A Night of Culture and S--- At The Park

Wow, it's been nearly four years since I've written a blog post. There are so many reasons why this was the case, but really the simplest explanation I can give is that I had absolutely nothing of substance to offer. Nothing. 

That is, until last week, when I went to the Great Lawn in Central Park for a performance by the New York Philharmonic. There, I experienced something that I've thought about for days, and something that will stay with me for a long, long time. Something that's inspired me to get back on the horse and write again.

That something is horses---.¹  A long string of horses---, on the walking path separating the lawn from the bench I sat on. It was directly in front of me, right in the center of the path. It was very, very hard to miss.

I was baffled that it hadn't been removed prior to the concert, but there it was, and obviously I couldn't ignore it. So for 2 1/2 hours, from the moment I sat down to the moment the concert ended, I stared at that s---, watching how others would react to it. It was 10 times more entertaining than watching a 2 1/2-hour movie, and it was set to a live orchestra, too. 

For some who walked by the s---, it was a curiosity. A few thought it was dogs---. One child speculated it was elephant s---. Given the size and scope of the s---, I won't rule that out.² 

Over the course of the night, five or six people sat to my right on the bench. They too were mesmerized by the horses---. Together, we'd let out a gasp whenever someone would come close to stepping in it, usually because they were too busy staring at their phone. 

"I feel like I should be warning people," I said to a couple next to me at one point.

"No. You ever watch those nature videos where they don't intervene? Let nature take its course," one of them responded.

So we continued to "ooh" as people walked a little too close, as a football fan would when a wide receiver catches a pass in the middle of the field and then is leveled by a safety. 

Let me pause at this point to remind you that the New York Philharmonic was performing music by the likes of Beethoven live in Central Park.

I won't go into any additional detail, since I've talked way more s--- than I'd like to for my first blog post in four years, except for this: As the sun set and the sky darkened, a dog, wearing an LED collar, slowly approached the horses---  and then went straight for the center and ATE IT. 

Dun-dun-dun-dun...dun-dun-dun-dun!³

Amazingly, the dog was not admonished by its owner beyond a "bad dog!" The dog showed zero remorse. But far be it from me to judge either side. I had no dog in this fight. 

Anyway, the next day I returned to the site of the horses---. Not intentionally. I didn't wake up thinking, "Let me see if it's still there." I just happened to be out for a morning walk in Central Park and thought, "Let me see if it's still there." It was mostly cleaned up, though there were still remnants strewn about on the path.

So...yeah. That's what inspired me to write on this blog again. One can only guess what sort of s--- I'll write about next.

1 Very rarely in my life will I use an obscenity in full. I suppose I can attribute that to my upbringing. My parents always taught me to censor my profanity with dashes.

2 I took a photo of it, which is available upon request.

3 Just so we're on the same page, Beethoven's 5th Symphony wasn't actually playing at this moment.

The Day The Foggy Glasses Caught Up To Me

I knew that my foggy glasses would cause a problem for me eventually. I knew it.

After seven months I still haven't figured out a way to prevent condensation on the lenses of my glasses while wearing a face mask outdoors. I've read articles, I've raised the mask, I've tightened the mask. Nothing works.

I've even once tried removing my glasses from my face, carrying them in my right hand to allow them to defog as I walked. This approach seemed to work at first. Then I crossed the street and came within two inches of walking into a lamppost. I put my glasses back on. Two minutes later, they were foggy again.

Still, the fog on my glasses had mostly been a minor nuisance until the other day, when I rode the bus to Hoboken to meet my wife. I wasn't exactly sure which stop was mine; once we exited the tunnel on the New Jersey side and a passenger rang the bell, I panicked a little. I thought to myself, OK, we're in Hoboken now, this is the neighborhood I want, I can't be too far away from where I need to be. I might as well get off the bus now.

I was, in fact, not too far away from where I needed to be, but also not too close to where I needed to be, either. I was 12 minutes away, by foot, from where I needed to be, I discovered on Google Maps after I exited the bus. However, this was an easy 12 minutes: several blocks straight ahead, a left turn followed by several more blocks, and you have reached your destination.

