Another muggy Thursday with rain spells intermittently pouring down in sheets for a few minutes. Regarding yesterday, one person died of a heart attack while the 24 inch steam pipe burst, the driver of a tow truck that was almost on top of the exploding steam pipe is in a medically induced coma due to being terribly burned over 80 % of his body. A couple of other people are in hospitals with various ailments. They city is saying the air is safe to breathe, but people are remembering that was said after 9/11, backed up by Christie Todd Whitman and the Bush administration. Various police officers and EMS workers were wearing respirators. I only saw one person wearing a respirator and she was blocks away. Better safe than sorry she was.

I didn’t have any trouble getting to work this morning, but then again I don’t use the trains that were shut down in the area of the explosion, and that area of the explosion is a block away from Grand Central Station so most subways were waylaid. I walked over across midtown, some streets were pedestrian thoroughfares which was an interesting sight to see. Made me wish that most of Manhattan were pedestrian thoroughfares, but without the explosions. That’s not too much to ask for is it?

Work was slow. I need to find ways to pass the time. Today was a continuation of searching midtown Manhattan for an unlocked Blackberry 8800 for Vivek. It was an enjoyable stroll, and of course the sky opened up while I was a few blocks away from the office. I was heading back, and didn’t feel any need to run for shelter. When situations like this occur the soundtrack in my mind always goes to the Beatles singing Rain, the b-side to Paperback Writer. In my opinion, Rain is barely a better song than Paperback Writer, since Paperback Writer is a perfect pop song. Rain being a bit left field and experimental I guess earned it’s place on the flip side. John Lennon’s voice is great and the lads sound toppermost of the poppermost.

Juan came over last night and we watched Last Comic Standing which probably is the only ‘reality’ show I occasionally watch. Juan never saw it before and of course the good comedians we liked were voted off. It’s not as easy handicapping the show like last year since there are no handicapped comedians on the show this season. And whatever happened to that handicapped guy who won last year?

We watched To Catch A Predator after that. That was fun and interesting since they filmed in Ocean County NJ and Juan and I had our eyes peeled in case we knew someone on the show. We didn’t know anyone though I think Juan was hoping to see someone’s dad being arrested. Maybe next week. It was creepier than previous episodes since now they have the decoy actually sitting and talking to the predator. We watched some of the Daily Show then Juan said he was tired and I kicked his tired ass to the curb. Actually we hugged and he merely walked down the stairs.

Here’s some after work pics from this afternoon.

45th and Lexington (5 blocks north of the explosion)

News trucks at 45th and Vanderbilt

Cops on the roof

It’s 6:55 and I just missed a steam pipe explosion at 41st Street and Lexington Avenue. It’s one of the routes that I take when I walk from the office to the bus terminal. I generally avoid 42nd Street since it’s always crowded with tourists and commuters and that’s an unlucky mix.41st Street is much less crowded and I can smoke a Padron in peace as I stroll down the street. I missed it by an hour or rather it missed me. Tonight I walked down 45th Street past Grand Central Station’s north side where the menfolk are easier on the eyes, and I was listening to the Specials first album so I wouldn’t be hearing the complaints about me and my cigar.

Apparently there was a loud explosion, only two people have been reported injured. But steam and ‘liquid with brown dirt’ are presently flying through the air. There’s no clear and safe route anywhere in the city since the infrastructure is crumbling with each passing second. It’s an old infrastructure, much like in Hudson County where a water main broke and we were without water for about 24 hours. Now there are several injuries being reported. Of course the initial thought was terrorism, what with all the noise about Al Qaeda being stronger than ever and more poised to strike the US, more than likely New York City once again. A nice international city with a bull’s eye on it.

One horrible report from a man on the street was describing seeing a man walking by who didn’t have any pants on, apparently they were burned off, and his skin was ‘hanging like drapes’. A gruesome scalding from the steam. John Beck, son of Bruce, sportscaster on News Channel 4 in Manhattan was just on describing how everyone was screaming and crying and running and rumors of it being a bomb having exploded and no one could get a signal on their cell phones. It’s weird to watch the path I take being on the news with clouds of steam spewing forth onto Lexington Avenue. A matter of minutes and a few blocks made all the difference. But good looking men in suits and a Padron cigar changed my route for this evening. All this mess was because of a ruptured 20 inch steam pipe.

It’s a lot more interesting than last night, where I just sat at home, watching My Super Ex-Girlfriend which was terrible. I didn’t even get to see Jeannie Moorehead in the background, though she, like Bill, are generally in a blink and you’ll miss it situation. They’ve both been cast as extras on different films and television shows. Bill came home midway through and went right to bed, poor thing so stressed about his phone. It was insured and he got a new one, and able to transfer his contacts so it wasn’t too bad, but just bad enough.

I had a nice chat with Song in Sydney. He was tired even though it was morning there. I can relate to that. I watched the last hour of Saving Private Ryan since there was nothing else on and it was almost as intense as the first 20 minutes. Still a very good movie, one of Senor Spielbergo’s best, though not as good as A Burns for All Seasons. Es muy bueno, illegaldress. Then I drifted off to sleep to wake up hours later to have Bill asking me if I was going to work since I wasn’t stirring fast enough for his taste.

Now it’s 90 minutes and the steam is still pouring forth, releasing possibly asbestos into the air. Yes the infrastructure is falling apart underneath our feet and no one is really doing anything about until a calamity like this happens. That would cost money and money means taxes and no one wants to pay more taxes. So shit like this happens.

I interviewed for two different jobs at this intersection. Woo hoo! And in an unrelated note, the New York offices of Wanker Banker are now closed as of today. They were bought out by another company and most have been moved to new offices. Former coworker Brenda is moving with the company, former assistant Christina was let go. And my IT buddies are now part of a Canadian National Bank.