Snow what?

Ah. It's Monday and the media has nothing to talk about today. They had hoped for a really bad storm to hit the NY Metro area this morning but you know what? It didn't happen. The four to seven inches turned out to be about one or two if even that much. As you can see by the photo at the left taken about ten minutes ago out of my bedroom window, there is hardly any snow to look at. The people who determine whether or not to suspend alternate side parking did so early last night. They were evidently scared shit less by the outcry generated by all sectors of the population after the parking debacle from last weeks snowfall. So now all of us who would normally not drive into the city because we can't find parking can feel free to come on in and park where ever the heck we please or just leave the car where it is and enjoy mass transit. It's a win-win situation. My only complaint here is the hype perpetrated by the media, primarily TV, who have missed the boat on accumulation totals every time this year. Did someone say "cry wolf"?





ON A LIGHTER NOTE: The owners of that KFC/TACO BELL restaurant

in Greenwich Village plagued by rats have come up with a quick fix. I took a walk past

the place on Saturday and noticed that instead of hiring an exterminator they have decided to go with the flow and change the name of the restaurant. Hey! Everything tastes like chicken if you batter it and deep fry it. Did I hear someone say
"pass the hot sauce?" Oh yes. Don't forget to ask them for the tails. They like to keep those for themselves.

BTW: Once again I am on the "payroll" of the unemployment department. I was pleased to find that three weeks back benefits had been deposited to my account over the weekend. It will be interesting to see what little surprises they have in store for me this week.

It looks like a good day to do nothing. In fact I don't even see a need to put on a pair of pants today. Wait a minute. I have to go downstairs to pick up my mail. Hmmm. Maybe if I run down the stairs real fast.......

Past remembered...Subway nostalgia...

Many people feel that the old days are better left forgotten. To this I say "you're right". We all have memories we would just like to not remember. Bad marriages, lost loved ones, embarrassing kid moments like walking around your junior high school with the seam in your pants wide open and you tidy whiteys on display for all to see. Thank god they were clean. But some old times should be not forgotten. For me one of the best ways to get a quick nostalgia fix is to visit the New York City Transit Museum*. Why this place triggers such emotion in me I am not quite sure but I suspect it has something to do with my father. First let me say that I could have not wished for or received a better father. To me my dad was the embodiment of what a father should be. He taught me how to be a man by example instead of just telling me what was good for me. I watched my father go to work every day from our apartment in Flatbush Brooklyn. He would get up shower, shave and put on a suit and tie and dash out the door and walk to the Parkside Avenue BMT subway station and board the train for downtown Manhattan. On special occasions ( I suspect they were days when I was off from school and my mom just wanted a day for herself) my dad would take me to work with him. This was a big deal. The "city" was a magical place. There were big buildings, crowded streets, important people that my dad referred to as his "customers" and a million things to do and see. I remember the highlight of the day was when my father and I would break for lunch and go down Nassau Street to the Automat, located as many of the early Automats were, in the basement of an office building. To an eight year old no five star restaurant could have been any better. I won't get into the zen of putting nickles into a slot and pulling your food from a shiny brass framed window but believe me this was dining Nirvana for a kid and for most adults as well. No trendy restaurant on Union Square could have done baked beans and macaroni and cheese as well as Horn and Hardardt and for fifteen and twenty five cents respectively yet.


Back at the office I remember being given some task to do like opening mail or stacking legal pads or refilling the staplers (hey, somebody has to do it). I also remember the trip home on the subway. My dad would buy the paper to read on the trip. I even remember which paper he bought. It was the New York World Telegram and Sun. The paper was the consolidation of three old New York papers (The World, The Sun and the Telegram) that fell into hard times as the new media giant called TV began to gain favor as America's main source for news and information. My father would give me part of the paper to read. There I was and eight year old "strap hanger" holding on to the porcelain pole of the dark green dimly lit creaky subway car swaying noisily and at sometimes violently back and forth on its journey through the tunnel back to Brooklyn where we started the day. I was in heaven. I had bonded with my father and had learned a life lesson at the same time. A man did not have to be a hero by doing some dramatic deed or having some "glamorous" job like a policeman or fireman. A man could be a hero by going to work every day and providing for his family and treating his wife and children with respect. My father was all of these things and more.


