OTC 7 and a Holiday Story

Let me start this tome with a photo; the last "O Christmas Tree" of the 2010 season.  I snapped this once again with the handy dandy cell phone while walking through Penn Station on Christmas Day. Yes, I was one of those crazy people traveling on Christmas Day.  And here, the story part starts:

Penn Station, New York -- It was a bright, cold morning as I walked to the train.  In a few hours I would be in Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love and all that. By the time I left Philly, I was feeling no love of any kind.

The Amtrak ride out no problem, Saturday night (Christmas night!) no problem. In fact I had a wonderful dinner at Buddakan with co-workers and then off to the hotel for a good night's sleep before game day.  Except, the next morning tuned out to be the day of (insert dramatic music) The Snowpocalypse.

Our game was canceled at 11am or a little after and at this point there was not a flake to be found.  The crew was in a tizzy, the Chairman was in a tizzy, *I* was in a tizzy.  I spent the next eight hour or so changing flights trying to get people home two days later. By 11pm we headed to the hotel on a snow covered, unplowed, slippery road but I still didn't think too much of it.

Monday morning brings me back to the train station for my trip back to New York.  Yay, flights were canceled but Amtrak's status updates said all was fine.  At the station, another story was being told, 40min, 1hour, 2hour delays! Oh my.  At 1:30p we board out train, only 30 minutes late, not bad at all (insert more dramatic music) or so I thought!  That one hour train ride turned into a 7 1/2 hour train ride where we were stranded with the nose of the train inches from the platform at Newark Penn Station.

Yes, you read that right...mere inches from the platform but not close enough to safely let people off.  Anyhoo, I eventually made it back to Penn Station where MBE was in line at Nathan's to have a hamburger ready!  Bless you MBE! Not only that, one MBE came allll the way back to Jersey with me to help with my luggage which was an awesome thing because the streets and sidewalks were covered in a good 18 inches of snow.

Now, three days later, we are still snow covered for the most part.  Streets are being plowed slowly but surely.  Mass transit is slowly getting back to normal, airports in the area are finally getting people home.  For this, I am thankful that I only had to endure a 7+ hour train ride instead of three days in an airport terminal.

And thus I say goodbye to 2010!  I hope my long post didn't bore you too much. I hope that this past weekend saw you safe at home with no travel problems. I hope that 2011 is a wonderful year for all.

Wishing You Peace And...

Tschaikovsky, Balanchine and OCT Part 6

Tree at Chelsea Market

Happy "almost Christmas"!  So, as you might infer from the title of this post, I recently attended the ballet.  Lincoln Center, The Nutrcracker, Tschaikovsky and Balanchine. It was my first time seeing The Nutcracker live; I've only watched it on PBS a few times over the past years. Very. Cool.  I was enchanted by Clara, the evil mice, the growing Christmas tree, the Sugar Plum Fairy...every last bit of it.

In addition I met Christina after work and we headed over to Chelsea Market for some shopping and dinner to catch up before the holidays.  Another tree, another blurry camera phone photo.  And no trip to Chelsea Market would be complete without a stop at Anthropologie.

And so the holiday is almost upon us.  The year is almost over.  Winter has officially arrived and the days will only grow longer until summer is knocking on the door.  Is it possible for a year to pass as quickly as this one has?  I'm sure we shall chat again before the holiday but just in case....

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!

O Christmas Tree...Part 5

Tree at South Street Seaport



Ah, what a busy weekend! Yesterday ended with a trip to South Street Seaport to see the tree. It is actually a very pretty tree all lit up and with big red bows. The star on top seems a little damaged from it's topple a few weeks ago and it has wires bolted into huge boulder like stones to keep it upright but it didn't seem to suffer too much damage.

MBE and stopped by after going to see Tron in 3D and IMAX. Woohoo! There were some things about the original film that I didn't remember; it has been quite a while.  Just saying.  For example, I didn't remember Bruce Boxleitner being Adam in the original. The effects were awesome and I thought (contrary to the critic I'd read earlier) that the story moved at a fairly speedy pace. IMAX is just such a cool thing to begin with and then add in the special effects...wow.

