The pictures above were taken from the rooftop of my friends' beautiful new apartment buildingin the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan; just west of Times Square. The visible white glow in the distant foreground of the photo is the glow from all the neon and lights in Times Square.
On Monday I was on a route that had me running 'troubles' all day. They were mostly internet service problems. I showed up at one job and the guy led me down into his darkened basement where the computer, the router and all his equipment was located. I could see his wide screen monitor from across the room and was intrigued by the photo he had displayed on his computer desktop. I walked over and sat down as he described the trouble he was having. He was one of the few people I encounter in such situations that knew what he was talking about and had done and tried all the right things.
As I sat down and connected my equipment to the cable line I looked more closely at the picture on his PC. It was a night time shot; somewhat distorted. It was clearly NYC as the Empire State Building was partially visible to the right of the photo. As my meter was processing things, a process that takes a couple minutes, I studied his display more closely. I realized that his picture had to have been taken on the same street in Manhattan where my friends live; just an avenue east towards Times Square.
I mentioned to the guy that I was interested in the photo soon after I sat down. The scene looked 'vaguely' familiar to me. I have 4x6 prints of the pictures above paper-clipped with a bunch of others inside my metallic work clip-board. As I waited for my equipment to process the signal readings, I pulled those two photos from my clip-board and I showed him what I meant. I pointed to the distorted buildings in his picture and the real ones in mine. He could see that I was right, he laughed and said, 'That's pretty cool.' He had never been to the city; he just liked the picture he chose to display on his desktop.
I have been on that rooftop many times and, day or night, it is always somewhat 'magical.' For me, seeing his desktop reminded me how truly lucky I am.
Great friends, great times in a great city. Life gets no better than that.
I look forward to seeing them all there very soon.
Today was a beautiful late November day here in the mid-atlantic region. It was sunny and seasonally warm. I think it got up to 62 or so. Very nice day, indeed.
My day got off to a rough start as I arrived at my first job. I was connecting services in an apartment building at a retirement community. I don't know what was going on there, as I visit the place routinely to use their easy-access bathroom; but there was no place to park anywhere near the entrance to the facility. I also know that the facility has tight security. You need to gain access from someone inside. I parked the van, grabbed all the stuff I thought I would need for the first phase of the job and hiked to the entrance. There were people gathering in the chapel, in the hallway, and no one in the office where I would normally sign in during the week to gain access to the apartments and the electrical room where the connection box is located.
I hiked back to the van and called the phone number listed on the order to ask for access. A woman answered the phone. I identified myself as the cable guy and explained my problem. I could tell she was somewhat 'grouchy' by a subtle tone in her voice. She told me she would come get me at an agreed-upon door. I walked up to the door and a smiling woman was walking down the hallway, she gladly opened the door for me. I asked if she was the woman I had just spoken with on the phone. She said, 'no.' I told her I was the cable guy and needed to get to apartment 111 and the electrical room. She gave me directions and I immediately went to the apartment. I knocked on the door to no answer. Ugh.
I was smart enough this time to have brought my phone with me. I dialed the number and the woman answered the phone. This time the attitude was palpable. She said, 'I walked all the way out to your truck!' I told her I was at the apartment door. Ugh.
She hiked back to the apartment and let me in. When I first spoke with her on the phone I advised her that I would not only need access to the apartment but the electrical room as well. I had never been to the facility before on a Saturday and had no idea who to contact for such access. That need of mine added to her morning angst.
A week from tomorrow I will have been on my job for twenty years. I still haven't completely wrapped my head around that. To me that is a REALLY long time. It kinda scares me. During this time I have met and had to deal with a lot of people; mostly in their homes. No doubt, it's been quite an experience; especially since I am NOT one of 'them.' <'them' = born/raised in Lancaster County...wink> I am sure I have mentioned here before that I am, thankfully, from a culture other than this local one. Over the years I have come to realize how open-minded I am and think I have developed some well-honed people skills. This first Saturday morning job was definitely going to present some challenge; I knew that from the first minute.
I wish there was an emoticon/avatar of a cowboy blowing off the top of a smoking pistol. I nailed it!
She and I ended up talking about skiing, Vermont. At one point she asked me, 'Anyone ever tell you that you look like Richard Dreyfus when he was younger?' I blushed and told her, 'no.' By the time I left she told me what a pleasure it was to meet me. It will always make me smile to turn things around like that. I'd like to think I am an inherently good guy and I thank my parents for that. I'd like to think they would be proud of the fact that by me just being me; it shows. I'm not a parent but I suppose there is no greater gift that a parent could pass along to a child.
Soon after this job I moved onto another. This job was in a very nice apartment/townhouse complex that I have worked in many times before. I was greeted at the door by a very nice and friendly man. He immediately introduced himself and shook my hand. I'm sorry to say, I don't pay much attention to names as I am conditioned by my military family back round to instinctively refer to people as either 'Ma'am' or 'Sir.' I told him that.
His friendly introduction was a giant red flag to me that he was not originally from 'around here.' As I went about the job we were very conversant. He talked about his many travels but mentioned that he returned here as, 'there is no other place like it.' He mentioned that he does not like the Amish people but he liked to hear the 'clip/clop' of their buggies on the road. No doubt, he was an interesting man.
Somehow in the course of the conversation he mentioned the name of the town in PA where he was born. Amazingly, it was a town up in the central mountains 50 miles or so north of here; five miles or so from the town where my mom was born and raised. In Pennsylvania that is a world away. Those of us with roots in that area will talk to anybody, unlike the locals here! Needless to say, we had a nice talk. He had moved to this area when he was a young child. I was some years older when I landed here but interesting how I connected with him personally; knowing we had roots in the same area.
I was there to connect him to the internet and provide high-definition TV service. I got everything all set up and then realized not only was the TV not plugged in; there was no power cord connected to it. The poor guy called his friends who helped him move and no one was sure where the cord was. I advised him that he could drive a mile up the road to Radio Shack to get one. His internet was good but I am sorry to say I never got to show him the TV as he was missing the power cord. He was a really cool and nice guy I felt bad leaving the job 'incomplete.' Ugh.
He was one of those rare people I meet on the job that I would consider knocking on his door 'cold' someday if I was in the neighborhood. There can be no doubt that he is 'not from around here' as I am sure he would open the door, smile, shake my hand, call me 'Kieth' , and invite me in. He was one of those customers that I smile thinking, 'I got paid for that?' It was the same with the woman this morning.
I am very lucky to have a job where I can have fun while performing it. It's always good when the chemistry is good from the start. Fun to mix-it-up when it starts out poorly and make it turn out well, too. All's well that ends well, no doubt.
