July

I got a 91% on the last lecture test. And the lab test- no idea how it's graded, but I think I did rather well, considering (especially since she gave us the answers for a few of the questions). So much of the material wasn't on the test, so I wound up memorising a bunch of formulas for nothing (I can safely say I'll never need to know how to calculate the Earth's energy budget). Only one more lab test next Wednesday and then we're finished with the lab part of the course. And I think the chance of my failing is slim to none, so I don't need to worry anymore.

Today hasn't been a bad day, other than the fact that I feel like I'm getting a cold- been doing the zinc and echinacea today- maybe it'll go away before it starts. Although I think what I really need is rest. And now that I don't have to worry so much about this class and work is rather light right now (I think), maybe I can actually get some (and only do time-sensitive things on my to-do list this weekend). Jon asked if I wanted to come down this weekend (Jeff's going down), but I don't know if I'd want to go even if I had more time. I just saw Brian, Rebecca, and Eytan, and even though it would be fun seeing Jon and Jeff, I don't think I'm in the right frame of mind to do the polite/friendly/"life is wonderful" thing another weekend in a row (I couldn't even do it the whole weekend with Brian and Rebecca no matter how hard I tried).

Launch seems to go through phases. Recently it's been playing plenty of Floyd and Loreena but no Tull or Tori. And it likes playing me stuff I've never heard before, which would be fine if I liked any of it- it's always generic or obnoxious new stuff. I wish they would let you decide what you want to hear more of in a way other than ratings (since that only gets you so far). And they should let you pick artists to repeat in the same day. It would be nice to hear more than one song from my favourite artists.

Now I saw 2 women moving stuff into the apartment next to me. They don't look too bad.

I'm not the only one irritated by the slow elevator commute recently in my building. I got in the other day and there was a man already in it who rolled his eyes at the extra stop. Then there were 4 more stops before we reached the lobby. Each stop brought a louder complaint by the man, and when we got to the lobby, he pushed his way off immediately and stormed away. I'm not that bad- I'm not mad at the other people needing to use the elevator. I mind when building workers tie up the elevators most of the day even though they only use it a fraction of the time- if they aren't using it, they should let it run normally to pick up other people.

I still sort of have a cold.

I had grocery issues yesterday. They didn't arrive when they were supposed to, and when I called to find out what was going on, no one answered. They arrived about an hour after the delivery window, and of course the frozen stuff was mostly defrosted.

Talked to Jon again yesterday (so he could ask about them coming up here for a night in August without the kids) and again he asked if I wanted to come down this weekend. Then he put Jeff on the phone and when I heard they were about to go play tennis, I wished I was down there, but then I remembered the bigger picture and was glad I couldn't take the time.

Today is a day of lots of work issues- 99.9% of people are incompetent, clueless, obnoxious, condescending, unreliable... I really don't like people in general.

Launch played me a song last night by an artist I rated a 32 (Michelle Branch- no clue who she is but obviously they played her before and I didn't like it then either). And they played it because "I rated this artist". How low do I have to rate before they won't play me some piece of crap? And last night it took listening to (or skipping through) 60+ songs before I heard Tull ("Budapest", to be specific, so at least when they finally played them, they picked a good one). It seems that since I signed up for their "premium" service, I've been hearing 90% crap.

With the help of Paula, we figured out what might be wrong with my foot. A pinched nerve (it has the classic symptoms and makes sense). So what did I read as recommended treatment for a pinched nerve in the foot? Shock absorbers. That's easy. Definitely will pick some of those up the next time I'm out.

And in other health-related news: my cold is gone (I think). I can't believe how much I've been sick or almost-sick this year. Or it feels like a lot, anyway.

I checked last night and found out that there isn't a new SFU this week, so I'll just watch last week's today (when it's more quiet than tomorrow will be) and spend tomorrow studying.

This Asia map (well, maps actually, there are 3 of them) we need to learn is rough. Given the destortion, it's so hard to tell what's where, especially the deserts and plateau (at least mountains and bodies of water are marked). And it doesn't help that it's such a huge continent condensed onto 3 little maps. I'm determined to finish labeling it today though, so tomorrow and Monday I can concentrate on studying for the other 2 tests (one Tuesday, one Wednesday) and save studying the maps for Wednesday night and Thursday afternoon, and it will be a lot easier to do that if they are already labeled.

