LittleJudy.com

No solution to the noise pollution

Aaargh!  My management company hasn't done a thing to help me with my noisy neighbors. I sent a letter to them two months ago and they responded to me a few weeks later telling me that the board had revised the noise rules in the building and that a new document about the rules was going to each owner and tenant. Once the board received a signed receipt from each owner and tenant that they had read and acknowledged the rules then they would begin to address the noise complaints. 

That was a month ago.

So far, I've seen no letters and the management company has not returned my calls.

I got my white noise CDs

I ordered a pack of 3 CDs from purewhitenoise.com which I tested out at work this week. I love Distant Thunderstorm -- it blocked out the noisy office, but didn't distract me from writing. I didn't like the static of The Voice of the Earth but then that is what pure white noise is after all...sounds like a television tuned to an unavailable channel (and for those of you born after 1980, it sounds like a television with the cable connection unplugged).   The third CD is Calming Electric Fan which is a little too soft to block out the office noise, so I'll have to try that one at home. Hopefully it will block out Mr. (or Ms.) Snorer if necessary.

Revenge of the Stripes

Hilarious article in today's New York Daily News about button-downed striped shirts favored by clubbing 20 and 30-something New York City males:

When most guys in New York want to get lucky, they wear the "Stripey." You know Stripey. It's the goofy-looking shirt that has become as basic as a pair of socks.

Key characteristics: somewhat fitted, vertical lines, the top two buttons undone. Worn with jeans that are just the right level of tightness, not loose enough to scream "Gap!," not tight enough to scream "Gay!"

Columnist Jeff Wiltser makes his riff on the subject a very, very fun read!

Okay, now I'm going back to work...

As the co-op turns...

I have always had a real estate fear of commitment. That's why for the last 27 years I have rented apartments instead of being a Responsible Adult and investing my money wisely by buying a co-op.

In November--November as in five months ago--I went into contract on an apartment in Queens. Getting into M.I.T. must be easier than getting board approval, I swear  But after months of gathering all the paperwork together and dealing with lawyers and my closing date moving three times I finally closed.

I'm a homeowner!

So, Wednesday night I went out to my new building so the painter could give me an estimate on the apartment. It  just so happened that the co-op board had called a shareholders meeting that night.

After I finished with the painter, I went downstairs to the basement "conference room" where the meeting was taking place.  Ever the outgoing social butterfly, I was really excited about the meeting because I thought it would be a fun way to introduce myself to my new neighbors.

I walked into the meeting room--which looked more like a storage room to me--to find a crowd of tenants standing on one side of the room and what appeared to be members of the board standing on the other side. There were also lawyers and representatives from the current management company and the new management company which the board hired, apparently without the full consent of the tenants. 

So, it was like the WWE in there--the loudmouthed rep from the current management company yelling at the board members, the boardmembers yelling at the lawyers, the tenants trying to get answers, and the woman from the new management company trying very hard to be reasonable (her I liked.)

It was like channel surfing and landing on a soap opera scene that looks interesting, but you don't really know who the good guys are yet.

I stuck around for about twenty minutes and then left since I still had work to finish at home. All I could think was, "girl, what have you gotten yourself into this time?"

I'm just going to have to look at this as yet another chapter in my already adventurous life. Eventually I'll figure out who the good guys are.

Enough About 'Gates' as Art; Let's Talk About That Price Tag

Interesting article in the New York Times about whether or not Christo and Jeanne-Claude really spent $21 million on the Central Park art installation The Gates. I went and saw it but wasn't feeling it...I think seeing all those steel girders in orange (oops I mean saffron) reminded me too much of a construction site. I understand, though, that it was more impressive from an aerial view or viewed from one of the high rises bordering the park.

Link: The New York Times > New York Region > Enough About 'Gates' as Art; Let's Talk About That Price Tag.

Shut Up Already!

Remember when the train and the bus were relatively peaceful? You could get some work done, read a nice book, take a snooze.  Now, the subway is the only possible place to have those nice quiet transit moments. That's because of the obnoxious people that think a New Jersey transit train or an MTA bus is just one big phone booth.

Now there's a whole slew of illegal devices that zap cell phone connections..

It's a shame that manners and common courtesy aren't enough to stop this scourge.

One can only hope that text messaging will become really popular...at least it's quieter.

A Downtown Halloween

I just spent the last three hours handing out candy to several little princesses, ninja turtles, super heroes, and various spooky monsters haunting the halls of my apartment building. But these children are not your ordinary trick or treaters.

I live in Battery Park City. Many of these kids lived in the neighborhood on September 11th and are old enough to have memories of that day.

Halloween in 2001 was special because it was the first time I had any sense of normalcy in the neighborhood. I remember walking into the lobby seeing a group of little kids in costumes chattering happily and by the time I got to the elevator I was in tears. Despite everything that they had witnessed, they were still able to enjoy something innocent and fun like dressing up and collecting candy. Their resilience was inspiring and helped me to get through a difficult time.

