7 more days

Yikes! A week from now, I'll be somewhere on the Jersey turnpike. I am completely overwhelmed and I don't expect my last day at work is going to help me in that department. Yesterday, I tried to prepare my assistant for any question, event, or problem that might occur after I leave. There's no replacement for me yet, so I'm trying to make sure she suffers as little as possible. After work, I took her out to dinner at Chango to thank her for being the best assistant ever. Another colleague joined us and we tried to pretend this wasn't our last dinner together, which was not all that easy. When we parted, I said, "Don't hug me! It makes it real!"

who signed off on this?

The American version of The Office is terrible! It's like the ugly, annoying neighbor kid who imitates everything you do and is never, ever funny.

when a door closes...

This isn't the most focused photo, but I love these doorknobs at work.

8 more days

Today is my next to last day at work. My office is starting to resemble a florist's shop. I spent yesterday preparing customized data CDs for the various people who will be taking over my responsibilities. I'm sure they were thrilled. After work, a group of colleagues treated me to a stuff-yourself-'til-you're-sick dinner at Blue Smoke. They were people I don't see all that often anymore, so it was a really sweet gesture. I had to avoid the meat with bones in it because it's one of my eating peccadilloes, but the mac & cheese was divine. Someone gave me the soundtrack to Ray, so I think I'm going to play "Hit the Road, Jack" as I drive off into the sunrise.

true spanish girls wear heels in a blizzard

Today I made my debut on the website Overheard in New York! Scroll down to "Wednesday One-Liners, Por Favor." Combine this with an incident the other day where I had to call an ambulance for an old man who was having a heart attack and I think I've done everything I need to do before leaving for LA.

9 more days

More books were packed yesterday, still barely making a dent. My apartment looks like a disaster zone. I tackled the cabinets under the kitchen sink, clearing out most of it until I came across some pest poison my landlord had put there after I spied a mouse a few months ago. The little green pellets sort of turned me off, so I took a break and met a friend for lunch at Bar Tabac. Afterwards, I scored some helpful packing supplies at The Container Store and decided against buying more audio books because you'd think by the price that they came with gallons of gasoline. I had a farewell meeting with my lovely dissertation advisor, ran some more errands, and came home. By then, I was feeling pretty overwhelmed, so I watched some Deadwood and passed out.

love the questions themselves

"I want to beg you as much as I can...to be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves...Do not now seek answers which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer." - Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

10 more days

I find it very hard to believe I only have 10 more days left in New York. I spent yesterday assembling my CD holder for the road (it turns out the 128 size was perfect), packing two boxes of books (which barely made a dent), emptying out my computer desk and helping my neighbor reassemble it in his apartment, and getting rid of a stack of floppy disks by transferring their contents to my laptop. Judging by how far I still have to go in the packing department, it's a damn good thing I've got 10 more days.

this week's netflix

Real Women Have Curves: Dear Hollywood, please give me more charming antidotes to the idea that being above a size six is shameful.

Deadwood, Season 1, Episodes 1 & 2: This HBO series, in case you missed the media blitz, portrays the lives of the gold-rushing inhabitants of Deadwood, South Dakota in 1876. Matching The Sopranos for violence and profanity, the setting and characters grow addictive. After the first episode, I was interested, but by the end of the second episode, I was hooked.

American Pimp: This documentary by the Hughes Brothers (Dead Presidents, Menace II Society) is a trip into the lives of pimps, providing history and interviews with the biggest players of "the game," interspersed with footage from films like The Mack. I would have liked a little more ho time, but I guess that's another movie.

taking new york with me

Now that I have a mere 11 days left in New York, I'm starting to grow nostalgic for the city (read: freak out), so I've been taking pictures as if that will somehow capture my time here.

Empire State Building from Madison Square Park

25th Street & Madison

25th Street @ Madison

Wim Delvoye's installation @ Greater New York 2005 exhibit