Central Park

Although I have no qualms about doing things by myself much of the time, the idea of going someplace like Manhattan without some family or friends to share the ongoing experience with simply does not sound like a very attractive idea. No, when travelling like this, some good company is always preferable. And my wife and daughter, who accompanied me on the trip, certainly reaffirmed that notion this past April in New York City. Having said that, though, it is a simple fact of life that, when with others, even loved ones, things have to be negotiated and compromises and even sacrifices made. Especially when there is a scarcity of time and/or money to deal with.

So at the beginning of our trip, the three of us laid out our priorities for the NYC stay so that none of us would feel deprived at its end. But since Manhattan is so chock-full of interesting stuff, this naturally entailed cutting out most of the things we could do or see. And lamentably, it ended up making our experience in Central Park much too short (for my tastes).

Were I to live in Manhattan (yeah, sure, like that’s ever going to happen), I think I would be spending a great chunk of my time in Central Park. It is full of hilly pathways conducive to running, walking, and bicycling. And it’s important as well to have some actual trees, bushes, and grass around to remind me that I am still living on planet Earth and not on some artificial satellite somewhere deep in the galaxy! Our actual walk through Central Park, which occurred after our much-too-rushed tour through the Metropolitan Museum of Art on our last full day in Manhattan, was much too short.

We had left the Museum and had a few minutes to get a bite to eat at a roadside stand and walk into the park a little. So my experience in Central Park was by necessity pretty limited. But even though all we did was walk down some pathways into the park and back, this nonetheless was enough to make me appreciate it.

After we got back off the plane in Gainesville and were riding back into town, the entire surroundings seemed like Central Park in that plant life dominates my home town (especially in the Spring-Summer-Fall “mega-season”). I did like that concentration of tall buildings and the streets and all in most of Manhattan, but I could tell that with any extended stay, that type of environment would start to wear on me. So I instantly understood the significance of this important piece of real estate. Hopefully, the wiser heads running the show in New York City will continue to support their extremely important and valuable city park system in the face of the enormous premium on land values in the area and the concomitant pressures from other parties to build on park land. If anything, they need to add more parks.

Reflections on Yesterday's Election

On yesterday's election day for primaries, along with a special election to fill the late Democrat Jack Murtha's Pennsylvania House seat, all of the media buzz was about the anti-incumbency narrative that is supposedly this year's "theme". And to be sure, yesterday's results were partially indicative of that. In Pennsylvania, incumbent party-hopping senator Arlen Specter lost his bid to win his first Democratic senatorial primary to congressman Joe Sestak. In Arkansas, incumbent Democratic senator Blanche Lincoln finished closely ahead of her closest rival, setting up a runoff vote there three weeks from now. But really, where are all of the other races in which incumbents lost out?

The big spotlight seems to be on Kentucky's Republican primary, where scary-looking tea party candidate Rand Paul (supported by retiring, equally-scary-looking senator Jim Bunning) easily made short work of his establishment-supported rival. The network political analysts were all talking as if this were an "anti-incumbency" result and acting as if Paul were already a senator! Reality check: the race had no incumbent, while Paul's Democratic counterpart in the upcoming general election campaign, current Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway, won his race receiving more total votes than did Mister Teabagger (as did the Democrat who finished second behind Conway). Yet the only station that gave fair coverage to Conway was C-Span, which showed his acceptance speech. I have to say that I was very impressed with Conway's speech and think that he, not Paul, should be the favorite to win that seat in November. And since Paul has already foolishly stated that he might not support keeping fellow Kentuckian, Senator Mitch McConnell, on as party leader, I don't see Mr. McConnell doing very much to help him with his campaign (other than obligatory party functions). Would you?

Anti-incumbency has often been interpreted to mean "throw out the party in power". But this wasn't the case in that Pennsylvania congressional seat election, the only contest with national significance that pitted a Democrat against a Republican. The Democrat, Mark Critz, easily won this election which had been described as a "toss-up" in a previously Democratic-held district.

You can't tell in May what is going to happen in November, anyway. All yesterday showed was that places with strong challengers can topple or at least compete with incumbents. But since when hasn't that been true? So I'm left with nothing in particular to derive from the results, except that the one race in Pennsylvania should give the GOP stalwarts pause for reflection and temper their cocky presumptive arrogance about taking back the House and the Senate in the 2010 elections.

Playing “Opposite Day” with Opinions

I once entertained the idea of occasionally taking the opposite position on issues that I was accustomed to taking and developing an argument for my newly (and temporarily) adopted viewpoint. Were I to do this, it would entail me listening a lot to conservative talk radio and watching the Fox News Channel (which often seems to have its own entirely different vision of what constitutes “news” from that of the other channels). But that’s not all.

I would also need to explore the world of extreme left-wing politics, championed by linguist-turned-expert-on-everything Noam Chomsky. Chomsky tends to blame America for just about everything bad going on in the world and, dammit, makes a convincing, compelling presentation. But since I have an instinctive aversion to making scapegoats out of any specific party for problems that are almost always rooted in wrong-doing on the part of many different involved parties, I tend to reject his actually simplistic message out-of-hand. But why not play along for a while and see where it goes?

The same goes for all of the wacko conspiracy theories floating around today. I might as well delve into them as well, as it sadly appears that with the rise of this tea party movement that more and more of my fellow Americans are subscribing to them.

I bet it must be reassuring to think just in terms of black and white: either you agree with my worldview and are one of the good guys, or you are either bad or seriously deluded. If deluded, then there is still hope through reeducation. But wait, isn’t this the rigid, intolerant mindset that we hated about all of those totalitarian communist regimes of the last century?

On second thought, maybe I had better just stick with more mainstream opinions and philosophies that I tend to disagree with for my “opposite day” ventures. After all, there is involved here a matter of preserving my own sanity!

Running Races Scarce Around Town in May

In spite of the image that Gainesville likes to present of itself as a town friendly to running, there are surprisingly few races being held at this time of the year. In May, as far I could tell, only one race, a 5K event at UF promoting a girls’ running program, was scheduled. Having missed it, I now would have to travel out of town to run in a race somewhere this month. So maybe my race-a-month goal will experience its first discontinuity with May. But then again…

There are still a few races slated for the north/central Florida area left in May, but since I am committed to something else for the month-ending Memorial Day weekend, I am left with only the upcoming weekend, and really only Saturday (May 22) to find a reasonably close race. The possibilities (all 5K races):

Grace Race in Ocala
Somer’s Sunshine Run in Orange Park
Race for Research (cross country) in Jacksonville

So if I’m prepared to do a little driving, I may still get in one race (but not more) before May ends. And I could also check out the “social” life in Gainesville as it relates to running.

I haven’t yet joined the Florida Track Club, as I had earlier planned. They do have some Saturday morning informal runs (not races) that give opportunities for something vaguely resembling a social life in this typically solitary sport. I like the solitary aspects of running, but it would be nice to meet up with some kindred spirits from time to time. If for no other reason than to “run” into them while participating in the various local races held over the course of the year and touch base on our running, goals, and experiences.

