Category: Manhattan


City girl problems

Filed under: Manhattan, Weather
February 14, 2014

One of the advantages of living in the City is not having to drive in the bad weather. The disadvantage to that is having your train delayed or not running when you need to get somewhere. Like home from work.

So I have to find a way home without taking the evil green train from hell, also know as the Devil’s train. Yesterday I walked, it was only 37 blocks. I don’t want to do that again, so I have been on the website trying to find an alternative route. There isn’t one. The #4, #5 and #6 are the only trains that go up the east side. I may have to take a bus home. Stupid Green train.

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Riding the bus

Filed under: Family N Friends, Health, Manhattan, Sports — 1 Comment
August 16, 2013

Yesterday I rode the bus, it is an event that happens with sufficient infrequency to be noteworthy. It would never have happened if I knew how to cook sausage in a non-stick pan. I suppose I could blame that on my mother, since she had a cast-iron skillet and taught me how to cook sausage and eggs in that instead of a non-stick pan. Or maybe I could blame it on the fact that I now eat chicken or turkey sausage and there is not as much fat draining out into the pan. The fact remains that I ruined my pan cooking sausage in it and when I told Em I wanted to buy a cast-iron skillet she suggested going to Home Goods after the game yesterday.

20130816-023001.jpgWe took the B train from Yankee Stadium to 103rd, from there we walked to Home Goods, where I found a small cast-iron skillet, mission accomplished! I also saw these green Ramekins which I had to have. They are oven safe to 500°F (260°C) and also microwave, blowtorch and dishwasher safe, except I don’t have any of those. Really! I don’t have a blowtorch, never needed one. Em said they would not be a frivolous purchase because I would make baked eggs in them. I was thinking they would be good for single servings of baked Macaroni and cheese myself, or for heating up macaroni and cheese since I don’t have a microwave. Then we stopped at Model’s for socks, which they didn’t have. After that we went to eat Mexican food.

Em was ready to walk to Grand Central, I was ready to go home, but we were on the west side and I didn’t want to walk across the park since I always get lost walking across the park. Don’t ask and don’t judge. Also I was carrying this heavy cast-iron pan, 4 green Ramekins and 3 yellow bananas. And my knee hurt. That was when I got on the bus. If you’ve been reading this blog you may know that I hate the bus more than the train. Even when a friend tells me, “If you take the bus from church it will drop you right by your apartment.” I will still walk the two blocks to the Green Train and then walk the two blocks back to 2nd Ave. The Crosstown bus is not that bad. However once I got off the crosstown bus I walked up 2nd Avenue home. Which is how I ended up with a bottle of Aleve (that I needed) and a bottle of shampoo (that I didn’t really need but Ricky’s sucked me in).

While riding the bus I was struck by the thought that public transportation in NYC represents the diversity of the city. At one stop a man got on wearing a pale suit and straw Fedora (a different type of hat I would have said he was a southern gentleman), followed by a woman wearing a skirt and shirt (not quite pulled together businesswoman attire, looking pissed off, I wonder if the southern gentleman made a chauvinist comment to her), then a middle aged man wearing shorts and a Mets shirt (EWWW!), a teenage boy was next (he might have been with Mr. Met). There was also this ancient woman with hair down her back that looked like one big dreadlock (please don’t sit too close to me).

At least it was better than the subway ride to the stadium when I saw two women not wearing bras that should have been. One had on one of those strapless dresses that are cute if you’re not a DD cup, the other woman was wearing a white racerback tank top. My eyes, please my eyes hurt after that.

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The Gulag Archipelago

Filed under: Manhattan, Miscellanea

GulagIn The Gulag Archipelago (which is about the Russian prison system, and which I have decided to abandon at page #132) Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn talks about the periods of mass arrests. He refers to them as rivers, the wave of 1929 and 1930, the size of a good River Ob, and later 1944 to 1946, the size of a good Yenisei. The other day as I waited for the train, I thought about what an accurate description of people that was, because the people keep coming not caring what is in their way. If it is something big, they move around it, something small, and they just run over it, push it out of the way. Even if that thing is a person, like me.

This is what happens in the train, people come like a river, they keep coming even when there is no more room. Even when I want to shout, “There’s no more room in here! Wait for the next train!” On the subway platform when the train has been delayed they keep coming, they look down the stairs at the mass of people and think, “There’s room for one more.” Except everyone looking down is thinking the same thing, so instead of one more there is ten more, then ten more after that.

Don’t do it, just take the bus.

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Dear Co-Worker:

Filed under: Cleaning, Health, Manhattan, Work
May 17, 2013

As you know I have the job of cleaning the refrigerator every Friday, that means I throw out leftovers and spoiled food. I find it hilarious that this is my responsibility, my refrigerator at home has beer, energy drinks, pitcher of water and a carton of milk in it. Even more hilarious is despite being a single girl living alone in Manhattan whose idea of ‘gourmet’ cooking is stirring a spoonful of hot sauce into her boxed macaroni and cheese, I apparently know more about food storage than you do.

For instance, I know that if you leave strawberries in the refrigerator for three weeks they get all this nice gray fuzz on them. Except its not nice, IT’S DISGUSTING!

It is probably a good thing I don’t know who you are, since you would probably have found moldy strawberries in your desk on Monday. So to keep things nice it would be better if you didn’t come to my desk and complain about the fact that I threw out your berries. We really don’t want to find out if I actually took my Workplace Violence training to heart.

Love, ME

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Hey I’m back!

Filed under: Emotions, Manhattan, Miscellanea, Personal not private, Work
April 25, 2013

I stopped writing about my commute because I was tired of writing the same thing everyday. I figured everyone must be tired of reading it too. Then I changed to the #4 and it just sat there! There were 5 million people on the train and it only holds 2 million etc. Anyway, things have changed in my commute.

The first thing is my route to the subway station has changed. This is the sidewalk I normally walk on to get to the subway. I don’t know what they are doing here but the sidewalk is almost completely blocked off. This picture was taken on my way home, in the morning the workers are there and you can’t walk up nearly this far. So they have made a ‘pedestrian walkway’.
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Which is just cones put out on the road to re-direct traffic, and this is a rather narrow road, it makes more sense to walk on the sidewalk on the other side of the street. Which I would do except,
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IMG_1558They are working on the entrance to the subway, so I have to cross the street anyway. So walking down to 96th Street is really the best way to go except, there is a fruit stand at 95th and 3rd where I like to get my breakfast, and being human I am a creature of habit and automatically turn left at 95th street. I also don’t like having to change my routine. After two years of walking the same way to the subway I have to do something different and it annoys me. So I come here to vent and to post pictures, I am really just trying to get back into the habit of writing so if this bores you or YOU are annoyed that with all the bad things happening lately I am going on about having to change my routine, I’m sorry I’m not sorry. Meaning I don’t feel bad about writing this. Because of all the bad that happened last week, I need to get back to my routine and the MTA is not helping! If you are still reading this, thank you for reading and I promise I’ll get better.

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Dropkick Murphys

Filed under: Family N Friends, Manhattan
March 16, 2013
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Blurry day

Filed under: Manhattan, Miscellanea, Work
February 20, 2013

One day last week I went to work without putting my contacts in. I noticed something was wrong when I was standing on the subway platform and couldn’t read the signs. Don’t ask me how I got from my apartment to the subway without noticing nothing was in focus, apparently my brain was in a fog and my legs were on autopilot. After all the subway is always in the same place.

Going shopping after work was an adventure and I discovered advantages and disadvantages to shopping without glasses. The disadvantage was not being able to see down the aisles and having to walk down each one to find canned black beans. The advantage was being able to read the labels without putting on my reading glasses.

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Back to the subway

Filed under: Emotions, Manhattan, Miscellanea
November 18, 2012

There are three things I love about the subway, and by love I really mean hate. Actually there are more than three things I hate, but these are kind of always things. Some things just bother and annoy me, these things, when they happen bring the rage to the top of my head. While I have thought about violence as a response to them, my brain reminds me that a) violence is not an appropriate response and b) you worked in prison, and therefore know you don’t want to live there.

The first thing is when the train is crowded and five people get off and ten people get on. So I’m getting squished and people are pushing up against me to move in, normally I’m standing against a metal pole, the metal poles don’t move! So stop pushing on me people because I can’t move my body is squished against this metal pole.

The second thing is, well let me explain first: if you have never been on the NYC subway, the seats are benches. Some are molded so there are ‘seats’ on them, some are just flat. Sometimes a person will sit down, in a space big enough for two people in the middle (I’m not talking about someone big enough to need two spaces, I have no problem with someone taking all the space they NEED) so there is not enough room on either side of them for another person. Most of the time, if you come over and start to sit they will move over, sometimes it leads to the third item in my list.

People who stand in front of an empty space. There is room for someone to sit down, or would be if the person moved over, but they don’t because this other person is just standing there. They aren’t sitting, for whatever reason, but they are blocking others from sitting down! Makes the rage come up to the top of my head. “EXCUSE ME SIR/MA’AM, DO YOU REALIZE YOU ARE BLOCKING A SEAT A LOOK LIKE A GIGANTIC JERK?”

**climbs off soapbox and packs it away for the next time**

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Hurricane Sandy the aftermath

Filed under: Environment, Family N Friends, Harlem, Manhattan, Weather
November 14, 2012

The next day I went out and took some pictures and video. The pictures are on Flickr and the videos are on my YouTube Channel.

Then the Wednesday after the storm a noreaster blew through with nasty biting wind and snow. I know because I was out in it shopping. I am a tough New Yorker (Translation: Stupid). First I went to the yarn store to get yarn for the shawl I’m making for one of the bridesmaids in my best friend’s daughter’s wedding. I was wearing my gray down coat and it got soaked, it is not exactly waterproof. Besides the coat getting soaked, my jeans and every other part that was exposed got soaked too. I came home to change, but I didn’t want to put on my other winter coat, since I would need a coat the next day. The e-mail we got about cold stress, which I at first by cold they meant virus but they were talking working outside in cold temperatures, said dress in layers. I put on my long underwear, a sweatshirt and over that my coaches jacket, which has a fleece lining and is waterproof. It’s not designed for really cold weather, but with the layers it worked out fine. So I then ventured out again, this time for ….. a new coat to replace my gray coat.

The next Sunday (4 days later) when I went to church I wore a summer dress with a cotton sweater, tights and dress shoes. Last night I was back to wearing a coat. Winter in New York. No wonder I now have sniffles and a sore throat.

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How the big baby (me) weathered the big bad storm ~ Hurricane Sandy

Filed under: Environment, Family N Friends, Manhattan
November 2, 2012

My friends and family have all been calling, actually they’ve all been calling my mother, who is expected to contact me and report back to them. Since I can’t STAND to talk to some members of my family (who shall remain unnamed) that is fine with me.

If you have been following my other blogs, you know I have am still alive. I actually came through the storm relatively unscathed. I didn’t lose power, wifi, or water. It shows you the extent of the damage that there are areas of Manhattan that still don’t have power and the subways are not fully functional. Even my office has been closed all week. I have a sneaking suspicion there was flooding or some other damage to the building.

In case you didn’t know, the city is divided into Zones. The only Zone that was evacuated was Zone A, I am in Zone C, however, if I lived across the street I would be in Zone B. Think on that. Two blocks from apartment is the East River, and right next to that is the FDR.

The subways were shut down at 7:00 pm on Sunday and 9:00 pm the buses were shut down. This didn’t stop me from going out to watch game 4 of the World Series. One woman asked for food, but the kitchen had been closed at 6:00 to let the staff get home. I didn’t ask the bartender how he was getting home. But anyway, on Monday the storm really started to hit. My experience was chronicled more or less by text messages to and from me. The first one was to me:

“Hi there!!! How are you? I got a new phone.”

Me: “Nice I’m drinking coffee and eating berry burst Oreas.”

Him: “good! Stay in your building. Nothing is safe.”

Me: “What if I run out of pizza?” (This was a joke, I don’t keep pizza in my apartment. I avoid having things in my apartment that I am allergic to, the exceptions are rye bread and stuff my friend buys when she visits.)

Him: “Then stay home and survive rather than go out and get killed in the storm.” (The storm wasn’t really that bad, but he’s protective.)

By this time parts of the city had lost power, mainly from ConEd shutting down some stations to avoid problems from flooding. Unfortunately, there was flooding and they did have problems, which is why people are still without power today. There was also flooding at various MetroNorth stations.

I did go out after this series of text messages, but I almost got blown over by the wind. I was coming down one street and I saw a man run across the sidewalk, behind him was a tree branch, it looked like the branch was chasing him, I turned and another man was hanging onto a tree, I turned back and walked down a more protected street. I got home about 3:30 PM, and decided not go back out, besides being windswept I was wet and cold.

Me: “Wind is scary loud now. Going to put a blanket over my head.”

Him: “I’m sorry, I’m sure it won’t be too bad”

Me: “There is no one outside. That has never happened.” This is the truth, every time I have ever looked out my window, even when it’s been pouring, people have been walking around. I looked at my window right before I sent that text and didn’t see anyone.

Later:

Me: “I take it back. There are people outside”
Me: “I hear them screaming”

Him: “Stupid people. Hahahahaha”

Me: “I’m not going out to save them. Fools r on their own.” Seriously what could I do for anyone? The wind was blowing be down hours earlier and it was worse now.

The reason for the blanket was I got an alert from NotifyNYC to go indoors and stay away from windows. Since I live in a studio apartment, I don’t have another room where I can go to get away from the windows, except the bathroom. So I put my laptop under a pillow and took my phone, iPod and flash drives with me to the far end of the apartment, where I sat on the floor with a blanket over my head. Sometime around 7:30 pm I heard talking outside my apartment. Not the screaming like I heard before, so I went to the window (still with the blanket over my head) and peeked out.

Me: “Omg nick! There are police & fd in front of my bldg!”

Him: “What for?”

Me: “No idea. They are yelling at people to get out of street.”
“Ok my neighbor just went out and said there is scaffolding loose on the building in next block and is swinging around”

Him: “Oh, that’s really scary.”

That was the extent of the excitement. Other then every so often from outside, “GET OUT OF THE STREET!” The rain stopped and the wind died down. I stayed up until about 2:00 A.M. and went to bed. My lights never even flickered. I had even boiled 6 eggs in case I lost power and couldn’t cook them. Today I had to throw 2 of them out, I didn’t know the yolks would get hard while still in the egg. The next day I went out and took pictures and video of the storm damage. There wasn’t a lot in my neighborhood, but it makes you realize how bad it COULD have been.

That’s my thrilling account of Hurricane Sandy. Hope you enjoyed reading it.

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