New Orleans in the Crosshairs

6:49 Central Time, from the Bridge Cam

New Orleans is about to get slammed by Hurricane Katrina. I've seen some real doom and gloom predictions about what would happen if a big hurricane hit New Orleans, which is below sea level. I hope they're wrong.

New Orleans was the first city I ever fell in love with, and I have some very, very fond memories of the place.

Update 9/1/05: Give.

Simple Twist of Mocha

Harlem, Bronx, Morningside Heights, Harlem, Bronx, Morningside Heights. That's where I am when I'm not on a bus. Every couple of days, I walk out of my apartment, grab a 3 express, and head downtown, just to shake myself out of the school cocoon.

I took the 3 to 14th Street tonight and grabbed dinner at a Thai restaurant in Greenwich Village. After dinner, knowing I had work to do later at home, I stopped into Starbucks for a "coffee" to go. I sat down to read for a bit (despite seeing an ad for a $3,200 1 bedroom apartment in the Village that made me want to run to Penn Station for the next train back to Baltimore), and Dylan's "Simple Twist of Fate" came over the speakers. Something about hearing Dylan in a Starbucks in Greenwich Village made my head spin. I stood up and left.

Then I cued up Freewheelin' Bob Dylan on my iPod Mini. Realizing what I had just done, my head spun a little more.

Got home and put Simple Twist of Fate on my record player. It started skipping.

The machines win.

File under "Studio Apartment: Pros"

Lazy or efficient? I don't care. I had never thought about the possibilities of the office chair/hardwood floor/tiny studio apartment combination, but now I'll never give it up.

New York

Well, I'm all moved in. Eight million people in this city, and now I'm one of them. Squeezed into a fourth floor walk-up studio in Harlem. That's the only way we can all fit. Mencken said the way of life up here is that of a "sardine in a can." I agree. Right now, I feel like a sardine in a can that someone left on the dashboard of a car with the windows rolled up on an Ozone Action Day.

Not much time to write at the moment, but I do have some good stories. One involves telling off some preppy Wall Street type--really, this guy was like a villain from a John Hughes movie, just straight-up Teddy from One Crazy Summer. I just had to do it. Wanker.

Lots of wonderful people here, too. Last week, I bought a computer desk from someone off Craigslist without any real plan for getting it back uptown. I put it in the trunk of a cab, but the lid wouldn't close. Fortunately, the cable guy double parked in front of us saw the problem and cut off a length of cable to tie the lid down. Voila.

It really is difficult at first to get yourself settled here, but everyone else has also been through it, so they are willing to help you out. Like when I brought the U-Haul up here, I backed into some guy as I was trying to get into the spot. After giving me the business--"Hey, buddy, you look at both mirrors or only one?"--he just drove off, not seeming to mind another dent in his van. Then the super walked out into the street to direct traffic and wave me in.

Anyway, more to come...