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Yesterday I headed out--over compacted snow--in midmorning to meet two friends from the Copyediting-L list, plus the wife and daughter of one of them. Katie, Bill's daughte, -is trying to convince either Parsons or Cooper Union to accept her as an undergraduate next fall, which apparently starts with grueling portfolio reviews. They're counting it as a win that she didn't leave Cooper Union crying, because many people apparently did. (The next step will be an at-home art test, for which she'll get 30 days.) Brian was visiting his mother--New York is home to him, and he hopes to get a job back here sometime, rather than Wichita or, as now, Fort Worth. We all ate Chinese food and talked, and then went our separate ways. It was pleasant, but I felt as though I was missing some piece of the socializing kit.
Then I went to Sahadi's, because I needed tea, and it would give me a pause before exercising. I forgot that Saturdays in December can be problematic even at food stores. But the wait gave me time to sample some free tea. The people offering samples had to toss out the first batch they'd brewed and try again because the first water wasn't, they thought, hot enough. Mango tea, with milk and sugar: it was sweet and mango-ey and pleasant, but didn't taste of tea. This could be a problem: I can see people drinking lots of it, not realizing they're stoking up on caffeine because it tastes only of milk and sugar and fruit. They also sent me home with free samples, but not of that tea. I may go back and get the mango sometime--but not on a Saturday in December. I also got dark chocolate, nuts, more chocolate-coated cranberries, and a vanilla bean. The man behind the counter volunteered that the price had gone up because they've found a better supplier, but the new beans are larger, so fewer per pound, ergo more expensive per bean. He also offered me one free if I bought ten, but since I use about two a year I declined. And since I use two a year, I can afford $2 for a vanilla bean.
Since it was handy and I'd used up more time than expected waiting on lines at Sahadi (one for bulk item service, then the cashiers), I went to the branch of my gym in downtown Brooklyn. They had one machine I'd missed--seated leg press--but not all of what I'm used to.
Bench press: 50 pounds, 13 reps, then 7; 45 pounds, 10+5 (that indicates a short break, rather than what I'd consider two separate sets).
Seated leg press, 150 pounds, 3 sets of 15.
Triceps pull-downs, 35 pounds, 3 sets of 15. Strained on the last few in set 3, but that's okay.
I tried something labeled a "hammer strength MTS row", since they didn't have the rowing machine I'm used to. I did six reps at 60 pounds, then decided to go do something else.
The usual crunches and arches, 3 sets of 15 each. I have to do crunches more regularly, or they're too difficult when I get back to them. Half a dozen reps of cat-and-camel, and the tree.
Seated leg curl, 70 pounds, 2 sets of 15; 65 pounds, one set of 15.
Bicep curls, lacking the equipment I'm used to, I used a 22-pound body bar, and did 3 sets of 15.
I got halfway through my stretching routeine, and part of the device came loose, so I stopped. I'd been annoyed anyway because the wrist straps were a little short for me to work with.
Then I went out to P's. When I got there she greeted me with "Oh my god!" and then explained to her parents that she doesn't usually greet me that way, but I don't usually have purple hair. People hung out, ate assorted munchies including excellent baklava, and then some Ohio pizza her parents had brought with them. P's invitation promised us "real pizza", but I was thoroughly disappointed, partly for stylistic reasons--I'm used to mozzarella, not provolone, on a pizza--and partly because the crust was too crisp. They assured me that it was better at home in Wooster, and I'll take her word for it--but I think it's time for me to go back to Patsy Grimaldi's, or get up to New Haven for a proper clam pie. We also played games. First a silly game involving guessing celebrity names, with a first round where the person giving clues can say anything except the person's name, a second round (with the same names) only three words,and the third round mime only--and I actually resorted to charades-stye "3 words/first word/little word" to clue "The Keebler Elf". It gets very silly and referential--someone had accidentally clued, and gotten people to guess, Leonardo di Caprio instead of Leonardo da Vinci in round 1, so my round-2 clue was "not di Caprio." Then we played Apples to Apples (also silly fun), followed by a paper-and-pencil game where you pass around sheets of paper, alternately writing a phrase, illustrating it, describing the illustration, etc., folding sheets down so the next player can see only the most recent entry. We were going to do a second round of that, but P's father's hands shake too much for him to have enjoyed it. He offered to sit out while we played, but I pointed out that we could do this some other time, so we should do something everyone could play. That turned out to be Trivial Pursuit, which went on much too long, until I explained that I needed to go home and to bed, and we ended the game with an agreed tie. And then, of course, an hour and a half until I got home to bed.
I spent much of the evening sneezing, and wound up with a headache by the time we left--the headache may have had something to do with the insistent car alarm outside (several calls were made to the local police precinct). And I really hope I'm not allergic to P's cat, who is a fine gray animal and a mighty huntress.
This morning my thighs hurt, and I'm remembering that I ended the stretches at the gym only partway through the one that's good for them--and I did all that no-longer-accustomed leg press stuff.
