August 28, 2007 by kim.

Chris, aka my Editor-in-Chief, just got reading glasses:

He looks pretty sharp, doesn’t he?

Mind you, I do write all my posts - I just like Chris to take a look at them before I put them up to make sure I don’t embarrass myself. He only needs to suggest changes about 5% of the time, so it’s a good thing I have him working for me.

Thanks, Mr. Editor!

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August 28, 2007 by kim.

This past Saturday, we forayed into Brooklyn. Adventure! We met up with our friends Sarah and Britton in their neighborhood of residence and took in some sights. First, we went to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden:

Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden

Standing in front of the Elephant Ear plant

Butterflies mating

Busy bee

Then we walked around a bit, stopping by the Brooklyn Public Library briefly for some air conditioning:

We also stopped at a restaurant (La Taqueria) for a snack of guacamole (made right at your table), chips and tacos, more air conditioning, and then made our way to Britton’s for a dinner of chili and good conversation with Britton, Sarah, Britton’s brother Scott and his girlfriend Susan. A fun time was had by all, and Chris got this great shot of Brooklyn at night:

Beautiful!

Posted in Art, Nature, Insects, Happy | No Comments »

August 27, 2007 by kim.

I’m sure it’s not just in Union Square (where I work), but it seems to me that every day there is always some group pestering pedestrians with the following question:

“Got a minute for (fill in name of group here)?”

Some examples:
“Got a minute for Greenpeace?”
“Got a minute for the environment?”
“Got a minute for Gay Rights?”
“Got a minute for the ACLU?”
“Got a minute for the children?”

Not to be confused with the people shouting out, “Excuse me, can I ask you about your hair?” Those people are just trying to sell you an overpriced hair care package.

No, the other groups are trying to get you to donate to their cause by giving you a quick jab of guilt as you walk at breakneck speed to your destination. It’s not easy to sneak past them either, as they work in pairs facing each other so they can try to grab your attention coming and going. I usually just ignore them.

Once, Chris actually talked to one of them, saying that he didn’t have a minute now, but would come back later, however he resented the ‘tone’ of guilt that went along with it and he mentioned to the kid that it was in bad form to motivate people that way. Especially since there were four other people touting their cause the same way within 100 feet. When he returned later (they are usually in college or just out) the kid wanted him to donate money, but didn’t have any pamphlets or information on the cause he wanted money for. Chris gave him a bit of a lecture (not blaming him, of course) about how they should at least have something to hand out to the people they’re siphoning money out of. Needless to say, no cash changed hands.

It’s not that I don’t care about the above-mentioned causes. It’s just that if I choose to donate to any of them, I’ll do it on my own time, at my own pace - and I will NOT be motivated by guilt.

Posted in Annoyance | No Comments »

August 26, 2007 by kim.

Fond du Lac is really getting out there and being noticed! It was named one of the top 50 Adventure Towns in National Geographic Adventure Magazine:

AND

On History Channel’s Modern Marvels this week, Fond du Lac’s local bridal salon, Edith’s (www.ediths.com), was featured on the episode entitled “Vacuums”. The store used to use pneumatic tubes to send information throughout the store until 2003. Now it’s used mainly as a backup in the event that the computers fail.

You can check out that story at the Fond du Lac Reporter (www.fdlreporter.com) or by downloading the pdf link: FDL Reporter

Isn’t that so cool???!!!???

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August 19, 2007 by kim.

Chris and I were sitting outside of Fort Tryon Park when we saw this guy walking through the playground:

That’s one cool cat!

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August 18, 2007 by kim.

I was in a rare mood yesterday (well, not that rare, really, but I digress) and this set me off even further. In the Chicago Tribune yesterday, I happened upon a story about the Chicago Cubs and Carlos Zambrano agreeing on a five-year, $91.5 million contract.

You’ve got to be kidding me.

$91,500,000.00 over five years.

That averages out to approximately:
$18,300,000.00 a year.
$351,923.00 a week.
$50,274.00 a day.
$2094.00 an hour.
$34.00 a minute.

(I love numbers.)

Now, come on. In one day - ONE DAY- playing baseball, this ONE PERSON can make more than a middle class person’s yearly salary. One day? One person? One person gets paid that much playing what kids play in the backyard? How is this right? Where do they come up with these numbers? Why would anyone need to make that much at a job in a day?

Why not pay teachers a comparative salary? They’re the ones enlightening the children so they can grow up and be productive members of society. They teach people to become doctors, lawyers, and scientists, to name a few professions that also deserve a decent salary. Well, doctors and scientists, anyway. Lawyers already make enough.

How about garbage collectors, plumbers, or mechanics? Don’t these people deserve a comparable salary for keeping the country running and preventing it from turning into a sewage soaked, garbage strewn, vehicular junkyard?

Man – this country needs to get its priorities straight.

I’m not blaming the sports players. The fans are the ones shelling out the bucks to watch the games that pay their salaries. Even watching games on TV supports the advertisers who pay billions of dollars just to hawk beer or chips to them.

Oh – did I forget to mention the $5 million signing bonus? That’s right - five million just to sign a piece of paper.

Obviously, I am in the wrong business.

Posted in Annoyance | 1 Comment »

August 9, 2007 by kim.

