Off Topic: More NYC Doings, TVS Article, Almost 2009

Yep, it's almost that time! Above is a lighted artsy-doohickey thingee I photographed in the Times Square subway station on Monday. She isn't all that mystical -- that white ray coming from her eye is the reflection of the fluorescent light. Clicking on any of the images in this post will bring up a larger image in a separate window. Then, just hit your "back" button to go back to reading.

I apologize for not posting yesterday. I felt like I had been run over by a subway train! My knee replacement knee has a slight bruise and some muscle soreness from my fall. But it's the other knee which is the problem. A huge BLACK and blue along with a bit of a mouse right under the kneecap. I ended up spending the day not moving more than I had to, icing, and elevating. I actually used my crutches to get around.

But today it's a bit better. I went out for errands this morning and, although sore, it got me where I had to go and even carried some groceries. I'm very proud of the knee replacement knee -- I know it hit the pavement just as hard. So, go for the operation RJM!

I have a new article of my "Odd Duck TV Crushes" up over on TV Squad. And, Sydney asked what happens when the writing gig stuff slows down ... I don't earn money. I'll probably be posting more news/opinion articles in January. I hope so, anyway.

For those who really find the subways interesting, I threw some video clips together and made a YouTube video of them. The first clip was this extremely loud jazz group under the Port Authority Building. As I caught the bus home Monday night, I ended up walking through them just about as briskly as the one guy in the clip did. I wasn't going to miss my bus and they were really loud. The second clip, he's lip-synching and strumming the guitar off-key, the third is just a train coming in. The latter two clips I took in September, hence the lack of jackets.




Here are some more photos I took on Monday. Below I whiled the time in front of the Port Authority Bus Terminal waiting for time to go inside and board my bus home. The bus home stops directly across the street from my apartment, so I often take that rather than the train.


Yes, they have a statue of Jackie Gleason from The Honeymooners in front of the Port Authority Bus Terminal.


Above is the NY Times building that guy dressed as Spider-Man climbed a while back. It's across the street from the Port Authority Bus Terminal.

Here are some more Times Square shots I took Monday. Thankfully I chose Monday to go. Today has been snowy, windy, and tonight the wind chill is going down below zero.





Whoops! I'm back at Port Authority below messing with a teensy keyring digital camera I picked up for $10 at CVS.


Below is some street guy in front of the Port Authority Building who wanted me to take a picture of him with my teensy keyring camera. He advised me that since it doesn't have a memory card, I'd have to download the pictures to my computer. My ... street people have changed over the years!


I had to run some errands in Scotch Plains and just had to take some photos of the park where I'd sit across from my physical therapy place this past summer. Nifty!



Above is the fountain. It's a rather neat decoration with the insides a'spinning.


Above is the little park. Below is ...


OOPS! Y'see ... it's kind of what happened to me except I did mine on pavement!


Above is the kale early this morning with some snowflakes falling on it.

Well. duh. Who's going to keep walking through the fence?

At midnight, I'll be posting the latest Zoetawny New Year's graphic. I'm in for the night here ... just me, my cat, and my extremely already loud new neighbors in the apartment which was the broken into party spot earlier this year. These new tenants aren't much better than the illegal party animals. Oh, well. I'll let them get away with it for tonight.

Off TV Topic: Jackie Does the Tourist Thang

Well, I had today off and my knee is doing well. Plus, it was a gorgeous day! Since the first surgery on the knee, I've done very little photo-stomping. Manhattan (NYC) is one of my favorite places to to go said photo-stomping. And, the holiday doings are still going strong. So I did it. I took a gazillion photos, but here's a sampling of my day. I still have to go through the photos more thoroughly.

I started by taking the train from Westfield as I had a few errands to run before going in. I feared the toy soldier would attack me! But, no. I should have just watched where I was walking. My nightmare happened -- I tripped on a curb, falling on both knees and both palms. Ow. But the knee replacement knee did well. I even got up well. But the "good" knee is all black and blue tonight.

