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Originally uploaded by akeegangu.

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Originally uploaded by akeegangu.

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Originally uploaded by akeegangu.

Happy new year!

well, watch out Times Square. The Keegan sisters are about to invade. kate is on her way up to NY right now to meet me. It's her first visit here since I moved here. I'm really excited. So I hope everyone has a happy and safe New Year, and a wonderful 2006!

$1 Subway rides

So after all the squabbling last week over $$, the MTA is now offering a holiday discount on buses and subways. Yesterday it only costs me $1 to get home from LaGuardia airport on a bus and transferring to a subway. This morning, it only cost me $1 to get to work. It's pretty nice!

here comes the keegan clan

Merry Christmas to everyone I didn't get to talk to this weekend! I had a great time visiting my Keegan relatives in Washington D.C. I got there Thursday and my cousin Jimmy picked me up, then Friday it was my Uncle Kevin's birthday, so the whole clan came over, we trimmed Grandma's tree and had a birthday dinner for U.K. Saturday was Christmas Eve at my Aunt Margo and Uncle Mike's house. That was lovely! Sunday, Christmas day, breakfast at my Uncle Kevin and Aunt Beth's house and a full dinner with 18 Keegans at my Grandma's house. Yowza! I need a vacation now to recover from my vacation!
I flew down and had an interesting landing on the way back. It was windy in NY and I was in a smaller plane that gets knocked around in the wind a bit. So we were about 10 feet off the ground (already over the runway) and a wind gust blew us sideways. The plane rotated and the right wing was facing down. The pilot held it there for a few seconds, then finally got out of it and slammed us straight down onto the runway. It was a small plane which didn't take much runway to stop, so we were in no danger of sliding off the end, but it was crazy! I'm always thankful for skilled pilots!
Next--New Years! Kate is coming up, and we're going to brave Times Square. Neither one of us have ever done that before, so it'll be an experience. It'll be the first time Kate has visited me in NY since I moved here too. I'm really excited!
Thanks to all the Keegans for a great weekend! Happy New Year to all!

Signs

These are up at every subway entrance.

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Originally uploaded by akeegangu.

Rock Center Subway stop

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Originally uploaded by akeegangu.

There are usually thousands of people flooding in and out of these turnstiles. Today, desolate.

Strike Watch: Day 3

We're still on strike here. There is good news though, the TWU and MTA have agreed to go back into negotiations, and it looks like the transit workers might go back to work. However, that still means that as soon as they agree to go to back to work, there will be at a minumum 16 hours before the trains start running again. They have to make sure all the cars are still safe, all the tracks are safe, all the vending machines are working, all the metro card machines are working, all the station managers are back, etc. So since I am leaving town tonight at 8:45, I will get no relief.
Here is my adventure from yesterday:
5:30 PM: leave work and walk from 5th ave past, Madison Ave., Park Ave., Lexington Ave. and 3rd Ave. to 2nd. (remember the lesson from transit watch: day 2, that ave blocks=5 regular city blocks so that was a hike)
5:55 PM: arrive at the corner of 2nd Ave. and 50th St. just in time to catch the NBC bus scheduled to get there at 6:00
6:45 PM: Still standing on the corner waiting for the NBC bus.
6:55 PM: The NBC bus scheduled for 6:00 FINALLY arrives and I get on.
7:30 PM: The bus has only traveled from 50th street to 30th street. I'm trying to get to the 14th street stop.
7:45 PM: We arrive at 23rd street, the first stop for the bus. I bail out and walk to the bar on 2nd Ave. and 10th St.
8:00 PM: I have a drink and nachos in front of me. FINALLY!

My favorite NY building

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Originally uploaded by akeegangu.

"I want these floors to shine like the top of the Chrysler building!"
--Miss Hannigan

30 Rock

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Originally uploaded by akeegangu.

The Saks snowflake show

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Originally uploaded by akeegangu.

The 30 Rock tree

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Originally uploaded by akeegangu.

