brooklyn gal for a while

read it.

Fucking hilarious.








AH, thank you for introducing me to this book. you are indeed a good friend

posted by gordian knot @ Friday, December 30, 2005 0 comments

cup of coffee, container enough

I fell in "heart" with NY coffee before I ever tasted it. Those cups
are just so freaking cute! Of course, as long as you wont miss your teeth from decay, it is quite tasty too.
But what I dont understand is the placement of the full cup of coffee in a flimsy little paper sac. what is that point of this? Is there someone out there who thinks it easier to carry this way? Or do most people who are desperate for caffine tenderly carry their little bag of legal/socially accpetable drugs through the rain to enjoy at a later time? Am I alone in wanting to actually drink the warm beverage while it is still warm?
Recently though I happened to grab a cup from Balthazar on my way to work*. This cup had a serious lid. I'm talking the best renovation of the plastic coffee lid since DD created the sipper/nipple hybrid. There was this slider mechanism (kind of like on spice jars) where you could open and close the lid! Yes, more plastic to fill our landfills, but less spilling coffee into my purse while walking down Spring St; this seems universal balence enough for me.


*A roomie recommended their coffee and pastries . . . my opinion, less than stellar on both accounts

posted by gordian knot @ Friday, December 30, 2005 0 comments

tech etiquette

in response to a recent posting about texting according to RBM and my daily dealings with patients, I need to blog it out (and apprently educate a few NYers).

• It is not OK to make a call on your cell phone while in the doctor's office and the doctor is trying to examine you.
• It is not OK to accept calls while the doctor is fitting you with contact lenses.
• It is not OK to listen to your ipod while the doctor is taking your medical history.
• It is not OK to text while the doctor is instilling eye drops

After all, I dont check out the latest craigslist posting while you complain about the mucopurulent discharge coming from your eyeball. Let's set aside the tech equipment for 18 minutes, shall we?

posted by gordian knot @ Thursday, December 29, 2005 2 comments

movie me

Have you ever felt you were in a movie of your own life? If there was a movie about mine, it would be rather mundane, but I do occationally feel like I'm playing exactly as some director wants and everything falls into place.* The past few days are a great example. Yesturday as I was walking up 9th st, I passed a pink haired old lady, then a purple-haired one, then step, step, a blue-haired one**, all while listening to 100 years on the ipod. Then today as the Manhattan bound F pulled into the station the coney island bound one was leaving such that there was a prolonged trip-y-motion of seeing the other train's passengers all while the postal service's such great heights's intro was playing. OK, maybe these aren't the best examples, and they do rely heavily on the soundtrack of my life, but at those times it was almost a calm moment, like I am supposed to be where I am. . . and I am happy thats in NYC.


*I will be honest, a lot of these moments in the past played out while looking out the window of the T in Boston, often while crossing the Charles . . . I think this is a scene in "Good Will Hunting."
** where are all these geriatric citizens in the slope coming from?

posted by gordian knot @ Thursday, December 29, 2005 0 comments

plan b?

hmm, I was just reading my email on yahoo when I noticed that the header ad was for the medication levonorgestrel, or more known by the brand "Plan B" (AKA the morning after pill). Now I am not sure if its the prescribing doctor in me or the anti-western med holostic healer trying to get out, but I've never been impressed by ads for prescription medications. In a capitilist society the public is out to consume en mass, but at what price? I am not against there being a morning after pill, dont get me wrong. But I dont think it should be advertised right next to the Vicky's secret ads.

posted by gordian knot @ Wednesday, December 28, 2005 0 comments

tree poser

I hope all of you had a very merry Christmas, or are having a happy Channuka, or are looking forward to a jovial January.
It has been a tradition at the family home to place our Christmas tree in the window to display our Christianity to the neighborhood (as my Dad puts it). There was a time when the family adventured to pick out a tree and then decorate it (we once even strung popcorn and cranberries on thread with a needle to garnish the tree!). Douglas fir or white pine, they were always about 7' tall and their scent floated through the house.
But this year there seemed to be a hybrid in reasoning between sensibility and keeping up appearances. Because the end result was tiny tree standing tall on a box. What a poser*. But as JK said, all the more room for presents.


* As a horrible speller, I spell checked "poser" this is what dictionary.com had to say:
n. A wannabee; not hacker slang, but used amongcrackers, phreaks and warez d00dz. Not as negative as lamer orleech. Probably derives from a similar usage among punk-rockersand metalheads, putting down those who "talk the talk but don't walkthe walk".

posted by gordian knot @ Tuesday, December 27, 2005 0 comments

Johnny!

