Random connections

One of my friends posted a video on Facebook and when I watched it, I teared up.  See for yourself:

I love humans.  Living in New York City, I'm surrounded by millions of people at any given moment.  Occasionally that can be a difficult thing, but most of the time I am surprised by the amazing interactions I have on a daily basis.

Yesterday I had a conversation with a fellow pedestrian about the dangers of cyclists (something I've blogged about before), and how we're the lowest life form on the traffic food chain.  We walked a few blocks together and chatted like old friends before going our separate ways.

Today while in line at Marshalls I had a longer conversation with a friendly gal right in front of me.  We started talking about Trader Joe's and how crazy busy it is, and why on earth doesn't the BK location not have a wine store?  We then talked about school teachers and why they need wine, travel plans for Thanksgiving, cars, leather vs cloth upholstery, kids, and personal safety.  I found out that she has a 7 year old child, has family in Georgia, and that she has a Ford Fusion (we totally bonded over that fact - I miss you, Betty Ford!).

I've helped multiple people find their way on the streets of NYC, I've had conversations with someone I'm pressed up against on the subway, I've met new friends at Meetup events, I talk to people wherever I go in this great city.

I'm sure you're all not surprised by this, if you know me at all you know that I love meeting new people and talking to strangers.  My new part-time job at Starbucks fuels that true extrovert personality trait, I had at least a dozen little random connections today alone.  I really value and appreciate these moments because it brings me happiness and keeps me believing in the good of my fellow human beings.

If you are not naturally an extrovert, give it a try.  You never know who you might connect with, who you might uplift, and you probably will at the very least make someone smile.

Me and dear ole Betty Ford - my 2009 Ford Fusion SEL.  V6, alloy wheels, leather interior with contrast stitching, Sync, fancy cool running lights, seat warmers, all the bells and whistles.  I hope your new owner is being nice to you!

P.S. I know we haven't posted regularly in a LONG time.  But I have about 50 draft blog ideas and lots to catch up on, stories and photos to share, and I promise to record the myriad random thoughts that occur in my head daily.

Photos from Governor's Island

Megan wrote a little about our journey to Governor's Island on Saturday 9/29 and posted a few of her photos, but I had to add my two cents as well.  It was an amazing day.  We had talked about going to Governor's Island over Labor Day weekend.  The weekend of 9/29-30 was the last weekend it was open, so we arranged to meet Rachel at the ferry before it departed at 2:30.  We had to squeeze through subway doors that were closing, we hustled through the streets of Brooklyn Heights, and although we had to run the last couple hundred feet, Matt, Megan, Harris and I made it by the skin of our teeth onto the ferry.  Whew!

We were rewarded with amazing views of lower Manhattan.  Stunning, really.  And once on the island we were treated to really cool old buildings, beautiful trees, and that awesome French carnival.  We indulged in some adult beverages, and stood in line for almost an hour in order to get some food in our bellies - totally worth it.  After Governor's Island, we walked up Atlantic Ave toward home, and we stopped in at Pete's Waterfront Ale House to kill some time and wet our whistle.  We ended the evening at a concert venue that was right across the street from the hotel that Megan and I stayed at when we were looking for a place to live and considering Brooklyn.  Rachel had a couple tickets to see Typhoon at Littlefield, and we were able to get a few more tickets even though the event was sold out, so all five of us got into the show!  Our phones were all dead by then, so there aren't any photos of anything after about 8:30pm.  But maybe that's for the best... haha.

View of lower Manhattan from the ferry.  You can see One World Trade Center rising above the rest of the financial district.  To the right you can see the Brooklyn Bridge and if you know where to look you can also see the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building.

Awesome old buildings all over the island.  We decided that we're going to start a college on Governor's Island, because it would be an awesome campus.  

We saw a bunch of cool art displayed, I took a photo of this particular vignette because it has a spelling error (that you can't pick up on in the photo very well, unfortunately).  The board in the second row, second from the left (next to "Stressed") should say, "I'm scared of losing," but instead it says, "I'm scared of loosing."  I couldn't resist...

The old timey swings that we wanted to go on

Sure, the pulley belt that was driving the swings was wobbly and scary, but we figured it wasn't that far of a fall in case anything happened.  A potential broken leg was worth the risk of fun on the swings.

Weeeeeeeeeeeee!  Matt, Rachel and I on the swings.

I'm flying!

Megan was a couple people ahead of me, just enjoying the breeze.

Or maybe she passed out like the first time she ever rode a real rollercoaster, the Viper at Magic Mountain?

Me and Megan and fall foilage

The trees have started to turn and they are gorgeous

Adult lemonade for all!

View of Manhattan from a lovely large field that had red Adirondack chairs strewn about.

Walking back to the ferry, we were in awe of the sunset reflected off of the buildings in the financial district.

Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan Bridge, crisscrossing between islands.

View south toward Staten Island and Jersey, you can see the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, which we drove across to get from Staten Island to Brooklyn.

Rachel, Matt, me, Harris, and Megan.

