Okay - as promised, here is the second installment of A Commuter’s Manifesto.

Please keep in mind that this was compiled from hours upon hours of research and “man on the street” style reporting - basically, I just asked people what drives them nuts about commuting, and they pretty much gave me these answers*.

PART II: WHEN RIDING THE SUBWAY Read more

I captured this from a wall in Chinatown, and it kinda got me thinking. I feel like sometimes, the message is simple and strong. I wish there was more like that.

Okay, like, seriously?

There is nothing that pisses me off more than the way most of the Undead wander around The City all aloof and stupid-like. So, this here manifesto is a Call To Arms, so to speak. A sort of Commuter’s Guideline, if you will.

RULES OF ENGAGEMENT FOR NYC COMMUTERS

Read more

Before I get to the story, we’ve all run into this situation before. How far is too far? Eastside, Westside, Uptown, Downtown, Brooklyn, Queens? For me, as long as I can get there by subway, it’s not too far. The PATH is usually a stretch for me, but I’ve been known to attempt a date out in New Jersey.

During my last family visit to Long Island, I stopped by my brother’s job to meet him for lunch. After my quick stop into the ladies room to primp, this guy walked out of the men’s room at the same time and smiled at me. Turns out, it was Little Dougie from the 5th Grade. Well, not so little anymore. I’m not sure what came over me but I ran over to him, gave him this huge hug and after some small talk, I told him to give me a call the next time he was coming into the city so that we could catch up. Thinking back, I find it amusing that I didn’t even consider telling him that this city girl would meet up on the Island for a drink. God FORBID!
Read more

An observation I recently made in NYC is, that the city seems to have a set of like 80 (the number is probably slightly off ;-)) street names, which are then re-used in each borough. Very confusing for people who are new to the city.

Anyone know the (historical) reason for this?

I want to thank those of you that have reached out to help. Sadly, my friend’s father is STILL missing.
So…. I ask you again to keep your eyes out. I’m back in town so you can either contact my friend (info below) or send me a message here if you see anything.

Thank you!

~~~~~~

For those of you that will be around the city for the rest of the weekend, I need your help.

A dear friend called this morning telling me that her Father - who has severe Alzheimer’s - went missing. He’s not carrying any money or any form of identification. I am including all the details - including what to do if you see him. I am heading out of town for the next few days and won’t have access to email so PLEASE contact the family if you have any info that will help.

Thank you!!!!

Enrique Picart (goes by Kique, Rick and Enrique) missing since 9:30AM Saturday June 14, 2008. He has Severe Alzheimer’s Disease and has not taken his medication since Friday night. Last seen on 5th Ave and 72nd street walking south. He’s wearing a Kelly Green polo shirt (almost black) with grey slacks and brown loafers, no socks. Stands at 5′11′, 150 lbs. Has a black mole on his right cheek. General says ‘Palay vous Francais?’ and ‘I’m in the army, from the army.’ PLEASE contact Vivian Picart 212-534-5529 or the 25th Police Precinct 212-860-6511. Thank you.

Photo from wikipedia.org

So I’m riding what I think is a digital N train from Astoria, when all of sudden it stops at 28th Street. I thought it must be running local or maybe the W and N trains had switched routes again. (That happened my first year in New York - one day they permanently swapped which was express and which was local, landing me in Canal instead of Prince Street on my way to work).

But no - it was a W. A shiny, modern W. I like it! They look clean and new, they show the time, and they even have a little video screen showing MTA messages. I wonder if this means that all older W and N trains will be disappearing sometime soon…

Photo from pps.org

Yesterday marked a favorite yearly event - the Museum Mile Festival. Every year, 5th Ave shuts down to cars in the evening and the museums open their doors for free. It’s always a nice opportunity to get to the museums (which I, like many New Yorkers, don’t often do). Plus, it’s just fun to walk down the middle of a street usually filled with traffic.

Last night, the weather was perfect for the occasion. I met up with some friends at the Museum of the City of New York - my first visit there. With a grand entrance and historic appearance, the building is beautiful. We checked out the Maritime exhibit (which showed a historic look at downtown ports), New York Interiors (lavish displays of historic interiors), and a theater exhibit (with costumes from major musicals, including Rent). Definitely worth a visit.

As usual, there wasn’t much time for more than one museum. We headed down to the Cooper-Hewitt Museum courtyard, always a nice spot, and watched a cool glass-blowing demonstration. After that, there was only a little more time to walk along 5th and admire the chalk artwork covering the street.

I’m looking forward to the upcoming free events in the city - movies and concerts in the park. There will be free live music this weekend at the annual Madison Square Park barbecue event.

Today while we were walking around the city I noticed what seemed like an inordinate amount of dog crap on the sidewalks. I’m used to seeing poop on the streets, of course. It happens, as the kids say. But what I don’t like is inconsiderate pet owners who won’t pick up after their pets. We saw an egregious example of this as we were walking east on Houston this afternoon - a woman walking her very cute little dog, which closely resembled a dust mop, stopped in the middle of the busy sidewalk to let her dog poop. She looked away, bored or disgusted, as the dog dropped three turd-bombs in the center of the sidewalk, and when the dog was finished, she just walked away. Mind you, there was a trash can a mere five feet away from where the dog defecated. She easily could have scooped it up with a plastic bag or her implement of choice and tossed it in the trash in one quick motion. I, being a classy, subtle person, immediately started talking loudly about inconsiderate pet owners leaving their dog’s fecal matter in the middle of the street, and she quickly hustled across Houston to get away from the crazy lady.

So, pet owners - do you pick up the poop? If not, why not? I see poop on the street all the time, so I know someone is just leaving it there, you jerks. And I want to know why!

This van immediately caught my eye. It was a flash of color that drew me in from across the street. Taken with a Sigma DP1 at ISO 800.