kitchen redux

So... a slight change in the kitchen design. Instead of the ultra modern blazing white glossy laminate cabinets, I'm going with biscuit-colored cabinets and light capri granite countertop and backsplash. It's leaning French Country rather than Warhol. This was a cost-driven change, and I'm pretty happy with it. I always had my doubts about that blazing white glossy character.

spinning the color wheel

For the kitchen walls:

Saffron/orange-ish. Inspired by The Gates by Christoph.

The rest of the kitchen is glossy blazing white, matte dark grey countertop and backsplash and espresso-stained hardwood.

For the bathroom:

watery lightest jade possible. In fact, the background color of this pic is closer to what I'm thinking than the actual earring color.

totally european...

I've decided against a 2-burner cooktop, and I'm going with an induction system instead. There are portable induction hotplates available (I purchased one at PC Richards for $99) that you can put away when not in use, leaving the valuable counterspace open.
The problem with a 2-burner cooktop is that I would have to place it on top of the under-counter refrigerator, and would have to raise the burners 3-4 inches above the countertop in order to separate the heating elements from the fridge. And I have to place the burners 4 inches (minimum) away from the wall, which would place it square in the middle of the only open space, effectively cutting in half the open countertop space. Yuck.
The place is still wired for gas, so any future owners could opt to reinstall a gas oven/cooktop.
I've been reading up on induction systems and it doesn't look too bad.
And from what the dude at PC Richards told me, induction is "very European." (And if I lived in Europe I would fit right in... but is New York ready for induction?)

the heart of the home... (whatever)

The kitchen is the heart of the home.

Not in my new place.

In my new apartment, the kitchen is a closet. See the picture here? That's it - the whole thing.

So here's the plan:
Switch the sick to the right side (by the window). Put in an under-counter refrigerator on the other side. No range or oven - install a convection/microwave on the left side, mounted under new cabinets.

Countertop & backsplash: dark grey, white-veined granite.

Cabinets: high gloss white sleek, no hardware.

The floors will be the espresso-stained wide plank hickory hardwood.

I have no idea what to paint the walls... something kind of neutral but not white-white.

i love whiteboards

I love whiteboards. I'm gearing up my 2009 communication plans and wanted to wipe my current board clean, but we still have a couple of months left in 08 to finalize.

So I took this pic. This 2008 plan was first put up on the board in March, and I'm pretty happy that we kept to it for the most part. Some things have moved dates, some things we didn't do... but overall, it held up quite well.

A quick tour of the fun parts:

Far left side, middle of the board - guesses on where oil would go. Joe B won with a guess of $142. I came in second with $137.

Some lame ass (MORGAN?? ALEX??) wrote in brown at the very top "I am the ruler of this board! Bring me your finest wine and cheeses!"

Top of board, right of center, blue marker: "Living the F-ing dream, one barrel at a time!" Yes, oil dominated most of our summer discussions. Thank you Rob M.

And best quote of the year goes to Fiona (lower right quandrant): "You can never say in Illinois (that) you never saw it coming." Fiona, astounded at how frigging flat the Midwest is.

And keeping us humble, middle of the board, right of center: "Are you on the bus, or do we have to throw you under the bus?"

the kitchen....

The kitchen is a mess. A hot tranny mess.
Yup - this is it. The whole thing. Several great ideas to renovate, including going with a 2-burner cooktop instead of a range and having an under-counter fridge under the cooktop. (Back to the college dorm, anyone?)
I'll have to rip out the cabinets and install a microwave/convection oven. This is going to be a problem because those cabinets are only 12 inches deep. The microwave will jut out quite a bit. I guess I can match the depth below but I'm not sure if that's going to make any difference whatsoever.
Tried switching the sink and cooktop and extending a narrow countertop (12 inches) along the long wall, but that's not going to work either. I'll have to go with narrow plate racks along that wall and some kind of open pantry shelves or something. I'll have more storage above the microwave but I just realized I don't have to keep any of my oven-pots and pans. Just my sauce pans for the cooktop. So (one) problem solved!

choices, choices

I started making some choices for the renovation yesterday. Should've done this 2 weeks ago but the designer was "too busy" that day. More on her later.

