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iPhone / memories / Monday / photo — Comments Off
13
Jun 11

So this is what my home looks like

You can forget these things. It has been 17 days, a multitude of states, three beds and two countries since we’ve been here last. Someone wrote asking about my day. Just fine, can you tell me where my restroom is?

Brian stopped in for a visit with his daughter this afternoon. They were passing through town and we guilted them into a visit. We could not guilt them into corn nuggets. There will be repercussions.

A new thing they are doing at Publix, identifying the local growers. “Hi, my name is Bo and I grow corn because it keeps me one with the earth, and also justifies the vast stores of butter I keep on the family property.”

At the grocery store we were asked six times — six! — if we needed help. How great it is to be home. We must looked exhausted or confused or they’ve forgotten who we are.

We had an interesting conversation about this in New York, actually. The North is fine. Good folks, same as anywhere, really. (In fact each one I’ve met on a personal level in six years of visiting has been kind, welcoming and hospitable.) But their attention is a bit different. There’s the pace, sure, but most importantly there is the distraction of self. Our friend John, who grew up in the Bronx, kept trying to say that people aren’t rude, they are just far, far more concerned about their own little world than they ever will be with you. That’s fine, as far as it goes. They’re in the hustle, the bustle and are completely focused on themselves.

One man asked me three times today if he could help me at the grocery store. One man. Three times! Three of his co-workers also tried to help. We visited a grocery store in Boston and the people were helpful if you asked. Everyone you meet in Boston is very nice. You meet plenty of nice people in New York. A random man walked up and gave us directions as we consulted our iPhone directions in Manhattan. “Go down to 72nd and over one block … I promise.” The pause was such that he knew we were skeptical. But he had no reason to lie about it. We turned that way and he told us to enjoy our afternoon. (He gave us the right directions.)

Conversely you’ll get ran over for even considering reading a sign. And chivalry is right out. They aren’t merely self-centered in their own daily dramas.

Personally I think many they’re miserable and afraid to admit it as a sign of weakness. I like New York, that’s a great town — and the pace doesn’t bother me, I can do fast — but there are too many people and nothing feels your own. Here I have my grocery store. There people have a store that they go to. Here I can be a regular at various establishments. There you’re just one more order and for heaven’s sake don’t stutter. It all feels like the psychological equivalent of hot cotting. That has to grate on the psyche. I suspect I’d have that impression in Tokyo or Beijing or any megaplex. The older I get the more a small town appeals to me.

Sure, Wikipedia says New York City has 88 theatres, and Boston has — well, the Bruins and Patriots, I guess — but I can park a car most anywhere I go. It is a tradeoff.

Nice to see my car again today, too. It cranked and everything! Which is good, because I’ll need it tomorrow.

adventures / Auburn / friends / iPhone / memories / photo / site / Thursday — Comments Off
2
Jun 11

New York, Day 1, Part 2

Hello, Thursday, I’d like you to recall Tuesday. We’re going to add a few more pictures from Tuesday in this space today, and then some more, tomorrow, to round out Wednesday.

This idea didn’t make any more sense when I initially thought of it, either.

We are very high up on the Empire State Building, here:

We met an Auburn man there, too. We had four War Eagle Moments in Manhattan over the last two days, in fact. All four of those stories have been added to that photo blog.

It doesn’t look that high in the picture, but of course this was as high a place as you could stand in the man-made world. And, of course, that’s higher than you should ever hold your phone through the railing for a picture of a shadow.

I have taken this picture before, but the one below is better. I love this stuff:

Like this. That’s great faux-deco.

And the NBC microphone, at Rockefeller Center, took that picture five years ago, too.

St. Patrick’s Cathedral, from high atop Rockefeller Center:

We were able to walk behind the pulpit in St. Pat’s for the first time ever. They had a copy of Pieta there, and the others visiting revered it with a reverence that could only be considered reverence.

I have seen Pieta, at Rome. (The original was by Michelangelo, and it was the only piece he ever signed.) St. Pat’s Pieta is a fine sculpture, but on a scale of one-to-10 Pietas, this is four Pietas at best. According to Wikipedia, the authority of everything Michelangelo, the St. Pat’s version isn’t even an “authorized replica.” This version was built in 1906 by William Ordway Partridge, an American who studied in Florence, Rome and Paris (where he was born).

We learned about this building while on the Circle Line tour on Tuesday:

It was the first skyscraper on the island. Actually, our guide said, they originally called it a cloudscraper, all three stories of it, but they renamed it so people wouldn’t think poorly of the weather. Marketing has deep roots. Behind it, I believe, is the New York Bank Department.

OK, this one needs a bit of background. Our friend Kelly takes pictures of her feet to prove she’s been places. (Ask her why.) Every so often, then, we take pictures of places our feet have been. Here The Yankee shows Kelly the Statue of Liberty. I suppose my picture of her taking a picture is the “making of” photograph. Wendy also took a picture of The Yankee taking a picture of her foot. I took a picture of Wendy taking a picture, which means I also shot the “making of the documentary.”

This was all on the Staten Island Ferry, which we rode over from Manhattan and back for an extra, late evening view of the statue. We rode to Staten Island on the Molinari, who was a congressman and borough president. We rode back on the John F. Kennedy. We passed the S.I. Newhouse, which was named after the historic publisher. I worked for one of his companies for more than four years and walked past some of his offices in Times Square on Tuesday. No getting away from the man. He died in 1979, his son runs the family empire today, at the age of 83. He’s worth billions.

How quiet do you think it is out there?

More from our two days in New York tomorrow.

adventures / friends / iPhone / memories / photo / site / Tuesday / video — 1 Comment
31
May 11

New York, Day 1, Part 1

So here’s the plan. We’re spending two days in New York City, so I’m breaking this up for the site. This post is about today, the first day. Tomorrow’s will, obviously, be about tomorrow.

