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September 1st, 2008
10:13 am - 9 finger typing
well, we made it up the 500ft steep climb called agony grind and then i cut myself and we had to turn around. dumb me bought a new knife (rather than a leatherman) and i had it on my belt. i thought it had a safety for both opening and closing, but i learned the hard way it doesn't. luckily the shot of adrenaline gave me the energy to make it back down to the car. we passed some folks on a day-hike on our way down and i was wondering why they weren't very polite. then when we got down the hill bryan was like, holy cow, no wonder they looked scared, you had blood all over your face! i guess i wiped my forehead with my hand a few times. we found a hospital pretty close and they stitched me up. my first time getting stitches in an emergency room!
it wasnt a total waste because in that time we learned a few things:
1. we need different packs. we definitely didnt pack light enough for day packs, and if we want to carry a proper tent, rather than just a tarp, we need to get multi-day packs. the north face packs we have are great GREAT day packs. when we went to minnesota i packed all of my clothes for a week in it. but it's not not good for thru hiking w/ a tent and other gear. the distribution of weight was too low on my back.
2. always have a sheath for your knife or leatherman :)
we're gonna head back and try that hike again. once you get to the top of agony grind, there is a stunning view of the NY hudson valley countryside. in the fall i'm sure it will be amazing.
Current Music: tom petty heartbreakers song w/ 'alice in wonderland' vid playin in my head
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August 30th, 2008
10:12 pm - apt hunting
today we looked at an apt near b's college. our current apt is big and great, in a good neighborhood and honestly it's reasonably priced. but month after month the money gets tighter and tighter. i really love to travel and looking ahead, that's not going to be possible. there are tons of things i'd like to plan ahead for (the arrival of muffin — offspring of cake and cookieman, my cousin erica will be in spain at that time also, and then of course visiting family and friends throughout the year).
unfortunately, we'll have to move further from the city. my commute will be longer. most likely we will have to be in an area where we don't know anyone. it took us about 3 years to start meeting people in our current building and it's nice to have friends nearby. we'll have to figure out what to do with the cats when we go away. i'm a little anxious about it.
tomorrow, we're off for our hike! we're total nerds. we bought this swedish army issue trangia stove (WAYYY cheaper than any of the camping outfitters pots/pans/stoves). it has the stove AND pots in one thing, and we got it for $15. i'd love to get an ultralight tent, but those run like $400. our $35 tent from target will have to do for now! :) woo!
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August 28th, 2008
12:38 pm - pb&j
the title of today's post is inspired by my lunch. :)
we've been to minnesota and come back again. we hadn't visited since my Grandma Dolly died in 1997. My sister, Katie, her bf, Matt, the hubby, and myself all flew into Minneapolis on a Saturday morning, picked up a rental car, and then drove the 5 hours up the shore of Lake Superior to a small town called Grand Marais. we camped, hiked, canoed, ate "world's best donuts" (no joke), drank a lot of beer, skipped stones, had a near brush with a black bear, met up with my Dad and Jane at our cousin Marvel's cabin, ate Sven & Ole's pizza, fished, swam, ate pie, went up the Gunflint Trail near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, picked wild blueberries and raspberries (possibly some juneberries), saw the remnants of last year's Ham Lake fire which scorched the earth across from Gunflint Lake, visited with my Uncle Jeff and his kids Sam and Miranda...
we did a lot and it was great. here are some pics:
on a very sad note, the brother of my sister's ex-boyfriend died last week. completely random. he had left a drinks gathering after a kickball game with his coworkers and never made it home. the next morning he was found dead at the bottom of an elevator shaft in an office building not too far from the bar. katie was very close with their family and visited them last weekend after his parents rushed home from Peru. so very sad.
this weekend, we are headed on a two-day hike along the Appalachian Trail. We are going to do the stretch just before you reach Harriman State Park in NY State, as though coming from NJ. I'm very excited! I hope it only rains on Saturday like the forecast says...
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/classic/tired.gif) sleepy
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July 6th, 2008
09:43 pm
in the past few weeks, we've purchased bikes. we've been able to do a bike ride just about every other day. we've found all kinds of hidden goodies in our neighborhood that we never knew about. and started exploring other neighborhoods too.
last thursday we took a ride with my friend kristin to see the waterfalls by olafur eliasson from the dumbo waterfront park vantage point. we weren't impressed. it's our second bike ride to dumbo passing by the brooklyn navy yard. there is an AWESOME set of abandoned homes with overgrown trees and foliage around them. they give me a glimpse of what the world would look like should mankind cease to exist. tonight i stumbled across the name of this neglected block: Admiral's Row. the last families moved out in the late 1970's and it has been left to rot since. there were plans to demolish the buildings and build a supermarket to service the three large low-income housing buildings nearby. but it has since been registered a national historic site, so, the discussion continues...
on friday, we rode across the williamsburg bridge and over to south street seaport and on to battery park. once we hit the seaport, the crowds became pretty thick making it hard to ride. unfortunately battery park was cordoned off for a concert (the pixies, no less). the weather was awesome and the constant smell of bbq made it a great ride.
tonight we did another local neighborhood ride, stopping at mccarren park to play some catch. we then looped down to barge park and over towards Newtown Creek. this is the water treatment plant located in Greenpoint and on our last ride we noticed there is a Nature Walk made of reclaimed waterfront property right next to the plant. the smell was so bad we couldn't imagine anyone would go there. tonight the large gates were open and we rode in to inspect. the first stretch STUNK, but once the walkway turned to the left, the small was basically gone. miss heather from newyorkshitty.com posted these photos of the very modern cement entryway. i mean, if you can get past the pervasive shit smell at the entry, it's worth it. or, if you want to walk the mile or two from the nearest subway.
next week, we're off to Lake Anna in VA for a family camping trip.
