Round Town

Ah, west and wewaxation at wast! Interestingly, I found that the two small toes on my left foot which had been giving me so much trouble lo these many days really liked walking on cobblestones, so the problem definitely has something to do with my gait (probably the IT band thing). We stuck close to the hotel, slept a lot which we both needed, I bought my requisite touristy t-shirt, and we enjoyed a terrific sushi dinner. Tomorrow we wind things down again with one last round-trip train ride before packing for departure on Tuesday morning. 

A Banging Time

Are we home yet? The roofers have just about stopped their banging. This has dragged on for a full week, thanks to them not being around last Tuesday through Thursday, and I've never been so happy to be away. A decent night's sleep at the hotel, followed by a lovely brunch this morning that lasted way shorter than we thought it might, so we Uber'ed it to 30th Street Station and waited a couple hours for our train, running into our cousins (the groom's parents) who were taking an earlier train, for the traditional Jewish goodbye that lasts a bit longer than the Irish one. Yesterday we'd had trouble finding seats on the southbound Amtrak, and figured if we stuck with the redcap we'd have better luck with the northbound train. Alas, although we got seats they were hardly together. Lesson learned, it pays to be fleeced a bit if you want to sit together. I just hope we can get adjoining seats on Tuesday's flight to London! By the time we got back to New York, I wasn't thinking straight enough to remember the subways weren't running to our neighborhood, so we walked through Macy's and waited for the express bus home, which detoured a bit due to street fairs, and we finally got home about an hour ago to, as mentioned above, the sound of banging. It should all be over by the time we return from across the pond, and I'm looking forward to the relative quiet!

There and Back Again

The back is still twingy, and I'm sure the backpack this morning didn't help, but the naproxen kicked in and by noon I was busy enough at the office that I didn't really notice. This evening we watched the best episode of Beat Bobby Flay I've ever seen because, even though it was scripted up the wazoo with them all pretending it wasn't, they made it extremely official that Flay and Brooke Williamson are A Thing, and it was totes adorbs all the way, lots of huggy kissy and such. I'm a sucker for that sort of thing. And it made my back feel better too.

Through to the Semis!

I can't believe I'm undergoing World Cup withdrawal, but I really got into it this year. I mean, I'm not as obsessive as our mayor, but once you get to the quarter finals (even the Gang of 8) there have been some enjoyable games. And I didn't expect England to beat Norway, so the fact that they did made it even more fun for this binational household. Certainly more fun than the crispy rice hot dog we had at Kura. Folks, please stay away from that, if you value your palates and stomachs. Other than that, the sushi was lovely, the food shopping reasonable, and my hallux behaved. Next on the weekend agenda, catching up on personal finances (as opposed to inherited ones) and steaming some tops to wear to work because I'm definitely not going to want to do that with the rising temps.

Footie Foodie!

With the heat wave coming later this week, we decided to get our food shopping and my orthotic refurbishing out of the way today. I don't anticipate leaving the house any time in the next few days that would normally require the orthotics in my sneakers, so this was the best opportunity to get it done before I'll really need nice inserts for all that England walking in September. And it's nice to have a stocked fridge leading up to the 4th, again because we might not feel like going out much before that due to the heat. I started catching up on financial things, speaking with my brother about how to fill out my paperwork for the last of Mom's estate IRAs (it's all going to require sending out via FedEx from the office next week, but at least I know how to get everything ready for that) and organizing my receipts. And then it was on to World Cup watching, an activity I plan to do the most in the coming week.

Quiet Accomplishments

As planned, we did our pharmacy stop, food shopping, and sushi lunch today as I had expiring coupons for the fish (in so many ways I'm still my parents' daughter), I didn't have nearly enough sushi yesterday (I mean, who can ever?), and this way we're doing nothing tomorrow and Sunday except watching sports and perhaps some things I've recorded on the DVR. The American men's soccer team beat the Aussies handily, which did somewhat surprise me, but maybe the sport's finally catching on enough to home-grow some decent male players. Aside from some trash removal we're going nowhere for the rest of the long weekend, so I'm grateful and relieved. Now I just need to learn how to relax better.

Party in the NYC

A very unusual day, which began when I got off the local bus and attempted to cross the street to the office. It was just about passable, but all traffic was snarled at that intersection because the New York Knicks were staying at a nearby hotel waiting to be feted downtown. So we had a watch party in the office and I was able to stand/lean for about an hour before giving up (but the orange and blue muffins, donuts, and bagels were a great touch, and I even got a free iced coffee) and doing some actual work (not much today as, once again, none of the folks I support were in). Then it was off to Whole Foods to pick up sushi for International Sushi Day, more TV watching in the lounge which was showing the World Cup games (actually donned my England jersey for that!), then home to try another Asian place because, you know, International Sushi Day. Rob and I will both do the sushi thing tomorrow at Kura, as that's when my coupons expire and if you have a 3-day weekend it's never a bad idea to get things out of the way on the first day. A lovely day of celebration before wrapping up the work week!

