philly

No Debit Cards?

So, FEMA has stopped giving out the $2K debit cards. They've given out 6,000 I hear via CNN. The powers that be in Washington have decided that issuing checks and direct deposits into people's bank accounts is the better idea.

But the Red Cross is still giving out their own set of cards.

This is the story of people located in Houston. People are told to show up one place, then stand around and wait and then told that plans have changed. Then the ARC comes by and tells them to go to another place to recieve a different card.

Shit is so fucking unorganized.

Lady Starts School

Today is Lady's first day of graduate school. She's excited and nervous, as I remember being when I started college many, many moons ago. Between work, class and studying, she'll have less time to spend with me which means I will have to spend more time doing, well, I dunno. I'm sure as hell not gonna sit next to her and watch her read, that's for sure.

Whatever it is I'll be doing instead of sitting next to her and watching her read, I'll undoubtedly be proud of her for working full time and going to school full time. I know how tough that is.

I was going to school full time and working full time while finishing my undergrad studies back in NY. I think I was going to class four days a week and working four days a week, yep, a full eight day week. No, really, I had class three full days and work three full days plus a half day at each. So, I really didn't have a 'weekend' or a 'weekday' - they were basically the same. The hour-plus trip from Westchester to NYC was a nice time to catch up on sleep that I didn't get while spending time out with friends at night and on weekends I'd normally be able to pull off on a 'normal' schedule. I also spent many a night on campus getting to know Lady. The first time we met was at around 2am as I was in the computer lab editing and rendering a video project. I kicked her butt and her friend's butt in Dr. Mario — if anyone in the Philly area would like to challenge me to a game of Dr. Mario, feel free to ante up. The rest is, well, history.

It's gonna be a hard two years or so of work and school, but you can always look forward to that debt at the end of the rainbow! And who knows, one of us could hit the lotto or something along the way.

Lady's last night of non-academia was spent making a delicious meal of Grilled Eggplant and Goat Cheese Sandwiches and cucumber and tomato salad. The recipe is up at Messy and Picky, but we forgot to think ahead and take pictures of the delicious concoction, we were both too hungry and it smelled too good. We watched this season's first episode of Real Time on On Demand [woo hoo to having cable again!] and a late night viewing of Ray which was wonderful — now I want a Ray Charles album.

Forget WiFi G

Just checking the WiFi B signal in the downstairs second bedroom / office and it's great. Varying between excellent and very good and coming in at 11Mbps on the Windows task manager. CNet's bandwidth tester rates it at 1.3316 kbps which I believe is the full throttle downstream and not an average.

So, no need to upgrade to WiFi G anytime soon.

New Cable Service!

Woo hoo! The Comcast technician just left. It took about 75 minutes and he had to run an new line from the cable box outside to our apartment. But we're on. And the wireless works and everything. Sweetness.

March on Washington: END THE WAR ON IRAQ

United for Peace and Justice is organizing a huge march on Washington scheduled for Saturday September 24^th, that's one month from now. Cindy Sheehan will be there. Josh from Skaroff Blog will be there. eRobin from Fact-esque will be there and then explains why:

I've been struggling to put together a grand unified theory of protest politics for a while. It's a struggle because while I support peaceful protests of all shapes and sizes, I understand the frustration people have with anyone who distracts from what they consider to be the Big Idea. I also understand, but disagree with, the argument that the message is weakened by protesters who confuse some Americans by not looking exactly like those Americans. I admit frustration with the anarchists whose affinity for violence not only doesn't fit into my definition of peaceful, but is also way too easy an image to hang on the non-violent protest efforts. But, at the end of the day, I would rather have to deal with all of those weaknesses inherent in protest politics than voluntarily give up my right to assemble and air grievances. And today, Women's Equality Day, is a good reminder why.
...
And so I will proudly march in D.C. on September 24th to stand with Cindy Sheehan and thousands like her and to expose the growing tide of public disapproval for an illegal war of choice sold to America with lies and being paid for with the blood of American soldiers and Iraqis alike as well as with the misery of the families they leave behind. I believe, as Alice Paul did almost a hundred years ago about her parade, that this is march will be taken to indicate the importance of the peace movement by the press of the country and the thousands of spectators from all over the United States. And if the young man next to me has green hair and a t-shirt that says "Buck Fush," and if the woman behind me is carrying a sign that says "Free Mummia," and the group behind her wants to free Haitians from their current torment and a future of corporate slavery, then I'll say "Welcome, brothers and sisters. Let me shake your hand and thank you for marching today. Maybe this is the day we'll change the course of history together and in peace."

