Off Topic: That Was the Week It Was - February 28, 2016

Good morning! Since it's Sunday morning, it's time for my weekly off television topic reflection on the past week in both words and photos I've taken along the way. Please come by during the week and join in on the Survivor and The Amazing Race blog parties! I live blog those shows as they air while folks party in the comments area. It's a fantastic group of show fans. Please stop in!

But this ain't that.

We had yet another odd/wild weather week here in New Jersey. Some days were bitter cold with wind, but sunny. On Wednesday we had all day flooding rains with severe thunderstorms and a tornado watch. No, we did not have a tornado. (Yay!) The late-night temperature was in the high sixties! It remains a very odd weather pattern (or lack thereof) for February in New Jersey.

In other random stuff:

• NJ Transit train workers might go on strike mid-March. I've requested the Saturday of the "soft strike" off as a vacation day. If they don't strike, I have a weekend off. Win-win. If they do strike going into the week, I'll have to deal with buses and rearranging my work schedule to have a co-worker pick me up near the Shop-Rite not all that far from work. (But farther than I want to walk!) More co-workers go through there than anywhere near here.
• The bright side of that is that there's a Burger King there and I haven't had a Croissanwich in years. It's my favorite fast food breakfast sandwich.
• Things are going better at my workplace. I have new knowledgeable bosses I can actually work with and we share mutual respect. I forgot what that's like in the past few years.
• I'd still rather be retired and perhaps just do something I like to do.
• I've worked for the same company for about 34 years. I think I've paid my dues.
• But there's this pesky thing called keeping a roof over my head. I don't see Vincent the Cat going out there working to help me!

Oh, well. That's about it. Onto this week's photos! Clicking on an image will bring up a larger version. I hope everybody has a fantastic Leap Day tomorrow!

Into the light

While I like how this photo turned out, it shows the deplorable conditions of the NJ Transit Plainfield Station pedestrian tunnel between the westbound/eastbound platforms. When it rains outside, it now rains in the tunnel. Some light panels are entirely missing, others often have the rain running through them. The floor is always wet, slippery and grimy. It desperately needs repairs and regularly scheduled cleaning. Hey, NJ Transit. What's up with this? 

Don't fence me in

A sparrow rests on a fence and makes for a cute shot.

Coming in for a landing

A pigeon making a landing on a ledge on the Chotola Apartment building on North Avenue in Plainfield.

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Free!

This was left in the hallway of my apartment building with a note atop it saying "free!" I looked at it. It was kind of cute. But the glass was missing from its doors and I have enough kitchy junk in my apartment already. 

The circus is in Bridgewater until March 13

And, I won't go just as I haven't gone in previous years. 

Dirty snow piles are still with us

Bound Brook flooding

After heavy storms on Wednesday, one of the small tributaries of the Raritan River flooded despite the Army Corps of Engineers work to control flooding in the area. The flood gates a bit closer to downtown work. But this area still floods despite all kinds of berms and drainage pipes. Where you see the ripples in the muddy water is about where the river should be. A street to the right (not in the photo) was closed for a day and a half due to the flooding.  

Still a little high, but more normal

Also taken from a moving train, so quality is a bit off.

Jersey Boys ad on NJ Transit

This is one of the few single level trains on the Raritan Valley Line. I refuse to sit in seats by one of these ads. While you can see out the window, you're looking through dots. I've seen many apartment buildings in Manhattan with this kind of advertising on them. I'd hate it if I had to look through dots to see outside my window! 

Starling sentries

What are they going to do when all the defunct TV roof antennas fall over? 

Flying starling and his shadow

Is the pigeon in charge?

Might as well have saved it for next year

Yep, a discarded Christmas tree on North Avenue yesterday morning.

Depot Park homeless

The Baby Carriages of Life folks are back to living in the recessed doorway of a vacant business on Depot Park near the Plainfield Train Station. While only one is there, the belongings are from a couple. I've also seen several Baby Carriages of Life gathered in the brushy back end of a municipal parking lot on Cleveland Avenue in town. I guess the empty baby carriages are easier to find abandoned on the streets than shopping carts.

Things are looking up?

I have no idea what this starling was doing. Yoga for birds? I dunno. 

Lines, squares and arches

Looking towards the pay phone at the Plainfield Train Station from the outdoor seating area on the Newark/NYC bound track. For once, there weren't a ton of street bums around while I took the shot. They were too busy taking up the benches in the shelters on the platform. Sigh.

Sunset in Bridgewater

Oh my. The days are getting longer and I got out of work a half-hour earlier than I usually do. 

Like walking from Dunellen

This is the second time recently (probably the same engineer) the train didn't pull in all the way to the Plainfield Train Station as I arrived home. I love walking a half-block on the platform when only the first two cars on the train are open anyway. The doors I got out of should have been stopped way up where you see lights and the covered platform. Grr.

Wake up, Vincent!

It's time for your photo session!