Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Being Noticed

I think that most New Yorkers haven't heard of Roanoke if I had to guess.  Most of my friends and family are familiar with NoVA and the I-95 corridor and not interior, mountainous SW VA.  So, it was a happy surprise to find that The New York Times wrote about our town in today's issue.  Here's the link if you are curious: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/25/us/in-virginia-developer-is-on-a-mission-to-revive-his-town.html?ref=us

Monday, July 23, 2012

Why Do I Have To Work?

I had last week off from work and it's soooooooooooooooooo hard to get back into the grind after having that many days off in a row, don't you think?!  I'd much rather be doing something like:
  • reading a book or magazine on a comfy recliner - preferably on a deck or by a pool
  • being outside on a nice day instead of in front of a computer
  • shopping and having a nice lunch with buddies
Well, I guess that's why I work.  So, I can enjoy the vacations when they come.  I need another one...

Friday, July 20, 2012

It's Better Than Riding A Camel

As far back as I can remember, I wanted to ride a horse.  My grade school friend, Loren, and I used to pretend to ride horses, unicorns, and pegasus (pegasi for plural?) during recess.  Our Catholic school playground was really just a concrete church parking lot but that didn't stop us from galloping all around the place at breakneck speed.  We used to read every book we could find in our library about horses and memorize all their different body parts, from the hoof up.

I never got a chance to ride a horse or a pony as a kid but I did "ride" a camel and an elephant at the Bronx Zoo during an elementary school class trip.  Basically, that involved the zoo employees jamming 4 tiny kids on top of a very smelly and miserable camel/elephant for a couple of turns around a poop-filled sandy lot.  Since I was so short, I remember getting to sit in front but it was hard to breathe since my abdomen was pressed up against a metal bar.  It was a neat and memorable experience but not very romantic or comfy.  Plus, I really just wanted to ride a horse.

Thanks to the Best Boyfriend Ever (a.k.a. BBFE), I got to ride a horse FOR REAL yesterday.  Talk about a big day for me!  BBFE, his step-dad, and I went to Carvin's Cove and rode for 6 miles on a gorgeous, woody trail.  The weather was perfect and I had the best time.  I was worried before the ride that I'd be intimidated by the horse's height or anxious about falling off or doing something wrong.  But no worry or anxiety surfaced after I got up on the saddle.  It was just pure happiness at finally getting to enjoy something I had wanted to do for so long.

Yes, my butt and thighs are sore from riding for two hours but that's not a big deal because I had so much fun.  I think the awesome horse I was traveling with had a good time too.  Whenever we'd stop he'd snack and fart.  Plus, he got some apples out of the deal.  Lucky for me he's the most calm, relaxed horse alive so he made the experience easy for me.  They call him a Wonder Horse.  He is ~ and he's a lot more fun to hang out with than a camel or an elephant.  :-)

You can tell I'm super happy.

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

The Search for Boots

Apparently, it is next to impossible to find comfortable hiking boots.  I've been to four different shoe stores and they have had 8 million styles for men and either one or two for women.  That's it.  Ummm, crazy...  Does that mean women don't do outdoorsy things?!  This is super frustrating.  Ugh!

Disclaimer: I'm not much of an outdoorsy person but I'm attempting to try new things since SW VA is known for its numerous places to go hiking, pretty views of the mountains, and walking trails.  Wish me luck!

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Rainbow Connection

Rainbow on my way into work
I used to see rainbows a lot as a kid on Long Island but I hardly saw them as an adult when I was living there.  I wonder if that is due to air pollution or just bad timing on my part.  Since moving back to VA I see them on a regular basis.  Just makes you think you're going to have a good day when you glimpse one in the car on your way somewhere, don't you think?!

The other thing I used to see a lot as a child on Long Island that seemed to disappear were tiny frogs after a rainstorm.  That definitely has to be due to pollution.  Luckily, they thrive down here along with turtles.  I happened to run over a turtle in the road today by accident.  Whoops!  :-/

Sunday, July 15, 2012

My Parents Miss the Beach

My parents moved away from NY about a year after I did and I really didn't realize how much they missed the ocean until today.  They told me how they saw a segment on beaches this AM on 'CBS Sunday Morning' and how they wished they were younger so that they could take a trip back to the beaches they were familiar with growing up.  They both really miss the ocean.  I guess I shouldn't be surprised by that 'longing to see the ocean feeling' since it's hard to spend the summer away from the beach when I had the opportunity to go for years and now a decent beach is seven hours away.

