Things I Love Thursday, November 18th
Wow, this week seemed to go by so fast, and yet so much stuff happened! Events that feel like they took place weeks ago occurred mere days ago. Perspective is way off. But regardless of what day it feels like, the calendar tells me that it IS Thursday, which means it’s time for yet another Things I Love Thursday post! So unbuckle your seat belt, take your hands off the wheel, and slowly veer into a big pile of things I love!
Having a PO Box
I’ve had a PO Box in one place or another since I was 17 years old. For me, it just makes sense. Especially when one moves so much, it’s nice to have a permanent address. It’s also nice to have an address that I can give people or companies allow them to remain ignorant of where I sleep at night. Without worry, I can post my address anywhere and say, for example, “send me holiday cards this year!” In fact, you should send me a holiday card this year!
Dann Berg
PO Box 209
New York, NY 10013
I got my first PO Box when I was in high school back in Arizona. At that time, I had started up my own zine distribution company, Deranged Distribution, and wanted a dedicated address for receiving mail orders that wasn’t my actual house. This worked out great until it was discovered that I was also using my PO Box to order other stuff, such as “legal herbal marijuana!” (which, by the way, is all crap) and other contraband. Since I was still 17 and still a minor, I was swiftly brought to the Post Office and forced to cancel the box. But the week I turned 18, I went right back to that post office and reopened the box. Having a PO Box just made me feel better.
After moving to New York for college, I was able to secure a PO Box at the end of my Freshman year. This PO Box was more a result of extreme convenience rather than any statement of independence. While living on campus, my residence and address changed about twice a year. I had one address during the school year and another address when I worked on campus during the summer. Having a PO Box made things like bills, car registration, insurance, and bank accounts so much easier to manage. I just gave them all my PO Box and never had to think about it again.
I kept this same PO Box, out on Long Island, even after I moved to New York City. At that time, I had a car, so checking my mail was still possible, albeit a bit out of the way. I didn’t mind too much, though. I would use checking-my-mail time as a valid excuse to get out of the city, if even for a few hours. I’d drive out to Long Island, stop at stores with actual parking lots, visit old coworkers, just escape. If it was a nice day, I’d head to the beach for a bit, since the Robert Moses Beach was a long haul from my Brooklyn apartment but not too bad if I was checking my PO Box anyway. Despite the long drive out to Long Island, my PO Box was still an integral part of my life.
But soon funds became a bit tight to afford a car, alternate side parking regulations because too much of a headache, and my newly found interest in frugality and personal finance could no longer justify trips out to Long Island on a regular basis. The time had come to close the PO Box out on Long Island and open one in Manhattan. I chose to open a box at the Canal Street Post office. At this point, I’ve had that box for a little over a year, and I don’t for see giving it up any time soon. Not only is it a more stable address than any apartment I’ve lived in, but it’s great for ordering items online, since I’m never actually at my apartment to receive packages. I’m actually not sure what I would do without a PO Box.
Customizing Websites
I absolutely love tweaking and customizing websites and themes. I don’t understand everything under the hood yet, but I love heading back into the coding of a site, looking for elements I recognize and becoming more familiar with parts I don’t. It brings me great joy to make a change to a line of code, refresh my page, and have everything look exactly how I wanted. Half of my backend coding work is all guessing and trial and error, yet it usually works exactly how I want in the end, which feels great.
Talk Radio
Back when I had my car, I listened to a lot of talk radio. Sure, I had a bit of music, and would sometimes be in the mood to pop in a CD, but the majority of my driving time was spent listening to talk radio. After getting rid of my car, it became a lot more difficult to squeeze Talk Radio time into my schedule. I tried podcasts during my commute, but it just isn’t the same. There is something to be said about the communal experience of listening to the radio live that gets lost when listening to a podcast.
As a result, whenever I rent a zipcar, I listen to nothing but talk radio. It’s wonderful to hear these voices that are still so familiar despite not hearing them for long lengths of time. It’s great to hear a random small article I read on reddit be discussed by numerous callers. It’s wonderful to hear stories that I never would have known about otherwise.
The Rest: Maria Fucking Tash, doing dishes immediately after I use them, my cats, zipcar, the | symbol, days off, fantasizing, tumblr, coffee, lots of coffee, tea, learning, seeing things in different ways, my ipod shuffle, cold weather, my queen sized bed, wearing layers, free Starbucks drinks, gum, merino wool, 30 Rock, discussing TV show writing, seeing the transformation of Bond St, torrents.
