The Amazing Race - Oct. 31 Episode Blog Party Post

Football AGAIN -- the show is delayed here on the East Coast by about a half-hour. Once it starts, as it airs here on the East Coast, I'll update this post with major happenings. Later tonight (or at least by morning) my show review should be posted over on TV Squad. But the real fun will be during showtime right here in the comments area. Everyone is welcome to join in!

8:24 PM and it's finally starting here. Other areas started on time (see comments).

1. Jill and Thomas - trip to Brazil
2. Brook and Claire
3. Michael and Kevin
4. Nat and Kat
5. Chad and Stephanie
6. Gary and Mallory
7. Nick and Vicki -- non-Philimination leg!

Off Topic - That Was the Week It Was - October 31, 2010

It's Sunday morning, time for my weekly off-television topic reflection on the week gone by in words and photographs I've taken in my daily travels. It's Halloween. BOO! (Scared you, didn't I?) And, if you're reading this, Happy Birthday Russ!

Where I spent the majority of my pre-adult life, the leaves were already gone come Halloween. Here, they're peaking. Some trees are still green while others have barren branches ... and yet others are brilliant yellows and reds. Autumn is my favorite time of year as the weather is usually pleasant, not too hot nor too cold, and the foliage can be breathtaking.

Daylight Savings Time is coming late this year. I expected it last weekend or perhaps this one. Nope! It's not until next week. Who decides these things? Is there a way they could strive for consistency from year to year? What's up with that? I want my extra hour of sleep!

Our weird weather continues. In the early part of the week it was warm and even a bit muggy. Then we went down to freezing Saturday morning. I'm actually a fan of brisk weather -- I like temperatures in the low 50s in the morning, perhaps to 70 in the afternoon. I guess we won't see many days like that for a while.

Things are pretty much same old-same old around here. So, it's onto the photos from the week. Clicking on an image will open it larger in a new window.

Vincent, look! Mice!

There were mice on my NJ Transit train last night, as well as Grim Reapers, vampires, (fake) ladies of the evening, clowns, you name it. These two girls are two of the Three Blind Mice. The other one was in the seat facing them as they were in a four-seater. Accompanying them was Wendy from Wendy's (don't ask me, I don't get the connection), but he wasn't wearing his wig.

All were heading into the city (NYC) for parties. With Halloween on a Sunday evening, lots of parties were held Saturday. The big Greenwich Village parade is tonight and the train will be costumed once again. I won't be on it. I'll be home, yes!

BOO!

A store window on East Front Street in Plainfield. Note the police car in the reflection. It was weird. I would stop, sometimes sit on a bench, take some shots and he'd park. I'd move along, he'd creep along. Then if I stopped again, he'd stop and park until I moved again. I don't think I look suspicious. Maybe they're just not used to people walking along taking photos downtown.

The Value Man

This building is really cool. I wonder what it housed in its early days. East Front Street, Plainfield.

I'd like some ETC, please

Got to love the mix of Spanish and English in neon. Envios is shipping and tarjetas are cards. Don't ask me what's included in etc. But I want one! The corner of East Front Street and Park Avenue, Plainfield. Edited to leave the neon in color.

Does anybody really know what time it is?
Does anybody really care?

- Chicago - "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?"

No, it's not 11:36 (and a half). This is more like the clock in the old Mamas and Papas song "Twelve-Thirty (Young Girls Are Coming to the Canyon)" -

I used to live in New York City;
Everything there was dark and dirty.
Outside my window was a steeple
With a clock that always said twelve-thirty.

But this is Plainfield. We march to our own beat, keep our own time. And that time is always 11:36 (and a half). Park Avenue, but there no longer is a Park Jewelers there.

Reflections Part Deux

I guess I'm just a sucker for reflections in windows. Here, the businesses across the street are reflected in the Park Madison Office Building. Park Avenue in Plainfield. When I first moved here there was no building there. It was an odd park with benches all around the edges and perhaps two sidewalks to the middle ... lots of grass and signs to stay off the grass.

