Misfit Images

If you don't want your records, throw them on the sidewalk like frisbees!

How is this different than the regular can?

I didn't try one, but it looks fun.

Morningside Park, right by the apartment.  It's nice.

Ramen!  Better than the 10 cent version, but 100x more expensive.

Bag magicians.  They can repair any bag in this tiny suite while you wait.

Some fun cakes in Spanish Harlem.

Grilled Octopus.  Delicious!

Oh, my eyes!

What...?!

Is...?!

This...?!

Monstrosity...?!

Why is this on the street?  Make it go away.

It's like visiting the suburbs without crossing water!

Erin approves of Target!

It's amazing how you walk through the doors of Target and suddenly you are transported to the suburbs, at least mentally.  I found it traumatizing, but Erin thinks it's fun to push a giant cart around and buy things cheaply.

Of course, you have to take a black livery cab home because the wheels on the cart have radio sensors.  If you take the cart outside of the store or parking garage, the wheels lock.  Great anti-theft idea.

Only in New York

Columbia vending machine.

Hummus.

Yes, you can get hummus and a spoon from our vending machines.  No chips or candy bars here!

Times Square

I guess this one is cheating, but I've been walking through Times Square a lot lately for job interviews.  Maybe I'll do NYE here this year.

"Healthy" food.

Is this even food?  Sesame oil flavored seaweed?  What is this world coming to?

$1 ice cream

These little Mexican ice cream carts are delicious.  They pop up all over during the summer.

I have a feeling they are all really cold.

I think this might exist in Las Vegas too, but it's still close to being a NYC exclusive.  I need to go.

I walk by this almost daily.

Pretty impressive.

Quintessential New York

Classic scene.

I took the picture through a window, so it's slightly unclear, but it captures so many sights at once.

1. A taxi.  This one is pretty obvious.
2. A Melon Psychic Truck (AKA FreshDirect)  They are everywhere and deliver our groceries.
3. A bicyclist.  (Behind the bolt bus.)  These people are fearless.
4. A bus.  Driving here is too frustrating, so let someone else drive.
5. Hoards of people for no reason.  There is no special event happening.  There are just that many people.
6. Traffic.  These are the people that didn't see bullet number 4.
7. Scaffolding.  Half the sidewalks in the city have scaffolding so people don't die from falling debris.
8. Art Deco architecture.  Everyone recognizes the Empire State Building and Chrysler building, but the 1930s style is present all over the city, including in this shot.

The only thing missing is pizza (which Fridays probably serves) and an NYPD car/horse/buggy/segway.

Oh wait, here's the NYPD next door.

Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite?  I guess the Manhattan Center used to be a Masonic Temple?

NYC Fashion

I'm clearly a boring dresser.  The most stylish item in my wardrobe are a pair of dress shoes.

Top

Side

OK, now that we have established the limits of my style, let's see what others wear.

Black/white fishnets with boots.

A bee costume!

OK, I've never had the urge to dress up as a bee and walk public streets, but I guess I understand that.

A giant sword.

This sort of makes sense.  Who wants to mess with a guy holding a giant sword?

A guy with an orange tail?

I think he's a fox or something.  I don't think I would feel comfortable walking around with a tail and ears.

Then again, this is a pretty popular profession.  (see below)

Dueling Elmos.

There are so many Elmos in Times Square that you can catch them standing next to each other.  Visiting children must be really confused.

More Papaya

Remember how New York is full of places that sell papaya juice?

More papayas!

Now you can get some papaya juice and follow it up with the best pizza in NYC for only a $1!  Or maybe it's the best pizza for you can get for a dollar, which are two very different things.  No thanks.

Oddities

So let's show a few things you might not find just anywhere.

Yes, these colors are real.

My sushi bowl changed colors as I ate.  It also had a giant "tree" sticking out.  Oh, and yes, the restaurant was purple and hazy.  That was a first.  I was also given some strange Japanese fruit balls which you can see in front of the sashimi in the bowl.  This place happens to be just three blocks north of the apartment, so I may have to go back and see if this is normal.

The door to the cleaner scrubber room.

I'm not sure what to say.  On the subway platform, there is a door.  I'm really curious what a cleaner scrubber looks like.  I'm also curious what happens to all the dead rats in the tunnel.  (See the sign in the upper left.)

Indoor mini-golf?

The middle of the second floor of the Time Warner Center was converted into a carnival of sorts.  I'm not really sure why, but it looked fun.  I didn't have time to play since I was on the way to an interview, but I'm pretty sure most luxury malls don't convert into arcades all that often.

My barber for the day.

My regular barber appears to have been fired recently, so I decided to try a new place.  The entire shop is around 75 square feet.  It's just big enough to fit four people and two chairs.  That works really well actually.  The size isn't actually what's amazing.  The amazement is due to my six minute haircut.  I was in and out within SIX minutes, including a straight-razor neck shave.  That's scary and impressive at the same time.  For $15, I suppose a six minute haircut is what I should expect.  (It looked a little different, but not terrible.)

Walking the dog.

They say dogs look like their owners.  This was absolutely true here.  The dog looked 100 years old.  The owner looked 120.  The dog could barely walk, while the owner couldn't at all.  Together, they were *barely* moving.  The motorized scooter was going 0.1mph as the dog hobbled along.  It was sort of sad and charming at the same time.

Huh?!

Sorry for the blurry picture, but it was nighttime and I was in a cab.  You're probably thinking that gas station appears to have white blobs resembling sheep near the pumps.  That's because this gas station DID have sheep at the pumps.  I had no explanation at the time, but my good friend Google had the answer.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/18/sheep-station_n_3943140.html

Do other cities have sheep stations?

Times Square From Above

One of the companies I am interviewing for has an office in Times Square, so I took advantage of the scenery before my interview.

The famous ball.

The madness below.

Commuting into Times Square might not be the most fun daily activity.  There are only so many times you can tolerate people standing on the sidewalk taking pictures without regard to everyone else on the sidewalk not taking pictures.