- Montana GOP Rep. Defends Drunk Driving. Yep, that’s sure what it sounds like he’s doing.
- Inexplicably famous Perez Hilton is writing a children’s book. I don’t usually like to toss around phrases like “end times,” but… [via]
- Even Billy Joel doesn’t want to read his own memoir! Okay, that’s unfair. I actually do like Joel, or at least much of his music — I think I’m obligated to as a Long Islander — but I don’t think I’d want to read his memoir even if he hadn’t canceled it.
Though I do find it weird to think that he’s been “retired” from writing new music for almost twenty years now. [via]
- This really puts things in geographical perspective: European cities overlaid on a map of the U.S. at an identical latitude (and the other way around).
- And finally, It’s not a crime to be poor. Yet. [via]
personal
The new digs
I had a doctor’s appointment this morning, so I got to sleep just a little bit later than usual. I left the house in what I thought was plenty of time to make a 9:15 appointment, but I ran into a ridiculous amount of traffic, all of it apparently headed to the parkway exit right before mine. What should have been a fifteen or twenty-minute drive, even with morning rush-hour traffic, took the better part of half an hour. And then I made a slightly wrong turn getting off the parkway — if you turn right instead of left, and go in the exact opposite direction, that still counts as “slightly,” right? — and drove straight into even more traffic. I made a u-turn when I, finally, realized I’d gone off-course, and arrived at the doctor’s office only about ten minutes late. I signed in and took a seat.
And proceeded to sit for the next hour. I had brought a book along, when I thought I might get there early and need it, but then when I ran late, I left it in the car. So I basically just sat, occasionally posting to Twitter about how I was just sitting. After an hour of it, I went back up to the desk to ask what was going on…and discovered that they’d lost the sign-in sheet with my name on it. They hadn’t known I was there.
So anyway, we got that cleared up. And shortly thereafter I actually went inside to see the doctor. It was just a follow-up, so nothing to worry about, and I was back home a little before 11:30. I saw almost no traffic headed back in the opposite direction.
Then I caught a train into Manhattan. I sort of had to: today’s the day we moved into the new office. (I’d actually tried, and failed, to reschedule my doctor’s appointment when I learned it overlapped with move-in.)
I’ll say this about the new place: it’s nice. It looks very professional, and I think it’s the sort of office we’d be pleased to have authors visit. I’m not sold on everything about it, including the open plan layout and my position in it, and some things are going to be a big adjustment. But it is a nice office.
I think tomorrow will be better gauge of how much it messes with my commute. I walked it both ways today, and in the evening it took me maybe twenty-five minutes from our floor to Penn Station. I may give the subway a go tomorrow and see if that helps me any. I don’t mind the extra ten minutes of walking so much — I have podcasts — but I have only so many trains to choose from in both the morning and evening.
Longer term, I’m still planning on moving. My sister and my brother-in-law even bought me a copy of Home Buying for Dummies as a birthday present, so I guess this means I really need to do it. The idea is to find a realtor, find some areas I like — I’m thinking Queens, maybe Forrest Hills — and go from there.
Although, wherever I move, I may have to put up cubicle walls in it, just so I can have them again.
The third of May
Things I did today:
- I did my taxes, which took about an hour. I think my federal refund will pretty much cover what I owe to the state of New York.
- I finished reading Bryan Talbot’s terrifically inventive and entertaining Alice in Sunderland. As John Tufail, “Carrollian scholar,” notes in his endorsement:
Alice in Sunderland is parochial in its focus — but not in content. I believe anyone interested in the way history is formed and, in itself, forms culture, character and a sense of place will be entranced by it.
It’s also a wild, meta-fictional ride into the life of Lewis Carroll and his most famous work.
- I watched a quasi-documentary, Believe: The Eddie Izzard Story. There are some genuine moments, particularly when Izzard talks about the death of his mother, which has possibly forever scarred him. And it’s not uninteresting from a fan’s perspective, but it’s a fawning and superficial look at the man.
- I actually managed to finish the Sunday New York Times crossword for a change this week. Maybe it was just easier, though I got even further than usual with the Diagramless.
- I went for a walk.
And that, plus an early dinner before my sister, her husband, and their dog returned home, was my Sunday.
Vanishing act
I spent this afternoon at a surprise birthday/anniversary party for my aunt and uncle in Queens, a big party with lots of family and friends. I didn’t recognize most of the people there, maybe only a quarter — we were like three or four separate parties, with just the one common bond — and the loud music made it difficult to talk with the relatives I did know. But the look of genuine surprise and tears of real joy on my aunt’s face made it all worthwhile. (My uncle had planned the event, so he wasn’t surprised.)
I will say this much, though: while I may be moving to Queens in the relatively near future, it won’t be to Maspeth. It looks nice enough, but I don’t think you could pick a spot less accessible to Manhattan or more poorly laid out. It’s a knot of streets and avenues and drives that don’t follow any logical pattern. When I first moved back to New York, I interviewed for a job at a map company. The night before, I consulted the company’s own map of the area, which amazingly still made finding them the day of extremely difficult. (Even with the same uncle, who’s lived there for decades, in the passenger seat, helping me navigate.)
This evening, I watched The Lady Vanishes, a strange but delightful mix of Hitchcockian humor and suspense. It’s equal parts tense and ridiculous.
Movin’ out
It was almost bittersweet today, leaving the office, leaving this office for the last time, knowing that I won’t be coming back to the building where I’ve worked for six and a half years. I won’t miss the building, exactly, except maybe in that weird way you miss any place that you used to be and no longer are, the way nostalgia creeps in even when you’re not feeling particularly nostalgic. The company and my job aren’t changing, even if our office layout is, come Monday, so it’s more strange than anything else. It’s just odd: I won’t miss the place, but I’ll miss the place.
Though I am almost disappointed they didn’t send us off with another random fire alarm. That would have been fitting.
As it was, the day was spent answering a couple of e-mail and then heading home at noon. We’ll see the new place for the first time on Monday.
