Pass the Mouthwash!

How did a vacation day go by without a post???

Well, Wednesday was indeed a busy and productive day...

... Maintenance stuff mostly...

Today will be a lot of choring around, too...

I wanna throw out (Or give away, or recycle...) 100 things before New Year's Day... Need to get busy on de-cluttering...

... And also seriously thinking about the serious New Year's Resolutions that I will seriously make. Seriously...

Resolutions have always been a powerful incentive for me to make positive adjustments in my lifestyle and life... And so, the window for them is now once again open...

It's like a proverbial onion... You peel off a couple layers...

... And then there's another new fresh layer exposed and ready to be peeled....

But you had to have gotten through those other layers to get to this one, of course...

To be more precise in my particular case: Pass the mouthwash...

9th Annual Christmas Carol (As in Channing)

Another Vacation Day in Blog Bits

I've already eaten all the oatmeal, toll house, and sugar cookies that my father made and gave to me to bring home at Christmas... I was never one for the concept of Delayed Gratification... Nope, not me...

Ouch! Lower back pain today: Why? a) Bags carried over Xmas? b) Snow/ice walking and balancing? c) too many twists during a two hour workout last evening? d) All of above? Pass the ibuprofin...

Remind me in 2011 to never again get the Buffalo wings at Chirping Chicken... Deep fried crispy ones dunked in sauce is not the same thing!

NYTimes' Bob Herbert's Thinking of Aretha is lovely...

No New York Times home delivery to midtown Manhattan yesterday or today . No USPS mail delivery yesterday... We'll see about today... Whatever happened to : "Nor rain, nor snow..." (I don't blame Postal Lady! Get well soon!)

Managed to climb snow mounds today to get to a mailbox to drop in some late Christmas cards... I do the postcards... More sensible... And yes, I'm guilty this year of only sending back to those who send first...

Googled around yesterday and found my best friend from when I was 13... He's now a professor and well published PhD in the field of physical therapy in Pennsylvania... I dropped him a holiday email to his university email addy...

I've surpasssed 500 friends on Facebook! Woo woo!... And yes, I do KNOW THEM ALL!! We shared various parts of our lives at various time periods together... To those who completely shun Facebook: I just don't get it... What are you afraid of? You can set your own boundaries over who sees what and you can divulge only what you wish... To each his/her own, of course... But seriously: It's great...

I gotta start giving some thought to the ol' New Year's resolutions...

Andy Warhol: Motion Pictures at MoMA

Just back from seeing the Andy Warhol motion picture exhibit at MoMA...

MoMA was pretty empty on this post-blizzard day. And since the museum is usually closed on Tuesdays, I don't think a lot of people even knew of today's unusual holiday schedule. Fine with me...


Edie Sedgewick's Screen Test completely steals the show... You can't take your eyes off her...


And I got a kick outta seeing this one at the intended slowed down rate... But all the gawking and giggling female tourists were unnerving... Girls just don't get it... LOL.

Their press release:

Among Warhol’s cinematic oeuvre, the black-and-white silent films are the most daring and experimental in their selection of subject and theme, psychological acuity, rhythmic pacing, and sheer beauty of form. Although these films were originally shot at sound-film speed (twenty-four frames per second), Warhol specified that prints be projected at a slower speed of sixteen frames per second, a rate used in the projection of silent films from the 1890s through the 1920s. For this exhibition, a selection of Warhol’s films made between 1963 and 1966 has been transferred from 16mm film to DVD at the speed of sixteen frames per second, and projected onto screens and monitors in a gallery setting. Thus it is again possible to see the works as Warhol intended, and to appreciate the ways in which he challenged and provoked both subject and viewer in his manipulation of moving images.

