I’m not sure how I feel about the news to increase the fine for not picking up after your dog from $100 to $250. On the one hand, I live in a neighborhood where no one but I picks up. Not a soul. There’s poop everywhere. In the morning, after a night of people walking their dogs, it’s a veritable minefield of potential disaster for my shoes. With that in mind, I can understand any attempt to make the fine even more prohibitive and really threaten a potential lazy-bones from neglecting to pick up after his dog’s mess.
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I’ve been living in the lovely neighborhood of Astoria for more than 3 years, so I’ve decided to do a series of posts on some of the delicious Greek restaurants in the area. I had never tasted authentic Greek food until living here (Jersey diner cuisine hardly counts). And now I list it among my favorites.

I’ll start with the restaurant dearest to my heart (mostly because it’s nearest to my home): Anna’s Corner. Located conveniently near the subway, Anna’s Corner is a small, moderately-priced establishment. During warm weather, it has outdoor seating available. And during the cold months, you rarely have to wait for a seat inside. The interior is reminiscent of many Greek restaurants, despite the rather surprising goat statue on the wall. And there is, of course, the obligatory lamb meat twirling on display, which, for some reason, I find rather amusing.
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Cities like SF & Pittsburgh already have it and I think NYC should most definitely have it, because citywide WiFi is a beautiful thing. But not necessary since you can always find Internet access if you’ve got a wifi searching machine.

Example, here I wait for an optometrist’s office to open at 10 am bored out of my skull and needing to get work done on 165street and Hillside Avenue. I pop open my lappy and snap a picture and post it for the world to see.

You gotta love technology.

As a Southern transplant in New York City, I have such a bizarre fascination with Ash Wednesday. I’m from Louisiana but not the Catholic part (that’d be the southern half of the state, especially concentrated around New Orleans). Because of this, I’m very familiar with certain Catholic traditions (Fat Tuesday, hello!) but not so much the very religious side of things.
Imagine my surprise my first working Ash Wednesday in the Big Apple and seeing people with little blobs of black smudge occasionally reminiscent of a cross on their foreheads. I’ve been intrigued and fascinated ever since, always looking forward to the day after Mardi Gras, when people show up to work in their New York Black and sporting an additional piece of matching augmentation on their forehead.
Digging around for some history, Americancatholic.org points out that the real origins of ash are lost, although there are several references in the Bible to sackcloth and ashes as means of repentance. Some references to a German pontifical in the 900s point to ashes being used and, in the 12th century, we see direct reference to creating the ashes from burning palm branches used in the prior Palm Sunday.
There’s a bit of discussion of the shifting meaning of Lent from its original intent. I’m a bit of an agnostic these days; having grown up in a strict fundamentalist church, I have a rather dim view of religion in general and Christianity specifically. Still, I am fascinated by religion in history and its place in our society today, especially with its current ascendancy. And, on Ash Wednesday, we have more than perhaps any other religious day, a public display which is still rooted in religious exercise instead of a commercial endeavour.
Now, onto the Easter Bunny.

[photo from the Compass News]

I hate doing laundry. Hate it. It’s not the sorting of whites and colors, it’s not the sitting around while the laundry runs, it’s not even the part where you put your hand in the drying right after it stops and it comes out throbbing from the pain. No, the part that I absolutely hate is the folding.

Especially shirts.

And to add more frustration to my laundry situation, it seems that every woman I know can effortlessly fold a shirt in under two seconds just by throwing it up and “coaxing” it as it lands. I’ve tried to learn how to fold shirts like that, but like remembering to put the toilet seat down, I just can’t wrap my little brain around how to do it.

Being a single male, there are two solutions to my laundry-hating problem: 1) never do laundry and just buy new clothes all the time, or 2) have someone else do my laundry for me. While the first possible solution is the easiest, it is the least desirable financially, especially with the prices of everything in Manhattan. Thank goodness there’s a dry cleaners directly across the street from my apartment building that also does laundry. I can bring it in in the morning, and for $0.75 a pound, pick it up that night all folded up, and they even match socks!

