not capitalizing

i've moved!

2009-01-22T13:36:00.005-05:00

and i'm loving it. like mc donalds. yes, still.

now old and anything new from not capitalizing is now and will be residing at andebobandy.com (how about that parallel construction, folks).

from there you can get to my equally neglected cafepress site, too. i wouldn't look now, it would be a waste of time, but soon.

so check out my new digs, and tell me what you think. i think this one will be here for a while, but consider this my change of address card.

capitalizing

2008-12-02T19:36:00.001-05:00

or trying anyway...

i've opened a cafe press site to try to do something with all these little designs i work so hard on.

you can check it out at http://www.cafepress.com/andebobandy.

so far i've only just uploaded a few of my holiday things, but i plan on putting a lot more stuff up.

and i apologize to all those family members that are wondering what the heck has been going on, because i've not been posting so much lately...i will try to be less boring and come up with some interesting (if not dangerous) stories to tell. but be careful what you wish for, you may end up in a staring role you didn't expect.

more fun from the billing departments of our essential services

2008-10-30T18:40:00.004-04:00

a monologue

"hello, yes, hello. is this mrs. pace. it is? okay, well...this is sally, from con edison and i have a little bit of weird news. nothing to get too excited over, but it turns out, and i don't know how this happened, it could have just been an accident or it could be your super's fault, or maybe your fault, certainly not con ed's, but apparently your apartment has been on the meter of your neighbor's apartment for an indeterminate amount of time.

yes, we don't know how long...no, no, it would be complicated to say without using computers, and the meters and the computers do really connect like that, you see...

yes, i know, it's strange that you could make such a mistake, but you did, and as it turns out, since your meters are switched, you've been paying one another's bills.

i know, i know, it's unfortunate.

yes, he does live alone. no, he doesn't leave his air conditioner on when he's not at home so that when he returns it's nice and cool, as a matter of fact he doesn't use an air conditioner at all though the whole summer.

and no, he has no computer, no mini freezer, television, or microwave. no, he doesn't use much electricity at all...from talking with him, i believe he could be amish.

yes, this does mean that your bill is probably much higher than his and will increase in the future, because, yes you do use 15-20 times as much electricity as the amish neighbor next door.

so what we're gonna do here is send you a letter telling you this all again with no explanation of how, why, or when it happened, then we'll credit your neighbor for the amount of his overpayment, which we can only estimate, so to screw him, we're just gonna say it's been going on for 6 months, and then yes, that's correct, we'll bill you for the difference, and to screw you, we're going to look back though our records and charge you for the difference as we see it over the last 25 years. oh, you've only lived in the apartment for 9 years? i'm so sorry, but that really doesn't matter.

so thanks a bunch and thank for ~~choosing~~ having no choice but to use con ed."

end scene.

sorely mistaken

2008-10-15T22:24:00.003-04:00

recent days have shown that there are a few things i thought i was good at, which i am apparently not. please find below, the short list.

1. drinking - evident in a very late night, abrupt visit to a garbage can on the corner of 8th avenue and 14th street, like some commoner.

2. not getting pimples - self explanatory

3. basketball - defense, offense, etc...

4. entertaining myself without alcohol (see #1)

5. not burning my mouth on acid (see last post)

lessons learned

2008-10-11T05:22:00.005-04:00

hubby makes fun of me all the time for being so smart and at the same time so dumb. i agree that my methods may seem a bit strange, but i don't know if i would go so far as to say that i am dumb as much as i might agree that i occasionally have been known to do quite dumb things. i am a very hands on sort of person, i get things done, i'm a dooer. most times i think about what i am doing or what i should do, but sometimes i get caught up in the moment and just act.

like, i learned that it is possible to stop a dryer from squeaking by putting a little bit of oil into the area in the back that rotates the internal basket, but, and remember this, it has to be done before the dryer is turned on, or the aerosol (or whatever it is that they use in those cans now) will combust and cause a slight fire, and i also learned that day that it is possible for a dryer to be on fire internally, which makes it a bit more complicated to extinguish.

it is through this type of learning, i feel i have learned some of the most valuable and enduring lessons of my life. and it's just a matter of fact that learning through failure often times means learning through danger and pain.

i think i get it from my dad, but i can't be sure. my theory is that if you don't know for a fact something is going to hurt you unless you touch it, then you have no choice but to touch it. right? otherwise you will never know and will possibly never learn how to solve the problem at hand or similar problems that might arise in the future. take for instance last night. i learned a very valuable lesson that every man, woman, and child that ever tries to fix a malfunctioning commercial dishwashers should know about what chemical cleaners one should and should not consider syphoning with their mouth.

i was under the impression that commercial dish washers used concentrated palmolive. i needed to find out if the tube was clogged, and my reasoning for syphoning it out was was that i would be able to see if the liquid came all the way through the tube and worst case scenario I would get a little soap in my mouth, and lets face it, if anyone has ever seen me watching a jets game, they know that a little soap in the mouth might just do me a little good.

well, as it turns out it isn't you standard dish soap in that five gallon bucket, it's not concentrated lemony antibacterial dawn, it's more like acid. well, not more like acid, it is acid, and not the sort of hippie fun riding around in a vw bus acid, either, more the hydrochloric acid that burns away the food particles on plates kind of acid.

this discovery explained a lot to me about why all our tupperware at the bar is always hazy, and why we have to pre-rinse dishes for home use dishwashers, and why special companies are licensed to sell these detergent, and why it isn't easy or normal to get one of those dishwashers installed in your home.

this discovery also concerns me quite a bit when it comes to my newly bloomed green streak, and yeah, i'm swept up like everyone else, it makes me feel good to at least try. like what happens to all this acid once it's in the water? does it dissolve? is it so diluted that it isn't noticeable? is it filtered out, or is it always in our drinking water like the trace amounts of pharmaceutical anti psychotics that we sip everyday?

so long story short, there are some sentences that you never imagine yourself saying, like when i told hubby what i had done, and my only consolation to him was, "well thank goodness all the hydrochloric acid went into my mouth, and didn't splash me in the face or eyes," even though i can't imagine that it could hurt much more, it would be really unattractive. i'm sure that there were several patrons at the bar wondering what the wacky woman washing her mouth out with actual dawn dish detergent was doing, because i'm sure i looked like a nut, a very surprised and excited and in pain nut who's lips were all but melting off.

well, lesson learned, i guess, and lucky for me mouths and tongues seem to heal rather quickly.

and p.s. i did, in the end, fix the dishwasher

and p.s.s. my mom used that dryer totally squeak free for another four years before it finally died.

cool little discovery

2008-09-05T18:44:00.003-04:00

www.little-people.blogspot.com

amazing

5 unexpected benefits of working "normal" hours

2008-09-04T21:51:00.007-04:00

1. breakfast when places are still serving breakfast - do you know how long it has been since i was up early enough to eat an egg mc muffin? well, i'll tell you. too long. oh yeah people! i had a mc donald's breakfast sandwich, and i loved it, and i'm gonna do it again. only 300 calories. thanks, mikey bloomberg.

2. a new found ease in the use of public transportation - getting around underground doesn't mean 20-30 minutes on a bench far too near to a drunkard.

3. aim - aol instant messenger for those of you who are my mom. i used to love it, and then since no one i know is ever on at 2 in the morning, i'd stopped even signing on most of the time. i'd forgotten how much fun it is to use when other people you know are also trapped in front of their computer screens.

4. coming home to a husband that is happy to see you, misses you, and doesn't know every single minute detail about your day, so he asks, which then leads to conversations that you haven't already had a thousand times before.

5. reading - it isn't like i'm on the train for an hour a day, but just being able to plow through a couple of dozen pages or so a day is awesome. since i started working with dana only three weeks ago, i've finished william gibson's mona lisa overdrive (which i would recommend if you're into that sort of not-so-distant-future-not-quite-sci-fi-but-not-fantasy-either genre, but would warn that the ending is a little confusing, and i think happy, but i'm still not sure) and i'm a ways into of human bondage. and on a side note, as i italicize that title, i can't help but love those old titles...that book isn't what it would be titled like that today. or say, if it were a web site what you'd expect to find. it's like vile bodies, by the newly popularized writer evelyn waugh (brideshead revisited), not very vile.

2008-08-27T22:24:00.001-04:00

here's the thing, the television show is "shear genius". you know you're getting your hair cut. it's free. you're on television. and you won't let someone cut off your precious hair?

here's a suggestion: don't be a guest on a show that's entire point is that they cut your hair!

(because there's no caps, you can't tell that i screamed that last line, but i did!)

idiots.

idiots everywhere.

