My kind of town...

So it looks like the possibility of moving to Chicago is back on the table. Several jobs have opened up, and Rick is cautiously optimistic that one of them will work out for him. I, on the other hand, am taking the “never gonna happen” approach. I would much rather assume that I’m staying here, and then be surprised with the news that I definitely AM moving to Chicago, than once again assume I’m moving to Chicago, only to be disappointed when it doesn’t happen. I’ve already been disappointed twice… I am not letting THAT happen again. Besides, we JUST moved into this house a few months ago. A move to Chicago would mean I’d have to box up everything I just managed to unpack. How silly would THAT be? (See, it’s like reverse psychology… no, no, I don’t want to move to Chicago… it would be such a silly thing to move to Chicago… I’ll just stay right here in the Texas Oven, thank you very much.)

Speaking of Chicago – we saw The Dark Knight last weekend, and I really liked how obvious it was that the whole thing was filmed in Chicago. I mean, they didn’t even TRY to make it look like another city. Sure, they CALLED it “Gotham,” but there was no mistaking the Chicago River, or the Hotel Monaco, or the lower level of Wacker Drive. And it was quite interesting to finally see the completed scene we saw them shooting about a year ago (right down the street from the Hotel Monaco). Actually, “scene” really isn’t the right word… it was more like two seconds of screen time. If you see the movie, it’s at the very beginning, when they turn on the bat signal spotlight, and they show a police officer walk to his car and look up toward the sky, as if he’s looking at the spotlight. It’s about two seconds of the movie – but that two seconds literally took them two HOURS to film… complete with dozens of extraneous crew members hanging around doing absolutely nothing, and about six extras who were cut out of the scene completely. It was rather ridiculous, now that I’ve seen the finished product.

(You know, it’s really hard to type when Piva wants to lay on the keyboard… just a random thought…)

Anyway, IF the Chicago thing manages to work out, we’ll have to contact the realtor we were working with back when we were so certain we’d be moving. Her name is Debbie, and she’s great… she travels around the world to compete in triathlons, and she’s addicted to coffee, and her car is a total disaster area, and she wears stiletto boots when there’s a foot of snow on the ground. She also finds EXACTLY the kinds of properties you want to look at, and shuttles you around in a no-nonsense, let’s-get-this-done kinda way. She’s awesome.

But like I said, we’re not really going to Chicago. No way. Not gonna happen. And that’s what I’ll keep telling myself unless I hear otherwise… :)

Did they REALLY need all those people for two seconds of film???

Will you be my friend?

So I had a good birthday on Sunday (and I steadfastly maintain my assertion that I am 26 years old… I think it works…). We went out to dinner with my parents and Rick’s parents. I decided on Truluck’s – which may seem like a strange choice for me, since it’s mostly seafood and I hate seafood. However, they have some of the BEST chocolate cake served by any restaurant in the city. Yes, my choice was motivated by chocolate… (seems like many of my choices are motivated by chocolate…) And actually, they had a roasted chicken entrée on the menu that turned out to be quite tasty. (Truluck’s is one of those places that changes their menu on a regular basis, so I never know if they’ll have anything I’m interested in or not… someday I’m gonna go there and order nothing but chocolate cake, because everything else on the menu will be too fishy…)

Rick’s mom sort of let it slip that we were celebrating a birthday, and when our waitress asked whose birthday it was, I guess I had a weird look on my face – because she jokingly said, “oh, stop giving me the evil eye – you just be happy we’re not in a restaurant where I’m wearing a sombrero and calling everyone over to sing happy birthday with maracas…” And I WAS happy about that… Fortunately, at Truluck’s they just quietly bring you a chocolate soufflé with a candle and a little box of truffles (the truffles were an especially nice touch – I wasn’t expecting even MORE chocolate…). No singing waiters, no clapping, and (thank goodness) no sombreros or maracas. :)

So I’ve been trying out Facebook this last week. It’s sort of a more mature version of MySpace – I actually tried MySpace for a couple weeks a while ago, and decided it wasn’t something I wanted to stick with. I kept getting “friend” requests from people who most certainly did not want to be my “friend.” But the Facebook set-up seems to be a little less junior high oriented, so it weeds out much of the questionable element. But I’m still sort of torn on whether it’s really my kinda thing… I’ve found all sorts of people I went to high school with, but I’m not sure I want to contact any of them – I mean, there was a REASON I couldn’t wait to get out of high school. And do I really want to get back in touch with a bunch of people whose only connection to me thus far is… HIGH SCHOOL? Eh… probably not…