Downtown Manhattan at dusk.

Sisters on the ferry with Manhattan in the background.

This drink is an amazing "beer," but it's really more like a brandy.  Delicious, potent, and very aromatic.

Matt and Rachel celebrating an amazing day in NYC - and this wasn't even the end!

NYC life - Cyclists

Living in New York City, you might think that one of the first posts I'd write is about the taxis and how crazy the drivers are.  But I think everyone kind of expects taxi drivers to be crazy and erratic and drive like bats out of hell, right?  In one of my favorite movies, Elf, Buddy gets hit by a taxi while walking across the street in Manhattan.  I have not come close to being hit by a taxi, thankfully (fingers crossed and knock on wood!).  But I have come close to being creamed by a bicyclist at least a half dozen times.

Bikes in the city?  Yup.  Now you might think that most of them are bicycle messengers, but I don't know that I've even seen one of those (granted, I don't spend a ton of time in Manhattan during the day yet).  Most of the people I see on bikes are just regular folks like you and I, going to the park or the store or commuting to work.  I'd venture to say that 80% of the bicycle riders in NYC are buttholes, by the way, because they have no regard for rules, regulations, or pedestrians walking - even if the pedestrians have a green walk sign.  
If you don't know already, jaywalking is the norm in NYC, people walk across the street despite what the signals indicate, as long as there isn't any traffic or it's stopped dead.  I've already learned to be wary of those sneaky ninja electric cars like the Prius, which sneak up on you and you have no idea that they are even close to you.  Although I don't really see a lot of Priuses (Prii?) here, I have also learned that the other ninjas that attack without a growling engine are those damn cyclists.

Manhattan has a plethora of Citi Bike stations, so you're guaranteed to see a bunch of clunky blue bikes zooming around as you walk the busier areas in the city.  Brooklyn has a bunch of Citi Bike stations as well, but you see more standard cycles here.  The current mayor of NYC, Mike Bloomberg - a man who is talked about passionately on a regular basis by every single New Yorker, much more so than any LA mayor - has created a much more bike-friendly city.  I think it's great, for the environment, for people's health, and for the noise pollution of horns.  So props to you, Mr. Bloomberg!  How very west coast of you.  Ha...

Anyway, the cyclists here are increasing in number, which is great and all, but they need to learn some cycling etiquette and follow the rules, man!  On the Citi Bike website, it advises the following:


In NYC, cyclists must:

• Yield to pedestrians
• Stay off the sidewalk
• Obey traffic lights
• Ride with traffic

Hmmmmm, that's funny.  On a daily basis I see cyclists breaking ALL of those guidelines.  When I cross the street - legally or jaywalking - I have to look carefully in both directions because the sneaky bike ninjas appear out of nowhere without warning and race by me.  They sure as hell don't yield to pedestrians!  I also see bikes on the sidewalk a lot.  In Pasadena I regularly rebuked bike riders and yelled out, "It's a sideWALK, not a sideCYCLE!"  I continue this verbal admonishment in NYC, of course.  Obey traffic lights?  Yeah right!  Bicyclists here apparently are severely colorblind, because they pay no attention to traffic lights, or stop signs, or pretty much any rule of the road.  Hence my heightened "look both ways" policy when crossing the street.  As for the last guideline, ride with traffic, I will say that most bike riders do follow this.  However, in the increasingly hipster neighborhood that I live in, I see more folks riding against the grain.  

To be fair, some pedestrians walking along the streets or in parks are moronic and present a particularly challenging obstacle course for cyclists.  On my walks in Prospect Park, I regularly see walkers in the bicycle lanes (even though the asphalt is helpfully painted in bright white with symbols indicating where you are supposed to walk/bike).  There are traffic lights in the park that are supposed to let folks cross the loop with safety, but remember that the cyclists don't obey lights so the signals are pretty much futile.  Crossing the bike lane can be a little bit like Frogger, but since 99.99% of the bikes in the park are all going the same way, it's relatively simple.  Wait for the bikes to pass and then hustle across to the walk/run path.  I once saw two teenager girls playing chicken with the cyclists (and these were the serious guys with the abundance of spandex), and the girls did a little dance back and forth, never fully committing to crossing the cycle path.  One cyclist was stopping, trying to yield to the girls, but all of the dancing and waffling didn't help him, and the bike actually clipped one of the girls as he passed by (slowly, he wasn't speeding at this point).  The girl was clearly in the wrong in this situation, and the cyclist circled back to make sure she was ok before he continued on.  So I'll admit that pedestrians need to pay more attention too.

If and when you ever come to visit us here in NYC, and you haven't been here before or it's been a while - be forewarned.  The bikes are vicious ninjas who are full of metal and knobby tires and mean-looking pedals, and they will appear when you least expect them and it could be a nasty crash if you're not paying attention.  But if you are paying attention, and some butthole cyclist is coming at you when you have the green walking man signal, feel free to yell at them in your best fake NY accent, "HEY!  I'M WALKIN' HERE!!!"  Not only is it cathartic, but it might also save your life.