i keep a diary

August, 2011

The August Roundup Part Two

In August of 2011, Meredith and I had sublet our Manhattan apt and were renting a little beach house in Rockaway Beach. Here are the second half of the photos I took that didn't end up in their own entry. Back to The August Roundup: Part One

Sunday, August 14th

meredith
It poured rain all day on Sunday and we were trapped inside!
beach house ˆ meredith
We escaped to a diner down the street for an afternoon breakfast during a lull in the rain.
diner ˆ food
Did a little bit of work on this site.
computer ˆ ikad ˆ laptop
It cleared up at night and I took the hound out to the beach to do some moonlight exploring!
beach ˆ moon
Moon jellyfish! (Aurelia aurita.)
jellyfish
maddy
Maddy saw them in the waves and was convinced they were some kind of weird...
beach ˆ maddy
...frisbees! Noooooo!
jellyfish

Monday, August 15th

Meredith woke me because I was having some weird about a dream where someone was trying to steal my baby dragon and I was making all sorts of noises. Haha.
roof ˆ squirrel
Healthy pasta lunch!
food ˆ pasta
maddy
Took the dog for a long walk near the beach. (No dogs allowed when there's people around)
boardwalk ˆ rockaway beach ˆ maddy
Then rode my bike down the boardwalk to Fort Tilden. Spotted this window jailbreaker on the way.
dogs ˆ window
Hey, you guys aren't partying down there are you?
dog ˆ rockaway beach ˆ window ˆ wtf
It's really surreal to be on a beach as deserted as Fort Tilden sometimes is on a weekday.
beach ˆ fort tilden
Not a single person in sight in either direction.
beach ˆ fort tilden
There's a path that runs behind the beach.
beach ˆ fort tilden
If you follow it for a bit...
beach ˆ fort tilden
...eventually, you'll find a pillbox bunker from when Fort Tilden was an active fort.
beach ˆ bunker ˆ fort tilden
View of the beach from the pillbox roof.
beach ˆ bunker ˆ fort tilden
Climb on down!
beach ˆ bunker ˆ fort tilden ˆ graffiti ˆ ladder
The view from inside.
beach ˆ bunker ˆ fort tilden ˆ graffiti
This slit was so that you could shoot a giant .50 caliber gun. Crazytown.
beach ˆ bunker ˆ fort tilden
While I was looking out over the beach, a group of six Mustang P-51s flew by in formation.
airplane ˆ fort tilden
Return to the surface.
beach ˆ bunker ˆ fort tilden ˆ graffiti ˆ ladder
Ladder up!
beach ˆ best ˆ bunker ˆ fort tilden ˆ ladder
Back outside, I decided to wander around more and check out some of the other abandoned buildings.
fort tilden
Old barracks falling apart.
fort tilden
Neat graffiti inside.
fort tilden ˆ graffiti
Looks like a shooting gallery from an old arcade game.
fort tilden ˆ graffiti
Elephant.
fort tilden ˆ graffiti
I love this kind of foliage near the water.
beach ˆ fort tilden
Another building closer to the parking lot.
fort tilden
Stencil work.
fort tilden ˆ graffiti
A little after 3pm, I picked up my bike...
beach ˆ bike ˆ horns ˆ shadow
...and started heading back. Really fun to have an empty, wide-open path where you can pedal around...
bike ˆ biking ˆ fort tilden
me
...with no hands!
biking ˆ fort tilden ˆ sunglasses ˆ me
Empty Jacob Riis Park.
fort tilden
Cloudwave.
clouds ˆ rockaway beach
On the way home, I dropped a few books off at the library...
book
...and picked up some new ones! (When I'm vacation I am a reading machine. If I've got the time, I'll sometimes go through 4 or 5 books a week!)
book
maddy
Later that evening...
laptop ˆ maddy
Meredith was in Manhattan working so I had to feed myself. Haha.
food ˆ laptop ˆ temporary tees
maddy
Not impressed.
maddy

Tuesday, August 16th

One thing about living near the beach, no matter how much you sweep and vacuum, there will always be lots of sand.
beach house ˆ feet ˆ sand ˆ sunglasses
We went up to the boardwalk, got Thai iced coffees...
boardwalk ˆ rockaway beach
...and watched the surfers for a while.
boardwalk ˆ rockaway beach
me
A little later that afternoon, we went to the local diner around the corner. While we were waiting for our food to come, we played a game where the other person would make up a sentence...
diner ˆ drawing ˆ me
...and you'd have to draw a picture to go along with it! I drew first. Here's "Yeti exiting his yurt."
drawing
Farmer's disappointment!
drawing
Midnight under the boardwalk.
drawing
Getting weirder! Luckily...
drawing
...our food arrived before things went any further.
diner ˆ food
Page from Meredith's awesome sketchbook!
drawing
meredith
We walked back to our place...
meredith
maddy, me, meredith
...and got the royal welcome from the weiner hound!
excited ˆ lick ˆ maddy ˆ me ˆ meredith
Later that afternoon, I went surfing for a few hours.
rockaway beach
Sun setting over the garden on our block!
garden ˆ rockaway beach
While strolling around the neighborhood...
rockaway beach ˆ sunset
...I stumbled upon a body!
bird ˆ dead
Located a nearby suspect, chilling. Who me?
cat
maddy, meredith
Later that night, we snuggled with Maddy on the couch and watched...
maddy ˆ meredith
...Truffaut's version of Fahrenheit 451.
movie ˆ tv

Thursday, August 18th

I'd been renting longboards for most of the summer, but for the last few days I'd been trying out a used shortboard (6' 4") that was for sale trying to decide if I should buy it.
beach house ˆ surf
I got up early on Thursday morning...
beach house ˆ rockaway beach
...and headed back to the water.
beach house
Quiet lineup!
rockaway beach ˆ surf
me
Here's me a few hours later after my new board clocked me in the face. I buried my nose, went over the front of the board, and when I came up for air, the edge of my board bonked me in the forehead right above my left eye and the sharp-edge of one of the fins when into the meat of my nose where the bridge meets the brow. I saw stars and had those few moments where I was afraid to take my hand away from my face because I was expecting a lot of blood. All things considered, I got off relatively unscathed!
ouch ˆ point ˆ surf ˆ me
After cleaning up my cut...
boardwalk ˆ feet ˆ walking
...and some lunch...
food ˆ thai food
...I went back out until the sun went down!
airplane ˆ rockaway beach ˆ sunset
me
Meredith snapped this pic of me fully fast asleep by 9pm. Haha.
asleep ˆ happy ˆ me

Friday, August 19th

mike doyle
Mike was in NYC from San Francisco and came out for a visit!
taco ˆ thumbs up ˆ mike doyle
We went over to Rockaway Taco and ordered up a feast!
food ˆ taco
catrinel, mike doyle
Later that evening, Cat came out and joined us and we went to the beach!
beach house ˆ catrinel ˆ mike doyle
catrinel, meredith
Cat and Mer made...
beach house ˆ catrinel ˆ meredith
...an awesome dinner and we watched Endless Summer on my laptop.
food
catrinel, maddy
Maddy likes to cuddle our sleepover buddies.
bed ˆ catrinel ˆ maddy

Saturday, August 20th

catrinel, meredith
We hit the beach early on Saturday.
beach ˆ rockaway beach ˆ surf ˆ catrinel ˆ meredith
Later that afternoon, Quinn, Josh & Lisa all came out for a beach day!
Backflip!
action shot ˆ best ˆ flip ˆ jump
josh newman, lisa n, quinn
Thanks for coming out to visit!
beach ˆ josh newman ˆ lisa n ˆ quinn
Meredith made Indian food for dinner.
food
maddy, meredith
The couch seems like it was designed to camouflage Maddy!
couch ˆ maddy ˆ meredith
maddy
GRIMPLE!
maddy

Sunday, August 21st

catrinel
On Sunday, Catrinel's friends came out to surf!
beach house ˆ rockaway beach ˆ surf ˆ catrinel
catrinel, meredith
Later that evening, everyone came back to our place for dinner and drinks!
couch ˆ catrinel ˆ meredith
After dinner, I hid away in the bedroom to get some work done! After a few weeks of meeting with Yipit and discuss various projects that I might be able to help with, they hired me to help them define the scope and functionality of their very first mobile app and then help them find an iOS shop to get it built! They were Flux Capacity's very first client (besides Yodle). After I made some flow sketches...
drawing ˆ flux capacity ˆ work ˆ yipit
...I busted out Balsamiq and put together some basic wireframe to review with Yipit's awesome co-founder, Vin (his blog is awesome, BTW!).
flux capacity ˆ work ˆ yipit
Writing software is one of the most expensive and risky endeavors you can take-on as a business!
flux capacity ˆ work ˆ yipit
At Flux Capacity, I specialize in helping companies make sure that they're using their development resources as a means of achieving specific & measurable business goals. Sometimes, it looks like this!
flux capacity ˆ work
catrinel, meredith
Later that night, we watched a movie!
catrinel ˆ meredith

Monday, August 22nd

On Monday morning, I busted out the first aid kit...
ouch
me
...and put some ointment on my nose bridge! And then got wet!
ouch ˆ me
Our landlord didn't like that we were using his scaffolding as our drying rack. Wah wah.
beach house ˆ surf
meredith
A little after noon, Meredith and I...
rockaway beach ˆ meredith
...headed down the boardwalk.
rockaway beach
Had ourselves a nice Thai lunch...
food ˆ thai food
...and then we rented bicycles!
bike ˆ boardwalk ˆ rockaway beach
meredith
Meredith had a terrible bike accident when she was a little kid and never really got around to getting back on one so we decided to give it a shot!
bike ˆ boardwalk ˆ rockaway beach ˆ meredith
meredith
Get it!
bike ˆ boardwalk ˆ meredith
We rode all the way from one end of the boardwalk...
boardwalk
...to the other!
boardwalk
Back at the homestead, we did a little more exploring of the junk-filled cottage next door.
beach house
Porch ivy.
ivy ˆ porch
Chock-full of good stuff!
beach house
Bonus cake!
cake
maddy, meredith
We took the pooch for a nice long beach walk...
beach ˆ moon ˆ rockaway beach ˆ maddy ˆ meredith
...and watched the marvelous sunset.
beach ˆ rockaway beach ˆ sunset
CRABS BEWARE!
rockaway beach
maddy
Back at the house, I read The Lonely Polygamist: A Novel on the couch with my buddy until I fell asleep!
book ˆ maddy

