I am a big fan of car sharing. I happen to own a car so I have never need one It is clearing a good thing, especially in city like New York If you don't know about Zipcar, they provide short term (hourly) car and van rentals with many locations all over the city. They even have a membership program that includes the fact that you don't have to actually go to a retail location to pick up or drop off your rental. Again, I own a car, so the details of the system are really a mystery to me. So, if you want more information about Zipcar ask the Google
On one hand, a Zipcar can be used to go shopping,
BUYING TOILET PAPER
one roll at a time is not
HOW WE WE WERE MEANT TO LIVE
First, let me talk about the people who might need a car share. Like me, they live in the dense parts of the city. They probably don't own a car because they are a short walk to the subway. I am a short walk to the subway (3 different lines). But I have kids. I think that people with kids are just a little more likely to own a car than those without. The point is, that it is really hard for anyone to walk home from the subway without passing a store that sells toilet paper.
Then there is the argument about how important it is to support your local retailer. Basically, if they loose their toilet paper business, they might not be there when you need a quart of milk I don't want to have to use a car to buy a loaf of bread. I don't live in suburbia for a reason. (STAY AWAY WALMART).
Also, if are looking at this subway ad and don't own a car, you are likely to live in a small apartment. Do you know what we call the volume of space 20 rolls of toilet paper takes up in a Brooklyn apartment? One-Third of the only closet I have.
I might get rid of my car and give a lot of business to car sharing programs. But I'm not going to rent an SUV just to buy toilet paper.
First, let me say that I did not lock up my bike. I have no one to blame but myself.
That said, when I got back form chaperoning my kids on their 7 grade trip to Boston, my bike was stolen. In my apartment building one corner of the basement is dedicated to bike storage. There are about 5 bike racks and about 50 bikes. Most of the bikes show no evidence of being used in years. Many have permanently flat tires. Most are locked, either to the rack, another bike or just have their wheel locked. I just put my bike in the middle of the heap of bikes and went on my merry way.
When I was doing laundry I figured I would 'check on my bike". I don't know why I had the impulse to do that and not the impulse to actually lock the bike up, but I did. And it was gone. Just an empty slot where it was. The supper's wife happened to be there. I asked her if she new anything about my bike. Mrs Super said that she she a guy leaving with my bike but he said it was his. ??????? ?!?!?!?!?!?. At first my reaction was to get uppity and ask her why she did not stop him. But, I quickly got to my senses and remembered that it is not her job to watch my bike and I would feel terrible if she would have gotten hurt.
So I walk down to the precinct and file a report. I don't expect the cops to do anything but I need that for my insurance. That all turned out to be a waste of time because the bike was worth less than my deductible.
But Mrs Super did tell me (about) when it happened and we do have surveillance cameras. I watched a video of their conversation
Here is the bike thief tell Mrs Super that my bike is his.
.
So, Monday morning I print up the photo above and a few more with his face and walk back to the precinct. I did not want to be the jerk who walked into the Police Station and demanded that they go find my bike. So I said that to the detective that came down to get my photos. I remember saying "This might help in the larger area of police stuff, so I figure I should not just keep them to my self"
Wednesday afternoon my phone goes nuts. I walk up the stairs from the subway and I have 5 missed calls from unknown and it rings. It is Sgt Whatever from The 78. "We are about to apprehend the guy who stole your bike and we want to see the rest of the videos. We are ringing your bell but you are not answering"
I don't think I ever heard the word "apprehend" not on TV before.
I get home and there are 2 guys outside wearing cargo shorts and football jerseys at the front door. Their guns, radios and handcuffs are hardly hidden. I walked over and introduced myself and they both showed me their badges in a panic. I told them I knew they were cops a block away. They laughed and we shook hands. I know this would at least be an adventure.
click to enlarge.
It took us a while to find someone to let us into the room with the video system Then it took more time to figure out how the machine worked. The cops were really excited because it showed how he got in. They were able to download video of someone refusing him entrance and then being let in by someone else. This somehow promoted his crime from petit larceny to burglary.
Busted.
Anyone would have let him in. If you look at the photo above you can see some papers in his pocked. He had them in his hand when he was let into the building. I looked like any delivery / service person.
On Thursday, the nice cops called me the next day. They said they are on their way over to my home with Grand Jury Subpoena. I have to be there on Monday. 9 AM. Don't be late. Dress nice. But I have to work on Monday. Call your boss, tell him we will arrest you if you don't show up. Just kidding. Not. I call my boss. Work moved to Tuesday. That was good because it rained on Monday and Tuesday was nice. This job was 100% outside.
