Off Topic: That Was the Week It Was - December 3, 2017

Good early afternoon! Yeah, I'm getting this up a little late this week. Since it's a Sunday, it's time for my off television topic reflection of the week gone by in both words and photos I've taken along the way. If you're not interested in either, please feel free to check out my previous and newer posts I will put up after this -- they will be television related! You can find my Survivor posts at this link.

Nothing really exciting went on this past week. One interesting thing ... maybe. I think my upstairs neighbor with the booming loud stereo may have moved out. He was extremely loud for about a week and a half leading into Thanksgiving. Then I heard no more from him since the Wednesday before Thanksgiving night. No stereo. No footsteps. In the daytime on my day off this week, I heard someone enter the apartment, walk through each room, then leave. Sometime yesterday while I was at work, a ton of furniture was dumped by the dumpsters along with several contractor type bags of trash. It might not be related, but ...! This morning when I took my own trash out to the dumpster, I noticed his air conditioner was gone, as were his two over the air digital antennas for TV that were always in his living room and bedroom windows. Hmm. The shades are all drawn. 

I know his lease renews/expires in the beginning of December. When he first moved in, he showed his lack of consideration by vacuuming (for the first time) at 3:30am on Christmas morning. Since he's lived there, he might have vacuumed a half-dozen times. While my apartment is hardwood floors, there's wall to wall carpeting up there. If he's indeed out, they'll probably have to replace the carpet. I'm sure to have to endure daytime noise of work crews up there fixing the place up. But at least they won't have booming stereos vibrating my ceiling, walls and floors at any hour day or night.

I just hope the landlord decides to follow their own rule that no more than two people are allowed to live in a one-bedroom apartment. I've had toddlers up there before and the noise of them running is ridiculous. This landlord has decided to advertise vacancies as "luxury apartments" when they're not. Then they go ahead and let couples with two kids into a one-bedroom! I'm hoping they'll be a bit picky as they know I've filed numerous noise complaints about the guy (who's hopefully out). Maybe they'll rent to a single retired person! That would be perfect.

If wishes were horses ...

Anyway, onto this week's photos ... 

It's a bird's world

A seagull poses on a lamppost as one flies overhead. North Avenue and Gavett Place in Plainfield.

Pedro's latest

Pedro Baez, commissioned by Plainfield to paint some of the utility boxes, has added some color to the corner of Watchung and East Second. That's the Main Post Office in the background. 

The eye has it

I edited this shot to leave only the orange eye of the pigeon in color.

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

Survivor 35: Heroes-Healers-Hustlers - November 29 Blog Party

As the show airs here on the East Coast, I'll be updating this entry with the latest happenings. Refresh the page to get the latest! The party itself is in the comments -- join in on the discussion!

Lifeguard Laurie has updated the blog pool and here ya go:

Survivors
Ashley N. - Donna NY, MikesGirl, tbc.
Ben D. - Donna in FL, Merrilee, Tammy.
Chrissy H. - Donna in Alabama, meb, SueGee, KelseyNY
Devon P. - David, Margo, Laurie, Fred aka TwoBlackAces
Joe M. - Cheryl ICNY, Krysa Gibson, Sharon C.
JP H. - Cheryl in NC, Krisen from Ohio, Shannon
Lauren R. - Brian, Jennasmom, Rochelle, Judi Sweeney
Mike Z. - Becky, Janice, Rbennie, PDX Granny
Ryan U. - Anonymouse, Glenn Allen, Nickelpeed

Jury
Desiree W.
Cole M. 

We're in for two hours tonight and two Tribal Councils. Grab yourself some beverages, snacks and a comfy spot. Nine are left. Who will be voted out tonight?

Chrissy is ecstatic because not only is Cole gone, but Mike played his idol. Mike thinks he did right playing the idol. Joe thinks it was wasted. Joe is right. Mike thinks the target on his back is much bigger than it actually is, methinks. He keeps it up and the target will grow. He thinks rather big. Hmm.

