FIGHT!

The combination of living in NY and becoming a mom has made me a more aggressive person. I don't think it's necessarily bad, it's just that I'm more willing to stand up for myself or Aaron when I feel like people are overstepping their boundaries. Usually, this is limited to children. I've yelled "No!" at other children on occasion - but only if it's a major offense, like if another child purposefully pushes Aaron for no reason. I get annoyed that their nannies or caretakers aren't watching more carefully and teaching them, but I understand - it's tiring to watch kids and sometimes your attention wanders and things happen. Kids sometimes don't know better, and sometimes they're just like that.

But Adults! They should know better and have more control over their behavior, right? Well, apparently not. Aaron had tumbling class today, and afterwards, he wanted to sit on one of those 25 cent rides (now 75 cents!) that are usually outside supermarkets. There are like 5 different rides there, but he wanted the boat. We waited for the kids before him to get off, and he sat down. I think he's too young to appreciate the ride, and he just enjoys sitting there, so I don't put money in. So Aaron had been sitting there for about 2 minutes, just enjoying himself, when a nanny and her charge came running out of the building. I heard the nanny say, "Just get on. He'll get off." Next thing I knew, this boy who looked about 4 years old climbed onto the ride, OVER Aaron and sat next to him. (It's a two seater). The nanny walked over and said, "He's going to ride now." I was appalled! We had a little back and forth which went something like this,

Me: Well, he (Aaron) was here first. He's enjoying it too.
Nanny: Well, he (her kid) wants to have a ride.
Me: Ok, well, he's already sitting here.
Nanny: Are you going to give him a ride?
Me: No, but he's just enjoying himself. He'll be done in a minute. Can you just wait?
Nanny: No, I'm in a rush!
Me: Well, so am I! He's just going to be another minute or so.
Nanny: Are you going to give him a ride?
Me: No, he's enjoying himself.
Nanny: He wants to ride now!
Me: He's only going to be another minute or two.

So the nanny gave me the evil eye and finally huffed off. She got on a carousel ride with another nanny that was already in progress. Aaron sat for another minute and then I brought him down and walked over to the nanny and said "He's done now. Your kid can ride now." She completely ignored me (I don't blame her - our conversation was pretty heated)

I saw red all the way home, and I was doubting myself - I mean, we weren't paying for the ride, right? Maybe I should have given in. But then I thought about how that 4 year old boy climbed over Aaron and how they didn't have the common courtesy to ask first. If either the nanny or the boy had asked, I think we would've given up the ride with no problem, but I was just so offended by the entitlement displayed by the nanny. And then I felt annoyed because that boy she's watching is not going to learn how to behave politely. I think a 4 year old should know to wait his turn, or at least ask first. And if he doesn't, his caretaker should be teaching him these things. Ugh. And I'll probably run into them next week too!

i feel like a real city mom now

A few days ago, Aaron had a playdate with a kid in our neighborhood. I'd never been to their apartment before, but I knew they lived on the fifth floor, and I'd cased the building from the outside beforehand so I knew where to go and so I could decide whether or not to bring our stroller (faster and easier, but difficult without an elevator) or to walk/carry him (more exercise, but easier if no elevator). The building was pretty big, and it looked elevator friendly, so I figured it would be fine to go either way. They live a block away so either option would've been fine, but I was running late the morning of the playdate, so I opted for the stroller. When I entered the building, I spotted the elevator right away (yes!) and there was a sign on it, indicating that it was out of order (no!). Some buildings in the city are really strict about personal items in public spaces, so I didn't know if it would be okay to leave my stroller in the lobby, but more importantly, I'm a bit paranoid about leaving my stuff in semi-public spaces. So I made Snap Decision #1 and pulled the diaper off the stroller, slung it over my shoulder, pulled Aaron out of his comfy seat, collapsed and folded the stroller, and we began to make our way up the stairs. Now Aaron is pretty good with stairs - he's been proficient at climbing up and down for a long time now, but these stairs were fairly steep and I was worried that I wouldn't be able to spot him if he stumbled, so I made Snap Decision #2 and scooped him up under my right arm, mannequin-style. That's right! I carried a 15 lb stroller, a 20 lb toddler, and a diaper bag up 5 flights of stairs by myself! I NEVER thought I'd be able to do that, and I'm still pretty surprised that I did. But at least now I can kinda imagine taking the subway with him by myself. But I'd still prefer a cab.