And then came 
I majored in Creative Writing for my undergrad studies. Throughout college, I took a number of writing classes. I played around with character, plot, and syntax. I wrote stories that were plot driven and I wrote stories that were character driven. I learned to appreciate poetry, even though I still hate it. I really enjoy the English language, especially in written form. I can’t help but pick it apart, finding both every flaw and every perfection. Post-movie discussions with me usually involve why the writer(s) decided to put plot elements in certain orders or why they decided to kill the hero rather than saving him and in what way that act was or was not justified by the rest of the plot.
Yes, I know that you’ll be using the toilet again in the not so distant future, and putting the toilet seat down means you’ll have to lift it again. But seriously, it’s kind of disturbing to imagine that you want your toilet ready and waiting for you at all times of the day. There is toilet time, and there is THE REAL WORLD, and you should properly conclude one before beginning the other. Much like you would say, “excuse me,” before dipping out to use the restroom, you should put the toilet seat down when you’re done.
If you’re completely healthy and capable, there is NO REASON why you can’t put the toilet seat down when you’re done. It really is the little things like that that make you feel better about life. They make you feel more mature, more grown up, more in control. You’re making a conscious effort to be neat and clean, to properly finish things you start. Putting the toilet seat down is not a women’s movement. It’s just something you should be doing. Plus, it makes me happy!
Listening to my music at work, Drinking Monday (even though most of you bastards don’t come out anymore!), iPod shuffles (the ones that actually have buttons), discussing the future of computing (like the 
Making my Bed in the Morning: It always surprises me the number of people who do not make their beds every day. Their sheets are a tangled up mess both when they wake up and when they lay down to sleep. For me, I just can’t do that. Especially since the majority of my home-time is spend in my bedroom. The simple act of putting pillows back in their places and pulling the sheets straight has a HUGE impact on the aesthetic of the entire room. This fifteen second routine can turn a messy looking room into a clean looking room. Plus, coming home to a room with a made bed is one of the easiest mind hacks to declutter your brain. Even if you never usually make your bed, the simple fact that you could or could have made your bed means there’s just one more open end floating around somewhere in your mind. It’s like the dynamic of rewarding yourself for working hard, except the “hard work” is really the simple act of taking fifteen seconds to pull a sheet straight before you leave for the day. I’m definitely in the pro-making bed camp.
Slippers: I’ve recently purchased my first pair of slippers in years. I’ve generally just used socks in replacement of slippers. But, out of nowhere, I got a craving for a pair of slippers and indulged this yearning. Now that it’s getting colder, they’re perfect for late night bathroom runs, as well as simply lounging around. The main reason I’ve generally shied away from slippers in favor of socks is the foot sweat issue. Socks never make my feet sweaty, but a nice warm pair of slippers usually leave my feet pruned and disgusting after just a short period of time. For some reason, this time around, my slippers are behaving just fine. I haven’t had any sweaty foot issues (or any other issues) at all. Hooray for my new slippers!