Easy, that is, if you can read Google Maps correctly with glasses that are not foggy. My glasses were foggy, and wet, too, from the steady rain that was falling. As far as I knew, I was walking in the right direction, but what I didn't realize at the time was that there was an overpass with a pedestrian sidewalk I was supposed to take. But I didn't take it; I instead walked parallel to the overpass, through a somewhat-dark parking lot and to a chain-link fence marking the end of the street. 

You would suppose that Google Maps would have said, "Rerouting" or, "You know you missed the overpass, right?" or, "You're in a parking lot, idiot." But it didn't say any of these things. Perhaps this will be addressed in the next update. But at no point did the app indicate that I was moving in the wrong direction. 

Here I was, in this parking lot, and I could not see through the fog and raindrops at all. I took off my glasses and considered my options: I could retrace my steps and attempt to figure out where I went wrong; I could call an Uber; or I could stand there, in the rain, and cry.

After wiping away my tears, I walked back a few blocks and called the Uber. I squinted at my phone and entered the passcode to unlock it. It's funny how my phone's Face ID doesn't recognize me without my glasses. Every morning when I wake up I attempt to unlock my phone to check my email, and every morning the phone refuses because I haven't put on my glasses yet. I don't look that much different without them, Apple. I'm the same person, inside and out, behind these frames. Perhaps this will be addressed in the next update.

Anyway, I called the Uber and a few minutes later I received a text message letting me know the car had arrived. Only, I was now on a busy street and it was hard to tell exactly which car it was, because I couldn't read the license plates. I cautiously approached a few vehicles, attempting to read the plates as if I were reading an eye chart. What is that? W? 3? Backward E?

I eventually spotted a car that seemed to fit Uber's description. I asked the driver, "Is this for Shane?" in that awkward, unassured way I do whenever I order an Uber. I don't know why I ask this question, generally speaking. What if the driver said no, just to mess with me? What would my response be? "Well, this looks like the car, he looks like the driver, the license plate matches, the text message says it's the right car, but he says it's not for Shane, so I guess I'll just continue to wait here."

I received confirmation that this was my ride, and I spent less than five minutes in the car before we arrived at the destination. Turns out if I had just waited on the bus for one more stop, I would've been fine, or, at least, not ended up in a dead-end parking lot.

I thanked the driver and I exited the car. I closed the door, turned around, walked a few steps and ran right into a lamppost.¹ 

¹ OK, that didn't happen. But I wish it had. It makes for a good ending to the story.

The Randomness Of Wireless Earbuds

For the longest time I resisted buying wireless earbuds. I much prefer wired earbuds, mostly because ... they have wires. I never had to worry about them falling out of my ears and onto the ground. They would fall out from time to time, but they would dangle at my hip, sort of like a stethoscope dangling on a doctor, only instead of being able to listen to a heartbeat with the earbuds, you'd hear Weezer or the Foo Fighters instead.

There's no such safety net with wireless earbuds. If they were to fall out of my ears, they'd end up on the sidewalk, or the subway platform, or any other number of surfaces in this city I would never want my ears to come in indirect contact with. I'd have to burn the earbuds or toss them into the Hudson and then buy a new pair, and that would be too costly and time-consuming and possibly not great for the environment.

But I shifted my opinion a little after my most recent pair of wired earbuds started to fizzle out. At first, the right earbud went dead, which wasn't ideal. I'd rather not listen to 50% of a song; I'd rather listen to 100% of a song, in both ears, as music was intended to be listened to. 

The more significant problem was that the microphone on the earbuds would often stop working. So, if I was on a phone call, I could hear what the other person was saying, but they couldn't hear what I was saying. Again, not ideal. For four months I was walking around the city having phone conversations that would begin with, "Are you there? Hello? Yeah, I can't hear you too well." I'd have no choice but to disconnect the earbuds from the phone and hold the phone to my ear, like it was 2009. (I would then resume the call while the earbuds were still in my ears, which I'm sure was confusing to the others on the sidewalk. I just thought it would be easier than holding the phone to my ear while wrapping up the earbuds. Seemed too difficult of a task.)

