what about the plastic animals?

Tile Thing, I Think I Love You

Does anybody know what the story is with this tile thing?  Why does the tile cornice shoot straight up at one end of the building?  The building is on Clinton Street behind the Schenectady County Library in downtown Schenectady.  I didn't snoop around too much because I was behind schedule but the building was unmarked and had an expensive wrought iron fence and gate with fancy security surrounding it.

A Capitol Visit

Everyone in Massachusetts has spring break in mid-April to observe Patriot's Day.  That's patriot in the Paul Revere/Lexington/Concord/Shot heard 'round the world sense, not in the football team that loses to the Giants sort of way.

Because so many people in his district visit Washington that week Congressman Ed Markey holds a constituent day in the Capitol.  They even let a New Yorker in!  We were met by the congressman's staff who led us down labyrinth-like corridors to the House chambers, where Mr. Markey talked to us and answered questions for a half-hour or more.  Afterwards we went out to the Capitol steps for group pictures.

We could have gotten passes to the House gallery to see a floor debate later in the day, but Congressmen wake up early and we needed to get breakfast and see more sights.

Totally unrelated but I have to tell this story:  I was driving across 125th Street yesterday when I got behind a car with vanity license plates.  In itself that isn't unusual, but the license plate had punctuation (a period and a hyphen) added to further emphasize the vanity.  It was pretentious enough to take a photo.  At the Amsterdam Ave. traffic light the driver anticipated a green light about 20 seconds early by jumping past the crosswalk and part-way into the intersection.  At the next stop light, Old Broadway, he swerved left and stopped in a nether region that's clearly marked (Google Map view) as not a traffic lane.  Look at that link and you'll see that he was anticipating getting into the left turn lane on the next block even though he was the first car at the traffic light in the proper lane and nobody could have gotten to the left turn lane before he could.  For no reason whatsoever he endangered other people by putting himself in harm's way at two consecutive intersections.  I felt like getting out of my car and scolding him.  I thought I should post the photo here.  Then the vanity plate finally registered with me and I realized this person is probably a colleague of justenoughsalt or me (although I didn't recognize him when I drove by). 

Not Even The Hydrant Remains

The city recently made over 870,000 photos available from the Municipal Archives.  Jen Carlson at Gothamist has been digging through that pile of wonder and has been placing thematic collections online a few times a week.  Friday's gallery of urban bicyclists caught my attention because the top photo here was taken at 119th and Manhattan Ave, which I often walk past on my daily commute.

Almost nothing on this block in the 1931 photo is there today.  The building in the background at left (in front of the elevated tracks) is the only building that remains on the block.  The Ninth Avenue El ceased operation in 1940.  Even the fire hydrant has been replaced (albeit in the same spot)!

The emptiness of this part of Harlem stands out when you look at the aerial photo from 1996.  Sometimes I curse myself for not having the foresight to photograph all the vacant lots when I moved into the neighborhood.

At The North Portico

Somebody wrote their congressman and got us a tour of the White House.  While security is pretty tight, it is not as annoying as going through an airport.  You can't bring a bag, or electronics, or a camera, and your cell phone has to be turned off.  Thus no photos of the inside.

The tour is self-guided but somewhat limited in that you see the first floor of the East Wing and Residence.  Friendly Secret Service agents are in each room to answer any questions.  We got to see the Green Room, the Red Room, the East Room, where the President typically holds press conferences (it was much smaller than I expected) and where musical performances are held, and the State Dining Room (which was also much smaller, and a bit dowdier, than I expected).  The best part of the tour is in the Family Dining Room where you get a special White House pin if you beat the president in two out of three arm wrestling matches.

Prettiest Little Courthouse In Texas

The Caldwell County Courthouse in Lockhart is about the prettiest courthouse one could ever see.

Telephony news:  A local telephone company in Nebraska is petitioning the state Public Service Commission to remove pay phones in two small towns.  One of the phones brought in $3.35 in coins last year!

Guggenheim or Parking Garage?

It's a parking garage in downtown San Antonio.

Overlooked on St. Nicholas

I forgot this building at 220 St. Nicholas.  I'm not the only one!  It is our neighborhood eyesore and looks less done now than in November 2009.

Christmas Break

I don't have a good Christmassy photo to share this year so the colorful lights at One World Trade Center will have to do.  Time to take a few days off.  Happy Holidays everybody!

Have You Ever Been To Experience?

Well I have.  Twice.  The Experience Music Project, which is apparently now called the EMP Museum, is one of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's whimsies dressed up in a Frank Gehry building.  The building is fantastic, the museum rather less so.  On both visits I've left the museum underwhelmed, thinking I had somehow missed an entire floor of exhibits.  The previously discussed Nirvana exhibit was excellent and this time Gort was standing guard in the lobby, so I at least felt safe.

The Iliad

Wasn't The Iliad, Homer's epic poem about the Trojan War?  Lots of battles, death, destruction and Helen of Troy?  Makes for an unusual name for an apartment building, but the lion's great.

I'm out of here for a few days.  Happy Thanksgiving everybody!