My Gray Line Tours Experience in Manhattan

If you haven't had the opportunity to visit Manhattan but see yourself doing so sometime in the near future, I would heartily recommend that you secure for yourself a pass to ride on the Gray Line Tours bus system. They run all through Manhattan, as well as parts of Brooklyn (we skipped that part due to lack of time). You can sit on the open-air second floor and look all around at the sights as the knowledgeable, experienced, and often very funny tour guide talks about the more interesting features of the route. On my April trip to Manhattan with my family (staying near Times Square) , we got a 48-hour pass and rode Gray Line four times (with four different guides) (1) down to Chinatown (passing the remarkable Flatiron Building and Greenwich Village), (2) from Battery Park at the southern tip of Manhattan along the east side past Wall Street, Lower East Side, the Katz Deli (where Meg Ryan had her famous restaurant scene in When Harry Met Sally), the Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Williamsburg Bridges, the vast stretch of World War II-era apartment buildings lining the East River, the United Nations complex, the Trump Tower, and the Rockefeller Center, (3) up Eighth Avenue past the Worldwide Building (with its golden pyramidal top), the Dakota Hotel (where John Lennon lived with Yoko and Sean and was shot), Central Park (including the memorial site directly across from the Dakota called Strawberry Fields, and the Museum of Natural History, and (4) from the Metropolitan Museum of Art past Central Park’s east side, past the Carnegie Deli and back to Times Square area. There were other routes we missed besides the Brooklyn tour, most notably the tour through Uptown Manhattan and Harlem. But time was definitely at a premium on our stay and we were forced to make some hard choices about where we went.

I had wanted to try out the subway system, but instead, once again appreciating how limited our time was, opted instead for the overland route so that we could see the sights. But that subway still lingers in my mind; I wonder how far you can go on it and how much it costs. Maybe I’ll just find that out right here on my computer (or you can, too). On the other hand, who am I kidding? I’m not going back anytime soon (although I want to).

And here are some pix from the vantage point of the Gray Line “rooftop”:

NBA Down to the Best Four

Now that we have ended this year's edition of the Lebron James prima donna melodrama in the playoffs, can we now please go on and enjoy the actual four best TEAMS square off against each other? I am very impressed with all of them: the Boston Celtics, Orlando Magic, Phoenix Suns, and Los Angeles Lakers are the essence of team play. Well, maybe those Lakers, as was Cleveland's case, could be subject a little too much to the moodiness of its star player (Kobe Bryant). But LA, unlike the Cavaliers, possesses a very solid cast of players in Gasol, Odom, Artest, etc. Phoenix, Orlando, and Boston all have their own standouts, but they work so incredibly well and unselfishly that you are often taken away breathless, not by an outstanding individual's play, but rather by the meticulously timely and skillful interaction between the players, operating seamlessly as a team unit.

I will be rooting for Orlando and Phoenix to win their conference finals. My overall favorite has traditionally been the Phoenix Suns, but I'll take what I can get should they fall to the Lakers. Even if "my" teams fail and the NBA championship final is between Boston and Los Angeles, it promises to be a very interesting and entertaining series. I don't know who I would be rooting for should that scenario unfold, though.

NYC: the “Hands Out” City

Walking with my daughter and me along the streets of New York, my wife came across someone dressed up like Sesame Street’s Elmo character. She chased him down and called out for me to take a quick “Melissa and Elmo” photo. To which I obliged, after which Elmo chased ME down with a pouch for a “donation”. I flicked a little money in for Elmo’s grand cause (whatever the hell it was) and walked on, thinking of an upcoming blog article I would be able to write about NYC being the “hands-out” city.

The Lincoln Center performance of South Pacific we attended (at the Center's Vivian Beaumont Theater) was enchanting and dazzling. We were impressed by the receding front stage that jutted out into the audience, bringing the play intimately close to us while concealing (and occasionally revealing) the talented orchestra playing underneath. Outstanding acting, singing, choreography: everything was quite impressive. So was the ending, with the intricately produced traditional introduction of the cast with their bowing and the audience’s enthusiastic applause. Then right at the close, one of the actors grabbed the microphone and said that the cast members would be standing all throughout the lobby area with buckets to collect for some kind of homeless-AIDS-hodgepodge-etcetera charity drive, so don’t be a “stingy bastard” (a line from the play)! And sure enough, everywhere we turned upon exiting, there was a familiar actor holding a red bucket up at us.

All up and down the streets of Midtown Manhattan there were people pleading for donations to help the homeless. No problem; after a while, we had numbed ourselves to the widespread presence of people “doing good deeds” by panhandling for donations. I think I would rather have been accosted by a good old-fashioned beggar looking out for his own interests than all of these self-righteous do-gooders with smiles on their faces, nonstop self-righteous pleading, and their hands in my pocket.

Nowadays, it seems to be O.K. to pressure people out in public for money as long as you can claim to represent some kind of high-sounding cause. Never mind that people have plenty of resources through which they can budget their own charitable donations (like United Way). You’re also expected to shovel out the dough just for the privilege of walking down a street. Or having just put out a large sum on a play, that apparently means that you’re rich, have money to burn, and a few more bucks won’t hurt (unless you are one of those “stingy bastards”, of course).

I don’t resent panhandlers asking for money to help themselves out. Likewise, I was all “on board” with service providers like tour bus drivers and guides asking for reasonable tips as a legitimate part of their income. Cool. But I did resent this omnipresent guilt-mongering, wheedling of the public for their money to prop up whatever God-almighty-goody-goody cause anyone could concoct. Maybe, though, there is a system here. Could it be that, in exchange for cleaning the streets of the panhandlers, they would be substituted by a “higher order” of panhandling that would spread the proceeds down to those who had been kicked off the streets? But then maybe I’m trying to read a reasonable explanation into something that isn’t reasonable. Also, I think I understand something about why some people are homeless and destitute, completely out of sync with organized society. Those people might well not be around to collect on the “dole” handed out by these street-side donation pressure drives.

The impression I get is that, no matter what you do, it isn’t enough; you’re a selfish, “stingy bastard”. Shame on me for even complaining.

Annoying. Oops, I complained again; shame on me for being so insensitive.

Return to Possum Creek Park

At Gainesville’s Possum Creek Park, situated on the south side of 53 Avenue just east of 43 Street, a project has been underway to make improvements. This included adding a large skateboarding park, the likes of which Gainesville has never before witnessed. And it has become an instant hit, increasing park usage dramatically. I just made a return visit to size up the changes. Besides the new skateboarding center, they added a spacious, fenced-in ring for dogs to hang out in (reminding me of a similar place, albeit smaller and made of concrete, near Pier 83 in western Manhattan behind P.D. O’Hurley’s) . By the way, the trail I investigated earlier wasn’t much better than before, but there was a crude makeshift metallic slab that sufficed for a bridge across a heretofore impassable creek. The trail did go on a little bit further until it opened into a pretty little remote meadow…

Here is my link to the earlier article I wrote about Possum Creek Park. And here are some photos I took of the “changed” parts of the park, which mainly carries appeal for kids, their parents, and dog owners. But unless I decide to take up skateboarding as a hobby, I’m probably not going to return there anytime soon.

All Right, Who Turned on the Hot?

This year, I seem to be much more sensitive than before to the regular warming of temperatures that accompanies springtime. Recently we experienced near-record highs for a couple of days, suffering through 92 degrees and high humidity. And although the temperatures have moderated in recent days, that blanket-like humidity hasn't. Plus, even though it may be only 75-80 outside, it still seems oppressively hot to me. What gives?

My unusually adverse reaction to this spring's warm weather may be due in part to the fact that, for a while, I tried to keep up my long-distance runs in conditions that were 25-30 degrees hotter than I had become accustomed to. I honestly don't see how I will be able to maintain the running mileage like before, as even at night the temperatures can be pretty stifling. All I want to do is hang out in extremely-cool, air-conditioned places, preferably with a TV remote control in one hand and a cold drink in the other. Maybe this is my body's way of telling me, "Cool it dude, you're killing me!" I think I'll heed that advice for a few days, delusional or not it may be. The only other option I see is to pack up my things and move up north. Hey, I was watching the Yankees playing in Detroit the other night and the fans sitting out there were still wearing jackets. But for how long, I wonder. Hmm, maybe it's time for me to see what wonders Baffin Island holds! Or better yet, just turn the air-conditioning up a notch, get another drink, and see what garbage is on the other channels! You know television has deteriorated when one of the channels touts its movie lineup with the slogan "Movies that don't suck"! Well, I'll take a "sucking" movie any day over this "sucking" hot weather!