I know it's going to be big, huuuge and awesome. It'll be great to meet new people from all over at this weekend of action. I think it would be pretty cool to get a crew from the area to head on down there and represent Philly together at the march. Anyone else planning on going down?

The Move: Update

So Lady's fam came down over the weekend and our apartment was overflowing with boxes and boxes and boxes of more of Lady's stuff from CT along with a table that has been in the fam [or extended pseudo-fam] for over a centruy. We promptly found a bigger table, complete with four nice chairs and bought it for $40 two nights later.

The table is under half a meter wide [the metric system just makes sense and is easier to remember!] and weighs, I'd say, upwards of 100lbs. I carried it over four blocks to our apartment Monday night. My trapezius muscles were still burning last night. They don't ache anymore today.

Tuesday night we also cleared out our storage space which was where we were sticking our moving boxes. After coming home tipsy from Drinking Liberally, I was more than happy to break down and tape up the millions of boxes we had in there. Lady cleaned up the kitchen and now it looks pretty presentable! Seating for four if you'd like to take a looksy.

Lady also cleaned up our office space / second bedroom downstairs after I assembled her rolly-chair and bookcase. I will note that I have an 'executive' rolly-chair and she has a 'manager' rolly-chair which I thought [and still think] was [is] pretty hilarious. I'm the boss!

Now, we need us two good sized desks to use in the office. Too craigslist! Unless someone out there's got one, or two they wanna get rid of.

Lady's Birthday!

Lady turned twenty-four today. This weekend was a fun and busy weekend with her family in town, more boxes to move and a little soirée with a few friends in her hot, hot old digs.

Today was an afternoon of watching several discs of the Freaks and Geeks DVD set I got for her last year with her little brother who made the trip down with her parents. We picked up the last of her stuff from her old apartment and then it was off to Singapore Kosher Vegetarian Restaurant over in Chinatown at Race & 10^th Sts. It was our second trip there, we've already reviewed it, but this visit will warrant an update.

After Chinese food, we hit up Capo Grigo on Sansom & 12^th Sts. for some gelato. Lady had raved about the place and we were all eager to see what the hype was all about. Lady and I shared a smallish bowl of stracchiatella / espresso something / white chocolate. I wasn't too impressed. I recall the gelato I had in Italy to be more sorbet/sherbert like and not as ice creamy, am I remembering it wrong? I recall it being richer, the flavor being much more dense and explosive, but it's been awhile and maybe I'm remembering it being better than it was.

A busy weekend, now the workweek awaits.

Quarterless Laundry

The first load of quarterless laundry was a smashing success. No quarters. Awesome.

The Move: Update

Well, all the unpacked boxes sit in the rooms in which they should be unpacked... I think. The bedroom is looking good. It's huuuuge! It's more like a master bedroom than a lowly bedroom. Quite spacious. And it gets some nice light as well from two windows. My plant [which was a housewarming gift from KT] is getting bigger and bigger and sits in the window bay in the bedroom. I've since named it Seymour. It needs a bigger pot.

Today, the landlord should have re-installed the washer and dryer downstairs. Tonight will be the first load[s] of laundry without using quarters in soooo long. It's gonna feel good.

Still gotta call for appointments to install broadband, cable and an über cheap phone line.

All of the furniture we bought is put together which is a plus. Now to fill all those shelves and drawers. The kitchen table arrives this weekend with Lady's parents. The kitchen looks so ginormous without a table to take up space in the void.

The diswasher... works. It's pretty old. The door has to be locked shut or else it will just fall open and hit the floor. The racks are pretty worn and in one spot rusting. But the rubber seal is solid and it gets everything nice and clean so I shouldn't complain any further.

The central air is amazing. Amazing! In the bathroom, in the kitchen, in the bedroom, in the stairway, all a nice temperature, no weird zones.

None of the locks in my building area self-lock. The gate to get in. The door to my building. The door to our apartment. They all need to be locked from both sides. Good in that I can't lock myself out of everything in one fell swoop. Bad in that it's three extra steps to leaving, but who the hell wants to leave the centrally cooled apartment?

And that said, off I go on my bike to leave the centrally cooled office to hit the road for the four-mile bike ride home, to the centrally cooled home. Sweetness.

It Is Done

Messy and Picky have just about completed their move to their new digs east of Broad St. Now, we begin a new life in a spacious 2BR apartment. I'm tired as fuck and mooching off of one of our neighbors' wireless [thank you!].

And a special thank you to Jodi and Pat who gave us many hours of their time, energy and cars to help us move. I don't know where we'd be without you two. Up Shit's Creek fo' shizzle.

Goodnight.