Finding a New Doctor: It’s been close to seven years since I’ve had a general practitioner. When I moved to New York for college, I simply used the university health center for all my concerns. After graduation, I only needed to see a doctor once, when I had strep throat, and I simply used a walk-in clinic. Then there was a brief stint of time without any health insurance, followed by getting back on my parent’s insurance. Once I was back on a health insurance plan, I made an attempt to find a doctor out in New York through Cigna’s doctor finder feature on their website. That proved to be a outstanding failure, so I just gave it up. I wasn’t sick, nor did I have any other ailments, so I didn’t really see the point in going out of my may in making a concerted effort to find a doctor when Cigna made it so difficult and frusturating. That being said, with my newly found college acceptance letter last week, I found myself in possession of some immunization forms that needed to be completed by a doctor. Thus, the hunt began again. This time, I used the amazing resource that is 
The First Squeeze of New Toothpaste: I’ve been waiting a LONG time to add this entry to my list since my old tube of toothpaste has been on it’s last legs for weeks now. But I finally squeezed the last droplet out of the old tube a few days ago and busted out a fresh tube. And that first squeeze is always magical. The perfect ends, the exact mixtures of crest versus scope, the consistency of fresh toothpaste. It’s on par with getting new bed sheets and then showering right before climbing into bed or 
Free iPhone App Promotions: I can’t tell you how much I love free-for-a-day iphone applications. I’ve gotten so many great paid programs for absolutely nothing. And in recent months, free applications of higher caliber have gotten even easier to find. Thanks to website’s like 
Paying myself: I currently live paycheck to paycheck. While this isn’t an ideal situation, I’m not ashamed of it. Things will get easier in the future, but for now I have to live with what I have. Which lasts me approximately a week and a half, and is a struggle until the next payday. Despite this, on every payday, I pay myself first before I pay any other bills. If you’ve ever read Rich Dad, Poor Dad you know what I’m talking about. I currently have three savings accounts (well, four savings accounts, but one I don’t really use). Each of these savings accounts works towards a different goal. One of these accounts is the traditional do-not-touch-this-money-ever account, the second is a savings account with a vacation fund, and the third is for saving money, little by little, for any big ticket purchases I may want to make in the future. Every paycheck before I do anything, I put a set amount of money into each of these accounts. Then I’ll pay all the bills due during that specific pay period. Then, with the remaining money, I’ll weigh the importance of eating to the importance of other purchases I may want at that time. Sometimes, towards the end of the pay period, I’ll run out of money and have to borrow from one of my savings accounts (usually the vacation fund), but I’ll always try to pay it back, and then some, with the next pay check. You’ll got to start thinking of saving like a bill, otherwise you’ll never do it. And start paying yourself first.
Getting College Acceptance Letters: I totally got my acceptance letter to go back to school yesterday! Awesome! I’ll be getting my second bachelors, this one in computer science. My first bachelors was in English, with a concentration in Creative Writing and a minor in Religion. Which was fascinating and fun, and an area where I definitely excelled, but not really a passion of mine. Now, math and computers, that’s definitely my field. It took me a few years to really figure that out, but it feels great. So, I decided to go back to school. I submitted my application for the 2010 Spring semester a few months ago, and had nothing left to do but wait. I was under the impression that I wouldn’t get a response until around November 15th, so when I received a letter from CUNY in the mail yesterday, I was quite surprised. And worried, at first, since it was a letter in a traditional envelope rather than a large packet (which usually means the letter starts with, “We regret to inform you…”). But, much to my excitement, this letter started with “Congratulations!” After a brief failed stint with online school last year, I had forgotten how great it feels to get a real acceptance letter. I’m still going to be working full time, although I’ll probably cut my work schedule from the current six days a week back down to five days a week. The plan is to get Tuesdays and Thursdays off of work, and then cram all my classes in on those two days, attending school full time. We’ll just have to see how many of my undergrad credits will transfer so I can see how many semesters I’ll need to graduate. I figure it’ll take a year or two. And a year or two of a crazy schedule for a lifetime of knowledge it’s too bad. I’ll suffer through it.
Pictures of my Cats: I have no problem admitting that a good third of the pictures on my iPhone are of my cats. At the very mention of cats, I can whip out my phone and overwhelm my companion with numerous pictures of my two cats in varying degrees of cuteness. And they always pretend to care, much like you do when a friend tells you there’s a song you need to hear. 
Watching People Play Video Games: I’ve never been a big video game person. I usually purchase gaming system right before the next greatest thing comes out, so I’m never in the loop with new games. And I never have the attention span to finish those long, drawn out RPG’s that sound so appealing when I read the descriptions. But it brings me great joy to sit back and watch other people play video games. Especially games with a storyline (rather than those large online games, those are boring to watch). These days, video games are on par with interactive movies, so they’re better to watch than they’ve ever been. The best part about watching a video game, rather than playing the game, that you get to sit back and relax, and only pay attention when you want. You can chime in, ask questions, and help, but the game continues completely independent of you. That’s all up to the person playing. You get the perks of trying to solve the puzzles, trying to figure out who to talk to and where to go, without worrying about what buttons do what and forgetting something important. Plus, you can come and go as you please. It’s all the perks of a video game with none of the investment or disadvantages. You literally can’t go wrong when you watch someone play a video game.
