More Shopping ... Some Success, Some Failure

Whew, a busy day today and I'm tired, physically...

After Leena called I got dressed and went out.  I took the subway up to 9th Street & 4th Avenue and walked up to the Brooklyn Industries store on 7th Avenue and bought the backpack I'd been eyeing online (the one I've been using since 1992 is getting worn out, especially the zippers, plus threads keep unraveling from the nylon inside and jamming the zippers, but it's served well and I've hauled it all around the world).  It was high up so I had to get a clerk to help get it down for me, then I tried it on and it felt comfortable so I bought it.  It's definitely not as big as my purple one, but well suited for a lot of the shopping I'm doing, where I don't need to the bigger capacity.  It feels a bit more comfortable on my back, as far as the material, so I don't sweat quite as much.  When I bought it, the clerk put it in a shopping bag that's pretty cool, too, a heavy plastic one with the Brooklyn Industries logo and handles.

From there I found that Barnes & Noble I tried, and failed, to find yesterday after work.  Their computer programming section wasn't very big, but I found a one book that I was looking for in particular, about iPhone software development, so I got that.  And a few others, as well...

Then I wandered around that neighborhood, Park Slope a bit before taking the subway back to my apartment to drop things off.

Ah, one of the tastes of my
childhood...

A quick trip up to the grocery store netted some ice cream sandwiches I really miss (I like the cheap, generic, store brand ones, they're just more pleasing to me than the fancy ones), a jar of the chocolate milk mix that was my favorite when I was a kid in New Jersey years ago (Paul used it at Paul's Luncheonette, the diner right next door to the auto parts shop my father and grandfather ran), a small box of fresh chocolate eclairs and a raw steak, as well as a few other misc. items...

I brought all that back home, rushing along the crowded sidewalks to get the ice cream into the freezer before it melted..

Then I headed out on the subway to Manhattan intending to shop at the Apple store.  I figured I'd look for the neoprene laptop sleeve Leena wants as well as what I wanted, a set of speakers for the iPhone, iPad and MacBook that sound better than what's built into any of them.

I got off at 14th Street and Union Square, where I did last time, and it was super packed with people for a fair or market going on.  I got out of the subway on a different stair case than last time and was completely lost until I walked around the outside of the square almost all the way, and then recognized some of the buildings and got my bearings.

The walk to the Apple store was long, again...  On the way I stopped in at a liquor store and found a bottle of Viking Blod mead so I got that...  I haven't opened it yet so I don't know how it tastes, should be good, though.

At the Apple store I looked at a bunch of the speakers and just couldn't make up my mind.  No one offered to help me try them out.  I looked at the sleeves, but the only ones they had in stock were pink and black, the two colours she specifically said she didn't want.

After that I spent a while wandering around 14th Street and a few blocks up or down from there, just checking out that part of Manhattan...  I wasn't sure which trains to take to get to any of the other Apple stores.  One thing cool with the iPhone 4 is on 5th Avenue I happened to open up the notes I wrote earlier, including the 5th Avenue address of the other Apple store, but it highlighted 5th Avenue as a link to show me what was nearby, based on my location being on 5th Avenue (but many, many blocks from the Apple store).

I tried a couple of times to buy a pretzel from street vendors, but each one was so busy yacking on his cell phone that I couldn't get their attention to make a purchase.  I wonder if they realize they're losing business by not paying attention.  Actually, last weekend when I got one, the guy was so busy with his cell phone conversation that he served me a hot dog instead and I said "I said pretzel, aren't you listening?" but he didn't react, just kept on yacking on his phone and put the hot dog back and got a pretzel...

I went to a Best Buy store as well to look at electronics.  They had a nice sounding set of speakers, from Klipsch, a company that makes high end stereo speakers and I'm giving it some thought.  I may look up reviews online of all the ones I saw and see what people in general like, as far as sound quality, then go back tomorrow.  They didn't have any 17" sleeves...

Around 5:30pm or so I took the subway back to Brooklyn.  The train that goes under my apartment is the one I took to Manhattan, so getting back was easy enough and I got out right at my block.

I dropped off my backpack and picked up my dry cleaning ticket and went back out again to pick up the clothes I left for cleaning on Thursday, but they hadn't returned to the shop yet.  The guy there said they should have them on Monday.  Unfortunately, that means I have no clean pants for work on Monday, because I gave two of the three pairs for cleaning and I have the remaining pair, but I wore them all week and then walking around yesterday and today, so they're definitely not even remotely clean...

The first steak I've cooked
in at least ten years...

Back in the apartment I took a nice shower to wash off, then cooked up the steak for dinner...  Not bad, the first steak I've cooked in like ten years or so.  I enjoyed it immensely.  Of course, for plates all I have are the paper plates a previous occupant left in the apartment, and the juice from the steak soaked through that quickly and I had to clean the counter up...

Now I'm just relaxing...  It's 9:40pm.  I'll probably go to sleep pretty soon, or maybe I'll watch The Empire Strikes Back...  I'm exhausted and I still want to shop for some speakers for the computer tomorrow so I can have decent sounding music in here...