Well, this is a lot but it is all visual – it is not "homework", there is not tons of uninterrupted writing to work through. I went through the trouble of numbering them so that you could go through the trouble of casting a vote if you feel like commenting. In some ways I am glad that that little old digital camera that I had broke because I am really liking what my phone can do. All of these are uncropped, so what you are seeing is what I "snapped".
The verbal descriptions will be under the photos this time. It worked better that way after I numbered things.
5/22 - last Friday.
The day started early – this photo was taken at about 7:30 am just around the corner from Sister's house (it is not an apartment – I called it that previously so I am clearing it up here) on the way to the job. She lives right near the water. This is the last working pier in NYC. Those cranes take containers off the ships.
Friday was a 5-story walk-up. That means that there was no elevator. It was a really hard job with tons of stuff. I climbed a lot of stairs that day. I think that I felt pretty good overall. I know it felt good to end. Here is Ariel taking a short lunch break before going back to the stairs.
This is what was behind the building we moved the people out of – a huge rock. This photo doesn't do this anomaly justice. The thing is like four stories high and covered with trees right there between all the buildings.
On the way to the delivery Friday, going over the Queensboro (?sp) Bridge. I like the Pepsi building and the clouds.
The delivery on that job was a one story walk-up and it felt SO easy after the morning of climbing five stories. Still, at the end of the day we were all pretty beat. The customer gave us all $50 each as a tip plus a six-pack of beer. I passed on the beer but not on the money.
This is looking out the back of the truck. This is a part of Queens where the customer moved to.
Cody – trying to recover after a 10 hour day of climbing stairs and hauling boxes and furniture.
Friday night, about 8:00 pm. Just about home.
Can you see the Statue of Liberty in this photo?
This is Saturday a little after 8:00 am. This is Ariel. This is him all the time we are in the truck. This is why he always gets a window seat. Ariel is a smoker. Cigarettes are over $10/pack with 20 cigarettes in a pack. That is over 50 cents a smoke. Consequently, Ariel has earned the nickname "50 Cent" from me.
Saturday, it was only me, Ariel, and Alon and we finished pretty early. The move was very straightforward. The weekends in New York have had a lot of street fairs since I have been here. That means lots of fun for shoppers and tourists but for movers it means more traffic and less parking. We got two parking tickets. Alon asked the customer – a young international lawyer – to pay for them (as per the contract) and they got into a heated argument (I wasn't present for that). The customer seemed very happy with the move to that point but not so happy after that. He paid for one ticket. We got no tip.
Alon brought these home. Saturday we met Morris and his wife for dinner. I posted some pictures of that before.
Sunday morning, after my run and after visiting Church, I went with Alon and Nola to a neighborhood garden. The next several pictures were taken there.
Sort of similar to passion fruit flowers, though not exactly the same. I don't know what these are.
I am not afraid of bees. I love bees! They turn a still life flower photo into an action shot. I love the extra dimension that bees add. Several of my flowers have bees here.
Not just a flower garden. Nice.
Snails in the garden.
Some sort of onion.
Bee.
Bee.
Yellow rose.
Cherries and plums.
Dogwood.
Done with those petals.
And with these ones.
I like the contrast here.
After a few minutes at the garden (one of my favorite parts of the day), Ari and Talia met us and we went to eat. This is Talia across a kilometer of pizza.
And here is Nola. She didn't feel good.
This looked REALLY good at the time, but it just doesn't look good here in the photo. Oh, well.
I smudged the camera (with pizza grease?) and I just couldn't get a clear photo here. This is out the back of the pizza joint. I love the ivy on that back building.
Nature in the City. This is a 3 or 4" tall iron work on a wall.
Flowers on the sidewalk.
This is a great handrail. Kudos to whoever did that.
Sunday was my first experience riding the subway. Here is a train zooming past. I love that somehow I caught a guy in this photo. I also love that he is not clear, that the snapshot preserves the experience of anonymity that people experience in the subway.
This is the view most people have on the train. People spend a lot of time not really looking.
Rushing on.
We got off the subway at Rockefeller Center. I guess that it is like a big mall. I don't really know. I wasn't really on a guided tour or anything. Ari had something in mind and I was just following. She told me Monday morning that I didn't have to come along – that I am not the point of everything they do. I do have another sibling in the City, after all, and my friend Jeremy lives here. Here are the only problems that I have with that – I don't think that everything that they do that seems touristy is about me, but if there was a misunderstanding I wasn't the only person who failed to communicate; I did think they were taking me to see the City – I haven't really had any of that sort treatment since my first day here. Aside from that misunderstanding I would note that I had never ridden the train in New York before Sunday, my friend left after Church because he had to work, and I still don't have keys to the house here. So, okay, I don't have to tag along on the family outings – but as a visitor what else am I supposed to do? Leave and be locked out, or just stay in my sister's home alone the whole day while they are out? Somehow, I think that those aren't the best options either. The point – I thought I was going to get a guided tour but I didn't. I did get a lot of photos though. Glad we got that cleared up. Photo #50 here is just outside of Rockefeller Center. I guess that this is normally a lot of different flags but for Memorial Day it was all American flags.
These are the flowers from around the fountain in 52.
This was my first experience using the panoramic setting on my camera. The difference in lighting (note that there are three different sections on the building and not just tow sections of different lighting) is because this is one of those panoramic photos that is made of three stitched photos. So the auto contrast is adjusting the lighting differently each time in the three different sections of the photo.
There are a lot of these fancy old churches in New York City.
This is a city of walkers.
58 – 61 are all the same building. I am convinced that THIS church is literally God's. See how the clouds separate directly over IT.
Wow!!!
You see what I mean by God's? You see how it has a special column of heavenly light shining down just on it?
I saw the Disney store. Can you see me in the photo? Or at least part of me?
Look closely at the windows across the street. I love this building!
I walked past Trump Tower. Are there a lot of these here in the City? I have no idea. But today we moved some people into a Trump building. I don't know if they are all Towers though.
I walked past Tiffany & Co.
Becky, would you like that wooden guy for an art class room?
This is some famous hotel? The Plaza? Ari told me. I think that is it. It is directly across from Central Park.
Lots of people take photos of the Plaza.
As we entered Central Park. Tons of artisans. I was super ready to sit and relax. I was pretty wiped out by this point and I thought that we were just going to hang out when we turned toward the park because it seemed like there was no preconceived plan of action. I should never underestimate Ari's ability to plan on the move.
SUPER UNFORTUNATELY, I wasn't the only one with a low battery when we got to Central Park. My phone battery was pretty low as well. Still I got a lot of photos, but this doesn't show anywhere near everything I experienced in the park.
This is a photo of sparrows.
Everybody was there relaxing, laying out, with family or with loved ones. I was coveting a little of that. I really would have liked just to have a day-at-the-beach at the park. I was thinking a lot about Gabe and Becky and some of my other friends whom I would have liked to chill out with at the park. Ari asked me about this time why I was so grumpy. That is why – tiredness, and I miss MY family sometimes. Sorry I was grumpy. I needed to spend some time charging my battery.
Can you see the boats just up there? That is where we are going. You can rest when we get up there. Hmm. I couldn't see any boats or any water.
Another sparrow.
I love this photo. This guy with the bubbles is a true saint – giving so much joy to others with no extrinsic reward. Either that, or he is a pied-piper (or pied-bubbler) and he is going to steal all the children by leading them away with bubbles. I have a feeling they would follow him anywhere.
There is so much happening in the park. I would love to go back there to hang out and spend a lot of time with somebody. That is what this park speaks to me. It says slow down, find a lower gear, hang out, you can't see it all at once anyway. If anybody comes out here to visit me while I am here in NYC, we will have to make a trip to Central Park.
Caribbean drummers and people dancing. What is this place where people just party? This is the Carribean-effect. It may cause spontaneous dancing.
Ok, we made it to the boat. Can you see it in the edge of the photo? The amazing thing in this photo is that it isn't jammed up with other boats. There were millions of boats out there.
Sunday night, Alon and I parted ways with Ari and went to see Morris. I have no idea where we actually went. I have no idea where he actually lives. Queens? The Bronx? I don't know. But I turned on my dead phone just for this photo from one of the stops we made on the train. After this, there are no more photos from Sunday. The phone was dead. We went to his place to watch basketball. The Cleveland Cavaliers lost to the Orland Magic. But at least the Cleveland Indians are doing well in baseball. It was great to see Morris. It was great to just sit on the couch for a few hours and not do anything.
Monday, Memorial Day. Barbeque Day. This is a barbeque to people not from Memphis. In Memphis, a barbeque is pulled pork or something weird like that.
Can you see me?
Thank you, Alon. Monday was a lot of fun.
Morris, his wife, and his mother-in-law. Morris speaks Korean now.
This is the person staying with Alon and Ari. I now live on a couch in the basement/office/family room. Kaoru is here from Japan studying English. Would you have ever guess that she is a Japanese tourist/student? Notice that the mother-in-law is more comfortable feeding others than being fed by others. I am sure that Morris has noticed. I am sure that his butt has noticed. Just ask Ari. She calls him Secretary-Butt. Hahahaha.
The move that we did on Tuesday was from here to Beacon, New York – 75 miles up the Hudson. This photo was taken on the street where we moved the people from. It was pretty overcast. The temperature all week has been in the 60s.
These aren't grey brick buildings – they are just dirty. At least that is what I think. This is across the street from where we moved the people out of on Tuesday.
This is on the way up the Hudson.
Can you see that there is a big bridge in this photo? It is on the left, between the hill and the trees.
School zone.
Little red school house?
I just like the picket fence. It is beautiful when you get out of the City up here. Tuesday was a couple of firsts for me – first time in New York outside of the city, first time we moved a piano, first time I ate Taco Bell at work here – it was wonderful, I love Taco Bell. Bean burrito, no onions. I could subsist on a diet of bean burritos from Taco Bell.
Finally, here is a photo of 50 Cent today. This is the only thing from today (Thursday). We did a job yesterday and today that took two days. It was a pretty big job. This was the wealthiest apartment I have moved yet. This guy had like twenty D&G suits. I own one suit. I felt poorer than I have felt for a long time. Ex-Mormons from Salt Lake. He got an MBA at UCLA. Counter covered with liquor, one fridge dedicated to wines. LDS scriptures buried in dust under the bed. They lived next door to the Mormon Temple before the move. I wonder when things changed for them. They tipped us $20/each for two days worth of work. It was a bad tip. They seemed genuinely happy with the service – we did a good job. They paid us like a 2% tip (total for the four of us). Oh, well. It is what it is.