Friday I get another call. The cops said he "took a plea". Now that my part was over they told me that this guy is a "chronic crook". He just walks around Park Slope looking for stuff to take. Then he sells it quick. {Sorry your bike is gone, but we will keep an eye out for it.}
So far I learned 2 things.
If you want to wake up in the morning and come home with someone else's stuff. All you need is a lack of scruples.
If you think you have something that the police might want, give it to them. If they don't want it they can throw it away, but you never know when you can help.
But wait there is more. Under the pink tape I got the crooks name and Arrest #.
Because I know low people in high places in the world of New York State Courts I got help in accessing some public records. It turns out that his dirt bag has been "in the system" (there I am typing like a Law and Order Episode.) for decades. His is also going to spend the next 30 days in prison. He plead guilty to petit larceny instead of going to trial for something worse. So for a month he wont be stealing from anyone who is not in jail.
and not I am not getting my bike back.
but once I tuned up my old bike I realized it was just as good as the one that was stolen.
and I am not going to apply for victim compensation or counseling.
I will be fine.
But as I type this 2 weeks after this all went down, Mr well dressed thief is still not picking up the soap on Rikers Island
Sunday morning, just before 6 am, I was changing trains at the Smith & 9th St Station. If you have been paying attention you know that it is the highest subway station in the City, if not the world.
Behold the Sunrise.
another view of the canal, without the sun glare.
This morning I ran over the Canal. There was no sun and it was a putrid shade of green.
In the distance you can see the bridge was standing on about 30 hours earlier.
There was no sun today. In fact it just started raining when I took this photo. I ran 5 more miles and my shoes filled with water from the top.
The canal is full of raw sewage (IE: shit and piss). When it rains a lot what runoff from the street sewers mixes with the sewage and it all just goes into the canal, or the Hudson, or wherever. Our combined sewer system can't handle more than a few centimeters of rain at a time. A better explanation can be found at Pardon Me for Asking.
While we are on that subject, this was my Facebook Status this morning.
Someone should have reminded me that I ate all those beets yesterday.
I am not such a fan of the musical theater. Really. That shit is wasted on me. Let me define that for you if you don't know me.
A while back I had the opportunity to see Les Mis and Showboat in the same week. Wanna here my review? "The chair was much more comfortable at Showboat." I was the guy that woke up during intermission at The Nutcracker (at Lincoln Center) and put on his coat because he thought it was over. Yea I was that guy. I shoulda kept my coat on and gotten some fresh air.
Anyway my kids were in the school play. They were in Fame Jr. I thought they were in Fame with a Jr after it. No. Fame Jr is part of Broadway Jr,. 60 minute musicals designed for middle school kids. Broadway Jr also got my kids to see a real Broadway Show. A few weeks ago hey went to see a manatee of Nice Work if You Can Get It. Matthew Broderick even came out to speak to the kids after the show. It was cool the way he paid homage to the Stage Manager. "I might be a movie star, but she tells me when I can should get a drink of water."
Like most middle school events there was an end of he year celebration
Hundreds of students took to the Broadhurst Theater stage Monday morning, making their Broadway debut before their peers, educators and supporters, as part of Broadway Junior Celebration.
Hosted by The Shubert Foundation and Music Theater International, the annual event – now in it’s eight year – is a celebration and culmination of the Broadway Junior Program, which builds theater programs in New York City schools with limited arts programing.Backstage
So for the 4th school day in a row I chaperoned a school trip. All thirty school got to perform a song. Every school had one student speak first for a minute.
Let me paraphrases....
"I made new friends that like me"
"I am really shy, but on stage I can be loud."
"We are really proud of all the hard work"
"Our teachers are great"
So, Dr Dorita Gibson, Deputy Chancellor for Equity and Access (wtf does that mean?) said that being in the school play was a factor in improving school performance. Duh, you don't need a fancy title to know that.
Musical theater does not have to be for me, but now I understand why it has to be.
And, by the way. I could not help but stand and applaud after most of the performance. They were great.
I also got to put my special skills to work on the way to the theater. I knew that the passes that are given to teachers for their class to get on the subway specifically say that they could only be used after 9am. But we needed to be there by 9 and at 8:30 the clerk in the booth said she would not open the gate. The teacher in charge told me we were going to have to look for a clerk that would open the gate. I put a stop to that. Since they are all going to do their job I directed the 40 of us to an unstaffed entrance and had a kid with an unlimited MetroCard go in and open the gate.
