Cold and Wet Morning

There has been talk of yet another winter storm hitting New York City for a few days now -- it was supposed to have started last night around three, and is to continue through tomorrow. Well, we woke up to nothing on the ground, but giant, puffy flakes cobbled together falling straight down. It actually was quite beautiful, albeit quite wet due to their sheer size. Lucky for me, this was a morning where I actually was out quite a bit.

See, we are moving. Not far -- at all. For the past four years, we have been on the northwest corner of 76 and York. And we are moving to the southeast corner of 77 and York. Kinda crazy . . . So, the movers come on Monday -- we have been packing and slowly waking items over for about a week now. It actually helps with the stress, compared to April of 2006 when we moved eight years of stuff from Pittsburgh to storage to Manhattan. So this morning, I needed to go to the bank for a certified check; the management company charges a move-out fee as well as holds a deposit. A racket, I tell you. From there, I took the bus then the train (transferring, mind you) down to Wall Street where the management offices are located. I do not get to the Wall Street area too often, and I was struck by the surreal nature of the bollards, blockages, security tents, and overall disruption to the already maze-like streets down at the southern tip of the Island. Coupled with the wintry mix, it just made for an interesting lil' adventure.

Hopped a different train, and now I am at work. Umphrey's over lunch and again tonight -- excited. Although, I guess the City is not allowing buses in for some reason? Should be a bit of an adventure for them to all get her by car . . . We shall see!

(I know I say this a lot, but I still owe the blog some attention. Particularly, some brief mentions of restaurants we have had the pleasure of going to recently: The Breslin, Aquavit, and Dovetail. All quite wonderful in their own right . . . )

Snow Day!

Hey all! I finally got my New York snow this year! Before Christmas, Laura and I flew to Minneapolis before the storm hit the City. And while we had plenty of snow in Minnesota, it was a different experience -- more relaxed, peaceful, in the tundra. I wanted to experience the snow here in Manhattan.

After much anticipation, we started to receive our snow last night and has lasted throughout the day . . . I left work around 3:30 and was able to walk through Central Park while it was still light out. And I was able to take a number of photos of the whiteness and beauty.

Here is the album:

http://picasaweb.google.com/jwelsh8/ASnowDayInCentralPark

Enjoy!

A Time For Reflection

Last Saturday afternoon, we drove to northern New Jersey to attend a mass celebrated for an old friend. Brian Zelizo -- a Domer, music fan, and lover of Life -- died ten years ago last week after being removed from life support. He had been struck by a cab one evening here in Manhattan and was in a coma for a few days before his parents decided to let him pass along peacefully, offering up his organs for donation.

Brian's passing was the most difficult death I have ever had to deal with. Just a few weeks before, we had been laughing, smiling, dancing, and ringing in 2000 with 80,000 other Phish fans in Florida (including our mutual friend Amy and my brother). My memories of that amazing time are still clear to this day, from the traffic on Alligator Alley to his "tent" (he forgot his poles), to the eight-hour concert Phish performed starting at Midnight, to the drive home in that amazing sun on January 1st.

Brian and I had shared similar experiences before this trip to Florida. He was in the car with me and Laura as we bypassed studying for Jazz Fest in 1997, driving from South Bend to New Orleans over study week. Eighteen hours down and back, with music and architecture and food in between. A few months later, Brian joined my brother and I as we drove from Pittsburgh to Buffalo for Phish -- only to witness Ken Kesey-led madness as the Pranksters took over the second set.

But Brian was more than just a friend through music. He helped show me how to love life. All of it. At all times. I am not sure I will ever know someone who lived and loved life the way Brian did.

I often think of Brian and how our experience here in New York would have been different if he was here. Simply seeing his smiling face at the next concert. The thing is, I do see him. Quite a bit. In the faces of people I walk past on the street, or someone on the subway. It may be a smile, or a height and hair. But I do see him, quite a bit. As my sister said the other day, it is just Brian "watching out for us." I always try to look for cabs and open doors -- but sometimes forget. It is at those times that Brian is probably looking down (Carlin would correct me, lol), helping me get to 35, making it through these past few months . . .

I tracked down my email from ten years ago, asking Phish fans for their thoughts and prayers upon hearing of Brian's accident (rec.music.phish, thanks to Google). I am including it below.

I am writing to all of you to simply ask if you could take a brief moment out of your day to pray, reflect, or simply pause - a amazing friend and Phan, Brian Zelizo, has been in a coma since early Sunday morning, after being struck by a Taxi in downtown New York - I am sure he can benefit from any positive thoughts and karma.

He is a great lover of music, literature, art . . . and life. We have shared some amazing times together: driving from South Bend to New Orleans to experience the fun of JazzFest in 97, smiling to the zaniness of the Merry Pranksters at Darien Lake, and most recently, sharing in the amazing celebration of life down at Big Cypress.

Phish has always been a common bond between the two of us - we always have laughed, discussed, danced, and smiled with their music (I have always been jealous of his recount of 12.31.95 . . . ), so I thought I would send it your way.

Please forgive my cluttering of your mail-box - I just thought he could use some happy thoughts.

Thanks, phriends.

jeremy welsh

"I call Architecture frozen Music."
-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, (1749-1832)