While we’re spending Tuesday and Wednesday in New York City, I’m rationing out the rest of the pictures and details to get the site to the weekend. Everybody got that? Can someone explain it to me?

The sign at the train station. The Yankee’s dad dropped us off. We were running behind, but not so much as other people, apparently.

We made it into the city with no trouble. Got off at Grand Central, showed Wendy around the station, remember, she’s never been to New York. We walk outside and … these are the first four pictures I took of her and sent home to her mother. The top picture is the first thing she saw in Manhattan. Go figure.

If you’re curious, I created that little image with a handy little free app called Diptic. I enjoy it very much.

Anyway, one of the things Wendy had on her list was to see the Statue of Liberty, of course. So we hopped a bus and walked up to the Circle Line to take the tour.

This was my fourth trip in front of the statue, now, and each time I (still) have this little feeling of surprise at the thought of being there. There are a lot of places and things in the world that I admire from afar without having ever seriously considered the opportunity to see, but here’s one, and here we are.

The Yankee takes a picture. I bought those rings from Wendy’s father. Small world, gemologically speaking.

Some nice stranger took this picture for us. We gave them great shots in return. Do you ever wonder if those people wonder about you? How is that guy that took my photo just after the first of the year? But I digress.

From the East River, the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building in one picture. Also, a lot of other buildings thrown in for scale.

Still looks a little odd at the World Trade Center, but there’s a distinct change taking place here. The new construction is slated to be open in time for the 10th anniversary later this year — 10 years, difficult to believe. The first time I took the Circle Line (five years ago!) the guide spoke at great length, and with poignant eloquence, about September 11th and the loss and the first responders and about St. Peter’s, a local church with pews now scarred where those rescuers took breaks from their horrible task. Today the guide talks about what is coming to the site, and what has been gained in that part of the city and that was nice to hear.

She’s breaking the law.

And there was a lot more to the day. You’ll see more pictures of it on Thursday. (Tomorrow will be about tomorrow, naturally.) We caught one of the new trains out and headed back to Connecticut for the evening. The new trains are nice. They’ll feel out-dated before the end of the year, but still better than the brown on brown aesthetic of the old trains.

Here’s a brief interview I conducted with Wendy on the small town girl’s first day in the big city.

journalism / links / memories / Tuesday — Comments Off
24
May 11

Popular media publication

Just discovered I had a piece run in the Smithsonian Magazine. Sure, it was a submit-your-own kind of thing, but that hardly matters, does it? But I’ll take it and stick it next to “Published by ESPN and “appeared in almost every major broadcast market” as small professional successes.

Stumbled into each one of them. The major market work happened because I was at the scene of something interesting — the first victims of the DC snipers (John Allen Muhammad was executed 18 months ago), bad storms, my good timing to be in D.C. when the Iraq War started, sports scandals (Chris Porter is in trouble again) and so on. Just bumped into Jim Caple at the ballpark, which turned into a nice little photo gallery for ESPN, piggybacked on a nice package I did on Rickwood for al.com. I wrote the Smithsonian thing when I should have been studying.

See, kids? Procrastination can be good. So is timing.

In other news: I’m still sore from where standing water beat me up this weekend. Sometimes I feel a little bit better, and then other times I am less than ideal. This will take some time, it seems.

I’m not complaining, mind you. I have been perfecting that story, though: Did I tell you about the time my wife beat me up? She’s strong.

Or: Did I tell you about the time I leapt from a plane, thwarted three ninjas mid-air, lost my chute and landed in a convenient lake, cartwheeling to a halt with a bruised up body? Those ninjas weren’t nearly as strong as my lovely bride. (Sometimes we must suffer for our art.)

If you see me moving a bit slowly the next few days, you’ll know why.

Auburn / cycling / memories / Thursday — Comments Off
19
May 11

Oh, hello, Summer

Road around the better part of town today. It isn’t the largest city, by sprawl, but it is big enough when you’re on a bike. There is a sense of accomplishment, though, when you pass those city limit signs and you aren’t in a car.

Most interesting, to me, was when physiology finally kicked in. I haven’t been eating a lot this week for whatever reason. My medical diagnosis: I go through phases. (I’m not a medical doctor, clearly.) Seeing, though, that I am the person who’s appetite goes nuts upon extra exertion, I was surprised to find I wasn’t eating the cabinets off the walls to get to the food inside. So it became an interesting game this week: How long will this last?

And it lasted until I had about 13 miles and lots of hills left to go on my route today. There just wasn’t much more energy for my body to offer. But I pushed through, best I could, proud I went through another city limits sign, even if my route weaved me through the towns in such a way that put me back and forth between them. Who needs a cold glass or reality when “Oh look! You’ve changed cities again!”

This took a few minutes.

Random photographic interlude:

Saw this downtown the other day. This is in front of Auburn Art, another one of the downtown storefronts that has been turned into an extensive gift shop, hawking memorabilia where the authentic thing once stood. The little sign here is evocative of a bygone era, and that era was once inside those doors. Time marches on, only the nostalgic are looking for the past in handsomely framed portraits and paintings — which can all be found inside if you have sufficient credit!

Both the historic Toomer’s Drugstore and Auburn Hardware have morphed into a similar fate, more boutique and peddling more trinkets than their names would suggest. We can sell the ethos, but in another generation will the trinkets be of bygone gift shops themselves?

Tonight I … vacuumed. Can you tell I have a book report to write? Some habits never die. I have a heavy tome on two-and-a-half centuries of media to consider and write about within the next week. Naturally I choose to finish the laundry and otherwise make the place look a bit more respectable.

Also, tomorrow, I pick up my best girl from the airport!