Internet Fossils

In this day of instant Internet gratification with its assorted websites, blogs, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter, there is a phenomenon that greatly intrigues me: Internet fossils.

An Internet fossil is a website that has been abandoned or neglected by its owner/user but is still accessible through its URL. As the Internet gets older, there are more and more of these sites, usually people's blog projects, simply left twisting in the cyberwind. And it has been an ongoing source of frustration for me as well.

In an effort to increase my own blog's readership among readers with similar interests, I explored different blog directories for like-minded blogs. Much too often I would come across an interesting blog, thinking to myself, Yeah, that one rocks, I think I'll leave a comment and establish a link with its writer. And then I would look at the date of the last entry and it would say something like "August 16, 2004". I don't think that dude is going to be around to respond to my comment anytime soon...how about never?!

In a related beef, I've had enough of supposedly active websites that are never updated. For example, the LifeSouth website promoting their annual Gainesville marathon/half-marathon race still states that Marty Bowers, the manager of the Starbucks on Newberry Road where the racers will be passing by, will be there on race day to cheer and encourage the participants. As well he should, because he was actually the guy who gave the idea of staging a marathon here in Gainesville to the LifeSouth folks. Uh, there's only one problem...Marty first transferred to another Starbucks store and now hasn't worked for this company in a year or more. Ooops. By the way, Marty, if you're out there, I want to let you know that I finally got up off my lazy butt and ran it this year! In the meantime, LifeSouth might want to update their website to reflect today's world, not that of three or four years ago!

But back to the fossils: If I want to promote my own blog without any expense, why not find every blog that hasn't been updated for a while and doesn't have comment moderation... and then leave an advertising comment leading back to my own blog? Especially when such a "deceased" blog is prominently listed in blog directories. H-m-m..., that might be as good of an idea as me opening up my blog on demo computers in computer shops (like the iPads in that NYC Apple store) and then just walking away with "WMI Blog" on the screen for the next shopper to discover.

What will ultimately come of abandoned websites? Will there be a push on at some time to "cleanse" the system of unused sites (is that even possible), or will these relics serve a higher historical purpose that is appreciated and studied at some future, more enlightened time? Only time will tell. I just wish that those currently responsible for maintaining ongoing websites would at least occasionally make a little effort to keep them updated. After all, I was counting on good old Marty to make an appearance at that February half-marathon!

Obama Picks Kagan for Supreme Court

President Obama has selected his Solicitor General, former dean of the Harvard Law School Elena Kagan, to succeed retiring Associate Justice John Paul Stevens on the U.S. Supreme Court. She is knowledgeable, witty, charming, and showed a strong willingness to accommodate ideological purity during her tenure at Harvard, hiring several conservative law professors. None of which will win her any confirmation votes from Republicans in the Senate. Those senators will vote against ANY Obama nomination for one reason and one reason alone: it is OBAMA'S nomination. Still, now that very conservative Utah Senator Robert Bennett has been thwarted in his attempt to run for a fourth term this year by extreme elements of his own party, he, like retiring Ohio Senator George Voinovich (who supported Sotomayor for the Court), may be liberated from the pressure exerted by stonewalling Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to join in an almost certain filibuster attempt to prevent Kagan's nomination from even reaching the Senate floor for an up-down vote. But should a GOP filibuster appear to be succeeding, I would recommend that the Democrats put into effect what then-Majority Leader, Republican Bill Frist had threatened to do a few years ago: Change the Senate rules on nominations to bypass the 60 vote threshold to defeat filibusters (the so-called "Nuclear Option"). Before the Democrats showed the will to pass health care reform through the reconciliation process a few weeks ago, I would have discounted this option. But now that they have finally shown a willingness to have a backbone and stand up to the minority party, I expect them to at least make a gesture in this direction should they lack those 60 votes.

Kagan seems like a great choice to me, although I would have preferred Diane Wood. Well, maybe seeing two female colleagues on the bench will make ailing Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg to feel more comfortable in retiring, secure that her replacement would be filled by someone more in line with her own judicial philosophy and temperament.

Night Running a Success

Last Sunday night I finally got around to trying a substantial night run. I had purchased an inexpensive headband flashlight, which I put on my head over my cap (to keep it slipping due to jarring caused by running). Then I boldly set out into the darkness.

There is a long stretch of asphalt sidewalk near my home, running along NW 53rd Avenue from 34th Street to 43rd Street. And it's nice and hilly. In the day, there's no problem; at night, though, much of it is hidden in complete darkness. I wanted to be able use this path for my night running since I wouldn't then be setting off the loud dog barking in the dead of night, which would happen on my traditional residential neighborhood course.

The experience running down 53rd Avenue was all positive, with my light illuminating any dark patches of pathway ahead of me. That's good, because there were plenty of dark patches. I covered a total of 4.41 miles during the night run.

This course, run at night, will be very helpful for me during the summertime when daytime temperatures peak in the mid to upper nineties. But it already gives me much more flexibility as to what time of the day I can run. Now it's a 24 hour range of possibilities!

I do need to pick up one of those reflective shirts I see sold at running/sports shops. Once I accomplish that, look out world! Marathon training will resume in full force.

Were it not for the fact that concrete sidewalks present a much harsher, harder surface for running, I wouldn't be needing a headlight for my night running. There are many stretches of road in town where sidewalks are under streetlights, adequately lit so that runners could see where they are going. The only problem is that almost all of the sidewalks are made of concrete, not asphalt. And it has been my personal experience that I experience more soreness after running on concrete. If I am planning to cover a lot of miles, concrete simply isn't the way to go.

Visit to World Trade Center Site

For me, Manhattan has historically been the southern tip of the island, where Wall Street and the World Trade Center are/was located. It is the traditional skyline presented in the media when referring to New York City, whether pre or post 9/11. When my son went to visit Manhattan with his middle school class a few years ago, the main thing I was interested in was his experience visiting Ground Zero, the site of the fallen WTC towers. So on our recent first-time visit here, I was keen on getting into Lower Manhattan and seeing the area firsthand. What I encountered was unexpected.

After roaming around through Chinatown and Little Italy on April 8 (Thursday), we walked the few blocks over to where the WTC site was. I expected some kind of visual presentation, but instead encountered high, covered fences shielding loud, heavy construction work. There were some signs pointing to a type of 9/11 memorial located away from the site. Which was all well and good, but I wanted to see Ground Zero. Well, the Ground Zero today is vastly different from the Ground Zero my son encountered in 2002. First, one of the new buildings has already been finished. Then, on the site where the North Tower once stood, a new, much taller single tower is now being built, ultimately to rise some five hundred feet higher than the original tower. All we could observe was through furtive peeks through the fence of the ongoing construction work and very, very loud noise. So I came away from our visit with some conflicting feelings. First I had a swelling up of anger as I took in firsthand the enormity and outrage of the horrible acts of terrorism that brought down the WTC and murdered so many people. And I was frustrated by not having a concrete visual point of reference, with the construction work taking the place of the essentially empty area. But then I felt hope that now we are beginning to put this behind us and are moving ahead with this new building. So ultimately, my visit was a positive one, although the good feelings took a little while in coming.

I noticed something else while walking around in Lower Manhattan: the pedestrian crowds had a much more tense and driven character to them than what I had become accustomed to Midtown (where people walked around fast enough anyway). It may have been my imagination, but it seemed to me that around the WTC site the mood of the people around me could be summed up by the words "extremely pissed off".

