So as expected, the Port Authority announced today that construction at the World Trade Center site is behind schedule and over-budget, apparently because the original plans were unrealistic. There’s also 19 different government agencies and numerous other organizations involved in the site, with no central governing agency. Anyway, I am not going to try to duplicate the news reports here, or try to comment on it all. What I do have for y’all is a photo I took with my cameraphone last night of the Freedom Tower. After the jump, you can compare it a photo I took from the same location on April 2. So … slow progress.

Continue reading this post…

aarp card

Originally uploaded by derek7272

i guess they heard i have a birthday upcoming…

So what is with all these people trying to befriend me on Facebook whom I don’t even know? It is slightly annoying. Okay, I’ve done it too, but I’ll at least write a little note saying explaining why I wanna be friends: Hey, I like your writing, we have some stuff in common, a couple mutual friends, etc. Just sending a person you don’t know a random friend request seems just weird to me. Normally when I get one I’ll search my gmail to make sure it’s not someone who I met once and have just forgotten. Then I’ll send them a message saying, basically, hey, sorry I can’t remember how I know you, can you refresh my memory? It’s funny the number of these so-called “friends” who don’t even bother to reply!

Then there are the people who are publicists. I am not one of these snooty journalists who look down their nose at publicists or disdain them. When I worked at the Daily News more than a couple of my stories — decent stories — were driven or inspired by a press release or publicist’s phone call. But in the year and a half I’ve been at the L.U.N.O. (Large Unnamed News Organization) I’ve never been a reporter or an assignment editor. I don’t write stories, and I don’t assign them. All the press releases I’m emailed just sorta sit in my inbox, doing nothing but annoying me. Yet certain publicists seem to want to befriend me so they can pitch me press releases. Awg awg ugh no no no. Please, no.

I have planned my 2008 summer vacation. A couple days in Chicago July 24-27 at the Unity journalism conference and hopefully a Cubbies game, and then off to Jackson, Wyo., to tool around Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks. I plan to bring my tent and get in some good hiking action.

Okay, I admit it — I wasn’t really there for that midnight showing of Sex and the City! And Carrie doesn’t die! I can’t really believe anyone fell for that. How long have we been friends Flygirl???

Anyway, yeah, no plans for seeing the movie. Like I think most guys I found the whole hype about the thing kinda annoying. Maybe I will catch it when it comes out of TBS or something. I did watch a couple episodes with my then-girlfriend in 2003 or so when it was on HBO and couldn’t get into it at all. All of the characters just struck me as pretty unsympathetic, frankly. I mean: Samantha Jones. I’m hardly a prude, but constantly bringing up sex ALL THE TIME, finding some way to work it into every conversation — that is annoying. Miranda is just boring.

And Carrie. Why do so many women identify with Carrie? I know there is this debate over whether she is attractive. I would say yes, but not as attractive as she thinks she is. More importantly, tho — she just strikes me as a little charmless. Ally McBeal was neurotic and a little annoying, but she had a certain charm about her … Carrie? Meh.

(The guys are even worse, totally one-dimensional jerks.)

Even more annoying was the tendency of certain writers to say that criticism of the movie was, in the words of one, “mostly sexist” and linking it to Hillary Clinton etc. Umm, there are many movies featuring strong, independent women that guys enjoy, from “Aliens” and “Resident Evil” to “Sweet Home Alabama” and “Million Dollar Baby.” The women in “Sex in the City” struck me as less “strong and independent” and more as materialistic ring-chasers obsessed with frivolity — err, “fashion.” (Okay, yes, I haven’t seen the movie — but tell me I’m not wrong on this!)

I don’t really know, but this NYT story was v. amusing.

I love this commercial, too. The song is “List of Demands” by Saul Williams. Awesome.

The athletes shown include Adrian Peterson, NFL rookie of the year, racing a dragster; Kevin Durant of the SuperSonics running in a red jersey; Abby Wambach of the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team, in a resistance band; Hope Solo also of the women’s soccer team jumping rope; Steve Nash of the Phoenix Suns doing a medicine ball workout; Landon Donovan of the men’s soccer team doing some kind of running routine … I’m not sure who else.

