Sunday, August 15, 2010
Saturday, August 14, 2010
The Lucille
The trip started an hour late because the captain of the boat wasn't there. But he made up for it by taking it nice and slow around Liberty Island so there were lots of photo opportunities. And so here is a pic of a lovely lady...
(What? just one of them is lovely???)
We watched them loading containers onto ships, and wondered about what was in them and where they were going and just how much frickin' stuff it was.
Here is the Long Island equivalent of the famous Hollywood sign, in case you couldn't figure out that it was Long Island. We were less certain about the names of the other islands...Ellis Island was clear, Liberty Island, Roosevelt Island, too, and we think we knew which was Governor's Island. There were some teeny tiny islands, the kind castaways land on, and one had some kind of weather monitoring devices on it.
We were both surprised to see the Pepsi landmark, as we had heard it was being taken down.
We went under a bunch of the East River bridges. I think this one is the Williamsburg Bridge...I remember snapping it because Kevin wanted a picture of the bridge he rides over to work most days (you can kinda see the train in this picture, too). I guess he looks so happy in the picture because he's not on the train going to work?
We almost missed the cake. We knew there was supposed to be a sheet cake, and we kept waiting for the announcement, and waited and waited until Kevin asked a colleague under his breath "hey, I thought there was supposed to be cake" and she told us that yeah, it was downstairs with the food. So 15 minutes before docking we snarfed down some chocolate cake.
Oh, and did we mention that after almost 2 months straight of sunny, hot weather, this trip happened to fall on a drizzly, cold, gray day?
This boat followed in the Lucille's wake for a while. In the background you can see Lady Liberty, and even fuzzier behind that you can see the container boat lading machinery, probably on the NJ side.
We didn't get a photo of the other boats moored at the marina (one is a huge paddleboat that can hold 400 people) or the pontoon airplane that landed and docked there to much interest and surprise by all of us waiting for the tour to begin.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Things I Hate
I hate the driver of this vehicle, who tried to run me off the road as I was driving down Metropolitan Avenue. He decided he didn't want to wait his turn because his time is so much more important than everyone else's. So he tried to get by me on the right hand side, and when I didn't give way he went anyway because he had the bigger car and I found myself veering into the oncoming lane. When I spoke to him about it when I caught up with him a bit further up on Metro at a red light, he was a complete dick. His wife, who he probably beats, was properly upset about the situation, but the world would definitely be a better place without him, and I hope he has a massive coronary while sitting in his living room. Soon. Very, very soon.
I hate the business of leaving flyers and other unwanted crap at people's homes. That's a bad business model, and I'll digress to say that one thing I LIKE is that in NYC you can post that you don't want crappy fliers, oops I mean "soliciations", and then they're legally not allowed to leave them. And so I additionally hate what went on in this picture. Really? You couldn't take your stolen cart with you to deliver the crap (for which I hope you get at least minimum wage)? And who exactly did you think would steal said crap that you needed to chain it up? And you chose that defenseless tree instead of the metal signpost just a couple of feet from it because why? Well, the one right thing you did was choose to park it in front of the house where an ancient old lady lives who doesn't have the wherewithall to chastise you about it; if you had parked it in front of my house you would have gotten an earfull. Well, actually, if it hadn't been Kevin who took the pic you would've gotten an earfull anyway.
I also hate when film or TV is shot on location. It's nothing but an inconvenience for the locals, and it doesn't benefit the locals, except maybe the fuckers who are renting out their home or business for inside shots; not even the local food places benefit since they always have that fucking huge catering truck which idles all day. And it's never for anything good. Check out the name of the filming for this one; I'm sure if I watched it I WOULD be Bored to Death.
And I know I've talked about this one before, but let me mention again that I hate oversized trucks. They don't fit, and so instead they terrorize parked cars, cause noisy traffic jams, drive up on curbs, take down tree limbs and stop signs, and are generally motherfuckers because they think their business is more important than doing the right thing. Here are 2 separate trucks, from about a week apart earlier this Spring.
