Off Topic: That Was the Week It Was - February 21, 2016

Good morning! It's Sunday morning. You know what that means. It means it's time for my weekly off television topic reflection of the week gone by in both words and photographs I've taken along the way. If you're a fan of the shows -- please stop by on Wednesday and Friday evenings for coverage of Survivor and The Amazing Race! I hope to see you at the blog parties!

Oh my gosh, this week's weather has run the gamut here in New Jersey. We had record low temperatures to start the week, snow, ice, torrential rain, heavy winds, thunderstorms and temperatures nearing record highs by Saturday. There was even a small earthquake but that wasn't felt in this area. That's okay. I've felt earthquakes before. I don't really need more experience at it.

I didn't really have an exciting week photo-wise. In the beginning of the week, the cold kept killing my camera's battery and/or it was too cold to really take photos. Some of the time, it was rainy or icy. I look forward to spring with bugs and flowers for me to shoot!

Life goes on here in the apartment building. One day I got home from work and the elevator wasn't working. It still wasn't working when I left early the next morning. But it was working when I got home from work that day. Since this landlord took over, the elevator has been rapidly repaired any time it has decided to stop. I recall going months at time without it before. And, since we have some elderly and disabled folks on upper floors living here because it's an elevator building, we can't really go without it for long even though we're far from a skyscraper!

Kids playing in the hallway managed to spill sparkly green glitter on the forest green carpet. I've been fighting sparkly green glitter for days now. My vacuum doesn't get it all off my red welcome mat outside my door! Nor did the maintenance staff get it all out of the hallway carpet with their equipment. I ask again ... why are there so many children and adults in that one-bedroom apartment in my corridor?

Onto this week's photos -- clicking on an image will bring it up in a larger version.

Did you see the moon last night?

It's almost full. The actual full moon will take place on Monday night. This full moon is called the Snow Moon. I'd rather some other name, please ... like the SPRING Moon!

Plotting

Since they're not birds of a feather flocking together, their nefarious plan is obvious. They're plotting to overthrow humans and take over the world. Atop the Chotola Apartment Building on North Avenue in Plainfield.

One cool ride!

You'd think they'd at least cover the seat! I wouldn't want to ride that home in the ice and snow. Parked at the Bridgewater Train Station.

**CLICK THE 'READ MORE' LINK TO SEE THE REST OF THE PHOTOS**

The Amazing Race Blog Party - February 19, 2016

Ready to race from your couch? As the show airs here on the East Coast, I'll post the major happenings live. Refresh the page to get the latest! However, as it always is ... the real party is in the comments area. Please join in on the fun! (And bring tasty beverages and snacks!) I'm still a bit iffy on the team names, so please bear with me!

The Magnificent Margo (and Mom) have made the random picks for the blog pool and here they are ...
Tyler & Korey-P- Paula Bell, Bruce & Ray, SueGee
Burnie & Ashley- Buzzmaam, Delee
Erin & Joslyn- Brian, Margo, Rbennie
Sheri & Cole- Donna in FL, Merrilee, Becky
Zach & Rachel- Sharon N, Nana in NW
Dana & Matt- Grandi, Nicklepeed
Jessica & Brittany- Donna in AL, Monty924
Marty & Hagan- Jackie, Willie J
Scott & Blair- Meb, Jennasmom
Kurt & Brodie- David, Ed in OH
Cameron & Darius- chrob61, PDXGranny

Amazing Race fans ready? Let's GO!

Teams are flying to Columbia ... a first for the show. Uh-oh. My blog pool pick team is on the last flight.

Roadblock - Who is a hot mess?
Teams must submerge themselves in a mud pool at a volcano site and retrieve a satchel with an emerald. Some of the satchels have other rocks or gems in them. Korey dropped his coming down the volcano and had to go back. Still, the teams on the first flight are all finishing the Roadblock before the last teams get there.

