Wine with Germans, Subway Searches and HP

Drinking it up with Guys from Germany
Friday night was a blast! Went to a place called the Landmarc. Great wine, great cucumber soup, great wine (did I already say that?). The people I went with were: Cheryl (friend of a friend), her friend Gary, and two of his friends who were pilots from Germany. We talked about differing characteristics between American and German citizens. I learned that when an American tells someone: "take care," which admittedly I do, it means nothing. It is like saying goodbye. To a German person it is an insult. They believe that people should say things from the heart and not use mere puffery. When they say best of luck or good health or take care, they really mean it. If they have just met you and there was "no connection" then they merely say goodbye.

Maybe it is because I was brought up in the mid-west, but when I say "take care" I typically mean for them to take care and not merely puffery. However, I think that it is interesting to see this from another culture.

Still Searching in NY
On Friday, during my LONG subway ride back from Manhattan (took 2 hours to get back) there were a few people on the subway, however, there were no police! Granted, it was 1am, but I guess there is only a concern for the safety of those who are "normal" commuters, and not the rest.

One thing that was noticed is that there are signs in EVERY booth saying that use of the subway may result in you being searched. In addition, on Friday morning there were police with small tables in front of them getting ready to search people. One police officer looked me in the eyes as I walked by, and I was sure that I would get my bag searched (again, they would have seen the 6th Book of Harry Potter and my court schedule - not all that exciting). You can obviously tell by the looks on their faces that they (the police) do not want to be doing this. And you can obviously tell by the comments of the passengers that they do not want you searching their bags. One homeless person (I only say that because he looked as if he was carrying all of his possessions and smelled like someone who is showerly challenged) was going on and on about how he would like to see him search them. It was quite amusing, because although he had a valid point, all that I could think about was Christie and MDB - hahaha.

I try to laugh at this because that is all that we can do. I do not think that they police are really giving people a hard time. I can see how it may turn into that, but for now it is okay. I can see hoe not too far down the road people will begin to have serious issue with this - until then I will just post silly comments about the smell of people.

Harry Potter
I finished it! Finally finished the book last night at 2am. I had no one to talk to about it. I spoke to Hillyg about it, but all she could say was "maybe I will read them now." It was the best one yet. There were times when I had to put the book down because it was so good. Kristen was correct when she told me that the last 1/3 goes by SO fast!

I have noticed that more and more people finally have the book on the subway. Everytime I see someone with the book, I always ask them where they are in the book. It always continues with a good conversation. I met a person yesterday on the way to Philly and who just picked up the book.

Searches In the Subway

Searches in the subway. Now it is a reality. Today people were being stopped when they got to the station. People are being asked to open their bags so the police can look in. Strangely enough, I do not have an issue of this. Granted, I grew up in the mid-west and may be naive, but that is okay.

We are searched when we get on an airplane, when we go into a court house and when we go into a federal or state building. Why wouldn't we be stopped on a subway? It just makes sense to me. The reality is that we could go to work one day, and not come home. That can be said anywhere. To be honest, I do not have a problem with being stopped and asked to look in my bag...All that they will find is a Harry Potter Book and a couple of pens.

What do you think?

Craziness and the Mets

First, one of the things that I have noticed over the last few days (2 to be exact) is that there are a lot more police personnel on the subway. Yesterday there were police on a few of the stops. Today there were police on every stop. Today, there were actually random stops of the subway and police boarding the trains to walk through them. Today was a little weird!

Second, last night I continued my "adventures in NY" by going to Shea Stadium (home of the Mets). This was the first time that I was in a stadium in NY and the first time I ever got to see the Mets. Some of you may know that the Mets were my favorite team growing up, so this was fun. To top it off, we were sitting in the 11th row from the field directly behind the batter's box! If you were able to receive the game, you would have seen me on TV. How did I find myself with such a great tcket you may ask? A friend of a friend worked down the hall from a friend whos brother owns a box (yeah, he owns it - his name is actually on the seats). NY works in strange ways!

Tonight I am hoping to go back home and sleep, clean, organize. I hope to have internet in my apartment this weekend or early next week. This will make things MUCH easier from home.

NY Philharmonic and the Woman from Head of the Class

Yesterday was a CRAZY DAY!

Started in the AM by stopping at Bryant Park. There was a guy named Chris Angel (magician) who submerged himself in a tank of 2000 gallons of water. He was supposed to get out of the tank by 4pm yesterday, but I am not sure if he did. There were ambulance workers (smoking) nearby, so I am sure everything worked out.

Last night I went to central park to the great lawn and saw the NY Philharmonic. I went with a friend who met a friend who had friends there. The interesting part was the one of the friend's friends was the girl from the old sitcom: Head of the Class. She was the redheaded tall girl. She was very nice, but that was the first famous person I have ever met.

Besides that, I have moved into my apartment and I am working on designing a webpage for a few bucks on the side.