Hi all.

Does anyone know where to donate blood in JC where it is just a walk in, easy peasy thing? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

summit auto. rich and tommy are awesome with every car i've brought to them.

2 crock pots going all day today. two more tomorrow. what could be better to chase away a rainy sunday morning that a piping hot bowl of Karl Mueller's Chilltown Chili? be there or... well, just be there.

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php ... 0012719012797&pnref=story

thanks worm! i'm gonna get another grand. i have the space for it, and i am ALL ABOUT DAT BASS.

and iGreg, i'll put it next on my list. after the bach prelude i started working on mussorgsky's "pictures at an exhibition." and i told my wife i'd learn "purple rain." so "linus and lucy" is batting fourth. i'll put up some videos. right now recording this piano in this room with the recording equipment i have sounds terrible.

thanks dmark526. aart is on the case, as are two other people who know what the heck this thing might be worth. as soon as i have a rough idea of its value cashwise and tradewise, i'll start casting a wider net.

totally trambone. anything, really. i just need to get as much as i can for this one because i just don't have a ton of cash lying around. i used to play scriabin and ligeti. i went back to the basics after my health stuff and i swear after a week i'm playing faster than ever. so fast that i have outgrown this piano. i need a piano with accelerated action. trust me, nobody could be more shocked than me. but yeah. i started with the birthplace of classical piano, bach's well-tempered clavier. prelude one. and in four days i was outplaying the piano. weird. but cool. i'm not saying i'm a concert pianist, but i'm having a lot of fun.

thanks, grovepath! awesome to have that news! that was very helpful and has made my day a lot brighter! i bet the webmaster will not and 25 cents says so. i propose the webmaster has until saturday at 9am to move this post. at 9am you and i will meet on grove street at city hall and one of us will give the other a quarter. you in?

If anyone who knows anyone who could help me out, that would be super groovy. Thanks!


http://www.karlrmueller.com/pages/sketch/?p=85

just gave my two cents on the handyman thread currently one thread below this one on the main page (i know webmaster will probably merge these at some point).

Hi. Some of you know me. I teach piano. I have played with some people you may have heard of and written some books you may have read and I come from a good pedigree of teachers. But that's not important. What is important is that I'm really good at figuring out how people learn and applying that to the piano.

A few years ago I had a Transient Ischemic Attack and that means that a couple of fingers on my left hand don't always do what I want them to. I got bummed and stopped the whole piano thing. Over this summer a strange set of circumstances have led me back to what I believe I was put here for. I will offer a free lesson so we can get to know each other. I charge $30 and $60 for 30 and 60 minute lessons in my home (which is on Fairmount between West Side and JFK). I charge $45 and $75 for 30 and 60 minute lessons in your home in Jersey City. If you'd like to contact me, please feel free to do so at karl(at)karlrmueller(dot)com.

1. i haven't the foggiest idea why someone who does not live here would care about this designation.

2. i am a little disappointed because i read somewhere that establishment of this designation would double my home value overnight. well, i checked on zillow and that did not happen. something must be wrong.

obviously, the later you get home, the worse. by 9 it can be a drag. they recently zoned it for residents only and that helped, but it's still tight late. we passed on a place with parking for one car and bought a place with two spots (we each drive) and it's nice being able to stay out later and not have to worry about looking for a spot for 30 minutes. plus it's really helpful when we have guests. we put them in the drive and one of us with a zone permit parks on the street. saves us having to deal with a guest permit. good luck and welcome to the neighborhood! we like it here.

http://www.rockasorri.com/

michael is a good friend.

Quote:

salumeria ercolano, right behind puccini. it's my favorite deli in jc. it's expensive for a deli, but all the stuff (ingredients, salads, etc.) are all really fresh and good, and the sandwiches they make are awesome. great bread and they put like a pound of meat on those things. if i get a sandwich i wind up eating half for lunch and half for dinner.

thanks again to everyone for the replies, messages and links. and again, it is only my own ignorance that brought me to this conversation so late in the game. i've done some homework and talked to a bunch of people and this is what i think.

the best argument i can make for the historic district is that this administration is very "developy," and this could put reins on the 500-unit skyscraper which replaces boyd-mcguiness park, or on st. peters turning homes into parking garages. i do believe those are legitimate arguments.

however, this area is not ready, as evidenced by the fact that most anyone i talk to refers to the added expense of keeping up their properties to historic standards. as far as i can tell from using the internet, this area only has 60 to 65 percent of the income levels of the other historic districts. i feel that a yes/no on this should be made by people from an aesthetic perspective, not a financial one. asking me if i want to buy a bently or a mazda is not a real question, because i have to say mazda. if a few years from now i have a few million in the bank (as a piano teacher), then it will be a more realistic question. if the people here could make a decision based on what they think would be best for the neighborhood from something other than solely a financial level, it would be a more realistic question.

the duncan projects were torn down just a few years ago only two blocks from the proposed district, there are stores on west side within the proposed district that have been boarded up for the 5 years we have lived here and there is still a bodega selling cheap alcohol and lottery tickets on 3 corners out of 4. i think this area is up and coming, but i do not think it has arrived yet, and i believe that this designation would retard, rather than enhance, growth in our neighborhood.

