The High Line

This week I started my 6 week summer classes and my clinical affiliation. Having only one day under my belt, I can't tell how I feel about the place I was assigned to yet... I'll keep you posted.

One of the coolest things we've done in a while was check out The High Line. Originally constructed in the 1930s to lift dangerous freight trains off Manhattan's streets, it's now a park located on Manhattan's West Side and runs from Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District to West 34th Street, between 10th & 11th Avenues. We packed a picnic dinner for the park, walked it's entire length, and wandered through a fun inflatable and food truck filled one month installment called the lot (lots of pics!). The only negative about the park is that there are no dogs allowed, possibly because if the dog pees it may trickle onto heads below. Unlike the dog ban of our mean waterfront park in LIC, this park may at least has a reason.

Speaking of dogs, our friends, the Goods, are in Florida for a week and we're taking care of their dog Duncan while they're away. (pic) He's a real friendly little dog that Pup actually tolerates so we've been walking them together at night

Vaca Wrap-Up

Orlando wrap-up: We visited Outdoor World at the Festival Bay Mall to get Papa some sandals for father’s day. The mall, other than housing Ron Jon’s and Vans Skate Park, is eerily empty. While there we did get to see these Steve Madden shoes (pic) with their Long Island City (shout out!) flagship address printed in them and these unnecessary quotation marks used around the word “Gelati” (pic). lol. We took a few walks through the neighborhood with Pup and saw shooting on the lake for what I think was a Florida Hospital commercial. We just can’t get away from film production! The crew parked across from Nana and Papa’s in the front yard of what Michael agrees is the most exciting addition to the neighborhood in a while, a Russian model. I think she’s Russian, close enough. I can’t remember her name either, ha. Svetlana we’ll call her gave me a high class hooker vibe… just saying. Saturday Jen, Jackie, John, Alisa, Michael and I went to Universal’s Islands of Adventure. We had a good time, running from ride to ride, and as much as I hate to admit it, the new Harry Potter land was pretty cool. Sunday we said our goodbyes and headed back to NYC. Pup behaved on the plane, but somehow came home with a few fleas. I don’t think Rinny has them… weird.


One good thing about me being in school is that I have built in breaks between semesters that force me to take some time off and give my poor brain a rest. Jen went back to work Monday but I’m just chill’n because for some reason I thought I started back to school today or tomorrow. It turns out we don’t start class until Thursday and clinic work until Friday. I’m not scheduled for any shifts at work until Saturday night so I’m doing all the chores, running errands, and might pick up a shift until the grind begins again next week.

Today I made the test-run trip out to the Brooklyn PT clinic I’ll be working in a few times a week starting Friday. It took a little over an hour, door to door, because of ongoing G and F train construction which I’m not happy about. What can I do though? It’s too hot to bike all the way in professional clothes, busing would take longer, and a cab would cost too much. Luckily this outpatient assignment is only for 6 to 8 weeks.

Mile High Pup

I finished my practicals last week and then survived three straight hours of written finals Monday. Afterward, we wanted to unwind and celebrate all of our hard work plus Dickson, who's birthday is the 15th of June, and I were celebrating our birthdays. We decided on Blockheads, a Mexican restaurant and bar in my midtown work neighborhood that has cheap drink specials. The guys insisted I have a Bulldog with them; it's a Margarita with a shot of patron on top and then a Corona with lime tipped into the drink at the table. The corona drains into the glass as you drink it... it was pretty serious stuff. Our tech-geek classmate was on his smart phone when he realized the final grades were already being posted. At that moment everyone whipped out their phones and got online to view our grades. Everyone that was celebrating did pretty well, which makes sense I guess. I got two A's and a B. We sat outside in the perfect NYC Spring weather for a few hours and had many good laughs about the semester.

The following day, my birthday, I was awoken by Jen bringing me breakfast in bed from Communitea and then my birthday presents. I know, tough life. She gave me a new yoga mat, hemp strap, and an unlimited month certificate to The Yoga Room, a studio that's just a few blocks away. I spent the day preparing for our FL trip and then headed to the airport with Jen when she got home from work.

