Category Archives: observations

March 23, 2011

WHY? Wednesdays

By simply three cents

I have decided to introduce a new topic just for Wednesday’s posts…they will be called “WHY? Wednesday”

Feel free to participate! Send me your WHY? Wednesday moment and I will include in a future WHY? Wednesday post. Also, as with this entire blog, please feel free to leave comments.

So here goes…the first official WHY? Wednesday post is:

When you are waiting for the elevator and the button is already pressed, and lit up, why do people insist on pushing it again? Will it make the elevator come faster?

Brought to you by WHY? Wednesday.

1 Comment | posted in introduction, just silly, observations, why, WHY Wednesday

March 19, 2011

Slow Sushi System

By simply three cents

Boyfriend and I went for sushi last night and I have come up with a system so there’s not a whole lot of food on the table all at once.

I should clarify. I am a pretty slow eater. Before you say it, I have heard it before. You know someone who eats really slow.

I can pretty much guarantee I eat slower. Always have. To give you a point of reference, as a kid, my mom would have the dinner table cleaned up and the plates would be loaded into the dishwasher, and yes, I would still be eating.

I can remember everyone dispersing from the table and my mom cleaning the table and place mats and I would still be eating. Which looking back is really kind of rude. On the plus side, I don’t think I ever cleaned up after dinner as a kid, other than my own plate, because it was already cleaned up by the time I finished.

So you get it. I eat slowly. Back to sushi last night.

It’s quite simple really – put the appetizer order in, and when it comes out, put the rest of the order in. This buys me more time to eat the app so I don’t feel like I am rushed when the entree comes out. Also, it prevents all the food coming out at once in case the server screws up (which has happened and foiled the plan).

I must caveat that this only works in a sushi restaurant. Most other places like to put everything in at once, and being a former server, I get it and can respect it. They’ll still just have to wait until I finish.

Leave a comment | posted in food, just silly, observations

March 18, 2011

Completely surrounded by creativity, I’m at a loss for a creative title

By simply three cents

Last night I went to the opening reception of the latest exhibition at Sloan Fine Art on the Lower East Side.

Some background: There was an open call for artwork. Artists had been asked to submit artwork on a used NYC MetroCard and my cousin Kristy had submitted four pieces.

Already knowing her work rocks, I was all set to meet her at the gallery. Left work and took the F train to Delancey, walked half a block, turned a corner and there’s a mattress on the sidewalk right.in.front of me. UGHHH.

I am already neurotic about bed bugs which makes me a little crazy so I instantly (and most likely, correctly) assume that it’s infested. So I veer as far away from it as I can, which is a little difficult as it’s a high-traffic sidewalk, without looking like a total freak. Oh, gross. My head is itching as I write this.

The gallery is packed so I wait on the sidewalk for her which is an extension of the gallery because there are so many people. Which is totally fine, because this is a great neighborhood for people watching.

Looking around I realize…OMG. I am the dorkiest person there! Well, there’s only a few of us that can be clumped into that category, but it’s  the category I still belong in. Very few people looked like they came from an office in midtown – and I’m no ‘suit.’ There are such fun outfits, colors and accessories. I look SO lame but yet earlier in the day, at work, I looked hip compared to some people.

Once Kristy and her friends arrived, we headed inside. Super cool exhibition with hundreds of metro cards, including hers.

The exhibition at Sloan is open until March 26.

You should totally check out more of Kristy’s work

sidenote: Can you tell I just learned how to put links to websites in my posts?!

2 Comments | posted in in and around NYC, observations

March 13, 2011

Friends

By simply three cents

I am so lucky to have the kinds of friends that you may not see every day, or even every month. But once we’re back together, it’s like nothing has changed. Even though so much has – after all, we’ve grown up. But…not too much, otherwise it would be BOR-ING.

Got to experience that several times over the weekend, and it was great.

1 Comment   |  tags: , | posted in in and around the USA, observations, things that make me smile, travel

March 12, 2011

Target Differences

By simply three cents

Target in the Burbs is different than Target in Jersey City. Some of the differences are more obvious than others but we really noticed them while visiting a Target in the Burbs this weekend.

  • Parking lot full: Both were packed so it’s a wash
  • Working carts:  Target in the Burbs wins easily here; there were hundreds available and neatly organized at the entrance where JC has none or limited, and most are broken — Burbs +1
  • Prices: Probably a wash but I am just going to give it to the Burbs — Burbs +1
  • Cleanliness: Burbs wins hands down — Burbs +1
  • Crowds: While the parking lot was full, you’d never know it from walking around the store — Burbs +1
  • Customer service: For a return, helpful and efficient staff, I think the opposite in JC — Burbs +1
  • Staff: People in red shirts walking around asking if you need help (I didn’t but thanks for asking) — Burbs +1
  • Can cab it, or walk, to Target: JC wins — JC +1
  • Register lines: This could easily take 30 minutes in JC with half the registers actually open at a given time. Burbs opened another register when they saw that lines were more than 3 people deep — Burbs +1

Final Score
Target in the Burbs: With 6 points the clear WINNER

Leave a comment   |  tags: | posted in in and around NYC, in and around the USA, observations, shopping

March 10, 2011

Rain Reaction

By simply three cents

In some cities when it rains, there are car accidents because people aren’t used to it.

