NYC sights

“Can it for a greener planet” With a recycling symbol next to it
Now… is this slogan found on a recycling can? No… a garbage can…
How does throwing things into a garbage can, which are then just going to be thrown into a garbage dump making the world greener?
Also, someone needs to remind NYC that the recycling symbol, while often a universal symbol for “green”, isn’t when it’s put on a can…

As I walked to the bus station, I started noticing that the sides of 42nd street were lined with police cruisers… I started counting… There were, I think, around 45… not to mention the fact that there was also a mobile command unit. Now… all of this is a bit worrisome as you’re walking down the road… but I didn’t think anything of it… and neither did the homeless guy who was walking from one window to the next of each of the cop cars, asking for money…
Kinda made me giggle…
Even when there’s something massive going on, there’s still a sense of normalcy in it all.

Presenting our presence

The other day I was outside with my friend, and a bunch of police cars drove down the road with their lights going. I said… “Oh! Look! It’s like a police escort” but my friend looked at the police cars and said… “I don’t think so, unless there’s a car in the middle…” and as we watched, there wasn’t a car in the middle. Confused, I looked at her, and she responded. “I heard that they apparently do this to show their presence to the people of NYC.”
Why? Are people suddenly worried that the NYPD is leaving the city? Who made that great decision? I can see them doing something like that in crime-heavy areas… but not where I work… which is like tourist central…

Hey, I met Lucy Lawless!

This is going to be a “squee” post. I just need to write down last night. Because it really was a random observation, and honestly one of those random things that happen in life and you really cannot believe that reality can be that interesting.

Last night, my friend graciously brought me to a premiere party for Spartacus… if you’d like to read my write up about it, wait a couple of days and check out Geek Syndicate. I’ll be sending one there shortly.

BUT… I digress.
We walked into the room, and I saw Lucy Lawless standing off to the side, and nearly went weak at the knees. Here’s a person who honestly has been the penultimate actress in my life, and she was about 20 feet in front of me. I composed myself and walked to the bar, and got a “Blood in the sand” cocktail, and drank it down. The different stars of the show walked around the room, just saying hi, and then we were ushered into the screening theater.
An hour later, we walked out, and one of the actors walked into the crowd that was there… and for about 20 minutes I was sure that Lucy had split. But then, my friend said… “oh, nope, there we go” and in walked Lucy… Thankfully, I was leaning against the couch when my friend reached out and tapped her shoulder, and she spun around… we smiled, she took my hand, asked for my name, I shook her hand, my head spun… I think I told her my name… but at that point, I seriously don’t remember much after… we talked for about 10 minutes about the show, and then she walked away… My friend then looked at me and told me we weren’t leaving until I got a picture with her. I told him that in all honesty, that was enough for me… I had spoken with her (I think) and shook her hand, and she now knew my name.

Time passed, I calmed down, and got another drink. Dot Com from 30 Rock was there, spoke with him for a second when I was at the bar… he seems really cool. Shook hands with the other two stars of the show, Andy Whitfield and John Hannah, and was fine with that… (Andy, btw, though short, is HOT!)
When I walked back, my friend was talking to a publicist… I heard her say “oh, yeah, she’d definitely love to get a picture” and I realized he had asked her to get lucy to see if she’d take a picture with me. It both made me so excited, and scared out of my mind at the same time.
I smiled, and told the publicist that I was a big fan of Ms. Lawless… at which point, the publicist kind of reeled back for a moment, and shook her head… and said…
“You know it’s funny, you kind of look like her.”
And then another lady (I think she was the marketing director) said… “you know I was just thinking that!” and they talked about how much I could be her twin… and I just stood there like a grinning fool…
Then… Lucy came over… (someone went to get her) and the marketing lady told her that I was her twin… at this point, I smiled, and shrugged and looked at Lucy, and she spoke with Alex for a moment, and then looked at me, cocked her head to the side and said… “You know, you do,” and then leaned in and winked and said quietly to me, “but you’re hotter”
It was one of the coolest points of my life.
Lucy Lawless… aka Xena… gave me one of the most amazing compliments I could ever get.
So, we talked some more, she took a picture, we looked at it together, and she said that “I’m her kind of woman” and then I randomly said… “let’s dance!”
but she was getting pulled away by her handlers, and people, trying to get her to go to bed… but she looked over at them, and we stepped to the side and started dancing…
Grinning ear to ear, she leaned in, gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek after, and walked away.
The best part though… was as she was walking out of the place, she waved to me, and said “have a great night ashley”
*dies*