My visit to the Transit Museum on Thursday brought back all of these thoughts and emotions I had not felt for a while. It made me sad and happy at the same time. We can't bring back the old days but we can relive them. I'm glad I was able to bring back the good times and somehow keep most of the bad times locked away someplace.





Those old green trains with the wicker seats meant a lot to me. They are a time machine as much as they are a museum piece. They are a way to re-live ones childhood.

I still ride the subways. In fact they are my main means of getting around as driving, or should I say parking, becomes more difficult and costly. My only regret is that I will not have the opportunity to pass any of this on to my son or daughter. Sometimes you can't follow in your father's footsteps. Sometimes things just don't work out the way you planned. But I'll always have the memory. Always.

*The Transit Museum is open Tuesday thru Sunday (closed Monday) from 10 am to 5 pm. The best five bucks you will ever spend.

The photos of the old trains were taken last Thursday. I used photoshop to make them look old. If you want a better copy of these drop me an e-mail. We'll work something out.
thebeecee@hotmail.com

Out and about...

Just an update on the last couple of days.

TUESDAY: Believe it or not my car was still frozen solid stuck in the ice. It wouldn't budge an inch. The prediction of warmer weather and my desire not to get a heart attack while hacking away at the ice made me give up. Instead I decided to add to the stock photo library. I headed over to Williamsburg, Brooklyn. This area of the city has long been a bastion of ethnic diversity. Lately Williamsburg has become the new destination for urbanites on limited budgets who want to be near the city but can't afford the rent. The "J" elevated line runs right down the middle of this nabe with stops every few blocks. The area is still mostly orthodox Jewish and is reflected in the shops and businesses that line it's streets. Where else in the city could you find a fruit and veggie market NOT run by Koreans. Even in black and Hispanic neighborhoods the fruit markets are Asian owned. But not in Williamsburg. The customers would not trust anybody but a 100% certified, card carrying orthodox Jew to keep the place strictly kosher.

WEDNESDAY: The warmer overnight temps softened the snow up enough for me to chip away at the ice and finally, after a little rocking back and forth, release my car from winters icy grip. It felt good to have my mobility back. Although I'm not what one would call a slave to the automobile. I do enjoy venturing away from the confines of mass transit and actually go somewhere the subway doesn't go. And where did I go after almost a week without wheels. You guessed it. The beach. Well, close to the beach anyway. The lure of the Fire Island light was strong my friends. The crystal clear blue sky made for a great foto op.

TODAY: They are predicting more snow and ice for Friday. I'm going to move my car to the side of the street where the plow won't pile the snow over and under it.

Oh, befor I go...

Befor I leave you for the day, this observation. The great departed Spy Magazine had a feature called "Separated at Birth". I'm surprised nobody else has made this comparison. Just a thought. Good night.


Sinead O'Conner and Britney Spears. Separated at Birth?

Happy New Year you pig

I present the image at the left without comment.

The rest of the Chinese New Years pics are more

traditional.

Weekend update...

Just a few notes to keep you up to date.

...The city is still gripped in a cold wave. I know for some of you thirty degrees seems like a heat wave but for New Yorkers who are used to forty plus temps this time of year we really get pissed. It's supposed to thaw out a little later on this week. Maybe I will be able to drive my car again. I tried unlocking it from its icy tomb yesterday but no luck. Even my heavy duty shovel barely mad a dent in the ice so nicely packed there by the wonderful sanitation department last Wednesday.

