It was a Sunday night in New York and it was snowing. ugggh. By the next morning we had about 6 inches piled up on top of a thick layer of ice. And what has been a frigid winter was not letting up.

But I was smiling.

Why was I smiling? Is it because I love leaning into a bone-numbing gale as I slip and slide down unkempt sidewalks and heave my snow boots up slick subway steps only to wait in the wind for the train to show up?

nope.

I was smiling because i knew i just had to stick it out for three days. then i was hopping a flight to the Caribbean! OH-yeah.

winter vacations are the best. leaving behind the cold and stepping out of a plane into glorious sunshine is such a great feeling. Am i piling it on too thick? As I was waiting at the airport for my friends to pick me up I realized that i was standing in the shade, the wind was blowing, and I wasn't shivering. i was still warm. ohhhhhhh yeahhhhhhh.

here's a synopsis of the trip. i occasionally took pictures. the link is at the end of this babble.

DAY ONE was mostly about getting there. Once i got to Providenciales, Ryan and Christina gave me a tour of the house they are building, let me unload my stuff at their rental house where i would be staying, and then took me a few houses down the road to enjoy the beach and watch the sun go down.

Ryan and I waded in the crystal-clear water and chatted about life in Turks and Caicos. i hadn't seen him for a long time so it was great to catch up. Also neat: we saw 3 or 4 sea rays in the shallow water. we tried to sneak up on them, but mostly we just chased them around the beach. one covered himself in the sand for us. don't worry, the super long tail is easy to spot.

DAY TWO i spent at the beach, different one in the morning than in the afternoon while Ry and C went to work. In between we met at home for lunch. Good thing, too, because Christina prepared quite a spread. Then for dinner we went to a really nice restaurant on then beach. Since we couldn't get a reservation as soon as we wanted, we first stopped at an ice cream parlor. perhaps this ordering of things is the way it should always be done. haha!

I got to hang out with Ryan and Christina on DAY THREE as it was a Saturday. After a late start--hey, i was on vacation! plus Ryan went to the jobsite for a bit--we loaded up in the truck and went to the beach at Grace Bay. Christina studied while Ryan and I went snorkeling. It was awesome! Ryan said he had never seen so much at once. Besides a lot of the usual-for-TCI yellowtail and spotlight fish and others, we saw two big sea turtles, a 5-foot nurse shark, and a trio of enormous spotted sea rays. they were beautiful as they went by. so graceful.

The afternoon was relaxing. We had lunch on the beach at a place called Somehere on the Beach. I had Some Nachos. haha. most of the menu was named similarly. i took a long walk up and down the beach, swam, and then watched Ryan coach his kids to victory in Roller Hockey. Really good pizza on a boardwalk for dinner. what a perfect day.

DAY FOUR we explored some of the west part of the island. We drove something like 20 minutes down a gravel road to get to West Harbor. There were a few people fishing and beaching where we parked the truck, but our walk down the beach was completely isolated. And beautiful. We walked through Bonefish Hole to Bonefish Point. The beach was a conch shell graveyard and the sand was sometime fine, sometimes very coarse. Closer inspection showed that it was just made of super tiny shells not yet ground up the sea. amazing really. We also found a lot of sea sponges and really interesting coral washed up on the beach. Pelicans. Beautifully isolated ocean vistas. wow, God astounded me with his work there.

We pulled ourselves away from there--we didn't explore West Harbor Point where the fishermen were--and drove to a small beach with big rocks near North West Point. Ryan and I went snorkeling again while C studied and started the Pringles. haha. I found a few sand dollars and saw some neat fish and corral formations. Then it was nap time under the beach umbrella. That night we went to see Watchmen at the theater. Fried chicken with beans+rice for dinner

DAY FIVE i kayaked to group of islands in the sound without much trouble. then more reading on the beach. i swam out to rescue a wayward beach ball, but it was too fast for me. at some point i realized that i wasn't gaining on it any more. and i was waaaaayyyyyy out there. i didn't want to die quite yet. granted, the water was still probably just over my head, but i was almost at the sailboats anchored in the bay.

After lunch with Ry + C I walk to the other beach for the afternoon. C left work early and met me there to play tennis. Ryan joined us for a bit, but then had ball hockey. C and I watched the guys play... for a while. then my attention drifted to my book and christina studied her flashcards. but we saw ryan score a few goals, so he shouldn't feel neglected. Dinner was Johnsonville Bratwurst! who would thought you could get Sheboygan brats in Turks and Caicos?

