Category: Weather


Em had a nail appointment so we went to the city even though it was raining. The rain was supposed to stop at noon, it didn’t. It stopped eventually, but a long time after noon. I wore my gray coat and figured that would be enough, I wouldn’t need my rain poncho. I was wrong. As for the common sense factor of going to the city to walk around in the pouring rain, we went to NYC when a hurricane was coming. Yeah, common sense doesn’t come into play when we plan to go the city. Two things you will notice about me when it’s raining in the city. One is I never carry an umbrella. The other is that instead of waiting for the light at the curb, I stand back by the buildings. There is a little bit of protection there, it the wind is strong I can usually get out of it by going around the corner. Also, there is less chance of being splashed by cars.

When we first got to Manhattan I wanted to get food, Em had this store she wanted to go to that she didn’t want to take me to. We were going to meet up at this coffee place that I had a Groupon for that I won’t name, you’ll see why in a minute. The store she wanted to go to wasn’t open, so she went to the Apple store to get an iPod Shuffle, (PRODUCT) RED Special Edition iPod, a portion of the purchase price to the Global Fund to fight AIDS in Africa. She wants it for music when she goes to the gym, currently she has an iPod touch, but she is planning to get an iPhone in June or July and she doesn’t want to take that to the gym. So she was very happy to find it at the Apple store. Then she came to join me at the coffee place.

She was starving, but they only had pastries and sandwiches, we ended up just getting drinks. The cappuccino looked just like the picture in the Groupon I got. The service was terrible. First I was told they provided table service. So we sat down, no one came to our table so I went up to the bar and ordered our drinks. The waitress brought them, after drinking them, Em had to leave for her appointment. I waited for the check. And waited and waited. Finally she brought it, then took the Groupon to refigure the bill. Then she never came back for the money. I waited almost 20 minutes before I took it up to the bar, she acted surprised when she saw me. The place is in the lobby of a hotel, so they have hotel guests charging things to their room, but it is also open to the public, so come on! I left her less then 10% for a tip.

After meeting up with Em at the nail salon we decided to try another place for the items she was looking for in the store she wouldn’t let me come with her to. Then we used one of her Groupon’s for lunch. This place had much better service even though the waitress appeared to be less experienced. Not saying she was, just that was the impression I got, but our order was right and she was prompt, it was more of a bar then a restaurant but the food was good.

Then to Ashley’s so Em could get another hole poked in her ear, then to Harney’s for tea, then home where we watched the end of the baseball game.

Spam, not the food

Before I started typing this post I checked my spam folder and deleted 10 spam comments. If you have commented and your comment has not appeared on this site, it probably went into my spam folder and I deleted it. If I see a comment in my spam folder and the link is to a business web page, or the comment appears to be trying to sell me something, it stays in the spam folder and is eventually deleted. If I have two comments that are almost identical, they get deleted.

Em and I went to the game. We were so cold, I am still cold. My neck hurts from below my ear to my shoulder, the Yankees lost, but so did the Red Sox and Orioles, so the Yankees are hanging on to first place, by half a game. They need to pick it up and win tomorrow!

Someone got my debit card number and used it to buy stuff. I got the e-mail during the game. I tried to call, if I moved into a quiet area the reception was bad, if I moved to better reception, it was too loud to hear. So my card has now been cancelled, they said they would refund my money. I won’t have a debit card for a few weeks and I have to change by regularly scheduled charges and saved financial information at Amazon and iTunes and Sony and …. I think that’s all.

That is all, says she.

It is supposed to be getting warmer. Yesterday at the baseball game, I wore my gray down coat. It is April and I was freezing! Of course part of the reason was I was sitting still, getting up and moving around helps. We had fun though.

Tomorrow is a NYC day so another city post with pictures. I like taking pictures, I need to do it more often. Em gets a little annoyed with me constantly stopping and taking pictures, I let it bother me enough to stop doing it. No more, I am taking pictures if I want to. If it seems like I am just going on and on about nothing, that is pretty much the story. I am still having problems thinking of things to say. Maybe it is because Twitter is 140 characters a tweet. Then I sit down here with this huge open space and the brain panics.

