and some pictures from the bbc.

year in review, from dave berry.

lucky day. despite an otherwise bad day at work, the vending machine gave me two cheddar sun chips for the price of one.

US Air delivered my bag tonight at about 10:30pm. They offer no way to check on the status other than their website for request, which I sent requests to 3 times:
Try #1 response:

Thank you for contacting US Airways about your baggage. We apologize that you have been without your luggage and we thank you for your patience. We have checked your file record and see that your luggage has arrived and scheduled for delivery.

The service handling your luggage normally delivers within 4 to 6 hours, however due to a larger volume of bags scheduled for delivery today, that window may be extended.

Try #2 response:

nothing

Try #3 response:

Thank you for contacting US Airways about your baggage. We apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced.

At this time, we are unable to respond to your e-mail. Please contact the Passenger Baggage Call Center at 1-800-371-4771 for further assistance.

We appreciate your continued support of US Airways.

And 54 hours after my arrival, my bag was delivered to my door. Note that the 800 number they provide does not allow you to speak to a person, and does not allow you to be put on hold and wait for a person, they simply disconnect you. So really there is no way to check the status of your bag. This has be be the worst customer support i've ever experienced.

I suggest others, and i know there were a lot of others, who experienced this, to write and ask for your money from US Air.

i have an over 50% luggage loss rate when flying usair. of course, i wasn't alone this holiday weekend. they lost my luggage both going to and returning from pittsburgh.

merry Christmas!

you know you've been working to long when you go to the vending machine because you are hungry, reach for your change, look at the coins in your hand, and think: i don't think this vending machine supports pennies.

i finished the davinci code last night. it was a pretty good book. he had to have done a lot of research...enough to make it believable for a novel. the end had a special surprise for me as i had been to the chapel outside of edinburgh it reference. it was cool to have an actual memory of many of the places in the book: paris, the louvre, london, rosslyn.

12°F, bloody cold. scotland gets a bad rap, but it rarely gets this cold.

ironically, the subtalk subway ad of the day is for conair.

does this say anything about the western infuence in china?

tonight j and i went to arlene's grocery
and then i ate an altoid.

someone in my building was baking cookies when i got home. made me realize how close Christmas is. i'm looking forward to being home for a few days and relaxing.

nice digs in nyc for no rent...for a bird.

there are feelings, and then there are the actions taken because of those feelings. everyone has a different amount of time and thought that gets in between the two. some have very little, some have quite a bit. i think i tend to take way more than the average bear.

subway ad of the day: cingular...the entire car.

strongbad has upgraded to a laptop after his 'virus' incident.

went to ini ani for tea and to do some reading. it really does have a nice atmosphere. they have wireless access there, so i may be spending more time there w/ my laptop. some girl saw my pittsburgh glass center t-shirt and asked me if that is where i was from. turns out she's a pittsburgh native too. i finished reading Disgrace - a very well crafted book.

subway advertisement of the day: 5 cents/min long distance to mexico.

last night was my first trip to brooklyn. e, j, and i went to a party at e's girlfriend's place. the party was fun, met several cool people. and it was interesting to see what brooklyn was like. park slope, the neighborhood we were in, seemed pretty nice, and just a touch more laid back than manhattan. it probably wouldn't be a bad place to live as long as you were close enough to the subway.

what are your 43 things?

i just got back from my friend e.'s soccer game. he coaches a team of U-8's. his team is awesome; he's taught them well how to pass and keep the field open. at that age it is quite a feat, and the payoff is in the 8-0 games they win.

it was a great day to be out. clear and crisp, the sun shining, the wind bitter. people looked beautiful bundled in their coats, scarfs wrapped high, sun in their eyes.

this past tuesday, a friend from my edinburgh program who now lives in the city, called me up to check out a 'moth' event. it was a storyteller slam and the speakers were very entertaining.

subway advertisement of the day: don't throw litter on the tracks, they cause fire (courtesy of the mta).

subway ad update: your girlfriends, your network. UPN9. (tv station)

today was a blustery day in ny. it is especially bad right down at the tip of the island where i work. at lunch there was an 'umbrella graveyard' on the corner next to the garbage can. its was humorous how many there were.

went shopping today in midtown. it was, as expected, extremely crowded. but i successfully purchased appropriate winter outerwear.

subway ad: learn to speak english.

i've decided to do a daily (or nearly daily) subway advertisement post. today is the first, and is bud light and 411.

happy thanksgiving everyone.

j went out tonight to celebrate his birthday. we ended up at a hooka bar that is on my block. it was kinda cool for something different.

use firefox.

