The Wire

October 18, 2004

I just watched several Tivoed copies of The Wire. Is it just me or is this season a bit weaker than last season? I continue to think it's one of the strongest shows on television and still love the characters, but the hook just isn't there for me... at least not yet.

--
Of note around the web:

If you know what RSS is, you'll find this article interesting. If you've never heard of RSS, don't bother.

A new version of Windowshade (which I swear by) is out. Too bad it doesn't include minimized windows in Expose. I've been waiting for this feature for months....

Kayak.com is a new meta-search travel site. It gathers info from many other travel sites in one convient, ad-free, window. Clean friendly design. Let's hope it stays ad-free. I prefer the HTML version of the site to the Flash version. Why even bother with flash these days?

The Tamil government says that the bandit Veerappan is has been killed. I've been following Veerappan's exploits for years. The man had one hell of a mustache.

If you are fascinated by la lucha libre, Mexican gangs, and punk rock you should check out Locas: A Love and Rockets Book a collection of work by Jaime Hernandez.

David Hillard is a photographer with a good eye. He uses a technique I like to use myself (taking photos at intervals and then putting the images next to each other to capture a sense of time).
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Barrister Bookshelves

October 18, 2004

I've been a bit busy and haven't posted in a few days. My head has been overstuffed. Partially I blame it on the unpacking or lack of unpacking. Unless my stuff is organized I feel disorganized. It's my touch of OCD.

We're looking for vintage steel barrister bookcases. Does anyone have ideas on where to find them locally? I know they can be found in Los Angeles at Sonrisa (for too much money). Here in NY Bergen's normally is a good source, but right now they are out. Any more ideas?

In looking for these I've once again discovered the value of local Google.

--


Dogs at the butchers.


This painting by my friend Thorina Rose scares Jenn.



My masks also scare Jenn (hence their exile in my office).



We've started to put the baby room together.

Rainy Day

October 14, 2004

Not much to report today. It's rainy and I'm swamped with work. My office is in the attic. It's a bit mad scientist up here, but the rain is nice and I like the old skull and crossbones someone painted on the wall as well as all the scores of names scratched onto the walls over the last 160 years. I'd prefer a window to the skylight, but the skylight allows me to escape up onto the roof where I can just see Statue of Liberty beyond the rooftops and chimneys.

Here are some links to keep you busy:

Mr. Cartoon has a cool site (great navigation bar).

I love bad architecture.

We've been getting into letterpress printing. The Five Roses site has been an invaluble resource.

Abandoned places' navigation is a bit obtuse but there are some nice images there.

The Yossi Milo gallery always seems to showcase interesting photographers. Today the work of Alessandra Sanguinetti caught my eye. In the past they've shown Loretta Lux and Paul D'Amato. I've got to get myself up to 24th street for a visit.

This issue of Colors is fantastic (and particularly interesting for me, a collector of 3rd world studio portraits). I just killed 20 minutes studying this issue after unpacking it in a box full of interesting stuff. What do do with old magazines like this that you don't want to throw out despite your lack of space?

The World

October 13, 2004

Overheard diner conversation between an older Russian man with a pinkie ring & a bad suit and a young Latina with an overly fluffy sweater & big Japanese looking shoes.

girl: It's only money.

man: Money. Why do we always talk about this? Six thousand.

girl: We won't have to talk about it if you write the check.

Silence for a minute or two

man: I write check and we don't talk about these things.

girl: Write it now.

man: Six thousand.

girl: Seven thousand five hundred.

Silence. She slurps her drink.

man (quietly): ok

He pulls a check from his wallet and makes it out. The girl inspects it. Folds it carefully and puts it in a wallet in her purse.

girl: Let's go.

They leave holding hands.

--

I saw the last of my film festival movies tonight - The World, by Jia Zhangke. Jenn was movied out so I went alone. She missed out. Thumbs up on this one. If you love Beijing, this film is for you. Set in a huge amusement park featuring "architecture of the world" including a large scale Eiffel Tower, World Trade Center and pyramids it follows a love affair between two young immigrant workers. Zhangke has a light touch he tells a lyrical sad story but always with good humor. It's one of the first films I've seen set in modern Beijing that shows the city the way I experienced it. I enjoyed the slow poetic rhythms of the film and feel it will stick with me for some time. The afterglow of the picture made the late night subway home feel moody and cinematic. The Donald Byrd and Screamin' Jay Hawkins on the iPod only increased the mood.

in the other direction

October 12, 2004

Here's a blog from a guy who headed
west
. Way way west.

