Have you ever thought about how, from our perspective, the world is moving so fast that we don’t really have the time to dwell on the past, so as soon as news is 5 minutes old we’re not supposed to really think about it anymore?
But, have you also taken the time to ponder that a piece of news could be very old but if you’re hearing it for the first time it’s fresh and brand new to you so all the emotions that others have had the time to process are now a fresh wound for you?
Paul Newman has been dead for, what, a few months now? (Actually, a month and a half.) And I’m sure there’s somebody out there who knows who Paul Newman is, cares a mild to moderate amount about him, and would be devastated by this piece of information if they visited my blog and read it.
Unabashedly without segue…
Wednesday morning Dawg dropped me off at the 71 Ave subway stop because he is nice and loves me a lot (nope, more than that) and this kind gesture was promptly rewarded by me getting on the F train instead of the E train. I ended up at 21 Queensbridge. Let’s take a look at where that is on the map:

I got on the F train at the brown circle by mistake, but should have got on the E. I noticed my mistake when my brain finally flipped on and realized E trains only have row seats, not side-by-sides. I rode all the way to Roosevelt (the purple circle) then almost got off to transfer to the correct train but thought I’d stay on for one more stop because Roosevelt is such a pain in the ass with crowdedness. And now we’ve learned our lesson that it’s because Roosevelt is a hub before the trains all split off. I suddenly found myself — surprise!!! — splitting off (the red circle) and ending up at 21 Queensbridge where I hopped off the F to get my bearings. I took the Mount Sainai pocket subway map that Dawg lovingly gave me out of my pocket and studied the options. And all by myself I figured out that I needed to take F to Lexington/W 63 Street, go street-level and walk to W 60 St and re-enter the subway, then ride the 6 train to Lexington/W 53 so I could transfer to the E train and ride it the rest of the way to 7 Ave — greeeeeeeen circles. I was so proud of myself that I figured that out all by myself and was only 10 minutes late to work… or, rather, the first person there. HA.
While I was transferring from the F to the 6 I read an email from the director asking me to fix something on some laptops. I didn’t know the history of the problem so I troubleshot it the way I knew how… and “accidentally” resolved a problem that has been plaguing my company for months, was going to cost them thousands of dollars, countless tech hours, and lots of headaches for our employees. All that is gone now, because I did things The Poppy Way. I will definitely be reminding my boss about this come raise time. He also gave me full responsibility in a project I’ve been spearheading but felt stifled by my need to ask permission for everything I was doing. So… a very good day.
After work I met Dawg at europa cafe for a quick bite before he had to go work an event. I miss him a lot lately, and I’m really excited by the chance to meet up with him in Manhattan on the days we can’t spend our evenings together. I had more to say on this subject but it all came out sappy so I’ll spare you the details. Let’s just say: I love Dawg — a lot — and a bunch of people at the corner of Broadway and W 53 St got to witness that.