Just couldn't stay away...

So, I'm back. I found I missed it. I'm still torn, but I thought I'd post these articles, and maybe a few pictures from summer.

This one I had to post after reading it myself and having three people send it to me, about becoming a New Yorker. I'm no New Yorker yet, but I do recognize many points well made. My favorite, a quote from one Mr. Chen:

"'I’m pretty good with the subways now, but at night it’s a little weird, and I don’t really know how that works.'

(Neither do we, Mr. Chen.)"

Also it mentions that in 2006, around 77,000 people in their 20s had been in the city for less than a year. I was one of those! I've told they probably didn't survey people in convents, though, so that takes the count up to at least 77,006.

Also, I thought as an avid opposer of gated communities and most HOAs, I thought this NYTimes blog post was good food for thought. In the comments section below the post, a lot of people say, if you don't like 'em, don't move to a neighborhood with a HOA. The scary thing is a lot of the new developments that go up all over the place have mandatory HOAs that do everything from mandate the color of your house to outlaw clotheslines. So if the only affordable place to live is a new development with a HOAs, there's not really a choice at all. It reminds me of that X-Files episode where this monster made of lawn dirt ate people who broke the neighborhood rules. Anyone? Anyone?