American Apparel Ridiculousness

Don't you wish your boyfriend looked like these losers? The latest from American Apparel's website. Ick.

Shake Shack and Madison Square Park

Below is a photo of the line at the Shake Shack in Madison Square Park, Manhattan. My Aunt was in town last weekend and we headed here for lunch. We'd heard a lot about how great the food is. It's mostly a burger and milkshake joint that's set up in the middle of the park. They also serve fries and some other diner food, as well as something I think was called a Poochini, a little meal for your dog for $3.50.

That's one long line, right? Well, I've waited in my fair share of lines in my life. Disney World comes to mind, although my family was usually pretty good at Disney World and we got through Splash Mountain's line in no time. We used all the tricks of the trade to avoid the lines.

Unfortunately at the Shake Shack there are no shortcuts. If you want a milkshake and a burger then this is the line you wait in. I imagine you can bribe and pay your way to the front, but we were in for the long haul (plus, anyone allowing people in front of them would promptly be verbally assaulted). The line you see in the photo took us 1.5 hours to get through (yes, you read that correctly).

We got in line with a bit of an appetite and by the time we reached the front we were hungry enough to think we could eat 6 burgers each. We all passed on the Poochini's and ordered cheeseburgers, bratwurst, milkshakes and fries.

They were all delicious, although the wait was a bit excessive! I think I'd wait 15 minutes in line, but I'll never do the 1.5 hour wait again if I can help it. It's hard work waiting that long. Thankfully it was a beautiful day and the park had plenty of nice things to look at.

Peasants at Work.

Broken Umbrellas

Chantal and I were in dire need of groceries on Saturday afternoon so we braved the pouring rain to go to the grocery store.

On the way back I was holding my umbrella and pulling the groceries in the granny cart while Chantal was holding her umbrella and a few bags of groceries. A huge gust of wind started pushing us forward from behind and our umbrellas were straining when suddenly both of our umbrellas lost the battle. Our umbrellas inverted and the metal stretchers snapped at the hinges. I managed to get control of mine and pull it back to its closed position, but Chantal's was a lost cause, and as she puts it, her umbrella "disintegrated."

All that was left was some water-resistant material and some dangly metal pieces. Her once useful umbrella went completely useless in a matter of seconds. Thankfully the rain had died down and we were only a couple blocks from home. Here is photographic evidence of the umbrella. It should be noted that Chantal was going to throw it away right where it happened, but I encouraged her to hold onto it so I could put a picture on the blog. These are the things I do for you, my loyal readers.

Labyrinths and Counterfeiters

I have no real direction with this post, other than bringing my loyal readers up to speed on what is new in good old Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

First of all, I was walking down one of my favorite streets in my neighborhood the other day (Broadway) and came across this scene:

I'd never seen a set in my neighborhood before. It seemed like a music video shoot. I heard some instruments being played but other than that I didn't stick around long enough to investigate.

Canal St. Station

I was in a hurry to get to a portfolio meeting in Manhattan. I had to take the M train to Canal Street and then the 6 train to Bleecker Street. The subway system at Canal street is incredible. I got off the M train, walked down a corridor along the track and went between the exits through another hallway. Then I had to go down a flight of stairs, to the left, down another flight of stairs to a track. I headed down the very skinny platform, going in and out of people waiting for their next train, turned right at a staircase and headed up two more flights of stairs before I finally got to my platform for the 6 train. It's amazing that all of this is underground.

Chinatown Counterfeiters

Recently the counterfeit watch/DVD/purse sellers in Chinatown were raided. The bolts on their shops were cut by police in the wee hours of the morning, the counterfeit goods were taken and since then the only things they've been able to sell have been I (heart) NY t-shirts and other memorabilia.

An interesting aspect of Chinatown is the amount of people trying to sell you counterfeit goods on the street. As you walk by they mutter, "DVD. DVD. Rolex" over and over. Some of them have fliers with their counterfeit goods printed on them to show what they have available otherwise they make you follow them for a few blocks until you reach their secret lair of merchandise.

Others have shopping carts covered in towels that they keep covered until they hook a potential buyer. I read somewhere that these sellers use tunnels beneath the streets to smuggle in, trade and sell their goods. I'm not surprised these tunnels exist because the size of the underground network here is crazy. There are a lot of unused tunnels and tracks and even full stations that are probably being accessed by some people for unknown activities.

