Dodging the Red Line

.

Major subway problems and slow, refugee-clogged buses forced me to trek to work on foot this morning, a 2.5 mile walk of about 45 minutes through windy, gray mid-autumn cold.

At Judiciary Square near MCI Center, a group of suited Metro security (?) personnel milled out of a bus, unsure as to where the station was.

On K Street at Franklin Square, a woman was walking up and down the sidewalk with a sign: “TERRORISTS GO TO HELL. IF YOU VOTE BUSH YOU MIGHT GO TO HELL!” (She must have known that today is INTERNATIONAL CAPS LOCK DAY.)

At McPherson Square, a flock of geese flew overhead in V formation. A driver in a pickup truck saw the flock, pulled a little goose call from his glove compartment and honked it loudly out his window. None of the geese stopped, but it was good for a laugh from passers-by.

I really should walk to and from work more often. Good exercise, great scenery, and exhilaratingly biting cold as the fall transitions to winter.

Sox and Snake

.

Congratulations, Red Sox. So I was part-joking earlier this week that “all” the Sox had to do was win three more games in a row; then not only would they get to the World Series for the first time in eight years, but also make history as the first team to do so after coming back from a 3-0 ACLS deficit. Well, they went and did it. Recovered their game losses and went on to a smashing win in New York last night.

Salim, Meg, and Allah are understandably ecstatic, and Michele is magnanimous.

Fellow Yankees fans, I commiserate with you in these slap-happy times of distress and despair.

Artsy NY/NJ Weekend

.

Amy sketches a Rembrandt

I was up in New York and New Jersey with Amy last weekend: Saturday morning at the Met to sketch some Old Masters, Saturday afternoon at the Forum Gallery to view the paintings of Paul Fenniak and Peter Greaves (we knew Peter from MICA; amazing artist — check him out), and Sunday at the Rahway Arts Guild for an opening in which Amy had a painting. Lots of art viewed, and we took some time at home to watch the new DVD editions of A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back.

I also went on a spree with the new camera. Here’s the visual fruit, including Amy and my reflection at a pizza place near Lexington and 57th, and a highly original photo of Grand Central, from an angle which I bet no one has ever thought of before.

Pizza Place

Token Grand Central Photo

Maybe he was an Agent

.

I wish I’d brought my camera to the office today. Some guy in a long, flowing, metal-studded black trench coat just drove under my window on a Segway. I didn’t know there were Segways in the Matrix.

Controlling the Infestation

.

AskMefi on cockroach extermination. I’ve been dealing with an infestation problem for the past few weeks now, even after bombing out the roaches’ main breeding grounds under the kitchen table and in the fuse box. They just move to a new spot in the room, and I can only spray Raid and apply Combat Gel so much before the fumes become potentially harmful to my cat — and to me. I’ve told the landlady, and the exterminators have responded with more Combat Gel, but it just hasn’t worked as well as it should.

This Essortment essay on roach extermination has been of great help in controlling the worst of the problem — the tips on water sources and bay leaves are key. As soon as I stopped leaving stagnant water in dishes in the sink, and left a couple of dried bay leaves under the pet dishes, the number of cockroaches crawling around my room lessened significantly. Next step is roach traps, and if those don’t work, I order some Siege Gel.

I really am turning into a priss. Back in Manila, cockroaches the size of cellphones were just par for the course, and I’d make sure to step on one at least once a day. Here, I’ve only had one Cockroach Challenge of Doom in two and a half years.

Sox Resurrection?

.

Congrats go out to Ortiz and the Red Sox for snatching a win from the Yankees after 12 innings, narrowly avoiding a thourough 4-0 loss. Last night, I was sitting in the cafe car of a train heading home from New Jersey, getting updates from one of the [Bostonian] conductors via his GPRS phone, and there was something unreal about “watching” a game via this distilled stream of names and numbers.

Now all the Sox need to do is win three more in a row. Piece of cake, eh?

Update: And Ortiz does it again. We Yankees fans are thunderstruck, I tell you. But what’s up with Wakefield’s pitching? Or was it Varitek’s catching?

Nighttime: Courthouse Cross and Nemo Window

.

My last three cameras — Pencam, Communicam, and Zire — had no flash, so I got used to drawing on existing lighting to illuminate my photos. It’s a habit I’ve carried over to the A400: the environment composes light and shadow for me, and I turn off the flash, using it only as filler for unbalanced light or bright backlighting.

An incidental cross pops out at me at Court House Metro station. Left and right arrows on a cross under a courthouse: are you reading the same metaphor into this that I am?

In the building next to my apartment, a light is on and “Finding Nemo” is ready to play, but the only audience is a little girl’s pair of shoes.

Photos taken with a Canon Powershot A400.

Pandora and the Powershot

.

Thanks in part to a $50 Amazon coupon plus the A9 half-pi instant reward. I treated myself to a Canon Powershot A400 (blue), which arrived this week. Here’s the first photo:

A bit fuzzy, because I had to turn off that pesky orange autofocus assist beam, which was causing the cat to squint. This is my first high-quality digital camera of above 1.3 MP, and it’s a bit overwhelming to have all these features and pixels suddenly at my disposal. More photos soon, as I learn the ropes. Right now I’m flying up to NJ to spend the weekend with Amy and her folks.

You can buy the Canon Powershot A400 (blue) on Amazon. Remember, regular users of A9 (signed in via Amazon) get a discount of half-pi percent.

New Little Garrett Girl

.

Congrats go out to Jason and Dawn! Though they haven’t updated their weblogs yet, the news is spreading through the grapevine (1,2,3) that a little bundle of joy was brought forth Wednesday, Oct 13th; thus the child shares a birthday with me, Wendy, and Netscape.

Better yet, I’ve checked the calendar for the year 2017, and just like myself in 1989, the young lady will be turning 13 on a Friday the 13th. Quite auspicious.

Update: Update and pictures from Dawn.