Quite a day

Today marked:

1. the official 100th anniversary of the Queensboro Bridge (still no toll)

2. the 150th anniversary of Big Ben in London (with a different kind of toll -- Big Ben is thename of the bell within the clock tower, not the clock itself)

and

3. The death of the last survivor of the 1912 Titanic sinking. She was 2 months old at the time and had no memory of it, stating she preferred it that way. Ms. Dean was 97 and died in her sleep in England.

Cafe Culture

At Cafe Bacio on 3rd Ave and 70th Street, I saw a woman sitting with her pet parrot, feeding him some pastry.

So many people walked by and didn't even notice!

Taxi Driver

I finally saw Taxi Driver (1976), Martin Scorsese's film starring Robert DeNiro, Cybill Shepherd, Harvey Keitel and Jodie Foster as a 12-year-old streetwalker.

It was amazing to see 1970s New York, gritty and rundown, as most of the places where this movie was shot were razed to make swanky high-rise building worth millions. Travis (De Niro) takes Betsy (Shepherd) to Child's Coffee Shop on Columbus Circle --- that is gone and replaced with the Time Warner Center, near my old job at the Trump International Tower (also still there.)

That movie was only 33 years ago but "looks as if it might as well have been lensed on Mars", according to this article in The Village Voice:

http://www.gothiccabinetcraft.com/inthenews.php?mid=&doc_id=1101334463

Explosion at 92nd and 3rd Ave

A device detonated at 3 am at the Starbucks at 92nd and 3rd Ave today. The reports are it happened by a Starbucks -- which is true.

That Starbucks is located directly behind the 92nd Street Y, my old job, which I left last September. Chilling.

Death anniversary of Christopher Columbus

Columbus died on May 20, 1506.

I know this because it was my one and only line in the 4th grade play back in 1983.

A refresher course

I was on the 6 train uptown around 7:30p today, when a Chinese lady sat down next to me and asked me to quiz her on her upcoming citizenship exam. It was a good refersher course for me as well. And she got them all correct! How many Senators do we have? 100. How long is their term? 6 years How many in the House of Representatives? 435 How long is their term? 2 years

Crossing those state lines!

I had a meeting in Fort Lee, NJ today and decided to walk back to New York via the George Washington Bridge.

Although I have worked for years at the new York Presbyterian Hospital complex at the base of the bridge at W 178th Street, this is the first time I have ever done so.

It is a truly spectacular view as you cross. The Hudson River actually looks clean, and you can see all these trees and flowers on the NJ side and the Empire State Building and other skyscrapers on the NY side.