Quentin Crisp on Snow

"It has been snowing. I hate snow, and will never understand the people who persistently exclaim that it looks pretty. This is like being glad to be attacked by a handsome mugger. Snow is, at best, tiring to negotiate; at worst it is dangerously slippery and causes one to arrive in other people’s houses and sit around for hours in wet socks. I shall try to stay in my room until the spring".
-- Quentin Crisp

Crabs for Christmas

David Deboy is an old friend from Baltimore. He and I are the only two people from our college to have placed in National Speech Competitions... Don't know if anyone has placed since but I think they no longer have a team... Went to high school (and Boy Scouts) with two of his younger brothers... We're all Facebook friends today... LOL

Some Stuff I Learned in 2010

Nancy LaMott and Michael Feinstein's rendition of "Baby It's Cold Outside" is my golly gee most favoritest!

Am finding lots of scraps and notes of miscellaneous things that I meant to blog about in 2010...

The Museum of the City of New York's online photo exhibition is REALLY something!

The Coffee Pot at 49th and Ninth only charges $1 for a coffee refill. I didn't know that. Do now.

Waiter Frank DeJ has left El Centro. He has some show biz projects cooking...

Amy's Bread still has the best oatmeal cookies in NYC. Crumbs has lousy oatmeal cookies. Too moist. Too sweet. With walnuts?! Ew... Don't care for Dean & Deluca's oatmeal cookies either. My Dad makes the best oatmeal cookies... But you have to go to Helldersburg at Christmas to get them.

Billy's Bakery makes a fabulous mini chocolate cheesecake! My favorite Japanese: Kouzan...

I wanna get rid of another 100 Things before New Years again this year... A great de-cluttering tradition...

I wanted to blog about the next steps of The High Line NYT, 12.20.2010 and Governor Paterson's fear of impending out-of-office independence NYT 12.20.2010.

This year's Jib Jab 2010 is lame. And they really missed the boat with their Obama humor because the lame duck Congress gutted their punch lines.

I decided an e-reader solution for periodicals is too far off and so I re-subscribed the old fashioned way to: Time Out New York, PC World, Men's Health, and will go with The New York Times paper a while longer...

Amtrak gives huge discounts if you book your ticket at least two weeks in advance... !

Now listening to Nancy LaMott's Ask Me Again album, for the very first time... I bought it a while ago in a large order with free shipping from Amazon and had set it aside... Perfect post-blizzard music...!

Monster Blizzard 2010

The New York Times is calling it a Monster Blizzard...

I say, let's have another couple of these before Spring...

... As long as they happen on school days next time...

Bring em on!!

Here's a bit on the art at left:

Profile: The Great Blizzard of 1888 – oil on canvas by Anne Kullaf


My panel shown above depicts the Great Blizzard of 1888. I chose this subject because I love painting urban landscapes that contain atmospheric conditions,  repeating shapes, exaggerated perspective and all those icons that make NY so unique. I also wanted to challenge myself by painting something from another time period, my own work is typically very contemporary and I tried to approach an earlier era from a modern perspective.


I worked with a limited palette consisting of burnt umber, titanium white, yellow ochre, alizarin crimson and cobalt blue. These colors enabled me to capture the colors of the brick buildings, telegraph poles and figures in a way reminiscent of old sepia-toned photographs. The same colors were echoed in the shadows of the snow and sky to create an atmosphere of wind-blown snow and threatening clouds, with a little glow providing just a hint that the snow was on its way out and NY had survived the worst of the storm... From Salmagundi Club History Panorama.

Set the Tone: Contradictions

"Do I contradict myself? Very well, then, I contradict myself. I contain multitudes."
-- Walt Whitman

Help My Friend Paul the Filmmaker...

Paul Lucas and his partner Drew Geraci just made their first short film. They have entered it into a contest, the prize for which is a pitch meeting at Sony and Dreamworks for their screenplay.

If they get the most FIVE STAR votes in the next ten days, they will win and get those meetings.

There are no instructions on the website, so...

To vote, go to:

http://www.seewhatimsayingmovie.com/contest-entry/videos/viewvideo/47/comedy/dis-oriented.html

...and click five stars. You do that by clicking on the last star (the fifth one) under the description of the film, which is called “Dis-Oriented.”

