Cockroaches Not Welcome Here

Last night, Tokii and I had an all-out war with one of the biggest cockroaches either of us have ever seen. It was the two humans-on-one bug showdown of the year. We spent the better part of 20 minutes chasing a swift, invincible, super roach with a shoe, hairspray and a bottle of 409 degreaser from the hallway to the hall closet, back down the hallway, into Candice's room, behind her bureau, into her closet, and it finally ended with a fatal squish. Not suprisingly, no one came knocking on our door or called the police to investigate the 20-some-odd minutes of terrified shrieks, charging battle roars and frustrated screams from Tokii's apartment. Today, while I was at work, Tokii set off a bug bomb in the apartment. This weekend, I'm buying a can of Raid roach spray.

I didn't leave the office tonight until after 10 o'clock. On the subway back to the Bronx, I tried to discretely read the Newcomer's Handbook to Moving to New York City in my lap. I felt like one of those tourists you see in Times Square with an overpriced visitor's guide, a giant folding map, and that ever-so-inquisitive "which way is the Empire State Building" look. Some natives may scoff at the idea of trying to learn this city from a book, but Belden Merims 19th edition is well-written, informative and hugely insightful - no matter how dorky I feel reading it in public, carefully positioning the book in my lap to conceal the cover and spine so as to not subliminally broadcast my new, unfamiliarity to the city. My cousin "in-law-but-not-really" gave the book to me as a welcome gift to the Big Apple. It arrived in the mail yesterday and I began reading it almost immediately. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband (the son of my aunt's new husband) and their son. I hope to meet them when they get back from vacation this week or next.

Interesting Meaningless Information of the Week: Two guys broke the record yesterday for riding the entire metro system - every line through all 600+ miles - in less than 25 hours, the previous record.