All is good again in the world! i got my ipod back from apple yesterday. for four days i had to ride the subway without music. tragic, i know. it's less about the music and more about drowning out everyone else. i don't know how apple did it, but it makes time go faster.

also good: the health club in my building is now open, and i even go (sometimes). I figure, if i'm going to watch tv, i might as well do it while working out. the cardio machines have flatscreens at each station that let you listen to cds, watch dvds, or watch the tube. but since i had my ipod back, i decided to hop on the new rowing machines. 8 minutes and 2000 meters later, i was about to die. i'm not quite in the shape i was during college crew. so does this mean that you'll be seeing a slimmer josh soon? probably not. i visit aunt sarah too often and love those chocolate chip cookies too much.

i realized last night that i'm leaving town in just a week. wow, christmas is coming fast! i'd better get on top of things.

oh, yeah. this past saturday i attended my church's ministry banquet. it's one giant thank you/christmas party for all the volunteers/people in ministry in the church. and since we really push being involved in ministry, there were a lot of people there. it was held in a ballroom at a big fancy hotel in times square near the church. although there were about a thousand people there, we still had good food. (you know how sometimes these things have lukewarm food that's more fancy than tasty?) it was a three course meal with waiters and everything. The pastors all said a few words, we sang some carols, played some games at teh table, fellowshipped a little (christianese for "hang-out and chit-chat), and then went home; short and sweet. perfect since we had to get up early for church the next morning, and some of these people have quite a commute.

okay, back to work. i love my new job! ooh, i think i get paid this week too.

it's officially holiday shopping season. so i guess i have to buy stuff for OTHER people. while a lot of people have finished their 'to-buy' lists, i've just started today. so far i've only bought presents that can be had online... i wonder if i'll actually do any in-person shopping. we'll have to see. i know i have more internet buying to do, but maybe something 'live' will come up. i would have bought something at the store, but getting it on the internet meant no sales tax (and there was no shipping) and i did't have to lug it to my house, or home for christmas. brilliant.

unfortunately (it took three attempts to type that word correctly) every saturday for the past few weeks we've had lousy shopping weather. and tommorrow (sat.) it's supposed to rain. i think i need a day off work just to shop. well, not really, but it would be nice.

oh yeah, i started a new job this week. everything is different, and it's going really well, thanks. And although i've just started, i'm still getting a generous christmas vacation. and my new location should give me greater access to christmas shopping. i went from middle of no-where to middle of everthing. i'm lovin' it.

it's f-f-f-freezing outside, so maybe we'll see some snow sometime soon. i can't wait, actually.

I love the three day work week. Especially when it ends with the gorgefest that we call Thanksgiving. This is also my last "week" at my current job. But don't worry 'bout me - I start a new one on Monday. So technically I'll be unemployed over the long holiday weekend.

I'm thinking about hiring someone to do my Christmas shopping for me. It's too hard to do by myself. Are you interested? You can buy yourself a gift too.

speaking of gifts... I bought myself one last week. I had had a long day at work, so I splurged that night on a pair of expensive sneakers. I had shopper's hangover the next morning, but I discovered that I couldn't return them. (it should be illegal to not take returns. Who wants store credit?) so then I just felt guilty and not too happy with my decision. But then, I received a late birthday card that had in it the exact cost of the shoes. Result: no more guilt! (well, almost.)

I'm back from Africa! And I must admit, I kinda forgot about this blog. It wasn't until I was posting pictures from the trip that I remembered that I haven't posted since I've been back.

The trip was great. The people in Zambia are extremely friendly and gracious and generally happy no matter their personal circumstances. They loved to hear us sing almost as much as we loved to hear them sing. They even taught us a few songs in Membe while we were ministering.

Most of the short time we were there was spent at the hotel. We were to rest and adjust to local time so we had enough energy for the crusade meetings at night. After a leisurely breakfast by the pool, we met in groups to pray and learn what was happening that day. After lunch and some more free time, we would head over to the stadium. Since promptness is not a local custom, the singing part of the program was stretched out, so we really needed our energy. By the time the preaching would start we had a big crown every night.

Monday, after the outreaches and meetings were over, we had a free day. We stopped at a few markets for souvenirs, and then headed out of town to a safari park. We had to travel an extemely bumpy dirt road for close to an hour to get there. But it was worth it. We had a feast, and then saw all kinds of animals from horseback or jeeps or while walking. It was a great afternoon, and a great way to end the trip.

After a few more days of travel, I made it back to NYC. We flew from Lusaka, Zambia to Malawi, and then on to Nairobi, Kenya where we had a seven hour layover. From there we went to London where we first heard how the US election was progressing, and then on to New York. I'm about over my jet lag now, and ready for something new....

My free trip to Africa is getting expensive. I've been running around gathering supplies and filling out my wardrobe as per the official dress code. I got some more shots and pills this week. and now I'm almost done. I just need some things to keep me entertained during all my flights and wickedly-long layovers. Anyone know a good book to buy? I have a Stephen King novel that I need to read, but it's probably not appropriate reading for a missions trip. (Even thought it's NOT a horror story.) I've also been trying to think of what I'll miss most by leaving comfortable America, but I haven't really come up with anything. I guess I won't be gone very long. I can take it.

I've also been kinda busy with other matters, but I won't discuss until something is final.

And now I'll get back to work. My next post will probably be after I get back from Africa, so wish me luck. (Great; a legitimate excuse for not posting.)

Do you ever notice things and wonder if anyone else notices the same kinds of things? Not because you're particularly clever, necessarily, but... maybe just by chance? or maybe something about the way you're put together, whatever that means? Let me offer an example:

The subway doors have just closed. Just before the train begins moving, you instinctively clench your body and do an ever-so-slight lean into the direction of movement in an effort to soften the jolt that's coming. That's the normal thing to do unless you are a tourist and you are not aware that you will soon be stumbling into a stranger's arms or lap. BUT, then the train doesn't move. Sure it will soon, but you're stuck in that body clench / lean act that you're accustomed to. Do you ever notice how that's feels? While not painful, it's completely uncomfortable. It's indescribable, really, but it makes me want to squirm.

