i keep a diary

August, 2012

The August Roundup

Here are all the photos I took in August of 2012 that didn't end up in their own entry!

Thursday, August 2nd

Peeking into one of the old theaters they're renovating on Avenue A.
construction ˆ east village
Fantastic veggie bahn mi and a weird e-book someone recommended to me that I found interesting. As someone who's always had difficulty "imagining the future," I found this book's suggestion to re-framing that as "remembering future memories" very freeing and lovely.
book ˆ sandwich

Sunday, August 5th

On Sunday evening, I took Maddy for a walk to Tompkins and noticed that the main tree inside the ring had a branch broken while we were away in Cleveland
tompkins ˆ tree
I'd recently gotten a new camera and way playing around with the Miniature mode.
tompkins ˆ tree
maddy
Miniature Maddy!
dog ˆ maddy
maddy
Dachshunds are so stubborn. Maddy is always pulling in the direction she wants to go in.
dog ˆ maddy
maddy
This way! Unnngh!
dog ˆ maddy
amanda, grant, meredith
Later Sunday evening, Grant and Amanda came over to watch season 3 of Louie...
e9th apt ˆ tv ˆ amanda ˆ grant ˆ meredith
louis ck
...and it was the first episode with Parker Posey! So gooood.
tv ˆ louis ck
An assortment of delicious treats were served.
treats

Monday, August 6th

meredith
Meredith cooking up a Monday evening feast for me and Ellen!
cooking ˆ e9th apt ˆ kitchen ˆ point ˆ meredith
Veggie lasagna and...
cooking ˆ italian food
....bruschetta (with pepper & olive tapenade?). Whatever it was it was so delicious it didn't make it off the baking sheet. Haha.
cooking
ellen, maddy
DOGSCARF!
best ˆ scarf ˆ ellen ˆ maddy
Twilight walk to Tompkins.
sunset

Wednesday, August 8th

caiti, meredith
Happy 36th birthday to me! Went to the dog park with Meredith and Caiti...
dog park ˆ tompkins ˆ caiti ˆ meredith
maddy
...and it was a total weinerfest! There were 4 other doxies there besides Maddy. So funny.
dog ˆ dog park ˆ tompkins ˆ maddy
Also, this guy.
dog park ˆ dogs ˆ tompkins ˆ tongue
The weirdo Amazon birthday purchases I made for myself arrived right on time! A book and a poster about myofascial trigger point therapy along with...
birthday ˆ book ˆ gift
...a thing called a Thera Cane that allows you to get at hard to reach muscle-knots on your back. (While I'll still occasionally use this and it's awesome, I know pretty much recommend buying a lacrosse ball and using it to roll against a wall. Much easier!)
gift ˆ massage ˆ theracane
If you have on going muscle pain or soreness, this is your new best friend. The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook
book ˆ massage
doug, maddy, meredith
Look what else showed up on my birthday! Doug was in town from Finland.
door ˆ e9th apt ˆ doug ˆ maddy ˆ meredith
We went out for Mexican. Spinach burrito.
food ˆ mexican
doug, meredith
Puebla is awesome.
food ˆ mexican ˆ doug ˆ meredith
Orangey deliciousness.
chips ˆ food ˆ mexican
doug
Catching up and listening to music with Doug. After a few warm-up drinks...
computer ˆ doug
doug, john roche
..we headed over to Dream Baby for birthday drinks. Doug & John!
doug ˆ john roche
catrinel, leigh, meredith, ryan m
Birthday friends who came out late on a Wednesday on short notice! ;)
best ˆ birthday ˆ pretty ˆ catrinel ˆ leigh ˆ meredith ˆ ryan m
How is it possible that a place only open for a few weeks has a bathroom that already looks like this? Bathroom anger!
bathroom ˆ graffiti
doug, john roche, me
I've known and loved these two since 1994. Thanks for helping me celebrate another year!
best ˆ birthday ˆ doug ˆ john roche ˆ me
doug, john roche
Obligatory too-late slices.
pizza ˆ doug ˆ john roche

