Memorial Day Weekend...

I hesitate to start this entry with anything along the lines of "I've almost figured out what's wrong with my computer," or "I haven't blogged in a while." The first would jinx me and the second is obvious. But all that having been said, the whole reason for the second one is the first one.

It's all down to just rabid troubleshooting, relentless figuring out, plugging and unplugging and just generally ruling things out. In my research I've discovered that the crackling happens now after about 30 seconds of heavy audio processing and in tandem with a spike in processor usage. I downloaded a standalone called process explorer which is essentially a much more detailed form of the task manager familiar to so many Windows users. That along with this audio article I unearthed in my varied and various Google searches, has gotten me pretty far along in finding out what the problem might be.

On to some more interesting stuff. My folks came into town this weekend for Memorial Day and we had a load of fun. It was one of those weekends where we could have planned to do a whole lot of stuff and been disappointed that we didn't get to it all, but instead we just took it easy. I find that that's the best way to approach this city as a tourist or a semi-tourist resident (which is what I've decided I am, and I'm unabashed about it). Friday I had to work at NY 1 (the last day of an overtime week in which I picked up freelance shifts at Technicolor as well), so my parents arrived mid morning and, after unloading, followed me in to work. I showed them around work and from there, set them loose on the Highline Park and the Riverside Promenade (which I still can't remember what it's called...it's either the Hudson River Park, or the Riverside Park but then that's up at 72nd Street on the Upper West Side...I don't know, whatever).

That night we took it easy and hung out in the apartment and planned (semi-planned) the following two days. Yes, I took them off work and now I remember how great it can be to have a real weekend, not some truncated one where the last shift of the week "bleeds over" into my weekend and before I know it I'm back after only one full day off. The rather loose plan, then, was to meet some long time family friends who were coming in from Poughkeepsie at Grand Central Station and walk to a French restaurant I had been to a few times. The Pâté was excellent. Stuffed, I suggested we walk to Madison Square Park and discuss our next move. A street festival above 42nd on Lexington was mentioned but so was a desire for our Poughkeepsie friends to see the Highline Park, which required a crosstown walk but we were up for it...much more than we were up for a potentially bland street festival. Several hundred snapped photos later we had traversed Manhattan from Madison Avenue to 10th, surveyed the Highline Park, moseyed to the riverside, eaten ice pops and various other treats and plunked ourselves down on one of the piers, surrounded by joggers and sun bathers and drinking in the ridiculous breeze. I had forgotten the joy of lying down outside and forgetting the time completely. Bill and Pam were not worried about catching their train back (the trains come so often) and we had shirked our original plans to see the King Tut exhibit at Times Square. So, the afternoon was just a free afternoon to be spent doing nothing in the sun.

It really has been a long time since I've indulged myself as such. My days off are usually so busy with either picking up extra freelance work or working on musical ideas and running errands. So, needless to say, I feel so incredibly recharged right now. And I'm loving New York City this time of year. Though it's hot, I still remember what Carolina is like this time of year, and though I miss that somewhat, I do not miss the relentless humidity, which, here, doesn't arrive until around mid July. We still have glorious breezes provided by the miles of riverside both Brooklyn and Manhattan boast. And now, I have my bike which my parents were so kind to port up to Brooklyn with them. Prospect Park, here I come!

We moved on from the riverside pier and began to wander and wind through the West Village in search of a cafe with both outdoor seating and draft beer. We settled on this place which had no patio but open air seating and wonderful glorious draft beer, only to notice that Wilfie and Nell, directly across the street did in fact have patio seating, right under our noses. Oh well. After beer and appetizers we rode the 1 up to Times Square and subsequently the S over to Grand Central where we saw Bill and Pam off, arriving just in time for the next train. My mother commented on the fact that had we tried to pull off catching that specific train we would have certainly missed it and we probably wouldn't have enjoyed ourselves half as much. This, in fact, became a theme for the weekend.

Sunday, my folks came with me to the UU in Brooklyn and we had lunch with a friend at Sweet Melissa in Cobble Hill. Hands down the best brunch I've had in NYC yet. Smoked Trout and Potato Croquettes with poached eggs, sour cream and mango salsa and add to that a raspberry lemonade. Delicious.

We headed back to the apartment to freshen up and then went to Battery Park City to meet with my brother-in-law's brother's family who lives down there with their four adorable kids. Later, we were seeing Rock of Ages up at the Brooks Atkinson theater so I had my eye on the time. However, I misjudged how long it would take us to get up to Times Square from the Battery. Thinking we'd only need 15 minutes of buffer time, I suggested leaving at 6:55. This, of course, gave us plenty of time to finish dinner at the restaurant and play with the kids afterward. After we left, it became clearer and clearer the more we walked that we weren't going to even make it to the train before 7:30 when the show started. I reluctantly suggested a cab but it was only after walking all the way to Greenwich Street that we decided that we should just suck it up and hail one. From where we picked the cab up it was actually a straight shot up 6th Avenue to 47th Street and the cabbie was able to drop us right outside the theater. We ran to will call, picked up our tickets, ran into the theater, swiped play bills from the usher and found our seats. Right as we all three faced the stage to sit down in our seats, the first number started. We all three laughed saying that, had we taken the train, we would have never made it on time and missed a good fifteen minutes of the show.

Now, despite the fact that we did have to rush, had we left much earlier to get to the theater on time, we'd have cut down our time with the Lewis family and would have been just sitting down in our seats uncomfortably waiting for the start of the show. As it stands, we got to relax and play with the kids and have an adventure trying to get to the show.

Maybe that's a good life lesson. To enjoy the times when you're not watching the time. Otherwise you're entire life is spent watching the clock and trying to get to the next thing. And that's no fun.

Anyway, the show was great. Kooky, but great and fun. A guy that I went to high school with has a few roles in the show now so that was neat getting to see him on stage. And today, I'm just catching up on laundry and getting ready to go back to work...for just one shift before my regular weekend. Then, I'm going to hopefully have a long stretch of time to really solve this computer dilemma.