2008-08-27T19:58:00.002-04:00

so, i had some time on my hands early this month after i quit working at the bars, and i decided that it was time that i made myself a mascot.

since then, i've been working with my friend, dana of blush and flax and tuck shop design as her assistant/partner on a project for sephora's annual store directors conference. we're doing an animation and a powerpoint slide show to accompany the big boss' speech.

in short: i'm out, the bars haven't closed, and hubby is adjusting.

i'll leave that last bit for him to comment on.

free at last...

2008-08-23T20:17:00.001-04:00

haven't been around the blog in a bit, but for good reason. i have been working very hard, and it hasn't been at either bar.

i'm out, baby!

and i'm not going back!

free at last!

enjoy

2008-08-07T23:14:00.007-04:00

ladies and gentlemen,

i bring you dancing davy, absolutely the best thing i've come across in ages.

enjoy,

andebobandy

sometimes a "lady" has to do what a "lady" has to do

2008-07-31T02:01:00.007-04:00

i installed the cameras because i was getting fed up with coming in every week only to clean off spray paint. in my search for perps, i ran across this gem. please enjoy this footage from the security camera mounted outside oulu.

2008-07-26T20:14:00.002-04:00

so yesterday, in an attempt to do something about my unchanging appearance, i decided to do a little shopping. i hadn't entered an express store in a million years. i feel they're sort of like the sluttish version of old navy. it's like the same clothes cut a little shorter and sparkly.

just a side, slutish is the proper adjective form of slut, not slutty. just some stuff i learned on the street.

anyway, i'm a sucker for a sale sign and had a bit of time to kill, so i went in and saw that the jeans had pretty nice washes. i grabbed a "low rise" six and four. six, becuase that's the norm and four, because i can dream. so the sixes were like trying on a giant paper bag and the fours were also too big. honestly, i couldnt believe it. i went for the two and low and behold, they fit, not like i'd buy them, because the "low rise" wasn't exactly "low". i very nearly bought them just so that i had a two in the house.

twenty minutes later, i walked into the esprit. i collected dresses and pants, all in six, all very cute, excited that maybe among the selection there would be just one thing i could wear out to dinner at some time. apparantly, i'm not even a six at esprit. six was too small. even if the eights i tried fit like a glove, i wouldn't have bought them.

i came to the following conclusions:

a. express makes clothes for overweight women in utter denial about their size who want to feel sexy (read slutish) and shiny

and b. esprit makes clothes for people (freakish people) who like to feel like they need to diet, have no calves, hips, or waists.

i realize that pinning all your wardrobe hopes on a one afternoon shopping run, isn't practical. i know that i need to make more of an effort to go out shopping more often and pick up pieces here and there and let my style (read lack of style) evolve.

for now, i'll just settle for cutting my own hair.

i'm officially a pro

2008-07-25T03:42:00.009-04:00

one of our big williamsburg goofs is that every time you sit next to someone in a bar or meet them at a party and ask them what they do, they say they're a graphic designer. hubby always says, you are what you are paid to do. you're not an graphics designer who has never had a job, you're a barista and you're not an actor that's never been on stage, you're a waiter - get used to it.

i was starting to feel like a goof myself this year. since 2008 commenced, i haven't been paid to do anything but pour cocktails. you're a bar owner, andebobandy, get used to it. but now it's official. i've been paid for work in 2008, and i'm officially a professional once more. i wouldn't want to survive on my take, but i was able to buy a beautiful new laptop bag to carry my beautiful new (well, not so new now) laptop.

it's from a cute company called timbuk2. they do custom bags. i like it, because i'm frighteningly paranoid that my laptop is not protected enough from bumps and bruises, but this bag has a super padded corduroy lined pouch inside for my baby.

so this is the spot that dana (of blush and flax) and i worked on for the above the influence ad campaign.

we aren't responsible for the idea of it, only the t-shirt designs.

and just a little side bit for my mom: hi, mom. i swear that we're coming to visit. you'll know when, just as soon as i do. xxoo.

really?

2008-07-18T14:55:00.003-04:00

a beanie? on the hottest day in weeks?

so what's the thought process? you wake up and turn on new york one and see that it's gonna be 95 degrees out, and you think, "hmm...what should i accessorize with today? maybe a pea coat? a scarf? maybe some giant biker boots? no...i think i'm going beanie."

is it too much for you to sacrifice one iota of hipster style for an inch of comfort? i mean, you're still in the black skinny jeans, right. that isn't enough, is it?

where does your body lose the most heat in the winter? your head, right? does that change after june 20th? i don't think so.

95 degrees out, in a beanie.

idiot.

i need to go back in to get a picture...

2008-07-16T00:50:00.002-04:00

but you know how after something bad happens, a place will post a sign, like after someone burns their hands on the water in the bathroom, restaurants will post signs warning that it's very hot. well...today at basketball in the woman's restroom there was a weird sign there that said, "make sure that you wash your hands well and cover up any wounds. if you need bandages, you can find them at the reception desk."

i was like w.t.f. happened here last week?

2008-07-10T04:39:00.001-04:00

i don't usually talk about current affairs, but i just have to say

...why should anyone repay hillary clinton for going into debt for her run for the democratic nomination? pay your money and take your chances. i really think it looks cheap for obama to beg his supporters to help her. if she had won, would she be worried that she spent it?

...and the usa tested it's anti iranian missle weapons. how surpised could they have been that iran tested missles, if they've been working on a system to stop them?

...and rachael ray: fat, skinny, fat again? is she the new oprah?

update on the cold that never ends

2008-07-04T17:29:00.001-04:00

this morning i thought, "finally, i can breath through my nose."

these findings are proving intermittent.

we're sick

2008-06-30T04:37:00.003-04:00

so hubby and i are both sick at the same time. he said i have a terrible bedside manner. i think that the compassionate soup making spousal role is understood to be suspended upon both parties being sick simultaneously. i am going to have to consult my newly appointed attorney, doctor yohan esq., on that one.

this experience has shown me that we definitely have very different approaches to health care. he has decided to sleep (which he is doing now), hydrate and eat soup. i made a batch of cookies and have, over the course of the last two days, eaten approximately 30. other than cookies the only thing i've eaten seems to be day time and night time cold medicines and coffee. my bet is, we get better at the same time.

2008-06-25T23:13:00.001-04:00

it has only been a year since i dropped out of basketball becasue of my knee injury, but playing over these last couple of weeks, i must look like it's been a decade.

it certainly feels that way.

trouble is...

2008-06-25T23:08:00.003-04:00

staying positive isn't really working.

i am absolutely sure that i don't know what to do.

craigslist #011

2008-06-24T14:44:00.002-04:00

i couldn't get a good screen shot of this because of the way that it was spaced out, so i had to cut and paste. it's a for real for real posting and it's unedited so it does have some capitalization.

Need Arm Candy for my H,.S reunion ! (Lower Manhattan)

Reply to: gigs-728073532@craigslist.org
Date: 2008-06-21, 9:20PM EDT

Just as described.

Next week is a 10 year H.S reunion and need to show up with some arm candy.

Acting experience a plus. Will have to memorize a bit of backstory.

MUSSST be really attractive and either have a great personality or know how to blend in and just look good.But most of all act totally in love with me.

200$ for 3 hours + food and drinks.

Ages 21-28 , Latina or Brazilian preferred.

Must be willing to meet for coffee or something before hand to get stories straight. Also willing to purchase your outfit for the night (within reason).

Last post got flagged , this is strictly a couple of hour event. Not looking for hanky panky or anything extra.

Myself 6ft tall , in shape , regular joe. White/Asian mix.

Email me age , some pics or a myspace page , and maybe a little about yourself.

2008-06-16T21:06:00.006-04:00

i feel like i've fallen so far behind, i don't know where to begin.

porto vallarta was amazing. hubby and i really needed to get away. the house was beautiful and there was an amazing sunset view.

photos can never do it justice, but it was like this or more brilliant ever day. here are a few others for fun.

i stayed a couple extra days with my friend kathy, who is planning her wedding in p.v. we got a lot of wedding work done.

i have a ridiculous tan, and ridiculous tan lines. by the time we left, the locals were asking me questions in spanish. i would insert the photo of me in my bikini with my wife beater lines from the luchador day above.

i tried to get my friend to ride a donkey through a bar, then i tried to get the donkey to the bar where we were. neither happened.

this weekend we went to fishkill for my friend scott's wedding. hubby and i celebrated our 2nd anniversary on the 10th, then i turned 31 on friday the 13th. we decided to make a little get away weekend. we stayed in an adorable b and b in a little town called highland. if anyone has to go up there, i would without a doubt suggest staying here, the inn at twaalfskill. i really do think that if we wanted to walk away from our lives, a b and b with a bar/restaurant, like fawlty towers.

what else...what else...

this is the summer of andebobandy - is my new mantra

i got an amazing new dress from my pal j.c.'s shop annelore for my birthday and went to see kung fu panda which i l.o.v.e.d. loved.

and i will will will be better to my blog.

until next time there's this ponoko.

