day 13-when its hot.. get some ice-e

it's been hot.. i mean jungle hot. the kind of hot where, if you turn your ac on when you get home from work and the room cools off, the bed is still cooking. we just had some storms roll in to cool things off, and the temps tomorrow will only be in the mid 80's. such a good thing.

when its hot what do you think about? you think about cold things.

imagine you are 7.. you are at the ice skating rink and you have just gotten your blade skillz. you make a couple of loops of the ice. (ice grinding under your skates as you turn) after the third turn you pick up speed for the straight away. get ready for that turn.. but oh no. . .

little girl in the way. you can't turn fast enough as she wobbles out onto the ice... arms swinging trying to get her balance.

bump. she hits the ice and your veering to the right to avoid.. headed right for the wall. only one thing to do. slide.

slide right into the corner which is always filled with the ice shavings from 70 people making turns right at that corner. the blades of their skates spitting out little bits of ice to land in.

you are covered in the stuff. its like snow.

that always brings a chill to me. its a lot better than criss cross applesauce.

though even better is eating ice. and eating ice that is flavored with real fruit juice is even more chilling.. chills me to the bone. there is even banana flavor, which i am sure is terrible.

at a buck61 it can't be beat..

to beat the summer heat.

thanks fla-vor-ice.

all this heat has got me quite worried about the power bills this summer. during the day we run 4 ac's in the house. one for each bedroom and one for the kitchen. usually i just suck it up and eat the bill. this year i just don't know.

con-ed's feed to us comes from a mix of gas, oil and nuclear. with oil up it might be a hard summer.

back when i lived in greensboro, north carolina i had a theory about ac. it was handed down to me by my old boss at first carolina delicatessen. he said (basically) "you can spend the entire summer sitting in front of a fan and just be grumpy all summer, or you can work an extra shift, cut back on a few beers and jack that ac up. pull that winter blanket over you in july and just be comfortable."

i looked at dean and said "can i have an extra shift?"

and so i went, pulling that warm blanket over me, never letting the summer heat doldrums get me.

now i am salary. the cash is stretched and extra hours are just free hours for the company. you may like you job and are willing to do that. not me.

don't really like my job, and really i am not going to be working any extra.

"no sir, i would prefer not to work extra. can you find someone else? i have... um plans or something."

sure i could have used my 600 bucks to pay the power bill, but then we would not be here reading this would we.

so instead i am going to have to suck it up a little bit. maybe a little less eating out. a few more bulk trips to the grocery store. i am a damn good cook and i am going to work on the cooking and feeding myself a bit more. this will (i hope) alleviate the inevitable crazy power bills.

people might say i should be a bit greener and not use the ac.

to them i say. "have you ever lived on the top floor of a building where your ceiling is the roof and your walls are the outer brick wall?"

you think it was hot out there in the city. come try my place without the ac.

that's hot.

jungle hot... the kind of hot that melts the paint. the kind of hot that makes your lady pass out within seconds of hitting the couch.

hot.

wrapping up.

587.57 at the start
buck61 spent today
585.96 left to go

the kitty stands at 28cents

maximum spending tomorrow

a buck92

i can spend that much tomorrow

you can't stop me

day 12- no pocky for kitty

i know copping a superchunk record for a blog post is only going to up my google count, but really for a guy who grew up in durham, north carolina there really is no choice for me when it comes to this situation.

at a buck49 at the asian grocer on clinton street, pocky, is kind of the best snack for the buck. there are lots of flavors. some bad (at least to my taste) but most good. i really prefer the regular. just a thin biscuit stick coated in chocolate. enough plain biscuit for a handle makes for a great snack. its very portable, as the box has two packs, and keeps for a long time on the shelf.

if you have not tried it then i highly suggest it. great for the movie theater. goes great with popcorn, just stay away from the green tea ones. i hear they are a bit strange.

if you are just getting your check now or have been holding on to the cash, then steve jobs just might have given you a little more reason to throw your cash his way.