After they finish the Roadblock ...
Detour - Pop-Up has them building a shelter which needs to be approved by locals. Parilla -- cooking and serving a barbecue type meal. Heh. Tyler and Korey beat out alpha male team Kurt and Brodie in building the shelter. They're on the way to the Pit Stop. My poor blog pool gals are getting frantic stuck in last at the Roadblock.

For their Speed Bump, Scott and Blair must help local fishermen pull in a fist net and retrieve the catch.

Okay, Matt and Dana are the first ones to bicker.

Pit Stop --
1. Tyler and Korey - won a trip to St. Thomas
2. Kurt and Brodie
3. Burnie and Ashley

Uh-oh. Cameron and Darius missed finding their clue. They better get it together!

4. Dana and Matt
5. Joslyn and
6. Jessica and Brittany
7. Zach and Rachel
8. Sheri and Cole
9. Scott and Blair

The brothers pass Hagan and Marty who were running because they let their cab go.

10. Cameron and Darius
11. Marty and Hagan, Philiminated in tears.

There goes my blog pool random pick. Now I'm on my own!

Survivor: Kaoh Rong Season Premiere Blog Party and Pool

Survivor fans ready? The new season makes its premiere tonight! As the show airs, I'll update this entry with the major happenings -- refresh the page to get the latest news! As always, the real party is in the comments area. Please join us there. We like snacks.

Before the show gets going, that Lovable Lifeguard Laurie has made the random picks for the pool. I realize a few people asked too late. Lifeguard Laurie has been kind enough to offer to put the three latecomers and first booters into the pool after tonight's boot.

Here's the match-ups:
Chan Loh - Brains
Elizabeth Markham - Donna in FL, Terry is a Texan
Peter Baggenstos - Jackie, Tammy
Neal Gottlieb - Merrilee
Debbie Wanner - meb, Rbennie
Aubry Braco - Jennasmom
Joseph Del Campo - Grandi, Petals

Gondol - Beauty
Tai Trang - Margo
Nick Maiorano - Laurie
Anna Khait - monty924 , SueGee from the Left Coast
Michele Fitzgerals - Brian TCC
Julia Sokolowski - Indiana Jane, Nickelpeed
Caleb Reynolds - Ed in Ohio, Stephanie in Baltimore

To Tang - Brawn
Kyle Jason - Nana in the NW, Sharon N.
Darnell Hamiltonn - JoyzJenn, Paula Bell
Jennifer Lanzetti - David
Alecia Holen - Becky
Scot Pollard - Delee, Pinky
Cydney Gillon - Leo Lionharted, PDX Granny

Let's all have a great season!

All three tribes scramble to snag supplies before abandoning ship. Jeff promises us the most grueling season ever. So far, as we're still going through the start-up welcome stuff, Debbie seems quite bizarre and annoying to me. Brawn all seem to fit in well together, Brains not as much. The Beauty tribe is trying to figure out Tai. He's defensive of trees, y'know.

Okay, Brawn is starting to split a bit. The guys aren't liking "Blondie" -- I think that's Alecia. I'm not good with the names yet. Darnell wants to work with Cydney. She isn't as committing, I don't think.

Over in Beauty, the chickens escape. They get two of them back while Tai impresses the girls with his gentle approach. The girls are also liking Caleb because they know he was solid to his alliance through BB.

In Brains, Debbie seems to have designs on Joe. Poor Joe. Liz and Neal don't care for her. And, unfortunately, they're deciding that Joe and Debbie are the "geriatrics." It's sad that they're already targeting due to age. If they target Debbie due to weird, that's fine by me.

In Beauty, Tai is searching for an idol and ripping up trees to do so. Yikes! The others realize what he's doing and now he's likely to get targeted. He did apologize to the trees.

Now Brains is in a segment on the heat there. Heck, are they going to even have a challenge? The show only has 20 minutes left to go! Aubry is dehydrated. Maybe we'll just have a med-evac. Maybe it's anxiety. We'll see.

