Misc October pics:

Purple ESB


Dave in the city


Dave and the ESB

Happy Halloween!

Again, we’re probably not going to do anything for Halloween this year. Crazy. This time of year is also when work is the most hectic. We’re all exhausted, especially with the move on top of all that! A friend of mine is taking us to the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade next year and says we’re all going to be IN it! She says it’s exhausting but a total blast. Cool! I’m all for it!!!

I took today off (I scheduled it ahead of time) so I could rest a little. Maybe Dave can take off tomorrow. I want to relax, enjoy the apartment a bit, clean up Dave’s music room, and make some space for everyone. I’m sure there are many, many parties to come!

The Day After

We’re officially all moved in. We’ve been working over at the old apartment all day getting the last few miscellaneous pain in the butt items, removing nails, cleaning up, etc.

My legs are so sore I can barely walk!!! I think it’s from going up and down the spiral staircase carrying heavy things…it feels like I have shin splints in my calves!!! UGH!

Eric and Dave rented a car (and ended up getting a P.T. Cruiser!) and drove into the city to pick up the computer. I hope that thing is going to be ok. I’d hate to rely on Dave’s P.C.! (EUGH!!!! Can you imagine?) ;)

We’ll probably do a fast Target and grocery store run since we have the car. I can’t wait to get settled in and relaxed! I have MUCH blogging to catch up on!!!!!

Moving day

Thank GOD Dave, Eric and Jef were still alive after last night’s (morning’s) partying! We got a lot done! Plus, it’s an “easy” move- the new apartment is in the same building, just up one flight and down the hall.

Shankar was here!

The guys (Dave, Eric and Jef) went out with Shankar last night. I just couldn’t do it. We had dinner at the apartment beforehand so I had the chance to hang out and talk, but I was so ill from being worn down!

Dave, Shankar, Eric and Jef


I’m glad I DID stay home! They came back at 5:30am!!! They had an amazing time out on the town. Shankar stayed at our place- we had breakfast and ran down to sign the paperwork for the new place before he headed back to his family’s house. We’ve already started making plans to visit him in Denver in the Spring- I’m so excited to see his place downtown!

Thanks, Shankar!!!!! We miss you already, but we’ll see you soon!

Shankar, Shankar and Dave

New apartment: "yours!"

We had told the apartment complex this afternoon that we were going to have to stay in our current apartment. Mostly because of money (we just got back from a business trip and a wedding, are getting the computer fixed and have to buy a new microwave), but a little for the principle as well. We were really depressed about it, really.

Later on around 3, we ran into the CEO in the bathroom while washing our hands (we happened to all come out of the stalls at the same time. Oh, and our bathroom is unisex…just to- you know…clear that up as well). She asked how the apartment was going, and we told her the story. She told us to borrow the extra money from the company and pay them back later. She said we shouldn’t give up something that makes us happy when we could just pay the money back later. We were floored (and a little emotional). We overlooked the lack of communication from the complex. We get the money back, anyway….and that means we can move tomorrow morning!!!

Dave called the apartment manager back and has set up a time to sign in the morning. AMAZING!!!!!

Shankar is in town tonight, too! No time to stop now!

New apartment: "not yours"

Well, the exciting day has come for Dave and I to sign the new lease! Oh, but wait…. There’s a catch!

While sitting in the office ready to hand over our checks, we found out that there is an additional half month’s rent ($800) to tack on to add to our deposit!!! Why? Because when we moved in there was a “special” going on where we only had to pay one month’s rent for the deposit. Oh, I see. So you forgot to tell us until right now??!

We’re going to have to think on this one. We’re already shelling out $400 to get the computer fixed (thanks to them), and now we may have to give up on the apartment. They won’t even let us make two payments! Hmph. Very disappointing.

Eric’s parents are here!

Eric’s parents came in a few days ago to their first non-business trip to New York City! Eric has shown them a great time!

Today Eric and I surprised them by me showing up at Eric’s place! We all hung out for an hour or two then headed over to Chelsea Piers for dinner at Café du Sole, which we found out was closed for the season, after we arrived.

We ended up eating at the Chelsea Brewing Company, which ended up being a really great meal!