Yesterday, New York had a bit of a problem with rain. In a span of three hours (which to me seemed like one hour – maybe I slept through the other two) before 8:00am, we had 2.5 inches of rain dropped on us, a tornado in Brooklyn, and such flooding in the subway that most trains were shut down while the MTA tried pumping out the water. On NY1 (local news channel), we were told to stay home for 30-45 minutes to allow time for the water to be pumped out. Ha. It took until about 5:00pm for the MTA website to post that almost all trains were back on the normal schedule. This seemed like a good day to stay home, right?

Nope.

I waited until 8:45 before leaving for the train. I got to the train, waited for the train, got on the train, went one stop and got off when we were told that the train wouldn’t go below 59^th street and that we’d have to take the bus. I decided to take the bus that leaves from our neighborhood. I went back home and changed into my tennis shoes, because I knew I’d end up walking at some point. Good thinking on my part, if I do say so myself. I mean, I was here for the Blackout in 2003 when I walked 8 miles home. I had tennis shoes on that day, too.

I got on the bus at 10:07am and rode the bus from 187^th street to 56^th street. I finally got off the bus at 12:15pm. Over two hours to go 131 blocks (approximately 8 miles). What does that average out to – 4 miles an hour? Holy crap! I then walked another 37 blocks and two avenues (about 2.5 miles) to get to work.

It was hot out – in the 90s – and I arrived drenched. Normally, I get to work in an hour. Yesterday, it took me a total of three. THREE HOURS. What drive! What dedication!

What insanity!

Posted in Observation, Annoyance | No Comments »

August 7, 2007 by kim.

This weekend Chris and I rented a car to drive to Frederick, MD to attend our nephew Dominic’s Baptism. It was very nice taking a trip to MD to see Chris’s family. Getting there started out a bit rough, though. It had to be in the upper 80s or lower 90s on Friday afternoon when we started out. We took a car 10 blocks to the George Washington Bridge Bus Terminal, because we were going to take the bus to Fort Lee, NJ which is right across the bridge. When we arrived, cops had taped off the entrance to the building, saying that no one could enter and there were no buses to New Jersey. WHAT? People tried asking the cops how they were going to get to Jersey, and the one cop in our area just kept saying, “Didn’t you hear what I said? There are no buses to Jersey!”. Nice - don’t bother telling anyone what’s going on or anything. Instead of calling another car and paying over $30 to get across the bridge, we decided to walk. In the sun. With backpacks and a rolling suitcase. 2 miles. Not pleasant. Luckily, there was a woman nearby selling water to passing motorists, so we bought a couple bottles to prevent dehydration before we started our 45 minute trek.

When we finally made it to the car rental place, they told us that they heard there was a bomb scare and that’s why the buses weren’t running. This didn’t phase us in the least. Just goes to show how hardened you can become when living in NY. We got the car which ended up being the largest SUV available. Why, with gas prices what they are, would we get an SUV? I’ll tell you why. It was the cheapest rental, that’s why. Funny, the way that works.

The rest of the trip was relatively uneventful, except for the New Jersey Turnpike Service Area. Here we had some disgusting Burger King food, watched as a shirtless, shoeless man wandered around inside, and hoped that by the time we got back to the car, the vehicle parked next to us with the rolled up windows inevitably cooking the little dog inside would be gone before I got there to throw a complete fit.

It was.

On we went, and arrived in Frederick, MD.

The next day was the day of the Baptism. We got up and went to meet Dominic for the first time at Chris’s sister Gina and husband Brian’s house. What a cutie and so adorable! Unfortunately, we didn’t get very good pictures of him, but trust me - he was dang cute. We left to get ready and made our way to the church.

Mt. Pleasant Reformed United Church of Christ - Mt. Pleasant, MD

No one knew until we arrived that the church was not air conditioned, and it had to have been in the 90s that day. Rev. David Beeson decided to make it a quick baptism, as everyone was already dripping with sweat. It was short and sweet, and Dominic didn’t cry once!

Godmother Julie, Rev. Beeson, Brian, Gina, Dominic, Godfather Bill

Brian, Gina and Dominic

After the service we went back to Gina and Brian’s house for a cookout and some yummy, yummy cake:

It was a very lovely weekend, although too short, and it was great to see everyone, including Chris’s mom Vernie and stepmom Karen, as well as Chris’s sister Julie, niece Cassidy and nephew Nicholas.

Nicholas, Julie, Cassidy
I think we need to make more trips to visit the family in the future - it was so nice!

Posted in Happy | 1 Comment »

August 1, 2007 by kim.

I really don’t have much to report, so I thought I’d just tell you what I saw today:

*A woman breast feeding on the train this morning (no comment)

*A strange guy yelling back at a girl who asked him why he was looking at her, to which he replied, “I can look at you if I want to - it’s my business!” (he was creepy)

*A small concert featuring John Malino in Union Square, courtesy of the Union Square Partnership’s “Summer in the Square” (very nice jazz music to happen upon during lunch)

*Three little girls dancing by themselves in front of the bandstand while listening to John Malino sing (they were twirling each other and trying to ballroom dance)

*A kid in DSW shoes who was pretending to look at me through “binoculars” (his hands held up to his eyes mimicking binoculars)

*My husband and kitty’s smiling faces (if kitties can smile) as I walked through the door to the apartment (happy happy!)

That about covers it.  Hope you saw some interesting things during your day, too!

Posted in Observation | No Comments »