When I heard about the new Yankee I was swept up in emotion. First, disbelief :Boston without Johnny is like, well, Boston without Dunkin' Donuts. Second, anger: How could you do this? The best part of a Fenway game is your tushie at bat. Finally though, I realized what had happend. I'm sorry to tell you this Johnny, but even though you followed me to NYC, and I appreciate it, the new pinstripes and clean cut look just dont do it for me.

posted by gordian knot @ Friday, December 23, 2005 1 comments

Yes! strike!

My Amtrak ticket to go home to MD was for Tuesday after work. I had been a little concened about having to lug my suitcase up the 89 stairs at the East Broadway subway station, but luck was on my side! The only steps I had to climb were the 4 to get on the Manhattan bridge.

posted by gordian knot @ Wednesday, December 21, 2005 0 comments

san diego pics

i know this is boring. but I wanted to post my pics to everything before I went home for Christmas.


AH and N? at the awefully loud irish pub (?)

old town


view from our balcony














me, AH, LJ in Australia (before LJ ditched us for men with $)

posted by gordian knot @ Monday, December 19, 2005 0 comments

4 mos later . . . Amy's wedding

Amy and Paul, what a cute couple!
Here are photos i said i'd post eons ago.

posted by gordian knot @ Monday, December 19, 2005 0 comments

squish!

On the way home tonight the F was pretty crowded (lots of people, but also a 3:1 bag to human ratio) and when a spot on bench opened at Bergen, I was there. But as I turned to sit down, the train started on and I fell. on the tiny person next to where my rear was supposed to go. ON HER.
i dont think she was permanetly injuried. but so fucking embarressing.

posted by gordian knot @ Monday, December 19, 2005 0 comments

and the phone rings

When one moves to a new city, what is the first thing relatives always tell you to do? (Well, after the get a job/apt conundrum is solved.) It seems to me there is always a push from someone to join a club; I can hear "get involved" in both my parent's voices. Their reason being that one can make friends in clubs. ( insert the obvious Groucho Marx retort here) But when you think of it, we DO make friends or strengthen friendships through clubs or cliques, as it may be. Examples: high school friends from the volleyball team or "international club"*, fraternities, heck, even playgroup (although we had little choice in the matter)
So, I did join a club, a book club, when I first moved here. I will be honest, the books we choose are not that challenging and we rarely disagree about meaning of plots etc**.
I also joined one of the multitude of online dating things. This has led to meeting the tall man (who has since turned into the no-email-etiquette man***), the sushi dude, and various others.
Well last night the investment in both "clubs" paid off, so to speak. I got a call from J of the book club and one from Jersey guy within 5 min of each other. Now, of course its always nice when a guy calls you, especially when he seems not only decent/non-mental, but actually nice. But, its really great when a gal calls you up to go out for a girls night on the town! And thats just what we did. Drinks in the slope, out to some bars (clubs?) without signs in the LES and even a cab to brooklyn without a fight with the driver! It was a great night out. . . . Yes, I made a friend!


*the club you join so you can go to NYC in the spring without your parents
** the Life of Pi is the big exception to this rule. which ending did you believe? the tiger or the mother? I for one am all about the tiger
*** I did finally block him

posted by gordian knot @ Sunday, December 18, 2005 0 comments

popcorn and Puffs

As you may know, my pre-new year's resolution is to go out more on the weekends. What you may not know is that 1. i've been kind of illin' and 2. do not have a huge gang of people to meet up with. So I decided to treat myself to dinner and a movie. And by dinner I mean popcorn and Mug rootbeer. (May not be in Zagat's but its tasty). I walked up to Cinema village after work to check out The Family Stone. I was impressed with the design of the theater; it was a 3 tier-ed theater with great molding and "stuff" on the ceiling (that's an architectural term for those not in the know). The theater kind of reminded me of the Coolidge in Brookline, but with a little bit more leg/butt room.
The movie was as good as I hoped (even if a lot of the funny scenes are in the comercials). But probably not the best film to pick if you're missing your mom around the holiday season. I cried like a girl. Ok, I am a girl, so I just cried. But why let the tears end as the credits come and lights turn up? Just spin your ipod to "feel like crying" playlist and let it roll. RW can attest to my bizarre affinity for listening to gut-wrenching tunes on repeat. I was all the way to the slope when the Boyz to Men, A Song for Mama, came on. That one really ups the velocity of tear flow. But I'd like to think that my mom is still around or aware of how we are doing. In fact today at work, when a co-worker commented that I wore a lot of beige*, I knew my mom heard that and laughed. The thing is though, I dont remember what her laugh sounded like. And that is what makes me saddest of all.