Pup did so well on the plane, so proud. I guess I shouldn't be surprised though, she had great trainers. She did yip a few times. Once, when a guy was walking very loudly down the aisle and again when people clapped after our smooth, safe landing. We were sharing the plane with Lake Nona High School theater students coming back from a NYC trip so it was a pretty noisy flight.

I'm writing from Orlando this evening. We celebrated Jen and my birthday last night with his and hers cakes (pic). The whole family including Jen's folks, in from Clearwater, were there.

Today we did some shopping and then spent the afternoon playing in our neighbor's salt water pool. So far we are really enjoying our vacation!

Finals Week

Saturday morning I shot up out of bed, full of worry about sitting in the NYU free clinic for hours and being late to work since my appointment was not until one in the afternoon. After doing some of my famed nagging during what was probably their first incoming call of the day they finally just told me to come in as early as I wanted and they would work me in. When I arrived the receptionist said, “Oh, Mr. Rexrode, we were told to look out for you,” ha. Within a few minutes I was given all my results (I’m immune to everything I needed to be, yay) and out of the door. The bad news is that one of the Dr.’s in the program noticed that they left some of my results out and I have to call them tomorrow and do some more nagging.
Afterward, I took a few minutes to enjoy the weather and walked through the awesome Union Sq. Saturday market (pic). They have all locally grown, mostly organic produce, meats, eggs, dairy, you name it.

Two practicals down so just one more to go followed my three finals in three hours on Monday, whoop! Today I took my second clinic practical which was for therapeutic procedures. My testing partner/pretend patient that I was paired with at random is the one person that no one wants to work with. He’s always coming in late, leaving early, full of lame excuses, and has already taken a leave of absence from the program once before joining our group. Since there was nothing I could do I decided to try making the best of it. Plus, I got great partners for my other two practicals so I couldn’t really complain. It was just my turn to do the time, ha. I requested that I go first during the testing, which he was ok with, so that if he pulled something crazy during his turn (which he did) it wouldn’t throw me off. I performed my modality of choice, lumbar traction, for my patient’s L4- L5 disc herniation pretty well in my opinion. During my partner’s turn, on the other hand, he chose Ultrasound to treat my metacarpal pain but had no idea how to operate the machine. After I painfully watched him fumble through trying to figure it out, probably for the first time because he never practiced, then fail at two more machines, he threw in the towel and I assume failed.

I’m so glad I went first! After all this drama I had to relax so this afternoon I took material for my final practical to the park to decompress. (Sun abotu to set behind the city in the pic)

I have already tested the non-involved side...

Today I had my first of 6 finals (three clinic practicals and three written exams) for the spring semester and it went well. I missed little points here and there mostly. For example, I completely forgot to say "I have already tested the non-involved side" before each test on my patient Jeff. Whatever. I was quite anxious and probably got an A so I just need to let it go.

This past Memorial Day weekend was a good one. Sunday Jen and I got to hang out in the 'hood, including getting some sun at the park. It was perfect beach weather this weekend, very hot. I guess we didn't realize just how intense the sun really was and got a little red... well Jen was pink and I was red. We had made plans to go to the beach somewhere Monday so it probably wasn't a great idea to pre-burn, ha.

After spending too much time trying to cater to too many people who, like us, wanted to take public transportation to avoid traffic (and people being flakey) we finally gave in and decided to drive to Long Beach with friends. It turned out to be the right choice as we went with great people and only hit a little traffic on the way back into the city. I piled on tons of sunscreen and kept myself covered most of the time so don't worry, my skin is going to be ok. We had alot of fun relaxing on the sand, having a few drinks, and playing a little beach volleyball. Good times!

Horse Lamp

I usually work Friday and Saturday nights but took Friday night off because Jen desperately needed a night out on the town. An area that’s known for great nightlife is the meatpacking district/ south Chelsea/ West Village part of Manhattan on the west side near the highline. We took the E train straight there and didn’t even have to do much walking which was nice. Jen was wearing high heels… and amazing eye shadow she adds.