So, over the summer, I bought my first pair of wireless earbuds. The experience has been a mixed bag so far. Obviously there are positives — no tangled wires, for one, and, thankfully, they haven't fallen out of my ears yet — but I'm still in an adjustment period. I'm not exactly sure how to turn them on. Sometimes I need to hold down the button on both earbuds for three seconds; other times they turn on automatically as soon as I insert them into my ears. Do you know how I turned on my wired earbuds? I plugged them in. It was that easy. No confusion whatsoever. 

Turning off the wireless earbuds is an even greater challenge. My understanding is that I'm supposed to tap the button on both earbuds for a second. And usually that does the trick. But then other times that just causes the earbuds to do whatever the heck they want. One time, I tapped the buttons and the earbuds started calling someone I haven't spoken with on the phone since my sophomore year of college. I swear, I don't even know how the number made it into my contact list. I was so panicked. I started pressing the buttons again, hard. More ringing. I actually cursed out loud, which is rare for me, but all sense of propriety flies out the window when you're thisclose to being forced to reconnect with an old schoolmate. After 10 agonizing seconds I was finally able to end the call on my phone's touchscreen.

Why did the earbuds make a phone call? Why did they call someone I haven't spoken with in 20 years? I have no idea. (If the schoolmate happens to be reading this: Why didn't you answer? I finally call you after 20 years and you don't pick up?)

That was a freak occurrence. But there have been several times lately when I've tried to shut off the earbuds and instead they play a song from Spotify at random. Emphasis on random. The last song they played: Kelly Clarkson's "Miss Independent." I'm not sure I've ever listened to "Miss Independent" on Spotify of my own volition. Don't get me wrong — it's a quality song. But when I'm trying to turn off my earbuds and the earbuds tell me, "No, wait a minute, before you go, you need to hear Kelly Clarkson's single from her first album," well, that's strange.

Another time not too long ago, I tried to turn them off and heard, "You ... change your mind ... like a girl ... changes clothes ..." Katy Perry, "Hot N Cold." My earbuds love 21st-century pop music from female artists whose first name starts with K, apparently. It's a very specific obsession. 

But on the plus side, at least I get to hear 100% of the song, unlike with those wired earbuds I had.

Where Are You, Cardboard Me?

I've experienced a lot of disappointment as a Mets fan in my life — if you're a frequent visitor to the blog, you know I've especially suffered in recent years — but I discovered a new way to have my expectations dashed this season.

I bought a cardboard cutout. 

I'd assumed that, when I bought the cutout before opening day, I would see myself on television —  my cardboard self, the one wearing sunglasses, a blue-and-orange T-shirt, and a huge smile across its face.¹ I didn't know where it would be in the ballpark exactly (I wasn't told) but I figured: Thirty home games during this abbreviated season, nine innings per game — surely it would appear on camera after a foul ball, or after a home run, or coming out of a commercial break as the announcer warns us that any rebroadcast, retransmission or account of the game without the express written consent of Major League Baseball is strictly prohibited. 

But no! No face time for my cardboard face yet. And believe me, I've looked. I've watched most of the games on TV, repeatedly rewinding and pausing the broadcast whenever a ball was hit out of play. And when I couldn't watch a game, I pored over the highlights later. Hours and hours spent watching baseball footage. I've studied more Mets game tape than their opponents this season.

And I have little to show for it. I mean, do you have any idea how many times I've seen cardboard cutouts of dogs during that time? Dogs! How about the broadcast throw me a bone?

I thought I'd made a breakthrough the other day. Pete Alonso hit a walkoff home run to left field, and while I was excited that the Mets had won the game, I was even more excited to spot a cardboard cutout that I thought may have been mine. It was of someone wearing a blue-and-orange T-shirt in front of a white background, not far from where the ball landed. Never mind that it was surrounded by approximately 100 other cardboard cutouts of fans wearing a blue-and-orange T-shirt in front of a white background ... I had a feeling this might be the one. 

I rewound the game, watched the home run, paused ... rewound the game, watched the home run, paused. Rewound, watched, paused, rewound, watched, paused. I did this for three minutes, without coming to any sort of conclusion. The paused image wasn't sharp enough. I needed a second opinion.

I called over to my wife, still squinting at the image on the TV: "Can you come check this out, please? I think that's my cutout. Is that my cutout?"