2008-05-08T19:03:00.007-04:00

it is becoming increasingly unlikely that i will

(a.) purchase a card or gift for you, mother,

and/or that

(b.) the yet purchased card or gift would stand an iota of a chance of making it there before sunday. it's not like they deliver mail on sunday anyway

...so i just want to say now (and you should note) early, "happy mother's day."

if you want to tell somebody something, would you put that in quotes? anyway, you will have to check the usage of those quotation marks...

also, a note of curiosity that came up in my mind posting this...you know how people say, "happy early birthday," or "happy early mother's day"? it isn't right. the word early is incorrectly modifying mother's day. it isn't an early mother's day.

anyway...

happy mother's day early, mother.

2008-05-01T18:10:00.001-04:00

words to live by...

from "better off dead", a movie i saw many, many times as a youngster....

go that way really fast. if something gets in your way, turn.

posting something old makes it new again

2008-04-27T05:14:00.002-04:00

here you go, johan. from forever ago.

tidal

my alpheus returns,
bringing with him
a glass of water

our sheet wrapped
around his waist.

he stumbles over piles
of clothes, wades through
the new terrain of us

to me
spilled in bed
trying not to be swallowed
by the alarm clock's
sad song leak
into sleep.

he hands me the glass
as the neighbors dog barks.

desperate as arthusa
that dog checks every inch
of her fence for a place
to dig free

never stopping for fear
she could sink like ink
through the god's green earth
and into the dark dirt beneath

as i
and my alpheus
blend in our drink.

when you're right, hubby, you're right

2008-04-18T18:21:00.000-04:00

i did post this on my blog. it's hilarious.

2008-04-16T00:09:00.001-04:00

infotainment unit.

you know you want one.

i don't know if you've seen this, but it helps

2008-04-14T23:36:00.001-04:00

craigslist #010

2008-04-11T02:29:00.003-04:00

what a great present for someone! i wonder if he has gift certificates? this card good for one "mission".

verizon service at it's best

2008-04-09T04:55:00.002-04:00

behold...

like for serious, this is a threatening letter set to us from verizon stating that if we don't pay zero dollars there will be hell to pay.

there will be blood. oh yes. there will be blood.

and it will take no less than an hour to reslove.

2008-04-06T05:08:00.001-04:00

if you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything at all.

this would sum up my not posting lately. i feel like every time i talk to anyone, all i'm doing is complaining. i really try to avoid that with customers. a good friend of mine who owned a great little cafe, who has now passed on, gave me some great advice when hubby and i opened gstaad and i always try to remember it. he said, people ask you how you are all the time while you are at work, but they don't want to know. it isn't that they are being fake, but they are out to enjoy themselves. they aren't your friends. they aren't your shrink. put on a happy face. let them think that you are living the good life, that you are doing something that is a celebration of life all the time. it makes them happy. it makes their experience better. afterall, that is your job.

so, i won't complain, because he could be watching, and i don't want to disappoint him.

2008-04-01T15:51:00.002-04:00

the question is...

am i more hungry than i am lazy?

because honestly, at this point, i think i might starve and not do anything about it.

BLOG WEBJACKED: Only Demand: LOTS OF ATTENTION!

2008-03-25T13:55:00.005-04:00

We interrupt your regularly scheduled blog to announce this WEBJACKING of the "wildly popular" (so I am told), dubiously entertaining blog "not captializing". WE ARE HOLDING the BLOG hostage, and USING CAptial LETTERS indiscriminately, and all over the place..LIKE HERE..., along with poor grammar and bad spelling...UNTIL such TIME as enough and suitable (hopefULLY POsitive) attention has been focused on our PERSOn. THIs is not a drill, and you ARE reading this right.

Sure some may see this as a Desperate plea for...well...ATTENTION, of course, (others may see it as a cautionary tale of saving your password on your web browser and then letting your husband run mad wild all over your computer....ALL OVER (Ihave seen System 32 files you don't ever want to look at)....BUT we ARE serious. We have PAsswords. Names are known to us...EVEN some, unsavory names. More BAD spellinGing and lots more CAPS will follow if our demands (or really our sole demand...) IS Not MET at some point. (we just hope legal action and divorce are not to follow...)

WHAT SAY YOU!?

-The Spectre of Negativity (AKA HUBBY)

2008-03-21T03:38:00.001-04:00

i posted this with a widget from my new computer's dash board.

be amazed, be very amazed.

and also let us not forget johan.

news that doesn't involve spitzer and his "friend"

2008-03-19T02:48:00.002-04:00

1. we finally got away and 2. i finally got to use my ski pants. i did very well, actually. i only fell (hard) once, and it was on our last run. i think that in my case the second to last run is the best one. i'm confidant enough to move easily and have fun, but i'm usually so tired by then that the next run is painful.

3. my sister visited recently (hello chloe) and we had a great time...well, i had a great time. we didn't do that much out of the ordinary and i dragged her here and there to do what i needed to do, but she didn't seem to mind. and as is tradition, we drank a bit. this time there was also pool.

4. which i could have mentioned before. hubby and i are going to puerto villarta with some friends of ours at the end of may. i am crazy excited.

5. johan.

this is a great toy with even better reviews...

2008-03-08T00:35:00.002-05:00

read them here.

heavy bored and dissappointed

2008-03-05T03:22:00.002-05:00

maybe i jumped the gun buying my first pair of ski pants.

it seem that i should rename this blog "not posting".

2008-02-28T03:01:00.003-05:00

we'll i'm fixin' to fix that right now.

so being sick really sucked. really, really, really sucked. sucked like there's no tomorrow. fortunately it's over and i am getting back into action (slowly). most things that are worth suffering for are great though, right?

at my last state of andebobandy post, i had conceded to sticking it out at the bars to make things smooth all around. then comes a month long sick yuck and all of the sudden it is proven week after week that even though i am a wonderful asset, the bar will open without me and to some pretty hectic nights, too. sure we had to call in a favor or two to make sure that we had the staff for a saturday here and there, but for the most part things went swimmingly. best of all, the hubby could take all the credit (though mr. g8s knows he was an enormous help, and i know it too), but my mister really held it together. so much so that upon my return he wasn't as happy to have me back as he thought he'd be. bossy is what he called me.

so we talked it out and came to the conclusion that the sick month was a blessing in disguise and that i was going to cut back on my hours (like i said i wanted to months ago) and we would all be happy. now there was a small incentive that was a great help to my cause, which was that while trapped at home for such a long time - at first bed ridden but then later mostly because i am far too vain to go outside covered in red splotches, i kept up with our place like a housewife champ. i cooked, i cleaned, i took care of the laundry, and even made the bed. so it was a deal. less time at the bars, more time working on our home, and also my super happy making new part time job type thing, which is working with my wonderful friend dana, who is a genius with style and a new and totally addicted bloger. she's teaching me how to better use photoshop and illstrator and maybe some animation down the line. so, i can spend three days a week with her and i do two with the hubby and i couldn't be happier. i just hope that dana and hubby are happy, too.

so there.

other announcements include...

1. oulu was in the new york post a couple of weeks ago in their going out section. maybe i'll scan it in and post it when i get a second.

2. although we swore off working from home and removed our computers from our apartment a couple of years ago, our new schedule has made it sort of tough not to have them around so now we have dsl at home (work...ahem...world of warcraft and pokerstars)

3. at yoga tonight i thought i was sweating blue. i thought maybe it was some side effect of the penicillin, like it would be some unknown thing that you'd hear about on c.s.i. that it reacts with heat to create a blue substance in your sweat glands. turns out it was dye from my new sports bra.

4. oh, and i found out that i have high cholesterol. can you believe that? turns out that everything that i eat is wrong. i've really been trying, but it was tough to pass up the prosciutto wrapped pork loin at dinner the other night, so tough in fact that i didn't pass it up at all. i'm trying to find a good way to beat the system.