the new iPhones have been announced, and they are... well...

cheaper?

now everyone can have one. 8 gigs for $199, 16 gigs for a hundred more. i see these things all over the city and while they are kind of cool looking and the idea is great. who does not want a phone, a decent web computer and a mp3 player in a fancy package? i know i do, but the iphone is not really for me.

not that i could buy one. a buck64 a day would require a whole lot of kitty to get there and i am not sure if i want to be hooked up with at&t to do it and pay an extra ten bucks for the data service.

don't get me wrong, i love my ipod. i really do, but i also like my phone.

to be separate.

i also want my phone to do fancy things like check my email and text and send pictures. i have been thinking i am going to go with the sprint instinct. my sprint contract is up now and i have been hemming and hawing about changing up. do i go with the service i have had for the past 7 years and try to get the best deal.. or do i toss it all over to at&t for an iphone.

i always seem to remember when at&t was a small cell phone company who would sell there phones door to door. the service was only available on major highway corridors. that was 7 years ago, but i can't help shaking the stigma of it. plus no one knows what the web network speed will really be.

its a gamble.

this whole cell phone change has been on my mind for quite a while. sprint isn't the best company, but it's my company. i am used to getting screwed by them on a regular basis. we have a relationship. do i really want to get screwed by someone else? am i ready for that?

as my old phone is begining to crap out, i have to make a decision.. soon.

if i can get all my ipod movies onto the samsung its a no brainer. if not.. well i will have to think about it.

its still hot as tatooine up in here. the city is broiling and its making my brain short out.
on more day, the heat will break, and we will all bask in the warmth of a normal summer.
then i can eat my pocky without the chocolate dripping on my hand.

wrapping up

582.06 at the start
buck48 spent today
587.57 left to go

the kitty stands at a quarter.

maximum spending tomorrow

a buck89

i can spend that tomorrow.

you can't stop me.

day 11-killing flys one at a time

i am pretty sure we have all seen at least one martial arts film with a scene of someone killing flies with chopsticks. i one day aspire be able to accomplish such a feat. that day is not today nor do i think will it be in a month, but for now a fly swatter for a buck57 will help me on my way.

i remember my mor mor swatting at flies with one of these when i was a kid, i don't think i have ever owned one.

and we get flies. boy, do we ever.

in the summer nyc becomes the land of flies. big and small. mostly big.

they are everywhere and why wouldn't they be. there is so much food around. fallen ice cream and tossed falafel sandwiches can be seen here and there, everywhere.

all the while there is a trash can on every corner.

the city can be pretty dirty, especially in the warmer months when people are out and about and many people just can't seem to get their trash in the can.

i wish they would.

it's bad enough i have to dodge dog shit without having to maneuver around someone's left over pasta salad, the container right next to it. i have even heard mothers tell their children to just throw the candy wrapper in the gutter.

better the trash in the gutter than to have to teach their kids to clean up after themselves. right?

hey lady, the flies are not gonna eat the wrapper, just the chocolate on the wrapper. then they are gonna come over to my house to make some babies. thanks.

we tend to have our roof door open a lot and so the flies find their way into the house. this year i am going on the offensive. i hope flies are color blind because, yes that is a safety orange
fly swatter coming at cha.

you flies better watch out. i'm coming for you.

583.63 at the start
buck57 spent.
582.06 left to go.

the kitty stands at 10cents

maximum spending tomorrow

buck74

i can spend that much tomorrow

you can't stop me.

day ten-soft serve

if you are from around here (as in nyc) then you know its just hot. really hot. we took to the country in the hopes of cooling off. usually budd lake is about ten degrees cooler than the city, but not so this time around. it was just as bad.

the worse part is that the vasa park pool was not open and would not be open till july 4th. there is nothing like cooling off in the vasa park pool on a hot summer's day. the water is so cold that you can only really hang out in the water for brief periods before hypothermia sets in.

no pool meant we had to find other ways to cool off.

