When I walked to work this morning the temperature was hovering around zero degrees.  When the temperature is in that neighborhood, you have a really good chance that it’s going to be a clear sunny day, and it was.  There was not a cloud in the sky and between the golden morning sun and the glittering snow, it was a nice day to walk to work.

Murray Hill Share – Three Bedroom – Park Avenue – East 30S

Contact JAD Realty Group for a showing:

610-781-8417

LOCATION: Murray Hill / Park Avenue DESCRIPTION: Well maintained townhouse building Separate kitchen including appliances and new cabinetry Two full bathrooms, new fixtures Large living room featuring a wall of windows and a decorative fireplace Each bedroom can fit a queen size bed and extra furniture Southern exposure view, bright apartment New hardwood floors Live in super Washer and dryer in unit Excellent Murray Hill location; near all transportation, restaurants, Park Avenue, Lexington Avenue, Gramercy, Midtown, Union Square, and Grand Central Station TRANSPORTATION: LISTED RENT: $3,800 CONTACT: Name: Jeffrey Phone: 610.781.8417

Murray Hill Share – Three Bedroom – Park Avenue – East 30S

Contact JAD Realty Group for a showing:

610-781-8417

I work two miles from home, but I cannot bike to work because it’s too dangerous to get across 101.  Both the Holly Street overpass and the Ralston overpass are too dangerous for bikes and anyway the  bikes impede the flow of traffic. – Arley Lewis

It’s a funny thing when you come to a city where few people speak conversationally in your language. You go a tad nuts. My brain has turned the volume knobs of Mongolian street chatter down to a quiet hum, and I’m becoming very aware of my self-narration. It’s a little like in the movie Stranger Than Fiction, but I don’t have the excuse of having a famous author writing my life’s story. In this case, I’m just another crazy person mumbling to myself about the taste of tea and the sheer numbers of cigarette vendors. Perhaps it’s the coffee, or the good night’s sleep, or the sun rising over the mountains (I’d say they’re hills … not a point to argue to anyone in this city), but this craziness is especially pronounced on my way to work in the morning.

It usually starts as soon as I say goodbye to Tulgi and Ogy as I leave for the office. The lingering smells of dinner in the apartment are quickly knocked from my sinuses by the dry, dusty Mongolian morning as I step out of the dark, Soviet-style apartment foyer. Usually there’s either a middle-aged man, or old woman sitting on the stoop outside the door. The man will nod. The woman will stare at me with wrinkled frown lines forming at the corners of her worn face. When I greet him, the man responds, “sain ta sain bainuu” through his cigarette. The woman just deepens the wrinkles around her mouth.

I usually walk past another woman with a hand broom sweeping the steps in front of the yellow convenience shack that’s about 15′ from my door. The paint of the store has faded and chipped, showing that the building was at one point cherry red. I try to imagine what the metal playground next to it used to look like before it was sun-bleached and decimated by overplay and drunken teenagers. I figure that the equipment was painted bright colours to match the store at one point, with kids dripping ice cream down the shining aluminum slide, trying to avoid their pant legs and prevent their skin from touching the hot metal. I think the winters have played a part in the decay.

My whole neighbourhood is blocks of apartments that seem to have a deeper level of wear. Some of the barred windows have grocery bags of water hanging over them. I was told by a Canadian ex-pat that Mongolians believe they keep the flies away since most people don’t have window screens. I couldn’t help notice that he had a bag hanging over the entrance of his restaurant.

The milk-sellers start bellowing toward the windows at about 7 a.m., and it seems to be the cue for Ulaanbaatar to pull itself together. Street vendors settle, unloading fruit, and older women pull up their haz-masks, put on their cloth gloves, and tip down their hats, settling on short stools to sell individual cigarettes and Chupa Chups lollipops at their makeshift phone stalls.

I walk down a cobbled path avoiding Ih Toyruu Street, where lingering partyers stumble down the sidewalks from the 24-hour club scene on the busy strip. Once bus 1, 13, 20, 21 or trolley 2 or 4 arrives, I’m on my way. Trolley 4 and bus 21 are the ones to avoid, I’ve learned. There’s a low possibility that the bus will head in the right direction after the Main Square, and the trolley often breaks down. Blue bus 1 is my favourite because it is rarely busy at the early hours and it’s fairly clean. The bus driver had taped beautiful calendar photos to his enclosement and someone had bought strips of new lace to tack to the tops of the windows. There’s plastic flowers that rattle on the massive dash as it makes its best effort to roll toward downtown. They try to mask age and wear with decoration. It reminds me of those old women you see with high heels, tight pants, died orange hair and red lipstick. The difference between the two is the old woman doesn’t nearly kill a man on a motorcycle, or a pedestrian each morning – we can hope.

