Born Again

A while ago, I bring a girl back to my Fortress of Solitude. We're sitting on the bed, she's glancing around making a quick appraisal of my possessions. She points to my modest 26" HDTV, which I'd gotten off Craigslist, and remarks, "Uh... mine's better."
| | | | |I'm not sure what started the itch to get a new television recently. It's something I've been mulling over for a while. Stifled less by a consideration of the cost and more so by a contemplation of how to get rid of my old, unwieldy cathode ray tube television. It was kind of a big ordeal to get the television in the first place (as attendees of NickEmma's wedding will recall from my blockbuster speech) and I didn't relish the thought of inviting random Craigslist serial killers over to my apartment to kill me and steal my old tv.

But this desire for an upgrade would not quit. Perhaps spurred by the end of the HD format wars. And the end of the writers strike. And the fact that I watch so goddamn much television and movies...

Sooo... I made the leap. Circuit City will haul off your old tv when you buy a new one from them. I admit, I went slightly overboard with the size, but—despite the anecdote I related at the beginning of this entry—you should NOT analyze that. Sometimes a laughably oversized flat-panel plasma 1080p HDTV is just a laughably oversized flat-panel plasma 1080p HDTV. Okay?? (50", fyi. Suck on that.)
| | | | |What's great is that the pending delivery of my new HDTV, scheduled for Friday afternoon, has forced/inspired/incentivized me to do some major spring cleaning. I got a lot done last night. I'll do more tonight and tomorrow morning. But the place is already looking... completely transformed.

There's so much I want to accomplish this year and it may sound funny but this feels like a fresh start. With that bulky CRT television out of the way, I think the new flat panel is really going to help open up the room. (And it's going to be like sleeping in Times Square!)
Walking through Central Park on the way to work this morning, I passed by The Falconer statue. I glanced up at the statue. Then looked back at the walkway before me just as a real fucking falcon was swooping down on a squirrel!

Sadly, the squirrel managed to escape the falcon's grasping talons. And the falcon flew back up into the trees.

[If I were a liar, I could have easily said that I saw a falcon eat a squirrel this morning. Would have made for a more thrilling anecdote, to be sure. And who could disprove it? But I could never lie to you, Constant Lurkers...]
Before I left the apartment, I caught this news story about an explosion in Times Square this morning.

Which explained the vision of helicopters hovering watchfully over mid-town as I moved south through Central Park...