...About the only thing good about this time of year is that the sky's are crystal clear and the early morning sun makes for some pretty pictures. I froze my hands off taking the photo above. You can't properly operate a camera with gloves on. I hope you appreciate what I do for you people.


...My unemployment bennie's are still on hold. I just wish the labor dept. would get off their butts and let me know something either way.

...New DSL service working well. I'll call my dial-up service provider this week and cancel.

...I'm going through all of my photos in preparation for downloading them to a stock photo site to see if I actually can sell any of them. I'm trying to narrow them down to about 50 of my favorites. Not an easy task. I like most of them.

...Cabin fever setting in. I think I'll head into Manhattan today. See you later.

ALTERNATE SIDE PARKING UPDATE.

SEE EARLIER BLOG TODAY.

As it turns out I did not get a ticket. The city recanted. The latest info as reported by AP....


"Mayor Bloomberg announced Friday morning that the city would waive fines for car owners whose cars were buried in this week's snowstorm. The city did not suspend alternate side of the street parking rules after Tuesday's storm, leaving drivers fighting mad over tickets they received when they couldn't get their cars out of the snow. Snowed-in streets and the ticket blitz made for a bad wintry mix."

Maybe you can fight city hall.

Ice age

The snow job we got on Wednesday was nothing to the snow job we got from the city. The decision not to suspend alternate side parking has put thousands of New York motorists in the position of either moving their cars or facing a hefty parking ticket. I fit into the category of those who find it impossible to even move the steering wheel let alone move the car. I attempted to comply with the law yesterday but had no luck when I tried the old rocking back and forth routine familiar to most drivers who have found themselves hopelessly impacted in a snow drift. But this snowfall was different. Due to the very cold cold temps the snow froze immediately into a solid block of ice. The sanitation department plowed the street where my car is parked and literally snowed me in. The ice is packed around my wheels and have virtually "locked" them solid into an icy embrace. I can't rock the car back and forth because the wheels CAN'T move. I gave up after a few minutes. And now,as of six minutes ago at 8:30 am N.Y time, I am officially illegally parked and subject to a fine.

It will be interesting to see if a parking enforcement agent actually comes along and gives me a ticket. If I do get one I will pay it with a protest. I'll go out later and take some photos and take it to the parking violations arbitrator. Sometimes they dismiss or reduce the fine. Theoretically I am parked in a tow away zone. I would consider it a favor if the city would tow my car. At least it would be free of the ice and would probably cost less than if I called someone to extricate it for me.

Since I couldn't drive yesterday I grabbed the camera and traveled by subway into the city and headed directly for Central Park. CP is the best place to be in the city after a snowfall. Not only does the pristine un-trampled snow make for dramatic photos but one has the park pretty much all to oneself. I once again found myself at the zoo. I took some photos of the snow monkeys a couple of weeks ago and was interested in visiting them again when there was actually snow on the ground. They seemed not to be bothered by the twenty degree temperature. They played and cavorted on the snow covered rocks as free as a zoo snow monkey could be.

The one animal I sometimes feel sorry for in the winter are the squirrels. They seem to be constantly searching for those nuts they buried last summer. I guess most of them are successful in their quest because I've never seen any dead malnourished squirrel bodies strewn about. They are true N. Y. City survivors. Hm mm. Do I smell reality series?

After leaving the zoo I walked back over to Rockefeller Plaza to look at the skaters. The rink was mostly empty. Not too many hearty souls around. I decided to call it a day.

BTW: I have to go back on the diet. I tried getting into a pair of jeans I wore last in October and found that they fit a bit fast. The truth is I could hardly get them buttoned. So it's hello Atkins goodbye bread, yogurt, cereal and all the other nasty carbo things. I hope I can be as successful with the diet this time as I was a couple of years ago. If I'm going to be an out of work slob I might as well not be a FAT out of work slob.

The Valentines day massacre.

Valentines Day. A day that raises the hackles of every red blooded man. The very thought of this day looming in the distance is enough to send a jolt through the body not unlike an electric shock to the testicles.

