Sandy Aftermath

It’s calm. A good time for some meditation.

The building windows still have the useless tape crosses, some probably still from Irene.

Tons of sand are removed from the streets

Beach is where it was not before

Most of the messed up cars have been towed, but some streets are still full of sand

Garbage imbedded in fences

The iconic Shore Hotel sign twisted in the wind

Nathans is full of water and sand

Brighton’s old ladies are back on the benches though

This limo probably spent some time under water

Dirt marks the high water line

Brighton beach streets are never particularly tidy, but now businesses have basements full of water

This cab has seen better days for sure

The swans are back. I wonder where they went for the storm. The Sheepshead Bay bridge is all jacked up though.

Getting into Manhattan is a pain in the ass.

Buses think that they are trains

Downtown Manhattan is eery – it’s dark and there’s no cell reception. Cops set up flares by the bus route

Getting back into Brooklyn is even more of a pain. Cops have no idea where the shuttle buses stop saying that they are not MTA, and MTA employees send you in the wrong direction. Streets by the bus routes are lit by road flares. Only the Empire State Building is lit. It’s red – orange – yellow in honor of Thanksgiving.

The Non-Plumber Brothers From Brooklyn

There’s a very famous Brooklyn restaurant called Lundy Brothers located in Sheepshead Bay.  For years I kind of squinted at the weird stamped letters above the sign which seemed to read “E.W.I.L.”.

Apparently it says “F.W.I.L”  which stands for Frederick William Irving Lundy (and not the separate Lundy brothers) , who founded the restaurant in 1934.

In the later years there Lundy Brothers had a lot of ups and downs – from opening a branch in Manhattan (I think it’s out of business now) to closing its doors and not being able to pay wages to servers and chefs. And then reopening again. Now a part of the giant Lundy building is occupied by a mediocre Japanese food joint Momoyama, but it seems like they still operate in a part of the building.  Also a towering addition behind the restaurant seems to be undergoing some renovations.

Alma Mater Is In The News Again

Looks like I’ve got some street cred, yo. I graduated from one of the 12 toughest schools in New York City.

“We are cracking down on the schools with the worst safety records,” said Michael R. Bloomberg. “They will be getting more police officers and a top to bottom review of all safety and disciplinary procedures.” …”

The Impact Schools are as follows: Evander Childs, Adlai Stevenson and Christopher Columbus High Schools in the Bronx; South Shore, Canarsie, Thomas Jefferson, Sheepshead Bay, Franklin K. Lane High Schools in Brooklyn; Washington Irving High School in Manhattan; and Far Rockaway High School in Queens. Two Bronx middle schools, JHS-22 and IS-222, were also included.

How I Went Fishing With Michael Pryor

Ok, since I started ranting about fishing, here’s a good story.

I went fishing once with Michael Pryor, whom you might know as the president of Fog Creek Software. We went on the Dorothy B VIII for a half day of fluke fishing.

The trip wasn’t going well. The boat was a bit crowded, there was an obnoxious redneck with a loud kid right next to us. And neither of us were catching anything. Well, actually I caught two really big skates. But skates are not fun to catch. It was still nice to be able to get some fresh air, fish and talk, but I was afraid Michael was regretting taking the train all the way from Manhattan to Sheepshead Bay for that.

Exactly the second the captain announced “lines up, let’s go home” Michael got a bite. And caught the biggest damn fluke on the entire boat, effectively winning the pool for the biggest fish. Fishing on that boat for years, I never caught a fluke that big.

The secret, is of course luck, but in addition, we were both fishing with a special kind of a bucktail called the Atomic Bullet. A bucktail is a sinker with a hook attached to it. I never liked those, but I’ve been hearing that the biggest flukes were caught on that. And it looks like that’s true. I’ll be using those this season.

P.S. If you know of any good fishing blogs, please let me know.

Need To Move

My rent is up and I am completely fed up with the building where I live. I definitely need to move.

The real-estate market is at it’s peak, and buying now is probably stupid. Still, I am looking.

How about this? Nice, huh? And just 245K.

Seriously though, does anyone know a good realtor (actually it’s Realtor® , but I hate them so much.. ) in Sheepshead Bay?

Untitled


Don’t you hate people who rip off Escher? This is from a mosaic on Sheepshead Bay subway station. Made by a no talent, unoriginal hack.

There used to be a nice mosaic on Kings Highway station, in Egyptian drawing style, but depicting people with tokens in hand going through subway turnstiles.

Mosaics are probably the only decorative elements in NYC subway. Look at them. How Spartan are the walls. The tiles on the walls are in shape worse than in many public restrooms.

Oooh, found a great site.

Anyways, what was I rambling about? Oh, right, subway mosaics. Looks like new ones are being added. They look so ugly surrounded by that white tile :(

Nevins street has a cool mosaic medallion – a letter “N” which looks just like Netscape “N”. Can’t find a picture, gotta take one.

Need to visit NYC Transit Museum.

Flower Shop at the End of Forever


Ok, maybe not at the end of forever, but definitely under the train overpass at Sheepshead Bay station.
These new led powered traffic lights are so damn bright (that’s what that red thing in the left corner is).
Oh, and of course, it rained like crazy.