And as you look through the various names on Facebook, you can see how many “friends” each person has. I keep finding these people with three or four hundred “friends.” And I’m like, “oh come ON… nobody honestly has four hundred friends…" Not REAL friends, anyway. And that’s the thing about Facebook and MySpace and all those “social networking” sites – it’s a way to maintain “friendships,” but in a very casual manner. It’s like the 21st century, ADHD, noncommittal way to stay in touch. And is that a good thing, or a bad thing? (Just food for thought… :))

But the one thing I’m really enjoying about Facebook is the online game of Scrabble I’ve been playing with my friend (and she really IS my friend… not just one of four hundred “Facebook friends” :)) Cindy. Even though she’s obviously going to win this round. But I’m giving myself a break because I’ve actually never played Scrabble in my life – and I’ve been wondering, as we pass turns back and forth through cyberspace, how I’ve gone these entire thirty… er, twenty-six… years of my life without playing one game of Scrabble. How did THAT happen?

And that reminds me – it’s my turn…

Also since it was requested...

Here is the infamous "police diversion" picture. I think this was on Grand Cayman island? Maybe? I'm pretty sure that's where it was. And obviously the "police diversion" was some sort of traffic detour, but we decided that what it REALLY meant was -- "hey dad, you go create a diversion while I take a picture..."

Since it was requested...

Here's Eric D. and me at the Yankee game... now THAT'S a great picture... :)

Random stuff...

The other day, someone asked me what was in my head. Probably meant to be more of a “what’s up?” than anything else… but it got me thinking – what IS in my head? The answer to that question changes daily, of course. But right NOW, here are the snippets of thought I’ve managed to draw out:

Hey, the FDA has cleared tomatoes for consumption once again! I’m glad, especially since I really never stopped eating tomatoes to begin with. And every time I made the rash decision to partake of a raw tomato, I would anxiously monitor my stomach for the next 48 hours, waiting for symptoms of salmonella.

Speaking of tomatoes – I never used to like tomatoes. In fact, I really sort of hated them. It’s only been the last few years that I’ve started to enjoy tomatoes. And I still don’t like them by themselves – but I’ve found that a tomato on a sandwich no longer repulses me. One of my favorite sandwiches at the Spicy Pickle is called the Roma – sliced tomatoes with basil and mozzarella. Yum.

Okay, okay – I might as well say it – I like that Miley Cyrus song “See You Again.” Yeah, that’s right – I like it. So what if she’s only fifteen or sixteen years old and she’s Hannah Montana… I like her ridiculously catchy song, all right? And now everyone can laugh at me just like Rick did when I was dancing to it in the car on the way home from dinner tonight…

And speaking of ridiculously catchy songs, why do those Free Credit Report.com commercials have to be darn catchy? I mean, seriously, I should not be able to write this down from memory:

They say a man should always dress for the job he wants,
So why am I dressed up like a pirate, in this restaurant?
It’s all because some hacker stole my identity
Now I’m in here every evening serving chowder and iced tea.
Should’ve gone to free credit report dot com (yeehaw!),
I would’ve seen this coming at me like an atom bomb.
They monitor your credit and send you email alerts,
So you don’t end up selling fish to tourists in t-shirts.

That’s just not right…

I have to get my driver’s license renewed. I should’ve done it already, because it expires on Sunday… which also happens to be my birthday… my 26th birthday…

How cool are the tiny little apartments they have in Tokyo? I’m watching a show about them on National Geographic. Quite interesting, really. It’s amazing how much they can squeeze into a tiny place. It kind of makes me wonder why we have such huge houses here in America. I guess all the extra space is nice, but there’s something to be said for living simply and in a minimalistic fashion. Actually, Eric is pretty good with that – Eric, you should move to Tokyo. Because then I’d have a reason to visit Tokyo a couple times a year…

Oh, and I have to post this picture for dad, who asked me to take a picture of the new Yankee Stadium:

And that’s pretty much what’s in my head… (tonight, anyway… :))

Back in Austin...

