Do you ever have those days that you totally expect to go a certain way, but then they don’t and it is super deflating? That was me yesterday. It was so packed. Super packed. I was really excited when I left the house in the morning, until I walked out into the pouring rain. The day ended up being almost a complete bust. It is possible that the non-stop monsoon caliber weather had something to do with it. I’m not going to go into the inanities of yesterday’s shortfalls. But let’s just say that there was a saving grace toward the end of the evening. I always enjoy the soiree’s that Kiehl’s throws, because my home ZT is there to hang out with.

Pharrell also came through (above), and gave me a “star trak” (no, not star trek) “v”. Meanwhile, pouring rain.  All of these shenanigans are part of the 160 year birthday celebration that Kiehl’s is currently having. Do you use any Kiehl’s stuff? Reagan and I are both huge fans. As a part of the hooplah, they designed some throwback packaging, check it-

Anyway, thanks Zack, Kiehl’s and Pharrell for salvaging and otherwise crap day. I really hope that we can have a bit of a reprieve from the rain, soon. Because… dude!

In unrelated news, apparently we will be arriving in the Eurosphere just in time for some Spanish protesting in Barcelona. If I’m lucky, maybe I can get a shot of a dude getting hit with a tear gas canister, or something.

Just some stuff that I shot during my rainy commute today. I don’t even mind the rain, as long as it stays warm. Ah spring.

When my alarm went off this morning, it was pouring outside. So, I didn’t get up and run. I only have 5 miles scheduled for today, so hopefully I will be able to sneak them in this evening. It looks like I’m going to have to have to get wet at some point this week, though. I just checked the forecast and apparently it is going to be raining until Thursday.

Yesterday evening shaped up nicely. We did a couple of videos for Reagan, then shot some stills (also for R’s hair blog) on the roof with umbrellas. Just when I had resigned to being a homebody for the day, I received a text from some of our friends to hang out at their place. We had a blast hanging out with them and eating some delicious food together. They live about a mile and a half up Broadway from us. Since we had the dog with us, we had to make the journey on foot. MTA doesn’t allow dogs, unless they are in a carrier. Plus, we learned the hard way that the little guy gets car-sick pretty easily.  So, all three of us had a really fun night-walk through the park in the rain, on the way home.

The official stats are in, and apparently we received nearly 4 inches of rain in the City, between Friday and Saturday. 4.7 inches is the monthly average amount of rainfall for NYC for the month of March. Winds were gusting to 60 MPH, and they actually canceled the Staten Island Ferry service, on Saturday evening because it was becoming to dangerous to dock. I literally did not leave the house one time on Saturday.

We were planning on seeing Piper early Sunday morning. But when I checked the traffic report, all of the parkways heading north were either flooded or closed for debris removal. Right about then, the thunder, lightning and hailstorm kicked into high gear.

Around 2 in the afternoon, the rain turned to a drizzle, so Reagan and I decided to wander out and inspect the damage. Luckily, there were no downed tree limbs across our car. We took a stroll to Ft. Tryon Park, where the parks department had already done a stellar job of clearing all of the mess from the storm. Plus, I really liked the photo below, that I snapped of Reagan, on our walk home. We made it back inside, right as it started to really pour, again.

In spite of high hopes coming into the weekend, it turned out to be kind of a bust. Reagan and I weren’t feeling super well on Saturday morning, so we scrapped the plan to pick up Piper’s stuff in Jersey, and instead, headed straight to the hospital. By Saturday evening it was pretty apparent that we were both coming down with some sort of ailment.

I spent the entire day, Sunday laid up in bed. Reagan toughed it out and made the trip to church. For her reward, she is feeling even worse today. Neither of us went into work today. I have been logged in from home, trying to get some stuff done. But it has been slow going, since my head is still so cloudy.

Staying home wasn’t a hard decision to make, when we woke up to sideways rain pelting against the window. As nasty as the weather was today, it certainly did make for a cozy sick day. Late in the afternoon, the clouds broke for a minute and I ventured out to move the car (which is when I shot the image above). Hopefully those clouds will take our illness along with them, on their way out of town.