5. i bought a freezer. up until now, we've only had an apartment sized fridge with that sliver sized totally frosted over freezer area. i was so tired of no ice cream (before i found out about the cholesterol by the way), i had to get it.

that is all for now. i know it's a lot. i also have a crazy story about my doctor, too, but that can wait for another day.

i hate learning things that suck #002

2008-02-03T18:53:00.000-05:00

apparently i'm allergic to penicillin. the proof is in the hives, the very attractive body engulfing hives. my red face complimented by matching ears, fingers, back, chest, neck, toes and everywhere else. and maybe i was being naive thinking that after the emergency room i.v. drip of everything under the sun, that i would wake up cured. according to webmd.com it could last for five days.

i'd post a photo, but i wouldn't want to gross you out.

hubby just said that by the laptop light i look like one of the "attractive star trek alien women". this was not helpful.

short term working like a dog for long term marital success

2008-01-19T21:04:00.000-05:00

so the andebobandy quits her job-life and moves onto greener graphic design pastures has been put on hold for now and i have made a return to full time bar employment. you might have surmised this from my recent post about the oulu taco eating insubordination customer incident (oulu insubordination taco eating customer incident?) anyway - i've been so busy over the last few weeks that i haven't been able to sit very long and contemplate what that means for morale. most of my introspection is done when chatting with friends across the bar, and i said something to my friend nabin (who's birthday was yesterday - happy birthday!) that rang very true to me as i said it. i didn't feel right not working on the bar, but something wasn't right about how things were going.

orangemanmike offered a bit of support after my announcement that i will quote and uncapitalize here, "i know how sometimes when you just make a decision to move, that in and of itself provides relief and "unsticks" everything." i think that is exactly what happened. part of what is hard in my job life is like i wrote above, it's my job-life. there are dynamics between my husband-partner who until a year and a half ago was my live-in-boyfriend-employer that are very complicated.

my husband's best friend, ines, was in town recently. she owns a beautiful and very successful tea business called tealosophy in argentina. her husband, rodrigo is an amazing chef who is incredibly successful himself. rodrigo has a pretty flexible schedule, and will on occasion commit to working contract stints with ines. i don't know what the hubby and she discussed during their time hanging out together, but in the time we spent together, she really helped me to understand that much of what i'm bothered by has more to do with our marriage dynamic than with our partner dynamic. she relates strongly with my husband and pretty much confirmed that everything from my point was right in line with the complaints of rodrigo. she said that it's just true that if rodrigo suggested that they sell 20 oz. tea bags she'd say he was nuts, but if some stranger came along and said the same thing, she'd tout him as a genius. that when he makes suggestion, that often her immediate reaction is to dismiss them or take offense to them, which is something that would not happen if it were someone else. and yet for all her frustration (warranted or not and more often not), he is the only one that she wants.

she said that what it took for her to change her approach (well, she admits that it more made here aware that she was doing it at all) was that rodrigo said to her that if she wanted him to work, that he wanted it to be clear that he was doing it for her, not as a favor, not as a sacrifice or at the expense of his own happiness, not for money or because he didn't have anything better to do or couldn't find anything better to do, but because he wanted her to be happy, to be confident that the job was getting done properly, and for her business to be successful so that she could be successful. to that end he wanted to be given the latitude necessary to be a real agent for change in the business and to be treated with not only the common respect that any employee that you value should be, but with the respect and gratitude that you should rightfully extend to anyone that does anything for you out of love.

maybe it was the fact that every time ines said, "i need someone to do this or that. who does this or that for you?" a million times, and my hubby answered a million times, "andebobandy does." or maybe ines relayed this same story to him, but something has changed for sure. i am curious to see how long it will last, and i'm really trying not to be cynical. let's turn that into a less negative sentence - i am hopeful and sure it will last.

it's a new year people, the possibilities are endless.

i probably should not have said anything...

2008-01-08T22:44:00.000-05:00

but i was pissed. i had already told her no, sorry, we don't mind if you order pizzas, please understand we don't allow just any outside food because we're a nice place and we don't want it smelling like a taco stand or a chinese restaurant, and she just went ahead and did it anyway.

so i had a choice. i could take it or i could say something. usually, i would just take it. she would have come up to the bar again and ordered like she didn't do anything jerky and i would pretend that it wasn't eating me up inside that she was so rude. i hadn't eaten anything in 10 hours, and i'm tired of taking shit from people who just feel like they can do whatever they want, so i went over there. it was scary, but in that "i'm breaking up with you" or "i'm going to have to quit" sort of way.

"why did you even bother to ask, if you were just gonna do what you wanted to anyway? i explained to you that you could order pizza, but that we don't allow outside food. what if my boss walks in here? he's gonna ask me what the heck is going on? and what am i gonna say, that i told you and you just went ahead and brought it in anyway?"

about half of her friends said that they were sorry and went next door to the taco stand to finish their food, which i thought was nice. she didn't, she just kept on eating, which was rude again.

and i thought i'd feel great after, but i didn't feel great. all i kept thinking was what her citysearch review would be.

"the bar lets you order pizza, but we wanted tacos and the bartender explained to me that it was not wanted because it's messy and smelly. i decided to to whatever the hell i wanted and when i started noshing on my taco, the bartender came over and fussed at me in front of all my friends and i was embarrassed because i didn't expect to get called on my rude behavior."

yeah, right. that would be the truth. a real citysearch review would more likely go something like this...

"the bartender was a bitch and stupid and ugly. the place is awful and empty. the music is bad and the drinks are bad and the time you'll have there will be bad. i'll never go back to that stinky, stupid place again and i suggest that you don't either unless you want to have a sucky time, because i'm the super coolest and nicest person you'll ever meet."

zero stars.

arggggggggg.

mystery to solve before i die #003

2008-01-04T00:47:00.001-05:00

if you donate your eyes after you die and you're near sighted, will the person that gets them be near sighted as well?

my friend has brilliant taste

2007-12-16T00:47:00.000-05:00

and she's starting a blog to prove it, and to help show her amazing taste to the world (and by world i mean you guys - my mom, my sister, ridiculouschick, orangemanmike, and mister g8s) i'm adding that blog to my list of links. she knows at least three of you already.

it's called blush & flax hues. i'm not sure what that means, but i don't have as brilliant taste. i imagine - knowing her - that it has something to do with art and/or design. her blog is about her beautiful house and all the beautiful things there are in the world to fill it, and she's a little self-conscience about her grammar, so let's all be supportive and not mention any mistakes.

enjoy!

holidays are stressful

2007-12-14T01:08:00.000-05:00

that's all i've got.

yours truly brain-dead,

andebobandy

mystery to solve before i die #002

2007-12-05T01:27:00.000-05:00

you might be able to help me with this one...

does everyone overpay postage when they put an especially thick envelope in the mail, or is it just me?

...and, if i'm not the only one, do you think that the post office factors in all that over-payment when they decide to raise the price of stamps?

craigslist #009

2007-12-05T01:23:00.000-05:00

not even the chevy's are worth $500,000. how am i supposed to dream that hawaii is an island paridise now that i know the people are so dumb?

mystery to solve before i die #001

2007-11-30T19:40:00.001-05:00

i know that if you leave a chicken in a paper bag on the kitchen table, it will sleep until your mom opens that bag to investigate...but if no one ever opens the bag, will a chicken sleep until it died?

he has a cold

2007-11-29T01:04:00.000-05:00

and he's asking how long before i start dating after he's gone. what will i do with the insurance money?

honestly, it's like he's had his arm severed and blood is spewing all over the room.

he's not that sick.

i am thankfull for thanksgiving

2007-11-24T18:34:00.000-05:00

and for these last two days of rest at my in-laws, which are the first days away from our bars that ant and i have had in months. it felt great. so great in fact that after our shifts tonight we are heading back out to jersey to spend the night so we can wake up and wallow in thanksgiving leftovers watching football all sunday like true americans.

getting what you wish for...

2007-11-17T03:29:00.000-05:00

sometimes its scary.

seriously

2007-11-01T23:26:00.000-04:00

life was so much easier when i didn't have any friends.

post #101

2007-10-31T19:39:00.000-04:00

run down of my parents' visit.

thursday - they arrived on the first rainy day n.y.c. has seen in what feel like months only to get hit with the first cold spell of the fall. being in from mississippi, they were woefully under-prepared.

friday we sat in 4 hours of traffic on the west side highway. say it out-loud, "i thought we'd try to get out of the city early on a rainy friday."

i'm an idiot, but they were very impressed with my city driving.

saturday i didn't see them at all. i had to work and to make it through work i had to have a solid base of sleep.

sunday i dragged them to the 96th street playground to watch me play soccer. they were freezing the whole time.

we won 4-3 over a very strong team, probably the strongest we've faced. they thought we lost. the only comment they made about my play was, "it didn't seem like you did that much. you just stayed in the back the whole time."

i play defense.

monday we saw the rangers play tampa bay. they enjoyed it quite a bit even though they'd never seen a hockey game before, my mom cheered, and surprisingly they didn't have many questions. there was a penalty shot and a couple of small near fights.

of course, i'd just taken drury and lundqvist off my fantasy team, because up to this point the rangers have looked like a bunch of bums.

and tuesday, they left.

their visit was way too short. hopefully it won't be another year before i get to see them again.

how did that happen?

