over lunch

and in a one block radius, i managed to get my shoes fixed and shined, buy lunch, pick up a birthday card for my aunt, buy face wash and get cash. can't beat that.

on the flip side of extolling the conveniences of new york, this weekend s and i purchased a new television. and by television i mean monster sized flat screen LCD that is larger than the stand it sits on. oh and we live in a one bedroom apartment. but i digress. anyway, we braved the cold on Saturday and made our way to p.c. richards in union square. if you have never gone to union square on a saturday, don't. it's crowded, people are angry and often lost. the fact that the l train was out of service forcing people above ground to ride the bus didn't help matters much either. you know it was cold when i convinced s to take the bus because i couldn't feel my toes.

so we find our way to p.c. richards where a lovely man helps us (i.e. tries to sell us a wire for our television for $50 that we found online for $1.46) and we purchase our (s's) tv of choice - the 46 inch samsung lcd, blah blah blah. s is beaming with joy like a proud parent. we will take this tv home and watch the sweat on a basketball player's head gleam like we are right next to him. our friendly p.c. richard's salesman informs us that it will be an extra $120 for delivery. hm. i could rent a car for an hour in this city for $10 and he wants to charge me $120? the answer - a resounding no. so, we take it with us. into the freezing cold. on saturday. in union sqaure. at 5:30.

one might ask - how could you think that was a good idea? why would you think that a taxi (a van or SVU no less because this tv of the g-ds will not fit in the back of a mere mortal taxi) would just be magically waiting there for you to exit the store and easily load this ginormous tv into the back?

the answer - naivety. there really is no other possible answer. it took us a half hour to find a taxi to fit the tv and it was only because i practically accosted a poor young couple exiting a taxi across the street. i have never run so fast in my life. funny enough, the tv only fit when we put the seats down. so s had to ride home separately and i sat in the front seat of the cab while the driver grilled me about the details of this tv. that made me chuckle a little as we both agreed on a mutual disdain for best buy.

but the tv is home now. and it is large. and s is happy. and the steelers are in the super bowl so i GUESS it's ok.