Manhattan Hillbilly

Takin' care of snow, NYC-style

Times Square almost completely clear of snow. Roads passable. Most transit starting to return to normal. Airlines trying to catch up.

It was New York City's sixth-largest blizzard ever, and it was a blast. For all those who feared my Southern butt was toast, rest assured I handled it fine. In fact, managed to get to the office while most of my Yankee co-workers couldn't make it. Rest assured I gloated about that for a while.

A day after the storm, after everyone here had time to enjoy an extra day home from work, New Yorkers got down to what they do best -- complaining. You'd think Mayor Bloomberg had executed puppies and had them served to him for breakfast the way they're ripping into the city for handling the blizzard.

 The most fascinating part of the whole weather event: ThunderSnow! With snow dropping out of the sky Sunday night at 2-3 inches an hour, and winds whipping around 60 miles an hour, there were flashes of light and booms of thunder overhead. Frikkin' bizarre!

Final snowfall tally at our place was 20 inches, although the wind drifted snow over two feet against the front of our building. Figure if I can handle this, I can handle anything Northern weather can throw at me. Bring on winter, you Northern wimps!

Sept 11 in New York City

 

Spent my first September 11 anniversary in New York yesterday, and it was a sobering experience on a number of levels.

First, I took my children the day before on a tour of the World Trade Center site and the Tribute WTC Visitors Center that's currently located on the Southeast corner of the site. Very sobering. I've been there before, but my son, who had never seen it, was struck by the sizet of the space, and when the size of the buildings were described to him, the enormity of the twin towers and how devastating the attacks were.

Next, we went to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, and were reminded looking back at the Manhattan skyline of how different it seems without those two towers perched near the southern tip. An outdated photograph on a display on the island showed what the view looked like prior to that awful day in 2001.

Saturday, we watched the ceremony that began at 8:46 a.m. on television, and the reading of the names was as lengthy and painful as it always is. Having the children of the dead read their parent's name and send words of love and loss is gut-wrenching.

Afterwards, there was a hate rally two blocks away, and I couldn't help but be struck at how those who insisted "my God is better and more important than your God" were thinking the same thoughts the hijackers did as they plunged their planes into the towers. I am constantly amazed at how we humans as a species can learn so little and be so blind.

Finally, we finished the day near midnight nearly 60 blocks away, taking in a awe-inspiring view of the city at the Top of the Rock at Rockefeller Center, where I took the photograph at top of the twin beams of light that shine skyward every Sept. 11 night from the WTC site.

I wasn't in New York that day nine years ago. But as then-governor George Pataki said at the time, "Today, all Americans are New Yorkers."

You can live like the President for $1,900 a month!

Want to live in President Obama's pad from his junior year at Columbia? For only $1,900 a month, you can rent the small Morningside Heights two-bedroom apartment that Barack Obama shared with a roommate in 1981.

The third-floor walk-up, unit 3E at 142 West 109th Street -- about 30 blocks north of my place -- has a windowless office, exposed brick walls and wood floors.

UPDATE: Too late. Interest in the apartment jumped once word spread of its former resident, and it's now rented.

Bathrooms in the big city

Bathrooms are a big issue in the big city. With so many people living and working here, it's the No. 1 or No. 2 issue when you have to go.

Most businesses -- especially smaller delis and restaurants -- tend to reserve use of their facilities to paying customers. I think that's fair and have no problem with that. But I do resent it a bit when some places have no bathrooms whatsoever.

I've noticed a lot of the 171 Starbucks in Manhattan fall into this category. I always buy a hot mocha at stores when I have to drop in and go to the bathroom. And while I've had no problem taking care of their business in return for taking care of my business, I think the rising number of non-bathroom stores is breaking this social contract.

Fortunately yesterday, I was able to combine my dislike of Fox News with relieving an urgent need: