OK, so it's been awhile. I apologize. I haven't been able to update at work because I've been working, of all things, and I haven't updated at home because I'm lazy, and I still have unpacking to do.

I'm happy to be busy at work, though -- especially with so much work left to do on the apartment, I just get irritated if I go to work and have nothing to do for eight hours, even if I do get paid for it. Some of it is our usual fall planning stuff, but I have also been appointed the new webmaster for our department site, so I've been working on a complete overhaul. The current website was put together by my old boss. Remember how I used to complain that he loved technology but didn't really understand how it worked? Yeah, that pretty much applies to his web site development skills as well. So I'm not only completely changing the look of the page (hard enough to do since there's font style tags on every line of text and I have to delete them all to get the CSS to work properly, even if there's no other alterations to the page content), but I have to revamp the organization and streamline the content as needed. I'm hoping to get at least a skeleton version of the new site up and running by the end of the month, but who knows. Still, at least I have a reason to sit at my keyboard all day.

I think I may be winning the Roach Wars in the apartment. I haven't seen any in the kitchen in a week; I'm still not sure if they are actually gone or if they've just adapted to my being here and aren't dumb enough to run across the counters when the lights are on anymore. Still, it's encouraging. I've reached that awkward phase where enough of my stuff is unpacked that I can live fairly comfortably, with easy access to everything I need every day, but there are still boxes of random items and pictures that need to be hung strewn around everywhere. The bad part about this place being such a nice size is that I haven't injured myself tripping over boxes enough times to make moving them a big priority.

I went exploring last weekend; this is an odd little neighborhood, with lots of new apartment buildings going in, and lots of older houses that have been kept in good condition, but also lots of old houses falling apart (and often, all three on the same block). But it's really diverse: walking home from the subway yesterday I passed a gaggle of seemingly standard American teenage girls, who turned out to be speaking Russian or possibly Yiddish, a pair of young Indian women in traditional dress (not the sari, but the long tunic and pants, in lovely rainbow colors), and plenty of Hasidic Jews enjoying the last few hours before Shabbat. The two blocks between my building and the subway are dominated by Hasidim, but the block after that is primarily Chinese, with a good mix of Latino up around the park. (I'm trying not to use "Hispanic" since I found out it doesn't describe people of Latin descent who are Brazilian or Portugese -- which, duh it means "partially Spanish" but I still didn't make the connection. Anyway, if I don't know for sure, I'm trying to use the more general term.)

And the park. I'm two long blocks and two short blocks from Sunset Park itself, and that fact alone makes up for just about any drawbacks to this neighborhood. It's not huge, but it sits at the top of the hill that slopes down to the flatter areas of downtown Brooklyn and Red Hook -- with resulting breathtaking views of the Manhattan skyline, the Statue of Liberty, and New Jersey. Plus it's a full service park; there's lots of green space to spread out on and have a picnic, basketball courts, volleyball courts, a playground, a rec center (with a gym and a computer center) and a pool. A free pool. A pool that was built by the WPA (much like Wentz pool in Ponca City, my favorite pool in the known universe). And I live within walking distance.

Actually, I was all set to get up and go today, but the so-called heat wave we were promised is currently stuck at 81 degrees and cloudy, so it seems like kind of a waste. I prefer to swim when it's actually hot outside, not when I can keep my apartment comfortable without the AC on. Maybe tomorrow, or later this afternoon if it heats up. In the meantime, I think I'll grab some lunch and consider cleaning out the oven.