Three days in Beantown

Boston was lovely. We jumped on the train Saturday morning and it beelined through Stamford Connecticut, Providence Rhode Island and on to Massacheusetts (there's my spelling test over), where the number plates proclaim 'spirit of America'.





Boston was one long history lesson, with the Institute of Contemporary Art thrown in for good measure. This is where Samuel Adams, John Hanock, Paul Revere and others got the whole American Revolution started ( we even saw their oddly engraved graves). The Boston Tea Party, Paul Revere's Midnight Ride and the 'lobsterbacks' (redcoats) taking on local militia and sparking the War of Independence all became clear after a historical trail we followed around Boston and Charlestown (every tourist in Boston was following the same trail).


Boston is known as the 'Cradle of Liberty' (they really do take their freedoms seriously here.)and we also learnt that Boston is called Beantown because they have celebrated baked beans recipes, featuring molasses. (The tinned baked beans here have lots of sugar and are rather sweet. Unexpected...not altogether gross.) New England is also the home of seafood: oysters and lobster particularly. So you can imagine Justin was in heaven ordering 6 different varitieties of oysters and a famed lobster roll for dinner. It seems sacrilege to me to put a lobster in a hot dog bun, but when in Rome...



This weekend was also the playoffs (finals) for the baseball, and the Boston Red Sox won on Sunday night. So you can imagine the whole city was sporting some piece of Red Sox merchandise and Sunday night in the hotel there was a lot of hoo haaing from the big screen TV in the lobby. We watched the game until midnight, where it was 4-3 and then fell asleep. It's pretty hard to get into even when there's a cliffhanger.

Across the river from Boston is Cambridge, home to Harvard, and we had a Sunday pub lunch there before wandering around the campus. Very atmospheric: lots of leafy trees changing colour in the squares and historic residential buildings, libraries and halls lining the yards. It was getting really cold (people wearing fleece pants) so we hustled through. I didn't realise Harvard was founded in the 1600s and named after its principal patron who donated money and his library to get it going.

And there endeth the history lesson.

Getting amongst it

So this week we really hit our stride, it feels. The apartment is feeling lived in and loved, with the addition of some more furniture and plants and we're getting used to the rhythm of the 'hood.

I've worked out what time I need to get on the train to get to work at a decent hour (15 min trip - joy of joys) and how long it takes me to walk home (if I don't stop to gawk at something, which is very hard not to do, 30 mins) Jus has his fave spot at Jefferson Market library, his alternative office, which looks like a castle.

The Time Out magazine is now burgeoning with things to do after the city quietened down over summer. We went and saw the Victorian musician New Buffalo in Williamsburg, some $5 comedy (read = we were the oldest people there) in the Lower East Side that sat 20 people and where Demetri Martin turned up, we booked some tix to go and see some ice hockey at Madison Sq Garden, and we're off to see Spamalot, a Monty Python musical.

So missing TV is pretty much confined to Sunday nights, and that's when Youtube.com comes in handy. (Last weekend Jus and I watched a bunch of Summer Heights High epsidodes to get a fix.) Though we did notice some of the comedy revolved around TV stuff - new shows- and Jus and I sat there like lamposts not laughing, not getting it, and feeling a little odd. "Do you know who he's talking about?" Jus whispered. "I got nothing", I shrugged, and we waited for the bit to move on to something universal like...how lame Halloween is, how hammocks are nets to catch lazy people and how the guy who invented ketchup had no idea it would be so big.

We're going to Boston tomorrow morning because I have to go there for work on Monday so we thought we'd make a long weekend of it. We're catching the train and it takes about 3 hours, going through Connectictut.

Jus and I checked the weather and got a rude shock when it is forecast to be 8c and sunny. 8c for a sunny day! That happened quickly. We both kinda panicked. It actually got really cold today and I started fearing for my warmth. There is an ice skating rink in the park where I used to sweat over my lunch. The cold's a comin', the cold's a comin'...

Hallowe'ird

Well, this pumpking carving site takes the cake. The imagination runs wild. Heaven forbid you would want to eat one of these creations.

At work we are having a pumpkin carving competition, people are expected to dress up, and on Halloween night there is a street parade that runs from Greenwich Village right past our apartment.

At the base of our apartment building a store has opened up selling costumes - costumes for adults - and it has been packed every night for the last 2 weeks.

The drug stores are selling buckets of mixed candy, to dole out to trick or treaters.