Speaking of "extremely pissed off", I wonder whether those running the Taliban overseas are stupid or just have a strong death wish. For with this recent Times Square attempt and their initial claims of credit for it, the Taliban has reduced itself in stature to simple terrorist thugs on the same order as Al-Qaeda. Before, there was a difference. Now, for all practical purposes as far as the USA is concerned, Taliban = Al Qaeda. Not a very wise move on their part, I think. It could be, though, that they see what's going down, since they have most recently backed off a bit from their earlier claims for this misdeed.

Bigapplophobia Revisited

Way back three years ago in the early days of this blog, I was looking for a topic to write about and whipped up an article speculating about what it would be like to visit the streets of New York. I had seen Earthcam's continuous live depiction of street pedestrian traffic there and wondered in the article how long I would be able to stand it before I had to leave. You see, I have always had a bit of a problem being in the midst of large, noisy crowds. And New York City, especially Midtown Manhattan, is the very essence of crowded life. So I felt at first little bit uneasy about the upcoming trip to NYC last month.

But as it turned out, I had almost no adverse reaction to the enormous crowds in New York throughout my stay. The only time it bothered me was during my tedious ordeal standing in a seemingly interminable line in the Empire State Building waiting for the "express" elevator to take us to the observation floor. But I had been spoiled earlier at the Rockefeller Center's GE Building and how quickly, efficiently and politely they whisked us up to the "Top of the Rock". The Empire State Building experience was the opposite, with employees there snapping orders at the visitors, all of whom I'm sure were tired at waiting so long in line. When it was time for our pictures to be taken, they rushed us along so rudely that it reminded me of little Ralph's "Santa Claus at the department store" experience in the holiday movie staple A Christmas Story. So there were aggravating factors at the ESB adding to my anxiety.

Elsewhere in Manhattan, I almost magically thrived among the rich assortment of noises, sights, and smells. I loved walking down crowded streets, eating in crowded restaurants, browsing in crowded shops, riding crowded buses, you name it...the crowds were O.K.; even the crowded plane rides and airplane terminals didn't phase me. So what does this mean?

Maybe I've reached a point somehow where I have overcome this type of phobia about crowds. It certainly does seem that way to me. After all, my recent visit to Manhattan made "bigapplophobia" a truly meaningless nonsense word!

Chinatown and Little Italy

Part of our plan in touring Manhattan was to visit Chinatown and the neighboring Little Italy neighborhoods. So on Thursday (4/8) we climbed up on top of our Grayline bus and headed on to Lower Manhattan.

On the way, we passed the Flatiron Building, to me the most outstanding building in all of New York. Apparently destined to become condominiums, this structure currently houses offices. Its strange, triangular shape is due to the narrow wedge of block space created by a diagonally running Broadway intersecting the Manhattan street grid.

As we went further south, we encountered buildings and neighborhoods that seemed more comfortable and less contrived than the Theatre District/Times Square. Around Greenwich Village, I felt that there was more to Manhattan than just attracting tourists: people lived and thrived here.

We got off in Chinatown, which is a little embedded city with its own distinct identity. And dominated by small shops and restaurants. My wife and daughter loved to browse around the shops, buying several items. Finally, we decided to go to one of the many restaurants for lunch. We decided on a place called the Sun Sai Gai Restaurant on 220 Canal Street (they call themselves Xin Shijie Cha Canting or "New World Tea House" in Chinese). Melissa had a salad while Rebecca had a soup with wontons and duck. Duck, by the way, is very available and relatively cheap in Chinatown (as opposed to Gainesville, where it is always pretty pricey and often hard to find on menus). I continued on my quest to find the best hot and sour soup ever made, ordering a bowl from their menu. Their hot and sour soup was O.K., but I've tasted better in Gainesville. As a matter of fact, the two best makers of hot and sour soup I know are First Wok, located a couple of hundred yards from my workplace, and the Hot Wok restaurant, located on North US 441 in Gainesville (I had the most scrumptious hot and sour soup there this past Friday night).

But my New York soup was pretty good, too. I will say one thing: there is a great amount of variety to hot and sour soups. Perhaps, as with the case with cheesecake, there are certain New York Chinese restaurants renown for their hot and sour soup. I'll have to check that out before I return.

The restaurant was small but crowded. The waiter later sat another couple at our table, something we hadn't expected but is probably relatively commonplace in parts of New York, where space is often very scarce.

After lunch, we strolled more around Chinatown (I loved their newsstands with Chinese newspapers and magazines) northward to Mulberry Street, which is for all practical purposes is all that is left of Little Italy. Both sides of the street are lined with Italian restaurants, providing both indoor and outdoor seating. The outdoor tables jut out to the sidewalk, and as we passed by each restaurant, elegantly-attired employees would beseech us to sit at a table and order their food. That was something that I liked a lot about New York: businesses really competed for your patronage by reaching out and engaging with potential customers.

I liked both Chinatown and Little Italy, although the latter seems to be dwindling away into history. I wish I had kept up with my Chinese, although it seemed that most of those residing and working there spoke a different "dialect" (actually a different language, for all practical purposes), most likely Cantonese (which generally seems to be the case with the Chinese running the Gainesville restaurants). Chinatown is definitely a return-visit "thumbs-up", and I do want to take a stroll around Greenwich Village and explore ol' Flatiron (reputed to be the haunt of vampires) as well.

Happy With NBA West Semifinals

The National Basketball Association playoffs have unfolded in a very favorable way me this year. For my three favorite players are still in the playoffs, two of them currently squaring off against each other.

For quite a while my three favorite NBA players, all point guards playing for Western Conference teams, have been Steve Nash (Phoenix Suns), Deron Williams (Utah Jazz), and Tony Parker (San Antonio Spurs). Nash and Parker showcased their incredible talent last night in the opening game of the conference semifinal series between Phoenix and San Antonio (won by the Suns 111-102). Williams and his Utah team began their series against defending NBA champion Los Angeles Sunday, losing the close, hard-fought game 104-99.

One reason, I suppose, that I like to watch point guards is that they tend to have the ball more, so following the game means following them. They are usually the ones who set up offensive plays, are the best ball-handlers, make the best passes, and shoot the ball the most accurately. All qualities are very much in evidence with the aforementioned athletes. Plus, I tend to feel, correctly or not, that guards, being generally shorter than forwards or centers, rose in their profession more through hard work and skill than by mere physical stature.

So this will be a lot of fun during the next few days. Usually, there is a game still going on by the time I get home from work around 11:30. Tonight the Jazz and the Lakers will be on TV with their game #2. Hooray!

Gulf Oil Spill Disaster: My Take

As anyone who has been paying any attention to the news for the past several days already knows, the Gulf of Mexico and the surrounding states are in the midst of an severe environmental crisis due to uncapped oil spurting through an ocean-bottom opening caused by an oil rig explosion off the Louisiana coast. The accident and all of its ramifications should put to death the lie being spread for the past few years that Florida was somehow being "selfish" by not allowing off-shore drilling near its own coastline. The irony is that Florida beaches, heavily dependent on tourism, along with its seafood industry, will still drastically suffer economically from another state's decision in this regard.

I understand, I think, the apparent paradox that high energy demand presents for the public. On one hand, we want energy for transportation, heating, electricity, and a variety of other reasons. And that requires an enormous amount of energy that has to come from somewhere. On the other hand, the very nature of high energy production is dangerous and messy. It matters not where it comes from or how it is converted into a usable form: there are hazards with all kinds of mass-produced energy. Some may argue that this is not the case with wind or solar energy, but I would counter-argue that this is because those forms are not yet being used on a large enough scale to make but a tiny dent in satisfying energy demands. I predict that, once means to greatly enhance energy production from those "clean" sources are developed and implemented, we will discover some nasty side effects from them as well.

