My friend Alex got married in the city clerk’s office on Tuesday, perhaps, as many of us wondered, after a sighting of flying pigs on their way to a frozen over hell, perhaps because he found the right person and wants to be happy. We’ll never know.
So, anyway, I attended my first 8:30 AM wedding, and to make sure we didn’t have a long wait inside, I got there early and waited at the front of the line. During that wait, I found I had a big, scary looking folding knife in my work bag, left over from gathering up some tools to take to the office during last week’s ConEd problems. Nobody remembers the knife until they are at the airport, or in this case facing a city metal detector and bag xray with the vague possibility that you’re really needed as a witness since the rest of the party hasn’t arrived yet. My friend Jared recently few up to New York while accidently carrying this same model of knife and we were pretty amazed that he made it up. It’s not small.
So, I just asked the security guys what I should do and they told me, “take it to the booth.” That’s right, outside the municipal buildings, the city has a security booth where you can check weapons you’ve accidently turned up with. I wouldn’t try it with a Glock, but they took the knife without asking a question, gave me a sticker to claim it with, and that was that.
Congrats Alex and Irina.
I got to witness the northern edge of today’s steam explosion at 41st and Lex. The office is just north of there. The lights flickered and a huge cloud of what looked to be smoke was coming up Lexington. The popular guess was a massive bomb had gone off, frightening because it appeared to be right by where we were due to go to dinner in 5 minutes. It was a scary, near-miss feel, but nobody panicked. It took a few minutes to walk down to the street and the bomb rumor was still being discussed. It wasn’t clear until later that it a steam explosion.
Another unfortunate ConEd problem in the city. Blackout after blackout, explosion after explosion and we get a few announcements right after the problem and then nothing seems to change.
Rear Admiral Eugene Fluckey has passed away at 93. His book on commanding the USS Barb, Thunder Below!, is a fantastic memoir of WWII Pacific Submarine warfare and I highly recommend it.
A good quiet Sunday. Brunch, weight lifting and a run in the park. Dinner. Ice cream.
Flight of the Conchords’ rap names being Hiphopopatamus and Rhymenocerous has me howling.
I’ve learned something from this vacation. I’ve heard people say that they don’t know what they would do if they had to retire or hit the lottery. There are people who don’t know what to do without work. I am not one of those people. I’d make a fantastic member of the idle rich, I mean truly exemplary.
All good things must come to an end.
I went to Kali again. We practiced wing and umbrella blocks from the floor. It’s loads of fun. Someone swings a stick at your side or head and you go from basically holding a cane on the ground to blocking it. The big trick seems to be stepping along with the swing coming at you so you wind up on the far side of your opponent.
After class, Wilmar and I grabbed lunch and caught up on gossip. Then I did some lifting and hit the bike.
Finally, a late dinner with Lala and Sar at Mama Mexico. Service is one step up from being beaten by a mob and the drinks are terrible, but it’s a fun place. There’s just not enough Mariachi around these days.