Jus and I have been walking around with one eyebrow quizzically raised as the hype and hysteria mounts. In NY, Halloween is bigger than Jesus.

The latest...

Vanderbilt Mansion
Originally uploaded by Meesy

So, its Thursday night. Jus is making cool lamps, as you do when you don't have a telly. He's so handy. We're listening to Beck's Midnight Vultures. I've been doing the clothes washing and had a difficult ethical choice to make: do you toss someone else's clothes out of the machine if its done and no other machines are available? I did, and I felt guilty. What's the right thing to do? Do tell.

Yesterday I was in Detroit for work. Well, to be precise we drove down the freeway from the airport to Ford Road, and then to Mercury Drive, past Fairlane Town, and went to Ford global HQ. Rather beige. I gave a presentation then got back in a car, went back to the airport and back to NY via Chicago. (yes, that is the wrong direction. Its painful. I just close my eyes, lie back and think of the freq-y flyer points.)

Justin has been rustling up furniture from cool sources and slowly, piece by piece, the apartment is taking shape. Bedside table, tick. Lamps, tick. Kettle, tick. Ironing board, tick. You forget the things you need when you're down to a couple of suitcases. Ironing board became immediately apparent and we reluctantly trekked to Bed, Bath and Beyond and walked home with one. Owning two ironing boards in the world is just annoying. I am rather excited though by my Componobili. (I only expect Designer Dan to understand what this means.)

Stevie Abbott was in town last weekend and he suggested we get out of town, so we hired a car and headed for the hills: the Catskills, Rip van Winkle country. We were all a tad anxious about driving out of New York but with, Barbara, our GPS lady, intoning the way, we all got comfortable and managed only to take three wrong turns and drive the wrong way up a highway ramp once. We listened to Barbara very closely until we got out into the small towns and winding roads though the red, orange, yellow and green leaves. Then we turned Barbara off and found Woodstock, which has a gentle New Age current flowing through it (lots of purple velvet, spirit-related stores, Hendrix posters, tie dye, howling coyotes, dream catchers) but is mostly a cute town full of tourists. They were having a film festival , so it was quite busy.

We saw two dudes for whom the party had never stopped, a store with a 'Hippies Welcome' sign, a few music studios and lots of alternative teenagers who no doubt have very free-thinking parents. It reminded me a bit of Daylesford.

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Jus and Steve were nursing serious hangovers (pints, jet lag and pseudoephedrine make a sweaty, porcelain-grabbing combo) so we made our way to the Scribner Hollow Lodge, our inn for the evening, and had naps before a massive 4-courser in the dining room. A pianist sang Latin hits and soul anthems from the bar while we had hairs of the dog (hair of the dogs?): it was like our iPod was on a 'dinner party' playlist. I thought she was excellent and sang along a bit. It was that kind of place, and I'm that kind of gal.

We saw a bear alert sign (akin to our bush fire safety signs), a nuclear power plant, a lot of red barns, where FDR was born...everywhere you turned there was a 'this happened here' plaque.

Anyway, we survived driving back into the city and now we're exhilarated because the whole countryside beckons! Within a couple of hours you can drive or train to Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massacheussets, Rhode Island, Maryland...I have no idea what you can do in all those places but it sounds exciting.

Here are some random photos of stuff.

And someone at work has started calling me Meesy! What the! How do they know?

It's official

We really do work for Microsoft. One immediately good thing: we get to buy discounted stuff from the Microsoft online store, so I might one day get actual licensed software for our home computer!

Can u tell i have deadlines?

Halloween approaches and master craftsman , Justin Northrop, carved a classic picture perfect, apartment-sized Jack O Lantern to scare the spirits from our flat. Isn't he a marvel? His first time and he carved a masterpiece.

When I got home from work the apartment was all snug and pumpkin-y smelling. Those tea lights end up slowing roasting the pumpkin flesh and the most cosy aroma pervades the house. I think I'll sprinkle some vanilla and cinnammon in the pumpkin and get some aromatherapy going on. Yep, we caught the pumpkin fever.

We've been Skyping with the Northrops, and Mumma had her first introduction to web cams. The image above is the view we had on our PC of Mumma, Lis and Diane crowding around their web cam, chatting to us. Mumma had this expression of sheer incredulity the entire conversation: priceless! I do continue to love the internet...

