Thursday, July 28, 2005

Pregnant best friend

Mom's best friend Alicia

is pregnant. She is almost 7 months pregnant. It is so cool to walk around with her and think "oh my god we are walking around with your baby." Alicia is having a girl and everyone is so excited, mom has already decided that her name is going to be (Talula Moss). We don't care if that is really going to be her name or not, that is what mom has decided she will be called. I mean come on mom and her names, she named me pig for god sakes.

Alicia has been one of mom's best friends for about 5 years, they met in college, and became fast friends during a theatre project they both believed in. Since college they moved to New York City together and got apartments together (even if the one on 30th st. was small, nasty and infested it was still fun) and they even moved to Hoboken and shared a room for a summer together. Yes Hoboken sucked and they will never do that again. It is so great that Alicia became mom's first friend to have a baby. This way Alicia can tell mom and all their other friends what to do and what not to do when everyone else has a baby. She is in New Bedford, MA right now being the lead singer and song writer of this Wicked cool band called "Oneiris"

But, yesterday Alicia came to visit and mom and her want to this doctor's apt. that Alicia had to go to. That god damn apt. was way way out in Brooklyn almost to Coney Island. Now taking the Q train is bad enough, but the fact that the damn Dr.'s office was a 2 mile walk from the train is just cruel.
Imagine walking all over Brooklyn away from the train station, not seeing food, or safety near by, and then multiply that with being pregnant. (you can use your imagination as to what that would be like). Alicia is really strong

she still preforms with her band and will continue to do a few more shows!

After the Dr.'s Apt. Alicia was set to explore NYC, and all mom could think about most of the time was that there was a baby girl in her stomach. Cool right? They went shopping and looked at baby clothes, got a pedicure and chatted, it was fun and relaxing and mom was getting all these urges to throw herself in front of people and or cars to protect Alicia's Belly!
We think that she is due around November 2nd, but we'll see. I'll keep you updated.

Wednesday, July 27, 2005

The bargain Shopper

Yesterday mom decided to buy a lot of new clothes. The one place she knows if she goes and spends a lot of time searching for the gems is Filenes basement.

There was just one that was opened up in Union Square a few months ago, thank god because she was dyeing for one closer than 6th Ave and 20th street.
When mom went yesterday she was not prepared to score the way she did.

She did the compulsive stop at "Forever 21",

which is next door and left feeling like she wished her hips has not grown more past her 12th birthday.

Then on her way up the escalator she stopped right in on "DSW Shoe Warehouse"

which is the best place in the world for shoes on sale. They have this fantastic discount isle where you can find things up to 80% off! This trip she did not like anything that that much and decided to save her money for the clothes she needs!

Now don't get me wrong "Filene's basement" is generally kinda scary to be in, there are 4 floors all lit with fluorescent lights, and tons of people scrambling for the cheaper items. The trick is to slow down and stick it out. If you leave when you get frustrated by the crowds and the hands grabbing over your shoulder then you leave with nothing. But if you slow down and look around and see that the people there are not your size and are no way same style as you there is a clarity that ensues, and you can get the tunnel vision that is needed to shop in large stores like that.
To add to the cheap prices, the store was having a up to 75% off already marked down items. You can imagine the strong desire to buy a lot that comes over you. Long story short and after going in to the fitting room 5 times (because the max you can bring in with you is 10 items) mom decided to purchase 20 items.

Wow oh my god 20 new items of clothes, you must think mom is rich or stupid. Well none of the above thank you very much. The grand total was $131.82 eat that!
7 shirts, 2 pairs of pants and 8 skirts and 3 wife beaters, all for under $150.
That't not too shabby. And that's what I call "Finding a bargain at Filenes basement"

Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Mr. Random//Not so random

Mr. Random AKA. Daniel Krieger needs props. He took these fantastic photo's of mom at Kris's Party on Sunday. Check out his blog and his photos.



That's mom and Mr. Random



Lets just say that cigarette was a prop.



Hey the double chin is not too bad in that one!



Mom is certainly way more tan on her arms than her legs!

Monday, July 25, 2005

One of the big dogs.

Sorry for the lack of post, but I was too busy hiding under a table and sitting on mom's lap to post.
Mom and Frank had the bright idea to take me with them while they were dog sitting in Inwood this past weekend. Um, I don't like train rides and I am small. The two dogs Baily and Sky are wimaraner's (well one's a mix) but they both weigh over 60lbs.
They both like to play a lot and poop a lot, Bark a lot and sleep a lot. Everything that they do is a lot. Sky tries to be a lap dog and will run and jump on to mom or Frank and crush me. I spent a lot of time sitting on mom to make them think I was bigger. It was really fun to go on walks with them, cause mom let me walk far ahead or right with them and I finally knew what it is like to grow up in a pack of dogs.
Sleeping was a whole nother story, Me, mom, Frank, Sky and Baily all piled on to the bed. I ended up sleeping on top of mom and straddled over Frank because I had no room to move!
All and all it was fun to spend a weekend somewhere new and try and be one of the big dogs, but when Sunday rolled around all I wanted to do was sleep. I was so tired and stressed out from the commotion and change. And while mom went to Kris's party that's what I did

Thursday, July 21, 2005

Panty hose in hot weather.