--
Mrs. Wiggens at Verizon is my DSL heroine. She patiently listened to my DSL issues, went in, expedited and expertly fixed them. If I had her address, I'd send her flowers. Mrs. Wiggens wherever you are I love you.

Slowly slowly...

October 11, 2004

...we are getting set up.

It took us one week to get to about 70% moved in.
It has taken us another 2 weeks to get to about 85%.
Every room is messy, but semi-functional.
Those last boxes are always the killers.

Spectacular fall weather. Makes you feel good to be alive.

--




More Festival Updates

October 10, 2004

Tonight, two satisfying films:

We just returned from Zhang Yimou's House of Flying Daggers which is loads of fun despite a muddled ending. It's a better movie than Hero and should be a bigger hit. Zhang Ziyi was lovely as usual although she showed up before to greet the audience before the film in a cheesy bridge and tunnel outfit (once the movie started rolling it took a few minutes to mentally erase the tight pants and midriff... come to think of it I shouldn't use the bridge and tunnel pejorative since now we're part of that crowd!). Flying Daggers has several great set pieces one the one in the forest is pure giddy action sure to set the bar for quite a quile... I'm sure it is only a matter of time before we see half baked imitations this scene American movies. I should note Jenn hated the film deeming it cheesy... but she was also sleepy and not feeling well.

Ultimately more satisfying was the first movie we saw, a Korean film Woman is the Future of Man by Hong Sangsoo. This film felt revelatory both for it's frank sexual themes and portrayal of Korean urban life. The story is simple. Two old friends meet in a restaurant and begin remembering the intense relationships each of them had with the same woman. They seek the woman out to see what's happened to her (and perhaps searching for closure)... Of course they find her and of course things quickly get even more confused. The filmmaking is top notch, funny and melancholy, and reminded me at various times of Kieslowski and Antonioni... but really it was it's own thing. The soft spoken filmmaker was verbally attacked by several audience members afterwards. In general they thought the film was sexist. One girl said she wanted to "kill the director". I think the people speaking were confusing the culture the film portrays with the filmmaker himself. If anything the film was not reveling in sexist attitudes, but was showing how alienating and shallow certain aspects of male behavior can be and using that behavior to illuminate larger truths...

Close Shave

October 8, 2004

I had a haircut and a shave today from my Uzbek barber Ellis, who I've been visiting off and on for 15 years. (he's on 2nd and 69th)

Getting shaves in barber shops is one of those arcane pleasures almost forgotten by the modern man. In the hands of an skilled barber with a sharp blade, the right tonics and hot towels, you barely feel a thing... and your face will be light years smoother than a do-it-yourself job. It's also pretty darned relaxing.

When I travel I find on-the-road shave to always be highlights of the trips.

For example in Amritsar I had an expert shave and haircut from a Sihk (Mr. Singh of course) in a shop simply titled "The Good Barber". Mr. Singh wrapped my face with hot towels soaked in boiling water and mint leaves. He not only cut my beard with a blade, but also cleaned up eyebrows, stray ear hairs and such. At the end of the shave he demonstrated his mastery of the blade by running it over my closed eyelid while chuckling. The irony of a Sihk in his profession was lost on him.

Not all experiences were good. In Siem Reap back in the early 90's I showed up at a barber shop much to the surprise of the locals who had, I think, rarely seen a foreigner close up. When I made it clear that I wanted my beard removed, a small panic went through the place. Eventually a trembling girl was brought in with a bar of soap and rusty looking old blade. I was terrified, the girl shaving me was terrified (sweating bullets), but felt obligated to stay. I think I made it through 2 swipes of the blade each of which drew blood, before I bolted out.

But the good experiences make up for the bad. In Danang visiting a barbershop meant sitting in a chair and being attended by no less than 6 woman. One each to wash and massage my feet. Another pair to massage my hands and arms and one to clean my ears (she used long sticks and wore a miner's helmet). A final one did the actual haircutting. I was in such bliss that the fact that my hair was being dyed dark went unnoticed until I was lifted up and shown a mirror. For about 2 weeks I went from being, raul to Raul! with jet black hair. Sort of changed my personality.

Today's shave was not nearly so memorable. Ellis and the woman who helps him with him hummed along to a Russian video playing on the TV as I was shorn. I left fresh as an apple.