For the better part of last week I was chaperoning a class trip. From Wednesday at 6:30 AM till just before Midnight on Friday night it was 140 7th graders, 10 teachers and 5 parents and 3 giant buses
The agenda was Boston. Honestly, till April 15th I always thought Boston was one of the many cities that is not New York. I knew lot of people in Boston that day... Running, watching or helping. Most of them got themselves accounted for on Facebook or on my running club's Google Group; Except one. I realized that it was my job as keeper of the membership roster to give him a call. When he answered I could not talk to him. I did not know it till he said hello, but I was not breathing while the phone was ringing or when I was pressing in the numbers. Anyway, "Boston is probably the only major city that if you fuck with them, they will shut down the whole city...stop everything.. and find you." Happy Gilmore
So, we ate lunch on the bus, and went directly to the
We had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. (I have been to the original, in Amsterdam. Not the same kind of place. It was a pot bar.)
Holiday Inn 140 12-13 year-olds. We taped their doors shut.
Breakfast in the hotel. (Coffee!).
Back on the Bus to Salem. (I see dead people)
Lunch in a shopping mall.
Bus to Fenway Park (I really don't give a shit about baseball, so I volunteered to stay in Salem with the kids who opted to stay because on of the buses would not start. I was so glad they made me go. Small part baseball, big parts history and architecture)
Lunch in a Pizzarini Uno (It was up the block from The Finish Line of the Boston Marathon. Before I ate I got to pay it a little visit. I am glad I got to see the makeshift memorial without 140 kids.) (I added my PPTC Cherry Tree Race Director hat to the heap.)
Plymouth Plantation. (we were too hot and tired, but I did engage one of the "English characters. She was great. I told her we were visiting from New Amsterdam . She smiled and said. "Sir, you might think you live in a Dutch colony but the King of England owns all the land from the Canada River to the Floridas" Yes, in 1625 the Dutch and the English were busy not fighting each other, but not recognizing each other either.).
Dinner in a hotel at Sturbridge Village.
Home at midnight.
These long days wrecked havoc with the batteries in smart camera/phone so I don't have that many photos. (It was also kinda crazy that the teachers had to borrow their students phones to call each other).
Looking back I might think this was an ambitious plan. This might have worked if we were a few cars, but we had to deal with Boston traffic. However our leaders were great at dealing with the fact that we had to some issues. Like the fact that one bus died in Salem. (maybe it was a witch) and another lost it air conditioning (when it was 93 degrees). We crashed into a few other school trips. Most of them were all wearing matching t-shirts. That would have made my job a little easier.
I was lucky to be in Bus A. It was the only bus not to break down or loose it's air conditioning. It also had the lead driver. I got to witness an artist at work. She drove that bus like a sports car. She was also continually talking. It first I thought she was on the phone the the other drivers. Nosomuch. She was insane, and contractually talking to herself or to the cars around us. I am sure that if you ask the kids that sat near the front of bus A what their favorite part of the trip was, they will say Ms Dawn.
I am not going to use the space to brag about the fact that I stepped up to chaperon this trip. I can do that, so I do do that. I am glad that that parents that were waiting for the buses to come back thank me and gave me a pat on the back (Not like last year when one said "Thanks for watching my brat, we had a second honeymoon when he was gone.")
There were two things I did so that the local community feel some love. When we invaded the little mall in Salem to eat lunch we totally ruined the lunch break schedule for some of he locals. I noticed that a women who came in just after us was looking at a 45 minute wait to get her sandwitch (that is how they are spelled in Salem). I asked the manager to have her lunch made ahead of ours so she could move on with her day.
When our 3 buses rolled into Jay Gee's we added 150 people to the 10 or 20 that would have been here an that hot Thursday evening. Needless to say, our 150 created a great rumpus. We created a great bottleneck when the kids had to turn in their tickets for prizes. I got some of the kids to give me their fun passes with most of the activities still available. I gave them to the local girls that were still waiting on line to cash in their tickets. I told them we can't use them back in Brooklyn so they should enjoy the rides.
So if I was so nice during this trip why was my bike stolen while I was gone? (and why did I use so many parenthesis is this post?)?
I ran the Bob Potts Marathon for the second year in a row. My time was a 4:36, 24 minutes faster than last year. Other than that the race was a lot like last years race. BTW, this was the 28th marathon that I completed. I will update this when I find some photos of me.
But this year I went out there with some teammates. They all ran their fastest marathons ever! One of them even Boston Qualified. Maybe next year I will rent a bus.
The photo below is directly from the official photo album for the race Click here to see the rest. I like this photo the most. It really shows a perfect slice of the race. Enthusiastic, young people keeping me hydrated a soft, flat running surface and scenery that was overwhelming breathtaking.
Another energetic water station - these girls all ran the last 1.5 miles with the last runner!!
late update.
Photos of me at Mile 4
Then the photographer turned around and got a photo of me coming back when that was mile 22
Some things have changed, but lots have stayed the same.