Barack Obama, sensing the high demand for energy in America, launched on a policy of encouraging energy from a variety of sources, including nuclear, "clean" coal, and yes, more offshore drilling. It is inevitable that, from time to time, accidents will happen, some of them being disastrous. This Louisiana spill looks to be the worst oil disaster in this country's history. And who will ever forget the consequences of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor meltdown in USSR in 1986? Energy is volatile, pure and simple. If you want to use it, sometimes it will bite back. Sometimes very, very hard.

Since I don't see energy demand dwindling at any point in the foreseeable future, I can only see us continuing along our president's vision about exploring and developing all feasible possibilities for producing and supplying energy for America's needs, while learning from accidents and instituting safeguards to help prevent others in the future. Only now I wonder whether that same president has the political will left to continue on this ambitious quest. Only time will tell, I suppose. In any event, maybe the rest of the country will finally get off Florida's back (although by now this may be a moot point anyway).

Attempted Bomb Attack Near Times Square

The news is a little unclear at this point, but apparently late Saturday night someone tried to set off a bomb in a parked van full of inflammable material in Manhattan near Times Square, on 45th Street between 7th and 8th Avenue. In other words, right next to the Marriott Marquis hotel we stayed at last month and very close to Junior's Restaurant and two Broadway theatres (currently running The Lion King and Billy Elliot). This hits way too close to home for me.

According to NY Senator Chuck Schumer in a CNN interview speaking from Times Square, two pedestrians happened to notice some smoke emanating from the van and the police and bomb squads were quickly summoned and arrived, completely evacuating the area for several hours. Thankfully, no explosion occurred. Of course the feds were brought in and a full-scale investigation is under way. I am earnestly looking forward to seeing the culprit(s) caught and brought to full justice under the law.

Two observations: One, this is a sign of our current times that public opinion is divided on whether the botched attack was by Al-Qaeda and/or its sympathizers, or by a domestic party more in line with militias and hate groups here in the good old USA. Schumer thinks the perpetrator was a "lone wolf", although he has no way of knowing that for sure. But in pre-Obama days, before paranoid anti-government sentiments were whipped up by demagogic Republican politicians and irresponsible media talking heads, almost everyone would have immediately pointed their accusing fingers at Al-Qaeda. Unfortunately, almost no one thinks this will be the last of this kind of incident. And sooner or later, we'll see a truly tragic outcome.

Observation number two: I was looking forward, following my stay in Manhattan, to seeing many visual references to its many different and interesting locales on TV and in movies (and saying to myself, "Yes, I was there"). But I could very easily have done without this brand of reference, thank you.

Lest those responsible for this act think they have intimidated anyone, I say in response, "Screw the bastards!"; I'm not going to change any of MY plans one iota because of this: I plan to return and have plenty more good times in NYC!

**********
(later revision)
Well, now that I've heard more about this incident, I should correct myself on a couple of items. It was a tee shirt vendor, not a pedestrian, who discovered the SUV (not a van) and notified a policeman. It also occurred early in the evening, not late at night as I first reported. As for who is responsible for the attempted bombing, although the Taliban has claimed responsibility, nothing of substance has yet been released to the press by the authorities to confirm this or establish a different agency. So right now, there is just a lot of speculation going on. ---WM Irwin, May 3

Immigration Reform and Arizona's Law

President Obama has decided to avoid tackling the sticky immigration reform issue this year before the 2010 midterm elections. While this may not sit very well with many within the Latino community, it is nevertheless probably a savvy political move. As I have stated before, it will be the issues being debated just before the election that will most intensely galvanize various interests into disproportionately going to vote on Election Day. The calculation is that the Democrats would lose more by appearing to be opening up the borders for a mass influx of Mexicans, even though the proposals circulating around so far seem more in line with the previous Republican Bush administration, supported then by (never really was a maverick) senator John McCain. Having already seen how the GOP is so willing to blame the Democrats for their own proposals (in health care reform, Republican Senator Johnny Isaakson's living will amendment was the source of the "death panels" and "killing grandma" hysteria last summer), it is no surprise that the elected majority party may not want to confront another legislative behemoth reminiscent of the recent struggle to get health care reform passed through Congress.

Regarding the newly passed law in Arizona giving that state's police officers much greater personal latitude in selecting individuals out of the general population to demand "papers" documenting their legal status in the U.S., it should be noted that Rachel Maddow showed the connection with racist white supremacist groups and this new law. And why not? If I'm walking the streets of Mesa or Flagstaff, the cops aren't going to bother me because, to them, it's clear that I obviously look like an "American" (i.e. I'm white). It doesn't matter that those who support the new law say the police won't be profiling people "waiting outside for the bus". If they are ignoring people who don't "look" like they might be illegal immigrants, than that constitutes an unacceptable racial profiling in itself. So that's why I oppose this law, although I do understand the concerns of legal residents in the region about the recent rise in violent crimes. There has to be another way.

I have a suggestion: you don't need another bill to more aggressively enforce the immigration laws we already have on the books. Our president should quickly act to assert as much federal authority into this matter as legally possible, both to protect legal residents from crime and to ensure that people won't be persecuted by the state and its police force because of their appearance. Arizona, as far as I know, is not an independent country. Its border with Mexico is not only its state border: it's our NATIONAL border. And thus this a national issue on which our federal government, under our president's executive power, has the legal right and responsibility to assert itself for the NATIONAL interest. So Arizona can take its precious new state law and stuff it, as far as I'm concerned.

My Circle Lines Harbor Lights Experience

At the end of our rushed day in NYC on April 9, we finally had an opportunity to relax. After walking the short distance down 42nd Street to Pier 83 on the Hudson River, we exchanged our vouchers for tickets and then stopped off at the adjacent P.D. O'Hurley's restaurant to enjoy a light supper. Then we got in line at Circle Lines, boarded the boat, and waited for our Harbor Lights cruise around Manhattan.

Our tour guide told us that the January '09 incredibly soft crash landing on the Hudson River of US Airways Flight 1549, with Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger at the controls, occurred very close to our starting point. As a matter of fact, no one there, including the guide, had heard any sound indicating the landing (which was out of sight around the corner) until they heard approaching sirens. The firefighters and related disaster teams boarded the Circle Lines boats (including the one we were riding), went to the plane and rescued its passengers. So that injected an interesting bit of recent history into our tour.

We first went south on the Hudson River, with New Jersey to our right and the Manhattan skyline to our left. The guide pointed to the World Trade Center construction site, where a new, much taller building than the original WTCs is currently being erected where the North Tower stood. On the original South Tower site, a memorial will be built to all of those who perished in the abominable terrorist attack on September 11, 2001.

The Statue of Liberty came up on our right, and naturally many of the passengers got up to take pictures. We took a few, but the boat didn't really get close enough to do the Statue justice. Circle Lines does provide a separate tour specifically designed for those who want to visit the Statue of Liberty, but we opted instead for the Harbor Lights tour with our City Pass.

Going around the southern tip of Manhattan, we saw Battery Park again on the left (we rode by it the previous afternoon on top of a Grayline bus) and Governor's Island on the right. The guide pointed to a ferry boat, informing us that it was the Staten Island Ferry and, believe it or not, it was still FREE to ride it!

