Brooklyn Brunch

This is the Rowes, The Heaths and The Adzentoivichs at brunch in Park Slope last weekend. Our last social outing in Brooklyn.

Countdown to Blast -off

5-Days:

Well, I begin this post with a heavy-heart. Although I have been awaiting this day for oh, I don't know, YEARS maybe? - now that it is upon the horizon I reflect on what I am about to leave behind.

Five days until we leave Brooklyn.

I love Brooklyn.

I have lived in Brooklyn since May 1997. I moved into my sister's lopsided 17th Street apartment with two duffel bags and about $200. I had a job in Greenwich, CT. I commuted backwards for 2 hours each way. I did this for about 2 months before I told my employer that I had moved out of CT and couldn't do the commute any longer. And besides, I couldn't afford the commute any longer.

I put my beloved 1993 Toyota Celica CONVERTIBLE for sale in my grandfather's front yard. It sat there for 6 months before we got an offer. Luckily for me my grandfather was a sweetheart and continued to pay my car payments until it sold because I was broke.

Remind my again why I moved to Brooklyn?

Oh yeah, to be an actress. And, apparently, to go broke.

Eventually my sister's lease was up and she and her roommates went their separate ways. I took over the lopsided apartment and began the hunt for roommates. This consisted of putting posters up at the SAG/AFTRA/Equity offices in Manhattan. I got plenty of calls - from crazy people. Eventually I found Lorna - who was OK except for a few eccentricities.

Lorna was an actress and was about 5 year older than me. She had a clinical case of acne and was hopelessly single. She grew up in a trailer park and was very protective of that.

Every night Lorna took a bath for 30 minutes. Every night.

Every month Lorna stuck a Q-tip up her cat's hoo-ha. Every month. She thought this kept her from whining every time she went into heat. Gross.

Lorna was a temp somewhere in Manhattan. She had a co-worker named Kevin who ended up being our 3rd roommate. His girlfriend became our freeloading 4th roommate. Boy - it was a blast.

So, blah, blah, blah. Time passed. I went on auditions and took more acting classes. I did some weird Shakespearean adaptation at the Angel Orensanz Foundation on the Lower East Side.

I did another show on the upper West Side where I played a dead person who pushed around a coffin.

I did a more conventional play; Our Town with the father of Charlie from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ( the original one). This was at some weird, old fashioned men's social club. No, not that kind of men's social club. The kind where there is a women's auxiliary and they do community service, have potluck dinners and black tie fund raisers and put on semi-professional theater four times a year. They also had a professional choir which was combined with the women's club. I don't honestly know how I got involved in this one. This place was located in Murray Hill - I think. Like 34th Street between Park and Lex. I got to meet Charlie. He looks exactly the same, but bigger.

I did some extra work in a bunch of movies. Some that I don't even remember the name of. Some I do: Summer of Sam, The Cradle Will Rock. There was also that TV show about firemen.

Eventually I went on a US tour as the Wicked Witch in a children's theater production of the Wizard of Oz. It was a three month van tour. It was awesome.

I met Ernie just before I went away and when I returned we went on our first date. The rest is history.

Brooklyn was the supporting character in all of this. I ran in Prospect Park. I shopped for cheap clothes on 5th Avenue. I ate $1.25 pizza from Lenny's every night between pay checks. I shopped at the store front produce market and got a week's worth of produce for $4. I bought homemade sauerkraut and mushroom pierogies from the Polish Market on 5th Ave. for $3 (this was all before Park Slope became FANCY). I walked to the Farmer's Market at Grand army Plaza. I met Emily who became my running partner.

I moved out of the lopsided apartment and into Ernie's place where he was renting a room from a friend. Saxaphone player Kevin. Kevin also happened to be a classmate of my sister's from college. We slept on one of those foam chairs that flattens out to a bed(?). It was only wide enough for one person so Ernie let me have the foam and he slept next to me on the floor. It was very sweet. We had nothing.

I followed Ernie to countless jazz gigs arouns Manhattan both before and after we got married in November 1998.

We began our Real Estate obsession when we only had a few thousand dollars that Ernie's parents gave us.

We bought our first place on 5th Ave when it was still inhabited by crack heads. Our little studio with a backyard was our haven for more than 4 years. We sold when the block turned into Hipster central and we could no longer afford to eat at the restaurants or shop in the shops.

OK. I need to reflect a bit more.

Ernie Loves My Job

Yes...he does. Not because of my great salary.

Not because of my great health benefits.

Not because of my super-flexible hours.

Mostly because he gets to go to lots of open bar parties and drink with Kyle.

NASCAR Get's Political

From Yahoo News:

Yes, that is the President and Tony Stewart looking at his car parked at the White House.