And now for my annual site-searches tradition (only including funny or possibly useful). Last July 3rd feels like eons ago:
- things to know when on a business trip to hong kong
- angels grotto towson
- i got stoned in frank and norma's kitchen
- flying dutchman tori amos jethro tull
- making love in a subaru damaskas
- casting internships
- annekei
- i hate misty's husband jill
- citicorp building picture
- i hate baltimore
- london to cardiff
- xandos cafe in new york
- connelly's bar 54th street
- without the need to analyse the lyrics to the busted song 'year 3000' it doesn't take much of listening to realize how dense the 3 twats that sing it are this regurgitated garbage first introduced itself to my unsuspecting soon to be abused mus
- coffee times 62nd
- bloomberg building
- cafe cielo new york
- gampys baltimore
- kramer books afterwards cafe
- day trip to portsmouth nh
- new york sports club advertising
- belgium to amsterdam
- carabas hunt valley
- los dos molinos + nyc
- eat the runt
- rick's cafe casablanca morocco
- getting from spain to morocco

And I thought I'd list some interesting countries from which people are reading this site:
- Croatia
- Malaysia
- Cocos (Keeling) Islands
- Guadeloupe
- Indonesia
- Pakistan
- Taiwan
- United Arab Emirates
- Egypt
- Kuwait
- Turks and Caicos Islands
- Slovenia
- Mozambique
- Tanzania
- Fiji
- Slovakia
- Zimbabwe
- Lebanon
- Trinidad and Tobago
- Botswana
- Nigeria
- Samoa
- Guyana

This is how well the soundproofing works in my bedroom: I can hear the traffic riding over the metal plates on 3rd from my bathroom (which is on the other side of the room away from the windows). And now there are plates not only across 3rd but there's also a strip of them running the length of 3rd for a block (from what I can see from my window- there may be even more), so it's constant banging. It kept me up almost the entire night/morning, so I slept on and off (mostly off) from about 6-9 this morning. I wonder how long they will be there? A few weeks? A few months?

SFU:
- I'm really growing to like the character of Rico, but he needs to get out of that situation with the dancer.
- They're really good at writing/directing/acting awkward scenes.
- I still love Claire, but why is she always friends with obnoxious girls?
- I'm gonna miss Arthur.
- Great last scene.
- This show amazes me every week.

Figures I have to make the most long distance phone calls when I can't use my cell phone yet (Brian took my charger with him by accident and I haven't gotten it back yet- I could have bought a new charger, but I didn't think it would take long for him to mail it back to me).

My new neighbours seem to have gotten a dog- it barks constantly.

Major eye issues today- the right one really hurts and I can't get either of my contacts out yet (I'll try again in a few minutes).

I think I'm going to take 2 days after this class is over and do absolutely nothing of importance.

And another minor problem of yesterday: the fire alarm went off in the building, so I called downstairs to see what to do, and they said to leave the building. Twenty-four floors on a bad foot is NOT fun to walk down, especially when you're slightly scared and anxious to get out of the building. I'm not sure what the actual problem was, but it didn't take long to get sorted out, and we were able to get back inside within an hour or something. But my foot was really not happy and is still bothering me today.

And even though there is less traffic today, there was enough to keep waking me up as they rode over the plates this morning. I miss sleeping through the night. Even though it takes me forever to fall asleep, I could almost always count on once falling asleep, staying asleep through the night.

I was checking Hunter's calendar, and they have spring break next year from April 24-May 1 (which means there's only 3 weeks of classes and finals week after the break). Easter is March 25 (we're off that day too) and Passover starts April 24, so I guess Hunter goes by the Jewish holidays for breaks. This year the holidays were the same week, so you couldn't tell, and I don't remember the previous years' schedules. I find it odd that they do that.

The New St. George are having a reunion show on July 8th in Alexandria. And I can't go. I wish I didn't know about it.

It's a nasty day today- extremely humid with a cold rain (and I believe an air mass thunderstorm)- interesting that the weather forecast still says "mostly sunny". And it poured last night (which I bet partially had to do with the particles from the fireworks).

Oh, and speaking of intra-cloud lightning, that was one of several questions on the last test that was poorly worded. She used different words for things she talked about in class (ex. intra-cloud we learned in class, intra-cloud was the correct answer for one of the questions, but intra-cloud was not one of the choices of answers for the question- not sure what the synonym was, but I'm sure I didn't pick the right one), and those words were not mentioned in the book either. Not nice. And both of the instructors love emphasising certain things and tell us to focus on those, and then not have any questions about that stuff on the test. I could have said something about some of those poorly worded questions, but I still did fine on this test and I'll pass this class and I won't have to take it again, so I didn't feel like wasting my time.