--

More Verizon DSL Frustrations

October 8, 2004

10 days ago Verizon told me my DSL was scheduled to be turned on today. Today they told me it would be 10 days from now. They claim there is a problem with the line or alternately that the line isn't provisioned. What is especially annoying is that DSL was working before and there was no problem on the line. The only thing that happened is that the main office tried to do something called a move order to move the service from one jack to the other jack (move orders are normally done when someone moves from one house to another house) and then cancelled the move order when it didn't work, but the DSL people never heard about cancellation and so it's still listed as a move order on the DSL side. My guess is that because it's still the same number and the same address the computer is confused and keeps delaying the order (who would move to the same address). This is exactly what happened with our voicemail (which only got fixed when we managed to get someone who actually cared about our dilemma on the line). But the DSL tech people are not trained to deal with these kind of situations so they just hand me off to something called the move department and the move department (seemingly staffed by people who don't know how to deal with anything out of the ordinary) hands me back to the tech people. The absolute unwillingness of people in those departments to do anything to get you out of this morass or even to clearly explain the problem is maddening.

I'm going to let it go ten days more then I cancel the order and go with another company. This is a perfect example of how companies lose customer good will. I, the customer, am stuck in a situation where nobody seems to know exactly what problem is, in which there is no escalation path so that a supervisor can actually get into the account to understand the big picture, and where the problem seems to get worse with every attempt to fix it. I'm starting to associate Verizon with incompetence and will definitely switch companies if I can. All this is in marked contrast to SBC the monolithic phone company on the other coast. When there was a problem over there I was always able to go up the chain until I got to someone who actually understood the problem and could solve it or at least give me an accurate timetable. In addition to losing me as a customer they are also losing hours and hours of time for all the calls back and forth while people dither.

AAARRRGGGG.

tax hell

October 6, 2004

I'm doing my taxes today. Need I say more?

Normals

October 5, 2004

We just returned from a party (which was preceded by a book reading) for David Gilbert celebrating the release of his new book The Normals. The reading went well (funny and interesting) and then we walked a few blocks to the party. It was a lively crowd (all Kerry supporters) of architects, designers, and book people. Unlike parties in LA there was not a single discussion of diets, grosses, or celebrities. Jenn said that when everyone broke from the party to watch the debate in the back bedroom she knew she was home. This crowd was 100% Kerry. Maybe these are the French wine drinking New York intellectuals Bush is always talking about.

Verizon Hell

October 5, 2004

Trials and travails of getting phone, cable, & DSL in this house. This is uninteresting, but I want it recorded if only to refer back to it.

Day 1:

We set up phone service.

Day 10:

We move in, there is no dial tone. We call via cell phone to get Verizon to fix the problem. I order Directv. directv says the guy will arrive in 2 days to do the install.

Day 11:

The phone people come, do their thing, leave. Only one jack out of 20 in the house works. It's in the most inconvenient corner of the house on the top floor. DSL works. Voicemail works. I call about the other jacks. Apparently the townhouse is listed by floor. They suggest canceling the phone or floor 4and moving it to floor 3. They say DSL will continue to work, voicemail and everything else will just be transferred. It will happen by morning.

Day 12: In the morning the other jacks do not work. We start getting our neighbor Kate's calls. Kates calls are also ringing in her house. This is confusing. Voicemail has been canceled. DSL has been canceled. The directv people never show up. I call Verizon, but it's too late to place a new repair order.

Day 13: I call directv and tell them their guys never showed up. They claim I never put in an order. I make a new order. They tell me the guys will show up in 3 days. I place a repair order with Verizon.

Day 14: Verizon shows up and physically wires all the lines from upstairs and downstairs together in a box. We have phones that ring to our number! Voicemail does not work. DSL does not work. We are told DSL will be available in 10 days. No way to expedite the order.

Day 15: We call about voicemail and are told it will work in the morning.

Day 16: Voicemail still does not work. We call again and are told it was shut off, but it would work in the morning.

Day 17: Voicemail still does not work. The directv guys show up. Install everything. But it doesn't work. Directv claims I have a bad card and that it will take 2-7 days to get a new one (what kind of spread is 2 to 7 days?). We call Verizon again and are told in will work in 2 hours. I am told to "hold my horses".

Day 17 (two hours later): The voicemail still doesn't work. I call again and a nice woman named Mrs. Petroski says she will personally fix my voicemail. She says she'll call back at 2:00.

Day 17: 2:30, Mrs. Petroski calls, the voicemail is fixed!

