Brain brain, go away

Memory of Rain
Originally uploaded by Tapio Hurme

The past couple of weeks, the weather in New York has been a super weird tease. It gets beautiful for a few short days and then rapidly descends back into awful awful rain and cold. So people are talking about it like it's the only interesting thing in life. This may be true (probably not), but it got me thinking about the irony of the fact that people demean small talk about weather so much yet allow it to dominate conversations when it acts up.

We're such slaves to the elements, and we barely even realize it. We talk about the rain and then the sun and the temperature because it is this huge thing that we can't control. Sure, we can try to stop global warming (which, according to one of my first graders, is caused by cows' farts), but beyond our measly efforts, we really can't control the weather.

So talking idly about the weather really isn't as lame as it always seems. Or maybe that's just my rationalization of the fact that I unashamedly indulge in that kind of conversation now that I live in a place where weather exists (in California, the rain is always good and the only kind of discomfort I felt from the weather was delicious delicious sunburn - hey look at me all idealizing woo).

I'm not entirely sure if I've ever met someone unaffected by Seasonal Affective Disorder, because to me, and people around me, the sunshine level so heavily influences our moods. When that sun comes out, I want to shout glorious, ridiculous things like "HOW WAS I LIVING BEFORE?!" Then again, I've also said that about the feeling you get when you shave your legs for the first time in a while. TMI right?

Incidentally, 1000awesomethings.com is a fantastic burst of optimism for rainy days (and all days)!

NYU: Gramercy Green Floor Plan

Click for larger. Here it is, friends. The holy grail you've been searching for. I'm about to explain this uninteresting image into the ground, so hold on to your hats.

Please note: I am not intimately familiar with every single room or floor in Gramercy. I am not responsible for the ultimate accuracy of this description. If you catch a mistake or have something to add, please comment below and I might make an updated version of this post in the coming days.

Do NOT post questions about specific rooms that I have not discussed in this post. I will not be able to answer them. If somebody comes along and provides accurate information about any other rooms, I'll add it. Until that happens, I do not know anything more than I have written below.

• My advice to you
  
  
  
  • If you're looking for a certain type of room, e.g. studio double, don't worry about figuring it out from this floor plan. When you go online to pick at your lottery time, you will be able to see all the studio doubles (or other setups) you wish. I'm merely posting this so you can get a feel for the placement of rooms on each floor.
  
  
  • When you go into the lottery, try to be as clear with your card-members on what you want in a room. There will be a lot of information on the lottery site for you to take in, and if you don't act quickly, especially with Gramercy, you could lose the room you want.


• About the floors
  
  
  
  • There are 21 floors and a penthouse, plus a cellar and subcellar. There is no 13th floor. So, technically, there are 20 floors available for NYU students (no rooms on ground floor), with approximately 18 rooms on each floor. Keep in mind that there are some non-NYU families living here, or at least there were in 2008-2009.
  
  
  • On the 2nd floor, the room numbers are completely different because of the huge study lounge (-02 position), CDE/ACDE offices and the rabbi-in-residence (ok I'm not sure if the latter lives on 2, but he and the other faculty- and people in-residence are scattered throughout the building). So, the first room available to NYU students is 202, which corresponds to -06 on the above image.
  
  
  • Floors 4, 5 and 6 have lounges in the -03 position, so that throws the numbering off as well.
  
  
  • Room sizes/numbers might be different on the 17th floor and above, because there is a terrace/balcony on 17.
  
  
  • I believe most RA rooms are in the -16 position. They have a single the size of a double studio and they have a nice leather couch. Make friends with them. :)
  
  
  • From floors 2 to 9 or 10, the -14 rooms, which on other floors have nice corner setups, are flush with the building next door, so the views might not be ideal. I have not been in these rooms though.
  
  

(Same image as above. Click for larger.)

• About this floor plan image
  
  
  
  • If there is no (#) indicated, then I do not know how many people are in that particular suite. Sorry!
  
  
  • I based it on the miniature floor plans given on the Housing site for Gramercy. It is accurate for the pieced-together knowledge I have of rooms on various floors. Specifically, I am familiar with the following rooms and can attest to their accuracy, if you're interested: 202 (-06 position), 204 (-08 position), 705, 1018, 1101, 1109, and 1114. However, because I know that rooms are generally the same on different floors, I can say this is a good general view of a Gramercy floor plan. /disclaimer haha.
  
