackout
I went through my first blackout today. I happened to be on my way to meet some friends for an early dinner when the blackout hit. With the subways down I ended up walking 2 1/2 miles to get down to time sq. for some tacos and opening day of diet die hard.
New York weekend
I felt like a real new yorker this weekend. Saturday morning I hit up the Bryant park reading room. After catching up on the outside world I met up with big mike, of the previously famed digital bohn, and we cruised out to the brooklyn film festival. The festival was pretty good as we got to see close to 7 films (shorts and feature length) for $25. They ranged from feature length documentaries to experimental shorts playing with light and sound. It is playing all week so if you are around you should check it out.
chips and dip
Growing up in my parents house, whenever there was a big sporting event going on, I would set up camp in front of the TV and relax. But, for some reason, I couldn’t really get comfortable until I had a nice treat to accompany me for the event (normally a Chicago Bulls game, Bowling on abc, or an occasional golf major). The two really went hand and hand to the point where I wouldn’t eat the treat until the event started, this has boiled over into adulthood. For example, If i get takeout from my favorite thai food place I have a hard time starting to eat until I am satisfied with the show/movie/whatever that is on tv at that moment. It has even gotten to the point where I will wait in excess of 10 or 15 minutes for a show to start so I can properly enjoy my meal.
Whats that? Oh yea, the point of this ramble. Yesterday was host to a number of great NCAA hoops games and whilst at the grocery store I had an idea to make one of the special treats I use to make back home for just this event. You see, my buddy Jason use to work at this salsa place in the mall… although I seem to remember him quitting within the week. But, while he was there, he came across an amazing dip recipe. To make the dip: Take one can of spicy bbq salsa with as little chunky bits as possible and two sticks of cream cheese. Pour the salsa into a bowl and mix in the cream cheese. After the two are completely blended together cool in the fridge for a few hours and then serve up. The most important thing to note is to not have chunks and keep the salsa flavor barbecue.
Hunched over
Last week I got a call from a friend… “Hey Jim, I have started playing racquetball with some guys - would you be interested?” I, of course, was like “YEA! - lets do it!”, not really knowing what I was saying.
Last night I stopped by the sporting good shop and picked up a sweet $19 racquet, 3 racquetballs, goggles, and a sweet red sweat band. I met up with the guys at the YMCA this morning for a 7am match and I proceeded to be the worst racquetballer out there. I decided to join the YMCA for $88 bucks a month - which, if you are keeping track - is my first gym membership ever. I had such a good time playing, and my hope is that I will get better. Although I did have such a great time, enough to commit myself, there are a few drawbacks. In no particular order:
- Two trains and a walk away from my APT
- Alarm clock tuned to 6 am
- I am terrible
- Getting dressed for work at the Y
- Dealing with my YMCA community shower flashbacks
- Being hunched over for the next day and a half
To top it all off I have two dodgeball matches tonight - better go find some asprin.