Another day at the gym

This workout was slightly confusing, because the gym rearranged most of the exercise machines in the room I use most, so we were all playing "now where's the $device?" This game is complicated by the fact that all the pieces are the same colors, and that the new arrangement seems arbitrary and, per one of the staffers, is temporary in that they plan to remove some of the equipment. The cut-tagged part of this post is longer than usual, because I tried a different approach to one exercise and because it includes comments about the rearrangements.

( gym details, more than just numbers this time )

Another day at the gym

This workout was slightly confusing, because the gym rearranged most of the exercise machines in the room I use most, so we were all playing "now where's the $device?" This game is complicated by the fact that all the pieces are the same colors, and that the new arrangement seems arbitrary and, per one of the staffers, is temporary in that they plan to remove some of the equipment. The cut-tagged part of this post is longer than usual, because I tried a different approach to one exercise and because it includes comments about the rearrangements.

( gym details, more than just numbers this time )

Consumerism not exactly rampant

After exercising this morning, I met cattitude for lunch at Excellent Dumpling, which he now works near. The waiter assumed that we knew what we wanted right away, because I usually did; I asked him to come back in a couple of minutes. Cattitude basically said "you know what's good here," so I took advantage of their being two of us to get fried pork dumplings and sizzling beef chow fun. I like dumplings, but just dumplings means I feel vegetable-deprived (though the beef chow fun isn't as good on that score as most of what I order). [As I noted at the time, I don't like Cantonese vegetable dumplings, because they tend to have slimy green insides: I do like potato pierogi, which are technically a vegetable dumpling, but very different. papersky, this may be something to look into when you do that "where does the pierogi turn into the wonton" trip.] It was nice to have the company, and now Cattitude knows where Excellent Dumpling is, which he may find useful.

While Cattitude went back to work, I walked over to the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory, because I wanted a ginger cone. They had ginger ice cream this time (they'd been out of it when I was there last), but while it was pleasant enough, I didn't think it had enough ginger. Okay, time to buy more crystallized ginger and make my own again. Thence, I took the 6 up to Union Square, with the intention of getting a new mobile phone and an ink cartridge for my printer.

It may be possible to walk into the Virgin Megastore, buy a phone, and walk out, but I wasn't in a hurry, the background music wasn't aggressive, and they were pushing a variety of CDs on sale for $10, so I picked up a John Lennon collection. Then I walked over to the R's, because various people had recommended Radiohead. It turned out that OK Computer was in the $10 sale. Done. The phones are kept behind the counter, and there's no way to look at them rather than the boxes, so I pulled out the notes I'd made while looking online, and asked the cashier to show me the two I'd narrowed it down to. In the end, I decided that I would use at most one of the features that the $90 one had and the $30 one didn't (there's a slight chance I might use a camera if my phone had one), and asked for the $30. The cashier rang me up, and asked if I was interested in their new VIP card; after determining that it costs nothing, I said yes. I filled out the form, then realized that I was being charged $43 and change, including tax. I asked how that worked, and discovered that the phone that would have cost me $29 on the Web was $19 in the store, so I'd not only saved some time, I'd saved $10. Whether it would have been worth going downtown just for the financial difference is an interesting question; it was definitely worth stopping off on my way home to get the same product sooner and for less, and buy other things in the same neighborhood.

My mental tag on Union Square is "Greenmarket" [1]. Monday isn't the biggest day, but there was quite a bit there. The available grapes were Niagara and Concord, neither of which I like; I think the people who bring Vanessas to the market are Saturday-only, and we may be late in the season for those anyhow. I got plums (the little Italian prunes). I got two pounds of cooked crabs, for $4/pounds, which seemed fair. I got some baby lettuce and a couple of small cucumbers to go with them. There are par-baked croissants in the freezer.

The printer ink cartridge I need was $69 at Staples. I decided to wait, and see about shopping around. That seems to be about the going rate for the HP cartridge in question. I may wait a bit, and hope for a sale before I actually need to replace this one (over the weekend I took it out of the printer, shook it, and replaced it, and it's working properly for the moment), or see what information I can find about the merits and otherwise of refilled cartridges or non-HP supplies. I was carrying enough by then that, had I bought the cartridge, I'd probably have skipped the crabs and salad, and there's a Staples up in Kingsbridge, much closer to home, if I need a cartridge in a hurry.

Then I came home, put things away, turned the stereo on, unwrapped the Radiohead album and started listening to it,, and went to make tea. Five or ten minutes later, I went into the kitchen for something else, looked at the stove, muttered "it works better when you turn it on," and actually started to heat the water. Tea is good. Radiohead is also good; next time through I should pay more attention to the lyrics, but I was reading all your journals.

[1] the name used by the local farmer's markets to distinguish them from various groceries and greengrocers that were calling themselves "farmer's markets" when the Greenmarket started, 30 years ago.

Consumerism not exactly rampant

After exercising this morning, I met cattitude for lunch at Excellent Dumpling, which he now works near. The waiter assumed that we knew what we wanted right away, because I usually did; I asked him to come back in a couple of minutes. Cattitude basically said "you know what's good here," so I took advantage of their being two of us to get fried pork dumplings and sizzling beef chow fun. I like dumplings, but just dumplings means I feel vegetable-deprived (though the beef chow fun isn't as good on that score as most of what I order). [As I noted at the time, I don't like Cantonese vegetable dumplings, because they tend to have slimy green insides: I do like potato pierogi, which are technically a vegetable dumpling, but very different. papersky, this may be something to look into when you do that "where does the pierogi turn into the wonton" trip.] It was nice to have the company, and now Cattitude knows where Excellent Dumpling is, which he may find useful.

While Cattitude went back to work, I walked over to the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory, because I wanted a ginger cone. They had ginger ice cream this time (they'd been out of it when I was there last), but while it was pleasant enough, I didn't think it had enough ginger. Okay, time to buy more crystallized ginger and make my own again. Thence, I took the 6 up to Union Square, with the intention of getting a new mobile phone and an ink cartridge for my printer.

It may be possible to walk into the Virgin Megastore, buy a phone, and walk out, but I wasn't in a hurry, the background music wasn't aggressive, and they were pushing a variety of CDs on sale for $10, so I picked up a John Lennon collection. Then I walked over to the R's, because various people had recommended Radiohead. It turned out that OK Computer was in the $10 sale. Done. The phones are kept behind the counter, and there's no way to look at them rather than the boxes, so I pulled out the notes I'd made while looking online, and asked the cashier to show me the two I'd narrowed it down to. In the end, I decided that I would use at most one of the features that the $90 one had and the $30 one didn't (there's a slight chance I might use a camera if my phone had one), and asked for the $30. The cashier rang me up, and asked if I was interested in their new VIP card; after determining that it costs nothing, I said yes. I filled out the form, then realized that I was being charged $43 and change, including tax. I asked how that worked, and discovered that the phone that would have cost me $29 on the Web was $19 in the store, so I'd not only saved some time, I'd saved $10. Whether it would have been worth going downtown just for the financial difference is an interesting question; it was definitely worth stopping off on my way home to get the same product sooner and for less, and buy other things in the same neighborhood.

My mental tag on Union Square is "Greenmarket" [1]. Monday isn't the biggest day, but there was quite a bit there. The available grapes were Niagara and Concord, neither of which I like; I think the people who bring Vanessas to the market are Saturday-only, and we may be late in the season for those anyhow. I got plums (the little Italian prunes). I got two pounds of cooked crabs, for $4/pounds, which seemed fair. I got some baby lettuce and a couple of small cucumbers to go with them. There are par-baked croissants in the freezer.

The printer ink cartridge I need was $69 at Staples. I decided to wait, and see about shopping around. That seems to be about the going rate for the HP cartridge in question. I may wait a bit, and hope for a sale before I actually need to replace this one (over the weekend I took it out of the printer, shook it, and replaced it, and it's working properly for the moment), or see what information I can find about the merits and otherwise of refilled cartridges or non-HP supplies. I was carrying enough by then that, had I bought the cartridge, I'd probably have skipped the crabs and salad, and there's a Staples up in Kingsbridge, much closer to home, if I need a cartridge in a hurry.

Then I came home, put things away, turned the stereo on, unwrapped the Radiohead album and started listening to it,, and went to make tea. Five or ten minutes later, I went into the kitchen for something else, looked at the stove, muttered "it works better when you turn it on," and actually started to heat the water. Tea is good. Radiohead is also good; next time through I should pay more attention to the lyrics, but I was reading all your journals.

[1] the name used by the local farmer's markets to distinguish them from various groceries and greengrocers that were calling themselves "farmer's markets" when the Greenmarket started, 30 years ago.

Yum

Who says science fiction fandom isn't educational? To prepare tonight's dinner, I used skills I learned at a Worldcon.

Fandom taught me how to take a cooked crab apart. Tonight's were chilled and had no Old Bay seasoning: I got them at the Union Square Greenmarket, took them apart with the aid of a geode (I have no crab mallet, but I have a rock that fits neatly in my hand, which worked reasonably well to break crab shells), and served the crab meat on a cucumber and baby lettuce salad, with croissants and butter. cattitude is more prudent than I, and prefers not to disassemble crustacea with only his bare hands and a rock, but is quite happy to eat crabmeat when it's provided.

So is julian_tiger, who did not fulfill Cattitude's prediction that he would hang around and "help" while I was opening up the crabs. Our tiger is not stupid: when the humans are hitting things with rocks, it's a good idea to stay out of the way.

Yum

Who says science fiction fandom isn't educational? To prepare tonight's dinner, I used skills I learned at a Worldcon.

Fandom taught me how to take a cooked crab apart. Tonight's were chilled and had no Old Bay seasoning: I got them at the Union Square Greenmarket, took them apart with the aid of a geode (I have no crab mallet, but I have a rock that fits neatly in my hand, which worked reasonably well to break crab shells), and served the crab meat on a cucumber and baby lettuce salad, with croissants and butter. cattitude is more prudent than I, and prefers not to disassemble crustacea with only his bare hands and a rock, but is quite happy to eat crabmeat when it's provided.

So is julian_tiger, who did not fulfill Cattitude's prediction that he would hang around and "help" while I was opening up the crabs. Our tiger is not stupid: when the humans are hitting things with rocks, it's a good idea to stay out of the way.