And the Rest is Cylon(s)

Apologies if you have come here for some of my normal babblings. It's that time of year when the time streams collide, I need to clone myself, all the projects are due, the Christmas to-do lists aren't shrinking, the end-of-year pushes, packing, and utter holiday madness coalesce into one cranky jam-packed just-push-through-to-survive  Nettie Zombie Drone mentality.

On top of that there are behind-the-scenes life issues being addressed, there are parties to bake for, there are neighbors TO LOATHE, and there is a) first a migraine-related bout of something, and b) NOW, a weeklong head-cold/sinus infection/flu thing to kick --- all before we fly in less than a week to climes that are colder than New York itself. I need another dose of The Doctor to head back in time, so I can better prepare. Or take yoga. Or again, CLONE myself.

Speaking of clones ... This year Grand Central decided to go and dress up like a frakkin' Cylon. I think to prove, once and for all, that the deus ex machina is going to get us. (That or the hordes of zombie commuters.)

It's good thing I have things to look forward to in Utah, Nevada, and Arizona, and Westchester, and then in the spring when HOPEFULLY, Mr. Simon can sing The Sounds of Silence to me.

Until then,
Blogging will be intermittent for the foreseeable.

March Madness

Spring is scheduled to arrive tomorrow.

This is what arrived last night:

Another March snowstorm.

I worked late and emerged into the relatively quiet Upper West Side to see yet another new side of things.

The outdoor seating at Alice Tully: Figures, I finally get the place to myself and the best seats in the joint and the show is cancelled on account of weather.

Left: New York in March; travelers and toilers by snowlight at Lincoln Center around 8:45pm 

Peaceful pavement passersby.

Right: What snow? Fashion and carbon offsets matter more than safety or the forecast.

Nearer to home:

All tracks eventually disappear into the storms of life.

Left: It may look a little eerie in the lamplight, but it's kind of cozy when the streets are deserted in the snow. Right: Snowy lane near the Attic

 This morning:

 Boldly ... er.... Carefully going where many have slipping and slopping gone before.

Spring is tomorrow -- yes?

Until then, I'll be taking my wisdom from the Interwebs. I need patience and inspiration. 

all via iTouch, except last.

Tracking my Travails via iTouch

Life has been a bit of a hoot lately, as if you weren't getting that idea from the odd postings. Whose feathers are flying? This girl.

Pillow at Bed, Bath and Beyond. I like the fabric.

My brain has been a bit static-y, and the glare from the monitors at work and then the iTouch screens have short-circuited my creativity from time to time.

Not my photo, but can't remember where I found it online.

Then there is the fact that I've been stuck in my "cube," underground, and it's been grey - well, even the tourist bureaus have figured out how to target their marketing on the Times Square Shuttle.

The changing weather has given the view from the Attic a variety of ever changing vistas, from snowy Marches on the escape, to wishing I was small enough to curl up in a brief patch of sunlight, to rosy dusks after the storms.

If you watch long enough, you can track the perambulations of this family down the snowy street and then perfectly frame up the inevitable slipping and slow fall of a young explorer as she trudges along with the adults. It's not fall, honey. It's still winter. The spring in your step will come soon. (The groundhog lied!)

The calendar flipped to March and there was a brief flurry of spring cleaning, between the flurries, probably brought on by the Return of the Laundry Cart Celebrations. They are irregular, these celebrations, so it's important to mark the return of the wandering carts by doing loads of laundry and then unearthing the piles of ironing that have been ignored under hurricane supplies and other detritus from trips to Connecticut. It was in CT that I "rescued" an iron from it's lonely, forelorn existence in an empty house. It's been sitting keeping my old rusty iron company, until LCC weekend, when Mr. Rusty was left in the laundry room for a new owner. Turns out, you shouldn't have done that (Hal), because, .... well, there is no easy way to say this. The new iron is a Cylon. (And not the hot Anders model either.)

Oh yeah, it's out to get me. No doubts about it.

I've been spending so much time in the City. It's time to get away, but I'm not sure when or where yet.