Will do a big post this weekend. We finally got broadband at home (all this time we've been skunging free wifi from a benevolent neighbour, unbenownst to them of course) and I have a bunch of photos to download from the digi: we've had mum and Allan and Steve Abbott in town, we went to Woodstock, I went to Motor City Detroit, and Jus and I joined the Y. Yes, the YMCA in the Village, people! Does it get any more ridiculous?

BTW It is so hard to flip between our/or, s/z, er/re, ll/l every time I stop writing for locals and pen something for an Australian audience. It is really taxing my frontal cortex and I just know it is going to damage my Scrabble game. I have always prided myself on being a good speller (well you gotta be proud about something) but now my whole vocabulary is going to hell. Wouldn't it be handy if people came with a language preference switch too?

Supersize

A tableau of excess:

1. Upper West Side Mexican restaurant where you order guacamole and the waiter makes it for you, by your table, using at least 2 avocadoes, to serve two people.

2. A 'small' Coke at the cinema.

3. Mum laughing at the enormity of her pancake stack.

4. The 4 inch thickness of the Sunday New York Times, which includes 2 magazines and a literary supplement, plus countless catalogues.

Pumpkin Mania

Well everywhere you turn you see pumpkins. Fall is here, along with all things harvest-y, and therefore Halloween-y and it seems pumpkins have taken over Manhattan.

The markets are exploding with all sorts of squashes, gourds and pumpkins (varieties I've never seen or heard of before) and everywhere is decorated with harvest or Halloween themes. I mean everywhere: supermarkets, banks, furniture stores, clothing stores, offices. You can buy pumpkin-themed everything, from serving platters at Pottery Barn to a pumpkin spice latte at Starbucks, and every place is draped in red, orange and brown tones.

Behold the pumpkin, New York. I always thought pumpkins were under-rated, its good to see this full embrace. I even stumbled across a pumpkin scone.

I can finally get off the rollercoaster

Wow, what a long ride. From the dizzying highs of our first company-subsidised apartment with park views, to the tantrum-inducing lows of a crummy dive of a hotel with a shared bathroom in the Upper West Side, we have finally moved in to our very own apartment.





I was filled with trepidation on Friday when I went to work and left Jus on the sidewalk out the front of the hotel we slummed in between our tenancy at the last place finishing and the new place starting, with all our worldly possessions in bags on the sidewalk next to him, waiting to get the OK from the super that we could move in, or get the not ok and check in to another over-priced crap hotel. He sat there for almost 5 hours before getting the nod that the keys were ready.





I finished work and we went to a department store and bough a doona, pillows and blankets etc and spent Friday night in the new apartment sleeping on the floor on all our clothes and towels and stuff. (The homeless people outside put everything in perspective, and a glass of Chandon helped.) Our bed arrived Saturday morning, and the couch comes tomorrow (and we have invested in a fold out couch for all you visitors), and until then we've made good use of free wifi, cinemas and cafes where you can sit all day on one coffee.



The place is ace: perfect size, walk to everywhere, comfy...Jus did an amazing job securing it and schlepping all our stuff there.

Saturday morning we blitzed the stores for plates, glasses, bins and hangers and that afternoon we headed to Prospect Park for a picnic with Andrew 'Clicky' Green, Natalie and Jim. Bit of frisbee, drop of Hugel, bite of guacamole and a lovely fall day for all the stress to melt away.

I'll send out a broadcast email with our new contact details :)

Now I realise how bad Melbourne's weather truly is

The sultriness has gone and left behind it sweet warm nights and gentle sunny days, without the need for baby powder or Frizz Ease. The weather here is divine right now, and no one told me it would be this way. I know they don't like the humidity here but I can't believe more people don't rave about how warm the weather is here. Summer was hot and sunny, as summer should be. The start of fall is turning out to be sunny with crisp mornings and cloudless skies. The weather stays the same all day: no nasty surprises!

I know that come winter I will be a snivelling mess of shivers, and this may have been a mild summer, but I guess I am just relieved that it was warm and not a Vancouver or London summer, for example, where you need to purchase a picture of the sun and go to solariums to avoid SAD and to get enough Vitamin D.

A crash course in American vino

When Jus and I wander into a bottle shop, or liquor store I should say, it's not the usual smash and grab affair that it was at home when we had sampled a fair amount of the selection and recognised the regions and labels and varieties.

Here it's another story. We don't know the labels, we have only heard of the most lauded regions and they grow some varieties I've never heard of. They also seem to organise their stores in way that is hard to work out with a mishmash of foreign and local among the varieties. I need a drink just to cope with the places.

