Traveler: Oh, it is so good to hear English again.
Customs officer: Actually, I speak Brooklyn.

-Overheard at JFK customs

Living in New York means that you live in constant and extreme proximity to other people at all times. Any hang-ups you may have about your personal space being violated by absolute strangers have to go out the window. Unfortunately, many New Yorkers create such a high comfort level of expressing themselves in public places, that it is not uncommon to learn about someone’s killer Star Trek tattoo or gynecological issues on the subway. (Those two gems are from my own personal experience).

Thankfully, someone has gotten around to documenting this little social quirk of ours on website called Overheard in New York. I thought would be nice to share some of those little golden New York moments with you. So enjoy — I know I do.

Posted by Thom at 11:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After a record setting snowfall just 7 days ago, almost all of the 27 inches of snow that blanketed the New York area has melted. It won’t be missed.

What will be missed were the 60 ºF highs that took away the snow in the first place. They have been supplanted by a balmy high of 20 ºF. Now, I realize that my Midwestern friends are playing finger-sized violins at this remark but, after a January of 50 ºF weather, this is the deep freeze. Have you seen The Day After Tomorrow? If you come looking for me, I’ll be in the library.

Ah, global warming. Thank god we have the government to deny it’s existence or else we’d really be in trouble. But, enough about the weather.

Posted by Thom at 1:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My good friend Kevin just pointed out that he has posted several comments to my blog only to have them ignored. I apologize to Kevin and everyone else. I had an incorrect setting and was never notified that people were responding to my site. And I thought nobody cared . . .

So feel free to make a comment about this comment on comments. It will be posted.

Posted by Thom at 3:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

And so it was that the killer snowstorm came bearing down on us like a shotgun full of snow...

Unless you've been under a self-imposed media lock down for the past 24 hours, you already now that the north- and mid-Atlantic states got hit with what the weathermen affectionately term a "nor'easter" — so called because someone selfishly decided that this type of storm should only happen in this region of the country. More fun for us.

The final snow total in our little hamlet of New York came in at around 26.9 inches. And while that number alone seems daunting enough, there are another 2 dimensions to consider when it comes to digging out your car. Factor in density, shovel friction, how old you feel on any given day... well you get the idea. Beth and I spent about an hour cleaning off the car for no good reason (see time lapse photos, fig.1) while some of the local kids went sledding down the street and looked at us like we were daft. I guess we could have enjoyed ourselves a little more but, I think that at this point in our lives we're more interested in minimizing our expoxure. We quickly retreated to the warmth of our cave.

I've posted some more pictures of our wintery romp here. Or, if you're interested in seeing how other New Yorkers fared with the Blizzard Aught-six, there's a nice flicker stream worth checking out.

Needless to say, we're not going to get the snow day we had hoped for. Both Beth and I have to go into the city to attend to our respective chores. All this because I shaved off my beard.

Posted by Thom at 6:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Back since the days when I was keeping warm against the cold, high mountain passes of Peru (plus the fact there was no clean water nearby with which to scrap a razor blade across my face) I have been flirting with a beard. Thing is though, that beard hasn't always flirted back. In fact, it recently told me it never wanted to see me again as it threw it's drink in my face.

In reality, it has been an abnormally hot, global warming-enhanced winter that has made the beard an uncomfortable yet ruggedly masculine liability. So, as has been a long standing tradition amongst my friends, I part ways with my beard in series of awkward and public stages. One of which, I thought I might share with you. However, despite many protests (and a repeated gagging noise) from Beth, I think I will be moving on to the next stage before going in to work tomorrow. She somehow thinks it's for the best.

Posted by Thom at 3:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)