Hitting Favorite does not count as a vote, you must click on the LAST STAR of the FIVE STARS.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow...

One place you don't ever wanna be stranded in a potential blizzard is Helldersburg...

So with everyone's blessings for a safe transit, I departed last night on the last Christmas night Amtrak train at 10:30pm...

It was already filling up with folks who had already had their flights canceled for the next morning (Long before the snow had even started)... So, I'm glad I got out when I did...

The $$$ saved on returning the rental car early was quickly spent on getting a new train ticket at last minute rates (My $49 2 week pre-booked ticket needed $80+ more)...

(Photo by  Poko Puppets)

Passengers were standing in the aisles of the train as we arrived into NYC at around 2:30AM... Over booked...

So now I'm here...

Just managed to spend my left-over Kohl's dollars online for three new pairs of  Levi 501's... The local Helldersburg store no longer stocked black anyway... Free shipping too... Sweet...

Soooo much in the way of chores and projects that I still wanna tackle (or "attack") before New Years eve..

I always enjoy the year end clearing of the agenda of Old Business before the New Business of the New Year...

And having a bonus coupla days in Manhattan, and a blizzard (if it even happens) to keep focused is an extra Xmas gift...

Let it snow. Let it snow. Let it Snow!

Ya Think?

Most Annoying Phrases of 2010 according to a Marist Poll and reported by Reuters:

"Whatever".

"Like"

"You know what I mean"?

The phrase "to tell you the truth" and "actually" were also unnerving to many people.

Personally, I'd add: "Ya think?"

Merry Christmas 2010 from Helldersburg

Here's another little Holiday interlude while I'm in Helldersburg and cut off from all civilized Interwebs...

Merry Christmas to everyone... Unless you don't celebrate... Then, Happy Saturday!

Merry Christmas, Darling

Nothing like a mellow smooth Karen Carpenter Christmas carol...

Merry Christmas Eve 2010

Scored my seat on the Amtrak bound for Helldersburg... Well as close as any train can possibly get to the remote Republican burg from hell...

Helps to know the back route from the waiting room to the platform... A trick I learned back in the early 1980's when I would commute back and forth regularly between Baltimore and DC and NYC for alternating television and film shoots... The shortcut still works...

Got to the station early (I'm always early for everything!) And was walking about thed dreary low ceilinged 1970's tacky waitingroom looking for a coffee seller...

A perky young lady behind the just opened Krispy Kreme stand was singing Christmas carols while wiping down the equipment... I told her: I was getting my coffee from her cuz she sang like Whitney Houston... I realized later she may not have even known who Whitney Houston was... Jeez. She's young enough to be her granddaughter... Yikes...! I gotta update my line... Beyonce, maybe?

Oh... Lovely... A young nervous and chatty couple with an infant just sat behind me... Shoot me now...! Bah Humbug!

Note to self for next time:.... iPod! That's a whole technology I never mastered... Still do CDs... Sooo Nineties! New Years resolution? Lisa gave me her old iPod a few years ago... I never even tried it... It's prolly a dinosaur by now!

The New York Times arrived before I left... So I can focus on that...? As usual I brought along a stack of magazines that had accumulated... So there's plenty of reading material for this three hour-ish commute...

While waiting at the station, I was admiring a giant B&W photo reproduction of the inside of the original majestic Penn Station... A passerby stopped to chat and told me he remembered it as a child... The vantage point of the photographer was pretty much right where we were standing, he said.... Which made it extra appalling to view the glorious marble walls, the super high ceilings, the classy brass (I assume they were brass) stairwell railings...

We both agreed that destruction of the original in the name of gentrification was one of the great architectural tragedies of the last century... Truly.


Later: So now I'm back from the Snack Car with my two Diet Pepsi's between Newark and Metropark in New Jersey... I never drink diet soda anymore... But since I used to always have them on Amtrak commutes way back in the 1980's, I'm Jonesing for them now...

The Daddy with the baby was in line behind me at the snack bar... So now that his baby giggled at me with brilliant baby blues, I don't care so much if he kicks the seat...