Contrary to the advertising on another Times Square Shuttle, it won't be Arizona, no matter how appealing it might be to hang my hat on an antler rack. (Yes Arizona. You wrapped 4 subway cars and this was my take-away. Sorry.).

What?

This.

The trip to the Bed Bath and Beyond nearby wasn't much of a help in me trying to find some "inspiration," "pep," or "eye candy." I ended up looking at pillows that, well ... Come on. This is a little too much. I know where I live near and work. I don't need a throw pillow - unless I want to use it to smother myself.

Maybe I need recreational "play" therapy? I know, I'll build something.

Oh wait. This seems familiar somehow.

It's Grand Central.

Okay. Okay. I didn't make this replica of Grand Central. It's on display in Grand Central as part of the 100th Anniversary celebrations. It's made of Lego® bricks created and presented by LEGOLAND Discovery Center Westchester. These iTouch photos don't do it justice. The details are amazing. Look at the eagle hovering over the 42nd street corner entrance and the people taking photos of it. On the right is the photo I took during 2012 Summer Streets.

I usually don't have a lot of time to kill between trains, but one night I got a call for a research project just as I was packing up (90 minutes after the rest of the office had scattered off for the evening) and ended up missing one train. I had a good 20-30 minutes to wait, so I finally had time to take in some of the other exhibitions that Grand Central has put up as part of Grand Central: 100 Years.

I'm glad I had a chance to poke around Vanderbilt Hall at: 

Grand by Design: A Centennial Celebration of Grand Central Terminal

February 1, 2013 - March 13, 2013 | Open Daily, 8am-10pm 

It was illuminating.

"A dramatic, multi-media installation on Grand Central Terminal's century long lifespan will be the centerpiece of the Centennial celebration revealing how the iconic building, on the verge of changing the way New Yorkers travel over the next decade, shaped modern New York and determines its future."

Just a few things from the exhibition.

So much better than modern typography

Vintage Trains

I told Kari that if I had a time machine, I would go back and hop on this train to come and see her. Then I thought better. If I had a time machine, I'd be inventing a freaking transporter, so I could beam myself there. Or go ahead in time and learn what part of my brain contols teleportation, so I could beam myself there without a transporter.

Anyway, here are photos of displays about how the Terminal was saved and some of the architectural components.

And I thought I had baggage!

Do you see how they worked the train in here?

Good use of vertical space

12 years on, and these types of displays about the history and impact of September 11, 2001 still make me cry. The stories and names are so familiar. I am so grateful that the MTA and MetroNorth originally had these, preserved them, and they are used for important exhibitions like these. We can never forget.

The Grand Central Theatre may no longer be part of Grand Central, but I would argue that is actually still is, but not the way you would expect. (For an excellent post on the original Grand Central Theatre, please see Emily's post over on I Ride The Harlem Line. Emily is a TRUE rail fan, and has many good contacts at MetroNorth to inform her posts.)

Grand Central. Entrance through Railroad Station:

To the craziest theater of human drama you could ever want to expect. If you find a good spot, you can observe the entire gambit of emotions in just minute or two: sorrow, anger, angst, aggravation, love, romance, pathos, hunger, harrassment ... the list goes on and on. You can merely observe or ... throw yourself into the narrative, dodging and weaving and wending your way into someone else's train tales. The story is ever evolving and never ending.

This is just an iTouch tale of my journey across the Terminal Theatre to catch the 7:07, a preferred express with a jovial conductor (seen on the right), who breaks up the doldrums of commuting by addressing almost every passenger with "thanks" and then: sport, junior, curly, lady, miss, princess, or some other non-offensive smile-inducing noun, i.e. Thanks, Princess.  I like it. I told him he can call me Miss all he wants, and it's a good day, anyday, to be a Princess. Heads come up out of devices, bonding occurs, grins pass around, and for at least a minute, camaraderie is established. If only more of us could find such bonhomie on our daily commute.

But until then, and until it's warmer, light out later, and I can walk and/or escape to the Garden, this is how I spent a lot of my theraputic weekends. Mixing, stirring, chopping, and baking the winter blues away.

