Ted update

Ted (see "My New Roommate", January 5, 2006) is still here. His tail feathers are almost completely grown back. He is feeling good enough to throw his birdseed all over the bathroom.

A-decorating we shall go!

I found a professional baker located in Long Island City (neighborhood near Astoria) to give me a quick-and-dirty lesson on how to decorate cakes so they are pretty.

We practiced with a mixture of butter and confectioner's sugar on a metal pan (no cake required!) I learned all about how to make scallop shells, roses and basket weave decorations.

Now my cakes (using Magnolia Bakery recipes) will actually LOOK like something, instead of just tasting fabulous.

Glass of Know

On Friday, January 20th, JDM, my friend DMH and a bunch of others went to see our friend's incredibly wonderful show for his band Glass of Know. They played at the dive Kenny's Castaways on Bleecker Street in the Village.

The funny thing is DMH invited me because she knew the singer, then my friend JGS who is the bass guitarist invited me. We hadn't known that we knew two people in the same exact band!

At Kenny's Castaways, the stage was in this weird place: the bathrooms were right next to the stage. It was like people could applaud when you came out of it.

But the band was so very kickass!

http://www.glassofknow.com/

A blog after my own heart

I read today about a blog posted by one of NYC's only 197 female cab drivers. Check it out:

http://newyorkhack.blogspot.com

http://www.nyc.gov/html/tlc

Edgar Allan Poe's admirer

Today is the 197th anniversary of Poe's birth. The author of "The Telltale Heart" and "The Raven" died on October 7, 1849 at age 40 after collapsing in a Baltimore tavern. He is buried in Baltimore.

For the past 57 years, a mystery man appears every January 19th and places roses and a bottle of cognac on Poe's grave. No one knows who he is. That is very cool.

Poe House and Museum: http://www.eapoe.org/index.htm

Nerds in the Hood

A few weeks ago, on "Saturday Night Live", Chris Parnell and newcomer Andy Samberg did a digital short called "Lazy Sunday". It's played like a real rap video, has a great beat, but the subject matter is the lamest of New York attitude: going to a matinee of "The Chronicles of Narnia", sneaking candy into the theater to avoid high prices, getting cupcakes from the Magnolia Bakery and using Mapquest to find the theater. It is hilarious!

Check it out at www.youtube.com, search for "Lazy Sunday". Click on the 2nd or 3rd version in the list (the first one halts a lot.) And watch the face of the guy in the movie ticket booth as they do their nerd rap.

Even Better than this Blog!

http://www.overheardinnewyork.com/

This is hilarious! It is all the overheard conversations around the city. I have quite a few to add myself. When I do, it will be with the name "Astoria".


You heard it here first.

It's all in perspective

I had to call a facility in San Francisco yesterday to notify them of a shipment I had just sent. When the guy asked me where it was sent from, I said "New York Presbyterian Hospital."

He exclaimed, "New York! How wonderful! You're so lucky -- you get to live in New York."

I hadn't thought about that for a while, since I am in the mode of "this is where I live", but I really do agree.

my new roommate

I have a new roommate. His name is Ted. He lives in the bathroom.

Ted is a pigeon who is convalescing from losing his tail feathers somehow. When he is better, he is going to be taken out to the wild again by someone my neighbor knows outside the city. She has helped a pigeon like thus before.

Ted really likes perching on the shower rod. He likes to look down on me as I pee.

Trump it up

So, on the polar opposite of the homesless man I encountered at midnight, I went to work all day at the gym in one of Trump's properties. Their spa offered a "liquid gold manicure and pedicure." EEEK. They didn't list the price, but a basic manicure is already $18 so you know the gold one is going to be a lot more.

The gym offered free bottles of Trump Ice water -- the bottles feature a close-up of The Donald.

New Year for all of us

As I walked away from Central Park, I crossed at Madison Avenue and E 71st Street (a very ritzy intersection.) There was a homeless man sitting on the sidewalk, gazing intensely at the fireworks display coming from the park for the Midnight Run. In a vague peripheral way, he was participating in an event with others.

I always wonder about that for the homeless -- how much human interaction so they have that is not someone just trying to help them?

In the early mornings as I walk to a shift at the gym, I pass 2 homeless men sleeping on a church's steps. I wonder if they know each other or even speak to each other past a basic acknowledgement before they go to sleep.

Happy New Year!

JDM brought in the new year by participating in the Midnight Run. This is a 4 mile run through Central park that starts at the stroke of midnight. I went and saw him off.

There were roughly 5000 runners, some dressed in costume. That actually makes sense because the costumes help keep them warm. There were 2 guys dressed as bananas. the best were these 5 people dressed as the characters from Super Mario Brothers: Mario, Luigi, the Princess, a Koopa turtle and a mushroom.

The race started with a fireworks display. Run, you fools! Run!