Men approach this day in different ways. Some actually start planning as early as August or September only because they remember what happened the year before and don't want to have to go through it again. Fear is a great motivator. Other men are clueless or have a problem with long term memory and don't start thinking about the "DAY" until the night before. We call these men brave.
This lack of planning has less to do with procrastination and more to do with just plain confusion. Confusion, as it turns out, that is generated by women. You see ladies, after thousands of years of living with men, you still do not understand us. You continually send out the wrong signals. When a man asks you what you want for Valentines day (or your birthday or Christmas etc.) he really wants an answer. But do you give him one? No! You say something vague like,"Oh you don't have to get me anything". This is not an answer he wants to hear. Even the most hairy Neanderthal knows that "you don't have to get me anything actually means," you better get me something and it better be something good, so good in fact that my friends will envy me for days to come and my mother will be sorry for telling me that you're no good and I was wrong to marry you and why couldn't I find a guy like Judy Fienberg's daughter did, you know, the one that married the Podiatrist". What a guy wants to hear is something definitive like " I want a new 42" flat screen TV and it better have picture in picture". But you never say this so you wind up getting flowers and a box of candy. You see ladies. It's all your fault.
On a personal note this year I find myself with the lack of female companionship. I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand I don't have to worry about things like gifts, going out for dinner, visiting her relatives ,bathing, shaving or even wearing pants around the house. On the other hand I'm not getting laid. I can live without sex. The way I figure it, there's always the other hand.

Anyway, happy V-day to all of you wonderful women out there who keep us poor schnooks on our toes through fear and intimidation. Did I hear some say "bitter"?

We're never happy 2

Once again my theory that human beings are just not happy unless they are unhappy holds true.

Yesterday afternoon I decided to take the subway into the city to try and take advantage of the late winter afternoon light. The photos did not work out. Instead of the light gradually getting dimmer and producing a glorious red winter sky, it just sort of got dark suddenly making my photos look like under exposed snapshots. I was about to pack it in when I came across a crowd gathered on a traffic island near Astor Place. Further examination revealed that the crowd was actually a protest against Starbucks. What could people possibly have against Starbucks other than the fact that you can't walk down a street in NY without bumping into some coffee crazed junkie carrying a Starbucks cup? *. As it turned out these people were protesting the fact that Starbucks was ruining the business for local independent coffee houses. There was also some thinly veiled sub-protest regarding under payed labor in third world countries who supply Starbucks with "blood beans" so that the coffee giant could sell their vile blends to unsuspecting Americans. Hey folks. Most coffee is produced by under payed third world labor. The only coffee that is produced in the U.S comes from Hawaii. Have you ever priced a pound of Kona coffee? You would have to take out a loan to buy a bag of beans. If all workers who picked coffee were paid like Americans your one dollar cup of joe at Spiro Souvlakis diner would set you back five bucks.

But back to my theory. Here they were. Dozens of people (mostly young by the way) shouting, fist waving, finger pointing on their way to a Starbucks across the street where they placed their palms against the glass in mock prayer. I noticed one thing. All of these people had smiles on their faces. There was no real anger. They all looked liked they were happy to be there. It was, as the hippies of the 60's would say, a "happening". They were just glad that they had something to be unhappy about. I, on the other hand, have a lot to be unhappy about. And you know what? I'm not happy about it. Am I in need of professional help? Can I be cured of my being miserable for not being happy about being unhappy? Have I confused all of you? Good.

DO YOU KNOW THIS PERSON DEPT?: While shooting the protest pictures at Starbucks yesterday I happened to notice this very pretty young lady. She appeared to be professionally made up as though she was going to be on camera or something. Is she a celeb I should know? Sometimes I feel so out of it. I'd never make a good paparazzi. I can't tell one sudo-celeb from another. Is there a cheat sheet available to budding celeb photogs to help them ID prospective photo op's?

