6/20/03 Finnegan and Rich in Lobby; "Crashed Cab"; Rich eats a lot at Lalo's; Bottle thrown from Subway:







This evening, Rich and I decide to go to Lalo's for dessert. In the lobby, we encounter our building's unofficial mascot: Finnegan. He occasionally likes to take his leash in his own mouth, in the ultimate statement of cuteness and autonomy.




Rich and I talk to Richard, the Concierge, who generally has night-duty. If you look closely, you will see my website on the computer screen at the front desk. I am very proud that there is a bookmark on the 88 Greenwich front desk computer to my website. :)




Finnegan is one of those dogs that demands attention like a cat. He has no qualms about coming right up to your leg, and rubbing against it with his face. This somehow activates a petting reflex in humans. Finnegan has the upper hand here.




As soon as Rich and I are done petting and chatting, we step out the front door of our building to see a cab in front. The cab is one of those new ones, fitted with a fully-animated graphical display on top. They usually show the news, sports scores, and while they have you looking, an advertisement or seven. But Rich and I start pointing, "look! look at the cab's display!" It was not working. I attempt to take a photograph, but it takes a while to adjust properly for the darkness of night, and the cabbie has time to see me, and give me the finger, which I successfully captured as well. He was smiling, don't worry.




We were making a fuss, because, normally where there would be a full color advertisement, there was just the "blue screen of death." Windows-based Personal Computer users will recognize the "blue screen of death" as what happens when your computer "crashes." So Richard and I had a good giggle, realizing that this was the first "crashed cab" we've seen.... with so many possible puns.




So we get to Lalo's and Richard gets his parade of cake slices. I had a small drink.



Richard's second course.




Richard's third course.




Eating the third course.




Looking for a fourth.




And so, here we are, waiting for a train back downtown. We get a 2 train, which means we will have to get off at Chambers and transfer to a 1. Waiting for these late night trains can take 15 minutes each. But, at Christopher Street, a gentleman holding a glass bottle of some alcoholic beverage comes aboard. The doors close. The man is quiet for a few moments, but then begins to curse to himself, very loudly. "Fuck!" "Shit!" "God damn it!" And he goes back and forth from looking very distressed, and totally neutral. This is not good. He's right in front of Richard and Myself. I turn to rich and say, "The next stop is our stop." Rich looks at me funny for a moment, but then realizes what I'm trying to communicate to him. Without incident, luckily, the doors open at Houston Street, and we get out. Right after I get off the train, I hear the sound of glass banging around.... like the sound a glass bottle makes when it hits the floor, without breaking. The train pulls away, and I look behind me. I see the bottle the scary man was holding sitting on the platform:




I ask Rich, "did that guy throw it at us, or just off the train?" Rich wasn't sure. So, feeling a bit more secure that getting off was the right decision, we happily waited for the next train, which came pretty quickly for late-night, and we went the rest of the way home with no other interruptions to our regularly scheduled lives.