Eric, Marcia and Pete (The Parents)

I know Marcia hates her photo being taken, but I think they look great!

Computer at the Docs and Mexican food

Welp, we dropped off the computer to get fixed in the city! We called “our driver”, Claudio. He’s actually a self-employed driver we met a long time ago that always gives us a good price for longer trips. We call him whenever we need to get to places like the airport or IKEA.

We took the computer to Tekserve on 23rd. It’s the numero uno place to take your mac in NY if it ever gets sick, but the way. Unless you have a warrantee with an Apple store, of course. I do not.

Tekserve is still awesome, even as I announce that it’s going to cost $400 to get the computer fixed. They tried a ton of things while we were there, but it seems to be the analog board. That’s gonna cost almost $300 with about a $100 labor fee. CRAP. It should be ready in about a week. They seem to think everything on it will still be there. That’s at least good news.

Afterwards, we wandered the streets and finally ended up eating at the Caliente Cab Co in the East Village. I’ve wanted to go in there for quite some time! It turns out they have extremely tasty margaritas! The food wasn’t bad, either.

It was still rainy as we walked the streets. I really love New York. It’s so raw and alive. Dave and I are very happy living here.

Fried with a side of fried

After we arrived home late and exhausted last night, we quickly realized something was wrong. Our entertainment system, our microwave, and worse- our computer- was dead. It turns out that while we were gone, out of all the buildings, this part of this building was affected due to a leak to the basement’s electric meter. The rain had been intense from before we left to the time we flew back. Some areas of NJ were flooded out and apparently, so was a very small portion of the building’s basement. The one that counted.

The entertainment system ended up being ok- the surge protector it was on actually did it’s job. The computer was the only thing that was on the other surge protector that wasn’t fine. SUCK!

I cringe now as I remember back to the slight power surges that were going on before I left, and how I left the computer on sleep, thinking everything would be fine, and how I figured Eric would be hanging out at our place with the cats, on the internet or watching tv. Damn!

GOD I hope my computer will be ok!!! I haven’t backed things up in forever, and I have so many photos and so many personal keeps!!! I will be devastated if it’s all gone…

I don’t think the apartment complex is going to pay for it. We’re going to write them and probably fight a bit about it, but we cancelled our apartment insurance when we moved since it was part of Dave’s car insurance. I guess we know better now!!!

Business and Pleasure in FL

Catch-up blog:
I made it to Orlando a little stressed out and tired, but I checked into my room and headed right over to the office to try and see whoever I could before the formal meeting the next day. It was so awesome to see everyone!!! It felt like I still worked there! I was nice to be able to catch up with people and relax for a bit- I knew I wouldn’t have time the next day.

The hotel was perfect- it was at the Peabody on I-Drive (International Drive). Beautiful (and HUGE) hotel! There are even mallard ducks running around inside!

I was especially blessed to have a TV in the bathroom, above the toilet. Dave would be especially proud. If he had been there, he would have wanted me to take a picture of him with it.


The view from the room overlooked a large, untouched area (running very slim these days) with “Pointe Orlando” running next to it (my point, exactly). In the untouched area, there was a huge pond shaped like a heart with an arrow run through it

I had forgotten how flat everything is! You could see forever.

My parents stopped through on their way to visit relatives in St.Augustine, so we went out to dinner at one of my favorite Orlando places: Café TuTu Tango.

The meeting went well, the flight to Ft.Myers went well- I was just in time for the dinner party, luggage and all! Afterwards, Dave met Chris in the hotel bar to savor the moment the day before the wedding. Chris was so excited!

The wedding was awesome- Dave and his brothers looked great in their monkey suits in the wedding. Dave and I each drew a few tears during the ceremony. Chris and Vera looked so happy.

That night, Chris and Vera held a more private party at an awesome Irish Pub (McSwiggins or McCabe’s…Where was I?), where we all let loose, danced, and argued about how much we all drank. The next morning was a little rough for me, but we made it home, unscathed…sort of.

Trying to get out!