Here is a clip from an article in the New York Post from 2002. "Cops acting on a tip tackled a labyrinth of secret tunnels, trapdoors and fake brick walls to uncover an immense cache of counterfeit luxury goods in a Chinatown building, officials said yesterday. "

Guns

I was walking home from the subway station this afternoon after meeting up with Chantal in Manhattan and saw this guy in front of me with an interesting pair of pants. Yes, those are guns.

Red Hook

Chantal and I took a trip to Red Hook last week. Red Hook is located in west Brooklyn and is a nice little neighborhood. It's disconnected from the rest of Brooklyn by the Gowanus Expressway.

It's a quiet little area with some industrial businesses but also a lot of residential areas, as well as a nice waterfront promenade. Here are some photos.

Snow Day

I woke up this morning, shuffled my way to my studio and turned on my computer like I always do, and looked out the window. Unlike every other day this winter it was snowing, and there was a lot of snow on the ground (compared to usual). It was a welcome sight since I had sort of missed it. Sort of, not really. Maybe a little?

Anyway, the last time it snowed here it had snowed at night and I promised myself I'd go take some photos of a snow-covered Brooklyn the next day. When I woke up that day though, all the snow was gone and replaced with a lot of rain.

So after I had some breakfast I put on my winter boots and my winter jacket, grabbed a couple cameras and headed out.

It was really nice and I felt like a superior snow-walker compared to the Brooklynites who are unaccustomed to snow. I took a few photos with my digital camera and some with my SLR (the film kind), so here are some from the digital. A Brooklyn snow day.

A snow-covered bike.

A bronze flower statue on Broadway.

Some houses/apartments on South 3rd Street.

A snowman taking in the view of Manhattan across the East River. (Williamsburg Bridge in the background).

On Broadway, Brooklyn Style

We live only a few blocks from Broadway in Brooklyn. It runs diagonally from the Williamsburg bridge eastward to Broadway Junction. There is an elevated train track running directly over this part of Broadway for the J, M and Z subway lines.

It can be a bit intimidating at first, walking along Broadway under the el. It's loud, it's dirty, and in some areas it's dark, but it's an interesting darkness, being in the shadows of green steel. There are grocers and strange doors and abandoned shops and loud people. People stand around yelling in Spanish or unloading clothes into department stores.

Pigeon poop runs along in a straight line beaneath the ledges of the tracks above, following the curves and direction of the trains. I am always careful to walk away from these areas.

Buildings line the street, some are businesses on the ground level, but above are apartments with views looking out to the side of the tracks, or looking down on them from above. I would hope for the tenants sake that the sound of the street and the trains becomes a kind of white noise.

There are fascinating old buildings with interesting architectural details, but these buildings are now 99 cent stores or nail salons. The attractive details are partially covered by neon signs for pizza or tacos or shoe stores. The green steel posts with bolts and rivets and pipes and rust are impressive and I can't help but wonder what the street was like 100 years ago when horses and buggies were traveling Broadway of the early 1900's. What kinds of shops lined the route, or what kinds of farmland? What animals grazed here? Brooklyn used to be entirely made up of farms, with many of today's streets named after the early settlers.

Lately I've taken to walking along part of this route for a few of my favorite blocks. It makes me think that this is what all of Manhattan used to be like just 20 or 30 years ago, nevermind 100 years ago. It's bustling, it's dirty and loud. You can feel the trains coming before you can hear them, and when you do hear them, they rumble along picking up speed at increasingly loud levels.

When I'm under the tracks I really feel like I'm in New York. This is part of the New York I thought about before I'd ever even visited. There are other areas in the city that are just like I would have imagined and just as interesting, but along parts of Broadway it feels like the real thing. It's a bit of rush to walk along this route, and my pulse feels like it's beating at the same pace as the J trains overhead.

From Mr.Postman

We receive a lot of catalogs in the mail here and have no idea how our names get to these companies. Last week we received a nice, big ad in the mail for Marlboro cigarettes complete with a coupon!
I'm almost tempted! $2.50 off! I may sell this coupon for 2 dollars.

Welcome to SCAMerica!!!

Wow! I just got a letter in the mail from my bank, Chase. Not a bank statement or anything, but a check for $9.25!! Sweet! My bank loves me! No way! This is awesome, I'm totally going to order take-out tonight to celebrate! Yeah, General Tao's chicken tonight!!! Call up the Sunny Garden and get that dude on his bike now! Don't forget the chicken fried rice! Yeee-haw!!

