Author: F C

Soundtrack: Take Me Away (Wendy Ip, MP3 ). [Reviewers say Ip’s like Gwen Stefani singing Elvis Costello, and they’re right. She does everything: writes, composes, plays piano/keyboards and guitar. Bought her self-produced CD from the Union Square Virgin Megastore.]

Take me away from this small tired place
Take me away cause I need it
Show me the way, how can I find more space
How can I try to beat it

P– has spent several sessions over my apartment doing more than a gang of Queer Eyes could. She’s been doing her best to turn a pig’s sty into something resembling a liveable space: new tiles and shower curtains in the bathroom, a revamped kitchen, tons of stuff thrown out. Apparently, it’s too little, too late. The City of New York has come down like a stack of bricks on my (lack of) interior design.

There was a letter posted next to the mailboxes in the lobby. One of my neighbors was staring at it totally befuddled. “… This would allow the City to acquire the captioned property through a condemnation proceeding”. I know that is legal-ese for “the government is going to knock down the building and give it to some real estate developer”. Apparently, the entire block received the notice stating that it was in the path of the “Brooklyn Center Revitalization Plan”.

My landlord actually was kind of non-plussed about it. “Well, it will take years and dozens of hearings before that happens. Look at what they have been trying to do with the Brooklyn Bridge Park. It’s been 15 years and nothing’s happened. Besides, the person that wrote the letter just quit.” Actually, I’m putting my money on 12-15 months.

It’s probably a blessing in disguise: I’ve been thinking about buying property, but this is probably going to be the thing that gets me over my inertia. Maybe it’s borrowed time, but I’m still going to miss this place, though.

Consumer Webwatch, the Internet arm of Consumers Union, spent $38,000 buying air, car and hotel reservations to see if choose your own price sites Priceline and Hotwire actually beat what can be found on regular travel sites. The answer is yes; in Priceline’s case 47% of the time. However, Orbitz placed a close second, and you didn’t have to fly blind. The only caveat is that the trained bettor knew what the going price of that reservation was going to be by looking it up in Sabre, the travel agents reservation network. Most people bet on Priceline without a clue of what would be the lowest price that would be accepted. You can read the report online.

F.D.A. Defers Final Decision About Implants (New York Times)

In a story about the F.D.A. holding off of approving silicone breast implants:

Many people expected the agency to follow the recommendation of its advisory committee, which is its usual practice. But the implant issue was particular fractious.

“This was a very visible product, and we had input from almost everybody and anybody,” Dr. Feigal said.

[Dr. David Feigal is an official of the Food and Drug Administration]