Too windy for chess

The chess tables sit empty as the temperatures drop and the winds pick up. Park Avenue and East Front Street, Plainfield. And what time is it?

Old, new and a change of seasons

The old PNC bank pillars, the Park Madison Office Building and colorful leaves. Park Avenue, Plainfield.

I'd like to make an apartment in there

This building has been vacant for more than a few years. Its windows are so cool! These are actually the second and third floors. Supposedly there are all kinds of plans for this and the PNC bank ... including some apartments. Seeing how slow some things are done (cough:::The Monarch:::cough) around here, I better not count on 'em. Park Avenue, Plainfield.

Standing in the railway station
Got a ticket for my destination
-- "Homeward Bound" by Simon and Garfunkel

Okay, he had it as sitting. I took creative liberties! Plainfield Train Station

C-c-c-an't bloom!

The weeds came to life in the warm weather, then the cold made them refuse to come to full bloom.

Storm clouds move in

Plainfield Train Station Tuesday just around sunset.

Pretty colors

Bridgewater Promenade Shopping Center, Bridgewater, NJ.

Sunrise by the ball park

The boys of summer are gone from the TD Ballpark in Bridgewater (by the train station).

Jus' chillaxin'

Ready to face another day. Plainfield Train Station.

Police activity!

Hey, this is outside MY window! (Hence the camera focusing on the screen as it was still in the "heat wave.") There was some kind of parking kerfuffle but nothing which warranted police. But then the riff raff neighbor whose tires were slashed the night before was screaming that the cops need to lock up so-and-so who slashed her tires. I just want the riff raff neighbor to move. No one else in the building has people honking horns and screaming up at their windows at all hours.

We're talking pea soup

One morning the fog was outright ridiculous. The dark line in this photo is a pole right near me. You can barely see the sun. Some of you will recognize the sign -- it's the one ripped apart by a storm earlier this year. But what you can't see is all the parked cars in the Bridgewater Train Station parking lot!

It wasn't as foggy when I left Plainfield that morning

This was before I hit the bad fog. Plainfield Train Station.

The train! The train!

Autumn Leaves

At the Plainfield Train Station

Watchung Avenue in the pre-dawn

Yep, it's all lighted up. As an ex-neighbor in my building referred to our parking lot lights ... those are RUDE lights.

Are you comfortable, Vincent?

His overbite shows.

How was your week?

Don't forget to stop back for the blog party during The Amazing Race!

Survivor: Nicaragua - October 27th Episode Blog Party Post

Survivors Ready?

Welcome one, welcome all! The blog party is ready to start! Everyone is welcome to join in with comments as the show airs here on the East Coast or even later in West Coast time. As the show airs, I'll post major events here, but the real fun and most of the reactions are in the comments section. See you there!

Espada won reward -- horseback rides, breakfast at a farm.

Apparently they won immunity too, not that I could tell thanks to Comcast or WCBS2 losing its signal for ten minutes. Grr.

Jill was voted out. Hmmm...

The Amazing Race - Oct. 24 Episode Blog Party Post

Football AGAIN -- the show is delayed here on the East Coast by about about fifteen - seventeen minutes. Once it starts, as it airs here on the East Coast, I'll update this post with major happenings. Later tonight (or at least by morning) my show review should be posted over on TV Squad. But the real fun will be during showtime right here in the comments area. Everyone is welcome to join in!

Nat and Kat completed the fast forward task.

Nat and Kat first to pit stop -- won a trip to Costa Rica.
2. Gary and Mallory
3. Jill and Thomas
4. Michael and Kevin
5. Brook and Claire
6. Nick and Vicki
7. Chad and Stephanie
8. Katie and Rachel - Philiminated

Off Topic - That Was the Week It Was - October 24, 2010

It's Sunday morning, time for my weekly off television topic reflection on the week gone by in words and photos I've taken in my travels. For some reason, I took a lot of photos this week, not all of them necessarily artistic. But that's how things go sometimes. It helped that most of my walking and commuting times were rain-free, although it rained at night during the week.