Or maybe it's something that really bothers you while everyone else just dismisses it as normal. I will again provide an example: My roommate, Ryan, has what you might call a pet peeve about something at the movies. (is it really a pet peeve, though? Not really. It's just something that happens.) Ryan does not enjoy the moment of time between when the previews end and the film begins. Or perhaps it's the gap between the pre-movie slideshow and the film previews. Whichever it is, the problem is that everyone has started munching on their buckets of popcorn, but the "movie" isn't making any noise. Everyone is quiet with anticipation, EXCEPT for the munching of that popcorn. I admit that it's not a pleasant noise. Ever notice that?

i realize that i haven't posted anything in a while. thinking about it now, it's because nothing much has happened. i didn't go anywhere last weekend except home depot, so there's no exciting tale there. (although it is the first and only home depot in manhattan.) work had been busy, but i try not to say anything about it here.

i'm starting to get ready for my trip to Africa. i get another shot on monday, and i have some prescriptions to fill before i go. i need to gather some supplies before i leave too, so i'm going out to long island tomorrow for some of that. hopefully i'll find some things for the apartment while i'm at it. i should also try to think of ways to keep entertained during all these horribly-long transcontinental flights. they should just drug you until you get to your destination.

i'll try to do somehting exciting soon so i have something to post. ha, ha, later.

I'm back from vacation... too soon, i'm afraid. But i'm no slacker either; you'll find not just one, but TWO new photo albums on the site. you can show your appreciation by cash OR check.

i'm too tired for sentences, so here's a few fun things i did while i was away:

slept in; had mom's roast; saw the sights in Sheboygan; web site work with Brent; Zombies with Brent and Tracy; cut down branches with Dad and Holly; fried out brats; saw old friends; visted the cheese factory and stopped by a farm for caramel apples; my first visit to the Brewer's stadium in Milwaukee; shopping and a boat tour in downtown Chicago; fresh chocolate chip cookies on my flights!

thanks and good night.

I'm in Wisconsin! I barely made it on the plane. First, my cab ride took forever... so much traffic. and then the security line at the airport was a mile long. I never would have made it except that they a "shorter" line for mine and another flight.

It's a short week, thank the Lord. I'm off to the land of cheddarheads on thursday to refill my depleted supply of cheese... and to visit the family, etc. Unfortunately, my long-time barber in Sheboygan is on vacation.

I kow, i still haven't gotten pictures of the new apartment on the site. at least the new format works, so it shouldn't be too difficult once i have the time. but i'm a busy guy. that reminds me; i have a website to finish....

But i did get my new mattress yesterday. It's great to have a real bed again! this means though that i'm kinda broke after buying a platform bed, new mattress, mattress pad (these aren't cheap like i thought they'd be), and new sheets. but it's all worth it. definitely.

There's really nothing else new happening. oh, i went to a luau with a pig roast and everything. unfortunately, i missed the pig on the spit, but i still got a taste. yummy!

Happy 30th Holly!

back to me. ha, ha! i finally updated the pictures section on my webpage. the newest gallery is from this spring, so i'm a little behind. but it's a new album format that shows bigger pictures while still being nice, i think, to those folks who are still in the 800x600 resolution dark ages. so check it out:
http://josh.homerlane.com/pic_toc.htm

My new bedroom is finally coming together. yes, there is a twin sized mattress laying in my new full-size bed. and yes, a corner of my closet is piled high with miscellaneous junk that doesn't yet have a place to call home, but the floor is visible and mostly uncluttered. i guess i need another piece of furniture to store and hold things like a small stereo, architecture models, and stuff, but there's no huge hurry for that. and just ignore that giant piece of flattened cardboard box that's mostly covering the window; blinds of some sort are in my future. but first i need to find some that cover seven-and-a-half foot tall windows.

the living room bookcases have been assembled. now we're just waiting for appropriate mounting brackets and a few moments in our busy schedules to put them "up."

so pretty soon we'll have it together, and we'll have you over to see the beautiful place we call home.

We just went wireless yesterday. It was either WiFi or mounting a network cable across our living room walls and ceiling. My room mates already had wireless cards from their summer of using free internet, so all we needed was a new router and a card for my computer. Sunday after church i stopped into CompUSA (on my way to the grocery store) to check their prices against some internet options like newEgg.com or eBay. i was handed a flyer on the way inside that advertised wireless stuff on sale--just what i needed. so i plunked down a wad of money, and now we have G-speed wifi. Aren't you jealous?

As i was about to get ready for bed last night, i decided to put together my new bed. i don't have a mattress that fills the frame yet, but i knew i could use my twin mattress until i get a full sized one. Assembly was quite an ordeal, really, especially since i had to clear enough space in my bedroom to do it. so i stayed up a few houres later than i planned... at least i did laundry between church services. (which were really good by the way.) Now we just have to assemble another bookcase, mount a few things, and we'll be well on our way to moving in. Anyone know a good place to find short bar stools or a slim coffee table/ottomans?

i'm back online! whoo-hoo! but i'll have to post later, because it's time to go to church again.

I moved! And now I can barely move. I had to pop a few aspirin last night to fall asleep because my legs were throbbing, and my hands are raw, but it's all worth it.

Moving on a tuesday is not good; everyone is working. but I managed to get a friend who's not working right now to help us move into the new apartment, and that made a big difference. Christina stayed back at the old place to scrub it spotless, or maybe take a nap, but Ryan, my friend Dalcy and I managed alright. thank God for a giant elevator and a dolly. Because we had a really long hallway to walk down once we got up to the fourth floor. There's nothing exciting to say about the move. i'm sure you know how they go; there's a lot of sweat and stairs and stacking and setting down. And then you have to do it all over again.

The funny thing about this move is that we hadn't seen the new place finished until we carried up that first load of stuff. sure, we saw walls and doors and stuff before we signed a lease, but the kitchen wasn't installed, the bathroom wasn't done, not all the lights were in, etc. so our first impression came yesterday. I have to tell you, the place is beautiful. And everything is new. unfortunately, everything is covered with boxes, and none of them are in the right rooms. but we'll get it sorted out eventually. i'll try to post some pics once we get internet up... Which isn't until sept. 11.

tonight will be my final night in LAPRN, my current neighborhood. it's been quite a run, but i won't be sad to leave. Tomorrow is the big move... almost 12 blocks away, but what a change those 12 blocks mean. the noise, the litter, the shadiness (if that's a word) will not be missed.

we have high hopes for the new apartment. Everything is new, and we really don't want to live with the same college furniture that we have been accustomed to. we'll have to see what we can afford to buy. and we'll have to agree on what to do with the place. I was living in our current place for a while before my room mates moved in, so i think it always felt like it was MY place, and not really theirs. But this time we're all on the lease, so it should be equally ours. Let's see if three architects can choose a color together... or a piece of furniture.

if we make it through the move (we have a LOT of stuff), i'll let you know how it goes.

finally, it's friday. i think i can make it through. besides, i have only four more nights in my current apartment. that's been getting my excited recently. which reminds me--I need to see if i can set up my electricity yet. (pause) nope, still not ready. But I'm doing pretty good with packing. I've done a lot already, and most of the rest can wait until the very end.