Empty Vehicle

While Robin's been pretty felled this last couple days by the illness that snagged me earlier in the week, I felt well enough today to venture down then up our two flights of stairs twice carrying things we've accumulated in the car's trunk, glove box, and center console over much of the last 22 years. I was a bit winded after each trip, but recovered in fairly short order. I really think this stupid head cold thingie is behind me now, and hope that Robin follows suit tomorrow as he wasn't up to food shopping today (hence my decision re the car). We stayed in, tried to ignore screechy children and Hot Tub Hector (different houses, because of how our house is situated we have about a dozen backyards facing us on all four sides) by watching the FA Cup, golf, the Preakness, and the Yankees v Mets. Hey, New York won! Actually, I kept switching between the Subway Series and the Banana Ball game, but enjoyed both; I'm one of that rare breed who roots for both my home baseball teams. Even managed to do some cooking, as we'd run out of fridge dinners so I boiled some buccatini for dinner because I'm fancy that way.

Cinco de Whosiwhatsis

You'd think with tons of Mexican places around these parts I'd find a taco truck or something to grab lunch, but I didn't feel like traipsing through the Moynihan food hall or Penn Station at lunch since my IT band and therefore left foot has been bothering me, so the disappointing non-Mexican Whole Foods buffet it was. At least the weather was warm enough that I ate outside. Can it be spring at last? I returned home to find the storm door added to the main entrance to the house, but it doesn't close all the way. The actual locking door does so that's all I care about. The worker the landlord hired doesn't seem to be making that much of a racket, so I should be fine in the home office tomorrow.

Charcuter-Me

Extra long day today, as after work (which was relatively quiet and I got a lot of reading and self-study done) one of our diversity groups had a charcuterie-assembly event, which honestly was more like a DIY buffet thing. So I grabbed one of the only chairs until the presentation was finished and we all gathered around the charcuterie table, and that's when the foot pain started. I can walk okay, I did it at lunch when I finally found out about a nearby Panda Express (when you're jonesing for Chinese food you'll take the fast food approach over nothing at all), but I can't stand for periods of time without it causing pretty intense neuropathy pain. So while the salami and cheese and nuts (I keep forgetting how much I love shelled pistachios) and dried apricots were nice and tasty, I had to leave a bit early due to my pain and was able to hobble back to Penn Station (where they were having some sort of basketball playoff rally at MSG) to catch the homeward bound subway. Because I was a bit past rush hour I got a seat right away, but then a woman at lease twice as large as me (and I'm still large) squeezed herself right next to me, and the seat on the other side of her as well, and the neuropathy was triggered again. And again, when I'd changed seats and someone exited the subway car by bumping my right knee. I'm quite the mess now, and happy I get to work from home until next Tuesday!

Silly Site o' the Day

Too much stuff on my body hurts, so here's a silly site disguised as an ad disguised as a well-deserved dig at the orange sh*tgibbon:

 Get me some o' those m*therf*cking chips...

 

Stock, Car

I did have more neuropathy pain in the hands last night and this morning, particularly in the thumbs and unfortunately in my right hallux (big toe) as I was driving back from the grocery store (yay, new car battery working fine!) so that made using the brake and accelerator tons of fun, but I haven't had to take any ibuprofen so it's manageable with heat (doing the dishes warmed them up nicely, as did wearing wrist braces for an hour or so). We didn't have a huge shopping list but there was a "10 for $10" sale on two staples that we use all the time so we are stocked up now. Before we left I finally tackled my car insurance files, getting rid of all the outdated supplemental info (we have a fairly nice shredder now so all those pages got shredded) and putting all the renewals in date order. Which is a lot for 22 years times twice yearly! Now all that remains is the maintenance log, basically all the times I've taken it in for an oil change or other work. And I received my replacement title in the mail today, confirming that I don't think I've ever seen my car's title in my life. My guess is that Dad must have kept it and after he passed it never made it to me. Now I'm ready to go car shopping, possibly as early as next weekend if my body behaves itself!

Of the AM Commute from Hell, and Espresso Martinis

Brand-new bus this morning! I hopped on at 6:30 after a 10-minute wait in the somewhat-cold-and-dank, and all was fine until one of the last pickups when a wheelchair passenger wanted to board. All well and good, I think her timing might have been better if she'd waited until after rush hour, but I know nothing of her life and plans so who am I to say. Unfortunately, the wheelchair lift mechanism on the (I say again) brand-new bus didn't work, and got stuck in the exterior position. Which meant I had to wait almost half an hour before the next bus on that route came by (the bus in between takes a faster route... had I only known). All the other passengers got off and took an east side bus that promised to make the first Manhattan dropoff, but that's no good for me as I needed to get to 9th Avenue. And the later you get the more traffic builds up, so by the time I hit the transfer point for the local it was well after 8 AM. Alas, it was another 20-minute wait for the local, so I finally got into work around 9:15. Nothing like a 3+ hour commute! Then at lunch I tried to "piggyback" through the turnstiles and they closed in on my hands, which stung like hell and will probably result in a lot of nerve pain in the next couple of days. Fortunately there was a cross-promotion going between Grey Goose vodka and the new Devil Wears Prada movie, where they gave away tiny espresso martinis (martini-tinies!) and popcorn, which I later discovered (when eating the popcorn back at my workstation) was made with edible glitter. Glitter now festoons my keyboard and pants. The kids who came into the office for Take Your Kids to Work Day seemed to get a kick out of that; so great to meet the childers of two of my partners! Homeward commute much easier, and I'm just hoping the pain isn't too bad tomorrow...