I have an addition to my train passengers gripes from a few weeks back --

• For the sake of all that is good in this universe, invest in a box of Kleenex. Sheesh, I realize I had my super cold, but I don't constantly sniffle in public. Blow those noses and stop the sickly noises!

Work, eat, sleep ... then get up and do it all over again. I did take a diversion from my usual routine going to dinner at Five Guys Burgers and Fries, having a few beers, then hitting Trader Joe's with a friend on Wednesday. No, I wasn't drunk in Trader Joe's. I don't like getting drunk as I tend to get sick, so I stick to a limit. 42. Er, no. Two.

I really don't have much else to say. The photo exhibition for the Plainfield Library Photo Contest will take place in two weeks. I'm hoping for a decent showing and another ribbon (and check!) this time, but there's a lot of talent in town. Until then, you get what I got for the week -- clicking on an image will open it larger in a new window.

Clouds in the early morning

I know I tend to take a shot from this vantage point quite often, but things change. This time it was the just-after-sunrise sun's rays on the clouds which caught my eye. Plainfield Train Station.

Last night

Aaaooooo! The real full moon was the night before. But this is full enough for howling! Bridgewater, NJ.

Our house is a very, very fine house
With two cats in the yard
-- "Our House" by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

I don't think they meant lion statues. Note the straw gazelle in the background stalking the lions. East Front Street, Plainfield.

Watching, they're always watching

They're up to something!

You're not the only cuddly toy
That was ever enjoyed by any boy
You're not the only choo-choo train
(Or big stuffed pink thing)
That was left out in the rain
The day after Santa came ...
-- "Cuddly Toy" popularized by The Monkees
- written by Harry Nilsson

Berckman Street, Plainfield. Edited to leave the big stuffed pink thing in color, the rest black and white.

Late season weeds

Red sky in the morning again

Sure enough, it rained all night. I hope those sailors took warning. Bridgewater, NJ.

That same morning in Plainfield just a bit earlier.

The sun also sets

Looking at the sun's final hurrah over the Plainfield Train Station while standing on East Fourth Street.

Plotting in the sun

Yay, Trader Joe's!

I love that each store employs an in-house artist to do all their signs. If it were just lettering, it's something I'd love to do. Alas, they want a lot of drawing with the signs. I'm not as good at that. I'm a letterer kind of person. Years back I used to make signs for various businesses, but computers have taken over a lot of that.

Reflections

Trees are reflected in a bakery's window in Westfield, NJ. Again edited for the color/black and white look.

Yes, it's a flower.

It needed to be shot.

Okay, if you unravel the canopy,
We can attack the humans.

Westfield, NJ at the now-closed Leaders Store.

Westfield?

Yikes, I would have thought that they'd take better care of their real estate. You can see through the roof in the old Leaders Store. While they do seem to be doing something with the building, the upper floors and roof are letting in rain, birds, you name it. That can't be good for the structure. For those not familiar with the area, Westfield is the more posh town in the area.

It's also where John List murdered his family in 1971 but we won't go there.

He hit on me!

EEK! Westfield, NJ.

Vicki's Diner

I love this diner's building even though an SUV is blocking a lot of it. But I wasn't too thrilled the one time I ate there. It was full of high school kids and you couldn't even hold a normal conversation. Plus, the employees were as bad as the kid customers, all hanging out at a table. The food was only so-so, not good but not bad. It was the ambiance or lack thereof which did them in with me. Westfield, NJ.

Autumn's Glory

Westfield, NJ. As a matter of fact, this is the colorful tree reflected in the window in one of the shots above.

But no candy

Gotta love Five Guys Burgers and Fries ... and peanuts! But you can't do it too often. We're talking calories here. Westfield, NJ.

Full moon

I keep trying to get decent moon shots without fancy equipment. It's hard to get detail. This was Thursday evening in Plainfield.

Full moon over the Plainfield Municipal Court.

Taken shortly before the other moon shot. Watchung Avenue, Plainfield.

I can't see!
I can't SEE!
I CAN'T SEE!

Open your eyes, Vincent. You're a nut!

Don't forget to stop back tonight for the Amazing Race blog party! Hopefully the show will start somewhere near on time. How was your week?