Status: waiting on DSL, waiting for directv

In the Battlefields

October 5, 2004

At the Film Festival we saw Danielle Arbid's In the Battlefields. This film exemplifies what the NY Film festival is all about--a showcase of brutal honest filmmaking by a first time director from a country most people in the US know little about. The movie is an autobiographical coming of age tale of a young girl struggling with her disintegrating family in wartime Beirut. The story is told almost without sentiment from a completely interior/personal point of view. While it will probably not get distribution in the US, if you see it listed at upcoming festivals, try to catch it.

Ms. Arbid spoke afterwards. Jenn and I both noted she seemed super cool. The type of person you'd like to meet for dinner, drinks, and a long discussion about life...

--
We like riding in empty subway cars at night:

Sunday Morning

October 3, 2004

I'm hanging our retablo/ex-voto collection in the bedroom. After years of flack for mixing antlers and retablos, I take it as a minor victory that Jenn walked in, studied the wall and said, "Needs horns."

NY Film Festival Day 1

October 3, 2004

Roger Ebert called Undertow (by David Gordon Green) a masterpiece. Ebert's getting soft I think. We just saw the film at the New York Film Festival. I found it badly miscast (is Dermot Mulroney always the kiss of death?), but watchable with a few nice moments. Despite being muddled, it feels original with a deep sense of place an a feel for a region rarely seen except as parody or caricature on screen.

Jenn gave it a 3 out of 10 (I think she was overly negative because of the cheesy Philip Glass score and the looking-back-to-the-70's freeze frames which she didn't get). The problem I think is that David Gordon Green was overpraised for George Washington (which was a beautiful little film), was quickly a declared genius, and was allowed to run free without adult supervision. Now everyone expects each of his films to be some sort of revelation. A tall order for anyone. The result in this case is a minor southern gothic mess that most audiences won't put up with, but that critics will praise because because of it dares to aspire to that great tradition of auteur filmmaking almost gone from the American scene.

--
We walked over the bridge today... I got Jenn to do one of the silly jumping pictures we like to do. This is Jenn landing:

60 days and counting

October 2, 2004

In the great pantheon of annoyance, lathering up to shave with a 3 week beard and not having a razor is certainly just a minor cubbyhole. But lathering up, not having a razor, unlathering, discovering you actually do have a razor, relathering, and accidentally knocking your one razor in the toilet... that has to merit a broom closet at least.

--

I hung about 50 paintings today. The house is starting to feel like home.

--

We are 2 months from the expected due date and have lots of baby stuff already. Stroller. Crib. Too many clothes. I was looking at the stroller sitting empty in the hall this morning and was haunted by Hemingway's shortest story: "Baby shoes. Never worn. For sale."

music & mallets

October 1, 2004

My friend Julien turned me on to this website by The Hound. It features radio show highlights from one of WFMU's most interesting DJs. The mp3s are literally recorded from the radio show (often with lead ins) so most are not worth saving for your ipod, but there are some top notch tracks here...

--
Example of how pregnant ladies use their condition like a mallet:

Jenn: Let's go into town and get a laundry hamper.

me: Let's order online so we don't have to carry it on the subway.

Jenn: No we need it.

me: But I don't want to carry it all the way here in the rain... if we order now, it will be here by Monday.

Jenn: I want to get one today. I'll carry it if you don't want to... but then everyone who sees us together will start booing you. "Boo on the husband making his wife carry the heavy package. Fie, fie on the husband. Boo. Bad man." (pause) So let's go.

got to admit it's getting better...

September 29, 2004

Today was a complete turnaround from yesterday. The weather has turned autumnal. Workmen showed up on time. Things got fixed. We now have sisal stairs and phones that work. DSL is still down, but happily I have several neighbors wireless connections with easily guessed default passwords. Note to everyone out there. If you don't want people using your bandwidth, don't use the password, "password" or "secret" or "1234".

We are discovering a good collection of local restaurants. Today we had lunch at Teresa's a Polish place at 80 Montague. The cabbage soup and kielbasa as was the pumpernickel. I've eaten more good bread in the last week than I did in my last year in LA.

--
I've been taking tons of photos but haven't imported or scanned anything yet.

