Inside Seat Or Good Coffee

Today I was presented with a classic dilemma: Inside Seat or Dunkin' Donuts Coffee?

OMD (f/k/a OYD), who recently got her license and has now taken complete possesion of the Camry formely known as My Camry, drives me to the train station every morning.

Here's the problem:

The coffee at the coffee shop at the Woodmere station is, how shall I say?...undrinkable. (How people actually drink that stuff day in and day out is a mystery beyond the scope of this post). While Dunkin' Donuts coffee (available at the Hewlett station) is not at the apex of coffeedom, it is worlds better than the Woodmere stuff.

(An aside: I did not have time to make a cup of far suprior Flavia Sumatra coffee at home).

But, if I go to Hewlett, I give up any chance of getting an inside window seat on a three-seat bench. The inside seat of a three seat bench (on a train that is unlikely to be so crowded that the middle seat gets occupied) is one of life's small pleasures. I roll up into a ball and read my Wall Street Journal. If the nearby yentas get too loud, I put on my Bose Quiet Comfort 3 headphones. Life is good at the window seat.

What would you do?

Old Men With Spindly Legs

Back in the day when I was a runner, I would often run into guys who can best be described as "old men with spindly legs". These guys were hard core, often doing a few marathons a year and other races almost every weekend. They looked like they were in their sixties and up and all of them had skinny, Olive Oyl legs.

While doing a spin class this morning, I looked in the mirror and I realized that I have become an old man with spindly legs. I've always had Olive Oyl arms, but my legs never used to look like toothpicks.

Sheesh.

Deathly Political Correctness

It's too early to tell for sure, but all signs point to the fact that the Army received ample warning signs about the Ft. Hood murderer. It also seems that the signs were ignored or not passed on partly so as to avoid offending Muslim sensibilities.

This is a very dangerous path to go down. Radical Islam is not a religion of peace. The sooner we come to terms with that as a nation, the safer we will be.

The Yankees Win; MoC Suffers

Not because I hate the Yankees. I don't.

This morning at 8 a.m. Penn Station was teeming with Yankees fans of all ages preparing to travel downtown to the parade. It took me twice the amount of time it usually does to get from my train to the street.

Worse, the train ride home this afternoon is going to be awful. Forget about getting a seat. The train will likely be full of the very same people but this time many of them will likely be drunk.

I know. It's all about me.

Bar Results

New York State's bar exam results were made available today. We have an intern this year (courtesy of a major law firm that is paying her not to work) who took the exam this summer.

She received her results this morning by email. (She passed). Alternatively, her results were availble on-line. All she had to do was log in.

Back in the olden days, when I took the exam, you were notified by mail.

In my case, 29 years ago, I was working for a Wall Street firm (which was, strangely enough, near Wall Street) when I was told by one of my fellow first year associates(who was still living at home) that his mom had called to tell him that he passed.

I lived near the Village at that time so I told my boss I needed to step out. I hopped on the subway, went to my apartment, opened the mail and, voila! That was a very scary moment.

Thankfully, all 13 first year asociates in my firm passed so it was a very happy day at Lord, Day & Lord.

(An aside: The Wikipedia summary of Lord Day & Lord mentions Todd Stitzer, CEO of Cadbury, as a prominent alumnus (Todd was a very nice guy who was a killer tennis player) but fails to mention Ted Ammon, the partner at KKR who was killed by his wife's boyfriend.

Nassau County and the Death of the Obama Nation

I am very encouraged by the election results in Virginia and New Jersey. Massive swings among independent voters seems to suggest that the people are not ready for Obama's radical socialist ideas.

To me, however, what happened in Nassau County is even more telling. The incumbent Democrat County Executive is hanging on by a couple of hundred votes. The legislature, after ten years, is returning to Republican control. I think Nassau County residents, generally people who work hard for their money and pay very high taxes, are sending a message that they've had enough.

If I were Carolyn McCarthy, I would think long and hard before voting for Pelosi-Care, the worst bill in the history of this country.

Smart Money

The Five Towns Jewish Star has an editorial about the visit by a Chassidic Rebbe from Yerushalayim to the Five Towns that is scheduled for this week. This Rebbe is the head of a virulently anti-Zionist sect and many of its members were involved in the "parking lot riots" in Yerushalayim this summer.

The gist of the editorial is a question: Why are we welcoming and financially supporting a Rebbe (especially one whose views are inconsistent with the feelings of much of the neighborhood) when people can't pay their tuition or mortgages right here in the Five Towns.

Without even considering the issue of the Rebbe's views (which is not to say it isn't a legitimate question), and consistent with what I've been saying for months, I also question the wisdom of supporting mosdos from outside the neighborhood when our own institutions are suffering mightily.

(Please no comments about the Rebbe or his philosophy; it's not my point and I don't want to go there.)

Damon's Dash

Just because it was successful doesn't mean it was smart.

Everyone I heard was gushing about Damon's steal of second in the ninth inning last night followed by his mad dash to third when he realized that no one was covering the base (The Phillies had a shift on for the pull-hitting lefty Mark Texeira so their third baseman was covering second).

I think it was a pretty dumb play. Damon would have scored from second on almost any hit to the outfield (and, as it turned out, A-Rod hit a double that might have even scored him from FIRST!). So, getting to third with two outs did not add that much but the risk that he took was immense (especially with A-Rod and Posada the next two batters). As I saw the replay, he didn't miss geting tagged out by very much (at the beginning of the dash; once he got some distance, he was clear of the third baseman).

Can you imagine how the fans and the press would be howling if he had gotten tagged out?

But all's well that ends well for the Yankees. When you are destined to win, whacky plays like this one seem to all work out in your favor. Just don't call it smart baseball.