« July 2005 | Main | September 2005 »

August 31, 2005

September Project 2005

I'm existing on fumes but I wanted to take a moment to say "I made this!".

Check out the new site for The September Project. It's no place to be ending but more than a good place to start and I'm pretty proud of how it turned out considering my very limited web design abilities.

I think the event is going to be loads of fun as well but more on that later.

Posted by mermu at 04:34 AM | Comments (0)

August 19, 2005

Fun With Wine

Rick Weissman and Fun With Wine have joined September Project for our September 13th benefit at White Rabbit, NYC for the Coalition for the Homeless. I'm really excited to have Rick and the Fun with Wine crew with us. Stay tuned for updates about September Project's preliminary website and information on our other great sponsors.

Posted by mermu at 01:49 PM | Comments (0)

August 18, 2005

Aretha Franklin said it Best.....!Freedom!

I just signed a request under the Freedom of Information Act to require the Bush Administration to release files and documents from 16 key cases on which Supreme Court Justice Candidate Roberts worked. For some reason the Bush Administration fears the release of his work product on these cases.

So far it seems both the far right and the far left are having serious issues with Roberts as a candidate but their positions seem determined by ghost stories and suppositions. I'm not buying it.

Unless they have a full body of information on the candidate, I don't think any legislator should allow the confirmation process to begin.

If you'd like to see what Roberts has done in the past you can sign your own request here.

Posted by mermu at 10:11 AM | Comments (0)

August 16, 2005

Measure your life in Miles

As you probably already know, I've been training for the Danskin Triathlon. So far things are going okay. Except for the whole foot sprain thing, I'm really enjoying my training. Last Wednesday I did a double workout on my bicycle, traveling from my house to my job on canal street, then uptown to 5th and 91st at Central park, a quick loop around the park with that monstrous hill and finally back to the ferry to go home.

I was tired and certain that I'd biked a days worth of the Tour de France. If only there were some way to know for sure.....

Thanks to the good people at google, two folks named Sue and Paul, and one of my Team Danskin teammates I now have just such a way. Check out the Google Map Pedometer. You can record your route and calculate mileage. Alas, I did not quite make a days worth of "le Tour". I did however cycle double the distance of the Danskin.

Posted by mermu at 11:04 AM | Comments (0)

August 15, 2005

Christopher, Worn Out

Long before I moved to NYC, my Grandma gave me a small gift; a Saint Christopher medal key chain. I think she's given one to all of her grandchildren.

Despite the Catholic church's omission of his Feast Day on the liturgical calendar (It's July 25th) and my ever-increasing distrust of all things related to the official Catholic Church, I've always trusted good ole St. Chris. I've worn his medallian many times as I've traveled all over the country and sometimes the world. I've kept Grandma's St. Christopher gift on my keys ever since she gave it to me. Unlike my swiss army knife, I don't have to worry about the airports confiscating it.

Well, I must be asking alot of St. Christopher these days as he simply fell off my key chain a few weeks ago. It was as if the medal had simply given out. I broke Saint Christopher.

I'm going to my grandmother's 90th birthday party in September. More planes, trains, and automobiles and that's before I even land in Texas. I'll take my broken Saint Christopher on his last official trip hoping there's a last little bit of that mystical mojo that comforts me as I stray from home and then retire him to a tufted jewelry box where a trusted icon can rest in peace. Though it's Grandma's birthday, hopefully she'll have an extra key chain to take up the sword of keeping me spiritually safe and sound and guiding my journey. Saint Christopher II, I look forward to meeting you.

Posted by mermu at 07:41 PM | Comments (0)

August 05, 2005

Like Ronald McDonald in a Whorehouse....

I've got fallen arches.

Okay, truthfully I haven't been officially diagnosed with this as of yet. I went running on Wednesday as part of my Team Danskin Training and did 3 miles around the Central Park resorvoir. I'd been wearing my New Balance running shoes which I bought years ago when I was doing 5k runs with the NY Roadrunners Association. Shortly after I bought these shoes I hated them. They hurt my feet in the arches and eventually I stopped running because I began to wake up mornings with what I like to call "bruised feet". It felt like I was walking on bruises for the first 10-20 steps I took each morning. I think my NB shoes are two narrow and the arches are too high. I'd just started running again for my Triathlon training so I hadn't had the time to buy new shoes and I was a little gun-shy about trying again. I'd bought the NB in a running store and thought I'd gotten a good fit; although in retrospect I didn't get a lot of service from the store that day and may have rushed my purchase.

So I'm out on the resorvior on a hot,humid day and trying to plow through my 3 miles. My feet started to hurt but this wasn't unexpected. I'm a soldier, I tell you! And I will plow on. After 3 miles (which I swear was more like 5) my feet were killing me but I stopped running and looked forward to stretching out and easing the pressure on my feet. I changed my shoes after workout and went home.

Thirty minutes later I couldn't walk. I was literally couchbound and frustrated. This was particularly taxing as my dog, Sheeba, has not yet grasped the intricacies of opening and closing a door and picking up her own poo in a sanitary plastic bag. She also doesn't know how to do dishes which I lament everyday.

