A Year In New York

Today I’ve been running last-minute errands and pondering what it all means, spending a year in New York City. I’ve worn through a lot of shoe leather in this crazy town and learned some hard lessons,  and now it’s time for me to pass those lessons on to you.
Here goes:

1. The World Won’t End If [...]

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I was gazing out Nima’s window high above Union Square when she made an offer that turned my head. “Do you need an armoire? My roommate’s getting rid of hers,” she said. Nima, a corporate lawyer, was taping boxes shut in preparation for the diaspora of her post-collegiate apartment.
I looked over at Joo, who is [...]

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The apartment has come together. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I thought I’d shut up today and let photos of my living room tell the story.

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Today I got off the subway and walked a few blocks through East Harlem to meet a guy named Kenny Pham. He was selling a red chair that I wanted. As I rang the bell, I felt that tingle I get when I play Craigslist roulette. What sort of person will this one be?
Kenny Pham, [...]

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Scrambling around on the asphalt with an airhose, trying to fill the tires of an old borrowed Camry, I got that deflated feeling of getting nowhere. No matter how much I pumped the tires seemed to sag a little more.

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Something about the way Paul opened the door told me he didn’t particularly enjoy having guests. We’d made a Craigslist connection – he had a coffee table and I needed one – and now here I was, an interloper in his 500-square-foot kingdom, looking over his stuff, saying hello to his wife, who was at [...]

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If my transformation into a New Yorker is already underway, I thank Rebecca the Mattress Saleswoman. I have been bouncing onto an inflatable mattress for two weeks now, and today I would get some real bedding. Rebecca was the first person I met when I walked into Sleepy’s, a bed store that is as [...]

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You have no idea how hard it is to acquire furniture in Manhattan. If you’re buying a new sectional sofa from Dune and don’t mind forking over a hefty delivery fee, that’s one thing, but if you’re doing it on the cheap through Craigslist it’s not so simple, as this tale demonstrates.

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I’m at the Starbucks on 75th Street again, beating the mean streets of Craigslist for furniture. The teenager at the next table is having a sulky cellphone argument with his mother, who, I gathered, was of the opinion he should leave New York and get a job. “There aren’t any marketing jobs in Philly, Ma,” [...]

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