*my mom's signature color

posted by gordian knot @ Friday, December 16, 2005 1 comments

Why the Good Nite Inn rocked

I had a fine time in San Diego. There was a phenominal (if I do say so myself) 25 hours of CE learned, well, atleast sat through. A sake tasting, really aweful French maritinis, and an expected amount of embaressment was had as well. I spent the majority of nights at the wonderful Marriott next to the convention center (my experience at these big conferences is that they are held in warm, sunny locations, yet one is really not allowed time to actually BE outside. but the blue skies did look inviting from our over air-conditioned seminar rooms). However, the first night I was there, I was on my own and looking for a cheap place to crash. The Good Nite Inn won the expedia hotel search. It was near the beach, near old town, not too far from the convention center or airport, and the price was right. Well fate must have been involved in this hotel ordering process.
The cab slowed as we passed "Les Girls", "Tiny's autobody repair" and "the body shop" (something about the images next to that sign led me to believe it was more like the former establishment than the latter). But as I lugged my suitcase over the gravel drive to check in, I saw it . . . I knew why this was the best hotel . . . across the street in a hand-lettered sign was "San Diego's Largest Craftstore"!

posted by gordian knot @ Thursday, December 15, 2005 0 comments

Welcome back to NYC

On my way home tonight I saw something on the side of the walk that I couldnt identify. It was either a slightly decayed dead rat or a frozen turd. I decided not to investigate further and continued home.

posted by gordian knot @ Tuesday, December 13, 2005 1 comments

Cali-forn-i-a

I am leaving Brooklyn for some sunshine, beach combing, sushi with friends and continuing ed credits. After hearing about JK's party-fabulous weekend*, I am hoping for some fun-filled evenings in San Diego. Not too many of the old school optometry kids will be there, but I'm sure AH and I will find something to get into. Of course the CC will be there too, wonder if I'll see him.** Well I should head to bed, the car service is coming to wisk me to JFK in a mere 5 hours.


*New Year's resolution is to seriously reconsider this working both days of the weekend buisness. Saturday night, after work, I came home and made myself a new wallet. So freakin' lame. For now, I definitly need to plan more weekend activities even if I am working. (It is a pretty neat-o wallet, if I do say so myself.)
**Yes, I plan to look damn fine the entire trip. The dumped's revenge, right?

posted by gordian knot @ Tuesday, December 06, 2005 0 comments

airing the dirty laundry

Call me lazy, call me bourgeoise, but now that I have discovered laundry service, I may never go back to the suds and duds*. Here is how it works. I take my laundry to the place only 2 blocks away. I leave for a day. I come back and the laundry is washed, dryed and FOLDED even in nice stacks in a bag ready to go home and promtly sit on my floor for a couple days before I put things away. Now here is the kicker. . . if I wait a few weeks so that my laundry is too heavy for me to carry to the cleaners, they will pick it UP and drop OFF for free! To top all this off, I think its cheaper than the regular $2.25 per wash and dry per load (or atleast really too close to waste half my day off sitting in a grimy laundromat (OK, really standing, because many of the seats have been oddly ripped off the bench thing, or there is a spill of something sticky and brown)).

*my first encounter with a laundromat as a kid, was in this rinky dinky stripmall in NC, where we would wash our clothes in the middle of our beach vacation (actually I think we snuck into a condo's cleaning place and used their pool while we washed our clothes. Perhaps I just remember my mom looking fondly at the suds and duds after spending an hour with us at the Food Lion). Of course if the laundry places really served beer up here, that may sway my vote of cleaning methods.

posted by gordian knot @ Monday, December 05, 2005 0 comments

leftover Halloween decorations, or art?

When I walked down the street and saw this in the window a month ago, I thought it was a cool Halloween decoration, or a random nod to the storage ads up on the train. But it is still there. I'd guess art, but then the owners dont really get to admire the detailed doll face . . . perhaps it is for the beautification of the street, or the edification of people who dont know good sidewalk art when they see it.

posted by gordian knot @ Saturday, December 03, 2005 0 comments

ice steaking

I went ice skating at the new rink at Bryant Park last night with LA and SJC. (they love seeing their initials in cyberspace :)
I didnt fall. But then perhaps I didnt try to go too fast or do to many tricks (OK, any tricks). Maybe my goal should have been TO fall. There were a surprising number of young and not so young men at the rink showing their quick stopping moves. One in particular enjoyed "spitting" ice at everyone else. My general reaction to this type of "fun" is to ignore the person/event and walk away. But this guy came back to argue with us about what fun it was and how he was enjoying himself. It was like he was trying to pick a fight with us. what a lame-o.
But the evening was not lost, we treated ourselves to steak dinners at the ale house. ymmm.

posted by gordian knot @ Thursday, December 01, 2005 0 comments