This morning I was on the unlucky trolley 4, where there are wooden benches facing each other at an awkwardly close distance. Today I sat alone (as most Mongolians also avoid this transit option) with my backpack placed on my lap. I looked to the pay clerk that comes up to collect the Tg200 fair. She wasn’t approaching and I saw she was looking at two passengers with a sour face. I looked down to see the backs of a small boy and a little girl. They were sleeping with their heads uncomfortably bouncing against each other and the window. The boy’s shirt was worn and over-sized, falling down his small shoulder, exposing streaks of dirt and a few scars. Despite the fact that he was passed out, he still had his arm grasped firmly around his counterpart. I wondered how long they’d been on the trolley, and if their skin or clothes had ever looked new.

Once I arrive at my stop, I usually pick up some Roё juice, but I still have to point and beg at the small windows of the convenience stands because I can’t seem to pronounce the name (Mental note: Ask someone how to say “peach juice”, and see if it’s easier). After that, I’m on my way down an alley toward work.

Today was more of an obstacle course than usual. Normally, I walk down the alley, hang a left past a hidden bar, and round about a fence toward a very tight staircase and walkway along the side of a building. Today, someone had dumped a giant pile of dirt in the way of my journey. I looked around and tried to figure out how they even got the dirt in the small cavern of a walkway in the first place. It’s still a mystery. I scaled the dirt mound, and headed on my way. After I got past the building walkway, I ducked under the broken fence of a school yard, where workers are renovating the building. The school looks like a big, square face, throwing up a giant mound of orange bricks. One of the ‘eye’ windows still has its curtains hanging to one side, giving the face a half-sad expression. Today there was a man sharpening a chainsaw at the building’s entrance.

The side of the yard seems to also be a good napping place for homeless and exhausted drunks. I usually press close to the wall and tread lightly, as if they would actually wake. Once I round the corner, there’s a series of numbered shipping compartments where people bring their empty bottles and cans. Trucks that are bursting at the seams with people are also packed with stuffed bottle bags, roped to the bed. Once I count past compartments 24, 25, 26, I’m back on the main street and out of the innards of UB. A Parisian restaurant appears around the corner, facing a much bolder ger that is sticking out as an entranceway to a typical Mongolian club. I usually keep my eyes darting to the ground to avoid the upturned and twisted concrete. The designed pavement tiles were once laid in a pattern, creating large decorative circles in the street. I imagine similar streets in Moscow in good repair. Now they’re overturned, flipped, and missing altogether. A few more steps down the dizzy sidewalk, and I’m at the news building.

That’s when I usually forget I’m narrating and start writing real stories.

-Rove Reporter

I woke up to a grey morning today. The sky was grey, my sweater was grey, and my threadbare brown ‘cozy’ hoodie (because when the weather won’t make the effort, why should I?) has been verging on grey for years. I stepped out the door, already late, into a grey drizzle. It was a bus morning.

The rush hour bus is a grim way to start any day, stopping and starting and stopping and starting, all through downtown gridlock. But today, there was no way around it. I rolled up my torn cuffs as discreetly as I could in a bus full of business suits and shiny shoes, and stood by the back doors to wait for my stop.

I was well on my way to daydreaming myself out of my funk when the bus slowed and settled by the curb. I pushed the doors, but they didn’t budge. I pushed again, and jiggled the long handles… nothing. The bus hissed and I felt the jolt of the flyweel kicking in. Great, just great.

“Back doors,” I called out. The bus jerked forward. “Back doors, please!” I shouted over the crowd, who had all turned their heads to watch.

The bus driver glared at me in his mirror. I shook the doors again and glared back.

His answer came back biting: “Could you at least let me get to the bus stop first.”

This is why I walk to work ~ sigh.