Tuesday, August 23rd

meredith
Cake for breakfast is what's up.
cake ˆ kitchen ˆ meredith
After finishing up my work for the morning...
ivy ˆ walking
...you guessed it!
beach ˆ best ˆ rockaway beach
Feeling pinchy.
crab
Here are some pics of the beach collecting I did. Shells.
hand ˆ seashell
Beach glass!
hand ˆ seashell
Someone's glasses!
glasses
More crab hands!
crab
Made this saucy little sculpture! I named him CROORS!
crab ˆ trash
meredith
Later that afternoon, I met Meredith at the restaurant called RESTAURANT around the corner from our place.
drawing ˆ meredith
meredith
YOU'RE THE KIND OF PERSON WHO ORDERS PASTA AT A DINER!
diner ˆ pasta ˆ meredith
Afterwards, we went to the library! My selections.
book
Meredith's picks!
book
maddy, meredith
Sunset walk with the dog.
rockaway beach ˆ sunset ˆ maddy ˆ meredith
Ice cream man dessert!
ice cream ˆ rockaway beach

Wednesday, August 24th

ellen, meredith
On Wednesday afternoon, Ellen came out to visit and hit the beach!
beach ˆ rockaway beach ˆ ellen ˆ meredith
ellen
Cheese fries!
french fries ˆ ellen
meredith
Meredith and Ellen went dollar store shopping and Mer got a shiny hat. Haha.
hat ˆ meredith
Night walk!
rockaway beach ˆ sunset
We stayed up late watching (almost all of) Downton Abbey.
laptop ˆ tv

Thursday, August 25th

me, meredith
On Thursday morning we got up early to head into Manhattan...
me ˆ meredith
maddy
...and to drop off Maddy with Caiti in preparation for us driving out to Ohio for Steve and Rachel's wedding!
dog in a bag ˆ subway platform ˆ maddy

Wednesday, August 31st

Fast forward a week later and we're back in town from the wedding and picked this guy back up!
I got up early and went surfing...
...and got gashed by my new board's fin again.
Gash number two! Scars are cool, right? Happy August 2011!

5 comments

  • christopher cochrandecember 11, 2013

    What a cool airplane sighting. What's even cooler is that those are a bit more unusual airplanes than the P-51 Mustang. You see there isn't any way they could be P-51's because they have rotary engines and a non-retractable tail wheel. I think they are 4F4 Wildcats, given the visible tail wheel. They could be SBD Dauntless fighter-bombers, I just can't tell. Still, what an awesome, historically relevant, rumble they must've made whilst in an old coastal battery.

    • brian battjerdecember 17, 2013

      Hey, Dr. Cochran! Great to hear from you! Thanks for the clarification! It was indeed an awesome to hear them roar by while I was inside the bunker! I heard them coming well before I saw them and when they finally made it into view, I was very confused! I felt like I'd fallen through some bizzaro rift in time-space. Do you fly planes yourself? My paternal grandfather piloted a Northrop P-61 Black Widow in the Pacific theater in WWII. Here's a picture of his plane and another of him alongside it!

      • christopher cochrandecember 18, 2013

        Wow! What great photos! The "Black Widow" is one of my favorite planes from WWII. Private plane crashes are the number one cause of accidental death amongst physicians, and I realize that I am not nearly disciplined enough to take care of all the tiny details involved in piloting. I'll stick to growing bees, trees, and vegetables! I just love all things history and once became keenly interested in the planes of WWII. As an adult, I tend to focus more on the humans that were at war, rather than the weapons they fought with. When you can experience history that causes the hair to bristle on your neck, it is profoundly moving. I have a recording of my grandfather in an interview a cousin did many years ago regarding his infantry experiences in the Benelux and western Germany. The combination of the voice of a long dead ancestor, and the poignant history he relates is frankly too powerful for me to listen to very often. Still, it is so good to be connected, even if it is a little painful. Best wishes!

  • yoalis korenjanuary 24, 2014

    Hey Brian, I've been casually reading your blog for a few years, and you just gave me a great idea! renting a little beach house in the beach close to the city (we work in manhattan) where we can just spend our lazy summers! I was wondering if you had any info for the home you rented or if you know anyone we can talk to to rent? I've been looking for a week or two and cant seem to find anything, and we all know how reliable Cragslist could be.. anything you can share will be helpful... I think you can see my personal email, let me know your thoughts when you have time :) gracias!