--
Question: My lovely wife wants to have a baby shower for the both of us. I have no problem attending a shower for her but I think it's weird to officially have the shower for both husband and wife. I also think it's weird to invite couples. Baby showers seem like a ladies only thing. Am I crazy old fashioned or is Jenn trying to bully me into something odd.

fate loop

September 28, 2004

Today has been an exercise in frustration. Verizon has managed to completely screw up our phones/DSL (our number was changed without our permission, Only one jack out of 20 works and our DSL is just dead).

It's steamy. And the mugginess is made worse by the smell of cleaning solution throughout the house.

Our ibook drive will cost $380! to replace.

The subways are screwed up because of the Penn Station fire.

Our furniture doesn't fit.

&

I saw a mail truck run over a dog.

Right now I'm sitting at Tekserve, the computer place. I have ticket #88. They are on #54.

archaeology

September 27, 2004

We discovered this groovy fragment of wallpaper behind the toilet:

Our handyman, Dave, says that he often discovers odd anachronisms in the neighborhood, like the 90 year old woman who still uses gas lights a few blocks away on Boerum Hill.

Our stairway awaits sisal carpet. Over the years the stairway has been covered in wood, linoleum and a spectrum of carpet colors...

I am once again mobile:

sea snakes

September 26, 2004

I'm trying to take it easy today and have, so far at least, not left the bed (happily today's Sunday Times--especially the magazine--is full of good reading). Hard not to get up and deal with the chaos all around though. Boxes everywhere. We have yet to unearth even our sheets. Jenn has been working double duty getting the kitchen in order. She has forbidden me from doing anything today, so here I will remain.

--

When we were in Chicago a month or so ago I woke up with an inelegant scream, in a cold sweat, and all discombobulated. Jenn now unphased my my noctural distress calmly asked what was wrong. Apparently I looked at her with frightened eyes, shuddered, and whispered "sea snakes". Afterwards I fell promptly back to sleep.

Today I realized I might have been having one of my fish dreams. I have had these aquatic dreams all my life. In them I am a fish, not a human who thinks he's a fish, but an acutal fish. I think simple thoughts, wiggle through the water, and admire the concave world around. Normally I wake up feeling pleasantly refreshed by my osteichthyesian adventures... But if I were a fish, what would be more frightening than sea snakes? See where I'm going with this...

acupuncture round II

September 25, 2004

I went in for another round of acupuncture and I came out feeling like a new man. Dr. Zhuang can't speak a word of English, but the guy seems to know exactly how to fix me. He even fixed my big toe which has been numb and pins/needlesy for weeks. Today's treatment involved pins both in my back and my legs. The latter had a very slight sting... Amazing how quickly you feel better. I wonder if the pins stimulate adrenaline production which numbs pain? Whatever...it works.

--

Weird day out there.

We kept breaking things in the house (including Jenn's ibook which we dropped).

There were cops in random places for no apparent reason (these guys were on Baxter):

And the encounters I had with people were kind of out there.

Example: This is a conversation I had with a young Korean deli guy (with a SF/Bay area accent):

deli guy (apropos of nothing): Do you believe in ghosts?

me: It depends.

deli guy: What do you mean by that?

me: I think I believe in ghosts in Mexico, but not so much in New York City.

deli guy: Mexican ghosts. Oooh. Very interesting. What kind?

me: Well for starters there would be the ghosts of the dead, and the ghosts of those not yet born.

deli guy: So many souls.... (picks up a guitar) Do you play guitar? Mexicans are musical people.

me: no

deli guy: Is it ok if I write a song about Mexican ghosts?

me: Knock yourself out.

flat

September 25, 2004

I managed to throw my back again yesterday... probably while hauling 20 or so boxes up the steep attic steps. Today I'll be in the prone position all day. It's days like today that I'm happy my work requires only healthy fingers and mind.

--

There are 8 Dominican guys in the house replacing the hall/stairway rugs. These guys work super fast. It has taken then less than 30 minutes to remove 4 floors of heavy carpet.

Lamaze Class  

September 24, 2004

We attended our first lamaze class tonight. It was pretty much what you would expect... a bunch of crunchy couples sitting on tumbling mats asking sincere questions. All the various types were there... the couple that wants a super scientific birth, the couple that wants a totally natural childbirth at home, the geeky couple (where the woman kept worrying her husband would pass out) and the good looking dumb couple (who kept calling each other "sugar baby" during the break). I kept thinking if we were in an episode of Fear Factor with these people we would clean up.

We've read too many books so most of the info seemed sort of basic to us. Jenn asked a couple of questions about exact physiological processes which seemed to throw the teacher a bit...