This is hysterical to me...I just can't put my finger on why.

Bryan - the Motorcycle Maniac

Photo courtesy of Rich Makin circa 199-something?
(thanks, Rich - on left)

Bryan won his class in his most recent foray into motorcycle racing this past weekend in Los Angeles. Horray!

Apparently he has found a new racing circuit and will be making regular appearances. Stay tuned for some actual racing photos and updates on his progress. Maybe the man himself will grace us with an interview?

Tom Kills Oprah

Identity Theft

The Adzentoivichs have been victims of identity theft.

Ernie got a credit card from Shop NBC in the mail right before Christmas. We thought it was a promotion. Soon after he received a bill for $2500! Apparently someone opened a credit account with this ShopNBC (TV or Online store), using his name and his SS# which was off by one digit. The issuing bank gave them the credit anyway - even though the SS# was incorrect.

The NYPD are now involved and have been very helpful. The Shop NBC account has been closed and somehow the merchant has "recovered the merchandise" yet they won't say how. Apparently they shipped the items to our address but there was nobody here to sign. The thief called UPS and asked them to send it to another address, apparently. The funny thing is that we never got the slip from UPS saying we missed a delivery - this makes us believe that someone who has been in our building is a part of this.

The Detective found a suspect via a phone number. This person lives in Queens. They need more evidence before they can question this person. They are working on it.

Today we received in the mail our bank statement. Apparently this thief got into our bank account as well. There were multiple points of purchase at places like The Coach Store and Toys R Us. Two places where we obviously don't shop. This caused some of our own checks to bounce (which has never happened in Adzentoivich history. I think Ernie is more pissed about that than anything..). They managed to steal about $1,000 from our bank account as far as we can tell.

This is a nightmare.

They also took cash from an ATM so somehow our bank issued them an actual ATM card.

How can this happen?

We are now in the process of closing all of our credit cards and our bank account. Citibank doesn't seem to have any form of fraud or theft protection. For example, we asked them if they could protect our cards by somehow disallowing purchases made over the phone or online and they said that they can't.

This is not good timing. I want the NYPD to find this person and go all Sipowitz on their ass.

UPDATE: We just found out they stole more than $2900. Mostly all spent shopping in Long Island. Foot Locker alone was more than $500. Someone is walking around the city with really nice sneakers that we bought for them....I think Ernie is going to burst a blood vessel.

Buying Furniture

We had a lot of fun shopping for furniture during all of the January sales. Yes, it is time to graduate from compact, practical apartment furniture, to real grown-up house furniture!

We shopped around until we found the best stuff at the best prices (of course, we're Adzentoivich). It may have taken us three times as long to buy one chair as it takes most people to furnish an entire house - but we got a great deal!

We are still hunting. It is like a game...screw you Lillian August.

YES!

We got new chairs, but still no couch! Rug is from Aunt Marjorie's house.

I am thinking of taking the tree down sometime before Valentine's Day.


Bought some stools at Pier One for the breakfast counter. Now that was a real bargin! Cushions, too.




Ernie decided we would save the $100 delivery fee on our already incredibly "affordable" dining room set by picking it up from the store- Fortunoff "the Source" - and assembling it himself. It only took 4 or 5 hours and minimal cursing (and at least one bottle of wine).



These would become our chairs.



Carpet is from ABC Carpet and Home in NY. Purchased from the DUMBO location which was having a "Closing Location" sale. Can you say BARGAIN! (the leather wingback living room chair also comes from ABC).




Ernie soon discovered that the chairs weren't necessarily balanced and each needed to be adjusted so as not to wobble. This called for a beverage break.


Yes, the counters are messy - we're in the middle of moving, give me a break.







He finally got his "little soldiers" assembled and situated them at the far end of the dining room (that other furniture doesn't belong in the dining room but it has no place to live yet).

And the finished product...








We had our first Sunday dinner the following day with my mom, dad and Grandfather. We are looking forward to many, many joyous meals and memories being enjoyed around this table.

Grandpa's Birthday

Grandpa Germano's 88th birthday. We had dinner in our new dining room

NYC Cabbie Strikes Back!

OK. Here is another hysterical blog, brought to my attention by my company blog. Go figure.

It is written by a female NYC Cab Driver. I only got through the three most recent posts so far. Fascinating and funny. You've got to check it out.

Did you even know there were Female cab drivers in NYC?

Nancy Wood - That's Me!

In case you can't read this, the title of the album is "The Best of Nancy Wood".

In case you didn't know it, that's my name; Nancy Wood.

So does anyone know anything about this chick who is going around impersonating me in a cowboy hat and a bad western shirt?

