A Bugger's Delight...

The two highly coveted "lean-against-the-doors" spots

I stood on the crowded PATH train headed for 34th St. and Work this morning-- blurry, trivial thoughts entering and leaving my mind like faceless rush hour commuters going through turnstiles at NY Penn station. I was trying hard to ignore the passenger to my right who, despite the fact that I had outmaneuvered him to get the last of two "lean-against-the-doors" comfy spots on the train, continued to try to squeeze himself behind me with half his body awkwardly leading the way. I couldn't stand how he kept rubbing himself all over my right side each time the train jerked, so I stuck my right elbow out stiffly, and began to read my Metro news paper (I wasn't giving up that hands-free spot-- I hate holding onto the gross subway poles!). That worked to calm my nerves, knowing the discomfort I was causing him. And he eventually backed off-- halfheartedly re-positioning his torso to disguise his failed attempt at usurping my comfy spot, for a casual re-adjustment of his stance.

On page 4 of my Metro, I read an article on Latina teens and suicide rates. Then I read a shorter piece on a "several hundred" person pillow fight that took place on Saturday in Union Square. Did you know that the Union Square Pillow Fight Saturday is part of an international event -- International Pillow Fight Day? Well, neither did I, but this past Saturday marked it's sixth anniversary. Cool beans. Next page.

I took a cursory glance at page 5 of my Metro, fully intending to move on to page 6 (because I could care less about "Eco-conscious kids' clothing", or whatever anyone has to say about it.), when something big, rectangular, red, and bordered in yellow caught my attention:

I quickly flipped my paper back around to page 4 again and looked, with a touch of manic amusement, at the pillow fight piece, my disbelief growing with every passing second I processed the information. Seriously?! Had everyone forgotten that NYC was Camelot for these indomitable, armor clad blood suckers a.k.a BED BUGS?! I guess they had, since even I, with my past experience with these creatures, had failed to notice how this pillow fight was a HORRIBLE, TERRIBLE idea (unless the goal was to help spread Bugger* love...) until this brilliantly placed ad. Good job Metro.

For the remaining two stops to my final destination, I felt my skin crawl and itch. I suffered in silence because I am morally against scratching in public... unless you're sure you're on a deserted street, and sure no one (a hot girl/guy?) will walk around the corner the exact moment you decide to scratch certain part (don't act like you don't get an inopportune itch every now and again!). I wondered how many of my fellow commuters had been given a good dusting of bed bug eggs this past Saturday. Was that annoying fellow rubbing himself all over me, a walking Bugger hive? Ugh!

"G'morning pretty! Here's a love bite for ya!"

The train arrived at 34th St., and I spilled out. I walked briskly to work, into the restroom and washed my hands. Absurd, since washing my hands has no effect on buggers, I know. But seeing as how I couldn't fumigate myself (because I don't have easy access to Bugger fumigants, and because I'd probably die in the fumigation process), I figured I'd do the next best thing and cleanse myself of NYC/NJ subway grime.

Happy Monday....

*Since our experience with them, my ex-roommates and I have called these delightful little darlings, Buggers.

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Awesome world: atop Bear mountain, NY

Awesome picture of the day.

Ridiculous...

After this weekend's doughnut fiesta, I unfortunately fell woefully ill... no thanks to the filthy NYC subway system (which I might explore in some detail at a later date). The stupid yo-yoing weather couldn't have helped much either...It got so bad on Monday that I had to take a sick day.

Tuesday morning is here and I still fell like crap, so the question is: am I taking another sick day? Nooo! Of course not! Because I only have one sick day a month, and I happen to have already used up my stockpile from last year (and it's really not that easy to take them in advance). So, I have to come in to work. Now, I don't have a problem with work, but I think it's ridiculous that such a thing as sick days are "rationed". I know, some smarty-pants is probably already formulating an argument for why certain organizations have sick days-- and that's great and all, but I still think it's nuts to penalize people for being sick longer than their 12 day allotted sickness allowance.

See, now that I have to come in to work, chances are that every door knob, key board, mouse and phone I touch will be infected with sickness juice...and trust me, I touch a lot of those things. I'll leave the repercussion of this to be discerned by y'all.

What would I see done in place of this 1 day a month system? Nothing that isn't already being done by other organizations: let people take as much time as they need to get better for crying out loud! I think it's kinda logical to expect a healthy person to be more effective and efficient than a sick one...not to mention that a healthy person won't potentially send a whole department home on sick leave.

Ok, I'm going to finish a cup of blisteringly hot oatmeal, and chug a gallon of water and see what happens. Have a great week.

Tasty? Yes. Tears? No.

Today I was made to visit a tiny doughnut emporium in the LES. The main 'buying area' was no larger than 11' by 11', and I kept expecting Willy Woka or the White Rabbit to show up and lead us through the out of place metal door in the room, down a passage-way, and into some fantastical inner world where doughnuts were a mode of transportation and chocolate glaze run through the standpipes.

Though Willy Wonka or the White Rabbit never showed, it was still somewhat of an adventure mainly because I had never (and would never have done so voluntarily!) stood in a half-a-city-block long line for 15 minutes to get some doughnuts. The thought was, and still is a little nuts to me... I was assured that I would understand the reason for the long line once I tasted the doughnuts and cried tears of pure pleasure as a result....ummm....I'm still waiting for the tears.

I will say this though: the doughnuts are pretty damn good. I especially like the chocolate cake and triple chocolate doughnuts (oooh and the carrot cake doughnut too!). They're definitely worth trying at least once, if only to be able to say "I've had those!" when you read about the The Doughnut Plant in the NY Times. I'm however still pretty sure that I would never voluntarily get in that long a line to purchase them...it's just a matter of principle.

Ok, i'm going to finish my orange glazed doughnut with milk and then see what St. Patty is doing in Hoboken!

**UPDATE**:

There is apparently another Doughnut Plant location at the Chelsea Hotel, right on 23rd and 7th.