^—–Ice flowing out to the harbor.

^——WFC Water Taxi Terminal

^——Random Police Barricade, recently installed next to 7 WTC

^——Looking at Jersey City from North Cove Marina

I had my camera with me anyway, for a different event, yesterday evening. So I dropped into the Auto Expo at the WFC Winter Garden, for a minute, yesterday evening. I have to say, it was a weak turnout, compared to last year. Neither Astin Martin, or Bugatti showed up this year. For the most part, it was a bunch of domestic garbage. There were a few diamonds in the rough, though. I did like the Mercedes, above. Audi also showed up with their new R8 design (below), hot!

Let’s not leave out Bentley. Although I could never see myself in one (at lease not under the age of 60). The convertible coupe is definitely a well made automobile.

Below are a couple of more details:

The race was awesome. I wasn’t too stoked about having to go the rest of the way downtown afterward, to have to spend the rest of the day indoor. The biggest bummer is that a lot of what I’m doing today, involved a waiting around for things to happen. Since I had my camera with me, from this morning. Here are a few shots. The first one is the progress on the new 1 World Trade Center Tower:

The next one, is the view looking north, from one of the conference rooms that I’m working out of.

Not nearly as good as our southern views. But at least looking out this side doesn’t make me feel as bad about being inside today. It would be a different story, if I could see the promenade, and the water.

I have always wondered if these signs are confusing to tourists and other (non-New Jersey) out of towners. Path to what? They come out of the subway in lower Manhattan and there is this huge orange sign staring at them.  Is the Path kind of like the yellow brick road? No, dude. Sorry, it is just a train that shuttles people back and forth from the Garden State, and occasionally has a giant chicken in front of its WFC entrance.

Growing up, skateboarding in the streets of SLC, being yelled at and chased by security guards and 5-0 was part of the sport. It was a part of the sport that was totally lame. Even worse than the perma-scabbed knees and elbows. It has been awesome to see how over the years, society’s perception of skateboarding has shifted so radically. The stigma placed on skateboarders has gone from street-thug-vandal, to talented athlete. Skating around in more youthful days, we assumed that every little plaza, set of stairs, hand-rail etc. was illegal to be skating, unless marked otherwise. The one exception to this was the University of Utah campus, which was a free-for-all. I would be lying if I said that this policy did not heavily influenced my decision to attend the institution for my undergraduate career. Ok, maybe not heavily influence. But it was something that I definitely took into consideration.

In current times, assumptions on whether or not it is safe to skate, have completely reversed. One can safely assume that it is ok to skate, unless marked otherwise. These signs in the plaza bordering the WFC yacht harbor are examples. Even if one errs in assumption, the worst that is likely to occur is a friendly notice by a rent-a-cop. It’s good to live in the 2000′s.

I guess that I’m using the term “weekend” loosely, here. These shots were all taken on my way from my office to the train on Friday evening. I suppose that being able to take some pics on the way out on Friday  is one of the perks of having daylight until almost 6:30 these days.

I will never get sick of watching sunsets over the harbor. So I apologize if anyone reading this, gets tired of the photos.

[Liberty Street footbridge that crosses over the West Side Highway. I kind of like it.]

One thing about living at the top of a walk-up building, is that I that I always have my daily dose of stairs. As if that weren’t enough, Reagan always coerces me into taking the stairs with her, even when we are in a (residential) building with an elevator. I don’t really mind it.

Today, more than ever, I could use a good stair workout. I have been having some weird stomach issues lately. I’m not really sure what they are all about. But, I read (and someone told me recently) that yogurt can sometimes help, if it is an ulcer or something. So I dropped by Gristedes today and picked up some yogurt and granola. I didn’t realize until I got back to my office that the type of yogurt I purchased was whole milk with cream on top. Whoa! I didn’t even know that stuff was legal. Anyway, it was really good. Needless to say, I’m feeling a bit sloppy after eating it.

On a loosely related note, Earth Hour is only a month away, so buy some Birkenstocks and incense.

I’m guessing it’s because of the current phase of construction on WTC, but for whatever reason, they have the sidewalk closed along West Street. I was really annoyed about this, at first. When I have to deviate from my routines, annoyance seems to be the default attitude. Whatever grief this inconvenience  initially caused me, was quickly overcome when I peeked at this sunset. I probably would not have even noticed it, had I not been forced to take a slightly different route out of the building this evening. Thanks WTC construction guys.

Growing up in Salt Lake valley, I am no stranger to the winter inversions that occurred there. Even though the air over the valley would get dangerously loaded up with particulate matter between storms, it sure made for some dramatic sunsets. In NYC, we don’t have the inversions, but we can rely on our good neighbor New Jersey to give us an equally dramatic effect via their oil refineries. Thanks for the gorgeous sunset, Jerz.