Stuff I saw on the subway

 

I used to work by Union Square and my quick trip home was to walk up to 14th Street Union Square and take the Q. 

A couple weeks ago I was changing trains and noticed this graffiti on the pole. I had my phone in my hand so I clicked a quick picture.

Then I turned around and saw this on the pole I was leaning on.

A minute later the train showed up and I got home

 

 

WTF eBay What The Fuck!

I sell a lot of crap on eBay. I am choosing the word crap very specifically. I have made thousands of dollars on eBay and I have never sold anything I paid for. Back in olden times I used to sell Metro cards as collectibles and every single one of them were ground scores. Before the MTA explained to me that I was in violation of the law I made a few thousand bucks selling Metro cards for a discount. lately I just sell stuff that I find. Mostly in my basement because in my apartment building we have a table where people leave stuff that might have some value to someone else before it gets thrown out. I make a little money and I save things from the garbage dump.

There are basically three types of things that I save from the garbage dump.

• Items that are new in their box. They are easy to sell. I can use stock photos and list them at half the price other people are selling them for. They get sold kind of quick (or I can just return them to the department store where they came from and get a store credit. A few weeks ago I returned some weird thing to Ikea and then sat down and had a lunch and bought some candy to share with my friends).
• Items that might be antiques. That takes a little bit of research. But I've made some real money. Sewing machines... typewriters... Even lots of picture frames. I estimate the weight so the buyer pays the shipping. I also take a lot of pictures. I list the sale as "as is" and " Good for parts and might work". Sometimes I only make a dollar. But that's one more dollar than I had before and I saved something from going into the garbage dump.
• The bulk of what's in my basement are books. And unfortunately there's not much value in them and the big library near my house doesn't even want donations. I did make a friend that accepted a giant pile of them because she can send them to prisons. but there's a real limit on what they'll let you send to a prison ..  Just use your imagination.

But some of the books are easy to sell on eBay. I learned by trial and error it's not new books that sell. I don't think many people are buying new books anymore They are reading them on their devices. But it's the older books that are out of print that have more of a market. I see what other people are selling them for and I usually start my bidding at half of that. A few months ago I found a first edition of a book that was about 40 years old It seemed to be some sort of science book. Man and Time by JB Priestley. I took some pictures to show the book wasn't in perfect shape and started the listing at $5 when other people were selling it for 20. I didn't get any bids so I lowered the starting bid price down to 99 cents. It automatically relisted a few times and eventually it sold for 99 cents. The buyer paid immediately. They paid about $6 because they had to pay for the shipping label at book rate. I even used a padded envelope that I had found in the basement. Someone had left a whole box of them down there and I've been going through them one at a time to sell my crap on eBay.

But a moment after I printed the shipping label I got a pop up on my computer that I had an Internet on my credit card

What the fuck!

Ebay collected 99 cents for me and $4.47 for the shipping label. That's $5.46. but the sum of their fees was $5.61. So they charged me 15 cents to sell this book. 

I'm glad I don't do this for a living.

And now I understand why all the Uber drivers are grumpy and why restaurants that rely on delivery apps are going out of business

Not a micro aggressive moment of ableism and my favorite marathon

 

 A photograph of me sitting
in a folding chair after running 31
mi in about 13 hours

A couple of days ago I finished my 44th race of marathon distance for greater..... The Prospect Park Track Club Endurance Fest 50 km / 31 mi. 

It's kind of wonderful to say this out loud but I don't think it got tough until I hit mile 28. The race started at 6:00 a.m. and the sun didn't rise till about 6:30. As you can see from the photo to the left, when I finished it was dark It took me 13 hours so it was 7:00 p.m. I wasn't just physically exhausted I was a little bit confused because I started before it got light and it had gotten dark again And I was still doing the same thing. I also hadn't eaten much...I've been outside since 5:00 a.m. and it was getting dark and I hadn't even had breakfast. I was literally glad that it was the last loop of Prospect Park. I just focused on that for the last hour of running. Because I know I'd be finishing my 44th marathon. 

