I used to skate pretty hard (over ten years ago), but still like to keep up on the sport. Besides X-games, The Berrics is working hard to bring great skating to the internet. It is a website, but also Eric Koston and Steve Berra's skatepark. Right now they are holding a vote for Battle At the Berrics 2, which is a tournament for the game of SKATE(skate is to skateboarding as horse is to basketball).
Here is a clip of the semi-finals from last time around:
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Battle At the Berrics 2
Capitol Words
Here is a website that allows you to type in a word to see how much it has been used in Congress. It shows a graph of the usage as well as which lawmaker has used the word the most. For example, John Kerry has used 'Chris' 46 times over the past 2 years. I am sure that you can think of more creative words to type in to see...I don't know, who may be the biggest racist.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Getting Back On My Grind
I know the blog has been struggling lately, but I was moving and just got the internet today. Yes, the lining of my swimming trunks. Posts and mixes to follow. In unrleated news, this is one of the first google images for struggling:
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
The Hipster Grifter
The Hipster Grifter
By Doree Shafrir
April 15, 2009 | 7:00 a.m.
It’s likely that when Kari Ferrell walked into the Vice magazine offices in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, last month to interview for an administrative assistant job, they thought they’d hit the jackpot. Ms. Ferrell—petite, 22 years old, of Korean heritage—had a huge tattoo of a dragon across her chest and a cute pixie haircut. She was talkative, funny, charming, adorable. She had a tattoo on her back that read “I Love Beards.” She told them she’d been working for the New York office of the concert promotion company GoldenVoice, which puts on huge rock festivals like Coachella near Palm Springs, Calif., and that she’d moved to New York from Utah just a few months earlier. They hired her on the spot.
A few days later, one of Ms. Ferrell’s new colleagues came by her desk. “I said, ‘Excuse me, miss, is [her boss] downstairs?’” the 29-year-old told The Observer. “She thought that was very polite that I said, ‘Excuse me, miss,’ and after that she started talking to me, instant-messaging me. She asked if I was from the South. I told her no. It escalated from there.”
Within the space of a half-hour, Ms. Ferrell was peppering him with questions about his sexual history—how many women he’d slept with and so on. “She was coming on to me, and I was super into it for the first part of it,” he said. “I realized I could have fun after work—but then I was like, ‘Let me check this girl out.’” He googled her. Up popped a photo of his flirtatious new co-worker on the Salt Lake City Police Department’s Most Wanted list, wanted on five different warrants, including passing $60,000 in bad checks, forgery and retail theft.
Read the whole article HERE
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
I'm Just Here to Chat
Do you remember AOL dial-up? And chat-rooms? And you and your friends sitting around a computer talking ish to people, pretty much being an e-bully or maybe asking for stats from alleged females? I do, which is why this new site, omegle is kind of interesting in its simplicity. You are randomly connected to one other person(stranger) and chat with them.
I chatted with someone in Iceland who had gone to the bank/political protests in Reykjavik and was amazed with my knowledge on their economy and president. Truth be told, I read just one article in Vanity Fair about it, good article though. This person sent me a youtube link:
I am not going to lie, I have known about this site for a bit, and was hesitant to chat with a stranger, but I learned something kinda new in 3 minutes. I mean, I figured I had to give it a whirl if I was going to blog about it, although I do not see myself signing on again(unless there is a couple drinks and friends telling me what to write). And of course there are the drawbacks of pedophiles and weirdos, but the Internet is a weird place, give it a try.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Friday, April 3, 2009
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Adventures in Craigslisting
guest contributer...
So, knowing we have to get someone in our apartment in 1 week, we posted a regular Craigslist ad to have someone move in asap. We thought we were in clear at the end of last week with James. He wanted it. He was gonna sign. Then we got an e-mail yesterday that was the start of Andrea's Craigslist wrath. It said:
|
Chris, Andrea,
Thanks for all the communication with respect to your studio. I've been running the numbers on my end, and unfortunately, I don't think I can swing paying double rent for that much of April. I realize that you lost the weekend to have your place on the market, and I'm sorry we didn't have all the details until today. I hope you're able to understand my situation.
Your place is great, and I am sure you'll have another renter by the end of the week. Thanks again for showing it to me, and I am confident that this will work out for everyone involved.
Best,
James
On Mon, Mar 30, 2009 at 3:54 PM, Chris> wrote:
| Invite James L. F**K YOU to chat |
So, are you saying you can’t do April 16 either?
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Just want to make sure you don’t go to the leasing office tomorrow and screw us over even more than you already have.
**********
Crap. So, there you have it. I was cc:ed on these e-mails, but counting the seconds until she wrote something nasty back. We have a few days to move and no one to take the apartment. We are getting anxious. Andrea, a bit crazy. When she gets crazy she starts exploring any and every option. I am scared she is going to start posting signs to telephone poles, but that would even be better than her doing what she did next. She goes to work today, telling me she is so busy and cannot deal with this. Unknown to me, she posts our apartment under Sublets for the hostel price of $65/day. $65/day for the West Village?!?! I get a call around 1 p.m. from Kathy:
Kathy: Hi, I am a watercolor painter from Ontario. Can I rent your apt. from April 11-16?
Me: ?
Kathy: Don't worry, my paintings are already done, so I won't be painting there. I am just here to sell them at a convention.
Me: ?
Me: Where did you get the idea I am renting the apartment for $65 day?