The worst part of this ordeal, of course, is not being able to see Piper. From the nurse’s report, this morning, it seems as though she may have made some progress during the night. They were able to come down on her ventilator settings a bit. Last time she was totally paralyzed they were able to make the same progress. The real test will be, if she can maintain those settings when they back off the sedatives. Fingers crossed. We miss you Piper!

Yesterday was the final weekend of 2009 Summer Streets. It just happened to coincide with the weekend that my dad and youngest brother were in town for the tour-de-revo-war ’09. It wasn’t the best of weather, in fact Hurricane Bill threw a pretty nasty burst at us the previous night, taking out 500 trees, in the City’s parks. In the photo above (taken by my brother Pete) part of a cordoned off downed tree can actually be seen in the back ground, as we rode/skated through Riverside Park.

Skating through Grand Central Station from Jacob Breinholt on Vimeo.

We were not deterred by the rain though. It had actually stopped raining, for the most part, by the time that we left for Park Ave. My dad and brother were on bikes. My friend Col, decided to tackle the 20+ mile route with me, on a longboard. It was a really good ride, even though my bearings have since, completely seized up.

After we went all of the way down Park Ave. (and Lafayette) to the Brooklyn Bridge, and back to CP. We met up with Reagan and Col’s family at Bro. Jimmy’s for some barbecue. It was delicious.

Here for the rest of the photos.

Here for another short vid.

Timing has not been my forte, today. First I had the train incident, this morning. Then, as luck (or lack thereof) would have it, the only 10 minutes that mother nature decides to make it rain today, occurred right as I walked outside to go get a passport photo taken. As a result,  any and all customs officials who look at the document for the next 10 years will be able to see my impersonation of an angry drowning rat.

On the bright side, there is a Wendy’s right across the street from the place that I had my photo done. I never really eat lunch, and I never really get to have Wendy’s (since there is no veggie-burger for Reagan). So at least I was able to stop in and grab some JBCBs, which I have not had in quite a while.

Another possible upside is that the angry look on my face, may actually come to my advantage. During my travels abroad it is possible that upon viewing the photo, any customs agents who were thinking about giving me trouble, will think twice. At least he will if there is any truth to the excerpt in the image below:

This, incidentally, was taken from the book “Ghosts/Aliens” (by Trey [Robert] Hamburger), which was given to me as a Christmas gift from my brother-in-law, Nathan. I’m still making my way through it. This was one of my favorite parts, so far. All tough guys have mustaches and crew cuts.

The pictures came out a little blurry, which is how everything looked in real life, as well. It was a very wet and cold race. Despite the weather, there was a huge turnout. I was really surprised at the amount of runners that showed. We saw a lot of our friends there. When I finished, I ran into our friend Tushna, who had come out in the weather to watch us finish. She took this pictures of Mike, Reagan and myself. I was expecting to have a really crappy race, because of the weather, and because my ipod died while I was waiting in the starting grid. It ended up not being bad, at all. I was even pretty pleased with my time. As you can imagine, the kilt didn’t hold it’s pleats. Here are the rest of the photos.

I came across this Lo-Bo hip hop video earlier this year on Animal NY. I thought it was appropriate to share today, being that there are plenty of lightning bolts flying in the NYC area. There are some pretty awesome super powers going on in the video. I wonder if they have tried to recruit this guy.

I know that I have complained about this before, but dude, it never ceases to blow my mind/annoy the ever-living crap out of me. It is bad enough trying to maneuver the sidewalks in the rain when everyone is wielding their umbrellas like weapons, so why continue to have them open while walking on covered bridge? Today I finally snapped a shot. You can probably tell from the image quality that it was an over-the-shoulder shot with a camera phone. But, at least you can see what I’m talking about. Come to think of it, that guy looks a lot like Ted Swenson. I wonder if he took a position with AMEX or Merrill Lynch. Hmmmm. Anyway, Ted and the guy behind him, both left their gargantuan umbrellas open over the entire (enclosed) Vessey St. foot bridge. It was especially pleasant trying to navigate around them on the stairs. Why is it always the guys with the freaking gargantuan portable tents, that are the biggest offenders? Well, my homey Collin, one of the most prominent minds in advertising on the East Coast, has a theory about that.