Blog

My friend and Tyler’s former roommate Erica has decided to take a hiatus from New York and Brooklyn. She’s moving to Costa Rica for three months of being a gaddabout a beautiful Carribean island. To send her off and get our own island fix, a few folks met at Waikiki Wally’s on 2nd Street.

The tiki bar does not disappoint. The drink menu reads like a Hawaiian guide book and every concoction includes more rum than is prudent. After the pu-pu platter, the most fun is the group drinks like the Volcano. We fabricated long straws so we could sit back and let the rum do the work.

Erica is probably somewhere over the Bahamas by now, but she will be in Coast Rica soon. You should send her an email periodically to keep her company at the island paradise. Or to tell her she sucks and that you are jealous.
…
Site of the Day: Gizmodo – Tech geek blog

My friends and I are legal ailens in New York city, stangers in a strange land, imported from other places in the country where patios and yards are birth rights. Like other immigrants in history, we carried with us on our journey certain tradtions that cannot be quelched by relocation. The Germans brought beer and pretzels (God bless them) and snack factories opened up in Hanover, PA. The Irish packed their thirst along for the boat ride and speckled lower Manhattan with pubs (God bless them).

My fellow natives of middle America have a sacriment so deep within us that it’s in our very bones: the backyard bar-b-que. We had our diapers changed on plastic red-checkered tablecloths and learned to walk while dodging lawn darts and horseshoes. Despite a desperate lack of outdoor space in this town, we somehow manage to squeak out a bar-b-que on any availble ten square feet. I made it to three this weekend. I had a hot dog for dessert after a hamburger. I crushed and sprinkled potato chips in my potato salad. Baked bean juice stained my jeans. I drank Budweiser. All this in honor of our veterens. I plan to do the same thing to celebrate our independence.

Thanks to Erik D for the pictures.
…
If you have ever been to Ireland and you enjoyed one thing in particular, please email it to me.
…
Site of the Day: My friend Rachelle got a gig at the Chi-town version of Gothamist, Chicagoist.

Four guys can stand twenty-one quarters on their sides to impress three bartenders. Are we losers…or geniuses? Guilty parties were Ben, Erik, Tyler, and me.
…
About yesterday’s post, Ben said, “As soon as I see a picture of a building, I’m all done. I know [the entry] is going to be subpar. I want chicks.” It hurts because he is right.
…
How do you start a housing cooperative? Anyone?
…
Site of the Day: The new Wu Tang Clan. I laughed out loud.

Anachronisms like the Hells Angels and tenements with dark hallways are being replaced with luxury condos with individual balconies all over the Lower East Side. The cover of the New Yorker this week is a painting of a city with only high-end million dollar penthouses and cardboard boxes on the street. The gentrification is particularly severe on my block, right next to my apartment, starting at 6AM everyday with the drilling and the jack hammering. I wake up with a headache whether I went out the night before or not.

Speaking of the New Yorker, there is a bit on book deals for bloggers in this week’s Talk of the Town that sent tsunamis through the blogging community as soon as it appeared online. I know and enjoy the sites of three of the people mentioned, but like many other web people that day, I turned a touch green with envy. Rather than spew sour grapes, I’m just going to say Kate Lee, Kate Lee, Kate Lee of New York, mentioned in the New Yorker–and let Google do the the rest.

One last thing, my favorite Mexican restaurant is La Ceiba on Avenue A. Although, I’ve given it a write up before, I mention it again because the place is always so empty and I don’t want it to close. I took my Mexican food snob and California friend Molly there last night. She gave it the biggest thumbs up you can hope to get from a West Coaster with, “It’s not bad for New York.”
…
Site of the Day: Trippy.

Lisa W. has captured the prize for longest distance traveled to be Picture of the Day. The title was formerly held by Sarah of Boston and Dan from Dallas, but Lisa traveled all the way from L.A. to take the honor. For her trouble, she was rewarded five minutes on the hammock, but she soon kicked me off in favor of the lovely Paige. We all were on Walker’s huge deck to help him celebrate his twenty-ninth birthday.
…
Saturday found me at B-Side giving birthday hugs to Kate and chugging beers with Maite. Two nights are too much for this old man, so I left early for the chilly embrace of my recently installed air conditioner.
…
Love to Nicola for a Sunday brunch that included a gigantic bowl of meat.
…
NEWS! Lisy is having contractions and expected to give birth withing the week. Email me the date and time you expect the spawn of Todd to pop out. The closest guess wins a cheese danish or a Zima.
…
Site of the Day: Speaking of L.A., I like Six Feet Under. Look close at the billboard. Funny.

