Best Sensory Items of 2007

With all the "best of" lists floating around, I figured I would put together a little list of my own.

Best Taste:
Kangaroo. I miss that bouncy meat. Low in fat, high in protein and Iron, and environmentally friendly! We used it for everything from burritos to spaghetti Bolognese.

Best Smell:
Gorilla Coffee. Roasted right here in Brooklyn and making it easier for me to adjust from the excellent Aussie coffees, a bag of this powdered gold sends me to heaven without ever leaving the borough.

Best Sight:
Sydney Harbour - Opera House, Harbour Bridge and all - from Kirribilli as the sun set on the day Dana and I got engaged.

Best Feeling:
Being attacked by mosquitoes in Florence. Possibly the most fun miserable night.

Best Sound:
LCD Soundsystem or Talk of the Nation - from my nano.

Pet Warfare

"An absurd future civilization, where the human capacity to empathize has been eliminated because of the absence of all household pets, reinvents creativity through massive infusions of crayons, puppets, pendulums and TV programs."

That concise description accompanied "Pet Warfare" during its release at the Notre Dame Student Film Festival in 1998. I made the short with Brian Fremeau and the help of many fellow students. Thanks to Ted Mandell at the Department of Film, Television & Theater, I have a copy of this film today! I hope you enjoy it. Please feel free to leave a comment here.

To view a higher quality version of this, click here. It works if you have QuickTime installed. I'll get other versions up after the holidays.

A Break For My Lead Arms

I have not been posting much because I have been so busy with the new apartment. Every day for weeks I've had to lift, pull, drill, hammer, pack, push, work! Don't get me wrong, it's very rewarding to see the place come together, but my arms feel like lead. So yesterday was going to be the one day I wouldn't do any physical labor. I decided to give my arms a day's rest. In the late afternoon, I was heading out to meet some friends and passed an older woman in the lobby. She had one of those large carts, packed with laundry, and she was getting into the elevator. I said hello, continued outside and didn't make it too far before I realized I forgot my phone. When I went back into the building, the woman was pulling her cart up the first step in the stairwell.
"You don't want to use the elevator?" I asked.
"It's not working," she replied.
Obviously I offered to carry it up for her. "What floor?"
"Six."
I needed the exercise.

U is for Uncompetent and also it's for Uncomparablefriends

We're in!

Saturday was the busy day, after the many busy days before it. Ben & Beth came out to South Orange on Friday night so that we could get an early start in the morning. I picked up bagels before 7AM from Sonny's, where they assured me that I would still be able to get good bagels in Brooklyn. In fact, good ole Bergen Bagel's is only a five-minute walk from our new place... I was there first thing on Sunday, at 10AM.

We also hired two professional movers we know, Edwin and Marlon, and this made the move run even smoother. Loading started at 8:20 and finished at 10:20. The result was a 17 foot U-Haul jam-packed with everything except the stuff we forgot. Not bad for only 6 pairs of hands.

My folks came and drove Dana and Beth to Brooklyn, along with some other stuff that had to get there one way or another. Ben and I took the truck. There to meet us at the new place at around noon were seven more: Cristi, Jay, Jon, Ken, Nate, Pierre and Randy. Thanks to these great friends, we were able to get the truck back to U-Haul at 2PM. It didn't stop there! As soon as all of our stuff was in the apartment, our mover/friends founds things to do: putting together the bed or the couch or the overcomplicated thing that goes over the toilet. Good friends.

We ordered Cherry Tree pizza, which was not closed, as Phil had reported, and which was excellent. The moving party turned into a regular party!

Since then, we've had the phone, Internet & cable installed. A burglar alarm, and C02 and smoke detectors. We've installed shelving and have been unpacking and organizing like mad... but the place is still not presentable. Until it is, all we have are the moving photos. I couldn't whip out the camera at the most interesting moments, like trying to get the 500lb armoire out of the truck and up four flights... if I had done that, I would have smacked myself.

*U is for Uncompetent refers to U-Haul. I suggest you never use them, even if it's cheaper.

Moving Madness!

I'll be going offline for a little bit, after we leave South Orange and before TimeWarner gets our connection running in Brooklyn. I checked out the apartment earlier this week, and it's coming along beauticiously. Magnificious. Check out the cherry wood floors and great lighting:
The kitchen and bath might be a bit tight, but they're lined with brand new tiles and even backsplash tiles above the counters:

The fact that the place looks so good is making it a lot easier to deal with the knuckleheads I've had to deal with to move. The landlord has been OK, and the super has been great... but U-Haul? Well, at one point I had to ask a customer service representative if the 'U' stands for 'Useless.' Later on, when someone who works at my pick-up location called me to say he was concerned because he was located so far from South Orange, I called customer service again. I was explaining the situation, stopping because the woman on the other end was talking to someone else. Then she would say, "Go ahead, I'm listening." I would continue. She, too, would continue... talking with her coworker about lunch.

The last thing I said was, "And so can you tell me if there is a closer location where I can pick up the truck?"
A moment later she stopped talking and said, "Go ahead, I'm listening."
"I'm done," I responded.
"Well I don't know what you want me to do."
I replied, "I just asked you a direct question. Can you answer it?"
"I'm... What do you want me to do?"
"Do you want me to repeat what I was saying?"
"No, I was listening."
"OK."
[silence]
Finally, she asks, "What did you say?"

I love these people. Really, I'm just amused at this point.

Tracks for Miles

Check out these awesome tracks!


Photography and construction by both me and my nephew.

Movember

From the people who brought you "bush tucka," "gimme a bell this arvo" and "she'll be right, mate," we now have "Movember".

That's right, what was once left to Roman emperors such as Julius Caesar and Augustus Caesar, has fallen into the hand of the Australians. They have invented a month. Do not despair! I see that look of panic at the thought of a month of eating roo, grilling prawns on the barbie and stacking pineapple and beetroot on your hamburgers, but this has nothing to do with food. It's about mustaches (moustaches). "Mo" is Aussie for hair grown on the upper lip. "Vember" was an incomplete name of a month.

As the official site explains, the month-long event is meant to raise awareness about men's health, specifically prostate cancer and depression. I can't think of a more noble reason to grow a 'stache... except maybe becoming a cop. Or joining the Village People.

The fund raising event has expanded outside of Australia, but it has not yet taken off here in the US as it has in Oz. Back in Sydney, mos were seen sprouting and growing throughout the month. Several friend of mine are participating, and if you would like to donate, click on the post-pubescent human of choice:
Ben - pictured top left looking like James Hetfield.
Cory - pictured to the right in a tough-guy/nostril-exposing pose.
Ian - not pictured because he needs as much time as possible to grow convincing facial hair.

These famous examples of moustaches are not participating: