True to form...

I said I was going to write more often - even created a separate page! - and then completely neglected all of it for a few months... so very me.

It is true that there wasn't much to write about for a while. For a couple of months there we were both working so much we really didn't do anything else. However, it is now quite overdue. So:

The jobs are going well. Colin is much happier at Del Posto with a new move to garde mange. (That is pantry: appetizers, salads, etc.) He is working directly with Chef Ladner to revamp and improve that station. He now enjoys more of a creative allowance and the freedom to trouble-shoot as well as the opportunity to collaborate with and learn from Chef Ladner, which was one of the original reasons that he wanted to work at Del Posto.

My job is fine... really nothing to report.

More newsworthy is that I'm playing a gig with a girl in NYC next month! Elise Evans is a friend of a friend of mine (Jennifer Appelquist) and she got us in touch. Elise is playing show at Fat Baby and hired me to write and perform some violin pieces to her music. She does sort of loungey, Mazzy Star with more blues kind of stuff. (You can check it out at www.myspace.com/eliseevans.) Fat Baby is on Rivington at Essex on the lower east side: www.fatbabynyc.com. So my first professional music work in New York!

I also continue to write and play my own stuff on my own...

And lastly, I'm putting the old acting resume back in order so that it's ready for submission. (Apparently, there are a lot of people out there that don't know I do this? That is bad on my part.) Anyway, here is one of the new headshots:



Between working on a few projects when I'm not working at the bar and Colin working insane hours as well, I'm sure you can imagine our level of free time. When we do have a day off we usually try for a combination of resting and enjoying the city. Recently, we have been exploring the NYC BBQ scene. (Believe it or not, it is alive and well.) We had lunch at Blue Smoke two weeks ago followed by lunch at Daisy May's last week. They were both really enjoyable. Completely different joints; as indicated by the names, Blue Smoke is sleek, fancy barbecue (but still BBQ) and Daisy May's is down home and delicious. Blue Smoke has a fantastic bourbon and beer selection and Daisy May's serves sweet tea in a quart mason jar. So good. Next up: Dinosaur Barbecue.

There are a couple of other restaurants and bars worth mention but now I'm thinking I'll put out a food and drink issue soon - that way it's all in one place in the event that anyone would ever want to reference it. Also, I'm getting hungry so I can't write any more about restaurants. : )

The WWW

As of this morning, I have access to the internet in the comfort of my own home. Ahhhh... It's amazing how inconvenient it is to not have it. I'd imagine I'll be posting a little more often now that I don't have to make a special coffee shop trip to do it, so keep your eyes peeled if you're interested.
As of right this second though, I have to go run some errands before I head to the 5Nap.

A run

Went for a run in the park yesterday... At first I was a little put off by all of the people in the way - not that I expect to have Central Park to myself, but these people seem to have absolutely NO conscious thought that they are sharing the walkways with other people. Amazing meandering lack of awareness... BUT, instead of being annoyed, I turned my run into a Filter-fueled, stroller- and rambler-dodging mission: see your best path of approach many paces ahead but be alert to the unplanned trajectories of the mob before you; react with swiftness and agility. Past the teenagers awkwardly making out on their date to the park that they know is supposed to be romantic; through the sea of mostly-European boys that tirelessly try to coerce people into taking "beautiful bicycle tour of the park"; around the out-of-towners gingerly navigating tiny puddles in the broken pavement - whoa kid, stay with your mom; past the old sax player stationed by the tunnel (he is always there), his music jumping into my ears, momentarily disoriented when it finds itself in the company of the alt-rock-techno beats of Filter; through the tunnel and up around the sunbathers and then down East Dr, avoiding the horse-drawn carriages and bike buggies; back around the pond and up up up to Central Park South (E 59th) where there are waaaay to many people and art stands and vendors and photo ops and horses to dodge so before before I get stuck in Grand Army Plaza I cross the street and run in between the the street and the scaffolding, avoiding all of the people dragging their bags into the Ritz... It was so much fun my run seemed 10 minutes long (it was close to 30.) It's all in your head...

Mostly work...

So...
The jobs are still going well. Colin's situation is frustrating at times due to bullying and immaturity prevalent among the people in his position and below... Mark and his chefs de cuisine/managing chefs are all pretty cool and at least reasonable, but a lot of the less experienced people there feel a need to assert their "superiority" and do so by picking on Colin and, occasionally, each other. He is so good-natured and unshakeable so he is dealing with it really well, but in a way I think it makes them more inclined to pick on him because it annoys them that he doesn't sweat. What's nice is that his bosses like him, but more importantly they know that he's talented and capable.

My job is fine. It pays well (in tips, not the $4/hr I make on my New York tipped employee wage!) and it keeps me busy while I am there. The people are cool to work with, although the management is less than experienced. (We don't have champagne stoppers? The speed rail behind the bar changes every day depending on who is working? You have no idea where our meat comes from?!) Actually, the lack of ingredient knowledge is not specific to this restaurant - most places in New York do not really put emphasis on it. Even Del Posto! Us San Francisco slow food farmer's market kids were a little amazed...

We love our apartment. We are in the last stages of making the living room live up to it's name and then we can actually relax when we have time! I will post pictures when it is all done.
Wow, I actually have to run to work right now but I will update again soon!

