what about the plastic animals?

Proof that people will put any sort of crap online

This empty Brown Cow Cream Top blueberry yogurt container stayed upright when I put it in the sink.  You would think it would tip right over.  I guess it was light enough that the soap bubbles were able to support the weight.

I went to the doctor's to see if anything could be done for my everlasting cold.  Columbia physicians do not have fancy offices, he shares an office smaller than mine with another doctor and their admin assistant.  When I get there he is looking in the dorm fridge on the floor.  He says to his assistant, "Where is that bacon and egg sandwich.  I know I had a bacon and egg sandwich in here."  The assistant looks at me and I announce my presence by saying "I hope I'm not getting the cholesterol talk today."  Much grumbling about how there are certain things patients shouldn't hear ensues. 

He prescribed Allegra-D.  I'm not sure if it works as I started breathing easier before picking up the prescription.  Now I have a horrible phlegm-producing once or twice a day cough for only five minutes --down from the half-hour marathons 3-4 times a day a week ago!

Blood pressure - 110/50.

Relative weight gain/loss - down 8 pounds from a year ago, up 1 pound from two years ago, up 27 pounds from 21 years ago, down 1 pound from 22 years ago, or up 174 pounds from 44 years ago.

Not the Place to Go

I don't know if Weehawken Street is the shortest street in Manhattan, but the block long street between Christopher and West 10th certainly has the most 'do not urinate' signs.

The next few weeks are going to be very busy so I have to cut down on the number of posts here.   I'll only be posting once or twice a week until late-October.  Bye!

The Good Shepherd

There was a bunch of old cars by the Grant Memorial the past couple of mornings.  Here's a couple from the bus window.  Somebody said The Good Shepherd, with Matt Damon, Robert De Niro, and Angelina Jolie is being filmed there.

Unrelated:  Curbed and Gawker liked yesterday's Sprint post.

It worked!

My micro-beautification project worked!

Remember this picture:

from a couple of weeks ago?  I emailed it to Sprint.  They said they'd fix it right away. 

Here's what it looks like now:

They were true to their word.  Thank you, Sprint!

This made my day.  Now if only I could shake this cold or pneumonia or whatever it is I have.  It will be nice to once again climb a set of stairs without gasping for breath.

Birds, Bees and a Little Bit More

My current favorite works by Swoon are the simple cut-outs she has put up on Beard St. in Red Hook.  Aren't these nice?  I put a panorama on Flickr, which also has a whole lot of Swoon.

Very Unrelated:  Jim Bakker's rotting Heritage USA.

Twenty Dollar Rip-Off (Literally)

What do you do when you get a torn $20 bill from an ATM?  I don't have an account there, but there is a Carver Savings Bank in my building.  From that bank I took $80 out on Friday morning to buy cold medicine and kleenex.  I saw that there were four bills but didn't inspect them. 

With my horribly bad cold, I went back to my apartment and didn't leave until the next day.  That's when I noticed the twenty above (minus Andy's odd color choices and with serial numbers).  I think this is still legal tender since the serial numbers are still on the bill.

Before catching the shuttle yesterday I went to the bank to see if they would exchange the twenty and let them know their machine gave out a torn bill.  I don't know if it was because I was cranky from being sick or just the bank teller's attitude but my visit did not go well.

At the counter was a woman and her young daughter.  Behind them an older man.  I walked up and stood behind the man.  As I stood there the man left.  There were two tellers, one was busy attending to the woman customer and her daughter, the other was busy stamping things.  I caught the eye of the teller stamping things and he asked me if I was with the woman.  I said no and took half a step toward him, assuming he was going to open his window for me. 

"You have to get in line." 

I was really puzzled, since I had just got in line behind the older guy who had left.  I was momentarily mortified that I had unknowingly cut in front of a half dozen people. Looking around I didn't see anybody, so I raised my hands in the universal "I have no clue what you are talking about" gesture.  I was reminded of the Monty Python sketch where the double-sighted guy wants to hire a mountain climbing guide and talks to the double and not the actual guide.   It was very tempting to say "there is only me, sir."

"You have to get in line."  He pointed to my left and I saw a couple of the retractable tape crowd control poles a step away.  I shrugged my shoulders in the universal "you want me to take one step to the left?" gesture.  I didn't bother moving. 

The woman and her daughter leave and I walk up to the other cashier window.  I pass the cashier the twenty and she grabs it with her hands (foreshadowing alert!).  I explain what happened.  Foolishly, I didn't bring my receipt.   Not that it would explain that I got that bill from their ATM, but it would at least show I withdrew some money from there.  Not that any of that is needed since, according to Treasury Department Bureau of Engraving and Printing:

"Any badly soiled, dirty, defaced, disintegrated, limp, torn, worn, out currency note that is CLEARLY MORE than one-half of the original note, and does not require special examination to determine its value. These notes should be exchanged through your local bank and processed by the Federal Reserve Bank." (their emphasis)

She refused to exchange the bill.  I asked what I should do since I was out of money from Carver's ATM.  She said I should have come into the bank immediately after getting the money.  I explained that I didn't notice the problem immediately and came in as soon as I could when the bank reopened after the weekend.  She asked for my receipt.  Drat!  Then she suggests I go to my bank.