We'll see how it goes, but my sense is that these classes are good if for no other reason to remind you of all the steps involved and to help you ask informed questions when the baby is ready to make it's appearance.

--

Unpacking is going to take at least a week... it's been s l o w going.

In at last

September 22, 2004

The 18 wheeler arrived in Brooklyn Heights this morning just as Wednesday alternate side of the street parking rules went into effect. This did not please the local commuters who gave my truck driver a big New York welcome (it almost came to blows). But after about a half hour of dramatics the driver managed to park in a fire zone and the move was on.

The crew here consisted of 4 preternaturally happy Ecuadorians who didn't seem to mind hauling almost 9 tons of stuff up 2 to 5 flights of stairs. We tipped them well. The job was done by 6. Tomorrow the unpacking begins.

--

My dad stopped by.

Concert before the storm

September 22, 2004

Just got back from seeing David Byrne and Gilberto Gil at Town Hall (it was a benefit for the Creative Commons License). David Byrne was amazing as usual. He played a strong set of old and new and was just stone cold hip. Gilberto Gil sort of phoned it in. Maybe I'm a terrible snob but any time a guy starts covering Bob Marley and John Lennon, you know you're in trouble. That type of cover should be the exclusive domain of cheesy Philippino wedding bands and bad karaoke. Byrne, by way of comparison covered Hugo Ball (the dada poet!) and Hendrix.

--
How many people could the US military possibly recruit from their Times Square kiosk? I mean I understand how they might have grabbed folks back when Times Square was Times Square, but now it's Disneyland....

--

Does Alec Baldwin have his photograph in every single New York deli?

--

Tomorrow, Wednesday, the moving truck arrives!

Acupuncture

September 20, 2004

The final 2 days drive left me all pretzeled up and dealing with serious back pain. Jenn and I had a Vietnamese lunch in Chinatown and she suggested I try acupuncture. The office was above a Chinese medicine shop and the doctor barely spoke English, but his assistant translated. After much nudging and poking, he seemed to understand exactly where I was hurting. The pins went in almost painlessly. In fact I had no idea there were so many until I peeked over my shoulder. I looked like San Sebastian down there. He used pins in my back, behind, legs and feet and then left me under a heat lamp. The lamp started out pleasantly warm but eventually turned really really hot. After about 20 minutes the doctor returned, removed the pins, stretched me in a bunch of different ways and we were done. I felt 80% better. My sciatic pain was totally gone, and most of the back pain was gone. Today, a day later I woke up feeling much better. Good stuff and cheap.

Lin Sister Herb Shop
4 Bowery
(212) 962-5417

--

At the townhouse we checked out the paint job. The best color is the one we were most worried about, the bedroom aquamarine. We were less happy with the colors that came as a result of negotiation. The living room for example is a very standard seafoam green, nothing exciting and the red in the TV room is probably too bright. Both colors were the result of compromises. This all reconfirms my belief that good design is rarely democratic.

--

I found cool graffiti in the attic, my future office. Some of it dates back to the the late 1900's. Most are simply names with dates. My guess is that over the years the attic was where kids would hang out to get away from their folks. The faded skull and crossbones painted on the wall would seem to confirm this.

Can't wait to move in. The movers arrive Wednesday.

East Aurora-New York City

September 20, 2004

I spent the night with my friends Tbone and Lisa otherwise known as 'the Bones'. My question, why does their son Harry's chalkboard say "Smoke the Bear, Superman, Crying Indian"?

This leg of the trip was unexpectedly grueling due to my back pain (my back decided to fail spectacularly yesterday and has left me a human pretzel), flooding detours, and grisly accidents. I didn't take out my camera much (any movement was causing me serious pain). But when I finally hit the Triborough bridge I knew I was home and would soon be hanging out with my wife and my dad, so everything felt better...

Jenn had delicious tacos, flautas, soup, and rice warm and waiting... ahhh..

Iowa-Buffalo

September 17, 2004

Since California the skies have been remarkably clear and cloud free. Then today over Ohio I spotted my first bit of cumulus. Soon the sky was full... and I'll admit I went a bit cloud mad.

Nebraska->Iowa

September 16, 2004

I hate interstate highways, but I've been on them all day long trying to make some time.

Miles driven: I've stopped counting but around 700
Pieces of pie eaten: 1
Discovery of the day: Iowa rest stops have free wireless internet
Goal: to Arrive in NY by Sunday
Biggest scare: Almost being driven off the road by an out of control big rig


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