So first up: The bathroom. Gut reno, but keeping the tub.

before pics show the grossness. Blue-sky paint (super thick, btw - it must have been from the 70s. I remember that gloopy thick paint. It may have to be sand-blasted off. The floor has the iconic NYC pattern from the 30s. Wall tile is exactly the perfect shade of bland.

The vanity is unfortunately going to be a casualty of this reno. It was purchased brand-new when the owner's estate started upgrading the place for sale a couple of years ago, and has never self-actualized. And god willing, it never will.

Note also the dual-controls for the tub and shower faucets. I have to wonder why the shower head controls were placed so low. If you're going to the trouble of having dual controls, why not put the shower controls higher? No matter... I'm going with a single control.

On to the choices:

I was planning on getting a vanity for storage, but I can't find the perfect one. I'm starting to lean toward a pedastal sink, something with ledge-sides. I don't like the simple-rim ones, but I don't like the ornate architectural ledges either. Something simple and blocky. Straight lines. You could say I'm pretty square.

....

Now... on to the designer. You could say we have a client relationship problem. We could have done all of the choices when I walked in to the store (to be unnamed to protect their otherwise stellar reputation), but she was "too busy" that day. The contractor measured the space 10 days ago - she still hasn't gotten the measurements. (Her first response: "I don't have email." Which I then re-translated to her as "You mean you haven't received the email yet?" and she said "Yes - that's what I said.")

I can't understand a damn word she says, and the liberal in me (the dying-on-the-inside liberal in me) is committed to getting this done with her as proof of my committement to diversity. But... I have to say... it's getting harder and harder. She's a pain in the ass. That transcends diversity, in my opinion.

She wanted to start with kitchen options, and I told her (after a controlled rant about time-is-money and you have no respect for my time) that the kitchen is the last thing I care about. I need the place habitable by the end of October. And by "end of October" I mean the 25th because then I have to move within a 5-day window. Classic line: "Can you guarantee it's going to be done by then?" No answer. Because... wait for it.. she doesn't have the measurements, and doesn't know how much material to order!

Whatevs.

I also chose wide-plank hickory hardwood in an espresso stain for the main room, hall and kitchen. Still choosing the specific wall colors - but I'm going to go with a brownish khaki on the walls. Overall palette will be brown khaki, black accents and white trim.

Comments are welcome!

The Debate is ON like Donkey KONG!

Must follow:
Fake Sarah Palin Twitter feed
Fake Joe Biden Twitter feed

renovations begin in 3, 2, 1...

It's been a while. Things have changed. I'm a homeowner again. And I have renovation dreams. Well, really more like renovation requirements.

The new apartment (as opposed to The Old Apartment by Bare Naked Ladies) is a postage stamp of a place in Hell's Kitchen. The main room (pictured right) is roughly 12x16 feet. The things on the windows are a crude security measure. Even though it's on the fourth floor, you can't be too same. (Broken broom handles taped to the glass, jimmying the window.)

The floor is laminate parquet tile (gross) and the subfloor is hopefully in good shape, though it does bow in the middle about an inch.

I feared the walls would require all new drywall - but turns out they're plaster and only need a good chemical wash.

BACKSTORY: Legend has it that the owner (let's call her Mary) lived there happily since the 40s. She took ill in the early 90s and moved to Florida, where she passed away in 2001 or 02. The apartment had been wrapped up in the estate settlement since then, and had actually been close to selling about 3 years ago. Mary's family went so far as to buy a new toilet and sink/vanity for the bathroom, but hadn't even had time to install it before the seller backed out of the deal. So Mary's family just stopped updating the place.