The good part is that they deliver. They will deliver one bottle of wine to your home without even asking for ID (which i don't get since at bars they ID geriatric people). We haven't used this service yet as we're trying to make ourselves expend physical energing before gorging on more unhealthy things (we had one piece of cherry pie and a slice of chocolate layer cake delivered the other night from 1.5 streets away: a new low, or high, depending on how you look at it.)

So we're going to launch ourselves into the wonderful world of US wine. Without a TV - yes, we will be sans TV in the new apartment, on purpose, its an experiment, an awful, thrilling experiment - we'll have hours and hours and hours to listen to wine podcasts or read books or tasting notes or whatever and get to know the oeni-scape. How else are we to cope without TV, I ask you? No Scrubs, no Will & Grace. Farewell my friends! I shall never forget you!

Jus and I went for a run around Central Park on Saturday. We're moving soon and I thought it would be ridiculous to have lived so close to the park and not have jogged around it at least once. Jus has been pounding the pavement up there a few times. It was great! There was a street market leading up to it so all the pedestrians had left the sidewalk free to browse the arepas, Philly cheesesteaks, I Heart New York t-shirts and fake handbags. We beelined and joined the steady throng of joggers.

There are signs telling you to run/rollerblade/cycle anti-clockwise only: I guess there's so many people that if you went any old direction there would be carnage. And unlike most cities where if you appear for your jog at 11am you're basically the last one there and all the 'serious runners' have had their shower and are airing their sneakers and on their way to brunch, in New York there are always people jogging at any time of the day or night. Lots of them, and not just the lazy-looking people. There are still dickheads with mini water bottles strapped to them, and those running without a shirt to show off their abs (think Mohawk Man at the Tan) and the ones who insist on wearing those floaty, see-my-tackle running shorts. A heavily pregnant woman ran past me and I had to sigh. Yes, it had been a long time between runs.

We ran past the carriage horses and the pedicab dudes and looped into an area of the park I hadn't really seen before. The horse poo makes you run faster, which is a handy incentive.

Half way through it began to rain, which I actually love because its fun to run in the rain with your tongue out and because I always overheat when running (which is why I could only ever contemplate the Tan in winter) and this actually makes it more bearable for me. After about 2 minutes we were both saturated.

The pedestrians in the street market had fled to the sidewalk for cover, so Jus and I had 8th Avenue, which was blocked to traffic, to ourselves. We jogged right down the middle of the road, straight towards the glimmering flashing neon of Times Square. I felt like raising my arms in the air and cheering: it was quite a Rocky moment. I would never have thought "This time next year you'll be jogging down the middle of 8th Avenue with Justin in the pouring rain."

I would have said, "What? Me jogging with Justin? I don't think so."

La La Land

The highlight of visiting LA last week was catching up with my 8.5 month pregnant cousin, Jade, and meeting her boyfriend, Eric. She was totally radiant and the both of them were so excited about the impending birth of their baby boy, and anxious for him to hurry up and just get here.

We talked a lot about tatts and I reconsidered what I might get one day, when all my other whims are fulfilled. I was thinking of some Mercator projection of the world mapped to my ankle, covering my 'Spring Racing Carnival' scar (you know the one, you've heard the sorry story).

We grabbed some Japanese for dinner and wandered past what would have had to be a 100 people lining up outside a game store, waiting for the midnight release of the new Xbox game 'Halo 3'. Dedicated souls, given it was only about 6pm. When we left a while later the queue had quadrupled. This was a sleepy suburban outlet so i can't imagine what itmust have been like at game HQ in New York if the iPhone line was anything to go by. It retails here for about $60. In Australia that would be at least $100. Its a pity i don't have a gaming console here, but maybe I can wangle a copy of Halo 3 and expense it as part of my gaming research. It is supposed to be cutting edge...

We have a place!

Relief of reliefs! Jus has secured us an apartment. I haven't seen it but I don't care: it's somewhere to park our stubby coolers and hotel-size toiletries for the next 12 months. It's just near Union Sq (shoe heaven, daily farmer's market, art market, Wholefoods!) and a variety of subway stops (easy access!), on the threshold of the Meatpacking District and Chelsea, just north of Greenwich Village (everything in the middle of everything). So happy...can't wait to move in!



