Sunday, December 03, 2017

Off Topic: That Was the Week It Was - December 3, 2017

Good early afternoon! Yeah, I'm getting this up a little late this week. Since it's a Sunday, it's time for my off television topic reflection of the week gone by in both words and photos I've taken along the way. If you're not interested in either, please feel free to check out my previous and newer posts I will put up after this -- they will be television related! You can find my Survivor posts at this link.

Nothing really exciting went on this past week. One interesting thing ... maybe. I think my upstairs neighbor with the booming loud stereo may have moved out. He was extremely loud for about a week and a half leading into Thanksgiving. Then I heard no more from him since the Wednesday before Thanksgiving night. No stereo. No footsteps. In the daytime on my day off this week, I heard someone enter the apartment, walk through each room, then leave. Sometime yesterday while I was at work, a ton of furniture was dumped by the dumpsters along with several contractor type bags of trash. It might not be related, but ...! This morning when I took my own trash out to the dumpster, I noticed his air conditioner was gone, as were his two over the air digital antennas for TV that were always in his living room and bedroom windows. Hmm. The shades are all drawn. 

I know his lease renews/expires in the beginning of December. When he first moved in, he showed his lack of consideration by vacuuming (for the first time) at 3:30am on Christmas morning. Since he's lived there, he might have vacuumed a half-dozen times. While my apartment is hardwood floors, there's wall to wall carpeting up there. If he's indeed out, they'll probably have to replace the carpet. I'm sure to have to endure daytime noise of work crews up there fixing the place up. But at least they won't have booming stereos vibrating my ceiling, walls and floors at any hour day or night.

I just hope the landlord decides to follow their own rule that no more than two people are allowed to live in a one-bedroom apartment. I've had toddlers up there before and the noise of them running is ridiculous. This landlord has decided to advertise vacancies as "luxury apartments" when they're not. Then they go ahead and let couples with two kids into a one-bedroom! I'm hoping they'll be a bit picky as they know I've filed numerous noise complaints about the guy (who's hopefully out). Maybe they'll rent to a single retired person! That would be perfect.

If wishes were horses ...

Anyway, onto this week's photos ... 

It's a bird's world

A seagull poses on a lamppost as one flies overhead. North Avenue and Gavett Place in Plainfield.

Pedro's latest

Pedro Baez, commissioned by Plainfield to paint some of the utility boxes, has added some color to the corner of Watchung and East Second. That's the Main Post Office in the background. 

The eye has it

I edited this shot to leave only the orange eye of the pigeon in color.

**CLICK THE 'READ MORE' LINK TO SEE THE REST OF THE PHOTOS**

Well, I could ...

... jump on that bus and about five bucks later be at Port Authority near Times Square in Manhattan. But instead, I went the other direction on the train and went to work. Sigh.

That latest painted box

I edited this shot with an HDR filter. Looking towards the post office is definitely a less grungy shot. But this one just cried out for grunge!

Guard Gull

Keeping watch over North Avenue in Plainfield.

Monday night's moon

Thursday night's moon

There was a haze around it. But I still felt the need to shoot the moon.

Almost full Frost (or Cold) Moon

This will be a Supermoon tonight a few hours after sunset. But I won't be going out to see it then. I took this shot last night. I've heard this particular full moon referred to as both Frost and Cold. We've actually had mild temperatures around here for this time of year. I am not complaining!

Can pigeons look rather regal?

Some certainly can! On a rooftop on North Avenue in Plainfield.

Let there be yellow

One yellow Plainfield city truck, two yellow taxis and the NJ Transit 59 bus going to Newark with its lighted yellow destination banner. No, not all is yellow here! There are red, blue and orange taxis, too! And, the yellow cabs, while named Yellow Cabs, used to be neon green. I hate these minivan cabs. They are so hard to get in or out of if you have any sort of leg issues. There's nothing to hold onto to climb into them in the back, either. I usually sit in the front seat -- it's not as high up and you can actually grab onto the seat if needed to get up. 

I have the Yellow Cab company trained so well. (How well do you have them trained?) I have them trained so well that last night the driver kicked a guy out of the front seat and left the door open for me to get in when I emerged from the tunnel under the train station. The bad thing is that the city cabs are often shared rides ... a big factor in so many being minivans these days. So, I did end up with an indirect route home. But I saw many pretty Christmas lights, so all was good. After the driver let out the man and his family, he turned to me and said the guy should have sat in the back with his wife and child anyway. Yep, I agree.

Dude

This guy kind of wreaks of stereotypical New Jersey, methinks. He's got his hoodie, his Yankees jacket and his cell phone. Corner of Watchung and North in Plainfield.

Striking a pose

Plainfield Train Station

I still need to get a bit steadier taking night shots with my cell phone camera. Last night when I got off my train in Plainfield.

Yes, indeed.

I adopted a city pet and I'm thankful every day that I did. I must say that he's about the most favorite cat I've ever had in my life. I'm not just saying that because he's on my lap as I type this! The shot is of an ad on my NJT train going home last night.

Waiting to go home

Saturday evening at the Bridgewater Train Station, taken with my cell phone. I posted this one on Instagram, but it gets cropped for posting there.

Vincent's a nut!

He does this when he doesn't think I'm paying enough attention to him. It often works -- throwing himself at my feet and looking adorable. I'm a sucker for his cat ways.

5 comments:

Palmaltas said...

I love Pedro's painted boxes!

Sharon N said...

Very artistic and cheerful utility boxes... wish they'd do something like that here!!

Fingers crossed for a retired-single neighbor. Hopefully, it won't be someone with hearing issues watching TV or listening to music all night!!

David said...

I hope you get a quiet neighbor. I only lived in an apartment for about 1 year my whole life in my early 20's. I didn't like it because of the noise from neighbors and I also had to keep my noise down. I had headphones with those stretchy cords that could go from one end of the apartment to the other to keep my noise down and not to hear the neighbors.

Russ said...

I am retired and married, but single or married, I'm probably not a good neighbor for apartment living since I like my music fairly LOUD! However, never before 9:00 AM any morning, nor after 10:00 PM any night. I hope you get someone considerate up there...

Jackie S. said...

No. I shouldn't have to endure loud music for hours on end, even during daytime hours. That's not conducive to a peaceful life for those around you in an apartment setting. Headphones are your friend if you want ridiculously loud music.