Often, it helps to look people right in the eyes...

Merry Christmas...!


(Message composed in my mobile device, please forgive typos). (Re-edited on December 26th).

Rest in Peace: Marcia Lewis

Rest in Peace, Marcia Lewis...

I first worked with her when we both performed at a Manhattan Association of Cabaret Award ceremony in the mid to late 1980's... She was the presenter for my award category... When she tore open the envelope she misread my name... Which we both good-naturedly and comically corrected together onstage in an ad-lib...

We had the pleasure of recollecting that moment years later when she was touring in Busker Alley, the ill-fated Broadway bound (but never made it) musical starring Tommy Tune... When I came back stage after the performance she immediately greeted me with "you were the guy whose name I mispronounced at the MAC awards...

Our mutual friends in the cast swore that they didn't remind her about that in advance... But I still have my doubts... LOL

Anyway, she was a great lady and a great performer... Hear Marcia Lewis' rendition of When Your Good to Mama from the original cast recording of the 1996 Broadway revival of Chicago...

Here's the New York Times obit for Marcia Lewis for more information...

Peace, Marcia. I heard that you were having a rough time the last couple of years...

Be Pro-Active

Sign this petition.

The New York City Department of Education refuses to help struggling schools, and thousands of children are being hurt as a result of this neglect.

Twenty-five district public schools, a record high for one year, have been put on the block as the DOE continues to insist that the best reform strategy for struggling schools is to shut them down, not fix them.

Can you help out by signing this petition? It's really easy - just click the link below:

http://www.uft.org/campaigns/petition-stop-neglect

Thanks!

Old Fogeys Unite

The New York Times reports that E-mail is merely a communication for the old fogeys among us...

"Signs you’re an old fogey: You still watch movies on a VCR, listen to vinyl records and shoot photos on film... And you enjoy using e-mail."

Well, if you ask me... Instant Messaging and texts are rude and invasions of privacy...

And even the telephone itself is an instrument of intrusion...

I say send an email... Let people read it when they want... Let them answer when they want...

And leave them (and me) alone in the down time...

I have the IM feature turned off on Facebook and Google... I don't sit around on Skype. And, I refuse to check in all over the place on 4 Square...

So then, I guess I qualify as an old fogey...

OK, then....

Set the Tone: Life is Like a Sideshow

"One thing you learn working a sideshow is that there is no need to get excited when you have a good show or feel terrible when you have a bad show. No matter how good or bad a show is, you will be doing another one in an hour. Days are like this too..."

-- Todd Robbins

Fluff and Fold Me, Baby!

OK... Looks like the Super Wasco Laundomat at 750 Tenth Avenue, (N.E. Corner of 51st and Tenth) (212-765-5441, or 212-265-6164) will do a perfectly fine job with the Fluff and Fold service...

Same proprietor as the last place that was forced out on Ninth Ave and 51/52...

Clare looks like she runs a good clean well run establishment... And since I remembered a Thai lady friend of hers that used to run the other place, she was especially nice... LOL...

And they have free* pick-up and delivery... Well, *you gotta tip, of course... I mean, of course...

My drop-off of 14 pounds of dirty laundry will be $13.50... You do the math...

The coupla of precious weekend hours saved are the real bargain....

Plus, I could never fold like these folks fold!! Zen folding perfection!

Dropped at 10:30am on a Sunday AM and she sez it'll be ready after 7pm tonight...

Fa-la-la-la- La-la-la-laaaa

Great to see Deanna and Mitch today. Visiting from Charlotte, NC.... She and I were roomies waaaay back in the late 1980s and early 1990s in Park Slope...

We all took off our glasses between shots... LOL... (Photo by owner Mike of the Renaissance Diner)... D had the florentine. M&T had the oatmeal... Here's the shot with spectacles, you decide!)

Dea and I certainly went off in very different directions from Park Slope... Today, when she and Mitch headed off to sightsee in the old Brooklyn nabe... And I strolled home to my Hell's Kitchen mancave to re-charge.