Fair enough.

Getting ready to leave I said that it was the middle ATM that gave me the torn bill.

"Oh, if the machine tears a bill it stops working and won't dispense."

"I don't know how the machines work but I got a torn bill from the middle machine."

"Couldn't have.  We hand check every bill that goes into the machine."

I don't know how banks fill their ATMs, but I typically see money carried in from an armored truck and filled while an armed guard stands watch.  It doesn't touch the bank employees hands.  Maybe this Carver is different.

Now I'm getting ticked off because the teller appears to be making things up.  As I go to get the bill and leave she delivers a double coup de grace.

"Oh, according to Federal Law we can't exchange this, the serial number is torn off." One letter of the serial number was missing.  And then she daintily slides the bill toward me, not daring to touch it with anything more than the tip of her pen.

I needed to get to work, but oh how I wanted to have a talk with the bank manager.

Update:  I went to a branch of my bank at lunch. 

"I got this torn bill at an ATM.  Can I exchange it?"

"Okay.  Here you go."

30 seconds in the bank, tops.

Next post:  nice pictures and no complaining!

Future Home of the Nets?

Not everybody is in favor of Forest City Ratner's proposed Nets arena, housing and retail complex in Brooklyn.  I like the bullets being shot out of the guns. 

96th St. MTA Communication Breakdown

Incomplete and confusing

Wrong and contradicts sign above.

Incomplete, doesn't mention that 5 train replaced 2.

Much as I enjoy getting around town on the subway sometimes the MTA can be incompetent to the point of being surreal, as if they are playing head games with their riders.  The uptown platform at 96th Street this afternoon was a perfect example. 

For the last two weekends there has been construction on the 2/3 line in lower Manhattan.  To accomodate the construction the MTA shut down the 3 line and re-routed the 5, which connects with the 2 in Brooklyn and the Bronx, to run locally on the 2 line from Chambers St. to 96th.  That's a little complicated but it is not an unheard of change, and one frequent users can easily figure out.  All the MTA had to say was the 3 isn't running and the 2 is replaced by a local-running 5.

Instead they put up three posters that contradict each other, are incomplete, or are just plain wrong.  My top photo is misleading as I forgot to get the fine print, which explains in detail what trains to take.  Instead of just saying "no uptown trains" it should have said "5 replaces 2 train".  To add to the confusion the downtown 2 train was running!  Did they all pile up at Chambers St.?  Were they renamed 5 trains when they headed uptown?

The middle sign was wrong this afternoon.  The 5 stopped on the express track.  This caused me at least a half-hour wait.  I entered at 86th, but didn't get on the 1 train because I'd just have to transfer to the 5 at 96th.  I knew something was wrong when two 5 trains bypassed the station on the express track.  It took seemingly forever for a 1 train to show up at 86th, and another 15-20 minutes for a 5 to show up at 96th.

For the subway system 96th St. has a decent public address system.  During the long wait for the train the PA system was not used once to explain any changes.  There was one MTA employee who had the thankless job of  walking the length of the station yelling at people on the platform that there was no downtown express service.  The platforms are long, and the trains are loud, so it was a hopeless task.  Not one of the conductors, and I saw a half-dozen trains stop, waited a second to let people back on the train.  Was the PA system broken?

I didn't need to see these

120th St.

Earlier in the week I was feeling overwhelmed.  My apartment was a complete mess.  Dirty dishes everywhere in the kitchen, no food in the fridge, dining table overflowing with stuff, newspapers and mail covering much of the living room floor.  I took yesterday off to dedicate to cleaning and grocery shopping.  I did a little of both but mostly I slept.  In the middle of the night last night I realized that I had come down with a wicked cold.  Sneezing,coughing, itchy eyes, fever, the whole shebang. 

Much to my regret, today was the end of summer party at work, I took the day off and became good friends with Tylenol Sinus Severe Congestion with Instant CoolBurst Sensation.  I didn't experience the Instant CoolBurst Sensation.  Maybe it was too much to expect it to be like biting into a York peppermint patty.

Yellow Sunset

Beautiful yellow sunset this evening. 

The yellow is almost the color of the watermelon sorbet I made yesterday.  I bought a yellow watermelon, which turned out to be an orangish watermelon.  The sorbet was only half successful.  It tastes quite good, but much of it froze solid.  I either didn't let it churn long enough or I should have cooked it down to reduce the water content.

For dinner tonight I made ginger beef and broccoli stir-fry.  This is remarkable for two reasons.  First, I rarely cook meat at home.  It has been a year or two, if not longer, since I've cooked any beef.  Second, I cut off a one-inch piece of ginger from a larger chunk, chopped it up and put it into a marinade for the beef.  I've looked all over and can't find the larger piece of ginger.