I'm Free

Maybe it's my sinus-induced deliriousness, but I decided to use up my savings and finally pay off my debt. As of this morning, I am debt-free.
I can't remember the last time I didn't owe somebody money. As a child, my father would let me borrow money to buy stuff I wanted, but I always had to pay him back. My parents also punished us sometimes by fining us - and in my case, often for stuff I didn't actually do. I think they figured we would understand monetary punishment and wouldn't become immune to it the way we got used to spanking or being locked up in a hot attic during the summer (not exaggerating).
So my allowance was always allocated somewhere before I even got it, and by the time my parents let me get a real job, I was already taking out student loans to pay for college by myself.
In 1994 I answered the call of free t-shirts in the student center and applied for three student credit cards in preparation for my semester abroad in London. I had been kicked out of my parents' house the summer before, and even though I took out an extra-big student loan that year to try to cover the flights, I knew I would need money for books and incidentals while in the UK.
I maxed out my credit card one night while using a payphone to call my mother on her birthday. With the time difference, it was impossible to anticipate when I'd be able to reach her, and the toll-saver setting on their phone got me every time, so I was charged an arm and a leg for every missed call. I remember standing in a phone booth late (it was probably dinner time in NY), getting rejected by my calling card, and then calling my credit card company, begging for more credit. All this for a mother that had kicked me out of the house a year before.
Since that time I've lived off credit cards to move to NYC and to survive being unemployed for a year. I don't regret it, but it's been really hard to dig myself out of that hole. And I've chosen to stay at my companies a long time (Atlantic, 4 yrs; R&T, almost 5) instead of job-hopping to get big salary increases. So this feels like a major accomplishment.
Vic had suggested I consolidate all my credit cards into one interest-free one and see if I could pay it off, and it was the best advice anyone has ever given me. I had almost $20K on one card, interest-free through June of this year. I stopped going out a lot, buying clothes and shoes and other nonsense I didn't really need. I paid for everything on my debit card so I wouldn't accrue more debt. I paid as much as I could off every month. When June came and went and I started to owe interest, I hustled even more to pay it off.
And now I'm done.
The irony?
I'm about to embark on the biggest debt of my life, if I decide to buy an apartment next year. I have no savings obviously so I'll have to borrow the down payment, and then I'll be stuck with a mortgage that lasts for 30 years. Not being the recipient of any Wall Street bonuses or inheritances, I don't expect any windfalls anytime soon, so once again, if I want to do it, I'll have to borrow.
But I don't regret London and I don't regret my move to the big city, nor do I regret waiting 10 months for "the right job," which turned out to be the one I'm still in five years later. And since I'm in the business of avoiding regret, I'm getting ready to bring on the debt again. I'm not leaving New York City anytime soon, so I might as well make a real investment in it.

Nostalgia Train Ride

I joined the Transit Museum a few months ago so I could take a tour of the abandoned City Hall station, and now that I'm a member, I might as well take advantage of other cool stuff they do. Today I took a "Nostalgia Train Ride" - on the vintage R1/9 car fleet that was manufactured in the 1930s and 40s and were finally put completely out of commission by the late 70s. Starting at 42nd Street / Port Authority, a huge group of us rode the train all the way down the A line to the Rockaways.

The train FLEW down the tracks, and being an older model (to put it nicely), it was a bit more rickety than we're used to. Even without stopping at any stations, it still took us over an hour to get to the end of the A, and we were going really fast. The speed helped cool us off, though, since those old trains aren't air conditioned and actually have ceiling fans, windows, and vents that you rely on for air.

We'd seen this train before, actually at the Transit Museum. The seats are kind of wicker and cushioned but still really uncomfortable. All of the signs discourage you from smoking, spitting and throwing your trash on the floor. All of the passengers I saw were so geeked out (like us) that they were very well-behaved. But there were a few crazies...Thank God they didn't spit.

Today's event was meant to highlight the 75th anniversary of the opening of the first section of the IND subway on September 10, 1932, and today's ride to Rockaway Park also celebrated the 70th birthday of the Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge and the 75th Anniversary of Jacob Riis Park.

I'd been down to that area of Jamaica Bay and the Gateway National Recreation Area last October, when we visited Floyd Bennett Field, but we never actually crossed the bridge to the park. Today we decided to check out Rockaway Beach first, which in retrospect was probably a mistake. We literally saw trash bags floating in the water. The sand was also really sharp with shells, and big ones too. Our game of badminton was particularly feeble because of the danger lurking in the hot sand below.

So we decided to head over to Riis Park which is lovely and historic. There's actually a golf course down there, from which you have a great view of the bridge. And the water is so clean, with calmer waves. By the time I took my dip there, the sun had started to go down behind me so I could bob along the waves without my sunglasses (and this time without my contacts).

The train ride back was lovely too, with a view of the Manhattan skyline as the sun set - which is crazy because the Rockaways are really far away. When the train dipped underground and we sped down the tracks, bypassing all the stations I'd only seen for the first time on my way down, I fell asleep to the wonderful rumble that surrounded me. When I woke up, we were back in Manhattan, and I looked out the window at all the curious faces staring at us from every platform we bypassed. No, it wasn't a Ghost Train, but it was a nice step back in time...for one afternoon....

This makes my second trip to the beach this summer so far. I must be working on some kind of record. No weird sunburn this time, though.

Photo Essay: Johnny Utahs Opening

Johnny Utah's is a new roadhouse bar with a mechanical bull in Rockefeller Plaza (in the new Rockefeller Center Hotel). The food is kind of upscale southern: short rib taquitos, goat cheese enchiladas, etc. Delicious. I drank a Lynchburg Lemonade and two margaritas. Mike had a "44 Rock," made with 44 North huckleberry vodka. Yum.

wall of Woodford Reserve

vault wall

Naked Cowboy's tight butt

I didn't ride the mechanical bull (again, I chickened out), but soon...Very soon...

Not In Kansas (City) Anymore

First of all, Kansas City is really hard to get to/from. As far as I can tell, besides Continental out of EWR, Midwest Airlines is the only company to provide non-stop service between New York and KCI - which means if you're like me, with a slightly sensitive schedule and cost-conscious work ethic, you end up flying on American via Chicago O'Hare.

Big mistake.

Wednesday was supposed to be an easy travel day with an early dinner with Jesse (my former employee who brought me to KCI on business), but instead my 12:25 flight to ORD was cancelled, sending me from LGA to EWR (yes, an entire state away) and putting me on a variety of new flights, one point at which I was planning to fly into Wichita and then drive three hours to my final destination. Thankfully American Airlines was kind enough to rebook me on a Continental direct flight, which still left Newark almost three hours late because of the big storm that hit Wednesday afternoon. It's the least they could do, though, after cancelling my flight and being unable to get me to Kansas City any other way.

Today I wasn't quite as lucky. I knew the hell I'd been through on my way out, so instead of driving 2.5 hours both ways to visit another Laura Ingalls Wilder site, I stayed kind of local and just poked around the greater metro area a bit, visiting nearby "Historic Downtown Liberty" (and its Jesse James Bank Museum) and choosing to try to catch the 2 p.m. instead of the 6:55 I was booked on.

The 2:00 flight was delayed til 2:40. I couldn't get on the flight from the standby list. The 5:35 flight was delayed til 7:45. I was second on the standby list but it wasn't even clear if that flight would ever take off. So instead of frolicking through the Kansas frontier as planned, I sat in the Kansas City airport for five and a half hours.

I tried other things. I went to the Continental counter to see how much a one-way ticket was ($500, and I had no Onepass miles to redeem). I even called Continental to see if there was some deal I could get, or if for some reason a round-trip would be cheaper. No luck. They thought I was crazy. I called American and begged them to book me on a Continental flight like they had on my way out, but because my flight wasn't showing a delay (YET, I insisted in my head), they couldn't do anything about it.

By the time I left (ontime, contrary to my paranoia), I couldn't wait to get out of Kansas City. And I never wanted to fly American again.

I did have a good trip, though, once I finally got there. It was 9 p.m. when I arrived, but the sun was just setting...As I drove to downtown, I started to smell something smoky, and as I asked myself if my car was on fire, I realized I'd hit my first waft of BBQ. Starving, I scrambled to get to my hotel and check in, knowing full well that local restaurants would probably stop serving dinner around then. I dashed into The Aladdin (a cute, newly restored Art Deco hotel by the convention center), pleaded with the front desk to send me somewhere for food once I checked in. At first, she suggested the restaurant at the big lit-up Marriott (which is really remarkable, very Times Square) across the street, but when I made a face (remembering Marriott catering in college), she said, "Well, there is this place called The Mango Room around the block that I really like..."

Let me tell you, she did not steer me wrong. This place - which was empty by the time I squeezed in there, twenty minutes before closing - is incredible, with Caribbean-meets-Southern cuisine with a twist. I had the pleasure of chatting up the bartender, who seemed almost too knowledgeable until he revealed that he was just filling in, and he was actually the chef. I oohed and ahhed over the sweet potato muffins and herbed biscuits that he started me with, but they were nothing compared to the night's dinner special I ordered: jerk pork shoulder with basmati rice, and taro and plantain chips with mango salsa. Even the house salad (which came with the unusual choice of feta and a lime/pepper vinaigrette) ROCKED. I washed it all down with their homebrew mango- and pineapple-infused vodka, which I really needed after all that travelling.

They sent me off on a snifter of Pyrat rum which tasted like burnt orange zest (that's a good thing), and I slept like a baby that night.

I was in Kansas City for work so I had to get up really early the next day to take Kelly Sweet to the local soft rock station KUDL, which I didn't realize til later is referred to as "Cuddle." Cute. We managed to get there in one piece despite all the road closings and construction in KCI (and some wacky GPS directions), and we even had time to go our separate ways for a bit before our next meeting together in the afternoon.

Kelly took a nap, but I decided to check out Union Station, the recently restored historic depot in downtown Kansas City, that Amtrak still runs through. It's a marvel of beaux arts architecture and feels like a combination between Grand Central (both have central clocks) and Philly's 30th St Station. You've got a great view of Liberty Memorial from there, and of course some fountains.

I had just enough time for a quick trip to Waffle House for an early lunch before picking Kelly up again and taking her to Hallmark's corporate office, which was also pretty cool to visit. They own all the real estate around Crown Center and have a visitor's center and a department store in addition to their corporate tower.

Because I couldn't leave KCI without having some saucy ribs, Jesse and I hopped back over to Union Station for dinner at Jack Stack Barbecue at The Freight House. The building is an old eyesore that's also been recently restored, and the historic location definitely added to the ambiance. I had a sampler platter and we shared some cheesy cornbake, which is basically mac n cheese except with corn instead of macaroni. I have to try to make that. Topped off with a Boulevard Brewing Co. wheat beer (small consolation for not having time to take a brewery tour), and once again, I was ready for bed.

Today didn't end up being the vacation day I hoped for, but I did have a leisurely breakfast at City Market, where I ate Dutch-style pear and pecan pancakes at Succotash and found Missouri- and Wizard of Oz-themed Christmas tree ornaments to bring home with me. It wasn't the bustling environment that I've come to expect from, say, Greenmarket or Chelsea Market, but there is lots of fresh produce and some Middle Eastern and Indian specialty items...

I got to see a decent amount of Kansas City - though I have to say there was less to see than I expected, my initial impression upon researching leading me to believe there would be a ton to do and see. I crossed many bridges over the Missouri River, drove along the row where all the casinos are, waved hello to plenty of road work construction guys, and stayed in an eclectic, boutique-style hotel that was a bit off the beaten path. At least if I had to travel for work, I could do it in my unique style.

I'm getting older too...

I can't live the lifestyle I used to live. My body just rejects it. I get drunk after two drinks. If I drink too much, I'm hung over for two days. I'm desperate for sleep all of the time.

Friday I got out of work early because of summer hours and dragged Edith out to see Live Free or Die Hard, which tapped into my lust for the rough Brooklyn cop archetype and also my love for dazzling car chases and explosions. (Bonus: Justin Long) Afterwards we went for a couple of drinks at Under the Volcano (where I got to try Frida Kahlo anejo tequila and a mezcal that tasted like Band-Aids) = drunk. Dinner at Giorgio's of Gramercy where not only did I not drink, but I also did not hit on the cute waiter who seemed to be throwing himself at us.

I said to Edith, "You know who that guy is? He'll ask for your number and actually call you, take you out on a date and be really nice to you, and then explain how he doesn't want to be your boyfriend." She nodded empathetically.

Tired after dinner, I went home and to bed by 11:30.

Saturday I had the ambitious plans to get drunk in the afternoon with Tim at Sixpoint Craft Ales in Red Hook, where we got to see the last brewery tour before their expansion (necessary to up their production in order to meet the increasing demand for their delicious beer). Not only did I get the free beer that comes with the tour, and another free beer for answering the trivia question right (their "Sweet Action" beer is named after a locally published, not-safe-for-work magazine), but I also got to drink a beer straight out of the conditioning tank, which tasted cold and fresh and smooth - almost soapy. YUM.

Tim had to leave early but I stayed to eat pizza at the connected Liberty Heights Taproom and finish my beer. Nothing like being drunk and alone when the only way to get home is to take a bus/train/bus combo home.

Being a lightweight and old, I took a nap when I got home, which turned out to be a bad idea since I had my contacts in and I woke up with the worst case of bloodshot eyes I've ever had. I managed to keep the contacts in and drag myself out to dinner with Michelle, who was hoping for an exciting "night out," but instead she got goopy-eyed, yawning Sandi who couldn't finish her Sugar Hill Golden Ale at dinner and could barely drag herself to Flatiron Lounge for a drink.

That being said, we still had a great dinner at the new Borough Food & Drink, a NYC-themed restaurant from my favorite chef, Zak Pelaccio. We ate a mac 'n cheese pancake, which I cannot recommend more. Still, I felt like I let Michelle down. I used to be such a party girl, dragging her all around the city til 5 o'clock in the morning. Now I want to start early and go home and watch TV. I'm too exhausted to chase cute bartenders or throw myself at random guys. I'm too much older than the rest of the guys out there, and even though I don't look it, I'm embarassed to tell them my age. And if I'm drunk after two drinks, I don't really see the point of continuing to drink all night.

My time has passed. There are lots of other adventures out there for me, but I don't think they involve tawdry affairs or drunken blackouts. Sure, I have my relapses (see: Long Beach), but at some point I have to accept the path that I'm on. I'm responsible, organized, smart, and independent (read: alone). I'm successful at all matters academic and professional. My personal life is basically a failure but I've got at least another 30 years to try to turn that around. Stevie Nicks says that time makes you bolder. Maybe getting older is a good thing.

Beyond the Frontier

I've never been very adventurous when it comes to my travels. I like to plan, I like to know where I'm staying and where I'm going. Loosey goosey usually spells trouble for me.

But I knew I had to go to Minneapolis for business this weekend so I thought I would do some Minnesota exploring - namely, the Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Highway, or, as much of it as I could cover in a day and a half before I had to work. 

A day in the life....

I've been able to get up at 7 a.m. the past two days. That's really unusual for me. It means I've managed to get to work before 10 a.m., a kind of daylight I rarely see these days.

I walked to work kind of happy today, another new experience. Good things are happening. I think I've learned to appreciate them.

Still, I left work really late - 8:40 p.m. - and when I was walking down Bleecker to catch a cab, some really strange guy who was like a fat Truman Capote with a huge belly and a Walkman looked at me and shouted over his own music, "Oooh! Rockin' the legs with the brunette! Yeeeooooh!" I knew there was something magical about my dress today.