I got a little side gig measuring this giant apartment and drawing up the existing conditions. So maybe i can buy myself a new bed for my new apartment. It's an hourly wage, and the apartment is huge! Through the streetside door, there's a foyer, a large dining room, kitchen, pantry/rear entry, and maids quarters (two bedrooms and a bath). then upstairs, there's another foyer, living room parlor, library, three large bedrooms with walk-in closets and two more bathrooms. Put it this way, the apartment was formerly a small school. that means it ain't small, and that a lot of the rooms have been carved up into many smaller rooms. but i'll get it done.

and... happy birthday keith.

oh yeah, I saw Alien Vs. Predator this Weekend. ha, ha! too funny. some of it was pretty enjoyable, but there was too much lead up and background on the humans, and not enough A. vs. P. But it was a good time, I guess. I just thought you might get a kick out of that.

After the movie I saw an exhibit on skyscrapers at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). The neat thing was that the projects had huge models to look at. Most were at least 6 feet tall. They were amazing! most were lazercut plexiglass, metal, or wood models, and the projects were from all over the world. and my room mate made a big chunck of one of them.

After MoMA, we headed to a Beer Garden in Astoria, Queens. It was like a normal bar and restaurant inside, but throught the back door was a huge park with towering trees, a band shell and dance floor, and row upon row of tables. it was surrounded by a ring of roofed tables, which is where we sat because of a slight drizzle. But it was all authentic Check food. I had some great beef Goulash.

okay, i really need to do some work now.

Mondays are so.... Well, you know.

something I was going to post a while ago: My walk home from the subway brings me past a school. On a few occasions in July, usually Sunday nights after church, I found a bunch of twenty-something in the schoolyard (blacktop) playing dodgeball. They had a bunch of red playground balls and everything. It's pretty dang funny. They invited me to play once when they were about to start a new match, but I just counted down to start them off instead. I love my neighborhood.

well, actually I love my neighborhood-to-be. And it appears that I will actually be moving in just over a week. Not that we've started packing yet. Oops. Better get on that.

I might get a little side job doing some as-builts for an apartment. Maybe that'll pay for a new bed!

I'm all paid up for my choir trip to Zambia. I can't wait. I also started my shots, so I'm well on my way. If you want a souvenir you'd better speak up or you get nothin'.

I guess I'll sign off. I really thought I had something to say here, but I can't think of anything right now.

wow, i'm eating a red plum, but it tastes like a pear. I hope it doesn't kill me.

moving on. i visited my car this weekend, but the autumn weather precluded any beach bumming. on the other hand, i got a lot of errands done, and went home early... and cleaned my kitchen. Thankfully no one noticed that my car reqistration was expired.

oh, i also saw "I-Robot" with my cousin Yuko [YOO-koh]. it was pretty good. i wanted to just do a movie marathon; there are so many that i want to see. speaking of which, Kill Bill v.2 came out on DVD this week. hmmm.

i received bad news yesterday. my apartment move-in date got pushed back AGAIN! Supposedly it's only one additional week. But we're still trying to find out if we can stay in our apartment that extra week, or if the landlord has already rented the place out. [TIME PASSES] okay, i found out that we must vacate the apartment before our next place is ready. so i guess i'll be homeless for a while.

there's nothing quite like a subway system to get around... unless it's not working. construction isn't so bad since they plan for it and put up signs in advance. and i religiously check their website to see what's not running that weekend.

but it's those unexpected shutdowns that really mess you up. case and point: running to church last night, i was already on the late side, but not really. after a ten minute walk to the subway that i had used that same morning, i found it closed. no reason given, no time frame.... so i had to trek over to the next stop where i could catch another subway. (note: it was 100% humidity and in the upper 80's.) so another ten minutes to get there, and then a long wait for the train. four stops later i saw that my connection wasn't running, which is fine because there was another, but that wasn't working either. luckily there was a thrid train i could take, but it meant that i had to switch again once i got to manhattan.

so, i did manage to make it to church in the nick of time but probably only because i prayed a lot in transit. i got into my robe and on stage before the curtain went up. (a little sweaty.)sometimes i love the subway, but sometimes i'd give anything to drive (and have somewhere to park).

oh, and i went sailing this weekend. we won our first race, messed up the second race, and then i purged my lunch as we were about to start the third race! i felt better and ready to sail again, but we headed in for the day. the moral of the story: don't wolf down a greasy cheeseburger just before you sail, and for goodness sake, don't get onions on it. that's really why we had to come in... that smell! sorry, i guess i should have kept that to myself.

random info: my ups guy just brought in my business cards. yeah.

no beach this past weekend, but i did manage to throw my back out. so i've been trying to stay mostly horizontal. heck, last night i slept most of the night on the floor. if i sit too long, then i can't stand up straight, which means that i have to waddle around. it looks funny, but feels not funny at all. i blame it all on too much slouching at a workstation with poor ergonomics and a bad night on an under-inflated air mattress. actually, a nice day at the beach would be the perfect thing for my back.

In other news, my roommate should be coming home today. He was supposed to be back earlier, but they wouldn't let him back in the country. oops. we need him in america! he pays half my rent!

my car was putt-putting along just swell,
then one fine day in PA it all went to hell.
okay, after a while it wasn't all that bad,
but it got me nervous, and it made me sad.
see, it was running really rough.
was it the spark plugs, a bad tank of gas, or some other stuff?
i didn't know, so i brought it in for a look-see
but when they called me today, they said it was as fine as can be.
what the crack? i thought something was wrong with it?
aww, who cares; i got back my Altim8.
 
by Josh, the unpoet.

