New York, New York
Christmas in November
Friday, November 10th, 2006
Ah, the joys of working in Rockefeller Center.
When I came to work this morning, there was an 88-foot pine tree sitting on a flatbed truck in front of my office building. I just went to grab some lunch, and the tree now has its lower limbs wrapped tightly in twine, and is hanging, horizontally, from a giant crane right next to the famous Rockefeller Center Ice Rink.
By the time I go home this evening, I’m guessing they’ll have it upright again, where it will stay for the remainder of the year, while workers spend the next few weeks covering it with 30,000 lights and a 550-pound Swarovski cyrstal star.
It’s times like this I regret not having a camera phone with me (stupid blackberry). Best I can do is this press photo from when they cut it down in Connecticut. Trust me – it look basically the same now, just much bigger, and surrounded by concrete, not grass.
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Music to Work By…
Wednesday, October 11th, 2006My employer, Bank of America, is offering free online equity trades to qualified customers. Great.
We’re handing out snappy looking T-shirts with a big $0 on the front on the streets of New York. Terrific.
We’ve rented a bunch of double-decker tour buses and a combo band to sit on the upper level of each one and play snappy music to go along with the snappy T-shirts. Cool.
We’ve parked one of these tour buses on 50th Street & Rockefeller Plaza, where lots of people can walk by, hear the music, get a T-Shirt, and eventually sign up for the service. Ingenious.
Here’s the downside: 50th & Rockefeller puts the bus right outside my office window, which means I’ve been listening to snappy music for the last couple of hours with no end in sight, AND I don’t even get a T-Shirt!!!
Grrrrrr……..
Categories: New York, New York, Random Acts of Blogging | 1 Comment »
9/11/06
Monday, September 11th, 2006
On past anniversaries, I’ve written long essays about how much of 9/11/01 has stayed with me (2002, 2003, 2005). Today, at year five, I’m struck by how much has left me, notable only by how quickly it comes gushing back on a day like today.
At two or three years out, I could honestly say I hadn’t gone a day without thinking about the attacks at least once, whether it be the various memorial sites I pass each day on my daily commute, or just the sight of the New York skyline, which I can see out the train window even as I write this (the same train window through which I noticed that “odd, low hanging cloud” hovering near the north tower five years ago). The sight of a plane in the air used to make me sick to my stomach, especially when it was obscured from my view by a tall building. My brain understood the concept of perspective, but the ease with which I could visualize the plane slamming into the building, rather than passing harmlessly behind it, was gut wrenching.
A few years later, I am no longer tormented by these demons. The skyline is once again a thing of beauty that I regularly pass right by without even noticing, and planes in the sky are as much a normal part of the skyscape as the birds and the clouds.
Except today.
Over the weekend, I watched a couple of the obligatory retrospectives – Discovery Channel, History Channel, CBS. I saw all the videotape again – the planes hitting the buildings, the towers falling, the firemen running through the lobby I knew so well and up and down those awesomely large escalators I rode every day for years. After a while, I could smell the acrid smoke again. I could taste it on my tongue so strongly that I actually looked in the mirror to make sure it wasn’t there, and then drank some water to get rid of the taste. I sat awake until 4AM, unable to sleep as I did in the weeks following the attacks themselves. This morning, I saw a plane taking off from Newark Airport disappear from view as it flew in front of the sun and it made me catch my breath. As I type this, they just announced that the 7th Avenue exit to New York Penn Station is temporarily closed. Cops and National Guard troops are putting up yellow caution tape, and I need to walk around the 8th Avenue side to get to my normal subway. I’m sure it’s nothing, and yet my hands are shaking as I type. What does today’s date mean to some lunatic with a cherry bomb?
And yet, like the thousands of people around me, I continue on to my office for a relatively normal day at work. That’s the difference. These feelings come once a year now, not every day. Five years from now will be even better. Five years from then, better still. The healing process I secretly worried wouldn’t come is happening, and we’re far enough along that I can see it now. We’re all going to be OK.
God Bless America.
Categories: New York, New York, Political Rantings | 1 Comment »
Who Said Charity Had to be Efficient?
Tuesday, May 2nd, 2006On May 17th, a group called City Harvest is sponsoring a program called Skip Lunch Fight Hunger. The idea, apparently, is that you take what you would normally spend on lunch that day and donate it to CityHarvest, which then uses the money to feed hungry kids in the NYC area.
It’s a nice idea, of course, and they’ve got corporate involvement. Here’s what Starbucks is doing, according to Rockefeller Center’s tenant newsletter:
Visit participating NYC Starbucks from 11AM – 1PM to make a donation to Skip Lunch Fight Hunger; you’ll be rewarded with a sample of Starbucks new sandwiches and beverages (while supplies last).
