Saturday night ride

The best time to ride the NYC subway is on a Saturday night. That's when you run across the most compelling cross-section of New Yorkers and bridge and tunnel people.
---
Tonight, I stepped into the uptown E train with my guitar case and sat across from two guys who eyed me suspiciously. One of them literally eyed me with one eye -- he had a big black eyepatch over his left eye. Both men were dressed in black from head to booted toe, looking like a pair of Eastern European assassins. Perhaps they wondered if my guitar case contained a couple of automatic weapons. I, on the other hand, have no doubt that their leather attache cases contained Makarov pistols.
---
At the Port Authority station, a man walked past me wearing a cowboy hat. You don't see many of those in this part of the world.
---
Three or four Saturdays ago, I was carrying my guitar case toward the uptown F train platform. A gaggle of teenage girls stopped me and asked if I was carrying a keyboard. "It's a guitar," I said. "Ooh, I love the guitar," one of the said through a mouthful of braces. Later, they met me again on the platform and one of them came right up to me and pretended to take my guitar case, as if we were buddies waiting for the bus at school.
---
I've blogged about my guitar case before, and nothing much has changed. I'm still getting approached by all kinds of people who would normally never give me a second glance, like the massive dude at Port Authority who looked like he could play center for the Knicks. "Is that a Fender Strat in there, man?" he yelled. I told him no it's a Parker, and expected him to say, "A what?" but he surprised me by saying, "Oh, you got a Fly in there." I wanted to shake his hand.

A few of my favorite things

Thinking of moving here? Wondering what will make your NYC life much more pleasant? Here are three things I'm glad I have:

1. Noise-canceling headphones. I have the Audio Technica ANC7, which I absolutely love, but go ahead and get a pair of overpriced, overrated Bose headphones if you want. Either way, noise-canceling 'phones make a long subway ride or a noisy office much more bearable.

2. An always-loaded Metrocard. Because you never know when you'll need to rush to catch a subway train.

3. A digital video recorder, like TiVo. I have no idea how I lived without a DVR. It completely changes the way you watch TV by giving you virtually complete control over what and when you watch; I've never had to worry about getting home early enough to watch the new episode of House.

Thirty. Something.

Today was my 30th birthday. My friends and family asked me if I did anything special today. Below is a list of what I did; you can decide if anything is particularly special.

• Woke up, watered the orchid, fed the cat, took a shower, put on blue jeans and my third-favorite t-shirt and a pair of Converse All-Stars.
• Walked to the office.
• Left my cellphone at my desk. Went to the kitchen.
• Got a bowl of Kellogg's Frosted Flakes with 99%-fat-free milk.
• Returned to my desk and discovered that I'd missed three phone calls.
• Sat and worked for exactly three hours straight. Was briefly interrupted by a phone call from CT, one of my best friends from high school, calling to wish me a happy birthday. I wished that I could have spent a whole hour talking, but I couldn't due to impending deadline.
• Went to lunch with co-workers. One of them bought me a sandwich and a chocolate cookie at 'Wichcraft.
• Drank a bottle of Sprite.
• Had a conversation with co-workers about banana split sundaes, gay shoe salesmen, and American Gladiators.
• Attended a meeting.
• Worked until 6:45 PM.
• Took the F train to 14th Street. Met Sarah. Got on the PATH train toward New Jersey.
• Met some church friends at their home in Jersey City.
• Ate pizza and boneless buffalo wings from Domino's.
• Had a discussion about the intersection of work and faith in light of the redemptive nature of the death and resurrection of Jesus, among other light topics of conversation.
• Was surprised by sneaky appearance of three-candled birthday cake.
• Ate cake.
• Took the PATH train back to New York. Got out of the PATH station and decided to walk home instead of taking the subway. Saw about nine people walking dogs along the way. Noticed that there is a record store in the West Village called Bleecker Bob's Records. Made mental note to check it out some time this week.
• Got back home.
• Read and responded to e-mails. Overheard music by The National on the television. Made mental note to buy their new album, Boxer.
• Petted and fed cat.
• Took out trash.
• Wrote this blog post.

Free ride?

If, one day in the near future, all the subways and buses in New York City were free of charge, it will likely be because of a 93-year-old man named Ted Kheel. His proposal is simple: charge motorists between $16 and $32 in tolls for entering Manhattan's central business district. It's outrageous, but ostensibly realistic -- I'm excited at the prospect and hopeful for the future of Kheel's proposal, which is part of a study conducted by the Nuture New York's Nature Foundation. Imagine never having to worry about buying a Metrocard; you could just walk down a subway entrance and step onto a train!

Click to read:
Gothamist interviews Ted Kheel.
Kheel's proposal to eliminate subway and bus fares.
Nuture New York's Nature site.