So You Think We Can Blog?

Moving is such a pain. Days of packing, throwing away tons of stuff I can’t believe we kept in such a small apartment, and lots of cleaning. We had lots of friends to visit with before leaving. Trying to fit them all in around all the packing and stuff became a little difficult and stressful. It led to some very long nights of only a couple hours of sleep. The night before we moved we went out with friends and then came home and stayed up until 3 am making sure everything was ready to be packed the next day. We shipped 11 boxes of clothes and shoes. That was after getting rid of tons of pairs. Fedx screwed up the pick-up so Ender had to deliver the packages to their warehouse early that morning before we could pack the van. (Right...the van. So we bought a van for the trip. We figured it would be cheaper than renting a uhaul and we could turn around and sell it once we finished the trip.) So Ender’s back now and our friends came by to help us pack the van. All went well and we were o...

I just turned 31. I want to be a guy who can take pride in not being obsessed with his birthday. Unfortunately, at times I think my fixation on avoiding such an obsession has at times been an obsession in and of itself. One in which I've tried to be so nonchalant about a birthday celebration that I find myself preoccupied by who has and has not contacted me to do any birthday well-wishing. This of course has not gone unnoticed by those nearest to me. This year, I think I finally reached that Nirvana of apathy. One of my best friends, Neal, came to stay with us for 12 days to celebrate. I haven't seen him in over 3 years, so it was a long overdue reconnection. Because he was here for a week before my birthday, and several days after, it felt as though half the month was an elaborate birthday extravaganza! The list of activities included: Roof Top Party in the Financial District Animal Collective Concert in Prospect Park Prospect Park Drum Circle Played in a broken Fire Hydr...

So this is something I told everyone I would post about months ago (obviously not on here since we didn't have this months ago but elsewhere) and never did. I'm really bad at stuff like this which is why Ender and I are only now starting a blog after living in NYC for almost 3 years now. Anyway the Elephant Walk is something Ender and I thought would be a fun thing to see that only happens in NYC.  I heard about it when we first moved here but never seemed to think of it until after the event occurred. This year I was happy I remembered. So what is the Elephant Walk? When the Ringling Brothers come to town they hold their show at Madison Square Garden. Well they have a problem getting the elephants from the rail yard in Queens to Madison Square Garden so the elephant walk began.  After midnight the elephants, some horses and ponies and of course the trainers all start their walk through the Queens-Midtown Tunnel. They continue their walk down 34th St until they reach the Garden...

The other night while waiting in line for the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, my friend Chris and I met this little girl. She cut into the line like Hermione Granger barging into Harry and Ron's train car on the Hogwarts Express, but looking like Ginnie Weasley. Ignoring the people she had cut in front of, she launched into conversational praise at Chris's robes and our wands, asked us philosophical questions about the books, and called us fascinating as we answered. We found out she was 12 years old. Her dad is a banker and her mother is an accountant of some kind. She definitely fit the profile of a Manhattan Baby. She had come with her brother (who was 14) but they had different show times so she was in line alone. Well, not alone. She had made new friends. Since it was opening night, we had arrived early, and so we spent the next hour or two discussing Everything from snogging to Horcruxes with the most tenacious 12 year old I had ever met. She w...

We've been living in New York for nearly 3 years, and decided it was time to document some of our experiences.   Ender had a blog a few years ago when Myspace was new, and when that came to an end, so did anything that resembled a journal.  We hope that this will be an easy and fun way to share our day-to-day lives with our friends and family who live so far away. Living in New York has been unbelievable.  It has given us the opportunity to experience food, culture, transportation, and a lifestyle completely different from anything we had before, which has helped us to grow tremendously.   New York has an amazing way of attracting some of the most creative and interesting people we've ever known.  It's as if the eccentric oddballs from every family wound up here together.  There always seems to be something percolating. Since we've been here we've been able to visit Washington DC, Palmyra NY, The Niagara Falls, Sleepy Hollow, and Ender has even been all the way up t...