Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Please Park Me In Park Slope
I blogged earlier in the week about feeling a bit adrift geographically. It's difficult to find your niche, to find a place where you truly belong. Like I said before, there's kind of an East coast destiny hanging over my head, but who knows............
A couple years ago, Ilya was exalting the virtues of Brooklyn and Prospect Park. It sounded like a young, energetic place to live, diverse and exciting. Before Ilya's stories, I really didn't know much about Brooklyn. My grandparents lives in Manhattan and then later at the foot of the George Washington bridge on the New Jersey side. When I was in middle school, my father lived for a while on 72nd and something that skips my mind, on the upper west side. My Aunt and Uncle and cousin lived in Westchester, and my Dad's most fabulous girlfriend, Esther, she lived with her most fabulously thick accent in Jamaica, Queens. So, for most of my life, Brooklyn was an enigma. But then a couple of years ago, everyone moved to Brooklyn, and the stories really began to interest me.
Now Tom and his girlfriend Momoko have moved, they just got an apartment in Park Slope. Tom sent me THIS video of their housewarming party and THIS short article on Park Slope and now I am hooked. It seems, that Park Slope is the Noe Valley equivalent, only in New York, not San Francisco. It is the "family" neighborhood, with kids on stoops, running all over the place. Even better than wonderful Noe Valley, it has gorgeous Prospect Park right there. How perfect a life would be, living in Park Slope and I feel the pull to be there, chatting with my liberal, intellectual Mom friends who have one cherished, token child, and we all go out to eat at some fabulous vegetarian dim sum together.
Sigh......but however exciting and wonderful and diverse life would be in Park Slope, I can't bear to take Noah away from all that he knows and loves. It's so hard.
Pay the mortgage? No thanks, I'll just buy some Honeybell Juice
What I love about Papa Joe's is that they are constantly alerting you to products that you did not know you needed, and then making them outrageously expensive, thus deepening the metro Detroit despair cycle.
Case in point, honeybell juice - staggeringly delicious, no doubt fantastic for you, and it costs eighteen dollars per gallon. We went by in the cart, tried the free sample, and wistfully went away, hoping that we won't get scurvy from only drinking cheap-ass regular orange juice. I am sucking a lime as I write this just to be safe, wondering what might have been.
Steak!
I've been meaning to write about this for a few weeks now - once in a while in a touristy place you come across something that actually makes sense. That place is the San Antonio Riverwalk, and that something is the chicken-fried steak with jalapeƱo cream gravy from the Iron Cactus. It was a little tough, but it tasted just terrific. The corn with cilantro and the enormous quantities of mashed potatoes were equally good.
As good as this was, the tortilla soup that preceded it flat out knocked me over. It was spicy - not "spicy" like a Wendy's chicken sandwich - but actually hot, and we made it more spicy by dousing it with the hot sauce on the table. I almost fell over but I finished the bowl, gratefully, with my nose running. I'd go back.
HB Ride Spotting: CRD Jeep Liberty
More diesel stuff from Chrysler, in the form of the Jeep Liberty CRD (common-rail diesel), if the badge is real. I'm sure we've covered this extensively, so just sell the thing already and stop driving up and down the street, with your fancy "I'm a manufacturer" plates and your crazy dashboard testing equipment. It works already, quit messing around.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
I Think I've Found My Bike Company!
This is so exciting, an American bicycle company (no crazy international shipping fees), that builds, sleek, beautiful , "Dutch-style" bikes! The Electra Bike Company , out of California makes amazing bicycles. I really like the "Amsterdam" series, especially THIS bike and THIS bike. I see that you can easily add accessories, like skirt guards at an affordable price. There's even a registered dealer a mile away!
A Jorg&Olif is still my dream, and although I found THIS article talking about their new U.S. availability, it's still a bundle with shipping when all is said and done. I like the Tree Hugger article about them HERE. Wait, now I really want one.
Oh well, I'm having so much fun looking at pictures of bikes! Weird.
Tangent
As time has moved along, it's become more obvious to me, that the decision to leave San Francisco was ok, not quite as disastrous as I had feared. This doesn't take away painful twinges we feel most weeks, the "what ifs" and the melancholy memories. One of the things that I liked the best about living there, was being part of a community. A fully formed, functioning place that was the sum of it's parts; people, shops, parks, transportation, entertainment, education.
You'd step out the front door and after carefully maneuvering around the block's angry, cursing, homeless woman, there would be endless shops and hordes of people. Where else in the world could you get Durian and Gooey Duck just feet away from your home, and then walk one more block to the Greek grocery store that stocked goat cheese upon goat cheese and unrefrigerated eggs? We had an amazing fabric store with bolts and bolts of beautiful textiles and small bits of trim and buttons. There was an art center that promoted social awareness and charitable giving. The park, Golden Gate Park, as gorgeous as gorgeous can be. Square miles of heaven; grass, pond, tree and ocean. We had spicy noodle shoppes and fresh coffee with tiny Chinese pastries. Barbers, dentists, doctors, a pet store, a hardware store, a drug store, the cleaners, all crammed next to each other, all in our neighborhood. A real, self-suficiant community. The Muni train rumbled by, every twenty minutes or so, shaking our third floor flat. I miss the that jiggle, the complete lack of solid ground, the phantom whoosh the train made as it would glide out of sight, into the ever present fog of the Outer Sunset.