From 1984:

And in the general hardening of outlook that set in round about 1930, practices which had been long abandoned, in some cases for hundreds of years--imprisonment without trial, the use of war prisoners as slaves, public executions, torture to extract confessions, the use of hostages and the deportation of entire populations--not only became common again, but were tolerated and even defended by people who considered themselves enlightened and progressive.

In light of the state of the world today, reading this gave me a chilling feeling. Not that I feel as if the Patriot Act has taken away any of my day to day freedoms or is extrememly intrusive to my personal life, but without a significant opposition to raise questions and keep people thinking about the direction such decision can take us we could all end up under the surveillance of the Thought Police.

living new york. last night, i left around 9:15 to meet up at a friend's place. we didn't leave to go out until 12:30. today, i had the best strawberry and nutella crepe ever, then swung by the essex street market for some groceries. the market is like the traditional city market you'd expect--in a large warehouse, packed with all sorts of produce and products from all over, people of all ages, colors, shapes and sizes, numerous languages being spoken. today is only half over, and it's been great.

i noticed that i get the highest number of its on monday and tuesday. i guess people are bored at work when they first get back.

also, the majority of the hits are from people doing searches for pictures of bath, venice, london, etc.

earlier this week, coming into the office for work in the morning, i got onto the elevator with two other guys. they were talking business and obviously worked together. when they exited, there was no question that the one checked me out an gave me the 'i'm interested' look. i haven't experienced that since SF.

it's hard to believe how warm my apartment is. and we've kept the windows open and heat 'off' as much as possible.

a.v. got married this weekend and is now a.b. it was a really beautiful event--the weather, the couple, the venue (green gables restaurant). it was a smaller and more intimate wedding than the large family weddings that i'm accustomed to. i was 1 of 4 high school friends that a. invited, so i feel quite honored to have been a part of the special day.

the trip there was much longer than i expected. primarily due to the rain and an accident on 78 on my way there. but i also stopped in bethelem for dinner with e. and j. so, i left at around 4:45 from my cousin's, and got to the hotel around 12:45am--8 hours. i made the return trip in just under 5 hours.

i learned two things today. how to make particular pages in ms word landscaped (not the entire document). and what pojo stands for.

there is a certain aethetics associated with ugliness. or maybe its more an aethetics of decay, of dispair. whatever it is, new york might just be the ultimate in examples. what accentuates the whole thing is the contrast between that which is beautiful and that which is ugly right next to each other.

and just like that, bluelikethat.com is done. i first stumbled upon bluelikethat because i did a search for a poem by e.e.cummings. that was some three years ago.

its been a really busy week. right now i have some horrendous post nasal drip, i know you wanted to know that. in the event i haven't mentioned it yet, my client has a couple locations downtown. what is amazing is that on the one floor where one of our project teams sit, more than 25% of the space is vacant. this is prime office space in downtown nyc, and it boggles my mind.

there are some other random observations i'd like to make. like the guy in the subway station today, asleep, with his shoes off, and no socks. granted, it's generally pretty warm down there, but clean it is not. i love the wash and fold service in ny. i take my dirty laundry one day, pick it up the next washed and folded. and it's not much more than if i did it myself. factor in the convenience and it's no contest. the guy that runs the place i go to is quite nice (despite losing a pair of my pants, but he paid me for them). he remembers everything. but what is more amazing is the lenght of the hair that grows out of a mole on his cheek. it has to be at least 4 inches long.

have a good weekend. tomorrow i play come touch football w/ my old college roommate.

and if you need a little more election humor, try this.

and yes, i voted, absentee.

ryan has been witnessing some amazing wildlife down near antarctica. i saw some wild life myself, albeit a differ type, in union square when i was out seeing the grudge last night.

went to see stomp last night with t. who is in town for the weekend. it was a really great show. those performers have to be in incredible shape to do that every day.

and, on top of that, we got an extra hour of sleep last night.

the eclipse is starting, i'm going to go watch.

another case of a blogger getting fired from work because of their blog.

went to a comedy show last night. it was fun. there were about 6 or 7 comedians, and they ranged from hum-drum to almost rolling-on-the-floor laughing. it was at gotham comedy. not a bad little venue.

considering the outcome, i don't mind having missed the yankees game.

how did i not find the onion's election coverage earlier?

interesting article my alumni ebulletin this week. too bad i can't make it.