Nighttime. Eek. Jennifer has a bug in her ear!

Okay, I've been informed tonight is 90 minutes. They'll have time.

Treemail. But Jennifer's ear is bleeding and the bug is still in it. Aha! The bug crawled out and she's herself once again!

And, it's time for the Immunity Challenge. Swim to a boat, one person dive down for paddles. Eventually they can solve a puzzle or test their dexterity. Reward is a massive fire-making kit. Second tribe to finish gets a flint.

Uh-oh. On the first dive for paddles, Darnell lost the dive mask and that's setting them behind from the start. Beauty is the first tribe with all the paddles. Beauty and Brains are now competing with Brawn as the first two tribes have trouble getting their boat in the cradle. They're putting on their wheels. Beauty is now in trouble.

Brains goes for the puzzle and is in the lead. Brawn chooses puzzle. Beauty is struggling to move their boat on the track. They also go for puzzle.

Brains Tribe wins Immunity and Reward! Beauty wins the second place! Brawn will go to Tribal Council tonight.

It looks like they're going to target Darnell. Now, Alecia might have blown it by hinting she might have an idol. Stupid girl. Cydney also wants to keep Darnell because she knows he's in her corner.

Tribal Council time. Darnell admits losing the goggles, but claims he will bring it. Alecia thinks she's a mental giant. Oh my. Darnell goes to tears. His heartbreak tale might save his butt.

The tally:
Alecia, Darnell, Alecia, Darnell, Alecia, Darnell.
It's a tie.

They have to revote -- Alecia and Darnell can't vote and the others can only vote for them.

Darnell, Darnell, Darnell. He's the one out tonight.

Off Topic: That Was the Week It Was - February 14, 2016

Happy Valentine's Day! Let's celebrate that massacre! Heehee. It's also Sunday morning, time for my weekly off television topic reflection on the week gone by in both words and photographs I've taken along the way.

Random words and thoughts:

• While the blog pool for The Amazing Race is closed, you have until tomorrow to sign up for the Survivor: Kaoh Rong blog pool at this post. I hope to see you there -- the season premiere is Wednesday night!
• Yay! New episodes of The Walking Dead return tonight! Whoopie!
• For not being about television, this blog entry is so far talking television.
• I need to stop that.
• We need to be proud of ourselves in this area -- we broke a 100-year record for cold temperatures. Yay, us!
• Brrr.
• I went out to grab my Sunday paper from outside the front door of my apartment building. That's it for me going out today.
• Thankfully, my apartment heat is doing well (and included in my rent).
• I don't think I've ever seen the downtown streets in Plainfield as deserted as they were last night when I arrived home from work. Even our city's hardcore homeless seem to have taken cover.
• I was just glad I didn't get frostbitten waiting for train/bus and walking in the bitter brutal evil cold. I did wear layers. But I still have red patches on my upper cheeks under my eyes this morning. Maybe that is a touch of frostbite. I don't know. I'm pretty sure it's not the glow of good health.
• I've had horrible lower back pain since I got up on Thursday morning. I don't know what I did to it. I imagine, since it came on overnight, I might have pulled something in my sleep or something. It needs to go away.

Onto this week's photos -- clicking on an image will bring up a larger version in a gallery window.

Still there

The burned-out two houses from last year's fire on East Second Street remain standing ... sort of. More of the roof has collapsed on this one. If I lived next door -- the home to the left is fine although it still has some melted siding, but people live there -- I'd be demanding it be torn down before it falls down. More parts of the roof have fallen. You can stand in the street and see through the building to East Third Street. I think a good kick could bring it down. The burned building on the right of this isn't AS bad, but also needs to be torn down. They're saved for eternity (or the life of Google maps and the internet) if you do a street view of 642 (or so) East Second Street, Plainfield, NJ. Well, it does make good photo fodder if I'm bored. I'll give it that. But I definitely would be complaining to the city about it if I lived next door to it!