Time for the Reward Challenge. Use feet only, release rope, drop blocks in bin, stack in circle, flag in center. Seaplane tour of the Sacred Island, cheeseburgers, fries, cold beer is the reward.  

LAUREN wins Reward! Who will she bring with her? Devon! Ben. Ashley. Ryan tells Jeff he supports Lauren in her decision when Jeff asks him. I think Ryan needs some cheeseburgers. Lauren tells us she didn't pick them as Ryan says -- Devon is a big guy and needs the food, Ben has never been on a Reward -- she says it's strategical because there are cracks in the seven.

Mike's not a happy camper back at camp. He thinks because he and Joe are targets, they should spice things up some. In other words, annoy the others. Ryan tells us he's starving, but thinks that it's good to have Joe and Mike around as targets before he's one. Chrissy and Ryan think they actually need to target Ben out first.

Lauren tells her Reward crew that the seven won't last -- they need to break out early. Whoa. Both Ben and Devon tell of Ryan's idol. Lauren tells them of her two vote advantage. She thinks that Joe and Mike need to stick around for a while and Ben agrees. They make a final four pact. Under their burgers, they find letters from their loved ones. How touching indeed.

Ben found a clue with a map which claimed a clay pot is the location of a hidden idol. He's on the search. He sees it up in a tree! Yes, it's an idol. He knows that others are revolting against him and vows to us that he will tell no one about it.

Time for the first Immunity Challenge of the night. Perched on a narrow raft structure, moving up make it more narrow. Jeff offers forgoing the challenge and indulging in peanut butter and chocolate. Devon, Ben and Lauren sit out for the goodies -- even though all three just ate during Reward.

JP out first. The rest go up to the top level which is precarious. Chrissy out. Joe out. Ryan out. Mike out. ASHLEY wins Immunity!

Ryan thinks it's good that Ashley won. In a seven meeting, it's discussed that either Joe or Mike should go. Ryan was surprised about the three who sat out. Devon thinks it's mindblowing that that neither Chrissy or Ryan see they're in danger. Lauren thinks JP, Chrissy and Ryan need to be broken up and they need to flush out Ryan's idol.

Devon thinks that Ben should act like he's not with them and vote out Mike. Then they trick Mike and Joe into voting with them against Ryan, Chrissy or JP. Hmm. It's a scheme, all right. 

Mike and Joe are thrilled to play along. Gulp. Doesn't look too good for my NJ peeps -- Chrissy and Ryan!

Time for Tribal Council. Jeff will ask his Probsting questions to get them riled up. Uh-oh. Ryan's being a bit too confident. Lauren predicts a perfect storm. Jeff keeps going on about the seven. Lots of talk about trust. Time to vote. I think it will be a blindside. I hope Ryan stays.

The tally -- no idols played.

Mike, Joe, Mike, Mike, JP, JP, JP, JP, JP.

JP was voted out. Ryan is shocked. I'm glad it wasn't Ryan!

Now Joe's all cocky back at camp. Chrissy thinks the five treated the three horribly back at the camp, all snarky and such. Ryan went more for a diplomatic approach.  

Ben and Lauren think they're all that and a bag of chips. Ryan talked to Devon. Devon told Ryan that he doesn't trust Ryan over the idol thing. He tells us that Ryan's no longer a part of his plan to get to the million. 

Devon thinks he has it in the bag with Ben being a double-agent, knowing where idols are (he doesn't know Ben has one).

Time for the Reward Challenge -- two teams of four, swim to boat, collect bags of logs, push puzzle pieces through tunnel, solve puzzle. Survivor Spa with chicken, vegie wraps, pie and fruit. 

Lauren, Mike, Ryan and Chrissy vs. Devon, Ben, Ashley and Joe. 

Joe, Ben, Devon and Ashley win! Joe thinks the tables have turned and he finally has a true alliance. I think they're just using him. But that's me.

