Couch construction

A few days ago, I posted pictures of our new loveseat. It is pretty comfortable, covered in nice black leather, comfy padding, etc. But there was one thing I did not tell you in that post: the couch came in many pieces and we constructed it ourselves! This doesn't seem to be uncommon in this area, where living spaces are small, the hallways to access them are even smaller, and many people need to walk up flights of stairs to get to their apartments. Most "regular-sized" pieces of furniture would not fit in our apartment, and I would feel pretty bad for the delivery people too. Anyway, our loveseat came in 2 boxes, each approximately 50 lbs. I manuevered them up the stairs (one at a time), and slided them across the floor into our front room. Here are those boxes:

Once open, the boxes contained several pieces of wood, connectors, padding, and the leather covers. We started construction by making the couch arms. The ferrets watched carefully. Here is one of the arms, mid-construction:

Now both of the arms are together. (See them standing side by side?) Some of the padding is also visible in this photo. Here you can see Brian pounding in some of the connectors, which were used to securely anchor the screws:

So after the arms, we moved on to the seat. Each section of the loveseat was constructed individually (so 2 sections). Here you can see Brian attaching a front panel:

After each seat was made, they needed to be attached together. (They were attached before the actual seat panel was added.)

Once the seats were attached, we started adding the covers and padding. Not all areas of the couch are padded--mainly the parts you touch when sitting (tops of the arms, seat, back). Here Brian has attached the first piece of leather, to cover the very front panel. After covering the arms, we attached them as well. Each cushion got wrapped seperately...

And here is what we ended up with! It took a while, but in general, I like the result. It is nice to sit on--a good, firm bottom cushion, so you won't immediately fall asleep. I like to sit here to watch the ferrets.

Recent work

It is hard to believe that September is now almost over - it has gone by very fast. My classes continue to have heavy reading loads, I spend about 5 hours per class reading, not counting the time I go back and reread the notes I took from reading previously. For the most part I enjoy the readings, though one of my five classes is not at all what I expected - I had hoped for detailed consideration of how the law will handle a category of technology, but instead we have mostly read theory or regular tech, news, or general science articles with no legal element included.

Over the last week I also finished a volunteer study I had signed up for over the summer at a law institute somewhere. For the project, I was assigned 500 documents ranging in length from 1 to a few hundred pages and I had to review them online to determine if they were relevant to a particular legal question. The documents were from the tobacco cases of the 90s, and they were of all sorts. It took a while, but I am done now.

Now that I have that task done and our couch is here and set-up, I'm turning my attention fully to the three articles I must write. I also have to get moving on the fellowships so that I am applying early in their application period, not late.

The weather here has begun to turn cold and it is clear Fall has arrived. It's a little surprising since there was not much Fall to speak of in Florida, but not that much since it did get coldish there.

Columbia Morningside Campus

There was a request for more pictures of Columbia a while back, and I did not forget about it. I have been on campus several times in the last week, and on Friday, I was there again for a few hours working in the lab. I took some pictures in the afternoon after I was finished with my work, before heading for home on the subway. I've attached a map so I can refer to specific locations (and you can get a general idea of the campus layout). I think if you click on the map, you should be able to see a larger image, if you are having trouble reading it.

The main part of campus (and the only part Brian and I have spent any significant time in) is located between 112th and 120th (NS) and between Broadway and Morningside (EW). That is the part of campus in the map below. The law school is on the eastern side of campus, at Amsterdam Ave and 116th. The subway station we use is marked on the map with a red 1. It is at Broadway and 116th. To get to the law school, Brian usually walks along College Walk, which is the part of 116th street that goes through campus (not a street on campus). The pictures that follow will primarily show the Greene Bldg (Law), as well as the above street overpass next to it, St. Paul's, and a few buildings on the central green area. The building I have been working in is the Mudd building (120th & Amsterdam), but I didn't take any pictures of it. All the orange arrows on the map show places that you can enter main campus from the street level. Okay, I think that is all the intro stuff, so on to the pictures.

The pictures start in the main green area. This is a building seen before on this blog, so it may be familiar. It is the old library, now administration building (Low Library on the map). Between this building and College Walk, there are a lot of steps. These steps are a very popular place for students to meet, sit, read, etc. Brian and I have spent some time sitting on these steps, working.

If you look a little further south, you will see College Walk. The main buildings in this picture are Dodge Miller Theatre (R) and the Journalism Bldg (L). College Walk leads between these two buildings, from the subway to the law school.