Car-Go Plans

Thank goodness the issue with the car seemed to be centered on just the battery. The new AAA brand (guaranteed for three years, probably longer than we'll still have this 22-year-old baby) is working beautifully, but I wanted to test it out anyway by driving to our favorite sushi place, as the sushi we got at our regular grocery store yesterday was somewhat lacking. The weather was icky and rainy (the Yankee game was postponed at least a few horus) and presaged a drop in temperature to come (looks like the space heaters will be employed for a few days) so the miso soup was especially tasty, and I even got some nice warming lunches/dinners at the nearby ShopRite as I'll be working from home the next couple of days. I think I found the car's title but I didn't want to take any chances so I've ordered a replacement (only $20 and five minutes on the DMV's website!) and made a bit more headway in organizing my maintenance log and auto insurance files in preparation for such time as we try to trade this in for a newer model. I'm hoping that time comes before my biannual registration comes due!

The Neverending Salad

I woke up way too early with a calf cramp, and by the time I got going for good I'd decided to try and stand in the kitchen for awhile to ease the calf and make myself an omelet for breakfast. I'd initially intended on using the lox, but I opted to do that tomorrow instead and then I realized I needed to pan fry onions and mushrooms, as I wanted to put cold shrooms into a salad later on. So that got done, then throughout the day I prepped other ingredients for the salad, and made myself enough for at least three meals. There's always something I forget to add, and today it was the tomatoes, so they'll go into the storage containers along with the leftover salad. I must have done at least three rounds of washing up as well, as I generally like to clean up after myself soon after food prep. Oh, and I finally finished compiling a list of all my bank accounts, credit cards, and stuff I'm in the process of inheriting from my parents' estate, a project that had been in the works for some time. Now I can sleep!

Silly Site o' the Day

Why am I so hungry? And yet, I'm not on Reddit or any of the other umpteen forms of social media because I'm An Old, so you'll have to discover We Want Plates for yourself.

Silly Site o' the Day

Busy week so far (and it's only Monday!), so running links to sites of interest instead. Today we examine the food storage guide Does It Last? (via BoingBoing). The title's in Spanish but it still works with the English language.

Diminisushi Returns

As expected, the trip to Jersey did a number on me, but we had to do our grocery shopping, so I figured let's make a treat out of it and go to the ShopRite in the same strip mall as "our" conveyor belt sushi place. Oddly, neither of us was in the mood to overeat, which was probably good for supermarket stuff but not so good for our preferred treat. Still, we were back and watching TV (currently catching up on Deadloch on Amazon Prime) and just resting by 2 PM, so that will help when trying to recover enough to schlep into the Manhattan office on Tuesday. In the meantime, hoping a nice shower tomorrow evening will loosen some of these arm muscles and tendons not used to driving so much.

All the Stuff

Not sure if you've twigged onto this yet, but I'm a task-based person. Even the online games I play are almost all task-based. For some reason it's my happy place. And now that the worry over my eye floater is allayed I could concentrate on other needed tasks, like a haircut and the car's oil change. First we shopped and ate at our favorite sushi place, then I got my spring shearing, we rested at home for about an hour before going out again to have the car serviced. They said two hours, so we walked around our local business district, visited the local gourmet grocery store and marijuana dispensary (um, two separate stores), and waited a lot less time than estimated before getting our peace of mind back. Now I can take various trips outside my own vicinity with fewer worries! All the usual and occasional (earring sorting, wool wash) tasks are done too, leaving tomorrow as a much-needed rest day. Hoorah!

Piling Off

False spring continues, and I probably overdressed this morning even with a light sweater, but it does tend to be cooler in the mornings and I had to get a 6:30 AM express bus. No more snow piles that I could see! Fortunately I was able to stuff the sweater into an insulated bag for the trip home, as I went to Russ & Daughters on the way back from depositing my checks from Mom's pension, life insurance, etc. into my brand-new savings account. I then got my lunch at Whole Foods (my usual go-to) and picked up tartar sauce to go with my dinner (tasty poached salmon a la Robin), so the contents of the bag wound up being: my laptop, the tartar sauce, my haul from Russ & Daughters, the bank stuff, and my sweater. I'm not used to toting a tote on my shoulder, and this one was surprisingly heavy. Glad I'll have the backpack for Thursday afternoon's homebound commute!