That is all, says she.

Before I sleep

Just thought I would pop back in. Tomorrow is a big day. It is going to be Gwen’s first ballgame of this season.

Two reasons it is big, one is that Gwen is coming to the stadium on her own. Make the train ride by herself. I am fully expecting a phone call at 11 a.m. with her in full blown melt-down panic-attack mode. The second reason is that every game she went to last season someone got hurt. I have told her that if someone get hurts tomorrow, that is the last time she is coming to the stadium for a game.

If the game is rained out tomorrow, I will be very upset. If the trains mess up so I am not there to meet her at Yankee stadium, I will kill someone at MetroNorth. My boss is going to be at the game, if he says anything to upset her or me, I will cut him. Truth.

That is all, so says she.

Keeping my promise

Last week I said that I was going to post every trip Em and I made to the city. The only problem I have is coming up with new and original titles. Also right now, I don’t know if the problem is with WordPress or my router, but I am losing posts. It is very annoying but because that is happening, this post may not be what I want it to be, as in, not as long and no pictures, since the pictures seem to be the problem. For instance, I have been trying to get my review post done for almost an hour and a half. It’s not the writing that is taking so long, it is getting the pictures in the post! There again, I don’t know if it’s my browser or WordPress.

It is making me so frustrated, I can’t even remember what I was going to say here.

All right, my reviews are posted. So Saturday, we got a late start, I had to go to Weight Watchers (up 0.6 pounds) and Em was not feeling great. Fred came with us, I never got a reason as to why, not that I care. First off we stopped at the soupman. Fred kept saying he wanted soup from the ‘Original’ soupman, so we went, Em had a groupon. I got black bean and he got Lobster bisque. On the wall was a T.V. with clips from Seinfeld, every so often a quote from an episode featuring the Soupman was shown and I would laugh, then we would have to explain why it was funny to Fred. After we finished the soup we walked to Bon Chon Chicken for lunch. Another groupon, before we get finished with Em’s groupons, we will probably have eaten in every part of Manhattan. Make sure to check out my review of Bon Chon here.

Next was Em’s appointment to get her nails done, Fred was getting a manicure also. We were early, so we stopped at the Yankee store since I had promised Em a sweatshirt for opening day. She didn’t find any she liked, but I found a navy blue jersey that was half price. While she was getting her gel manicure and Fred was getting a plain manicure, I went to wait for him at Starbucks across from the nail salon, thinking I would go online and check my e-mail, track my food for the day, guess what? It wasn’t working. I was frustrated. After Fred was done he came over to Starbucks and we went to the library, where I let him use the computer and I went online there with my iPod. Such fun, I don’t know what he did, but I checked in with four-square, and what else I don’t remember.

We took the subway to SoHo. It was cold Saturday and I don’t think Em was feeling very well. The original plan was for Em to go look at earrings, by that time she had changed her mind, one because Ashley wasn’t going to be there and two because of the cost. But we still wanted tea so we went to Harney and Sons. Check out my review here. I also bought tea, so as soon as I finish my chocolate rose tea, I can start drinking my Irish Breakfast. The other Irish Breakfast I currently have is going to feed the plants.

We had one last groupon we used, for dinner, at a pizza place called zPizza. According to Em it is in Greenwich Village but the website says it is in the West Village. I didn’t write a review, it is small and you can buy a slice of pizza already made, or you can pick your crust, your sauce, your cheese and your toppings for a custom made pizza. When we were done, once again we headed for the subway instead of just walking up to Grand Central. When we got there we had to go outside because Fred wanted to try on these shoes he saw at Models. They are ‘toe’ shoes, remember toe socks? Well these look creepier. Then to the train, then home and I was so tired, I took my shower and went to bed. Didn’t even turn on the computer.