today it's rainy and gray and dark outside. in manhattan, you need lights at 10:30am on the streets between the vertical canyon walls on days like this. but it makes working not as bad when it's dreary outside. i'm content to sit here and design and drink my tea.

whirlwind weekend. i left work on friday at 3:45 and returned home at about 10:45pm tonight. in that time i traveled to WV and back. spent time with my immediate family and family friends i grew up with, plus their spouses, dogs, and in my sister's case, nephew. it was a great weekend despite the dismal weather. on saturday it rained, then hailed, then snowed. but that is par for the course when out two families get together. today was great and s & d & i got to take their dog sadie for a walk in the state park. it was just after peak leaf season there, but was still nice to be outside for a bit.

on another note, we all over ate and there was still leftovers.

exercise. last night i went running when i got home from work. not a long run, but enough to feel like i did something. when i got home and checked my email, i found that this guy from craigslist had emailed me back about playing volleyball. it was that night. so, i decided to go to that too. it was all the way up at 145st, but it was nice to get some court time in. i was exhausted by the time i got home. surprisingly, i'm not too sore, but my wrist hurts a bit.

i just finished my last book last night. today i found an unbelievable webpage that i can use to help me find my local neighborhood bookstore.

sleeping. this morning i went down to the cellar where the mail room is in order to see if some mail i had sent to the office had come in. after navigating the windowless labyrinth, i enter a room lined with desks, and stacked in the middle with what looked like old office equipment. at one of the desks, a rather rotund man sat, mouse in hand, sound alseep. in fact, he was snore. i felt bad about having to wake him, but it was 8:45, and he was at work after all. so i said "good morning!" much to his surprise. he was very helpful in trying to locate any mail of mine and repeatedly apologized for the disorganization as they renovated or relocated or some such nonsense.

since i can't receive packages at my apartment, i was hoping to be able to have them sent to my work address. after this little demonstration, i'm not so sure that's a good idea.

feels like fall outside. i need to start wearing a jacket.

it also looks like i'll be on a project within a day or so. only 2 days of unstaffed time. that didn't take long. initially there looks like a fair amount of work in chicago, and then it will be based primarily in ny.

in other news, i went running yesterday. my dress pants that i haven't worn in 2 years were fitting a bit snug yesterday, so i figured i should take advantage of the beautiful weather. i'm pathetically out of shape, but more motivation to keep at it. what i'd really like to find is a soccer or volleyball club.

So far training has been pretty straight forward. This is technically my third time through new hire orientation for this company, and not that much changes year to year. But the most random thing happened on my way home tonight. Out of all the subway trains, and all the cars in the city, I walked onto one with my roommate sitting right on it. Today is the first day at home this week, I'd spent the previous nights at my cousins which saved me a 2 hr commute. Cheers to them!

21 percent of the visitors to my site use macOS.

today was my first day back to work. typical overviews and administrative paperwork to be filled out. my cousin was kind enough to let me stay at their place for a few days to avoid the 2 hr commute from the city. more details later, for now i'm going to bed.

last night we celebrated evan's birthday. it was a good night, and nice that i was able to enjoy going out on a weeknight. starting monday i most likely will not be able to do that anymore. and maybe that's a good thing, because today was a little rough.

last night we celebrated evan's birthday. it was a good night, and nice that i was able to enjoy going out on a weeknight. starting monday i most likely will not be able to do that anymore. and maybe that's a good thing, because today was a little rough.

i met my cousin for lunch today, then checked out the statue of liberty. another good day.

new york. new city, here i am. i arrived today without much difficulty, save the 5:20am alarm. i even got settled into my sublet room here in the east village. my roommate has been very nice and helpful. in fact, i'm blogging from his g4 ibook, who knows, maybe i'll be swayed to the mac-side. anyway, things are going splendidly so far. i think i like it here.

relocation. i've been looking on craigslist.org for short term sublets. success eludes, but i figure it might be easier once i get into town.

pictures. i was able to finally put together some pictures from dave's wedding. it took me longer than expected to get them uploaded to blogger; they seem to have changed some kind of security settings that make command line FTP more difficult. anyway, enjoy.

check out icon war

got back from vacation on sunday. it was a good trip. went to the wineries in the finger lakes and learned a lot about wine, including the fact that i do like some white wines, just not chardonnay. also did some hiking in the adirondacks and saw my buddy get married. d & s couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day. best wishes to them.

pictures to follow.

i'm off for vacation this weekend thru labor day weekend. d will be getting married labor day weekend up in the adirondacks. it should be a good time.

a bear with taste...