My favorite Long Island beach of all was Robert Moses State Park's field # 5 beach.  The South Shore beaches have much finer sand and hardly any shells/rocks to contend with.  Plus, you gotta love the roar of the Atlantic Ocean.  Here's a view from a hot and hazy morning a couple of years ago.



North Shore beaches are rocky and difficult to walk on.  There aren't any impressive waves since the beaches face either the placid Long Island Sound or an inlet of some sort.  On super hot days when there isn't a breeze around you feel like you are in an oven.  But - they do have something the South Shore beaches don't: extra character.  The cliffs and boulders and wildlife on the North Shore are pretty impressive and the pictures you get are a heck of a lot more interesting.  If you can stand the heat and the pebbles in order to get them.  ;-)

So pretty!  North Shore of Suffolk Cty

Waiting and waiting and ...

Hey!  So, once a month the local Parks & Rec folks host a night out on the Blue Ridge Parkway where you can view outer space through a powerful telescope and learn about what you are looking at from an expert.  I've been so pysched to try this that I've registered for the past two months!  Unfortunately, my outer space adventures have been foiled by cloud cover both times.  So, I'll just have to try again next month.  Until then, I'll just have to stare at this picture from the National Geographic website:



What I ended up doing last night instead of the star gazing was going to see Smith Mountain Lake (finally).  I've lived here two years and never traveled to check it out.  Pretty neat!  The area I saw, near Hales Ford Road/Bridge, was a lot more built up than I expected.  I bet it would be nice to sit out on a back deck of a home right on the water and gaze out over it.  Although, I think it might be a bit too crowded for my taste in the summertime...  At least that's what I hear.  :-)


From http://www.visitsmithmountainlake.com/index.php?option=com_igallery&view=igcategory&id=1&Itemid=117


Thursday, July 12, 2012

Ready For Bed

Today has been one of those super productive and exhausting days that is making it difficult to stay awake right now. Work was especially hectic and I had errands to run too. The best part of the day was tonight ~ had a great home cooked meal with the best company ~ and I'm looking forward to a longggg, fun-filled weekend too!

I threw together a yummy pasta dish for dinner (sautéed fresh veggies - zucchini, green beans, yellow squash, spinach, basil, onion, garlic - with tomato sauce and white wine and tossed it with whole wheat pasta & shrimp) and had some awesome, sweet corn on the cob & garlic/cheese bread. Soooooooooooooo good! The bonus of summer is enjoying all the fresh fruits and veggies. Fruit smoothies for breakfast this time of year are pretty great too...

I'm hoping to see "Moonrise Kingdom" in the local indie movie theatre this weekend. Ed Norton & Bruce Willis & Bill Murray? Should be funny. :-) Also going to try to be outside as much as possible these next few days. Feels like summer's halfway gone already!

I've had the same Netfix DVD sitting in my living room for almost 3 months now. That red envelope is staring at me. I gotta watch this thing already! It's "Take Shelter" which looks like it could be either really good or extremely depressing. Not sure if the critics who gave it rave reviews know what they are talking about or not...

Well, that's enough of my incoherent rambling - good night!

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

The Death Train



LIRR train from Google Images
 It's pretty amazing to work in Manhattan.  You get to see the latest fashions on the street and spot the trends, occasionally see a celebrity but always see tons of power players, get together with your friends after work for dinner or a concert or a show...  Plus, it feels like every street you walk on has been featured in some movie or tv show.  It's neat.

The commute into Manhattan is a totally different story.  It's a sort of repetitive sentence in hell.  Every.  Single.  Day.  This is where the Long Island Railroad (LIRR) comes in.  I refer to it as 'The Death Train' and also my nemesis.

First of all, my monthly LIRR ticket was over $300.  For that, I got to park in a totally sketch parking lot frequented by drug dealers and prostitutes.  I'd wait on the platform for my train and hopefully get a narrow, middle seat next to a very overweight man or sit next to a pissy, bitchy woman who didn't like removing her purse from a seat for me to sit on.  Then, I'd listen to music and read a book for the next hour and fifteen minutes.  That was the good part.  Got in lots of reading!

The commute home was always interesting.  Masses of people would gather around the large wall track sign to see which track our train would be arriving on.  One millisecond after the track number would appear on the screen, an entire mass of people would RUN (yes, grown men in suits running) for the track.  Now keep in mind that in most cases the train wasn't even in the station yet.  The commuters would stand in the basement of Penn Station, which is one of the filthiest places you'll ever see, in the approximate location of where they think the train doors would open.  Then, when the train arrived and the doors opened, the pushing and jostling for a prime seat would begin.  That's how it was every day.


The screen the people run from (Google Images)
Why the 'death train' title?  Well, that's because about once every other week somewhere out on Long Island a person would commit suicide by walking in front of a moving LIRR train.  Not only is this totally depressing and macabre, but you actually felt yourself growing angry at the victim.  "How dare that selfish person delay my already long ride home by several hours?"  It made everyone on the train feel like a jerk.  But, you felt that way anyway. 

In those cases, occasionally you would show up to Penn Station and see that all the trains on your line were cancelled due to "an unauthorized person on the tracks" and you'd just have to wait it out for a couple of hours.  Other times you'd be on a train home already and your train would have to sit and wait at a station for a couple of hours until the all clear signal was given.  Once, I was actually on a train that hit someone.  It was a Friday summer evening and our train came to a screeching halt and had to empty out the front car doors since we were close enough to a station to detrain.  I could see crowds of teenagers running towards the scene like it was the circus come to town.  It was disgusting.  And depressing.  And frustrating.  That day was the only time I called for help.  I asked my big sis to come rescue me and she did, thank goodness.  I always wonder how awful it must be for the train engineers who sit in front to witness all of this and not be able to prevent it from happening.

The LIRR suffers from some of the worst communication between management and staff I've ever seen.  It's very common for the train and station staff to not have info from the main office during an emergency.  I was once stuck out in the rain at an abandoned train station in the middle of the night with a hundred other passengers because of a power outage/storm.  It took me four hours to get home.  Even though the LIRR has diesel trains that don't need electricity to operate and the station e-signs listed arriving trains, the diesel locomotives would zip by and not stop.  No one would answer the phones at the LIRR helpline and when a train finally did stop at our station, no train employee would come out of hiding to talk to the people on the platform for fear of being emotionally abused by all the scared, wet, tired commuters.  It was a disaster area.  I was so angry by the time I got home that I emailed a Newsday reporter and was quoted in the paper that following Monday.  Not that the LIRR cares much for customer service.

My dad commuted into Manhattan for decades and he said that one year the customer service was so bad that passengers at Jamaica station started pushing on a parked train and began rocking it back and forth and shouting.  It was a near riot, he said and the few cops that were in the area saw what was going on and didn't intervene.  My dad was there that day and he couldn't believe what he was seeing.  LIRR riders revolting against poor treatment.  He said that incident led to changes within the LIRR system where conductors were given training on how to be more respectful to passengers.  I guess it was different in the 1960's.  People fought back more for their rights.

My commute to work now is by car and it takes me 20 minutes.  What a relief!

Unhappy LIRR passengers (Google Images)

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Betsy Ross Came To Town

You know how some friends are very generous and never ask for anything?  Then they ask you for a favor and you think to yourself, "I should do this!  She's a good friend!"   Well, that led to this:

That's me dressed up as Betsy Ross for a July 4th museum event.  I honestly don't think the material for that dress was regular fabric.  I think it was upholstery...  In any case, an hour into my stint an older gentleman dressed up in FULL PURPLE PIRATE GEAR (head to toe, sans parrot) comes up to me and says "It's so great to meet fellow Revolutionary War re-enactors!"  Uhhhhh.....that's not me, man.  Turns out he was not affiliated with the museum event in any way.  He just wanted to dress up like a pirate.  I hid in the bathroom for a while.

Monday, July 9, 2012

What A Difference Two Years Can Make

Two years ago, I was here...
...working in Manhattan and living out on Long Island all while worrying that I'd never be able to afford to buy my own place or meet a nice guy.  Dating in NY is a disaster area and everything is so ex-pen-sive!  I would look at my NYS taxes each year and feel my blood pressure rising.  Paying over $400/month to commute into work wasn't a pleasure either.  That's what led me to move here:
Much, much better.  :-) 

I loved living in the South back when I went to college years ago and planned on moving back permanently ever since.  Best decision I ever made for so many reasons.   Even though I desperately miss my buddies and some of the conveniences of living in the NY metro area, there is no comparison to living in Virginia. 

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Here Goes...

I'm assuming that this first post will be sort of like the first pancake you make from scratch. A throwaway... I have no idea what I'm doing yet so bear with me while I figure this all out.
I'm excited to learn what's involved with creating and designing a blog. There are so many creative bloggers out there. It's almost like wandering around in outer space with the sheer number of blogs to choose from. I had no idea how many existed until I seriously thought about drafting my own. One of my New Year's resolutions was to try something creative and I had no interest in going back to drawing, painting, and crafting. So, i'm hoping this experience will be a good mental challenge for me and I'm really looking forward to it!