NYC

I had a whole post ready to go on my first day in NYC, but I decided to delete it and start anew. More Twitterish than expository – me and Allison did so much, that I really feel that I can't describe it all without writing a complete volume of books. Not that everything I did was interesting; rather, our time was spent in constant motion with few respites for tired legs and blistered feet.

Tuesday 5/27

1:30 Got to the chateau VC, unpacked, relaxed.
2:00 Walked around the corner to a mediocre Mediterranean restaurant
2:45 Walked into Central Park, rolled around on the grass, griped.
3:00 Entered the Guggenheim and caught the last day of Cai Guo-Qiang's amazing and incendiary (rimshot!) show.
6:00 Went to Union Square, ate mediocre but delicious and filling Mexican food
8:00 Wandered around, went into The Strand and walked out with some Mailer and Sam Harris
10:00 Went back to the CVC, passed-out

Wednesday 5/28

7:30 Woke up, had breakfast with our hosts, went for a run along Riverside Park
9:00 Woke up Allison, got ready to go out
10:00 Out the door, walked through Central Park to the Whitney Museum of American Art for the Whitney Biennial
1:00 Left the Whitney a bit disappointed by said art, went back to the house for lunch
2:30 Went downtown to Times Square to brave the unwashed masses, discovered the beauty and deliciousness of Mr. Softee
5:00 Hung out around Rockefeller Center, bravely resisting the Mr. Softee truck parked on the corner
5:02 Broke down and bought some more Mr. Softee, I think chocolate.
5:03 Felt guilty, but yet, incredibly happy.
5:04 Jogged in place and hassled Allison in an effort to burn off some more calories in anticipation of further tastes of Mr. Softee later in the evening.
6:30 Met with Nate and Heather from Allison's program in order to see an exhibition of one of Allison's professor's work
7:30 Realized that we had the date wrong, went for dinner at a mediocre Cuban restaurant in Greenwich Village.
9:00 Ate some GROM gelato in Washington Square Park
11:00 Walked around for a while, went home

5/29 Thursday
7:30 Woke up, ran, hung out with the hosts
9:00 Allison finally got out of the bed and got herself together
10:00 Maintenance guys came and fixed a window, hung out for a bit
11:00 Off to Chelsea for an afternoon of gawking in galleries – saw some bad work, saw some good work, ate more Mr. Softee.
4:00 Walked around Wall Street, then went to Battery Park where we watched the sun start to set, marveled at some skateboarders and peered in the WTC hole
7:00 Got lost on our way to meet Allison's ex-roommate from undergraduate days for dinner in the LES. Got Mr. Softee afterward.

5/30 Friday
8:30 Woke up, ran
9:30 Got out of the house, went for a walk with Allison for a while in Central Park
11:00 Ate a light lunch of guacamole, bread and apples
12:00 Took the train back downtown to the International Center of Photography and saw some amazing work, especially that of
4:00 Went to MoMA for Free Fridays, almost got kicked out of the sculpture garden for freestyle walking on a rail
5:30 Met with Nate and Heather again, ate in some cafeteria 'cause we were dying of hunger
6:00 Went to the Southport Sea Festival to see Wire, one of my favorite bands, play an absolutely explosive set for FREE.
9:00 Met up with Allison's ex, George, who took us to Brooklyn to a bar called Enid's. Got completely lost on the way, but we entertained ourselves by freestyle walking on various shrubs, planters, and chains. "90& of survey respondents say that Enid's is the next street...Oh, should've listened to the other 10%" Had a few, freestyle walked on some more planters; ate some awesome pizza. George and I caused trouble at a party and then Allison dragged me home to Manhattan.
2:30 Passed out exhausted

5/31 Saturday
9:00 Woke up, didn't run
10:00 Got Allison up for a walk to the New Wave Cafe for an awesome brunch – I had a Greek omelette.
11:00 Walked around Central Park for the last time and I complained about my coccyx and the topography of the rock we were sitting upon
11:30 Bought some bagels at H.H., cleaned up our room, packed-up and hailed a cab to Laguardia
5:00 Got back to Chicago, ate dinner and bought groceries.

I'll go more into detail later, but this is more a placeholder just so I can remember how we spent the past couple of days terrorizing NYC to the best of our abilities. To all that live there: you have an amazing city.

NYC

Thanks to Allison's parents, who were generous enough to get me a plane ticket for my birthday with some unused frequent flyer miles, I am off to NYC tomorrow for five days. We're staying at a friend's parent's house in Manhattan, just steps from Central Park, which is pretty much incredible. Our itinerary includes tours of every single major art museum, including the Whitney Biennial, The Met, MoMA, ad infinitum (and by day three, likely ad nauseum.) That's Allison's itinerary, at least. Me? I'm content with an afternoon in some used book stores, hunting down some first-edition J.G. Ballard, followed by bagels sandwiching plain cream cheese and lox. Oh, some latkes with applesauce and sour cream on the side – maybe a Dr. Brown's root beer, too.