So regarding my previously-blogged-about small claims case against my ex-landlord, I did get the check from the management company this week. Have already sent half to my ex-roomie and used the rest of pay off debts…

So I think my friends would tell y’all that one of my biggest flaws is that I’m a bit of a mess. Or at least a slob. Let’s just say that my apartment has often been a disaster area. However I am trying to be better. And I have been, lately. In fact I recently got a Roomba 535 robotic vacuum ($212 via this link) and I have to recommend it. It is pretty great about navigating my apartment and it’s slightly astonishing how much schmutz — dust, dirt and cat hair — it picks up, even when I had just run it a few days ago. Also it forces me to keep my floor clean to run the Roomba. And even when I don’t think the floor is particularly dirty, it ends up looking much better after a good vacuum.

Here is a little video I took of the kitties reaction the day I received the Roomba. (They’re a little more used to it now.)

So saw Sex and the City at midnight … I really couldn’t believe that Carrie was the one who died! It was diabolical. What a plot twist … and being hit by a bus, no less!

Have other people heard about this? There’s going to be four giant, temporary waterfalls in the East River this summer, including one at the Brooklyn Bridge.

Continue reading this post…

Posted for a friend of mine ….

Tonight on the BLOOMBERG TELEVISION(r) program “Night Talk” anchor Mike Schneider talks to Craigslist founder Craig Newmark about the eBay lawsuit, politics, and the quirky culture at craigslist.org.

“Its not that we’re anti-social, its just that we don’t care about money the
way corporations usually do…nothing altruistic or noble or pious about
that, you know, its a matter of basic values like the values I got out of
Sunday school.”

He responds to eBay’s suit alleging that the value of their 28% stake of the
company has been diminished, “The idea is that we do run Craigslist as a
community service, we’re not an investment.”

Newmark says he backs Sen. Obama because he picks a “good guy” over the “bad guys” in Washington.

In true Craig Newmark fashion he blogged and “twittered” during his visit to
Bloomberg TV: http://www.cnewmark.com/2008/05/at-bloomberg-tv.html

“Night Talk” airs in the U.S., Europe and Asia on Bloomberg TV at 10PM on
weeknights and is simulcast on Bloomberg Radio at 10PM. Bloomberg Radio is
broadcast on 1130AM in the New York Metropolitan area and is available on XM and Sirius. The Friday night Show re-airs over the weekend Sat at
8:00-9:00pm, 10:00-11:00pm and Mon 12:00am - 1:00am.

So remember how my old landlord withheld one month of my security deposit last year? In case you don’t, to recap: A few months after signing a two-year lease with my then-girlfriend C., we split up. We gave them plenty of notice, but they didn’t find a new tenant. So we continued paying rent on the now-vacant apartment for like two weeks until C. found them a new tenant. But the landlord, Midwood Management Corp., declined to sign a lease with the new tenant unless we agreed to sacrifice one month’s security deposit — $2300.  To me this seemed like blackmail. We were certainly willing to cover all of their legitimate expenses in re-renting the place, but those were minimal: the cost of a credit check and drawing up a new lease. (As mentioned, they hadn’t lost any rent on the deal because we paid for the vacant apartment).

So I wasn’t going to agree to this, but C. wanted to and asked me to as well. It seemed like if we fought them or refused to agree to giving up one month’s security deposit, they would leave the apartment vacant and maximize their damages. We were paying $76/day for this vacant apartment at this point. So, more out of courtesy to my ex- than anything else, I ended up signing a very vague agreement that said they would terminate the lease in return for “for valuable consideration, the receipt of which Owner hereby acknowleges.”

However after talking to my lawyer friend Tallman I decided there was a case to be that this agreement was totally coerced and should not be valid. The security deposit only exists to cover their legitimate expenses and should not be used as a bribe to get them to re-rent the apartment.