We started at The Park, an outdoor themed bar and restaurant in south Chelsea. It has several trees, lawn ornaments, and garden gnomes in its outdoor garden section where we sat because the weather was so nice. The female servers are dressed as park rangers and the guys have picnic blanket print shirts on. The busers are dressed as park maintenance. It sounds kooky but it’s upscale at the same time. One notable aspect was the delicious focaccia (blogger's spell check recommends cowcatcher as a replacement for my mispelling of this word-??) bread they bring to the table. Jen thought it was right up there with Red Lobster’s cheddar bay biscuits. Haha.

Next we went to an underground lounge called Bar 675 in the meatpacking district. We were right around the Gansevoort Hotel, one of the best places in the city to spot celebs. We didn’t see any though, wahh wahh. The buildings in the area are all pretty historic, this one once housing a grocer, safe and lock company, bowling alley, and infamous sex clubs of the 1980’s and 90’s since it was built in 1849. Today it’s cavernous side alcoves that were at one time used for God knows what, now are little lounges with Jenga, foosball, packman, and cards. It was a fun place. My favorite thing inside was this awesome horse lamp that Jen spotted. We might have to get rid of our couch, but I think that kind of style is worth sacrificing for.

FDNY EMT CPR

With my first real clinical assignment approaching at the end of next month there are a lot of things I need to do in preparation. Most importantly, I need to pass all my finals and practicals in the school clinic which are the first and second week in June.


Friday my class and I spent the morning getting CPR certified, a pre-assignment requirement, by two FDNY EMTs. So many acronyms, lol. Paul and Nemo (yes that was his real name) were very entertaining and tried to get through all the information as fast as they could. It was the best certification class I’ve ever taken, and I’ve seen a lot of them.

Saturday’s doctor visit, another requirement for my assignment, at an NYU med student clinic was an interesting experience. The good news first: it was all free. The bad news: I waited a total of about three hours to see all the people I needed to, students using my arms as practice for their “needle work,” and the wait for my blood work results was quoted at about two weeks. I’m cutting it close to my deadline and pray I get all the paperwork in on time. If I believed the world was going to end on Saturday evening, I wouldn’t have spent the whole day in a doctor’s office.

Jen’s doing well. She asked for and received her second raise at work in all eight months she’s been there. I’m so proud! She’s slowly working her way towards what her boss should have been paying Jen from the beginning... jerk. :)

Bodies

I noticed a few really random art installations on Vernon Blvd in our hood a few days ago. They were outside a storefront that's usually empty but suddenly full of art so I wondered what was up. It turns out that it's LIC art week! It's too bad it's supposed to rain until Saturday. I would like to check it all out but this weather is not very conducive of strolling around LIC looking at art being displayed in local businesses.

Today I went on a class trip to the Bodies exhibit. I had been once before and kind of regret going this time because so much has been taken out of it. The guides explained that the American tour length had been extended but loans were up on many of the bodies and they had to be returned to China. It was good, though, to have Dr. Ross there to point out interesting things on the bodies related to PT and quiz us on material that will be on those fast approaching finals.

After the exhibit a few of us decided to go out for some food and drink. The south street seaport area where we were is quite nice but also expensive. We decided to journey down Fulton towards Wall St. and found a nice little Irish pub that did just the trick. Good times. Everyone is so ethnic right?... Laguardia is called the world's college after all.

Cuba

My latest celebrity sighting was a pretty good one. Cuba Gooding Jr. (pic) and friends came into my restaurant Friday night for some drinks and guess at whose table they were sat? I handle all the VIP clientele :). I honestly never really liked him in movies that much but I respect him more now that I know he’s such a nice guy. He thanked me for everything I brought them and was very apologetic when they had to leave after only staying for about twenty minutes. Turns out they were going to a private party hosted by Justin Timberlake. I assumed it was at JT’s restaurant, Southern Hospitality, which is just a few block from ours. I guess that’s cooler than hanging out at Bourbon St., ha. Supposedly there was an actor from the show “The Office” in Mr. Gooding’s group but I don’t think he ever came upstairs so I’m not sure who it was.

