Category: Life

  • A Place Upstate

    I have been distracted this morning. I did get my errands and chores done, but when it came time to do this, write a blog, I let myself get sucked down the old rabbit hole of looking at houses for sale. Not that we are in a position to go buy a home, but hopefully in the next two years, it might become a possibility.

    You never can tell. We, as a small family, are right on that cusp of entering the world of home ownership. I do feel bad for anyone under the age of thirty because unless you are earning a huge salary, which most people don’t, then you will never live in a house that you own. We still can, but just barely. It is my job to get the family finances in order, so when the opportunity arises, we can jump on it.

    Anyway, all of this came about today because it’s already 75 degrees in the City, and should make it up to 80 today. The windows are open in the apartment with a nice cross breeze blowing in. The wife is working away in the office. Music is playing, and the kid is in her room enjoying not doing a damn thing on her Spring Break. With all of this going on around me, I had the thought that, “Wouldn’t it be great to do this in a house, surrounded by trees, upstate?”

    “Yes,” I said, “It would be great.”

    “Then go look for a home.”

    “Yeah, that would be fun, but we aren’t in…”

    “I SAID LOOK FOR A HOME!!!”

    And off to Zillow I went. Besides, who needs self-discipline?

    For an hour I looked at places that are all about two hours away from the City. I enjoyed the daydream. A place for books, and reading. A fireplace to use in the winter, and a back yard for the kid to play in. All the wonders, relaxation, and serenity, cleanly away from the City. A home that gives me a chance to wake up with the sounds of birds chirping and the wind blowing through the trees.

    This “window shopping” took up most of my writing time, but I don’t feel bad about it. Perhaps I have lost the desire to have a goal. Like a goal that isn’t just for me, but something that I can provide for my family. Ambition bounces around in my brain like a dirty word that I cannot muster out loud; but a goal? Perhaps I should say out loud that I want my family to move into a house in two years? Maybe I have forgotten what it is to strive on the high wire where one can fall to failure? Maybe.

  • ODDS and ENDS: Baseball, Spring in NYC, and Walking the Dog

    (Insert Silly Comment Here)

    Baseball has started, and it’s early, but the Cubs have a losing record. They started off the season with a W, which was great, and then dropped three games. Eh… It’s the Cubs. Even when they do bad, they’re still fun to watch. That is, if you like punishing yourself. Right now, I’m just checking scores on my phone, and I follow the team on IG. I do have a far off cousin who is a Die Hard Cubbie, and she posts every day on Facebook with any developments on the team; good or bad, she reports it and has an opinion on it. That helps me stay apprised on the team. But… It is the Cubs. And even with the curse broken, they are still the Cubs. Well, here’s to hope, and hoping that it doesn’t kill me.

    I am always caught by surprise when Spring arrives in NYC. It seems like in the matter of one week, everything things blooms, buds, and pops up. There are daffodils everywhere, especially around the park entrances, and the handful of cherry trees we have in our neighborhood have exploded in flowers. And Spring always arrives right at that moment when I am fed up with winter and desperate for warmer weather. I know that this also signals that the “old man” version of me is beginning to emerge. Soon I will be comparing Springs, and making predictions of how hot Summer will be. And even if this is a cooler Summer, it still won’t be anything compared to that perfect Summer we had back in ’09. Yup, I’m becoming a very old man.

    I have to walk the dog. I like walking the dog, but it is still a chore. Also, my dog has a bad rep in the neighborhood. They call her “Murder Dog,” because she wants to murder every dog she sees. But my dog is great with people and kids. It’s just that she hates dogs.

  • Hot Water – A Rant (Unedited)

    Nothing ruins my day easier and faster than not having hot water. I live in an old building; a generic NYC tenement styled walk-up. I’m not fooling myself here, I know that the hot water is destined to give out frequently, as the boiler was installed during the Coolidge administration. Still…

    I grew up in the suburbs outside of Dallas, in a newly built ranch styled home. The water heater we had lasted about fifteen years. It gave out at the most inopportune time when we had family visiting, but it was quickly and as my father liked to remind all of us, expensively replaced. It’s still going strong, again, my father likes to point this out as well.

    All the other places that I lived, in and out of college, and I lived in some pretty rundown places, always had hot water. Once or twice, I think, it went out, but it was such a rarity. And when it happened, it think it was due to repairs being done on the system.

    And then there is New York City. Everybody has hot water and heating issues. I got a friend in the Meatpacking District, real swanky place – he has water issues. New construction, old construction, pre-war, modern; it doesn’t matter – everybody has this problem. How is it that all the heater and boilers around the entire country work, but when you cross into New York City, they all go on the blink. Is there a curse, or is it all run by the Mob?

  • ODDS and ENDS: Nearly Perfect Bracket, Talkin’ Football, and Kids n’ St. Patrick

    (We are sports heavy this week…)

    I wrote the other day about how my bracket predictions are pretty much shit as they are all guesses and I pick way too many underdogs. Well, yesterday, I called every game, save one. I got Furman v. Virginia wrong. And I blame Princeton for it. That’s right. I had selected Princeton over Arizona, as I have a weakness for the Ivy-League schools. So, because of that pick, I told myself I needed to be a bit realistic with the rest of my selections. Hence why I took Virginia. Besides Princeton, the rest of my underdog picks really weren’t that impressive; Auburn, and Penn State. This is why you should go with your gut. As of this moment, my bracket is ranked 659 out of 14million. I know that will change by the end of today. But right now, in this moment, I am nearly perfect.

    I have a Tottenham Hotspur scarf that I put on when it is cold out. To most people it just looks like a white and navy scarf, but yesterday a guy stopped me, asking if I was a Tottenham fan. I talked to someone on the street about football. Mainly the Champions League, as the guy’s club was Barcelona, but still. This is the first time I have actually talked football with someone when the World Cup wasn’t going on. It made me feel like my fandom was validated.

    Today is St. Patrick’s Day. All week, leading up to this, the kid couldn’t have given two shits about it. In fact, she asked me lots of questions of why the day is celebrated, and if it’s really only a grown-up holiday. I tried to give her a little history lesson on all the Irish who immigrated to this country, and how they have influenced and made our country a better place. You know, because immigrants do make our country better. She got it, but still didn’t think St. Patrick’s Day was that big of a deal. And then this morning, she was all about putting on green, and finding leprechauns, and pots o’ gold. I think this proves, that for kids, you never let a holiday go to waste.

  • Zapped! Because It’s Snowing

    Nothing zaps my motivation like watching snow falling out the window. The Nor’easter is here today, but down in the City, nothing is going to stick, so it’s just a pretty show. I’m sitting here on the couch, listening to music, thinking about all the other things I wanted to do today.

    I won’t go grocery shopping.

    I won’t write a short story review.

    I will think about how the word “nor’easter” is silly to say. I could look up its entomology, but that would like figuring out how the magic trick is done. What fun is that?

    Nor’easter

    I will think about how twenty years went by like that.

    I will think about the people I should apologize to.

    And I will think about the people I need to forgive.

    I will watch the big huge snowflakes falling past my window only to land on the fire escape and melt away.

    That fire escape that I used to smoke on.

    The other day the kid asked me if I used to smoke, and I told her the truth, and she was disappointed with me. She asked if I knew that smoking would kill me, which I did. Why do grownups do things that are bad for them, was her question.

    That’s a tough one.

    Oh, it’s really snowing now.

    I’ll work hard tomorrow.