At the historic time that we roomed together in a Sixth Avenue brownstone between Carroll and Garfield streets, my Commodore 64 was the hottest and only pc around... Somebody has re-released a turbo updated version of the Commodore 64. I saw that link on Twitter yesterday.

What is this movie The Illusionist? Nice advertisement in today's NYT for it. It's at the artsy Paris theater... Which guarantees that it's either wonderful or a horrible bore... Worth seeing??? Anybody?

Excellent idea to save the USPS! Postman always pings twice, by Michael Ravnitzky, suggests that the fleet of postal trucks could be equipped with sensors to gather environmental data and combat terrorism... What does Postal Lady think about this?

... My beloved New York Times is so grossly littered with errors requiring corrections, constantly... Typos, too, as spell-check robots do the only proofreading and editing, apparently.... Maybe we the readers should be able to fix the damned thing? NYTimesopedia? WikiNYTimes?

Saw a piece in the Times this AM regarding tipping your hairdresser... Well, I don't know how much hairdressing she actually does around my bald spot.... But I did run to the bank beforehand and got some extra cash for my 8am appointment...

Oh, and I need to prepare envelopes for the building staff. Might as well go do that right now. ...One less holiday chore outta the way...

Fa-la-la-la- La-la-la-laaaa.

It's Friday!!!

And another huge meeting out of the way today, and another (more hectic than it needs to be) December work-week left behind...

Gots to get me a haircut from Peggy tomorrow. last chance before Christmas...

Former roomie Deanna in town this weekend, and we'll have a breakfast meet up... Just like the old days... Will try to talk her into getting on Facebook... But I have my doubts...

One of my work sites got a bombshell memo today that kicks off four weeks of hectic preparation for a review that reminds me that I'm fully glad I'm not caught up in all that this year...

I read today that Shake Shack at Madison Square Park offers a decadent salty peanut butter hot chocolate til March... I was just there yesterday for a technology training... If I had only known...

Did cut out on my lunch break yesterday to Time-Warner on East 23rd to replace my cable DVR remote... The fast forward button was getting squishy... I do use that FF button the most... I'm impatient I know. And life is too short for bad television.... Ah, the power of the DVR!!

I'm addicted to caffeine again... When it's cold, I stop to grab hot coffees to keep warm. Coffee has caffeine, and before I know it... I'm addicted... Then by New Years I make a resolution to cut back again... And I do... Until I start up again... So predictable. So pathological.... Oy!

I think I need to add Learning to Touch Type to my list of New Year's Resolutions for 2011... Ahhhhh, the time I waste hunting and pecking, and correcting errors... I watched some dude at a Starbucks this AM efficiently touch typing on a teeny Netbook 'puter and thought: I can do this. I gotta do this...

... Plus Doctor Oz always sez learning new things is good for an aging brain...

He also sez to eat beets and pumpkin seeds... I've been doing that...

Yup... I gotta learn me some touch typing...

Zigging and Zagging Through December

Why, oh why, does December, as a month, have to be so intense??

Nobody at work seemed to get my memo that it's supposed to be a quiet and serene month...! Oy!

So deadlines that weren't even supposed to be deadlines are abruptly created as everyone creates more and more insanity in a crazed crush to pack it all in before the calendar year switches?? Is that it?...

Relax, people...

Anyway, I keep zigging and zagging through each day... And it's all quite manageable just by taking it a day at a time... That's the only way, really...

But seriously.... Why do all the out-of-town old friends all come into Manhattan during THIS month only to declare "We absolutely must get together right now!??"...

I agree it's lovely to see you... And it's great to get all this work finished...
But, There are eleven other months...

Y'all gotta spread things around...

Meanwhile, I need a hot bath...

Still Cold

I'm still loving it!

Dramatically Low

19 degrees when I got up. So cold, I finally closed the window over my bed when I got up... Although, it was great for sleeping...!

I just checked Weather Underground and I see it ticked up a degree...

