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Archive for the ‘Life’ category

The (un) Standard Hotel

August 18th, 2010

This past week I’ve been staying in Manhattan for work and I’ve had the great pleasure of staying at The Standard Hotel in the meatpacking district of Manhattan. After spending the past few days here, I’ve realized that this has to be the swankiest, sexiest hotel that I’ve ever stayed at.

The elevators, painted completely black with the exception of a mirror on the back wall, have two oval windows cut out of the side, which have a large LCD panel behind them. Playing on the screen, is this video dubbed “Civilization” by Marco Brambilia, which is a photshopped montage of various movie scenes all mashed together. You can watch the video below, but it doesn’t do it justice when you’re riding in a black elevator with creepy music and this video playing.

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Posted in New York

Tags: civilization manhattan standard hotel

Being in The Bean

August 15th, 2010

First off, let me say mazel tov to my sister Bailey and her husband Max on their wedding this past weekend. It was great to share this event with them, but also get to see friends and family that I’ve not seen in years.

Since last Monday, I’ve been in Boston for the festivities and work, but as much as it’s fun to be here I’m very glad to have gotten to New York this afternoon. For me, the city of Boston is an amusement park except most of the people that are there with you aren’t very pleasant. I love the city: Running along the esplanade, Copley Square, the MBTA, Somerville/Cambridge, and even the taxi drivers (and the town taxi rule). I am not, however, such a fan of the people.

Don’t get me wrong, I love my family and friends that live there. It’s a good portion of the remaining people in the city that I don’t really like. Take for example yesterday afternoon while I was running down the stairs at Park Street station from upstairs at the Green Line downstairs to the Red Line. People were disembarking the train downstairs and I knew that it was likely my train. I politely (and clearly) said excuse me to two girls walking side-by-side down the steps and hurried by. The girls, who looked to be in their early twenties, replied “You are excused!”

Is it wrong to rush by someone to grab a train, if you say ‘Excuse me?’ _I_ don’t think so, but maybe I’m the one in the wrong. Perhaps this can only be explained by the other strange phenomenon that Cool Jesus had witnessed at the Park Street stop. Personally, I feel it’s the city as a whole and I will attest that even some of my other Bostonian friends have been starting to experience it as well.

So here I am in NYC with 4 days left to see a Thunderstorm, the weather is looking very promising. Especially with highs in the upper 90′s tomorrow. Yikes! Welcome to New York City in August.

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Posted in Boston, Life, New York

Tags: Boston new york rude weddings

The Tattoo

January 26th, 2010

For over ten years I’ve wanted a tattoo. I’ve wanted to get something that not only signifies who I am, but something that I will always appreciate. I’ve always felt that having something permanently etched into your body is an important decision and for the longest time I was leaning towards getting my name tattooed in hebrew. I felt this was appropriate as it was two things that would never change: My Judaism and my name.

While I liked this idea, I was never excited about it enough to actually get it done. In light of all that I went through in 2009, I finally came up with my idea for a tattoo. In continuing with the Hebrew theme, I’ve decided to get “Never Forget” or more specifically “Never Will I Forget” tattooed in hebrew.

There are many reasons for my decision, but mainly I never want to forget all that I have learned in the past year. I’ve learned about myself, relationships, the importance of your health, and most importantly, I’ve learned who I am. Additionally, the concept of “Never Forget” in Judaism relates to the importance of never forgetting what happened to the Jewish people during the Holocaust. I really like the dual meaning and I’m very excited to get my new tattoo this coming weekend.

While I haven’t finalized my decision on the font / design, I have yet to decide where I want to get it as well. Originally, I was thinking that I wanted to get it centered between my shoulder blades — however I’ve started to lean towards my right arm, as I feel as though it’s important to get it someplace I can easily see it, considering the message.

I’m getting it done at Black Heart Tatto, in San Francisco by Juan Puente. Before I get it, he said that he could do a stick-on stencil so I could see what it looks like on me before anything permanent is done. I may need to see it before I decide. I have narrowed it down to one of the following three fonts, but fortunately, I still have a few days to figure out the details.

Tattoo

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Posted in Life

The latest and greatest

October 14th, 2009

I had my latest doctor’s appointment this morning, and it didn’t go nearly as planned. Going into it, I had expected one of two outcomes:
a) I’d be put on enzyme therapy, my feeding tube would be removed, and I’d be free to start eating food again.
b) I’d be put on enzyme therapy, my feeding tube would NOT be removed, but I’d have a follow-up appointment scheduled for another week or so if all goes well.