now that i'm temporarily unemployed, i've been addicted to the olympics. it's been great to watch the culmination of years of hard work and training. it's inspiring to watch the people that are the very best at what they do.

new york. new job, new place, new york. i got an offer to work in nyc starting in late september and will most likely be accepting. more details as they become available.

blog has been neglected. busy with insurance companies, moving, work, and searching for work.

a little bipartisan humor. (thanks e, h)

they listen at google. gmail just announced an import untility for yahoo contacts.

i saw spider man 2 last night. it was a good flick, on par with the first one. i also noticed that michael chabon helped with the screen play. he also wrote 'the mysteries of pittsburgh' which i've read.

these past two weeks could very likely rank as the worst 14 consecutive days of my life. but i'm hoping for some light at the end of the tunnel.

do not submit your email to a 'do not email list'. it's just a scam.

i was in my first car accident today. a 21 year old girl coming in the opposite direction tried to make a left in front of me. i'll just be quite sore for the next few days thanks to the seatbelt and airbag. but my trusty honda is lost.

i must acknowledge ryan for his fulfilling my request for the dukes of hazard dvd. one thing i can count on him for is to follow through with wacky requests.

work remains to be absurd. but i'll soon be starting my holiday weekend.

yesterday i went mountain biking for the first time in close to a year with a guy that works in my building. we went over in frick park; it was nearly a perfect day--sunny and about 70 degrees. i am out of shape, but i survived and was able to navigate most of the technical sections without major incident. i also suffered some technical/mechanical problems, so i should probably better adjust my derailers and brakes.

last night i went to the WYEP festival and saw the last three acts. I was a little disappointed with the cowboy junkies, as they didn't have their bassist or drummer with them, and consequently didn't play 'sweet jane'. i would have loved to have heard that live.

now i have to figure out how to take advantage of yet another day of perfect weather.

this past weekend was utterly gorgeous outside. it reminded me of california weather, 75, sunny, low humidity. i spent sunday in frick park. i may go back there this weekend for a bike ride with a guy that works on my floor. hopefully he'll wait around for my out of shape legs.

my sister and brother-in-law were in town as well. we went out friday night for dinner and then to the sharp edge. we had a couple belgian beer samplers, most of which were pretty good. saturday night we did the dive bar scene near where we group up with a few other folks. that was a pretty good time too. this thursday i might be out of town yet again, i hope.

yahoo suddenly gave me 2 gigs worth of space for my email account there. i assume this is to stop people from leaving yahoo for google's gmail, which was the first free email service to offer 1 gig of space. they also updated their interface to be slightly less cartoonish. competition is good for the consumer.

i am not an affectionate person. i am aware of this. it has caused both me and many of my friends pain. often i realize something is not right, but have no idea how bad it is until much later. at the same time, one thing does get through, does get communicated clearly: once you have reached a certain level of intimacy, i am loyal and devoted on some indescribable level. forever.

sweet. if anyone wants to buy me a random gift.

e from nz got to be poster child in her own little way.

m. came to visit this weekend. saturday we went to the arts festival for a bit to wander around the artist booths and check out any performances. unfortunately the weather wasn't cooperating very well. it was drizzling the whole time. we also went up to the wood street gallery to see the exhibits there. one was photography of atomic bomb testing. the other was a light & sound installation with an array of huge light bulbs.

today we went to phipps conservatory before her train left. it was a good weekend; i'm glad that she came out to visit. it's not easy to convince folks to visit you when you're in pittsburgh.

holiday weekend is over. lots of driving, 17 hrs worth. but i got to celebrate my nephew's first birthday and go on an absolutely incredible sailboat cruise with my family and a few of my sister's friends. it was a 36 foot boat, we had dinner, and sailed around in the bay for a few hours. the weather was warm but not hot and skies clear for the most part. i don't think you could have made it better.

the down side is that my neck and back are killing me from the combination of air mattress and long hours in the honda. but i'm happy to say that i made it down to my sister's on one tank of gas, 450 miles. not bad after 140k miles.

i'm in virginia this holiday weekend to celebrate my nephew's first birthday. the drive yesterday wasn't too bad. today is a nearly perfect day outside. tomorrow is caleb's big day. hopefully the nice weather will stick around.