So I filed an action in small claims court. It was very simple and easy to file, costing me just $20. There was a preliminary hearing in March and then it went to trial last Thursday, May 8. In the interest of having it heard quickly we agreed to have it heard by an arbitrator, rather than a judge, which meant there is no appeal possible. So on Thursday I went up to room 775 of 111 Centre St. and had my case heard. I sat in a conference room across from Midwood’s in-house counsel and chief executive, and we both explained our sides to the arbitrator. I wouldn’t say we were friendly, exactly, but we were certainly very polite and civil and cordial to each other. The arbitrator listened carefully and asked some good questions.

Midwood’s president, Steven Brown, acknowledged under oath that he had rented the place to the new tenants for “a few dollars more” than what C. and I were paying(!). (He said he would have just left the apartment vacant otherwise). So not only did Midwood not suffer a loss in rental income by us leaving, the company actually profited!

At one point Midwood’s lawyer claimed their expenses in re-renting the place were in excess of $2300, such as their costs in getting the apartment ready for us. I was kicking myself afterward for not challenging that more. It was vacant when we saw it; all they did was put our name on the buzzer. And had it professionally cleaned after we moved out; I think we actually returned it to them in a cleaner condition than we got it.

Basically their position, though, was that we had consented to give them $2300, so it shouldn’t matter if they had damages or not. My position was that that “consent” was coerced by their outrageous conduct.

In the end I left thinking I had had a fair hearing and was satisfied I had gotten to tell my story to someone. And … guess what???  I guess the headline and the photo blow the ending, huh?  I got the decision in the mail today — and I won!!!!  I even was awarded $20 in court fees, which I hadn’t asked for.

All in I spent about an hour to file the claim, mostly waiting in line; maybe 60-90 minutes at the preliminary hearing back in March; a half-hour waiting for the trial on Thursday, and the trial itself was half an hour. I still have to collect the judgment, but hopefully that should not be a problem. Let’s hear it for the little guy!

Tags: rent, nyc, apartments, landlords, small claims court, hell’s kitchen, midwood management corp.

I thought this story in the NYT magazine was v. interesting particularly for its obv. implications for gender equality. Apparently in the wake of Title IX, girl and young women athletes are getting hurt far more often than male athletes.

Michael Sokolove writes:

Girls and boys diverge in their physical abilities as they enter puberty and move through adolescence. Higher levels of testosterone allow boys to add muscle and, even without much effort on their part, get stronger. In turn, they become less flexible. Girls, as their estrogen levels increase, tend to add fat rather than muscle. They must train rigorously to get significantly stronger. The influence of estrogen makes girls’ ligaments lax, and they outperform boys in tests of overall body flexibility — a performance advantage in many sports, but also an injury risk when not accompanied by sufficient muscle to keep joints in stable, safe positions. Girls tend to run differently than boys — in a less-flexed, more-upright posture — which may put them at greater risk when changing directions and landing from jumps. Because of their wider hips, they are more likely to be knock-kneed — yet another suspected risk factor.

This divergence between the sexes occurs just at the moment when we increasingly ask more of young athletes, especially if they show talent: play longer, play harder, play faster, play for higher stakes. And we ask this of boys and girls equally — unmindful of physical differences.

The article says girl athletes are more likely than boys to suffer from chronic knee pain, shinsplints, stress fractures, ankle sprains, hip and back pain, concussions, and most significantly, A.C.L. ruptures. In sports that both sexes play, like soccer basketball and volleyball, it appears that girls suffer torn A.C.L.’s at rates a whopping five times than boys. It’s a devastating injury that never really fully heals.

razor

Originally uploaded by derek7272

I have finally upgraded to the Gillette Fusion Power. And I gotta say, it is pretty nice. It just glides over my cheeks. I put off buying the Mach 3 power for years; when I finally tried it I was so sorry I did. Most guys have to shave just about everyday, so you might as well make it as pleasant as possible. Life’s small pleasures…

The official results aren’t posted yet, but according to my wristwatch yesterday I ran a 3:38:37 in the New Jersey Marathon, which I’m very happy with. The conditions on the pancake-flat course were excellent: overcast and cool. Just as soon I finished the sun came out, too, so I wasn’t freezing in my wet clothes.

