Category: Live Blogging On the Subway

Packed like cattle

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Can you tell it is back to school season or what! Holy smokes.

It has been a while since my regular afternoon train has been this packed, and it is quite obvious why: students. The colleges are back and so are the high schools. Tons and tons of young people on board.

I say young person as if I wasn’t one too!

Of course I am not complaining that I have to be pressed up against some hott little dish. That’s not bad at all. If you play your possition right, you can “enjoy the scenery” during your ride. Play it wrong, and you’ll be stuck behind smelly dude while he gets the coed pirks.

Although, I must say that I do luck out in the morning in that the high schoolers are already off the subway by the time I need to get on. That’s a very nice benefit to having the public schools start nice and early.

Live from the subway, back to you in studio…

Where’s a Starbucks when you need it?

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I know you never thought you would ever hear a New Yorker say, “I can’t find a Starbucks,” but I really think I might be on to something here.

This morning was a fairly insane morning so I did not have time to brew my own cup of joe. I’m also running a little late so I don’t have time to run into the Starbucks on the corner. So what am I to do?

All of a sudden, it hit me: Why isn’t there a Starbucks in the subway? 

I’m not saying we need something extreem like a Starbucks car in every train (that would be cool though.). However, a Starbucks on the platform would be awesome!  They would make a killing. Plus, the fresh brew might help mask the subway odor. There would be dozens of people lined up on every platform. Think about it. There aren’t many businesses where your customers are going to litterally be dropped off inside your store.

We could start my renovating a few of those platform newstands into little coffee bars. Sweet!

Now, I am by no means a Starbucks advocate. As a matter of fact, SUBWAYblogger doesn’t even think Starbucks is that good. However, they do seem to be the most likely to buy into a concept like this. Afterall, they have already run out of above-ground places to put more locations.

We could even take this to the next level by having them open all night. How cool would it be to be on your way home from the bar, drunk as hell, and be able to get a coffee fix right there on the platform?

Ohh we’re going places with this one!
Live from the subway, back to you in studio… 

Rain catches subway riders off guard

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So this afternoon’s rain continued right into the evening commute time, and I don’t think people were prepared. I have a feeling that tons of people left their apartments not even thinking that there was a chance of rain today.

I have to admit, this morning did seem pretty promising.

As I look around myself right now, I don’t see many people with umbrellas. There are a lot of riders sporting the “wet cat” look where they are completely soaked to the bone. I did see a woman in blue hospital scrubs coming out of the subway station as I was going in. She was SOAKED. It looked like someone hosed her down. But hey, who’s gonna argue with a nurse in nothing but wet scrubs, right?

I’m also noticing a lot of people with their sweatshirt hoods pulled up. Nothing like a wet towel on your head.

Luckily for many (mostly women) it has been a little colder lately, so many ladies left the house with light jackets. Now those jackets are playing double duty as rain slickers.

Where are all the simple white t-shirts on the ladies when you need them most?

Live from the subway, back to you in studio…

Happy Tuesday! :-/

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Gooooooood morning New York City. Ok, yeah…that was a little much. I know…I forced it. I just forced myself to be that cheery and it was obvious. Let’s try this again.

Welcome back to the morning grind New York. Hope you enjoyed the long weekend because the next paid holiday is a long way away. Alright, now I’m depressed.

Well after an extended weekend of gross laziness, I am back in the subway. My line wasn’t set on fire or anything, so I guess that is a good thing. We even managed to survive the West Indian Parade!

I love how tense people get around the ethnic festivities. People always get sooo tense as if there was going to be a huge race riot. Of all the ethnic celebrations in the city, the West Indian Parade is the least of my worries. It is a well known fact that you must smoke weed for 24 hours straight on the day prior to the parade if you wish to participate. So in essence, this is a congregation of people who are the LEAST likley to start a fight.

When was the last time you heard of a group of pot heads starting a riot? (Unless it was to raid the 7-11 for munchies.)

Live from the subway, back to you in studio…

Running late on a half day

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Oops. I am running a bit late today, and it is completely my fault. What’s a little sad is that today’s a half day anyway. The office is closing after lunch. So its in late and out early. Oh well.

As for the holiday weekend, I have no idea what’s in store. Just to give you a heads up, there won’t be any regular postings on Monday. I will resume the normal routine on Tuesday.

Between now and then, I hope to do some writing from home. Maybe a few holiday bonus stories…if you will. I have no idea at this point if/when I will be on the subway so we’ll play it by ear. (I hate that stupid saying…play it by ear.)

On another note, since I am leaving early, it will be cool to check out the activity during the midday. I’ll be heading further downtown for lunch this afternoon. Look forward to a unique post on that.

THIS JUST IN: Ok so I am writing this administrative post while riding the subway a normal, but I just saw the funniest thing. There’s this woman standing across from me who is attempting to put on lipstick and balance herself at the same time. The train just jerked around a little and she bumped her face into the lipstick tube as she was putting it on. So now their is red lipstick on her cheek. She thinks she got it all off, but nooo.

What’s the proper protocol here? New Yorker code of conduct states not to say anything to anyone at any time. Do I break the code and say something? I think not. Its Friday and I am sure her coworkers could use a laugh.

