I might have an Etsy problem...

Recent buys (clockwise from top left): necklace from locallibrary, vintage-brooch-turned-ring from musarra and co, vintage-reworked, seriously bling earrings from Bel Canto Designs, nano case from QuietDoing, branch earrings from Nervous System and a gorgeous vinyl laptop sticker from Splendid Vinyl which allows me to pick out my own laptop from all the copycat Sternie Dells in the study lounge... ~A

The Things You Learn

Several important things I learned today:

1) It is IMPERATIVE that the lid is SECURE on the coffee cup BEFORE drinking hot coffee. Thankfully, I was wearing a rain coat at the time. Unfortunately, while my jacket dried out relatively quickly, it thoroughly looked like I peed myself. well, heeello, cute checkout girl... it's not what you think. honestly.... it's coffee.

2) I've heard this from many a person, but I do mghuabmle. I mean, mumble. I've got to learn to articulate my words, which leads me to the third great lesson the day:

3) It is apparently never too early for steak and cheese (colloquially known as cheesesteak) at the roach coach. I was a little early for a site visit, and decided I was hungry so stopped off at a roach coach to snag a bite to eat.

"Egg and cheese on a roll, please!" says I to the master chef.

"You want onions on that?"

"uuum, sure just a little bit," says I, somewhat thrown off but definitely looking forward to some extra flavor to the breakfast sandwich.

Five minutes later, I give him a $10 bill and receive $5 in change. Shit, that was the most expensive egg and cheese I've EVER had. Crack the bundle of aluminum foil open and lo, and behold: a steak and cheese sandwich. At 7:30 AM. The chef confused "egg" with "steak". Heck, he completely eliminated anything remotely close to eggs. I had in fact ordered a cheesesteak. At 7:30 AM.

Don't judge me, what do you think I did with it? Excuse my while I clear out my arteries...

Dilbert Moment 2 - And I wasn't even there

I'm in and out of the office recently esp since I've been working from the NYC office in Queens (QNS)  I have a sign up on my monitor that lists 3 locations, OUT, FIELD and QNS. 

I put a post it with an arrow next to the location that I’m at when I’m not in White Plains.  So it looks like this:

OUT

FIELD

QNS  ß

 Somebody rolls by my cube looking for me, and I get this report from my neighbor who sits next to me:

“he thought your note for Queens with the arrow (QNS->)

 meant questions and pointed to me”

 Dilbert worthy? Are am I just new York-centric?

 Still out of breath laughing.

~H

Dilbert moment - IT usefulness

And there's a reason why Scott Adams writes some of the best cartoonery in the world. Cause the stuff really does happen. Case in point:

Laptop needed to be fixed Thursday afternoon.

Says IT Man 1 "leave it overnight, I'll have it ready for you at the Helpdesk first thing in the morning."

Friday morning: "Hey IT man 2, IT Man 1 said he'd have my computer ready for me."

IT Man 2, "We don't have your laptop here. maybe it's on IT Man 1's desk"

...Which it was.

IT Man 2, "Oh wait... you can't take it. IT Man 1 sent an email saying the computer's not done yet."

I proceeded to give IT Man 2 an incredulous look, "So IT Man 1 sent us an email telling me that the computer isn't ready yet, intending me to read my email on a computer that I haven't gotten back yet."

So Friday morning, I'm stuck doing "work" on a sh*ta*s loaner computer. Honestly, I often wonder about IT.

~H

PS. hmm... this blogging thing is harder than it seems. Been 4 months since the last post. Sorry!

In the new world order...

Given the current state of the economy, we decided that it was time to cash in our small change jar and put it into our savings account. Mind you we've been adding (and taking) to this jar for the past 4-5 years and it was getting kinda heavy.

We had a latte bet to whoever could guess the closest: Ali = $50, Heron = $83.75

I thought that we were going to destroy the penny arcade machine at TD Bank but after finally feeding the thing, this is what we came up with:

My cameraphone sucks so let me tally that up:

• 4 Dollar coins
• 232 quarters
• 776 dimes
• 514 nickels and
• 1810 pennies.

Grand total = $183.40 and going straight into savings.... man alive that felt good. We were like giddy children...

-H

Crooked Still

Went to a concert last night by a band called Crooked Still. We first saw them at Joe's Pub a year ago and have totally gotten into them. Since that last concert, their lineup has changed as their cello player left, to be filled in by a cello player AND a fiddle player.

Concert last night was at an East Village bar called Drom. Decent space but the bar is awkwardly placed so standing room had an awkward view esp with columns in the way. The Joe's Pub concert we went to was WAAY more awesome if only because the crowd then was so much more hyped. The crowd at Drom seemed to be more interested in catching up with friends rather than paying attention. I dunno... maybe I felt left out?

In any case, Crooked still was still an awesome live show. Maybe I was jaded by the atmosphere but I really didn't get into the music till halfway through. A lot of their new stuff seems mildly mainstream and mellow. All of a sudden, the energy by the band really picked up. Lead singer was pulling her own twists on the songs (phenomenal voice by the way), banjo was picking a storm, cello and fiddle were wailing, bass was solid as ever... it was a great show overall. Of course Ali couldn't stop dancing the entire time.

Yup, pretty much the only bluegrass I'll listen to.


-H

First Snow!!!!

It is with much giddiness of a school child that I announce the first snow of the season! well, at least in the white plains area... well, at least for me!

For whatever reason I couldn't get a good shot of snow falling.... but here's a snapshot from the WHI train station. There's snow there I promise.
Giddy giddy giddy giddy...

-H

Lonely

Job site at 11 PM and raining...

-H

mmmm....Pumpkins

As I'm sure Ali has indicated, we've been complete slackers w/ posts. Finally worked through some of my apathy/sloth (and work) to provide a short post about the Smashing Pumpkins concert we went to: White Crosses at the United Palace Theater. Keep in mind that I've been a Pumpkins fan since Siamese Dream though I can't say that some of the later albums have been on my Top 10 playlist. As with every artist (e.g. Metallica), artistic evolution often leads to different sounds than what initially drew a listener, leading to much gripin' about how they "just don't sound like they used to." I'll admit I'm one of those listeners; I respect the evolution, I just don't have to like it. Point being, while the concert was really fun overall, I couldn't really appreciate a portion of the set. Each to their own....

Highlights: Soma, Disarm, Galapagos, Cherub Rock, Zero (pic below)...


BTW, design-wise, the theater was a really cool old-school building; ginormous and had a classic feel to it. Here's what it looks like from the outside. I love how Manhattan offers so much in the way of cool architecture. This one was a hell of a subway ride away.
- H

PS. What the hell is up with Dinosaur BBQ? It's one of my favorite BBQ joints, but at 11 PM on a Friday night, how the HELL is it a 1-hour wait for a table? The place closes at midnight damnit.

PPS. Concert audio courtesy archive.org via smashingpumpkins.com

But the shoes make it all better...

Just received the Sigerson Morrison shoes I ordered from Target... A few strategically placed sequins will improve my mood any day... - A