The fussy litterbug

I was riding the subway the other day, sitting across from a woman and her child, who looked to be around ten years old. They were eating something, not sure what. When the train pulled into the station I watched her unapologetically toss their garbage in the bag outside the door and onto the station platform. I couldn't believe it. I looked right at her. She saw me and just looked away, but not in any way that conveyed she felt badly about what she had done. Then, a few stops later her kid was halfway through a lollipop that he decided he was finished with and she told him to wait until the doors open and toss it out. He got up, waited for the doors to open, and aimed the lollipop right through the gap and dropped it onto the tracks. She praised him for making the shot. I was absolutely amazed.

Now, I get why people litter; they are lazy, they don't care, they don't respect shared space or the city they live in, they have no sense of human decency, etc, etc. But what I don't understand is this: How did she come to the conclusion that it is wrong to litter on the train, but perfectly acceptable on the platform? I continue to be baffled.

Did she, or didn't she?

In fact, I did... meet Derek Jeter. And shared a little giggle with A-Rod. And saw all the other players, coaches, trainers, keepers and security people for the Yankees, and the Toronto Blue Jays for that matter (including Frank Thomas, who used to play for my hometown White Sox). We were camped out for two hours before the game directly outside the door to the Yankees clubhouse, waiting to get the shot of Jeter. The weight room and batting cages happen to be down the hall from there for both teams, so just about everyone walked past. And if I might just make one comment to all of Major League Baseball... nice ass.

Even though I'm not a big sports fan, I have to admit it was pretty cool to be down there before the game... even if I did have to get up early-ish after another night of staying out late drinking. What? It's the New York lifestyle, or something like that. Yeah, I totally turned my brain off again.

As promised, I've posted some new photos to my Out and About in NY album. Some are from when I went walking around with Jerry and Jenna a few weeks ago, but after that are some choice helicopter shots. Enjoy!

Helicopters ARE as cool as you think

I work a lot, but there are a few pretty sweet perks that go along with it. Being the project manager on the Yankee monstrosity has afforded me quite a few. Second row seats to a game, private tour of the stadium, meetings in Steinbrenner's private box. Tonight I got to go up in a helicopter to capture aerial photography. It was pretty awesome. Here I am, with my fancy helicopter headset, having an swell time in really good lighting.


Flying over Yankee Stadium was cool, but the best was flying down to Coney Island to capture dusk shots for another job. It was a beautiful sunset that reflected amazing colors on the water. Even though it was hazy and I wasn't in the best spot for taking pictures I took a ton. A few actually turned out... here are a few of my favorites. I'll be posting more in my NY album over the weekend.

Upcoming perks: Meeting Derek Jeter this weekend to film him at the stadium and possibly meeting Billy Crystal in the near future for a similar reason. I'm sure DJ is a swell guy, but if I get to meet Billy Crystal I'll be a puddle of goo. It will take everything I have not to spout out every single line from my favorite movie of all time. It's bound to be embarrassing.

Brain off

I've been working a lot lately. Way too much. Most nights I'm in the office late, checking in at home, and then working at least a few hours each weekend day, if not for an entire day. Somehow its easier to work 10 hours if you can do it with Sex and the City on the TV. Of course you have to really like Sex and the City. (How could Carrie have cheated on Aidan? That bitch drives me crazy in season three.)

The reason behind my pseudo-complaining about work is this; while I definitely feel overworked, I also feel like I'm having a lot of fun (read: drinking a lot). I realized today I don't have a ton of the down time I used to when I would just kick it on the couch and watch my ex-TV Boyfriend. I'm either ramped up working or ramped up drinking, with not a lot in between. And I'm not having just a glass or two of wine like I used to. I'm drinking for mileage. It's like I'm trying to cram all the fun into the few hours I have, and I'm not making wise decisions.

Case in point: Jenna invited me to a BBQ at her friend Kathleen's on Saturday. I've been to another one and loved everyone there, so I shut down the computer for the afternoon and scheduled some fun time, fully expecting to be back home and working by 9pm. Um, yeah, that didn't happen. I was drinking sangria all day and was then very easily coerced into playing Flip Cup by a bunch of Aussies with cute accents. Freakin' foreigners. It doesn't really matter how you play, but it does involve way too much cheap beer. PBR and Bud Light to be exact (what is with me and drinking beer lately?). I was hammered, and I had absolutely turned my brain off at some point. Sometime before Flip Cup for sure.

Apparently this is how I've fallen into dealing with stress these days. Probably not the best solution, but it could be worse. I haven't completely fallen apart... I still eat well and make it to the gym to run and bike my ass off (literally; my skinny jeans from last year are now my "relaxed fit" jeans... sweet). My body used to remind me that I was stressed by creating painful stomach aches, in case I had forgotten for a second that the world was falling down on me. That sucked, so this is much better.

So, if you end up with strange text messages from me in the coming month, I haven't actually lost my mind, I've simply turned my brain off. It'll be back on the next morning when you are welcome to call and make fun of me. Just don't laugh too loudly into the phone.

Driven to drink

It's Saturday afternoon, and I'm taking a break from work to write this post. That's right, it's Labor Day weekend and I'll be working at least today, if not tomorrow as well. The Reason: The Yankees. Right now the project is flying wildly out of control, and I've got to pull it back together. The only time I actually have to do this is after work hours when people aren't constantly asking for stuff. So I'll be organizing like a mofo this weekend.

This project has quite a cast of characters, one of which is the interior designer, who is a very nice man... but couldn't take longer to make a point. Andy and I were on a conference call with him yesterday for an hour and a half that should have taken 45 minutes max. At this point in a very long week I was tired of working and Andy was just plain old tired. Delirium had set in and we were acting quite silly on our end of the line. He went and got a beer, ugh Corona, and was entranced by the bright green color it turned when he put it in front of the projector. I left shortly after and returned with an Amstel Light. That's right people, the Yankees have driven me to drink... beer. And I wasn't even drunk first. Armageddon is clearly upon us.