I can't find her anywhere else online. I checked Amazon and there are no CDs with this title. I think she is a fraud.

I found this album cover when I searched this weird search engine called Red Zee.com. I searched images for Nancy Wood (You never know if someone might have posted one of my old headshots or high school photos online. You gotta do a vanity check every so often, right?).

This is not the first time I found someone trying to pass themselves off as me.

One of the most annoying things is that there is a new-agey artist named Nancy Wood. She does Native American art or books or something. One of the reasons I was happy to change my name when I got married was so that I would avoid any and all future confusion between the two of us. I mean, it was embarassing to go to the Indian Casino - I mean the way they fawned (fauned?) over me.

It is a bit confusing since our Wood family lore suggest a Native American heritage. Do you think this woman has truly stolen my identity? What if I really did write all of those poems about mountains and moons? I mean, I have thought about those things. It's all very transcendental. I mean, maybe she is my spirit-guide or something? I think spirit guides are typically wolves or something like that - but I guess it can be a person. I don't know what the rules are as far as that goes. But she's probably not because as far as I can figure she is still very much alive, dancing in a purple dress on the Continental Divide.

Mountains that are looked at have a particular grace,
some are rounded and gentle, others have a wildness
of spirit, the sharp rock face of invincibility.
Still others beckon with deceptive calm, luring the unwary
with their raw beauty, heads buried in clouds, sunlight
dancing on meadows like sky fingers.. The great rock god
Of the mountains sleeps with one eye open to catch eagles
and elk, wind and rainbows, the strong of limb who climb
those peaks because a mountain lives inside them.

~ Nancy Wood, from Dancing Moons

Well, all I know is I am damn glad I changed my name. Now I am free to write my own nature-based poetry from the front porch of my farm as I stare out at a couple of hills we call mountains.

I might make an album but I would never wear that shirt or be that tan ever again - so there is little chance of confusion between me and the singing-cowboy version of me. Plus I have a banjo, not a guitar.

Short Story

Grandpa has a birthday

He turns 88 (EIGHTY-EIGHT)

He walks himself into the CT Department of Motor Vehicles - assisted by his walker-on-wheels

They renew his drivers license for another 8 years

He drives away

The end.

Don't Get Your Panties in a Bunch

What does it say about you when you notice that you put your undies on inside out....

And then decide to leave them that way?

Coal Miner's Prayer

Ernie's Grandfather was a coal miner.

Our farm is in the Pennsylvania Coal Region.

This tragedy is too sad for words. And the fact that it may have been avoidable is unbelievable. There were numerous safety violations against this mine and this mining company as recently as December.

Nobody should have to work this way to make a living in the year 2006. And certainly nobody should have to die this way.

In case you can't read this publication from 1904, this is what it says:

Oh Lord, after I have worked my last day and come out of the earth and have placed my feet on Thy footstool, let me use the tools of prudence, faith, hope and charity. From now on till I will be called to sign my last pay roll, make all the cables in the machinery strong with Thy love. Supply all the gangways, slopes and chambers with the pure air of Thy grace and give me the Holy Bible for my last shift, so that Thou, the General Superintendent of all the colieries can say, "Well done, thou good, faithful miner come and sign the pay roll and receive the check of eternal happiness." Amen.

January 3rd

Well, we all seem to have made it through to 2006. Phew!

I did not swim with the Polar Bear Club. It was raining and cold and I just couldn't do it. Plus, I was already coming down with a cold/flu and didn't think it would be very responsible of me to jump into the Atlantic Ocean. Yeah - that's the ticket.

I didn't answer my own corny questions on New Years Eve. Ernie tried but I just couldn't get into it. Instead, we ate a lovely meal off of our make-shift diningroom table (two TV trays set under our chandeliere) and listened to Garrison Keihlor (however you spell it) and then to the New Years Eve Gala at the NY Philharmonic - which ended at 10pm, duh. Then we opened the token bottle of twist-off cap Andre "Champagne" (early, lest we fall asleep before we remembered to open it), and retired to our bedroom floor (where our lovely foam camping mat serves as our bed) to watch Carson Daley on the only channel that we could get in on our TV with our rabbit ears antennae.

It was very festive.

Ernie tooted the Tuba at 12:01. I mean a real tuba, not the "tuba", or not "tooted" the way you do after a large Mexican meal.

At 12:03 we were both sound asleep.

We have to stop partying like this.

I will probably do a year in pictures sort of thing - like I did last year. But not right now. I am still sick with that cold/flu thing. It sucks. I spent most of my birthday complaining about not being able to breath through my nose while dealing with painful chapped lips resulting from my constant mouth breathing (iew.).

So bear with me, pictures will be posted soon.

Happy New Year.