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October 31, 2005
Counting down the days
So I've wanted a pet for a while, and this desire has only intensified over the last few months. I love dogs and really wanted a Shiba Inu but I can't do the three to five times a day walking thing unless we lived in a place with nicer weather. I was reluctant to get a cat at first because I'm slightly allergic to some but then my desire for a furry companion overcame my reservations, particularly after I learned that this particular breed of cat that we wanted was better for people with allergies. Luckily, one of the few breeders of this particular breed of cat lives lives in New York City and I contacted her as soon as I heard she had kittens available. She was reluctant to let us see the cats since most people generally buy her cats after seeing their photos online or the photos she e-mails them but acquiesced and we went to see them yesterday. They are really playful cats--we were there for an hour and a half and nearly all of them save for the youngest kittens played nearly the entire time until right before we left when they fell asleep from the intense play. It was a toss-up between the two youngest kittens pictured in the photo below but after debating internally, I decided to go with the red tabby.
Aren't they friggin' cute though? I cannot wait to bring our kitten home--unfortunately, we have to wait until the end of December/early January since the breeder doesn't allow people to bring them home until they're four months old. Unfortunately, our little pumpkin won't be as cute by that time but I'm counting the days down all the same.
Posted by Jennifer at 08:41 PM | Comments (0)
October 26, 2005
Site visit and Dr. Frank
Today was interesting--we agreed to take a group of people on a tour of some sites in the Rockaways today and between driving to the Rockaways and back from Manhattan and the tour of the sites much of our day was spent in the car but it was a nice ride to the Rockaways at least. We drove over Brooklyn Bridge and along the Belt Parkway which is nice when it's nice out and there isn't a lot of traffic. Below is a photo taken from the parkway.
By the time we returned to Manhattan, I had just enough time to grab a bite to eat before I had to meet Adam. I finally went to Kati Roll Company. The rolls are pretty yummy--the eatery is a great place to pick up a quick and inexpensive bite in the West Village. Then it was onto a nearby bar to see Dr Frank (lead singer of The Mr. T Experience) do a reading from his upcoming book, King Dork, and an acoustic set. The book sounds promising but when he said that he would be performing songs in the book, I was disappointed since I'm a fan of his bands' songs (he's also a solo artist) but was pleasantly surprised when I heard the songs. There was a cute song called "I Wanna Ramone You" (ramone meaning sweeping out the chimney in French) and some other good songs. And, if all goes well, we might get to interview him while he's in town!
Posted by Jennifer at 11:35 PM | Comments (0)
October 23, 2005
Hike
I've always enjoyed nature and outdoors stuff but I've been acting on it more lately and I managed to convince Adam to go on an organized hiking trip which we did today. I just went to the company's website to see their description of the trip and noticed they actually call it a "Light Day Hike." Hah! Granted, Adam and I are novice hikers but I would not call hiking briskly for five hours in the freezing cold up and down these extremely rocky slopes and across streams a "light day hike." The park we went to is nice but it wasn't really the experience I had hoped for. I guess I was hoping for a more leisurely hike--one where we could take in the scenery and I could take photos but because we were hiking so quickly, I spent most of the time staring on the ground to avoid tripping over rocks, tired when we were hiking, then freezing when we stopped, and scrambling so that the person behind me wouldn't get annoyed. Also, I made the mistake of engulfing a container of my very garlicky feta pasta salad during our first break and spending much of the rest of the hike in discomfort. I think next time we go on a hiking trip (if Adam ever allows us to again), I'm going to pick a shorter and less rigorous one.
Anyway, onto the photos:
Luckily, we took our two breaks at some more scenic points.
If you look behind the trees, you can see the lake that we hiked around.
Unfortunately, the trees were just starting to change color, but this is a nice shot of a tree in its full fall plumage I think.
There were several streams within the park which was nice.
What I spent most of my time looking at. My legs are in so much pain already.
Posted by Jennifer at 10:16 PM | Comments (0)
October 16, 2005
A day on campus
I went up to Columbia to use their libraries today to do some research for my thesis. I never went to Columbia but I used to use its libraries fairly regularly because the one at my university sucks. The last time I did so, however, was probably four years ago so I was pretty clueless on where certain things were. My memories of going there and of attending college though made me feel really old. I hadn't thought about checking out things from the reserve desk for class assignments since, probably when I had actually done it but just the fact that my memories of that were so ancient made me shudder. I also wanted to get a journal article so I had looked up the call number of the journal when the reference desk person pointed out to me that the journal was available online through their system. I couldn't believe it--I used to spend hours searching for and copying articles from bound journals, now all these journal articles can be obtained with a few clicks of a computer. University students have it so easy these days..at the same time, I couldn't imagine being one now.
