Sunday, February 29, 2004
Weekend
On Saturday, we went to yet another 4 year old birthday party for Jonah's pal and partner-in-silly-crimes, Owen. These birthday parties have become part of the weekend routine. It makes the kid happy, so we work around them.
Jonah and I walked down to Owen's apartment, the "Washington Luxury". Maybe it had been a luxurious 100 years ago when the building went up. But then the George Washington Bridge was erected in the 1930s, and now the apartment is on the off ramp for the bridge. Like all the other buildings in the neighborhood, the building was solidly built, but has been sadly neglected throughout the years. It had parquet floors with a beautiful inlay around the edges. The dining room had wood panels covered with 20 years of paint. 10 feet ceilings and 4 bedrooms. It was better made than any of the post war boxes we have been viewing in NJ. Too bad the place was full of carbon monoxide from all the cars decelerating off the bridge.
Today, we went to visit my brother in Nyack, a little town 50 minutes north of the city. Nyack is immoralized in the paintings of Edward Hopper. Lonely people seen through the windows of brick buildings. The brick buildings are still there, along with some great Victorian houses over looking the Hudson. Now the town is also home to a weird assortment of bikers and hippies, artists and firemen, welfare mothers and Rosie O'Donnell. We played baseball in a park by the side of the river with my brother, parents, and sister's rugrats. It almost felt like summer.
Other news. I had several papers accepted at APSA. One is a co-authored paper on the politics of blogging. The other two are on the president and education policy, and the politics of parenthood. These acceptances were unexpected. It pushed me back on the academic track again just I had started to look at other career options. I guess I'm not quite done with this professor thing yet.
On Saturday, we went to yet another 4 year old birthday party for Jonah's pal and partner-in-silly-crimes, Owen. These birthday parties have become part of the weekend routine. It makes the kid happy, so we work around them.
Jonah and I walked down to Owen's apartment, the "Washington Luxury". Maybe it had been a luxurious 100 years ago when the building went up. But then the George Washington Bridge was erected in the 1930s, and now the apartment is on the off ramp for the bridge. Like all the other buildings in the neighborhood, the building was solidly built, but has been sadly neglected throughout the years. It had parquet floors with a beautiful inlay around the edges. The dining room had wood panels covered with 20 years of paint. 10 feet ceilings and 4 bedrooms. It was better made than any of the post war boxes we have been viewing in NJ. Too bad the place was full of carbon monoxide from all the cars decelerating off the bridge.
Today, we went to visit my brother in Nyack, a little town 50 minutes north of the city. Nyack is immoralized in the paintings of Edward Hopper. Lonely people seen through the windows of brick buildings. The brick buildings are still there, along with some great Victorian houses over looking the Hudson. Now the town is also home to a weird assortment of bikers and hippies, artists and firemen, welfare mothers and Rosie O'Donnell. We played baseball in a park by the side of the river with my brother, parents, and sister's rugrats. It almost felt like summer.
Other news. I had several papers accepted at APSA. One is a co-authored paper on the politics of blogging. The other two are on the president and education policy, and the politics of parenthood. These acceptances were unexpected. It pushed me back on the academic track again just I had started to look at other career options. I guess I'm not quite done with this professor thing yet.
