tales of craigslist

When I speak with people about my love for Craigslist, I'm often met with skepticism and an unfounded fear of making deals with strangers. I've been a part of the following exchange more than once:

Q: So, how did you find your place in New York?
A: Craigslist!
Q: REALLY? Isn't that ... dangerous?

Well yes - potentially. But for every Craigslist killer, Craigslist scammer and Craigslist creeper (for lolz, check out the "Casual Encounters" section), there are thousands of other well-intentioned folk. And there are lots of ways to avoid finding yourself in a bad situation.

In Madison I used Craiglist frequently.

• I used it to sell my old Nintendo DS and accompanying games
• I used it to sell the Lollapalooza pass I couldn't use because I had to design the Herald send-home edition. (This is a sore subject - I'm still bummed. Last year's lineup may never be matched)
• I used it to buy a worn-in softball glove for $10
  

I've easily had the most luck with the site through making my own posts. Even if you're looking for a very specific item or a very low price - you'll probably find it. So many people use Craigslist that the odds are good.

Instead of sifting through the thousands of rental posts for Brooklyn and Manhattan, I wrote my own ad. I stated my specifications - the area I'd like to live in, my price range, the dates I'd be in the city. I ended up connecting with a great couple who rent rooms in their brownstone. Its a block from an F stop and Prospect Park. My room is airy and spacious, the neighborhood is (relatively) safe and quiet and my landlords/co-habitators are awesome.

Last week, I posted an ad looking for a large suitcase. I came to New York with just a carry-on; I'd been on vacation in Europe with a big group of friends and had sent three boxes of things ahead. Before flying back to Wisconsin, I needed luggage in a major way.

My post read:

After living in the city for a 5-month unpaid internship, it's time to fly back to Wisconsin. I just... need a suitcase to haul my things there with me.

As my bank account has fallen deeper into the red with each passing day, I don't have much money to spend. If anyone recently cleaned out their attic or closet and has a large-ish rolling suitcase in good condition that they want to get rid of, I'd be thrilled to take it off your hands.

Only email me if you're 1) not a creep and 2) willing to part with a suitcase for under $20. Photos would be very welcome. Thanks!

I was contacted by a handful of people. One prospect seemed best - a woman who lived about a mile away was selling a like-new large suitcase for $25. I made plans to meet up with her after work on Thursday to check out the suitcase.

It was raining, I was a little nervous to meet a stranger (but I'd given her contact info to Nick just in case anything sketchy happened and she seemed legit - I googled her) and I really had to pee. Luckily, the girl was quite cool - she used to be in a rock band and had to traveled to Madison several times. Heck, she even offered me water or beer when she saw my harried state (I turned her down - you never know). But the transaction went smoothly and I got a nearly mint-condition, huge suitcase for $25.

Me with the aforementioned suitcase. Please note that I arrange my clothes by the colors of the rainbow.

These kinds of happy transactions with strangers is exactly why, even though it's killing newspapers, I love Craigslist.

stoops

In Wisconsin, most people have a yard. A lack of the space constraints inherent in big cities allows people to spread out.

There are no brownstones and very few townhouses in the state. In my hometown, new neighborhoods are built atop old farm fields. Development occurs on massive tracts of land.

When people want to get rid of their old and no-longer-needed junk in Wisconsin, they hold yard sales, garage sales and (my favorite) thrift sales.

Advertised through the classified section of the local paper and colorful signs placed strategically around town, these thrift sales can make an impressive amount of money for families with an excess of stuff. My mom has held thrift sales netting thousands of dollars

New York, with its huge population and finite amount of space, breeds a different culture of frugality. Here, there are stoop sales.

That's right. Stoop sales.

Not to be confused with Soupy Sales.

And if people just want their old stuff gone, no money attached, they put it out on their stoop. Usually, the offending items will disappear quickly. In an attempt to lighten my load before heading back to Wisconsin, I've left unwanted clothes and other assorted things on our stoop, and passersby have taken everything.