  
  • For the rooms I have actually been in, I have drawn lines to show the approximate location of the A and B rooms (-05 has a C room too). The small square in the suite marks the bathroom. -05 has two bathrooms that I have not marked. Keep in mind that the rest of the space in suites will include kitchen space (counters, fridge, dishwasher etc.), possible closets and room for a table. Non-RA rooms in Gramercy do not have couches.
  
  
  • The number in parentheses shows the number of bed spaces in a given room. For example, -14 is a four (4)-person suite with (2) in the A room and (2) in the B room.
    
  • The grayed-out areas from left are: stairway, laundry (on approximately every other floor), and elevator/trash/other stairway.
  
  
  • The space between -18 and -01 is occupied by a terrace on the 2nd floor. This means that all -18 room residents can see into -01 rooms and vice versa etc. Same for -14 and -02 I believe. This was fun in the beginning of this year when everyone had their blinds open, but people got shy soon enough so it's harder to spy now. The views from these rooms are still decent because the windows are sufficiently large. For more on an -01 see my 1101 picture post.



• The "best" rooms
  
  
  
  • Honestly, I think they're all decent. And frankly, you're living in Gramercy with amazing kitchen appliances and building facilities, so don't complain if you don't get the exact room you think is the best. But if you're looking for a corner room with floor-to-ceiling window options, you'll want either -02, -05, -11 or -14. This only goes for floors 7 and above, because 2 through 6 are so weirdly configured.
  
  
  • The higher floors I'm sure have great views, but remember that that means you have to go down 15+ stairs for fire drills. We had upwards of 10 fire drills this year.
  
  
  • The rooms within some suites (to cite some, -09 and -05) are fairly small. They are livable, but they're not grand open spaces. The kitchens are likewise fairly modest. In updating Gramercy Green for dorm living, many of the apartments formerly destined for luxury family living were separated into several dorm-style apartments, so sometimes the shapes and sizes of rooms are awkward. For example, -01 and -02 on some floors used to be one full apartment.

All right everyone, hope that was helpful. If you have further clarification or information to provide, please add a comment below (it's the honor system, I want to give you the benefit of the doubt and trust your accuracy because this guide will be helping people in learning about Gramercy), and I may get around to adding it to the post soon.

Anticipation

Hey kids, here is an announcement to ease the fears of you NYU people fretting over the lottery:

Before the end of the weekend, I will have a post about Gramercy Green and the types of rooms, including a wide schematic of the floorplan (but not individual rooms). I do not know about every type of room but I will make it as complete as I can.

Keep your eyes peeled!

The Green Guide's What Happens to...

... Recycled Ink Jet Cartridges!



Now, I know that sounds supremely unexciting. But if you hadn't realized that recycling is a big deal yet, then you're kind of like those people who don't know what's going on with the economy, and those people are just a damn shame.

I know from personal experience that the mere thought of taking my old, useless printer cartridge all the way down to Staples (an absurdly un-horrifying twelve blocks) struck fear and laziness into my heart for nearly all of last semester. I even considered throwing the cartridges away - our course of action last year when we weren't quite sure of what was going on with this whole "ink cartridge recycling" notion.

The whole thing is pretty simple: your little baby cartridge gets taken with its myriad brothers and sisters to a plant where it gets disassembled (I can't vouch for any lack of pain here) and its components are used, along with those of its brethren, to make BRAND SHINY NEW INK CARTRIDGES. It's like they came out of nowhere!! Isn't that amazing! I mean, can you imagine the landfill buildup caused by those of us ignorant of this beautiful process? I'm sure big businesses and schools like mine go through tons of ink cartridges a day. I would really like to be able to know that those sad old cartridges were being used for something as glorious of out-of-nowhere-new-cartridge-making...

Check out the other recycling galleries and articles on TheGreenGuide.com for more moments of amazement!

Updated labels

Just a quick note with the purpose of directing your eyes to the right of the screen: I've finished de-cluttering my labels. I'm sure I might think of other stuff to put in that list, but for now this is a much better way of organizing the labels (tags) for my posts than what I had before. Now things are separated into clutter and life and stuff in between. Enjoy.