The NJ Transit 59 bus

When the weather is bad and the bus schedule is doable with the train schedule, I take the bus to the train station rather than walk the half-mile or so. Yeah, I'm lazy like that. But this bus is a five minute walk for me -- probably less than that for younger people without knee replacements! And, it's free for me with my monthly train pass.

The projects come down

I took this shot from the train window. After sitting vacated for a long, long time now, Plainfield's Elmwood Gardens west end projects are being demolished. Watching the demolition daily from the train reminds me of when the projects in The Wire came down. While these buildings were a hotbed of drug and gang activity, they also were the homes of families for years. The good people who lived there are probably better off in their new residences away from the concentration of crime. And, unfortunately, the bad are spread all over town. 

Oh, there must be a bad fire somewhere

When I saw (and smelled) this, along with seeing news helicopters all over, I knew something big was burning. This was on Thursday afternoon, a few hours after a warehouse complex in Hillsborough went up in flames. I took this shot at the Bridgewater Train Station which is at least six or seven (or more) miles from the actual fire. It was very windy and bitter cold. (Not as bitter cold as it is right now, mind you.) The fire was basically out by Saturday with just a few hot spots remaining. A few firefighters had minor injuries and, at its height, it went to six alarms.

**CLICK THE 'READ MORE' LINK TO SEE THE REST OF THE PHOTOS**

The Amazing Race Season Premiere Blog Party and Pool

Well, this season surely sneaked up on us! On ME, anyway. As the show airs here on the East Coast, I'll post the major happenings live. Refresh the page to get the latest! However, as it always is ... the real party is in the comments area. Please join in on the fun! (And bring tasty beverages and snacks!)

The Magnificent Margo (and Mom) have made the random picks for the blog pool and here they are ...
Tyler & Korey-P- Paula Bell, Bruce & Ray, SueGee
Burnie & Ashley- Buzzmaam, Delee
Erin & Joslyn- Brian, Margo, Rbennie
Sheri & Cole- Donna in FL, Merrilee, Becky
Zach & Rachel- Sharon N, Nana in NW
Dana & Matt- Grandi, Nicklepeed
Jessica & Brittany- Donna in AL, Monty924
Marty & Hagan- Jackie, Willie J
Scott & Blair- Meb, Jennasmom
Kurt & Brodie- David, Ed in OH
Cameron & Darius- chrob61, PDXGranny

Amazing Race fans ready? Let's GO!

Teams get texts telling them to meet in Mexico City. I still have no clue who these social media influential people are! They're all leaving from their homes across the country to the nearest airports. That's different. It was a spur of the moment text. Obviously, they knew they were to be on the show, but had no idea how it will start.

Since they're all in the same fields such as YouTube and Vine, they're all recognizing each other.

I'm still dazed and confused.

They immediately run into a Detour -- Mariachi Madness, they have to find a musician faking it. Great Balls of Fire has them making a fireworks fake bull thingee. Heh. Most, if not all, teams are getting lost trying to get to the Detour sites. There are hundreds of mariachi players. It's one of those needles in a haystack challenges.

A few teams have made through the mariachis, so that might be easier than building the bull fireworks thingee.

The clue leads them to a place with staggered starting times ten minutes apart. It's a Roadblock - "Who's ready to pick up the pieces?" They have to search through an archaeologic dig site down in a cave, find 13 mask pieces and assemble a mask.

Dana and Matt are the first ones heading off to the Pit Stop. Tyler and Korey are on their tails. The doctor father guy is way lost. He came above ground and lost his pieces.

Pit Stop:
1. Dana and Matt
2. Tyler and Korey
3. Zach and Rachel
4. Cameron and Darius
5. Brodie and Kurt
6. Burnie and Ashley
7. Brittany and Jessica
8. Marty and Hagan
9. Sheri and Cole
10. Erin and Joslyn
11. Scott and Blair -- NON-PHILIMINATION LEG!

All teams are still in it!