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Anne and Anna do the NY art scene

Anne and Anna do the NY art scene
Originally uploaded by Meesy

Macca came to town for the weekend, fresh from the Toronto Film Fest fair thingo, and she hooked up with some friends who took us to an art gallery opening in Chelsea. The headlining artist was Malcolm McLaren, yes, THE Malcolm McLaren, who had two sexually motivated installations that defied description....until he struck up conversation with Anna and gave her the explicit descriptions personally. Let's just say someone had to comb through a lot of 60s porn to put those particular works together. All a bit disjointed coming from a man wearing pastel blue cashmere sweater, boxer shorts and sensible Oxfords.
We were also celebrating Anne's first night out alone since Annabelle was born: momentous, and she kept it together without the anxious home dialling. Everyone was happy.
More photos on Flickr.

Mum and Allan are in New York this week and I am in LA doing user research. Figures! (Luckily they're coming back in a week or so after their Laurentians cruise.) I've been finding out what people think about traffic and road directions here. Listening to Los Angelinos talk about traffic is like Londoners talking about the weather, or New Yorkers talking about their rent. Its totally put me off ever living here, apart from the whole 'its Los Angeles' thing.

What to do on a Saturday night?

One of my colleagues is off to see the Windy City Rollers, an all-girl roller derby where sisters on skates rip each other to shreds til the last chick is standing.

This might be a fantasy come true for some of you guys and gals out there who either love to see scantily clad women fighting or have always wanted to get Mad Max-ish on their Rollerblades as a pivot, blocker or jammer.

The Injury Gallery tells the real story. F-reaky.

Beer can chicken, baby

Mum was fascinated by beer can chicken, a recipe we saw on a cooking show when she was here. The concept is that you stick a full beer on the Weber, sit the chicken on top so the beer can slips into its cavity, and the beer evaporates and lends flavour to the chicken.

So you can imagine I was delighted that we went to the Weber Grill for dinner last night and they had beer can chicken on the menu. I had to try it. It was delicious, and apparently according to Jez, you can do Jack & Coke chicken or any other type of flavourful can of liquid and shove it in the chicken's keister, with similar tasty effect. The imagination runs wild, doesn't it?

The Weber Grill was kinda fun: a gimmick taken to its fullest extent. The chefs were indeed cooking all the food on big industrial sized Webers, lined up like timpani, and there were Weber base plant pots and Weber lid light fixtures. There were pictures of the Weber brothers and their original BBQs back in the 50s. And I had always thought Weber was an Australian brand. The things you learn.

Last night I asked about the difference between BBQ and grilling. So grilling is what we call barbecuing: cooking meat on a open flame. (What we call grilling they call broiling, cooking under an element/flame.) And barbecue is (slow) cooked meats over an open fire, which are often slathered in bbq sauce, and kind of extends to a whole cuisine type with corn bread, corn, coleslaw or mash...the whole Southern thang. The African Americans who brought the blues to Chicago also brought the BBQ, and Chicago is really into it. The restaurant was a block long.

The rather phallic image above is a colleague displaying how you butter corn American style. The corn is served with a little triangle of bread and a tub of butter, and you butter the bread, and then run the bread on the corn. In the restaurant I only saw men ordering this corn.

I found the food here really novel: I've never seen these items on a menu at home and certainly not served this way. I felt like I was looking for once at true American cuisine that wasn't junk food and hadn't been globalised through pop culture. And for once I didn't go home with a bloated belly.

You should have seen the desserts though. The waiter came around with slices of all the pie and cheesecake offerings on a tray, and the slices were HUGE. I was 'this' close to pointing a finger at the cheesecake, but I stayed strong. You would have been proud of me.

30 hours of this

At work we sit and watch real people, who don't live on the internet like us, step their way through websites we're designing.

We show them concepts, prototypes and mock ups and ask them to complete a typical task for that site.

A moderator guides them and we observers huddle behind the one-way mirror in a dark sound proof room and furiously take notes.

We wince, clap, roll our eyes, laugh, nod, grimace and try not to eat an entire bowl of mints, as the research reveals usability problems with the web site. Its fascinating, humbling, crucial, inspiring and can be incredibly tedious.

We're watching 21 Chicagoans this week, while the sun shines outside.

Burger odyssey abort abort!

Jus and I had decided on a dedicated US burger review, where we would sample them here, there and everywhere and rate them, kind of picking up where I left off with the delicious SEEK St Kilda Gourmet Burger Odyssey (Grill'd won BTW).

So last night I ventured off to Boston Blackie's, a joint that a colleague at work mentioned as having the best burger in Chicago (the work crew flaked on dinner after 11 hours of usability testing - fair enough).

