Doonesbury on Blogging - I hope I am not violating any copyrights

Daily Doonesbury Comics can be found here.

The Commute

I have not commuted into New York on a regular basis in a couple of years. I have been trying to get to my desk by 7 AM each morning which means I have to take the 5:45 AM Middletown, NJ train. The commute is pretty easy. I drive a short distance to the train station, park my car, and catch the train. An hour later I am walking to the office. It is an easy walk. Cross 7th Ave walk down 34th and then turn north on Broadway. Right next to Macy's. The only thing that could be better would be to work in one of the buildings that are above Penn Station.

The picture above is the closed power station in South Amboy just before the train pulls into the South Amboy station. A couple of years ago there was a high speed ferry that went to NY. It closed down because of the construction but never opened again. I am not sure if it moved to another marina.

This is the building as the train exits the Hudson Tunnel and enters NY Penn Station. It is across the street from Madison Square Garden.

The view out of the window by my desk. One of the first things I noticed on my first trips to NY was the wooden water towers that dot the skyline. They have disappeared over the years and now are often hidden.

I do like working in NY. It is such a different world from where I live in NJ.

A Saturday Short Ride

After two weeks of no riding due to the weekend rains, the shorten days and my new commute to work I finally got a ride in. It was not much of ride. Only about 35 miles but it was rough. It is amazing how much fall off there can be in just two weeks. I tried to mix it up with some good climbs in the beginning with some long rolling parts in the middle and one last climb up Telegraph Hill on the way home.

I was planning on going further but boredom kind of set it. I have really had to push myself to get out and ride these days. The gym has not been much better. I cannot get myself to make the climb up to the cardio area of the gym. It feels like the death march so I have been only been doing my lifting workout instead. It is amazing how fast it goes when I am not putting in 60 plus minutes on the ellipical machine. If I just do a lifting workout I can usually be in and out of the gym in around 45 minutes. I am hoping that the shortened workouts will make it easier for me to get to the gym after my commute home from NY.

So far the commute has not been bad. About 90 minutes door to door. Most of it is sitting on a train listening to music or reading the paper. Now that I have a Blackberry I can answer and send email as well. I used to look down on Blackberry users and I refused to get one for a long time. Now I can see the advantages and I am probably annoying others the way others used to annoy me.

The office is located on Broadway and is the building immediately north of Macy's. This is where the TV camera's are setup for the Macy's Day parade on Thanksgiving day. The front conference rooms will be a prime viewing location.

So far the job has been interesting. I was originally afraid that I was going to be bored. However, the pace is starting to pick up after a slow start. It is obvious that I am being out manned. I was concerned because I was getting hit from all directions and I might be in danger of falling behind. I decided to let my client know that that things were spinning. I was informed that it was expected that the parent company would have more resources and I would be tilting at windmills. As long as this is the expectation then I am fine working in a storm. I often think that I do my best work when all hell is breaking loose.

I am looking to get a ride in this morning. I expected to be on the road now but the clouds are heavy and the weather report is predicting showers in the morning. Right now I am waiting it out. Drinking coffee, surfing the Internet and writing this blog. I wanted to ride with a group today but it looks like it will be another solo ride. Maybe I will head down to Long Branch. I need to get some new rides. My next car is going to be a small station wagon so I can drive to some new riding spots.