*These people are usually talking on their cell phones as well as drinking coffee and are totally oblivious to their surroundings.

By dawns early light.

My sleep pattern seems to be getting worse. I don't think I'm getting more than three or four hours of sleep at night. I am waking up at three or four in the morning feeling like I had slept for days. I don't begin to feel tired until about three or four in the afternoon which is OK except that I don't want to take a nap and wake up at six or seven only to stay awake until the wee hours. I know this is not good for my health. I just wonder if this is a sign of old age or the fact that my no-work schedule has screwed up my bio rhythm. I'll try to force myself to sleep and awake at regular hours and see if that helps any. I may wind up seeking professional help if I can't regulate it myself.

That brings us to what to do at five AM. If you're a photo nut like me you take pictures. According to the experts the best times to take photos is dawn and dusk. So this bright, cold Sunday in January I grabbed the Nikon, got into the car and drove over to the rivers edge in Long Island City to catch the early morning light as it illuminated the spires of midtown Manhattan. I would have liked to get over to New Jersey and catch the city back lit by a magnificent sunrise but time was running out and I wasn't willing to kill myself trying to race the sun through the Lincoln tunnel. The results of my insomnia can be seen here and on my website at www.brucepix.com.

The weather people are predicting a "significant" snowfall for the first time this year here in the NYC area. With that in mind and the fact that I had nothing better to do at eight o'clock on a Sunday morning I decided to do a little food shopping and stock up on some staples just in case I could not or wouldn't want to get out of the house. I'm not a big fan of snow and the less I have to be out in it the better. But there is one thing about snow that is positive. The falling snow makes for a wonderful photo opportunity. The city covered in a white blanket of pristine un-trampled snow is worth the inconvenience of an occasional impassible snowdrift or icy sidewalk. If there is snow on the ground Wednesday morning look for me at the entrance to Central park. There is no prettier sight than Central park in the snow.

We're having a heat wave, a tropical heat wave...

We are having a heat wave. Unfortunately the heatwave is inside my apartment. After a week of having to walk around the place wearing everything I own (at one point I even got into my car and took a drive to get some warmth) I now am stripped down to my shorts and a tea shirt. Don't get exited ladies there will be no pictures and believe me, it's not a pretty sight. I guess I shouldn't complain. At least I can sit here typing without having to rub my hands together to get the circulation back in my fingers. Someone must have complained because the heat is now pumping out of the radiators with a vengeance. As a renter in a mostly co-op building I like to keep a low profile so as not to jeopardise my rent stabilized status. But thankfully the people who own their apartments in this building are under no such restrictions and are usually quite vocal when it comes to services and the delivery there of. We renters, of course, reap the benefits of these complaints. Thanks to all of you shareholders who have managed to keep a watchful eye out for shortcomings in the building management. There are many renters in buildings in New York that have no tenant advocacy and are sitting in their frozen apartments and relying on the mercy of their landlords for heat. Lots of luck.

The DSL line seems to be working fine. One problem did occur when I went to install the wall mount phone filter on the phone in the kitchen. I broke the phone. The plastic phone jack just snapped off and cracked and now it does not work. This is one of those old Bell phones I've had for more than twenty years. I think I'll buy a new one.

BTW. If you are thinking of switching to DSL let me say that Verizon has done a good job in making it as painless as possible. The service was set up the next day and the equipment arrived a day later. The instruction CD is concise and simple to understand. It took me about an hour to install. If you are a Verizon customer the setup is almost automatic and the cost appears on your phone bill. I opted for the basic DSL service. Don't expect super lightning speeds with this, but it's very fast and ends the "frustration" factor one gets with dial up. If you use a T-1 line at work or some other business broadband service it may not be as fast as you are used to. But hey, it's only about $20 a month. I'm paying $27 for unlimited dial up with Yahoo. I also like being able to use the phone while I'm on line. I know I've missed some calls in the past.

I have entered the 21st century...