And I also hate having my picture taken when I don't feel like having my picture taken.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Saturdays at McCarren Park
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Taxes
On this day, we usually hear talk of a "Fair Tax"--an idea that comes around and then fades. I won't get into what our pols do with what was, for a brief time, our $, but my views on this Tax Day are:
--Taxes are way too high
--Taxes are way too high because many do not pay and many do not pay enough
--Fixing the above would bring our individual tax burden down, in my estimation, by a third!
--Everyone should pay something
--Taxes should be fair to all and onerous to none, meaning....
--We should not gouge the rich, but they should pay all they should pay. Let's close loopholes!
--Businesses benefit from what tax dollars go to, so businesses should pay taxes (many don't).
--Offshore investments, main offices in foreign countries, and other dodges need to stop.
--Local incentives to business, in the form of tax waivers, serve no one and are unnecessary.
--Non-profits, charities, the religious--should be on the tax rolls.
As one who did not pay for several years and who found out years later when I became more responsible and late filed that I would have gotten money back all those years, I say: Enforcement serves the common weal.
So...File, bitches!
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Organic Village
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Where were we...
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Earth Day, 2009
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Oklahoma? OK.
But one thing I did get to do was to see the Oklahoma City Museum of Art, since on Thursdays it stays open until 9pm. So after the exhibit hall closed at 6pm, I changed out of my cute, pointy-toed kitten-heel shoes into my walking shoes, and off we went.
My main goal was to see the Dale Chihuly exhibit, and it did not disappoint. The first Chihuly piece you see is right at the front entrance; you don't even have to be inside to see it. It extends up to the top floor (there are three floors) and you can see it from each floor.
The third floor held the contemporary art, including all their Chihuly pieces, a large collection worth millions. Generously, photos with flash are allowed in the glassware. It opens without much fanfare, nothing too exciting, maybe if I knew the technique to make the lumps attach to the smooth vase pieces I would be more impressed. The next room is more interesting, with vases that have cherub figurines attached to them. Then some colorful flat shell-like pieces. Okay. It's getting there. More colorful. More interesting shapes.
Then suddenly after a few rooms, you step into a hallway, and above one's head is fabulousness! Hundreds of colorful shapes, as if it is a storage room, lit from above. I looked and looked and looked (and had to go back a second time around).
I was as pleased as could be. But THEN I stepped into the next room, and I'm pretty sure I gasped in delight multiple times. Two 10- or 12-ft boats, filled with gorgeous glass creations. It looked to me as if the exotic sea creatures of some tropical coral reef had gotten into a boat all together so they could go take their vacation on land.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Neighborhood Update: Five Guys
So we decided we could not cook and we should try the newly opened Five Guys which is near Home Depot, in that new strip that has the mattress store, a martial arts academy, GNC, and Panera. There is clearly a business plan at work here: keep it simple, with a limited menu of burgers and fries. The decor is basically white bathroom tile. Budget. The plan also calls for two teenage girls at the front taking orders--very suburbia--and several young preppy white guys (and one preppy black guy) at the grill--very Long Island. The secret is to always start with a good cut of meat, and I will say that their hamburger meat looked nice and fresh and pink. There was a door open to a side room where the meat was rolled into balls and put on trays, and all I could think of was that Chris Rock movie with the drug lab, I cannot recall the name. Piled high in the front were bags of potatoes marked Special: Five Guys. That is a neat touch. I have to say the burger was just a little more than OK; the (Cajun-style) fries were almost a hit with me. But mostly it was blah-shrug. (I was reminded of a burger place that used to be on E91 St and Madison that used to put a cup over the burgers...what was that place?) Maybe Five Guys will do well with afterschool crowd once the new school on Metropolitan opens up, but we will probably let this one go by. For burgers, everyone has a recomendation or two. Mine is this place on Spring St.
Speaking of stuffing one's feelings, one of our local squirrels made a big catch a few weeks ago--a giant piece of bread almost a big as he is! Here is a pic of the happy critter.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Lincoln Logs
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Kirby Flurby
The Shocking Story of Two Brains Revealed!
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Stuff I Like
And then there's that purple house on 88th street with the cats in the windows!