The menu was all chili, burgers, sandwiches, and I settled into a booth and I watched baseball on the big screen and tried to decipher the baseball scoring, while eavesdropping on a drunken Boomer table of four next to me slagging their hopeless siblings and claiming biased parenting.

The Houston Astros were playing the Cubs (sponsored by Bubba Burger, the official burger of the Chicago Cubs). Go Cubs.

The eponymous Boston Blackie burger was on its way, bursting with bacon, grilled onions and cheese. It was a sloppy delight. They ask you how you want your burger done here - this is serious stuff - and it was perfectly medium. In fact I would say its the tastiest burger pattie I've ever had. Good fresh slaw with not too much mayo...I almost wore it, managed to get most of it in my mouth, and made a right mess of the serviette while washing it down with a $4 glass of house red. (Chicago is so cheap compared to NY.)

And then I thought "what am i doing? i can't do a review of US burgers. I have a cholesterol problem. i'm testing the seams of my pants at this very moment. am i stupid?"

It must have been the hypnotic effect of the baseball that relaxed me enough to have this epiphany. My last 12-week-tummy blog posting was barely indexed and already I was hoeing into more junk. I really am in denial.

On the long walk home, trying to assuage the guilt, I passed a store poster crying 'Everything in the middle of everything'. That's the problem. I need new boundaries. Talking to other Aussies, everyone who moves here seems to go through a little porky moment while they get the novel food out of their (through their?) system, and then you find your way down the notorious supermarket aisle without picking up a box of double coated Oreos with chocolate cream and go "Hey, we dont have these at home. they look awesome. let's try 'em." (they're friggin sublime by the way).

I am tempted to post a 'Mia at 3 months' belly photo.

who's afraid of Sept 11?

had to fly to Chicago yesterday and it only occurred to me late last week that I'd be flying on Sept 11. i was a little perturbed by it but hey, you just soldier on right?

La Guardia airport had military in camouflage with automatic rifles wandering around but they're a permanent fixture at all the airports here now. the only thing I noticed out of the (new, clear plastic bag for toiletries, shoes off) ordinary was a conspicuous air marshal on the flight. the flight was delayed three hours and packed to the shiny metal gills, and if any shenanigans had have happened I imagine the passengers would have just rolled their eyes and said 'typical, whatever'. i was more distressed by the prospect of no entertainment and no food, not even proper food to buy, since AA cut all those 'luxuries'. i haven't been that hungry since...I arrived in the US.

i have to admit i am sporting a new roll of blubber 'tween bra and belt, and its rather uncomfortable and I have to sit up straight all the time cos my flesh doesn't seem to fit any more. maybe its the burger bash Jus and I have been on, or the bran muffins I was eating for breakfast thinking they were actually healthy (its cake, just cake!),or the second lunches I nibble on when there are leftovers in the kitchen? maybe its the cheap goats cheese, or the massive meal sizes? maybe its the absence of aerobic exercise over the last 3 months? really, i'm at a loss here at how this happened.

regardless of the cause I've got to nip it in the bud because I've only been here 12 weeks and I'm 100% sure I'm setting a PB on the scales, and I don't mean a good PB.

so now I'm in the land of deep dish pizza (i would have called it a frittata, its that thick) and ribs (you can see the predicament I'm in) and tonight we're contemplating having a work dinner at Weber Grill, a restaurant chain by the actual manufacturers of Weber BBQs who decorate said restaurants with oversized replicas of said BBQs. yee har.

anyway, the flight was fascinating because we flew over a thunderstorm for a lot of the way and i watched the fluffy cumulo nimbus illuminate with flashes of silver and white, fork lightning giving a brief glimpse of the land far below. was beautiful. took a few photos...you might have noticed I have a penchant for taking shots of clouds.

Celebrity sighting #11

From the giddy high of Ashton to the humble shallows of Richard Kind, best known for his stints on Spin City, Mad About You and pretty much any other sitcom shot in the 90s, as well as all the other long running staples like Scrubs, Law & Ords, Curb, as well as any animated comedy like Cars and A Bugs Life. This is one hard working character actor...obviously plenty of roles out there for an av looking guy with a funny voice.

He was looking rumpled and sweaty walking up 7th Ave in the 50s, like he'd just finished an enormous lunch and ate too much and didn't realise it was still so hot outside, as Jus and I wandered home from a lazy paper reading session in the park.

Saw some good apartments on the weekend and have put in an application on one in Chelsea. Hope it comes off!