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March 22nd, 2008
11:06 am - happy easter
a peep show for you!
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March 19th, 2008
01:46 pm - some random shit
quentin tarantino has really freaking good taste in music. bryan and i watched "death proof" a few days ago and i just bought the soundtrack. if you are a horror flick fan, i recommend the tarantino/rodriguez grindhouse double feature. kurt russell is smokin' in death proof. surprising, as i've never quite found him to be even a little bit attractive.
and 'stranger than fiction' is now one of my new favorites. i get misty-eyed every time i watch it.
oh and i finished 'dirt' (the mötley crüe memoir). i could NOT put it down.
i guess i'm getting back to my metal and horror flick roots lately.
my older sister, her daughter, and our other niece, leanne, arrive in NYC tonight. we're gonna hit the MoMA and maybe see "Stomp." it will be nice to get out of the house and have family around!
oh and i got a COSTCO membership. exciting! haha.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/classic/energetic.gif) energetic
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March 16th, 2008
02:05 pm - spring is in the air
it's been a while since i've posted! work is just too nuts. i think the only reason i have time to post right now is because i was sick for an entire week. some gnarly, flu-like illness which kept me out of the office for a couple of days and home early the others. i got to spend a lot of time with bryan, which was nice, but i did feel really awful for most of it. not so nice.
a few weeks ago we took a short trip to miami and key west. my little sister and her new bf were supposed to have joined us, but she got the flu. we had used a bunch of our accumulated points to pay for the trip, so we couldn't cancel. the weather was beautiful. nice, hot beach weather. we ate a lot, went to the beach a lot, even had a night out of dancing. our last full day we splurged and took a wave runner tour around the island. holy crap, that was fun, and so worth it. i have pictures i have to post. i'm a bit behind on that. thanksgiving and christmas pictures are still waiting in the queue as well. i just today took down our makeshift charlie brown christmas tree.
a few days after returning from our trip, i had to turn around and go back to miami for work. the night before my flight back, we had a few drinks at dinner with my coworkers and ended up getting really drunk. i only had a few drinks, i guess i just drank them really fast. in any case, i got back to my room around 1, passed out with all of my clothes on and at 6am my coworker, rowena, came knocking on my door. i was like 'uh, as you can see, i just woke up.' haha. i was still drunk. needless to say, it was the WORST plane ride of my entire life. i had my head in my hands the entire time. hah.
yesterday, bryan and i spent the $100 amex gift card my boss' boss gave me for work i had done on an internal project. i wanted to buy something a little frivolous, not dinner or drinks or groceries or household goods related. so we bought two tennis rackets, a few cans of balls and two sweat bands to use at the tennis court in our neighborhood. i'm so excited! unfortunately, i was up too late reading the Mötley Crüe memoir, so we didn't get out this morning to play. bryan got it for me for Christmas and i just started reading it two days ago. i'm already halfway done. i can't put it down! ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) cakeinoz, you'll be getting this when i'm done. :)
Current Mood: sleepy
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November 1st, 2007
11:48 am
i like NPR, but Brian Lehrer sometimes drives me nuts. Newt Gingrich was just on with Brian. Granted, I don't necessarily agree with Newt, but, Brian one minute says "Corporations should willingly make adjustments that are good for the environment" and then the next minute says "People won't make adjusments, won't use less electricity as individuals." How is it the responsibility of corporations to do this, but not to hold individuals accountable as well?
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/classic/angry.gif) annoyed
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October 19th, 2007
04:19 pm - october is the new september
we're headed up to the catskills again this weekend. my friend angela rented a house and due to a scheduling conflict, has to leave early. so, lucky for us, she offered up the house for tomorrow night. woohoo!
then we are headed to a massive carved-pumpkin festival sunday night. i have to make sure to remember to bring my camera.
http://www.hudsonvalley.org/content/view/195/198/
it's a gloomy friday here in nyc.
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/classic/sad.gif) hungry
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October 11th, 2007
11:07 am - little did he know...
yesterday on the train i saw a woman write this onto a piece of paper:
--
OK
creative accounting
disorganization
OK
legal skills + power of persuasion
--
i thought she might be writing a job description. an interesting one at that. hehe.
oh and i watched the movie stranger than fiction last night. it wasn't at all what i was expecting, but i loved it. will ferrell plays the saddest man alive, and seriously, he does it well.
