Weekend Fun

Recap of last weekend:

Friday: Met up with the Boy after work for dinner at Sasabune on 73rd and First Avenue. The place was really tiny and cramped, but the sushi was fresh and tasty. The staff fired the dishes out quickly, one after another. Three quarters through, I was so stuffed that I started slipping the Boy half my dishes.
Saturday: Lounged around the apartment for half a day, did some online shopping and then went shopping in the neighborhood with the Boy. We stopped by the local gym (NYSC) to check out the rates and facility.
Sunday: The Boy and I had our free trial day at the gym. We decided to check out a boxing class and a yoga class. The boxing class was intense. The instructor ran it like a boot camp with us starting off running laps. Partway through, he barked for us to drop and do 20, then back to running laps, until he barked for us to leapfrog down, push-up, leapfrog back down, push-up, etc. I realized how uncoordinated I was when we had to shadow box with ourselves in front of a mirror. My movements were slow and weak. The Boy and I were so beat and dripping with sweat after the half hour warm up drills, but we didn't want to give up just yet. Next, we got our boxing gloves and took turns at a punching bag while the instructor did his one-on-one rounds. I'd never boxed before in my life, so I had no idea what I was doing.

Instructor: Give me a right hook!
Me: Huh?
Instructor: Do this.
I gave a left hook.
Instructor: Right!
I gave another left hook.
Instructor: Right!
Another left hook.
Classmate: Try your other right.
Finally, the right hook.
Instructor: Uppercut!
Me: Huh?
Instructor: Do this.
Then the instructor swung his pad at my head, stopping short of hitting me.
Blank stare from me.
Instructor: You're supposed to duck.
Me: Oh, right.

Needless to say, yoga went much better.

Afterwards, I went home, showered and headed out to meet a friend for tea. We met at Trader Joes and did a bit of grocery shopping first. This took forever, as the line wrapped around the entire store. When we finally got out of there, we walked over to Astor Place to meet another friend for a snack/tea at Cha-an. They have the best tasting green tea cocktail! It tastes exactly like green tea ice cream! Mmmm!

I had to run after an hour to meet the Boy for dinner. We'd planned to have sushi again, but our plans changed when the Boy's friend wanted to double date. The Boy had a craving for ramen and was looking for Rai Rai Kan back at Astor Place again, but couldn't find it, so we ended up back at our tried and true favorite, O Taisho!, where we ordered a bunch of new dishes. We finished the night off with dessert at Veniero's.

Monday: I had Monday off because of MLK, but didn't do much. The impact of yesterday's boot camp kicked in, as I could barely move for most of the day.

Tripping and Falling Through Work

Ususally this time of year, work's not so busy as things are still starting up after the new year. But this year's started off pretty hectic for me. Just yesterday, I had an especially embarrassing "deer in the headlights" moment, and today I managed to boot myself out of an access list during a fit of frustration.

(For confidentiality purposes, I've substituted the topic of discussion to something which I am equally oblivious)

Ring! Ring!

Hello?

Hey, LANYTransplant, I need you to sit in on a meeting I just pulled together and take notes. ___ is on vacation, so can you fill in? Don't worry, we're just trying to figure out what's going on.

Alright. I can do that. But I'm not too familiar with the topic.

It's alright. Just sit in.

Meeting in progress:

Client: Alright, so I guess you guys have called this meeting together to discuss our evapotranspiration estimation process. Evapotranspiration occurs when a watershed loses a significant amount of water. We need to calculate the potential evapotranspiration in order to determine the proper level of irrigation for our farms. When the potential evapotranspiration exceeds actual precipitation, we need proper irrigation to prevent the soil from drying out.

What the hell is he talking about? Whatever, just take notes.

Coworker: Alright, so how do you calculate the potential evapotranspiration?

Client: Well, we create an equation of the water balance of the watershed. The change in water is a function of precipitation, estimated evapotranspiration, streamflow and groundwater recharge.
Do you agree?

Coworker: Ummm, let me think about it for a second...yes, that sounds right. Wait a minute, LANYTransplant, I need your expert opinion here. Please tell me if this is right, or suggest an alternate method. Can you think of some other way?

WTF?! I don't know! What are you guys talking about anyway?

(Dead silence, pressure mounting for a response from me)

Me: Ummm, well...uh...

(More dead silence, beads of sweat begin to form above my brow)

Me: Well...I'll have to think about it and get back to you.

(Dead silence and disbelief)

Wrong answer! Doh!

Then later the next day while trying to log onto a system:

Enter userid, enter password.
System response: You are already logged on. Acess denied.
What?! No I'm not.
Re-enter userid, re-enter password.
System response: You are aleady logged on. Access denied.
Argh!
Frustrated, I begin tapping the keyboard repeatedly to release my anger.
Quit tapping me you annoying little...! Tap me one more time and I'll...
Tap.
System response: Error. Your user id has been revoked. Please contact an administrator for help.
Brilliant. Now I was as useless as a new employee who wasn't set up for anything. How would I explain this to my manager?

Summer in January!