In this same interlude it doth befall that I... present a wall

Sorry for the suspense!
I had a second interview (same place) on Saturday and was almost immediately hired! I am not only relieved to have the hunt come to a close, but I am also happy with where it ended - I think 5 Napkin has exactly what I was hoping to find: great hours, good money, food and drink I can stand behind and a pretty cool staff. The bar closes with the kitchen at midnight so I won't be stuck with a 4am NY closing time. The food is actually really good and we have a bunch of great beers as well as specialty cocktails and shakes. The product combined with its proximity to the theater district/times square area keep the place packed, so the money is well worth my time. (Hard work, but I definitely prefer that over standing around. Plus I get to play with a blow torch and use all of my mad drink-making skills.) I haven't had much time to get to know people but in my 3 days so far I have picked up the feeling that the people who are good at their jobs, whether I would care to spend time with them or not, outnumber the duds. I mean, they're no Acme staff, but they're alright. ; )

The house is slowly on its way to becoming a really nice space. The shelf install was going great until I found a peculiar problem with one wall on which I would very much like to have a somewhat key shelf: one part of the wall is hollow at a depth of about half an inch, a problem I ran into on a previous wall but one easily remedied by hollow wall screw anchors. However, the other part of the wall, precisely where I wanted to screw in the opposite elbow bracket, seems to have concrete at the same depth at which the other side is hollow. Peculiar, yes and also very frustrating. BOTH of the stud-finders I have used are completely wacked, beeping at random and giving consistently contradictory reads on the wall. It leaves me a pickle: do I give up and just hang some pictures there, after I patch the two large holes? Or do I drill until I find 2 proper holes, knowing that the wall needs to be patched anyway? The latter seems a bit crazy, but then again, so is the wall.

At least we have the important stuff in place: the kitchen is in cooking order, the bedroom is cozy and free of clutter and my music area is all set up in a comfortable corner section of the living room.

Wings and things

This isn't really going to be about wings. They're on topic only because I just ate some really delicious ones from around the corner, (yessss!) which is good because I had been jonesing for them for a while now. So yea, there's an Atomic Wings inside a bar not a block from our apartment. Other really-close-by perks: a laundromat less than a block away; a couple of laid-back bars (mostly Irish ones); 2 home improvement stores (BB&B and Home Depot - made the last few days a lot easier; a little health food store; the ING cafe I mentioned - $2 Peets coffee!; really great subway access; Central Park... There's more I'm sure - keep you posted. Oh, and then there's the Bloomingdale's, H&M and Betsy Johnson stores that are within 1 block... I just would like to point out that not only have I not purchased any clothing, I haven't even entered any of the stores. But oh man... Weird how it really makes the girl come out in a girl.

In other news, we finally got our stuff from the moving company. Sheesh. Those people were really the most difficult logistical part of this whole endeavor, which is saying quite a bit. But we have it and now it is just a matter of figuring out what to do with it. We are working with fewer square feet than our last place so for the past few days we've been brainstorming space-efficient solutions. Looks like it is going to involve a lot of wall-mounting shelves and nifty storage boxes. (Funny, all of those little annoying space-saver containers and genius kitchen solutions that I have always overlooked are probably going to come in handy!) Yep, I made my first Brooklyn Ikea run today.

And this is what is happening while all of this is happening:
Colin went back to work today after a long 4-day weekend. Del Posto was closed because it was bought-out by a movie shoot with Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin. Curious, indeed. He's doing really well there and is past the point of wondering if they are wondering if they want someone else. I can't wait to see and eat the food there. He left some menu descriptions (written for new waitstaff, etc.) around the house and they are incredible. But yea, Del Posto's not really in the old budget at the moment. I should probably stick to the wings...

Meanwhile, my job-hunt is still very much active. I had an interview today at place in Midtown West called 5 Napkin Burger. Maybe not immediately implied by its name, it is an upscale, busy American restaurant and bar. It seems like a cool place and the people I saw working there seemed happy and relaxed. The manager was a pleasant guy. He wanted to know if I was ok with being behind a bar that's 4 deep. Then we talked about Acme for a minute - yea, I'm into a slammed bar. Anyway, he called me a few hours later to schedule a 2nd interview for tomorrow. We'll see how it goes...

Another update

Not too much new but I just wanted to keep you up to date on it anyway...

But first, a brief quiz:

To your knowledge, it would be impossible for one to operate a motor vehicle without:

a) a motor
b) an alternator
c) a horn
d) fuel

Have your answer?... In a recent observational study conducted by yours truly it was found that 90% of New Yorkers and invariably 100% of New York cab drivers would answer (c). (I think the average educated driver would answer (a) as there are ways of operating if lacking other items.)
Seriously though, I've never heard people honk so much in my LIFE. Cab drivers will honk at a car 1/2 a block in front them just to get a head start on being pissed off. I am not making this up - it is all conclusive evidence from the above-mentioned study.

In other news, Colin is happy at his new job. It is challenging and educational in all of the ways he wanted it to be and he he really enjoys working for and with Mark Ladner. Mark is a mellow guy with a wealth of expertise and a passion for what he does and he's not really into being a celebrity chef. It is a huge staff (35-40 people in the kitchen per shift!) but Colin is getting to know most of the crew and is slowly becoming more than "the new guy." Some of the stories he tells me are so intense though! These guys are not messing around and they aren't really big on compliments, not that Colin is looking for them. They basically had him work with another guy for a few nights and then put him on the station by himself on Friday night. One of his bosses said "You can either do it or you can do it and it will either be really ugly or you'll come out ok." Kind of dramatic, but they are serious. Obviously, he came out ok.

Right now I am sitting in an ING Cafe right now - I don't know if these exist on the west coast - taking advantage of the free internet. (If you buy something, in my case a $1 iced tea, they give you a card for 45 minutes of internet.) The whole place is orange, to coincide with their brand image. I am enjoying this huge, futuristic cushy orange pod chair. I came here to send more resumes off on Craigslist and then had some extra time to journal.

Ooh. I'm out of battery!
P.S. First official celebrity sighting: I passed Ivanka Trump at E. 59th and 5th Ave yesterday. She's awesome.