Lately mom has been forced to wear panty hose. She hates it, it makes her feel like a fraud and it is really just too hot to be constricted with sweat like that.


Have you ever had one of those nights where your half way going somewhere and all you want to do is turn around and go home for no reason other than you want to sit on your couch and do nothing.
That was last night for mom. She went with an old co-worker Jenn to this "Political event" Hosted by Eefers. The event was for this really cool guy Chris Owens

who is trying to run for congress. Chris is great, he stands for some really great things. (not to mention his brother was Alvin on the Cosbey show).
Emily did a great job hosting the event which was at the new Tank. There was music, and comedy, the transitions were fast and smooth and Chris Owens Played the recorder. . . well. But the whole time mom was there she wanted to be on her couch. She can't figure out why and she feels bad admitting that.
Lets figure out why.
Some of the reasons could be. She biked in the heat during rush hour from Greenpoint to the west side. She got scared and sweaty.

Another reason could be she had to wear panty hose all day in the city,
and that sucks enough to make anyone want to sit on their couch.

And the last reason could be that she was just tired, a bit hung over and too hot from running an hour earlier to give a shit about anything.
This feeling can be solved in the future by banning and boycotting panty-hose.

Well, not if you look like that in them!

Monday, July 18, 2005

too damn hot

What a weekend, not only did I get to go on a wicked long subway ride, but I got to go on tons of walks.
Next weekend mom and Frank are going to be dog sitting Frank's friends dogs.
Jen and Rose

have two female dogs names Bailey and Sky. They are bigger than me but I think I will be able to hold my own. They live up on 207th and Broadway (I guess that's Inwood). I got shoved in my bag, and had to ride for an hour on the hot subway. When we all got there, I got introduced to dogs, and they liked me a lot. We walked around the park and I watched Sky try and chase birds. I can't wait till next weekend. It will be fun to have a weekend away from Brooklyn.
Mom and Frank went to a fun pot luck dinner on Friday night and they ate and drank a lot. Nothing beat Thursday night and the bread though!
Oh yeah and on Saterday night they went to Shannon

and Tim's (Sorry couldn't find a pic of tim)
engagement party at "The Pub" in Brooklyn. It was fun but they were so tired from riding the subway all day, that they talked a bit and then parked themselves in front of the TV to watch "Le tour de France". Frank really loves watching it!
Sunday night mom got to have dinner with her cousin Amy

at the South Street Seaport. Too bad it was raining a bit, cause they really wanted to sit outside. Mom ordered a catfish sandwich, which was not good.
When she was biking home later that night, at the end of the Williamsburg bridge some guy had fallen off his bike as he was comings off the bridge into the city and smashed his face. It was really gross to see all the blood and the rain mixing together. It was real bad to see that, but it was good that there were like 6 police officers around him and the ambulance was on the way. It was also bad cause he was really drunk and trying to smoke a cigarette with his bloody mouth. Yuck.
Today all mom wants to do is run outside but it is too damn hot for that, so instead she is doing all the other things she can do indoors.
peace out

Friday, July 15, 2005

Shove it

That's my favorite thing to say.
Whats yours?

Thursday, July 14, 2005

Drinking liberally

Last night mom went with Kris to Eefers ,Drinking liberally event. Mom loves those events because you are always gaurenteed to have really great conversation!
Kris can explain why they were late but all I will say it involved a fast train ride/ being forced to eat in a fancy place and throwing out garments!
Also mom got to finally meet Mr. Random!

He is great! They had so much fun, and after the party they all went to eat Mexican food and walk home through the ghetto! Mr. Random is very much like mom (they like to wash their hands a lot.) But now thanks to him mom thinks she has a Staff infection in her nose. Did you know one and four people have it? Gross.

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

a story (sort of)

Over the last week there has been an issue that mom has been fighting. I am proud to say that I have been by her side every step of the way.
To break it down, there's a park a big nasty female dog (in the distance her owner) and me.
It all began when mom and I were causally walking around in the park, minding our business. The sun was out, the polish drunks were where they always are, and all the pigeon's were eating the stale bread that people leave out for them. As we were walking out of the corner of mom's eye is a dog.


