A Smattering*
- I love the GAP. They had the pants I wanted. Said pants fit me in a smaller size than I expected**. And I got a free Madonna CD***.
- Friday morning, I saw Ethan Hawke at the corner of 83rd and York. I walked past him and thought to myself, "But why would he be in my neighborhood at 8:20 in the morning?" Then I did a really obivious double-take. He was looking very scholarly in a blazer, button-down shirt and carrying a large brown bag. I decided that it was him after all. The facial hair is sort of hard to mistake.
- I found a bar in the East Village that serves Magner's Cider. It's not on tap, but it's still Bulmer's with a differnet name. Be jealous, Julie. Be very jealous.
- For the first time in my life I bought the same pair of shoes in two different colors. Does this make me a bad person? It was just so hard to resist a boot sale ...

*Yes, I stole this title from Oh Blargh. Whatcha gonna do about it?
**I realize that some stores size things down so you'll be excited and purchase their clothing because it makes you feel better about yourself. It still made me happy.
***It's only two songs from the GAP commercial, but a free CD is a free CD.

Best press release ever
So I was sending a fax this afternoon, when a piece of paper next to the machine caught my eye. Does that say Janesville Mall? Janesville, Wisconsin? Why would "Great News from the Janesville Mall" be coming to my New York-based business magazine? It was in fact a press release from the Janesville Mall in Janesville, Wisconsin. The mall closest to my friend in Orfordville. My friend in Orfordville drives an hour to Rockford to go to a "real mall." The best part is what the press release was about. Let me quote.

Bring Your Little Beauty to Janesville Mall For the Most Beautiful Baby Contest!

Does your baby have a fact that delight everyone? Then don't miss the New Star Discovery Inc. regional Most Beautiful BAby Contest in Janesville, WI on Saturday, October 11, 2003. (blah, blah, blah, age division information.)

The winner in each age division will win their entry fee paid to the state competition, a beautiful trophy, a crown or medallion, and a test photo shoot (valued at $150.00) with a high profile, Chicago fashion photographer. The first four runners-up in each age division and the special award winners will receive a beautiful trophy and their entry fee paid to the state competition.

New Star Discovery Inc. will also award a 2-1/2 foot trophy or a $50 savings bond to the contestant who receives the highest overall points. And because all who enter are absolute charmers, every contestant will take home a beautiful trophy.

You just can't make this stuff up. So I expect all of you to take your absoluting charming babies to Wisconsin so they can win a trophy taller than they are.

P.S. I do not endorse stealing babies to compete in the contest. (Yes, that means you, Scott.)

Encounters of the Retail Variety
- Sometimes you just have to realize that the world is trying to tell you that you don't need to spend $70 on a pink corduroy skirt. But it was just so damn cute.
- In a city this size, it should not be so difficult to find somewhere to buy a can opener.
- I'm relatively sure I got hit on while walking into Duane Reade (think Walgreens) yesterday. Either that or this boy (who looked disturbingly Paul Wilson-esque) who just really, really polite.

Just give me the good news
The closest Panera is in New Jersey, but a Chipotle just opened near Grand Central Station. Mmm ... crunchy steak tacos.

Shirtless New York
One of my neighbor's likes to watch TV shirtless. He lives on the third floor of the building directly across the street. You can see him in one window and his big screen TV in the other. From now on I will refer to him as The Shirtless Guy. I doubt I will ever have any good shirtless guy stories, though. He seems to just hang out and watch TV. I also saw a shirtless guy at the park today. He was about 60 and on the flabby side. He was wearing reading glasses around his neck and had the paper spread out on his lap. Don't worry, kids, I plan to keep my shirt on.

The only thing that sucks more than a three hour meeting ...
is a six hour meeting. 1 to 4 yesterday and 11 to 5 today. We stopped for lunch, but I only got to leave the room once at about 3 to go to the bathroom. When I finally left work at 6, I desperately wanted a shot of either Jager or rum (Captain, of course) or one of those really big brownies. I went with the chocolate. It's amazing what massive amounts of chocolate and a free Woody Allen movie can do for your stress level.

Good-bye blog
I, too, mourn the loss of Oh Blargh. But I guess it just wouldn't have been the same without the frolicking kittys.

Awkward
Tonight my roommate asked to look at my blog. (For obvious reasons) I told him I'd rather he didn't. I think he was offended. But really, even if I hadn't said anything unflattering about him, I wouldn't want my roommate to read my blog. We're not that close, and if I'm not going to tell him about puking in front of a boy I like, why should I feel comfortable letting him read about it on my blog?

A few of my (new) favorite things
1. Edy's Wild Berry Whole Fruit Bars
2. Climbing out my window, sitting on my fire escape and watching New York at night

Have you ever felt like you just stepped aboard a sinking ship but didn't find out it was sinking until after they'd taken away the gang plank?
I have. Let's just leave it at that.

Perhaps I can predict the future
Last week, I scheduled a hair cut at John Dellaria Salon for Tuesday evening. Nothing helps cure the stress of discovering that you work for a struggling magazine quite like having someone else shampoo, cut and style your hair. How can you worry about the uncertain future of your job when you look fabulous? Bonus points to Lisa for being one the only stylists I've ever gone to who didn't make my hair look v. broadcast when she styled it.

Free stuff
This week I went to see two free movies. Telephone Bar in the Village has a British film club that shows movies in the backroom every Tuesday. This month's theme is espionage, so the movie was Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps. Yesterday I went to a theatre in Brooklyn for a free screening of On the Town, the Gene Kelly musical about New York, New York being a wonderful town. (The Bronx is up, and the Battery's down.)

That's all
Really. The week has been a blur of stress and meetings. I wish I had more fun things to blog about.

God bless cable internet
Cable internet was installed in my apartment last Tuesday, but the tech guy just came today to make it work on my computer. After an entire summer of Internet access through my cell phone, this seems space age. Expect more frequent blogging. And maybe I'll catch up on all those e-mails I've been meaning to send.

My new roommate
Dan moved in on the Sunday before Labor Day. I gave him keys to the apartment and then went to visit my brother up in Poughkeepsie. Mostly I wanted to be out of the way, but I also did not want to get roped into helping him carry his stuff up the five flights of stairs to our apartment. I would have to do that for myself soon enough.

I was so scared when I got back to my apartment the next day. There were boxes piled all over the living room and junk covering every surface. There were even dirty clothes on the counter. I could barely get to my room. And it already smelled. I was practically in tears. I was scared even more when I was getting ready for work the next day and discovered that he did not own soap. Things improved once he unpacked the living room on Tuesday. He also purchased soap. There were still lots of boxes in his room, though. And it smelled when his door was opened. He bought IKEA shelves for his room and has finally unpacked his room. This helped with the smell. Perhaps the roommate situation is looking up.

My other new roommate
Paul arrived in New York today. He's going to be sleeping on my futon for a while. I'm excited because I'll have some one to hang out with. I'm also excited because I've lived with Paul before and know he doesn't smell too bad.

Farewell, Lord Phil
Our publisher resigned today. This makes me sad because I never got to tell any good stories about Lord Phil. Maybe because he was never around the office too much. It also sucks for our magazine because our big national conference is next week, and we won't have a publisher. Oh, and there's a hiring freeze at our company so we can't hire a new publisher. Fun for all.

Random
This morning I left my apartment building behind a man carrying keys and a bowl of milk and cereal. (Frosted Mini Wheats, if you're curious.) He ate the cereal as he walked down the stairs and out the door. Then he climbed into the driver's side of a a Jeep and drove away. Won't the milk spill? Has he not heard of cereal bars?