As you should know, Jen’s birthday was last Sunday so yesterday, after doing a lot of narrowing down, we went to pick out a new phone. She decided on a smart phone, the Droid Charge by Samsung (pic), which was just released yesterday. It is pretty awesome, especially in comparison to our “dumb phones.” After an hour or so at Verizon in Manhattan we went for brunch at Lounge 47 just a few blocks from home.

I guess I should comment on school since it’s such a time sucking priority right now. I’m doing well I think. I’ve gotten one of the highest scores in my class (99% and 97%) on my last two exams which I’m ok with. I have another exam tomorrow and hope I continue that good trend.

1st Communion

We just got home from our eventful weekend in White Plains. Jen's family was in town from FL for Lisa's first Communion, Mother's Day, and of course Jen's birthday.

Saturday morning Pup and I took a morning train upstate (Jen went up the night before). Lisa's first Communion was that afternoon. As part of the ceremony she did some reading up front on stage and was so cute adjusting the mic and everything. She would turn away every time she had to face us as she walked down the aisle out of shyness I guess. Afterwards we had an amazing five or six course meal at Spiga's, one of Lisa's favorite places to eat. The rest of the weekend was a series similar and delicious lunches and dinners with family. Oh my Lord, do we know how to eat! I doubt I'll be eating much more than salads for the next few days as thoughts of full meals and dessert make me sick. The food at the restaurants was great... my self-control is not.

Saturday night, because dogs are never allowed in Jen's Aunt's apartment complex, Pup had to stay with Jen's parents at her Grandmother's place. Although Jen and I knew better, Jen's Dad said there was no way Pup would be sleeping anywhere but on the floor or in her small, travel sized carrier. The next morning I laughed after hearing she spent the whole night in bed with both of them. Our little weasel...
I'm taking Jen to get a new phone for her b-day sometime this week. I-phone or Android? We’ll see.

Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

I could not ask for a nicer day on Cinco de Mayo. This morning Pup and I went to the park, the one in LIC that allows dogs, to enjoy the weather and do some studying. As much as I'd like to boycott the no dog park on the water, it's too beautiful down there to stay away. I think Pup stayed busy chasing pigeons up into the trees.

Today, biking home from class I passed alot of production happening in the neighborhood. There was what looked like a photo shoot for a fashion magazine in the more industrial part of town close to school. Then, a couple blocks later I was riding right through filming for something on HBO titled "Girls." I'm so out of the loop with TV that I'm not surprised I never recognize titles for filming that are posted on the no parking flyers. At least I'm not as lost as my cousin who asked, "what's an iphone?" This after devoting all her time to raising her baby boy, a good enough reason I guess.

We might go out tonight for drinks with friends but it is only Thursday with a big lab ahead of me in the morning... we'll see.

This weekend we're heading a bit upstate to White Plains for Jen's cousin Lisa's first communion. Even the FL Cappellos will be in town for the big day.  

Rig'n

Although it’s pretty chilly today, the weather here has been beautiful. Yesterday afternoon between church and work Jen and I went to the park and wore shorts and sandals for the first time in about six months! It was a good feeling. There are always New Yorkers though who choose to dress like it’s still freezing out. For example, take this woman (pic) who I was sitting across from on the train the other day. I don't even think they had the air on in there. Cookoo for coco puffs.

This weekend Jen noticed that her phone wasn’t charging when she plugged it in. After a little, or a lot of “rig’n” I got it to charge again. (pic) We had a good laugh at this one and joked at how easy this will be to do every night. Jen's brother took her upgrade...

Jen’s family is in town from FL for Cousin Lisa’s first communion. Because I took next weekend off for it, I decided to work last night which is where I was when I heard the news that Osama is dead. I agree that it’s a time to celebrate and that we must also be careful, but I can’t help but wonder if what CNN or MSNBC news is told to report is ever the true story. This war we are fighting is still against terrorism right? Ok, that’s just my opinion and about as far as I go with politics, ha.

Jen’s birthday is this Sunday, May 8th! I think I have some good ideas and need to do some shopping this week.