Irritating drug store experience: I went to 3 different ones to try to find shock absorbers, and none of them had any small enough to fit my short foot, even with trimming them (you can only trim about an inch off the top and bottom and still have them work). And no, they don't make them in kids' sizes. So I got these other little things that I don't think are working, but I'll keep them in for a few weeks and see what happens. My right foot has been bothering me from time to time too, which really bothers me. Even though I have messed up knees and hips and neck and eyes..., I have always counted on my feet. I've always had great feet. Now I don't. And it's extremely frustrating. The rest of the drug store experience was irritating (more because things like this are the norm these days, and that pisses me off). First of all, customers should not have to climb over crates and boxes when walking through the aisles (the aisles are narrow enough as they are). In this particular Duane Reade (on Lex between 55th & 56th), entire aisles were piled with obstacles. And of top of that, they didn't have 2 of the other things I was going to get (paper towels [none at all] and maxi pads [they only had the thin ones]). But I did want to get the feet things (the other 2 drug stores didn't even have those, so I figured I should get them at this crappy store since I might never see them again otherwise), so I had to pay for them. Which involved dealing with the typical obnoxious cashier. The total was $9.38, and I gave her $10.37. I didn't have any other change and everywhere you go, if you're short a penny or two, they just don't worry about it. Not this girl. She gave me back 99 cents. I told her that the point was to get rid of change, not get more of it, and she told me that I didn't have the penny and then turned her attention to the next customer. I was running late (didn't realise drug store shopping was going to be an all-afternoon event), so I just left pissed off once again.

And why are people so disgusting? Why do they destroy public bathrooms and spit on the ground milimeters from where someone else is standing and leave nasty looking trash on public seating when a trash can is a yard away?

And one more little piece of negative news, I have really bad cramps today, and I'm exhausted.

But in good news, it was nice out for part of the day, so I went to study by the river (and got a bench since it's a weekday, although I did get the last one in that area). It was a great place to be- windy but not too windy, warm but not too warm, and no one around me was being obnoxious. Then the storm came in.

Have I mentioned that this fall is the fall of my friends' sisters moving to NYC? Rebecca's sister, Rachel, and Kristin's sister, Lisa, are moving here. So I'll be putting on my welcome-wagon hat come September.

I got my phone charger in the mail today.

More good news: I just looked out the window and saw that there are only 2 metal plates and 2 of the steam-cone things left in my intersection. So lucky they weren't there longer (here's hoping they don't come back and here's hoping the other obstructions will be gone soon). Maybe I'll be able to sleep tonight.

Paula and Harvey are doing a quick trip to the city tomorrow (won't really be seeing them though, with my schedule).

I decided to go study at Teany today. I do still like the LES- it's what I think New York is supposed to be. I wonder if I can go there more regularly. I'll have to see how my fall schedule shapes up to see how it could fit in. So I had a nice lunch, did a little studying, and also wrote a few little poems or something. I haven't written anything like that in years- no idea where it came from. And I was just wondering the other day why I can't write like that anymore. It wasn't much (about half of a notebook page), but it was enough.

Took the last lab test tonight! No more lab! And once again, she surprised me with her grading. We got our last lab test back, and even though she only took off 6/10 of a point and marked everything else as correct, she gave me an 89%. Don't understand but don't care. She also gave us our grades up until last week, and I have a B. I'm assuming I can come out with a B, even though the next lecture/book test will be ridiculous. She couldn't get through all her lecture tonight, so for the last 10 minutes of class (which was 10 minutes after the class should have been over) she rattled off about 10 concepts she wanted us to know for the test but didn't go into detail on any of it. And the stuff she did go into detail on, that was just too much. If we were taking an advanced environmental science class, it would be appropriate, but for an intro class, we shouldn't have to remember so much detail. Some of the stuff she was telling us, she couldn't even pronounce and barely knew what it was herself. Why should we need to know so many of the 188 things about air pollution the EPA defines as harmful? The major categories and a few of the causes/sources, fine, what she went into in class tonight, not fine.

Now I'm going to finish up some work and then learn these Asia maps (rather than save it for tomorrow), so I can take the time to meet Paula for lunch or something tomorrow.

After some difficulty coordinating our schedules, Paula and I just wound up having a quick tea at Fauchon- convenient for her, pretty inconvenient for me. Speaking of Paula, she said that she almost got hit by a few Town Cars while she was here- it's really getting bad out there on the streets.

I'm having eye problems again (hurts to wear contacts, glasses give me a headache), which is another reason I haven't updated this site recently. Hopefully this won't take 3 months to go away like it did last year. Plus today, somehow I got a scratch across the right lens of my glasses, which is really irritating (why couldn't it have happened on the left lens since I don't really see out of that eye anyway?). Maybe it's time to get new glasses. I've had these lenses for at least 5 years and the frames for over 8. And I think I want to get bigger frames, so the lenses cover more of my face. The prescription sunglasses I got last year are larger, and I don't have as much of the peripheral vision problem with them. I didn't have a horrible experience with LensCrafters last year, so maybe I'll try them again. Just need to figure out when.