That is, until this morning.

This morning, I picked up my laundry because I got home too late to pick it up last night. As I took things out of the bag, I noticed an interesting pairing of socks. These particular socks are my “apartment” socks that I wear instead of shoes (because the oh so wonderful woman downstairs has hearing that Superman would be jealous of). I have about six pairs of them, and they are either dark blue or gray. How they paired them like that is beyond me.

The funny thing is that there was an identical pair later on in the bag…
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In the city’s fierce battle for pastrami supremacy, there is one clear victor- Katz’s Deli on the corner of Houston and Ludlow. Unfortunately it has become more famous for being the scene of Meg Ryan’s fake orgasm scene in When Harry Met Sally than for it’s delicious sandwiches, but make no mistake- this is not just a tourist trap- this is a real deal New York institution. The place has a real lively old school feel to it, with it’s many signs and walls lined with celebrity pictures.

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Yesterday, I started a brand new job. The company is great, and all my new coworkers seem great! But, as is always the case when switching working areas, I was totally shiftless at lunch. It is a new neighborhood that I am not particularly familiar with, and because of training, it wasn’t even prime lunch time anymore, so I couldn’t tag along with others… So, I set out on my own. My new office is on 46th and 5th. If it had not been a holiday and the temperature was not frigid, I am confident that I would have been pleasantly surprised by the options, but because of those two things, I couldn’t find much to eat. I ended up with a very ordinary salad, which is my permanent lunchtime fallback.

The last office I worked in was on 30th and Park, and as I have discussed in the past, I firmly believe that Murray Hill is the worst lunch area in the city. There are so few lunch optionst, comparably. Before that, we were over on 19th and 5th, and that was lunch paradise! I almost wish that it had not been my first real job, because I am spoiled to all other lunch options for eternity!

Does anyone have any lunchtime suggestions for my new area?

Just how many more signs do we need for everyone to acknowledge the Apocalypse is coming?
Anna Nicole dies. Tim Hardaway surprises no one by revealing the NBA’s not-so-latent homophobia. Britney goes apeshit and shaves her head, then buys a really crappy wig. Lieberman votes with Republicans. Again. New Jersey allows gay civil unions.
Is the earth cracking yet?
Oooook. Howzabout: The Freedom Tower’s finally going to built. Maybe. Or possibly. With budget cuts. Cheney’s still Evil (with a capital E).
Oh, wait. That’s pretty much par for the course.
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Dear Readers,
NYC Metroblogging is growing… QUICKLY! To facilitate this, we are looking for more enthusiastic bloggers to come aboard and write interesting entries for us. As a Metroblogger volunteer, you will be free to write about whatever they want as long as it has some connection to NY, but you must post AT LEAST three times a week. You also must live in or right around New York City. Other than that, it’s open season! We encourage series posts, or new ideas that will keep people interested and help us grow. It is a great opportunity to get your opinions heard, gain writing experience, blow off steam, or just see what it’s like to write to a broad audience.

We only have a few spots, so if you are interested, you need to move on this NOW! We will only be accepting applications until Friday at noon, so drop us a line before then. Include the following:
- Full Name
- Writing or blogging history if applicable (if you have not written before, that doesn’t mean we will not consider you!)
- A short explanation of why you would be a good blogger with us

That’s it! To apply, send a note to nycmetblogs@gmail.com. We also welcome questions you may have. We are excited to hear from you.

- The Metroblogging Team

Perhaps I am the most over observant New Yorker that is awake at 1245 am with nothing better to do than stare out the window, and perhaps this is the most pointless blog ever. But I still feel the need to ask if my tired eyes are playing tricks on me, or if i’m still at least partially sane after 6 hours of class and 8 hours of homework. Anybody that can see the Chrysler Building tonight, or at least the south side of it, look at the middle row of lights on the spire. Is it just me or are they really dim tonight? I’ve never noticed this before, so I’m thinking somebody needs to get up there and change those lights.