very simple

so I just signed up for this listing service. It’ll be a week or two before I’m added, but it’s pretty cool. And apparently some interesting people live (or pretend to live) in my neighborhood, including one of the earliest developers of the blog form, Anil Dash (who apparently has a really long walk from the 23rd street 6 train to San Francisco).

Between this and the Container Store, I’m gonna need a bigger apartment. But we do need a Target on the island. I know that one opened recently in Brooklyn, but frankly, I’m not going to Brooklyn to buy a new shower curtain. At that point, I’ll just order one online. For ages I thought that they’d put one in in the giant empty space that had been vacated by Caldors on Union Square South (I mean, one not-so-trendy low-end superstore being replaced by a trendier one would require very little renovation, so it made sense in my head). But instead, it’s going to be another Whole Foods. Apparently it’s too much trouble for people to go to the location on 24th and 7th – they need another one on 14th and University. Then again, I pretty much live right in the middle of the two locations, so maybe I’m the only one who thinks this is stupid. But if people are willing to travel all the way uptown to go to Fairway, or wait a day for their food from FreshDirect, taking a cab an extra ten blocks doesn’t seem that crazy.

Heck, even I own my very own collapsible shopping cart (and yeah, I bought it at The Container Store). I don’t know if that signified that I had become a true NYC pedestrian or turned into my grandmother, but it’s seriously my favorite shopping accessory.

I just want a Target within walking distance. Sometimes I go to the KMart on Astor Place and pretend, but it’s just not the same thing.

Last year, the NY Times did a series of articles on travel-related pet peeves, which I blogged about at the time. Now, they’ve focused in on annoying pedestrians, particularly those who become oblivious to their surroundings while walking and talking on cellphones at the same time. Yet again, they show an uncanny timeliness with my own life, as I almost punched someone last week who was showing some particularly egregious behavior. In the middle of morning rush hour, this idiot parked himself, in order to have a conversation, halfway up the stairs to the F train at 23rd street. The stairs, being only wide enough to comfortably fit two people across (one set of people up, one set of people down), and a train having just let off a bunch of people who were correctly walking up their side of the stairs, my only option was to actually threaten to push this idiot down the stairs. So what did he do? he walked down one step. So yeah, I kinda pushed him (but into the bannister, not down).

Maybe this is a good time for a lesson for all people attempting to walk in NYC, particularly with the influx of visitors we’re getting this week. Walking on a crowded sidewalk is very much like driving. If you stop short, someone will walk into you. If you insist on zig zagging while walking, someone will sideswipe you. No, you can’t walk four across in one direction – the one person walking in the opposite direction (or the crowd of people gathering behind you because you’re walking too slowly) is not obliged to get out of your way. If you’re a tourist, don’t take pictures of the locals without their permission, assuming we’re all here for your enjoyment (of course we don’t mind if we end up in the background of a legitimate picture, but we are not to be considered tourist attractions in and of ourselves). If you insist on taking pictures of every tall building, do it quickly (or better yet, buy a postcard – I guarantee it will be a better shot) – don’t stand there for ten minutes trying to keep people from walking down the sidewalk so that you can line up your shot. And, finally, if you need to ask for directions, try to ask someone who doesn’t look like they’re rushing to catch a train or get to work (Perhaps ask one of the multitude of people stopped at a "Don’t Walk" sign or the ubiquitous bus stops) – we’re usually happy to help, but when we’re obviously in a rush (say when I’m running to catch the bus about to leave the stop), you’re actually the rude one for trying to stop us, not the other way around.

I know I’ve been doing the political rant think pretty consistently lately, so I thought I’d post something fun before I went away for the weekend. The other day, It was reported on Gothamist that the Beastie Boys were going to “show up” at 53rd and Broadway in connection with their appearance on Letterman that night. Now, my office is at 53rd and 6th, so clearly it became imperative that several of my co-workers and I go hang out on the corner for an hour and half in the middle of our workday. We did apparently get a better shot than most, because we ran into someone who had seen the rehearsal, and alerted us to the fact that the best vantage point was actually the subway station at the previous corner, rather than near the theater doors. We spent a while watching them mill around setting up the shot. But hey, you can see it for yourself:

I’ve circled myself and my friends in green on the left. You can’t even see me, because I’m wearing black and kind of standing behind someone from that angle, but the super-tall guy is one of my friends – he’s pretty much the only reason I could even identify our little group.

Oh, and props to the Europa Cafe (that we’re standing in front of) for keeping us in diet coke and air conditioned splendor right next to their giant picture window for the hour or so that we were waiting for anything to happen.

Wow. I’m a little bit busy this week. Okay, so after I got all of my client’s problems resolved on Wednesday, I did take Thursday and Friday off. But Thursday was TARCon, and Friday I somehow made it to Sephora at 8:30 in the morning. Then down to Chinatown for lunch, and to Westchester for my friend’s rehearsal dinner…

And now I’ve got about 20 minutes before I’m off to get my hair done, catch a car back to Westchester, and spend the day fulfilling my bridesmaid duties for my oldest friend…all in all, pretty relaxing. Then tomorrow I’m going sailing with another friend who is in town for the wedding. That should be easy going, except for the part where I have to take the train to stanford in order to meet them.

They did a nice little profile on my neighborhood in the New York Times this weekend. I’m pretty sure they were standing in front of my building to take the picture.

I went to a picnic in central park today, planned by some of my fellow posters in the Television Without Pity forums (you can find the link at the right). It was really pleasant and nice, although I think we may have scared off some of our neighbors by incessantly discussing television minutiae. And finally, a beautiful, non-humid, sunny New York City day. with dogs!