"there's no room for you here girl, go away
there's no room for you here" -The White Stripes

there is a thunderstorm brewing. and from my office window, i can see bolt after bolt of lightning. it is an incredibly cool show, and a touch scary since i'm on the 9th floor of a 10 story building.

got my tent today. i think i'll like it. it has two D-doors, but the unique thing is that they are symmetrical on a diagonal axis. can't wait to use it.

went bowling with t and k last night. first game i bowled a made game. over 160. then barely broke the century mark, and placed second. we were the ONLY people in the place, besides the woman that was at the desk and the maintenance man. at least it wasn't smoky.

but does it play mp3s?

new technology. so, i've slowly been using my gmail account more and more. as i get used to it, and learn the different features it has, i like it. the 'conversation' style display of messages is nice, but its the time lapse in the header that is the real kicker. it tells you how long ago each of the previous messages were sent. no more calculating in your head based on the header info. simple. genius. Also, it automatically remembers every email address you sent to and received from. no more 'adding contacts'. it does it for you. down side right now, it only saves emails. i'd like to be able to import my whole yahoo address book over. lastly, the ads really are targetted based on the message content. and it could actually be useful, not annoying.

tonight i find out that blogger has also released a new version of its service. more to report on that later. there are a few things i think i might not like as much.

i went to the wynton marsalis concert tonight. it was phenomenal; much better than i expected. actually, the pianist and the drummer were the highlights in my book.

this was a good week for pictures.

i've been busy. but i finally got around to buying my tent for the upcoming hiking season. according to this review, i think i'll be pretty happy. i was going to get the rei half dome, but then the kelty was 4 inches wider. make me want to plan a trip real soon. too bad its on back order until late may.

and this is what i was doing today.

i just signed up for gmail, google's new web-based mail service. how can one pass up the opportunity of 1 gig of email storage and google search capability for your email. they claim that you never need to file or delete emails again. and based on my experience with google, i'll give them the benefit of the doubt until they prove me wrong.

if anybody has figured out a way to port all their yahoo contacts into gmail, please let me know.

i drove past this shortly after the event. we got passed by about 15 police cruisers on the way to the monroeville exit of the turnpike.

came across this little article on the cost of living in cities around the world while doing a bit of research. so, london comes in at 7, higher than nyc at 10. interesting.

happy easter.

a victim of outsourcing

more volleyball. more digs. more kills.

on a separate note, maybe i'll have to get Gmail.

saturday night was a ton of fun. haven't stayed up until 5am in a long while, and if it weren't for the fact i couldn't keep my eyes open, it may have gone on even longer. then sunday was one of those perfect days. so perfect you feel you should be doing the perfect thing outdoors. i was exhausted, so i just went to the park and read. which, as it turned out, was perfect. i think it's supposed to snow on wednesday.

it's pretty nice here today. spring is trying. and with spring, i saw my first segway. i assume it was a cmu student riding it to school. it's been a rather odd morning. but the weekend looks promising.

i think i might go watch some quebecois films tonight.

go play zuma.

there was an article in the pittsburgh post-gazette about bloggers in pittsburgh. neither chad's nor mine was mentioned. i'll just assume it's because i recently moved to pittsburgh. on second thought, i'd rather be known as an edinburgh blog.

now that i have a car, this is more apparent.

got your green? go out and have a wee pint of guinness. i know i will.

oh, yeah, not much here lately. sorry, i'm boring. life is busy, but not all that interesting.

cool challege & race held by darpa. too bad no one won the million.

quite a busy weekend. starting friday afternoon, i picked up my new glasses, drove 10 pitt students to cleveland airport, drove back, dropped the van off for the other alternative spring break trip, caught a taxi to the bus station, the bus to philly, went for a hike, and drove home from philly in my new/old car.

go play with this. (thanks mum)

it's friday afternoon, and mr b and i have discovered that four and a half cents screws everything up.

i got this email from d. viewer discretion advised.

somehow i got listed here.

changes. ryan has now become mountaininterval.org. you want to read the rest of his travels in the southern hemisphere. elan also claims changes. and there are some imminent changes for me as well. stay tuned for those.

i played volleyball tonight. i am way out of shape, but it felt good and i hope to make it a regular thing.

keeping your body fit, keeping your mind fit. listen to this report from NPR.

challenge your senses. (thanks h)

last word. most people prefer to be the last one to say goodbye on the telephone. why is that? i've been conducting a little experiement, and i almost never have the last word, even if they are the one that said 'see ya' first. i think more people should be comfortable hanging up. my great grandmother used to just hang up the phone when she was done speaking, without really giving any warning.

i've realized that i've been clenching my teeth. a lot.

decisions. i'm going to buy a car. the irony is i'm going to buy back the same car i sold when i left for scotland. efficient, affordable, trusty honda. how i've missed you.

