It's Sunday morning, the day after Christmas, and time for my weekly off television topic reflection on the week gone by in both words and photos I've taken. No, that's not a run-on sentence. Is it?
The weather and time restraints worked against me once again this past week. Again we had bitter cold temperatures coupled with gusty winds. I'm talking just about every day! I didn't make it into the city -- my knee is bad in the cold and it would be too much walking around. As a consolation, I pulled up a few old holiday shots I took in Manhattan for you.
While we didn't have a white Christmas here, we're in a blizzard warning right now lasting until 6 PM tomorrow according to the the National Weather Service. Oy! I don't really have to go out today. But I am supposed to head to work tomorrow morning! Today I will hang inside and watch the Southland screeners sent to me by TNT. I should be posting a bit on them later on.
I had a fairly quiet, uneventful, yet exceedingly pleasant holiday. I hope everyone enjoyed their day! Vincent got some cat treats, some cat toys and plenty of attention. He's so different than he was last year at this time. Instead of being lanky, he's very solid -- not really overweight, but he better stop gaining weight!
In local news, the city administrator fired last week by the Mayor had her baby early. However, she's not unemployed as she was when I last posted. The City Council voted unanimously to override the Mayor's decision. Now there's scuttlebutt about tossing the Mayor. Don't you just love politics?
Onto the photos for the week ... not a heck of a lot of 'em. Clicking on an image will open it larger in a new window.
O Christmas Tree
The Plainfield tree lights the night on Watchung Avenue in front of City Hall. It's cold, so no one is out there. Well, except for the crowd of drunks hanging outside the liquor store on the corner.
A white Christmas?
I noticed this little snowbank in front of Heard One on Church Street in Plainfield. Huh? What's up with that? Are we talking a tiny two-foot wide snowstorm or what? You can see the train station in the background. That's where I was headed. No snow there!
Chicken vs. Chicken
Kind of like the old Spy vs. Spy in MAD Magazine, we have dueling chicken -- Pollo Campero vs. Royal Chicken. Although this is only about a five-minute walk from my apartment, I have yet to try Pollo Campero. I've tried Royal. Eh. I like their snowcones on hot summer days, but the chicken is only so-so. Pollo Campero seems to be doing a good amount of business. I will eventually check them out. East Front and Roosevelt, Plainfield, NJ.
Oh, those colors!
For the first time ever, I was inside of a totally empty (well, except for the driver) New Jersey Transit bus. I had to shoot it. Notice the camera dome in the rear filming me as I shoot up the bus. This was coming home from work (after the train) on Christmas Eve.
Not only was it empty, it was a weird trip. The driver was one I had never seen before. As he drove along, his cell phone rang. So, although it's way illegal, he answered it and started talking away. That's when I decided to take the photo. Well, I looked up and noticed darkened factories out the window. What? He missed a turn and was heading out East Fifth Street when he needed to cut over to East Second!
"Excuse me, I think you missed the turn at Richmond."
"Oh. I don't really know this route," he hangs up his phone.
"You can take a left at the next intersection -- that should be Berckman."
Instead, he decided to do a K-turn in the middle of the street. Now, this is a full-sized NJ Transit bus, mind you. It took him almost five minutes going back and forth in a two-lane street which wasn't as wide as the bus. Traffic backed up in both directions. Yikes! I made it home alive. That's a good thing.
Old photo warning ahead ...
Macy's holiday window in Manhattan
Yes, it moved. No, I didn't take video.
EEK! A Grinch!
Skaters at Rockefeller Center 
Plainfield Train Station lamps
Taken with the "illustrator" filter on my Pentax digital camera.
A sliver of sunset
Plainfield Train Station.
For some odd reason, I saw a lot of abandoned items this week. As I tend to be intrigued by oddities, I had to shoot them --
Aww
Somewhere a sneaker is pining for his solemate
Not only abandoned, but murdered.
Bridgewater Train Station.
Holiday stars
At the YWCA on East Front Street
A perfectly good grocery cart
In front of Richmond Towers on East Front Street
Four HUGE bags of salad vegetables
Frozen on a bench in Bridgewater, NJ. I don't know know why. Perhaps they were left for Santa Claus?
A poinsettia
No, it's not growing out the brick wall. It's a plastic one stuck in a crevice. I shot this one with my cell phone, so the quality is a bit lacking. Bridgewater, NJ.
Was abandoned, but never will be again ...
Vincent has a home for life. I think he knows it.
How was your holiday? And what's the weather doing where you live?
