Off Topic: That Was the Week It Was - January 6, 2013

Good morning! It's Sunday morning. That means it's time for my weekly off television topic photo post reflecting on the week gone by in both words and photographs I've taken. Not to fear, TV fans ... I'll be talking about television again before you know it. 

Welp, it was New Year's this past week. Years ago, I did celebrate. But nowadays I prefer to stay home or, if out, only to the home of friend for a mini-celebration. I find the amount of drunk drivers out there on the roads is scary to begin with. When you add in the amateurs, it's much better to stay inside!

We had some snow and ice here on the Saturday before, so when I headed out to work pre-dawn on New Year's Eve (day), I had to deal with lots of ice on the sidewalks. It's sad that I'm walking up on people's lawns to avoid their icy sidewalks! The snow is easier to walk on -- more traction. Of course, if they had salted their walks, I wouldn't be all over their lawns.

The sun has taken care of most of the snow on the walks and many lawns since. Although we've had typical cold January temperatures, only snow piles and snow in areas which don't get much sunlight remain.

Since I didn't take any impromptu trips into the city this week, it was a rather mundane kind of week. I like a four-day work week for sure. But, since it's dark when I go to work, getting dark or outright dark when I get home -- my photo taking tends to suffer. Plus, it's been COLD. So, last week was an overabundance of photos, this week not so much.

I did encounter two cute kid tales this week. Since I don't have children, I just have to watch what the children of others are doing. On Monday, with the snow still all about, I saw three kids playing with the snow -- making snowballs, dunking snow on each other and such. The youngest was perhaps three or four years old. As their mother told them they were going into a store, I saw the youngest duck down around the corner and ... wait for it ... he FILLED ALL HIS POCKETS WITH SNOW! Jacket pockets, pants pockets, too. I don't think he grasps the concept that it's going to melt. And, I could just see the mother wondering why her child is dripping all over the store.

The other cute kid story was something which probably isn't really allowed by the company, but she was adorable. Last night, a young girl, perhaps six or seven years old, was helping her father at his job. His job is being a New Jersey Transit train conductor. She was having such fun that it was infectious. I made her father get out the special flashlight to shine on my monthly pass which now bears a snowflake under its light. He told me that she begs to go with him all the time and this was the third time he's taken her along. Later in the evening when the train gets a bit rougher, he sends her to the back (in an empty car) for a nap.

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Sunset at the Plainfield Train Station

Once again, lots of overcast skies this past week. But one day boasted a nice sunset.

What is going on here, Vincent?

Has someone been rolling in catnip?

It's spring! It's SPRING!

I spotted several dandelions trying to thrive on a hill which takes advantage of good sun cover (when the sun is out). However, this contradicts the old Rolling Stones song. Dandelions DO lie. It's far from spring. Sigh.

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Happy New Year

Happy New Year!

Oh my. How did Vincent the Cat get atop the building in Times Square?

My best wishes to each and every one there for a healthy, happy and prosperous New Year!

Off Topic: That Was the Week It Was - December 30, 2012

It's the last Sunday of 2012! Why, that must mean it's time for my last off television topic photo post of the year. Woohoo! Of course, I haven't really been posting about television lately as everything is in repeats for the holidays. I did watch the Kennedy Center honors show this week and enjoyed it immensely. The ballet dancer seemed a bit out of her element, but I found the rest of the folks being honored people who have indeed played roles in my own life to a certain extent -- Dustin Hoffman, David Letterman, Buddy Guy and Led Zeppelin. I'm just not a big ballet fan albeit I find it beautiful when I do watch.

Last week I had a dearth of photos. This week, probably too many. You just might want to grab a big mug of coffee and some snacks before getting too involved in this. Not only did I find some things of interest in a bit better weather week locally to photograph, but I went into Manhattan on a whim on Christmas Day. 

Since I actually (for a change) had two days off -- Christmas and the day after -- with no real plans other than a quiet holiday at home with Vincent the Cat ... I decided to hop a bus into town. That means I walk about one minute to the bus stop and soon I'm dumped in Midtown. A storm was due Wednesday, but Christmas day was nice. Overcast, but I prefer that for taking photos anyway.

So, after I talked to my brother in California on the phone for a while, I was on my way. I thought it might be a bit quieter with all the big stores closed. Um. No. All the people just mobbed the Christmas Tree at Rockefeller Center instead of shopping! Oy. I will say that it wasn't as bad with the crowding as was the Chinese New Year parade in the city last year. I was concerned I might have a rib broken in the crowd crush for that.

I walked from the Port Authority Bus Terminal, through Times Square, over to Fifth Avenue, up to Rockefeller Center, back over by Saint Patrick's Cathedral (which had huge crowds, but scaffolding all about as they rehab the exterior), back down Madison Avenue to escape the crowds and breathe, back through Times Square, then back home. Yeah, that was one sentence. Want to make something of it? Uh-oh. I was in my travel in crowds in Manhattan persona. Oops!

The knees held up just fine. I only sat for a few minutes on a chair in Bryant Park. (Oh yeah, I went there, too.) For some reason, five different people stopped me to ask directions to five different places. Hey, just because I'm walking alone in the city doesn't necessarily mean I know where everything is! Thankfully, they all asked for places I do happen to know like Grand Central Station, Rockefeller Center and such. So I guess I was a good one to ask. I couldn't answer the folks who asked me a bus question, though. I have never been on a New York City bus. Subways, taxis and on foot, yes. Bus, no. 

