Summer Bagel

Apologies for the longer-than-expected bagel break. After a short vacation, Mama Bagel came to town and I've been busy reverting back to being a teenager. This always happens when Mama Bagel is around, but particularly in the summertime.

In the seventh grade, I used a wonderful product on my hair called Sun-In. I would spray this chemical concoction promising "natural highlights" on my tresses before lazing around an Indiana swimming pool, where the mane magic would happen. It made my dark hair a light shade of orange. I thought I looked good but my mama told me, and I quote, that I "look like a Puerto Rican hooker." Mama Bagel doesn't hold back.

So why should this summer be any different? Mama Bagel is staying through the end of the month and thus far the conversation still gravitates toward my hair (it's a little long and should be pulled back), and now encompasses my sex life (it's a little loose) and my career (it's a little ill-defined).

Sigh.

In any event, what better way to divert attention from my personal angst than with the woes that accompany a brand new condominium going up in Harlem? Feast your eyes (below) on the new 50 West 127th Street condominium, being marketed by Brown Harris Stevens.

The structure appears pretty out of place with the rows of brownstones lining the block (between 5th and Lennox), but it's too soon to tell as building completion is scheduled for 2007. Although the Web site isn't yet up, the banner in front of the building assures area residents that they too can have a piece of the Harlem condo pie for 500K and up. There are parking spaces available under the building as well.