2007-10-24T10:35:00.000-04:00

i think it was an oscar wilde character that answered the question, "how did that happen?" by saying, "it happened gradually and then all of the sudden." it seems like a universal truth for just about all experience. change always comes on slowly and suddenly. can one ever truly be prepared? even for change they know is coming? even for change they want?

i've been hoping for a long time that the roll i've carved out for myself in my life could change - would change. i had the oprah-esq andebobandy takes back her life initiative rolling, which as i have said before amounted mostly to sleeping in on monday's and drinking too much, but it was a start. those things made me feel better. i got a great routine of yoga on monday's from it, and that makes me feel less like a slacker toward my personal life. i also had time to run errands, clean out the refrigerator, tie up our newspapers, and all those little stupid things that i don't seem to have the time to do now, and i stayed far far away from the bar. a lot of things have changed for me in the last two months, and they all happened gradually then all of the sudden.

i knew that it would be difficult to get things started at the new bar. i expected that the hubby and i would have hectic schedules. i expected that we'd be working extra hard for a time. i didn't expect that within a week of opening oulu we'd have to fire two of our staff at gstaad, the only two that had keys i should add. since then i've got three brand spanking new employees, i've been pulling 60+ hour weeks at the bar, i'm there all day and all night. i take care of office stuff starting at about noon, i let the bartenders in at 4:30pm, i lock up at about 2am, i'm covering two shifts a week, i'm managing all the while (something we know from a certain citysearch review i'm not terribly adept at), and i've got a never ending list of things to do that rivals any of my long lists to date. it's funny, i honestly thought that after a short time of working more that the weight would shift and fall evenly between myself, my hubby and mister g8s and i'd be working less, that i'd get my work week down to two, maybe three days a week. that was my goal. my recent schedule has me working every single day, but sunday, a day which thus far has consisted of getting up in time to have a sandwich before soccer and then going to brooklyn after my games to keep hubby company during his sunday bloody mary sunday afternoons. i usually end up in the same sort of work situations i'm in all week long, talking to customers and doing little things here and there.

today, though, i think we may have actually made a decision that will result in a move in a direction that might eventually lead to some action and lead me to the freedom i think i want, only i'm not as happy as i thought i'd be - even though part of me is incredibly happy. i feel like the bar is like a baby, but it's his baby, and for a long time now we've both been taking care of it. it's true that i agreed to it, but now i'm tired. it's not that i don't love it, not that i'm not proud of it, it's not that i'm unwilling to help, but i've got plans for a baby of my own and i need time away from all of these responsibilities to explore that as a possibility. at the same time, i'm so afraid that if i stop helping out, it won't survive, and if things go south, it will be my fault. i know it can survive without me, but that's how i feel. it's the same way i felt when i was young, when i was thinking about moving away from my parents, and i was so worried that they needed me and that i'd somehow be ruining their lives by going. now i know that's not true. and i know it's not true that the bars and my hubby won't survive without me, too.

so, here's the plan. i've given my two weeks notice, after which i'm going to stop doing everything except the bookkeeping and the web and paper design stuff across the board. i will do construction stuff, because i really enjoy it, and i'll help when asked as long as i'm not asked week after week. i'm giving 10-12 hours maximum. i should get some time sheets. after that, it's all andebobandy time. i'm contemplating moving my office out to brooklyn, hubby suggested it and though i'm very comfortable in my current office out there no one will ask after me and there will be no expectation that i can or will make decisions about the bar. i'll move the andebobandy shelf, or maybe i'll get a new one, a bigger one, a better one. i'll get some of those boxes that aren't exactly what i want but will do and start pedaling my wares around town and see what's what. maybe everyone will hate it, but maybe not, and if all goes well, i'll be giving old tom a call back saying, "i'll take 5000 craft paper jewel top boxes, thank you.

wish me luck.

open apology to you know who you are

2007-10-17T23:21:00.000-04:00

i'm sorry i called you a fat head, i didn't mean it.

really.

you, and you know who you are, can consider this my apology. i realize that you could be somewhat sensitive about the size of your head and it was wrong of me to poke fun at the fact that it might be just the slightest bit big for your shoulders and face. please note, i said might be.

in my defense, i don't think you would have taken it so hard if you hadn't been talking to that girl at the time.

anyway, i guess that's beside the point.

sincerely,

andebobandy

p.s. how's this for a deal? if you promise to stop pointing out that i can, at times, look like a young boy, then i will refrain from calling you a fat head, sending email that start, "dear f.h." and i will even agree not to say, "don't be a fat head," even though i would argue that that isn't exactly the same as calling you a fat head.

p.s.s. can this count as the post that mentions you, or do i have to mention you by name?

nyc - biggest small town in america

2007-10-12T18:26:00.000-04:00

so i had to find a wedding gift for some friends of ours and i stumbled upon kiosk. i walked over there to pick up this awesome stapler which i later got engraved with the names of our friends and their wedding date. hubby thought it was a terrible idea, and as i presented the stapler over dinner he had to make a grand disclaimer that he had absolutely nothing to do with it. of course, they loved it. it's an awesome stapler! how could they not love it? anyway, while i was there i asked a couple of questions and the woman that was helping me turned out to be the owner. i love that, by the way. and she works there with her husband. honestly, it's like a parallel universe. so they have the coolest job, right? they travel all over finding interesting objects that appeal to them for a variety of reasons and then import them to sell out of their soho shop, which i would recommend to anyone in need of a gift for anyone for any occasion ever. i'd noticed all the finnish things on the website and mentioned oulu. she was familiar with the area and said she'd have to check it out.

two days later i found this web page with both of our places listed together from the finnish consulate general of new york. how totally random. i sent her a link to it (because i'm sort of psycho like that sometimes) and said hey it's me, remember? oh my god it's like totally a sign or something.

i love new york.

my first youtube post

2007-10-09T14:08:00.000-04:00

and it's adorable.

new link

2007-10-01T16:12:00.000-04:00

(insert trumpeting here)

introducing...the newest link on my blog...not just because she picked up the story of oulu, but for the reason she picked it up and because i want to buy just about everything that she's got posted on her blog right now...the amazing style saves the world.

(applause, applause, applause)

oulu

2007-09-26T16:22:00.000-04:00

so now that the exhaustion has passed (i'm hoping by saying it, that it will become true), it's time to get going on all things left undone at oulu and gstaad.

first for orangemanmike and his post on the ultimate urban garden...very cool indeed, and though i don't have one of those babylonian hanging ones, i do have this...

this is oulu's facade. it's a vertical garden, also called a green wall. according to our architect, it will conceivably produce enough oxygen for 46 people a year, which is pretty cool.

i really haven't been talking about oulu that much, here or in person, and i think it's sort of a combination of factors affecting me. one being that for so long it was a secret and i wasn't allowed to tell anyone about the wall or the name, that i'm still guarding it. two, that i'm so crazy busy with all the chaos that has been gstaad lately that i've barely been to oulu. and three, i'm naturally disinclined to talk up things that i'm doing, which i think is possibly a mississippi thing (and i think that because i've certainly noticed that talking things up is a thing that new yorkers do a lot of). so i'm gonna give it a shot here and say that oulu is beautiful and i do love it. it's without a doubt "post-hipster williamsburg", which is a phrase that's getting a lot of mileage out there off the l-train, and oulu has better music than gstaad (and gstaad has awesome music).

so there you go. hopefully everyone will love it. hopefully monday i'll get out there and finish some of the things on my to do list. hopefully i'll get one day away from the city before the start of the fall.

and other good news:
my parents are visiting next month!
soccer starts on sunday!
the bloody mary i created for the upcoming sunday bloody mary sunday special for oulu is delicious!
and gstaad is all set to have a rock, rock, rocking saturday night this week!!!!

no more sighing!

craigslist #007

2007-09-21T23:52:00.001-04:00

contact me directly for more information about this amazing offer or to see my complete business plan.

craigslist #006

2007-09-17T16:10:00.000-04:00

decisions, decisions

2007-09-15T01:22:00.000-04:00

i could get these screens for about $460,000

or for just another 5 grand, i could get this house...

decisions, decisions. maybe i should just buy them both.

quote[s] of the week

2007-09-08T18:13:00.000-04:00

ever tired. ever failed. no matter. try again. fail again. fail better.
--my buddy, sammy becket

and because it's been an especially trying week...

i must go on, i can't go on, i [will] go on.
--see above

treasure

2007-09-06T01:40:00.000-04:00

the hubby and i decided, rather than spend the money to have to floor guys finish the office, that we could handle putting a concrete floor in ourselves. you'd be surprised at how many varieties of concrete there are. well, maybe you wouldn't be, but i sure was.

i never made any promises, which turned out to be a good thing, because the floor turned out to be a very bad thing. twice.

we decided to return to familiar ground, wood. i'm actually quite good with a saw. and today i spent the entire day putting in a platformed floor. it looks pretty good actually, and better than that - it's level.