head in the clouds. since i've started reading. i mean, really reading. i've found a place with a window view that extends for fairly long distances. all the places have been at least 2 storeys up. there seems to be some natural connection between reading and having as a backdrop the slowly changing cloudscape. watching slowly the light grow and dim, the sky shift, crack, sharpen, blur, bleed, ooze, cry, freeze, twinkle, even sleep.

i'll be volunteering at the pittsburgh glass center tonight.

evan got his anthology put together and published. the launch party is next week. i wish i could be there to celebrate.

technology update. for all you bit-heads out there, check out the latest in RAID technology (thanks to elan). on an unrelated note, i spent many hours fiddling with my cd burner to get it to work. then burning multiple cds. concurrently, i spent about an hour and a half on the phone with ATT wireless support to fix my mobile AIM problem. i logged in the other day and now can't log out. still. i was on the phone so long my batter died and disconnected me. why do i even care? well, b/c if anyone tries to IM me, after all, it looks like i'm online, my phone will make a noise. it gets annoying. epsecially when you can't reply to whoever just IMed you.

nabbed by google

i have been in pittsburgh too long. after ridiculing my roommate for the lack of use of the be verb, a common 'yinser' characteristic, i wrote the following in an email:

The car needs inspected by the end of the month.

this sentence with proper grammar would be

The car needs to be inspected by the end of the month.

the snow is coming down in huge flakes. if you look quick, maybe you can watch.

this years first big virus attack

and ryan's blog is back up. lots to read since his departure for antactica. all in typical ryan style.

enjoyable evenings. last night was enjoyable. i had dinner with my dad to celebrate his birthday. we mutually agreed how nice it was to have pleasant conversation. afterward, he dropped me off on the south side to meet up w/ a. and some of her friends in celebration of her birthday. this sort of evening used to be commonplace. its rarity has made me point out this particular instance.

travel bug. i heard from ryan today. he sent a message from the general vicinity of patagonia. he actually wrote it while on the journey through drake passage. he claims to have been colder than me. probably. but more interesting were his comments about being attacked by various wildlife, primarily birds. he promises to get his blog back up soon. his constant site crashes are not a convincing story for the stability of linux. i expect pictures a few weeks after that.

martha has had several posts about her travels in europe. it brings back all the sweet memories of last year.

their comments, combined with my distaste for my current situation, is bringing on a case of the travel bug. i've got the frequent flyer miles, i just have to figure out where and why. new zealand seems to beckon. central america? maybe i should have done peace corps.

it is so cold outside, my teeth hurt.

i helped out here today.

the question of the real. perhaps i am melancholy. no. i do not feel melanchoy. i am melancholy. personified.

perhaps true communication isn't a funtion of directness, but of the language of metaphor. and all the time i've sought common meaning was futile because it simply cannot exist between two separate beings. and the closest we can get is the approximated interpretation of metaphor. symbol upon symbol. perhaps abstrations has nullified objectivity.

pittsburgh symphony at the vatican

housewarming party last night was a success. finally got to meet up with c. he's working on a little pet project here while finishing up things at CMU. i might help him out with some coding. a & m came, it was great to hang out with them. not to mention s & b from high school showed up. i wasn't really expecting that one. and thanks to mum for the dip and meatballs, they went over well too.

senselessness. an americorps member in pittsburgh was killed in a drive by shooting this weekend. i didn't work with her, but extremely frustrated and saddened by this news.

yesterday i had mate for the first time. mate is a south american tea. crystal and i went over to a friend of c's from argentina, who made it for us. the taste is kinda of hard to explain. it is a bit more evergreenish than regular tea. she added more sugar than usual since it was our first time, but i probably would have liked it a little less sweet than she made it.

quote out of context for the day: "and i'll play it for you when we're in the bathtub"

i just went for some chai at 'cafe mocha'. sometimes people look so beautiful all bundled up for the absurdly cold weather. their eyes clear, cheeks and noses red, hats pulled down tight.

i believe today is officially the coldest day of the winter. i hope it stays the coldest.

it is still raining

for c. there is far too much in the world i wish to capture, to preserve, to eternalize in a well crafted observation. there is far too much selfishness, even within myself. there is far too much impermanence and failure where i wish there to be an immovable pillar and unwavering loyalty. everything is delicately broken. the world is an empty shell, filled only with the replicas of long forgotten meaning. yet, somehow, at some point every day, out of oblivion, i find a smile carved right there in front of me.

i miss our private teas.

hahaha. happy new year. suckas.