phlog

I only yesterday realized the extent of the flooding that's been going on in Philadelphia and the surrounding area. (Without cable, nor a proper antenna for the TV, Mike and I aren't even able to watch the broadcast channels. And while I saw the rain coming down, I didn't realize how bad it had become. Hey, I live on a hill. How was I supposed to know? OK, OK, I'm out of touch.) Yesterday, we took a walk alongside the Schuylkill River in Fairmount Park, and here is what we saw.

(I got a new digital camera, hooray!) For more, go to my Flickr page, to which I will now be posting more frequently.

The Independence Day celebration has begun in our fair City of Brotherly Love. After the walk last night, we happened upon the art museum, upon whose front steps was playing the film "Rocky." Suffice it to say that it was surreal to watch Stallone raise his arms in triumph at the very place we were sitting, looking at the very same view we were looking at. (Granted, there were no skyscrapers back then, so the city looked quite different.)

Lionel Richie will be playing an Independence Day concert at the art museum. Oh, how I miss parties in Apartment 24! "Dancing on the Ceiling" somehow would always get played. That, and Hall and Oates, who are, in fact, from Philly.

Speaking of Apartment 24, a friend in Columbus told me that Berkeley Commons on Lane and High are in the process of being bulldozed. Ouch.

Posted by Katie at 8:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I dropped my car off to be inspected this morning, another in the long line of expenses I've accrued for this car that I drive MAYBE once a week. The rundown thus far:

• Driver's license: $26, plus 2 hours waiting.


• Additional PA taxes on my lease: $400 or so.


• Insurance: $1200/year more than it was in Ohio.


• Registration/title: $60, plus 3 hours or so filling out paperwork.


• Ticket for not getting my car inspected within the 10 day window, 2 days after said window expired: $100


• Inspection: $80, maybe? We'll see, I suppose. With any luck they'll tell me I need a new (something cryptic) and I'll be out a grand or so.

Posted by Mike at 9:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We are plugging away here in Philly, finally nearing the end of the "getting settled" phase. I feel as though these past two months have been spent dealing with boring details--transferring bank accounts and 401ks, getting settled in a new job, enrolling in health insurance, getting used to commuting by bike and bus, getting the apartment in shape...the list goes on. But I feel that the settling-in stage is almost over.

Despite being busy with boring stuff, we have managed to do a lot of exploring and walking about the city. We found the gayborhood, which, even on a Sunday evening, was far more boisterous than the Short North ever was. We saw the Phillies lose to the Mets, and were irritated by the loads of New Yorkers sitting in our section (and in the whole stadium) who made the trip down for the game.

And we had a couple of good dining experiences. We found a strange little vegetarian and kosher, oddly enough, restaurant while wandering around Chinatown--specifically, at 10th and Cherry streets. It's called Cherry Street Chinese Kosher Vegetarian Restaurant. Clever.

We had some mediocre pizza at Pete's Famous Pizza, which is in our neighborhood. We are quickly learning that food in this neighborhood is a bit overpriced yet a bit subpar. I thought there would be excellent pizza all over the place in this town, but so far we haven't found anything awesome. (Admittedly, we haven't looked super hard at this point.) I miss Hounddog's.

For my birthday, Mike took me out to a nice dinner at the Continental Mid-Town at 18th and Chestnut, which we later realized is one of local restaurateur Stephen Starr's places. By looking at it, the place looks like the most mod '50s diner you ever saw. Thus, I expected an upscale diner-type menu. Unexpectedly, it was a tapas-style menu, featuring mostly dishes with an Asian flair. We had great drinks, an excellent meal, and very chocolatey desserts. All in all, highly satisfying.

We are having a party this weekend, and I wish that all of our friends all over the country--and, in fact, all over the globe (hi, Brian M.)--could come along and chill with us. We miss you all!

Posted by Katie at 11:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We have a shower again. Yes, we have spent almost a whole week (!) unable to use the tub.

Were we smelly? Surprisingly, not really. My Nana was kind enough to let us use her shower over the weekend, and then the landlord gave us the keys to another (empty) apartment in which to shower. It felt kind of like college, or maybe summer camp, as we carried towels, clothes, and various soaps and shampoos across the street.

So, why were we showerless, you ask? Well, since we moved in--and mind you, we moved in over five weeks ago--we had been asking the landlord to do something about the drain in our tub. Up until a week ago it drained slower than slow, and even made gross gurgling sounds. Not good.

After a couple of weeks of bugging the landlord, the maintenance guy poured some clog-busting stuff down the drain, but that didn't do a darned thing. About a week and a half later, Maintenance Guy finally came back to snake the drain. He thought he busted something loose because the pipe was moving around or something. We were told not to shower that night because the plumbers couldn't come until the morning. So we didn't shower. When the plumbers arrived, they said that the pipe didn't break, that it was only the coupling.

So, after it was "fixed," Mike and I happily showered away, until Saturday, when we ran into Maintenance Guy on the street. It turns out that the plumbers were wrong, that the pipe actually did break. He said that the basement apartments were flooded with about two inches of our shower water. Thus, we were not allowed to bathe. He said he'd have plumbers out early Monday morning.

Monday comes and goes, and no plumbers. Tuesday comes and goes, and no plumbers. Wednesday, same freakin' deal.

Today is Thursday, and it's finally fixed. I really can't wait to take a shower. Sheesh.

In other news, we have yet to strike gold in our continuing quest for an above-mediocre dining experience. We've been cooking at home a lot, which is fun in its own right. (Mike made some killer fried tilapia a week or so ago. If we had made the french fries ourselves, it would have been a perfect fish-and-chips meal. Mmm.)

Last night, though, we had a hankering to go out to eat, and we had heard that a diner in our neighborhood called Little Pete's was pretty reliable. We ate some pretty standard diner food, which is to say it's not that great. I mean, a diner is a diner.

We were the only people there under 50. It was us and a bunch of gray heads. I really wished I had had a camera with me.

Posted by Katie at 7:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Mike got a MacBook today.

I came home from work--yes, I am nearing the end of my first week as an employee of the American College of Physicians--and was almost immediately subjected to a display of what the MacBook can do. It has a built-in camera with a multitude of available photo effects, which, as you can plainly see, make for some very disturbing images. Ack!

I wanted to post pictures from Memorial Day weekend, but I have an old-fashioned camera--you know, the kind with film--so it'll be a little while before I get them developed. Alas, no pics for the phlog. However, it was very nice to be able to take a quick jaunt down the shore to see friends, and then to hang out with the family. I missed all that when I was in Ohio. Hooray for the East Coast.

Posted by Katie at 8:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)