And I’m surprisingly tired tonight, considering I slept until 8:30 this morning and our flight back was only about two and a half hours. But for some reason, flying always tires me out. It’s like a combination of stress, lugging around bags, little to no food, and stale airplane air. Like today for instance – we got a rather late start, so we barely had time to pick up coffee at Starbucks… the traffic on the way to the rental car place (which was several miles from the actual airport) was moving so slowly that we were preparing ourselves for the possibility of missing our flight… we arrived at the rental car place just in time to catch the shuttle to the airport, and then dragged our luggage through the terminal to check-in… waited in the security line… and then we discovered, after all of our rushing, that we were an hour early. So I got a protein bar, Rick got a cheeseburger at McDonald’s, and we went to wait at our gate… just as we were about to board, they announced that “something” was wrong with our plane… so we had to run down to a different gate so we could board a plane that was sufficiently sound for flight… we left a half hour late and rode in the dry, stale air back to Austin.

And now I’m really tired.

Actually, I’m always surprised by how efficient things are at O’Hare airport – it’s one of the largest airports in the country, yet the lines to check-in and get through security never seem too bad. (At least they never have when I’ve flown through there – but maybe during holidays or something…) In fact, we spent less time standing in lines at O’Hare than we usually spend in the Austin airport. Getting through security in Austin can be a little perplexing, because there are at least two or three x-ray machines at every checkpoint, but I’ve RARELY seen more than one of them actually open. What’s the point of having all those x-ray machines if you’re never going to make use of them??? Sometimes I wonder if there’s really only ONE working machine, and the rest are for show…

I didn’t have a chance to post while we were in Chicago – we kept pretty busy wandering around the city during the day, and then meeting up with Eric for dinner every night. On Friday, I had the chance to head up to where Jen works and meet some of the people I’ve conversed with through email over the last year. That was really nice – it’s always nice to put a face with a name. :) We had lunch with Jen and Jason and Nathan and Meghan at a place called “L. Woods Tap and Pine Lodge.” And as we were sitting in our booth, I noticed a sign that declared that area of the restaurant the “Ocean’s 12 Room.” I thought that was sort of strange, until Jen explained that part of the movie was actually filmed in that room. So now I have to watch Ocean’s 12 again so I can revel in the fact that I had lunch in the same room that was once occupied by George Clooney and Matt Damon…

I’m already missing the Caribou Coffee down the street from Eric’s condo – we don’t have any Caribou Coffee shops around here. And while I do enjoy Starbucks, I also like to have various coffee choices now and then… So I guess that gives me a reason to head back to Chicago some time soon. (Oh yeah – and Eric… him too… :)) But for now, I think I’ll head to bed early and sleep off my day of travel…

I forgot to buy a knish... oh well...

So last night was the Yankee game -- they won 5-0. And I was happy not only that the Yankees WON, but that the opposing pitcher LOST -- I have Kazmir on my fantasy team, and I could not in good conscience pitch him against the Yankees. So I benched him, and then hoped he wouldn't have some kind of super great game. And fortunately, he didn't. :)

It was so great to be back at Yankee Stadium, but I think I was sitting next to the loudest, drunkest guy at the game (and no, it wasn't Rick...). He yelled at just about every batter (Bobby Abreu was the most annoying... you can only listen to "c'mon Bobby! Let's go Bobby! Bobby Bobby Bobby!" so many times before you want to punch someone in the face...) and then serenaded us with his drunken rendition of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." When he finally left in the 8th inning, I think the entire stadium got quieter...

We took the subway to the game, which was quite interesting. Actually, if it hadn't been for the crushing throngs of people, it would've been a very convenient way to get to the game. It's just a short walk down to Grand Central Station from our hotel, and the ride to the stadium is only about 15 or 20 minutes. And no worries about parking, which is nice. But the insane number of people jammed into the subway car was a bit suffocating -- I just kept hoping our train wouldn't break down somewhere and strand us all like sweaty cattle...

Some pictures from the game:

Kazmir pitches to A-rod (who was much too preoccupied with Madonna to do anything productive in the game...)

Jeter and the hit that scored the first two runs in the game...