Brand New Listing – East 50th Street – Below Market Value

Contact JAD Realty Group for showing times:

Jeffrey Ditri – 610.781.8417

LOCATION: Midtown East / East 50th Street DESCRIPTION: Well maintained, walk-up building Third floor unit Separate kitchen including appliances and new cabinetry Modern bathroom, new fixtures Large living space featuring a wall of windows Northern exposure view, bright Three storage closets New hardwood floors Original crown moldings and detail Live-in super Priced below market value Excellent Midtown East location; near all transportation, restaurants, Murray Hill, Gramercy, Grand Central Station, the Upper East Side, and Central Park TRANSPORTATION: LISTED RENT: $1,375 CONTACT: Name: Jeffrey Phone: 610.781.8417

Brand New Listing – East 50th Street – Below Market Value

Contact JAD Realty Group for showing times:

Jeffrey Ditri – 610.781.8417

Whether you walk or bicycle to downtown Asheville, you now have an opportunity to shower before heading into the office.

The YWCA of Asheville at 185 S. French Broad Ave. is introducing a trial program called the “Y Commute Pass” which will be offered during the months of June, July and August 2009.  This program will allow bicycle commuters and walkers access to the locker room, a locker, and shower for $50.00 for the three months.

For more information, contact YWCA Membership Coordinator Carol Severance, 254-7206 x105.

Midtown East Studio Available – East 49th Street & 2nd Avenue

For showing times, please contact JAD Realty Group:

610.781.8417

LOCATION: Midtown East / East 49th Street DESCRIPTION: Well maintained, walk-up building Second floor unit Separate kitchen including appliances and new cabinetry Tiled bathroom, new fixtures Large living space featuring a wall of windows 12′ high ceilings Eastern exposure view, bright Four storage closets New hardwood floors Original crown moldings and detail Live-in super Priced below market value Excellent Midtown east location; near all transportation, restaurants, Murray Hill, Grand Central Station, the Upper East Side, and Central Park TRANSPORTATION: LISTED RENT: $1,375 CONTACT: Name: Jeffrey Phone: 610.781.8417

Midtown East Studio Available – East 49th Street & 2nd Avenue

For showing times, please contact JAD Realty Group:

610.781.8417

ODD FACTS YOU NEVER KNEW

* Barbie’s measurements (if she were life-size): 39-23-33

* Coca-cola was originally green

* The Hawaiian alphabet has 12 letters

* First novel ever written on a typewriter was “Tom Sawyer”

* Men get hiccups more often than women

* Men can read smaller print than women; women can hear better

* It is possible to lead a cow upstairs but not downstairs

* Chances that an American lives within 50 mi of where he/she grew up: 1 in 2.

* City with the most Rolls Royces per capita: Hong Kong

* Chances of a white Christmas in New York: 1 in 4

* Percentage of Africa that is wilderness: 28

* Percentage of North America that is wilderness: 38

* State with the highest percentage of people who walk to work: Alaska

* Estimated percentage of American adults who go on a diet each year: 44

* Percentage of Americans who say that God has spoken to them: 36

* Percentage of American men who say they would marry the same woman if they had it to do all over again: 80

* Percentage of American women who say they would marry the same man: 50

* Percentage of men who say they are happier after their divorce or separation: 58

* Percentage of women who say they are happier: 85

* Number of different familial relationships for which Hallmark makes cards: 105

* Average number of people airborne over the US any given hour: 61,000

* Only President to remain a bachelor: James Buchanan

* Only first lady to carry a loaded revolver: Eleanor Roosevelt

* Only president to win a Pulitzer: John F. Kennedy, for “Profiles in Courage“

* Only president awarded a patent: Abe Lincoln, for a system of buoying vessels over shoals

* Only food that does not spoil: honey

* Only bird that can fly backwards: Hummingbird

* Only continent without reptiles or snakes: Antarctica

* Polar bears are left-handed

* Eskimos never gamble

* The parachute was invented by Leonardo da Vinci in 1515
* Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair

My nice little optical no battery needed mouse died. So I am going to limp along with what I have. As soon as I get some more income coming in, I will get another one.

I had an interview today. This was a job that I applied for some time ago. I was hoping they would call me. I am chomping at the bit to do this job. Some people would consider this job tedious but I saw this job and said to my computer ‘Call Me!’ And they did, they called me. I think the interview went well. I made some jokes. He was talking about all the paper and I said ‘well in a nuclear explosion we could be quite well insulated’.