Around the east side of Manhattan up the East River, our guide pointed out that no one is known to have ever successfully swum across the swift, strong currents of the East River all the way between Manhattan and Brooklyn. He identified the Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Williamsburg bridges connecting the two boroughs. We passed an extremely long section of large apartment dwellings, built around 70 years ago on a tract that Peter Stuyvesant once had his farm on. And as the boat turned around to make its return in the opposite direction, we noted the United Nations buildings.

For most of the tour, I stayed seated indoors, where it was warm and there were big windows everywhere to look out at the sights. But going back, I decided to step outside onto the deck, where it was pretty chilly and windy. Whoa! What a different experience! I thoroughly enjoyed standing there as the lit up Manhattan skyline (or Brooklyn's, depending on where I was facing) dazzled me. Quite an unforgettable experience, something I would recommend to anyone interested in visiting this area.

Crist to Run as Independent for Senate

Today Florida's Governor Charlie Crist announced that he would leave the Republican Party to run for the U.S. Senate as an Independent. Crist, trailing badly in polls of statewide Republicans to right wing tea party darling Marco Rubio, realized that his own political appeal was to the political center, not among the ideologues. By running nonaligned with either party, he has put himself in the only position he could to win the Senate race. Recent polls put him essentially even in a three candidate race against Rubio and Democratic candidate Kendrick Meek.

A few days ago, I had expressed my intention to switch my party affiliation to Republican in order to vote for Crist (and against Rubio), but now this won't be necessary. Who will finally receive my vote in November? It depends on the public opinion polls. If, in late October, they show Meek ahead or in a close race with a chance to win, I'll support him. But if those polls show Meek hopelessly behind but have Crist with a reasonable chance of victory, I'm pulling for our governor instead.

Hopefully, should Charlie Crist manage to win that Senate seat, he would be a truly independent voice representing his state's best interests, as well as those of the country as a whole. The last thing we need is another stonewalling, just-say-no party hack. Which Rubio would be.

Gainesville's Public Radio: Talk or Classical Music?

A year after the Gainesville Sun newspaper featured a letters-to-the-editor drive to change local Public Radio station (and University of Florida-owned) WUFT-FM from classical music programming to all-talk, which succeeded when the UF College of Journalism dean made the switch, the push is now on to reverse that decision and bring back classical music. And the vehicle for that drive is none other than the Gainesville Sun, again demonstrating its capacity and willingness to manipulate public opinion and events through its selection and publishing of editorial letters to fit its agenda.

I was initially opposed to the switch from classical music to talk, but realized that some of the programs (especially the morning Diane Rehm Show and Fresh Air) were quite informative and interesting. So l have now come around to the "talk" faction. Besides, as I have said before, classical music is readily available through my fine public library, the Internet, and even my cable TV. And, hey, I can still go to concerts and buy CDs.

I used to enjoy the music on WUFT, but I think that broadcast radio needs to have some kind of talk radio programming illustrative of a truly balanced discussion of issues, something woefully lacking in our age of right wing extremist commercial talk radio. I still would like for something like Air America to get on the air to provide at least one venue for partisan liberal talk. Of course, the right wing talk wackos claim that Public Radio is slanted to the left. Which shows how skewed their viewpoint really is.

In a manner of speaking, though, WUFT technically didn't drop classical music from their programming: they just switched it over to an HD channel that requires the purchase of a special (and relatively expensive) radio. And these radios are not portable. And certainly not available in headsets or MP3 players. So I foresee HD only declining, eventually joining quadraphonic sound as an extinct technological dinosaur.

One writer in the Gainesville Sun mentioned that UF already owns another station: the commercial giant WRUF-FM, which plays generally lousy rock selections as well as the grossly offensive Lex and Terry talk show. I agreed with this writer as he suggested that UF should replace that garbage (my depiction) with classical music. But it'll never fly, and everyone knows it. Besides, haven't listeners been conditioned over the years to expect commercial radio to be full of unpalatable trash? But Public Radio is a different matter, still subject to high scrutiny. Well, I guess I should be glad that at least something is.

NYC Museum Rush

On the last full day of our tour through Manhattan (April 9), we had a crowded itinerary, although it contained only three planned destinations: the Museum of Natural History, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Circle Line's Harbor Lights evening cruise. That's a shame, in retrospect, because I found both museums to be extraordinarily interesting. You don't really want to walk through either of them without giving yourself plenty of time to take in the enormous quantity and quality of exhibits. But we did, nevertheless, rush through them, at least providing us with some ideas about how better to spend our time in NYC the next time we're there. Not only didn't we have adequate time to explore the places we visited, but we also missed out completely on a plethora of other museums, most notably the Museum of Modern Art.

Here are some photos from the Museum of Natural History (the first four) and the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the remainder):

Friends of the Library Book Sale

Yesterday I went with Melissa to the semiannual Alachua County Friends of the Library book sale, held each April and October at its warehouse on North Main Street. This sale is a major event in Gainesville, to the point where it is a featured front page story in my local newspaper and police officers are stationed in strategic points around the site to redirect traffic and allow customers to cross Main Street.

Saturday and Sunday were the opening days, and naturally the busiest. It was very crowded in the place, which had the smell of a old, dusty library. Old books: yuck! Still, as I looked around at some of the people there, I noticed a few with an almost manic look about them, as if they were beside themselves with excitement at the prospect of buying boxloads of ultra-cheap books. And cheap they mostly were, with sticker prices ranging from 25 cents to a dollar per book (there were some sections where the books were higher-priced). They also sold old CDs, cassettes, records, VHS videos, DVDs, and jigsaw puzzles. For my part, I picked up a 1992 Manhattan guidebook that showed the buildings on its maps for 25 cents. And I bought some old VHS movie favorites (The Maltese Falcon, Doctor No, and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan) for a buck apiece. Although I had been to the Friends of the Library sale a number of times in the past, this was the first time that Melissa had ever been there. She enjoyed the experience and purchased a few items as well.

One significant thing that I noticed from this experience in a very crowded, noisy, and jostling public place was that, unlike in previous years, I was not bothered by the crowds and noise. This is something that I began to notice in myself during my recent New York trip and will be the topic of a forthcoming article.

Running Amuck With the Duck

Yesterday morning I decided I had better run in whatever race was still available for April if I really wanted to stick with my goal of running at least one race per month. I had already copped out of the midnight run at UF last Wednesday night, so I was running out of time. But there were a couple of races being held in Gainesville this weekend and I decided on the Saturday event.

I ran the 5K Run Amuck With the Duck race to benefit research into lung cancer. This illness has hit home in my family, as it was a contributing factor in my mother's death in 2002. A lot of emphasis is being (correctly) made on its prevention, as the chief cause of lung cancer is smoking. Stop the smoking and you cut way down on this usually fatal disease's occurrence. Still, the pre-race speaker pointed out that, compared to other cancers, lung cancer research is not very well funded by the federal government. Hopefully, this will change in the future.

The race was held around North Florida Regional Hospital, the neighboring medical offices, and a stretch of an old and isolated semi-country road with old, big houses (along with old people outside walking their old dogs). The terrain was relatively hilly, which to me was a plus as I needed a break from my flat neighborhood running course.

This event was more focused on the cause than the race itself. Most of the participants were walkers and many of them were in teams, much like last October's Heart Walk that Melissa and I participated in. Those of us who were runners had to time ourselves, as only the top three finishers would be timed and receive prizes. But they did provide a funny tee shirt (featuring "Crackers the Duck, MD") and plenty of water, apples, bananas, and other treats. Since my overriding interest was just to run in my monthly public race and enjoy the experience, the race's few drawbacks meant little to me.

I discovered during the race that the hills were almost enjoyable to run up, since with each climb I passed a few more tiring runners. I pushed myself harder than usual throughout the race and finished with a personal 5K record time of 23:05. I was very satisfied with this event and plan to run in it next year (this was its first year).