She took a look at the TV. Her skepticism was immediate. "How could you possibly tell?"

Well, I couldn't possibly tell. I could have rewound, watched and paused over and over again, and it wouldn’t have made a difference. Chastened, I turned off the TV, let down for another day.

At least my cardboard cutout was smiling ... wherever it was in the ballpark.

¹ I should point out that the purchase of the cardboard cutout benefited charity. I'm not sure I would've shelled out the money for a season ticket for my cardboard self otherwise.

The Blogger Was A Spy

My new favorite spot in my neighborhood is the little library two blocks away from my apartment. I hadn't noticed it until a couple of months ago, but I'm glad I did. I make a point of walking past it several times a week. It's like a little treasure hunt. You never know what you'll find.

For example, I was on my way home from a long walk recently when I came to a stop at the little library, squinted through the plexiglass, and saw a book I'd wanted to read for a while: "Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine." And it was free! A Reese Witherspoon book club pick!

I've read at least seven of Reese Witherspoon's picks and I really enjoyed them all. I just looked up her IMDb page, and it turns out I've seen fewer than seven of her movies. So if there's a "Reese Witherspoon movie" club that I should be aware of, please let me know.

It's suggested that if you take a book, you leave a book in its place. So a few days later I returned to the little library during a morning walk and shared my copy of "The Catcher Was a Spy." Not to brag, but it was easily the best book in the box. The competition was not stiff. Among the titles: a 2007 guidebook for Spain and a textbook for Algebra 1. Reese Witherspoon book club picks, these were not.

I was curious as to how long it would take for someone to grab my book. Why? I don't know. Because I wanted to know if there was someone in my neighborhood with similar reading interests? Because I'm nosy? Because I had too much free time on my hands? A combination of all three? Who could say?

An hour after I left "The Catcher Was a Spy" in the little library, I went back. The book was still there. Even though not much time had elapsed since I'd dropped it off, I was still surprised. "The Catcher Was a Spy" ... come on. A bestseller. "Relentlessly entertaining," according to The New York Times. Adapted into a feature film starring Paul Rudd. Sold more copies in the last year than "Spain 2007." (This is an assumption I'm making; I haven't verified this.)

I headed home. Four hours after that, I returned. Only this time, I stationed myself across the street, behind a car, with binoculars in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other. It's the closest I've come to a stakeout on the level of what Jerry, Kramer and Newman did in the “Seinfeld” episode "The Sniffing Accountant," though mine was a solo mission.

I waited the entire afternoon, until the owner of the car approached me, asked me what I was doing, and I ran off.

OK, obviously I'm exaggerating. I did return to the little library that afternoon — so yes, I went to the same little library three times in the same day — and, I'm pleased to report, someone did take my copy of "The Catcher Was a Spy." Take that, Algebra 1.

Epilogue: Just to underscore how random the mix of selections in the little library can be, I walked by the box this weekend, after I'd written the draft of this blog post, and I found a 2007 guidebook for Italy in there. So if you're planning a trip to Europe in 2007, you ought to visit my local little library.

Yes, I Still Use Hotmail

Contrary to popular belief, there are actually three things that are certain in this world: death, taxes and friends making fun of me for using Hotmail.

I've had friends laugh — not in the "LOL"-over-text-message sense, but in an actual laugh-out-loud-in-person sense — over the fact I own a Hotmail account in the year 2020. "Who uses Hotmail anymore?" they’ll ask. "I do," I'll respond. Or, rather, "I do," lowering my voice to a barely audible level, as if I should feel embarrassed.

But the truth is I don't feel embarrassed. I'm actually proud of myself for sticking it out with Hotmail after all these years. We've been through a lot together.

I created my Hotmail account back in the summer of 2002, after I graduated from college. The only email account I had at the time was the one my college had issued to me. The email address was complicated; it was more like a string of 25 characters with no real purpose, best as I could tell. I had no say in it. The admissions office didn't ask me, "Hey, do you mind if we attach a ‘2’ to your name in your email address? How about five periods and an 'uno' at the end?”