The moment I finished I was offered a chair. I think I responded with a barely audible "Fuck Yeah". Stopping turning figuring out how to sit we're all very awkward and as I was wobbling towards the chair one of the race directors took my elbow and balanced me. I didn't ask for help and I've gotten used to people grabbing me when I didn't want help. I kind of appreciate it, but I didn't need it and I moved on. I've known that race director for years and he was a kind of person doing a kind thing. But if someone who acquired their disability 11 years ago being touched without permission is something I've learned to live with. People mean well. But sometimes I'm fine. ( i'm never going to get used to the people who jump in front of me to hold the door open and at the same time stand in the doorway, but that's a different thing)

while I was sitting in that folding chair and trying to figure out what it's like to not be running i saw the most wonderful thing. One of the 50 mile racers was about to finish their race. He crossed the finish line right at my toes. They didn't have any apparent disabilities and were asked if they wanted a chair. At the top of their lungs they screamed "FUCK YEAH". A folding chair was popped open and that same director took his elbow and helped him sit down. 

I wasn't offered help because I had an apparent disability. I was offered help because I had just finished an ultra marathon. I figured that out in slow motion during the next 13 hours where I wasn't running forward. 

>>>>>>>>>

After you run a lot of marathons people ask you which one was your favorite. It's really hard to compare them to to each other. There's the noisy big city races, the calm rural races, the sub 4 race, the destination races, the first marathon, the first marathon after having kids, the first marathon you have to coming back from a disability, or the most recent  marathon.  But something special did happen in this marathon.

When my kids were little I remember sitting at the starting area of the New York City marathon talking to one of my teammates who was a bit older than me. He told me that his son was training for next year's race. I told him he was living my dream I hope that one day I'd run the New York City marathon with my kids. He corrected me. He pointed out that when my kids are old enough to run a marathon they'll be terribly faster than me; We won't run it together. 

In Sunday's race I had set up a sign up sheet for people to take turns guiding me. I couldn't have done this alone and I couldn't ask someone to be out there for 13 hours. People took turns of walking alongside of me for an hour or two. Calling each other to figure out what part of prospect park I'd be in and seeing if I needed something from the outside world. Both my kids and their partners signed up for a shift. They didn't just help me they got to witness how hard it was to run as far as I did. They also witnessed the praise I got from fellow runners recognizing my achievement.

>>>>>

 A photograph of me after
finishing the New York City marathon
in 2000 holding my 6-month-old twins

when I was in the hospital I was randomly visited by a shrink. We talked about how long my recovery would be and the possibility of it not being complete. We talked about what was important to me. We talked about the fact that what was very important to me was being a role model for my kids. It occurred to me back then, 11 and 1/2 years ago that I had to show them that sometimes you have to crawl out of a really deep hole. 

I think I did that Sunday.

Nothing can hurt me now

 

On today's date 25 years ago i finished a marathon in 3 hours 58 minutes and 4 seconds. Then I wrote this on the proto-internet of 2000. What I didn't put into that early blog post was that I really had no choice at that point but to finish that race and under 4 hours. The Sri Chinmoy running folk organize the marathon once a month on Randall's Island and I had tried to break for hours and their February race but walked off the course at mile 20. In March of 2000 my wife was 7 months pregnant with our twins i knew my life was about to change. I knew there wouldn't be so much opportunity to trainAnd I didn't really know what my life was going to be like but if I was going to break for hours I had to do it the end of March in 2000Cuz the kids were born the beginning of May.

I know my life was going to become a roller coaster when I became a parent.  if I was ever going to break 4 hours I had to do it on March 26th, 2000. Nine of us walked back 0.2 miles on a perfectly flat 1 mile course on Randall's Island. I was able to leave my hydration on a table and take a gulp every mile. I wanted to run 9 minute miles consistently and the race director is knew that. After I finish my first mile and 8:30 they told me I ran an 8:30 and had 30 seconds in the bank. Another 8:30 and I had a whole minute in the bank.  When I ran a 9:30 mile at mile 20 they told me it was okay I still had 10 minutes in the bank.At mile 25 they told me I still had 2 minutes in the bank.I ran that mile like an Olympian. I knew I had 2 minutes to spare. I finished in just over 3 hours and 58 minutes and I laid down on the grass.All the other eight participants were waiting at the finish line for me. They all finished before me but they waited for me. And the two people who had to organize the race were there and the race director handed me a trophy that said congratulations your fourth in your age group.
 

After I finished this race I looked up the qualifying standards for the Boston Marathon. If I could break 4 hours again after I turned 60 years old I would qualify. I decided to make that my super long-term goal. Just stay healthy for another 20 years And then trained hard again and break 4 hours. At the time staying healthy sounds it easy and training hard again as a 58-year-old was the hard part.I had no idea what would happen to me in 2014. Staying healthy was taken off the table. 

They were people who thought I'd never walk again Let alone run. They all wrong. But the paralysis from Guillain-Barre syndrome didn't all go away. I need ankle braces so I don't turn my ankle on every step or just fall on my face. But I did come back and finish the New York City marathon in 2017 and then a bunch more So many that I lost track of how many marathons I have finished and I thought this would be a good moment to count them.

1.  The SRI CHINMOY MARATHON
2. a loop of Manhattan before I had GBS when you join Runners it's called a Corbitt
3. a loop of Manhattan after I had GBS when you do it with walkers it's called The Great Saunter
4. the Jersey Shore marathon
5. the Long Island Marathon
6. the Bob Potts marathon 
7. the Bob Potts marathon again
8. The Run for the Red
9. the Broadway Ultra Society 6-hour pajama run
10. the frozen flamingo ultra marathon
11. a 50k in Prospect Park before I had GBS
12. a 50k in Prospect Park after I had GBS
13. another 50k in Prospect Park after I had GBS
14. The Brooklyn Marathon
15.  the Berlin Marathon
16. a fundraising marathon around the reservoir in Central Park
17. The Brighton (UK) Marathon

and..27 New York City Marathons including the two virtual races, one in 2020 and the other in 2012 when no one called it that because the marathon was canceled because of Sandy

That's 42 43 44

Numbers aren't important but they are. No matter what happens to me I'm always the guy who spent 7 years trying to break 4 in the marathon and succeeded. So training for races where the finish line was literally beyond the horizon prepared me for Guillain-Barre syndrome. And having recovered from Guillain-Barré syndrome has been great preparation for all the marathons and ultras I've been running lately. 

I'm also the guy who literally crawled out of a hospital bed and has since finished 10 more fucking marathons. I also ran up the steps of the Empire State Building. I got to look at that building from the hospital window while they were doing experimental chemotherapy on me.

I joke that it takes me twice as long now but I get to have twice as much fun but it really hurts twice as much head for twice as long.

So to summarize. Fuck you GBS and fuck the under-cooked chicken you rode in on. 

A Mitzvah

 Updating for October 2025

I have two things to add, first the are you Jewish boys have include me in to the concept of Jewish exceptionalism. The concept of "the chosen people" really discussed me more than ever. I confronted a couple of them on the fact that they're only interested in interacting with Jewish people and they said that people who are in Jewish have their own seven commandments.  The 7th one is completely about homophobia. They also wouldn't say them in an audible kind of way because it wasn't on their agenda.But I really don't want to be part of a religion that decides that because you're born ofcertain parents you're different or better than people that were born of different parents.

But the main thing I've picked up on the fact that being uneducated is something that these kids are proud of. When I told him I don't believe in God they confront me with the fact that the big bang theory can't exist because something cannot come from nothing. I asked a couple of the kids how old they were and they both happened to be 17. Then I asked them what a molecule was. Neither one of them know.Then I told them how can they say the Big Bang Theory can't exist if they don't know the basics of chemistry and physics. They told me that everything they need to know was in the Torah.   There you go......

...........................

The beginning of fall is a busy season for these missionaries.  I avoid them during Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur because for whatever reason they don't carry money on that holiday. They are allowed to ask me to listen to a horn but they're not allowed to pay me. But on Sukkot they want me to shake a stick and some sort of dried up melon while saying some prayers. Since I didn't have to put any leather straps on my head I only asked for $5 and they were quick to agree. The cool thing was that last week I was not alone during this encounter I was hanging out with some friends waiting to go for a workout. 

So it's time to update this a significant amount. Since I originally wrote this 12 years ago I probablycollected about a hundred bucks off the "'Are you Jewish?' boys" they're pretty quick to give me twenty bucks if I put on the tafillen and repeat whatever words they told me to say or read off a card. the truly pathetic thing is that it's so obvious that I really don't care what I say it is just meaningless words to me and I AM just doing it for the money. They don't care as long as the son of a Jewish woman does the ritual. my obvious insincerity is irrelevant.