Today’s pic is my writing workshop coach Tori looking incredulously at the sun, questioning its motivation.
…
I’m thinking about buying a folding bicycle. Thoughts?
…
Site of the Day: Possibly a hint of the end, you can now pay for The Onion.

Hudson Bar and Books is another bar that found a loophole in the smoking laws. Because they selll a certain number of cigars, patrons are allowed to smoke indoors. Along with stogies, the menu has ten gazillion varieties of whiskey and scotch. The polished oak walls are decorated with prints of James Bond girls and double-O is always on the TV; I watched ten minutes of Moonraker while waiting for the pisser. The drinks are steep and there is an atmosphere of West Village swank, but it’s definitely cool enough to be put in the regular rotation. Cheers to Colleen for turning me on to the place.
…
McDonald’s for breakfast. Oh yeah.
…
Site of the Day: Randy Johnson threw a perfect game. I don’t even really like baseball and this still amazes me.

X marks one of the most scenic spots in the rolling hills of the Catskills. This road bisected miles of waving buckwheat and we stopped to gander at the Berkshires and Adirondacks visible at the end of the horizon. While we admired the views, Julie Andrews and a bunch of Aryan children suddenly charged over a ridge and we scrambled for our lives.
…
I had a great weekend fishing and tonight I will put up all of Erik’s and my pictures.
…
Site of the Day: What the hell?! “Emily, get out of my way!” says Colin Powell.
…
IMPORTANT UPDATE: I will marry and babify the first girl who is willing to go halvsies on this place. There is a welding room and a trout stream! If your clock is ticking, line up, ladies.

The Edge is like my living room. The Mexican, Vietnemese, and Greek places around the corner are my kitchen. I can get great chicken and rice or mole tacos for cheaper than cooking for myself. The only home I need is a sleeping pod like in William Gibson’s Necromancer. Because of this, I’m thinking of getting rid of all my furniture and filling my apartment with chunks of foam. It makes sense in my head right now. Amid the ringing.

Last night at The Edge, Valerie threw a little soire for a regular named Alex who is shipping out to Iraq on Saturday. She’s nice like that. Tyler used chocolate sauce to create a giant sticky mustache, dirty Sanchez style. Hi-jinks abounded.
…
Site of the Day: This cake made me dry heave this morning.

Yesterday’s entry was an adorable photo of Matt and Kristen’s west highland terrier, Scooter. When exposed to something so cute, Matt and I felt obligated to make something large with tongue-in-cheek obnoxiousness to annoy his wife. Using The Rasterbator, we enlarged the image to fit on twenty pieces of paper and printed it out. Staring at the pages laid on the dining room table, we were so impressed that we headed out to the arts and crafts superstore and Home Depot for foamcore and plexi-glass. It took it two days and quite a few beers, but you can see it was worth it. If you ever want to see it, just drop by Matt and Kristen’s–she promised it would hang forever.

From the other side of the house, it looks like a giant photograph, but here it is life size. That is one big, little-dog nose.

If you are thinking of rasterizing, here are some tips we learned during our experience:

• Measure the wall first.
• It’s best to bolt the piece to wall so your wife cannot make you take it down. Or remain single and be free to paper your apartment with super models and your own head.
• Print it out at work or expense the ink cartridge.
• Use a large, high resolution, contrasty image that has been converted to grayscale and over sharpened. I know a good one of Nixon and The King.
• Mounting the pages on foam core makes them lay flat. The spray adhesive fumes made me lay flat…and giggle.
• A 36″x72″ sheet of plexi-glass cost $25 and converts it from cheap cutouts to high art.
• Spray with some matte UV protectant and sealant to darken and protect the piece. Plus, it’s more aerosol spray in a closed basement for free intoxication. I think I’ve killed the cells in my brain that represent Denny’s Moons over My Hammy and Ottawa. Huffing is NOT as harmless as it seems.

Now that I have the procedure down, I plan to paper my apartment with super models and my own head.
…
Site of the Day: Get age abuse from strangers. People I don’t know think I look old.