Aches and pains

For a while now whenever my right knee would start hurting for no apparent reason it meant some really horrible weather was coming. You’ve of weather predicting joints haven’t you?

This past winter it seemed like my knee was hurting all the time. So much so that I felt like my cane was a part of me. The days got a little warmer, then we got a forecast of snow.

Last weekend my shoulder started hurting. This was after I had been sick for a week, I thought maybe I had slept wrong or something, I put a heat pack on it. I took painkillers. Wednesday it snowed and my shoulder stopped hurting. K-rap. Now my shoulder can predict snow.

This title is sort of misleading since Em and I have not stopped our bi-weekly trips to Manhattan, what stopped was I stopped writing about them. Last year was not a good year for blogging for me, this year I have recommitted and decided that every trip will be followed up with a blog post.

Also I will be bringing my camera, which I haven’t done in a while and taking pictures. Not a lot probably, but enough to give you an idea of what we are doing. Em has a lot of food groupons, that is why we will be eating at a variety of places. Saturday lunch was at Oaxaca, 16 Extra Place, Manhattan. It is just a little fast food Mexican place, we each had two chicken molé enchiladas. They were so good, spicy hot with flavor. It’s going on our list, just have to remember where it is. Then we headed to NoHo to see Ashley. Em had to take out her piercings, and one of them was all red now. I wanted to go to the tea place that Ashley tweets about all the time. Em said sure since we didn’t have an agenda. After getting the address from Ashley we headed to Broome St.

We had already had lunch, but decided a little snack was in order, after all it was COLD Saturday and I was still having sinus and asthma problems. Friday was so nice, Saturday was not. So we got tea with scones. The scones were served with cream and jam, thick cream like butter. All very yummy. Em got mint chocolate tea, I got Chinese Black Tea, Golden Snail I think it was called. Em bought some tea and I bought a tall tea cup with an infuser and a lid.

Next stop was a fabric store, that was closed. That turned out to be o.k. because it wasn’t fabric for clothes it was fabric to home furnishing, so now Em can replace the curtains. Dinner was at a place called MotherBurger. It was quite different from Harney and Sons, which was relaxing and quiet, MotherBurger was loud and crowded. But the burgers were good, exactly to order and not to huge.

Our last stop was at Annie Moore’s. Is there any better way to end a day then with bourbon and chocolate cake? Well Em would say scotch and chocolate cake. Of course it wasn’t really the end because we ended up with a sighting of our strange friend with the long spike of hair, red and blue plaid, and some train drama. We had to wait in Harlem for an ambulance for someone on the train.

Speaking of Harlem, does anyone know of any safe neighborhoods for a little white girl to live?

For me, a spring photo is either purple crocuses or a box of tissue. I decided that most people are probably tired of hearing about my allergies so I went with pretty purple flowers.

Enjoy. That’s all, says she.

New sinuses needed

They should be in good working order, not like the ones I am dealing with now.

However I did come to work. I almost tweeted if anyone knew if tea was good for depressurizing sinuses. Instead I just made some and went in my drawer for some Aleve, because I also have a backache. I found some Zyrtec® and for a moment was happy, then realized it was antihistamine only. Then I found a pack of Flare™ gum. That’ll help! Maybe not. I’ll just have a happy mouth.

Stuck at home

Because of the weather, I have been stuck at home for two days. I was so bored today I was breaking up the ice outside my door with a hammer. Then I was shoveling it all out with an little bitty blue snow shovel (it’s designed to fit in the truck of a car, that’s why it’s itty bitty).

Then I took a break to go to Dunkin Donuts. I guess that’s not exactly stuck in the house, but I consider myself stuck if I can’t drive my car anywhere. And I couldn’t.

Bored. I am not starting an ‘I was so bored . . .’ But I did clean the snow off the cars after I got back from Dunkin’ Donuts.

If I can’t get to work tomorrow, I will probably do damage to something or someone.