Stoops are also a common gathering-place for many in this borough. Families sit on their stoops, beer in hands, joking loudly with neighbors on hot nights. Children play shyly with their toys, their stoop and sidewalk substituting for a front yard. My heart, accustomed to a childhood of playing on green grassy lawns, aches for them.

Hey Arnold!, one of my favorite TV shows on Nickelodeon in the 1990s, even had a character based around stoops. Behold: Stoop Kid.

"Stoop Kid's afraid to leave his stoop! Stoop Kid's afraid to leave his stoop!"

Stoop Kid was a nasty older kid who tormented Arnold and his pals. The catch? Just the thought of leaving his stoop sent Stoop Kid into a panicked frenzy.

Me and my stoop: best friends for life.

Though I've seen some strange things from my stoop, (including the hysterical aftermath of the holdup at the deli next door and a man flying a kite with a fishing rod) I'm still not afraid to leave it. There's too much to do and see!

lower manhattan

Weirdly, I hadn't become properly acquainted with Lower Manhattan before this weekend. I'd visited Ground Zero and taken the Staten Island Ferry, but I hadn't walked the distance in between.

What was a mistake! As Emma and I discovered, the area's buildings and parks are gorgeous and historically interesting.

Our sustenance:

Terrace Bagels = NOM NOM. Boiled and baked, as bagels should be. Einstein's will never be the same to me.

Ground Zero: Because it's presently a huge construction site mostly obscured from view, I don't have any photos of Ground Zero, but we started there.

Almost eight years later, the city hasn't forgotten September 11, 2001. FDNY firetrucks list the names of their ladder's fallen, murals visible from the subway announce "Never Forget," I even saw a simple mini-memorial tacked to a tree in Brooklyn.

And New York's mourning was never more palpable than at the giant construction site, a gaping wound in the city's structure.

While standing at the memorial on the side of Ladder Ten next to the WTC site, I saw a firefighter watching from the window. Though none of us could have known what he felt, for a moment we were companions in mourning.

Trinity Church: Built in 1846, Trinity Church sits at one end of Wall Street. Its Gothic architecture contrasts starkly with its finance-house neighbors; seeing the church is stepping into a different era. Alexander Hamilton is buried in its 300-year-old cemetery.


Wall Street: I bet seeing the "world's financial capital" on a weekend is starkly different than on a week day. The empty banks and New York Stock Exchange seemed to symbolize the current financial state. For the future of my unpaid student loans, here's hoping for an upturn!

Emma photographing the New York Stock Exchange. She was so excited to see the buildings she had studied in her classes this semester.

Stone Street: Dating back to the 1600s, Stone Street was supposedly the first paved street in New York. It's closed to traffic and now occupied by a good deal of outdoor restaurant seating. It's rare to see streets like these preserved in the city.

Photo by Complicated, Flickr

Battery Park: The launching-point for the ferries to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, the park was hopping on a Memorial Day Weekend Saturday.

Liberty imitators don't mind a little competition?

Staten Island Ferry: The last time I rode the Staten Island Ferry, it was an unseasonably warm day in February, but the wind made it a bit too cold for comfort. This time, the weather was perfect.

Emma and Manhattan. By the amount of souvenirs this girl bought, I think I converted her into a NYC lover! She left earlier today, so sadly there will be no new blog posts from her visit.

Some fun numbers:

4: days of work left at my internship
12: days until I fly back into Minneapolis
2: visitors left to entertain (Sarah and Tracy)
3: thank you gifts I need to buy for my bosses by Friday
8: chocolate chip cookies I've eaten in the last 24 hours (seriously, MAKE THESE)
1: suitcases I own to take my things back to Wisconsin. To do: vehemently troll craigslist in search of a large, cheap-and-or-free rolling suitcase

the met

Today's adventures were just as exhausting (just less extensive) as yesterday's: Emma and I spent our afternoon at the Met.