... well... somehow, a SQUATTER found his way in and made himself a nice home there, even bringing in a full size refrigerator (thoughtfully placing it in the main room). But there was no running water (the sink having never been hooked up). That didn't stop him from using the toilet, though. yuck.

So I have to get HazMat in to clean the place.

And the funny thing is: I've had to hire HazMat before! Story to come....

A Socialist, a Nihilist and a Capitalist Have Christmas Together...

Dad and Tundra Kat joined me in NYC for Christmas this year. It was a perfect holiday - a perfect Christmas in New York, too. We went to Tavern on the Green, saw the Rockettes, and had a drink at Grand Central Station (and saw the light show there). We walked FOREVER and I think we saw the Tree at Rock Center about four times.
The sidewalks were extraordinarily crowded. I went to Chicago last year for Christmas, so I didn't get the full NY effect, but holy God. We were by Sak's heading back to my apartment - I was following Dad, Tundra Kat was following me, and I slipped or tripped or bobbled or whatever, and the crowd kept me upright. Tundra caught my look - which read "Jesus, this must be what the Haaj is like!"
I'll leave it to y'all to figure out who's who - the Socialist, the Nihilist, and the Capitalist. :-)

Three Days of the Condor

HBO's Signature Channel is showing "Three Days of the Condor" - a classic movie of all time, but made even more eerie and relevant today, just days before the fifth anniversary of 9/11. It's loaded with super-science of the '70s, including my personal favorites of old-timely wire tapping, where you actually had to tap into phone wires with a Bell line worker's hand-held plug-in phone, with that frigging rotary dial on the backside of the ear piece. He uses a cassette player to record the tone of a call placed from the assassin's phone, and calls in to Langley to get the digits. Then he calls another Langley office and gives the secret passcode to get the address for the number.
All of which today takes about .001 seconds, and is entirely electronic, and doesn't see the light of an analyst's eyeballs until or unless key words are actually muttered into the line. I won't repeat the key words here for fear Langley computers will deem me a "person of interest."
In another scene, Robert Redford breaks in to a CIA official's home and wakes him up by... you guessed it... cranking the Hi-Fi credenza stereo. C L A S S I C.
Some things are timeless. Cliff Robertson's massive comb-over is a contender for The Donald's ridiculous hair cap. Also timeless: Robert Redford uncovers a plot to invade the Middle East. Deja vu all over again.
Sadly, the "shit hits the fan" moment in the movie is when Redford tells Robertson that he gave the story to the New York Times. I guess that meant something in 1975. Although even then, Robertson implies that the power of the paper can be corrupted, and they may not print the story. It's interesting that the movie ends before you know if the story gets out. I guess people back then were just starting to wonder if the media really served the public trust or not. No such dilemma today.

As "liberal" became a bad word for Democrats, and "Christian" is becoming a bad word for Repulicans, will "consipiracy theory" become good words for the general public?

The times, they are a-changing.

The Italy Dream Continues

So I'm talking to one of our corporate lawyers today about random things (he's in charge of our document retention program, so 90% of our conversation by necessity has to morph into other things just to Retain Our Sanity)... and he has family in Italy, so we naturally started talking about restaurants in Rome that I *must* try. I'm totally game.
My dream.. my goal is to live in Italy some day. I love Italy -and I will live in Rome. I want a little flat close to the Spanish Steps and I want to lead English-speaking tours of the antiquity sites. I want to make enough money for food - I hope to save and invest enough money now to buy the flat and maybe fly home once a year.
Anyway... the working-in-Italy sites are pretty serious. It's not so easy just landing in Rome and getting a job. Whatever. I will do it. Unless I get a better offer, of course. But this year I will learn Italian. Getting the lawyer from Doc Retention to teach me the right pronunciation of Trastevere. (I used to say TRAS TEV ER E but it's really TRAS TE VER E - significant diff!)