Also, since I had decided that I wasn't ready to run in Cincinnati's Flying Pig Marathon on May 2, running in Gainesville's Run Amuck With the Duck event gave me another chance to run in a race with an especially goofy name!

Tebow Drafted by Denver, Situation Promising

Now that the first round of the NFL draft is over, we know that star University of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow is headed for the Denver Broncos. Since the Broncos already have an established, successful first-string quarterback in Kyle Orton, this should give Tebow some needed time for development. Also, he may resume his freshman role at UF of a short-yardage quarterback in third and fourth-down situations. When a team possesses that kind of offensive weapon, they can go far. Just ask those on the 1972 "perfect season" Miami Dolphin team, which featured Hall of Fame running back Larry Csonka as the epitome of a third-and-short success story. By consistently being able to sustain long drives by converting on third down, Miami was not only more likely to score; they kept the other side's offense off the field and controlled the tempo of the game this way. Since Denver just traded their franchise wide receiver Brendan Marshall to the Miami Dolphins ("my" team), Tebow's presence in their offensive lineup may be much more significant in the long run than anyone had imagined.

I haven't been much of a Denver Broncos fan, instead having supported their divisional rival San Diego for the last couple of seasons. Which is good for me, since Denver has choked as a team each year, finishing out of the playoffs both times after earlier leading their division by wide margins. Tim Tebow is only one player, but his positive, tough pro-team attitude and work ethic can help to sustain them through that trying period in the late season. We'll see; I'll be pulling for them this year (when they're not playing against Miami, that is).

Drinking Starbucks on the Hudson, Going to Work in Brooklyn

Anyone who visits Manhattan comes away with the impression that it is a very, very compressed urban area. But how compressed it really was I was unaware until I actually went there in person. So after I got back home I tried a simple little project.

I set two Google Maps to the same scale, with my home neighborhood in one (my house being at its center) and Midtown Manhattan in the other (and the Marriott Marquis hotel I stayed at in its center). I then superimposed one map onto the other, the two maps' centers aligned as well as the cardinal directions. The results were revealing to me, to say the least.

--Rockefeller Center would be at the entrance to my humble little subdivision onto NW 34th Street (Gainesville grid).

--The NE corner of my neighborhood running course would be precisely at that traffic circle (containing the beautiful giant globe) at the SW corner of Central Park.

--I'm sitting in the Magnolia Parke Starbucks writing this. But were I in the corresponding point in Manhattan, I wouldn't actually be in Manhattan: I would be "sitting" in the middle of the Hudson River halfway between 14th Avenue on the east side and Hoboken, New Jersey on the west. And this Starbucks is within walking distance of my house.

--The Empire State Building and Macy's would lie in the subdivision just south of my extremely close YMCA.

--The Williamsburg Bridge to Brooklyn would begin right at the Solar Walk, an outdoors planetarium running along Gainesville's 8th Avenue. It would then head toward the UF campus as it approached the Brooklyn side.

--New York's Chinatown roughly corresponds to Gainesville's Westside Park, which is located near the Solar Walk.

--Gainesville's Oaks Mall (our big shopping mall) would be in Paulus Hook, New Jersey.

--My workplace, situated on the southern end of Gainesville, corresponds to an area in western Brooklyn, near 2nd Avenue and 9th Street ( a few blocks from the end of the Brooklyn Bridge).

Superimposing maps is a cool idea that can also be used to compare the relative sizes of political entities from various distant parts of the world . I'll be using it from time to time in the future.

My Running Update

Since my vacation began earlier this month, my total running mileage output has diminished, although I have consistently maintained my workout routine. Part of the reason was that I traveled to New York and was distracted by the itinerary of the trip as well as by the fact that it was hard to pile up miles will all of the people in the streets mulling around. But the main reason I have not been running the longer distances I had since January is simply that the weather here in north central Florida has warmed. I think it's getting close to night-running time!

Last night, the University of Florida sponsored, for purely recreational purposes, not charity (how refreshing), a midnight 5K run around campus. I intended to work my shift, get off at 11, and head on down to UF to sign up and run it. But I was too tired and my right calf felt a little stiff (I had run 5.58 miles earlier in the day). So I passed up on this opportunity. I'm not sure that races this short are really what I want to be involving myself with, anyway. The only problem is, at this time of the year in Florida, they tend to be the only available races.

Still, I'm happy with my simple running routine. But since the temperatures are certain to skyrocket in the next few weeks, I need to get some night gear like reflective tape and a headband flashlight. Running around my own familiar neighborhood regularly at night, I suppose, is the next step. But running through the more hilly UF campus late at night also carries its own appeal. Ultimately, with whatever course I choose, my goal is to run my longer distances again, this time at night. At least until the cooler temperatures come back in late fall.

After all, I want to be in good shape to tackle my primary running goal for the remainder of this year: enter, run, and finish a full-length (26.2 miles) marathon race somewhere.

I'm thinking, though, that running after sunset or around midnight may not be suited for me. I work evenings and am usually tired late at night. Better to rise early in the morning around 4 or 5 and try my night running then. The temperatures are almost always the coolest at that time, anyway.

Where Have All the Alleys Gone?

Over the course of my lifetime, I have unconsciously developed a sense of what being in the great city of New York must be like. I constructed much of this from watching television shows and movies set there. And one of the recurring features that I looked forward to investigating (from a safe distance) on my recent trip was the back alley.

In shows and movies, characters are always stepping in and out of alleys. Alleys are where many great fights and chase scenes take place. I’m thinking about that great original Star Trek episode The City on the Edge of Forever, where Kirk and Spock chase down McCoy through the streets and alleys of thirties New York. And about The Matrix, where alleyways abound and are integral to the plot. So as I walked down Manhattan streets throughout my four-day visit, I kept asking myself, “Where are the alleys?”

The rule there (without exception) seems to be that you cross a street, come to the corner of the first building you walk up to, and that building runs right into the next without any gaps. And then that building is right next to the following one, all the way to the next street. No gaps, no alleys, just seemingly fused buildings.

Not that the others in my visiting party were objecting. After all, aren’t alleys where all the criminals hang out? Well, if there aren’t any alleys, then maybe we’re somehow safer. Right?

Truth be told, I felt very safe no matter where I walked in the city. One reason for this was that I always seemed to be around other people, often in large numbers. Another was the large presence of police and security.

I really don’t think I would have ducked into a back alley had I seen one. Maybe the parts of the city I walked through just didn’t have them, while others did. I bet Brooklyn is loaded with them!

Pedestrians Rule in Manhattan

Manhattan is definitely a special place regarding its system of traffic. Because of its cramped nature with so many buildings and destinations per square mile along with its population density and focus on tourism and business travel, it is unfeasible for motorists to drive their own cars down its streets. For one, parking is very short in supply, and two, I challenge anyone to find me a public-use gas station anywhere in town. So instead, people either walk, take the subway, ride buses, or use one of the 13,000-plus taxis in town. On our stay, we either walked or rode a bus (we chose Grayline, which also provided tours of the city).

There is a knack to walking Manhattan streets that is easy to pick up on, making the prospect of crossing busy intersections no big deal. You walk up to a crosswalk. If the signal says “walk” or a blinking “don’t walk”, you cross. If it is a solid “don’t walk”, look where the traffic is coming from (most streets are one-way) and cross against the light if it looks clear. And if you misjudged a vehicle and it's coming right at you, don't worry; you're sure to get a nice, big warning blast from its horn as it bears down on you.