Winter notice…

Hey there. Sorry it’s been so long. I really ought to change the name of this blog to just observations instead of daily observations, because I’ve gotten so bad at keeping up with the daily aspect of it.
That being said, here are a couple of my most recent winter noticings.

Saw a woman the other day who had a brown scarf around her face. As I got closer I thought it was made out of an interesting looking fabric, and then as I got even closer, I realized that it was her hair… She had pulled her hair around her neck and her face to keep herself warm. First of all, I love the fact that her hair is long enough to do that with… but then I kind of grimaced and saw a pashmina dealer on the side of the street. I really wanted to go and buy her one of the $5 scarves and give it to her, just so that she wouldn’t have to do that any longer.

Speaking of scarves… this morning, as I stood in line for the bus to take me to work, the lady in front of me was sneezing, sniffling, and snotting up a storm. Now mind you, I wouldn’t fault her that… it was bloody cold out, and I too was sniffling a bit. But as she turned around, I saw that she had a scarf around her mouth and nose. The lady was basically using her scarf as a handkerchief, but just keeping it against her face… Hmmm… nothing says “Happy Winter” like a dried snotty face in the morning after you unwrap the scarf.

And speaking of bloody cold. The other day I was walking to work, and a young woman was walking towards me… I wouldn’t have really noticed her, except for the fact that she was walking down the street in a shortish skirt, t-shirt, and light sweater on, oh, and of course… a pair of uggs… She looked completely comfortable as I passed her. I, meanwhile, was bundled in a thick sweater, jeans, wooly boots, and my sleeping-jacket coat (big long fluffy down coat). It was 5 degrees outside (fahrenheit). I guess though, when you’ve got uggs on, you’re invincible to the cold… cause that’s not the first time I’ve seen an outfit like that… why even bother with the uggs at that point?

Mopping, sopping, wet

On Tuesday, or maybe it was Wednesday, I don’t remember actually… anyways… it was raining cats and dogs.
And as I was walking down 42nd street, towards the S-train to take it across town… I saw a man, mopping the sidewalk…
Hm.
Interesting idea… mopping the sidewalk, that is just going to get more wet… what was he thinking?
Then I began to wonder if he was maybe told to do that by someone else, or if he took it upon himself to do that. I’d love to be a manager one day, and look at the people under me and say… “Go outside in the rain, and mop the sidewalk!”

Fair Verona

On Route 46, at the intersection of Route 3… there’s a traffic sign (or whatever the large green signs that say what roads are intersecting, and towns off the road) that says…
“Fairfield”
“Verona”

Now, I know it’s not entirely Fair Verona, but I thought it was quite interesting that those two names would show up on the same board.
“My Fairfield Verona”

And I really hope you know why this is interesting…
One hint.
Shakespeare.
If you don’t get it now… google it!

Irony is…

Writing promotional pieces for a pharmaceutical product and getting spam mail about said product in my personal email.
Or at least… that’s what irony feels like to me today.

That’s not what I wanted…

I just looked up “sushi places in Morristown” and a great little “eat sushi” website came up. So I clicked on it, and it took me to a comprehensive list of sushi places in Morristown…
Sounds easy enough right?
Well… I scrolled down the list, and on that list was Dominoes Pizza.
Now, I don’t know about you… but I don’t think I’d be getting my sushi from Dominoes, even if they do sell it…
though I have to admit, when I saw it, I was a bit intrigued and wondered if they did in fact sell sushi at this particular dominoes in Morristown.
So… I being the person I am, called up the number that was given with this particular Dominoes.
A young man answered the phone… and here’s the convo… (I literally typed it as I spoke with him, so this is a copy and paste. LOL

“Hi, Dominoes, is this for delivery or pickup?”
“Hi, I’m not actually placing an order. I was just wondering what kind of sushi you have.”
“Excuse me?”
“Sushi. I found the name of your establishment on a great eat sushi website. They said you had sushi.”
“We have anchovies.”
“Are they in a roll?”
“No, they come in a can, and we put them on the pizza.”
“Oh, can you get a pizza roll?”
“No, we don’t make those, I think that’s a Pizza hut thing.”
“No, i mean, do you have a pizza sushi roll?”
“I don’t think so. Let me ask.”
*** *** *** on hold *** *** ***
“I just spoke with my manager, he said we don’t have sushi pizza, but that if you are interested in making a suggestion, I can give you the address of where to send it to.”
“Oh, I don’t have a suggestion, I just thought you had sushi, because it says it does on this website.”
“On our website?”
“No, on an eat sushi website.”
“I’ve never been on that one. I like facebook better.”
“Ok…” (that comment that he just gave me actually made me speechless for a second)
“Can I interest you in ordering lunch?”
“No, I’m in NYC.”
“Oh, we don’t deliver there.”
“Well I’m sure there’s a dominoes in NYC that does deliver.”
“I don’t know. I can ask my manager.”
“No… that’s ok. Thanks!”
*hang up*

I’m horrible… I really didn’t think Dominoes has sushi (obviously) but it was actually a really funny conversation… and thought you’d get a kick out of it!

I don’t owe you anything.

New desk. New phone number… or at least, to me it is… but throughout the past 2 days I’ve been getting a phone call from some creditor that is getting on my last nerve, and is quite annoyed with me too…
Here’s my conversation with him.

“Hi, is Jane Doe there?” the voice on the other end of the line asked as I picked up the phone.
“No, I’m sorry, you must have the wrong number,” I replied in my ‘client voice’ as my friend puts it.
“No, I don’t, because I’ve spoken with her at this number in the past. Please put her on.”
“No, really, you may have, but I just started last monday and this is my phone number now, and she’s not here.”
“Oh, just put her on, I’m done with this nonsense,” he replied, and sounded quite annoyed.
“Sir, there’s nobody here with that name, my name’s Ash. This may have been her phone number in the past, but now it’s mine. Please mark your records. Thanks.” And I hung up… because I’m at work, and I’m not about to spend time arguing with someone on the other line.

That was yesterday.
Today.

Phone rings… it’s the same number, I ignored it… it went to my voicemail, which blatantly says my name in it… here’s what he leaves.
“Oh, so your name is Ashley now? Whatever it is, you still owe us money. Either pay up, or we’ll be sending someone out to collect.” And then he hung up… and yes, I know it’s odd for me to say he hung up… but he hung up with such a force that I actually heard the phone slam together before it cut out.
I’m just hoping he doesn’t think that my full name is someone else, and that I’m pretending to be me…

Eh?

I went to Duane Reade during my lunch break, while I was waiting for my sushi, and bought some bags of candy. (I have a problem… a sugar/candy problem… I’ll admit that now, and then we’ll move on with the story.)

Anyways. I picked out the different bags of candy that I want at my desk, and then walked up to the register, laden with the different colored bags. The man in front of me was pulling money out of his pocket, and putting it on the counter… and then this happened.

“Excuse me sir, does this look like Canada to you?” The lady at the cash register said. She sat back on her heels, giving him a sassy face as she crossed her arms across her chest.
“Eh?” He answered, and I snorted. It was so stereotypical that I wasn’t expecting it. Especially not in a Duane Reade on the east side of Manhattan.
“Oh, so you are Canadian,” the lady responded. And I swear, she mentally gave him the three snap across her body with a little shake of the head that said ‘oh no you din’nt’
“Are you being racist?” Said the very very very white Canadian man to the horribly stereotypical black woman.
“Me? You’re calling me a racist?”
“Well, it seems to me that you’re not serving me because of my nationality,” he responded.