Um…Er….
How about we keep our money and Starbucks just gives the sandwiches to the kids?!?
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A Moral Dilemma…
Tuesday, March 28th, 2006I’m on the commuter train heading home. The man sitting next to me has fallen asleep. His right elbow is leaning against the window while his right hand props up his head. His left hand is holding his open cell phone, which is currently running some kind of Texas Hold’Em game.
His left thumb is resting (rather firmly) on the “3” key. I’m not sure what the “3” key does in this game, but he appears to be losing hand after hand. I have no idea if this is for real money or not, but if it is, this is quickly going to become a very expensive train ride for this guy.
Question: Do I wake him up?
Categories: New York, New York, The World Wide Weird | 1 Comment »
Live from New York…
Tuesday, March 28th, 2006As I may have mentioned before, my new work location is in 50 Rockefeller Center, right across the street from the famed 30 Rockefeller Center, home of NBC Studios in New York.
This morning when I booted up my laptop, it did its usual scan for available wireless networks. One of my choices was a network called “SNL”. You think…maybe?
Makes me wish I knew more about breaking into networks…
Categories: New York, New York, Tech Talk | 4 Comments »
St. Patrick’s Day Parade Blogging
Friday, March 17th, 2006Well, my new job puts me in Rockefeller Center each day, which is a stone’s throw from 5th Avenue, so on my way to grab lunch today, I stopped by the St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
This was probably my first St. Patrick’s Day Parade. I say “probably” because I deal with the participants of the parade every year (the mostly drunk, exceedingly green-clad people who clog the streets, drink too much, and laugh incessantly for no apparent reason. One year, there were a bunch of drunk revelers on the train in to the city (that would be roughly 7AM – gotta admire that kind of dedication), but I’m honestly not sure if I ever actually saw the parade itself.
So here’s the report: Meh.
Marching bands, cheerleader squads with batons and flags, a few Irish flags – your typical parade stuff. The spectators were extremely well behaved (at 12PM – must be a record). In fact, I didn’t see anyone who I’d categorically declare drunk.
The most interesting thing at the corner of 51st and 5th (that’s right by St. Patrick’s Cathedral) was the New York Police Department. They had the side street divided into three lanes with wooden police barriers. The far right lane was for people who wanted to cross 5th Avenue eastbound, the far left lane was for people crossing westbound, and the middle lane was for people who wanted to approach 5th Ave and watch the parade. It was extremely well organized and was working like a charm. Every time there was a break in parade traffic, they let a clump of people on each side of 5th Avenue cross, then cut the line off when the next float came by – optimizing street-crossing without disrupting parade traffic at all. Yet another well done, thankless job by the NYPD.
I’ll probably have more to report after I attempt my commute home – after all, today is St. Patrick’s Day, Day 2 of the NCAA Tournament, and Friday. Lots of reasons to party tonight – I have to believe there will be more interesting things to report by nightfall…
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New York City Subway Stories
Wednesday, February 15th, 2006I had a doctor’s appointment this morning, so I commuted into the city at an odd hour. On the uptown E train (World Trade Center line) at around 11:15, was a man wearing blue jeans, a windbreaker, and a winter cap.
He was carrying with him a hacksaw, a screwdriver, and a flashlight. He didn’t have any kind of bag or case, he was just carrying them loose in his hands. I assume he was in a construction-related line of work, and was just bringing his tools to/from his job.
So, I ask again, exactly what are they checking for when they randomly inspect our bags on the subway? If an openly visible hacksaw is OK, what exactly is not OK?
Categories: New York, New York, Political Rantings | 3 Comments »
Only in New York
Wednesday, November 2nd, 2005Check this out:
So I’m at building X and I need to get to building 1. I didn’t realize it was only a couple of blocks away, so I go to company 1‘s website to get directions, and this is the map I get back. The yellow line is their recommended route.
I was aghast until I realized – they think I’m in a car! The streets are all one way, you see, so to get from X to 1, you need to make four left turns. Apparently, the software isn’t smart enough to say, “Park the car & walk – it’s two blocks away!”
Categories: New York, New York | 1 Comment »
The Little Things that Make Life Fun…
Friday, September 30th, 2005Seen on the streets of Manhattan today:
Man throws a wadded up piece of paper at a trash can and misses. Misses by so much, in fact, that when he picks it up, he’s too far from the can to reach, so he takes a second shot. He misses again. This time, he picks up the paper, looks around to see if anyone’s watching, and then sheepishly walks it over to the trash can, makes the easy layup, and moves on.
…and those guys in the NBA make it look so easy.
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