Something better sounding about the teens than the twenties...

Twenties are less dramatic than the teens...

And a dusting of snow doesn't do it for me either...

Personally, I prefer the B-word. (Blizzard)... And most preferred on school days for a bonus day off...

... And certainly NOT over Xmas when people have to travel safely to see loved ones in faraway places like Helldersburg.

Still at 20... I guess I better bundle up ... At least, somewhat...

But that windchill factor of 9 degrees??? Now that sounds dramatic!!

Set the Tone: A Masterpiece

"Make each day your masterpiece."
-- John Wooden

Gloooomy is Gooood

Glooooomy, rainy, cold, Sunday Morning in Hell's Kitchen, NYC... I LOVE IT!

Perfect day to stay in. Hang out in my hoody sweatsuit garb... Sip hot beverages (tea, coffee, cider) and catch up on indoor chores and projects, including the Sunday New York Times, the DVR back-log, and bloggy/Interwebby stuff...

Old fashioned postal Christmas cards this year??? Few and far between. I used to exchange a hundred or so every year... At the moment? About a dozen... I'm taking the "you send first" tact. And then I reply with an Old Fashioned Christmas Postcard... But really, a personalized post on my FaceBook wall means just as much. If you're over 80, your card from me is already in the mail... You don't have to send first!! LOL.

FREE MY TWEETS! Twitter acknowledges I just completed my 11,162nd tweet. But they won't let me search or access most of them? I have a serious problem with this. FREE MY TWEETS!

Rest in Peace Mark Madoff. Suicide was your right and your choice, of course. But, seriously?... Hanging yourself by a dog leash while your unattended two year old was in the next room? Jeez!

Anthony Wiener called Barack Obama Negotiator-in-Chief instead of a true leader. Yes, Congressman... U hit the nail on the head. And Vice President Biden knows it!

If I had HBO, I'd DVR Carrie Fisher's "Wishful Drinking" tonight... But I don't, so I won't...

Senator Bernard Sanders = A Great American! His speech on the floor was brilliant. Clear. Cogent!

Always love watching  'How It's Made' on Science Channel. Favorite segments this week: deli poultry meats (not that I would eat them) and ceramic liquor jugs (not that I would drink from them)... Also, NASCAR engines (not that I would drive them).

DISGUSTING News! IHOP in Times Square???! We are *NOT* suburbia! We are the greatest city in the world. IHOP Coming to Times Square, 24 Other Spots in NYC Area. What's next?? Fricking Denny's?

Now THAT kind of gloomy, is NOT good.

Chilly Saturday This 'n That...

My kinda weather today!!

2011 Firefighter's calendar is available for purchase... (See left). Buy your City of the Brave calendar here.

Awaiting a text that a delegation of Woodlawn High School school grads, and their teen-aged (so old?) daughters stuck in a fender bender in the Lincoln Tunnel... That can't be good. But they are all fine and are awaiting the written police report before they proceed... I totally woulda taken a bus instead of driving into Manhattan on a gridlock alert day at Xmas... But these Baltimoreans have their own ideas about things...

I'm supposed to meet them at Rockefeller Center Christmas tree for a reunion-like meet and greet and then the mandatory Facebook snapshots to be later tagged and archived for posterity... LOL

Just eating a chilled apple cider donut from the local Greenmarket farmer's market... Breezy Orchards is still setting up their wares this late in the season... But Joe the green grocer must be huddled by his fireplace up on the farm planning next year's crop... Oh, BTW, the doughnut is chilled from being outside... Nothing special about that serving style..

Click here if you want a glimpse into the lives of those Christmas Tree sellers that are literally "camped out"on so many Manhattan street corners til Christmas eve.

Here's what's new in 2010 Holiday windows around town this year... I'll likely get around and photograph them eventually... So Keith, keep an eye on my Flickr page!

Nice of Bill Clinton to appear at a surprise press conference at the White House last night to defend Barack Obama on the tax cuts for the wealthy nonsense... But I still don't agree... We MUST address the debt... Now!