................................................................................................  Janurary 2010 

A couple of days ago I was changing trains in Times Square. There is always a lot going on down there, bands, art, various religious/charity looking for a handout or a sole.  So it was not surprising that a man dress in traditional Hasidim clothing ask me "Are you Jewish?"    It was about 1pm and I had plenty of time before I had to pick up the kids.  So I decided to engage.

I tried to guide the conversation towards the subject of  free will and humanity, but that was useless.  It was like talking to a dining room table.  I knew this man had one and only one agenda, that was to get me to use tefillin.

That subject came up quick.  He asked me if I want to put them on.  I said sure, if you give me $20.  He instantly agreed.  After a very short and polite discussion about the timing of payment.  I performed the ritual, right there in the Times Square Subway Station.

We then had a short conversation about our personal religious histories.  He gave me $20 and shook my hand.

"Congratulations, you did a mitzvah."
"No, the mitzvah will be when I donate this money to help end the suffering in Haiti."
"Are there Jews in Haiti?"

Oy Vey

So if yo want to do a mitzvah you can help someone in need or support one of the organizations below.

The American Red Cross

or

I personal know the people involved at Heartline Ministries, it is not about religious rituals.  It is about helping those who need the most help.

I think I owe the blogosphere another more blog

It's been a while since I posted and I've been writing this in my head for a while. But ever since I got kicked out of AdSense for killing the bird that was laying the golden eggs I haven't felt that inspired to post. But I wasn't really making that much anyway so here goes

i have actually had an amazing spring and summer. I could say it's been amazing because I got to run an a marathon in Brighten England with my son, and a half marathon in Reykjavik Iceland with my daughter. Honestly you can Google pictures of Brighton and London and Iceland much better than me showing you pictures. But I will show you some highlights.

To the left we see the entrance to a tunnel that goes under a road that gets you to the beach in Brighton. Not an entrance to the Q train at Brighton Beach in Brooklyn. Also a picture of my son smarking with the actual Rosetta Stone behind him. And a picture of each of us goofing around in front of Stonehenge.

And oh yeah we did run a marathon when we were in England. Here we are finishing last.

Also got to give a shout out to my son. He accepted a job to accompany me to England and run a marathon with me. Then after we bought the plane tickets he got accepted to graduate school at Brooklyn College. Night school. That meant he had to take two remote classes in the middle of the night from England. Well done, Nicholas!

And I just realized that I've been to Europe twice this year. After going to England in April I went to Iceland in August. I went there to run a half marathon with my daughter Sabrina and we did tons of touristy stuff with her brand new fiance (YEAH), Julia. 

Upper left hand corner of the picture shows Sabrina and Julia enjoying Icelandic breakfast with jet lag like rock stars. And then to the right is the two of them at 12:30 a.m. with the northern lights behind them and then me and Sabrina with The Northern Lights behind us. (By the way if we would have turned our head 90° from looking at the northern lights we would have seen the sun peaking out from the horizon at 12:30 a.m.) On the bottom we see them in front of a glacier in front of a waterfall and in front of the crevice that separates the North American played from the European plate. Below is a short video of a geyser.  (Again use your Google to find lots of great pictures of Iceland)

I could sell Iceland as a vacation to everyone I know. Glaciers and geysers and waterfalls and northern lights and the crevice that separates North America from Europe. Reykjavik is also a completely new city. It's like the anti Disney World of places to visit. Things are natural and beautiful but it takes a little work to get there and the weather is not going to be great. But again google to look at some great pictures. But then you wouldn't see what I did so because you're not me.