AT&T is driving me crazy: At the end of June, they sent a bill for March. A few days later, they sent a bill for April and May. A few days ago, they sent me a bill for June. I'm signed up for online billing and automatic payment, and they haven't been charging my card. I'm tired to dealing with them so often.

And RCN is driving me crazy: I'm signed up for online billing (manual payment), but they don't send me bills anymore. They shut off my service once (with a nasty fee to get it turned back on), and I called to make sure that wouldn't happen again. Well, they haven't shut it off again, but they still don't send me bills. And there are so many times I can't access their website to see if they have new charges (oh, I couldn't access AT&T's site either for a few days last week). And their website is pretty confusing, so even when I can access it, I'm not sure what's what. And I'm so tired of talking to incompetent people there. Being the wonderful person that he is, Andy offered to do some calling for me. I'll be interested to see what the outcome is after that, but I have a feeling he won't get anywhere either, and I'll go through it all again next month.

The building next to me is under major construction. They're completely redoing the ground floor, and it's loud.

And in more construction news: I read that the Bloomberg Tower will be finished in March 2005. Why do they keep extending the date? What's taking so long?

And in even more construction news: I found constuction permit info and learned that the permit for the work being done on my street is supposed to be done by tomorrow. It's truly amazing how many permits there are in such a small area (53 permits in 5 blocks). I checked a few other areas of the same size and there weren't nearly as many (most had about 10-15 permits).

I swear Launch goes through phases. Last week was the crap phase, currently am having an early 80s phase (last night in a row, it played early 80s songs from: Yaz, Foreigner, Huey Lewis, and Billy Joel).

I emailed one of the w & c instructors about my grade, and it turns out that they have some wrong information (like failing grades for some tests). I'll have to bring in my scantrons tomorrow to prove they're wrong. If they don't believe me and think I altered the numbers or something (I'm assuming they will believe me), I could fail the class.

I completely slacked off last night, which I'm paying for majorly today (probably shouldn't be taking this time to update, but too late now). I wound up talking to Andy for most of the night, including 3 hours of him reading me the first 6 chapters of "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix". No one's ever read to me before (well, not since I was 3)- it was more fun than I've had in a long time. I think I'll push myself during the days this month, so I can have more nights free to continue with the book.

I got an email last week from Garrett, one of the guys on the Ha Long Bay boat trip. He sent a few pictures. This one of the full moon hidden by the mast is my favourite:

I was going to get back to studying now, but my eyes hurt too much. Think I'll clean the apartment instead, and then study until SFU. And I guess I'll save dealing with the mail for next week (hopefully I can wear my contacts full time by then).

I had a really cool experience tonight. I was taking a cab back from Todd's, and the driver put on some modern Arabic music. Not really being able to see my surroundings wearing glasses, I decided to pretend I was in Casablanca. Then he asked me if he could smoke. I said, "sure", it added to the sense that I was somewhere other than New York. Then I decided to take off my glasses, so I'd really be unaware of my surroundings. A few times I got scared, when it felt like we were going too fast and there were cars in front of us that were possibly too close (kind of hard to tell without being able to see anything other than the blur of brake lights), but most of the time I enjoyed the cool breeze from the rolled down window and smiled as I listened to the (kind of annoying after a few minutes) music. It was especially fun crossing the park. And not being able to recognise all the chain stores was nice too.

Most of the time, Sunday night is still my favourite night in the city.

Not feeling too good about tomorrow's test. Oh well. Hopefully I'll still get a B for the semester.

It's strange wearing sweaters in July. I wore one last night and am wearing one today. And even though I'll be comfortable outside, most places inside will have freezing air blowing, so even with a sweater it's still too cold.

I put my contacts back in for the test today, and while I can see much better, my right eye is not happy. It hurts and is tearing non-stop. I'll put the glasses back on tonight.

Still don't feel good about today's test, but hopefully most of it will sink in over the next few hours.

There's another Con Ed permit on my street through the beginning of August. But it's been relatively quiet for the past 3 nights, which I greatly appreciate.

One of the Starbucks across the street from me closed (I think it's just temporary though). Now there are only 4 of them within 5 street blocks.

I'm wearing my contacts again, and my right eye doesn't hurt. One less thing to worry about.