These hottie Firemen remind me that adult film star John Leslie died this week... RIP... His obit even made The New York Times...

Wanna take a ride on a vintage subway car this holiday season? Click the vintage subway and bus fleet for the schedule and details... 

Positively tragic that another local Hell's Kitchen laundromat closed!!! Greedy landlords want higher rents, of course... But what about the local residents and infra-structure???

Luckily the staff there all have been relocated to a store down in the 20's... And the local HK people will have to walk a while out of their way to the affiliated laundomat at 51st and Tenth... I know that particular building well, as I used to live there myself...

Stay warm!

Was a Long One

It's been a loooong work week.

And as I had predicted, lots of curve balls thrown in these mad weeks leading to the finale holiday vacation respit...

Today is Friday!!

... And not a moment too soon...

Happy Weekend, Peeps...

Cash Preferrerd for Holiday Tips

Time to start holiday tipping...

Here's a Tipping guide by Brick Underground

The super or resident manager pockets the biggest tip, followed by the doorman and concierge, the garage attendant, and the porter/handyman.
More apartments per building usually means smaller tips per staff member, but the total amount you give in a 300-unit building shouldn’t differ that much from a 50-unit building. As for that magic number, we have heard everything from $300 to $3,000.
Residents who tip year round for extra services often go lighter side at year's end than those who hold back through the year.
It’s acceptable for residents who move in partway through the year to pro-rata their gratuities, unless they didn’t tip for services performed in connection with the move itself.
Staff is accustomed to senior citizens on fixed incomes tipping extra-lightly, and they are usually “forgiven," though some workers say they won’t perform extra services for these residents for free.
Newer doormen in their first few years of service often receive smaller tips. For first-years, it could be half what a senior doorman would get.
The bottom line

Below are two anecdotally-derived ranges for tips to staff members: The first is the “average” range where tips seem to cluster, and the second is a broader range of high/low tipping that can reflect anything from the size of the building (the bigger the building, the smaller the individual tips), to length of service, favors performed, personal chemistry, personal financial circumstances, and whether you're a frugal or generous type or somewhere in between.

Super, resident manager: $100 -$175 avg (broad range: $75 - $500)
Doorman, concierge: $75-$150 avg (broad range: $10 - $1,000)
Porter, handyman: $20 - $30 avg (broad range: $10 - $75)
Garage attendant: $50 - $75 avg (broad range $25-$100)

Who else to tip

Building staff aren’t the only people in your universe expecting a tip this season. Here's the cheat sheet:

Cleaning lady/housekeeper: One or two weeks pay.
Cleaning service: Tip 15-20% throughout the year, as a portion of their earnings goes to the cleaning service. If the same crew cleans your apartment each time, a holiday tip (1 week) is appreciated.
Full-time nanny: One week pay minimum or two if you can afford it. Or, one week pay and one week vacation.
Regular babysitter: Consider tipping $25-50 in cash or gift card
Regular dog walker: One week's pay
UPS delivery: $25-50 if you have a lot of packages delivered. More if you have a lot of business-related deliveries.
Mail carrier: By law, mail carriers can't accept cash or anything worth over $20. In reality, some (but by no means most) residents do tip in the $25-$50 range, especially if they receive a lot of deliveries or a lot of mail that requires signatures.

New York Times' Latest Features on Times Square

After 30 Years, Times Square Rebirth Is Complete

This photo of 42nd Street from the 1980's reminds me of the good old days... LOL

This very cool Interactive feature compares each side of 42nd Street in 1989 compared to 2010

But, this Peep-O-Rama just isn't the same...

Let's Not Make A Deal

Paul Krugman has it EXACTLY RIGHT with his article in Monday's New York Times on what Washington needs to do with the economy. Let's Not Make A Deal... President Ronald Reagan's budget director David Stockman has been saying the same thing... President Barack Obama: Are you listening???

"What should Democrats do? The answer is that they should just say no. If G.O.P. intransigence means that taxes rise at the end of this month, so be it...