I also just got back from a long weekend conference to Denver Colorado with the GBS Foundation. I did get to do some touristy things while I was there. On my first morning I woke up on Eastern Standard Time and just ran around Denver. I was really pleased to find a creek that had a pair of trails on either side of it. One was recycling and another was for pedestrians and they seem to go under all the roads in town.I went out for 45 minutes and then ran back and I felt great. I pre-registered for a 5K in Suburban Denver. It was called the Nun Run. I really assumed it was just a fundraiser for the archdiocese or something. I assumed I can take an Uber to the start and then I would walk over to the bagel table say hi to people and finagle myself a ride back to the hotel. That was a bad assumption. This was not a fundraiser for the Archdiocese, it was a religious event....Lots of prayer at the start. The run of show included a mass and confessional. And they were people that to finish line area encouraging people to sign a petition to end children sex change mutilation surgery. Needless to say I didn't stop and ask anyone for a ride back to the hotel. Back at the hotel I realized I got a text from a friend who wanted around Denver on Thursday and told me that I should go to the arts district and enjoy some galleries and some tacos made by people who knew how to make tacos. I was glad I took that walk.

I have to wrap up this blog post. I'll do it by talking about a couple of things I learned this year and some of the highlights.

One of the things I noticed about Iceland was that there has been an incredible amount of growth and construction over the past couple of decades. Included in this is a lot of American franchise stores opening up. There was a lot of Kentucky Fried Chicken, subway Hero shops, and Sbarro Pizza (often in the same building).  One morning while waiting for the tour bus to pick us up I actually was craving a bacon egg and cheese and at the pizza place they had a bacon egg and cheese pizza. I thought it might be reminiscent of the breakfast pizza that they serve at table 87. I was wrong and I should have known I was wrong. That abomination on a pizza plate was an insult to every Italian-American who ever made pizza as well as everyone who I've ever operated a Bodega or a breakfast card and made an egg sandwich. 

Have to Sabrina and I were a quarter mile into the half marathon it became apparent that we were the back of the pack. We were accompanied by two cyclists who made sure we found our way. At about mile 11 we passed one of these fast food halls. Our bike marshals didn't speak much English but when we passed this food hall I turned to them and apologized that America sent them our shit restaurants. They understood me clearly but responded by saying" at least we have something now". I felt that for telling her what she liked was shit to me

Along the pedestrian path by The Creek in Denver I took a picture of this sign. I took the picture because I was confused The path wasn't wide enough for anything but a golf cart to travel on. Only work vehicles would be on that path Why would they tell people no standing or stopping. Then I realized it was anti homelessness laws because they didn't want people sleeping under the bridges.  along the way I was passed by a jogger and I asked her how far the path went and she said it went for miles and stayed very beautiful but I should watch out because it's pretty creepy under the bridges.I responded that I was from Brooklyn and wasn't worried about any creepy under the bridges. She looked at me and said"I understand but you're a dude"

i think I grew from these two interactions. I simply learned that at sometimes I could keep my mouth shut. Don't always have to say the thing that I think is funny.

But I do have to go back and say why I think this has been a fantastic year for me.

• did I say I won the lottery and got accepted into the London Marathon for 2026. That's not the big deal. The big deal is that the first thing I did was that I called my son and told him I won and I wanted him to come back with me. The fact that he wanted to go back to England with me on Broad tears to my eyes because I thought he wanted to kill me after we came back from Brighton.
• My daughter told me that this was one of the greatest vacation she ever had in her life.I got to tell her that I hope it's the first of many.
• And I got to tell my future daughter-in-law that I was so happy to spend time with her. 

Don't worry, I won't forget. That's my left elbow in the picture

I had the impossible job of trying to keep my students calm. I gave up, and just helped them try to figure out how to get home.

The drug store on the corner quickly sold out of disposable cameras.

I found this photo on my desk in the middle of September 2001.

Image description:  about 10 people standing on University Place looking south.   In the distance only one Tower stands and it has a hole in it. Smoke billowing from the site of the other Tower. On the right side of the photograph an elbow sticking into the frame

Some things I saw on the subway (art is anal))

In no particular order there is some things that caught my eye while riding on the subway over the past few weeks. Well technically not in the subway There's a food court in the Columbus Circle Station. There's also some selling arts and crafty stuff. Am I far the first guy to know notice that "artisanal" is art is anal. I can't unsee it and my daughter went to school a block from that subway station and probably traveled through there twice a day. 

To counterbalance the wording at the arts and crafts store a couple of weeks ago I was riding a Coney Island bound F train and this guy was sitting across from me. I was pretty sneaky in taking the picture and deleted all the ones where his face showed but I thought this was kind of a perfect kind of scene.The weird ad behind him and the fact that he was on his way to the beach to go fishing.