Clicking on any of the images will make them larger.


I took one of the fancy-schmancy double-decker NJ Transit trains in. One of my regular conductors was on it. He just placed a seat check on my seat without thinking that this wasn't my work commute time or direction.


So I got a free ride to Penn Station Newark. My line has to transfer at Penn Station Newark to go to Penn Station New York as its diesel and NYC only allows electric trains in the city. The ticket I bought is good for a year, so I'll use it another time.



Hey! Amtrak gets a food service car? SOOO not fair! I remember the Metro North trains from CT often had a bar car. NJ Transit is bring your own food, bring your own booze.


I didn't take the PATH train from Newark Penn into Manhattan as it wouldn't take me really where I wanted to go. I bought a ticket for the leg on NJT to Penn NY.


Ah, Penn Station! Look -- some people are in shirtsleeves! It wasn't THAT warm, I don't think. The high was in the high forties today. Since the Empire State Building got whited-out in my bad exposure shot above, here it is below.


The top of the Empire State Building is lighted in red and green at night for the holiday.


A kid catches some air outside of the Borders connected to Madison Square Garden.


I decided to hit Grand Central Station to catch the holiday laser light show. And, sheesh ... you'd think it was Grand Central Station with the crowds!


Above is the laser light show on the ceiling of Grand Central -- it was moving all around and changing, thus a bit of a blur. And, below ... I'm two days early for...


... Times Square.


Now I remember why I avoid Times Square even when it's not New Year's Eve. The crowds! Ack. I always love that NYPD station with its pink and blue neon, though.


Look WAY up (above) ... it says 2009. I will NOT be there to greet it!


The humanity! The humanity! What have I stumbled onto? I can't breathe! I can't move! Did that man pinch my butt?


Oh. Never mind. It's just Rockefeller Center. You don't want to know how much it costs to skate there. No, I didn't skate.



Above is the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree. Below are ...


HORSIES! I don't often see the mounted cops in Manhattan, but there were six of them sitting there. When I told one he was going on my blog, he schnuffled me and got horse drool on my jacket.


I can't help it. I'm a sucker for horses.


Yeah, more horses. Got a problem with it? :-)


"This is our holiday. This is our New York." No, I didn't go to the Top of the Rock. I thought it was enough to be at the bottom of the Rock.


And now I'm home and so tired (see above). Mind you, not tired enough to panhandle in a subway tunnel under Times Square. They have these weird Burma Shave type signs on the ceiling. This woman set up under "So Tired." I decided to follow the direction of the one which read "Go Home."

Rerun City and Off Topic Photos, RoofusToo!

Oh my gosh, isn't television horrid with reruns this week? I guess they think that everyone is out of town visiting relatives or something. But some of us had to work. Last night my police scanner was much more interesting than my television. There were two shootings and two cars were torched in my city (Plainfield, NJ), yet nothing in the local news. Thankfully, none of the incidents were in my particular neighborhood, but it's quite peaceful where I live. Well, except for new tenants downstairs who think the hallways are a place to have their children exercise everyday -- thump, thump, thump as they run the halls for at least an hour every night! Ack. THAT is going to stop!

Due to the dearth of anything to watch on TV this past week, I'll give you some photos I took. In the beginning of the week we had snow and ice. Yesterday it was foggy all day and pea soup at night. Today it's supposed to get up to the mid-sixties. Clicking on any of these images will bring up a larger image.


Last night it was foggy as I caught the NJ Transit train home from work.



The fog didn't stop Roofus the cat from making his usual Saturday appearance as I headed to work. He seems to be taking quite the cat nap!


Is that a skunk or is it our buddy Roofus the cat up there in the morning fog?


Yesterday the ornamental kale was covered with dew from the fog and condensation from our last snow.


Here's what the kale looked like on Friday as I went to work (above).


This is what it looked like on Tuesday as I headed to work.


Again, the bunch o' ornamental kale in the snow on Tuesday morning.


This was my Plainfield 'hood on Tuesday morning, similar to the shot I posted last week.


"Go home --> your in the wrong hood." Um, I found the misspelled graffiti in Bridgewater, NJ. Bridgewater is generally upper middle-class to wealthy. Huh. Let them come to my town and see if they're in the right 'hood or not! @@

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah!

I know I'm a bit late for the start of Hanukkah, but here I am. I hope everyone has a great holiday no matter what you might celebrate. We have a new holiday graphic from Zoetawny and, well ... you'll see.

And now you'll see why my cat Scherzo isn't earning the big bucks by being a television cat. She's only good on camera when she can lick your hand ...

Bereft Without Survivor!

I was so bereft with no Survivor on TV last night that I didn't post anything! Er, well, actually ... I wrote an entry and my Firefox browser decided to change to a new version, thus freezing up my computer and making it lose my entry. So I hit the sack instead. Below is the weather pic I was going to post from last night. I live right directly to the right of his thumb -- the pointy part of Union County. The island directly along the line of his thumb is Staten Island (a borough of NYC), the island above that is Manhattan. The long island on the right is Long Island (duh) ... or, as they say out there, Lawn Guyland.

So far we have about four inches slushed down from sleet, rain, and freezing rain. It's turned back to snow. I don't think we'll get the eight inches, but we might get six.


Here's a bit more Jersey culture for you. I like Taylor Ham (but call it pork roll), but I'm more of a Scrapple person at heart.

Ledger Live - 12-18-08

Television itself is kind of repeats, holiday specials, and such. I may go to bed early again tonight. What are you up to?

Today's musical non sequitur:
If you want to find all the cops
They're hanging out in the donut shop
They sing and dance (oh whey oh)
Spin the clubs, cruise down the block
-- "Walk Like an Egyptian" by The Bangles

Wednesday TV ... and Off Topic Day

Hmm ... I used to get all excited about Wednesday night television. Now, I'm not too thrilled about the 8 PM hour (no new Bones). I've watched The Secret Millionaire a few times. It's okay, but it bugs me to no end about the huge dilemma they make about "lying." Sheesh. The folks are going to be thrilled about the money. Knock off the guilt trip about lying. @@ I may or may not watch it tonight.

I've grown tired of Christine and haven't gotting into Gary Unmarried. Maybe I'll watch The Muppets! At 9 PM ET/PT, I'll be watching Criminal Minds on CBS. That's a given. At 10 PM ET/PT, I'm undecided. A new CSI: NY or a new Top Chef. Cable has a few interesting offerings. But there isn't anything I MUST see.

How about you?

In Off Topic ramblings, here's my commuting day:


We had about three inches of snow, but it turned to rain and this is what my NJ neighborhood looked like as I started off to the train station.


Here's our ornamental kale we've been watching on the blog. It likes the snow. Really, it does!


The Plainfield, NJ Train Station is a slushy ... er, winter wonderland.


Snow on the tracks and I always like to take pictures of the lighted lamps at the station.


On the way home, we're talking "police activity." This time the police apparently caused it. My apologies for the quality of the photo -- it was dark and cops were all over the place. I didn't want them yelling at me. What a witness told me was the cop blew the light with lights and siren turning right. He (she?) hit the other car head-on and pushed it ten feet onto the sidewalk by a bank. I walked around them and saw it from the front angle, but didn't dare take a shot. The whole front end of the police car is missing.

And, now I'm home! We're under a winter storm watch for Friday. Sigh.

Today's musical non sequitur:
Once I built a railroad, I made it run, made it race against time.
Once I built a railroad; now it's done. Brother, can you spare a dime?
Once I built a tower, up to the sun, brick, and rivet, and lime.
Once I built a tower, now it's done. Brother, can you spare a dime?
Say, don't you remember, they called me Al; it was Al all the time.
Why don't you remember, I'm your pal? Buddy, can you spare a dime?
-- "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime" as sung by Bing Crosby, Rudy Vallee and a gazillion others.