Mobile disease incubators

With cold and flu season at it's peak it's only natural that I would take the time to complain about those people who for the sake of saying "I HAVE to be at work" will get on public transportation and spread the "love."

It usually takes a lot for me to get sick but if I do I can usually get over it in a couple of days without too much discomfort. A year ago I was sitting on the train in a 4-seater with two people facing me and one right next to me. The guy across from me starts hacking right in my direction and there was nothing I could do about it. Sure enough about 2 days later I was down with a 102 degree fever. I was out for 3 days before I managed to make it in to the office confident that I wasn't contagious anymore.

So here I am again, a year later and now I have a 7 week old baby at home to consider. There is no way I'm going to bring some nasty flu home this year. So on the train this morning, the man in the row in front of me keeps hacking, this time I get up and move. I hope he noticed.

There is something called "the strap" that people use in the subway. It is a piece of leather that goes over the handrail in the train so they don't have to touch it to hold on. Maybe if it gets really bad I can start carrying SARS masks and hand them out to the coughing people.

Sick days are not just for you, they are for the courtesy of the people around you. Don't go to work and spread your cold to everyone you come into contact with along the way.

Frozen chunks of Hudson

This is the view of the Hudson river from the Beacon train station in the middle of winter. I know it's small but notice how the river is frozen. The only exception is a tiny path in the middle cut by the large ships on their way up the river to Albany.

Across the Hudson lies the ghetto (no joke) of Newburgh, NY. A small passenger ferry brings commuters across the river to the train station during rush hour but when the river looks like this the ferry can't make the trip and the commuters have to take a bus across the river.

I personally think that the ice chunks floating down the river are very cool. When my mother-in-law came to visit from Tennessee I went out of my way to show her the river, things don't freeze like that down south.

What I've liked the most about the river freezing is the train ride into the city. The tracks go right along the river and you will see ducks and geese and all sorts of birds sitting out on the ice. There are even a few Bald Eagles that like to sit on floating ice chunks and watch for fish to swim by.

It's one of those things that makes you forget that you are surrounded by a bunch of New Yorkers and lets you appreciate the beauty of the area. Then when you are in the midst of appreciating the magic of nature two old ladies in front of you start in... "Did you see all the ice on the riv-uh? I know, I've never seen so much ice in the riv-uh before. I told my daw-tuh that she has got to see all the ice on the riv-uh. Oh look a Bald Eagle!! Out theh on the ice!"

At this point I just put on my headphones and crank "Where the streets have no name."