The groundskeepers doing their YMCA dance...

Giambi and his mustache sitting next to A-rod...

Giambi loooooves that mustache...

Posada takes one for the team...

Me and my Yankee hat...

I thought we'd have to survive on berries and pond water...

So we had an interesting day... as I mentioned this morning, we slept really late after our day of traveling yesterday. So by the time we got outside and started our walk to Starbucks (the day's first stop, obviously...) it was already lunch time. So we got our coffee, wandered out to Fifth Avenue, and walked up to Rockefeller Center. Then we kept walking up Fifth, until we hit Central Park. And then we had an idea -- why not stop in at Mickey Mantle's restaurant for lunch? I hadn't been there in YEARS... It's on Central Park South, so all in all, not a very far walk from our hotel.

As we were eating our lunch (which was quite good, by the way...) I noticed a guy with a big video camera near the table right behind Rick. And then some guy with a microphone started to interview the people at the table. I sort of half-wondered what was going on, but seeing as one of the people was wearing a Yankee hat, and the other was wearing a Red Sox hat, I thought maybe it was some New York/Boston rivalry thing. But then Camera Guy and Microphone Guy headed over to OUR table... Microphone Guy was some channel 4 news reporter, and he was interviewing people about the A-rod/Madonna scandal. So, before we even had a chance to say, "please don't put us on TV," Microphone Guy started asking questions and Camera Guy filmed the whole thing. So there is a possibility Rick and/or I could be on the news tonight. I'm really hoping NOT, actually, since I'm pretty sure I sounded like an idiot... I believe I said something about how difficult it is for people in the public eye to have decent private lives. (Gosh, thanks for the brilliant insight, genius... :))

After lunch, we decided to check out Central Park, since we were right across the street. In all the years I lived up here, I never once went into Central Park. And at first, we were like, "ooooo... look at the trees! Look at the pond! Hey, look at the cute squirrels and ducks!" And then after about an hour of aimless wandering, we started to get tired... and hot... and I was pretty sure I was getting blisters on my feet. Another 30 or 40 minutes and we finally found a map, which showed us that we'd been walking around a part of the park called "the ramble." Which would explain why it just kept going on and on and on... And even AFTER we looked at the map, we were having trouble getting OUT of the stupid park. We came upon several other people with the same problem... everyone was trying to figure out how to get out of the stupid park with the stupid greenery and the stupid fresh air and we all just wanted to find some buildings and sidewalks and smell some car exhaust. And when, at last, we FINALLY found our way back to Fifth Avenue, we were so relieved to be out of the park that it took a few seconds to realize we'd emerged at 85th street -- and our hotel is on 44th. It was a long walk back to the hotel...

Some pictures from today:

Rockefeller Center...

St. Patrick's Cathedral...

Me in Central Park... before it started to get really, really annoying...

Rowboats in Central Park...

Do I look annoyed to be stuck in the middle of Central Park? Because I was definitely getting there...

Seriously... does anyone know how to get out of this place? I can see the buildings in the distance... how the heck do I get to them???

At least it was nice scenery... :)

Maybe the city never sleeps...

But I couldn't wait to get to sleep last night. Our flight out of Austin was delayed about an hour and a half... which normally wouldn't be such a big deal, but we had a rental car reservation and the rental car places all close at 11:00. We even called from the Austin airport to ask if they could hang around for a few more minutes in case we got in past 11, and all they could say was to call IF we got in BEFORE 11, and then they'd wait until we got to the rental place.

And we took off right around when they said we would -- 6:15... and our flight time was supposedly cut from 4 hours to about 3 and a half. So, if everything had gone JUST right, we would've landed at 10:45 and had time to call the rental place and ask them to wait for us. And then some time around 10, I was checking the flight map on my little TV (that was probably the coolest thing about Jet Blue -- everyone gets their own TV... so we were able to watch the Yankee game... and channel 13 was a map with the position of our plane) and I noticed that our plane -- which had been steadily heading in a northeasterly direction -- was heading due west. There could only be two explanations for this -- either our pilot was confused and taking us to Toronto... OR, we were in a holding pattern.

