Monthly Archives: June 2011

Goings on in the Hudson River

Last night, there was quite a commotion on the Hudson River.

The sweltering temperature had dropped drastically, the Hudson River had whitecaps and it was eerily quiet.

But not for long.

About fifteen boats, some big, some small, some official looking, some not showed up in my view.

The boats were traveling in a circle for a bit. At first it looked like it could have been a search and rescue mission. There were lots of horns honking at various intervals.

Eventually the boats made their way up the river in a procession. They did some more honking.

Then the boats started to go their separate ways.

I guess that was in preparation for this.

As you can see here, a boat with loads of water starting spewing water everywhere.

The boats kept moving farther and farther away from the water spewing boat.

 

And then it was done.

A Google News search shows nothing. My neighbor, who also watched, thought it might be a funeral procession for someone in the maritime industry.

If it was, I hope he or she rests in peace.

If it wasn’t, I’m very curious. I’ve seen a lot of stuff happen on the river, but that whole show was a first.


Published…for real!

Still reeling from yesterday’s excitement! Nothing I could post today has a chance of beating the excitement of being published. So, today, I’m going to self-promote.

If you haven’t already…take a look at my guest blog post on Adioso.com.

Thanks for all the great feedback so far.


Great News Mate!

G’Day! I have been featured as a guest blogger on Adioso.com today!

Adioso is the perfect travel search companion for backpackers, vagabonds, or nomads with an appetite for spontaneous travel.

Please check out my first guest blog post right here! And go on, and check out Adioso on Facebook and Twitter. The links are here.

Thanks heaps!

* The Australian references are a nod to Adioso’s HQ which is in Melbourne, Australia.

mate = friends
g’day = hello
heaps = a lot


WHY would you eat THERE?

There’s an A, B, C, D, F rating system for NYC restaurants. Thankfully, my regular lunch stops all received A’s. I’ve yet to see a D or an F.

And, even with that A rating, I’ve still had issues. But even that place still got an A from the Board of Health. The question is, why would someone knowingly eat at a C, or worse?!


Drip…drip…drip

I love summer. I love everything about it.

What I don’t love is walking through the streets of NYC…and getting dripped on from above.

I know it’s (hopefully) the condensation from the air conditioning unit that’s in the windows around town but there’s just something so gross about it.


Are You Feeling Short of Breath?

The past few days I was feeling fine except for this pesky cough that had me hocking up a lung. So I went to the nurse’s office (yes, we have one at work) to make sure everything was okay.

She did the requisite temperature check and the tongue depressor check, and then out came the stethoscope. I always think I breathe too fast for this to work, and I have my doubts.

But this time, she asked me to breathe in and out, in and out, in and out. Yes, this actually went on about ten times until she asked me if I was feeling short of breath?

You’re asking me to basically pant like a dog over and over and over. Um…YES! Of course I am short of breath!


Noise vs. Sound

Staying on the subject of senses…I find it funny that the word ‘noise’ is perceived negatively and the word ‘sound’ is not.

I’m on a roll with posts that are list happy.

Bad noise:
1. Any kind of scraping of your teeth at the dentist
2. Fingernails on a blackboard
3. A busy signal on a phone – rare these days, but still
4. Screaming
5. Hocking – yes, the phlegm filled kind
6. Obnoxious people on cell phones
7. Incessant barking
8. Early morning construction
9. People who blast music as they drive their cars on quiet streets
10. Car alarms that won’t stop

Alternatively, these are some of the sounds I love:
1. Good, hearty laughing
2. Music – played at a normal decibel!
3. Popping packing bubbles
4. Snap crackle pop (sorry, I had to)
5. Cruise horns, I hear them from my apartment balcony regularly
6. Waves lapping onto the beach
7. Acoustic guitar playing
8. I would imagine that the first time you hear your baby cry after delivery is a good one
9. Food sizzling or bubbling as it cooks on the stove
10. “Flight attendants, please prepare the cabin for landing.”

Tell me, what noises make you nuts and what sounds make you happy?


Spectacular Smells

I recently read an article touting that there are a significant number of people who would rather lose their sense of smell than give up social networks.

Geez! There are a lot of bad smells, but what about the good ones?

Smells I love:
1. Fresh cut grass
2. Paint
3. Salt water; the smell of the beach at the end of the day
4. Almond milk hand soap that my grandma always has in her bathroom
5. Bliss lemon and sage lotion
6. Bacon
7. Freshly baked bread, including Auntie Anne’s pretzels (I don’t need to eat them, just taking a big whiff is good enough)
8. Wine
9. Anything on the grill — burgers, hot dogs, corn
10. The smell in the air after a summer rainy day
11. When you peel an orange or a grapefruit
12. Most cheeses – like 99.99% of them
13. Gasoline
14. Flowers in bloom
15. Pledge
16. Suntan lotion, and aloe for that matter
17. Fresh popped movie popcorn
18. Lavender
19. Wood burning fireplace
20. Leather
21. Cookies baking in the oven
22. Sauce cooking on a stove
23. Good smelling shampoo and conditioner
24. Fresh mint
25. Freshly washed sheets

What are smells you love?


Stinky Smells

Ah…earlier this week, I started off my day with a leaky Greek yogurt all over my desk and dress. A perfect start to any day.

Even after going overboard with cleaning up, the smell of sour milk – a smell I simply loathe – permeated the air for the better part of the day. So, I decided to compile a list of smells I cannot stand:

1. Sour milk
2. Urine
3. Poop
4. Body odor
5. Cigarette smoke
6. Steamed asparagus (at least the way my mom makes it – sorry mom)
7. Rotten eggs
8. Cat litter
9. Bleach
10. Anything vanilla scented (thanks to my sister loving it as a teenager and permeating everything in and around her bedroom, the smell is so gross to me now)
11. Any subway station in the summertime
12. The smell of bottled air when you first get on a plane
13. Stale beer, especially when you are hung over
14. Burnt popcorn
15. Sulfur
16. Burnt rubber
17. Exhaust from a car or bus
18. Bad fish
19. Sewers and the stale liquid surrounding them
20. Vomit

What are smells you loathe?


Batten Down the Hatches?

We had a tornado warning in NYC last night. The sky looked like a gorgeous shade of a pink and purple mix.

 

Um. I live on the top floor of an apartment building. How does one in the NYC area batten down the hatches?

You don’t want to go crazy because this is not tornado alley…but after seeing what happened recently in Missouri and Alabama, you don’t want to mess around.

But…this is not like the Wizard of Oz. We don’t have basements and tornado shelters much less tornado drills. All I’ve got is a bathroom with no windows and a bottle of wine.

Ultimately, the preparation I did was to flatten our foldable chairs and foldable table on the balcony. I brought in the smallest of the flower planters. And the grill is always tied to the balcony (the cover has already flown away once).

We can only hope for the best even though the sky looks crazy.