More New York

I got pretty excited when I saw this SpongeBob thermometer in Target the other day.








I was even more intrigued by all of the options it gave me.







Anyway, back to New York!

So this was the Whitehouse. Not to be confused with the more famous White House. I know that it looks like I was being clever here because the window sign says "real broke", but that was just a happy coincidence.

The elderly gentleman at the front desk wouldn't let me pay for the room before we'd been escorted up to see it. Apparently there have been problems in times past with angry customers demanding a refund after they'd realized what a crappy hostel this was.

Here's the hallway.











Now, I am not one to complain about hostels, but the one irritating factor above all was that the rooms' walls did not reach to the ceiling. It was like one big cubicle dorm maze. So that meant that anything anyone did, anywhere, could be heard by the entire floor of 50+ people.

This was the luxurious triple bed suite. My bed was the one closest to the window. The beds actually weren't so bad except they were covered in some sort of plastic wrap that rustled when you so much as blinked. I was always terrified to change positions in fear of being shushed by the other occupants.




The bathroom. I liked the checkered tile; I did not like how there was no door, the urinal looked like crap, and the bathroom doors had this gapey edge when you closed them and anyone could look in.






This was behind one of the stall doors. Was this a Halloween decoration from years past? A criticism of the hostel by a fed-up Bowery guest?







I did enjoy the pretty tile borders that were in the stairwell.







Ice cream trucks like these always make me laugh. It's about on par with those yellow street signs that say "slow children crossing".





Empire State Building! This is one of the only pictures I took of actual New York landmarks.









I was too busy taking pictures of my perfect, tasty Root Beer Float from Wendy's.






Welcome to the neighborhood, Meredith! This was in the Auntie Anne's in the NBC building, and it had no explanation so I asked the counterhelp who Meredith was, and she told me in hushed tones that Meredith Viera had come down to do a piece about pretzels, apparently, and in even more hushed tones she let me know that Viera could have been friendlier to the staff.


We went to the Telephone Bar and they had the nicest bathrooms of any bar I've ever seen.






Of course, when we saw Bamn! The Automat! we had to stop by. Travis and Pat both got something, I wasn't hungry for tiny greasy niblets so I will have to wait until next time.



Bamn! mirror.








So we go down to Battery Park and there's all of these Statues of Liberty standing and berating tourists that take pictures of them and don't pony up any dough. We walk a little further, and...



OH GAWD LADY LIBERTY IS A DUDE!!!!!! We saw about three Statues changing in the not-too-private area behind some vendor stalls. They were all portly Italian guys.




Here's one in just the green catsuit, no crown or anything.







This clown was taking off his mask right at his station! Where are their standards? What about the children!








Pigeons in luuuuuuv.








The real Statue of Liberty was pretty far away and did not disrobe at any point.

Sorry Guys...

Oh, god, I've been one of Those People lately who do stuff and don't post. Sorry. I've been working, sleeping, not on the computer in a leisurely way. I'll be at the front desk tomorrow and Sunday so perhaps I'll find some time.

Punches on Bus

I was posting on the work blog today and could not stop giggling. Click on the link and read the second story down (well, read both, because they're both hilarious). I actually emailed the writer and complimented her on brightening my day.

Anyway, I just reread it and it definitely warrants its own space here. From the Dayton Daily News, enjoy.

Punches on bus suggest some memories die hard

DAYTON — April 19: A complainant reported she was assaulted on a bus on Huffman Avenue.She said she heard someone call her name and realized it was a former childhood friend she hadn't seen in 13 years.

The subject punched her five times in the head and face.

An unknown male restrained the subject, who then got off the bus.The complainant, 25, told police she didn't know why the subject attacked, but did say they dated the same person 13 years ago.

More New York pictures, when I get the chance.

Magnolia Thursday

We couldn't possibly go back to New York without stopping by Magnolia Bakery, so Thursday morning we got our cake on for breakfast.








It was, of course, delicious.








People were coming in with pre-orders and leaving with bags of these cupcakes.










I could not, for the life of me, remember the name 'red velvet cake'. So of course I had to order it once I got there. It was tasty.





Hee.








At one of the subway stops they have this brass statue motif going on, and this one in particular is a little disturbing because a: the alligator has people hands and shoulders, and b: it looks like it's eating a baby with a head made out of a moneybag.


We went to the Cooper-Hewitt Museum of Design which was originally Andrew Carnegie's house. They had an exhibit on rococo style, and I now know more about rococo than ever before. However, one of the tour guides was describing the word as an amalgamation of an Italian word and the French rocaille, except she pronounced it 'ro-cail'. Now, I certainly pronounce things wrong every day of my life, but I figure that if you are the rococo tour guide you should make it a point to check out how to say the foreign words that you'll be using every day. But whatevs.

We travelled next to FAO Schwartz, which I had mistakenly believed was the toy store from Home Along II: Lost in New York but which I now know was really Duncan's Toy Chest. Obviously! Thanks, imdb. Anyway, I wasn't super blown away by it, since it just looked like a very upscale Toys-R-Us. Blasphemy, I know. There was this really nice sales guy that played Koosh racquetball with me for about ten minutes, though.

Take home the music? For $250,000, I'm not sure there will be anything to go home to. And of course there were a million parents taking pictures of their kids bouncing around on that thing, showing an early predilection to making sounds like 'bonk bonk gabonk".

Museum Weekend

Pat's in town this weekend so I took him on my patented Washington DC monument and museum tour. We went to the Sackler Gallery and ended up inadvertently visiting the Freer and Museum of African Art as well.

Some features:

A jar or something.








A handle? I need to start reading the labels.







This was definitely a flyswatter.










They had an 'art of the Muraqq'ua' kind of thing going and I wish I had hours and hours to go through it but we just didn't have that kind of time.








There were magnifying glasses provided, because maybe if you look close enough you might understand what it's saying.







Art!











Their collections are entirely funded by penny
fountain donations.






Which explains why there were so many fountains.







Orchids yanked from the botanical gardens, most likely.










Next was the Hirschhorn, at the statue garden.







Bird-head!











More art!











After that whirlwind afternoon, we went to Sake of the pretty lights for sushi. Pat got the 'combination platter'. I had some of his California rolls and they were tasty.




Oh oh oh - do you know what we're missing? A Target cartscelator video going up! Here you go, guys. I think I go to Target way too much.
This was a sign at the school nearby. It starts out okay: "Talent Show Night at Bell MHS on May 3, 2008". Then it devolves into madness: "alot intertertairiment is schedule Come and support the homeless. $10.00 food, Muse, beverage wis including." I don't think the homeless people need that money - their signs are more intelligible than this one.

Everybody welcome Pick Pickley, who will be accompanying us on the trip to New York tomorrow. Here he is with his favorite Washington rag, the Afro.

Grocery Store

Guess what's new in the neighborhood....

A Harris Teeter! What an old-timey sign.







You had to go up steps to get to the main grocery store. Incredible!









Not everyone is so happy about the Harris Teeter. This guy was carrying a sign that said something like blah blah competition blah blah no more local groceries.




OoooOOOOooh. They had free samples everywhere - oranges, strawberries, two kinds of cheese, ham, a danish, and bread with different sauces. How fancy!




I like both of these covers so much. It's nice to see both sides being given equal coverage.






We're all headed out on Monday, but first we get to go to an undisclosable location to do a mystery shop, exciting times. Travis was able to get off work so he's going with us. We managed to get a triple room at the Bowery White House, and not just with one big bed.

Pat came down for the weekend, so I think we're going to go out tonight when they come back from Iron Man. Other than that, it's dullsville.