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September 23rd, 2007
10:59 pm - run to the hills
bryan and i were watching vh1 classic last night... metal mania. with such hair band greats as LA Guns, Britny Fox, Warrant, Great White, Ozzy...
overall, a reminder of the crappy music i liked as a kid...
until...
an iron maiden video came on. we were enthralled. bryan pondered that they were ahead of their time. i agreed. the "run to the hills" video is amazing. haha. you laugh, i know, until you watch it. :)
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July 18th, 2007
11:32 pm - everybody panic
i was in a cab on 36th just passed lexington when the explosion happened. there were people running and talking on their cell phones. everyone in the cars were asking people on the street what had happened. someone said there was an explosion on 42nd st. it was actually quite frightening to see all of those people running, looking terrified. a few blocks later i got out of the cab because traffic was almost at a halt.
i walked over a few more blocks to meet bryan. i couldn't call because i forgot to charge my cell phone during the day. i walked into borders feeling pretty shaken and still had no idea what was going on. bryan hadn't heard or seen anything. we walked a few blocks and saw a geyser of steam shooting up from the street, engulfing a building.
con-ed is going to catch a raft of shit for this. they're already under major scrutiny. according to bloomberg, the pipe hadn't been replaced (or maybe it was still the original) since 1929. eek!
1 person was killed, a few others injured. :(
we went to see harry potter a bit later. it was good! i wanted to kick the crap out of that department of ministry lady that took over the school! plus they did a good job of making daniel radcliffe look young. i wonder how often he had to shave. hermione's actress kind of annoys me. and it was nice to finally get to learn more about the mysterious snape. kind of a whiner though, eh? :)
Current Mood: thirsty
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July 12th, 2007
08:23 am - windorphins?
on the subway there have been these weird little illustrated ads for WINDORPHINS. strange little amoeba-like characters and the text "Discover Windorphins." an unbranded ad campaign. so, i was like, hmm, i wonder if that's for wind energy! i mean, the illustration style looked unrefined, almost elementary, so i thought it could very well be one of those "paid for by the wind farmers of america" groups. sort of like the very simple ads for peanuts paid for by the americas peanut farmers i see on the subway.
for weeks i kept meaning to go to the website to check it out.
well today, i went to check up on my ebays and saw a little banner for it on the homepage.
discover windorphins
haha. cute!
oh yeah, and i started god of war ALL OVER. it was too damn easy. how nerdy is that?
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/classic/smile.gif) amused
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July 10th, 2007
09:24 am - omg its hot
it's hot out. holy cow.
well, i accepted a new job (it's freelance to start, but if all goes well, i will switch to full-time). bryan really wants to return to school, so i think full-time is the way to go. PLUS it looks like i'll get to work on the Martha Stewart brand. omg, i love Martha! i'm so excited.
the only thing that really sucks is that i can't start for another week and i have no other big projects this week. ack!
i sold my old camera on ebay and hopefully my old G4 laptop sells (it already did, but the deadbeat said he couldn't pay for it, bastard!). i bought a few cheap playstation 2 games, too. usually it just gathers dust as a dvd player in the bedroom, but after i sold one of my DS games, i thought i might be able to get some cheap deals on old ps2 games. i did! oh, speaking of my DS, some ladies were staring at me on the subway a few weeks ago. i was playing my DS and wondering wtf they were staring at me. two ladies got off and i sat down next to the third chic. she leans in to me and says "i guess everybody wants to be a toys r us kid" wha??? i see adults playing DS or PSP all of the time! i'm not defensive about it or anything. :)
katamari damacy - awesome
god of war - wow, i'm totally addicted to this right now. when the g4 sells, i'm going to pick of GOWII.
(oh and i originally started this posting because i read that the chinese FDA director was EXECUTED. holy shit!)
Current Mood: ![[mood icon]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/mood/classic/shock.gif) anxious
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June 27th, 2007
June 25th, 2007
10:37 am
röck döts
get your big chair photos here! — corrine and i went to Coney Island for the Mermaid Parade. i rode the Cyclone for the first time ever and i have two cuts on my hands to prove it. we also rode the Wonder Wheel, went on a haunted ride, played skeeball, and had a crappy pina colada in a ridiculous glass.
Current Mood: dorky
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June 24th, 2007
02:43 pm - a walk in the park
this morning we walked down to bedford avenue in williamsburg from our apartment (according to google maps this is about 1.2 miles). we walked through mccarren park and over to fabiane's. i was craving their delicious tuna salad on crusty baguette, but the line was really long. instead we opted to pick up a bagel and eat it in the park. i got a toasted everything bagel with jalapeno cheddar cream cheese. holy crap that was good. the park was nice, we layed (lay?) down and read our books for a few hours. i'm now reading a book by a turkish author called "snow" ... oh and we signed up for goodreads.com with our friend corrine.
i'm starting to ramble, i think i need a nap. mmm nap.
and then, thank you notes.
Current Mood: sleepy
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June 20th, 2007
June 16th, 2007
01:03 am - sniff
cakeinoz, this link goes out to you.
Current Mood: sleepy
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