thanks to all for the thoughts and referrals. we are in fine shape, as we did a ton of work after sandy, so won't need to again (hopefully) for a while. but we have had maybe three houses bought and refurbished on our block in the last year and i'm curious to know how much of that would have taken place if it needed to be done within certain guidelines. we've also had some multi-family homes bought and turned back into single-families, which is cool because that means less cars and more invested occupants, and i'm not certain what this means for that. i guess the one thing that this all means is that i need to be better about being informed about local goings-on so i don't get to the next party so late. i know that jc has a twitter account. does anyone follow that and find it helpful? i'm (gasp!) not even on twitter.

thanks brewster. i will search that out when i get home tonight.

is there anyone who lives in an historic district who has an opinion about whether it is a good or bad thing? i have read a lot of stuff online and i know some of the arguments for/against, but i haven't heard any first hand victory or horror stories. we are inside this area and have done a bunch of work to our place, and though it may not be historic, it looks a lot nicer than when we moved in. any experiences? thanks.

regarding your original post:

there is a gay couple across the street from us and a gay guy next door. we are on fairmount btw jfk and west side. i would say no worries on that front.

overall, the neighborhood has been great for us the five years we've been here. the upside is that it's quiet and we have a driveway (we moved from san francisco so parking was important to us). the downside is that there is not much in the way of entertainment. we're hoping that west side ave starts opening some places we would dig at some point. but even if not, it's not a hassle to get to downtown or the city. we're happy here.

we've been here (fairmount btw jfk and west side) for 5 years. either the perception of the area is changing or the area itself is. when i first wrote on this forum that we were moving here a lot of people said i would be mugged and beaten and robbed. now people are not saying that as much. it seemed fine to us when we moved here. but this area is definitely very parochial, almost on a block-by-block basis. there are apartment buildings in the area. i do not know how many are section 8 but the streets are calmer and easier to park on away from the apartment buildings. in general:

pros: we have a yard and a two car driveway and more space than we know what to do with.

we have nice neighbors who help us out with shoveling snow, etc., when we are away.

it is very quiet.

we have had no issues with our cars, home, or selves since we moved here, except for some reason someone stole two of our garbage cans.

alnooor on west side at duncan makes the meanest chicken pita wraps. those things are like crack.

my wife loves running in lincoln park, and taking the dog there is a lot of fun (there is a huge dog park).

cons: aside from alnooor, we generally need to get in the car if we want good food (i go to some of the other places on west side when i'm home alone, but my wife isn't really a fan).

path is a 15-minute walk (ok for me, since i only do it once or so a week, but could get old during the winter on a daily basis).

no nightlife. doesn't matter to me, but to some it might.

as far as the traffic: since the skyway closed, traffic is a bummer, especially around communipaw and route 440. during rush hours, forget about it. so now, i just go downtown for shopping or sundries. my wife has a reverse commute, and she says it hasn't been so bad. but when i just want to get milk and eggs now i just go to the place by bj's (i forget what brand it is). it probably takes slightly less time, and i'd rather drive than sit.

overall, we see (again, where we are, since the area is different block by block), people on our block renovating and taking an interest in community affairs. we like it here and we are planning to do some major work on our place this spring as well. we are happy to be here. it may not be for everyone, but it's great for us.

thanks to everyone (again). i've written all of these ideas down, just in case of another site crash. i'll post on what i find out.

hi everyone- i posted this yesterday but it got blitzed in the website crash. looking for a place to host a piano recital for about a dozen performers and about 25 audience members. i got some great leads on here yesterday but when i came on today to do some follow up, obviously, the post was gone. if anyone who posted with info yesterday would be kind enough to repost or remessage me, i'd be most grateful. thanks!

amelia's at 147 warren does a fine burger. not cheap, but plenty good.

http://www.smarthomeintegrationusa.com/

two friends have used them (one for a huge job with like 17 sets of speakers through the house) and they love them.

i have these nuts that can only be opened by this funky key on my seat post and both wheels. since i put them on the bike i have left it in san francisco, bergen county, jc and nyc and never had a problem. if you google onguard skewers they will pop up.

we live a block away on fairmount, and have for almost 3 years. between 7am and 11pm, when we are out and about, we have had no issues at all. my wife goes running 3 days a week in lincoln park early in the morning and has never had any trouble. for full disclosure's sake, she does take our dog running with her.

walking to and from path up jfk has been fine for us (again, we are not usually out at 3am so do with that what you will).

the area on duncan west of west side (near lincoln park) is not someplace i would feel comfortable walking around at night by myself as a young woman in. that's a terribly constructed sentence but you get my drift.

we like it here. we have parking and a yard. the main thing we like about being here is the space. we moved from a shoebox in san francisco.

there are a few good restaurants in our neighborhood, but you will probably find yourself wanting to stretch your menu after a short while.

i think where you are looking is a good place for families or people who are mellow or quiet, i think if you use your head you will be safe, and i think if you want to party hard you will be bored unless you leave the neighborhood.

i signed up. thanks to brightmoment and others for your work.

i think that the fact that there aren't a thousand replies here that say that anyone foolish enough to live in jsq will be kidnapped, mugged and drawn and quartered two seconds after they arrive shows that attitudes are changing.

we looked everywhere in jc, and decided on a single family detached home with a medium-sized yard and parking for two cars. that's what we wanted. the trade-off is that yes, we have to drive ten minutes to downtown two times out of three when we go out to eat, but we feel that is a worthwhile trade-off.

our lifestyle is such that we're usually indoors between midnight and 6am, so factor that in, but thus far we have had no issues whatsoever with our house, our cars or our selves and we've made probably 8 to 10 good friends in the neighborhood. we like it here.

does anyone know a good tax attorney in town for estate planning sorts of things? thanks.