We've had some crazy weather this week: typical air mass thunderstorms, severe thunderstorms, tornado watches, floods... Lovely to walk around in.

Launch has been in a progressive rock phase this week- Genesis, ELP, Spock's Beard... Still won't play me Tull though. And these days, it almost never plays me songs I've previously rated.

Why do so many office-type jobs require a valid driver's license (in other places besides NYC)? If a person doesn't drive, they can't take a bus to work and use another official form of identification?

I'm exhausted. I hope to sleep in tomrrow morning and not do much of anything all day.

Got an email that restroom renovations will be done at Hunter over the next 4-6 months. They said the reason was to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, but it would be nice if they fixed other problems as well (installing working sinks would be a nice touch). And it would really be nice if people didn't trash the restrooms, but unfortunately, that would be asking too much. And with fewer restrooms to use, the available ones will be trashed even more. Hopefully I can avoid using them for the next 4-6 months.

We had one day of clearing, but I guess another warm front came in and now the cumulonimbus clouds are back- looks like we'll have some more serious rain. Will it be like this all summer? And will I be able to mention the weather using non-technical terms again?

Got to watch Jeopardy tonight. Can't believe Ken is still on. Wish they could have found someone less annoying to go this far. Interesting categories in Double Jeopardy though: "Death", "The Tower", "Wands Cups Swords and Pentacles", "The Hanged Man"...

I think I'll update my photo page tonight, even though there aren't too many to add.

I guess I made last night TV night: Jeopardy (already mentioned that) and some of the South Park marathon (still funny). Can't remember the last time I watched more than 1 hour of TV at home. It felt odd.

Things really are better when I can stay home all day. Fewer things go wrong at home. And since almost all of my electronic things seem to be working (still having major cordless phone issues) and the traffic hasn't been horrendous and I've been taking a little time off, life at home is pretty great. Although, I think I'm so used to being super-busy, I keep forgetting to relax. I keep looking through my to-do list and find myself wanting to get some of it done (and I have done a few little things).

I'll have some exciting news to write here soon, but I'm not sure if I can write about it yet, so I'll wait. But the news means that I'll be needing to take a quick trip to Maryland in August. The idea would sound perfect if only I could find a quieter, more interesting route in between NYC and College Park, MD. Anyone know of any?

Yesterday, I found an old wall calendar from '99 when I was living in Phoenix. It was fun seeing small details of an entire year (I used to write future appointments as well as fill in things after I did them). All 12 months were extremely busy (with mostly social stuff- '99 seemed to be a particularly social year for me, I also seemed to be a big Terps fan that year). I'll use February, May, and November as random examples:

I also read a small old notebook from '97. A very different time.

The news I mentioned yesterday? Paula and Harvey bought a house in Maine- they close September 10th. Now they just have to find some spare time in their ridiculously busy schedule to sell their current house, pack, and move. So I'll be going down there on August 17th (99% sure that's the day that will work for everyone) to see the house we moved into in 1983 one more time.

Today's back to reality. I'm not too overwhelemed, but I think that's more because I'm in denial rather than not having a reason to be overwhelemed. Why does life have to be so busy all the time? Even though I took Friday and yesterday off, I couldn't do it without consequences. It just means I'll either have to work faster (I'm pretty damn speedy already, so I don't know how much faster I can work) or sleep less (the more likely option) for the next few weeks. I wish I could just ignore certain things, but every time I ignore or slack off on something for a little while, all hell breaks loose. Then those things wind up really falling apart so I'll be forced to take care of them (and of course they're more time consuming and/or expensive then).

Haven't been in a good mood today. Maybe that can turn around with SFU.

Today's been busy: packages to sign for, phone calls to deal with, bills to pay, checks to deposit, travel to arrange... And each super-urgent thing comes just as I'm finishing up the previous not-quite-as-urgent thing. So I have 10 almost-finished things laying around. I feel so scattered. Fortunately that time I took off gave me the energy to deal with the chaos.

There have been entirely too many emergency vehicles on my street today that couldn't get through traffic very easily. Each one takes about 2-3 minutes to get across the block, and when they come by every few minutes... I've already been taking important calls in my bathroom, since that's the quietest place in my apartment. But today was the first day I decided to move my computer into the bathroom so I could make important calls that required me to have my computer in front of me. My bathroom is not too comfortable, but for an hour or two, it's fine.