Southern Fried Staunton

I’m back to real life after having over a week off from school. Jen’s back to work today after having four days away from the office for our Staunton,VA getaway. We had a good time but it felt way too short, as it always does.

There’s a lot to talk about, given that Granny Joyce’s house is an internet free environment so I had no way off blogging. Friday, our first full day there, was rainy so we spent a lot of time visiting and playing games. Kinects, which I played for the first time at Christmas, is a videogame that I think is actually fun. It requires you to be active because your body is the controller. Pretty cool. Friday night we went bowling. My cousin, who shall remain nameless, and company may have “pre-gamed” at dinner then downed a few pitchers of beer at the alley. It was funny to watch. I was the DD for the night and drove the whole gang around in my Aunt’s Chrysler minivan. It’s a very nice van, but everyone protested when I tried to drop them off right up front like a limo, lol.



One of these things is not like the other.



Saturday afternoon, after a rough start for a few, Jen, Nathan and I went to check out Downtown Staunton. There were too many antique stores and it was a little boring but it was very pretty and had plenty of great places to eat. (pics) I couldn’t pass up taking a pic of this one creepy mannequin head in a window full of them.

Saturday night I went to bed early while Jen, Courtney, and Granny stayed up a little later for their girl’s night (which consisted of watching William & Kate on Lifetime). Sunday morning David and I went with others to a 6:30 am sunrise Easter service at a small, old, country church. And I thought Granny’s ‘hood was country! There were basically cows in the parking lot and not much else around for miles. It was a great service with a big pot-luck breakfast following. Easter was the first day I had sweets in over 40 days and did I ever eat them. Monkey bread… mmm….



Age appropriate?

 The most interesting part of the trip happened Easter Sunday while the cousins and I were taking a walk in the park. After reviving our inner children (pic), we came across an abandoned passport and credit card and had fun playing detective for awhile and looking for the owner before Jen realized an address would be written in the front. We decided to drop it off to the owner, Shane Harrison, who lived less than a mile away. As our walk continued, Courtney noticed a backpack down in a ditch. At this point, we were well into Scooby Doo mode and decided to investigate. The backpack (pic) contained (Jinkies!) a cell phone, iPod, hunting knife, library book, and some kind of lock-picking device, among other things. We called a number on the phone and found out the owner of the bag’s name was Shane too! But Shane Atwood. This was just too weird to have found two lost items, both belonging to Shane’s with different last names. We were convinced he was a runaway with an alias until, again, Jen realized the name on the passport was indeed Shane Atwood, Harrison was his middle name. Good one David! We ended up calling Shane’s dad/grandfather who came to pick up the stuff. I don’t think he realized quite how much we had found because when he saw all the stuff, especially the passport, he got a little worried. Direct quote, “I don’t know where the hell he is. I guess I better go find him now!” The cousins are keeping their eyes on the news for any missing Shane Atwoods.

Sunday afternoon after lunch with the fam we headed home. I correctly predicted a lot of Easter traffic close to the city and our 6 hr trip became an 8hr one by the time we got home. Not fun. It was nice to escape the city, visit with family, and enjoy a laid back lifestyle for a few days.

It was hard for us to merge back into the fast paced world that is NYC this morning. We were up early to return our rental car and head to work and school. Tomorrow should come a little easier.

Good vs. Evil... Carbs

Spring break, woo! Florida was a little out of our price range so we’re considering a somewhat impromptu road trip to VA. It would be nice to spend Easter with family… I should probably call them to make sure they’re in town that weekend, ha.


Midterms went well. School, blah.

Jen made some awesome lasagna and sausage bread for our friend’s birthday dinner. Today people were still raving about Jen’s cooking! I missed the event due to my set Fri/ Sat night schedule. Friday night I let my coworkers talk me into going out for a few drinks and I gave in, only because I’m not in class this week. They took me to their usual spot across the street called House of Brews and kept me out until 4am, but it gets late quickly when you don’t even get off work until after midnight.

