11 Sep 06

Time:

Well, I made it from my door to the infirmary (although that's not what they call it) in 35 minutes on the local, so that's pretty impressive.

Money:

$0, so I can spend a little more freely the rest of the week - tomorrow starts my three-days-out-of-the-house routine, and there are LOTS of good places for breakfast and lunch by school.

More interesting things:

Made my way to school in the coolest weather I've seen yet, under what might have been the bluest sky so far. Especially in the shadows of buildings or walking across the wind tunnels they call "streets near the river," my way-too-big-but-still-just-right NYPD sweatshirt was very comfortable.

Hopped on the treadmill, only realizing then that of course the usual dose of Regis and Kelly would be replaced by the List of Names. I happened to plug in my headphones just when they read Marie's nephew's name, and I was glad for the timing.

Saw two police officers and a Coney Island firefighter, all dressed in their Class A's. The cops were headed downtown - that was first thing this morning - and the fireman was walking down Broadway in the afternoon. I've told a couple of people today that it's just good even to be in the same city as these guys, to see them in person and have that much stronger a knowledge of their presence than I would if I were still seeing them on television.

Re-read Dave Barry's column from one or two days after the attacks, and appreciated it all over again.

On a (much) lighter note, moved pretty expeditiously through one of my articles, only to discover in the middle... a full-page shot of Matthew Fox from that show Lost. I have been amused by the large-and-wacky-family-shares-appliances nature of the school computer lab printers, in which you just hit "print" and then stand on line behind your Violet brothers and sisters, hoping you get your hands on your stuff before somebody goes and accidentally yoinks the whole bibliography (or whatever.) Well, today, obviously, rather than missing something important I had an added bonus, and it almost made me fall out of my chair. After thinking about it for a minute, though, I decided that maybe professors should do that for us on purpose.

During the ride home, watched a grizzled, rough-looking kind of guy in a Special Forces ball cap - I don't want to resort to stereotypes, maybe especially with this group, but he looked like a Vietnam vet - make a mom's life easier by standing to offer her two little, little girls his spot on the bench.

Just a moment ago, heard strains of "...where at least I know I'm free!" floating up to my window from an open car window below. It reminded me to run downstairs and check whether the Towers of Light are visible from this area; they aren't, as it happens, but I do know they're glowing not too far away, and that's good enough for me.

And now returning to our normally scheduled programming...


More interesting things I haven't done yet:

Gone to Beard Papa, which as best I can determine is a French smoothies-and-pastries place. Whatever it is, though, it smells really, really good.