This is the introduction to Time Out's cover story on the NYC Subway:
"Summer is the hardest time to appreciate the subway. In addition to the system's unique seasonal aroma, it feels as if you are walking into the fires of hell whenever you descend into a station. But if you can find the upside in the underground now, you can enjoy the ride anytime. Because despite the screechy cars, unpredictable delays and notable absence of customer-service efforts (new PA, anyone?), it's pretty impressive that the MTA has managed to keep on chugging- give or take the odd blackout or strike- ever since that first train took off from City Hall on October 27, 1904. To help you feel the love as the joyride moves into its second century, we've found the answers to some of those nagging questions, like why can't we ever understand what the conductor is saying? Do people really have sex on the train? And just how much money do those platform troubadours rake in? In addition, we've tracked down some buffs who've contributed to the look, lore and allure of our renowned underground (and used their enthusiasm more constructively than, say, train fanatic Darius McCollum, who was recently arrested again), and we've drawn a map to three spots on each of the city's nine lines, destinations that justify braving summer's one-two punch of brioling platforms, and AC-blasted cars. It's all our way of saying, Happy 100th anniversary, subway system- you're hot and you're smelly, but where would we be without you?"
Yep, and if you don't have to be somewhere at a certain time and don't mind going out of your way and being creative with your route because of closed stations and/or rerouted trains because of construction, it's a fabulous form of transportation.

Oh, and it's another gloomy day.

It was a gorgeous day today! What a luxury to be able to use today for running all over the city rather than be forced to go on a typical stormy day.

I popped in the new Columbus Circle mall, I mean the new "fabulous" Time Warner Center, since I had some time and was in the area. I rode the escalators while looking at what was available on each floor and then walked around the Borders and Whole Foods for a minute. It was creepy: huge, virtually empty (other than Whole Foods, and even that wasn't mobbed like it should have been at lunch time). It really felt wrong to be walking around huge spaces within a huge space and didn't see the point of the few retail stores (especially seeing how they were all empty), but if I found myself in the area again with a little free time, I wouldn't be against doing some reading at the Borders. I am kind of surprised there weren't more tourists. Have they not found it yet or are they really not interested in going to 10 chain stores in a a huge enclosed space in Manhattan?

I used another bit of free time to try @SQC's chocolate martini (something I'd been wanting to do for a while). It tasted like a slightly less sweet version of Paula's hot chocolate with a kick.

After that, they day went downhill. I tried some clothes shopping (8 thrift shops on the Upper West and Upper East Sides- lots of miles to kill my feet- not worth it). Why do I bother? It's always such a horrible experience, and I never wind up with anything. Haven't mentioned it recently (because I haven't done any recently), but I still HATE SHOPPING!!!

And speaking of my feet, I think the problem is my walking, rather than a more serious problem, since both feet hurt now (in different places). I have no idea if I'm walking differently. I don't think I am, but now that I'm paying attention to how I walk, I can't remember if it's different from how I walked before I started to notice the problem. I'm trying to walk properly and do pay attention almost the entire time, but my feet just hurt more and more. I don't know what to do. I guess I'll call the same doctor (even though I don't like her) and see what she says. Maybe I'll do that tomorrow.

I will be in Maryland August 16-18. Still working on a creative but not too time consuming way to get down there (right now I'm looking at a brief stop in Princeton and then smaller highways the rest of the way [just need to see if those smaller highways exist]).

Shopping absolutely exhausts me. I didn't get much done last night, fell asleep early (and quickly), and slept for a while (until the traffic woke me up).

Car rentals in the city- too expensive. The cheapest I've found is $63/day, not including insurance (with insurance, it's an extra $22/day). There are a few companies that are less expensive, but they don't let you take the car out of the tri-state area, so I'm stuck with the expensive option. I just have to remind myself how much I save by not owning a car to make myself feel a little better.

Today has been very busy and has flown by way too quickly.

On that note, time to get back to being productive.

I decided to make an appointment with my regular doctor (since I guess it can't hurt), and while I'm there, I'll ask him what he thinks I should do about my foot. He seems to be unique in the health industry. I called, and he answered the phone himself since his assistant wasn't at her desk (unique experience #1). He tried to think he remembered who I was by asking me a few questions. I don't think he really remembers me, but at least he tried (unique experience #2). Then I expected to get an appointment next month since I wasn't in a rush, but he asked if I could come in on Wednesday (unique experience #3). He's like an old-fashioned doctor. One would expect him to be 80 years old, but he looks like he's in his early 30s. I'm supposed to meet Paula for lunch on Wednesday, but hopefully she can make it an hour or so later than originally planned.

Now I found my wall calendar from '96 (my other social year). I shouldn't take the time to do this, but I will anyway:

Launch is back on an 80s kick: Billy Joel, Nena, Frankie Goes to Hollywood... They played Frankie Goes to Hollywood because it's "recommended by fans of Dead Can Dance". Don't see the connection. And they're still not playing me more than one previously rated song per day. Maybe I should start unrating all the songs I'd like to hear.

