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December 30, 2004
L.A.
Christmas in L.A. is basically a series of routines for our family--Venice Boardwalk, visiting my deceased grandfather, having lunch at a Chinese restaurant, Third Street Promenade, etc. This year was no different but it was nice being in L.A. with my family and soaking up the California sun and warmth. It's a routine we go through every year and, as my grandmother gets older, one I increasingly value. My grandmother is a special person in my life--before I lived with my grandparents I spent nearly every summer with them and when my parents returned to the East Coast from Houston when I was a sophomore in high school, I ended up living with my grandparents off and on through graduate school. My grandmother is the heart of my family and was my surrogate mother growing up. She's outlived my grandfather by several years but has grown increasingly frail over the last two years. She's 89 right now and the thought that this could be the last Christmas we see her in relatively good health never loomed far from my mind. I really hope she stays healthy but doesn't experience the kind of demise that she dreads--one that involves pain or significant dependence on others. She's one of the most exceptional people I know and I was a little sad watching her wave goodbye by her doorstep.
Posted by Jennifer at 12:51 AM | Comments (0)
December 21, 2004
Off to the left coast
Leaving for Los Angeles tomorrow morning--hopefully, I'll be able to post while I'm there. If not, have a happy holiday and I'll post about my experiences when I return before the New Year!
Posted by Jennifer at 11:10 PM | Comments (0)
December 10, 2004
The journey
Mid-May- a month and a half after getting married, Adam and I started looking for a co-op.
End of June/beginning of July- a pipe burst on a floor above us and flooded the basement apartment we lived in and we found and had our bid accepted on the first apartment we thought we were going to move into, a lovely newly renovated co-op on the street we will be moving to.
Mid July- we spent a long weekend in Toronto and, upon returning, learned that the seller of the aforementioned co-op decided to accept a higher bid than the one we had placed. Bitter, we resumed our search.
End of July- we found the second co-op that we were to place an accepted bid on.
End of August- the co-op was appraised for considerably lower than the asking price so we decided to drop the offer on the co-op and resume our search.
Beginning of Sept- we found the third co-op that we were to place an accepted bid on. Three weeks later, we nearly lost the co-op but ended up getting back on track.
Last night, we finally had our meeting with the co-op board.
This morning, Adam got the good news--we've been accepted! It's only taken us seven months to get to this point but we finally made it! Yay! No more looking at craiglist!
Posted by Jennifer at 10:53 PM | Comments (0)
December 09, 2004
Let-down
After waiting for months to get to this point, we finally had our meeting with the co-op board. We had been anticipating this for a while and I even went to Barnes & Noble and searched online to get an idea of questions we could expect. I tried to figure out how I could describe my job in layman's terms. We rehearsed how we would respond to questions we could anticipate being asked. We even missed Adam's office's swank holiday party to make this appointment.
The actual meeting was completely anticlimatic. We were ushered downstairs to a dingy room in the basement where the co-op board has its meetings. Only three people stayed in the room when the door was closed. As soon as the first question was asked, if we understood the house rules, we realized this wasn't going to be what we had anticipated--just a formality as opposed to an interview. I couldn't believe this was what we were nervous about and missed a swank holiday party for. Hopefully though this is a positive sign that they'll approve us..
I guess this night wasn't a total wash. We finally went to Pop Diner, this new retro diner in Queens. The interior wasn't as cool as I thought it would be but it's still pretty neat for a diner in New York City. I love retro decor/architecture. And the portions are huge. Somehow, this site makes the diner look way more cooler than my photos but here's my photos anyway:
Posted by Jennifer at 08:24 PM | Comments (0)
December 07, 2004
Global warming mug
Was walking through the Union Square Holiday Market when I spotted this, a global warming land vanishing mug in which coastal portions of the various continents disappear when you pour a hot beverage into the mug. Even though I rarely drink hot beverages, the environmentalist in me could not resist buying it.
Posted by Jennifer at 11:35 PM | Comments (0)
December 05, 2004
A sampling of wait times experienced this weekend:
Banana Republic Outlet, Jersey Gardens (Sat, 12:30)- 30 min wait time for registers
H&M, Herald Square (Sun, 12:30)- 0 minute wait time for dressing room (very surprising)
Onion and Daily Show post-election debate, Indie and Small Press Book Fair- 50 minute wait time (arrived there 30 minutes before event and they opened the doors 20 minutes late)- this was the most frustrating waiting experience- stood towards the front of a very long line for 50 min's only to find out the event was standing room only and ended up cutting out since I wouldn't be able to see the panel with everyone standing and the prospect of standing in a very crowded room for another hour didn't exactly appeal to me
Target- 10 minute wait for a shopping cart, 3 minute wait for the register
Posted by Jennifer at 05:21 PM | Comments (0)
December 03, 2004
Bill Maher
Bill Maher is one funny person. Enough to make me forget that we were watching him all the way up in the balcony section of Carnegie Hall where he appeared ten times smaller than he does on our TV screen when we watch him on Real Time. Enough to make us forget the vertigo we initially felt because the theater is so vertical that looking out onto the stage is enough to make you dizzy. Enough to make us forget our disappointment at seeing our fellow audience members who all looked like liberal Upper West Sider yuppies. And enough to make me want to hang out with the him even though his taste in women seem akin to those of Hugh Hefner. But I guess laughter and intelligence has that effect on me..
Posted by Jennifer at 11:10 PM | Comments (0)