Earlier this summer I had grand plans to get rid of all kinds of stuff in my apartment. I've lived here for over a decade, and when you don't have the impetus of a move, it's a bit of a challenge to go through your belongings with a critical eye and get rid of the things that you don't need or use. I'm in the process of some big changes and so, although I'm a bit behind schedule, I've set aside some time to start purging. I've set aside a particular section of the apartment for each day (living room, bathroom, bedroom, etc.) and have started to get to work. For example, in my bathroom, not only did I go through my cabinets and throw out a ton of stuff, but I cleaned the inside of my medicine cabinet, light fixtures, and every nook and cranny I could reach. In my bedroom I went through the storage bins under my bed, set aside clothes for donation, and cleaned out my jewelry box in addition to basic dusting, cleaning, vacuuming and mopping. Today I've tackled stacks of magazines and paper in the living room and am moving on to my office. The goal is to make room for new energy — not new stuff — and get rid of old, dead weight. Wish me luck.
Category: Life
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Transportation Aggravation
Overall, I have been truly enjoying my Citibike membership. It's perfect for a trip across town, especially if it's not too hot out — if it's really hot and you need to be somewhere where you need to look your best (like a first date or something), it's sometimes better to walk to avoid showing up looking like a huge sweatball. Which brings me to last night. With about 15 minutes to make it to the West Village and a cool evening breeze blowing, Citibike would seem to be an ideal transportation mode. It was — it got me to Perry and Bleecker in good time with barely a schvitz. This would've been great except for the tiny fact that the rack at that spot was completely full. I then biked over to Christopher and Hudson — full. At that point, I had to pull out my phone and find another kiosk — Bank and Hudson. I biked up to it, down the (stupidly uncomfortable) cobblestone street to find one free slot at the kiosk. Hooray! I was still in the safe 5-10 minute late range, and a tad schvitzier than I would like, but good to go. Until the bike wouldn't dock properly. The green light wouldn't go on, no matter what I tried. I was not about to keep biking farther from my destination at that point, so I called Citibike customer service. After a bit of time on hold, the rep took all of my information (key number, rack location, bike number) and she let me leave it where it was. I strode in to the restaurant about 15 – 20 minutes late, sweaty, and pissed off. At the very least, I had a good icebreaker story to start off the evening.
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Rant of the Day: Be a Moron All You Like, But Don’t Put Me in Danger
Yesterday, while biking along the 10th Street bike path between University and 2nd Avenue, I saw two people biking against traffic and one person blow through a red light as a pack of pedestrians started to cross in front of us. Earlier that day, crossing 5th Avenue as a pedestrian, I nearly got hit by a cyclist who didn't stop for his red light. After sunset, I saw a guy cycling the wrong way down a bike path, no helmet, no reflective gear or lights, with headphones in both ears. All of this stupidity and lack of concern for fellow New Yorkers is fairly typical, unfortunately. That said, I also saw some moron drive IN HIS CAR the wrong way down 5th Avenue — while I and other pedestrians yelled at him — in order to make a U-Turn. As we all yelled "wrong way!" all he had to say was "I know." Seriously?!? WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE!?!?
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Heat Wave
Not looking forward to this week’s heat wave here in NYC, but at least I have killer a/c and enough food I can cook without heating up the kitchen too much. Stay cool, everyone, and don’t forget to hydrate (especially my friends who are in NOLA for Tales this week – someone please go to Willie Mae’s & Cochon on my behalf!)
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Beach Brain
Sorry for the radio silence — @MoxieMutt and I spent a week on Fire Island and, although I got back on Friday, I think we're both still recovering. The big news is that my Citibike key was waiting in my mailbox when I got home — have already been riding around town quite a bit. In other news, I just spent a wad of money at Trader Joe's, so between that and my CSA produce, there's going to be quite a bit of cooking going on at Chez Laren (tonight it's BBQ pulled chicken and cole slaw, and will be doing this slow cooker chicken later this week). Finally, with a heavy heart and a great deal of beating myself up, I've decided to defer my entry to this year's NYC Triathlon. I'm simply not ready, and given the heat, I'd rather not put myself through it when I'm not feeling up to snuff. I've got a guaranteed entry for 2014, so training starts now. Maybe I can find a sprint triathlon in the next month or two to do instead. -
Pro Bono Pride
Proud of Debevoise's pro bono
showing on this year's American Lawyer A-List (based on 2012 hours) and for the #1 pro
bono score on the 10-year A-List (7.5 years of which were under my
watch). Thanks to all of my former colleagues for doing pro bono work on behalf of those who need it most. Read more about it here. -
Recap
I have been slacking on blog updates. Mea culpa. Here's a bit of a recap since my last post. I spent a few days in Sagaponack, NY celebrating a dear friend's 30th birthday, complete with a multi-course Spanish feast (including the deliciousness pictured above), had a lovely dinner at Chez Sardine as a thank-you for dogsitting a few weeks ago, ran 5.5 miles (along with a few shorter runs), biked about 20 miles, attended a rooftop barbecue complete with slow-smoked brisket tacos, peach bourbon punch, and pulled pork sliders, had delicious dim sum at Dim Sum Go Go, had some discussions about what might count for the new 50-hour pro bono requirement for bar admission to New York State, watched friends in Hey Bartender, tried out a new sushi joint, and caught up with good friends. All in all, a good week! -
Go Read Some Stuff
InSpirer Consulting now has its very own blog! If you want a weekly read about pro bono, check it out. Then again, if cocktails are more your speed, check out my first piece for Wine Enthusiast on bottled cocktails!
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I Want to Ride My Bicycle, I Want to Ride My Bike*
I finally dusted off my bike and went for a ride yesterday, which felt great. Given the prevalence of the new Citibike docks all around the city, I've been thinking quite a bit about bike riding lately. I was trained as a very safe rider thanks to the AIDS Ride folks back in 2000, but I'm still not super-thrilled about riding in traffic. I prefer to get over to a bike-friendly area that is blocked to traffic (Central Park, West Side Highway) and ride around there instead of using my bike for commuting. As safe and cautious as I am, I think that drivers are still not accustomed to cyclists and I'd rather avoid them.
That said, they're about to be everywhere. I'm incredibly curious to see how this whole Citibike thing will work. I plan to try it out (with a helmet, of course) and see if it makes me more comfortable using a bike as a mode of transportation rather than a means of exercise. My two big hopes are that 1) drivers will start to get used to and respect cyclists who share the streets, and 2) cyclists will ride safely, respecting traffic laws. The latter is something I don't see as often as I'd like. I constantly see cyclists riding the wrong way down bike lanes, not signaling, blowing through traffic lights, wearing headphones, texting (are you fucking kidding me?!) as they ride, and riding on sidewalks. I truly hope that with an influx of cyclists, this changes, and if not, that cyclists are ticketed accordingly for traffic violations. The sooner we all learn to share the streets safely, the better.
* Thank you, Queen.
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Spring Cleaning
I'm in the midst of spring cleaning. Yes, I'm cleaning out closets, scrubbing tile, and dusting in places that haven't seen the light of day in months, but I'm going way beyond that. I'm cleaning out the clutter to start the next chapter of my life; getting my foundation in order so that I'm ready to go out there and build my company; gearing up and getting grounded. Get ready, world — I'm going to be well-rested (for the first time in years, most likely) and ready to go.