City Personalities

I just started reading "Who's Your City" by Richard Florida (a former professor at CMU!). It's pretty interesting - Florida asserts that choosing where to live is one of the most important decisions you can make, as it can affect your ability to find a relationship and pursue a career. He performed some studies and found that cities have personalities (in that they tend to attract certain types of people).



Chicago is like the epicenter of extroverted people! This is so true - everytime we visit Isaac's family, I'm stricken by how friendly and outgoing everyone is in stores and restaurants.

I don't know if I'll have time to make it all the way through this book (it's due tomorrow). I can get quite bored reading about statistics (hello, Numbers!), but the premise is intriguing. I guess you might expect to see interesting maps from the same guy who created the infamous "Singles Map."

mario in manhattan

that's brilliant!

Isaac likes to tease me because he thinks I don't like anything if there are accents involved. Like I've never been able to watch "Snatch" without falling asleep because I can't understand it. Literally. And I never wanted to watch the British version of "The Office" because I couldn't decipher what they were saying.

But I do like some British exports. Namely their music. This past Saturday, we saw Bloc Party play at the United Palace Theater all the way up at 175th Street. They were awesome - they had a ton of energy AND they sound awesome live. I love their music, but I couldn't understand a word that frontman Kele Okereke said between songs. I wasn't alone though - I could hear the people around us asking each other what he was saying too.

The opening act was also very good. We missed most of Sebastian Grainger so I can't comment on that, but we caught all of Albert Hammond Jr.'s opening set. He's a lead guitarist for the Strokes, but he's touring with Bloc Party for a solo album that he produced. I just picked up his cd last week, and it's Strokes-esque, but slightly happier. I like!

In general, I've been listening to a lot more music since I've moved out to New York. Well, actually, ever since I left school. Pittsburgh was like a desert for new music. Every single station out there played Hoobastank's "The Reason" as every 4th song for at least 6 months. Whenever it played, it felt like someone was hammering an ice pick into my brain. Because of that and the general quality of radio play in this area, I no longer listen to radio. Weird - "The Reason" is the reason I don't listen to the radio anymore. Instead, I just focus on finding music for myself.

I've found that it's nice to have some music to energize me as I walk the long blocks to the subway or to distract me from being in such close quarters on the crowded train. It definitely helped the one time the back of my head was being used as a newspaper rest while my forehead was in someone's armpit and the bottom half of my face was practically in someone's huge furry hood. I just focused on the soothing beats of "Close Your Eyes" by the Chemical Brothers and it felt like I was alone on the train. Well, not quite, but the music helped.

By the way, I eventually did watch the British Office (good job, closed caption!) and it was pretty good. I can see why it was received so well by critics, but I have to say that I actually enjoy the American version of The Office better. Perhaps because I can relate better since our working environments are different within our countries. By the way, if you're home tonight, check out NBC at 8pm tonight - there's a supersized episode of the Office, followed by my new fave 30 Rock at 8:44pm.

A thousand words

I've begun to have a growing appreciation for Helvetica these past few months...

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

Perfect. (If that sentence rendered as Arial for you, shame shame)

My slight obsession with typography, and Helvetica in particular stems from 3 things:
1. Learning to draw text
2. Going to Switzerland last year for a day
3. Reading The Scourge of Arial. A most interesting read.

Basically, the idea is that Arial is a cheap bastardized knock-off of the perfection that is Helvetica. Stop using it. Hey, wake up! Stop using it.
If you're interested, take the quiz and play the game. There is a slight problem, however, and that is that Helvetica is not free. The price you pay for beauty...


One more thing. I'm lucky to post this entry on the same day that the Helvetica movie premieres at SXSW.

Yes, I'm serious..

..and I want to see it.

..Is it me, or is the entire Internet in (central?) Texas right now?

+1 Austin

Casimir Pulaski Day

Today is Casimir Pulaski Day.
Illinois schoolchildren rejoice.

+1 Chicago

Go Bears!

If you live in the Baltimore-DC area, you must, must, must go line up to see SUFJAN STEVENS for FREE at the Kennedy Center on Feb. 5. The ticket giveaway is this Saturday the 27th at 9am, but I suspect you'll have to line up a lot earlier than that. I've been seriously considering coming down to VA this weekend and the weekend after to be able to see this show, but I doubt I'll be able to make it since I'd have to do it alone (Feb. 5 is a Monday).

J and I were lucky enough to see him in NY back in November, and ... sublime.

The horns at 1:54 of this Majesty Snowbird clip (sadly not the whole song)...


Edit: I really want to say more about this song, because it overflows the room, making it much bigger than it is. It's the kind of thing that makes you wish you had more ears to be able to hear in threereo; these videos do no justice.