I woke up the next morning and there was no change in how my feet were faring. I ended up calling and rescheduling my client so I could spend the next 12 hours icing my feet and elevating them while searching for a suitable diagnosis on the web. So I may have a mildly sprained foot. The websites say this can take about 6 weeks to heal. That's just enough time to entirely miss the Danskin Triathlon. This will not do! So I continue to ice, and elevate. I even dig out my ankle brace, use it as a foot brace and lather the offending foot with Icy Hot.

There is nothing worse than enforced relaxation. When healthy, I can waste some time, let me tell you. I am an ace at "taking it easy" when I have full use of life and limbs. Oddly, there is nothing that puts me more in the mood to be industrious than being incapacitated. It's so frustrating!

I woke up this morning and I can at least walk normally and without pain. I think I just may recover and be able to continue my quest to Swim, Bike, and Run on the same day. I'm being extra careful for the next few days and opting to swim for the next two workouts just to be safe. I don't think I've escaped going to the doctor though. Eventually, I'll have to figure out what's going on with my ill-used feet. I'm hoping that a pair of good shoes will enable me to wait until after the Triathlon.

Posted by mermu at 02:37 PM | Comments (0)

August 02, 2005

Mangina Mike

A few weeks ago, my pal Pru and I went out on the town. By the time we made it back to the bus to make our trek to Weehawken, it was closer to morning than it was to midnight and we were exhausted from being Single in the City. On the bus in the seat behind us was a man named Mike. Mike was a scientist with blond hair, blue eyes and a frame that a Southern lady might call "sturdy". He was a big strapping guy, more than a little out of shape, but he was handsome still, and witty and interesting enough to keep us preoccupied while waiting for the bus to fill up and take us home.

Somehow I managed to get on the bus that night stone cold sober. The same could not be said for Pru and Mike. Shortly in to our conversation, it seemed I was the witness of a potential romance. Pru was flirting outrageously (Mike will forever lament not being able to spell Prudence's middle name for his potential reward was great indeed.) and Mike seemed smitten as well. We all exited the bus at the same street and were tickled to discover just how closely we all lived to one another. But when Prudence turned off towards her house and Mike and I kept walking it looked as if the couple would not have chance to explore this potential new affection. At the last minute Mike asked to exchange information with me so we could all hang out sometime. I obliged thinking this was his attempt at staying in touch with Pru. Perhaps this budding friendship was meant to be something deeper. I felt like a Guardian Angel of Love. Regardless, he seemed a nice guy and it would be good fun to have another friend in our neck of the woods.

Later in the week, I forwarded his info to Pru and soon we were set to meet again. Sadly, Love was not to be. In the garish light of day, Pru realized she had no affection for the man other than the amicable. Beer Goggles had struck again. But at least we had another Weehawken Pal.

One Saturday night soonafter, I had the hookup to a rooftop party of which I invited the lot of us. Me, Pru, her friend, Mike, his roommate JJ, and my pals from my lovely ex, Mr. UK. We had a great night hanging out in the NY skyline, chatting, and marveling at the Empire State Building.

We all were having a great time and it seemed fortune had smiled on us all in widening our circle of friendship. Unfortunately Mike had other thoughts. While I won't say he was hurt...at least overtly, Mike was genuinely frustrated with the turn of things. When he realized that Pru had no romantic interest him, he started putting the smooth on me. There is nothing quite so romantic as a man suddenly smitten when your good friend has just given him the brush off. His roommate, pierced with the love-arrow of a night full of beer and revelry seemed smitten as well. The whole scenario was comical. At one point, they were both overtly flirting at the same time only to have just finished trying to put the smooth on Pru as well. JJ, the roommate, was just funny. He was good-spirited about his futile attempts, very drunk, and not seriously anicipating any results. Mike on the other hand began to sulk.

After I subtlely moved his hand from whence it had no business being, he looked at me dumbfounded and couldn't believe I'd had the gaul. Shortly thereafter he launched into a tirade about refusing to be a woman's "Man-gina" (rhymes with "angina" and is an amalgamation of "Man" and "Vagina"); a man-friend who is emasculated and never seen as a sexual being because he's "one of the girls".

Pru and I thought this was quite funny...and a little odd. We tried to explain to him that being a woman's friend is one of the best ways to meet women, especially in this city. Women and men can be vultures in this city; hardened birds of prey just looking for the next meal. To be someone's friend immediately proves your friend-ly, approachable and worth getting to know. I am much more inclined to date someone if I know they are a friend of my friends. Especially given that he was outside the narrowminded view of what's generally thought as sexy or attractive for a man in this town, and given that he does have a charming personality, Mike should embrace the friendship of women. I have personally introduced more than one friend to a boyfriend/girlfriend and so has Pru. Mike was insistent. No "Mangina Mike" for him. Girls were for dating; he had enough friends.

Mike was still upset about our conversation after we had all walked ourselves to our respective homes later that night. In successive and fervent text messages, he told Pru in no uncertain terms that he didn't want to be friends with her if she didn't want to date him. And that was that.

It's a little unfortunate things had to end so sourly. It would have been fun to hang out with Mike and JJ. In the end Pru and I still laugh about this episode in our sordid NYC History. We do meet some characters. Ironically, this frustrated and lonely man is and will always be known to us as "Mangina Mike".

Posted by mermu at 12:02 PM | Comments (0)