Today we spent some quality time together out and about in the city. We picked up our favorite sandwich at our deli for lunch before doing some shopping in Herald Square (pic). The really fun part (sarcasm) was grocery shopping at our Chelsea Trader Joe’s afterward. Now that we’ve gone almost 6 weeks without sweets and can control most of our cravings we decided to try to rid our diet of some of the more hidden sugars. Refined carbohydrates, sweetened dried fruit and yogurts, and cereal with the second ingredient as sugar are out, for example. Jen is in complete agreement with the idea, noting that her last few pleasures in life are being taken away from her. I’ll keep you posted as to how long it takes her to commit suicide.

MIB 3

If you want to gawk at celebs, come to our neighborhood. As I’ve written before, I hear it’s much easier to get a permit to film in our neighborhood than in Manhattan because of less congestion and rules and regulations. Not to mention that two major studios, LIC’s Silvercup and Astoria Kaufman, are in our borough. Here are some side parking postings (pics) that I saw around LIC today for shoots happening tomorrow. The first flyer is for The Good Wife which must be a Silvercup production because they are always around. The second one, Georgetown, I haven’t heard anything about yet. If I wasn’t going to be stuck in lab all morning I would stroll by to see who’s in it.

Wednesday night at work my coworkers and I were all pumped to see Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith filming Men in Black 3. There were signs posted for a few days that stated they would start shooting a night scene on Restaurant Row that evening. We were fighting over the section upstairs by the windows where we could see all the big star trailers. They were supposed to start filming at 7 but by then everything was gone because it started raining. We were pretty disappointed, though I was more disappointed when someone told me Will Smith is a scientologist trying to keep it on the down low. Apparently people keep spotting him coming out of their NYC headquarters which is just a block away from the restaurant. Crazy.

NYC Health Department

Because the two dancers that were in the unit below us moved, the one bedroom in our building is now available if anyone is looking! It won’t last long. We also have some newcomers to our neighborhood of a different kind and it’s kind of a big deal. The NYC Health Department just moved into their new location in LIC and with the new location comes some very healthy regulations that I’m all for! No more food that is detrimental to your health will be sold or served, including but not limited to: doughnuts, cookies, cakes, drinks with more than 25 calories per serving, and fried food. Muffins will be cut in half and bagels quartered… no mention of cream cheese. Ha. It’s funny, but actually all true. If you want to kill yourself by eating crap then fine, but your employer shouldn’t be helping you do it.

Another way to stay fit is through exercise (duh). Maybe, now that the NYCHD is in our ‘hood, I should let them know that there’s no gym (only the private ones in the high-rises) on our Downtown side of LIC. There is a cycling studio just a few blocks away opening soon (pic), but a full gym close to home would be better.

I have mixed feelings about owning a Vespa, but think they look great. I’m a sucker for any kind of European styling. This one has been hanging out on our corner a lot lately. The owners must love LIC Bar… drunk driving?

Andy Who?

Wow, it’s been a week since I’ve posted here already!? Time flies when… all you do is work and study. Ha.


We had what I would call a D-list celebrity sighting in LIC at breakfast on Saturday. Does anyone remember The Andy Milonakis Show on MTV? I think my brother liked it, I can’t remember if I did or not. Anyway, we saw Andy in the checkout line at Foodcellar. I wonder if he lives in our ‘hood.

Another one the few fun things we did this weekend was go to Bareburger for lunch with some friends (pic). We had been once before, loved it, and have been dying to go back ever since. They were out of ostrich and bison which was sad (I wanted to try ostrich) and our party was a little too big for the place so we had to wait for almost an hour. I regretted not bringing my muscles of the lower extremities flash cards, lol.

It’s supposed to rain and snow tomorrow so this picture of flowers blooming in our park seems out of place. It’s going to be so nice to have sun and grass again. Speaking of, say a prayer that we are able to visit Florida for Spring Break in a few weeks.

Snowy Spring Days

Snow two days after the start of Spring, what the heck? Actually, when I moved here last March (can't believe I've survived a year here already) there was a good amount of snow on the ground. Apparently, it has also snowed once in April every year for the last ten years... or something like that. Anyway, enjoy this pic taken in the park down the street of the little bit of snow we got Wednesday.