I have installed my DSL line and except for the cables running all over the place it seems to be ok. I'll give it a few days befor I start to cancel or actually modify my dial up service. I'll go for some basic dial up service to use as a backup.

Not the only dino in New York....

If you want to know where your tax dollars are going you have to look no further than the NY State Department of Labor. The money spent on mailing needless forms alone could provide jobs for hundreds if not thousands of people. Yesterday I received, for the fourth time, a questionnaire asking me why I quit my last job. This is in addition to the two phone calls I received from a live person who asked me the same questions that were on the three forms that were mailed to me. I don't get it. I quit because I could not continue to work at that job under those conditions. Was I not allowed to quit. Someone at the department evidently thought it was ok because they sent me over two thousand dollars back benefits. This week however it appears that we are back to no bucks again as my last weeks benefits were not posted to my debit account. I'll fill out the form again and see what happens. WHY DID I EVER TAKE THAT JOB IN THE FIRST PLACE?

The labor department is not the only dinosaur I came across this week. Tuesday I ventured into the city and found myself at the American Museum of Natural History over on 81st St. This venerable old institution had new life breathed into it with the release of the "Night at the Museum" movie. The place was busier than it would usually be on a Tuesday but not that bad. There were lots of school kids as would be expected, but I was also aware of the many foreign visitors roaming the halls. While this museum was always popular with New Yorkers, it was never high on the agenda for tourists who opted for the lure of the big cousin across the park. It's nice to see the old place get some new life. The museum hasn't changed that much since I first went there with my father when I was six. I think he liked it just as much as I did. Love those old bones.

My wireless DSL modem and router arrived from Verizon yesterday. I'll try to hook it up later today. Looks a little complicated. We'll see.

An ill wind...

You have probably heard the expression " It's not the heat, it's the humidity. Well I'm hear to say that it's not the temperature, it's the wind. I'm sitting here in front of my computer wearing a bright red fleece lined sweatshirt with an Equitable Insurance Co. logo on it (something I probably got for free somewhere, I would never buy anything this ugly)) a long pair of fleece lined sweat pants and a thick pair of socks wondering when some of that global warming is going to blow in from that conference in France. The guy on the TV behind me just said that the windchill factor, (some mathematical formula devised by someone in the the Bahamas no doubt)was minus 3 degrees and the air temperature not much better at just 11 degrees. We here in the Northeast are stuck in a cold snap because the jet stream is not moving and is pumping cold air down from Canada. Gee! You mean it's cold in Canada? But didn't you guys in France say that it's warming up up north? A quick look at the temps in places like Manitoba seem to say different.

It's seventeen degrees below zero up there and that's without the wind. Even a glacier can't melt in those temperatures. And even if it does warm up by four or six or ten degrees it would still be ten below. What's the matter with you? Still not cold enough for you? Give me a break.

I stayed in the house yesterday except for a quick trip across the street to the Key food supermarket. I broke out the wool hat for the first time this season. It's amazing how one throws fashion out the window when the tips of one's ears are in danger of falling off. I'm glad I don't have to be out in weather like this. Just one of the perks of being out of work.

I have not been idle however. I have, for the last five or six days, been cataloging my photos. I have been going over the dozens of CD's I have stored photos on for the last five years picking out representative samples from each disc, assingning it a number , resizing the photo for better downloads and copying back to another reference disc. All in all I have probably cataloged over one thousand photos. I hope to be able to upload these to some photo sharing web site or better yet to a stock photo site and actually be able to sell some. To this end I signed up for a DSL line from Verizon. I had been putting this off as long as I could but my dial up has just become impossible to use for uploads and downloads. I should be ready to go with the DSL sometime next week.