They asked me some ‘essay’ questions. They tell you a situation and then ask you what would you do. Usually I hate these types of questions because I don’t have an immediate answer, but today I had an answer right away. I smiled as much as I could and I tried to look at both of them but he did most of the talking. He told me that they were going to move because they are cramped where they are now. He told me the cross streets of the new location and I smiled and said ‘I can walk to work’. I have only had four jobs that I could walk to.

I guess I will know by Friday or Monday at the latest. They may not have just the one but two openings. Plus there is overtime, some of it mandatory. They took me in to where the scanners are, where I would be working. I don’t know why companies do this. Of the two companies that did this here in Tucson, one did hire me so maybe they were testing to see my reaction to the size of the individual work areas.

The Digital TV conversion situation has pissed me off. All I have heard for the last year and a half is that the digital conversion will happen Feb 17, 2009. Now I have to listen for four more months. Boooooooo!!!!!!! Why did they change it? Because a lousy 4.6% of the population have not made arrangements to be able to see the digital format. 4.6% of the population don’t have a source of news and latest important information. What about the RADIO? Hello? What about the newspapers? Ok newspapers are not the place to get the latest information.

How many of these 6.5 million people will be ready June 12? Go ahead, tell me your best guess.These are procrastinators people, and you have just enabled them to continue to procrastinate. All right, all right it is not as bad as I am making it out to be. Some TV stations are going to be able to go ahead and make the conversion before June 12. In addition some will continue to broadcast in both formats until then. But….. am I going to have to hear about the digital conversion for the next four months?

On my walk to work this morning I snapped a few photos.  By and large they were awful.   But I did manage to get one decent one:

Tree Bark Texture

The original was a bit boring, so I darkened the shadows a bit to add contrast and added a warming effect.  Lastly I pushed up the saturation just a little bit to bring out the colors.  The original was also overexposed in the bottom part of the frame and didn’t have much going on, so I did a quick crop which added a lot to the composition.

As far as what I was thinking when I took the photo, I was looking for:

• Interesting texture
• Good lighting
• Some lines that suggested an interesting composition
• No clutter

I actually walked all the way around the tree looking for these elements.  As I walked I pictured a rectangular frame of varying sizes to try to previsualize what the shot would look like.  Some other elements that I had to take into account:

• The light was good strong mid-morning (not too high or low)
• I had on the 50mm f/1.8 prime lens.  I wasn’t going to be doing any extreme close-ups, but I could get reasonably close.
• I was shooting hand held, so my aperture was fairly wide (I think this ended up at f/4 or so)

So how did I fare?  Well, let’s see:

• Texture: Great.  I love how the cracks in the bark pull you in and make you want to touch the bark.
• Lighting: Nice.  The medium-low light gives good contrast and interesting shadows.  I really liked the shadowed upper half fading into the more contrasty bottom.  Adding some warming added very nice colors (if a bit better than in real life) that really pop without being over the top.  (The original colors were very gray.)
• Lines: Good, once I cropped the bottom off of the photo.  The composition has some nice leading lines that draw you through.  Having the focus of the picture in the center works well with the square crop.  Nothing feels cut off, nor are any areas “dead” without any relation to the subject.
• Clutter: Nice.  There is nothing extra in the frame, and no distracting out-of-focus areas that pull the viewer’s attention off of the overall picture.

So overall I’m pretty pleased.  I think I accomplished what I set out to do in this shot, even if it needed a bit of TLC in post.

I managed to squeek squeak [thanks, Mom ] off three pictures on my walk to work.  The only one I’m sort of happy with is this one:

Surprise!

The lighting is pretty good, if cool, and I liked the odd position of the fallen avocado next to a couple of what appear to be some sort of bulb plant.  The framing and composition are okay, and I don’t see much of a way I could have improved them. I’m glad that at least there is not a lot of extra clutter contending for attention, and in that respect it works pretty well.

Large 1 bedroom with 24 x 12 ft. outdoor terrace! Maple kitchen, black appliances, granite counters, 11 foot ceilings, in-unit washer & dryer, fireplace, new carpet & custom paint. Building has 24-hour doorman, exercise room, storage, bike room, garden terrace & on-site management. Starbuck’s, CVS Pharmacy and Kinkos in the building. All in a true walk to work location! Heated garage parking available.

 To check the availability of Metropolitan Place at 130 S. Canal click here….

