Erin Miller

Apologies for the Spanish titles, it is just what happens when I start reflecting on my experiences in West Harlem. Whatever you are doing right now, wouldn't it be better with a free iced coffee? Dunkin' Donuts is having Free Iced Coffee Day! In connection with the event, they are also donating 80,000 bucks to the Police Athletic League's Youth Leadership Program. The PAL is the group that shuts down 151st street every weekday during the summer so that kids in West Harlem have somewhere to run and play some hoops. Free Iced Coffee day has helped me work towards one of my goals of enjoying the food of West Harlem and Washington Heights before I take off for the summer. So far I have had a farewell serving of pineapple on a stick, sliced oranges, a cheese empananada, un morir soñando, and free iced coffee that naturally comes with milk and sugar, (I can tell you that very few people in Washington Heights drink their coffee black.) Morir soñando means to die dreaming, which is what would happen if you were hit by a bus while enjoying one of these Dominican beverages made from fresh squeezed juice from two oranges and one lime, a touch of vanilla, chopped ice and evaporated milk -- amazing. I was dressed for work when I bought one from the Dominican man by the laundromat and we started making small talk about the upcoming Dominican elections before he asked in a grandfatherly way if I was married and told me I had a good figure -- I can tell you these morir soñandos will take care of that quick. I wonder how many of them I can get in before beginning my diet of Starbucks for the summer.

There is a decided trend in the blogosphere to become overly busy in the spring and delay posting, I have been one of the trend's worst victims. So many things have happened in the last month that it will be difficult to do justice to them all. It's been an awesome busy month full of big decisions. So for now, here is a rundown:

**My family visited me in NYC for about a week. Highlights include 3 Broadway shows, lots of amazing food, and seeing the guy who essentially invented the electric guitar play jazz at the age of 92.
**Looking for an apartment in Manhattan -- this was an adventure. My friend and I looked at several 500 square foot "two-bedrooms" where agents suggested that we live with all our stuff and our two big dogs. (Abby's dog, Max, is a 120 pound Great Dane/Rottweiler/German Shepard mix, and then there is my 50 pound poodle. Though admittedly this was not entirely the agents' fault, as we described Abby's dog as a "lab mix" on the application forms (he might have some lab in there somewhere, you don't know) -- but still, two people, a lab, and a poodle in 500 square feet? "Oh, yes, the toilet, well, see it's in that tiny circular hole over there by the stove..." My brother is getting ready to move onto the post-college phase of his life and was also recently looking for apartments. We compared notes a bit, "a what? a model apartment? Just to look at?"
**Finding an apartment in Manhattan -- So my old roommate and I ended up splitting up, and I decided on a room in a brownstone just a few blocks form my old place. I have a beautiful room, and Spot has her own backyard, and the whole thing is so amazing that I am afraid I will jinx it by mentioning it here. I just have to go load my dishwasher real quick, and then maybe I will take a jacuzzi bath before barbecuing on my flagstone deck. Spot still misses bossing around Max but has become reasonably good friends with Che, the resident beagle.
**Jaunting off to Denver to attend a banquet with my brother who was awarded most distinguished computer science graduate out of CU Boulder, but I am pretty sure they just toss those awards around. What can I say? I am just proud to share his genes. I also got to spend a couple of relaxing days with Dan in his soon to be ex-Denver house. He is getting ready to move back up to Boulder to begin a prestigious business-accelerator program, so hooray for more time with the flatirons in the background.
**Meanwhile, my sister qualified for the JOs -- for those of you not hip to the lingo, it means Junior Olympics. Her volleyball team will be competing in Dallas this fall. I am proud to share her genes too.
**Moving from my old apartment to my new apartment -- 100 million cart loads later I collapsed wounded and broken onto the new mattress on the floor, and I don't hardly own anything.
**Dan came to visit me in the city for a wonderful and relaxing 11 days while we both had some downtime in our lives. Highlights include: taking him to "In the Heights" (one of the musicals I saw with my family about my NYC neighborhood, or barrio), an art museum (the Met), introducing him to some school friends over drinks by the Hudson, "the best Korean restaurant in Manhattan," watching The Daily Show be filmed followed by an amazing dinner at an Italian restaurant and then by an indescribable molten chocolate cake from one of the best French restaurants in the city, barbecuing in my new yard, sunny afternoons, walks with the dog, and making dinners together. My mom once told me that she knew Dan loved me when he first offered to take me to the airport just about two years ago. I think that building a dresser, a bed, and hauling 200 dollars worth of groceries about two miles through town fit into that same category.
**Over the weekend there was a parade each day for one of the candidates for president of the Dominican Republic. Their elections are May 16.
**Finishing my last final, and being officially done with my first year of grad school, as of today.
**And lastly, after much debate between a couple of great options, I made a decision about my summer internship. I will be interning with the health care team of the GAO (Government Accountability Office) at their Seattle field office. I hear Seattle has amazing summers. I am a bit concerned though because I fear that my patience with April showers bringing May showers may be wearing thin. Everyone I talk to though says the same thing, "it doesn't really rain that much in Seattle."