Manhattan at 5:00 am

It's true that New York never sleeps, but the closest I've come to seeing the city in some form of near-slumber is at 5:00 am on a Wednesday morning. From the previous post, you know I was airport bound last Wednesday at this ridiculously early morning hour. As the towncar slipped (or rather, careened) through the still dark city streets, I enjoyed the feeling of having the city almost to myself for once (in between slammed brakes and wild lane changes).

It's not that I'd never been out in the city at this time of morning... A couple of times, I'd been sliding home from the previous night's festivities, but mostly, I would have been dragging my you-know-what out of bed before even the birds begin stirring so that I can catch one of those awful early morning flights. But last week, something made me actually pay attention.

Last Wednesday at 5:00 am, there were a few people out on the streets -- some of them were definitely straggling home after a Tuesday night of who knows what. But I did also see an uber-committed runner or two, already pounding the sidewalks, iPod's clipped to dry-fit shirts. We passed a group of three men having a conversation on the sidewalk and I wondered what they could possibly be gathered to discuss at that hour.

Manhattan was so peaceful and quiet, a welcome respite from the teeming activity that normally characterizes the city, even during the wee hours. It only took about 10 minutes to get out of the city with the biggest cross-town obstacles simply being a red light or two.

Hard to believe that in less than two hours, the streets would be jumping and thumping, the drone of traffic punctuated with honking horns, sirens and cussing drivers.

They All Look Alike

Once again this past week, I headed back to the west coast for about a week and a half of bouncing around California for work. I flew out on one of the first flights from JKF to San Francisco on Thursday morning and as usual, I booked a towncar for the drive to the aiport from the city. My pick-up time was 5:00 am and the car service called a few minutes before that to confirm that the driver would be on time.

Just before 5:00, I gathered my bags and headed downstairs to meet my driver. The doorman on duty looked up at me sympathetically as he glanced at his watch and saw me dragging a suitcase behind me yet again.

The towncar was right outside the door just as dispatch had promised and as soon as he saw me, the driver popped out, hoisted my suitcase into the trunk and held the door for me to climb into the backseat.

Once we were both settled in our seats, he looked up at me in the rearview mirror and said "Is Mr. Stewart not joining us this morning?"

I know it was 5:00 am and I was barely awake, but I was still pretty sure that I didn't even KNOW a Mr. Stewart, and I definitely had not made arrangements for any sort of pre-dawn shared airport ride with him.

As you could probably guess, this was not my car and in fact, it was not even my car service. My car was actually a block away because his dispatch gave him the wrong cross-street.

When I finally did track down the right car, I laughingly told the driver the story and said something about how all towncars look alike, but he didn't think it was that funny. I didn't think it was very funny that he drove like a freaking maniac all the way to the airport. I was definitely wide awake (due to the adrenaline alone) by the time we pulled up at the American Airlines terminal.

Weekend at Bernie's -- in Hell's Kitchen

This article appeared in the NY Times this week... this is pretty close to where I live:

Even for the once-notorious Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood, it may have been a first: Two men were arrested on Tuesday after pushing a corpse, seated in an office chair, along the sidewalk to a check-cashing store to cash the dead man’s Social Security check, the police said.

When Virgilio Cintron, 66, died at his apartment at 436 West 52nd Street recently, his roommate and a friend saw an opportunity to cash his $355 check, the police said.

They did not go about it the easy way, the police said, choosing a ruse that resembled the plot of “Weekend at Bernie’s,” a film about two young men who prop up their dead employer to pretend that he is alive.

“Hell’s Kitchen has a rich history,” said Paul J. Browne, a police spokesman, “but this is one for the books.”

There was no sign of foul play in Mr. Cintron’s death, he added.

The roommate, James P. O’Hare, and his friend, David J. Dalaia, both 65 and unemployed, placed Mr. Cintron’s body in the chair and wheeled it around the corner, south along Ninth Avenue on Tuesday afternoon, the police said. The men parked the chair with the corpse in front of Pay-O-Matic at 763 Ninth Avenue, a check-cashing business that Mr. Cintron had patronized.

They went inside to present the check, but a clerk said Mr. Cintron would have to cash it himself, and asked where he was, the police said.

“He is outside,” Mr. O’Hare said, indicating the body in the chair, according to Mr. Browne.
The two men started to bring the chair inside, but it was too late.