Strike Watch: Day 2

Still on strike today. Today I took a bus that NBC provided to work. That was nice but they can't get anywhere near Rock Center so I still have to walk from 2nd Ave to 5th ave (that's a long walk if you don't know that an "Ave block" in NY is the equivalent of 5 blocks). But it was free! And just to update you I just heard a press conference given by Mayor Bloomberg and he said "...and they still struck..." so in case anyone was on the edge of their seat, the past tense of strike is apparently struck.

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Originally uploaded by akeegangu.

This is a picture I took standing in the middle of fifth avenue today. It's closed because of the transit strike so emergency vehicles have a dedicated way to get through town. Anyway, i thought it was a cool shot, it's VERY rare that you see fifth avenue with not one car on it!

Strike

Well, it happened. Last night at 3:00 am, the transit workers str..(what is the past tense of strike? Stroke, striked, strick?). Anyway, none of the trains or buses are running today. So the ramifications of that are as follows. No cars with less than 4 people are allowed into Manhattan below 96th street between 5am and 11am. There are thousands of people walking across the Brooklyn Bridge trying to get into the city. So I'm about to go outside and try and get in a cab. Which are also different, they are charging based on zones rather than using meters meaning that the first zone you are in costs $10 and then it's another either $5 or $10 per zone you travel through. I have to go 40 blocks, who knows how many zones that is. And the worst part is, it's REALLY cold. It is in the teens with the wind chill. If it was April and it was 60 degrees, it would be a-ok, but I don't even want to walk across the street in this cold, say nothing about 40 blocks. Luckily my fantastic boss told me to log on from home this morning so I didn't have to try and fight anything before 11am. Everyone in the city was not so lucky!

Soho shopping

Before my haircut today, I went shopping in Soho, the coolest area in NY (in my opinion) which is surrounded by areas like Little Italy, Chinatown, the Village. I will not disclose any presents that I picked up for anyone, but let's just say, fun place to shop=fun presents!

Haircut!

I got a much needed haircut today. I went into Stephanie's (my roommate) salon and she cut it. She did a great job. This is just a lame camera phone pic, but it really is a cute cut when it's done! thanks, steph!!

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Originally uploaded by akeegangu.

no strike today

Keep your fingers crossed for me over the weekend.

Transit strike

The only thing worse than terrorist threats on the subway, is no subway at all. And that's what the subway workers are threatening this week. Apparently there is a contract dispute that has yet to be resolved and if it isn't worked out by Thursday, they might go on strike and there may be no subways or buses running on Friday and until they get it worked out. To make matters worse for commuters coming into the city, the NYPD is not going to allow any cars with less than FOUR people in them to enter the city. For someone who goes to work solo every day, it could be really hard to get three other people to ride to work with you. Anyway, I hope they don't strike. Although I live 35 blocks away from work (almost 2 miles) and I could easily walk it, it's really cold out and I don't want to have to walk to work first thing in the morning!

Wicked

Last night I was able to get a ticket to the completely sold out run of Wicked. It was AMAZING. The set and costumes were incredible, they looked a lot like the movie. Everything was green, Glinda was beautiful and the monekys even flew! For those of you who don't know, Wicked is the back story of the Wicked Witch of the West from the Wizard of Oz. It pretty much shows how everyone came to be including Glinda, the Tin Man, the Scarecrow, the Lion, the Wicked Witch of the East, the Wizard. I won't spoil the story, but it starts with the witch growing up and finishes long after Dorothy has come and gone. If you can't get to the play, read the book, it's an amazing story.
A gal I work with's cousin was the lead in it, so she was in town and was able to get an extra ticket for me to go along. I've been to a lot of plays now, and I have to say, other than my stint dancing on the stage with John Stamos' understudy and seeing Matthew Broderick, this was probably my favorite. It was REALLY good.

Conan

I met Conan tonight. There's nothing more I can say right now, I'm still too excited to speak.

Home

After a significant delay in my flight, I made it home tonight. It was certainly great to see everyone (a million thanks to the Engels for letting me stay!) and it's great to be in Montana to visit but as my Mom always says "Home is where your underwear drawer is" and now and for the forseeable future, that is NY. So I'm happy to be home. Happy Holidays