Pictures and entries will follow from our stay. I'm also looking forward to some time OFF of the bike – I've put in some serious hours this spring and I need to take a breather. My running shoes are coming with, so I'm looking to get my running legs back together with mid-paced jaunts through Central Park with all the stockbrokers, tourists, and celebrities.

I'll be back Saturday and lookin' to ride Sunday. See most of you then.

Sunday afternoon

Last Friday, I came down home to Cincinnati in order to participate in my friend's wedding as a groomsman, and to take care of some business associated with school. Oh, and to get some good riding in. The wedding went well, the school stuff didn't happen, but I've been tearing it up with good, hard 35-60 mile rides. Since I don't have a car (Allison and I share one), I depend on my bike to get me around this town. Mostly, I take the long way whenever I go somewhere, which on Sunday, had me going from my mom's to Allison's parents. Did the 47-48 miles or so in about 2.5 hours, which is a pretty decent pace considering the terrain. A good amount of climbing, including a few steep pitches, and none of it was really easy. I was hoping to get more time in, but I had obligations, as I almost always do, so instead of looping around Roundbottom road for another 10 miles at the end, I brought it in and let her parents feed me.

I'm about to head out now for 50-75 or so. I have nothing to do today, other than some work on the thesis, so I have the whole day ahead of me to ride. If only I were independently wealthy and able to enjoy this life of leisure all the time.

Some exciting news

EDIT: Decided to include information on the conference itself. Click here. There's not much up just yet, besides the schedule and itinerary, but I think over the next couple of weeks there'll be more information on just what's happening with the conference.

Just got this in the mail, and I'm just a bit excited about it. Last year, I wrote-up a research paper on the effect the Unabomber/Ted Kaczynski manifesto had on the press. It's a long story that I can't get into at this exact moment, but the gist of it is, is that the Unabomber held the media hostage with his manifesto, threatening to maim and kill innocent civilians unless the manifesto was printed in its entirety in a paper such as the New York Times or Washington Post. This set up quite the ethical quandary, as one of the major tenets of the journalistic world is that no one tells the press what to print. However, the press couldn't well ignore such a threat – the Unabomber's track record of dozens of people killed or injured by his bombs could bear truth to that.

The Washington Post printed the manifesto and the Unabomber was caught as a result of that, but there was a whole lotta soul-searching and anger in the media over the publication of that piece. My paper examined the prevailing attitudes in the media at that time in history, from newsroom pros to those in academia. All interesting stuff and I'm extremely excited about the opportunity to present it this fall.

Hi,
Pardon the form email, but it is good news: Congratulations! Your submission(s) to the Conference on Media, War and Conflict Resolution has/have been accepted.

The conference registration form is attached.


We are also excited to offer excellent pre-Conference sessions, so please check out that link in the conference web site, too.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

I hope to see you this September!

28

I became 28 years old at about 9:25 EST.

No, I'm not going to celebrate the occasion, beyond going to dinner with Allison at Frontera Grill or more likely, Udupi Palace. That's it. I want no party, no night out on the town, no big to-do. I'm just a year older, not a big deal.

Since my phone is still screwed up, despite my best efforts (thanks Verizon!), I still can't receive most calls. Feel free to send me an e-mail or SMS wishing me a happy day.

The only thing I really want, besides copious amounts of money, is an unlimited supply of Fage. Oh, I'll take a Pegoretti Responsorium Ciaveté, too, with Campy Record and Shamal wheels.


EDIT: Mike's comment got me thinking – maybe a beer would be worth having with some friends. Anyone around tomorrow (Thursday) night?

My building

Thanks to building owners who have neglected the basic tenets of building upkeep and tenant happiness, including maintaining a semblance of security through an outer gate and doors that actually lock, a non-working buzzer system, hot water that isn't, insect pests, and rising rents, the tenants in my building have jumped from this sinking ship much like rats (which thankfully we DON'T have.) It's not for lack of groundskeeping or general cleanliness – both of those needs are addressed in full. It's just that all those other things seem to be just a bit more important to those who actually have to live in the building.

As such, this place has become quite the ghost town. Our building is divided into six distinct units, those divided further into six individual apartments. In my particular unit, only three apartments are actually occupied, and it was only two months ago that we had a full house here. The chief complaint due to those peoples' moves being the rent – in other parts of the building, it's the inconsistent, and sometimes mysterious, appearance of hot water. With all problems in concert, the incentive to move away seems greater with each day.

From my perch on the third floor, I get to see many of the people who come and go throughout the day. I'm not looking out with binoculars and keeping tabs, I'm just curious is all. I've come to the conclusion that only a few people are left here, despite the number of names still on the mailbox. Here's the list as far as I can tell:

1. Chris
2. Amy
3. Shirtless drunk man, who is always taking bags of trash out
4. Shirtless drunk man's roommate (?), who carries a cane and a Dominick's bag everywhere he goes
5. Frizzy-haired lady in sweatpants
6. The stoner skateboarders on the first floor who go skateboarding at 4AM with some regularity
7. The really nice woman who lives below me who likes to smoke in the hallway of our unit, which makes me think she isn't really all that nice
8-20. Miscellaneous Loyola students

Hopefully, all the above move out so that only Chris and Amy are left. That way, we can have band practice in the courtyard and raucous parties in the laundry room.

