Month: June 2010

Biking in Astoria

Granny Rap

Plenty to do in Amsterdam… thanks to GVB, Amsterdam public transportation. But I’m posting this because it may be the slickest ad ever for public transportation (with the old Detroit People Mover song as a close second).

Bruce Ratner, dictator

I was reading the paper today and came across this picture. “Gee,” I thought, “that guy sure looks familiar!” “Why,” I shouted, “that guy looks just like Bashar al-Assad!” I turned to look at my fridge magnet of Bashar Assad. (What? doesn’t everybody have a fridge magnet of their favorite middle-eastern dictator?) And there he…
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An Astoria Welcome to the Q Train?

Would anybody be interested in officially welcoming the Q train to Astoria? It might be fun. The Q runs to Ditmars starting the 27th. I know it’s been there a few times for a visit, but now it’s ours for real (The W is already dead to me). One of the dirty secrets of the…
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New Subway Map

I rode the train yesterday and like the new subway map! At least ascetically. All the bus boxes gone (nobody uses those, right?). Soothing colors (or “recession color,” as my partner-in-victimhood said, disparagingly). And the M train is orange and goes to Queens… Craaaazy!!! But here’s what’s weird… the MTA has no night map. What…
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Stupid fucker stole my rack!

I have a bike parked outside. It’s been parked outside for, well, about 13 years. “How can you leave a bike parked outside?” people exclaim with shock. I don’t know. It’s easy. Convenient. And people leave cars parked outside all the time. Look, it’s not a fancy bike. And I do have the seat locked.…
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Communists Born in the USA and Dire Straits

I was in the hardware store under the tracks by 36th Avenue the other day. The one where the owner or main worker is a middle-aged, liberal, dog loving, some’er teeth, former punk kind of guy (only in New York!). Dire Straits “Walk of life” was on the radio and I mentioned how I loved…
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7-Stop Shopping or Why I ♥ Astoria

It really is a beautiful day in the neighborhood. I went to mail some letters and did the mail-drop double-check before dropping them in the mailbox at 30th Ave. No stamps. So I turned around and walked three steps and (1) bought two stamps from the newsstand. Then I (2) bought wine at the liquor…
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Man Driving SUV attacks bikes in San Fran

A horrible story from the West Coast: Witnesses said the SUV came speeding south on the street, hit the first bicyclist head on, and then hit the second less than a block away at 24th Street. The driver roared east about a mile to the corner of 23rd and Pennsylvania streets, where he hit the…
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