Archive for February, 2009

Friday, February 27th, 2009

Dumbass Drivers, Vol. II

The guy just wants to help.
 
Or does he?
 
It isn’t clear. All I can tell is, he’s banging on a window of the white Pontiac Grand Am idling at a stoplight on Houston where First Avenue turns into Allen. I’m on my way home and walking across Houston.
 
“Hey!” the man shouts. “Look! Open da door—hurry!”
 
He looks […]

No Comments » - Posted in Foot It, Houston Street, Tim Coleman by TJ

Thursday, February 26th, 2009

Talk of Renovating Hawthorne Station Tonight

The community group Mount Pleasant Today, which actually seems to be more focused on Mount Pleasant Tomorrow, is meeting with County Legislator John Nonna and some other pol’s about, among other things, getting the town’s master plan changed and sprucing up the not-very-sprucy Hawthorne Train Station area.
The meeting is 7:30 at Mount Pleasant Town Hall.
One […]

1 Comment » - Posted in Hawthorne, Mount Pleasant, Mount Pleasant Today by TJ

Thursday, February 26th, 2009

It’s Not Called Ash Thursday

If you saw anyone on the train this morning with ashes in the form of a cross on their forehead, you can be sure they did not shower this morning.
Of this I am certain.
[image: markdroberts.com]

No Comments » - Posted in Metro North by TJ

Wednesday, February 25th, 2009

An Open Letter To:

The Man Who Put on the Necktie While Standing on the 6 Train.
You were a short fellow, Asian, black hair flecked with gray. I’d say you were 45.
You got on the 6 at 42nd Street and illuminated the car with your hot pink shirt. You stood in front of the side doors, in the middle of the […]

No Comments » - Posted in 28th Street, 6 train, Grand Central, Open Letter by TJ

Tuesday, February 24th, 2009

What Do You Call It When???

We like to think we do a fair job of coming up with words for things that happen in the commuter’s day-to-day for which there heretofore were no words. We think Pershing Square-Dancing works pretty well, Phantom of the Stopera sums up a phenomenon every commuter has experienced, we’re all a little guilty of Facial […]

3 Comments » - Posted in Word of the Week by TJ

Tuesday, February 24th, 2009

Good Cop, Good Cop

I’m doing my usual A.M. breeze through Grand Central when I see a young Asian tourist family asking a pair of New York’s Finest for a photo. The cops oblige, and each puts his arm around the shoulders of a small boy in the middle.
Moments before the flash goes off, one of the cops removes […]

No Comments » - Posted in Grand Central, NYPD by TJ

Tuesday, February 24th, 2009

Get Your Rusted Railcar Out of My Yard

JerseyJim passes along an interesting Wall Street Journal yarn about idled boxcars sitting dormant on tracks around the country, as cargo demand decreases. “Miles of Idled Boxcars Leave Towns Singing the Freight-Train Blues,” goes the title, and the story tells the tale of lonely New Castle, Indiana, where graffiti-covered train cars have occupied a mile-long […]

No Comments » - Posted in Wall Street Journal, YouTube, jerseyjim by TJ

Monday, February 23rd, 2009

Smart Car. Dumb Ass.

I’m picking up dinner—curry from my favorite Indian joint on Sixth Street’s disappearing “Tandoori Row”—when a tidal wave of traffic starts streaming down Second Avenue.
 
I can make it across if I hurry. I jump off the curb and scoot eastward. I glance uptown to make sure no vehicle will flatten me and see the usual […]

1 Comment » - Posted in Foot It, Tim Coleman by TJ

Sunday, February 22nd, 2009

The Cat in the (Sir Topham) Hatt

No sooner did I get home from work Friday, visions of “broken tracks” in Scarsdale having slowed down my morning commute hours before, when Little G ran over to me to read a book he’d grabbed from the library that afternoon.
It was called, fittingly, A Crack in the Track. A Crack in the Track is […]

No Comments » - Posted in Little G, Sodor, The Missus, Thomas & Friends by TJ

Sunday, February 22nd, 2009

Valhalla’s $400,000 Lot Extension

The Town of Mount Pleasant is aiming to add 104 spaces to the lot at Valhalla train station, reports The Examiner. The state orginally approved the plan, which calls for an extra 27,000 square feet of paved surface, back in 2003. But the town did not go forward with it at the time because the […]

1 Comment » - Posted in Examiner, Valhalla by TJ