Late Night Lurker here. I don't post because by the time I get through the comments I am exhausted (because it is late) and the thread has ended hours before I get to it.
That said, I find the usual suspects highly amusing and they have grown to be real people to me. I don't not want to read anything and everything DIBS, Cobblehiller, Biff, MM, Snarkslope, Mopar, Miss Chiff, Townhouse Lady, Snappy, Wasder and of course the What have to say. Mr. B, I don't know if this helps you. I also read the other sections and am interested in interior design as I think Heather suggested.

Posted by: gab at March 27, 2009 11:14 PM in response to Let's Talk About Commenting

This place looks just awful. The only windows in the living/dining room have in front of them the banister for the stairway. This is a waste of that beautiful backyard. Better to live in a tent in the yard and use the apartment as a shed. You can keep bikes and kitty litter in there.

Posted by: gab at March 12, 2009 10:33 PM in response to Co-op of the Day: 26 South Oxford Street

I was the one who came last time with a baby. I was desperate to come so I had to bring the baby as my husband was out of town. This time I will come with him and not the baby. I am a lurker. I've tried to post regularly but just can't get the hang of it. Anyway, it is a pleasure to read these posts and I look forward to meeting all of you.

Posted by: gab at March 9, 2009 10:56 PM in response to Friends of Brownstoner Gathering

Where is Madison? Aren't there others houses for sale there now? Is there something specific about this house that you like? There are a lot of semi detached houses in Sheepshead Bay, why not look there?

Posted by: gab at January 21, 2009 11:03 PM in response to Aggressive Offer Rejected

It can only be Lisa.

Posted by: gab at January 10, 2009 10:19 PM in response to Open Thread

Sounded like an explosion to me but maybe it was thunder.

Posted by: gab at October 28, 2008 9:30 AM in response to Explosion at 8:50am?

I had the same problem in a coop in the east village. We even renovated the kitchen. I never took the exterminator either but finally gave in and still the roaches multiplied. I finally figured out the problem. It was the lady downstairs. Maybe you have a neighbor who doesn't deal with the problem which might be causing yours. Good Luck. ugh. We had mice too.

Posted by: gab at October 20, 2008 8:52 AM in response to i'm so sick of these roaches

A real pleasure to meet you all last night, thank you Bif. looking forward to the next outing!

Posted by: gab at October 17, 2008 4:33 PM in response to Here's To Our Future

I have just come out of the shadows of reading these posts to actually posting. This is pure entertainment. To the What: I always thought you were on to something in your predictions and indeed you were. I know nothing about the world of finance but you seem to be a prophetic poet or a poetic prophet. Why not just come by but remain incognito?
To everyone else, I am very much looking forward to meeting you all.

Posted by: gab at October 15, 2008 7:46 PM in response to The real end of the world party...

Thanks PittbullNYC, This is the time for all the lurkers to come out, after all it is the end of the world.

Posted by: gab at October 15, 2008 11:25 AM in response to End of the World (Or Maybe Not) Party

I am looking forward to attending. I have been reading brownstoner for two years and have not commented until now. I feel as if I know all of you and am looking forward to meeting you. These past couple of weeks have been some of the most hysterically funny and interesting posts, reading them has been a highlight of my day. Too bad the What won't be there.

Posted by: gab at October 15, 2008 11:16 AM in response to End of the World (Or Maybe Not) Party

Hello all. I just discovered this site today, when I did a search for how to get rid of roaches living/breeding... (gross!) in my laptop. I live in Phoenix, but plan to move back to Maine by August. We will be flying, and leaving almost everything behind... EXCEPT my laptop, of course. I don't want to move any roaches with us!
I've lived in an Apt. here for about 4 years. About 1-1/2 years ago, a neighbor on one side of me abandoned her apt., and even left two dogs there to live with their own feces, etc., until I called for help for the dogs, when it seemed they might have been left there alone. Then I got a look at the place, and it was a total filthy disaster. But we still had few if any roaches. It was when the managers cleaned that apt. ... then all of their roaches came over here. TWO kinds, even!!!
During that time, I had an overnight caretaker for my son, who has a disabillity. So I had a pair of eyes to watch and report to me in the morning what was going on with the roaches at night, while I was sleeping. She first started working for us just about the time the neighbors left. She saw, when she first arrived, that we had hardly any roaches. She witnessed with me, how (after the discovery of the abandoned dogs/apt.,) we quickly had more and more roaches within a few days. Then after the apt. was cleaned, WOW... our apt. was infested! So I searched and searched via the internet, and found a recipe for "Heloise's Famous Roach Paste". It is an attractant (much like "Combat" and other such poisons, they eat, carry back to their nests, and then they are all supposed to die.)
So, I mixed up a batch of this boric acid-based stuff, and followed the directions in the recipe: "Place a glob of this paste everywhere you see roaches". So I did. At this time, roaches came out at night, in the kitchen, bathroom and living room; but there were none in either of the bedrooms - where I keep and use my laptop. I put globs of this stuff under the kitchen table, around the stove, refrigerator, around where the garbage container is, behind the couches, between the ceiling and top of the wall in the LR, where it seemed they were nesting... EVERWHERE I had seen them. It didn't occur to me at the time that, as an attractant first, then a killer, they would seem to get much worse before they started to diminish. I had just imagined them eating the stuff and dying - away from me, with their relatives, away somewhere hidden, in their nests - never to be seen again. Well, that is not exactly what happened. Within a day or so after I globbed this stuff all over the place, they all came OUT of their comfy nests, to get to the stuff... I really put a lot of it out - and even in a few places I just didn't want to see them EVER!!! For a good week or two they came out in droves to dine on the buffet I'd conveniently laid out for them. The kitchen and LR floors crawled with them at night... (my poor dear caretaker!)
Finally they started to become more and more sparse, and every day we witnessed fewer and fewer of them crawling around, and more and more dead/dying ones.
For several months, I didn't see many at all. I went to my neighbors' (on the other side) about 6 months ago. Her teenage son was making ramin noodles. Roaches were crawling up and down the walls around the stove, and everywhere I looked. It was around dusk, and rather dim. ...
The creepy little freakers are back again, with a vengence. My place is not dirty, but has become a lot more cluttered since back when my story started, about 1-1/2 years ago. It turns out, they don't just love to eat and drink, but simply LIVE among clutter. I have many books and many cluttered paper in my room. I keep seeing babies coming out of my computer... day and night. I am terrified to lay out any trap/bait again, because I cannot stand the idea of them coming out of their hiding places in my BEDROOM, on my bed, walls, etc., while I'm sleeping... even if this would only be short-term, until they started dying. Luckily, I will be moving in a couple of months, but I DO NOT want to bring them with me. I read once about puting a laptop in the freezer to kill them, but I forgot the details, and it doesn't seem to be posted anymore. Does anyone know how FOR SURE to get them out of all the tiny little spaces in my laptop?
Good luck to all who find themselves in this horrific situation.

Posted by: picklesnbeer at May 24, 2009 4:31 PM in response to i'm so sick of these roaches

Don't know, but sounds horrible. Our roach problem subsided somewhat when we got a new upstairs neighbor who lets in the exterminator and now it's not so bad. Hope you live happily roach free in Maine.

Posted by: mopar at May 25, 2009 11:44 PM in response to i'm so sick of these roaches