An apology of sorts

If you've been around me lately, you've noticed my bloodshot eyes and dripping nose. Don't lie and say you haven't, because I'm such a major wreck right now with the seasonal bane of spring allergies. I've had them since I was 18, which incidentally is the same year that I picked up a smoking habit. But when I quit the cigarettes, the allergies stayed with me and seem to be getting worse every year.

I've tried all the remedies and medicines: some work, some don't. I started off on Claritin, which took care of things, but a year later didn't work for me. Then it was onto Allegra, and finally Zyrtec. Zyrtec's worked great, but my sinuses are still in misery and ain't getting better. The result of all this is that I've become intractably irritable – it's hard to be pleasant when your nose is chafed raw and you can't breathe without hanging your mouth wide open. Sleep's been a joke, too. I fall asleep fine, but wake up in the middle of the night all congested, and I'm up with the sunrise at 5:50 or so, without fail.

So, with that in mind, bear with me for a little while longer. The pollen should be out of the air in the next week or two and until then, I hope that I can get a scrip for some Flonase or other nasal cortisteroid (or whatever they're called.)

Best,


Zach

So much for the weekend

Winona, Indiana is not the same as Winona Lake, Indiana.

That much makes sense, but my mind on Saturday morning, in a fog induced by antihistamines, couldn't decipher between the two.

Half Acre teammate Adrian Silva and I decided to do the the Fat and Skinny Tire Fest race at the last minute, and I offered to drive. Simple enough, as it almost always is. When I googled-up some directions, I typed in "60626 to Winona, IN", printed-off what Google came up with, and didn't think anything else of it. I assumed that since the town of Winona was so small, that it would be easy to find where registration was. In the past, this was the tack that I've always taken and it's never failed me once.

Almost always, there are signs directing racers to where the race is, with arrows, flags, and banners. So, after driving two hours, Adrian and I pulled into Winona, marveled at the hard wind from the west, and looked around for any signs of bike-racing activities. It was a fruitless effort. We drove around for a few minutes, and I finally decided to stop in at a bar to ask where the bike race was.

Bartender said, "Oh, yeah, we saw a bunch of bikes go by a little bit ago."

"Oh, yeah? What kind?"

"Y'know, Harleys..."

"Uhh, OK...thanks."

So, I made the call to Naz and he informed me that we were a full 47 miles away from where the race festivities were. And our race was due to start in an hour. We could've risked life, limb, and license to drive at full speed to Winona Lake; we could've gone home to Chicago; or we could make the best of a bad situation and go for a ride in the desolate flatlands of northwestern Indiana. We chose the latter, found a church to park in, changed into our kits, and put together our bikes.

The farm road system in the Winona area is mostly on a grid, but we were in no mood to get lost, so we decided to do an out-and-back for two hours at a hard pace. We set off into the aforementioned headwind, and I led the way, pushing hard. With the occasional drops of rain, the shaking trees, and the dark, menacing sky, it felt like we were out for a ride in Belgium, so in the spirit of those Hardmen, I put in a hard effort. Adrian hung on admirably, but he's so much more a climber than a straight-line Rouleur, so he suffered at times.

On the way back, our toil into the wind was rewarded by the inevitable tailwind. I was spinning out my 53x12, and for most of the trip back to the car, our speed averaged around 28-30 MPH. We took a detour down a gravel road to try to change things up and lengthen the ride, but after only 1:50, we'd covered only 32 miles, with a few stops on the side of the road for "relief". I'd like to have gone for longer, but it was already getting late in the day and we both wanted to get home. (Did 70 yesterday, though.)

Back at the car, we changed, ate, and set out for the return trip to Chicago. While the trip itself was a failure, by no means was the day a wash. Few things are as pleasurable as a solid, hard ride in the countryside and this Saturday's ride was no exception to that rule. But now I miss Athens even more. However, next week I make the trip down that way for my proposal defense and to pick-up material for the data analysis portion of my thesis, so I'll visit my favorite sites and go for a ride with the Athens crew.

May

Photo courtesy of Ben Popper.


My most favorite season is in full swing. And my most favorite month is just now easing out of the gates. So too are my sinuses, but that's another story, best told with a kleenex nearby.

It's raining right now and the air temperature is hovering about 58 degrees. Perfect for a day spent inside, working, cleaning, and getting stuff done. Today, I have thesis work to do, and I need to rewrap the bars on Big Orange. As for the rest of the day, my slate is wide and open.

Maybe a walk to the beach might be in order, to take in the verdant creep that is spring.