Then I went to Sahadi's, because I needed tea, and it would give me a pause before exercising. I forgot that Saturdays in December can be problematic even at food stores. But the wait gave me time to sample some free tea. The people offering samples had to toss out the first batch they'd brewed and try again because the first water wasn't, they thought, hot enough. Mango tea, with milk and sugar: it was sweet and mango-ey and pleasant, but didn't taste of tea. This could be a problem: I can see people drinking lots of it, not realizing they're stoking up on caffeine because it tastes only of milk and sugar and fruit. They also sent me home with free samples, but not of that tea. I may go back and get the mango sometime--but not on a Saturday in December. I also got dark chocolate, nuts, more chocolate-coated cranberries, and a vanilla bean. The man behind the counter volunteered that the price had gone up because they've found a better supplier, but the new beans are larger, so fewer per pound, ergo more expensive per bean. He also offered me one free if I bought ten, but since I use about two a year I declined. And since I use two a year, I can afford $2 for a vanilla bean.
Since it was handy and I'd used up more time than expected waiting on lines at Sahadi (one for bulk item service, then the cashiers), I went to the branch of my gym in downtown Brooklyn. They had one machine I'd missed--seated leg press--but not all of what I'm used to.
Bench press: 50 pounds, 13 reps, then 7; 45 pounds, 10+5 (that indicates a short break, rather than what I'd consider two separate sets).
Seated leg press, 150 pounds, 3 sets of 15.
Triceps pull-downs, 35 pounds, 3 sets of 15. Strained on the last few in set 3, but that's okay.
I tried something labeled a "hammer strength MTS row", since they didn't have the rowing machine I'm used to. I did six reps at 60 pounds, then decided to go do something else.
The usual crunches and arches, 3 sets of 15 each. I have to do crunches more regularly, or they're too difficult when I get back to them. Half a dozen reps of cat-and-camel, and the tree.
Seated leg curl, 70 pounds, 2 sets of 15; 65 pounds, one set of 15.
Bicep curls, lacking the equipment I'm used to, I used a 22-pound body bar, and did 3 sets of 15.
I got halfway through my stretching routeine, and part of the device came loose, so I stopped. I'd been annoyed anyway because the wrist straps were a little short for me to work with.
Then I went out to P's. When I got there she greeted me with "Oh my god!" and then explained to her parents that she doesn't usually greet me that way, but I don't usually have purple hair. People hung out, ate assorted munchies including excellent baklava, and then some Ohio pizza her parents had brought with them. P's invitation promised us "real pizza", but I was thoroughly disappointed, partly for stylistic reasons--I'm used to mozzarella, not provolone, on a pizza--and partly because the crust was too crisp. They assured me that it was better at home in Wooster, and I'll take her word for it--but I think it's time for me to go back to Patsy Grimaldi's, or get up to New Haven for a proper clam pie. We also played games. First a silly game involving guessing celebrity names, with a first round where the person giving clues can say anything except the person's name, a second round (with the same names) only three words,and the third round mime only--and I actually resorted to charades-stye "3 words/first word/little word" to clue "The Keebler Elf". It gets very silly and referential--someone had accidentally clued, and gotten people to guess, Leonardo di Caprio instead of Leonardo da Vinci in round 1, so my round-2 clue was "not di Caprio." Then we played Apples to Apples (also silly fun), followed by a paper-and-pencil game where you pass around sheets of paper, alternately writing a phrase, illustrating it, describing the illustration, etc., folding sheets down so the next player can see only the most recent entry. We were going to do a second round of that, but P's father's hands shake too much for him to have enjoyed it. He offered to sit out while we played, but I pointed out that we could do this some other time, so we should do something everyone could play. That turned out to be Trivial Pursuit, which went on much too long, until I explained that I needed to go home and to bed, and we ended the game with an agreed tie. And then, of course, an hour and a half until I got home to bed.
I spent much of the evening sneezing, and wound up with a headache by the time we left--the headache may have had something to do with the insistent car alarm outside (several calls were made to the local police precinct). And I really hope I'm not allergic to P's cat, who is a fine gray animal and a mighty huntress.
This morning my thighs hurt, and I'm remembering that I ended the stretches at the gym only partway through the one that's good for them--and I did all that no-longer-accustomed leg press stuff.
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From:
no subject
B
From:
no subject
i have found that "real pizza" is one of those concepts that varies so totally from region to region as to practically be flame-bait. frex, i come from chicago now, so "real pizza" to me, is pan pizza (not thin crust). or stuffed. yum.
From:
Pan pizza
Apples to Apples can be great fun as long as all the players can read the cards.
From:
Re: Pan pizza
are you in chicago? (i did look at your user info before asking ;-) )
From:
Re: Pan pizza
Mmm, pan pizza. Must go eat now.
From:
Re: Pan pizza
i still contend that the stuffed spinach pizza that came from the original edwardo's on howard was the nectar of the gods, never equaled by imitators or franchised outlets. sigh. i really haven't found one i liked since that place closed and that's another thing i get a taste for upon occasion.
gosh, good thing it's lunchtime here.
From:
Re: Pan pizza
The bad news about pizza is that preferences are so personal, especially in Chicago. The good news is that most of it's quite edible, so experimenting with friends -- or *gasp* going to their favorite place -- usually isn't a problem.
From:
Re: Pan pizza
my gf doesn't particularly like stuffed pizza (the horror! the tragedy!) but maybe the next time i can talk her into it we'll give carmen's another try!
and re: preferences--families have split over less, but it makes for fun conversations and field trips for taste comparisons