Oh, and fretting about blogging. Not enough hours in a weekend.

Sandy: Spared and not Spooked

I am very grateful and relieved to relay that my little Attic, building, and neighborhood were spared most of the ravishes of the hurricane (aka FrankenStorm aka Superstorm aka the Sno'eastercane) known as Sandy.

Although I was up in CT visiting ye old homestead, Grumpa Max, Jenn, Wendy and Ms. Emily, the forecast was dire enough that plans were cut short so I could return to NY, unload my rental car, return it, and get on one of the last MetroNorth trains before the system was frozen. I was able to get all my emergency supplies of candles, soda, bread, and Diet Coke tucked away next to the food storage tins Dad brought East from the land of the 72 hour kits, fill the bathtub, make sure the freezer was full of ice, have the cooler ready next to the water supply, and to sit and wait to see what Mother Nature would wrought.

I even took pictures of the local river and highway so I could do before and after shots. In previous storms, the river has flooded the highway and trees have come down. 

The Bronx River

Having prepared as much as I could, I 'hunkered' in. The most scary part in the early stages was making sure that Dad was able to fly out of Hartford and back to Vegas. His was one of the last flights out Monday morning, much to everyone's relief. Especially his. (Next time, I believe he will be packing more than just a trip's worth of medication -- WON'T YOU DAD!?)

The waiting is what begins to get on your nerves. The pressure literally plays havoc with your brain. I had the worst migraine until about 9 p.m. on Monday - the day we got the brunt of it. However, I have learned one of the best things to do is actually turn off the television and radio for the most part, and to use common sense. Don't go outside. Don't go near the windows. Take all the potentially flying debris out of Mother Nature's way. Prepare. Be Calm. Carry on. Then don't be stupid when things look to be over. Stuff actually is more dangerous in the 6-36 hours afterward.

I can't say that all of my neighbors quite get this. The stupid upstairs neighbors, they of the illegal fire-escape Christmas lights, still hadn't taken them down, from last year, and they were unfastening in the wind, swinging down, and BANGING on my windows until I went up and pounded on their door and told them that I was going to pull them off if they didn't freakin' take them down -- HOURS into the hurricane winds. STUPID STUPID STUPID! I am still annoyed at the upstairs stomping neighbors, but I was more 'understanding' of the people on my floor. Understanding enough to be prepared to be the Crazy Craft Community Children's Entertainer for the 5 kids of varying ages on my floor if the power had gone out. When talking to one of my little neighbors, I asked what she was going to do if the power went out. She didn't know. She doesn't like to read. She didn't have games or puzzles, so she was just charging her iPod and hoping. Now ... Please. That's just ridiculous. I remember being her age in a hurricane and being shut in, but I knew how to entertain myself then, and now! I said fine and told her and her mom I had a plan. If the power went out, I had scissors, paper, pens, stamps, stamp pads, yarns, and stuffing, and we'd set up in the hall under the emergency flood lights with candles and have craft time. We'd make Christmas cards, work on snowflakes for our doors (we always have a "contest"), learn how to crochet, and make it a party -- thus entertaining the kids, charging their imagination, distracting them, giving them and their parents a break. I am kind of relieved it didn't come to it, but I know if it does, I  ... need more crafting supplies to be part of the storm prep, as well as batteries and candles.

Luckily, although we had some scary power flickers, we never lost cable, the Internet, or power. I was able to text, tweet, e-mail, and call people all day and through today. The winds were crazy, but the rain and winds have been worse for other storms. I also don't live near the ocean and am far enough inland that we were spared. I only found out tonight about how lucky this building was -- the one right next door is without power. Let's hear it for post-WWII brick low-rises. They may shake and sway in the wind, but for this storm at least, she held together.

I can't say the same for some of my NYC colleagues' situations. I'm sure the newscasts and photos don't do it justice. I know that some people of certain ages (those 20 somethings) had absolutely NO idea what to do with themselves when the power was out, or how to prepare, or how to deal with things even now. This may have been their first hurricane, now that I think about it. A lot of them lost power. Many are stuck in Brooklyn, Queens, and lower Manhattan with no way, for now, to get to work. (They may, or may not, be unhappy about this.)