Maybe this blog should be called the The Weekend of Homer, since all I do is blab about what I did the past weekend.

so... This past weekend was a road trip, and it began on Thursday - whoo-hoo! I left work about 2:30ish, walked to the only parking spot I could find that morning after 40 minutes of driving around, and left the hood at 2:45. I zipped over the bridge to Manhattan, wound my way through the city to the west side highway and over the George Washington bridge. I was well into new jersey by 3:15. But the roads in jersey were pretty full and eastern Pennsylvania was jammed with road construction. At one point, two lanes of traffic just stopped for about three minutes. It wasn't too fun, but it was better than sitting on my duff at work!

I stayed at my grandpa's house... home to three people and near a dozen cats. I also saw a family of skunks on my drive in as well as a raccoon another night; there was plenty of wildlife. But the farm is beautiful, and it was great to walk around it with mom and dad and plot the future. On Friday, grandpa took me for a walk around the farm. (this means that we took his four wheel drive subaru and drove through the fields and into the woods, just hoping that we didn't hit anything or fall into anything hidden in the tall grass.)

Saturday was great. Well, bad because my car was acting up, but the Amish Byler reunion was fun. I drove up with my mom, and she went in with all the women preparing the food, which left me to head over to the cluster of men outside. I went around using the Amish handshake to say hello to all my uncles, and I met a few cousins and a bunch of second cousins that I swear I never saw before. But who can keep track, really?

so we had a lot of fun. The food was great, and the desserts were amazing, as always. We played a bunch of games of "washers" outside throughout the day, and topped off the afternoon with hand-cranked, homemade ice cream. They were all vanilla this year, but each tasted different. I LOVE the stuff. I don't think this was a full reunion, so there weren't as many people as some other years; maybe 80? I think I heard something like that.

late in the afternoon I took off with my dad to get back to the farm to pick blueberries. I try to bring a bunch home whenever I get out there. It's worth going just for them. soooooo good.

but now I'm back at work. I stayed late last night to finish something up and get it sent out, but now I ran out of work... hmmm.

what a relief! it's like i got rid of the elephant on my back. see, last week i had to share the devotional at choir practice. i had something like three weeks to worry and stress about it. even though i didn't really dwell on it much until the final week before, it always weighed heavy in the back of my head. and now that it's over, i fell like a new man... guy, whatever. you'd think that being the 'son of a preacher man' would mean i had better oratory skills. thanks for nothing, dad! aww, i'm just joshing you.

i hope to visit the beach this weekend - whoo-hoo! last saturday was a bust. it was kinda cloudy when i left the house in the morning, but down on the south shore it was completely cloudy and foggy and cold. they weren't even charging to get into the state park because no one was there. and it rained on and off all day. so i just drove around all day. a day of driving cannot not be fun, if you know what i mean. well, if you love driving like me but hardly ever get to do it. i visted port jefferson on the north shore and ate my beach lunch in my car overlooking a gigantic harbor filled with boats docked out in the middle. it was sunny by then.

I really put on the miles this weekend. here's the summary, from work friday to sunday evening:

LIC --> LAPRN --> JAM --> LI --> RMSP --> LI --> LAPRN --> NJ -->
TSC, NYC --> LAPRN --> LI --> LAPRN

so i ended up going all over the place. BUT, most of it was driving time, so i loved it.

Friday: i rode my bike home from work in Long Island City (LIC). i packed up some clothes and computer gear and caught the subway out to jamaica, queens (JAM) where i boarded a LIRR train to, where else, Long Island (Ronkonkoma, actually, but i thought you'd have a hard time saying that.) i spent the night trying to recover files from a computer before giving up and watching a movie with my cousin, yuko.

Saturday: i drove 'my precious' (ALTIM8) down to Robert Moses State Park (RMSP) and relaxed a bit. it was so nice on the beach! even though it was only 70-72, the sun was hot and the ocean breeze was perfect. i didn;t even stick my toes in the water because everyone i saw that did came back screeching in pain. the water needs some time to warm up. alas, i had to leave, to shop for me a little, and get a CD-R,R/W for the relatives. with that installed, i realized that i was really, really late. there was no time to take the train home and then a train to my friend's house for dinner. sooo, i drove! even though i stopped by my house to pick up some clothes, i made it over the Verrazano Bridge to my friend's house in New Jersey (NJ) in two hours flat. It was only 84 miles, but when the traffic wasn't moving at 80-85 MPH, it was stop-and-go, bumper-to-bumper type driving. so i had a great dinner, lost miserably at balderdash, and went to bed.

Sunday: after my morning cereal, Dalcy and I drove through the Lincoln Tunnel to Manhattan for church. that's Times Square Church (TSC) in New York City (NYC). great sermon. then i drove around town, making my way to the Williamsburg Bridge so i could stop off at home (without paying another toll). i chatted it up with Christina (C), and then took off again for Long Island (LI). I visited IKEA along the way and had the traditional plate of swedish meatballs, potatoes, and lingonberries. YUMMY. Once out at the relatives house, i redid their computer and hopped on the train back home (LAPRN) all loaded up with cookies and bars!

so did you figure out what LAPRN stands for?

i wonder how much trouble it would be to make monday part of the weekend. here's what i'm thinking, or trying to at least considering my low-energy level: why not start a petition to get mondays to be an official sleep-in day? i don't know about you, but when my weekend is over, i feel that i-need-a-vacation-from-my-vacation feeling; i'm overly tired, sunburned, sore, and without enough clean, unwrinkled clothes to go to work in. so we can't make monday just another saturday--that would be exhausting! but an official (i'm avoiding the word mandatory and its like) sleep-in day would give us a chance to recover from the weekend before going back to work. i mean, really, who can work efficiently and happily after a grueling weekend of fun? not me. my head keeps dipping low, and i forget what i'm trying to accomplish.

but you start the petition, okay? i'm too tired.

how is it possible? i've been sitting here at my desk working for something like 10 hours, but i still have 4 hours until quitting time. has time stopped? no one mentioned it to me. oh, yeah, i work all by myself. poor, josh, alone in a time warp. will he make it out? will anyone come looking for him/me? probably not if he keeps doing that annoying third-person thing.

so many less bruises this time! i just have a few, like in the knee and elbow area. and of course i'm sore now that it's over, but it's a lot of work; what did i expect? sailing. i'm talking about the sailing i did with friends over the memorial day weekend. the day was beautiful. there was a steady, strong wind that kept us moving fast. it also made big waves that kept us wet the whole time. i think we finished somewhere mid-pack in a race of 8 boats or so. but we caught and passed the folks nearest us, so that made us feel great. after the race, there was food and drink to enjoy. good times. no pics. and it didn't start raingin until we were docking, so that worked out great. it pays to pray!

