I really enjoyed [title of show]. It’s a Broadway musical about two guys trying to write a Broadway musical, and it stars the two guys who wrote it, along with the two women who worked on it with them. It’s exactly what you’d expect it to be–a song about writing an opening song, a long scene about a scene that’s too long–but it works. It’s touching and hilarious, and it’s especially great because you’re watching the very people who wrote it… writing it. If you’re in New York, I highly recommend it. It’s an underdog of a show, with no big stars or hit movie behind it, so it’s pretty easy to get tickets.

Flickr lets you assign locations to your photos on a map, so I’ve started mapping some of my photos. Right now I’ve just got a few in New York, Anaheim, Seattle, and Vancouver, but I’ll hopefully get around to doing more. It’s a pretty fascinating tool for tracking where I’ve been.

Friends of ours (Donald, Matt, and Joy) just moved in a mile or so down the road, and I’m excited to have more people setting up house in Long Beach. We used to encourage our friends to move to New York with us, and now we encourage them to move to Long Beach instead. No offense to New York; we’re just short-distance-friend gluttons.

Seems to be working (admittedly not through our own efforts), because every day we hear about someone we know who is moving or has moved here. Hooray!

Most benefited by this is Ilse, who gains new puppies to play with at the dog park.

This morning around 6am, Ashleigh and I were awakened by a horrendously loud noise which we (in our sleepy stupor) were sure was a huge earthquake. Of course, there aren’t earthquakes in New York, and we soon realized that the sound was the entire inside of our closet collapsing. The main shelf and rod suddenly gave way, bringing the contents of the closet downward and crushing our shoe rack into oblivion. Fortunately no one was injured, since no one lives in our closet.

Needless to say, it turned out to be a great opportunity to weed through unneeded (and apparently very heavy) clothing. The Salvation Army will be very grateful. Until their racks collapse.

The only real food I’ll eat at McDonald’s is the Chicken Select strips, and only with buffalo sauce. It just so happens that the McDonald’s around the corner is the one McDonald’s in the city that never has any buffalo sauce. So today, after my latest attempt to secure some Chicken Select strips with buffalo sauce to no avail, I sent the manager a letter:

Dear Sir or Madam:

I live just around the corner from your restaurant, and it is by far the most convenient McDonald’s location from my home. However, it has been difficult to order the food that I want from your restaurant.

My favorite item on the McDonald’s menu is the 5-Piece Chicken Select Meal. I only like the Chicken Select strips with Buffalo sauce, but your location does not seem to have Buffalo sauce. I’ve asked for it several times over the past year. At first I assumed it was just out of stock, but now it has become clear that you do not carry Buffalo sauce at any time. I don’t understand why; Buffalo sauce has been a regular part of the McDonald’s menu for several years now, and is one of the standard accompaniments for the Chicken Select strips. You carry the Chicken Select strips, why not the Buffalo sauce?

Whenever there’s no Buffalo sauce, I am forced to cancel my order. When I eat at McDonald’s, I’m eating there because I want a specific item from the McDonald’s menu. If you don’t have that, I don’t eat there, and you lose my business for the day. Please add Buffalo sauce to your menu so that I can become a regular customer. Thank you.

I seriously doubt this is going to have any effect, however, because this is New York–the city of New York-style customer service.

It was 72°F and sunny today in New York City, breaking the record of 63°F set back in 1950. The average temperature for January 6 is 38°F. Global warming?

My resolution, as always, is to not make any resolutions.

Ash is going to try giving up soda for the whole year, which I think will be very difficult. John’s doing the same thing, but he’s done it before (and he really loves iced tea), so I think it’ll be easier for him.

Ash and I are also going to try eating at home more often, to save money. It’s arguable, in New York City, whether this actually saves any money. We just paid $156 for a week’s worth of groceries because nothing is ever on sale at the supermarkets in this city. I remember when I lived in California, they’d scan your groceries, and it’d show you the total. Then they’d scan your club card, and you’d see it drop 30-50%. Here, they scan your groceries, and it shows you the total. Then they scan your club card, and the total does not change. Seriously.

Technically it dipped down below freezing sometime earlier this week, but I think this is the first day that it’s been below freezing, and it’s significantly below freezing. It was 19°F at ten o’clock this morning, which is quite cold for New York City. Usually our lowest low for the winter is around 10°F, so the temperature this morning was pretty close. And we usually only have a few days total that go down into the teens. So yeah, it’s officially cold.

As thankful as we are for the wedding gifts we received, I was a little worried that we wouldn’t have room for all of these new kitchen appliances, dishes, cookware, and servingware in our tiny, itty-bitty New York kitchenette. If you need some perspective: Our kitchen has one drawer.

Ashleigh apparently has a previously-undiscovered talent, however, for finding a home for every single thing. Granted, there are a few strange placements (like a mixing bowl on top of a serving tray), but for the most part everything is either cleverly tucked away in a cabinet or else artfully displayed on the counter. I’m very impressed, and proud to call this clutter-conquerer my wife.

The board games, incidentally, fit neatly inside of our coffee table. Thank goodness for smart storage.

Amanda’s in town right now, which is really cool. I haven’t seen her in forever. And by forever, I mean a few months. Anyway, it’s especially cool because it’s Alex’s first time in the city, and he’s totally a guy who could enjoy living in New York, so I know he’s really enjoying it. Last night we joined them for fondue at Kashkaval, followed by dessert at Edgar’s Cafe (because Cafe Lalo was too crowded, and Edgar’s is a block away, never crowded, and just as good). Today on my lunch break I showed them the Chelsea Market, and we enjoyed “Witchino” blended coffee drinks at the Fat Witch Bakery. Sweet! Literally.