The T & C Team

 

For more information about Metropolitan Place, please contact Christine Hancock or Tim Duquette at 312-296-9300 or chancock@rubloff.com.

Ok. Here is one. Now don’t look too much into it. Just enjoy it.

A friend of mine once said he rides from home to office on his bike. I was shocked as it takes 40 mts by car and how long does it take to ride on a bike? He said he goes on his bike from home to the train station, catches the train, then he gets back on his bike from the station to work. Aha!!!

But then I “realized” I walk to work. When I told him that he was very impressed of course. He asked me how long does it take to walk these 2miles each way. I said 7 mts. I walk to my car, get on it and go to work, get off my car and then walk to my seat. So when you compare the analogy between his biking and my walking, I am walking to work right? He couldn’t help laughing.

When I think about this I can’t stop laughing too. I think it’s a good one

So, this morning:

I’m waiting for the robots to change to green so I can cross the street.

A tall, immaculately dressed woman is standing behind me. On a side note, she is of African descent and I am very obviously white, by my blindingly pale skin (poo). Her smile was more blindingly white than my skin. She was honestly one of the most beautiful women I’ve seen in Los Angeles.

Suddenly, this woman walks up within inches of me, leans in, and says very loudly: ‘Honey, you’re a Black man’s woman, you’re a brotha’s woman, haha – delicious! Lucky girl!’

Um, okay. How to respond to something as random as that?

‘Thanks. You too. Have a lovely day!’

I have weird encounters on my walk to work nearly every day. Let’s log this one under the ‘gem’ category …

I normally have a very good immune system and can fight off a cold or anything pretty easily. However, this particular illness has knocked me for a loop.  It started with DH getting sick last week. He missed work, so had to see a Dr. He said he had an upper respiratory infection. Well, he recovered pretty quickly, but then it hit me and for some reason seemed determined to hang on.  I missed work Sunday night due to it, which is pretty bad since I telecommute.

The weekend also sucked since Friend doesn’t see or send emails over the weekend. He only does email at work. I sent him a few emails whimpering about being sick, but not much more than that since my eyeballs even hurt. Monday, I still felt icky, but was able to email him at least.  I’m not sure why, but things definitely seemed to have cooled down. Maybe he didn’t like what he saw at lunch? I dunno. I mean he still wants to email and flirt, but I don’t think he was as serious about how far he wanted this to go as his previous emails had led me to believe. I think we’re both very cautious, not wanting to fall head over heels for each other again, since we can’t really be a couple. We both have families we won’t break up for our own selfish desires. He said he’s OK if nothing else ever happens, but if it does, then it will be up to me – and that he’ll never pressure it to go further than I want, because he cherishes our friendship too much.

Tuesday I don’t think I really talked to him much at all.  It was the night of 10’s chorus perfomance, but I just couldn’t go. I was still feeling horrible. I knew I’d cough all through it. Since MIL was here to see it, I asked her to take 10, 6 and 12 to the school for the performance. 12 took pictures for me. Fortunately, I had already requested off that night of work so I could take her, so I was able to just sleep and try to get over the illness. Then Wednesday all we ended up talking about was my kids being such a pain. 12 actually asked me to get her help with anger management. That’s the first step! Then we get to today.

Today (Thursday) I woke up at 1:30pm (I work nights remember) and laid there and actually thought “I don’t want the rest of this day to happen. I want it to just go away”  Earlier this morning, DH had gone out to start the van to go to work, and it wouldn’t start. That clicky clicky noise outside the window woke me up, so I laid there and listened to it, and dreaded the rest of the day. He called the garage to come get it AGAIN and he started walking to work. It’s 2.3 miles from here to his job, but it’s hilly. If there were sidewalks, it would be a great way for him to exercise. Anyway, a little later, the wrecker came and woke me up as it picked up the van. I heard them try to start it too. Dead as a doornail. I made sure the phone was nearby and I went back to sleep. So, when I woke up after noon, I knew the day was not going to be fun. I was still recovering from this respiratory infection, I’d have to figure out how to get the van, I’d have to deal with the kids all evening alone since DH was closing the store, the house is a complete disaster area, and I had to work.