It still has not stopped raining. I just made it BACK from the Newark airport. I had checked and rechecked my flight times, but by the time I made it there, my 6pm flight was moved to 11am the next day. That means I’m going to miss the chance to take my old co-workers out to lunch on the studio’s card! >=(

Getting to Penn Station today was absolutely insane. One rolling luggage bag in one hand on the NY streets while juggling an umbrella that kept flipping inside out…I eventually gave up and walked through the wind and rain. I was already wet. Boy, 3 blocks never seemed so far away!!!

I took the NJ train over to Newark- it passes right by the place I work:

It’s the one in the middle of the photo- right across from the slanted building.

Eric brought some food over and we hung out. It looks like the wind is causing some weird power surges… just little ones- the lights dim just barely- you can hardly notice it. I guess the power lines are really whipping around out there!

Anyway, I leave later in the morning. At least I’ll get a better night’s sleep. I hope my flight leaves this time…

I’m off to the business trip, the flight to the dinner reception and then the wedding on Saturday! We’ll both be back Sunday!!!

Bumble and Bumble before the flight

What a completely crappy day! It’s rainy, dark, and terribly windy! My umbrella was pulled inside out more than a few times, but I made my way over to Bumble and Bumble on West 13th St to get a final cut before my flight today.

I also remembered my camera to give you a view from the window (not much on a day like today!):


By the way, I heard the bachelor party was a success (no surprise there)! Dave pulled off a great night. He rented a room at the Grand Bohemian downtown, rented a limo (which was upgraded to a stretch SUV to Dave’s surprise!), hit a few strip clubs, and then back downtown for a night of drinks and more friends!

Rainy weather-the week coming up

Weather this week is supposed to be particularly crummy.


Outside the window today...

At least you can see that the leaves are changing!

It's going to be a CRAZY week. Besides the huge project we're working on (the last huge haul/Weekend work: coming right up!), Dave is flying down to Orlando on Tuesday to throw a bachelor party, and then driving over to Fort Meyers to attend the wedding. I'll be flying to Orlando Wednesday night to visit friends at my last job and to meet up with my parents who are driving up from South Florida to see me, then meeting up with my boss and a few other employees (including Eric) for a business meeting on Friday (at the same place). That night, I'm flying to Fort Meyers to meet up with Dave and his family to also attend the wedding on Saturday. Dave and I fly home on Sunday.

The week after is going to be so horrendous- we have to figure out when we're going to move, too! I guess the weekend after that? We're going to pick a weekend before the end of the month, but also fit in a weekend of work somewhere to catch up.

We’re heading into the city today so I can pick up a dress, Ugh!

We found our new apartment

Dave and I finally found a larger apartment! It's the closest we've found to the one we passed up when we first looked at living in Dixon Mills. The property manager has taken us on 3 previous "tours" looking at different apartments over the last 2 months. We think we'll like this one.

It not only does it have the outside area on the top floor that we've been drooling over, but it also has a spiral staircase and two bathrooms! It's as close to perfect as I think we're going to find without missing the upcoming seasons. And it's about $300 more a month ($150 more each). But still, prettty cheap since we're not directly in the city!

I should also mention that it's in the same building we live in now, but one floor up and a bit down the hall. This will be the easiest move either of us has ever made!

We're going to turn in our paperwork tomorrow and beg to move in this upcoming weekend. I know it sounds fast, but next week Dave and I will be out of town for nearly a week (Dave to throw a bachelor's party and be the best man in a wedding, and me for business in Orlando and then to attend the wedding in Ft. Meyers). Work is also at it's PEAK! The sooner we get this done, the better it will be. If the answer is no, we may not be able to do anything until nearly the end of the month.

...And honestly... I want to get it over with because I love the apartment we're in SO much...it will be hard to see it every day. It sounds sappy, but that's how I am.

Moving on, here are a few photos:

Part of the living room, looking past the kitchen area, second bathroom to the second bedroom in the back...


The terrace in the second bedroom (which is on the 4th floor)


The spiral stairs...


The large "porch" area upstairs off the main bedroom (the 5th floor)


The view off to the right on the porch (views of Newport with peaks of Manhattan buildings)


We're excited, but I have a small amount of mixed feelings. It's just me worrying that I won't be happy; a self-doubt I always inflict on myself. I'll be fine once we move.