I love walking the streets of Rome and getting lost in the maze and finding a store-front restaurant where you can have a 3 course meal for $25. With a caraffe of wine, too.
And I love the wine. You can order "vino rosa" by the glass at an outdoor table by the Piazza Navona for $4 and sit forever, watching the drama of life and, if you're lucky, chatting about it with someone next to you that doesn't need the backstory of what you're talking about (i.e. "Check it out - she is so Kelly." or "Did you know that the fountain has only one drain? It's in the fish's mouth - at the foot of Poisedan... oh wait, I already told you that."

So I'm thinking that I need to go back to Rome for a little visit. Just a week. Or so. Maybe 10 days.

But before Dad moves back to the Philippines (where he spent 2.25 years as a Peace Corps Volunteer), maybe I should visit Isreal with him. I've never been - he's never been - so maybe we should go and be agnostic together. I would love to see the sites from the Bible... I think anyone with a religious background and appreciation for the cultural history would like that.

I know I would.

So two weeks in Isreal in the fall! Yay! Travel plans resolved. For now. Before I move to Rome.

6-6-06

Quote from CNN's "American Morning" today, on the hype that wasn't 6-6-06:
"Some people bet the world would end. It didn't!"
...
That's what I call "reporting the news."
...
How would you collect on that bet, anyway? And why can't I find the guy who would bet everything he owns that the world would end on 6-6-06? Damn.

Just what you need when you're having a low job satisfaction day...

I wrote my friend Russ today about my Low Job Satisfaction (a temporary condition). I want to throw in the towel and go hitch-hiking in Europe. He's a genius. Here's what he wrote back:

I understand the job satisfaction issues. Look at it this way, let's suppose you went hitchhiking in Europe. At some point, you would sit down on some bench in France and look around you. And it would all hit you at once...
"Wait a minute. Everywhere I go, there's nothing but old buildings made out of old gray stone. Old gray stone here...old gray stone there. Old fountains not able to shoot water 100 feet in the air synchronized to music. Old churches not tolerant of Betsy (friend #1) and Lindsay's (friend #1's former girlfriend) lifestyle. Old art that's not even painted on bridge overpasses for everyone to see. Old people talking old languages that don't get your hip urban slang. Old gray cobblestone streets too narrow for shiny new SUVs. F Europe! And another thing...why the hell am I lugging all my crap around on my back to see all this old gray stuff? There are perfectly good car services at home to drive me and my crap wherever I want. And where are the Puerto Rican parades? I can't even get a damn hot dog or a hot pretzel from a cart around here! All this stinky European cheese has me constipated, and there's no Thai restaurant on every corner to help get things moving again. Where the hell are the knock-off handbags and sunglasses? I'm not paying four hundred Euros for a real Prada bag! What are you looking at Frenchie? I can talk out loud all I want! Go take a shower! And tell your girlfriend to shave her legs! She looks like a damn man. What? She is a man? If you're a man, why are you wearing a thong in a public park? Ohhhhh, because 'zat's perfectly naturale.' Of course! Where I come from you'd get your ass beat for that...and I'd laugh!" It's at this point the policia would ask you to take it easy. You would take a certain amount of pride in knowing you could whip that cop's ass though, him being such a Euro Nancy Boy. And then your eyes would glaze over as you smiled and thought about that time you saw a cop whip the shit out of those three homeless guys in Central Park with a Maglight just because they were sleeping too close to the restaurant's patio. And you'd be searching that backpack for that friggin' Eurorail pass to get you back to the airport so you could get back where you belong.
Aaaaaaaaand, scene.
Thank you.

Post-Enron...