Oh...wait. Let me just read the fine print for a minute, just to be sure!

Hmm, it states that all I have to do is sign the check and deposit it...but, hold on a minute, what's this?

When you cash the check, you will automatically be billed the first semi-annual fee of $119.99 to my credit card account.

So, I cash a check for $9.25 and I get charged $119.99 twice? Awesome deal!! I'm still too stupid to fall for this, so let me go to the bank and cash it anyway.

Hold on, what is this? The $119.99 will enroll you in a membership in Elite Excursions and give me privileges such as discounts at thousands of participating hotels and give me V.I.P. (very important person!!! How can I not fall for this!) treatment at over 500 private airport lounges worldwide. Worldwide! I can use it four whole times a year and then (fine print) pay only $27 per visit after that!

Honestly, I don't know about you, but this still sounds almost too good to pass up. If you've been reading closely, I get $9.25 for free and all I have to do is pay $240 and get some awesome V.I.P. privileges.

My favorite part about this is that the letter says Elite Excursions is not affiliated with my bank, Chase, even though I got the letter in a Chase envelope. On top of that it says "Chase is mailing you this offer. Trilegiant (Owner of Elite Excursions or something) is the sponsor of this offer but Chase has not shared any information about you with Trilegiant. "

Hmmm....no, all they shared with them is my name, address and bank account number. No worries there! WOW!!!

Well, color me humored. Thanks for this special offer, I am going to the bank right now.

I think this sort of thing is illegal in Canada, I wish it was illegal here. There are way too many people out there that fall for this sort of thing, and I feel very bad for them and for their bank accounts. You just know these people put this stuff together to screw with those who aren't the fine print reading types.

Although, in the long run those suckers do get some pretty awesome V.I.P. privileges!! Pass the peanuts, buddy, and hand me a Canada Dry! My flight doesn't leave for another 2357873487348734 hours!!!

Granola in Brooklyn

There's nothing like making your own granola. We eat it as cereal, as a topping with yogurt, and make granola bars with it. I use a recipe that my aunt gave me which she found in the Sudbury Star.

A batch of granola this large would be highway robbery should you buy it in the "natural food" stores that are so popular around here, but being the sensible students we are, we make it ourselves.

Pedestrians Beware!

New York is a crazy place to drive a car and because of that, it makes it an even crazier place to walk or ride a bike.

If I was going to prepare a list for guests as to how to be extra careful in this city it would start like this:

• Watch where you step. There is dog poop everywhere.
• Keep your wallets in your front pocket, especially in crowded areas.
• Drivers have the right-of-way. All the time. Even when they don't. You can never be too careful.

The last point is one I wish to elaborate on today. Coming from a friendly, pedestrian-friendly city like Ottawa it is hard to adjust to the tendencies of drivers in this city. Drivers are aggressive, fast and don't care about you measly pedestrians. They're in a hurry, so get out of their way!

The majority of people here drive ridiculous sized SUVs to bring their dirty clothes to the laundromat. Sure, they could have saved a few bucks, bought a cheaper car and gotten a washer and dryer but this is Brooklyn, where bigger is better.

A lot of people jay-walk in this city and if you don't you are probably a tourist or have a replacement hip. It is not just necessary to look both ways (left and right), it is absolutely necessary to look behind you (down the road from which you just came) in case some wacko decides to turn into you as you cross the street. If you are crossing the street, even with a walk signal, you must look in every direction again. It is not infrequent that bike messengers or Chinese food delivery men ride their bikes the wrong way down the road. They have things to deliver, so get out of their way or suffer General Tao's wrath.

I have put together a couple graphics of the most frequent driving no-no that I have witnessed here. It happens every time I go outside and walk anywhere and I can't believe these stupid people actually pull off this move.

Examine this first figure below:

You will notice that there is a car highlighted in green that is in the Northbound lane. He has a green light. You will also notice the very strikingly handsome gentleman walking on the opposite side of the street across the intersection. He is walking Southwards across the intersection.

Since the pedestrian has the walk signal it is his right of way. The car heading North decides to head West and does so until the pedestrian crossing the road gets in his way. While waiting for the pedestrian to cross, he blocks traffic heading South, so the car outlined in red has to slam on its breaks to avoid hitting the car outlined in green that pulled off this boneheaded move.