DAY SIX i went for an extended kayak trip around half of chalk sound. it was really, really nice. i loved the combination of good exercise and total tranquility. I decided to skip the beach and walk down the road and see the houses and sights. i took a ton of pictures of the Sound and the plants and flowers i saw along the way. i walked to the end of the road at Silly Creek where there is a mansion accessible only by a bridge over a moat. someone whipped out the drive in a Range Rover as i got there and gave me a stare. it was all so pretentious.

I wasn't sure i was going to make it home through the heat without calling for a ride. Ryan was shocked when he heard about all of my "movement" that day! we all had a great laugh as i pretended to be Jaba the Hut oozing about.

Christina drove me to the beach at the other end of the island at Leeward. I just read my borrowed book and waited for Ry and C to come. I should have worked at the house. drats. But we all watched to the sun go down. it was nice. We stopped and got way too much ice cream. Sadly, the go-cart track was not open and the mini golf seemed too expensive to me, so we went home. i'm having some trouble remembering what happened when.

DAY SEVEN was short since my plane departure was at 3:30. we all got up early and went to prepare the jobsite for the final concrete pour. I helped cover everything in plastic to protect from the inevitable concrete splashing and possible formwork blowouts. i even used some power tools. The concrete came really late, so i didn't stay for the entire pour. But it was fun to watch it all happen. the pumper truck unfurling it's huge boom was kind of like seeing a real life Transformer.

As it was getting late, Christina and i snuck off to the beach. It was a great last swim. the weather was perfect, the water was warm, the sun was pleasing.... It was the perfect end, except ryan was still working. sorry! Christina and i floated around in shallow water, snapped a few pictures, and then raced to the airport. While i got ready to leave, Christina made me an incredible lunch to go. C, the chicken tacos were amazing.

Thanks Ryan and Christina.

here are a few pics at Flickr.

Mies Van de Rohe (the cat) is saying, "I love you Macbook Pro!" i do the same thing with mine at home.

My coworkers and i probably spend too much time taking pictures of the cats, but they do such weird things. and the catfights (literally) are too much fun to break up.

Mies loves to lick plastic, scratch his face up against super sharp edges, and lay right on the middle of the drawings you're looking at, especially during a client meeting.

The other cat is Marcel Breuer, who is deaf. He likes to cry these horrendous moaning noises when he is bored, hungry, can't find someone, or just ate. He also enjoys clamping his fangs into the back of Mies's neck, posing with his front paws crossed, and sitting in your lap.

somehow we get some architecture done as well.

H. bday to me, H. bday to me, H. bday to me-e, H. bday to me!

(Keith is eating the missing cupcake.)

another year has gone by. that's about all i have to say about it.

did you hear that i moved? i am finally living on my own for the first time. new neighborhood, new grocery stores and restaurants, new borough, new subway. i am excited for the change even though things were great before and didn't need to change and didn't necessarily get better. does that make sense? i loved my old apartment and neighborhood, but now there is the excitement that comes with a new experience and all the promise that it brings.

i am extremely grateful to my friends that helped me with the big move. thank you for helping me pack up the kitchen, for lending me a van, for carrying everything i own out of one place and into the next, for riding in the back of the van, for filling my cupboards and hanging my shower curtain, for munchkins and cold water, and for a bookcase to swallow all my books. i could not have managed without your help.

here is a picture of the subway station i use on my way home from work. an artist used the standard fluorescent tube lighting fixtures found in every station in the system but arranged them in a new and exciting way. so now i get to enjoy that on my daily commute.

i walked around greenwich village on saturday to check out a possible apartment location, and since it was close by, i kept going all the way to Hudson River Park. my feet were beginning to ache so i sat awhile at the esplanade and watched the boats go by. i saw a canadian battleship speed by all the sailboats that seems so tiny in comparison. it's Fleet Week in New York and we invited the canucks. i hope that's not a derogatory nickname.

on monday i went for a late-day bike ride down to prospect park.
i had seen a bunch of apartment listings for the far + south sides of the park so i explored those neighborhoods a little before heading into the park. the sun was getting low in the sky when i sat in the lawn to rest and read, so i didn't even stay very long. i read a short chapter in a book i just started, Kavalier & Clay. mostly i just watched the kites flying and these three guys with amazing frisbee skills. somebody with two loose yorkies walked by me, but like most new york dogs, they didn't really want to visit me (or anyone). and since i was kind of worried about some issues with my bike, i left.

instead of going straight home i stopped at the new williamsburgh park right on the east river. after all, there was still lots of sun there; no trees to block everything, just a wide expanse of water with the manhattan skyline as a backdrop. i read another chapter and took some pictures of the setting. by then it was 7:45 and they were closing the park, so i went home for dinner.

enjoy a few select pics at kodakgallery.

i've posted some pictures on flickr of the guest house roof being lifted into place on a house my office is building out on Shelter Island, at the tip of Long Island. the guest house is just a bedroom and bathroom, but the roof overhangs the terrace a lot, so that makes it bigger. actually, it looked huge on the ground but tiny in the air. some of that is due to the swoop of the butterfly roof line. enjoy the pictures.

apartment walk thru video. warning: this was hastily done with digital camera.