I do miss it all. Our current house is on a block, in the middle of the country, in the suburbs, on a slow street. It is painfully quiet sometimes and lonely at others. Just as I would look out or large picture window in San Francisco and stare at the people boarding the Muni and think "I can't believe we really live here, how odd." I now stare out our picture window in Michigan and watch the squirrels run across our lawn and think "I can't believe we actually still live here, how odd."
Having children changes everything. In a way, and I might get flamed for this, it's like being a pet parakeet , who gets his wings clipped. Jon's stable job in this very unstable economy, and the fact that Noah is lucky enough to have four wonderful grandparents near by, makes it nearly impossible to move. We would be stupid.
So I accept this mundane existence, here in the Midwest, and try to make the best of it, and try to not let it get to me. I've found a truth, that you can be full of gratitude and thankfulness and walk on eggshells hopping the bottom doesn't fall out, and still at the same time, you can legitimately carry sadness and frustration and confusion along with it.
I know this place has a list of positives and pluses a mile long. I'm lucky, we're lucky. There is just something deep inside me that longs for a place that I belong to a bit better. I've always been a square peg here. This isn't a self-imposed pity party, it's the truth. I was ostracized for being different as a kid and even as a young adult and now, as a parent, I still feel slightly different. I've found wonderful friends over the years, they love me for who I am , but that enormous, amazing, creative freedom I was allowed on the streets of San Francisco, was something rarely replicated. The pulse of energy, the colors and sounds and openness, the liberal calls equality, it clicked with me.
Someday, maybe we'll be back. But, I never saw myself as much of a "west coast person", and in fact, even as a small girl, I always assumed my place on this planet was in New York City. Only time will play out this story, and I know, my job is to find the good stuff and the fun in our Michigan home. Things are slowly evolving, and I've caught glimpses of "good fit" coming about. Noah was accepted for next year, into a school for gifted children. It's run by open-thinking, creative and interesting people. The parents I've met have been so welcoming to us, they're supportive, non-judgemental and just the quirkiest bunch of wonderful. I have high hopes.
This post was supposed to be about bicycles and walkable communities. About my hunt for a bike, one with a basket for groceries and a seat for Noah. I have managed once again to go off on a tangent. Here is the link, you see, although we do technically live in a "suburb" of Detroit, Jon and I chose to live in one of the original cities and towns that dot the main Detroit Avenue, as it extends north. We live adjacent to, about three blocks away, from a city that is coined as a "walkable Community", something that is vaguely like our old San Francisco neighborhood. Supposedly, you can walk to grocery stores and restaurants, coffee shoppes, and theaters, doctor's offices and banks. You can, it just takes a bit by foot, but on a bike, how fantastic! So, in honor of traditional communities, my hate of urban sprawl, our planet's lack of natural resources and good old, exercise, I've gotten it in my head that I want to shop by bike this summer.
The bicycle I currently own is sadly in horrible shape. My father gave it to me in 1995, as a way to get around campus. I have to admit that hauling this big bike and my heavy backpack in and out of my dorm everyday, up to the fifth floor, did not appeal to me so well and it has suffered some Michigan rain storms and even snow. So now it's time for a new bike. I know EXACTLY what I want...............
a fabulous, Dutch shopping bike, like the jorg & olif Scout Bike in red. But, alas, it's quite expensive, and then even more expensive once you add in international shipping and import tax, and the cost of final assembly AND a child's seat AND a large basket. So, I continue to search for the perfect "urban or city bike" as they are now being called, but domestically.
That's what this post was going to be about, just driving around on my bike this summer. Make sure you check out THIS page, to see what I want my life to be like, even in Michigan!
xoxoxox
Friday, March 21, 2008
"Mac"
I finally got it right! As promised, I uploaded a video of Noah reading his next book, only this time, I didn't spend and hour and a half uploading "Dot" AGAIN. If you'd like to hear "Mac", the captivating story of a guy, a bag, his dog and a rag, then go ahead and just click HERE .
You don't get much more exciting than that!
Thursday, March 20, 2008
"I did, yeah. I've got good credit"
Agree? Disagree? Let me know! Use the button, and I will record and post the conversation. This is a phenomenal feature.
*Lauren thought this was a dialog that is stunning in its boredom, but it's not like you were going to do anything important with the next 6 minutes anyway.
HB Ride Spotting: Jeep Wrangler CRD 4-Door, Possibly
The paint job is equally weird, you can see that this has been bolted together from a couple of different cars, based on the two different shades of red on the doors and tailgate.
New cars looking like new cars is played out - if they do bring this out, keep this look. Make the paint match, but retain the stripped aesthetic. It looks good without the rear-mounted spare (put it on the roof with a couple of gas cans), so leave it off, strip off the tacky plastic fenders, and keep any exterior metal fastened with exposed, unpainted fasteners. Oh, and figure out how to make it 500 pounds lighter, because it is a cumbersome gas pig regardless of fuel source. It is going to take a lot of leftover french-fry grease to run this thing otherwise.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Just Stop, Ben Bernanke (Fool.com)
If you would like to talk about it, feel free to hit me up on my new Grand Central number on the sidebar (thanks Nate!).