Occasionally this bonehead is in a much larger automobile (like a school bus!!!) that blocks traffic in both directions while pulling off this move.

So, if you ever visit New York, be forewarned that although you have pedestrian rights, no driver will honor them and will plow you down at any opportunity.

Next time, read all about the different types of dog poop to avoid and how to clean it off your shoe if you're so unfortunate to step in any.

Fallout Shelters

If you wander the streets of New York you will routinely pass by buildings with fallout shelter signs on their exterior walls. I didn't notice this until a visit here last year, and some people I've talked to have never noticed them. Sometimes they're hidden by signage or aged and rusted until they're nothing more than just a faded yellow piece of metal. Some are covered in ivy or tucked away inside doorways.

I have always been curious as to whether these shelters still exist and if they do, what is kept inside them. If not, why are the signs still visible throughout the city?

I've seen them on schools and houses, banks, hotels and apartments, so they're really all over the place, and all over America.

I did a bit of research for myself and for my loyal readers (all 4 of you):

The signs were frequently found outside any building that was approved with what the Army Corps of Engineers had determined to be a sufficient amount of ''radiation shielding.'' I believe the rooms that were declared as shelters still required additional modifications for them to be deemed fallout shelters.

By the early 70's 230,000 buildings had been designated as fallout shelters in New York City and the greater area.

When the imminent threat was over, the shelters were no longer needed for their intended purpose.

Since these fallout shelters were stockpiled with so much food and supplies, the city began giving away the food but wasn't very successful. Not too many people were interested in the specially prepared wheat biscuits and jelly so the city started paying contractors to cart the food away or selling it to animal feed manufacturers.

As much as they were meant for security, fallout shelters were also a good marketing tool. In the early 60's a newspaper ad for a housing development here in Williamsburg, Brooklyn offered amenities such as ''Kiddie Pools, Roof-Top Gardens, and a Fallout Shelter." The Dime Savings Bank in Brooklyn (coincidentally, just a block away from the fallout shelter sign I noticed today that inspired me to write this post) offered ''instant money for fallout shelter construction.''

Today most of the shelters have been converted to workshops, storage rooms and probably basement apartments. With the demand for space in this city a fallout shelter is too much space to leave unused even if it is needed in the future.

Some people have kept the shelters stocked and loaded with supplies in case they are ever needed. They would never protect the people of city from a direct attack, but in the case of a nuclear attack somewhere else in the country the shelters could protect their inhabitants from the fallout. To be even safer, however, there could be huge costs involved in renovating the shelters to update them from modern day weapon attacks.

As for why they're still around I am not entirely sure. I came across a snippet of an old article explaining that at one time the city discussed removing all the signs but never did. The signs are an interesting relic from some frightening times in this country and it's always interesting to see where they are located around the city.

If you ever visit New York and walk around with me, I usually point them out whenever I see one.

Streetball in January

I played basketball yesterday at Rodney Park North. It is an outdoor court that sits above the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway that cuts through the neighborhoods of the city. There is a chain-link fence preventing any balls or people from falling down the steep incline onto the roads below.

At home I got ready to go out to the court and I put in my contact lenses and put on some tearaway pants over my shorts and a long sleeve t-shirt over my yellow Flash shirt. When I got outside, I realized I didn't need the long sleeve shirt or the pants. What I did need was a pair of sunglasses. It is early January and there I was dribbling a basketball to a nearby court to shoot some hoops on a beautiful day. I couldn't believe it, but I took full advantage of it.

After shooting around by myself for a few minutes, I couldn't believe there wasn't anyone else playing there. I've visited and played at other courts in the neighborhood and this one is the best.

There are probably 6 basketball courts closer to where I live, but I choose this one for a few reasons. It's clean, it has a great surface, it has break-away rims and best of all, the hoops have mesh. It is the rare court I've seen in Brooklyn to have mesh on the rims. And I'm not even talking about just some ripped, frayed mesh. This is crisp and clean and helps to create that happy swishing sound when the ball drops through.

Along with that sweet, inner-city soundtrack of cars honking, sirens blaring, people shouting and trucks honking on the BQE, you get good-as-new mesh. Why go anywhere else?

I shot around for about an hour and a half, and on some long, high arching jump-shots the ball seemed to brush the bottoms of the wings of the pigeons flying overhead.