I'm on a train.

I can't complain.

Lady playing a ukulele on the train.

Make it a great day everyone!

Top 10 things to Not Do on the Subway

In the order of  "Annoys Me" to "Puts You In Danger". 

A few of these (#6) might fall into the middle ground of 'Annoying me enough to put you in danger'.

1. Crack peanuts. Or any food that could fly onto your neighbors. Clipping your nails can fit in this category too.
2. Yell, scream or throw things. I don't need to explain this one, do I?
3. Sit for one stop. If you're using it for 1 minute, give it to the lady with 3 kids. 
4. Play music loud enough for me to sing along.
5. Litter. And yes, leaving your newspaper on the seat "for the next person" is littering.
6. Block the doors /mosey in slowly. If I'm wearing white and the doors are about to encase me in soot, you are going to be pushed inside.
7. Breakdance. It's dangerous. I've been kicked in the neck before, had my phone knocked across the subway car, seen a stroller kicked away from mom. Plus, you might be awesome, but watch this. 
8. Deny a pregnant, elderly or disabled person their seat. Or someone who says they are nauseous. Or drunk. It's common sense really.
9. Be lost. Big dummy move here. There's no reason to be lost. Ask people for help- just validate the person before you ask. Man with briefcase- yes. 16 year old girl with backpack- no. Many people live here and only know their neighborhood. Also,  plenty of police and MTA workers to ask, and download these apps before you enter the train station.
10. Not be aware. Don't be a target. If you pay attention, you will be fine. But if you leave your items in the grasp of others or fall asleep without your backpack laced through your legs, you're asking to be robbed. Some additional no-brainers: don't count your cash, or enter an empty train car late at night if you feel something is off. 

Boulevard of Broken Bones

Tom is a huge bicycle advocate- and loves the idea of bike lanes (being used properly). He often tells me horror stories about how bicyclists, drivers and pedestrians have trouble sharing the road- and showed me this video:

I especially like 1:49, with the jaywalkers. Just like New Yorkers, too prideful to get scared (despite almost being hit) and never even loosing their stride.

Funny thing is, I might have been in this video. I worked 1 block away when this was made, on 28th St & Madison Ave. And that intersection is very bad to cross. And I took pride in never breaking my stride for crazy drivers and bicyclists. Man I was stupid.

This is not uncommon, and I've seen it a lot and only as a pedestrian. Tom has been hit with a car door when someone opened it into a bike lane next to their just-parked car. He's seen bicyclist hit by cars, and has told me there are so many stories about biking in overly-touristic places.

It's either a good (hilarious) story like:

"I saw a tourist in the bike lane on the Brooklyn Bridge, taking photos, not aware she was in danger. I may have approached her and then screeched on my brakes, shouting 'I'm going to craaaash!' Of course I wasn't but she ran back into her lane.''

or

People have gotten hit by people who can't ride properly- putting themselves and others in danger. One person reportedly died from internal bleeding after being bruised by a passing handlebar. Ouch.

Anyway, I'm at work right now. I'm looking out my window at Queens Boulevard, otherwise nicknamed the 'Boulevard of Death' or 'The Boulevard of Broken Bones'. An while the section of the boulevard I look over only has 6 lanes (and isn't impossible to cross), people are going nuts trying to make it across before the 30 seconds are up. I am a little mesmerized/horrified with what I am seeing.

People. There will be another red light. Don't scare me like this.

A Commute in the Life of...

I am seeing a ton of Day in the Life Of..... posts. Well. I am not a stay-at-home mom, or a entrepreneur. Or on a bike tour or doing anything that anyone really is interested in. 

But I do commute an 1.5 hours in NYC, between three boroughs (Bk, Manh, and Qns). And every day is interesting. So today I decided to keep my phone up and log what happens. Because you know, eventually I'll miss it and want to reminisce. Right?


10am
Walk to station, see my train pulling away. Running to catch it is futile.

Walk through hoards of people, try to get into a turnstile before it's overrun be people leaving the station.

10:05
Listen to a person next to me smack and smack on her breakfast roll. Remember how my aversion to an morning egg sandwich in a this situation alerted me to possibly being pregnant in July. Realize that it's going to be awhile before I stop talking about or remembering our first pregnancy. 

Read some blogs on FeedMe, an app that allows me to read my blogs from Feedly while commuting. I'm lucky enough to go over the Manhattan Bridge for 3 minutes and also to have an above ground station before my train goes underground. This way, I can update my feeds/email/send a text while waiting and listening to someone next to me eat with their mouth opened. Always happens. 

10:19
Have either a person who is too large or to smelly or with tons of shopping bags sit down on me. I mean next to me.

Today it's took large person with bags. Not yet warranting me to look for another seat. We'll see if she keeps hitting me with her stuff. 
I've no clue why this text is staying tiny..

10:29
Above ground in Manh bridge. Update RSS, email, send text to Tom.

10:30
Check fb. Flip through new uploaded photos.

Wonder if the lady next to me is a tourist. I cough as she leans on top of me for this view. If she wants a good view she should stand by the windows. Otherwise it's like your staring at those across from you which is to be avoided.

10:31
Gaze at the skyline. Be grateful to live in a beautiful city (parts of anyway) and to have this view every morning. 

10:32
Notice that the Todoist app I downloaded while waiting for the train to arrive finished downloading on the bridge. 

Notice that they ask what Gmail account I want to use with it. I make a mental note to learn how to change all my phone settings to go with the new email, since I've been keeping the old one alive because I didn't want to mess up my phone settings. 

After making mental note, make an actually note in the app that made meet think of it to begin with. 

10:38
Girl drops her coffee cup next to my foot and I get splattered. On a day I wrote flip flops. 

10:45
Transfer from the N to the D at 34th, and see a train pulling in.

Repeat F, F, F, F until I see that it is actually the F train! Only two trains for me today,sometimes I have to take 3 or 4.

10:48
"Queens? Queens?" I would normally think this was another tourist except that she's going to Queens, isn't dressed up like shes on a safari or ready to get discovered. It happens.

(urban jungle joke here)

10:55
Train is going fast enough, but I need to be to work at 11. I'll make or be 10:20 i guess.

10:56
No use worrying about it. Open Bible app and read Jeremiah. 

11:21
Train pulls into station. Barrel upstairs. Get to work.