right before i put on the last plank it occurred to me that i might be the last person for quite some time to see the floor below the platform. i decided to leave a note. it said something like, "today, september 6th 2007, andebobandy built this platform to cover the disaster that was our (my husband and my) foolish attempt at pouring a concrete floor. i hope you are able to enjoy the wine." and i left a bottle of pinot noir.

craigslist #005

2007-09-04T21:17:00.001-04:00

living in the dark ages for years

2007-08-28T20:02:00.000-04:00

and we're finally seeing the light with our new super duper improved verizon internet connection to match my super duper fast printer.

finally, i know what youtube is so popular. i can actually watch a video without all the stops and starts. i might even try to catch up on heros.

honestly, i'm tearing up. i don't think i've ever been so happy.

ruined blog plan leads to new cartoon discovery

2007-08-23T20:20:00.000-04:00

when i was looking for a picture of a magic 8 ball that said "outlook not so good" so that i could answer the question, "will my desk ever be organized again?" - i found this:

from mark stivers. and searching his archives found this...

which is my new desktop wallpaper and this...

undeniable.

i love the web.

i can't believe it, but it's (finally) open

2007-08-19T01:23:00.000-04:00

and hopefully people will love oulu as much as most people seem to love gstaad. there's nothing at the website yet www.oulunyc.com, but you can see a photo of our green wall on the dwell magainze blog. super cool, right?

it's been a rough few weeks. my hands are stiff every morning. i call it "tool grip hand". i've been in the hardware store 10,000 times. the guy that owns the place is such a grump. everyone dreads going over there. i've cut myself a million times on everything from the head of a swinging hammer to a sheet rock knife to just the rough edge of a sheet of plywood and i stabbed myself in the leg with a small nail connected to a large piece of molding once, but once was enough.

we threw a party for ant's family and family friends on wendesday night and that morning at 9 a.m. i was still spackling walls and painting. i kept telling people not to touch anything half joking, but the bigger half serious. we still have a lot to do, but at least we're open.

it hasn't really processed fully that we have a second place yet. i'm not excited - exactly. i feel like a foreigner in the new bar. all the staff is new. they really react to us like we're the bosses, with frozen smiles and guarded responses. i feel funny telling them what to do about this and that. when you walk in, it smells like fresh cut wood and paint for a couple of minutes, but then you don't notice it anymore. it's too clean, if something could be too clean. it's really beautiful, better designed than gstaad possibly, but it doesn't feel like home like gstaad does. i guess it won't be long before it's full of junk that i'll refuse to throw out "in case we need it later" and it'll have desks and scars and stories and gum under every table and shoe prints on the wall.

right now, i'm so behind on my work at gstaad, i don't know where to start. my desk is a mess. i've got some save the dates to get out to the wedding girl for my andebobandy project. i haven't even closed out all of last months financials. poor neglected first child, poor neglected new enterprise. i need to spend some serious quality time with both.

as soon as i get some photos, i'll post them of the new baby. till then you can visit her. 160 n. 4th street in williamsburg. right next to the san loco, where i've had everything on the menu.

who's with me?

2007-08-04T16:44:00.000-04:00

mister g8s has abandoned his blog. this makes me sort of sad, because i really enjoyed reading his entries. it also makes me very happy, because i know that he is really loving what he's doing with his flickr and what is flickr is doing for his photography. nevertheless, i wonder, without the blog, where does he put his frustrations?

like take for instance the hundreds of little f*$@ ups and frustration of my last few weeks that are culminating into what very likely could turn into a total mental collapse by the end of tonight.

while hubby has been off in brooklyn securing our future, i'm here watching over gstaad operation. since that began here are only a few of the things that i've done:

- i booked a party on a wednesday in june that was supposed to be for a saturday in july that was supposed to start at 5:30pm and on saturday we don't open until 8, so they were a little confused.

- i'm holding the private room for a different person i spoke to a week ago, waiting for her to confirm for a monday next week, not realizing when i spoke to her that we're closed on monday's through august.

-i got 3 cases of finlandia wildberries instead of 3 bottles.

-i've gotten myself into a very serious employee pickle, which isn't going to be fun to deal with at all, details of which i will not discuss here.

and finally and the most annoying...

-i had an issue last week with a guy that repeatedly pestered my entire staff, door guy included, to allow him to bring in pizza, which we don't do who then called me in my office to ask me. of course, i said no as firmly but politely as i could. and after having him whine and complain and threaten to take his party elsewhere for a good 10 minutes, it was reported to me by my door guy that he called me a not so nice name. he didn't leave for hours, but what he did do was write a totally jerk off review of us in citysearch saying that we were unaccommodating and rude and that the management here was terrible.

thank god we've got another business near to opening, because clearly i'm about to run gstaad aground.

maybe mr. g8s' love of photography is soothing his frustrations to the point that he doesn't need to vent. me, i'm thinking of starting another blog, i'll write entirely in all caps and i'll call it "oh my f*$&ing god, i am seriously going to kill someone, kill myself, or both before the end of this god forsaken day. who's with me?"

it's a sign/it's a test

2007-07-30T16:06:00.000-04:00

how well do you know andebobandy? in ten words or less can you tell me why i think this is so funny?

if i were in the market for a new tattoo...

2007-07-26T21:19:00.000-04:00

this is what it would say....

you can check out more great tattoo ideas at asofterworld.com.

3 stitches & no, johan, i'm not being a baby

2007-07-20T13:48:00.000-04:00

orangemanmike had one perspective with the steam pipe explosion of the summer of 2007, and i had quite another.

it isn't a crazy story really, but it just seems lately that i'm in some sort of causality chain that has been making my day seem planned by some force other than myself. take for instance last sunday. i had no interest in spending the day watching t.v. sci-fi series reruns with my husband and decided to take a walk and ran into 3 people from my past that i hadn't seen in a very long time. the first two (pleasant), i felt, were a total set up to get me to the last (awkward). and then just this monday, when i was running errands and ran into another good friend of mine that would usually be no where near where i was in chelsea, but coincidentally was working on something that brought us together for a little shoe shopping. eerie, right?

well this wednesday was the same. i skipped my workout because on monday, after the afore mentioned running into my friend and shoe shopping, i went to yoga where i sort stretched too much for my own good and re-strained my back injury. i was home all day nursing my back and saying short little prayers to get better in time for our soccer finals on sunday when i decided to bide my time by doing a little cleaning. under normal circumstances there would be no force on earth that would compel me to wash the dishes, but heavy bored, i had to do something, and coincidentally this past weekend when having dinner with my in-laws i brought back a wedding present, our new wusthof knife block. which led to this...

gross, right? honestly, i didn't even feel it. those knives are so f#*$ing sharp, it barely grazed me and sliced me like a piece of ham.

anyway, after a call to my husband with a "don't worry, but i may need stitches" we arrive at a relatively sleepy st. vincent's e.r. where after a short wait i was put on the "fast track" and told i'd be seeing a doctor "soon". we were watching the stem pipe chaos on the waiting room t.v. and it never occurred to me that they might actually send those people all the way downtown for medical care. that's exactly what happened.

all the sudden there was a commotion and all the fast track rooms were cleared and all these patients with mud on them were brought into a haz-mat shower area, where they were all showered and then sent into all the rooms throughout the entire e.r.

clearly it was traumatic, but i didn't see anyone with much more than a few scrapes and bruises among the patients. mostly they seemed more concerned about what had happened to their clothes and other possessions, which were all sealed in these blue haz-mat bags when they were disrobed and hosed down. there were these n.y.p.d. officers all over trying to get reports from all the victims, asking, "we're they in the accident? was she in the accident?" no one knew where patients were or what their names were. they were walking around saying, "mr. rodrigo martinez? mr. martinez? are you mr. martinez?" many of the patients didn't speak english or spanish, which led to a lot of hospital staff running about asking one another, "do you speak portuguese, do you speak swahili?" i tried to be sympathetic, a patient patient, but the disorganized way that the whole thing was going down annoyed me and made me sort of scared to realize that we are so not prepared for a really big emergency.

my "soon" (understandably) turned into a 4 hour wait to get into a room. i had to sit in there for a long time. there was a man on the other side of the curtain seeing another doctor. he wasn't insured. he had fainted at work. he wasn't involved in the steam pipe explosion. the doctor told him that he had a panic attack. i don't know how he felt about that diagnosis, but with his symptoms, i wouldn't have been satisfied. they sent him home without tests.

from my room i could hear the doctors asking people how they felt and what was wrong. i heard three different people complain that their neck and backs were bothering them. maybe i'm a cynic, but i felt that they were just setting up their future lawsuits.

anyway, when i did finally see the doctor, it took him longer to numb my finger than to stitch it up and after a tetanus shot i was out of there.

today my finger is all bandaged and fine. i keep hitting it on things (accidentally), and it's making for some interesting typing, but the worst of it is my tetanus shot arm which is totally sore.

f.y.i. i'm still playing soccer on sunday. wish us luck.

grrrr.....