I really hate to be a video linker, but I have to end with one more:


That song is Chicago. Apt.

thursday tv on friday nights

Thursdays are the best night of TV. Unfortunately, the networks all compete with each other by putting their best shows out (leaving the rest of the week empty on my tv schedule), so all the shows really lose in the ratings. Thankfully, Survivor finished its "race wars" season so the 8:00-9:00 timeslot is less packed these days.

I'm actually going to be out tonight, but I'll catch up with everything on Friday. It turns out that Fridays and weekends are my favorite times to stay in. I'd heard similar sentiments from people who lived in the city before I moved here, but I never understood until I lived here too. I have nothing against B&Ters (bridge and tunnelers -ie, people who need to take a bridge or tunnel to get to Manhattan), but the city just gets really crowded on Fridays and Saturdays. Movies are constantly sold out on weekends and sidewalks and restaurants are packed. I hate navigating through hordes of people on the streets and putting up with long waits at restaurants when I can go easily go any night of the week. So Fridays are my stay-in night, or maybe they'll soon be a small group night, if Isaac and I ever get around to signing up for one.

Anyway, Isaac's sister, Lanie, is in town, so we'll be heading out tonight instead of being glued to the TV the way I usually am, but here's a quick TV guide for those of you who stay home on weeknights and go out on weekends.

What I'll be Tivo-ing:
8:30 The Office (nbc)
9:00 Scrubs -the long-awaited musical episode! (nbc)
9:30 30 Rock (nbc)

What I'll get later:
9:00 The O.C. (FOX)
8:00 Ugly Betty (abc)
9:00 Grey's Anatomy (abc)

In other TV-related news, The Hills is back! Tune in for the spaced-out misadventures of LC and Heidi. I totally missed the premiere on Monday, but was alerted to its return by an awesome recap at TVGasm. The recaps make the show worth watching...

i don't smell gas

Am I the only one in the city that didn't smell that gaseous odor yesterday? Yes, apparently. And I walk to work. And there were conference rooms when I got there that had signs that pretty much said "it smells in here." And emails. And news. Maybe everyone else was crazy and imagining it because there was no odor when I left the house.

Don't worry, anyone who doesn't live or work in New York. You didn't miss anything, I don't think I did.

Then again, I think I'm alone on this.

i smell gas

This morning when I left our building, I smelled gas. We live on a pretty busy street, so I didn't think much of it. It was the kind of pollution smell that you get when a truck drives by, so I figured it was due to the traffic. As I headed towards the train which is about 2 and half avenue blocks away from where we live, I realized that it still smelled like gas. Truck pollution doesn't usually last that long, so I thought maybe the smell was just stuck in my nose, like the way a bad taste sticks in your mouth sometimes. Maybe I was crazy and imagining it because the odor was so strong when I first left the house.

But then, Crystal sent me this article. I'm not crazy! Yaay! But the source seems like it's close to where we live, which isn't too good. I hope it doesn't lead to anything crazy like the manhole explosions in Soho.

edit: I'm definitely not alone.

11 Spring St.

Cheryl, Julie and I took a trip to the 11 Spring St. today.

Basically, it's to be a popular graffiti target in lower Manhattan that's being converted to condos, and the inside is an exhibit that's sort of a last-hurrah for the artists (some flown in from other countries) before the conversion. After this, they'll be cleaning up the outside walls of the building, and constructing new walls to cover the inside - the art inside will be covered but preserved as a sort of time capsule.

Take a look at our pictures:

urban etiquette

a few months ago, NY Mag had an article about urban etiquette that i found both humorous and informative. It had rules for subway, cab, office, and ipod etiquette, among other things.

I'd just like to add a few guidelines based on some recent observations and experiences.

On the subway:
- Do not fart or eat smelly food. We're all sharing an enclosed space with little to no air circulation and nowhere to escape to. Depending on the train conductor, the ride can be smooth, jerky, or brake-happy. Do us all a favor and hold it in or eat outside to reduce the nausea factor.

- When the train is super crowded, don't hug the poles in the middle of the train as if you own them. Other people need to hold onto them too. And not everyone is tall enough to grab onto the metal bars above the seats.

On the street:
- When walking around, don't make sudden movements or stops.
- If you own a dog, pick up its crap and don't let it pee in the middle of the sidewalk so that the pee runs all over the place and stinks up the block and mothers have to roll their strollers straight through your dog's urine. No one likes to have dog crap or pee on their shoes, so do us all a favor and curb your pets. We're living in a society, people!