When I was walking from the train to my building this morning, I came across a guy wearing a huge scarf, thick corduroy blazer and wool slacks. He was visibly sweating. It is (and was, at the time) 70 degrees outside. I know that everyone just hit all of the back to school sales and is excited to try out all of their new garb, but come on. He is not the only person that I have seen do this. It is a phenomenon that I noticed from the first fall after moving to the east coast. It almost seems like a lot of people who live here dress according to the calendar, instead of the weather forecast. So there he was sweating away, taking every opportunity that he could to check himself out in the reflective windows that we were walking past. I wanted to say “Don’t worry guy. Yes, you still look ridiculously overdressed.” Just because the kids have gone back to school does not mean that it is appropriate to wear sweaters and scarves. My advice to you, buddy, is: sit tight. Don’t worry, soon enough you will be shivering wearing that same outfit. Milk the warm weather as long as you can. Your new clothes will still be there in a couple of weeks.

This morning I was right in the front of the train. Only the kid in the picture was in front of me. It is kind of a fun spot to be in, if you can’t get a seat, because you can look out the window at the tunnel (depending on what kind of train you get). I normally like to read on the train, but the magazine that I brought today, just arrived yesterday, so it was still in the plastic, and everything. I didn’t want to go through all the hassle of unwrapping it, and having the stupid little cards falling out all over the floor as I flipped through for the first time. It’s ok though, because I took this picture. It is one that I have wanted to get for a while. It seems like usually when I get this spot, I don’t have my camera with me, or it is too packed to try to get a decent shot.

The real reason, that it was fun to have this spot, this morning, is that the train engineer try to recruit me to his MTA basketball team. Hahahahah, I haven’t played basketball in like 1,000 years. It was so funny though. I was just standing there, and the engineer door popped open and I saw that he was talking to me. At first, I thought he was asking me to move. Then I could see that he was still talking to me, so I took out my headphones. He was like, “you play ball, man?” I told him that I hadn’t played for a long time. He then told me that I should come play with the MTA guys some time, and asked me where I was getting off. I told him that I probably am not very good anymore, and that it probably wasn’t a very wise decision to try to recruit me. I also told him that I would be de-traning at Chambers. He closed his door again and went back to driving the train. About 15 minutes later, his door popped open again and he gave me this flyer about where to meet up etc., for basketball. I was cracking up. I don’t intend on playing, but I was flattered that, to someone, I gave the impression of having some sort of athletic ability. You could pretty much say that it made my morning, in the most middle-aged, white guy, pathetic type of way. Hahaha

It was nice and cool this morning when I was moving the car. I have also noticed a pretty dramatic difference in the time that the sun comes up. Since it was so nice out, I resolved that I was going to ride my bike to work today. I spent about a half hour installing some plastic fenders. I actually bought the fenders in Boston, when we got the bikes, but for some reason, I had been procrastinating putting them on the bike. It was a good thing that I did though. This morning, it seemed like there were several places where the sprinklers were running across the bike path. They worked great. When I arrived at WFC, the path that I normally take around the front of the buildings, on West St., was blocked off. I turned around and rode along the boardwalk instead. I later found out that the closure was caused by some fallen window washers, who died outside of 3 WFC. Yikes.

Anyway, it was a beautiful ride. It was getting pretty warm by the time I arrived at work, but it still felt great. I’m getting really excited for the weather to cool off a bit, so that I can start riding a lot more. I also need to start bringing my camera with me, so I can snap some shots of some of the entertaining stuff that I see on my ride.

This was my first ride with the new backpack, and I have to say, it work swimmingly. It didn’t flop around as much as the messenger bag did. It seemed to wrinkle my shirt (the one inside the pack, for changing into) a lot less, also. There are still some things that I need to do to smooth out the routine (ideally it will become one, while weather permits). I still need to get some wrinkle remover spray to keep here at work (my cousin’s suggestion), as well as bring in a couple of pairs of shoes to leave here. I also need to start planning a little better when it comes to outfits I bring for changing into. Today I ended up with pinstripe pants…. and pinstripe shirt. Pretty sweet combo. Eventually, I’ll get it right.

If there is anyone else who rides south from the Heights in the morning (or would like to start), let me know, and we could start riding together.