So I chose Hotmail. The way I remember it, I searched around and found that Hotmail was one of the more popular options. Remember, Gmail didn't exist in 2002. Every now and then I'll dig into my Hotmail archives. It's like reading an old journal. It brings back so many memories. Here are a few examples of emails from 2003-2004 I still have saved: notes from several former classmates congratulating me on my first job; a Ticketmaster receipt for Jerry Seinfeld in concert; and a message confirming I'd registered for LiveJournal. (Have you read my blog on LiveJournal lately?)

Like any long-term relationship, I've experienced some ups and downs with Hotmail. I've seen perfectly legitimate emails sitting in the junk folder. I've seen emails that I wrote myself sitting in the junk folder. No exaggeration. A few times I fired off an email to a Yahoo Group of mine and had a copy land in the junk folder. Hotmail rejecting itself, essentially. (Stay tuned for my next blog post, “Yes, I Still Use Yahoo Groups.”)

The junk folder in general can be an interesting read. I once wrote a blog post about how I found an email in there with the subject line "Shane, The Imbecile." It was reassuring to know that Hotmail considered it spam, but at the same time it would have been even more reassuring if Hotmail had just blocked it altogether.

The funny thing is I have a Gmail account now but I almost never use it. I'd still rather use Hotmail. What can I say? I'm loyal.

And, if I'm being honest, I can't be bothered to contact everyone in my life to let them know my email address has changed. Knowing Hotmail, it would probably filter the message into my junk folder anyway.

Three Easy (And Possibly Unconventional) Meals You Can Make At Home

Over the past year or two, I've taught myself how to prepare some simple meals. I figured that since I'm in my late 30s, it was long past time to maintain a more balanced and varied diet. In the past, my idea of a varied diet was mixing Rice Krispies and Froot Loops in the same bowl. (It's a delicious combination, by the way.)

There are three meals in particular that I often make. I learned to make them on my own — no instructions, no YouTube tutorials. Now, I should point out that my wife is far more experienced with food than I am, and she generally disagrees with my methods, but I consider them to be logical and easy to follow. I thought I'd share with you how I prepare these meals, in case you might benefit. 

Avocado toast  

This is so simple and so tasty. First, pop a slice of bread into the toaster. Once it's nice and crispy, lay it on a plate. Now you can slice the avocado. There are many ways you can slice an avocado, but I prefer my approach: Slice the top of the avocado and squeeze. Squeeze it from the bottom, like a half-used tube of toothpaste. And push it, like a Push Pop. Right onto the slice of bread.

Occasionally I will slice an avocado in half, remove the pit and scoop out the avocado onto the bread, but I find the squeeze/push method to be less work and more fun. The presentation might be a little messier, granted, but it's not like I'm telling you to post a photo on Instagram.

Eggs

In my bachelor days I owned a plastic container with which I cooked eggs in the microwave. It was an imprecise way to cook eggs. I basically left it in the microwave until I heard a loud POP sound, letting me know that the top of the container had flown wide open from the steam.

I know what you're wondering: Why didn't I just cook eggs on the stove? Because I didn't have a stove. Not an operational stove, I mean. I had asked the gas company to cut off service. It's a long story, but it had repeatedly been charging me for gas I wasn't using, and I never used the stove anyway, so what was the point in having service?

I had the service reconnected when I got married because, like many people, my wife believes it's nice to have a stove you can turn on.

Since I have a workable stove now, I've adapted and have been cooking eggs on there. It's a no-fuss method, really. First I crack two eggs into a bowl. The kind of bowl doesn't matter. I've used large bowls, small bowls.

I preheat a pan on the stove, and after I pick out the eggshell pieces from the bowl (make sure you wash your hands first!), I pour the eggs into the pan. I leave the eggs in the pan until they appear fully cooked or until I hear my wife say from the other room, "You overcooked your eggs." Whichever comes first. 

Pasta Sandwich

I devoted an entire entry to the pasta sandwich four years ago so I won't repeat myself, but it boils down to this: Warmed-up frozen Trader Joe's linguine in between two slices of bread is a brilliant idea and I make no apologies for it.

There are other kitchen secrets that I could share with you, like the coffee water (make the most of your empty iced latte glass by pouring water into it to maximize the ice cubes) or the buttered bagel (put the butter on top of the bagel, rather than inside the bagel, to save time), but those are recipes for another day.