Finished

The big project I've been working on for the past two months is finally going in the mail today, which means I can have my social life back at long last. Or, to be more accurate, I can sit at home not talking to anyone again at long last. Living the dream.
-TC

Tompkins Square Park

I like to keep people up to date on teh strangest things I've seen lately. Today I was hanging around Tompkins Square Park with some friends, and of course, being in a public park in New York, we were surrounded by vagrants. One such gentleman was being a bit raucous, shouting things occasionally and hitting the ground with a big stick. But, whatever, that's not atypical New York behavior, so I paid him no mind. After a while, he got up, whipped out his junk as he was walking by, and wandered over to a corner, where he proceeded to urinate on a box. Again, whatever. I mean, you've got to urinate on something, right? But the bit that I found especially unsettling was that when he was finished, he put his hands in said urine and rubbed it all over his face. Then went back to hitting the ground with a stick as though nothing out of the ordinary had just occurred.

My philospy is that if I have to see something, other people need to visualize it. It's only fair.
-TC

Crazy

I had to work today, and as I was leaving my office, a crazy man walked up to me and said "basketball star, rent a car, state to state," then walked away. I then had another of those moments when I realized that this was probably the most social interaction I would have all day.

On the upside, when I was on the subway home, I thought of a witty comeback to something someone said to me seven years ago. So the day wasn't a complete waste.
-TC

Eye Contact

As I was standing on the subway platform today, a young woman kept looking at me. Whether she was mentally undressing me or thinking about how funny I look is hard to say. But I never got the chance to find out, as the New York routine has become so ingrained in me that all I could think was "don't make eye contact, she'll want a dollar."

The same thing happened a few minutes later on the train, as a young man clearly started making eyes in my direction. But he smiled, which suggests that either he wasn't mentally undressing me or he has a very poor imagination.

-TC

Texting

A study was announced today which said that texting while driving considerably increases the likelihood of crashing. I'm glad we're taking the time to answer the really pressing questions. So glad, in fact, that I can't even wait for a red light to share this ground breaking news.
-TC

Chicken

As I was on my way into the office this morning, I passed by a row of homeless people begging for change. Next to the four or five homeless people was a man in a giant chicken costume squawking at passersby. I was stunned to realize that the depth of this recession is so great that not even chickens can count on a living anymore.
-TC

Tech Ed.

When I was in seventh or eighth grade, we were required to take a class called Tech Ed. In it, we learned about basics of design, use of various shop tools, and other technical skills. One project they had us perform involved building something that would remove a golf ball from a long, thin tube. The most common solution was some sort of broom handle with something sticky on the end of it.

I recalled this project today when I got off the train at Union Square, and found a man using an umbrella to fish bottles and cans out of the bottom of a garbage can that was too tall and had too small an opening for him to simply reach into. That's when I realized that when Brattleboro Union High School taught us basic principles of engineering, they were really preparing us for our future careers among the ranks of the homeless.

Thanks, Brattleboro!
-TC