And a few minutes later, the pilot finally explained that we HAD been in a holding pattern, but we were out of it now and heading for JFK, and we'd be landing in 20 or 25 minutes. It was a little after 10 o'clock, so Rick and I looked at each other and thought, "hey, we'll be there in time to call the rental place!" So we sat back and watched the game and waited for the lights of the city to appear. But I kept watching the time, too, and it seemed to be passing by more quickly than we were approaching the city... I also kept watching the map on channel 13, and we seemed to be taking the MOST bizarre route into the airport. A left turn... a right turn... go around in a circle... another right turn... go around in another circle... drop to 1800 feet... climb back up to 2000... take a left at the cloud bank... avoid the other planes circling the airport... etc, etc...

Needless to say, by the time we finished our aimless air wanderings, it was 11:10... Rick immediately turned his phone on and tried to call the rental place, but they were closed. So after getting our luggage, we had to wait in the slow-moving line to get a cab (it actually didn't move THAT slowly... but seeing as I was tired and just wanted to get to sleep, it SEEMED really slow). But we eventually got a cab, and had a fun ride into Manhattan (I mean, you know, if your idea of "fun" is flying down the highway at a rate of speed I can only assume was a couple dozen miles per hour over the limit... and feeling the rubber of the tires scrape against the concrete curb in the tunnel... and watching the panicked looks of pedestrians as your cab barrels down on them like they're bowling pins in a crosswalk...). And when we finally got to the hotel, and they told us our room was on the ninth floor, I think Rick was a bit disappointed -- I think he wanted a higher floor. But honestly, I was so tired that if they'd said, "your room is in the basement," I would've been like, "yea... a room... just show me the bed..."

So now we're getting ready to venture out into the city, and it's only, oh, 12:45. So we missed breakfast. And I haven't had any coffee. I need coffee. Must... go... find... coffee...

Perhaps I'll take a picture of my clean toothbrush...

In preparation for our upcoming trip to New York/Chicago, I bought some new travel toothbrushes – the kind that snap into two parts, so after you’ve used them you can snap them into their own convenient little storage containers. This particular brand was treated with some sort of anti-bacterial coating, so it automatically kills germs on the toothbrush when it’s sitting around. That’s nice, I guess… although really not a prerequisite when I’m buying a travel toothbrush (it just so happened these were the only travel toothbrushes at Walgreens…). And then I saw this exclamation on the back of the package: “Have peace of mind with a cleaner toothbrush when on the go!”

And I was like, “oh, thank goodness… all those vacations that have been ruined by my non-stop toothbrush worry – they’re finally over!” I mean, really – how many times have you been sitting on a plane, getting ready to journey to some far-off destination, and all you can think of is how your toothbrush is festering in the stuffy, bacteria-ridden confines of your suitcase? The last time I was in Hawaii, I was laying on the beach under the sunny blue sky, listening to the waves crashing on the shore, and there was only one thing on my mind – my germ-laden toothbrush. It’s about TIME someone gave me peace of mind with a cleaner toothbrush…

I’m actually looking forward to trying out Jet Blue on this trip – we’re flying up to JFK on Jet Blue… and I think we’re flying on Jet Blue from JFK to Chicago later in the week. Every time I see that Jet Blue commercial with the catchy music and all the weird people (because really, they ARE rather weird people…) I’m all excited to fly on Jet Blue. Which is ridiculous, because it’s just an airline – unless they have feather beds and homemade chocolate chip cookies and an in-flight aromatherapy spa, they can’t be THAT much better than any other airline. But those stupid ads are so catchy – I guess it’s awfully good marketing, because they really HAVE made me want to fly Jet Blue…

I bought a new camera for the trip – a little purple Nikon Coolpix… it’s really small… and purple. So it’ll be really easy to carry around with me. And did I mention it’s purple? (Yes, only I would care about my camera being purple… :)) I reminded Rick yesterday about the time his parents came to visit us when we were living in New Jersey, and we all went into the city for the day. We stopped at a Starbucks, and Rick’s mom wanted to take a picture of us while we were sipping our drinks at the coffee shop table. But as soon as she took a picture, some horrible, rude, loud-mouthed woman behind the counter threw a fit – because apparently photography was absolutely prohibited in the Starbucks. I mean, for all SHE knew, we were a bunch of corporate spies from a rival coffee conglomerate. At least I’m assuming that’s what she was worried about… who cares if you take a picture in a Starbucks??? And even if you’re really, really, anti-photo, can’t you be POLITE about it? Don’t proliferate the “loud, rude New Yorker” stereotype. I’ve met too many nice New Yorkers to fall for THAT little trick. Yeah, that’s right – I know you were just a generally annoying, all-around miserable human being, Rude Starbucks Anti-Photo Lady. And you’d STILL be annoying even if you lived in Fargo, North Dakota…