And speaking of Coney Island F trains, i just love this new Subway ad for Nathan's. 

The Subway Nerds might say that the N and the Q also go to Coney Island nathan and that it's not just that F stands for Nathan's famous.

More on being an election day worker worker

We had another election on Tuesday. I worked 8 out of 9 days of early voting at Brooklyn Borough Hall and I was coordinator on election day at my local bowling place, there was a bit of extra confusion during this cycle because a lot of people thought they can vote in the primary when they weren't in a political party. It seems a lot of people registered to vote last fall so they can vote in the presidential election and didn't think it was important to register as part of a political party.Some of them thought they were independent and can vote in any primary and that doesn't work in New York state. They're not listed as independents It says the word blank where it has their political party and they may not vote in a primary. We had to explain that and some people were understandably angry.on election day I worked in an unacconditioned school gym and the outside air temperature was 105° . It was actually a little cool in the gym and we were able to perform our jobs Without dripping on the ballots and our equipment did not melt.

Working at my polling places We get to have some celebrities vote. Some people from the acting world and sometimes politicians. But I got the honor of having this interaction

a voter walked up to me and said"Hi I'm 101 years old and I'd like to vote", Certainly sir but I need to know your name...  He told me his name and I typed it into the pole pad. He confirmed his address and I looked and saw that he was born a week earlier in 1924. When he signed the poll pad his helper said that his signature is worth money and then we had the following conversation

he: Yes I won the Nobel Prize for medical research in 198*

me Thank you, because of medical research I am alive today

he That's why I'm voting.

By publishing this on probably already violating my confidentiality agreement with the board of elections. But whatever. With all the shit that's going on in the world right now we have to remember that we live in the greatest country in the world., because this gets to happen.

I wrote this during the June primary, in 2025. He voted again in November. He didn't come to my table but I noticed him two tables away and after he got his ballot everybody applauded at the table. I also googled him. He's an immigrant.

I made it to the big screen

Back in March the people that the New York City Roadrunners Club contacted me and asked me if I'd be willing to talk to some people who are making a movie about the people who finish at the very back of the pack in their big races. Sure.

A couple of days later on a really nice day they met me at the Achilles workout in Central Park. We plop down on a bench and they put a microphone on me and asked me a couple hours worth of questions. I told them I wasn't always the last guy that I used to be a mediocre marathon runner and finishing about four or five hours and now it takes me 9 or 10. "it might take me twice as long but now I have twice as much fun" when I remembered saying that I heard the director say to the sound guy "did you get that?" and I knew I was going to be in a movie.  Zoom in on the picture to the right and you could read what I actually said. They will recording I don't remember shit tend to embellish.

The day after the Central Park interview was the New York City half marathon. They told me they were interested in filming me during the race. Blah blah blah blah blah. They met me at ass o-clock 5:00 in the morning in front of my house and put a microphone on my son and I. They recorded us walking from my house all the way to the starting line and then kind of ambushed us three or four times along the course.

So last night they had a screening party. My son was my plus one because he was my plus one in the race.It was great that he was there because he acted as my guide more on that in a minute. But the screening event was at a fancy hotel in Manhattan ($1,200 a night!?) that had a movie theater in the basement and an actual red carpet. I realize when I got there that I had a handler. There was one staff member who was assigned to make sure I was in the right place at the right time. 

And I made it to the local news. Just a video of me moving my lips with no audio. followed by the classic pathetic comment by newscasters that they couldn't even....... . Maybe eventually the newscasters will watch the whole movie and realized that the whole point of it was to say that anyone can finish a marathon you just have to choose to do something very hard and suffer.

And they were fancy people at the screening. I turned around and saw Meb Keflezghi. I explained to Nicholas that I've only been a fan of one sports figure in my whole life and that was him. He turned around and looked at me and said he came to see you and a movie. Oh shit. Then without me knowing it Nicholas found my handler and arranged for me to meet Meb.

I told him that for the next two weeks I'm going to be telling everybody that he came to see a movie about me. And I will.

 

Anyway below is the trailer. The film is not available yet and when it is I will share it here. There's also going to be a screening party. Bring your tissues and your money. It's going to be a fundraiser for Achilles International.