Well, I got very little done around the house,.. like nothing at all. I went back to sleep til 16 got home at 3:30. I put her to washing dishes and put 12 to cleaning her room. Then DH called and said to find a ride to get the van, they finally fixed it. The power doorlock on the passenger door was locking and unlocking by itself and draining the battery. So they removed it.  I called a friend to come take me to get it, and it was all fine. No more drama with his van breaking down etc. In fact I had texted another friend and asked him, but he thought he was reading an old text from the first time I had asked him when it was in the shop a couple weeks ago, so he ignored the text. HAHA. I told him it did feel like deja vu. Got back home, listened to 6 read me her reading story for today. She’s doing MUCH better now that she has her glasses.  She got those on Monday with her Daddy. They both got new glasses. I love my vision insurance! Anyway, 10 started showing symptoms of being sick too, so I sent her to bed. The elementary school is having pictures tomorrow, so we picked out a cute outfit for 6. 10 will likely miss it since I’m sure she’ll be staying home.  Also, since 10 was sick, she didn’t do her allotted dishes (she does plates and silverware) and no one wanted to help out and do her dishes.  Did I mention dishes always seem to have to be done BEFORE dinner and rarely get done AFTER dinner? SIGH.  Anyway, I managed to get dinner started, but had to have 16 finish making it so I could get to work. Then had to make sure 16 got 6 into the tub and all squeaky clean for her pictures tomorrow.If 6 is left to wash herself, she usually forget to actually wash. heh.

So, did I get to talk to Friend today? Yes, a little. I told him about the van situation, and he said he wished I lived back in our hometown where he lives, so he could come take care of me. Awww. Then when I got the van and came back and told him, it was about time for him to leave. He was going to go install new hardwood floor in his Mom’s house. (did I mention this guy is amazing?).  He said he was glad I got my van back and hoped I would be able to get DH home from work OK (I sent 16 to get him), and then added:

i hope you have a good night and maybe we will get to talk more tomorrow.  hope your feeling better too.  love and miss you…

Awwwww! He misses me. I can’t believe tomorrow is Friday already. It’s good because it’s a pay weekend for DH, but I don’t get to talk to Friend over the weekend, even if I wanted to, so that’s a bummer. I am *really* hoping this weekend turns out as productive as it’s supposed to be and next week is a much better week all around.

]]> http://indralogy.wordpress.com/2008/09/25/walk-to-work/ Thu, 25 Sep 2008 06:19:51 +0000 indralogy http://indralogy.wordpress.com/2008/09/25/walk-to-work/ http://uptothehouse.wordpress.com/2008/09/11/the-noise-in-the-city/ Thu, 11 Sep 2008 12:43:05 +0000 ohsimone http://uptothehouse.wordpress.com/2008/09/11/the-noise-in-the-city/

My ever-unreliable Creative Zen packed in again this morning, as it regularly does; and as usual I didn’t have a paper-clip to hand to reset it. So, my walk to the station was Thunder Road-less, sadly. However: I’m no pessimist, and I decided to make a change and use my ears for a bit. It’s something I’ve neglected to do since finishing my degree in the subject, but to listen out for all the identifiable sounds that are around, and strive to identify the mystery ones: it’s actually pretty fun. 

One of the albums that I have always meant to give more time to, but have never quite found the motivation, is the Autres Directions In Music release, The Noise & The City. It’s an encompassing collection of music created from found sound in different cities, assembled to reflect the point and the power of that city. Hence, The Remote Viewer soundtrack Manchester, Melodium introduce us to Nantes, and so on. If I really pay attention, I can hear the same symphonic crescendos and fascination in the everyday noises as these artists: my soundtrack built this morning more dramatically than any Sigur Ros song, and certainly without the pomp and associated claptrap. 

Commencing at home, the immediate sounds are, as always, a distant wash of motor noise (without which my head would probably feel like a vacuum); the grumbling of a father as he walks past and the off-kilter pattering of his son’s feet. Once or twice, a car goes past: each one’s engine will be quite distinct from the next: here a strained, trebly chattering from an elderly van, there a more restrained, more expensive car, now a booming undercurrent from a rude-boy in a BMW. Add in the occasional squeaking wheel of a push chair, now the sirens which seem to continue for the entire ten minutes, in the background a whining bus brake which holds and holds and holds.

Birds screech from high television ariels, and the wind picks up rustling through the leaves, mostly in the early stages of autumn. We have natural sounds in the city as well, don’t you know. But, they’re quickly replaced by a dial-a-ride bus reversing, then a fat man labouring at his bicycle: he seems not to have grasped that gears are there to make your life easier.