Their sidewalk procession had already attracted the stares of passers-by who were startled by the sight of the body flopping from side to side as the two men tried to prop it up, the police said. The late Mr. Cintron was dressed in a faded black T-shirt and blue-and-white sneakers. His pants were pulled up part of the way, and his midsection was covered by a jacket, the police said. While the two men were inside the check-cashing office, a small crowd had gathered around the chair. A detective, Travis Rapp, eating a late lunch at a nearby Empanada Mama saw the crowd and notified the Midtown North station house.

Police officers and an ambulance arrived as the two men were trying to maneuver the corpse and chair into the check-cashing office.

The two men were taken into custody and questioned. The police said they were considering charging them with check-cashing fraud.

Mr. Cintron’s body was taken to a hospital morgue. The medical examiner’s office said its preliminary assessment was that he had died of natural causes within the past 24 hours.

(For the story on the NYTimes.com site, click here.)

Giving Santa a Run for His Money

Why do I do this to myself? Why do I insist on continuing to tally up the number of miles I fly and how many nights I actually sleep in this crazy expensive apartment that I pay to keep each month? Because apparently I like to drive myself nuts. What's that old business saying? You can only improve what you measure? In my case, an "improvement" would actually be fewer trips.

December travels:

-- New York (9 days -- about half with Special K, yeah!)

-- San Diego (3 days)

-- Victoria, BC (3 days -- wonderful visit with G&G)

-- Santa Clara (2 days)

-- New York (36 hours)

-- Winter Park, Florida (3 days -- Dr. Pete and Robin's beautiful wedding)

-- Calgary (5 days -- blissful holidays with Mom & Dad, friends and Schnauzer puppies)

-- Orange County (4 days)

I made an average of about two plane trips per week and logged approximately another 15,000 miles in December. I think Santa may hire me next year for his North American run. I've got criss-crossing the continent down pat.

A Beautiful May Day -- in January???

I haven't heard what the high temperature actually was in New York today, but it was projected to be in the high 60's by the guys on the radio and Weather.com was actually showing a predicted high of 70. Wha?? Does Mother Nature know that it's theoretically still the middle of winter?

I flew back to NY this morning on a redeye from San Francisco and it was certainly pleasant not to need my heavy, wool winter coat (which, by the way, I have been dragging around with me all over the continent now for over two weeks and honestly didn't end up really needing it ANYWHERE, not even in Calgary at Christmas). I actually almost had to ask my driver to turn on the A/C for the drive into the city from JFK, but I refrained simply out of respect for the calendar date.

Just a Little Bit Country

After a short detour to Winter Park, Florida for a wedding on December 22, Special K and I headed up to Calgary to celebrate Christmas with the folks (and the Schnauzers!). This was only Special K’s second time to “Cowtown” and once again, he gained a bit more of a glimpse into the wide world of Shari… this may have been a window that should have remained a little bit more tightly closed.

Growing up, we always had a radio on in the kitchen and during my most formative years, it was always tuned to the station CFAC (can you believe I actually remember the call letters?) which broadcast classic country tunes from the likes of Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Hank Williams (both Sr. and Jr.), Boxcar Willie, Charley Pride, Patsy Cline and Tammy Wynette. It also tended to be the same station that both my parents’ vehicles’ radios were tuned to, so to say that I was bombarded with country would be an understatement.

Classic country still holds a special place in my heart even though my music tastes have expanded considerably since I was 8 years old (again, primarily dominated at that time by artists such as the ones listed above, the MiniPops and the Chipmunks). However, I never really did transfer my appreciation for classic country to its more contemporary cousin. In my pre-teen and teen years, I started listening to Top 40, pop, and rock and sort of eschewed the new neo-traditionalist country artists and tunes. (Save for the blip in college when I took two-step lessons and used to frequent the Ranchman’s country & western nightclub on a regular basis.)

On this trip back to the homeland, we discovered a pretty good country station on the radio of my mom’s minivan. I think Special K was more than a little amused to learn that I still knew many of the lyrics and could sing along to classics like Tom T. Hall’s “I Love (little baby ducks)”, Johnny Horton’s “Honky Tonk Man” (“hey, hey mama, can your daddy come home?”) and David Frizzell’s “I’m Going To Hire a Wino to Decorate Our Home”. (The lyrics on that one kind of speak for themselves.)

The main lesson learned? You can take the girl out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the girl!

Happy New Year!

Wow, 2008. 2008!!

I hope everyone had a safe and fun New Year's! Special K and I have been roaming around the continent over the holidays, but we are now enjoying some much-needed downtime in Southern California.

Holiday updates to come soon!