The Amazing Race 19 Blog Party - Season Finale

I'm ready to give up watching any CBS show airing on Sunday evenings. I've had it. CBS seriously needs to work out a dependable schedule for its Sunday night primetime block. Once again football has delayed the show. And we're talking a season finale. I don't like football, not at all, not anyhow or anyway. However, if CBS wants to continue to air games, they need to start the primetime shows later and possibly lose a show. 


60 Minutes started at 7:42 ET. I expect TAR to start at 8:42 PM ET. That screws up my plans to watch the two-hour part one of Bag of Bones starting at 9 PM (on dependable A&E). That, in turn, screws up my Monday night TV viewing tomorrow as part two starts at 9 PM ET. I'll have to cram in four hours of Bag of Bones after working all day or watch that at another time. All because of CBS airing football well into the Sunday evening primetime block. Thanks a lot, CBS! 

Once it finally starts, as the action happens, I'll be updating this post with the major happenings. But the real fun is in the comments; please pipe in with your thoughts! See you there!

The teams are flying to Atlanta, Georgia. OHHH! I've been in that airport! They head to Flight Safety International where they must take part in a flight simulator exercise. Ack! My team, Marcus and Amani, are doing horribly at it!

Teams are then off to the "former residence known as the dump." Jeremy and Sandy are in the wrong place. Ernie and Cindy are heading right. Marcus and Amani are still at the simulator.
 
Roadblock up next. Who gives a damn? Margaret Mitchell's home, they must type up their next clue. (Gone With the Wind related task)

Ernie and Cindy are in the lead, having finished the typing clue. That hints at an historical ball game. Jeremy and Sandy are now in the right place. Amani and Marcus STILL haven't landed.

Finally Marcus and Amani finished the flight simulator ... after the 12th try! They're way behind, but do know the city. Maybe ... maybe ...

The last task has them on an enormous map -- one on the map, the other shouting out clues -- and they need to map out their race. Ernie and Cindy are there first.

Ernie and Cindy are quasi-lost trying to get to the pit stop. Jeremy and Sandy might be able to catch up. It just looks sad for Marcus and Amani.

Ernie and Cindy win The Amazing Race.

Jeremy and Sandy came in second. 

Off Topic - That Was the Week It Was - December 11, 2011

It's Sunday morning, once again time for my off television topic reflecting on the week gone by in both words and photographs I've taken. It's hard to believe that Christmas is only two weeks away! When I was a child, the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas seemed to be an eternity. Nowadays, I blink my eyes and another year has gone by.

I didn't really take a lot of great photos this week as all I did was go back and forth between work and home. My morning walk to the train (except on Saturday) is dark and some of my return trips are dark, too. My best photo fodder was Monday morning when it was extremely foggy. I enjoy playing with the camera in the fog!

Next week should be different for photo fodder. It looks like the weather is going to cooperate with my preferred weeknight evening to head into the city (Manhattan). I want to go on a Tuesday night as I don't have to get up at 5AM on Wednesdays. But it's rained every Tuesday since the holiday season kicked in. 

My second choice night is Friday and I was tempted this week. That is, until I got on the train to go home (or the city) and noticed that they had an extra car open and the train was jam-packed with folks heading into the city. No matter what night of the week I go, the city is going to be crazy busy. But Fridays are busier than Tuesdays!

So, my plan is to just stay on the train going home Tuesday. I should hit the city about 4:30 PM or so. I can wander from Penn Station over to Fifth Avenue, wander leisurely in an uptown direction taking photos, grab a bite to eat somewhere along the way, end up at Rockefeller Center to snag some tree and skating shots, then wander back down to the Port Authority to take the bus home. Or, I might cheat and take the subway back down to Port Authority. I'll see how my knee feels. The bus home is better than the train as it stops right in front of my apartment building. I like Plainfield but I don't want to roam the streets late at night.

My knee continues to improve, although stairs (lots of them) are still a challenge. One of my co-workers told me I walk like a soldier now. I march? No. She said she means a strong stride with better posture. Ah, good! However, the first thing I do when I get home from work (after carrying Vincent around on my shoulder) is put my feet up. It can get a bit swollen and achy by the end of the day.


Oh, well. Onto the photos for the week ...

In a holiday fog

Watchung Avenue in the pre-dawn fog on Monday morning. I edited it to leave the closest wreath in color.

Angel on the rough

Hopefully the angel is helping to keep the loose bricks in place! By the entrance to an auto repair garage on East Fourth Street in Plainfield.

The man in yellow

He's not actually really dressed in all yellow -- it's khaki pants and a light-colored army type jacket. It's just the lights at the train station make it look yellow. Of course, I made the rest of the photo black and white ... or there would be a lot more yellow!

CLICK ON THE "READ MORE" LINK TO SEE THE REST OF THE PHOTOS!

Survivor South Pacific 12/07 Episode Blog Party

Survivors ready? It's almost time for the show to start here on the East Coast. As it airs, I'll be updating this post with major events. But the real fun and active discussion can be found in the blog party comments. Stop on in and share your thoughts on the show!

Tonight is the family reunion show. However, what interests me the most is whether Cochran will survive!

Yep, product placement video mails from family.