As I walk down the passage to Westbury Avenue, the wind scuttles through, bringing with it an echoing, booming traffic noise which is fully realised as I ascend the steps to the road itself. Now, so many cars, vans, lorries, motorbikes, scooters, each with an individual timbre: the driver will recognised their own straight away. Finally the clattering of retailers bins and the incongrous classical music of Turnpike Lane station filters into my conscious before the climax dies to a steady roar as I descend into the bowels of Haringey. 

Pretty exciting, I’m sure you’ll agree.

The Official Google blog had a post about the future of searching, this morning: I found it very interesting. Marissa Mayer talks about how limited searching actually is at the moment: if I’m looking to find out what that bird was that flew by my window, how cool would it be to take a picture and search on that. Why can’t I search for a piece of music by playing audio at the computer, for example? She mentions finding sound briefly: what’s this song is a market cornered by Shazam, but what if I want to find out what bird is singing, or what kind of engine makes that noise, or what this sound coming from my hard drive means? It’s an interesting discussion: I like google, I’m sure they’ll do good.

I brought my camera with me the other day for a long walk home, and captured this hydrangea at just the right time of evening.  It was in a front yard on Union Street in Carroll Gardens.  I love this green-gray with a little blue color combination.

Petrol more expensive than jewels, junk food invading the world: what can we do?

Announcing Dawg’s Walk Your Dog to Work Week. Details to be announced, but it is too good an idea not to share. You save energy, you don’t pollute, your dog has a great time, and nobody gets fat. Pretty dashed cool, huh?

We are going to be at Lewes Farmers Market on Saturday 5th July, but we aren’t walking there. But we will be walking our dog at work..

I feel the need to write again…

It’s hot overnight so I’m awake… watching SWAT on tv toying with the idea of heading out but it’s 5.30 in the morning so most people will either be heading home or well into their nights… while places will be open til 10 or 11, starting the night at 6am is just asking for trouble….

When i finished work yesterday (round 6am…) I took some photos and thought I’d show my typical walk to work..

So I Leave My House and Turn left up this cobblestone street….

this cobblestone road here, I walk up – and then take a right……  like this photo here….

and down a short road past the motor-scooter training school pictured in this photo on the right (you can also see the venetian in the background on the left hand photo)

So I keep walking and pass the rock climbing wall and the site of the new galaxy casino (that’d be the right hand photo) – the street i walk down is the left hand photo… Marshlands fill to the left side of the street…

and there we are! I’m at work….. cross the road and venetian is there – all of around 5 minutes and about a kilometer all up.

So that’s the average walk to work.

nothing too exciting to report other than the days roll by in the tiny island village of Macao…

Travel plans seem to have wound down a whole lot given the demands put onto us by work and alas, I’m now in macao a lot of the time. Macao is made up of three main areas – Macao, Taipa and Coloane. Well – Macao is the main section, across the bridge is Taipa (Where I live) which is the Portuguese style area, also about to become the new Vegas strip style area and then there’s Coloane which is still very old school, very natural…. very untouched. 

I finally went and had an explore with some great friends I’m made here – Tom, Kat and Kim.. we had lunch at this cool outdoor restaurant called Cafe Nga Tims which had some amazing food out in the beautiful sunday afteroon-ness… then we went for a walk along the foreshore and Tom took us to this amazing area down on the beach. It’s most definitely become my thinking spot. – Such a relaxing location, it was the perfect location to forget about work, life or the fact I’m in china. It’s eerily similar to alot of the costal spots around the peninsula… such a great day that was! Actually, the banner pic of this post is Tom and I sitting on a rock in the middle of the beach looking across to China.

It’s strange…. China (a separate country) is so close it looks like you could walk it in Low tide… and to the left is the south china sea, disappearing into the horizon.

So yeah, i had one of the best days i’ve had since i’ve been here relaxing with some great friends down in Coloane….. I loved it and will definitely be going back every chance I get.

Anyway, enough of my rambling – macao still keeps rollin along as does back home. Work is happening as well as an active social calendar. My mates from home and abroad all seem to be doing their thing and the world keeps turning… enough talk – it’s time for me to sleep…..

Hope all is well where you are

Till next time…