Things that amuse me on the subway...

This is a phenomenon which occurs in all New York City subway stations. People constantly lean out of the crowd to peek up the tunnel and see if the train's coming. (As if it's going to make any difference in when the train actually comes.) I find it quite humorous to just watch them do it, though (Whack-A-Mole comes to mind) so I took a video one morning.



Don't you just want to start bopping them with a giant padded mallet?!
(Let me be fair and tell you that I am guilty of tunnel-peeking myself, from time to time.)

Another recent video from the subway, here's my sly attempt at recording this guy's performance without anyone noticing me doing it.

He was a really good singer and pounded this great beat on the subway door with his hands and feet. I think he should try out for American Idol. :)

Guitarist at Lex/63rd Station

whoooosh!

Did you hear that? That was the sound of January flying past.

Where the heck did it go? I don't know, but I think we got some pretty good things done this month, so I'm happy. Aren't you? January was fun.

I was treated to some bluesy guitar tunes while waiting for the train home yesterday. Wait for his fun little riff about halfway through the video.




It was COLD today! Really really cold. After walking half a block this morning I could feel the inside of my nose start to freeze. It really feels like winter out there! I'm glad our space heater is being put to good use.

And I'm sorry for all the subway posts. And the camera phone posts. What can I say? I work. I commute. I don't lug a large camera around with me on these daily ventures. Maybe I should. Sometimes I'm walking along and I see something and I envision the photo that I would take of it and how great it would look - if I had my camera. (It's just so heavy!)

Take the stairs

Here are the stairs out of the the Lexington Ave/63rd Street station. In an effort to put some physical activity back into my daily life, I've started taking the stairs out of the subway. This is an especially big accomplishment at my station!

The first set: four flights.


Set number two: three flights.


Set numero tres: three flights.


The final set: three more flights!

Bringing the grand total to: 13 flights of stairs. We'll count it as my morning workout. (If only it lasted more than 3 or 4 minutes, it might make more of a difference...) I still feel powerful taking the stairs, striding past all the people waiting in line to cram onto the escalator. Yeah!

Stories from the Subway

I spend almost an hour down there every day. A lot goes on in the subway. Here are a few little moments.

One perk of working on a holiday like MLK day: Look how empty the train was in the morning! No problem getting a seat!


The other day on the way home (on another unusually empty train) I noticed this guy. He had flowers and a big bag of groceries and another little bag. I liked to imagine he was going home to make a romantic homemade dinner for his girl, and give her flowers and a gift to top it off. :)


On my way home today. Typical, semi-crowded train.


Looking out the subway car window, onto the platform at 59th St.

Almost every day on my way home, I happen to get on a train with the same conductor. You may ask, "But how can you possibly know it's the same person?" Actually, this guy has a very distinctive voice and way of announcing the stops. He kind of drags out the words, and his voice goes up and down. It is definitely the same guy. It's funny, but I've become so accustomed to his voice that I notice if it's not him when I get on my train home. It's become a part of my daily life to hear "my" conductor on the way home. It's almost comforting!

Today I took a video of one of the stops, so you can hear my conductor. We need to give him a name.

Aww, he's so cute.

But think about this for a second. B and D trains come by every 3 to 7 minutes during rush hour. That's a lot of trains! What are the odds that I would get the same conductor every day? I don't get to the platform at exactly the same time every evening. I like to think about where this guy starts out every evening, to put him at my platform at the right time every day. It's so cool that in a city of millions of people, you can cross paths with the same people multiple times. I wonder how often that happens with random people (you know, not MTA workers) and you never even realize it...

I like this picture. We're all in this together.

Subway Tunnel Love

Klane's subway stop for work is the Rockefeller Center station. I transfer at that stop on my commute every day. Sometimes we meet below ground on the subway platform and ride home together. This is tricky since there's no cell service down there. We have a secret special meeting spot on the platform where we know we will find each other. It's always fun to walk down the subway stairs with the expectation of seeing a familiar, favorite face in a crowd of strangers.

