ohhhh markus ....

just too much happening! gallery opening, job, flat. crazy!!

markus — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 05:44:24 +0000

the problem about having a blog is that sometimes there is so much happening, you just don’t have the time to update and post.

so there has been a couple of really nice things lately, some of them quite life changing.

My trip to maryland for the gallery opening

Fabulous S had her first show, hosted in maryland. and I was delighted to be able to be there!

check out those absolutely rad paintings:

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second, did you know if you live in washington dc, you pay taxes but are not allowed to vote since it it isn’t considered a state (and the put this on each license plate! oh, and the Washington DC flag looks VERY similar to the austrian one. which was kinda … strange).

Washington DC license plate

I also made a small hiking tour next to the Potomac river, was incredible. Saw a real praying mantis for the first time in my life. and it was HUGE! first I couldn’t see it at all, just a grasshopper that was twitching funny midair. and as my eye adjusted to the scene, the mantis suddenly appeared right in front of my eyes. pretty eery. and took its time eating the grasshopper alive.

its pretty hard to find in this picture:

Praying Mantis

but even harder to see it in the video:

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the hiking trail was pretty extreme, for some of it I really had to be on all my fours. Probably the most dangerous thing I have ever done in the US without having to sign a weaver first!

Highly recommended!

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New Job!

I started at my new job. my own department in a huge advertising agency! yeah! everyone is super friendly and nice.

Finally my own place! Searching for a flat in NY is … eery

I really really like my room mates, but your own space is just a hard to beat thoguth. I got approved today for my new place directly at St. Marks, hottest block in the east village. This will be fun! (and unfortunately expensive, too).

Finding a new place in NY is a nightmare. All the listings are only accessible to brokers, and they charge a 15% fee of the years rent. e.g. Studio for $2350, broker fee equals to $4230. and that basically for browsing on their computer for 5 minutes and turning a key. makes me wonder if I work in the wrong business sometimes.

of course you can try to find a no-fee flat, but those listings are … questionable. those were probably the worst and most expensive places of all the flats I have seen. Sometimes I felt like being in a movie, having a landlord in front of me, guy in his fifties, wearing an undershirt, chewing a toothpick and trying to press me into a ridiculously bad deal (that one was directly across the street from the hells angels headquarters).

“so you want something with more space, hmm … [chew chew] … I can give you the appartment on the fifth floor, [chew chew] has super high ceilings [chew chew], I have a contractor who can convert it to a duplex for you, of course you have to pay for the conversion [chew chew], but this will give you space. I cant show it to you right now, because I dont have the keys. [chew chew] so do you want it or not? [chew chew] … [chew chew]“

The “big space” he was referring to would have been equal to probably 300sqft (roughly 25m2), and that for $2500 a month! crazy! the sad thing is, people go for it. I saw a mother in one of his “flats”, planing to convert the tiny room into a two bedroom (were one room wouldn’t even fit a small bed and a dresser. do they want to sleep while standing??), so her daughter who obviously just went to college can share the rent with someone else.

Driving license - check

markus — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 21:54:38 +0000

So I finally has my road test. Super early in the morning (met at 6:45). Then only thing I was afraid of was parallel parking. And oh well,it almost failed me. Got minus 30 points out of possible minus 30 just because of that.
But I have to admit there was a big difference between this one and when I took mine more than 10 years ago.
This time everything was electronic with barcodes and a small computer where the examiner keyed in all my faults. After the tests I immediatly got a small printout with my score and written explanation of all my faults. And now comes the most intriguing part,this small paper slip is also my preliminary driving license after the real one arrives in the mail. Total cost for this whole thing to get a driving license from scratch including office fees, lessons and the test was just $250.

So I have seen the artificial waterfalls

markus — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 20:59:58 +0000

… And I am not impressed. But it was a nice boat ride at least.

driving license: step 2

markus — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 04:26:54 +0000

so you need two things before you can go to the road test.

learners permit, enables you to practice
5 hour theory course, aka “pre-licensing course completion certificate”

(it is not mandatory to have any driving hours, although they recommend to have at least 30).

today I finished number two and boy, there ARE some differences to the european/austrian way of driving.

there is no preferred lane (”driving on the most right lane”) if you drive on a multilane road
but there is a preferred lane if you turn into another driveway on a crossing depending if you turn into a one way or two way street (this gave me the most headache so far)
there are many conditions when you can overtake on the right side of a car
you can also turn right on a red light (but not in New York City, everywhere else you can)
the highway speed limit is kinda ridiculous (55mph? wtf?!)
you have to stop for a school bus on the other driving direction when his red lights are flashing, even when the bus is 6 or more lanes away and there is no way whatsoever that children would ever dare to cross that many lanes (people actually failed on that one during the road test)
…

So it seems I will take a couple of driving lessons, to get the new rules “into my system”.