I wasn’t expecting a third possible outcome: none of the above. More specifically, or vaguely if you prefer, the outcome was:
c) I don’t know what’s wrong, but let’s just wait 2 more weeks and see if it goes away.

If this was the first time I’ve heard this, I’d be ok with it. Instead, I’ve heard this same line pretty much every time I’ve seen this doctor for the past two months. I probably could’ve had my endoscopy scheduled for a month ago and the same result mild scarring would’ve been found. At that point, waiting two weeks to see if I got better would be an acceptable and viable option. At this stage, however, I am not going to continue to just idly wait while nothing seems to be improving. Especially if the only thing wrong with me is that I have scar tissue on my pancreas that is causing the discomfort — when was the last time you saw a scar heal itself in two weeks?

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Posted in Life

Tags: doctors Health pancreas pancreatitis

And the endoscopy says…

October 9th, 2009

This past Wednesday, I trucked into El Camino Hospital to get an endoscopy to find out what the heck is going on down there in my pancreatic region. The procedure was quicker and more painless than I had remembered from the last time I had one of these (10+ years ago) and I’m scheduled for an appointment on Wednesday to discuss what the results mean.

Basically, they found that there is some permanent damage to my pancreas. This likely means some pretty dramatic lifestyle changes from here on out, which is to be expected. I think the biggest question that comes to mind, however, is how long I may have had pancreatic issues.

I’ve been struggling with digestive problems (lactose intolerance among other things) for over 10 years. I remember back in Boston just after I graduated college, that I had spent several months going to a gastroenterologist going through various tests (colonoscopies, endoscopies, barium swallows, and other fun things) to try to identify the cause of these issues.

Nothing was conclusive, and the doctor said it was likely just a bad case of GERD (acid reflux) and we’ve left it at that. The daily doses of Protonix have helped keep the stomach pain to a minimum over the years, but this case of pancreatitis very well may have been the last straw.

I’m obviously speculating here. What surprises me the most about this condition is that it’s most likely linked to alcohol. In my case, over the last 10 years, I rarely drank over the medical recommendation for alcohol drinks for a male (14 drinks/week). This does not necessarily mean that the alcohol could not have impacted this. If I had a pre-existing condition, even small amounts of alcohol may have made this worse. This in combination with my high cholesterol could very well have led to gallbladder issues and other digestive problems.

That said, regardless of what got me here — it looks like I’m going to be managing this condition for the rest of my life. I will most certainly know more once I talk to the doctor on Wednesday. I’m just hoping for some kind of path to short term resolution of the immediate symptoms (ie. NOT EATING) and being able to get back to work and my life. I miss being around people and this entire situation is wearing on my patience.

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Posted in Life

Tags: Health pancreatitis

What I’ve been up to..

October 5th, 2009

It’s been quite a while since I’ve come ’round these parts. It’s been a hectic couple of months, for those of you that know me well.

The Design
The look of The Diatribe was driving me nuts. It didn’t feel right. I needed to revert it to a more blog-like style. I figured this was a little more appropriate. Considering the lack of authorship from my cohorts, I’ve also personalized it a little more for your truly. I’m not kicking anyone out of The Diatribe, just personalizing it, considering I have more than 3/4 of the posts on here. :)

Where am I
I moved up to the Big City a few months ago. It was partially this move that probably prompted my downfall, but I’ve taken up residence in the Noe Valley neighborhood of San Francisco — which is right about here (and no, that’s not my house):

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My Health
Over the past two months, I’ve been battling a terrible case of pancreatitis that was brought on most likely by a gallstone. I spent 2.5 weeks in the hospital (two of them, actually) and the rest of the time I’ve spent resting in bed and on the couch laying down. In my most recent doctor’s visit, I found out that I was no longer suffering symptoms caused from my pancreas, but it’s most likely that the gallstone that caused this little issue is now in some inappropriate place in my innards, causing the pain and discomfort.

I’ve been on a lovely feeding tube for the past 2+ months, and would die for some pizza, chicken wings or pad thai. Regardless, I have a procedure scheduled for this Wednesday to find that little bugger and then I should know more about my return to normalcy.

Conclusion
So, for the most part, I won’t be updating the Diatribe that regularly. It’s more of a place to put some thoughts or commentary that is longer than 140 characters. So, stay tuned.. but don’t expect a flood of new bathroom reading material to crop up here. We’ll take it in stride. :)

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Posted in California, Life

Excitement in the cats!

December 12th, 2008

Less than a block from our house here in Los Gatos, a train derailed causing a main road in Los Gatos/Campbell to be shut down. I missed the action, though Winchester is expected to be shut down through tomorrow morning. For full details of the story, visit the Los Gatos Observer.