Thursday, August 9th

maddy, meredith
Look who I found couch snoozing together in the afternoon?
couch ˆ maddy ˆ meredith
maddy
Such a blankety grimple. Meredith went off for an evening of Johnny Airmart Filipino grocery shopping adventures with Caiti while...
dogs ˆ maddy
doug, john roche, me, vin
...I met up with these guys at Bowery Ballroom to see...
doug ˆ john roche ˆ me ˆ vin
...Braid perform 1998's Frame & Canvas at Bowery Ballroom!
band
Back in November of 2001 I was living in Greenpoint in Indoorvillage and going through a bad breakup. Dennis asked Josh and I if he could use the dodgeball.com domain we'd been hosting our college websites on for a new graduate school project. We agreed which meant I had to come up with a new domain name and settled on "I Keep a Diary" after the name of the last song on Frame & Canvas. Still a good song! Play the vid and emo-ducate yourself.
video
It was an excellent show.
band ˆ best
I like this record very much.
band

Friday, August 10th

doug, maddy, meredith
Friday was Doug's last morning staying with us. We send Maddy in to wake him up! Haha.
best ˆ doug ˆ maddy ˆ meredith
maddy, meredith
Hound dog hate the rain.
e9th apt ˆ rain ˆ maddy ˆ meredith
My new plant is settling in nicely.
plant
maddy
Homemade salads...
food ˆ salad ˆ maddy
...and garlic bread...
food ˆ garlic ˆ italian food
...and pizza from Gruppo! Pineapple & jalapeno.
food ˆ pizza
caitlin
Later that night, Grant and I went to the Mercury Lounge to see Caitlin's amazing live band, The Broadcast.
band ˆ caitlin
caitlin
Caitlin chatted with fans at the merch table after the show.
band ˆ caitlin
We went back in to watch Hank & Cupcakes
band
caitlin, grant, me
Always lovely to see you, Caitlin!
caitlin ˆ grant ˆ me
Tag overwrite. Jimjoe gets Rimjobbed. Haha.
graffiti

Saturday, August 11th

While out walking Maddy on Saturday morning...
clouds ˆ tree
theresa
...I ran into my neighbor Theresa. We got to chatting and she invited me into her studio (that's attached to my building)...
best ˆ theresa
theresa
...so I could take some photos...
theresa
...of the baby sparrow she'd rescued and had nursed back to health!
bird ˆ sparrow
Properly fed...
bird ˆ sparrow
...and watered!
bird ˆ sparrow
theresa
Not only is Theresa a talented and prolific painter, she also puts on elaborately staged performance pieces as well.
art ˆ flyer ˆ theresa
theresa
Theresa in her awesome home-constructed greenhouse (that our mutual landlord would eventually evict her for having. Doh!)
theresa

Sunday, August 12th

grant, me, meredith
On Sunday morning Meredith, Grant and myself...
east village ˆ walking ˆ grant ˆ me ˆ meredith
hans
...walked around the corner to Hans' place to catch a ride to Rockaway beach. Hans is an excellent surfboard-stacker.
car ˆ east village ˆ surf ˆ hans
meredith, piper
Meredith holds Piper while the car gets loaded up.
construction ˆ dogs ˆ east village ˆ meredith ˆ piper
piper
Piper slept in Ellen's elbow crook the whole drive out. Haha.
asleep ˆ cute ˆ dogs ˆ driving ˆ piper
Beach 86.
beach ˆ rockaway beach
grant, meredith
Waiting for Hans & Ellen to park the car.
beach ˆ boardwalk ˆ rockaway beach ˆ grant ˆ meredith
Po-po beach cruiser and no waves.
beach ˆ nypd ˆ ocean ˆ police ˆ rockaway beach
Headed home.

Monday, August 13th

doug, maddy, meredith
After coming back from visiting his family late on Sunday night, Doug stayed at our place one last night before heading back to Finland! Saying goodbye to Meredith & Maddy.
best ˆ kiss ˆ lick ˆ tongue ˆ doug ˆ maddy ˆ meredith
doug, me
Bon voyage, Dr. McGraw!
best ˆ doug ˆ me
Monday bike commute to a client in midtown.
biking
Came home to find large, green-tinged cicada on our apartment's threshold. Snapped a few pics and then moved him over to a nearby tree.
bugs ˆ cicada
So gross / amazing. Here's an animated gif of a cicada molting from a nymph into the even more horrible end-result you see here! I hope you remember this the next time you eat a lobster. Ew!
bugs ˆ cicada
me
Oh, you know just a relaxing Tuesday night at home using my new body atlas to help me find ass-knots with my weirdo cane. You?
couch ˆ massage ˆ theracane ˆ wtf ˆ me