I am going to save my New York Times edition covering the convinction of Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling. Had it been any other way, I would have burned all coverage and probably blown up my TV.
Read "Conspiracy of Fools" by Kurt Eichenwald. One of my favorite parts is the blasting of so-called whistle-blower Sherron Watkins. She wrote a memo about the funky accounting - I'll give her that much - but she was drinking heartily from the Enron well. She and everyone else in that lousy cesspool of a company were in it for themselves only. Now she's a motivational speaker. Can we all just stop buying tickets to Motivational Seminars, please? Send them to the island of misfits where they belong.
Another great part of the story Eichenwald tells is that, contrary to urban myth, Enron clones did not continue to buy shares in the company because Lay told them to (even while he was dumping his own shares to cover his massive personal financial mess). No - Enron Idiots were buying shares of their company because that's what Enron Idiots did - of course the stock would bounce back. After those nasty people at the Wall Street Journal stopped reporting on them.
Even with these two Robin Hood-ish storylines bashes, the story of Enron is so compelling. Rough Riders in the 21st Century - sheparding the new century in, for that matter - perhaps setting the stage for what's to come.
And then came WestJet. The start-up airline based in Western Canada finally stood up and admitted its actions regarding corporate espionage against Air Canada was "unethical and unacceptable." A couple of years late, and not enough leadership change, but it's something. At least they are clearing the air. And donating C$10 million to charity in both WestJet's and Air Canada's name.

My Love Affair with Snapple

I love Snapple. It's everywhere in NYC. My absolute favorite Snapple is Diet Lime Green Tea. I put my happy face on when I see it in stores and pizza joints. I don't see it nearly enough, so hello? Snapple? Are you listening? Truck this stuff IN, baby!

Buy Insurance

Do not walk through this life without insurance.

Insure your life, your health, your car, your house. Insure yourself against short term disability. Hell, insure yourself against long term disability. Insure yourself against stupid purchases by purchasing everything at Neiman Marcus - they'll take anything back. Even stuff they don't sell. (Ever hear the story of some lame-ass who returned snow tires at Neiman Marcus? He got a credit. They don't sell snow tires.)

Insure yourself from boredom by traveling. Insure yourself from stupid people by not being one. Insure yourself from prejudice by opening your heart and mind to tolerance. Insure yourself from crappy service by being a nice patron. (Being a regular doesn't hurt, either.)

Insurance is a hedge against bad luck, downward market trends, bad luck, hateful people, bad luck and poor investments.

Insurance is your "get out of jail free" card - it's your "extra recess period" instead of "study hall" (Dad- never told you about this, but it happened on your watch) - it's your way of sayin' to the man: "F you - I got insurance, and they will kick your ass."

No lesson is learned without pain. I have pain. I have no insurance. Specifically, I have no insurance for the disaster I have experienced. Yet my disaster has given opportunity to my company to be even more upstanding and relevant and meaningful in my life. So it's all good.

'Cept for that damn insurance.

Go get yourself some.

Attitude is Everything

One of Dad's frequently annoying all-encompassing statements was, and possibly still is, "Attitude is Everything." I still roll my eyes when I hear it - even if the voice saying it is in my head.
One of the troubles at work is about attitude. Leaders think they need to *do* more than they *decide*. I say: Wrong! (Or as my brother would say to an Asian-American: "You're not right, you're Wong!" - and you politically correct can shove it...)
One of the troubles I am personally having is that I'm not fully experiencing the New York Experience. I work, I come home, I eat a tasty sandwich and I watch TV... while... working. I have this beautiful energetic city all around me and it's little more than a background to the life I imported from Atlanta. I should really work on making a New York life. The thing about New York is that it makes you start to want. You start to think, "I really should be *doing* something with my life." Like making a living working for a really cool company in the world's capital isn't enough. I swear, I'm starting to think Roseanne has a better sitcom life than my real one. I almost said "At least she's married" but the last thing I want is to be married. Especially to Dan Connors. Nice guy... but I don't want to live in Lanford.
So at least I'm already harboring secret plans for the day I *leave* the City. I'm thinking: Small New England town, small business in the city square, making enough to pay the cable bill and order from my favorite catalogs, living a secret life as a best-selling author who runs into the man of her dreams on the side of the road. I help him change a flat tire. Or he helps me change a flat tire. All I know is that one of us drives a beat-up Ford truck. I have no idea where that comes from.

