Downtown, We Have [No] Problem

NYTimes.com Quotation of the Day:
"First thing is, I’m annoyed — furious is a better word — that I wasn’t told."
- MAYOR MICHAEL R. BLOOMBERG, after a plane normally used as Air Force One and two fighter jets flew over Lower Manhattan.

I heard about this the next day from someone in Georgia, but I'm sure I would have been concerned, too, if I had seen a low-flying Boeing 747 speeding in the shadows of skyscrapers and trailed by two fighter jets.
Read More
Not a quote of the day, week or month. Just of whenever. Until the next quote that moves me.

A Year Ago Today: What Do Guacamole, Brisé volé, and Hookah Have in Common?
Two Years Ago Today:
West Side's Tale of Whoa
Phone Photo Ops - Horseback Riding in the City

Quotation of Whenever: The Year of the Renter

NYTimes.com Quotation of the Day:
"For the last three years, it was the bigger the better. Now the key words are smaller, livable and affordable."
- DOLLY LENZ, a broker at Prudential Douglas Elliman, on the New York City real estate market, from As Some U.S. Markets Level Off, Housing Slump Hits Manhattan

And this week, my roommate and I were able to negotiate a 16% drop in our own monthly rent with our landlord!
Not a quote of the day, week or month. Just of whenever. Until the next quote that moves me.

A Year Ago Today: Cerebral Albums
Two Years Ago Today: Easter Brunch & Libations

Quote of Whenever - If I Can Make It There ...

From Sandra Bullock's interview with InStyle, where their readers asked the questions:

What did you learn from waiting tables?
Ayoka L., Charleston, SC

"If you wait tables in New York, you can do any job in the world..."
Not a quote of the day, week or month. Just of whenever. Until the next quote that moves me.

A Year Ago Today: Bienvenido a Miami
Two Years Ago Today:
Peaks & Valleys
Emotional Ramblings
Phone Photo Ops - Week Recap

Quotation of Whenever - Unbelievably, it's McCain

From the September 5th NYTimes.com's Today's Headlines:
"Let me just offer an advance warning to the old, big-spending, do-nothing, me-first, country-second crowd: change is coming."
SENATOR JOHN MCCAIN, the Republican presidential nominee.

The only thing McCain has yet to say with which I wholly agree. It was not enough to sway my vote, but it was a spark of hope last month that both sides finally get it ... until I saw these sound bites, dramatized Hollywood style for maximum scare and shock value, of course.

Is this his idea of the change that is coming? Of how to put country first? As a resident of New York City, I thought I was simply surrounded by the propoganda of living in a blue state. But in conversations with friends and colleagues, it seems like our city's quintessential Republicans and Democrats alike are frustrated with the McCain/Palin ticket. You be the judge and place your vote in 35 days.

The deadline to register to vote in New York is October 10. Double check your voter registration here or call 1-866-VOTE-NYC.
Not a quote of the day, week or month. Just of whenever. Until the next quote that moves me.

A Year Ago Today: Mouthwash and Cupcakes
Two Years Ago Today: Two Months and Counting

Quotation of Whenever - Financial Bailout

From NYTimes.com's Today's Headlines:
"The situation is like that movie trailer where a guy with a deep, scary voice says, ‘In a world where credit markets are frozen, where banks refuse to lend to each other at any price, only one man, with one plan can save us.’"
JARED BERNSTEIN, of the Economic Policy Institute, on the push for a financial bailout.

The national financial crisis is very much in our faces here in the city, particularly when so many of us have family, friends and roommates working in finance, from constant top headlines in our dailies to the subtle - perhaps unintentional -foreshadowing in a scene from "Sex and the City: The Movie" where a cover of New York Magazine's "Is New York's Real Estate Bubble About to Pop?" lies atop Carrie's feature issue of Vogue. Even a friend was able to negotiate his rent down $200 when he renewed his lease this month.

I suppose old clichés are clichés for the simple fact that they never fail to repeat. What goes up must come down.
Not a quote of the day, week or month. Just of whenever. Until the next quote that moves me.

A Year Ago Today: Manhattan Real Estate
Two Years Ago Today: Burning the Late Night Oil

Quotation of Whenever - Yankee Ghosts

"The new stadium is beautiful, but I don’t know if the ghosts are going to be there. You can feel that, standing here — Babe Ruth, DiMaggio. It’s not going to be the same."
ALEX ALICEA, a Yankees fan from Union City, N.J.

This was a fitting "Quotation of Whenever" since I first wrote about Yankees fans two years ago today. I'm glad I was able to experience a game in the House that Ruth Built before it's gone.
Not a quote of the day, week or month. Just of whenever. Until the next quote that moves me.

A Year Ago Today: The Good Job
Two Years Ago Today:
Yankee Fans
Yankee Stadium

"Things I Love" Thursdays - New York Quotations

This Quotation of Whenever is courtesy of a City Wendy blog post marking a recent celebrity encounter:

“There are roughly three New Yorks. There is, first, the New York of the man or woman who was born here, who takes the city for granted and accepts its size and its turbulence as natural and inevitable. Second, there is the New York of the commuter — the city that is devoured by locusts each day and spat out each night. Third, there is the New York of the person who was born somewhere else and came to New York in quest of something. […] Commuters give the city its tidal restlessness; natives give it solidity and continuity; but the settlers give it passion."
E.B. White, Here is New York

Not a quote of the day, week or month. Just of whenever. Until the next quote that moves me.
"Things I Love" Thursdays are inspired by "I Love New York" (BNY, February 14, 2007).

Quotation of Whenever - Yankee Neighbors

Back from Las Vegas. An update on my time out later. In the meantime, a Quotation of Whenever.

New York Times Quotation of the Day:

"Sometimes you forget they’re out there. Fifty thousand people, and sometimes you forget."
SEAN MOORE on living in viewing distance of Yankee Stadium.

I felt the same way when I lived in the South Bronx during my first three months in New York and could hear the crowds during the games.
Not a quote of the day, week or month. Just of whenever. Until the next quote that moves me.

A Year Ago Today: Small Wonder Underway
Two Years Ago Today: No post

Quotation of Whenever - I'd Rather Spend $100 at the Bar

The New York Times Quotation of the Day:

"I think $100 for a tank of gas is cheap now."
COLLEEN HAMMOND, who drives a GMC Yukon XL with a 38.5 gallon tank.

I join the New Yorkers of Gotham in our collective laughter at you poor car-owning souls.

Not a quote of the day, week or month. Just of whenever. Until the next quote that moves me.

One Year Ago Today: No post
Two Years Ago Today: Headline News

Quote of Whenever - MLK's Vision on a Ticket

The New York Times Quotation of the Day:
"We as black people now have hope that we have never, ever had. I have new goals for my little girl. She can’t give me any excuses because she’s black."
KWABENA SAM-BREW, an immigrant from Ghana, on Barack Obama’s clinching of the Democratic presidential nomination.

Not a quote of the day, week or month. Just of whenever. Until the next quote that moves me.

Quote of Whenever - As Applied to My New York Life

"In prosperity, our friends know us; in adversity, we know our friends."
- John Churton Collins

Not a quote of the day, week or month. Just of whenever. Until the next quote that moves me.

The Latest Congestion Pricing Strategy

The New York Times Quotation of the Day:

"It’s very clear that a significant portion of the increase in transit use is directly caused by people who are looking for alternatives to paying $3.50 a gallon for gas."
WILLIAM MILLAR, president of the American Public Transportation Association.

From The New York Times Business section:
Gas Prices Send Surge of Riders to Mass Transit

Since Mayor Bloomberg couldn't do it, Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan is working on it.

Quote of Whenever - Over Brunch in New Haven

Quote of the Girls' Weekend in New Haven:

"When he sat down, it looked like a mushroom cap on top of two acorns."
- A Native New Havenite

Not a quote of the day, week or month. Just of whenever. Until the next quote that moves me.

Quote of Whenever - Classic Sunday Afternoons in New York City

“A toothless old man just bought me a beer. It’s a good afternoon in Brooklyn.”
- Text message received from BNR at 3:35pm while I was two hours in to my unlimited Sunday brunch mimosas at a restaurant in Manhattan

Not a quote of the day, week or month. Just of whenever. Until the next quote that moves me.

Quote of Whenever - The Most Annoying New Yorker

Just when I was thinking about how I'm still a wannabe New Yorker, even though I have a Manhattan address, pay outrageous city taxes, and sport a New York State Driver License, British photographer Nigel Barker hit the nail right on the head in "Six Seconds with Nigel Barker" from a recent edition of Page Six Magazine (a New York Post gossip publication that I don't normally care to read, but was in the seat pocket of the car to Gotham Bar & Grill).

The question: Who do you think is the most annoying New Yorker?

His answer: The kind of New Yorker that irritates me the most is the wannabe - people who say they are from New York and it turns out they moved here four months ago from Ohio.

As a military brat, I've never felt comfortable saying I'm from anywhere. My standard answer to the question that many military brats hesitate to answer is: Everywhere and no where.

I'll never be from New York. But I live here now. And of everywhere I have ever lived, there is no where that makes me feel like this city.

But why does everyone always reference Ohio?

Not a quote of the day, week or month. Just of whenever. Until the next quote that moves me.

Quote of Whenever - Side Order of Life

"You know my advice to you has never been terribly maternal so I'm not going to start now. But I just want to say, make opportunity for yourself. Don't jump on someone else's and go along for the ride because then you'll always be in the passenger's seat. And you, my dear, need to drive."

- Jenny's Mom in "Side Order of Life," the First Loves episode (aired Sun, 9/26).

Her mother's advice is exactly what Terrence and I chose for ourselves and for each other a little over a year ago. Funny how you can realize your own moments through someone else's ... even if it's just primetime TV. That generally explains the success of shows like "Sex and the City," "Friends," and most of the programming on Lifetime.

Terrence and I are not first loves, but in our current lives, I think T and I have found a way to have our cake and eat it, too.

Not a quote of the day, week or month. Just of whenever. Until the next quote that moves me.

Quotes of Whenever - Weighing in On Imus

I read that Don Imus returned to his Manhattan home last night after meeting with the Rutgers Women's Basketball Team following his irresponsible and degrading remarks that are currently dominating national headlines. Though I don't really have much to say about him, in particular, as he is not someone to whom I would pay any attention anyway, I have found the public debate interesting albeit exhausting.

In response to Diane Sawyer on ABC's Good Morning America regarding Imus' termination from CBS, Black Radio Host Larry Elder defended Imus this morning:

"No, Diane, the punishment does not fit the crime. And let's not trivialize, of course, what Don Imus said. It was offensive. He crossed the line. It was sexist. It was racist. But he apologized - apologized again. And then did the obligatory beat-down tour a la Michael Richards by appearing on The Al Sharpton Show, and as far as I'm concerned, that should have been enough.

"In the grand department store of life, Don Imus operates in a toy section. And I think that those remarks should have been taken with some perspective, and they weren't ... well, Diane I understand all of that [regarding Diane Sawyer's contention that there may be CBS employees who want to come to work in a culture that respects them], but think about all of the people who are calling for his head. Al Shapton referred to the Central Park Jogger as a whore, not a ho, but a whore, pardon me, and said that her boyfriend did it. Al Sharpton has never apologized for falsely accusing a White man of sexually assaulting Tawana Brawley. Jesse Jackson has called for his head ...

[Diane Sawyer: "But Larry, a lot of people say that maybe Al Sharpton doesn't speak for the entire community. Nonetheless, at the end of the day, a slap on the wrist would have made a different kind of statement that was also unacceptable."]

"Well, I think it is unacceptable, Diane, when people who are so-called leaders like Jesse Jackson, who say 'Hymie in Hymietown' and then denied, by the way, having said it and took several days to apologize - longer than did Don Imus. You have Spike Lee, who is also calling for his head. Spike Lee, Diane, once said that he disliked interracial couples and when he sees them, he gives them visual daggers. This guy also has made other hideous statements that are quite racist, and I just don't understand how it is that these so-called Black leaders have the moral authority to demand that a private employer fire Don Imus ... He apologized; he apologized profusely. He has in the past spoken very sincerely about what happened to James Byrd, who was dragged in Jasper, Texas. He's talked about what happened in Hurricane Katrina. I think you have to look at the body of the man's work and not dismiss him because of a stupid, racist remark that he made for which he has several times apologized ...

"... I do want to take issue with the term 'free speech.' This has nothing to do with free speech. Free speech has to do with government suppressing political speech. This is about a private employer, CBS, determining for all sorts of reasons that Don Imus ought to go. That's just the way things go. That's just free enterprise. But it has nothing to do with free speech."
-Larry Elder, Libertarian Radio Host of "The Larry Elder Show"
See video clip of this interview on ABC News

"From the outset, I believe all of us have been deeply upset and repulsed by the statements that were made on our air about the young women who represent Rutgers University in the NCAA Women's Basketball Championship ... In our meetings with concerned groups, there has been much discussion of the effect language like this on our young people, particularly young women of color trying to make their way in this society."
- Leslie Moonves, CBS President & CEO

I've also caught more food for thought from Jemele Hill, Columnist, ESPN.com, and Martha Burk, National Council of Women's Organizations, who both offered good perspectives to consider.

I don't know if Don Imus' career will ever recover, but he has certainly been a shock jock who pushed the envelope with statements that have to make you think, even if they make you angry.

"Kanye West said during a concert on NBC that George Bush doesn't care about Black people, which I don't believe. What I do believe is that neither he nor anyone else cares enough about them."
- Don Imus

Not a quote of the day, week or month. Just of whenever. Until the next quote that moves me.

Quote of Whenever - Via Text Message

It's not every day you receive a text message that reads: "Ur boss is on MTV's Celebrity DeathMatch."

Well, I didn't get texts like that back in North Carolina. I received the message from my boyfriend Terrence one day this month as my train became elevated briefly between the 116th and 137th Street stops.

"Is she kicking ass?" I texted back.

"She just won," he replied.

Not a quote of the day, week or month. Just of whenever. Until the next quote that moves me.

Quote of Whenever - Hugo Chavez

I don't routinely have a quote of the day, week or month so here is my first quote of whenever - until a new quote moves me.

"Yes, I called [President George Bush] a 'devil' in the United Nations. That's true. In another occasion, I said that he was a donkey just because I think that he is very ignorant about the things that are actually happening in Latin America and the world. If that is in excess on my side, I accept. And I might apologize. But who is causing more harm? Do I cause any harm because I call him a devil? He bombs people, villages, and he invades nations."
- Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela

That was the Venezuelan President's response to Barbara Walter's question during an interview on 20/20, Friday, March 16, 2007: "As I talk with you, you are a very dignified man, but we have heard you call the President of the United States, a devil, a donkey, a drunk, a liar, a coward, a murderer. What does all this name calling accomplish?"

I don't know enough about Hugo Chavez to make an informed judgement about his policies. Although I am a left-wing liberal, I have heard that he is extremely radical. My general belief is that socialism is a good idea, but there is too much natural greed in human nature for it to ever work for entire nations. However, I did like the answer to Walter's above question - and other answers he offered during the interview that ABC aired on Friday night.

Not a quote of the day, week or month. Just of whenever. Until the next quote that moves me.