Monday, March 17, 2008
Possible Top Chef Catchphrases | The A.V. Club
There is a terrific article on the Onion's AV Club suggesting some catchphrases for the new contestants on Top Chef. It is a truly good read, but the real gold is in the comments. Whenever dozens of funny people randomly start spewing catchphrases, something magical happens.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
"Dot"
I know this might only be exciting to the grandparents, but for those of you interested, I just posted this video of Noah reading book #3 in the "Bob Books" series. We're working on #4 and #5 now, more video soon. Go Noah! :)
"Dot" from How Bourgeois on Vimeo.
Friday, March 14, 2008
Trouble with Tuna
Thursday, March 13, 2008
The Daily Politics - NY Daily News
My favorite part is how Goldy glowers right at the camera when Brodsky says "Axis of Evil." Spooky.
*They're all take-out menus. Today the assemblyman will be having #47, "the David Schwimmer."
Monday, March 10, 2008
At Least He Won't Have Problems Passing Roadside Sobriety Tests
(Before I go any further with this post, I need to acknowledge the fact that I'm sure you are getting quite sick of hearing me fawn over my child. I know how unbecoming it must be, to read about my incessant oohing and ahhing over his every word. Let me just say, that one of the main reasons we started this blog, when Noah was just six weeks old, was to keep a kind of multi-media, cyber diary. Something in addition to the baby book, so that someday, he can look back and see what life was like way back when. So, as annoying as my drooling might be, I just need to add these little anecdotes in, the ones that make me laugh or make me proud. Just skip over these posts if they're just too darn Mommy obnoxious.)
8:45 this morning, on the drive to school
Noah: 9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 !
Me: Wow Noah! good job.
Noah: Mom, I can do the alphabet backwards too!
Me: Really?
Noah: Yeah, J-I-H-G-F-E-D-C-B-A ! Can you do that Mom?!
Me: (long, awkward silence....I'm thinking...) Um, no honey, I think I need some more coffee first. J-H-I-F.....wait. J-I-G..... Ugh, Noah, why don't you just do it again for Mommy!
Sunday, March 09, 2008
"Dot"
"Dot" from How Bourgeois on Vimeo.
Noah is working on learning to read the third book in his "Bob Books" series. This story is called "Dot". I'll try to catch the first two books, "Mat" and "Sam" on video soon. I let Noah initially sound out all the new words on his own, and then he begins to learn them as we re-read the books. It's fun! Find out more about "Bob" books here: bobbooks.com/
Friday, March 07, 2008
Cool Stuff I traded phone cases for at the college licensing show
Goat milk soap! These were the best smelling people at the show. I am also wearing their goat-milk lip balm as I type this.
Chocolate that says "Pittsburgh"! Melts in your mouth, not in your 1500-degree blast furnace.
A Michigan State charm bracelet for Lauren - pure awesome. Sparty on!
Life is Pain
Sushi Hana
Wired News - AP News
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Monday, March 03, 2008
Wincing the Night Away
I want to tell you people something. For the past year, I've been thoroughly enjoying The Shin's latest album "Wincing the Night Away". I like it so much so, that it's my pick for best album 2007.25. I think Ilya would agree.
My top four tracks in chronological order:
"Sleeping Lessons" makes me go crazy like no other . Around 2:20 the song bursts into a spirited crescendo , stepping on the gas and singing at the top of my lungs, I feel my lost youth all over again. if only for 4:04. It's still worth it.
"Australia", Noah calls this song "The Children Dancing Song". It makes us happy. I like the banjo. It's the most commercial on the album. You'll like it too, trust me.
"Sea Legs", this song is heavier, I like the awkward feeling, broken beats. The jam at the end is great. It makes me want to be more cool. I should only be so lucky.
"Split Needles" is quite dark, it really shows how much this album runs the gauntlet of emotions. Split needles makes me feel sad, but in an ok way. It reminds me that I'm only human, I'm mortal and that the universe is much bigger than myself. I listened to this album on the way to a funeral last year, memories really stick to music like glue.
Fin
Sunday, March 02, 2008
Book Description
Building on the astonishing success of The Power of Now, Eckhart Tolle presents readers with an honest look at the current state of humanity: He implores us to see and accept that this state, which is based on an erroneous identification with the egoic mind, is one of dangerous insanity.
Tolle tells us there is good news, however. There is an alternative to this potentially dire situation. Humanity now, perhaps more than in any previous time, has an opportunity to create a new, saner, more loving world. This will involve a radical inner leap from the current egoic consciousness to an entirely new one.
In illuminating the nature of this shift in consciousness, Tolle describes in detail how our current ego-based state of consciousness operates. Then gently, and in very practical terms, he leads us into this new consciousness. We will come to experience who we truly are—which is something infinitely greater than anything we currently think we are—and learn to live and breathe freely.