Dylan and the chocolate ice cream

Well, we headed out to IKEA last night in hopes of hitting some holiday traffic. What a nightmare! We made it as far as Ft. Hamilton and 86th street before giving up. On the way back we went to Rocco's on Ft. Hamilton parkway and 60-something street. They are known for their Calimari. It's pretty good. We promised the kids chocolate ice cream if they ate their spaghetti. As you can see from Dylan's face-- Mission Accomplished.

Alexander the Painter

Dylan and Alexander both took turns painting. I thought it was neat until the paint dried. Where they were "painting" looked streaky and messy. No Technique! Alexander is 2 now and should know better. :)

A Different View of Newkirk Plaza

This is the view from my master bedroom. it's kind of cool and reminds me in some ways of growing up in the Fordham section the Bronx.

A Newkirk Friday Morning

The day off... heading out to DD for coffee... What a beautiful view on a street many think "ain't so beautiful.

Painting.....

Part of our basement is furnished so I had to give it what I would like to think is my scheduled "decade" painting of the areas that need painting. It's not a big space-- but what a PITA. Though when done I had to admit that it looked a little nicer. Hopefully in ten years I will feel the same way.

Starting fresh... again

The "Ladies" (as Alexandra called them) vacated the duplex upstairs. So, over the next twenty days we will be preparing, painting, moving, and bitching about carrying every item we own up two to three flights of stairs. I can't wait to get up to the bigger apartment. Over the weekend the seemingly spacious two bedroom seemed to have shrunk dramatically.

My first appliance

This is really not my first appliance. I bought a washer machine last year. This fridge is a behemoth. I have not read the specifics yet, but when you close the door the air seems to be sucked out of the fridge. I am sure it is something else. Until I am in the "know", I will go on deluding myself about the "vacuumed fridge" I bought.

The next generation

Dylan's first day of kindergarten. He was all excited and completely the opposite by the end of the day. He went back today and tomorrow he will go back again .... everyday for the next 13 years.

U.S. (Ultra Sleazy) Window Factory

This story has a happy ending but I have to say that dealing with this company has not been fun. We canceled our contract in plenty of time but had to jump over hoops to get our money back. Essentially, we found better windows as a comparable price. Here is what happened:

- Sales Rep comes to the house and does well enough to convince us to sign a contract and put down a deposit.
- Sales Rep will match any price
- Sales rep does not have any collateral (brochures, etc.) for his product.
- Sales rep promises to send collateral
- We shopped around the next day and know that we made a mistake committing to the contract
- Sales Rep then reiterates that he will match any price
- Described to Sales Rep what I was looking for: Faux Wood Look, Collateral, and a little more time to make my decision
- Extends cancellation policy by one week - Kudos
- Collateral? "I never said I was going to send you that and it won't be available until October"- bad sign, since the windows would be installed in September.
- Asked him to show me some more options and the type of window I liked,
Sales Rep: "That would be more expensive"
Me: "If it's worth the money then I might consider it. (Described Windows)"
Sales Rep: "Those windows are for old houses, like the ones out on Long Island-- Not your modern house"
Me: (Dumbfounded) "I live in a hundred year old Victorian-- you don't think that is old"
- Needless to say we got the extension on the cancellation, but no follow up on those other "long island" windows
- Next Day we decided to Cancel for the following reasons: 1) Sales Rep lost all interest after the contract was signed 2) Didn't attempt to provide anymore information 3) Made a stupid assumption that "he" and only "he" knew what I wanted
- After the cancellation it took about 15 phone calls to get confirmation that my contract was canceled and that I would get my money back.

As they say in Brooklyn, "Oi Vey!"

This is how I ride... Today

This is my ride this week-- Subaru Tribeca...

Commuting to NJ

I am so glad this is just for this week. Driving as part of your commute really sucks.

Alexandra Stripping the table

This is my wife's project. She just said, " this is not fun." I said, "This is why it is your project"

Ryan hanging in the Driveway

Finally a picture of "Number 3 Son". As Dylan calls him. Mom and Dad are working so Ryan is sticking close by.
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Hole "B" Gone

The hole that was in the basement yesterday is gone. Work on the basement is moving full steam ahead. Our contractor has even decided to skip going to the Buick Open in Westchester to get cracking on the rest of the basement. Don't tell anyone that he is a good guy.

The (w)hole basement

You just can't keep kids away. Well, this disaster will be wrapped up today. The hole will be filled, cemented, and hopefully the the washer machines moved. The kitchen in the basement is getting a brand new floor today. Hopefully over the next couple of weeks everything will start to gel.
On a separate note all the rain is fueling the growing grass in the newly leveled backyard. We also had the motion sensor lights installed on the garage and side of the house.
Now if it would just warm up. Living in a hundred year old Victorian does have it's drawbacks. It seems to suck in the cold and dispel the warmth. Then again- the summer has been filled with ninety degree plus days and the body needs to acclimate.

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Now playing: Adolescents - Kids Of The Black Hole
via FoxyTunes

Sewer Lines... or Why You Shouldn't Move Your Washer Machine

What a pain... When the plumber was moving the drainage for the washing machines he accidentally "nicked" the sewer line. Needless to say it needed to be replaced. However, what you don't expect is your basement having to be dug up.

Living in Andes, NY

This is the playground in Bovina, NY. We went up to the "Green House" for the weekend to get away from it all. This town is barren and a lot different than Brooklyn.
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Now playing: Big Country - In a Big Country
via FoxyTunes

Seeding the Backyard

I will get a picture up soon. We had the backyard leveled and planted seeds for grass. The best way to describe it was "Rocky Mountain for Ants". When it rained there were various puddles throughout the backyard until the earth could soak up the rain Only 6 more weeks until we have some lush grass. That of course also means that there is six weeks until I take advantage of the push lawnmower someone gave to me. It's a good thing that the kids aren't completely obsessed with the backyard yet.
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Now playing: The Move - I Can Hear The Grass Grow
via FoxyTunes

Little Swimmer...

Dylan heading off to swim class. You can't tell from this picture but he didn't want to go.

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Now playing: Frank Black And The Catholics - The Swimmer
via FoxyTunes

Keeping the rain away

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Now playing: Bryan Ferry - A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall
via FoxyTunes

Friday evening on the porch

New Stuff For the House - Kids Stuff

This is the basketball hoop MeMa gave Alexander for his birthday. It's currently parked on our front porch. It was a ton of fun seeing Dylan and Alexander fight over the latest toy.

92 Degrees and trees falling everywhere...

Albermarle looking East towards the Q train. It looks more like an overgrown jungle. More than anything else.
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Now playing: Miracle Legion - Just Say Hello
via FoxyTunes

Tornado hits PPS

I think I will stop whining about the non-existant flood in my garage.

Torrential Rains Flood Brooklyn and much of NYC, Thankfully My House Garage was Spared

A week and half ago NY had torrential downpours. My garage as a result flooded. I have a lot of stuff in boxes in the garage. It flooded, not because there was too much water, but rather the pipes to my sewer were all clogged up. Roto Rooter came over and cleared them out. Still, their is no peace of mind until the same thing happens again.
At 5:30am I woke up to thunder, lightening and pounding rain. I began to get paranoid that the garage was flooded. Alexandra woke up and mentioned the garage. I quickly got out of bed and checked. Dry as a bone.

As for the storm, read all about it at the links below:

CNN
WNBC
Kensington Brooklyn Blog

Biking on Rugby

There are few kids who ride up and down the block on their bikes for hours at a time. Dylan and Alexander wanted to be part of the gang. Dylan can just about pedal and Alexander needs to be pulled or pushed around. Needless to say they were the last kids in for the night on the block.

All Quiet

All Quiet... Until you open the door.

This is What Living in a House is All About

Today was a great day. The last 5 days or so has been absolutely brutal. 90+ degrees everyday and we only got an air conditioner the other day- for our bedroom.
The kids slept in until about 8 am. When they woke up they ate breakfast. We then packed up the brood and headed to the farmers market then the tot lot. The thing is that I used to do all this in my apartment.
Here is where it gets good. When we came back we hung out in the backyard and the porch. The windows were all open so the slightly cool breeze came through the house. Laundry was a quick walk downstairs. We didn't seem confined. Wait until we move upstairs.

Installing Directv!

I didn't think this was going to work out well at all and might have to have someone come and do this again. Well, someone will have to come again but that is because these Directv contract installers are actually being held to some accountability. The first guys who showed up last Saturday and said the dish needed to go on top of the house. The second guy just never showed up. Well, this third guy shows up installs one TV per request. he even managed to install it on the garage roof. Not the side of the house.

Waiting on line for balloons

Newkirk Plaza had a function this evening-- NEWKirk, Music on the Plaza. Essentially they had live/ recorded music, staff giving out balloons, a raffle and a guy making elaborate balloon animals for the kids.
Tonight was week 3 of a 4 week series sponsored by FDC. I think it was a great idea for the families of the neighborhood. The only downside was that the balloon maker pretty much made anything the kids wanted. The elaborate balloon animals caused some serious delay in servicing the 50 or so children. Luckily my two children were pretty good (for a change) waiting on the line for roughly an hour. Larger families clearly had a different experience, some good and some bad. While it's great that "little Joey" got an elaborate Spiderman hat, the kids should have had a limited choice. My sons swords and holsters were perfect. Maybe a butterfly for the firls? Or a boat? Let us see what happens next week.

The real bonus is that I came home to working air conditioners and my package from Vonage.

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Now playing: 7 Seconds - 99 Red Balloons
via FoxyTunes

Rents Due, Apartment for Rent

Two milestones today:

- Tenant paid their rent
- Showed apartment to prospective tenant

Somehow neither experience was particularly exciting. Oh Well! The rental unit which we are renting mid-September/ early-October looks really good and I think they liked the apartment. The only downside is they need an apartment for 9/1/07.

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Listening to: Brains - Money Changes Everything
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