Joshua Kronengold

I am now a home-owner. Or co-op owner, or whatever. (still in Woodside)

Ok, to be fair, drcpunk and I were homeowners as of sometime November -- but it didn't feel real until tonight, when we were finally, finally moved into the new place sufficiently that we could sleep there, use the internet; all the necessities (this morning, the Internet's not working again, but that's the kind of ache and pain I'm used to dealing with on occasion, and it sounds like a technician is working on it (ETA before posting: Well, sort of. RR messed up the cable modem move big time, and so while we have some internet at the new place, we have a lot of random redirects to a site we can't usefully access. They're giving us a small credit and predicting 1-3 days in engineering (after a level 3 support person worked on it for a while before escallating it) before a fix).

It's the usual thing: The old place still has lots of detritus of our life there we'll need to retrieve, but it's now a largely managable problem; the new place is full of boxes.

On the other hand, we were apparently at the old place since 1999. We moved out in 2016 -- so around 16 or 17 years. That's a long. long time--and we had an accumulation of stuff (including stuff we had to decide that time had passed by long since) and history that is hard to let go of. But...the new place is quite a lot better. More space, more storage space; most walls are concrete rather than drywall, 9-10' ceilings rather than the 8.5' of the old place, ground floor in an elevator building (not a third floor walk-up), 5 minutes (rather than 8) walk from the subway, dishwasher and a laundry room right outside rather than no dishwasher and a laundrymat two blocks away; a few other amnenities from it being a more newly renovated home.

There are some wrinkles. The cable thing, plus there's a socket that doesn't seem to work which is inconvenient, plus while the place is very warm (overall a bonus) in winter, it might almost be too warm (we turned on the ceiling fan in the bedroom last night to somewhat counteract the heat). But we should be able to entertain more, and by being in a more permanent residence, we -should- feel free to make more modifications that make our lives easier without worrying that we will soon abandon all we've built when we move (or that the landlord will object). And from everything we've heard so far, it's a heck of a lot quieter.

Special thanks to jlighton and Sarah J for their exemplary and beyond the call of duty help with the move, including multiple nights over after helping pack, stage, and pre-move things in order to make space for the large number of boxes we needed to complete the move -- as well as the many, many other people who showed up to help out. We are blessed.

So, drcpunk gave me some documents while I was doing stuff on my computer this evening -- naturally, since we're still in the early 2000s, she did so by sticking stuff on a micro-sd card rather than sending it over the Internet.

Also, naturally, I put the tiny card (in a larger plastic case) on my desk, to be perused at a later time. Stuff happened.

Cut to when we were about to go to bed (yeah, that should have happened already, shouldn't it? Whoops). I went looking for the card. No card. Now, my memory was never what it was, but I was -sure- I'd put it on my desk, because really, despite absent mindedness, well, where would I put it?

Note that this is what my "desk" looks like at the moment (yes, I have a real desk, but I never use it):



But, I couldn't find it. Couldn't find it on the floor, either, which was the most obvious place (after all, the thing is tiny). Not under the computer. Not under -anything-, in fact. I looked -everywhere-, including lots of inobvious places. Nada.

Eventually, it occured to me that it could have fallen into the tissue box. Looked. Nope. But that gave me an idea.

Know where it was? (answer behind the cut).

( Really? Really? )

drcpunk will be sitting Shiva at our place tonight from 5pm and tomorrow from 7pm.

Directions will follow in a locked post; email/comment if you don't have access and want them.

citruscomando asks:

I'd just like to hear how things are going. You mention stuff that happens when you go to cons, but not terribly much about what goes on the rest of the time. So, this one's easy, but probably kind of hard at the same time.

Short question, a few long answers:

Life is pretty good. I've had the same tech job for about 6 years, and it doesn't pay horribly.

Lisa and I are still in the same place, though she's had some definite downturns--health problems for both her parents, and mass layoffs at her job this past winter that included her.

I've been unsuccessfully tried to control my weight -- I'm up to 170. :( And I've had a few minor health issues -- minor knee problems, and digestive issues that won't sit up and shut down, though they're mostly just inconvenient, not even scary. Who knows, new treatment may help there.

On a lifestyle level, things are more or less unchanged -- I've stopped fencing (due to the initial occurrence of knee issues; may start again), and dropped my SCA participation way down from its already minuscule level, but...I work during weekdays, hang out with friends 1-2 nights a week playing RPGs, play D&D or board or card games another day, and board games most fridays. Weekends are sometimes RPGs, sometimes "getting things done", and frequently SF or gaming or Filking or LARPing cons. I still do a lot of reading, though far too much of it is email or livejournal rather than books (still read a fair number of books, though). My board game life is dominated by German and German-style board games, with tight decisions and simple-ish rules. My RPGs are all over the map; I've been playing D&D 3.5, paying attention to D&D4, playing Indy RPGs like Dogs in the Vineyard and FATE, not to mention continuing to play super-light games like Epistolary, OTE, and Everway as was my older practice. And with some friends, I've written a bunch of four hour LARP games.

I don't watch TV (except sometimes entire seasons of shows on DVD, or movies), play video games (except emulated games on my handheld during commutes, or grabbing a few hours of games on a friend's console rarely), or play commercial computer games. I do read a large list of webcomics, a small list of print comics, and play several web-based games (brettspielwelt.de, skyrates.net, DragonFable occasionally, KoL rarely, Mafiascum.net, superdupergames.org, buttonmen.com...things cycle, and some of these are rising, others falling, and pretty much none staying the same).

Lisa and I are still happy with one another and get comments about our obvious affection for one another 14 years into our relationship, and our relationship is practically monogamous (if theoretically open).

I still enjoy social and historical dance -- Whyte Whey dance practice is pretty much the only SCA thing I do these days, and I dance with Elegant Arts, and will not infrequently strike up latin or swing or historical (ie, two-step, tango, waltz, polka, etc) when there's appropriate ambient music.

Finally, I've been managing to practice harp every night (and just got delivery on a new, ultra-portable Flatsicle harp that at least gives me more options), which has definitely improved my playing (odd, that :).


barking_iguana writes:

What are things you consider admirable, perhaps illustrated by newsmakers who exhibit those traits

Sorry, but I don't really spend any time thinking about this. I've never shaped my life around people I wanted to be like; instead, I've focused on things I wanted to do and things I wanted to be. I find it mildly alien that some people do see the world this way, frankly, though I understand it's a known phenomenon. I can love people, like them, be friends with them, envious of them, respect them, sympathize with them, or even want to emulate them or wish I could do so -- but I cannot recall ever having -admired- them as such.

sammywol writes:

One of my most abiding memories of you at Worldcon is of 'the man who carries his own spices' yet you rarely do food blogging. Tell us about what you like to eat and how.

I'm more or less omnivorous. I like vegetables, meats, fish, shrimp (shrimp!), seafood, tofu, mushrooms...

My most likely cuisines are Asian of one sort or another -- Sushi, spicy (or even non-spicy) Chinese, (south) Indian (curry!), Thai (curry!), Vietnamese (curry soup!), Malaysian (all sorts of curries, actually), and even Afghani (I don't actually like the curries that much. I far prefer the barbecue) come to mind. I'm pretty omnivorous for desert, but tend to favor the western a bit -- Italian and french pastries of all sorts, chocolate, ice cream (Chinatown Ice Cream Factory last night -- yum. And I should get Gelatto from Financier when its summer again).

I don't cook much, though I'm competent at it, certainly at throwing together "short order cook" stuff like breakfast or a quick soup. But living in NYC, I usually get a much better price/performance by eating out -- and we eat out a -lot-.

I have actually done a fair amount of foodblogging in the past -- I think I've done half a dozen restaurant reviews here, though I've local restaurants I frequent which I've never gotten around to writing reviews for.