An interesting tidbit from Time Out's Subway article:
"Maybe you've heard the mmm-hmm-hmm as the sleek cars vanish into the tunnel. 'This is an electronic sound emitted by the propulsion system as trains accelerate,' Parker says. 'Many customers say that it resembles part of a tune from West Side Story.' Here's what's up: According to Bombardier Transportation- which made the new cars called the R-142 fleet- these models use alternating-current motors, which store electricity for long periods of time instead of needing a constant feed. But the tracks still provide constant electricity for the old direct-current trains. As the new trains speed up and cut off electric supply at ever-higher velocities, you hear a tune, because musical notes correspond to certain frequencies. Bombardier picked the optimal frequencies for making the trains run, but never expected a soundtrack. One engineer who worked on the trains explains via email: 'There are five audible notes, but the two last ones are generated at higher speeds and buried in the wheel/rail noise.' The first is between F-sharp and G; the second, close to E; the third, E one octave higher. 'These do not correspond to exact notes of our 12-note scale,' the engineer writes. 'This must be very annoying to people who have perfect pitch.'"

We're having another storm with a lot of flooding. According to the forecast, it's supposed to be like this every day for the foreseeable future.

I did some organising and fixed some small things today (wish I could fix my home phone issues, I'm tired of it hanging up on people so often).

Some more from Time Out's Subway article:
- Number of stations in the subway system: 468
- Number of elevators: 60
- Number of escalators: 161
I wish they included the average number of working elevators/escalators on any given day.

Currently they're digging up 3rd Ave. again. So that's blocking one lane and of course the steam cone things are still blocking another lane. Fortunately traffic isn't too heavy right now, but I'm dreading the noise as it gets later.

Launch is back on a progressive rock theme: Yes, Procol Harum, Genesis... Still no Tull, even though I unrated some songs in hopes of hearing them (I can hear them on Andy's station though). I actually sent an email asking why I hardly ever hear songs I rated anymore, and I got the typical non-response response- "We're in the process of updating our formula- I'll mention your problem to the manager".

Have I mentioned recently how much I love Bill Maher? I caught 5 minutes of him on an old Dennis Miller show last night. I should try to remember to watch his new season when I can make the time.

A story from the "Strangeness on a Train" (people encountering unusual situations) part of the Time Out article:
"The first time I rode the F train to Coney Island, I sat in the last car with a couple of friends visiting from Texas. About a half hour into our ride, my chum looked over at me, went slack-jawed and blurted 'Ewwwwww!' I looked through the doors into the next car and saw a slovenly, overwight, middle-aged white guy with his head tilted back and his pudgy arms draped like sausages around the seat backs. In his lap was the bobbing head of a waifish Asian woman, her leg crooked up for precision balance. Aside from the fact that she was ardently servicing the guy at 11:00 AM on a Wednesday in full view of anyone who cared to notice, I could tell from her attire (vertiginous black heels, fuchsia miniskirt, teased hair and garish eye makeup) that she was a working girl. And believe me, she worked hard for the money. One peek was enough to derail my libidinal fantasies for a fortnight. It was truly a Coney Island of the mind. MTA style."
He could see her eye makeup from where he was sitting? Or maybe he noticed it as she was leaving the train or something.

Last night I went to the Solas show at Satalla. It was good but not great. I really wish they had a different singer (the singer they have now has a pretty voice but seems to have no interest in what she's singing). But I enjoyed some of the pieces (especially the intstrumentals) and seeing a live show is not something I do much of anymore, so I guess I'm glad I went. I definitely had a better time last night than I've had most times I've gone out this year.

It wasn't raining when I left (other than under covered bus stops and some buildings), so I took some pictures (nothing too exciting). Here are a few shots on my Olympus D-230:
My first picture- looking east out my window
My intersection- looking out my window (have I mentioned recently about wishing my windows opened more than 2 inches?)
Close-up of one of the steam cone things I keep writing about
Solas, minus the singer

I don't know why I didn't see it when I found my '99 wall calendar since it was right next to it, but last night I found my '97 wall calendar. What was written in it? Not a damn thing. I probably had it in a box which moved with me from place to place, never being unpacked (since until September, I didn't live anywhere long enough to unpack everything). I don't know why I still have the empty calendar.

Paula and Harvey will be here in a few hours. Tonight, we're having dinner and then they'll join me for SFU.

Time flies whether you're having fun or not.