Last Friday I spotted Klane waiting on the platform next to a pillar. Our eyes met and I walked toward him. When I reached him, he pulled out a bouquet of flowers from behind the pillar! It was the most romantic moment of my week.
I think I picked a good husband. I'm glad he picked me too.

"Let's take a picture!" "No wait, the train's coming!" "Just hold still!" (click)

Our lives have been very very busy busy busy lately. I wish I could post here every day. But the posts would say, "I went to work today. I got home at 7:00. We ate food. We played video games/watched a movie. Then went to sleep." That's pretty much it. Work, eat, sleep, work. Oh and church on Sunday. I've even worked a few Saturdays. These New Yorkers know how to work! Kind of nuts.

This week we are: attending company Christmas parties (to which spouses are not invited, unlike back home. BOOO.), feeding the missionaries, doing last-minute Christmas shopping, chaperoning a youth stake dance, visiting/home teaching, and gearing up for our trip home next week. Home! Next week!

best subway performer. ever.

Is it the dance moves? The faux leather pants? The electric violin music? Or the high kicks?

We can't decide. We can only stand and watch in awe.


We googled "electric violin subway" after this, and it turns out we are not the only fans. This guy is all over the internet. Go check him out. His name is Michael Schulman. He is unreal.

harmonica blues

Waiting at the 125th street station on my way home last week, my fellow commuters and I were treated to some sweet harmonica tunes:



The best part was that he wasn't a performer playing for money. Just a regular guy who prefers making his own music to zoning out on an iPod. Love it.

it was like epcot. or space mountain.

The Subway system in DC was incredible. We could not believe how clean and well-designed it was. Everything was uniform, there was no trash anywhere (amazing!) and no graffiti. The subway cars are carpeted with cushioned seats! And no one defaces the inside of it! It's like everyone in DC has respect for public property or something. Strange thought. Anyway, it was an experience. Amazing.

subway performers

One of the fun things about the city is the performers in the subway stations and trains. I like to snatch Klane's iPhone and take video when people perform. I wish I would've had it the other afternoon on the way home from work, there were these three black guys singing gospel music and they had the most gorgeous harmony.

I have a problem. The moment I decide to turn the camera away or not to follow them, that is the moment they do something incredible, like a backflip off the pole. Someday I'll learn. You'll enjoy these videos anyway. I'm amazed they can do stuff like this in a lurching train where many people struggle just to stand upright.

On the C train coming back from Grimaldi's in Brooklyn




On the D train on our way to Stand near Union Square

ddb & subway etiquette

After having a slight meltdown this morning at the prospect of searching for an actual job in a big scary city, I decided I needed a good healthy dose of husband to calm me down. I packed turkey sandwiches and headed for midtown.

I finally got to see Klane's office; when I got there he took me up and gave me a tour. It was really nice and the people were all so friendly. I even got to meet the famous Eric Silver, the CCO, whose office is like ten feet from Klane's. I really liked DDB a lot. I got to see some of what Klane's working on, and of course it was all really good! He's awesome.

original image via ihaveanidea.org

Anyway, we ate our sandwiches and oreos on 51st street, and Klane gave me a nice pep talk. He's a great husband.

And now for a question on subway etiquette. I hopped on the crowded train at the Rockefeller station. I sat in an empty seat between two people. At 59th street, the woman on my left got off. Here's my dilemma. There's now an empty seat next to me, and I'd prefer not to sit right next to someone if I don't have to. But I didn't want the man on my right to be offended if I scooted away from him, like I thought he smelled or something. Is it more rude to invade his personal space, or to scoot away so I don't have to sit next to him? The man seemed pretty occupied by his book. I decided to just stay put. The subway car continued to empty, and by 96th there were tons of empty rows and seats, and the only people sitting right next to each other were me and this stranger. I wasn't sure if it'd be weird for me to suddenly scoot away as if repulsed by this person, so we stayed that way until I got off at 116th.

image via flickr

I know I over analyze things. But out of curiosity, what would you have done?