But the funny thing is, I guess its much harder the other way around. I can vividly imagine an american driving in austria, struggling with manual gear, always trying to turn right on a red light, using the most left lane on a highway and wondering why the cars behind him get so close ….

Getting a learners permit is more fun with a supermodel

markus — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 02:53:58 +0000

Since I plan to go to burning man this year (and my european driving license only is valid for a year here) I had to go through the struggle to get a learners permit from the DMV (and at some point in the future my drivers license. but first things first.)

The DMV (Department for Motor Vehicles, website is fugly, but excellent info and well structured) is around the corner so I went there during lunch break, not really expecting a long wait. Boy was I wrong. Huge line, probably 500/600 there. Fortunately the prettiest girl in the room was in front of me, wearing the shabby grunge supermodel look. Since I was right behind here in line, I started a little chitchat about this whole thing and we had quite some fun time. Talking about the Lifeball (since I am from Vienna) and this whole process and other stuff.

So the waiting time was (although long, about 1.5 hours) quite pleasant. Finally my pic was taken and I took the (easy) test. You only need to have 14 out of 20 questions right (my score was 20/20), but even so a guy in front of me managed to fail. And finally after another wait of about 30min I got my Learners Permit.

Now I am officially allowed to drive again (as long as there is another passenger with a driving license in the car)! yeah!

btw, later in the office I found out who I had this lovely chitchat with. It was Tiiu Kuik. (and yes, she has a boyfriend. big surprise.)

a fabulous party and an impossible stabbing

markus — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 05:41:23 +0000

Internet Week started here for the first time, with an absolutely fabulous kick off party, hosted by Thrillist, music by Faux Punk, the best/worst/only Daft Punk cover band, visuals by VJ ValuJet and both were amazing! And after them only rock (&roll) music! fantastic! I was dancing like crazy, boy that was fun!

unfortunately the dance floor was covered in glass fragments from broken glasses, which made expressive dancing quite an adventure. I landed one jump exactly on a big piece, resulting in quite some pain, and I thought, ok, there goes my left shoe, but couldn’t see any hole to my surprise.

after arriving at home and removing my shoes, surprise surprise, the glass managing to stab me into the foot, causing quite a deep cut and some bleeding. What I don’t really get is, how can this happen without the slightest hole in the shoe afterwards (and its quite a massive leather sole). strange ….

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Queens Pride 2008!

markus — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 03:43:39 +0000

what a lovely perfect sunny day. went to the queens pride 2008, gay parade/festival in Queens. totally low key and very relaxing. and fabulous (mexican) street food there (and free hepatitis a/b shots, good initiative!).

but ‘nough said, enjoy the pics

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stabbing, gunshots, two men dead and a injured detective

markus — Thu, 29 May 2008 06:41:58 +0000

There has been a stabbing almost right in front of my door, just one block down. Everyone in the flat (besides me) was hearing 5 gunshots, silence, and some additional shots and then hell broke lose.

Tons and tons of police cars, detectives, fire trucks and other official cars were rushing into the area, I have never seen such an amount of police force and news teams.

Each online news site is posting a different story right now, as you can read e.g. here and here. Although both are maybe not quite right because Nunu and I have been interrogated by a very friendly police officer and he told us what happened first hand.

That a detective off duty with his girlfriend was getting robbed and he killed both attackers, being himself severely injured by stabbing (to the neck).

in the video you can see how the police officer gets an escorted transport to the hospital:

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oh, and Nunu (yes, the Nunu) has been visiting me for a couple of days (as you can read here, here, here, here , here, here, and here), having a lot of fun.

Best haircut. ever.

markus — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 00:58:39 +0000

Fabulous S dragged me to that barber shop in trendy Williamsburg Greenpoint. Dudes with tattoos, racing magazines and everything very 50ies. And the guy who is doing your haircut, rarely uses scissors, more like a electric razor, switching blades a gazillion times. And at the end I had … the most fabulous haircut ever. And no, I won’t tell where that place was …

New York festivals - another shiny award show down the drain

markus — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 04:03:12 +0000

oh, well, back in austria the New York festivals sounded always so glamorous, so prestigious. While this might be true for the award itself (high quality work there), its definitely not true for the ceremony itself.

They simply rented out the (small) Samsung flagship store and the whole thing was presented by someone who could have played easily a role in the stepford wives. Unfortunately I couldn’t get the false laughs and strange smiles on video, but here are some impressions and videos (I kinda pity the people who flew to NY from europe to get this award in person. what a waste of time).

Well at least I and the stepford wife had matching outfits. nice.

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