what about the plastic animals?

The Long Hallway

My apartment is about half-way down the hall, on the right.

p.s. I do believe today is Uncle Stanley's birthday. Happy Birthday!

Sunday Bike Ride - Greenpoint

Newtown Creek and Manhattan beyond from the Pulaski Bridge.

Mmmm, time for a Polish doughnut break. The doughnut tasted fine but needed double the amount of prune filling.


Down by the East River was an odd semi-public area. There were several homeless men camping out and a very amorous hipster couple making out. At the back of one building was this very shiny railing. Look closely to see Midtown Manhattan.

St. Antony of Padua Church

Crossing Newtown Creek via the Pulaski Bridge I entered Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Greenpoint has a large Polish population, so I grabbed a doughnut and iced tea from a Polish bakery. As I rode back and forth I found that a number of the sidestreets between Manhattan Ave and Franklin Streets are very charming.

At one time Greenpoint was an important shipbuilding center. The ironclad Monitor was built here during the Civil War. In the mid-19th century, printing, pottery, gas, glass and iron works were all important industries in the area. Charles Pratt established the Astral Oil Works here in 1867. Greenpoint is also home to the largest oil spill in the country, 17 million gallons covering 55 acres underground.

Previously: From Manhattan to Queens
Next up: Williamsburg.

Bye Bye Roseanne, don't go far away

We had a going away lunch for Roseanne yesterday. She isn't really going away, just switching departments and moving to another building. Even so, I'm going to miss her. Who is going to ask me tough questions? For whom am I going to bake cookies and cakes?

p.s. there's a bug in the new image upload procedure for typepad. I'm correcting the problem manually. Let me know if the site looks weird.

Sunday Bicycle Ride, Manhattan to Queens

As I mentioned, I went for a bike ride on Sunday. Along the way I took 131 photos and now I'm going to post them all. Just kidding... It may only seem like I'm posting them all.

I like riding around the city. You cover a lot more ground by cycling than by walking, yet you go slow enough that you can see what's going on around you. By using the bike trails and avoiding high traffic areas like Times Square the city is actually a fairly pleasant place to ride.


Annual Father-Son baseball game on Pleasant Ave. in East Harlem. Pleasant Ave., home of Rao's, was closed off for two blocks -- one for the baseball "field", the other for use as a parking lot. Not a cop in sight.

Randall's Island pedestrian bridge. The middle section is raised at night. Randall's Island is home to the Manhattan Psychiatric Center (the big building), the Fire Academy, a homeless shelter, a water treatment plant, and a soon-to-be-opened stadium, Carl Icahn Stadium, which will be a world-class track and field venue.

For when you need to make a really long distance call?

Roosevelt Island Tram from Queensboro Bridge.

Looking up while on the Queenboro Bridge.

Nice wall mural in Queens just south of the bridge. Sorry the picture isn't great, I was shooting right into the sun.

Three from Madison Square

While enjoying a double shackburger, fries and vanilla shake at the Shake Shack one can also enjoy the sunset views.

Happy Birthday Conway

I just wanted to take this opportunity to say Happy 32nd Birthday to Conway on 116th St. I see this Conway every day, it's across the street from my building, and it always warms my heart a little bit. Happy Birthday, Conway!

On the Queens-Brooklyn Border

I know where Jake was yesterday! High above Newtown Creek, it would appear. Not too far from the Titanic house:

Today's bike ride turned out to be a marathon. Down along the East River, across the Queensboro bridge, back and forth through the streets of Long Island City, Greenpoint, and Williamsburg, accosted by a security guard in South Williamsburg, across the Williamsburg Bridge, across the Lower East Side and Soho, north along the Hudson and then Riverside Drive before finally turning east and coming home. More photos as the week progresses.

Another Sign Summer is Coming to an End

It is the first Sunday after Labor Day and the Times is about an inch thicker this morning.

The weather is still nice, however. Too nice to read the paper. I'm going for a bike ride. Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn if my mucus-filled respitory system allows.

Looking South

Visitor at Work

Someone on our campus sent this photo around earlier today. There was a copperhead snake crossing the road between a couple of our buildings. According to the photographer, copperheads are venomous but not aggressive. This one was about 2.5 feet long.

Copperheads are quite rare around here. More common are black rat snakes, which are black, can grow much longer, and are good climbers and constrictors.

Damn, why couldn't I have taken that picture!