If we continue to pan south, now you can see across College Walk to the Butler Library, which is the main library on campus. I tried to go into it, but I needed to have a Columbia U ID card. I intend to look at their website to see if there is a way to get permission to go inside without the ID card, since it would be a good place to sit when it gets colder. This picture also shows the main green on campus. (The steps on the left of this picture go to the Kent Bldg.)

Okay, after taking those pics, I walked to the over-the-road campus connector close to the law school. I don't think Brian uses it a lot, but I think it is very cool. It leads from the third floor of the law school across Amsterdam Ave to the main campus. On the map, it shows as a green and cream rectangle over top of Amsterdam Ave. Anyway, from that connector, This picture shows St. Paul's, which I think is a really pretty chapel. It is not the only one on campus (I believe Earl is also a chapel, and there are a couple churches, perhaps one associated with the seminary, I don't know exactly), but it is the main one that I have seen several times.

This picture also shows St. Paul's. In this picture, you can only see the bottom end of the building, because I wanted to show the campus entrance from Amsterdam Ave. This is right by that orange arrow just north of the connector.

Amsterdam Ave, looking north, from the connector. On this connector, I feel like I am floating above the city, which is kind of cool.

This is the exact same view as the previous picture. The main difference is that I backed up to the other side of the connector, so you can see how cool it is. It is mainly a lawn three stories in the air, with several statues.

Now I am standing in the same place, but I am starting to pan right (so away from north to the east). Here you can see the law school. The law school has the vertical stripes. Remember that we are on the third floor, so there are two more floors below this level of law school.

More law school, as I continue to pan east. This crazy-looking statue stands above the connector entrance. Brian and I sat outside in this area to eat lunch on Wednesday.

This shows basically the same view, but I backed up a little. I am standing between Kent and the Philosophy Bldg, shooting across the connector at the law school. See the cylindrical building in the lower right? That is also part of the law school (part of the street level entrance). That is what the last pic of the law school will show.

This is the street entrance to the law school (around the corner) at the corner of Amsterdam Ave and 116th St.

Well, that's it for now. Enjoy!

New Couch!

Brian has been doing a lot of his reading for class in the bedroom, and we wanted to get a small loveseat/couch to go by the front window so he could sit there and work instead. We did a lot of comparison shopping (and factored in delivery charges along with the base price), and we finally decided on this one. This loveseat arrived this week, but I didn't have a chance to post pictures until today. It is pretty comfortable. The bottom cushions are pretty firm, but I heard from other customer comments that they soften a bit through time. It fits perfectly into the window area and gets good sunlight for school reading. I think that we are now finished furnishing this apartment.

Me, ready for bed, waiting for Brian:

Ferret Update

I realized that we haven't posted pictures of the ferrets for a while, and I'm sure you are all anxious to hear how they are. The ferrets seem to be doing really well here in the north. It took them a few weeks to recover after the move, but they are doing fine now. We have the front two rooms set up for them to play in. We tend to alternate between the two rooms, and sometimes we let them play in both rooms at the same time. The switching spaces is supposed to make it more fun for them and keep them mentally stimulated. For any potential visitors, there are several eooms where the ferrets do not go, and the guest futon is located on one of those ferret-free spaces. Anyway, here are a few pictures of the ferrets in their new space.

Eve, mid yawn:

The boys (Rex, Brussels, and Chewbacca):

Brussels, looking at something (probably heard a sudden sound):

Chewbacca, in the ferret tent, licking his lips:

Eve, napping in a hammock:

Eve again in the hammock. This hammock is placed in the lowest level of some shelves, which are out in the front room. This is so that the ferrets can nap outside the cage, if they want to. These shelves are right be Brian's computer desk, so he likes it when a ferret naps there.

Security

Brian and I have both noticed increased security on the train and subway system this week, due in part to the UN meeting and in part to the terrorism plot investigation. Not only are regular cops more visible, there are many people dressed in army fatigues carrying significant weapons. Random bag checks are occuring, starting all the way out in Jersey at our station in Journal Square. I wonder how much of the added security will disappear when the UN meeting is over.

PS: I thought of including a picture, but it seems like a bad idea to stop and take photos of the soldiers in the train station.

Food, work, fall

I wanted to post some pictures of Columbia yesterday, but I couldn't figure out how to get them off my phone. I have been on campus a couple times in the last week, setting up a place where I can do some research. I plan on working on campus on Monday and Tuesday, so it will be a busy couple of days for us. Since I know I will be gone long hours, I decided to do some cooking ahead of time this afternoon/evening. Now we have roasted chicken with vegis, stuffed green peppers, honey-mustard chicken with rice, and tacos all ready to go for the next several days.