It was my cab driver's first day on the job ever and he didn't know how to get from MacDougal and Bleecker to Varick and Canal so I had to guide him turn-by-turn. Once we got on Varick, he started careening down the road. As I grabbed onto the backseat strap, he said in a thick Russian accent, "You like my driving? In my country, I was a race car driver!"

I laughed and then we both turned serious. I said, "Uh, really? Because if you say yes I'll totally believe you." He nodded emphatically and said, "Oh yes, back in Russia..."

He dropped me off at Tribeca Cinemas for Naked Angels, where I got a good up-and-down by the handsome gay organizer and a lot of eye contact from the female writer who cast me in her play. Love this dress.

I'm getting to bed about an hour late tonight so maybe I'll get up at like 8 tomorrow if I'm lucky.

Vacation vs Work

While I was in Syracuse, I was on email constantly and had co-workers calling me on my cellphone with one crisis or another. It didn't totally feel like vacation (more like working from home), but I chose to be so reachable so it would be easier when I got back.

When I got to Florida, I tried to make the work feel as much like a vacation as possible to even everything out. It started out hard enough: on Thursday I got up at 4 a.m. to catch a 5 a.m. cab for a 6:20 flight - which didn't leave til 7:10. Worried I wouldn't make my 9:35 connecting flight, I literally ran through the Atlanta airport from concourse C to A, getting there 5 minutes before the takeoff time (and wheezing terribly), and they wouldn't let me on the plane. Ended up running back and forth through ATL trying to catch an earlier flight, which proved impossible, making me have to bump my first meeting of the day.

Despite the difficulty getting there, we actually had a great meeting at Royal Caribbean - which is based in the Port of Miami among many other travel/hospitality/cruise companies. I was in a rental car (this time a red Aveo) for the first time in Miami in many years and I was zipping around like a pro, pushing my mental state aside and shifting into full work mode.

We had another great meeting, this time at the corporate headquarters of Burger King. Their offices are situated on a lagoon by the MIA airport, and when we walked through the reception area with the glass-topped Whopper coffee table, I knew I was going to have a good time. Upon our arrival we were greeted with complimentary Icee's (mine a frozen Coke which I used to be obsessed with, Kevin's a cherry limeade) and a platter of cookies. Like Wendy's, the hallways kind of smelled like the food they were marketing, but I found this scent pleasant and comforting, just like the times my father used to take us out for BK as kids (which was a "nice" dinner out compared to, say, McDonald's). By the end of the meeting, which went really well, I was bouncing off the walls, and gave an audible "oooh!" when they gave us parting gifts of Spider-Man toys.

The day ended relaxingly enough, with some poolside time at the Surfcomber Hotel (and a free cookie at check-in!) and a $25 Johnnie Walker Gold and Drambuie cocktail at the Raleigh before bed. I only got one night at the Surfcomber because of hugely inflated weekend rates, but I sure enjoyed it.

The next day we had one final great meeting and then we were off. We'd planned to stay one more night because we were trying to fill Friday with as many meetings within driving distance as possible, but we ended up staying the extra night just to enjoy Miami. After lunch at Nikki Beach, some more swimming (this time at the Riande Continental), some Lincoln Road Mall shopping and a quick movie on my own, Kevin and I had dinner at the Delano where I had the best bluecrab and shrimp cobb salad. I then struck back out on my own to experience some nightlife, and I actually managed to find bars that locals hang out in, rather than the nightmarish nightclubs that are frequented by sweaty goombas and their fake boobed girlfriends.

Automatic Slim's has a stripper pole for drunk happy hour chicks, hot female bartenders who stand on the bar and pour vodka down dudes' throats, and a DJ that plays rock and soul mashups that keep you there even when you're done drinking. It got a bit too loud for me so I followed the recommendation of a local (Rachael Ray would be proud) and stopped by a bar called Lost Weekends, which is tucked away on Espanola Way just off Collins, but faaarrr away from the bikini-clad mania that has come to define South Beach. I had a bottle of Spanish beer called Mahou and met a local guy named Mike, who thinks I'm a crazy chick but also told me about a couple of other good beer bars I should check out in the future (take note: Abbey Brewing Co. and Zeke's Roadhouse, which has $3 beers of the world!).

On Saturday, breakfast at the 11th Street Diner and a walk down the boardwalk (which is where I got sunburned, with the noon sun directly overhead) sent us off to the airport fed and sunned, hot and ready for home.

Now that I'm back, despite how much work I did all week, I've got a lot of work waiting for me. But I feel good about it. I accomplished a lot while I was away. And managed to have some fun, too.

Happy Anniversary, Baby!

Today marks my 10th anniversary in New York City.

On the Road

I took a nice day trip today, something I don't often do when I come Upstate. I realized I'd never been to Ithaca, and lucky enough my friend Liz from college lives and works there, so it gave me a great excuse to go visit. I rented a Budget Rent-A-Car, and in typical form I tried to get a modest compact car, but instead they gave me an orange convertible Eclipse Spyder. Obnoxious. But fun to drive at a very natural 80 mph.

Ithaca is best-known for its natural wonders, something I learned from all the "Ithaca Is Gorges" t-shirts that I've seen on college kids throughout the years. As a kid we always used to visit caverns and gorges, which makes it curious that we never made it to Ithaca, even though it's only about an hour south of Syracuse.

It seems fitting that Liz lives in Ithaca, since a fond memory of her is driving to Chittenango Falls together one summer during college and getting right in the waterfall together, just in our bras. The water felt like fists pounding on our backs. We rode back to Colgate in the car still topless, just in our bras. It felt very natural and liberating.

So before I met Liz for lunch I stopped by Taughannock Falls State Park in Trumansburg, which has a great falls overlook and Gorge Road, which follows the whole gorge (and which also has many pedestrian hiking trails). I couldn't figure out a way to actually get down right by the falls but there's definitely a walkway there...

We had lunch at the Cafe Dewitt in the Dewitt "Mall"...Then a walk through the Ithaca Common (the outdoor mall), where I left my ATM card in the M&T Bank machine. I hate the ones that suck your card in. I always leave my card behind in them.

Ithaca is in the center of the Finger Lakes Wine Country, nestled on Cayuga Lake, but most of the wineries are north of the city. I visited the one that's actually in Ithaca, Six Mile Creek Vineyard which is situated on a pre-Civil War cemetary and former stagecoach stop. For just $1 I got to taste six different Upstate wines. Of course on a Monday afternoon I was the only person there, but I was happy to bring back a bottle of Vignoles white and Dolce Vita sweet red back to Mike and Maria to imbibe later.

Before leaving I wanted to make sure I got to see one more waterfall - there are many more - so I swung by Ithaca Falls which is basically right in the middle of the city, across from a school, just off a pretty well-trafficked road. I got so close to the falls that I could feel the mist coming off of them, and I was surrounded by fly-fishers and local students lounging as they studied for the end of the school year...I think the area must be in a drought because all the water levels looked really low and receded to me, especially considering how close I was able to actually get.

On the way out of town, I had to stop by Purity Ice Cream, the shoppe that claims to have invented the ice cream sundae. I got a junior hot fudge sundae with Gimme Mocha Fudge ice cream, named after the local favorite Gimme Coffee. It was OK but Carvel honestly was better. The hot fudge sauce rocked but the ice cream was a little too much ice and not enough cream.

I tried not to get a speeding ticket on my way back to Syracuse and dropped my car off at the airport. I never drove it with the top down (considering my distaste for wind) but I had a fine time cruising around in it today.

When I got back home, Maria made pasta with mushrooms and garlic for me, which we all ate with some of the wine from earlier today. We all talked about our days. It felt like a real family.