diana

Today Diana signed the papers for our first apartment in Beijing, China. This confirms that for the next year we will be living in Beijing and, thus, learning Mandarin Chinese. Beijing is being overrun by Olympic fever so our apartment search was made rather difficult by landlords that are looking to "cash-in" on the once-in-a-lifetime event. Almost every single one of the apartments we looked at, that matched our picky criteria, had the rent raised either just before or during our viewing of it.

The cradle rocks just a little slower this year as Diana turns the big 25! Go say Happy Birthday to her on her blog and then stop making fun of me for "robbing the cradle"..

Three years folks, that's nothing!

Diana's parents are in town this weekend. They moved back to China late last year and returned to the U.S to do their last US tax return. Instead of just stopping into the country, turning in their taxes and leaving they decided to take a tour. They started out in San Francisco, headed to L.A, over to Boston and now they are in New York. Originally they planned for just a few days but I think they have decided to stay a little longer; which I think is awesome.

They came bearing gifts so they can stay as long as they'd like. They brought me and Diana (mainly me.. since Diana's is much smarter than I) children's Learn Mandarin Chinese books. Yes the books were designed and intended for us by 4 and 5 year olds but I think that they are awesome. Last night Diana's mother went through one of the books with me. I felt like I was about five years old but that really isn't any different than everyday ;)

These books are awesome!

Ok now in other completely unrelated news Diana's article on hiking in Connecticut was published this morning in the Sunday edition of the Boston Globe (Travel section). You can read it online here on the Explore New England website.

Sadly, this file is missing.
Diana was in the Boston Globe, again, for the umpteenth time. It was 3 days over one year since she was first published in the Globe so we made the trek from our place down to Grand Central for the ceremonial "Damn girl what are you like a writer or something". I guess she is making a go at this writing thing and well people seem to like her writing.

I only wish my job was as exciting as hers, I just write software and be super geeky for a living (and get hassled by the cops).

The video is kinda boring but eh.. watch it anyways it is only two minutes long. ;)

Diana had her first major article in the Boston Globe this past Wednesday. Front page of the Food Section! I guess when she goes for something she gets what she wants.

Check out the videos below.

PDF of the Boston Globe Article

Diana's first big article in the Boston Globe and she made the front page of the Food section! She wrote an awesome article on a handmade noodle restaurant.

I haven't taken a whole lot of photos since I moved to New York but I did take a few. I uploaded 4 more pictures in "The East Side" and 7 pictures in "Florida".

Of New York I took a picture of:

• Times Square (typical traditional photo)
• The L stop to Brooklyn
• I love Brooklyn, I'll probably end of moving there. Although I really like Chinatown and the east village too.
  
• Diana
• Yes, a picture of Diana. Well, not quite. She's on the phone and you can only see her back and hair. I know you guys are all dying to see who this girl is (Umm.. I had pictures of her on my website for about 2 months). When I get back to New York I will setup an ambush and take a picture of her. sssshhhh don't tell her.
  
• Manhattan Skyline
• The view from Diana's living room/kitchen windows

I took a few pictures on my drive down to Florida, too. Lately I haven't been in a "photo-taking" mood so I've been leaving my camera in the car or at the house.

Ok I have to get back to applying for jobs.  

Last night Diana found a woman on craigslist that was giving her bed away. The woman was moving several streets down and had simply decided against moving the bed (This is common in Manhattan as moving large furniture items is typically much more of a hassle than it is worth). Diana was in need of a new bed, I still had my car in town, and, being the nice guy that I am, I volunteered to wake up at 8:30am, drive across town, pick up the bed, drive it back across town, and, finally, move it up six flights of stairs.

A “wonderful” thing in Manhattan is that many of the apartment complexes are old, which means that they are well made, look great, have eliquent staircases and no elevators.


I’m a stupid, stupid man.

Six flights of stairs, one full size mattress set, and one, now very sore, man.

I really wish I had my camera though. It was quite an interesting site; picture this. A small green car with a full size mattress set twined down to the roof rack. The car driving down a busy Manhattan street surrounded my taxicabs and delivery trucks. The passenger and driver each have one hand out the window holding the mattresses. It was an "interesting" site to see.

Moving on....

The, unfortunate, thing about yesterday is that I learned a lot about NYC parking rules/regulations; the hard way. Early in the afternoon I let a parking meter run 5 minutes over; $65 ticket. Later in the evening I parked on the wrong side of the road at the wrong time; another $65 ticket. Yup two tickets, one day. I’m $110 poorer.

I am leaving for Florida tomorrow and I will be back in the city on the 10th. I will do my best to get pictures up tonight.