The Met is GIGANTIC - it's home to more than two million works of art. It'd be impossible to do the museum justice in a month - much less four hours - but we did our best. Before I leave in two weeks, I'd like to spend another day at the Met and go one of their audio tours. Instead of trying to piece together the stories of all the artifacts myself, I'll get a better feel for the history.

The Temple of Dendur - Egypt donated the temple to the US in the 1960s because of our efforts to save its monuments and relics.

A copy of a bronze statue of the Roman goddess Diana that previously stood in Madison Square Garden.

"Maelstrom" - a sculpture on the Met's rooftop garden. The rooftop view is beautiful and unusual. The green line of trees between the sculpture and the buildings is Central Park. This was Emma and my second city rooftop excursion in less than 24 hours!!

Van Gogh's "Wheat Field" (left) and... something else.

A crazy mirror mosaic - looking into it is rather trippy. Emma's face is great.

Post-Met, we moved on to a part of Central Park I hadn't visited before, in an effort to rest our feet. Instead we walked around and saw cool stuff.

Bassey introducing himself to the Alice in Wonderland statue.

Finally relaxing.

video blog #2: sightseeing extravaganza

After Emma triumphantly made her way to my house (despite much subway confusion) and we got an acceptable amount of sleep, we were ready to take on a grand day of sightseeing.

This video blog will hereby be a testament to today's quest. May it be hosted forever.

video blog #2: sightseeing extravaganza from katie g. on Vimeo.

overseen on the F

On the website Overheard in New York, New Yorkers submit unintentionally hilarious parts of conversations on which they've eavesdropped. I'd like to submit an idea for a new site: Overseen on the F.

The F train is my jam. It's super convenient, taking me to work, home and within blocks of anywhere I want to go in Manhattan. But let me put it delicately: the F has a certain undeniable... charm.

For the past few months, out-of-the-ordinary people and happenings on the F have provided me with more entertainment than I get all year on State Street. These people are competing with Scanner Dan.

A selection of things I've "overseen on the F":

[1] a hip, yoga-mat-toting man eating sushi with chopsticks

[2] a man, perhaps with Tourette's, who loudly vocalized his displeasure with the unmoving train through grunts and yells

[3] a man covertly selling "incense and body oils, incense and body oils..."

[4] an angry vegan PETA-type woman shouting "meat is murder" & scaring passengers into taking a flyer

[5] multiple mariachi bands (I've since realized this is not uncommon)

[6] a man who clearly didn't know how to play the cello, playing a cello.

[7] an invasion of 50 nutty 8-year-olds chattering, yelling and laughing, presumably on the way to a field trip

[8] a shirtless man, fully passed out (before midnight), rolling around with each start and stop of the train

[9] a business man crafting what appeared to be a hemp necklace

[10] a father and son team transporting a shopping cart laden with gigantic bags of bottles and cans - their load was easily the size of a small elephant and the bags were secured by ropes

[11] (new entry!) A man intently hunched over his reading material of choice: the Intimate Toy Times

living solo in ny

When I landed my internship and realized I had two weeks to make arrangements to move to New York (during finals, nonetheless), I freaked.

I'd always wanted to visit New York but never had the chance. I knew next to nothing about the city; I couldn't name the mayor, the five boroughs or identify the location of Central Park. I spent hours researching on Wikipedia, Google and Craigslist. Planning the move was frightening, stressful and exhilarating.

Relocating here was a big change, but I think I've done pretty well on my own. Here's a list of some things that have helped me adjust.

Living Solo in New York: My Essentials

1. City map
This may be incredibly obvious, but let me preface it with a story. One day, after I'd undoubtedly spent too much time on a computer, I found myself wishing that life had a screencap function. Then I realized it did: cameras.

Similarly, I used to wish for an iPhone, just for its Google Map function (I got lost ALL. THE. TIME. when I first moved here - it was rough). Then I realized: I can buy a map.

This $8 map was the best purchase I've made here: with a city map and a subway map in hand, I can do quite well for myself. My next goal is to be able to distinguish between north, south, east and west anywhere in Manhattan.