Culture Charts and other Random Bits

I'm reminded on fairly regular and disturbing basis of the Culture Charts we had to draw in 6th grade history class. These were huge, 6-foot charts made of butcher paper with eight different sections - Food, Clothing, Social, Transportation, Politics, etc. - that we had to research about the civilization we were discussing that week.
I don't remember all the different sections, but I imagine students in the future making these Culture Charts (if they are that lucky to have as great a teacher as Mrs. Ploog) about the U.S. in the late 20th, early 21st Centuries.
----
Well, the Strike is On. This morning at 3 a.m. members of the ridiculously stupid TWU walked off the job, shutting the doors on New York City's subways and buses. I am working from home, which is both good (I didn't have to do my hair and I'm wearing my crappy but totally comfortable jeans) and bad (connection issues and my Berry is on the fritz). Tomorrow I get to walk 30 or so blocks to a major meeting. I should have beautiful hat-head (love the static cling, dudes!) all day, but I can't do without my skull cap and scarf. Especially with this frigging clod/sore throat coming on.
Not to discount my own bitch-fest, but I can't imagine what the impact to wage-slaves are. I heard on the news (NY1 All Day Long!) from this one guy who lost his job because he couldn't get to work today. Totally sucks.
When are these organizations going to wake up? You cannot punish your customers and hope to get what you want. Gangs like the TWU bank on the fact that people don't have viable alternative choice, but a word (or two) of warning here: There ARE private bus lines in New York City, folks. Maybe this will inspire them to increase service.
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Crazy man Vice President Cheney was just on CNN talking about eavesdropping. Er, I mean, Defending the Nation. Do you think eavesdropping is an impeachable offense? Let CNN know.
Read what your fellow citizens think here.
The White House wants this to be a question of bureaucracy. They say they need the ability to wire tap suspects without the time-consuming burden of getting a warrant. Uh... riiiiiiight. Not so much. I'm usually a big fan of deconstructing bullshit bureaucracy - I hate unnecessary process and cover-your-ass moves, but I'm also a big fan of due diligence. Getting an objective court to agree to your premise that so-and-so is a suspected bad guy should be the minimal constitutional gut-check required. Isn't this a fundamental right - freedom from state persecution?
----
Intelligent Design was dealt a blow in a Pennsylvania court today. A judge ruled the creationist theory is religious in nature and therefore inappropriate for public school classrooms.
Does it strike anyone as ironic that the theory of evolution has morphed into intelligent design? Isn't this the whole point?
----
I think the whole non-war on Christmas is a destructive diversionary tactic. I wish people would get all worked up about the non-exit Iraq strategy (well, I guess some people are...), or the non-existent energy policy, or the fact that my condo in Atlanta STILL hasn't sold. Um, I meant to say "the housing bubble bursting" on that last one.

Between Worlds

So I'm in Atlanta for the weekend... checking on my not-sold-yet loft, collecting another bundle of clothes and shoes and stuff to bring back to New York with me. I left NY just in time to avoid a possible transit strike. I also escaped the winter weather, but Atlanta isn't cooperating. It's damn COLD here.
The Metropolitan Transit Authority's strike preparedness plan is woefully negligent. And invisible. Well, they have the lawsuit-injunction thing down, but the Transport Workers Union is apparently led by complete nut jobs, who don't care if their members risk fines for honoring a walk out.
Let's review: We're talking about $40,000 - $60,000 a year people, who will lose 2 days of pay for every day not working, plus up to $25,000 in fines - for each person - if the City wins their injunction.
That doesn't even count the fines that could be levied against the TWU if the members walk. Your union dues at work.
The agreement will be reached. The union officials will sign on the dotted line and the membership will be left with tons of unfullfilled indignation. That's what happens when you've been played.