I love New York City. I love it here. Its a great place. Is rent high? Yeah. But where else in North America can you live comfortably / normally without a car, an insurance payment, gas, parking, tolls, etc. to worry about?

I remember once when I was in my teens, watching a Seinfeld episode, and in the course of a conversation on the show, it became evident to me that one of the characters did not own a car. "Who doesn't own a car...how do you live without a car?" I remember thinking. Of course, I had never been to NYC. In fact, my first visit to NYC was to interview for the job that brought me here. It was about a 12 hour stay. My second visit to the city was on my first day of work at the new job. That visit lasted until now, going on 4 years.

Leaving here will be hard. That is for sure. Although, leaving here will need to happen at some point. That is for...pretty sure. I've always said it is for sure - I need a house with a yard and a garage and rooms to paint and power tools and a den and a dog (or 2) and a wine rack and maybe if I'm blessed with it a wife and kids. Maybe with a view of the Rockies, who knows where. But I think I'd really like to have that some day. Although, as time goes by, I soften more and more to the idea of staying here longer and longer than I ever used to think I might.

I remember in my first year here, I told a friend that "I almost constantly feel like I could live here for the rest of my life, and I can't live here a second longer, all at the same time." Its kind of still true, in a way.

Ironically, after nearly 4 years here, I still have not lived on the island. I used to think I never would, but I'm softening to that idea now, too. I spend most of my waking hours in the city, for work, play, rest, or worship. Its not a bad commute in, but it is something that could be easily cut out with a move across the river. I don't look forward to moving, but I'm beginning to think that next time I do, it may be to Manhattan, if only for a little while. I think it may be the catalyst I'll eventually need to move on to other parts of the states.

In the meantime, I'm really enjoying life here. I love Hoboken, but particularly I love NYC. From things to eat, to things to see, from shows to go to, to improv to participate in, from the subways to the cabs, from the skyscrapers of Wall Street to the quiet of the Cloisters, from the offices to the bars. There's seemingly no end to the things there are to discover here.

Over the next few weeks I'll be using Monday nights to celebrate some of those things that I love about this place. Call it Dave's guide to NYC - the things I've been meaning to get around to posting for so very long. The great thing about them is that most of them will defy a point in time such as when I write about them. One of the best parts of NYC is that its alive - the city that never sleeps is always changing.