Now this dog is unlike any dog we have ever seen. It was big, had some muscles, a large behind and weird died hair. I wonder why that dog would want to have her natural hair color covered up? For it to be big, well that's how they come.
The dog who we will call (the barker) from now on seemed to be on a leash of some kind but it was clear she had her owner fooled about the evil that was in her eyes. Or else that leash would have been really tight.
The barker starts approaching mom and me, straining on her leash, her eyes and neck buldging, she looks disgusting. Without any provoking she just starts barking and barking. Now you can imagine the surprise and distress that accompanies a verbal attack like that. At first we freeze and look around to see if anyone besides her owner saw. No one did. We try and look at the the barkers owner but the owner is the type that is distant, works a lot and is smart at anything other than human interaction.

Mom and I decided not to do anything and see if we can walk farther away. This tactic works for the first day.

The next morning mom and I decide we will walk in the park again, hoping that the barker incident would be a one time thing. We are causally walking and playing in the grass (I'm eating it), when again out of nowhere comes the barker and at the end of her long long leash is her owner. The owner looked to have gotten a extra long leash so that they would not have to walk much to keep up with the dog.
The barker is perticurally drooly today and her died hair is wind blown and cracking off. I hide behind mom who this time looks the ugly barker right in the eyes, to try and figure out why she is barking and barking and barking at us. The eye contact that mom makes only angers the barker more and she starts straining and twisting trying to get out of her collar to come as close as she can.
This time mom tries to get the attention of the owner and draw attention from the other people in the park. To her surprise no one in the park pays any attention, they just continue reading their papers and minding their own business.
Mom decided to try and say something back to the barker, but the barking is just too loud for mom to get a word in edge wise. The barker looks as if she got to us and got what she wanted she would attack us until we were dead or at least badly hurt. Mom is starting to get a bit scared and picks me up and walks very fast away back to the safety of our home.
That night all mom can think about is how to get the barker to stop barking and over reacting. The barker picked us out of no where and has decided to try and make our lives hell. Unfortunately it is not going to work. We are too happy and have too many things going for us to let a little barking from a big ugly dog ruin our day.


That night we hatch a plan to get the barker to stop barking or at least reprimanded by her owner. (long story short leaving out the details of the plan) The next day mom and I embark on our walk in the park again.
To our surprise we are walking for about an hour and there is no sign of the barker, the sun is shining and all the other people in the park are smiling and having a good time. Even the Polish bums look happy and are taking extra shots of Vodka. We play around on the grass a bit more and decide to head home. As we are nearing our home we see the barkers owner, he is frantically calling for the barker. He stops near us and tells us that the barker has gotten off the leash and is loose. Mom starts to panic, picked me up and starts scanning the park for the big, dirty nasty barker.
Just as mom is going to stop looking she hears the barkers owner scream out the dog's name. Mom turns and sees the barker across the street pacing and barking and gearing up to cross and attack us. Mom looks for a tree or a car that she could climb, and right as she sees the perfect car to climb on the barker starts running across the big busy street right towards us. The dog is fast but not fast enough. Mom has me gripped tight in her arms and right as she reaches the car she is going to climb up on she stops because the barkers owner starts screaming so loud it gives us chills.

Right then everything starts happening in slow motion. Rounding the corner going faster than ever is a truck, is slams in to the barker right as the barker is almost to our side of the street. All the barkers died hair flies off with the wind as the truck crunchs the barkers body.
This got the whole parks attention and people come running over, mom puts me down and goes over to the barkers owner who is looking at the crumpled body of the barker under the big truck. More and more people crowd around and I sneak a closer look at the barker, she turns to me and with her last dyeing breath lets out a small bark.

Mom picks me up and takes me away and starts to explain to me that anyone or thing that is mean for the sake of being mean will always loose in the end. And that because the barker barked at us and had no love and attention from her owner, and probally did not have a good life ended up getting hurt. What goes around comes around.

Monday, July 11, 2005

When Blogs Collide In Person

How funny is it to meet other people who read and comment and are friends of friends of yours all because of blogs?
It all started back in April when mom

and me.

met Kris.

(who's blog is down right now).
They became friends through their blogs and outside their blogs.
Mom introduced Kris to Eefers

who mom knew through Frank (who has no blog). Now Kris and Eefers are friends through their blogs and have hung out a few times outside their blogs.
This is when it starts to get interesting. Kris's ex-boyfriend Vinnie

or lets call him (Vin) has been some one that mom has been hearing about and reading his Blog since April. Last night she met him for the first time and it was like her already knew him. She not only knew all of is back story because of Kris. But she has been reading all of his thoughts and posts for like 3 months.
Another funny equation in the mix is Todd.

Now he seemed pretty random to mom for a while. But he started commenting on all our blogs and has a blog of his own, and Mom found out that he is an old school friend of Vin's though they live in different places now. Todd is visiting NYC from Atlanta this week. Mom met him last night and they suprised eachother with how much they knew about one another.

