End of Summer Mystery

The end of summer brought not only a traffic jam, but also ... a mystery!  Who were these men with their cameras and sound equipment filming at the intersection of the train station?

I was curious.  Curious enough to go back down to the street and take a closer look.

It was a small camera group.  One guy was operating the camera.  Another one the sound boom - which he kept sticking up in the tree.  (Maybe he was listening to see if it needed water?)  One guy pointing at various things.  One guy carrying whatever the pointing guy said to carry.  And one woman on a cellphone nodding and waving disinterestedly.

So maybe they were just getting stock footage for filler in some production of whatever?  Then I ask you, why were there also cameras on every corner?  And not professional crews, but people with DSLR cameras - not smartphones.  That's 7 other people taking pictures of the same space today.

That's just plain strange.  Which makes it a mystery.  Which is a perfect thing to end the summer with, because in my opinion, it just isn't summer unless you get to read a good mystery (preferably on the beach while soaking in the sun).

I'll bet the butler did it.

Friday Sky

There's something very relaxing about stepping off of the train on a Friday night.  Even though the train station parking lot is full of the regular commuters and weekenders all itching to get out of the station and get to their destinations, it's still a big de-stressing moment to step off of the train and know that I'm home.

I think a large part of this has to do with the fact that the city is 80 miles away behind that mountain range.  Right where those 2 ridges seems to come together there is a gap where the train passes through - and the city is 80 miles south of that.

Any stress that I may have had all week long has to follow me all the way home and make it past those mountains guarding our bucolic manor.  Not much makes it through the pass.  Sometimes I pictures little waves of stress trying their darndest to crash into those mountains, only to be knocked down like a tiny little gnat.

That mountain pass is my friend at the end of the day.

Sometimes it can be annoying, like when it stops a storm from leaving for a few extra days.  Sometimes it can be wonderful, like when it stops a storm from coming through.

Most of the time, though, it is a real concrete boundary between my city life and my country life.  So when I get home at night I'm truly here and not still overly focused on what happened at the office.  Sure, I may have to do some work from home.  I may have had a day that just refuses to be shaken off.

But most of the time I step off of the train, look south to those mountains and I just feel safe and at home.  And that's a good feeling to have.

Under the Tracks

The train tracks at the upper eastside train station are elevated.  This sometimes makes me think twice when I step over the gap between the train and the platform as I get onto the train at night.

I always think that it's no longer a matter of falling the height of the train, it's a matter of falling the height of the train plus 2 stories more until I hit the pavement.

I needed to stop thinking this!  It was driving me a little nuts when I was getting on the train at night. (Somehow, this is never a problem when I get off the train in the morning.)  So I went and took a moment to actually look under the tracks.

So here it is.  There are no holes for anyone to fall through should I take a misstep and fall between the train and the platform.  There's really no way to fall all the way through to the street.  It would just be falling the height of the train.  Perfectly fine.   Not a problem at all.

Of course, the thing would be not to fall in the first place, but if I did I'm thinking that it wouldn't too bad - relatively speaking...

Party Train

What happens when you stick people together on mass transit for hours at a time day after day after day?  That's right - they come up with every reason to celebrate!

Usually we get pizza, but this was a special birthday celebration and we wanted to give the birthday girl something she had never had before - White Castle hamburgers.  One of the best thing about Manhattan is that if you know where to look, you can find practically anything.  We got the crave.

I haven't had White Castle hamburgers in forever, but I couldn't remember why.  I am a hamburger aficionado.  I like them a lot.  I figure that my vegetarian brother more than makes up for me being able to eat hamburgers - so there's no guilt at all and you have to love that.

The "crave case" turns out to be a really good way to keep the burgers warm, by the way.  We didn't open them until we were out of the city and the little sliders were still hot.  It has good heavy duty cardboard.  The birthday girl loved them.

Also, a single White Castle burger is like eating 1/4 of a real hamburger, so even my train buddies who are not fans of eating an entire meal on the way home to dinner were able to enjoy a hamburger snack.

The burgers flew out of the box and down the hatch.  They were as good as I remembered.

Then about 2a.m. I remembered one more thing - the reason why I don't have White Castle too often at all.  4 Tums later, everything was okay again.

But note to self: if you're going to eat White Castle, make sure you have antacid around because you're not used to eating fast food!

It was so very worth it!

Only Tuesday

Did you ever have one of those days where you just wanted to go home but the trains were all running in the opposite direction?

Maybe it's just post-holiday grind.  Perhaps early onset Spring fever.  Or it could be SuperBowl anticipation.  Which, of course, will be followed by the traditional SuperBowl Monday vacation day!!!

Whatever the cause, I just hope my train is on time.

