08/10/2008
The cable guy finally showed up yesterday, after I had been without service for a week and a half (no such luck having my service mysteriously pop back on this time without intervention). He ran some tests though, and discovered that it wasn’t that I got no signal, but that the signal was coming through at way too high a frequency (one which was OK for the TV/cable service, but not for internet). So began the process of checking every connection all the way back to the junction box in the stairwell.
Which he opened up, took a deep breath, and noted that the connections in there looked like they hadn’t been updated in over 20 years. I laughed and pointed out that I knew the previous tenant in my apartment (being that she’s my stepmom), and she moved in in 1978. So she probably had cable installed around the same time that cable was installed in the building. So he replaced all of the connections, and now I have shiny shiny internet again, and it’s actually much faster than it was before. Like, near-instantaneous. So I highly recommend that if you live in a really old building, you find out the last time your trunk line was updated, and if it’s before the internet existed, maybe see about getting that fixed!
Also, I didn’t even realize that there was a problem before, but when we put the TV back on to test it out with some high-def olympic coverage, I could swear that my picture was clearer than it had been in the morning. I could just be imagining things, but I was actually taken aback (I think the non-word “whoa” might have been uttered).
The third thing I have, of course, is a neckache, because I had to put all of the furniture back after the cable guy left and something went wonky in the middle of that process.
Still managed to get a bike ride with my brother in afterwards. Although “with” is somewhat misleading as a significant portion of our ride involved me watching his red backpack get smaller and smaller, and him having to periodically stop and wait for me. The best part about the ride? The realization that I’m not actually that slow. I’m only the slowest cyclist on the road at 6:30 in the morning. At 5 in the afternoon on a Saturday, there are plenty of people who are more than willing to suck and get in my way while I quietly seethe about how slow they all are.
07/30/2008
Did anyone else read this story when they were a kid? I always loved it, probably in part because it was based on a real lighthouse under the George Washington Bridge.
They’re clearly rebuilding the park up in that neck of the woods, but last night I made it all the way up there, and was surprised at how easy it was to get up close to the lighthouse (and how tiny it was).
07/20/2008
Well, it’s the last day of my vacation, and I’m just about ready to get back to work. Things I did:
Movies: saw Wall-E, Wanted, Hellboy II and The Dark Knight (which was super fantastic awesome go see it now!).
Cycling: took several trips down to battery park, and up to fort washington. In total, I biked about 70 miles over the past two weeks (usually in 12-14 mile increments every couple of days). Also, about to sign up for the NYC Century Bike Tour.
Friends: saw several friends, including one friend who I haven’t seen since college, and another who had a baby three weeks ago. Also managed to catch a cold from another friend’s 11 month old.
Culture: not quite as much as last year, but I did go see the Dali exhibit at the MoMA on wednesday. That was pretty awesome. Although my dad and I both decided that the films would make much more sense to someone if they were on drugs.
That’s about it. I also read a few books, took a lot of naps, and generally learned how to not check my blackberry every 5 minutes. oh, and I got an iphone.
07/8/2008
I promise I’m not going to do this every day. Frankly, no one wants to read repeated blog entries about just how little I can do every day. But today was exciting – I took my bike out for a “real” ride (i.e., not going in a circle around the park). The plan was to go down to Madison Square, or Union Square, and maybe get a shake at the shake shack. Anyway, I got going down the Hudson River Greenway, and before I even realized it, I was all the way downtown at ground zero. So I tooled around Battery Park for a little while, took some pictures, drank lots of water (it was really warm out), and then got back on my bike and rode all the way home. it was a 13-14 mile round trip, and I was gross and sweaty and desperate to get in my shower at the end, but not “tired”. In fact, my legs didn’t hurt at all. I actually thought at the time that, but for the oppressive heat and humidity, I could have kept going.
This is a really big change from a year ago, when i took my bike to the park and could barely go 3 miles without exhausting myself. That was the day I decided to join the gym.
Plans for the rest of the week? More bike rides, although tomorrow is a personal training day, so I probably won’t be biking around the island. All you can eat sushi tomorrow night with my dad and brother (have I mentioned that it’s kind of weird to have my brother actually living in the city again? good, but weird. I was so used to our regularly scheduled Friday afternoon IM sessions with him on the other side of the world). Tentative dinner plans with a friend from college who I haven’t seen in about 13 years, thanks to Facebook (and yes, I’m totally addicted now).
As far as Friday, I’m currently debating whether to attempt to go get a 3G iphone. I certainly didn’t plan my vacation around the iphone release, but since I’m definitely planning on getting one, it does seem kind of stupid to NOT get one while I’ve got plenty of time to wait on line. Although I’m definitely not going to be one of those people who is already waiting on line…
