weekend getaway. off to upstate for a weekend getaway with a. see you sunday.

not sure if i mentioned it earlier or not, but they are filming a movie practically right outside my apartment. the nice part is sometimes they have the streets closed off to traffic; the bad part is sometimes parts are closed off to pedestrians, too.

speaking of folks from back home, i just got a link to a blog from another guy in our old crew. he's in the marines, and in iraq. i hope he has time to update it, i'm sure there are plenty of interesting stories.

wow, two in one week. my buddy j and his wife from back home just had his second. babies everywhere. everyone say hello to evan.

operation new black shoes. my beloved black clarks were sadly decommissioned two weeks ago when, during the eight days of rain, i found the hard way i had worn a hole in the bottom. after spending nearly 24 hours with one cold, saturated foot, i decided our time together was over. it's not often i spend 150 on a pair of shoes, but they were worth every penny. so many memories (and fuzzy memories) with those shoes in edinburgh.

tonight mission was successful. after trying on a pair of kenneth coles, i passed on them (and fyi, you can get these for half the price listed on the website in nyc), the heel feeling too wide, and went to aldo. there i found a decent pair, altho they need some breaking in. they have some pretty big shoes to fill after my slipper-like clarks.

ryan, i think you should enter this contest.

dave is a dad! shelly delivered william david last night. congratulations! the family grows.

books. thanks to time magazine, i have a good list of books to refer to when i need a suggestion. it's good to recognize (and have read) several on this list.

reunion. it's been five years--FIVE YEARS--since i left lehigh for california. now, having lived my 'real' adult life in california, edinburgh, pittsburgh and new york i went back to a place of so many memories. i only had one close friend that was there that weekend (thanks l. for the ride and reminiscing), but it was nice to see some old acquaintances, and a few faces that i never knew, but recognized nonetheless.

it was a fine trip, from hitchhiking to the 'ho', to moving the rings, to trying to find a hotel room to stay. and what would a weekend at lehigh be without large quantities of alcohol?

rain. what an ugly morning. now i know why my body didn't want to get out of bed this morning. in the three blocks i walk from the subway to work, i am soaked from the waist down...with an umbrella.

summer is over. i took my air conditioner out of my window today.

understanding and the authentic. the following is an excerpt from the glass bead game:

...it seems to me that we have not only two different languages and ways of expressing ourselves, each of which can only vaguely be translated into the other, but that we are altogether and fundamentally different creatures who can never understand each other. Which of us is really the authentic and integral human being, you or me? Every so often I doubt that either of us is.

this quote is from an intellegent, educated man 'of the world' to his good friend of an intellectual elite sheltered from the harsh realities of the world. nevertheless, this is succinctly the fundamental dis-ease i have felt ever since my adult 'awakening'.

bridging this gap is fundamental for me to find meaning to my own life. i had altogether given up on using words and language at one point. i've come back to realize that language and words are still a useful, but fallible, tool. and i continue to learn and investigate ways to communicate and understand. perhaps i'll never really get to that perfect understanding i long for, but maybe trying and searching is what life is all about.

quality. friday night i was out with a guy from work for a bite to eat before drinks. not sure how we stumbled upon it, but somehow we both noticed a fundamental difference between europeans and americans. in europe, people are still willing to pay a premium for quality. in america, we (by 'we' i mean the general public) buy the cheapest one available. here, so much is driven by the bottom line, so if you can get 1 more widget per dollar, then it's worth it. the fact that this cheaper widget will last half as long or be half as reliable is not of concern.

the effect of this trickles down. as less people support companies that produce more expensive, but higher quality items, those comapanies have to find ways to compete to remain in business. this usually means producing lower quality, finding ways to reach the market at mixed levels to maintain necessary margins, or closing their doors. as quality decreases, but the abundance of cheap goods increase, the amount of waste generated will increase. in the long run, making and consuming quality is win-win.

great weekend. a busy, but really good weekend is in the last few hours. friday went to dinner with r. and his friend a. then we went bowling for a bit. sat a. and i went to the brooklyn botanical gardens because it was such a nice day. the brooklyn museum was showing an independent documentary as part of 'first saturdays', so we watch that before heading back to the city for dinner and drinks. i should mention that the trip out there was much more involved than anticipated. one should check the MTAs website for weekend construction closings to avoid 2 transfers and a walk between stations in order to get from manhattan to brooklyn.

today was a nice relaxing time in the park (again, savoring some of the last warm days of the year) followed by The Constant Gardener - an excellent but somewhat heart-wrenching movie. then a bite to eat afterwards. now, back at home and will probably curl up with my book to try to finish this thing off by the middle of next week.