New York Stories, Part One
Over the Memorial Day weekend I had the pleasure of traveling back to my original hometown, New York City. I had not been back since the Summer of 2001. For shame! This past decade has been quite active, but still, no excuse. The purpose for this trip is something I will reveal later. It's significant with a capital "S". But, later..I will spend several entries decribing all the small things that happened on this amazing trip. Historic, even.
Our inaugural entry will document another of those small mircales that happen in life, the kind I usually have to experience myself to believe. On Saturday, I traveled with some family to Northport, Long Island. As we exited the car I realized that my beloved iPhone had gone missing. Take this as you will, but I felt like I had lost an appendage. The little bugger, for all the swipes I can take against it and the idea of it, really helps me in my daily doings. Reminders, Internet, apps for almost anything you can think of, that smartphone was worth the $$ (and the monthly fee). My stomach went sour when I realized it was gone.
We had ridden the F train from Brooklyn, rendevousing with our companions in lower Manhattan. As I had texted right after coming up from the stairwell (no signal underground, natch), I knew it had to have been dropped/lost somewhere on the street afterward. Shit.
So one of us called my number. No audible ring, but someone answered! A nice fellow who found it somewhere on the not-so-mean streets. Someone who was willing to hang onto it until we returned to the city that evening! I was relieved, but suspicious. I went on to have a lovely time in various parks and at a beach on the Island but was still curious/nervous about that little device, you know, the one that in its little shell contains more tech capability than that of any of the old Apollo spacecrafts.
As we drove closer to Manhattan on the Long Island Expressway, we called the guy back. Yes, he would meet us in front of the McDonald's on Broadway. And there he was. We double parked and after about 5 minutes, a smiling young man produced the phone, still in the handy vinyl case my wife got me as an anniversary gift. It was a funny scene while we waited. Like we were on some sort of covert retrieval mission. Or a stakeout. Or an illegal drop. Anyhow, as a thank you, I gave the man a Barnes & Noble giftcard I'd been carrying around since Christmastime (my acquisition during our office gift exchange). I knew there had been a reason why I hadn't used it.
So there you go, another example of undiluted human decency. It does still exist. Even in mean old New York. Though it wasn't so mean this time......
Our inaugural entry will document another of those small mircales that happen in life, the kind I usually have to experience myself to believe. On Saturday, I traveled with some family to Northport, Long Island. As we exited the car I realized that my beloved iPhone had gone missing. Take this as you will, but I felt like I had lost an appendage. The little bugger, for all the swipes I can take against it and the idea of it, really helps me in my daily doings. Reminders, Internet, apps for almost anything you can think of, that smartphone was worth the $$ (and the monthly fee). My stomach went sour when I realized it was gone.
We had ridden the F train from Brooklyn, rendevousing with our companions in lower Manhattan. As I had texted right after coming up from the stairwell (no signal underground, natch), I knew it had to have been dropped/lost somewhere on the street afterward. Shit.
So one of us called my number. No audible ring, but someone answered! A nice fellow who found it somewhere on the not-so-mean streets. Someone who was willing to hang onto it until we returned to the city that evening! I was relieved, but suspicious. I went on to have a lovely time in various parks and at a beach on the Island but was still curious/nervous about that little device, you know, the one that in its little shell contains more tech capability than that of any of the old Apollo spacecrafts.
As we drove closer to Manhattan on the Long Island Expressway, we called the guy back. Yes, he would meet us in front of the McDonald's on Broadway. And there he was. We double parked and after about 5 minutes, a smiling young man produced the phone, still in the handy vinyl case my wife got me as an anniversary gift. It was a funny scene while we waited. Like we were on some sort of covert retrieval mission. Or a stakeout. Or an illegal drop. Anyhow, as a thank you, I gave the man a Barnes & Noble giftcard I'd been carrying around since Christmastime (my acquisition during our office gift exchange). I knew there had been a reason why I hadn't used it.
So there you go, another example of undiluted human decency. It does still exist. Even in mean old New York. Though it wasn't so mean this time......
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