I left my apartment the other morning to find a clean-up crew in an apartment across the hall. Seems the tenant left abruptly – leaving behind his bed, chair, bookcase, computer, TV, garbage and THOUSANDS of Corona bottles around the apartment. The picture was taken 3 hours after the crew started, and these guys were PISSED off, the smell was so bad they all doubled up their masks. They told me that when they arrived, the bottles were waist high all around the apartment – even after 3 hours, there was barely a path to walk.

After 6 hours or so, they filled up an entire dump truck with the bottles and other garbage. They’ll be back on Monday morning for the rest.

How do people live like that? That wasn’t from a party, that was from months and months of drinking. How do you live with that smell, with beer all over the floor, all over your furniture? This idiot was the cause of a serious fruit fly problem in the building and now the cause of a god awful smell that is still lingering in the hallway.

Funny, I never saw the guy, but I do remember hearing lots of bottles whenever he got home.

I’m glad he left, but they should’ve gotten rid of his ass a long time ago!

Riding the 7 train into Grand Central, especially on holidays, you get quite the hodgepodge of humanity to gaze at wonderingly. Generally your attention fixes on someone with an odd expression or possibly an odd accessory for a subway ride

A handful of people have asked me about Harlem recently, specifically if I think it is a good area to live. I typically give a handful of pros and cons. Though I

Participating New York Dunkin’ Donuts locations are offering a coffee card. Due to the frequency of mornings (and afternoons) I need a cup of coffee to get me running I’m a sucker for anyplace with a coffee card. Au Bon Pan has been a long favorite for their relatively good coffee and reasonable prices (for coffee at least). However, they recently added two spots on their coffee card making it much more likely I’ll lose a card before completion.

This morning (errr, 3:00pm) I was pleased to not only find they still had Chocolate Cream Donuts (Like Heinz, I respect them for their flagrant disregard for common spelling) but also a buy six, get one free coffee card.

Finally, they are giving me something for free besides a Donut shaped midsection.

I was out a bit over the weekend and I’m always amazed at what some guys think will work to get a woman’s attention.

Maybe it’s just that I’m cynical or maybe it’s because I’m a little older than some of the girls that I see out, but damn, don’t you know when something sounds stupid? Isn’t there a filter in your head?

Here are the top ones from this weekend:

1. I heard a 50-something year old man offering a group of 20-something’s discounted surgery because his ex-wife is a surgeon… NOT appealing.

2. Saying to a tall woman – “Boy, you’re tall!”. Really? Is that all you’ve got. Don’t you know she’s probably really tired of hearing it.

3. Allowing a woman to let her put make-up on you (lipstick, eye-shadow, blush and mascara) is not going to make her want to go out with you. It’s just going to make her run… FAST.

4. Showing a group of girls a breast implant to strike up a conversation is just plain disturbing.

Are some of you really at a loss? Start with “hello”. Don’t try too hard to be clever or witty, it doesn’t work… especially when you’re not.

Do yourself a favor and, while it

Do you find yourself in town without the ability to make make it home for that traditional Thanksgiving meal? If so, instead of trying to make Ramen and Easy Mac resemble the normal feast consider volunteering this Thanksgiving. There are still plenty of places with need for volunteers to serve Thanksgiving meals to those currently facing hard times.

Two major resources can be found here:
AGRM
Food Bank NYC

Question: How many New Yorkers went to see the new Harry Potter flick this weekend?

Which brings me to another question: Of that number, how many people went to a midnight showing?

And finally, of that number, how many people brought their crying infants to see the movie with them? Or how about, how many people talked, full-voice, throughout the entire two-and-a-half hour film?

Just wondering.

Courtesy of urban warrior, Colin, once again:

Transferring from the F train to a crowded A train, Colin knew something was wrong with the woman standing a few feet and a few people away from him. Her eyes kept closing and she couldn’t balance herself very well: she looked a bit fucked up, if one might say so. Shortly after the train started going into the tunnel towards Manhattan, this woman proceeds to vomit all over herself and the people immediately next to her. Colin is shielded from the chunks and liquids but not from the smell. The woman then plainly falls to the floor, passed out.

As the train is going through the tunnel, all the passengers are quietly and patiently enduring the disgusting situation. At the next stop, Colin calls the train conductor who says they’re going to have to let her lie on the floor until she comes to, because “We can’t call an ambulance unless the passenger requests one.”

Certainly, we don’t even need to begin to discuss the inanity of this policy.

MTA 93049629269487693984 : Passengers 0

The walk between my apartment and 125th/Lenox just got a whole lot harder. Awhile back I started thinking of this short walk as the urban version of The Gap Game. The urban version of Gap Game (I still need a name for this) replaces the ubiquitous sales person with the homeless, junkies, crazies, black-market peddlers (cigarettes, music, DVDs, porn, and much, much more) and Black Panthers. Many of these groups overlap to form more challenging foes like the crazy, homeless junkie.

The opening of the new Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on 128th and Lenox (scroll to read the link between Sylvia’s and the LDS) has added a new army of opponents in my walk to anywhere from anywhere. This weekend