Advice for those who want to come visit me (although we do not have a couch)....

Hi all,
Well, I'm posting this from my own apartment with my VERY own internet, which I set up- you guessed it- on my own. Well, with the help of the verizon guy and Dill, who both had trouble locating the only phone jack in my 600 sq foot apartment.  It sure is nice not to have to walk over the Worst Starbucks in New York to use their choppy wifi (more on that later).

So, there are a few things I have learned over the past week that I wished to share with you, in case you ever find yourself in a similar situation.

1. You will never get used to the smell, so just deal with it.  Swallow that disgusted face you feel yourself making every time you walk into a cloud of smells that should NEVER be combined.  Urine and feces (both of the canine and human varieties), pollution, garbage, etc. They all collect into small pockets that hover above the sidewalks and in alleyways, just waiting for an innocent victim to step through. It doesn't matter how nice your neighborhood is, they're there and they're waiting.

2. You will turn into a night owl.  Everything in New York seems to run on a later schedule.  Most restaurants seem to have an early bird special that starts at 7pm.  It doesn't matter that I used to like to go to bed at 9:30. Here, I don't really have a choice.  People stay at work later, eat dinner later, maybe go for a drink afterwards, and go to bed early the next morning- if at all. 

3.  No two Starbucks are created equal. Naturally, the most convenient location just so happens to be the worst of the worst.  One day there's no skim milk. Or soy milk.  The day before that there were no coffee beans.  That's right, you read that correctly-  NO COFFEE BEANS.  The service is also pretty horrendous, so it's a good thing there is another shop 2 blocks down.  It just seems so far.....

One good thing:

4.  The stereotype of the people of New York (from New England at least) is that people here are very indifferent.  I have actually found this to be the opposite.  Our neighbors welcomed us here when we were moving in and today I watched a man in a sparkly yellow tank top that said "Richard Simmons is my hero" help a woman across the street (true story).  The dog owners in particular are very mellow. No one really seems to mind that Dublin wants to eat their small dog or child.  Even at the dog park when I warn people that he can be possessive over certain things the response is very laid back or even "It's ok, he needs a good kick in the ass...."

Also, a word of advice when trying to unpack and clean up your new place: