3 posts tagged “nyc”

04

This pleasant Sunday morning I'm going to the Apple Store in 5th Ave. and the Nintendo World Store in Rockefeller Center. I'm purchasing Legend of Zelda garb, and the new Super Mario DS.

It's usually surreal because you picture them differently than you would imagine. I'm meeting up with a podcaster on Sunday morning at a nearby restaurant for lunch with a friend. It'll cost me an arm and a leg.

    I've interviewed some well known personalities in technology such as Leo Laporte, Steve Gibson, Amber MacArthur, Sarah Lane, Andy Walker, Chris DiBona, Dick DeBartolo, and Mike Lazazzera.

    One of the older cast members from Star Trek. I was interning at Tekserve in Manhattan at the front desk and he lugged in an iMac G3 asking for a repair ticket. I handed it off to him not even knowing who I was speaking to. Immediately afterwards, my coworkers crowded at the greeter's desk asking me whether I knew who he was. I didn't and I still don't know his name to this very day.

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            It was the snowstorm of New York City history. 26.5 inches of snow was recorded in Central Park. If Homeland Security and FEMA's response to Katrina were miserable, then Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Klein's sensitivity to the public reactions were apathetic. Stock up on milk, bread and toilet paper. There were children's tears over not having a snow day on Monday—NYC public schools are open, kids! Many schools on Long Island and private schools across the city were closed on February 13.

            The treacherous return to school and work was not without its obstacles. Among them were crossing snow forts, unpaved sidewalks, and slippery, slushy puddles. But the press sees no evil when the chancellor and mayor fail to close the schools. This veritable winterstorm was a triumph: a traumatic orgy for the mayor, juxtaposed with the bitterness of the recent transit strike. Now, Mr. Mayor, closing down the schools would be a sign of weakness. If you close the schools, aren't you putting your reputation in danger? Exactly. Riots would ensue among working parents who would be forced to stay at home and businesses that would lose productivity. Ideally, the mayor and chancellor ought to close down the schools or delay an opening, but more often than not, their decisions are best suited for their reputations rather than safety. As expected, there was low attendance among students at school.

            According to the mayor, mass transit is the way to go. This snowballed into slow bus service for regular commuters. There were still messes into some stations: mounds of two feet of snow. Students had a true sense of anxiety on first going to school and returning home on Monday afternoon.