Posted by Jennifer at 09:22 PM | Comments (1)
October 15, 2005
Distriada
I am such a distriada (Spanish for absent-minded) sometimes--last week, I burnt a perfectly good pot after turning on the wrong burner and not realizing until about fifteen minutes later. Today, I was taking out my keys as I was getting out of our elevator when I accidentally dropped them down the elevator shaft. Luckily, there's a locksmith near our apartment but, unfortunately, he didn't have something he needed to make a copy of our building front door key so I will have to scramble to find a place that can make a copy tomorrow or Monday.
The best coffee I've had was in Italy by far so when I heard that Illy Caffe was opening a temporary cafe in Soho, I knew I had to go there. I made it down there today and I was disappointed--maybe I shouldn't have ordered a Cafe Americano but it was kind of bitter and I'm not a fan of bitter coffee. Also, they had really good sounding desserts but $4 for a cupcake? Plus, the coffee only made me thirsty so I picked up this ice tea (I've gone on a beverage kick ever since returning from Japan) which was really good but there must be a ton of sugar in it because I got really jittery after drinking it which almost never happens to me (and I'm a sugarholic).
Posted by Jennifer at 07:53 PM | Comments (0)
October 11, 2005
Phyllo Crazy and In Her Shoes
I'd had a recipe for this phyllo chicken dish for a while and finally made it tonight. This was my first experience using phyllo--the best way to describe phyllo dough is if parchment paper were made of dough (it's really delicate). The dish came out pretty well though. Adam made a good apple crisp the other night so I suggested he make a dessert with apples (we went apple-picking a few weeks ago) and phyllo dough. He went crazy with the phyllo and wrapped the apples with layers of the stuff.
Also saw In Her Shoes tonight. I hadn't read any reviews and was worried it wouldn't be that good but I really enjoyed it. Anything involving something tragic and siblings generally makes me tear (think You Can Count on Me). Speaking of shoes, I had my own shoe incident the other night. What's one of the worst things that can happen to anyone involving a shoe? Losing one or having one break--well the latter happened to me while we were walking in a very busy street in Manhattan. Luckily, Adam was with me and I ordered him to go to Duane Reade to buy packing tape. Unfortunately, the packing tape was a very temporary fix and had to be reapplied a few times. Plus, I was forced to limp so as to prevent the strap of my shoe from becoming dislodged again. I'm still hoping I can salvage the shoe though (they're one of my favorites).
Posted by Jennifer at 12:01 AM | Comments (0)
October 01, 2005
Birdwatching in the Meadowlands
One of my favorite shopping spots is in NJ and I pass by the Meadowlands on my way there. Passing through the Meadowlands, I frequently look out the window at the landscape--a mixture of the industrial and natural but what catches my attention are the wetlands. I really like wetlands for some reason and I always wished I could go out there to look at birds. When I read an article in the New York Times about groups in New Jersey that lead such tours, I was excited. I immediately booked a spot on one of these boat rides which Adam and I went on today. First off, I have to say Secaucus is a strange town--the very new-looking train station and the city were eerily empty. But then we got to the park where we were meeting and I took this shots.
We boarded the boat and this is what we did a good part of the trip.
The tour was nice, relaxing, a nice break from the city and the stress of a busy work week. It was actually a lot longer than I had thought (about two hours) and our tour guide talked, a lot, but it was still enjoyable. He described the history of the natural Meadowlands and developments that line the Meadowlands and the Hackensack River like this former landfill that was placed right up against the river.
This residential complex was set further back from the water but I just thought the shape of the complex was pretty unusual.
We passed under this interesting draw bridge. I can't describe how it works but I know that the cement block helps to raise the bridge.
Unfortunately, all the birds I wanted to see up close like the egrets and the herons flew away as our boat approached so, not having a telephoto lens, I wasn't able to get any really good shots. Here's one of an egret flying away.
I would like to try this one day.
The cormorants say, "So long! Hope you enjoyed the trip!"
Posted by Jennifer at 09:55 PM | Comments (0)