The weather this past Saturday was unusually warm. It was 68 degrees and sunny! 68 degrees! Yes, I know, my old LA self would have though, "What?! That's freezing! It's too cold to do anything outside! Damn winter weather!"

People were out roaming the city in T-shirts and shorts. The Boy and I decided to take advantage of such nice weather and spend the whole day out. We first took a stroll through Central Park, occasionally stopping to sit and people watch while sunbathing (yes, I remembered my SPF). Afterwards, we headed down to Union Square and walked to somewhere near Astor Place, looking for a good lunch spot. We walked and walked and walked until we hit the outskirts of Alphabet City and turned back around to get a wrap and rice bowl at Momofuku Ssam Bar on 2nd and 13th street.

I ordered the toasted nori rice bowl with angus beef brisket and a bunch of sides, while the Boy ordered the original Ssam wrap. Halfway through eating, the Boy suggested that we switch so that we'd be able to try eachother's food. I handed him my bowl, and he gave me his wrap. The wrap was good, but I liked my bowl better. With the way the Boy was attacking my bowl, I couldn't tell if he was just really hungry (we hadn't eaten much all day) or if he really really liked it. He looked over at me eating his wrap and smiled. If he liked the bowl that much, I felt bad about asking for it back. So, for the next five minutes, we ate each other's orders and people watched, occasionally smiling back at each other. Then I decided to comment:

Your wrap's good, but the bowl is better.

(Boy) Thank god! Give me back my wrap. With the way you were eating it, I thought I'd piss you off if I tried to pry it out of your hands.

How silly it would have been if I hadn't said anything! Afterwards, we walked on Bleecker street from the east side all the way to Greenwich Village on the west side where we popped into Amy's Bread (their red velvet cake was all sold out as usual) and Murray's Cheese Shop before settling on a bench to people watch and enjoy the weather.

New Year's Celebration

I took my usual redeye back into New York after spending a week in LA visiting friends and family. For some reason, I don't sleep so well on planes anymore. I used to fall asleep shortly after takeoff and wake right before landing.

I got in at around 6:45AM, took the subway back home, unpacked a bit, showered and then fell asleep until a little before noon. I ended up taking another 2 hour nap in the late afternoon, only to wake up in time to watch the Boy make a special birthday dinner for me. He was going to be the Iron Chef tonight, and the secret ingredient was my favorite-mushrooms!




Appetizer: Morel Mushroom Puff Pastry











Main course: Chanterelle, porcini and maitake mushrooms over papardelle pasta.












Dessert: Vanilla Bean Souffle made with real vanilla beans!










Dinner was delicious.

Afterwards, we headed over to do the countdown with Dick Clark on TV at a friend's place down the street. The Boy and I started a game of Jenga that lasted so long that it threatened to engage our attentions past the countdown. Luckily, the tower toppled a few minutes before we welcomed in the new year!

Funky Sock Exchange

"This is a 'Funky Socks' exchange!...You should receive thirty six pairs of socks for the price of one...Seldom does anyone drop out because we can all use 'Funky Socks' to boost our outfits!!..."

I met up with a couple of old coworkers a few days ago, one of which passed me a sort of chain letter to do a funky socks exchange. With my new obsession over cute novelty socks, I thought it would be a fun thing to participate in. So, I picked up the funkiest pair of socks I could find at the GAP and waited in line at the post office to mail them off. As I was walking toward the end of the line, I called one of my best friends and decided to pitch the sock exchange to her.

Me: Hey, want to do a funky sock exchange? I have to get six people to do this. It's not a chain letter. You don't have to do it, and nothing bad happens to you if you do.

Friend: Uhhh, ummm...well what is it?

Me: It's this really cool thing where you mail a pair of funky socks to the first person listed on the letter, and you get thirty six pairs back!! Thirty six pairs!

Friend: Doesn't this sound like a pyramid scheme? Like one of those things where they ask you to mail in a dollar and somehow someone mails you back a thousand dollars?

Me: No, no! You don't have a to sell anything! You'll get thirty six pairs of socks back! It's really fun!

Friend: Ok, explain to me how this thing works.

Me: Well, the letter has two names and addresses on it. You mail one pair of socks to the first person on the letter. Then you copy the letter and move the second name on the letter to the first position and then add your name as the second position. Then you hand it off to six people to mail off a pair of socks to the first person on the letter. In this case, you'll mail a pair of socks to my friend who handed me the letter. Then you'll give the letter to six of your friends who will mail socks to me. See, it works! We always mail socks to our friend's friends. You get thirty six pairs of funky socks for the price of one!

Friend: Ummm...do you mind if I don't participate? It just sounds so much like a pyramid scheme. Doesn't it? I mean really, you mail a pair of socks to someone you don't know, and somehow you're supposed to get thirty six back?

Hmmm...that does seem unlikely. She may have a point there.

Me: Alright, you don't have to do it...But wouldn't it be nice to get thirty six pairs of funky socks? They'll boost your outfits!!

Friend: Uh, no.

Anyone want to mail me a pair of socks?

You'll get thirty six pairs back.