But the funny thing is, Rick doesn’t even REMEMBER the New York Starbucks photography kerfuffle. So if we go to a Starbucks in New York and he wants to take any pictures, I’ll just let him do whatever he wants and see what happens. And my new purple camera is so small that we can probably sneak some pictures in without anyone noticing…

So hopefully I’ll have some New York/New Jersey pictures to post within the next couple days. Hope everyone has a good weekend!

Happy 4th of July!

Our neighborhood had its annual fireworks display on the golf course tonight (I thought it was tomorrow, but apparently they do it a day early... I'm assuming so everyone can drive downtown to see the big city fireworks display tomorrow...). They actually weren't bad at all for a neighborhood display... and since our house is on a corner right across from the golf course, all we had to do was stand in our driveway for a great view. (Of course, this also meant that we had cars parked all over our street, including one car that was halfway across our driveway... good thing we didn't need to leave. :))

So just in case you don't have a chance to get out and see any fireworks, here are a few pictures from the display tonight:

(Tried to get all the cars in this one... :))

A couple pictures...

Dad sent me some pictures from Eric's graduation today -- I think it was at Navy Pier? I'm not sure... the last time Eric was promoted was when he became a detective, and that was in the middle of February... so the ceremony had to be indoors someplace warm. This looks much more fun. :)

Eric and Dave... (and Jason over on the right, with Meghan and Nathan...)

Eric with Meghan and Nate, who are like two of the cutest kids ever... :)

Eric rules!

Eric graduated from “sergeant school” (or whatever the official term for it is) today! Years ago, back in the academy, everyone had the privilege of getting maced – I think the idea is that once you know what it feels like, you’ll be less likely to go around macing people willy-nilly. And afterwards, I believe Eric said it felt worse than the time he broke his leg on a ski slope. But they step things up a notch for the sergeants – apparently sergeants are allowed to carry tasers. And since nobody wants any willy-nilly tasing out there on the streets of Chicago, someone thought it might be a good idea to taze the prospective sergeants. I think it was a volunteer thing this time, but Eric has never been one to shy away from a challenge. He now has a new appreciation for the “don’t taze me bro!” guy… I believe he said he’d rather dip himself into an entire TUB full of mace before ever being tased again…

But he survived, and now he is officially Sergeant Eric. Congratulations, Eric! I’m assuming you’ll be taking us out to dinner somewhere really nice next week to celebrate. That’ll be great. Thanks. (Love you, Eric!! :))

Mom and dad flew up to Chicago for the graduation ceremony, but Rick and I had already planned a trip up north for next week before we knew Eric’s schedule. We’re heading up to New York City on Sunday, which I’m very much looking forward to. It’ll be a little strange, though, to be staying at a hotel and not in the guest room at mom and dad’s house, or in the extra room over the garage with the computers and all of dad’s random “stuff.” This will be the first time I’ve ever been to the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area and NOT gone to visit mom and dad.

But I HAD to go up to NYC this year so I could go to one last Yankee game at the old stadium. This is it – the final season of baseball played in Yankee Stadium. And if what I’ve heard is true, they’re planning on tearing the old stadium down once the new one is completed. Which seems like some sort of baseball blasphemy to me… how can you tear down Yankee Stadium??? So I couldn’t let this baseball season go by without making one last pilgrimage to the site of my very first live baseball game… the place where I decided I’d be a Yankee fan for life… the place where I realized I liked knishes… yum… knishes…

And then after a few days in NYC, we’re heading over to Chicago, so we can celebrate Eric’s taser survival with breakfast at the Pancake House and several trips to the Ghirardelli chocolate store. Eric’s paying, of course. (Thanks, Eric – it’s so nice of you to offer to pay for everything!) Eric’s the best… :)