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My exciting Friday night has so far consisted of deep-cleaning the bathroom!

I cleaned off and scrubbed the sink and toilet. I love our toilet seat; I found one that has cam-locks on the connections to the toilet and that will come right off for cleaning. My toilet is all shiny!

I took the shower doors off the track and scrubbed the tracks and tub and shower walls. I even got a toothbrush and scrubbed crevices. We rent an old house, and in some places there are crevices at joins between the tub and walls or floors, so it's still not perfect. But it's quite nice. I put the doors on top of a towel on the bottom of the shower and scrubbed them too.

I also disassembled the sink drain in the bathroom and cleaned out all the goop that was clogging it. Now I just need to get some drain cleaner to get the bathtub drain flowing. I also want to find a big, flat rubber drain cover with holes in it. I know I've seen them before, and I think it will keep all of our shedding from continually blocking the drain. (I have a metal mesh conical one that we've had for a while, but it keeps moving out of place and doesn't quite do the job.) I think I'm going to run out to the Dollar General nearby and see if they have what I need. (I'm so glad one of those opened up in walking distance!)

I'd be even more satisfied if my tub was big enough to celebrate the clean bathroom with a quiet, candle-lit bath. Oh well.

Still need to find clothes for faire this weekend, catch up on my bank account, and figure out what I did with my pair of pants that has my new driver's license in it. I also want to work on cleaning up the entryway again; stuff keeps piling up on our little couch there.

Bleh; if I go out to get stuff right now, I'll miss the rest of This American Life. Maybe it'll wait for a little bit....

While I'm listening, have a cute raccoon picture that I took at the edge of Central Park.





"You can't see me 'cause I has a leaf!"

New York Part 2: Learning to get around Manhattan

So we got settled into the hostel and headed out around one o' clock or so. (Of course, not before I'd already figured out how to get somewhere that I [sort of] wasn't supposed to be; I climbed out on the fire escape at the end of the hall to enjoy the view and give moiracoon a call to let her know we'd arrived. Many Law and Order jokes were made about this.) We already had our seven day unlimited subway cards (we bought them at JFK airport), so we made our way to the subway at 103rd street, a few blocks away. We went east to Central Park, then south.

I was just awestruck by Central Park. I knew of the place as this big park area in New York City, but my knowledge was vague. I was certainly not expecting to see a street that dead-ended into a big rocky cliff.

We walked south along Central Park West and I shot a a couple of pictures of the wall around the park and neat paving-stone sidewalk. Pretty soon we came upon a hot dog vendor and got a bite to eat. These guys are ubiquitous in Manhattan. I saw them everywhere from the downtown financial district up through midtown. I don't remember seeing any in Harlem, but I bet there were some around.

We took a short walk through Central Park itself on the way south, running up and down the hills and slabs of stone. I shot a few crappy pictures of The El Dorado through a break in the trees that I won't link to, but I got one I quite like of The Ardsley, an absolute gem of an Art Deco residential building.

(I should note that all these buildings I'm name-dropping were things I just randomly stumbled upon. I had no idea what any of them were when I was taking pictures; I just saw awesome buildings and pointed my lens at them. I've been researching here at home to track down names. Which just goes to even further exemplify that there are so many amazing, historic, beautiful buildings in Manhattan that you can't help but bump into them!)

Add in the astounding 1890 New York Cancer Hospital building that was right down the street from our hostel, and it was clear. I'd been in New York for just a few hours and I was already in love.

We made it to the subway and hopped the train downtown, but stopped again at 86th street as we tried to make sure that we were going the right way. These stations are so long! I bet the platforms are a city block or more long. The platforms, and the trains that service them, seem to stretch onward surreally as you try to get used to looking at them. Jim and Lara puzzled over the system map. We were trying to get down to Times Square to see what was on Broadway. With a little help from locals (Lara, after getting tired of the menfolk trying to figure it out just asked somebody!) we got on our way to 42nd Street and the single most unnatural place I've ever been.

*woofs* I was going to write more, but it's tired and I'm late. Wait: strike that. Reverse it. Thank you.

I'll put some pictures of Times Square up in the next installment.