2007-07-16T16:58:00.001-04:00

craigslist #004

2007-07-14T23:42:00.000-04:00

how about this for an offer? you send this to me, i'll burn it (free of charge of course), and we'll never speak of it again.

quote #001

2007-07-11T18:18:00.000-04:00

"a lot of smelly places are really good."

before i die #001

2007-07-06T21:21:00.000-04:00

now that i have a semi-accurate accounting of how many days i have left, a countdown to serve as a motivator not to waste my precious moments, i should probably try to figure out what i want to do before i die.

i thought about this for a long time, and only came up with one answer that wasn't either obvious (like own my own home) or unattainable (like breathe underwater).

i want to have a door with a lock that requires one of those old time big keys to open it, or even better, a house full of door with those locks and i can have one old red rusty skeleton key for all of them.

i am now going to name this - thing to do before i die #001. hopefully like the craigslist ads, more will come to me in the future.

new page element

2007-07-05T15:29:00.000-04:00

i don't know if you've seen my deathforcast, but apparantly i'm only going to be around until i'm 88, which seemed to me like a long way away until recently. today after suggesting a countdown to help ridiculouschick to focus on her upcoming marathon, i thought, "what better way to help me focus on making the best of my remaining days than a countdown to my 88th?"

so i would like to give a warm round of applause to my new motivator "the end is near".

thank you so much for coming.

on a side note - my husband is not going to think this is funny.

this bothers me every time i pass by

2007-07-02T18:08:00.000-04:00

behold the shelf

2007-06-27T14:12:00.000-04:00

now i just need to get those boxes.

2007-06-23T03:07:00.001-04:00

i'm 30.

i'm playing my first soccer match in many many weeks on sunday, but i'm not nervous only excited like retarded excited.

i'm a little rose'-ed up, after having spent a very nice night drinking with my friend johan (yo, yo, ya.o).

i'm happy to have sent off the invitations to my first andebobandy wedding, and though i haven't heard from her yet, i'm sure she'll be thrilled. i hope, right?

i'm going to put up the andebobandy shelf this week - for sure. i've got a lot of andebobandy stuff, and i'm going to post a picture of it as soon as it's up you can bet your sweet ass.

did i mention that i'm 30.

i'm fine with being 30.

really.

i'm going to make all of my dreams come true. maybe i'm 15.

i'm going to have to buy a new brown tank top tommorrow because in my drunken state, i spilled chlorox clean-up on my current one and don't know if i'm rock enough to wear it as stained.

i'm going home.

need a penny

2007-06-16T22:42:00.000-04:00

chicken mountain

2007-06-12T15:21:00.000-04:00

our wedding reunion party was a big success. i didn't take any pictures, so i can't show the mountain of fried chicken that we served, but it was impressive, like a chicken version of that game janga. it's hard to believe it's been a year since we were all drunk and sweaty in natchez. i took it very slow on the booze during the thick of the party, trying to maintain my composure with all the relatives and the hellos and how are ya's and the cheek pinchings, but by the end of it i was sucking down cheap champagne and rambling on about my approaching 30th. it went something like this, "it doesn't bother me, it bothers me, i'm going grey and i'll be dead soon, but i'm o.k. really, honest."

luckily, i didn't suffer too much yesterday, as i have been taking my day off initiative very seriously. i don't know if i mentioned my oprah-esq take back my life movement. i've decided that i need to be more proactive about my mental well being and my friendships, mostly this has amounted to sleeping half the day and having drinks with buddies in places that are not gstaad, but it's a nice start. after sleeping until about 2, i went and picked up my paper anniversary present for my lovely husband. i found the cutest book of commendations at kate's. then, i contemplated going to hot yoga, but decided that i was likely far to dehydrated to sweat that much, and i ended my day with a pita filled with delicious left over fried chicken salad and too much t.v.

tomorrow is my next big day. my husband cannot have a wrapped present in his possession without saying, "open it, open it." i wanted to wait until after midnight tonight at the very least. let's not rush it. i don't know what he has planned for us tomorrow. he's only said that we have dinner reservations, and he's very good at finding great places to eat, so i'm very excited about that.

on thursday afternoon, we're going on a helicopter ride. i'm super excited about that, too.

and more good news...two runs, two plus miles each this week and no problems. i think i'm going to up it to four on thursday night to see what's what. maybe i'll be able run with my friend again soon. i've been waiting until i'm in good enought health that i'm not slowing her down.

t minus 8 hours to the big 30.

really, i'm fine.

in with the new

2007-06-08T19:29:00.000-04:00

although i felt a strong kinship with my old printer and a little part of me cringed plugging in my new one with it's l.c.d. color monitoring screen, the newbie's pretty impressive. it's the stylish, tech savy, younger, slimmer brother that doesn't need to be hand fed heavy paper stock and even better - it's like superamazingawesome fast.

broke down junk

2007-06-07T18:31:00.000-04:00

things that have broken in the last month

1. the sub woofer
2. one small speaker
3. the light on the mixer
4. front door lock
5. bottle cooler
6. ice machine
7. my matches bowl
8. the cooking utensil jar on my counter
9. bathroom faucet
10. dishwasher
11. door closer
and then this morning
12. my printer
13. and the sprayer for my chlorox bleach spray

it's been utterly frustrating.

rundown

2007-06-03T02:21:00.000-04:00

i'll do this chloe-style.

what's been up since last i posted (ah-zahr zan zee pain, which everyone should watch now if they haven't already seen it)...

-the frame of the walls on the williburg place have gone up. it doesn't look like much, but it's a start.

-the architect, j.a. (pronounced the euro way: ya.a. who i've been calling "the slut" lately because he is sweedish and didn't have a baseball team to root for and went to one yankee game and fell in love with the yankees and then last week went to one mets game and fell in love with the mets), along with my husband and myself spent a very leisurely friday afternoon into evening (just before memorial day) not eating anything substantial but drinking 7 bottles of rose over several hours on the rooftop of juilette. we're very sorry to everyone that was forced to witness us leave, and apologies to the lovely maureen at the table next to me that was burned by a certain young architect's cigarette.

-my grandmother in law turned 90, putting my soon-to-be 30 in a new perspective (though i have not quite figured out what perspective that is feeling now both young and old).

-the countdown is on...only 10 days to go.

-i told my husband that i didn't want the earrings that i had told him i wanted before. not because i don't want them, because i so so so do, but because the more i thought about it the more horribly guilty i felt for wanting them when we are working so hard to get everything going with the new place and all right now.
you can visit them at tiffany.com. frank gehry designed. i know, i'm shameless.

-i've accomplished two of the five goals that i set for andebobandy this year (2 weddings) now i only have 2 websites and a retail placement to go.

-i have not put up the andebobandy shelf or ordered the boxes. the box conversation went something like this.
me: yes, hi. i was interested in your kraft paper jewel top stationary boxes. it says here that you can get them through a special order.
tom: yeah, sure. we've got a minimum, but if you can order atleast 5000 it'll be fine.
me: oh no can do, tom. that's a lot of boxes.

-and i've got a run scheduled for tomorrow. i'm going to go a mile on the street. wish me luck.

this is a must see

2007-05-27T00:27:00.000-04:00

http://www.wsfilms.com/directors/moviepop.asp?movNm=greenberg-la-puppe

i'm talking right now!

well mister lipton, since you asked

2007-05-24T20:31:00.000-04:00

1. what is your favorite word? clearly

2. what is your least favorite word? female

3. what turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally? new challenges and solitude

4. what turns you off? people with hokey things that turn them on creatively, spiritually or emotionally that have long explinations about how they were touched, or healed, or saved.