Three separate groups of people -- an older white couple, a group of five black hip-hop garbed teenagers, and a family who seemed to speak either Russian or Polish -- handed me their iPhones and asked me to take photos of them. Don't they know that Mayor Bloomberg claims the rise in the robbery rate is due to iPhone and iPad thefts? Do I NOT look dangerous and thuggish? Sheesh. Yeah, I took their photos for them and handed them back their expensive playtoys. I figured I could probably only outrun the elderly couple.

Other than the trip into the city, it was a quiet week. Some real icky weather at times, but quiet for me. How was your week?

Onto the MANY photos -- clicking on an image will open it in a new Photobucket window, clicking again will make it larger. To return here, just close out the Photobucket window.

Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree

The holiday light show at Saks Fifth Avenue ...

Empire State Building

The lights are even better now! They replaced the old lighting system with new LED lights and can actually do "light shows." Before, every time they wanted to change colors, they had to physically remove a huge colored lens from each light. Now, it's computerized. Since the colors atop the building change per event, celebration, whatever ... this is going to be fantastic now!

Bryant Park tree and skaters

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Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas! Vincent sure is!

Off Topic: That Was the Week It Was - December 23, 2012

It's Sunday morning. G'morning, y'all. Of course, that would mean that it's time for my weekly off television reflection on the week gone by in both words and photos I've taken. Hmmm ... it hasn't been the best of weeks for my photo taking. To think about it, although not horrible by any means, it has been a nondescript kind of week in my life. Perhaps nondescript tinged with a bit of sadness and fatigue. Yeah, that's it!

The holidays aren't always a great time for me on a personal basis. My parents died decades ago, my brothers and I are spread across the country and I have no family (as defined) here. My workplace is always extremely busy this time of year and I don't have any extended time off to go anywhere. I've grown used to all of that. I have my own little things I do on the day and consider my cat Vincent a member of my family! However, it can still be a bit rough as everyone's talking about spending the holiday with their families and, what little family I have left, is scattered far and wide. 

But that's not the cause of the sadness. I'm still reacting to the shootings in Newtown. I tear up just thinking of those children and their surviving families. I'm still in shock every time I hear the town name "Newtown" so casually added in with places I don't personally know such as Columbine. I know Newtown. I lived near it for years. I have old friends in Newtown. 

Then there's all of the controversy what should be done to stop events like this from happening again. I don't think you can stop anyone determined to "go out with a bang." I recall the horror of Charles Whitman way back in 1966. Gun laws or not, it will keep happening. And, that indeed is a sad thing. It's not the gun laws per se (although we seriously need to clamp down drastically on those assault rifles -- no hunter or person protecting their property or life needs that amount of firepower), it's not necessarily mental illness (if every person with a mental illness went around shooting people, there would be few folks left on Earth), it's not the fact that prayer isn't allowed in schools, it's certainly not Asperger's Syndrome. I've grown tired of zealots on each issue arguing. Arguments tend to make my head hurt. Make it stop.

So, those things have been bothering me as we head into Christmas. The weather this week hasn't helped any. It's been warmer than usual, then cold blasts, then monsoon rains and wind. Now that the trains are finally back on their normal schedule, it's dark when I go to work and it's dark when I come home. It's been overcast (or raining) every morning except one on my way to work. I only saw the start of one actual sunrise this week once I arrived at work.

Speaking of trains back on schedule, lots of folks are probably complaining. My morning train, the first westbound train of the day, has arrived and left the station five or so minutes early each day. That's a no-no. It hasn't affected me as I always plan to get to the station ten minutes early. However, all of those folks who always have to run to make it on time when the train is on time or late ... well, they're missing the boat. Er, train.

As a result of the weather and the darkness, my photos this week are severely lacking. My apologies.

Chotola pigeons

Pigeons hunker down in the winds on Saturday, one of the few days I saw daylight. This is the Chotola apartment building on North Avenue in Plainfield, where the long gone Roofus the Cat used to bask on the ledges.

Abandoned

Kind of says it all for the week, eh? I managed to kill one of my best umbrellas battling the wind and rain on Friday morning. Just as I decided I was soaked and it wasn't doing me any good so I might as well close it, the wind ripped it inside out and damaged the framing (spokes? whatever). This is not my umbrella. Mine was better. Wah.

I know you're not there

I don't think parking this empty Community Patrol (COPS) van all around the Plainfield Train Station will stop the ne'er-do-wells who inhabit the benches. I realize it's popular to park an empty decoy police car around trouble areas to give the illusion there's a cop nearby. But not for days at a time!

Bridgewater sunrise

The one start of a sunrise I witnessed this week.

Christmas oasis

The house at the corner of Richmond and East Front in Plainfield.

Wet branches

I used GIMP photo editor's illusion filter on this shot of dripping branches lighted up by a street lamp.

Apartment door wreath

My neighbor's door wreath. It sheds little stars each time the door opens or closes.

Santa, I've been a good cat all year!

Well, for the most part. I seem to recall some toilet tissue incidents and attacks on my bare feet. But, yeah. You're a great cat, Vincent, although you're not always perfectly behaved.