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November 23, 2005
Heat
Our apartment has gone from the refrigerator cold to the Amazon jungle overnight. Ever since the temperatures started dipping below 60, our apartment has been cold--our bedroom has been freezing and our living room and computer area just slightly less so. I'd called our building management many times about it but they always seemed to wave off my complaints I'm guessing because either no or few other people in our building have complained. When I complained two weeks ago, however, they indicated that perhaps something was wrong with our radiator so they sent the super to check on it. The super confirmed that this was the case so they called a plumbing company to send over a plumber (yeah, I had no idea plumbers fixed radiators either). The plumber changed our air valves and recommended that the thermostat for the boiler be set for a higher temperature but the building management company again, waved away this comment. Monday night, I had on my full hoodie and sweatpant gear on and, even with a space heater placed right next to me, I was still cold. I called to complain again and the building manager said something about a balancing act between the lower and upper floors but he must've either gotten fed up with my constant calling or realized that there was a reason I kept calling because when we returned home last night, our apartment was much warmer than it'd been since it got cold. Today, I'm wearing a T-shirt and shorts and I still feel warm. Oh well, better warm than cold I guess.
Posted by Jennifer at 04:59 PM | Comments (0)
November 08, 2005
If only every week was a three day week
I occasionally lament the fact that New York City doesn't have the good lunch special deals that other cities seem to have but I realized today that it could just be that I've never lived or worked in areas with restaurants that have good lunch specials. I had an interview scheduled with someone in Williamsburg today for my thesis and decided to grab lunch at SEA Thai Bistro afterwards. I'm really glad I did--I rarely have lunch in Williamsburg and had never been to SEA Thai during the day and I arrived there just as they opened. The contrast between night and day was dramatic--I was seated next to their signature pond and had the whole restaurant to myself for a good fifteen minutes. But the best part is they have great lunch specials--a variety of entrees that they have on their dinner menu plus you get to choose from a pretty extensive list of appetizers that comes with the lunch special. I was really impressed, considering the lunch special is only $6.50. And my appetizer (steamed chicken and shrimp dumplings) was great (as was the entree). It was peaceful sitting next to the pond too.
Definitely exceeded my experience eating at Egg last week, which is pretty overrated in my opinion.
After seeing the photos on these websites, I so want to go the southern coast of Turkey now. The travel list never ceases to end.
Posted by Jennifer at 08:23 PM | Comments (0)
November 06, 2005
Forest Park
I managed to drag Adam to my favorite NYC park today. I love Forest Park because, as you can gather from its name, it's heavily forested and one of my favorite things to do is walking through the woods in the fall. To get there, we walked down the same way we used to walk to get from the subway back home. And, while I don't miss the long walk, I do miss the trees, especially this time of year:
The walk through Forest Park was nice, although we got a little lost and we ended up for hiking longer than we had planned. I did get a few nice shots though.
Afterwards, we decided to go to our old pizza joint, Dee's Pizza. While we lived in the area, they had always been located in this smallish space so I was surprised to find that they had relocated to where an expensive Mediterranean restaurant used to be. It's a nice space but so much bigger than the old space so it took some getting used to. The pizza was still good though and Adam and I reminisced about our former days living in the neighborhood.
I'm so jealous of this guy. He not only takes really good photos of birds, but he can identify all the birds he takes photos of.
Posted by Jennifer at 07:11 PM | Comments (0)
November 05, 2005
Birdwatching in Central Park
I've always liked birds but my desire to learn about them was increased following two recent attempts to rescue baby birds (neither of which, unfortunately, were successful). After the second bird, I was happy to find out that the NYC Audubon Society offers birdwatching classes but I decided to hold off on enrolling until next spring since I wanted to focus on my thesis this semester. Since I've been on a nature kick though, I decided to go to a birdwatching walk in Central Park this morning. Dragging myself out of bed at 7 on a Saturday morning wasn't easy, but I'm glad I went.
The walk was lead by an Audubon Society birder who was excellent. I'm sure she's had many years of experience, but I was really impressed by how easily she identified birds by their sounds and she was able to spot less commonly found (and, frequently, small and camouflaged) birds amidst the nooks and crannies of the park. I was really happy to see all these birds I had never seen before up close and personal with my binoculars (most birds fly away if you get within twenty to thirty feet away from them). Unfortunately, we didn't see a ton of birds since it's towards the end of the migration season but it was still an enjoyable experience nonetheless. And, I was able to get some beautiful shots of Central Park:
Like I indicated, none of the birds let us get close enough for me to take a decent photo, except for this one bird that I encountered on my own while I was trying to find my way out of the park. I think it was one of my favorites.
Posted by Jennifer at 05:55 PM | Comments (0)