the best we could do was lake muskenetcong at the hopactong state park, not ideal and really just a terrible experience. i was in the water for about 3 minutes. it was cold and felt refreshing but the crowd of people in the swimming area made me want to run back to the hot grass where my sweat and the breeze were my a.c.

i did learn a new term though today. "white baby momma"

laying on towel at hopactong park you can learn a lot. most of what i overheard though, i want to forget.

really, the small rental car provided the most cooling with its blasting a.c. and compact car fuel efficiency.

at the very least we got a quick thunderstorm that really cooled things down. spectacular to look at as well.

the "stugan" can be a little isolated. the tv pretty much only plays dvd's so there was not much news. i missed my opportunity to listen to the belmont stakes on the radio, but found i out my buck bet did not pan out at all. i chose 1-2-5.

1 did not finish
2 did not even run
5... well after the first two who the hell cares. there went my dreams of winning big at the ponies.

i might try, i might.

so i had been saving up for something special this weekend. all week putting something into the kitty and today it came to fruition.

you know what you want on a hot day. hell i would want it everyday. DQ. thats right. Dairy Queen. all that soft serve goodness in a cup or a cone. dipped or rolled. shaked or malted. hot and cold. salty and sweet.

Dairy Queen.

there are no dairy queens around me in nyc. there might be one i have not discovered and truth be told i have not done the google search for one around these parts. i do however know the one on state road 57 in hackettstown, new jersey. right there against the river. cold, creamy goodness.

i had a threeninetyeight to spend and i meant to squeeze out ever cent i could.

and 3buck95 gets you a large sunday. vanilla and hot fudge. really that was it. i was a little dissapointed that all my hard work did not merit me a peanut buster parfait. only a little.

it really hit the spot.

summer is here. bring on the ice cream.

588.58 at the start
3.95 spent
583.63 left to go

the kitty stands at .03

i can spend that tomorrow

you can't stop me.

day nine- playin' some ponies

so the air is all buzzing with the belmont stakes. apparently its all about the triple crown this year. maybe big brown will win...maybe not.

there is an OTB (off track betting) establishment on third avenue by work and while i was out walking i did something i have never done before... i walked in.

i have often walked past these places and truth be told they are not the prettiest of sights.

when i think of the horse races i think about people all dressed with their binoculars and parasols drinking gin and tonics enjoying the races. maybe i have seen to many period movies.

obviously the off track betting is not the fancy thing we remember from the movies. there is usually a crowd of people smoking outside on the street and if you look inside there are people holding their little tickets watching the screens.. trash everywhere on the floor.

now i have been on the inside, a buck64 in hand.

the only problem? i have no idea what to do. how do you bet on the ponies? i have no clue.

the woman at the window was very cheery. i asked her if i could bet a buck64. she said "no." apparently i can only bet the whole dollar. she was very curious about the buck64 question so i gave her the scoop on what i am doing. she laughed and said it was crazy, but a good idea.

so down to the betting. as i am saving up the kitty for the weekend i asked how i could bet. the minimum to bet on a win was two bucks so that was out.

i asked what i could do with my dollar and then i found out about the three horse bet. the details to me are bit sketchy, but i think i have it down. the trifecta i think.

i pick three horses in order of their finish. if they finish in that order i get paid.

i don't know how much i could win. though anything i do win goes right into my pocket. see the rules. to the right.

who did i bet on? in order?

big brown
casino drive
guadacanal.

i figure the 50-1 shot would come in last. after reading up, i now realize that i should have picked casino first.

we will see.

i'm tempted to run back with twenty bucks to bet again with my own money.

i really want to thank all the people who helped me with the betting. they were very friendly and encouraging.

so...

wrapping up
588.58 at the start
one buck spent
587.58 to go.

the kitty stands at 3buck98.

i am so gonna spend that tomorrow.

i got plans. my week of saving is going to net me a nice little bonus for a hard week. something i have been thinking about all winter.