In NYC, for some reason, people regress to a barbaric state.

Where is the common sense? Where is the personal space- throngs of people push like wild animals down the street-and in this proximity people resort to acting like caged animals let loose.

Case in point:

Example #1 – Woman pointing her umbrella out towards people walking at her and pops it open as they get close.

Example #2 – Dude you have a golf umbrella…on city streets? try not to aim the point if you are using it as a walking stick. Its not a spear.

Example #3 – The “lady” that uses the umbrella as a hat so its at eye level – just at the point where if I didn’t duck I’d have lost an eye.

Mind you- it wasn’t even raining that hard. I didn’t even open my umbrella so I decided to do what any short, savvy city girl would do.

I swung my (closed) umbrella. Sometimes in front of me, sometimes to my side – it was like having instant numchucks (not that I’ve ever even held a pair) and it instantly gave me a few more inches of personal space.

This was working fine until the last straw came…I was about to cross 42nd street and at the last second I decided to wait since a bus was rolling at me – and here is a douchey guy who shoved me towards the bus because he, his mom and his girlfriend (just guessing on the relationships) decide to follow me and not pay attention and oh, you know, stop. He caused a chain reaction pushing me inches from the bus when he couldn’t stop either.

In a huff I went and crossed 7th Ave (with the light) instead. I was in a bit of shock so it took all I had not to go back and give him a what for.

What gives?

1 Comment | posted in in and around NYC, observations, peeves

March 8, 2011

Working 9 to 5, and then some

By simply three cents

I liked this article. I think it’s true. Take a look.

http://msn.careerbuilder.com/Article/MSN-2523-Job-Info-and-Trends-4-jobs-everyone-should-have/?SiteId=cbmsnhp42523&sc_extcmp=JS_2523_home1>1=23000

I’ve had jobs that fall into every category:

1. server, bartender – Serving was my favorite job ever. When you were busy, you were making money and when you weren’t, you went home. Plus every shift you worked entitled you to a free meal, and as a college student, that was sweet.
2. cashier at a drugstore – I got busted in the local paper for unknowingly selling cigarettes to minors, when I sold a pack to an undercover reporter. After that, I only worked in the pharmacy or the gift wrap section.
3. telephone surveyor – You know who this is… the people that call at dinner.
4. painted houses – Yep, I actually responded to the college painters signs that you see on telephone poles.

Reflecting back on this short list I realized that I have had a lot of customer service jobs. Some summers I had multiple jobs, so some overlapped. I remember always having various uniforms in my car that I could change into at a moment’s notice. In no particular order, my non-desk jobs included:

  • Scooping ice cream at a local ice cream shop
  • Making bagel sandwiches at a bagel shop – very early hours
  • Taking phone orders at a pizza place – when we were really busy I had to actually make deliveries
  • Handing out flyers for a cell phone company – on the street outside of a subway station
  • Working in the mall at the Christmas stocking booth – you know, where you can get your name written in glitter on your stocking.
  • Lifeguarding – this only lasted a few hours. I had no certification or training and there was no one else guarding the pool. My mom made me quit at lunchtime.
  • Wrapping gifts – when ladies come behind the counter to wrap their gift purchase, you know you have no business working there.
  • Putting kids on rides at an amusement park – I will never go in a ball pit again.

One job I wanted but I didn’t get was working at the local car wash. You know when the car comes out and the people wipe it dry…I was in high school and I thought it would be a good way to work on my tan. My dad tried to make me feel better when he told me they probably don’t like to hire girls.

Leave a comment | posted in just silly, observations, things that make me smile

March 7, 2011

Monday, Monday

By simply three cents

On your commute TO work, how many people do you really think enjoy what they do? Sadly, I think the number is way lower than it should be. All I see are heads down, people looking miserable, all rushing to get to a place they don’t really want to be.

One of my goals in life is to be rushing TO a workplace where I really want to be. Shouldn’t that be a goal for everyone?

Leave a comment | posted in observations

March 6, 2011

Old New York

By simply three cents

After a bridal shower, two of my girlfriends and I went to the Algonquin Hotel for a cocktail, which turned into two cocktails and a glass of champagne on the house.

When we walked into the hotel, it just had that Old New York feel to it. The cocktail list, the people hanging out and the decor. I found out later that’s the hotel my grandparents went to for their honeymoon!

My girlfriends and I had come in off the street from the bridal shower that was on the same block. We really wanted to know what was everyone else doing in there? Business people (on a Sunday afternoon?), prostitutes (on a Sunday afternoon?)…something to ponder, over a cocktail in a martini glass I suppose…

Leave a comment | posted in in and around NYC, observations

March 4, 2011

Only in New York

By simply three cents

Was walking to a friend’s apartment and on the corner of 42nd Street were two guys trying to sell a rack of coats. Yes, like the kind of rack you would see in a department store. It’s a street corner in the city about 7p not to mention 30 degrees and people were trying on coats as if they were in the middle of Bloomingdales.

While stopped at the light, laughing that this is so typically New York, I look to my right and see a man crossing the street, totally disregarding the light, with his pants unzipped with his genitalia hanging out, and then you realize…only in New York.

2 Comments | posted in in and around NYC, observations