Commentary on people, places, things, the news, current events, etc.
The man is articulate, respectable, well-spoken, and knows how to carry and handle himself during a friendly interview and a hostile debate. I almost wish he was running for President now, and I’m pretty sure he’ll be the nominee in 2028.
Do yourself a favor and listen to the actual debates and speeches. Put the TikTok down.
Been sick for a few days so I didn’t really go out and do anything this weekend. I did find some weird YouTube videos though, and here’s two of them:
For some of these people, I wonder if they just didn’t know. There is an NYU dorm on this block and there was a lot of traffic being caused by people dropping off their kids who are about to start Fall Semester. I imagine a lot of them are from Upstate or Central New York and maybe don’t understand the significance of bike lanes. I get into this place sometimes, mentally, where I just assume that other people know things that I take for granted because they’re common.
Maybe they were all playing follow the leader, with the “leader” being a TLC vehicle driver who should have known better. I hope he enjoys the ticket he’s going to get from the 311 report I filed.
Also, shout out to the guy who was making a statement by sitting on his Citibike in the bike lane, blocking the cars.
Summer Streets is an event in New York City where stretches of road are closed down from 7 AM to 3 PM to regular vehicle traffic and are opened up to pedestrians and cyclists for recreational use. It started out on just a small stretch of 4th Avenue, but year after year more roads and longer stretches of road are made available for Summer Streets use.
I almost missed it this year, but my wife reminded me about it when she went out riding last weekend and accidentally rode into the Summer Streets route and wound up riding the length of Manhattan down to and over the Brooklyn Bridge. This current weekend was the last weekend for Summer Streets in Manhattan so I made sure to get out there, even if only for a little while, to enjoy having the whole road open to ride around on.
Whole road is kind of an overstatement, though. There were so many people out there on bicycles and walking and running that it was actually a bit crowded. It was still a lot of fun, though, and made me wish that Summer Streets took place every Saturday from 6 AM to 7 PM all Spring, Summer, and Fall long.
I do have one more chance for Summer Streets next weekend, but it will be here in the Bronx on Grand Concourse. I’ve done a few organized runs up and down the route that has been selected for use, so it won’t be a new area for me, but I’m going to do it anyway because it’s rare to have a long run of space to use for cycling in such a dense urban area. I’m grateful for the greenways and bike paths in parks here in the city.
That being said, it’s kind of exciting to ride up and down blocks in Lower Manhattan. There’s a lot to look at and experience when you’re out riding on your bike and it’s not as dangerous as it used to be if you stay on the side roads or in the bike lanes on major avenues.
We finished up our Manhattan Summer Streets ride with a trip to Chinatown to have a late lunch / early dinner at Tasty Hand-Pulled Noodles on Doyers Street. It’s a great place and if you haven’t been, I highly recommend it.
On the weekends, we’re almost always going out to do something active: chores, exercise, visiting family, eating out, etc. Yesterday, I had this idea in my head that I just wanted to get to a nice spot in a park and chill for a while. I could sit and read for a bit and take in the scenery. Instead of feeling pressed to do something, I could just lean back and relax and take in the sights and sounds around me, and that’s what I managed to do.
My wife and I parked in the East Village and rode our bikes over to Veselka for brunch. Afterwards we rode over to Washington Square Park to look at the vendors and then we found a quiet spot in the shade, situated sort of behind the music stage area, to just sit and relax. The air was fresh, the breeze was cool, and it was pretty cool to be able to take in different types of music while reading on my Kindle. My wife spent her time sketching.
Fun facts:
Overall, it was a relaxing success of an afternoon.
This is mostly Japanese language learning. I took a short break on Latin American Spanish but went back to Japanese.
Next stop, 365 days. It’ll happen, because Duo threatens me daily from a widget on my Home Screen.
Called a Chinese restaurant near my office after work to order food to pickup on my way home. The experience turned out to be extremely odd.
“Hello. I’d like to place an order for pickup.”
“Ok, what would you like?”
“I want the sauteed string beans.”
“You want the sauteed string beans with shrimp?”
“No. I want the sauteed string beans.”
“You want the sauteed string beans with rice?”
“No. I want the sauteed string beans. I’m just trying to order vegetables right now.”
“So, you want an entree of string beans? That’s $16.”
“Yes. That’s fine.”
“So, you want soft string beans with no garlic?”
“What? No. I want sauteed string beans. You know what? Never mind. I’ll order when I get there.”
After hanging up, I realized that I no longer had any desire to ever revisit the restaurant again. The string beans would have been part of a $70 order, but I wound up going somewhere else.
Things didn’t go smoothly on that call either, though.
“…”. Call answered but silence on the line.
“Uh, hello?”
“Yes. Hello.”
“… I’d like to place a pickup order.”
“Ok, sure. What’s your number?”
[phone number that I’ve had for 13 years provided]
“Ok. Is this Tracy?”
“Uh, no.”
“Mary? Are you Mary?”
“No. My name is Bradley. Can I place an order?”
“Sure. What would you like?”
The order proceeded normally from there.
On the way home, I had one person pull in front of me and come to a dead stop. I had two others pull in front of me and slow down to 7-10 MPH in a 25 MPH zone. Absolutely bizarre dinner ordering and evening commute experience.
It was nice to get out and ride around in the city a bit. I actually prefer it to the greenways sometimes because it’s more engaging and there’s more to look at. Sadly, I paused my workout while taking photos and forgot to restart it when I was down by Pier 36, but that just gives me an excuse to redo the route next weekend.
I definitely need to find more time in the week to exercise. I feel a lot better after spending the day outdoors. I’m also thinking about getting another gym membership. The issue would be finding a way to fit it into my schedule. Something like Harbor Fitness might work. There’s a location close to where I work.
Now I have to be careful. The last time I had brake pads and rotors replaced on a car, it was totaled while parked a few weeks later. I’d also just had a major service performed, so I was out of a car and out of the money for the service. Luckily, the insurance payout was fair, but it still sucked having to eat the loss of the payments made towards the loan that weren’t reimbursed because of vehicle value depreciation.
This time, I didn’t wash the car or fill the gas tank, so I should be ok.
Yes, I’m feeling a little paranoid. And superstitious.
Kind of surprised that this scene from “Star Trek: Deep Space 9” made it onto regular broadcast television back in 1999. I could have sworn the only thing this risque on TV back then was “Real Sex” on late night HBO. But maybe I just wasn’t paying attention. Or don’t remember it too well. I don’t remember watching a lot of TV back then. I think I spent most of my time reading, doing school work, and then I joined the military.
I’m sad that I finished this show. I’d like to see some of the characters again, further on in their journeys, but given that Deep Space 9 ended 25 years ago I know it’s not going to happen. Man, I can’t believe it’s been 25 years. At least there’s some new stuff to see. I’m probably never going to watch Discovery, but Strange New Worlds has been very entertaining so far. I’m not sure how I feel about Spock seeming more emotional. Even T’Pring seems emotional. I’ll give it a chance though.
TOS, TNG, now DS9, Voyager, Enterprise, and a few episodes of Lower Decks complete. After Strange New Worlds, I’ll probably switch over to Picard.