Joe is falling for Ben's act hook, line and sinker. But that's making Ashley a bit wary of Ben gamewise. Ashley and Devon bond a bit more and Ashley thinks she's finally playing the game.

Back at camp, Ryan wants to try to convince Mike to work with him. Mike tells us he wants to stick to his plan to work with the other five. He isn't buying what Ryan is selling -- Ryan told him no so many times before. Chrissy tries to talk with Lauren. Lauren tells us she's not likely to change her mind. She reacts much like Mike to Ryan. Not looking good for my Jersey peeps!

Chrissy is worried. She wants to save her game and hopefully have the last laugh.

Immunity Challenge time rolls around again. Use a driving wheel to transport key over obstacles, puzzle pieces, word puzzle.   

CHRISSY WINS! She needs it. Hopefully, Ryan will make it through Tribal even if he has to use his idol. 

Ben tells the alliance of four that Joe needs to go. They agree. Devon schemes the play to vote out Joe. It sounds so solid that I doubt it will go down that way. Devon tells Joe that Lauren will use her advantage, they'll get Ryan to use his idol and vote out Ben. Chrissy tells Ben that she wants either Ashley or Devon out. Hmm. Lauren and Ashley are talking about voting out Ben. Oh my.

Ashley tells Devon about possibly voting out Ben. He seems conflicted. 

Time for Tribal again. This time the focus is testing alliances. Ben says he thinks he's going home tonight. He just may and he thinks it's an act! Joe says he feels comfortable and he doesn't even have an alliance. Ben claims every comfortable alliance gets blindsided. Ryan didn't go to prom. 

Tally time. Ryan plays his idol, so they did flush it out.

Ryan, Ryan, Ashley, Ashley, Joe, Joe, Joe, Joe.

Joe is voted out by his "incredibly tight alliance" as Chrissy puts it. 

Loved ones visit next week.

Off Topic: That Was the Week It Was - November 26, 2017

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving and a great holiday weekend (if you had one of those)! I'm thankful for all of the loyal blog readers out there -- many have also become my friends, too -- who have followed this blog year in, year out ... even when Big Brother isn't in season! Safe travels to all heading home this evening.

Since it's a Sunday morning, it's time for my off television topic reflection of the week gone by in both words and photos I've taken along the way. If you're not interested in either, please feel free to check out my previous and newer posts I will put up after this -- they will be television related! You can find my Survivor posts at this link.

I actually had two days off from work in a row this week -- a rarity in my life. True to form as of late, I spent a lot of time napping on the first day off. The days off in a row were Wednesday and Thursday. My third day off during the holiday week was the Sunday leading into the week. 

While the two days in a row off were nice, it's not enough time to even travel up to my nearest relative in upstate New York for the holiday. I had to be to work Friday morning (and Saturday, too). So, it was a solitary, with the exception of Vincent the Cat, holiday for me. I'm used to it. I often do get invitations to join in at local friends. But I feel it's uncomfortable to intrude on family gatherings when I'm not family. I don't like eating with a crowd of strangers where I might only know one or two people. I prefer to be alone rather than to do that.

On Thanksgiving, I made myself a little feast -- turkey breast, sausage stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, asparagus and a Mrs. Smith's apple pie for dessert. Heck, the rest of the stuff was more work than I usually do, no way would I throw in a homemade pie! I had/have enough leftovers to last me through the weekend so I didn't/don't have to cook for four days after my big kitchen doings. I spent a good part of the day binge-watching The Sopranos on Amazon Prime. After all, that's a family-related show, right? Right? Heh. It's even a New Jersey family! But, I'll admit I don't know anyone in the mob in NJ. I did know some in both New York and Connecticut. But I'm not part of those families, mind you.