Wednesdays at good ol' Bourbon St. is Cajun Foodie Day which means we serve two different cajun classics each week for $5. This week's specials were interesting: sauteed beef tongue and three onion soup. I will try everything once (if we're talking food) and I can tell you I found something I won't be trying a second time. Beef tongue's texture was just like you'd expect a thick cube of barely cooked tongue to be like, gross. Our GM (who's from New Orleans) gagged it up, but I somehow chewed and got it down. It was kind of like winning my own version of Fear Factor.

Today Jen was finally able to make it to the doctor after months without her meds. It was a major stressor in her life so thanks to Aunt Mary for all her help today. She made a trip out to White Plains and was devestated to be out of the office for a day.

Tonight we had our neighbor over to catch up over dinner. We're going through an extremely busy season in our lives right now and it's easy to loose touch with people, even the ones that live right above us. Her hubby was unfortunately stuck at work and couldn't make it... I understand how that goes. We had Rachel Ray's chicken and dumpling (gnocchi) stoup (soup + stew). Delicious.

Here's "My" Title

Like I’ve been saying, there’s just not enough time to do exciting things in the city regularly right not because of our crazy schedules. They say it’s the little things in life that make it interesting though, right? With this in mind I’m introducing a couple new photo segments to my blog (neither of which are my original ideas, ha).

The first is in response to the hilarious “Put a Bird on It” skit from the show Portlandia and will be aptly named Put a Bird On It. Portland, Oregon is not the only place that loves to embellish with birds. Enjoy the coming photos, starting with this one tonight (pic)… Put a Bird On It.

The second idea comes from a book that Jen and I enjoyed one day in a bookstore or Urban Outfitters, I can’t remember. I believe it was called Unnecessary Quotation Marks and featured pictures of phrases with just that, and a caption mocking the misused quotations. It seems like something Leno would do on his show. I found this perfect little example at school (pic)

All the pictures featured in the posts will be taken by me and will show up randomly when I notice them while out and about.

With clinicals pretty much owning me for the next year I have alot less time to do fun things in NYC. Wednesday afternoon the honors society (which i could be in if I didn't work when they hold meetings) sponsored a free live jazz show in the building where we have our lab practicals. It sounded great as it echoed up through the atrium and melted some of our stress away. I passed up all the coffee and cookies because we gave up sweets for Lent... again... bla. We're reading the Bible everyday too.

Walking to work Wednesday I spotted my Linus bicycle on this billboard for Clarks. Cool right? I'm always so ahead of the trends lol... and Clarks isn't too bad either.

Planned Work

No matter what we were doing this weekend there was one consistent factor, subway system construction. For instance, to get home from work Friday night I had to take two trains and a shuttle bus because the two trains I can take straight home without a transfer weren’t running. Saturday night was the same story coupled with the loss of one hour of sleep. Because I got home so late and was so frustrated with train issues, I put my eye pillow to good use and slept until about 2pm Sunday and missed church (I’m such a heathen). I know I could have just taken a cab home but I already pay so much for an unlimited metro card that it seems silly. New Yorkers are always complaining about transportation (and it could be much better) but it still beats having to drive everywhere in our opinion. Don’t even get me started on the cost of auto insurance and our nation’s dependence on oil.

Sunday night Jen and I needed some quality time together and decided to go out and about. Always keeping our Pup in mind, we went to Pet Smart in Soho to pick up some new bones and poo bags before walking just northwest to Greenwich Village to find a place to eat. We decided on a romantic little Italian restaurant where we had Ahi Tuna, Artichoke Ravioli, and found a reisling that we actually both like which rarely happens.

As a final update on the coworker/ sheep decapitation situation (previous posts), Taylor had to leave Bourbon St. to “take time to take care of some things” and won’t be coming back to work. I would not want to be in her shoes right now! Hide your sheep, hide your lamb!

School is going… well its going. It’s a lot of information early in the week, practice in labs after that, and then clinical application by the end of the week. This week is Hip ROM and MMT… you know what that means right?