Live from the subway, back to you in studio…

Man kills kids then jumps in front of Q train

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Did you hear about the mother who came home last night only to find her two kids dead in the bathtub? The mother got home around midnight after work. Daddy was home “taking care” of the kids.

Allegedly, he drowned the two little ones in the bathtub. He then went down to the subway and threw himself in front of the Q train.
Also, he apparently left 7 or 8 suicide notes, one of which he kept on his person.

What the hell do you do when you see something like that? Can you even imagine standing there waiting for your train when all of a sudden a dude jumps on the tracks in front of it? I guess that’s a textbook “See something, say something” moment. That’s something that’s just going to ruin your night.

Of course, the murder portion is a shame. No one wants that to happen. But there have to be better ways to kill yourself. Yeah, a train can kill you, but there are people who survive that!

Creepy sh*t man…creepy.

Live from the subway, back to you in studio…

Busy busy…umm no. Just not on time.

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It is annoying how one little problem on a subway line can screw things up EVERYWHERE. A five minute diversion on the C train can cause hours of backups on the 1 train. Stuff like that.

This morning, there must have been a holdup somewhere because the entire platform was 10 people deep. Even then, it took forever for the next train to arrive.

You know how this goes. Even when the train finally did come, it was already packed to the roof with people. The doors open up and one person gets off. That’s always promising. So an additional 30 people try to get in each door of an already full car.

There’s always that asshole that yells, “Could you move in please?!” Yeah ok buddy. Like we all have tons of room around us.

I had to shove a guy out of the train today. He ran up to the door and tried to push people in so he could squeeze in. I shoved him back right in the middle of his chest and said, “You are out of your mind.”

All of this because somewhere a single train threw off the schedule, and the rest of us have to suffer.

Live from the subway, back to you in studio…

Yankees Bonus (make up) Post

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Sorry to everyone who was expecting the usual afternoon post. I left work 30 minutes early and headed to the Bronx to catch the tonight’s game. On the way up here I rode by car with a buddy from work, hence no Live update this afternoon.

I just left the stadium after the end of the 8th. Hey, I gotta work in the morning! The Yanks were up 3 to 2 when I left headed into the 9th.
I really hope the D train gets here quick because apparently I wasn’t the only one who had the bright idea to run out early. The platform is packed right now.

That must suck to be on the train before it gets to Yankee Stadium after a game. You’re just riding the train, minding your own business with a couple other people on board. Then you get to 161st Street and WHAM. Flooded with obnoxious Yankee fans. Packed to the gills. Personally, I’d be pissed. Especially because of the “subway know it alls.” I wrote about them a few weeks ago.

I am sitting next to a mother with three boys all under the age of 12. Apparently, they asked Santa Claus for tickets to a game on their birthday. So mom schelpped them up here for the game. I would sooner shoot myself the take three kids on a plane only to then bring them to Yankee Stadium. Unfortunately for her, today turned out to be a double header after yesterday’s rainout. So, she took them to both games.

Well, just got off at 125th to catch the local transfer. I wish the local ran at all times from the stadium. Even though its local, I still get to my stop a lot faster.

Of course, who the hell knows when the C train will get here.

Is it me or does everyone above 110th Street always look pissed? There doesn’t look like there is ever a single happy looking person up here. Then again, I’d be pretty pissed if I lived in the middle of Harlem too. But maybe that’s because I am very white.

Finally the C train is here. That’s enough for now. All the beers I drank at the stadium are making it hard to type! Talk to you in the AM.

Live from the subway, back to you in studio…

Oh pleeeease stop running

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Did you ever notice how people run to catch a train? Did you ever look at someone running and think to yourself, “Oh please stop running. That’s entirely too much jiggle this early in the morning.

It is a regular occurance, but it is so funny to watch. What is it about women over 30 that makes them look like mental patients when they run? And why is it that only the “most jiggly” people are doing all the running?

Listen lady, all the bacon grease is on an express train to your heart as we speak, so take it down a notch and wait for the next train. None of us already ON the train want to have to carry you off.

Another odd thing that caught my eye this morning was a woman climbing the strairs a if she were almost at the summit of a mountain. Just one step, then stop. Then another step, and stop. Obviously, this isn’t the first I’ve seen it happen because people do that all over the system. However, it made me think how dumb you have to be to put yourself through that. Who in their right mind would go into the subway knowing that the usage of stairs is a matter of life and death? Why not just stay above ground and take the bus? (Gasp)

Live from the subway, back to you in studio…

Holy splish splash…Part Deux

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Well I wish there were more to blog about than the insane amount of rain lately, but that’s the big story.

I was lucky enough to get on The Death Car this morning before the rain hit. Unfortunately, this afternoon’s trip is a wet one!  Out my office window, it looked like it didn’t stop raining at all. The intensity came in waves, but it was nonstop.

My platform was virtually underwater when I got here a couple minutes ago. They are doing construction on the street level right above the uptown side of the platform. So, they put up a temporary ceiling, but it is esentially worthless. Water just pours through when it rains. It is such a joke. It isn’t even a drip. Its a straight up surge.

I think the water just funnels down to the open part. The result is that 70% of the platform is covered in caution tape even for the lightest rain. It doesn’t help that the floor is uneven. So the water pools everwhere. Watching grown men in suits play “avoid the puddle hop scotch” is pretty funny.

Live from the subway, back to you in studio…