It's a beautiful day up here in New York - 74 degrees, clear and sunny. After the recent heat wave and rain, I'm so happy to not have to dread the weather, which is magnified down in the subway. I feel sorry for those people in Phoenix though. I heard a story about the city on NPR this morning and how because of global warming and urbanization, the city stores up heat during the day and radiates it at night, meaning hotter days and little respite from triple-digit temperatures.
So last night I had to go back to Paramus because I needed a new bed frame. I had an old frame, but I didn't realize it had no center support, which is a requirement for a queen-size mattress. So since I was there, I went back to Barnes & Noble with my coupons and got my book, Charles de Lint's The Wild Wood and my DVD of Brazil. We're planning to do a Terry Gilliam festival someday with his loose trilogy of Time Bandits, Brazil and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. Gilliam has said these three films represent allegories of youth, middle age and old age, respectively. I've seen the last two, and most of my family has seen one or two of the others, but none of us has seen them all.
So in other news, last week I actually got propositioned by a guy from my old life in Houston. It was a guy I'd met once or twice before on the job back in Houston, and he called me up out of the blue and said he was coming to New York on a business trip and would I like to get together and have a drink or something? So me being friendly, I said sure, but his work ran long and he had to stand me up. Then later I got an email from him:
I was swamped all day. Sorry. Not sure if you can travel but maybe we meet in Dallas or san Fran or next time I am here.
Please.......between is only.....very discreet. I would like to meet up. Could be fun.
Interested? But please keep this between us please.
Ok?
It seems a little ambiguous, but I'm certainly not going to travel to another city to meet up with a man I barely know, so I politely declined and told him I'm only available for lunch here in New York. Anyway, just thought it might make interesting blog material.
Speaking of traveling, I have to go to Washington DC on Sept. 12-13 for a business presentation, which fills me with ambivalence. On the one hand, it's exciting to go to such an important city where I've never been (despite years of half-hearted planning for family vacations), but on the other hand it's a bummer that my first visit to the nation's capital has to be for business and not for pleasure. At least I can get some maps and brochures for a return visit someday.
Also, I was astonished to see in the newspaper that you can buy a plane ticket to London from New York for only $199 each way these days. Makes a trip to the UK not all that far-fetched someday, perhaps next year when I have some vacation time again.