What You Don't Want to See

You don't want to see *this* when you get to the train station after a long day.  3 firetrucks and a swarm of police!

Maybe it won't be on my track...

No such luck.  Fire on track 1.  

20 minutes. 1 fire extinguisher.  12 cops.  15 firemen.  1 paper bag thoroughly examined by multiple supervisors, drenched in foam spray and removed from the track.

Do I think this was overkill for a simple paper bag on fire?  No.  You see, the trains running on those tracks have diesel fuel engines.  And there is a lot of debris on the tracks.  The fire could have easily spread and gotten out of control, and let's not forget that this is the main track to get trains out of Manhattan to my upstate haven.  So, no, this was not overkill.

So thank you to all of the firemen and cops who got out there quickly and took care of a little problem before it became a big catastrophe!  You are fabulous and appreciated.

And I was only 20 minutes late getting home - safe and sound.

Going Home

The work week is over.  Everything is prepped for the holiday tomorrow.  The train is coming.  It's time to go home.

Tonight the train will be crowded.  Families with pets and loads of luggage.  I've always wondered why someone traveling to visit for 4 days needs 2 suitcases and several bags.  It seems like they are planning on staying upstate for the winter, but they'll be headed back to the city come Monday morning.

I traveled light today - just my shoulder bag.  I hope to get a seat for my long ride, but I'll settle for standing room inside a car for the first hour, then a seat will most likely open up.  

It would have been nice to just stay home today instead of going into the city to work, but I think I'll focus on having a job to go to and be thankful for that.

Many of my family are traveling all over the country tonight on their way their Thanksgiving destinations.  I wish them - and you - safe travels.

Pizza Party

Sometimes you just have to take happiness wherever you may find it.  For me, happiness is found with good friends and good food - or pizza!

Tonight we are having a party on the train.  My commuting friends and I love coming up with just about any excuse to make our 2 hour ride seem just a bit shorter and what better way than a party.

Since I get on in northern Manhattan, not at Grand Central, it generally falls to me to pick up the pizza so it will still be warm by the time we start the festivities.  It also doesn't hurt that the Famiglia's Pizzeria near the station has really good New York pizza.

For those of you not familiar with New York pizza - it has a thin crisp crust, no dripping oil and is generally eaten folded in half.  Exactly the opposite of a deep dish Chicago style pizza.  In fairness, both are equally yummy!

Tonight we will be celebrating the birthdays from August through October.  We kept having to push back the party night because of hurricanes, major snow storms and vacations.  Tonight, though, the weather is good - okay, a little drizzly - and everyone in our group will be there.

Here comes my train!  Gotta go.

West Side

A huge storm was moving over the city as I made my way home from work.  The sky had such amazing color!  The clouds stretched all the way across Manhattan, but everything was brightly lit. You can see all the way to Riverside Cathedral on the Upper Westside.

I was standing on the south end of the platform taking this shot across 124th Street.  I really like the way the sidewalk trees lead you right to Marcus Garvey Park and seem to surround the Cathedral's base.  Of course I had to time the shots to allow for the rush hour trains pulling into the station, so it took a bit longer than I thought it would.

The clouds burst open, the rain fell swift and hard.  In less than a minute I was totally drenched.  But I got this fabulous shot.

Worth it, don't you think?

Friday Morning Train

I love Friday morning's train commute in the Fall.  It's so peaceful, so quiet.  I actually have this car all to myself right now.  It will be about  an hour before any other commuters find their way into my little private railroad haven.

There will be payback, of course.  Friday night commuting during peak foliage season is extremely crowded.  I'll be lucky to get to stand in the car, let alone get a seat.  But I'll take what I can get for now and just enjoy the peace and quiet of my Friday morning train.

Taxi!

This was a fun shot I took from the train platform on my way home last week.  It's a view of 125th Street in Manhattan facing east towards Long Island.  I wanted to do one of those effects where there is just one spot of color in the photo, and I thought the yellow cab headed down Lexington would be the perfect spot of color for this rush-hour scene.

Total Time: 30 minutes

I used Photoshop.  In image mode, I changed the color to grayscale.  I selected duo-tone and set the tri-tone option to 2 greens.  I cut the taxi out and placed it in a new layer, selected RGB and changed it to that NYC taxi yellow.  Just to conserve download time, I saved it sized for the web.

Here's the original.

I think everything gets all jammed together in the original shot.  Since the yellow taxi in the foreground is so bright, you don't really see the bridge at the end of the horizon.  It feels rather claustrophobic with everything crushed together and the bug bus and truck so near.

When I washed out the color, it gentles the whole picture and lets your eye move around to see all of the pieces.  So much calmer that way.

Please note the bus in the lower right-hand corner - that's not my bus.  Nope, my bus is still about 5 blocks away.  I had to get off and run for it.