I did venture out on Tuesday to assess. The river didn't overflow it's banks and the highways (as far south as I could see) have no trees down on the roads. The only real damage to my neck of the woods was in our strip mall. The main CVS sign is gone. The Dunkin' Donuts was closed so none of the local cops could stock up, even though the Starbucks was open. The 7Eleven was out of important things like chips, bread, and ice, and the papers couldn't get delivered, but the guys were calm, cruising through Lotto ticket sales, and charging people's cell phones and mobile devices.

School for the local and NYC kids was cancelled through the week. The Big J was closed for classes and staff on Monday and Tuesday. By today, classes were cancelled but staff were encouraged to get in if they could.

WHICH WAS/IS RIDICULOUS 

The NYC transit system is a mess! Luckily I commute through mid-Town and the Upper West Side which was spared, but the transit system wasn't even beginning to assess until late today. People did try to drive in, which apparently TOOK HOURS.

I spoke with my supervisors as early as Sunday and basically said I was going to work from home, as I could, until the situation stabilized, with a guesstimate of Friday ... maybe ... trying to get back. Guess what? I was right. I *might* deign to go to the office on Friday, but given that most of my work is in a database or e-mail? Welcome to the 21st century; I'm working from home!

Once things calm down I will be talking to my database colleague about our emergency back-up plan, for the server and the back-up of the back-up. The organization got lucky this time. We might not be next time. We're not that many blocks from the Hudson River and just lucky it "surged" mostly down-town and not that far in-land.

The only major bummer for the neighborhood kids was the apparent town curfew. This sign appeared on one of the doors on our floor. (Yes, the typo is driving me absolutely crazy.)

Which was too bad. There were some cute decorations put up in anticipation of Halloween. Mine is the one on the left -- all from my trash/recycling.

Usually I dress up as Ms. I'm-not-home or The Grumpy Neighbor Lady Who Doesn't Answer the Door. This year, since the kids knew I was home, I had to come up with a costume and go buy some candy, since I didn't think they wanted apples and/or granola bars. I did have a stash of Cyclops hats,

and then I remembered I had this t-shirt from years and careers past.

So I was a Scary Children's Librarian - threatening to SHUSH or hand out apples but really handing out NERDS to those kids who wanted candy. I purposely bought the NERDS. I figured I might as well give into the stereotype. I had one 10 year old lace-clad-goth-vampy girl that I intentionally gave the apple to and said, "Use this and say you are the cover of the Twilight novel." Luckily she hadn't read it, but the mom totally got the reference. Which is fine. I think 10 is still too young for the first Twilight novel. Why set her up for disappointment? Edward is .... well, let's not get into that right now. (Go Team Jacob! or something, I like The Host the most.)

Had I had more time, these are what I wanted to get together for my trick or treaters. I saw these at a bake sale/craft fair in Chelsea when I was running around earlier this month, and of course, wanted to "borrow" the idea. Clear catering gloves, some Tootsie rolls, M&Ms, Swedish Fish, and microwave popcorn. Healthy, unique and creepy. NEXT YEAR!

So that was my experience with Sandy. Lots of prep, lots of supplies, luckily no loss of power, life, or limb, and a few days off and then working from home. I am very very very fortunate indeed.

Please extend your prayers to those snow bound, or those further south in New Jersey and part of New York City, and up into New England, that were ravished by rain, floods, and fires. They will need your thoughts in the days ahead.

As for me, I will be giving blood at a blood drive on Friday (pre-scheduled, but now urgently needed), taking brownies into thank some of the MTA information/technical crew that hasn't been home since Sunday, and possibly donating some perishable supplies to a local food bank.

Be prepared.
Be smart.
Be calm.
And
Be a Good Neighbor.

For more on hurricane preparedness, please refer to this information prepared by the Red Cross at:
http://www.redcross.org/prepare/disaster/hurricane

I will also be browsing the aisles at Paintball, Food Storage, Violins and More in St. George a little more carefully this coming Christmas vacation.