I'm starting to feel a bit run down. Cross your fingers that I'm not getting sick! It seems everyone at work is sharing some sort of bad cold. It's that time of year. ...Plus all the overworking and stress. And not really sleeping. Or eating. That's probably not helping much either, huh? All right, all right. I'll go to bed.

One year's worth of beer

For those of you who are interested in how much beer was consumed in our apartment in exactly one year, read on. For those who are not interested, go here.

Good- You're still here! Or maybe you just came back after trying the link above because couldn't help yourself from seeing where I were to link you to had you not been interested in the blog below. Or, maybe you're just back after checking out the link because I had peaked your curiosity when hinting that the site you might click on if you weren't interested in the story below might actually be something thrilling, and you're now ready and eager to learn more about our personal drinking habits within a year’s time. Either way, we're glad you're here.

We drop 99.9% of the caps from the beer we consume in our apartment into a large glass jar. We actually kept all the caps from the previous times the jar was filled, but we noticed that the jar was filled completely up to the very rim on the very morning of our one year since moving here.


Here are all the caps separated out by "flavor" (as Dave lovingly calls it) to see what beer was drunk the most.


In total, there were 46 different "brands" of beers. The caps were sorted by "families". For instance, we counted all the Sam Adams caps (Regular, Light, Winter Brew, Octoberfest, Spring Ale, etc.) as one brand.

Here are the top 23 beer caps found in the jar. (All the other brands were under 12 beers and would have taken up the whole page to list them all!) Note: An asterisk indicated a "family" group.

Bass (12)
Grolsch (12)
Holstein (12)
Killians (12)
New Castle (12)
Corona (18)
Sapporo (18)
Stella Artois (18)
Pete’s (19)
Anchor Steam (21)
Michelob* (21)
Peroni (23)
Carlsburg (24)
Molson* (24)
Moosehead (24)
Kronenberg (27)
Dos Equis (31)
Beck's (37)
Saranac (41)
Sol (70)

Coming in at #3... Sam Adams* at 126 caps...

The runner-up... Magic Hat* at 148...

And the winner... Brooklyn Brewery* at 174 CAPS!!!


And here are the really scary facts:
- Total bottles of beer consumed: 1,040
- Average beer consumption per day: 2.85
- Average beers consumed per week: 20
- Total beer consumed: 97.5 gallons
- Total calories consumed: 124,800 (geez!)
- Total amount spent on beer (average of $9 per six pack): $1,557.00

I know how this looks... we're not drinking beer every night, and only a bit excessive once or twice a month on a weekend. ...And then there are those game time get-togethers...

Overall a very good experiment, I think. It was fun to figure out, and it will be even more fun to start the whole process again until next year! =)

One year celebration!

WHEW. I have quite the hangover, and Dave is somehow worse than I am!

Dave played at Alphabet Lounge in Alphabet City last night right before "Evan Jaffe and The Feud" (not bad). It was a great music night! We all drank heartily, celebrating our first year here.

Afterwards we (Dave, Eric, Jef, Geron and his friend Mike) went over to Hop Devil (Ave. A, East Village) and drank some more! I was mostly a complete moron, but every one of us had a complete blast for our own reasons.

Here are a few pics:

Dave up on stage


Dave and I


This reads "KNURD!" That's DRUNK backwards. Bet you didn't know we spoke sdrawkcab! What? You didn't know we were latot sdren? Tnod yrrow, uoy lliw teg ot wonk su noos hguone.


Jef and I over at Hop Devil with little dwarves on our foreheads (torn from the center of the drink coasters on our table)


Around 1am, our wonderful friend SHANKAR called and I sat on the sidewalk talking to him for about 2 hours, even all during the cab ride to the WTC PATH. Shankar: If you're reading this, WE MISS YOU and can't wait to see you in a few weeks!!!

One year ago TODAY!!!

Dave and I arrived in Jersey City one year ago TODAY. I'd like to call for a moment of silence...

...During this moment, take a looksie through the October posts. It contains blogs about our move, our first day as New Yorkers, our first day of work (where was my mom with her camera?) and more.

OCTOBER 1st, 2004 The 1st of October is at the bottom of the page.


NOTE: Dave is playing at the Alphabet Lounge tonight from at 8:30pm for a 45 minute set. Come help us celebrate!