Saturday, I met Snowflake and Mr. Hall for some shopping and then we headed over to Hell's Kitchen to meet the rest of the gang.  It was Fafa's birthday and so we had reservations at 9 Restaurant. The menu wasn't extensive but everything sounded amazing.  We ordered some appetizers for the table and I had the braised Beef Cheek "Pot Roast" with baby carrots, gnocchi and Yorkshire Pudding.  Trying to be a more adventurous eater and all that. ;)

Anyhoo, it was a long, cold and full weekend but a fun weekend!  We ate, drank, saw and visited.

Holiday Cheer!



6th Avenue at Rockefeller Center

 I feel like I've been missing in action around these pages.  Work continues and although there is a light at the end of the tunnel, I'm hoping it's not a speeding F Train.  Last night was a co-worker's Bah-Humbug Party; it has turned into an annual event and a chance to see a lot of people who used to work with us but have now moved on to other places.  This weekend I've planned to finish my shopping, have dinner with the girls and see Tron with MBE.  A trip in search of another tree may be wedged in there somewhere.  You see, I have all this extra time on my hands as I decided to splurge and drop the laundry off.  Hey, big spender! I know!

O Christmas Tree Part 4 - Bryant Park

After leaving work on Friday I decided to walk down 6th Avenue and see what I might find.  And what I found was this tree at Bryant Park anchoring one end of the ice skating rink!  I heard a rumor that there is another tree on the 5th Avenue side inside the New York Public Library.  Maybe that will be my next excursion.

O Christmas Tree Part 3 - Lincoln Center

Tuesday after work I hopped on the train uptown, made my way to Michael's and then on the way back down, stopped off at Lincoln Center to see if there was a tree. There was, but it wasn't like the old days when they had their own televised lighting and such. It was a fairly modest tree, up on the balcony of one of the buildings.  They were still stringing the lights (you can see the cherry lift off to the left of the photo) and I have to admit, I was much more impressed by the chandelier inside. It was all sparkly and glowing and inside.  I was cold and frozen and outside. So my excursion didn't last too long.  BUT, another tree down!

O Christmas Tree Part 2

Yes, I know.  The titles, if they continue in this way (and they will) might become monotonous.  I can't help it.  My creativity for thinking up funny and witty titles is at an all time low. Nil to be exact.  So, I will keep it simple. Since this is the second tree in my series it is thusly titled.

I had forgotten that I had stumbled upon this beauty over the weekend. I decided to enjoy my weekend off and instead of sitting around the house on my bum, I would venture forth and explore.  Walk around, get exercise, check out the holiday cheer all around me.  Oh and cheer there was a plenty.  There were also crazy people a plenty.  People who tried to push a baby in a stroller through a revolving door.  It seemed quite stupid to me, especially as there was a regular door right on the side.  Anyhoo...back to the tree.

It's a beauty in the little courtyard at the New York Palace hotel right off of Madison Avenue in the mid-50's.  I'm beginning to think that there are hidden gems of Christmas trees all over the place!  And so, my quest continues.

O Christmas Tree

10 years, 10 Christmas trees. Wow.  It's hard to believe I've been working in the same place for TEN years. That's by far a record for me.  I come to the same building every day and have seen pretty much the same tree every year.  Yes, it's a different tree.  They vary in width, they vary in height, every now and then one looks like the Peanut's tree on steroids (a few bare spots and scrawny if you know what I mean) but all in all it's the same tree!  If I look back at the past 10 year's worth of pictures of the tree at Rockefeller Plaza, they'd all look pretty much the same.  I'm not complaining, just stating a fact.

But this year...THIS YEAR, I am on a mission.  I want to see every darn Christmas tree in the city; maybe even a few NOT in the city.  I will try to accomplish this mission in the next two weeks. Wish me luck. I hope to document "The Great Tree Caper" here on the Pixie Pages.

Will there be a tree at the Lincoln Center?  The last two years I've trekked there and nada. No tree just a lot of construction.  This will be my year!  Also on the list is the tree at South Street Seaport.  I think.  It was blown over last week in a day of high winds.  A gust nearing 60mph toppled it and I'm not sure it's still there.  I can see this caper will be a challenge but one I am up for it.  Neither snow nor rain nor high winds will deter me.  OK, maybe snow...

Anthropologie, Oh How I Love You...

Anthro window display at 30 Rock store.