The Rest: Baking cookies, Sapphire on the rocks, remembering to put on cologne, queen sized beds, impromptu visits to 7-11, shooting a gun for the first time ever, shooting an AK-47 as my first gun ever, extra days off, pancakes, collapsable dinner tables, Modern Family, the snooze button, going to bed early and waking up early, acting on nostalgia, self control, spontaneous shopping spurts, 
Swiss Cheese: I never really liked Swiss Cheese growing up. Not sure why, the taste just didn’t appeal to me. I first began to discover a newfound love for Swiss Cheese while in college. Sometimes, between classes, I’d quickly grab a chef salad to snack on during class (if the teacher allowed such, of course). On those salads would always be a huge pile of Swiss cheese slices. Not wanting them to go to waste (as well as being quieter than lettuce to chew on) I decided to eat the cheese. To my surprise, this grew to be one of my favorite parts of the salad. These days, I’ll substitute Swiss Cheese for other cheese on almost anything. My current favorite breakfast sandwich is Turkey, Egg, and Swiss on a roll. I used to order the same sandwich with stock American cheese, but I recently switched to Swiss and was blown away by the difference. The Swiss just makes the sandwich. Really.
Manhattan Bridge: At this point, I’ve officially taken all three bridges between Manhattan and Brooklyn. In case you’re not familiar with these bridges, there’s (from north to south) the Williamsburg Bridge, the Manhattan Bridge, and the Brooklyn Bridge. I have to report, quite happily, that the Manhattan bridge is easily the best for bikers. I say “happily” because that’s the most convenient bridge for my daily commute. The Manhattan bridge has a specific side for bikers and a different side for pedestrians, unlike the other two bridges. While there are usually a few loose pedestrians on the biking side of the Manhattan Bridge, it’s nothing compared to the hordes of ambivalent tourists blocking the entire path on the Brooklyn Brooklyn or the flocks of self loathing hipsters flooding the Williamsburg. The Manhattan bridge is peaceful, scenic, and just plain straightforward compared to the other two bridges. I love it.
French Fries in Ranch Dressing: I go through phases of favorite condiments in which to dip my french fries. This varies from the classic ketsup to the more European Mayo to the recently discovered Malt Vinegar. Last year, I was on an extreme mayo kick, where I asked for mayo almost every time I ordered french fries. I remained on that kick, although not as enthusiastically, this year, with variations of ketsup and malt vinegar mixed in sporadically, depending on where I was. But just this week I switched back to, quite possibly, my all time favorite condiment: Ranch Dressing. I was on a HUGE ranch and french fry kick for a long time, and I’m not quite sure why I stopped. It wasn’t because I got sick of it (I’ll never get sick of ranch dressing). It just happened. But this week, with my Cheeseburger Deluxe, I grabbed some ranch dressing instead of mayo or Hunt’s ketsup. And God, it was good to go back. I’m not quite sure what brand of ranch dressing Le Basket (my local deli) uses, but it was absolutely delicious. Dipping french fries in ranch dressing has to be one of my favorite things ever.
Flannel Nightgowns: Yes, I have a flannel nightgown. And it is one of the best purchases I have ever made. Ever. I don’t regret a single moment of it. In fact, one of the reasons I look forward to the weather cooling down is to bring my nightgown out of storage. It is seriously the single most comfortable piece of clothing I own, and is absolutely perfect for just lounging around my apartment after work. Not sure exactly what exactly inspired the purchace in the first place all those years ago, but I know it was partially due to the model wearing the nightgown looking eerily similar to Will Farrell (the image of which I cannot seem to find now). I know that I look absolutely ridiculous in it, but I don’t care. All I need is a sleeping cap and a candle in a candle holder to carry around and the look would be complete. Maybe I’ll have all that someday, but for now it’s just me and my new slippers and an absolutely amazing nightgown.
FreshDirect: I just discovered that 
Sweaters: I have been meaning to get some new sweaters this season (I like to get a few new sweaters every season) but hadn’t really found exactly what I was looking for yet. To be fair, I hadn’t really made too much of a concerted effort, so I’ve been practically sweaterless so far this year. But this week I ended up inside the French Connection where I used to work, talking to a few of my old coworkers and browsing the store. I know that French Connection has the type of sweaters I like, but the prices are too high, especially since I’ve been used to an employee wardrobe allowance and discount. While browsing the new season’s clothes, I happened to inquire about the Merino sweaters. This is when I learned that these sweaters were currently on sale. And not just any sale, but extreme discount. Originally $98, they were hard marked to $49.99 and were 60% off of that price. I got two. Hooray!
The Rest: Queen sized beds, constantly napping cats, painless car accidents, orange juice with lots of pulp, The music video for El Guichino’s 