What I'll Miss About New York: #13 — Escape from the City

Manhattan. Sometimes from beyond the skyscrapers,
across the hundreds of thousands of high walls,
the cry of a tugboat finds you in your insomnia
in the middle of the night,
and you remember that this desert of
iron and cement is an island.
Desert Island (New York), Albert Camus, 1946

I'm not too concerned whether New York is the financial and cultural capital of the world, or whether that title should belong to London or Paris, Tokyo or Hong Kong. All I know is that the city is a strong taste, and there's a certain kind of relief I get when I get a break from that taste.

As wonderful as it is to go weeks on end without setting foot inside a car, there's a certain kind of relief that I feel when I step into a cab to race to the airport or rent a car to flee the island.

"When was the last time you left the island of Manhattan?" I used to ask Steph as we'd head toward the airport. It always surprised me that we could months on end without leaving our 23-square mile island home.

One trip away from New York stands out from among the rest. It was a trip to attend a good friend's wedding a few months after we'd moved to the city. I woke up early in New York, went to the airport, sped to California, and before I knew it I was on Ocean Drive in Carmel, CA. To go from the din of New York – the ambulances and the unending human motion – to this, the hushed motion of the waves, was a shock to the system.

What's this? After living in New York City for three years, I'm returning to California. These are the parts of my New York experience that I'll miss the most.

What I'll I Continue to Miss About New York

I thought I would probably wrap up these What I'll Miss posts prior to leaving New York at the end of August. Yeah, that didn't work out.

I still plan on finishing these posts during the next few weeks and months though I've been in Palo Alto, California for more than a week now.

What's this? After living in New York City for three years, I'm returning to California. These are the parts of my New York experience that I'll miss the most.

The Toilet Won't Stop Running. Consider Yourself Sued.

After Kramarsky v. Stahl Management, 92 Misc.2d 1030, 401 N.Y.S.2d 943 (N.Y.Sup. 1977) – where a landlord refused to rent to a woman because she was a lawyer – New York City amended its landlord/tenant law to prohibit discrimination on the basis of a "lawful occupation."

California has no such bar on discriminating on the basis of a "lawful occupation." Of the roughly 10 places we applied to before finally signing a lease for a house last night, fully a third of them expressed reservations to renting to a couple where both people were lawyers.

Why were they so worried? We should sue them. ALL OF THEM.

On a Purely Parochial Note...

...I wish the Stanford Women's Basketball Team would hurry up and win the national title so that ESPN can get back to telling me how AWESOME the women's teams are from Tennessee, Connecticut, and Rutgers.

It's almost rude for Stanford to interrupt ESPN's adoration of women's basketball teams east of the Mississippi.

Et Tu, Monty?

I do not like noncompete clauses in employment contracts. You see, I tend to agree with legal theorists who argue that the relative nonenforceability of noncompete clauses in California has helped create Silicon Valley, creating a legal competitive advantage over other tech clusters.

Still, I'm not exactly thrilled to see the Stanford's still-much-beloved former coach Mike Montgomery is slated to coach Stanford's rival Cal. I feel like an implied, purely emotional covenant not to compete has been violated.

In professional wrestling, when a Good Guy becomes a Bad Guy, they say he turns heel. Stanford basketball fans were already in a weakened state after hearing the (not too surprising) news that Robin Lopez would join his brother Brook in the NBA draft. Catching us dazed and stumbling around the wrestling ring, it now appears that Monty is ready to finish us off with a suplex.

Matt Drudge is the Poor Man's Karl Rove

I think what Matt Drudge meant to say is California Governor to Seek Reelection Despite Low Approval Numbers.



After 10 years of online kingmaking, it amazes me that Drudge's editorial juxtaposition still has such a strong reality-mangling effect on our me-too media.

Palo Alto, California: 1 Police Officer per 673 Residents

It's been quite a week for the Palo Alto Police.

The 92 officers of Palo Alto's finest started off the week handing out We're Bored tickets to cyclicts for riding while talking on cell phones (an activity which, as you guessed, turns out to be legal). The cops ended the week befuddled by an anarchist rally downtown.