I was admiring all the stately brownstones on my walk between construction sites today, thinking how i could bring my parents up to the area next time they visit, when i came upon this alien building. wow! i guess the Landmarks Commission wasn't up and running when this was built.

the (L) train keeps me feeling like a real new yorker. i am referring to the long and frustrating commute that many manhattan workers face every day just to get from their apartment or house in the suburbs to their job. since i only live two short blocks from my subway station, and then only ride the train three stops, it would seem that i know nothing of this commuting hell. i mean, how difficult is three stops?

that's where the (L) train helps me out. By the time the train gets to the final stop in brooklyn before going under the east river into manhattan, it can get packed to the gills with people (hipsters). and perhaps since the trains dead-end not long after getting to manhattan, they get backed up like a traffic jam on the interstate. Often this means that even if you manage to get on the train, it hardly goes anywhere... or it moves verrrrrry sloooowly and stops frequently at and between stations. i spend a lot of time under the east river.

Enjoy this a camera-phone picture from this morning. it took me four trains to get on, and that's only because i got onto a train headed the opposite direction and then switched back to a manhattan-bound train. smart, right?

My coworker just showed me a blog that is posting old garfield cartoons that have been altered to remove the Garfield and Odie characters. Once you do this, you're just left with Jon talking to himself. He had a pitiful existence to begin with, but now he's really funny.

here's the link: click

it's primary election day in New York. And even though i was running a little late this morning --lots of "Rock Band" at my apartment last night--i made sure to swing by my neighborhood school to vote.

i never got a voting notice in the mail, so i didn't know what district i was in. this would mean standing in line to find out before going to my specified voting booth to stand in line again. But on the way to the school i passed my roommate who was coming back from voting. as we passed i thought to ask what district we were and she remembered. whoo-hoo! i could skip the frst line at least.

when i found my station and my turn came up to register my signature, the advanced-in-age ladies told me three times that i wasn't listed in the book! i had to keep spelling my last name for them -- H-O-M-E-R. then they started writing me up as a democrat. this i knew to look out for since the same thing happened to me last time i voted. "oh, he's a REPUBLICAN!" they exclaimed after i corrected the one filling out the voter cards and showed them both the REP next to my name.

and of course the young guy working with these ladies had already set the booth for democrat - more wrong assumptions. so i had to wait for the next person in line to vote and reset the machine. but the girl next in line couldn't vote until all of this was understood by the lady filling out the cards and the lady looking up the signatures. WOW! what a test of patience first thing in the morning.

while at a jobsite this morning i noticed a plumber seemed to be talking to himself as he was up on a ladder in the corner of the room. i didn't see a cell phone, either. hmmmm.... okay, whatever, right?

i moved on to other things. i okay'd a light fixture installation in the other room with the electrician. i talked with the carpenters about a wall niche they needed to make for a giant flatscreen TV. then i looked around for anything that seemed to be out of place. that's my job.

then i double-take as i see two legs squirming out of a hole high up on the kitchen wall. it was funny too because he wasn't going in or out, but just squirming around. i guess the plumber was actually talking to someone earlier, and wasn't just crazy. this other guy had somehow shimmied into the wall, which is up pretty high, and had crawled back above the ceiling of the neighbor's apartment.

i thought it was hilarious.

Ever feel small, insignificant, or helpless?

Ever think you're out your league, too small to matter, or fighting a losing battle?

Ever feel bullied, out of place, or like you're second class?

i think this building feels the same way.

72nd street on the upper east side is lined with giant apartment buildings. i was early to a meeting up there today--i'm working on a 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath apartment with wrap-around terrace, no less--when i noticed this relic across the street.

actually, i think it's holding its own just fine.

i'm with calvin. sure, try and do better in the new year, but don't strain yourself.

perhaps i could try a bit more than calvin:

- reacquaint self with gym.

- read bible more.

- sleep more.

- eat less cookies.

- take some tests.

that'll do for now.

Happy New Year! i missed the ball drop here in the Big Apple, and it seems i also missed an apple at work. this is what happens when you leave an apple on your desk over the holidays.

funny enough, it looked perfectly fine from the other side.