Something had to give

...and unfortunately it was the blog.

It's been very busy in sRod land ever since coming back from Christmas break in sunny Miami. With so many balls in the air, one was bound to drop, and the metaphorical ball was this here blog.

First, there's been the running. I've been sticking to my training plan for Washington in March and Delaware in May, but I hate cold weather running. I would take a hot and humid run in the middle of August over any sub-freezing pre-dawn run in January. Unfortunately, I have only had the latter since January 4. It's hard enough getting back into the training groove after a two month break, but throwing in the cold weather just makes the experience awful. These runs are hard enough on their own, but then I start thinking about how nasty is is out there, and then when I do finally convince myself to go out and run there are a slew of factors fighting against me that I don't even realize: the cold makes me unconscionably breathe short breaths through my mouth and shorten my stride (in order to keep my legs close and warm).

Second, there's work. In the first two weeks of January I took cabs home nine times--and there were only ten work days during those two weeks. So there was only one day in the pass two weeks that I got out of work before 8p. That has left me with no time to catch up on blogs or really do any fun running related stuff during the work day. Boo.

Third, there is the apartment hunt. (This is the blight of every New Yorker, so forgive me as I indulge for a bit.) Our lease runs up on March 1 and despite saying every year that we are going to look for a new apartment, we actually meant it this year! So we've been apartment hunting every weekend. It's been pretty exhaustive scouting out the neighborhoods that have the right mix of accessibility, reasonable rents, and community (i.e., grocery stores, diverse restaurants, parks, etc.). We narrowed our choices down to Astoria (our current 'hood), Long Island City (due south of us and one stop outside of Manhattan), and--believe it or not--JERSEY (Jersey City and Hoboken).

LIC was ruled out after we realized that it pretty much isn't a neighborhood, but more of a collection of luxury condos for people priced out of Manhattan. We found real bargins in Jersey City, but realized that it on the fringe of no where. And Hoboken was priced as if it was Manhattan, which we found no advantage in. We just couldn't find one that nailed it for us.

While we love our current 'hood, we didn't decide to stay here until we found our near-dream apartment last weekend. The space is roughly the same as our current place, however the building is only two years old. There is laundry in the basement and an elevator to make doing laundry in said basement a breeze. Also in the basement is a storage closet included in our rent and bike storage (for Wifey, who has wanted a bike, but has lacked a place to put it, for years). While we will have a smaller kitchen and smaller bedroom, the apartment makes up for it in brand new appliances, a dishwasher (my hands jump with joy), and a really nice bathroom.

But the selling point for us was that this apartment was that it included the feature that most New Yorkers consider the holy grail of NYC apartments. It is so rare that it is often mentioned in the same breath as Nessie and Bigfoot. In fact, many have conjectured that it is fabrication of the Freemasons to promote their mystic. But if all goes well when we sign the lease tomorrow we will be the renters of an apartment with a private roof top terrace. I'm not talking about a 1'x3' concrete slab that a landlord uses to charge $400 more on the rent. I'm saying this is a legit 700+ square foot private terrace with space for a BBQ, a picnic table, a small garden, AND lawn chairs. (If you have ever looked for apartments in NYC, you understand the gravity of what I have just said.)

Yeah, we're a little excited about the new place.

So that's what's been going on for the past few weeks around here. And because of the next apartment I can't imagine myself getting any less busy. However, once we're up and running at the new--ahem, just in time for the summer terrace season--I definitely be blogging from the terrace.