On Tuesday morning (around 8), I was lying in bed when I heard a knock on my door. I said come in…No reply. A couple of minutes later, I heard the knocking again, so again I said come in. With no reply, I opened my door. It turned out to be the daughter of the property owner. She must have been about 2 (or 3) years old. The property owner told me that it was his daughter and apologized for her. I suspect that the owner wanted someone awake (and choose me). About 15 or 20 minutes later, the meter reader came to check the meter located on the first floor of his building. It could have just been my imagination. However, there was just something too slick about that situation.
Mr. 40+ had his 13year old daughter visit him again during his two-days off. She seemed much quieter than the last time she was here (check the previous entry about her visit). I was glad that she was not as talkative this time around. The only thing(s) that annoyed me this time around was her walking around in her panties, washing her clothes and leaving the dripping wet clothes to dry on the towel rack. And finally…
While I was watching TV, there was a knock on my door; it was Mr. 40+. He came in to apologize about the oatmeal!?! The oatmeal I asked?!? He told me that his daughter “accidentally” ate a pack of my instant oatmeal. Actually, it had to have been more than one pack because there was an empty box in the trash. Usually, when I am down to only one pack in a box, I will usually rip up the box and put the single packet on the shelf (my space is limited). I also thought that it was a little strange that there were no oatmeal wrappings in the trash (since I dumped the trash the night before, it was easy to see the bottom of the trash). The microwave, the dishes, the hot water, and the counter space are all in the kitchen, but the oatmeal packet(s) were not in the trash.
On Monday, I wrote an ad for the personals column. I’ve spent years reading those things, and I never had the guts to actually write my own ad. Well, on Monday, that changed. I wrote an ad looking for a walking friend. Those readers of my blog know that I enjoy walking around.
Most of the time (actual here in New York, I should say all of the time), I walk alone. I received 4 ads by Monday evening. I was looking (hoping for someone around my age), I had two that were not in that group, one respondent seemed enthusiastic (but vague), and one seemed to be way, way out of my league. She seemed to be one of those super-fit, highly productive, with a lot of interests (anyone who reads this blog, know I am anything but those things mentioned. I replied to 3 of the respondents (I was not sure what to write for the vague respondent, so I have not replied to his (or her) e-mail. I have not checked my e-mail since my responses. That was about two days ago. As soon as I finish typing this blog entry, I will check my e-mail.
Finally, on Tuesday I planned to join the free walking tour of downtown Manhattan, but when I arrived at the meeting spot, I was told that the tour was cancelled. The tour was supposed to start at the information box by City Hall Park, and it was supposed to last for 90 minutes. There was an older lady from Germany there as well. She seemed to be quite a chatterbox. Since I did not know what to do I just waited. I was also waiting for the German lady to figure out what she wanted to do. To be honest, although the woman was a nice person, I really did not want to go anywhere she was going. Luckily for me, she decided to go to the Brooklyn bridge. I’ve been on that bridge several times. Once the lady left for the bridge, I decided to go to the Empire State building. I walked from City Hall down Broadway to 34th street. Once I arrived at the Empire State Building, I took one look at the price list that was being passed out, and I decided to pass on the ride up to the observation deck. The price was $16 dollars. For someone who is not working for the next two months, I should not spend $16 dollars like that. Also, I would have been a little bit bored up there by myself. I took a few photos on the outside of the building, after that, I returned to my shoebox. I was amazed to realize later that after walking for about 3 or 4 hours, I had the strength to do an hour later that evening on my rowing machine.I was tired from that walk, so I did not do anything today, but eat, sleep, and watch TV. I did another hour on my rowing machine wearing my plastic exercising suit.I changed my twice-a-day exercise plan to one hour (once a day) routine. With that plastic suit, I end up sweating about a pint per workout. Yes, I did say pint. I have to stuff paper towels around my wrists and ankles to stop the sweat from pouring out. The result is that the sweat pools up in my sleeves and pant legs; when I stand up, the sweat comes pouring out. When I finish rowing, I lay down a plastic bag on the carpeted floor, and a bath towel on that plastic bag. The plastic bag protects the carpet, and the bath towel soaks up the sweat. It would be easier to just strip in the bathtub, but like I’d mentioned before, the minute I stand up the sweat starts to pour out of the plastic suit; I would be leaving a sweaty trail every evening to the bathroom. Although, it takes me about 20 minutes to clean up the sweat, I still like my plastic exercising suit.
What about tomorrow? I called up the phone number on the downtown walking tour flyer. It turns out the tour has moved to downtown. The new name is “the Wall Street walking tour".
Post Date - Sunday, July 30, 2005 1:25pm
