Taxi Cab Wisdom

Here is a little taxi cab information for all my New Yorkers, and people visiting the city.

The driver has a special license called a Hack License. (S)he gets it from the Taxi and Limousine Commission (the TLC). Hack licenses have a number. This number is sequential. It started with the first license (at the dawn of time) 00001. It has been going up ever since. You can tell how long a driver has been driving (on that license) by looking at the first 2 digits. This is useful cause say it is Halloween weekend and you want to go home to Queens (or the Upper East Side) and your cabbie pretends that he does not know how to get there, cause there are more lucrative short term fares around. You can say "so your hack starts with a 41. That means you have been driving for what 20 years? At least 17 right?" This will shut them up and get you where you want to go.

Below is DeNiro's Hack License from 1975. He got it when researching for "Taxi Driver."


The numbers do not correlate to years or anything other then the sequence in which the license was issued. If you ask drivers how long they have been driving and look at the first 2 numbers you can get pretty good at guessing.

Guessing correctly at the start of the ride has gotten me some pretty interesting stories. First they are impressed cause so few people know this. Sometimes they think you are from the TLC and are on their best behavior. Other times they open up to you. One time I had a cabbie that had been driving for 30+ years, owned 2 medallions, a house in Brooklyn and another in Haiti. Turns out that he had well over $2 million in assets. He was semi retired and lived between here and Haiti.

Another great thing about chatting with you cabbie is that if (s)he has been on the road a long time (s)he might know a quicker way for you to get home.

Green Power from Con-Ed

We switched to green power from Con-Ed about a year ago and it has been great. Click here for the enrollment form.

They have the program for businesses and residences.

If you are not in NYC, check if your local utility does something similar.

It ends up costing about the same cause you don't have to pay sales tax. This way I can run by air conditioner with reckless delight and not feel so bad about it.

Greenworks cleaners

I woke up at 5 am and was watching HGTV. They had ads for these products. They are called Greenworks and are made by Clorox. Sam switched us to different green cleaners a while ago. She orders them off the internet and we get giant tubs of the stuff.

I am wondering if anyone has had a chance to try these. Please comment with your experiences.

Friday Morning, Get Down!

It's Friday morning, and it's high time to get the weekend started with a little disco jam.

Today it's Lovers Holiday from Change.

I love youtube for the home made music videos.

Nike Chicken

I was chatting with a friend today about parkour and I thought about this video. Parkour is a style of movement categorized by efficiency. This video came to mind.



I love the direction; when the guy busts in on the kids playing video games and they are static until they see the chicken and then recoil. It gets me every time.

1500 Thread Count Sheets for $108...... You're Welcome

I have these sheets (the 1200 thread count version) and I love them. They are smooth, super thick and crisp. I am running out to get these higher thread count sheets as soon as I am done typing.

It is best to send them out to get washed and pressed. They have a special machine for pressing sheets. I tried to iron them myself and they are too thick. You can just grab them from the dryer, but they will look like crumpled paper and stay that way a little when on the bed. Getting them pressed is like $10 (half a lap dance) but way more worth it.

It is like sleeping in a magical envelope of amazingness. These sheets have ruined staying in hotels for me. I am like "my sheets at home are better." And at these prices....


Overstock.com

You're Welcome!

Esme's First 1st Birthday

Esme's birthday is today. We are keeping it pretty chill, accept for the family photo, but more on that in another post.

Her aunties Helen and Lib (who refused to be photographed) came over on the 6th with gifts and cupcakes. We did her first 1st birthday. She has had a couple other small parties since, but this was the first.


Esme is so small for a 1 year old. She is such a little monkey too. She is waving and getting more vocal. She is loud, but it is so cute.

Here she is on Sam's lap looking kinda dumbfounded. I am sure we were singing at this point and she was confused.