5. what is your favorite curse word? dipshit

6. what sound or noise do you love? trains in the distance

7. what sound or noise do you hate? the rev of hogs

8. what profession other than your own would you like to attempt? inventor

9. what profession would you not like to do? nurse

10. if heaven exists, what would you like to hear god say when you arrive at the pearly gates? told you so

craigslist #003

2007-05-16T16:50:00.000-04:00

i know it isn't as funny as i think it is, but i think this is super duper funny.

i hate learning things that suck

2007-05-07T16:54:00.000-04:00

today i learned about health insurance deductibles.

i think they thought i was a schmuck, like i didn't want to pay, when i just wasn't understanding. i thought that was the whole thing with insurance. you pay them, and then they pay the doctor.

apparantly that isn't the case...

yet.

bikram yoga advice

2007-05-04T19:27:00.000-04:00

bring an extra pair of underwear.

bob marley banana tongues

2007-05-03T15:13:00.000-04:00

first there's this bob marley banana photo sent to me by my friend in
berlin:

clearly the only option he has is to frame and then list this photo in the arts and crafts section of craigslist and sell it for $75,452.26, becuase his friend ate the banana.

and then...

jealous of all the clever little ways people have changed their comments tag on their blogs, i looked up synonyms for said and found:

state, say, tell, express, verbalize, utter, or give tongue to.

soon i'll be able to say, "mr. g8s gave tongue to me over my bob marley banana".

arf

2007-04-30T19:18:00.000-04:00

it was said

of course, by all means, please do, i don't mind

twice

yet somehow i'm in the doghouse

craigslist #002

2007-04-27T20:05:00.000-04:00

i get everything but the $500 part.
fishtown must border crazytown.
i'm still trying to find a picture of fish mitts, who has fish for hands.

one word

2007-04-26T18:07:00.000-04:00

sabon

i know, it may seem a bit poofta for an andebobandy endorsement, but so worth it.

andebobandy suffering defeat at her own hands

2007-04-16T16:22:00.000-04:00

if you scroll down you'll see that for the last 4+ months i have not been doing a few things, despite the fact that i claim to be very busy. appearing as #2 on this first list and then #1 for quite some time: andebobandy shelf. i need this shelf to store the boxes (mentioned occasionally alone as well as paired with the shelf).

apparently the list tolerates procrastination.

honestly, i'm so going to do this - this time.

brain-sex, ambulances, and x-rays

2007-04-10T14:49:00.000-04:00

i had my post all worked out. i know how much everyone loves the personality tests and whatnot, and just the other night my hubby and i watched this show on bbc about brain-sex, actually i think it might have even been called brain-sex. it was about a test that had a lot of varriables to determine what sort of brain activity, in the line of thinking and feeling, that men and women both have in common and where they differ. it was an awesome documentary and the test can be found here.

it turns out that i'm not that empathetic.

and then last night ant's friend called me at 1 am to tell me that he was in the emergency room at st. vincent's hospital. don't freak out, mom, he's ok. but let me tell you, it was super scary. apparantly, for no real reason a guy from the other team wrecked him into the boards. he hit the ice pretty hard with his head, and he hurt his leg pretty badly. they put him in the ambulance, and when i found him he was in a neckbrace all bundled up in blankets and a little bit smelly (hockey-pational hazard). the x-rays were all negative and they let us go home a couple of hours later, but for those hours i don't think i've ever been so worried about someone in my entire life. i'm not supposed to run, and i ran all the way there, and because i was resting at home, i didn't have my brace on and forgot it when i was dressing, so i was running and then getting all gimpy with aches and then running again, and when i came around the corner in the e.r. and saw him laying there, i felt like someone punched me in the stomach.

there were a lot of people there and all of them had someone at their bedside, keeping them company or just watching them sleep. one man, from what i could gather, was waiting for an organ transplant. his wife or maybe his sister sat holding his hand the whole time. every time i glanced over she would smile at me. ant kept updating me on what his monitor was reading. i said, if there's a television screen on anywhere, he'll watch it.

i was monitoring someone else. a drunk guy, very clean cut with no visible damage, was staggering around and being led back to his bed repeatedly. he couldn't sit still, and eventually dissappeard around a corner again. when ant was getting his x-ray they put me in a chair outside the x-ray room door, and the drunk man and his wife were sitting in front of a bed talking. his young son was sleeping there. his wife was visibly pregnant, a small japanese woman, she must have been 8 months in. after saying he was sorry, he got up and staggered to the bathroom. his doctor approached his wife with discharge papers. they said that the ambulance found him passed out at the corner of bleeker and jones. someone had tried to wake him and had called 911 when he didn't respond. the pregnant woman giggled and asked after his coat and brief case. apparantly the man had come in with nothing. when he returned they all spoke japanese, even the doctor. the man signed all the papers, swaying a bit, and when they made their move to leave, he reached down to pick up his sleeping son. his wife urgently said firm but softly, "no, no, no, no, no."

after the x-ray we went back to the e.r. bed area. the man and his wife or sister were still there. she was still holding his hand. he hadn't moved a bit. eventually they were joined by a woman with a raspy voice who was talking a lot on the telephone. she said she was worried. she said that the doctors at mount sinai were waiting. she said they were taking him upstairs. when the orderly came to move the man, she hung up the phone. the man's wife or sister stood at his side. the orderly woke the man. he said something that no one understood and then fell back to sleep. the raspy voiced woman started to make another call. the wife or sister told her to stop, that they'd be going up soon. the raspy voiced woman asked the orderly if they'd all be going up the same way or if there was a special elevator for the man. the orderly said no there was no other way, they'd all be going up together.

right after that, the doctor came to say that we could leave. he gave ant a prescription for a pain killer, and told him to rest. his knee is pretty swollen today. what a pair we are. i laughed when i told him that we were supposed to do our follow up fitness testing on wednesday, that we are going to get in shape if it kills us, and that it seems likely that it will.

what is it this time?

2007-04-05T15:54:00.000-04:00

chondromalacia

definition: a disorder that invoves a softening of the cartilage behind the patellar bone, or the kneecap. it is a condition that occurs most often in young adults. the symptoms include a dull ache in the knee, located behind the knee cap. it is often worse after sitting for long periods of time or when walking down stairs.

oh...and you can't really run or do anything else that involves your legs with any bit of comfort.

my doctor said last week that it was possibly meniscus damage then left for a three week vacation with the promise that when he returned we'd check into it further.

i'm not that patient of a patient. today, i went to another doctor.

the good news: it isn't a menisucs tear and since meniscus tears most often require surgery, i won't have to have surgery, which i was really worried about. and further, chondromalacia is treatable.

the bad news: it's treatment is rehab, 12 weeks of rehab 2-3 times/week.

my positive spin: i'm adding only to all further sentences about it.
only chondromalacia.
only 12 weeks only 2-3 time/week.
only 24-36 sessions.
the equinox where i'm hopefully going to do the rehab sessions is only a few blocks from my house.
the only part of the definition of chondromalacia above that i like it the "young adult" bit.
only i don't think that i really qualify as a "young adult" anymore as i am turning thirty this year.
i am turning thirty in only two short months.

my positive spin is starting to make me sad.

craigslist #001

2007-03-29T14:23:00.000-04:00

i'm sorry.
what?

lobster

2007-03-23T20:14:00.000-04:00

our trip to new hampshire marked my first personal lobster. as it turns out i am incredibly vain, and i refused to wear the bib. it was delicious. the lobster, not the bib. i don't think i'm going to be springing for any here in the city at $30 a pop, but my $13 chick was well worth the wad.

anyway, on our way out of town we picked up a couple of lobster for some friends in the city and we ran into this guy...

you see that box next to him. there are two chicks in that one box and it's dwarfed by him. he weighed 20 lbs, and the girl that was helping us said that it was probably 70 years old. It's hard to grasp the size of it from the photo, but his claw alone was the size of one of a one and a half pounders.

i've thought about this guy a lot since that trip. not just what might have happened to him, but why.

first off, i can't believe that anyone would want to eat him or that the lobster fishermen wouldn't have tossed him back out of respect for his age and size. i know i certainly would have. i know my dad would have. you throw back the babies and the big boys. it's good for future fishing and good for the gene pool. the girl even said that they don't really taste that great at that size. i've speculated that he likely became a sort of conquest meal to some guy with major confidence issues who was seriously lacking something in his everyday life to cook for a date, and it pains me to know that i can never know how that date went.

my second thought, what crazy survival skills this guy must have had. seventy years of dodging traps in the ocean, of not being lured in by the delicious stink of fish heads. seventy years he was out there, every day not being eaten by whatever it is that eats lobsters. i can't imagine that these slow creatures are at the top of their food chain. every day for seventy years he survived changes in water temperatures, salinity, toxins, with his little brain he dodged fast sinking refrigerators, he didn't bite fishing lures, and didn't do a myriad of other hazzardous things that kill lesser lobster. he must be a genius! imagine the stories he's telling all the other lobster in the tank around him.

deathbed confessions...

which leads me directly to my final question

what happened? did he just give up? was this a suicide? why did he give up? is he like a whale, beaching itself because he's sick and doesn't want to slow down it's mates? or did he just slip? did he get spun around by a rudder and dizzy slip into a net? how after all this time did he let his guard down?

it bugs me. if he just got snatched up, it's too sad to contemplate. it's like thinking of myself making it to seventy only to leave my iron on, and burn down my house with me in it.

i prefer to think that he was sick. that he made that pathetic excuse for a man and his date very ill with some lobster borne bacterial infection and she thought he was stupid and ugly and never went out with him again.

worst day ever

2007-03-20T21:16:00.000-04:00

worst basketball performance. honestly, i couldn't get away from the girl that was on me for a million dollars tonight. my knee started acting up. met my friend for a post-game run, that i hoped would boost my spritis, only to go one mile before i just couldn't run any longer.

old old knees