Duel time -- there is a twist to the duel, to be told later. Uh-oh -- grappling hooks, bags, balls on a table maze. Sigh. Ozzy won. The twist is that the family members come out to greet each castaway, then Ozzy has to choose who will get to spend time with the loved one. Albert gets to spend time with his mother. One more person -- Ozzy chooses Coach with his brother, the last person chosen is Brandon to spend time with his father. They'll spend that time on Redemption Island.

Immunity challenge -- keep moving across a giant puzzle board. They flip a piece over, stand on it, cannot stand on it again, out of moves out of the challenge, last person standing wins. Coach wins. The Brandon/Edna antagonism carries on.

Tribal time. I really wish they'd keep Edna and get rid of Brandon.

Tally time!

Edna
Brandon
Edna
Edna
Edna

Sigh. That Brandon twerp gets on my nerves.

The Amazing Race 19 Blog Party - 12/04/2011

Oh my goodness, I don't know what to do with myself. Why do I say that? Well, The Amazing Race is actually starting on time here in the NYC viewing area! I might just have to faint.

As the action happens, I'll be updating this post with the major happenings. But the real fun is in the comments; please pipe in with your thoughts! See you there!

Coming out of the Pit Stop, they have to dress up in costume as two "famous comic strip characters." Then they have to find out WHO they are! That's different! They're detectives Johnson and Johnson from TinTin. 

Then it's off to Panama City! After receiving tattoos which lead them to San Francisco Bay Tower, a Roadblock has them walking a tightrope over the city.

Next up is a Detour with a choice of Filet or Sole. The first is delivering fish, the second is making sandals.

No team is having luck with finding the clue to the Pit Stop on the dancers. However, Tommy and Andy took off thinking it's something to do with Balboa. That just might cost them the race. The other three teams are still at the dancers trying to find the clue. Uh-oh. Amani and Marcus seem to be going to the same place as Andy and Tommy. Ack!

Tommy and Andy went back and found the Panama Viejo clue.

Pit Stop --

1. Jeremy and Sandy - won a trip
2. Ernie and Cindy
3. Marcus and Amani!!! (My blog pool team!)

Andy and Tommy won six legs and now they're gone. 

Off Topic - That Was the Week It Was - December 4, 2011

It's Sunday morning, time for my weekly off television topic jaunt through the week gone by in both words and photographs I've taken. We've really been lucky temperature-wise here. For early December, we're definitely warmer than average. In the beginning of the week it was almost warm. Now we're back to temperatures in the low 50s going down into the high 20s in the overnight hours. I could certainly deal with that all winter! Unfortunately, it's not likely to happen.

This is the fifth nice weekend in a row here, too. But it has rained just about every Tuesday night into Wednesday. Guess when my day off is? Wednesday! Well, Wednesday and Sunday.

Unless the forecast changes, it's to be that way this week, too. It's a shame because (until I saw the forecast) I was thinking I'd just ride the train all the way into the city (Manhattan) after work on Tuesday to go photo stomping. As I'm off on Wednesday, I could lurk late without worrying about getting up at five in the morning. But they're saying rain for Tuesday night and Wednesday, so that's probably not going to happen. Maybe a week from Tuesday! I could go today, but weekends are more crowded than weeknights and I'd have to be home for The Amazing Race because you never know when it's going to start.

I feel the need to post a correction about stating last week that bikes are allowed on the NJ Transit trains during off peak hours. Well, they kind of are. But, while I was on my medical leave, they changed the rules. No more bikes boarding or getting off at low platforms. My hesitancy about getting my own bike going was due to the low platform at my workplace station. If I took a bike aboard, I'd have to go all the way to Somerville, then bike it three or four miles back to work. 

The new rule is putting a cramp on my new shift train buddies -- a group of tree workers. One has taken to leaving his bike locked at Bridgewater and carrying his seat back and forth on the train. Another is riding his bike from Fanwood to the Plainfield Station, passing two stations with low platforms, then getting out at Somerville and biking five miles to work. 

I feel obligated (personally) to add that the latter dude doing that huge bike hike (and is a tree worker climbing trees, etc.) has an NJ Transit disability card and rides for half-fare. I've looked over the paperwork that you need to bring to a doctor to fill out and submit and I'm not seeing how he gets away with it! I probably would have qualified before my knee replacement(s) or definitely during recovery when I wasn't riding the train. He claims to have a metal plate in his foot. Um, I have metal and plastic knees! Yet I don't think I'd qualify. But then, I did have the operations so I wouldn't be disabled!

Enough grousing, I guess. He's a nice enough guy and also a photo-taker albeit with his smart phone. I just don't like it when people take advantage of the system. Onto the photos for the week ...

The sky is a hazy shade of winter

My apologies to Paul Simon, but it's fitting for the early morning skies this week. This is looking to the west as the sun rises in the east. Bridgewater, NJ.

Sunset with train

The skies were gorgeous when I got home from work early Friday evening. Plainfield Train Station.

Sunset without train

After the train pulled away. I have no clue why only one side of the station has its lamps on. It happens in the morning when they go off, too. It's always the westbound side which is dark first in the morning, last lighted in the evening. 

It's my own theory that they cater to NYC bound passengers just like the full stations are always on that side, ticket machines on that side, etc. Even the buses favor NYC-bound with shelters and benches on that side while folks going westbound stand in the rain. Perhaps they're working under the misconception that most folks just get off trains and buses going westbound and don't have to wait to board them. Huh!

MORE PHOTOS -- HIT THE "READ MORE" LINK IF YOU'RE ON THE MAIN BLOG PAGE!