The week in review

OK, a partial week in review.
Wednesday: After checking to make sure that my back unemployment benefits had been posted at the bank I decided to do some shopping for some things I really needed. Like food. Well not so much food but the other things one gets at the supermarket that in many ways are as important to everyday life as bread, milk and Froot Loops. These include things like toilet paper. I was down to my last roll and was not looking forward to buying a roll of the bargain brand. Quite frankly things were beginning to happen back there that I was not happy about. But the premium brands like Charmin are expensive and one tends to cut back on things that only get flushed down the toilet anyway. While I'm usually a fan of house brands, Pathmark brand TP may not have been the wisest choice. BRUCE TIP: If your trying to save money try saving it somewhere else. Your ass will thank you for it.

Thursday: Man does not live by toilet paper alone. Somehow the thrill of being able to buy a four pack of Charmin was not enough for me. I needed more. So, still feeling empowered by my new found wealth, I decided to withdraw a hundred bucks and drive down to Atlantic City. Now you may think it's foolish for a guy who is out of work and trying to save money by buying cheap toilet paper to go gambling. Well, your right. But I did it anyway. And I'm glad. You see I have a system. I never gamble more than $100 of my own money. Loosing one hundred dollars is the boundary of my comfort level. I take this one hundred dollars and put it in a separate pocket away from my wallet and my other cash. Usually I play the dollar machines because if you win the payoffs are better. You could bet the max,three to five bucks, and hit a jackpot and win five hundred dollars. If you bet the max on a quarter machine the most you might win in one shot is fifty or sixty dollars. But the problem with playing the dollar slots is that you can blow your wad too fast. And if you set a one hundred dollar limit you could loose it in less than fifteen minutes. Today I felt like staying longer than fifteen minutes so I sat down at one of the quarter slots and shoved a twenty into the slot. I pushed the "BET MAX" button and won seventy five dollars. I cashed out and moved to another machine. I watched as another twenty was sucked into the slit. After three bet max "pulls" I won again. Another sixty dollars. I cashed out and moved to another machine. I lost another twenty but on my third twenty dollar bill I won another ten dollars. I decided to call it quits. I cashed out, went to the window and handed the lady three tickets for a total of $141.00. It cost me sixty dollars to make one hundred and forty. Not bad. The trick here is having the will power to walk away ahead of the game. That's the "secret" of my system. I beat the casino this time. I'm sure they will get it back at some time in the future. But for now I'm a winner.

Friday: I needed to get out and get some exercise. So I threw the Nikon over my shoulder and ventured into Manhattan. I was going to walk up the Museum of Natural History on Central Park West but I got only as far as the zoo. As zoos go the one in Central Park is not one of the great ones. All the real animals are in the Bronx (pun intended). But the CPZ does have a couple of nice exhibits considering it's right in the middle of the worlds most expensive real estate. There is a great penguin exhibit and a couple of playful polar bears that you can get really close to. There are monkeys cavorting on their own island and of course the ever present seals swimming aimlessly round and round to the delight of squealing children and their nannys. And if the cold January chill has got you depressed, visit the indoor climate controlled tropical rain forest. Colorful birds fly overhead and fruitbats hang from the ceiling as pirannah swim by in a tank all of their own. Not a bad way to spend eight bucks and a hour.
After the zoo I walked down to Bryant park where the Fall fashion season was opening in a giant tent. I knew I would not be able to get in without credentials but you never know what you'll find. The best celeb photo op I could manage was that of a quick snap of Marly Maitlin as she emerged from the tent. The pro photogs were all shouting at her too look their way. What's the matter with these jerks. Don't they know she's deaf?
Saturday: Too cold to walk around. Went out to buy paper and milk. I came back and continued my "work", cataloging over one thousand photos I've kept on CD's but have never sorted out. I'm going to find a decent website to display and possibly sell some of them.


Photos:
Top...Monkeys at CP zoo.
Center right... Paparazzi shouting at Marly.
Left.... Marly and and some dude. BTW, She is prettier in person and very tiny.

All photos (c) 2007 by me, Bruce Cooper. Address all inquiries to ...
thebeecee@hotmail.com