My splits:
7:54, 7:59, 7:57, 8:03, 8:09, 8:15
8:10, 8:18, 8:34, 8:25, 8:35, 8:45
8:32, 8:38, 8:06, 8:20, 8:13, 8:23,
8:19, 8:21, 8:29, 8:16, 8:29, 8:44
8:39, 8:08, (1:44).

If I didn’t quite run a negative split, I was close! The race is on the Jersey shore in and around the town of Long Branch, just north of Asbury Park. It was a bit of a boring course, with few crowds and no bands or anything like that. At about mile 14 I was first starting to feel a little sore, but knew I still had a long way to go, and these gremlins came into my head. A bunch of the half-marathon participants had steamed by me at what for them was the finish and I started thinking negative thoughts, how nice it would be stop as well. Then thankfully I started talking to two women runners at around my pace, both of whom were going for a 3:40 to qualify for Boston. That was about the pace I was going for as well. One told me I looked nice and relaxed. Talking to them definitely snapped me out of my reverie and spurred me onward. I ended up running a really great second half. My hamstrings normally give me problems during marathons but I’d been stretching them during yoga and it paid off — this time I was hamstring-problem free. My hip flexors, however, did get kinda sore and restricted my stride a little. But nothing too bad — it was a remarkably low-pain marathon.

Logistically, though, there were a number of things that bugged me about this race. Like beforehand we would get weekly “race director updates” in our inbox. Only, they didn’t send the actual updates, just a notice tto go to the website. (And not even a direct link).

Speaking of the website, confusing wording on it meant that a number of runners (including my carload of Flyers) ended up going to the Monmouth Medical Center for the expo and to pick up our bib numbers. It turned out the hospital was just sponsoring the expo, not hosting it.

And I totally missed the soup and other hot food that was in a tent after the race! D’oh!

However I guess I can’t complain too much considering this is my best marathon in many years.

UPDATE: My official time was 3:39:15, or an 8:22 pace. 257 out of 1001 men; 299 of 1699 overall.
UPDATE 2: Okay, that was my “gun” time. My chip time was 3:38:40. I knew I broke 3:39!

Hi, sorry about blog-absence, I am still here alive and kicking. New Jersey Marathon on Sunday! I am hoping for about a 3:40 or so. I am still working the overnight shift at the L.U.N.O. (Large Unnamed News Organization).

Actually I need to think about other career options as the company is “regionalizing” the department where I work. I could likely move to another city such as Philly or Atlanta, or two yet-to-be-determined cities in the Midwest and West, but I’m not sure I want to do that. (Well, I’m sure I don’t want to live in Philadelphia or Atlanta, no disrespect to those places intended).

Anyway I am hoping to transfer internally within the company and stay in New York but need to be exploring other options. I am hopeful that there won’t be any layoffs until 2009, though, so I have time.

In the event I am laid off I am trying to think of things to do, assuming I can’t land a city newspaper job immediately, as would seem likely. Obviously it is a tough time in the journalism business right now. One idea: Take a week or two and apply for various game and reality shows! (Amazing Race, Survivor, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, etc.). This website has guide to such reality shows. I also might consider freelancing or something — I understand it’s pretty hard to establish yourself but once you have you can make a v. decent living freelancing.

As for the Ne Year’s resolutions updates, yes I have slacked off on them. Kind of got bored doing it on a weekly basis. But will post an update after the marathon. For the record, I weighed in at 167 lbs. yesterday though. (The current girl I’m dating claims I’m “too thin” in fact and wants me to gain weight).

You’ve probably seen this before if you watch much TV … but it’s still a pretty amazing ad. The performer is Jinny Jessica Jacinto, a former Cirque du Soleil contortionist. The ad is one of a series shot in Prague and features the re-composed music of Andrew Bird. Stunning.

ground zero construction

Originally uploaded by derek7272

Taken April 2, 2008 from my kitchen. You can see the steel pillars for Freedom Tower at the very right of this photo, midway down. Beneath that is this silver roof; that is the new temporary PATH station that just opened this week. You can see people streaming out of the old PATH station with the white awning toward the left.

If you click on the photo, it will take you to my flickr page where I have addeed various annotations using flickr’s notes function.

I’ve also updated this page that shows progress at the “east bathtub” site.