IAmDann Presents: Things I Love Thursday, November 17th

Wow, this week seemed to go by so fast, and yet so much stuff happened! Events that feel like they took place weeks ago occurred mere days ago. Perspective is way off. But regardless of what day it feels like, the calendar tells me that it IS Thursday, which means it’s time for yet another Things I Love Thursday post! So unbuckle your seat belt, take your hands off the wheel, and slowly veer into a big pile of things I love!

Having a PO Box

I’ve had a PO Box in one place or another since I was 17 years old. For me, it just makes sense. Especially when one moves so much, it’s nice to have a permanent address. It’s also nice to have an address that I can give people or companies allow them to remain ignorant of where I sleep at night. Without worry, I can post my address anywhere and say, for example, “send me holiday cards this year!” In fact, you should send me a holiday card this year!

Dann Berg
PO Box 209
New York, NY 10013

I got my first PO Box when I was in high school back in Arizona. At that time, I had started up my own zine distribution company, Deranged Distribution, and wanted a dedicated address for receiving mail orders that wasn’t my actual house. This worked out great until it was discovered that I was also using my PO Box to order other stuff, such as “legal herbal marijuana!” (which, by the way, is all crap) and other contraband. Since I was still 17 and still a minor, I was swiftly brought to the Post Office and forced to cancel the box. But the week I turned 18, I went right back to that post office and reopened the box. Having a PO Box just made me feel better.

After moving to New York for college, I was able to secure a PO Box at the end of my Freshman year. This PO Box was more a result of extreme convenience rather than any statement of independence. While living on campus, my residence and address changed about twice a year. I had one address during the school year and another address when I worked on campus during the summer. Having a PO Box made things like bills, car registration, insurance, and bank accounts so much easier to manage. I just gave them all my PO Box and never had to think about it again.

I kept this same PO Box, out on Long Island, even after I moved to New York City. At that time, I had a car, so checking my mail was still possible, albeit a bit out of the way. I didn’t mind too much, though. I would use checking-my-mail time as a valid excuse to get out of the city, if even for a few hours. I’d drive out to Long Island, stop at stores with actual parking lots, visit old coworkers, just escape. If it was a nice day, I’d head to the beach for a bit, since the Robert Moses Beach was a long haul from my Brooklyn apartment but not too bad if I was checking my PO Box anyway. Despite the long drive out to Long Island, my PO Box was still an integral part of my life.

But soon funds became a bit tight to afford a car, alternate side parking regulations because too much of a headache, and my newly found interest in frugality and personal finance could no longer justify trips out to Long Island on a regular basis. The time had come to close the PO Box out on Long Island and open one in Manhattan. I chose to open a box at the Canal Street Post office. At this point, I’ve had that box for a little over a year, and I don’t for see giving it up any time soon. Not only is it a more stable address than any apartment I’ve lived in, but it’s great for ordering items online, since I’m never actually at my apartment to receive packages. I’m actually not sure what I would do without a PO Box.

Customizing Websites

PHP Coding I absolutely love tweaking and customizing websites and themes. I don’t understand everything under the hood yet, but I love heading back into the coding of a site, looking for elements I recognize and becoming more familiar with parts I don’t. It brings me great joy to make a change to a line of code, refresh my page, and have everything look exactly how I wanted. Half of my backend coding work is all guessing and trial and error, yet it usually works exactly how I want in the end, which feels great.

Talk Radio

Back when I had my car, I listened to a lot of talk radio. Sure, I had a bit of music, and would sometimes be in the mood to pop in a CD, but the majority of my driving time was spent listening to talk radio. After getting rid of my car, it became a lot more difficult to squeeze Talk Radio time into my schedule. I tried podcasts during my commute, but it just isn’t the same. There is something to be said about the communal experience of listening to the radio live that gets lost when listening to a podcast.

As a result, whenever I rent a zipcar, I listen to nothing but talk radio. It’s wonderful to hear these voices that are still so familiar despite not hearing them for long lengths of time. It’s great to hear a random small article I read on reddit be discussed by numerous callers. It’s wonderful to hear stories that I never would have known about otherwise.

The Rest: Maria Fucking Tash, doing dishes immediately after I use them, my cats, zipcar, the | symbol, days off, fantasizing, tumblr, coffee, lots of coffee, tea, learning, seeing things in different ways, my ipod shuffle, cold weather, my queen sized bed, wearing layers, free Starbucks drinks, gum, merino wool, 30 Rock, discussing TV show writing, seeing the transformation of Bond St, torrents.

Bond Street, NoHo

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