Roasted chicken with vegis: this chicken has since been deboned and the bones used for chicken stock.

Stuffed green peppers: these peppers are stuffed with a mixture of ground beef, black beans, rice, and tomato sauce.

Honey-mustard chicken: this goes on rice (not pictured).

In other news, it is starting to feel more like fall. On Friday, Brian and I sat on the steps outside at Columbia and did some reading in the sun. We still have our windows open, but on both trips to Columbia last week, I was happy to have a small jacket with me. I am excited to watch the leaves change color this fall, which is something I haven't seen in several years. I also enjoyed wearing a sweater one afternoon last week. Oh, and I picked up some apple cider at the grocery store this afternoon. :)

School has started

Brian had his first day of classes today. His Tuesdays look like they will be quite busy. He is still not home, and it is 9:30 pm. He also has a morning class tomorrow, so his Tuesday nights will be busy. It is good to have a lot to do, since the program is only a year long, but I think he will be tired tonight, and I was a little lonely working from home, even with the ferrets to keep me company.

Statue of Liberty

FYI: I was looking into buying tickets to the statue of liberty online last night, and I discovered that the tickets to the top of the statue are sold out until November. So it seems like you need to book these tickets about 3 months in advance or so. I don't know if anyone was planning a visit in the next year, but if you want to climb the statue of liberty (over 300 steps), you need to reserve tickets early.

Life in the city (area)

The never-ending list of things to do is, well, never ending!

We've learned that our security system cannot transfer the way it was supposed to, which means - you guessed it, more money gone! And of course, the cell phone change has upped that bill a bit, what with us bringing our plans into the 21st century and all. Columbia also sent me a bill, and we have become even better friends with our loan provider. I should really be on their Christmas card list by now.

In other news, I'm finishing up registering for courses. I'm taking a course on how DNA technologies changed various legal fields; a course on church and state (first amendment); a course on current copyright developments; a course on international copyright law; and a course on law and technology/computers. I plan to write am article in three of those, so it should be a busy and interesting semester. Classes start next week.

We have almost finished setting up our apartment. We just need one or two more basic furniture items and to unpack a few more boxes. The ferrets seem pretty happy with the new place - they love to dig into the boxes we are storing some clothes in and to run around near the bed. We are also out of the boil water alert we were in for the prior several days after a water main broke. That was an interesting reminder of how important clean water is to much of what we do daily.

In other news, we recently met some friends in NYC for dinner on the gift certificate David and Rachel sent us. We had a great time at this authentic Italian restaurant and (I thought) ordered reasonably conservatively. When the bill came, well, I was wrong! You know how a $ sign is often made with two vertical lines through an S? Well, let's just say that when the bill came I thought one of those vertical lines was just marked a little too far away from the S. Oh that it were so.

Want to guess the total for 4 people? ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY DOLLARS, pre-tip. Now the scary thing for me was that it didn't even phase one of our guests as she eats at that cost all the time. More power to her, but for me, that's an insane amount to spend. This was a good introduction, though, to eating in NYC at nice places since it will keep us on our toes in the future.

On the plus side though, it was a great meal and we had good conversation with our friends. We really did like the restaurant too. So the sticker shock really faded in a matter of minutes for me and the night remained very enjoyable.

Not much else to report. Watched The Haunting in Connecticut and The Knowing this month. We thought both were pretty good. We also saw Eagle Eye not too long ago, and it was excellent. Still listening to Fauxliage (lead singer from Sixpence None the Richer) and less so Natalie Walker's Urban Angel a lot.

Finally, anyone know of any good Blackberry or iPod/MP3 language programs that I could use while on the Subway to work on French, Spanish, or Chinese?

part 2: mini golf!

should have posted in August

Here are some pictures from our family visit in late July, on the way up to our new place. It was great to see everyone and spend some time hanging out. I forgot to post these earlier, but better late than never I think.

Lunch at the eatery next to the hotel:

Crystal at work:

Walking along the coast:

On Campus

Last week, Brian and I went to Columbia to do some orientation-type activities and get various paperwork things sorted out before the semester. Today he is back at Columbia for more orientation. Here is a picture of him on campus from last week. Behind him is the old library, which is now an administrative building. The campus is quite nice-looking, but there isn't as much grass as Wooster or FSU (there is a lot less space as well--the campus is blocked in by dense city blocks on all sides). I'm sure we'll post more pictures from around campus over the school year.

Congrats to Gpa & Gma

Happy anniversary! Congrats on 59 years & I wish you many more together.