Meanwhile. I’m standing in line, and while it was kind of a funny thing happening in front of me, I had no idea how the hell she even knew he was Canadian… back to the story…

“Sir, I simply asked you if this looked like Canada,” she said with a huff. The man then looked around, then looked out the door towards the street and shrugged.
“I think this could pass for any of the cities in Canada,” he responded. “But I’m still not sure why you’re being so discriminatory.”

To which the lady pointed at the coins that he had put down to pay for whatever it was that he bought…
“We don’t accept Canadian money,” she said.

Why couldn’t she have just started with that? It would have saved us all a lot of time…
Still… I can’t help but giggle over the fact that when the man finally pulled out a credit card and paid, and walked out… and then I walked up, she looked me up and down and said… “You’re not with him are you?” I shook my head, and put down my bags of candy… I really really really really wished I had a couple of Canadian coins at that moment to plunk down and see if I could get her going again.

It’s the little things in life.

After orientation, I came back to my desk… which I’ve been slowly setting up… and found my name was on it. A small piece of paper that made me feel great.
Funny isn’t it?
Yes… I squeed a bit… I officially own my desk.

Don’t judge. You know you’d do the same thing! =P

Professionalism at it’s best.

I always think that twitter can be a double edged sword…
especially when someone puts up a status like
“Is upset that @soandso is more interested in MNF than coming to an all-hands-on-deck meeting.”
I mean… it’s cute right?
But… this was a tweet that was sent out into the masses by a company that prides itself on professionalism.
(by the way, I don’t know who @soandso is… and if it’s someone… sorry! I just wrote that in for a placeholder, don’t mean anything by it!)

If it had been a tweet by someone else within the organization instead of the actual organization, then I could respect the statement… but coming from the company’s twitter it calls out someone, and shows lack of respect for employees… I’m glad I don’t work there…

It’s been a long time coming.

Sorry for the long time between posts. I feel like such a traitor, because I call this my daily observations, and it’s been almost 2 months since my last post.
It’s not an excuse, but I lost my job, and have been focusing my concerns on trying to find a job, and also to try and get my life somewhat stable.

But, that doesn’t mean I haven’t seen some really random things during this time. Let me try to sum up some of those things!

1. “No trucks allowed in the right lane.” Sure… this statement seems benign enough. However, it’s a bit redundant when it’s located in the “cars only” part of the NJ turnpike.

2. “Being here is why I’m there.” Love this slogan, it makes absolutely no sense… But it’s from a realtor who wants to help you move… you know… from here to there… If the realtor can’t even figure out where he’s at, and where he’s going, then how can I trust him to help me out?

For a bit of the time I’ve been gone, I spent it in London, hanging out with some friends.
Here’s a couple of good ones from there.

1. The name of a chain restaurant called “EAT!” didn’t have food.

2. I have nothing against people who don’t have English as their first language… but listening to a bunch of Dutch people singing “Summer Loving” has got to be one of the most painful things in the world! Mind you… it’s also one of the most amazing things to realize that you’re in an international city where you can hear that!

Ok. That ought to tide you over. I’m going to try and blog more often now that I’m a bit more settled!

Nun gun.

There’s a gun-weilding guy in a nun costume running around my neighborhood.
Really. There is.
Mind you… it’s for a movie called “The Town”, and there’s some famous guy under the atrocious mask… and he’s firing blanks… but it’s still very surreal to see black robes whipping about and a person holding up a gun and firing it at fake Boston Police cars.
Maybe it really is time that I moved.

Watch where you’re driving.

Due to some interesting things that have been happening over the last couple of weeks, I’ve changed my routine. I no longer walk to work, I drive… and I don’t actually drive to work, but rather to freelance. So thus is my life at the moment.

And while I’m no longer walking and driving instead, I had a funny little realization today.

“Driving in breakdown lane prohibited, EXCEPT for Mon-Fri 7-10am and 3-6pm.” Basically the times when people do drive on this particular road, it’s ok to drive down the breakdown lane. And people do! What’s even funnier is that people drive down the breakdown lane even when there’s no traffic in the regular lanes. I love how adults basically have little “YAY!” moments… you think we’d outgrow that, but it just seems to keep going.