It's almost the weekend! Whoo-hoo. but first, let me tell you about last weekend. I went on a choir retreat somewhere in upstate New York. all i know is that it was a two and a half hour bus ride from the city. we took two coach busses from Times Square Church, which of course were late; they had to go through security checks at the holland tunnel. Friday night, all we really did was eat and introduce ourselves to everyone with a game thing. Saturday, we ate, and ate, and ate. in between eating buffet-style meals, we played group games like three-legged race (but with three people--the middle one backwards), basketball, minefield (direct a blindfolded person around obstacles), etc. alas, the gold team didn't win the day. in the free time, i kicked around a soccer ball, shot some hoops, and played like ten games of volleyball. i also took my first spin in a golf cart. saturday night we had a giant bonfire, and small groups sang--like a talent show. During a medley of these cool african songs three girls sang, a bunch of folks danced around the fire. we joked that once the pastors heard about our pagan fire dance, we would never get another retreat again. ha, ha. sunday morning we got up early so we could board the busses at 6 am and scoot back to the city in time for church. it was a great weekend, and now i even know people's names. of course, anyone that didn't make the retreat is still basically a stranger.

so i'm looking forward to another great weekend. even though the weather is kind of cool right now, i think i'll try to get to the beach when i go out to Long Island this weekend. Monday, i'm going sailing!

have a great holiday weekend.

all i'm trying to do is stay awake. i've completely exhausted my candy stash, and it's only 2:30. oh, no.

i visited Holly this weekend to help her look at cars. i also helped her eat lots of food, browse through an outdoor art festival, swim in the pool, and lay in the sun - and i have the crispy-red skin to prove it. but back to the cars for a second. we looked at toyota, mazda, honda, and nissan on saturday. nothing interested us at toyota, but she drove a 6 over at mazda. after taking us to a deserted parking lot in the middle of nowhere, our long-finger nailed salesman gave us an agonizing tour of every minute detail of the car. the engine was great, the hatchback was even better, but the seats sucked big time and mazda's zoom-zoom was too masculine for holly. She did love the small SUV over at honda, the CR-V. and since she'd already seen her friends' accords, we skipped that one. and then the nissan atlima was our final drive of the day. with the weekend over now, i think she has narrowed it down to the accord or the altima. both are very similar, so it will probably all depend on if nissan can get her the configuration she wants at a price at least competitive with the accord.

so i was supposed to come home early last night. when it got toward boarding time, they announced that it would be delayed for over an hour. then they cancelled the flight altogether. the weather was fine in raleigh and in new york, so i guess it was horrible somewhere between the two places. so i had to crawl out of bed at 4 this morning to make my 6:40 flight. i could have made it to work on time, but i didn't have my work keys on me, so i went home first. an hour late to work isn't so bad. i'm pretty bored anyway.

During choir practice last night, my senior pastor breezed in and told us that the choir is going to Zambia in October. I just looked it up at the CIA's web page, of all places; It's a land-locked country in southern Africa. Wow, that should be exciting. I've never been to Africa before.

And my boss is out today; his wife is having their baby today! they were going to do it tonight or tomorrow morning, but i guess they moved it up. I wonder what they are going to name the little guy...

Two great things about this weekend: it was really fun, and it was all basically cheap/free, unlike the past week of spending. Thursday night was the last F+F. (F+F = "friends 'n friends" or "friends on friends") But it was all a rush, so we just got pizza.

On friday, i rode my bike from work to meet rebecca for tennis. it was my first time riding over the Queensborough Bridge. well, the first time on the ped/bike path. i rode on the street part last year during the Bike NY Five Boro Bike Tour when they closed it to traffic for us. anyway, i went over the bridge, through central park, over to the upper west side, and up riverside park. that was a workout in itself. i got a court for us at the 119th street hard courts since i had no luck at the clay courts at 96th street. our first round of tennis went pretty well, but i really need to learn how to serve. afterwards, we walked to rebecca's place, since it was nearby, where she made me dinner. and since it got so late, i took my bike home on the subway. i think i had enough exercise for one day.

plus, i had to get up early the next morning. a friend from choir had invited me to go hiking upstate with some of his friends. we met at Grand Central at 8:15 am. sooo tired. it was a beautiful hike. none of the forecasted rain showed up. in fact, it was mostly sunny and cool, just perfect for hiking. i actually got some sunburn across my face and the back of my neck. yes, redneck. anyway, it was nice to meet some new people. Arno and i were friends of dalcy, and then there were dalcy's housemates andy and nathan. nathan brought his friend joanna who brought here friend bill. so how many degrees of separation are there between bill and me? one funny thing, though. through conversation, we discovered that nathan and i worked in the same office last summer on the MTA Second Avenue Subway Project; he as engineer and me as an architect. this is where you start singing "it's a small world after all...." at one spot on the "mountain" you could see the skyscrapers in manhattan. that was simply amazing. i'll try to post a few pics soon on my webpage.

and then yesterday (i know this is really long, but i'm almost done. besides, i'm just plotting out drawings right now, so i have time to blab.) between church services i biked down to prospect park in brooklyn for Christina's birthday picnic. another beautiful day outdoors. we had all kinds of food and snacks, and i got to see some folks that i hadn't for a while.

sounds like a fun weekend, right? what did you do? i told you my story....

I'm back from blogger vacation. i feel refreshed and invigorated, thank you. so let's just jump right back in it.