Wednesday, August 15th

kristen s
On Wednesday I got to spend the afternoon working with my very favoritest UX / designer on designing a new product test for GLG.
flux capacity ˆ laptop ˆ work ˆ kristen s
kristen s
From brains cards to photos to design to working HTML product test in ten days. Easy peasy.
flux capacity ˆ laptop ˆ work ˆ kristen s
maddy, meredith
Getting ready to walk the beast.
living room ˆ maddy ˆ meredith
Later on I biked over to Chelsea to see Leigh & Randy's new apt. Their new lobby sort of looks like something out of the The Shining...
floor ˆ lobby
leigh
...but it's got nothing on their creepy, clown-insane-asylum basement!
basement ˆ leigh
Stay away from the open doors!
basement ˆ door
leigh
Run! Clowns!
basement ˆ door ˆ leigh
You know how they have dummies at barber school and you practice cutting their hair? Well, it turns out they have something similar in brain surgery school! Proudly displayed on the living room shelf is a practice-skull where you can see some of Randy's early handiwork; practicing stitching-up the meninges. That's sure one tough mother!
skull
Your craniotomy isn't complete until you've securely screwed the bone flap back into place! ("Bone flap" is the most made-up-sounding actual medical term).
skull
Chelsea sunset
sunset

Thursday, August 16th

On Thursday afternoon, my parents were in town visiting from NJ. I rode my bike over to the subway...
biking ˆ nyc ˆ taxi
...and then took the 6 train all they way up to...
subway
...the Bronx. Then walked another 10 blocks or so...
nyc ˆ walking
dad, mom
Happy 42nd Anniversary!
garden ˆ dad ˆ mom
dad, mom
Riding the tram around the arboreta! The park is over 250 acres!
garden ˆ dad ˆ mom
Small waterfall in the Bronx River.
garden ˆ park ˆ river ˆ waterfall
me, mom
Mom & me.
me ˆ mom
Into the conservatory!
garden
mom
Mom checking out the indoor lily pads.
garden ˆ mom
Love these saw-like leaves.
garden ˆ plant
Nature already invented all the best stuff. I want to wallpaper my apartment with these.
plant
This plant's flowers looked like mushrooms!
flower ˆ plant
Huge fuzzy bumble bee!
bee ˆ flower ˆ garden
dad, mom
Mom & Dad on the bridge. Awww.
bridge ˆ garden ˆ dad ˆ mom
Venus Flytraps - the world's most well-known carnivorous plant!
garden ˆ plant
Succulents have such lovely radial geometry. God is not a man in the sky with a beard, but that doesn't mean we can't still see his face. Behold the Φ spiral!
cactus ˆ plant
After we'd thoroughly explored the conservatory, we headed out back to check out...
garden
lilypad
...the excellent lily pad pond. The big pads with edges are Victoria amazonica, and they can grow as large as ten feet in diameter!
garden ˆ lilypad
dad, me
garden ˆ dad ˆ me

Friday, August 17th

leigh, ryan m
On Friday afternoon I met up with Leigh and Ryan and we went for a ride down the West Side bike path.
bike ˆ biking ˆ leigh ˆ ryan m
leigh, ryan m
Leigh and her new bike, HERCULES.
bike ˆ biking ˆ skate ˆ leigh ˆ ryan m
Mac & cheese dinner courtesy of S'MAC. Mmmm.
food ˆ pasta
Late Friday night, we took the Port Authority bus down to south Jersey to visit with my family.
bus

Saturday, August 18th

amy b, dad
Spent Saturday on the back porch catching up with Brett and Amy...
nj ˆ amy b ˆ dad
maddy, teddy
...our hot dogs roasted in the sun.
dogs ˆ maddy ˆ teddy
Brett lent me his bike...
bike
mom
.and my mom led...
bike ˆ biking ˆ mom
meredith
...Meredith and me on a bike ride...
bike ˆ biking ˆ meredith
...through the pine barrens!
biking ˆ trees
Biking home!
biking ˆ sunset
After working up an appetite we headed to il Giardino in Forked River...
restaurant ˆ walking
...for an Italian feast.
food ˆ italian food
brett, meredith, mom
On the way home, we stopped off at the store to pick up some playing cards and treats.
shopping ˆ brett ˆ meredith ˆ mom
After leaving the store, I had trouble getting the folding seat in my dad's truck to lock back into place. I raised it and slammed it down several times, but still no luck. I raised the seat to investigate and immediate found the culprit......MY PHONE! Doh. The screen was totally shattered and the phone was bent into a few funny angles but it was still completely functional! Yaaaaay....boooooo.
broken ˆ phone
amy b, mom
Amy spent the evening trying to teach us how to play euchre.
cards ˆ amy b ˆ mom