[Just a funny side bar, Eefers had a party on Friday that mom was not able to attend. At this party came Kris, Vin , Todd, And "Mr. Random"

Mr. Random Aka. Daniel, is now a mutual friend of Eefers and Kris (he was met through blogging and Friendster by them) and he has a blog of his own. Mom has not met Mr. Random Yet but when that day comes all will be clear.]

So to wrap up the world of blogging is weird. And sometimes it's not. It is interesting to see what happens when people come out from behind their computers and meet in person. It is usually fine, but people have pre decided idea's of who you are supposted to be. And others hate the format in which you write your blog (vin hates that I refer to mom as mom) and others get over the internet to real life hurtle with out a bat of an eye.
Now I know the connections of people talking and knowing people through the internet and blogs was already discussed a while back on Miss Kris, but I think it is interesting when everyone meets, that's a whole new level.

Sunday, July 10, 2005

Paint paint and more paint

I am not allowed to lick mom this weekend, this is because she has been covered in paint from head to toe. She has been working with Frank at TA all weekend painting shelves that will be hung with Hindges from the Deskes they built a few weeks ago.
Frank's Project has been never ending, and all mom and him could do yesterday was try and count how many pieces it has taken to put the office together. They've deided there are too many to count.

In other news Mom's friends Shannon and Tim got engaged. That is now 3 separate couple friends of mom's that have gotten engaged this year. They're dropping like flies! I wonder who will be next.

Stay tuned for more news and stories some involve open bars and free beer cans. . .

Friday, July 08, 2005

Laundry during the day

During the week it is a rare luxury to do laundry during the day.
This is because of many reasons but the primary reason being that mom is usualy at work.
Today is a rare luxury in which I get to sit in the laundry cart when the sun still shines (well it's raining but you get the picture.) So after my soaking wet walk in the park, and being rubbed dry with a dirty towel, mom has decided to do the laundry.
Greenpoint, Brooklyn has great laundry facilities, they are large and no one tries to get in your way and obviously it's great that mom can take me with her there.
I love field trips, and I really love the faces that mom makes when she is trying to haul a huge bag of laundry and wrangle me with the leash. Lets just say I don't make is easy for her!
Other than that today I plan to lounge, listen to music and get treats because mom gets to be home with me all day. Friday's rock!

Tuesday, July 05, 2005

Chicago the Fake city

Mom and Frank went to Chicago this past long weekend with Frank's Family. It was fun and strange.
The fun was with the Family, they went to museums and restaurants and "taste of Chicago" (an event where you eat the city). They saw "Mr. And Mrs. Smith" which was what is was supposted to be, a shot gut blast, sexually charged movie. Won't see it again.
Jonno, Frank's Brother made them go see reggae at "The House of Blues", which was fun when they got to sit down.

The Strange was the city it self, it was way too clean. There was way to much space, and there are streets underground, like tunnels but not. Frank kept saying "um you could eat off this". It felt like GOTHEM in prehistoric times. All mom kept waiting to see were cars whizzing across the sky.

On the positive side there were ton's of bikers, it is a biker positive city. They even have free valet bike parking. That is cool. All by the parks are bike rental places and all over the city and the out skirts were well marked bike lanes. Frank pointed out that there were not as many agro bikers in Chicago, but then he remembered after a while that they were all in NYC for the messenger world championships.
Good thing mom did not bring me I had more fun at my dog walkers barbecue! I would feel bad peeing anywhere. Um, and also I did not want to fly again.

Friday, July 01, 2005

The Challenge

After attending a really fun engagement party for Rick and Katie last night at B-Bar, Mom an Frank went back to Brooklyn to help celebrate the start of the Bike Messenger World Championships. This year they are sponsored by Puma and The NYBMA, and other small org's.
As Mom and Frank rolled around the corner and all you could see for 2 blocks were piles of bikes. Mostly there were track bikes, and you could see all the Team Puma bikes everywhere.

They locked up at a free pole and entered "Capones". It was packed and smelly, and it was wall to wall messengers from all across the world.
Up at the front by the door, they had 4 NYC bikes set up for doing goldsprints.
Check it.
No only was mom not dressed for riding a bike, she was dressed up because of going to the engagement party in the city. She was wearing heels, and a short flowy skirt. Not appropriate for biking, much less "Spinning" in front of a crowd of professional messengers. She really wanted to race, but could not for the first time dressed the way she was.
this is when this guy

propositioned mom

to race on this

um, I think not. It was funny to talk to him, considering mom just saw him in "Red Light Go" a few nights ago. And even though he said it would be hot for her to ride in her heels, it is still a no go.
Maybe next time.

The best part of the evening was when Frank

raced Alfred

the future Olympian who's on team Puma, and only came in 3 seconds behind him!