When I was a kid I used to walk around the corner and get my hair cut by some old dude. One day I walk in and there was someone new in the shop. Looking back I think he said the only words he knew in English. "The old barber is dead, I am the barber now." The operative word in that sentence was now. The day before he was not a barber.
So this 17 year old bit the bullet and went with his dad to his barber; Mr Figaro. He is in the opening moments of this Video.
Well they are to someone. The fine folks at Forgotten New York are featuring Ocean Ave and they used the doorway of the apartment building I grew up in to shout about it.
Really, I lived on the 4th floor of 2261 Ocean Ave till I was almost 6. I attended half a year of kindergarten around the corner at PS 255.
After my family moved out to larger digs on Bedford Ave
Of course she was right. I knew we faced Ocean Ave and our fire escape was in the front. My room was on the 4th floor on the left side of the photo.
I Mighta gotten the address wrong, but now I remember the window.
I remember looking out that window in the Summer of 1969. Looking at the Moon and straining to see Neil Armstrong.
I remember asking my dad why people count sheep when they can't sleep. He said that the shepherds used to drive their herds of sheep on Ocean Ave at night and if you were up late you could count them
But how do you know who the few are and how many the many are? Who am I? Am I the one? One of the few? Or am I part of the many who get their needs met?
Spock knew what to do. But this past weekend all people knew what to do was complain. There was a lot going on in Prospect Park. Early last week The Great Googa Mooga moved in. This was its second year and a lot of people were freaking out because they were probably going to damage the park again and only pay $75,000. Well, I know the people who are in charge of Special Events and they don't like looking bad, so I am pretty sure they will do a better job at documenting and billing any damage this year. If they don't, the media will.
I have mixed feelings. On one hand, lots of things happen in public parks for private gain. Restaurants are in parks. City Field and Yankee Stadium are actually in parks. I have participated in and organized many races in public parks. Parades and fairs close our streets on a regular basis. Movie shoots make our lives nuts (A few blocks from my house Will Ferrell is filing the more of The Anchorman and this afternoon I will have to move my car for some tv show . Saturday morning, during the Googa Mooga, the Brooklyn Half Marathon passed through Prospect Park and then cut Brooklyn in half. I was the "Team Leader" for the fluid station.in Prospect Park. For a great blog post on what that morning was like click through to Qaptain Qwerty's post.. I can tell you first hand that from 7:30 to 8:30 that morning it was basically impossible to cross the roadway in prospect park because there were so many runners. Hey, on Saturday evening, my daughter attended a Bat Mitzva in Prospect Park's Picnic House. The only time anyone can ever go into that building if it is rented out for a private event. So, lots of things happen in public places that limit access to the public
On the other hand, the Great Googa was not about community or charity or food or music. It was about profit. It was organized by Superfly, a for profit event management company. According to Wikipedia.....
The company was founded in 1996 by Jonathan Mayers, Rick Farman, Richard Goodstone and Kerry Black.[2]
After gaining notoriety as hosts of after-hours events during the New Orleans Jazz Fest and Mardi Gras, Superfly's owners realized they had hit a plateau, unable to compete with big venues that could profit from alcohol and other sales in addition to ticket fees. They wanted to put on bigger events and came up with the idea of Bonnaroo.[3]
They did not care about the park or the people of Brooklyn. Celebrate Brooklyn brings thousands of people to Prospect Park for music and food and they don't crap all over the park. When I went to the training for Brooklyn Half staff, the NYRR said they will leave the course better than they found it and we did. We didn't clean up because we were worried about being billed, we cleaned up because it was our park and we wanted to wanted to come back to a clean park.
Superfly Productions is a for profit company. The bottom line of their existence is the same as Exxon-Mobil or Monsanto; Profit.
What do they need a fleet of luxury cars for? There is no driving in Prospect Park!!
For a week Well House Drive was turned into a trailer park..
It was not the end of the word, but.......
But this was just wrong. Fencing off a water fountain was wrong on so many levels.
First, this is is a food feast. They were selling food. Perhaps people want to drink some free water. Maybe they don't want to pay for plastic bottles of water.
Second, this fence was there for days before the mooga began and I took this photo after it was over. For no reason at all they were keeping me from a drink.
Finally, they could have with a little effort put that fence on the other side of the fountain.
So, I am not saying that we should not have events like the Not-So Great Great GoogaMooga, we just have to make sure they respect our public places. Because if we don't Prospect Park will become Disney World.
Sometimes you are one of the many and sometimes you are one of the few.
and another thing.
Hating on the Googa Mooga because you think it is for "hipsters" is no better than hating on rap music because you think it is for people who don't look like you. I gave my free tickets away, but I have no problem with the people who enjoyed the event.
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