2. Skype
I have to say, I feel incredibly lucky to live in the Information Age. Being in a long-term long-distance relationship, I don't know what I'd do without the ability to video chat.

Talking with Nick (or Nicole, Dallas and the other residents of the WTC house) on Skype could never compare to being in Madison with them, but it's as close as I can get. Maybe someday there will be hologram communication or teleporting or floo powder, but for now I'm just happy to see my favorite faces on my laptop.

3. Yelp
There is so much to do, see and eat in New York that it can be overwhelming just to pick a place to order Chinese takeout. That's where Yelp comes in: everyday people (or "Yelpers") post their reviews of shops, attractions and restaurants.

You can modify your search by factors like proximity, price range, food type and average rating. I rarely go out to eat at a place I haven't looked up on Yelp, and almost every Yelp-approved place I've tried has lived up to its rating.

4. How I Met Your Mother
With the exception of 30 Rock, I don't usually watch sitcoms...but I'm so hooked on this show right now. Its premise: a father tells his children the tale of how he met their mother.

Luckily, the story isn't short, because every episode leading to the fateful moment is completely delightful. Neil Patrick Harris kills it as Barney, a womanizer with a penchant for suits.

I'm watching all the episodes online in my downtime and I would suggest everyone else do the same.

5. MP3 player
There are a lot of things - and people - best left ignored in New York. Panhandlers, cat-callers, sidewalk wildlife activists, people handing out flyers, and obnoxious subway riders are all quite easily forgotten when one is immersed the sounds of oh, say, Passion Pit and Hot Chip.

6. Sensible shoes
Sadly, this is one category in which I come up short. I should find a pair of summer walking shoes, but I just can't bring myself to add a tenth pair to my shoe collection here.

My feet hate me for this, they really do. I have all sorts of fun new callouses from walking around in uncomfortable shoes. Anyone reading: please don't follow in my painful (but stylish!) footsteps.

7. Black and white cookies
Black and white cookies are kind of a New York staple. On his show, Jerry Seinfeld referenced black and whites as racial harmony in cookie form: "Two races of flavor living side by side. It's a wonderful thing..."

These cookies are certainly harmonious - and delicious. At the bagel shop near my house, you can buy a black and white the size of a small frisbee for a $2. That's a lot of sugar; perfect fuel for a day of sightseeing. Excuses aside, I'm a fiend for a good cookie.

prospect park

Here are some photos from yesterday - I went out to Prospect Park with a couple of scripts I was reading over for my internship. It was gorgeous!


Contrasting these photos with the ones here, I'm so glad it's finally May.

Oh, and no more laid-back weekends for me. Next weekend I'll be in DC with Nick again, the following weekend my high school friend Emma will be visiting and the next weekend my future roommates Sarah and Tracy will be here. Undoubtedly, there will be many action-filled blog posts to be had.

shouting out to stout!

I want to give a quick shout out (or "SO" as we call it in Madison) to all the party people reading from UW-Stout, Wisconsin's own Polytechnic University and my hometown college.

It is my understanding that my mother has been sending out MASS E-MAILS to her friends and colleagues at Stout whenever I update this blog. Some of you I've met and rather enjoy, I've heard stories about others, and one of you has taught me Anthropology. But heck, most of you I've never even met. (And that's totally cool - we can do lunch when I get back. Your treat!)

Please know that my mother acts on her own accord in regards to these e-mails. As I'm sure you're aware, she has quite the mind of her own. If they become too frequent, air your grievances with her.

Regardless, I really do appreciate your readership - forced or not. :)

P.S. Comments would be nice now and then...being 40+ years of age is no excuse, clearly you still know how to use the internet!

P.S.S. If any of you ever want to plan a prank or similar hijinx on my mother, I hereby pledge my support. You know where to find me.

video blog #1: exit the king

I have a special treat for all of you who've been badgering me to update.

Behold: my first foray into video blogging.

first video blog//exit the king from katie on Vimeo.

If you have anything you want me to show, talk about or have any questions you'd like me to answer, let me know! I'll try doing this again.