Cleaning out the attic
And other things I did instead of updating this website during the past few weeks
* Ate barbecue in New York City with Tony, Shanghai native, avid reader of this website and donor to The Trip fund.
* Learned at the SoHo Apple Store that my recent hard drive crash could have been caused by using Poisoned, a file sharing application similar to Limewire. “What about BitTorrent applications?” I asked simply out of curiosity. “Any problems with those?” “We haven’t seen any technical issues with BitTorrent,” my Genius replied. “Only karma issues.” Ouch.
* Attended a charity auction in which someone seated at my table spent around $4,000 for the chance to appear in an episode of Without a Trace. That was minutes after the same guy spent around the same amount of money for Yankees tickets and a baseball autographed by Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and Randy Johnson. I thought about bidding on that — and then I remembered that I am a 31-year-old with a four-figure salary.
* Met David, designer of this site’s logo. (Proof)
* Walked past Bob Balaban near Union Square.
* Ate a curiously large slice of pizza in Washington, D.C.
* Attended a Washington Nationals game and wondered why the hell, almost four years after September 11, 2001, we still sing “God Bless America” during the seventh inning stretch.
* Ordered barbecue through bullet proof glass.
* Played the role of hipster grandpa at Built to Spill’s show at the 9:30 Club in D.C.
* Had the unique chance to explore the inner workings of Hirefrank Worldwide headquarters. (Need a techie? Meet Frank.)
* Watched several episodes of MTV’s Next — and feared for the future of America … nay, the world!
* Bowled games of 166 and 148.
* Got a speeding ticket in Hawley, Pa.
* While repeatedly looking in the rear-view mirror, noticed just how many gray hairs are sprouting up on my head. Decided I was happy I didn’t do any driving in China.
* Ate many, many Berrigan’s subs — regular, light mayo, light peppers.
* Spent time with mom and dad.
* Took lots and lots of photos of my nephew Sam, who initially wasn’t too excited about getting in a boat.
* Caught several small fish, but nothing as big as this one. (Or this one — yikes.)
* Thought it was not likely a coincidence that the New York Yankees won 10 in a row, and 16 of 18, during my first 20 days in the United States. Had no explanation why they lost six in a row after that.
* Got a physical examination at the free clinic (I haven’t had health insurance since 2002). Turns out my upper back pain is likely cause by too much computer use and a work space that is not ergonomically sound.
* Felt rather old when reminded that my college computer had just a 36 MB hard drive. 36! Megabytes! Promptly threw the computer in a dumpster.
* Took several photos of trophies and medals my brother and I won over the years. Then threw them in a dumpster.
* Revealed the contents of a box labeled “Dan’s Dolls.” (Did not throw them in dumpster.)
* Wondered if I could get even half this much for the three Michael Jordan rookie cards that I own.
* While squeezed into a middle seat with no leg room, watched bad movies during a 13-hour JAL flight from New York to Tokyo. (This was my first JAL flight. My only complaint is the fact that you can’t reserve seats in advance. I arrived at JFK 2.5 hours early and there were only middle seats left. The lady at the counter told me people started checking in four hours before I got there.)
* Forgot to ask our maid why she refuses to put anything in the refrigerator.
* Wondered whether the drilling would ever stop in my apartment building.
* Waited while we moved this website to a new server.
* Realized, once again, why her parents named her Bliss.
* Slept through 45 minutes of Revenge of the Sith … and felt as though I hadn’t missed a thing.
Photos from my trip can be found on my Flickr page. Server issues are preventing me from updating this site’s Photo Gallery. And I’m thinking of switching to Flickr full-time anyway.
06.04.2005, 3:56 PM · Observations, Travel
1 Comments
Hey!
Another Shanghai-er in New York, how about that?
Though, I guess you were here for vacation more than anything else, and I’m stuck here taking summer classes. Meh.