That's why ever since then I have always made it a point to sign up and participate in the neighborhood association's trick or treat activities. I still enjoy seeing the different costumes, listening to kids describe who they're supposed to be, and handing out candy and coins for Unicef. In those little faces I see how our neighborhood has bounced back. I wish I could videotape them and send that to Al-Jazeera.

When I close the door, I still have to fight back the tears a little.

Post Office Insecurity

I just got back from picking up a certified letter at the Bowling Green post office. The good news is that I was told that the Church Street Post Office across from the World Trade Center site is going to reopen at midnight on August 9th. Church Street P.O. has been closed since 9/11. They had to do extensive repair and cleaning in order to reopen. Having it open again will be a comfort to those of us that live and work in the neighborhood because it's one more step towards normalcy. I want to be one of the first in line to buy stamps!

Meanwhile, back at Bowling Green...

So I walk into the P.O. and I have to step over a big suitcase that's just lying there on its side in the middle of the floor. I'm thinking "why is this just lying here and nobody's doing a thing about it?" Even before 9/11, I always noticed unattended packages. Maybe it's because I was once at the airport in Lod, Israel, and watched as someone pointed out a paper bag on a bench and then within seconds several soldiers descended on it with bomb-sniffing dogs. It turned out to be someone's leftover falafel but it still made me aware of how important it is to stay alert.

Anyway, I find out I'm on the wrong line, and they direct me back to Window 10 which is a foot away from where the suitcase is lying. So being the bigmouth little broad that I am, I'm like "Excuse me, is that your suitcase? Is that your suitcase? Does this suitcase belong to anybody?" Everybody on line shrugs their shoulders while a maintenance guy delicately sweeps around the suitcase. Finally the guy behind the window says, "Oh yeah, some lady left that." After a few moments he points to the other side of the floor and says, "she's on line over there."

Minutes later the woman walks back and nonchalantly picks up the suitcase and drags it out of the post office.

Hel-lo? Do the words "sense of urgency" mean anything to anybody but me? There's a reason the Israeli soldiers jumped on that paper bag in the airport. Isn't the Post Office a government building? Aren't we supposed to be alert?

I came home and updated my "go bag" with some new food and ordered some more bottled water. Right now I guess that's about all I can do. Because when you live 2 blocks from the World Trade Center, security's no joke.

NY Cabbie Discovers Jewels...and returns them!

I've been a little bit blue ever since my brush with crime last month. Even though I've always been on my guard when I'm out and about in the city, having my wallet stolen made me even more suspicious of everybody around me. I've come to expect that most people are dishonest. I love it when I'm wrong.

The Daily News ran a story today about a NY cabbie who discovered $70,000 worth of jewels in the back of his cab...and returned them! For a brief moment, cabbie Nestor Sulpico fantasized about returning to his country a very rich man. But then he thought "maybe God is testing me. I kept thinking about what I should do ... but I was raised to be honest and I said: 'I'll make a call to the owner.'"

I know it's just one cabbie in a city of 8 million people. But it's a start.

Don't Leave Home Without It or Don't Leave Home at All?

Yes, I got my wallet lifted on the subway Saturday. What do I do now? Never leave the house with my credit cards and ID? Never leave the house AT ALL?

I thought about that and then realized that, hey, I am perfectly capable of getting robbed at home, right here on the Internet. So I might as well go out and about since my inbox is no safer than the downtown #2 train.

There are all sorts of scams, hoaxes, and viruses that arrive in your daily email waiting to trip you up. Just like I know to always place valuables in a zippered compartment and hold my hand bag under my arm and in front of me, I know to be wary of opening attachments from people I don't know and never, ever fall for an offer that sounds too good to be true.

I am the Queen of Hoax Discovery and hold an honorary degree in Anti-Virus detection. When I worked at American Express, my buddies on the Help Desk gave me the title "Dr. Judy" since I was the first tech to discover a virus at work (Cap-A).

Yet, as much as I thought of myself as a streetwise New Yorker with a dash of Detroit grit, I got my wallet lifted on the train like any naïve tourist. And once upon a time I, Dr. Judy, Battler of Scams and Virus Avenger, got snagged in a phishing scam like a dumb luser [sic].

A few years ago I received an email that looked like it was from AOL that said I had received an e-card from someone. I receive e-cards all the time from friends and family so this didn't seem unusual. And just like I was distracted on the train, I was distracted online. I was checking email while watching a movie and talking on the telephone (don't ask!)

When I clicked on the link for the e-card it took me to a web page to type in my AOL screen name and password. My website, LaMusica.com used to be an AOL partner so it looked to me like a regular AOL branded screen page. NOT!

It was in fact a scam to steal my user ID and password for AOL. As soon as I entered the information I realized, "doh!," that I had been phished. If you're not familiar with that term it simply means an electronic scam where a thief "fishes for" your personal information.

I immediately logged on to AOL but at that point my password had already been reset by the phishers. AOL tech support was so lame, didn't acknowledge that this scam was going on and made it so difficult for me to have my password reset that I simply closed my account. That they could do without identifying me. Go figure. AOL's for lusers.

The moral of the story is to always be on your toes when you're outside and be on your fingers (so to speak) when you're inside. It's a dangerous world out there but if you stay alert it's still pretty wonderful.