Cheese Platter 3: New York Edition

•I have lost the ability to walk through crowds efficiently.  At the peak of my powers, I could read a crowd and wind my way through it quickly.  I'm not sure how to explain the path that I saw, but I saw it and charged ahead.  Once I was like Morpheus and now I am like so much Neo.

•I used to have good subway timing.  I was one of those people who constantly walked onto the platform just as the train arrived.  Either my timing has changed, or the MTA's has.  Either way, the effect is the same.  I now actually have time to plink away on my phone, letting time slip by while I await the coming of the next train.

•I'd like to give a shout out to someone who lives in my old building.  It's unsolicited, but I know a fair number of folks who like plants and such, so I thought this might be a good time to toss something out there.  Stephen Orr is the editorial director for gardening at "Martha Stewart Living," and has written a book called Tomorrow's Garden: Design and Inspiration for a New Age of Sustainable Gardening, which can be bought here.  He also has an excellent blog that includes a clip of his recent appearance on Martha Stewart's show.  He's a super good guy and I urge any of you into plants, flowers, and horticulture to check it out.  That blog can be found here.

•In my old neighborhood, there are fourteen pharmacies within a fifteen minute walking distance.  At least one more is planned.  There are almost as many banks.  What's crazy is that you can stand in front of one Rite Aid and see another one from where you're standing, all without having to strain your eyes.  Aside from pointing to the profitability of pharmacies, I think this fact also says quite a bit about the mean age of Jackson Heights' population, as well as it's overall level of health.

•It's strange to visit a city you once lived in for sixteen years.  Especially when you're staying at a hotel in Times Square.  I think before this past week, I'd only actually stayed overnight in Manhattan a handful of times, and only once before in a hotel.  Given the location, I expected the large numbers of tourists and in the area to be an issue.  It turned out not to be as soon as I realized I was one of them.