(I'd heard before that Palo Alto had more police per capita than any comparable US city. Although I haven't found a good online resource to back up this factoid, here's a point of reference: With slightly over 9,600 police officers and a population of 9,871,506, Los Angeles has 1 police officer per 1,028 residents.)

Flabalanche

Those desiring more tabloid-alicious detail are just gonna have to click on the image below.


Source: Daily Mail

Welcome to the Hotel California, Such a Lovely Place

Last night, a funnel cloud touched down in South San Francisco.


Source: Henry Jasinksky

Since I know you're curious, I bothered to take some California tornado statistics from 1951 to 2001 and put them into Microsoft Excel. Here's what the resulting chart looks like:

A Question And A Comment That Are Completely Unrelated

Pop-up ad seen at ESPN.com. Can Southern California's Premier Resort really be named Morongo?



Secondly, sure he's an international sociopath of the first order, but I'm a little disappointed with the most recent al-Zarqawi edict. Democracy is a lie? That's the best you can do?

I've come to expect more, Abu Musab. I've come to expect more.

It's Going to Get Worse Before It Gets Better

With Feinstein getting involved in the fray, Democrats are going to start piling on Gavin Newsom.

Regardless of Democratic in-fighting and wound-licking that's bound to occur, I still agree strongly with Josh Marshall: Time is not on the side of the kind of values and politics that President Bush represents.

California Geology & Geography

I was tempted to blog today's quake the moment I felt it, but I resisted.

I cannot resist, however, blogging this quote from the first CNN.com story on the event: "In nearby Redwood City, the quake delayed the murder trial of Scott Peterson after a juror reported feeling the tremors." (emphasis mine)

The earthquake was in Parkfield. As Yahoo! maps will tell you, Redwood City is 193 miles from Parkfield.

I Liked The One With the Giant Film Reel Turning Into a Spaceship

Although the Governator settled on one of the more subdued offerings for the California quarter, I was a big fan of some of the earlier, gaudier designs.

Enjoy the geographic juxtaposition of Golden Gate Bridge collage, a hodge-podge of SF and LA confusing to Californians and non-Californians alike.

Sadly, Archive.org has the HTML page, but not the pictures for all 20 semi-finalists. Some of those were classic examples of Free Time + Photoshop = Trouble.

California Cons Must Find New Currency

The LA Times reports (registration required) that a bill to ban smoking in California prisons passed the state Assembly on Tuesday.

Designed to as a tough-love measure to reduce state payments for prisoner health care, this bill will have the side effect of annihiliating the fragile prison cigarettes-as-cash economy.

Canada claims the Should this be Legal? Crown from California

One of the joys of California's direct democracy is feeling like we pass laws for the sole purpose of testing them out for the rest of the country.

Year in and year out, California's proposition ticket is pretty much a survey of wacky activities to be deemed legal (medical marijuana, for example) or illegal (such as consuming horse meat).

On a global stage, Canada has apparently decided to usurp this crown from California. Legislation sits before the Canadian parliament concerning decriminalizing possession of small amounts of marijuana, legalizing gay marriage, and now the Canadian Copyright Board has deemed P2P downloading legal.

Arnold Decides He's Innocent

Did I say an independent investigation after the election?

I meant no investigation at all.

Back to Terrible

A playoff-caliber Golden State Warriors would almost certainly signal the Apocalypse. Therefore, the world can breathe a collective sigh of relief as our Bay Area squad squanders a good start and claims last place in the West, a position it will doubtlessly hold for the rest of the season.

Where's Mr. Freeze When You Need Him?

With California aflame, I'm expecting our state's Bodybuilder-in-Chief to begin sprinkling meaningless movie reference remarks any day now.

What's the Problem with State Secession?

Though the majority of voting Californians chose Arnold as their pick for the next governor, the Bay Area (and LA) voted against the recall. A glance at the recall map and a perusal of Bay Area recall comments and you'll see how different the Northern California coast is from the rest of California. Though Federal secession has already been tested, what are the prospects of large areas seceding from states?

Too Stupid for Democracy?

On this day of California's Recall, I'd like us to reflect and ponder that we may just be too stupid for democracy.