Regarding the reputation of NY taxis for aggressive and rude driving, it is important to note that, at least as I experienced it, they are UNIFORMLY aggressive and rude. So they are hence predictable, and I (and all of the other pedestrians) can handle that. Now, back in Gainesville, I sometimes experience overly-aggressive drivers around me and wonder to myself whether they had some roots in New York. Still, I had the distinct impression that those aggressive professional New York drivers knew what they were doing, while here in Gainesville I’m not sure that some of my fellow drivers are even aware of what planet they’re on!

I miss the streets of Manhattan, although I was disappointed with my early discovery that it was impracticable for me to try to jog on them. The big barrier is not the motorized traffic; it is the crowds of people everywhere!

Strategic Party Affiliation Switch

In a commentary appearing in last Saturday’s Gainesville Sun, St. Petersburg Times columnist Sue Carlton suggested that those 170,000 Florida teachers whose careers may have been saved by Republican Governor Charlie Crist’s recent veto of a sweeping anti-teacher bill passed by his own party’s state legislature may want to return the favor by voting for him in his senatorial campaign against current GOP front-runner Marco Rubio. And why not? Rubio supported the bill, which would have ended teacher tenure in Florida, a state already greatly suffering in its public education system largely because its citizens don’t want to foot the necessary bill to have an effective system. The only problem is that, for those many already-underpaid teachers who happen to be Democrats, they can’t vote in the August 24 Republican primary pitting Crist against ultra-conservative tea party hero Rubio. So Ms. Carlton suggests…

Since voters can switch their party affiliation up to 29 days before a primary, why can’t those Democratic teachers grateful to Crist simply become temporary Republicans in order to vote for him? They can all still support whomever they want in November and can switch back later to the Democratic Party later if they wish. Frankly, the thought appeals to me as well, since I can handle a reasonable human being like Charlie Crist being my senator while Marco Rubio makes me cringe. So I’m considering switching my party affiliation to Republican in order to vote for Crist in the primary. Only I think I’ll just wait a while (but not TOO long) to make the switch.

I remember Rush Limbaugh in 2008 urging conservative Republicans to vote for Hillary Clinton in those presidential primaries that allowed party crossover voting. His goal was to prolong the race between Clinton and Barack Obama, hopefully resulting in an irreconcilable division between the two and their supporters. Well, Rush, ol' buddy ol’ pal, the other side can play at this game too!

Manhattan’s Transformation

Now that I have visited Manhattan, I feel a twinge of regret at not having seen how it was twenty to thirty years ago. I know that crime was much more rampant there and that there was an almost omnipresent adult industry, especially in the Times Square area. But, if I am to believe the story about how Rudy Giuliani rode into town and as mayor cleaned it all up in the late 1990s, this area has undergone a very dramatically quick and sweeping transformation.

In all of the miles of walking down street after street, I saw nothing remotely resembling a porn shop or an adult cinema; neither did I see anyone resembling a prostitute. Not that I was personally interested in doing business with them; I just knew of the reputation for these places that the area had built up over the years. Still, I wonder which of the many “wholesome” businesses I passed by (or entered) had earlier been the sites of adult-oriented establishments. Because, you see, I am a big stickler for historical comparisons.

And now I wonder: what will the area be like twenty years from now? My gut instincts tell me that it will be pretty similar to the way it currently is. What happened in the late sixties and the seventies may end up being viewed in history not as a cyclic period, but rather as a kind of disruptive discontinuity. And that includes the promotion of explicit sexuality that was part of that era. I don’t see it making a comeback anytime soon.

But then again, a big transformation could take place along lines that no one can as yet fathom. Will such a transformation affect how visitors can travel through Manhattan? Probably. After all, the World Trade Center attack on 9/11/2001 caused a drastic stepping up of security. And we may not have seen the end of such terrible things.

But things being what they are, I was quite content with my Manhattan experience in 2010. After all, it might have been a bit embarrassing to walk past adult business after adult business alongside my wife and teenage daughter!

Obama Misses Wide on Moon

President Obama Thursday visited the Florida Space Coast to deliver a speech that would supposedly alleviate widespread concerns that he was acting to diminish our manned space program after he decided to end the Constellation mission to return to the moon, begun by the previous Bush administration.

In his speech, the president delineated several areas that made sense. He wanted NASA to concentrate on developing the science and technology that would allow us to more effectively explore deep space, which he said should be its mission. The Constellation program was running over budget, another concern. He wanted NASA to set its vision on going to Mars. All valid points. But...

In expressing his desire for us to go to Mars, Obama derided the Constellation goal of returning to the moon because "We've been there before." This is a thoroughly asinine, ignorant statement of the type I would have expected someone like Sarah Palin to make. "We've been there before." Hmm...is that what we should do after we do (if ever) land on Mars? Just declare it "conquered" and never go back? The moon is a very strategically located satellite to us. It is full of natural resources, has no atmosphere, and one fifth of our gravity. Pardon the relevant cliche here, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand that setting up permanent bases with research facilities on the moon would greatly enhance the ability for us to develop the very science and technology for deep space travel that our deluded (in my opinion) president thinks we can more feasibly accomplish earthbound or in low earth orbit.

And speaking of low earth orbit, we won't even have a rocket capable of delivering astronauts into space, not even low earth orbit, for several years without depending on other nations for the service. Goodbye American leadership in space! And another thing...

Moon pioneer Neil Armstrong, in his objections to the president's decision about the space program, expressed grave concern about the impending loss of our specialized scientific and engineering talent without a discernible project to employ them here. They, in all probability, will either divert their careers away from space to other areas or will leave the U.S. to work for other countries and their space programs (which their political leaders truly support). And that will only accelerate America's fall from the worldwide leadership it has enjoyed in space since the mid-1960s.

When Barack Obama took office as president, he made the decision to keep as much continuity as reasonable regarding our military adventures in Iraq and Afghanistan, choosing to honor the previous Republican administration's timetable for "stepping down" in Iraq and even keeping General Robert Gates on as his Secretary of Defense. When pushing for the recently signed health care reform legislation, he welcomed GOP input with open arms, with scores of their amendments incorporated into the bill with his approval. He also did not insist on the public option feature that his political adversaries were so opposed to. And he assured pro-life Democrats that he would personally see to it that abortions would continue not to be funded by federal dollars. But our space program?

Since NASA is simply a federal agency, each president can do pretty much what he (or she) wants to do with it. Sure, there is the general NASA funding that Congress has to approve. But it is ultimately the president who decides what the emphasis will be in this agency. So here, Obama did not really need to work with others, be they Democrat or Republican, to exert his will. And he was brutal with his power.

So does Barack Obama, after simply trashing the previous president's carefully weighed out plans for manned space exploration, really expect those following him into this office to keep HIS plans in effect? Really? Rather I see our space efforts being chronically hindered when each new president comes up with a "great new idea" while canceling whatever the ongoing projects are because they are running over budget. And be assured, our current president's vision of the future WILL experience budget overruns as this is simply the result of normal technological design, testing, and improvement.

Finally, the "capper" to President Obama's recent drastic change to our manned space efforts has been to leave us without any sort of tangible vision in the near future. He speaks of adapting the Orion rocket that was going to send us to the moon for low earth orbit missions in the ensuing years. He speaks about the distant future of landing on an asteroid and orbiting Mars, even landing there sometime in the next few decades. And that he plans to live to see a landing on Mars.

Mr. President, that is not the kind of vision that people need. They need tangible, specific goals with names, a vivid presentation, and real timetables. All Obama has done is to put NASA in the murky background of relevant events in our world. We are all supposed to just sit back and assume that they are "taking care of business", doing their science stuff, and almost magically, we'll see these great events happen (if we're still alive by then). But let me tell you, it ain't gonna happen that way!