What else? Oh, here's a bit of urban life in New Jersey for you ...
I was waiting for the bus to get across town one evening after work. A street kind of guy pushing a bike stopped to wish me a Happy Thanksgiving. He showed me his tire was flat. Um. Okay. What do you want, dude? He showed me the glue and patches for the tire from his pocket. But then he hit me up. He only had a dime and the cheapest air is 35 cents. Oh, well. It's a quarter. I gave him one. We commiserated a bit about how air used to be free and it no longer is such. As he parted, he told me he shoplifted the glue and patches from the store down the street. ACK! I felt like an accomplice after the fact! Thankfully, my bus came shortly afterwards. I cannot fall into a life of crime in my advanced years!

I'm thankful that the guy upstairs went away for the holiday weekend. The quiet is nice. He's had his loud visitors there for the past few weeks and I meant to call the landlord about his extremely loud stereo on Monday this past week, but I forgot. 

Onto the photos for this week. I don't have a lot of them for you and many were taken with the cell phone rather than the camera. The moon shot was the camera. I can't get the cell phone to focus on that.  

Okay, train station. I'm here.

Train be on time. A friend often drives me in these days when our work schedules mesh. However, she had a four day weekend. I didn't. Taking the train on random days the past few weeks has made me late to work twice even though I should have an "early cushion" with the departures. I'm not happy about that. I always plan to be early and NJT makes me late. I'm always at the train station early to catch my train. The least they could do is run vaguely on time!

Friday's moon

You know I can't resist shooting the moon. Had I been out about four hours later, some meteors streaked through the New Jersey skies.

Chotola Pigeon Gathering

Pigeons often line the roof at the front of the Chotola Apartment Building on North Avenue in Plainfield. When I feel I have little photo inspiration while across the street waiting for my train, I turn to them. I often wonder what the building was like in its heyday or what the apartments look like inside. But I wouldn't want to live there even though it's so close to the train. I prefer to live where I don't have to worry about the denizens of the night ... even in the daytime.

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

Survivor 35: Heroes-Healers-Hustlers - November 22 Blog Party

As the show airs here on the East Coast, I'll be updating this entry with the latest happenings. Refresh the page to get the latest! The party itself is in the comments -- join in on the discussion!

Oh my! It looks like Ryan spills the idol beans this week! I thought he'd know better than to blab.

Lifeguard Laurie has updated the blog pool and here ya go:

Merge!!
Ashley N. - Donna NY, MikesGirl, tbc.
Ben D. - Donna in FL, Merrilee, Tammy.
Chrissy H. - Donna in Alabama, meb, SueGee, KelseyNY
Cole M. - Dolores in Hollywood FL, Marthalight, Stormy  
Devon P. - David, Margo, Laurie, Fred aka TwoBlackAces
Joe M. - Cheryl ICNY, Krysa Gibson, Sharon C.
JP H. - Cheryl in NC, Krisen from Ohio, Shannon
Lauren R. - Brian, Jennasmom, Rochelle, Judi Sweeney
Mike Z. - Becky, Janice, Rbennie, PDX Granny
Ryan U. - Anonymouse, Glenn Allen, Nickelpeed

Flame Extinguished
Katrina R. - Pool People moved to a different teams.
Simone N. - 4nancie, Nana in the NW, weenabe
Patrick B. - Beachbound Gmom, Jackie, Petals, Sara Welty
Alan B. - Ed in Ohio, monty 924, Terry is a Texan
Roark L. - Auntie Leigh, Indiana Jane, Pam
Ali E. - Dr_Celine, Monnie8, Tennistoe
Jessica J. - ChicMc, Silk, Sharon N.

Jury
Desiree W. - Delee, Mario Lee, Skyriverblue, Buzzmaam

Survivor fans ready? Ten are left. Who will be voted out tonight?

Mike feels as left out as ever -- he voted the way he should, didn't know Desi would be going home. He's decided that he needs to throw shade on the Healers to stay in the game longer. 

Lauren will have two votes at the next Tribal Council. The others don't seem to realize a vote was missing. Ben is the only one who knows about her advantage.

Oops. Ryan tells Devon he has an idol. He thinks he really had to tell him because "Devon will never tell anybody." 

