Monthly Archives: August 2007

Clyde Haberman Has to Pick His Battles a Little More Selectively

Posted on August 15, 2007 by TJ

NY Times columnist Clyde Haberman used his space yesterday to comment on rudeness in the subways, and in particular, “the lost art of folding the paper to fit available space” between riders. (That sort of sounds like something a guy … Continue reading →

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United Nations on the N

Posted on August 14, 2007 by TJ

Funny scene on the downtown N train around 4 today. A rather fey British or Irish tourist–thin, cut-off shorts, flip-flops–asks a fellow rider, a black woman in her 20s, about where to catch the L train. She tells him she … Continue reading →

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Russian to Catch Metro-North

Posted on August 13, 2007 by TJ

Some 150 pages in, I really like The Russian Debutante’s Handbook for a number of reasons, such as the immigrant Russian Vladimir’s gimlet-eyed take on America, his descriptions of Challah, his zaftig dominatrix girlfriend, and Gary Shteyngart’s author photo, a … Continue reading →

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Straphanger Joe Wishes He Took the Magic Bus

Posted on August 13, 2007 by TJ

Who Concert  Thursday morning, the day after the Brooklyn tornado, I walked to the Roosevelt station, working up a sweat in the 15 minutes it takes me to get there. Into the station, past the newspaper vendors and the vendors … Continue reading →

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What the Kids Are Googling

Posted on August 10, 2007 by TJ

Some of the more unique searches that brought visitors to Trainjotting this week: papa smurf jokes Catwalks Cheerleaders Ed Koch + Billy Joel [Editor’s Note: I knew it!] funny zoo mishaps Badass Ho New Roc City Riot news gangsta word … Continue reading →

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Duke’s and Duane Reade Owe Me a New Blackberry

Posted on August 10, 2007 by TJ

I knew this day was gonna come. The Blackberry–the magic talisman through which I’m able to sit through a 45-minute (or 90-minute, should it rain a little) train ride, shat the bed last night.  It’d been a late night at … Continue reading →

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Dumb, Dumber, Dumberer, and Their Three Friends

Posted on August 10, 2007 by TJ

The 8:22 to Mt. Kisco. It’s been a long day, feeling even longer after the flood debacle the previous day. People are tired. Not so tired is a nattering six-pack of 14-year-old girls returning home after a day in the … Continue reading →

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The Day After

Posted on August 9, 2007 by TJ

The NY Times has ample coverage of yesterday’s crippling storm. One rich nugget came from “two sweating women…at dueling distance” in a Times Square subway station. “Say that to my face! Say that to my face!” yelled one. “I’ll knock … Continue reading →

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Seeing ‘Red’

Posted on August 9, 2007 by TJ

Funny little tidbit that almost got lost in the flood yesterday. As I stepped onto the platform for the 8:16, little idea what commuting confusion awaited me, I spied Little Red Running Late. Little Red Running Late (LRRL) is a … Continue reading →

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The Great Rain Robbery

Posted on August 8, 2007 by TJ

Far as we could tell, it wasn’t quite a Nor’easter. It wasn’t exactly a snowstorm, and you wouldn’t really call it a steam pipe exploding next to Grand Central. So what the hell caused colossal malfunctions on Metro-North and the … Continue reading →

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