Sunday, August 19th

maddy, meredith
Any time Maddy sees luggage come out, she gets nervous she's going to get left behind and so she tries to make sure she's sitting on one of us at all times.
couch ˆ maddy ˆ meredith
maddy, me
Don't worry buddy, we're all headed home!
best ˆ driving ˆ mirror ˆ maddy ˆ me

Friday, August 24th

Worked from home on Friday.
e9th apt ˆ nyc
maddy
Spend the afternoon on the daybed with Maddy mapping out all the screens and functionality...
computer ˆ flux capacity ˆ laptop ˆ work ˆ maddy
...for a new version of the SuperGlued app.
flux capacity ˆ phone ˆ work
maddy
After I'd finished up work, I spent the rest of the day creating diary entries out of a bunch of photos from the summer of 2010.
computer ˆ e9th apt ˆ home office ˆ maddy
Snapshot of the things on my board....
home office
...and the books on my shelf. Including a nice portrait of Trungpa Rinpoche that Shambhala sent me as a gift.
home office ˆ shelves
amanda, pauly
Pauly was in town visiting. Amanda came over to meet up with us...
amanda ˆ pauly
amanda, pauly
...and we went to Satsko for a sake-ridden catch-up.
sake ˆ amanda ˆ pauly

Saturday, August 25th

Running some errands via bike on Saturday morning and came across a block closed off to traffic for pedestrians.
There aren't many things I covet...
car ˆ convertible
...and this mystery RV are on the short list of vehicles that I would love to own if I were an oil baron.
rv
maddy, meredith
Later that afternoon we took Maddy on a long walk across FDR...
maddy ˆ meredith
...over to East River Park.
bridge ˆ east river park ˆ flower
Spent the rest of the afternoon making a bootable drive and updating all of my computers to Mountain Lion.
Installation selfie. Frustration level 6/10.
Aki was in town visiting and Grant organized a get together at Gallow Green...
roof
... the new rooftop space they opened in the McKitterage Hotel above Sleep No More.
bar ˆ roof
aki, amanda, liz, meredith
Aki, Liz, Mer & Amanda.
roof ˆ aki ˆ amanda ˆ liz ˆ meredith
amanda, david k
Amanda & DKNY.
amanda ˆ david k

Sunday, August 26th

We spent Sunday going through our apartment and finding stuff to get rid of.
e9th apt ˆ stuff i got rid of
See ya later games, I had a lot of fun playing you!
stuff i got rid of ˆ videogames

Monday, August 27th

On Monday morning we woke up to discover that a storm had blown a branch off of the willow tree across the street and covered a few of the cars parked underneath.
tree
dash
Dash standing on the roof of his van...
tree ˆ dash
dash
...trying to hack his van's way to freedom.
tree ˆ dash
We have a neighborhood bulletin board...
flyer
...this is my favorite flyer on it. I like how "Noise" has been capitalized into a proper noun. WHO CAN STOP IT? Haha.
flyer

Tuesday, August 28th

By Tuesday morning, the big boys had been called in to help clear the tree-mess across the street.
tree ˆ truck
frank
On Tuesday night Mer and I went to Sidewalk Cafe to see Frank play drums with a karaoke band.
karaoke ˆ frank
amanda, grant, meredith
Fellow karaoke enthusiasts Grant and Amanda were there!
amanda ˆ grant ˆ meredith
Late night group singalong!
karaoke ˆ strangers

Thursday, August 30th

jeet
Gurj & Jared came over for a hang after work on Thursday. Laughing about the invite on our fridge. Thirteen months and counting until...
refrigerator ˆ thumbs up ˆ jeet
...Gurj & Jared's wedding! Eeeep!
flyer ˆ wedding
Later that evening we went to the Comedy Cellar to check out the 10pm show!
comedy ˆ sign

Friday, August 31st

On Friday afternoon, I met up with Grant in Soho and we headed up these hardly-marked stairs...
graffiti ˆ stairs
grant
...to the well-hidden but worth-finding store of strange gifts and inventions, KiOSK.
shopping ˆ grant
I purchased this wax offering head...
gift ˆ shopping
...and a box of Paine's cedar incense ($7) I burn this every day! Smells so good!
gift ˆ incense
Smoky Maine goodness. Happy August 2012!
incense ˆ smoke