Time for the Rewards Challenge -- two teams, swim out, retrieve keys, score baskets. Luxury yacht touring the Fijian Islands with alcohol and food. They drew for teams. 

Mike, Joe, JP, Chrissy and Cole win. Joe, as much as I dislike him, did fantastic making the baskets. 

Oh geez. Now Ryan tells Ben about his idol. He thinks truth is power in the game. Ben is thrilled because now he knows Cole doesn't have the idol. He wants to stick with the seven, which includes Ryan at this time, but will be wary that Ryan is determined to win.

No one seemed to find a clue during the reward cruise. And Joe is still searching for another idol. He knows he's a target. He continues to offend Ashley and Chrissy. The way to win friends and influence people, huh? He told them they're the perfect goats and he's not there to make friends. Well, the latter is pretty obvious, I'd say. 

Ben wants to work with Devon. He wants his trust. He tells Devon that Ryan has an idol. Devon thought he was the only one Ryan told (because Ryan told him that). Now he wants to work with Ben and not so much with Ryan. 

Immunity Challenge time! Bars resting on their shoulders forcing them into a squatting position. Go too low or too high and the urn will pop off, put out a fire and they're out. Jeff refers to it as a new Survivor torture device.

Ashley out first. Mike out. JP out. Deon, then Joe out. Ben out. Chrissy out. Ryan out. It's down to Cole and Lauren. Cole out!

Lauren wins Immunity! 

Ben thinks they need to vote four Cole, three Mike. But Ashley wants Joe out. They want to do the split in case of an idol. Ashley wants to convince others that they need to vote Joe out. It seems that most of the seven think Joe rather than Cole or Mike.

Tribal Council has Probsting questions -- Joe admits the Healers are the targets. Joe, Mike and Cole are all in danger. Mike whispered to Joe to trust him in the beginning. Um. Well. Then he goes on about Joe being their pariah and they're showing poor moral character. Mike claims it's not just numbers, but relationships building a "new society."

Ben tells Mike he's safe. But Mike doesn't trust him. He's planning on playing his idol ... and maybe not for himself. Even Chrissy wants Joe out. Ben doesn't see himself as a dictator or steamrolling the others. But he sort of kind of is if you ask them! 

The tally ...
Mike plays his idol for himself.

Ben, Mike, Mike, Cole, Cole, Cole, Cole, Cole.

Cole is out. 

Off Topic: That Was the Week It Was - November 19, 2017

Good morning! Since it's a Sunday morning, it's time for my off television topic reflection of the week gone by in both words and photos I've taken along the way. If you're not interested in either, please feel free to check out my previous and newer posts I will put up after this -- they will be television related! You can find my Survivor posts at this link.

Just another week here. Work, more work, home a bit to eat, sleep and pay attention to a cat. At least I can look forward to a four-day work week ahead. I'll even have two days off in a row, a rarity for me. I get so tired of people asking me how my weekend was or telling me to have a good weekend when I don't really have any idea what a weekend is. While I will have the two days in a row this week, it will be Wednesday and Thanksgiving Thursday. I have to work on Friday and Saturday. With no family really near me in the area, it will be a little feast for Vincent the Cat and me. At least I will be able to relax some. I'm used to spending the holidays alone. Work is hectic through the holiday season and I treasure any time off; holidays give me paid extra days off. I like that. Often the one day off at a time just doesn't do it. I'm chronically exhausted.

I really don't have a heck of a lot else for you this week. Not even photo-wise. But here you go ... clicking on an image will bring up the larger version. Some are from my camera, others are cell phone.

Autumn remains

I love these bushes in the fall -- so intricately colorful! Bridgewater, NJ.

Watching the pigeons on the Chotola

I took this shot with my cell phone and really should have edited it to make it a bit more level. I was waiting for my train and bored. North Avenue, Plainfield.

Seagrass run amok

They'll probably be chopping it down soon. Outside of the TD Bank Ball Park in Bridgewater, NJ.

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