"...So Mr. Obama should draw a line in the sand, right here, right now. If Republicans hold out, and taxes go up, he should tell the nation the truth, and denounce the blackmail attempt for what it is.

"Yes, letting taxes go up would be politically risky. But giving in would be risky, too — especially for a president whom voters are starting to write off as a man too timid to take a stand. Now is the time for him to prove them wrong".

Set the Tone: Do Good Work

"I love it when people say you did good work. It makes me all happy and shiny."

-- Christian Bale

Beware the Banes of December

Hello Postcarders... Good Sunday Morning from Hell's Kitchen, USA...!

A quiet weekend here...

Though I did get out and about yesterday, Saturday, to do some service at two meetings... I chose the topic, for the first, and it was "the holidays"... Even after my own 4-6 minutes introduction I encouraged others to speak about how they might really enjoy the holidays, if they do... No one did.

Everyone seemed to be sharing about the tools they use to "combat" the holidays... LOL... Interesting... And often quite humorous, too... We are not a glum lot.

But this Sunday morning, I'm up and in my sweatsuit for a few hours already, and flirting with the idea of how groovy it would be to spend most of this day right here in my man cave, eating, sipping hot beverages, catching up with tasks and chores, napping, and relaxing. Alone!... Not that I will... Just knowing that I might, and that I could... And might... Or not... Maybe... Whatever...

Venturing around town yesterday reminded me of the challenges of traveling East of 8th Avenue at this touristy time of the year... Sloooow walkers are the bane! ...Well, one of the banes...

Next weekend: a cousin and two old high school girlfriends (!) from Baltimore will be in town and I promised to meet up with them and give them some bearings... So I'll likely be in the thick of Christmas tourism next week...

December is sooo the month of forced frivolity and machinated merriment... To which I react with my annually bellowed "Bah Humbug"... With a wink and a smile.

I DO appreciate the invitations to Holiday parties, though, as they alert me to the fact that I have to plan to hide out to avoid the lobby party, or walk down the other block to miss the Block Association one... And not to go anywhere near where the Sundancers are having theirs... To me these invites are really warning letters...

As for those lovely Facebook party invites, I rarely check FB in December so can always declare, I didn't keep up with Facebook this month... Sorry I missed it... "Sorry" sounds better than "glad" when in that particular sentence...

I'll pick an early pre-dawn weekend morning before New Years to get out and photograph the Rock Center tree and snap a few of the store windows around town... (Bergdorf Goodman's, especially).

And... I will pretty much need the entire month to rest up and and psyche myself up for the looming and fast approaching Helldersburg Christmas...

Ho, ho, ho sounds much nicer than Oy, oy, oy!!

Having said, all that, shit like this still makes me cry... LOL 

Like It or Not

That past week went by right quick... They always do when you concentrate on the present moment at hand...

It's a day at a time philosophy. But, it's really lived a moment at a time...

It's not always easy to live like that... But it's so worth it... So Zennish... And it does get better with practice...

OK... Still working on transitioning away from animal foods to plant based foods... And I am getting pretty good at that too...

The goal, you see, is to get my cholesterol in a safe range without the use of statins... (I don't think they are good in the long run)...

I KNOW my liver reacts to meats and oils with a high cholesterol response... And so I have to stop eating those foods that trigger it... Although I do love them!

I know what I got to do...

And some evenings, I look back and realize I had a meatless day without even thinking about it....

Am also back to the $truggle over eating out vs cooking in...

Wound up with formal notice this week of a whopping 9% increase in monthly living expenses commencing January first. Ugh!

Meanwhile our fine Mayor (from billionaire Hell!) feels that my civil service is not entitled to even a .5% cost of living increase... Lovely guy that Mayor Bloomberg...

And I just know that Time-Warner will be telling me soon that my two year lock in plan is expiring and they want more $$$ for cable TV and broadband Internet service...

And there will be more increases yet to come...

Time to get disciplined in so many areas...

Like it or not....

Meet My Friend: Larry Engler

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