My bosses broke up. I now work for just one architect, not two, so things are a little strange at work. plus, the boss that stayed will be very distracted when his first child is born some time this or next week. i'm not sure if this will give me more responsibility and opportunity at work, or if i will just be struggling to stay busy.

a bunch of us surprised my friend C for her birthday, albeit one week early. some of her friends came from out of town, and we all went out for a three and a half hour dinner to celebrate. guess what we had... sushi. it was my first time, and so everyone said it was funny that i was having my first taste at such a nice place. it had better be good! it was the most expensive meal i've ever paid for; our party of eleven averaged near 70 per head.

but it didn't seem too expensive. that's probably because i had already spent a fortune that day. i went with my friend rebecca to get a tennis permit. a hundred bucks will let you play on any public court in the five boroughs from april through november. so we just have to play a lot to make it worth our while. Permit in hand, we went out and bought tennis racquets. so i think i may have to eat raman for the next month or two; the money is just flowing out of me.

oh, yeah, i think i'll be spending more moolah this week. the lease is supposed to be drawn up for our new apartment, so that means i'll be losing another chunk. heck, that's more like a load. (note: to see a picture of the outside of the new apt build, see the "lookie" section on my homepage.)

anyway, all this money talk has gotten me depressed. oh, but i have good news too. i'm going to visit holly next weekend to help her look at cars. woo-hoo. it's a lot more fun to help spend someone else's money.

conclusion: i guess maybe this blog is tracy's opposite. should i title it "the journey FROM frugality"?

It had been raining all last week; it was cold and miserable. now, suddenly, it seems to be late summer. My office thermometer says that it is 86.7 degrees in here. other signs that it's summer: i'm riding my bike to work again, LAPRN (my neighborhood) is really noisy, and we hear the mr. softee song all day long, at work and at home.

My room mates and i may have found an apartment. Like most places, it has it's good and bad. first, the good: it's two short blocks from the subway stop, in a great neighborhood. the building was built in 1904, and they are preserving it's great character. otherwise, everything is brand new. But that's also where the problem begins. They're still building it. while we were trying to move May 1st (1 month early), this would mean moving July 1st at the earliest, and it could be August 1st. So we would have to get our landlord/new owner to let us stay longer than our lease. Also, the place has kind of a kooky layout for the living spaces. Since it isn't ready yet, we are holding the place for a few weeks while we decide.

Happy Easter! It's been a great weekend: A day off work, a new computer, the NY auto show, sunny days, and Easter sunday service...

I took off work for Good Friday. It was great to take a break. On saturday i went to the New York Auto Show with my friend Ryan. We had a great time just walking around looking at cars. There were a lot of new concept cars, and it's always good to see the new production vehicles, too. I was amazed at how much new stuff there was. Since we went last year, i expected to see a lot of the same stuff. that was the case with the displays themselves, but the cars weere pretty different. i didn't realize it, but we were there walking around for four hours straight.

We met Christina for lunch at a little tiny place in the Village. She had been at a cooking class that morning and was anxious to tell us all about it. so i was hearing about how to make wonderful pasta dishes, deciding whether to get brunch food or a hamburger, watching Matthew Broderick walk up to the counter, thinking about if i should splurge on that grape soda... wait, Mathhew Broderick is here? yeah, well, would you look at that. I felt a little bad that he has to get take out; if he was normal like us he could sit in this cute little place and have brunch. I guess it's one of those New York moments.

okay, i have to go. my roommates called; they bought so many groceries that they can't carry them all home by themselves. Columbia grads...

it's done. last night i assembled my new computer. and it rules.

there were only minor glitches in putting everything together. the first was getting the case open. i just could NOT slide the side off. it seemed to be caught right were the lock is. i though, "great, they shipped it to me locked with the keys inside." so i broke through the drive bays, reached way in, and snagged the keys. turns out, it wasn't locked. instead, the handle near the lock moved to release the catch, and then it swung open. no wonder it wouldn't slide.

so then i just followed the directions that came with the motherboard, and most everything went alright. i sort of bent a pin or two when i finally got the processor open, but it was so minor that they straightened right out and slid into place. whew! i had to connect a gazillion wires for the front case USB and firewire ports since they were all individual instead of just being bundled into one 'outlet.' and when the labels didn't exactly match the motherboard chart, i just took educated guesses... and they all work!

the scariest part was hitting the power switch. ryan came home just in time to help me install all the drives, so that sped things up. and since the case has a side window, he made sure to bundle some of the wires out of the way. he also moved my front case fan so that it brings the air past the hard discs. smart move, i think. but i had to hit the power button by myself. when i did, we had a good laugh. all four case fans came with multicolored LEDs; each one has a blue, red, and green light. pretty corny.

speaking of fans, i sure have an abundance of them. the case has four, and there is one for the CPU, the motherboard chipset, the power supply, and even the graphics card has one. what is that, seven? no, eight!

anyway, i just got all my data back from ryan's computer where i was storing it through all this. and now i'm getting ready to start installing software. that's not going to be as fun as building the computer was.

my computer bits and pieces came via fed ex yesterday. whoo-hoo! i just have to lug the case home, using my home-made, tape handle (note: the comma indicates that the handle is home-made, not the tape), and i should be set to build my super computer. well, super compared to my old one. i hope it works without too many glitches.

we had our last rehearsal for easter sunday last night. (that's a bad sentence, but i don't feel like fixing it.) we're singing five new specials on sunday. they're pretty cool. one of them is a medley of five really old songs. the mass choir is about a hundred people, but only this one little old lady knew any of the songs. so she gets to lead one of them! and we're stealing one of the songs from the brooklyn tabernacle choir. so sunday should be fun. strange, though; they don't do anything special for good friday. but i am! i'm taking off of work. i figure that i'll probably finally go see mel's "the passion of the Christ." and put together my computer!

stress sucks.

my room mate and i have been apartment shopping. we found a beautiful loft on williamsburg waterfront that was big, clean, had great amenities, and a great landlord, but we just couldn't configure rooms in it. not that we didn't try.

so we looked at some places on roosevelt island, which is in the east river between manhattan and queens. the place was really nice, with a south-facing balcony great manhattan views, but no neighborhood to speak of. well, not the cafe and shopping kind of neighborhood. it's more of a park and activities kind of place. so we'll see.

and our broker is tired of us not taking a place. of course, we haven't managed to get out of our lease (which ends the end of may). we just want to get out of this place, and before the summer rush.

and i still don't have a computer. but i'm about to buy the pieces for one... we'll have to see how that goes.

it's too bad the weekend is gone already; i enjoy them so much.

friday night i had a leisurely dinner out with some friends. i took a cab into manhattan with ryan, who was going to his friday night hockey game. taxis seems so luxurious. anyway, people just kept showing up. i of course was there first. when connie arrived we chatted at the bar until c showed up. we relaxed while we waited for kathy to show up, and then chatted more over drinks. we took forever to order, because we kept forgetting to study the menu. this didn't seem to please our waiter much. whatever. so we ate. then rebecca showed up and ordered food. and ryan came from his hockey game and ordered more food. so by the time we had dessert and paid our bill, it was already 11:30. a three-and-a-half hour dinner is great!

saturday i had to focus on my room and computer. ever since my computer blew up, i've had computer pieces strewn all over the room. no, it didn't really explode, but all the scene was missing was some scorch marks or something. besides the deep cleaning, i tried to put my new hard drive on my old computer. but no matter what i tried, it wouldn't recognize the drive. i tried all sorts of IDE cable configurations and jumper settings. nothing. it either saw nothing, or it just sat there and thought about it. so frustrating. i need to order new computer parts soon; i can't take not having a computer. well, at least i'm able to surf the web, etc on my old computer.

and to finish off the weekend... sunday was church, spaghetti, nap, church. wow, i could use a nap right now.

DAY 3, and it's still snowing. barely, but it's still going. where's global warming when you want it?

the telemarketers are driving me nuts at work. five times a day people call and demand to speak with the person in charge of the telephone account. no, no, no, never call again! i just got a call from a women askig if i'm interesting in obtaining a pistol license. i asked if she meant like a gun. yes. that gave me a good laugh. until she called again.

work is boring, but my hard drive comes today! i hope this solves my computer problems. if not, i may just have to use my tax money to upgrade like crazy!

wow, it's a bliazzard! i can't even see the sky scraper down the street. it's been going since 10 this morning, and it's really piling up now. I hope this is winter's last hurrah, because i'm sick of it. bring on spring!

spring is also tax time. i e-filed the beginning of last week (?) and i just noticed while i was at the atm that i had a lot more money than i expected. sure enough, my federal tax return has already been direct deposited into my account. hopefully my new york cash will come in soon too.

it's come to my attention that i am not very consistent with my blogging. i guess i forget that people might actually be reading this. sorry.

the three-day fast ended well. that last day, though, my tummy protested once in a while if i accidentally started dreaming about food. i tried to avoid the thought of food and what i was going to eat once it was over. i thought i was getting lasagna from my roomies, but they didn't come through. it was for the best though, since the tomato soup that i had was a better way to ease back into eating.

the services each night were great. we sang a sort of off-the-cuff song service. the pastors interrupted a lot with things to pray for. we usually had a ten minute sermon, tops, and the rest of the time was spent praying. We prayed collectively, independently, in groups, out loud, and quietly (well, mostly loudly) for purity in our lives, against fear of sharing our faith, and similar topics.

but now my computer got sick. i have to figure out how to get past these stop errors. they can be pretty devastating. and i don't know if this is related or not, but i'm sick too. i almost didn't come in to work today--i've been saying that i need a day off--but i was feeling better today, and it is payday; you don't want to miss that, right?

what i really need is a trip to the beach.... ahhhhh.

it's lunchtime on day two of the three-day fast. my stomach is growling in protest, but it's not unbearable. i usually can't go two hours without shoving something in mouth, so i know that i'm not doing this all on my own. i've allowed myself to drink juice, but otherwise it's only water. i bought some chicken broth for dinner last night because i heard somewhere that it was acceptable; too bad i didn't know it was gross. i guess i was expecting chicken noodle soup without the noodles or the two chunks of chicken. yech. i skipped it and had a glass of water instead.

oh, yeah, my church is doing a three-day fast this week, and holding services each night. i don't think i've ever fasted more than a day... actually, i think the last time (only time?) i fasted, it was just morning and afternoon, and then we ate. But it has been a good experience so far... and dinner thursday night or breakfast friday morning should be fantastic. i wonder when we break the fast? i'll have to find out at church tonight. To find out why we are fasting, you'll have to listen to the sermons from Februrary 8, 2004, on the Times Square Church website.

what a night.

yesterday, i was exhausted and ready for bed at 9:00. I had taken my first bike ride of the year earlier that afternoon, and i never thought to ease into it. well, i thought about it, but when i ride, i like to go all out the whole time. i crossed the williamsburg bridge into manhattan, something i'd never done before. I'm not sure why i haven't until yesterday, since it is just a few blocks from my house. anyway,getting onto those bridges is just one long continuous, steep hill climb. once in manhattan, i rode along the east side highway through a long park that i never visited before. It was full of people playing soccer and baseball on large astroturf playing fields. (since the long sliver of a park is between the highway and the east river, i think it's probably hard to get maintenance equipment over the pedestrian bridges.) I rode the bike path down to the tip of manhattan, battery park, and continued around to the west side, familiar territory. i took the bike path there up the west side to perry street, where i stopped for a water break in a nice little park on the hudson river. there were tons of people out lounging or playing with kids and dogs. i snapped a few pics of the richard meier apartments across the street and turned back for home.

so for my first exercise of the year, i went pretty hard. admittedly, i stopped a lot to take pictures--like the brooklyn bridge, the parks, the WTC--but i was pooped once i got home. all i wanted to do was put my feet up and moan. and i did for a while, until my room mate sliced his finger open in his haste to dish up some much-anticipated ice cream.

accidents happen, this is life, but why must they be such an ordeal? our first problem was getting christina to stop saying, "oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!" then we had to convince ryan that he shouldn't stitch it up himself. most importantly, we had to find out where the nearest hospital was. we had no clue. we were looking online, through the yellow pages, asking the operator, etc. we ended up grabbing an address in manhattan and walking a few blocks to hail a cab. well, our address was wrong, but the cabbie had a little book that gave us info on a close hospital.

and after about four long hours of chatting with christina, watching the corner television, trying to guess what the other people were in the ER for, ignoring the crazy cane-wielding voodoo lady, and dozing in poorly designed waiting room chairs, ryan came out with six stitches and we were able to return home.

so then it was about 4 am, and i was supposed to get up in like three hours for church... r i g h t . no, i called the choir hotline and told them i wouldn't be making the morning service.

what a night.

