Weekends I spend much of outside, in either Riverside Park (7 minutes to the West) or Central Park (10 minutes to the East). There are free concerts, friendly dog runs, awesome rain-by-the-Hudson (punctuated with a few soaked runners), bright sunshine – and it goes on and on like that for 48 hours. The best part is Saturday night: a relaxing, “we’ve still got one more day” time. By the time Monday morning rolls around, it feels like I’ve been out of the office forever.

And then there are the magazines. Not being an international subscriber makes all kinds of magazines affordable. For $5-$10/year, I can get more monthlies than I can consume in a month. Just today, I consumed ForbesLife (the style issue) and Popular Mechanics (the self-reliance issue), before moving on to gulp down another 100 pages of the brick that is Shantaram. I learned new things:

About men’s fashion:

• Businessmen have Zipcar-like private jet arrangements, which they rent by the hour; travel by private jet is a lot faster than travel by commercial airline.
• Flannel is an okay fabric for suits – as long as it’s “charcoal-blue,” not gray.
• Wristwatches are THE accessory for men who live in luxury.
• Officially, Bauhaus was born and died with the Weimar Republic, but like many great artists the movement matured and rose to acclaim posthumously. Bauhaus encompasses not just the old-school simple white buildings in Tel Aviv; it is also responsible for some high-profile metal-and-glass “boxes” skyscrapers in Manhattan.
• Aston Martins weren’t profitable until 2005 (they were first made in 1913… that’s a long time to be losing money).
• Purple blazers are in. For men.
• You know that weird shoe style in which the tongue folds over with little buckles? Well, that thing is called a “monk strap” (the style originated among friars).

About survival:

• You can purchase a firefighter’s suit and equipment online, and use them to – yes – put out fires, say, near your own home.
• If a hurricane or tornado is on its way, clear your neighborhood free of large debris (lawn equipment, planters, etc) that could become dangerous if thrown around in a storm.
• Keep a CB radio handy. It’s more dependable than a cell phone in times of emergency.
• GE is dredging the Hudson River for toxic sludge it put there 30+ years ago; it will bury the waste underground in Texas. (Yes, unrelated to survival, but it was in the same issue.)
• You can charge a cellphone battery using only a battery pack, a paperclip and some alligator clips. You can do the same with your laptop, but it’s not recommended.
• Using leftover cooking grease from an upscale restaurant, you can make your own biofuel at home. All the details are given, but the highly-flammable and time-consuming project is not recommended…
• Danica Patrick needs a better constumer – her ad for antifreeze, she is wearing absolutely terrible lipstick and looks like a man when she needn’t.
• Beer is good currency after a disaster, when money can be pretty useless.
• If you’re low on oil, add some water. The oil will float to the top…

And last, a word:

magniloquent

However: the pros still heavily outweigh the cons so far: big windows, great transportation, business hours, hot water is hot and cold is cold (no matter what weather), 24-hour anything, nearby dog-runs, huge parks, fire escapes to lean out over, Sundays (sighhhh), 45-minute washing machines, diversity, English, the New York Times – and, wonderfully, Ben & Jerry’s right on our street corner.

Work is a 15-minute commute. And speaking of work, they’re sending me to the 140 Characters Conference this week. I was lucky enough to have their support in my move from Jerusalem to NYC; now they are extending opportunities for professional and product development as well.

So, in short, it’s pretty great being local.

I didn’t think I’d miss much about Jerusalem or even Israel, but as we get closer to departing, I feel a twinge here or there.

Today is Israeli Independence Day, and last night, as town was filled with music, revelers and wishes for a happy holiday, I felt lucky to be living in a country where Memorial Day draws inevitable tears and Independence Day still matters. Despite the heaviness of that reality, I’ll miss it.

Earlier this week, as I walked the dog, the moon hung like a silver sliver in the sky, with a full pale circle surrounding it. Overhead were the Big Dipper and Orion’s Belt. Stars were winking at me everywhere. Darkness is a luxury in Jerusalem, as in any major city, and where we’re staying now – a big unfinished building complex – we enjoy it nightly. I’m gobbling as much sky as I can before moving to the city that never sleeps.

I’ll miss the Friday-afternoon hush and the 26 hours of quiet that follow it each week. And what replacement will their be for the supermarket clerk wishing me a Shabbat shalom?