Still alive!

Still alive here!

Bike was stolen because I didn't lock it up :). I finally got used to riding that thing around. My comfort level with the bike led me to leave it unlocked. Strike that. It was my stupidity. In any case I am rewarded with a stolen bike! I am not going to bother reporting it - i think cops have better things to do with their time then to look for a stolen bike. I am going to get a lo-jack for my next bike. I wonder if they even make them.

Anyway just a quick update!

Minitek

I was happy to see an electronic music festival going on in my backyard. I'm a huge fan of techno music and have attended DEMF every year since it's inception.

Minitek is Brooklyn's/NYC answer to those electronic festivals. I'm glad to see these guys putting this together. I'll be volunteering for the festival and doing some flyering so I figure I'll plug it here.

20 million dollar bike

I want a 20 million dollar bike. One that I don't have to pedal as much.

During my first week here in Brooklyn I emailed a guy on craigslist about a bike. 140$ seemed like a great deal. I did some research on proper bike fitting, decided that was for people with a ton of money, and proceeded to buy bikes out of the back of some guys van. I had doubts about the whole thing. For one, this didn't look too legit. Second, he claimed he gave them a tune up but most of the bikes were in bad shape. They were junkers or passed the junker mark. Third, the guy was out of the back of his truck!

I ended up testing a few bikes and found one that suited me. It was a ladies bike and I am not a lady. For some reason I had it in my mind that I did not want the bar in the middle of the bike as I didn't want my junk hitting it. I guess ladies bike also means lower seat. This leaves me riding a bike that isn't quite allowing me to ride up and down the hills of Windsor Terrace. Well, it will allow me to ride, but the ride is uncomfortably uncomfortable.

Therefore this is what's sort of making me think of getting a better bike. One that's fit to me a little bit more. I do like riding a bike. Today I rode it for 20 minutes which is much longer than I ever rode in the past 14 years. Our apartment is near PPW and 17th and we are somewhat at the top of a large hill from what I can tell. This leaves riding a bike for someone who is just beginning to ride bikes very very painful. I feel it in my thighs immediately. Even at low gear I seem to be destined to close up shop early and save up for a car. Bike riding isn't making me feel good.

At the same time i've been going on and on about conditioning myself and I guess i have to figure that the money I spent on the bike should be used wisely. Therefore I'll attempt to make as many 20 minute rides around town as I can stand over the next month to build my conditioning up.

One of the other reasons I want to ride around is I want to explore the neighborhood between 9th ave and the southern most corner of the park. It's very residential but I'm determined to know where each shop is in case of emergency or boredom.

Otherwise I have to explore Park Slope.

Here's hoping for some commerce in Windsor Terrace.

Same Shirt, Different Dude

This has only happened to me one other time.

The other time it happened, we were both wearing an Old Navy polo shirt. Your standard, wear it as many times as you can until you get sick of it design. In fact: it happened to me twice on the same day. It called for some crazy back to the future physics calculations. Should I be avoiding this person? I acknowledged our sad state of affairs with the other man and we went back to our mundane lives.

But tonight was different. A Penguin button down! It happened to me again. I thought it was just the poor lighting in front of Holy Name church but really it was true. My fashion doppel-ganger in front of me, wearing the same Penguin button down.

On the way home after Lia's Ices, Rachel let me know that this seems to happen to her a lot to. Going to FIT she says "Everybody is dressed like me!". Rachel dresses nicely but eclectic nicely. It will be an interesting spin on a new fashion. I don't really have any depth of perception on her clothing choices though. I do understand that in a town of 8+ million people, it's bound to happen that someone will be wearing the same shirt/dress as oneself.

In anycase Lia's Ices on 16th was great. Rachel had a raspberry swirl gelato and I had a Lemon water ice. We both raved about it on the walk back home. Good indulgence on top of the WTF we had about the clothing.

Food alert

One of the cool things living in Windsor Terrace is the Dub Pies shop on 9^th ave and 14^th street. I first saw their graffiti covered van parked outside of our loft apartment a couple weeks ago when moving in and thought it was JAH (Just another Hipster). After visiting the place I must say that my Coney Island predilection is going out the door. Literally.

I was running out of the door yesterday after I screwed up a batch of pre-mixed Indian food. Mind you I didn’t really screw it up. The batch was just plain bad. It was one of these http://www.amazon.com/Pataks-Rogan-Cooking-Tomato-Cardamom/dp/B000KEK6W8

What looks good in the supermarket turned my girlfriends hair from a classy simple trendy bob cut to the way a Home Shopping Network Magic Duster looks. She also went from Marc Jacobs fashion to /<-mart goodness. The food was that bad.

For her redemption came in the form of Key Market yogurt. For me it came in the form of Dub pies. I rode my bike over to DUB to grab a mince and cheese pie. This would be my first “regular” pie. I’ve only had the mini’s before.

It came wrapped in a silver foil bag, ala old school drive in theater. I rolled back to the house (rolled?) and slowly finished the perfect pot pie.

I’m not sure if I should call them pot pies, because they are much much better than the pot pie you will find in your local grocers. DUB pies come in many different flavors, but this customer has only tried the steak mince, and cheese flavor. For my money, $4.50, it was super worth it.

In other news, I will be looking for cooking classes in the area.

New In Windsor Terrace

There didn't seem to be many Windsor Terrace blogs out there so we, a couple from Detroit, decided to start our own.

He's a computer programmer and mostly domesticated.  She's a fashion student.  He wears long shorts and she can't stand them.  She parts her hair in a particular way.  Together they are cuddly and will make you sick.  We'll talk about life in NYC (no car????), differences between NYC/Brooklyn and Detroit (way better middle eastern food in Detroit) and getting along in the big city (So much to do).

Downslopers?  Well we got a pretty sweet place in Windsor Terrace and people are calling it South Slope.  I think Downslope rolls off the tongue a little better.  

More posts soon.  I'll be teaching her how to use this thing so she can post her thoughts on here too.  She'll be prodding and gently knocking me upside the head.  Love life.