computers:

i got a new computer at work! it came thursday, but i waited to set it up until friday. my work load was pretty heavy on thursday, and i thought that setting it up would be a fun thing to do on friday. i needed to transfer all my documents from the (barely) older computer, so i brought in a crossover cable and just networked them together directly. it worked great.

my boss, steve, is taking my old computer to replace his relic; you have to give it a good kick to shut it up. it's so outdated that it's last upgrade was to windows 98! but it's still working, and since he's bringing in someone to update his database into a newer program that can print through a usb printer, he doesn't really need my old computer yet. so friday was a day of multitasking to the extreme. i thought that dual monitors would be nice, but i had two computers to work on. while one scanned, i cadded on the other. i was really having fun. but then i got sucked into some construction documents, and the old computer basically just played music.

and speaking of playing music at work, i'm kind of in a dilemma. well, it's not really a... anyway, the new computer came with five speakers and a subwoofer! do i really want to set it up? what i really want to do it keep my old speakers and bring the new set home for the computer in my bedroom. it would be nice for watching movies... but i don't know if they'd go for that. but do i really want all those speakers at work? maybe i can just set up a few of them.

and one last item. all this windows xp at work, and trying to network with ryan at home... i gave up and 'upgraded' to xp on my machine. at least i got the network to work, and now have 3dmax 6.0. ;)

i just finished my first full week of choir. i must say that's it's pretty fun. i've gotten the 'sway' down, but i still worry that i'll open my eyes and find myself going in the wrong direction. thankfully, that hasn't happened yet, and i'll try not to dwell on it any more. since i've just started, i don't know the specials that we sing during the service, like during the offering, etc. i kind of chuckle as the music starts, because i don't have a clue as to when to sing, what notes to sing, or any of the words. i should be terrified since thousands of people are watching me. but i watch the director and listen to those around me, and pick it up easy enough. other than that, i was a little worried about how large a time commitment this is, but i think it might be okay. i mean, i really don't have much else to do outside of work. and it keeps me from watching too much tv.

another thing about choir is that i have to start wearing ties, since it is a requirement to be on stage. now, one of the big benefits of being an architect is that we don't generally wear ties. (maybe it's the one thing we do to try and make up for the low salary.) and then i go and join something that makes me wear them again. sheesh. so i'm still trying to determine what kind of ties i like. sunday i wore a brand new tie from barneys, and tonight i wore an old tie from salvation army. i guess i've already about run the gamut. and by the way, the barneys ties was from their warehouse sale, so i didn't pay $80; it was 75% off. can you do the math? no? well, that means it was only twenty dollars.

speaking of saving money: i know this is not the blog about being frugal--that's tracy's--but i just got a notice that since i signed up for direct deposit for my giant school loan repayment, they lowered my interest rate by a quarter percent. that's not much, but it means that it's down to 2.750%. plus, i've overpaying a little. thanks, Dad!

i've eaten really well lately. first a lamb burger with spicy stuff (francilla or something) and then chicken in a red wine sauce with dill potato salad (thanks christina). food is so good. oh, plus i made chocolate chip cookies.... ahhhhhh

positive: MoMA Queens was good this weekend; finished a little side job; the aforementioned food; "you have rainbows in your hair! . . . oh, it's gone."

poopie: too much work today; fording the streams and ponds on the walk home from work in the cold; a nasty paper cut under my finger nail (oww!); you, for laughing at my spelling of poopy.

it was like hitting the lottery. friday night, to kill time before a church event at 7pm, i swung down to herald square to hit a few clothing shops. i took an unfamiliar subway line because of trian delays and ended up in the manhattan mall. i discovered a new store, but that's not the point of this. on the way, i saw a shop window sign advertising "no tax." i thought, "how so they get away with that?" then i saw huge banners all over macy's proclaiming tax free sales... wow! that little store's sign was legitimate. but, alas, i had to run off to my church event. (story note: the church event i tried to attend wasn't going on that night. either it wasn't happening because of a special youth rally, or it wasn't the weekly even that i thought it was. oops.)

anyway, i found out that night from christina that it had been tax free "week" and that the next day (saturday) was the last daythat clothes were to be tax free. i guess they do it a few times a year now. so saturday i went on a small shopping spree and bought nice jeans and a great button down shirt. not on sale, really, but i saved the 8.5% tax that i'd normally pay. does this qualify me as frugal?

the thermostat over on the warm side of the office says that it is 63 degrees in here, and the one next to it says it is 61 degrees. why doesn't it warm up in here? the heat is set for 75 and it appears to be in order. I am, of course, sitting on the opposite end by the bank of windows trying to type this with fingers that don't quite feel the keys like they're supposed to. the chill is setting in.

On the plus side, i have a warm lunch today. Ryan made manicotti last night for dinner, but i had already eaten grilled cheese and tomato soup... sooo good.

okay, i'm getting hungry now. and i'd better do some work now before i freeze up.

i'm suddenly busy. well, not quite yet, but my weekly schedule just got a lot of entries. i just received an acceptance letter to... college? no. but it felt like it. i got into the mass choir at church. I'm required to be there sunday morning, sunday evening, tuesday evening, and wednesday evening for rehearsal. plus special holiday rehearsals and outreach events. i passed the entrance interview and audition. three cheers for Josh. i think i'll go out tonight and party to celebrate. the fact that it's really a birthday party for a friend of a friend of a friend will not diminish my festive spirit.

wow, what a friday night that was. i should be a social planner.

so have you detected the sarcasm yet?

the funny thing about last night is... i liked it. i don't quite understand working all week and then wanting to do anything but go straight home on friday. i've always been like that. i never really felt up to friday night happy hour during school, and especially not going out somewhere else after that. give me some television and some home organizing.

so here is the evening: grocery shopping, and then going out for pizza. ridiculous, i know, but i really wanted a few slices. a little tv on tape from the other day, since nothing is on the tube friday nights. with that over, i tackled the fridge. no, not eating again; i switched the doors so now it opens into the room instead of into the corner. yeah, i still try to open the door the old way. next, i believe, i rebuilt part of my cubes so that it forms a night stand for my bed now that i've moved the stereo into the living room. then i relocated the bicycles in the living room and setting up some shelves for the new roommate with some found objects, wood and CMUs. finally, i took down my mini blinds and scrubbed them in the tub.

i'm sorry you had to miss the excitement. note the sarcasm returns.