Deep Fried Tur-Duck-In

As I write this post, I sit in a coffeehouse/bar on Orchard Street in the Lower East Side. It has been a long time coming, but after 3 major apartment moves in almost as many months, I can honestly say that I’m starting to feel at home in New York. This apartment is the smallest I’ve ever had to the pleasure of dwelling within, as well as the most expensive, but as the brokers will tell you: location, location, location. Well, that and my likely hood of being shot went down about 85%. Let me explain.

I moved to New York sometime in July of this year. Once Natasha and I had the job stability to handle our own lease, we found a place in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. Although only about 10 minutes (by bike) from Fort Greene, our little slice of heaven came within a stone’s through of the notorious Marcy Houses. I’ve lived in some “rough” parts of town before. I’ve witnessed bums and tourists alike getting rolled by gangs of thieves in the French Quarter (NOLA), and I was welcomed to Francisville (Philly) with an attempted shooting on my doorstep. That said, I always had friends and contacts looking out for me in those ‘hoods. And *knock on wood*, it never really came THAT close to me. The Philly shooting turned out to be not much more than a BB gun.

I managed to become pals with the corner grocery within the first week of Bed-Stuy, but largely because I was a white kid who spoke spanish. Something of an anomaly in those parts. Attempts to knock on the door of our fellow tenants resulted in TV’s or radio’s being turned down, followed by silence as they tried to surmise if I was the police (or worse, the landlord). I only met 1 set of neighbors, two skater kids with waiter jobs in manhattan. I met them after I noticed a 2 shadowy figures walking past my bedroom window via the 3rd floor fire escape, and then proceed to climb up onto the roof. Needless to say, I got a little freaked out. Armed with my police issue Maglite, I scaled the wrought iron ladder and prepared myself for the worst. Dramatic right? Well, they were just stoned and drinking cheap malt liquor. Instantly I was transported back to Philly. (joke).

Long story short, I walked downstairs a week later to discover one of the skaters limping around with a large bandage enveloping his thigh. He had been walking down the street towards our building with a friend, when out of the blue, someone turned around with a gun and emptied the clip. The neighbor was shot in the leg and rushed to the emergency room. His friend died on the spot. I don’t know about you, but I had all the motivation I needed. After working my way out of the fetal position, I got on the phone with an apartment broker, and set up viewings for that week. During my lunchbreaks, I managed to see 7 apartments in two days. 2 in Hell’s Kitchen/Midtown West, 2 in the West Village (disturbingly like Paris, France), 1 in Murray Hill, 1 in Gramercy, and 2 in the Lower East Side. Applications were processed, leases were signed, U-Hauls were rented, and last Saturday I moved in.

So far I’ve compiled a list of pro’s and cons.
Cons:

1. Smaller
2. More expensive
3. TINY

And now for the pros:

1. More than 1 restaurant that delivers to me within the area. More than I can count, really
2. Like, totally, so less likely to get shot. Still a risk, but I’m a gambling man.
3. 20 minute commute to work as opposed to 40
4. A huge patio/roof deck. Summertime, anyone?
5. Did I mention the shooting thing?

Today is Friday, the day after the annual Turkey Massacre. I kid. I wolfed down 3-and-some servings of Tofurkey, salad, mashed potatoes, corn, olive toppenade (sp?), and guzzled my share of Blue Moon beer. Afterwards I convinced Natasha’s massage therapist aunt to give me a back massage. She specializes in deep tissue massage which can be painful at time, but results in an almost euphoric “following morning.” Well, that and having processed god knows how many pounds of digestibles.

The office has been kind enough to give me yesterday and today off, and I have been using it to slash through the numerous items on my todo list. On the slate are

• Finish Glen Muñoz’s site - GlenMunozMusic.com
• Finish Tiffany and Phil’s portfolio sites
• Roll out Lolis Elie’s new blog
• Re-design this site for the upcoming Holidays (I’m a christmas freak(
• Release the original theme to the public
• Unpack, fold, and store all the crap on the floor of my bedroom
• Talk to the old landlord
• Whittle my inbox down to 0
• Send out client samples to The Louisiana Department of Health, and to Rethink
• Work on the corporate stuff in anticipation of next week
• Say goodbye to visiting friend Casey

I may see fit to add to this list as the weekend progresses, and I’ll try to cross them off as they happen and where applicable add links.

Talk soon.