Happy Fat Tuesday!

I didn't want to work Mardi Gras at the restaurant tonight as last year was said to be a madhouse and not much more lucrative than any other night. I didn't even have to request it off, though, because it's outside of my new availability now that my two week break from school is over. Just in time! Today was a really nice day which usually adds to the size of the crowd. I plan on checking in to see how it is at work later tonight.

I'm now quite glad I took the time to tell you about the Times Square sheep art installation in my previous post, as I just so happen to have a crazy follow up story. Read the article below from The Gothamist, keeping in mind that Taylor is (was?) a bartender at my restaurant, Bourbon St Bar and Grill.

Times Square Sheep Decapitated Via Roundhouse Kick!
Yesterday a woman roundhouse kicked one of the 24 paper sheep currently set up in Times Square as part of a week-long installation. According to the NY Post, the woman—Taylor Galary—decapitated the sheep with her foot at around 7 a.m., then tried to flee in a cab. The 22-year-old was charged with criminal mischief. But to be fair, she was dared to do it. At press time it's unclear whether this was an escalated double-dog dare, or just a standard dare.
The remaining 23 sheep will be in Times Square until March 7th, as long as there are no copycat incidents.

Other online articles state she was charged with a felony and also facing charges for something else in another state, one she wasn't supposed to leave. Oh, the professionals of the food and beverage industry.

Here's a little more comic relief for the day (pic). Jen and I were in line at Duane Reade over the weekend when the fashionable clothing of the ladies in front of us caught our attention. This picture doesn't even do it justice. I mean what were they thinking? I don't know if a power outage in a windowless apartment would be a sufficient excuse. I'll let you guess what nationality they were. :)

Min-Pin

Wednesday night our pretty mild weather turned cold and windy which meant few people were on the streets and it was slow at work. The whole floor upstairs was cut and closed by 9:30 and we left with very little. The good side was that I got to come home early for once and spend time with Jen. We watched The Social Network, the Netflix movie we had been looking forward to getting for a while. It made me want to start my own business, something Jen and I have considered many times but always talk ourselves out of because of the intimidating start up costs. Maybe next year. Anyway, we recommend the movie!

I've been more interested in modern art lately and I literally stumbled upon some more on the way to work yesterday in Times Square. It's a really interesting handmade exhibit called "Counting Sheep" by an Asian artist. (pic) As you can imagine, farm animals really stick out in the middle of Manhattan.

This morning I volunteered at AC&C and did lots of dog walking. The big pit bull mixes in adoptions are generally friendly and dopey but, like Pup, it's the little ones you have to watch. There was one lone min-pin mix in the small dog room and I soon learned why this cute dog hadn't been adopted. The dog was very aggressive in the crate and showed it's teeth when I went for the latch. With the help of an employee and some treats, though, I coaxed it out and got it leashed up. It was actually sweet once out of the crate and walking around outside. I always forget to take pics, although we're not supposed to have our phones on us while with an animal.

Put a Bird on It

As I mentioned in a previous post, our friends upstairs asked me to do some wall art in their bedroom. We had a few meetings to decide what they wanted... or what Nicole wanted rather. Ricky suggested painting a nest full of eggs being invaded by a squirrel or hawk, ha, so he lost his input privileges. :)

The "penthouse" units above us have high ceilings, sky-lights, and lofts in the bedrooms making it an awesome space to work in. Once the piece was all done it really enhanced the room and looked good with all their current decorations. Hope you like it as much as we do!

Here's, as a reminder, the wall art in our bedroom...

Oh! After watching the "Put a Bird on It" video that a friend sent me from "Portlandia" (also in previous post) I watched a few other youtube clips from the show. Hilarious! It's my sense of humor if you ever wondered if I even had one, ha. I recommend any of the feminist bookstore clips... just youtube it.

As we were decorating our NYC apartment together, Jen and I realized that we have very few pictures of each other, apart or together, that we like. It was beautiful out today and we had the whole day off together so we took a walk around LIC snapping pics. We think they came out ok, I hope you like them.