************
WTF? I call Andrea at work, yell at her for posting our apartment per day as if I will give them turn-down service and change the linens, and giving my cell phone number as the contact. I fielded about 20 phone calls in 30 minutes, rightly so at that price. And for $65/day? In the West Village? In NYC? While the crazy Craigslist poster was selling our apartment as a hotel, she was also multi-tasking and, while supposedly working, harassing people for furniture on Craigslist. This is the next e-mail she forwards me:
From: jean t
Sent: Tuesday, March 31, 2009 10:02 PM
To: Andrea
Subject: RE: farm table - $900
Sorry for the delay in replying. I was away on an emergency.
I have already lowered the price. It is thick solid wood and in fantastic condition.
I bought it for a lot more. You wont regret the quality.
I would love to see this table go to someone who will love it.
I am moving and cant take it with me.
Let me know if you are interested.
Thanks
Jean
Date: Wed, 1 Apr 2009 13:04:13 -0400
From: Andrea
Subject: RE: farm table - $900
To: jean
CC: chrit
Hi Jean,
I think this is it. I will pay $300 and take it tonight. It is a beautiful table, but only 50”.
Thanks, Andrea
From: jean t
Sent: Wednesday, April 01, 2009 3:17 PM
To: Andrea
Subject: RE: farm table - $900
Hi Andrea
I really cant sell it to you for that low a price.
It is really top quality antique wood with a lot of character.
The wood is from Europe.
I have kept it in pristine condition. The photos dont do the table justice.
It is a lot more gorgeous when you see it in person.
It can seat 4-6 ppl. It really is a fantastic deal at $900. If you go to a store to buy something
similar, you are looking to pay a few grand for this.
Anyway let me know if you change your mind.
_______________
Hi Jean,
I thought you were trying to get rid of it quickly, and I cannot spend as much as $900 for a used table. It looks pretty, and I understand growing attached to your favorite furniture. I recently sold my couch, it was from Sweden, and I had to sell for less than what I thought it was worth. I really don’t think you are going to get that price from Craigslist, which is typically a forum for people trying to get rid of stuff. If it’s that valuable, take it to an antique dealer.
Regardless, I am very interested in the table at a lower price. I will come and pick up asap. I live in the west village so its not that far. You are right, it is a gorgeous table.
Please let me know what you think.
Thanks so much!
Andrea
**************
So, we are screwed at this point. No one to take the apt, and Andrea is at work taking her frustration for life out on furniture dealers on Craigslist, comparing her IKEA couch to an antique European table. She comes home, we laugh the rest of the night at the other e-mails we get. Our apartment is listed as a rental, sublet, whatever you want...furniture included, we don't care. I have offered moving people, painting for them, ANY COLOR YOU WANT. I am 5 seconds away from soliciting my girlfriend for frip overs. We need to get out of here NOW.
Nine out of 10 people calling are trying to get out of a situation with an ex-loved one.
I get a call around 9 pm tonight from a man who is on his way to meet his girlfriend at Sushi on Hudson, and is currently living with his wife on the Upper West Side. He wants to see the apartment after his date. I ask him when he wants to move? Yesterday. Understood.
It makes me sad. This city is brimming with separations and divorces right now. The economy is bad and whoever thought the idea of riding the tidal wave of misery together is very mistaken. Most would rather live happily in peace, alone, than in hell with no money with someone else. Seeing myself as a poor schlub through her eyes -- the same eyes that used to adore me -- would just push the knife of inadequacy even deeper into my ego. Like a dog, I would rather go off to the woods alone to die than in front of those who once thought I was incredible.
The NYC economy is driving people apart. Our dreams of wealth, vacations, dinners and shows, plentiful lives and climbing high are shattered, with no respite in site. We all are affected and would rather re-evaluate our dreams alone because our dreams together did not work out. Time to find a new dream, a new life, a new apartment. Time to find our real dreams and selves, instead of a monied, inflated life of goods and distractions of activities with other affluent friends. When all that is gone, only your core remains and if you have not loved your significant other from that core and as only a complement to your privileged life, you need to go alone and find yourself again, and build from that place. When you love someone for who they are now, and not who they are inside or once were, when that person and wealth is gone they are nothing but a stranger. That vulnerable stranger may not be what you signed up for. If it is not, PLEASE SUBLET MY APARTMENT. CONTACT ME!
So, not all of our prospective renters lives are so bleak. Some are cute and super silly. Take Katie (OBV).
---- Forwarded Message ----
From: katie
To: hous-5jrgk-1102378805@
Sent: Wednesday, April 1, 2009 8:54:07 PM
Subject: sublet
Hi,
I'm very interested in your sublet - is it still available? I'm 27, female, work in finance, have a small white well-behaved dog who has a walker...I'm very easy going, clean and love to cook! I'll be away every weekend in the summer also. Please let me know, I'm looking to move ASAP!!!
Thanks,
Katie
*****************
A white dog?!?! Thank God you have a white dog because a dog of any other color would not be kosher. There is a black dauchsand across the hall...racial tension? Forget the ginger cat down the hall. And she also is a cook! And clean! This is like a response for white supremist casual encounters on Craigslist, not for someone to take over a lease.
Maybe we will be in our Boerum Hill apartment in a week, or maybe not. What I do know is that I have the business cards of about a dozen models and fashionistas all trying to recapture the allure of a early 2000's Carrie Bradshaw. And some guys who are trying to recapture that girl and that lifestyle. Finance = money+honeys? That era is over, and I am not sure if the City today has the same glamorous glitz it did then, but if you wanna eat Magnolia Bakery cupcakes, live on Carrie's street and shop at all three Marc Jacobs stores, please contact me. I will paint and move you in, too.
Into the Twittersphere!
I will be commenting on twitter soon. Topics will include: Celebrity tweeting. Athletes tweeting during games, why I am not twitting (yet), and a reader survey of the craziest thing to do in real life while tweeting.
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