Again I had to personally sign for a USPS package (rather than have the doorman sign for it) but still don't have to do that with UPS or Fed Ex. I'm just glad I was home both of these times so I didn't have to go to the chaotic post office.

Two years ago, after fighting with them for over a year, American Express finally sent me my card. It was due to expire in June of 2006. Today, for some unknown reason, they sent me a new card that expires in 2008. At least I won't have to fight with them again about sending me my card in June 2006. Although now that I think about it, I'll probably be cancelling the card even before June 2006. I just wonder why they waste their time sending cards 2 years before they're set to expire.

I was surprised by 2 bits of trivia on Jeopardy in the "average" category:
1. The average cost of an American wedding is $22,000+ (that sounds completely unnecessary).
2. The average American household watches 8 hours of TV a day (that sounds almost impossible).
Glad I'm not an average American.

Paula made an interesting observation about all the construction going on in the city (especially Con Ed). It's for the convention. Of course! We can't have another blackout during the convention. I haven't really been keeping up with convention news. I guess I've been a little in denial about the whole thing.

The city is now seriously enforcing the "no bikes in the park" rule. Between that and the "no eating in an outdoor public space", the "no sitting on the sidewalk", the "no loitering outside your own business", and the "dogs get fined for barking longer than 5 minutes" rules, and I'm scared to think of what's next. "No whistling within 500 feet of a restaurant"? "No running while crossing the street"? If I wasn't so disgusted by all this nonsense, I'd almost wish they'd enforce the "no spitting" rule (especially on windy summer days).

I'm having a hyper day- getting tons of stuff done in record time.

Oh, and here's a picture I took on my block yesterday (more things you can't do outside).

And today was another very gloomy day (I took a few pictures but don't feel like uploading now).

Went to the doctor this morning. For my foot, he recommended physical therapy (said I should go for my knee as well- I didn't even bring up my knee issue, he just felt it and decided it needed help- wonderful). Then he told me I should go to a dermatologist once a year because I'm so fair-skinned (I'll only go if I can remember who I saw that one time I had to go- I liked him because he didn't insist on removing things that had a .0002% chance of becoming cancerous like the others I've talked to did). He also mentioned a couple of other things that he thought might be potential problems and I had to tell them that they were things I've dealt with all my life. I don't like being reminded of all the things I just put up with because there doesn't seem to be anything to do about any of them (things like my poor eyesight, my abnormal muscles/ligaments...). Fortunately, I haven't been having too many existential thoughts these days. Then he sent in someone to do bloodwork and an EKG. EKG? I thought I was too young to bother with that. Or is this another one of those new ridiculous things the people of this country seem to accept blindly? Like the new averages for blood pressure. Why aren't people questioning the role of drug and health insurance companies in all of this? Anyway, I'll get my results soon. I still like this doctor (which is sort of an amazing thing, considering I really don't like and don't trust almost everyone I meet).

After the doctor and before running errands, I met Paula for lunch at City Bakery.

I've been able to avoid people today, which is good. I'm still not in the mood to deal with anyone.

I really think a lot of my injuries are bothering me so much because of the humidity. It's been sooooooo humid this year. I know when I lived in Phoenix I wasn't nearly in this much pain. I used to go hiking often and feel fine (or almost fine) the next day. And no allergies either. Too bad the climate, surrounding nature, and a few people were the only things going for it.

"Scarlet's Walk" is finally growing on me.

It's warmed up again and was pretty sunny earlier. Other than the 89% humidity, it was nice running around the city this afternoon. But now, there are more storms moving across the area.

Almost every block in midtown Manhattan has work being done on it. Guess the city's kicking into high gear for the convention. That might be contributing to the amount of super-angry drivers recently. Today was particularly loud as many drivers felt the need to lay on their horns through entire light cycles.

I half-listened to part of Kerry's speech last night. Don't know why. I hate speeches. Almost anyone can sound believable saying almost anything. What's the point? But for anyone who takes them seriously, I think Kerry sounded perfect. Even I almost felt a slight amount of patriotism when he talked about how our entire nation banded together right after September 11th.

My doctor called this afternoon with the bloodtest results. Everything's fine except for my thyroid, which he wants to retest in 4 weeks. Lovely. I think I've always had a little trouble with my thyroid, but maybe now it's worse? Right now I'm hoping the test was wrong though. I'm scared that if it really is a problem and I have to take medication, that the medication won't work like everything else I've ever tried to take. But I'll try not to worry until I retest in September.

I've been so scattered today trying to take care of a huge amount. Fortunately, I've had more than enough energy (fatigue is the one symptom of hypothyroidism I don't have) to deal with it all.

Click ME- I know you want to...
Journal
Home Page