And a Surprising Time Was Had by All
I ended up getting a new cell phone of the same model I had, an iPhone 5S. My battery was in terrible shape, so I went to the Apple Store in Manhattan--since the one Queens location didn't have an appointment open until five days later--and was told they'd replace the battery within two hours and charged me $81. When I came back they said they couldn't replace the battery so here's a new phone of the same model, fresh out of the box. For the $81 we charged you for the battery work. I'd prefer to upgrade to a newer model, but that's much, much more money. It's so nice to have a phone that doesn't die constantly.
eta: AT&T charged an additional $518 for my new phone, which wasn’t mentioned to me or included on my Apple Store receipt.
While I was hanging around Midtown for two hours with time to kill, I wandered into some lobbies of buildings near 42nd Street. When I saw it in black and white photos it looked cool, but the Chrysler Building's lobby is all in rust browns! Amazing workmanship, yeah, but not a color that makes me happy or encourages me to keep looking. I was happier with an entrance to part of 110 East 42nd Street. You can't get near the part that is now Cipriani unless you have massive money, but this lobby at an entrance to a part of the building that might be devoted to offices has a mosaic ceiling of blue tiles studded with golden stars. The location was once the Bowery Savings Bank, built back in the days when people designed banks to awe you.
The annual ice skating rink and outdoor holidays shops have gone up at Bryant Park. The rink can be fun for people watching, though the shops are pricey.
Saks hasn't unveiled its animatronic windows yet but some of the non-moving ones were already visible last night. I don't love this series as much as last year's. This year is almost all mannequins in an autumnal setting, with the same color scheme throughout, while last year had a unifying element as well but the different colors for each made a huge difference. I think I also just loved how graphic they looked. (In fact, I'm using this shot of one of last year's windows as my cell phone's wallpaper.) Here are two in this year's "Once Upon a Holiday," both of them featuring ensembles inspired by Snow White.
Bergdorf Goodman's Christmas windows continue the store's recent trend of not being as ambitious or decorating as intricately as they used to. Once upon a time you could stand in front of almost every window and see what seemed to be hundreds of little details. Lately, that's just a window or two. Their theme this year is "To New York with Love, BG," with each main window celebrating an NYC institution. Here are two. The (flashing) red lights window is about the New York Philharmonic, while the one with the blinged out dinosaur bones is for our Museum of Natural History.
I tried to take some more shots at BG in the wee hours of the morning but parking was even more restrictive than usual and at 4:30 am(!). These days having police visible wandering the area at all hours due to Trump Tower being a block away also gets in the way of the Zen focus I need to shoot my best photos.
By the way, these days I feel anxious almost every time I park my car anywhere, some part of me certain it'll be gone when I come back even though I think I read the parking rules correctly. Thanks so much, Flushing police. These days I'm also anxious when I spend time in what are now Bus Only lanes on Manhattan and Queens streets, even when it's 4 am, because some of them are 24 hours even when there aren't any buses running. It'd be nice to be able to make right turns without the agita. The city government keeps coming up with ways to criminalize anything drivers do.
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comments at Dreamwidth.
eta: AT&T charged an additional $518 for my new phone, which wasn’t mentioned to me or included on my Apple Store receipt.
While I was hanging around Midtown for two hours with time to kill, I wandered into some lobbies of buildings near 42nd Street. When I saw it in black and white photos it looked cool, but the Chrysler Building's lobby is all in rust browns! Amazing workmanship, yeah, but not a color that makes me happy or encourages me to keep looking. I was happier with an entrance to part of 110 East 42nd Street. You can't get near the part that is now Cipriani unless you have massive money, but this lobby at an entrance to a part of the building that might be devoted to offices has a mosaic ceiling of blue tiles studded with golden stars. The location was once the Bowery Savings Bank, built back in the days when people designed banks to awe you.
The annual ice skating rink and outdoor holidays shops have gone up at Bryant Park. The rink can be fun for people watching, though the shops are pricey.
Saks hasn't unveiled its animatronic windows yet but some of the non-moving ones were already visible last night. I don't love this series as much as last year's. This year is almost all mannequins in an autumnal setting, with the same color scheme throughout, while last year had a unifying element as well but the different colors for each made a huge difference. I think I also just loved how graphic they looked. (In fact, I'm using this shot of one of last year's windows as my cell phone's wallpaper.) Here are two in this year's "Once Upon a Holiday," both of them featuring ensembles inspired by Snow White.
Bergdorf Goodman's Christmas windows continue the store's recent trend of not being as ambitious or decorating as intricately as they used to. Once upon a time you could stand in front of almost every window and see what seemed to be hundreds of little details. Lately, that's just a window or two. Their theme this year is "To New York with Love, BG," with each main window celebrating an NYC institution. Here are two. The (flashing) red lights window is about the New York Philharmonic, while the one with the blinged out dinosaur bones is for our Museum of Natural History.
I tried to take some more shots at BG in the wee hours of the morning but parking was even more restrictive than usual and at 4:30 am(!). These days having police visible wandering the area at all hours due to Trump Tower being a block away also gets in the way of the Zen focus I need to shoot my best photos.
By the way, these days I feel anxious almost every time I park my car anywhere, some part of me certain it'll be gone when I come back even though I think I read the parking rules correctly. Thanks so much, Flushing police. These days I'm also anxious when I spend time in what are now Bus Only lanes on Manhattan and Queens streets, even when it's 4 am, because some of them are 24 hours even when there aren't any buses running. It'd be nice to be able to make right turns without the agita. The city government keeps coming up with ways to criminalize anything drivers do.
You can comment here or at the Dreamwidth crosspost.
comments at Dreamwidth.