Weird Sighting. Oh, and Videos!

Last night, I was over at the Apple Store, looking at SubChat, and I notice that the guys at computer next to me were looking at a video from YouTube which I had download, transcoded, and uploaded to my iPod earlier that day.



The video was of an ex-Green Bus Lines bus going through the rollsign readings.

I then noticed them watching the following video.


I thought this was a bit weird.

Speaking of videos, I uploaded one of my own to Google Video, which features download of videos to format compatible with iPod. Since Blogger uses Google account, I figure that I might as well take advantage of the Google account in other ways.

Here's the video. Enjoy.

A President's Day Rant, and an iPod Rave

President's day. It's a day that we supposedly recognize the presidents who served our country in years past. A noble purpose, but the date on which it falls is somewhat ill-conceived.

The birthday of America's 16th President, Abraham Lincoln, is on February 12th. The birthday of our first President, George Washington, is (on our Gregorian calendar) is on February 22nd. Before President's Day came along, the birthdays of these two leaders of this country were observed separately. This meant no school, no mail delivery, no garbage collection, etc. on both days. But someone in their bright mind (note the sarcasm) thought it would be good to combine the two observances, and observe them both on the third Monday in February, which means only one day with no school, etc. I think it's a dumb idea to combine two birthday observances into one holiday for the purposes of removing one "no work day" from the calendar. Especially when it's considered that, like in this year, when George Washington's birthday is so close to President's day, his birthday is usually not observed. How would you feel if your birthday, which at one time is declared as a national day of observance, is no longer observed because your birthday is so close to that of another, whose birthday was also declared as a national day of observance?

I mentioned the Gregorian calendar explicitly before because George Washington was born on February 11, 1731 (Old Style, i.e. Julian Calendar). In 1752, when Great Britain imposed the now-worldwide Gregorian calendar (which was introduced in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII) in its nation and its territories and possessions (which included the American colonies), George's birthday was not only moved forward 11 days, but a year was added (In the old style, New Year's Day was on March 25th, so 3/24/1731 would be followed by 3/25/1732. New Style forced New Year's Day to fall on January 1st, which is more logical to have it at the beginning of a month instead of near the end but not quite at the end).

Enough ranting. I have another story. On Saturday, my mom tells me that we're going to be looking at iPods. I take her to the Apple Store on 5th Avenue to basically show her what it looks like and what the iPod's features are. We end up walking out of the store having bought an iPod and a case for it. It's a black 80GB 5.5G iPod. It's my second iPod, and with my music AND videos, I've only filled it up only 1/8th of the total capacity.

I'm now starting to load games onto my iPod. I also have a few photos of both my iPods playing the same song at the same time. I'm also getting some new accessories.

Stand Clear of the Closing Reastaurants, Please!

So I'm leaving the Queens College campus this afternoon, and I felt a bit hungry. I decided to get some food at Wendy's. But I was wondering which Wendy's to go to. I could go to the one a few blocks down Kissena Boulevard, near where it hits Parsons Boulevard, but I chose not to go to that one. That's because I saw the Q74 bus waiting at the bus stop. I decided to go to the one in Kew Gardens, Queens Boulevard & 82nd Avenue. So I go there. When I arrive, I discover a horrendous sight: The Wendy's was gone! With a CLOSED sign on the window.

This wasn't the first time a favorite restaurant has closed down on me. This Long John Silver's/A&W located at 11000 Flatlands Avenue in Canarsie closed down a month or two ago. It had the distinction of being the only Long John Silver's in the Five Boroughs (There's an A&W on Hylan Boulevard in Staten Island). I sometimes would take a trip all the way out there for some LJS food. Now, the nearest Long John Silver's is out in Hicksville.

Then there was the Burger King on Amsterdam and 68th Street. That's no longer there. I would sometimes go up there to eat after going to the church nearby. Now, the only places I go to in that area are around 72nd Street. Mostly, I now go to Gray's Papaya.

The reason why I was going to Wendy's anyway was for chicken. In my neighborhood, there's a Wendy's a block away from a McDonald's. Sometimes I wonder. Why is chicken at McDonald's more expensive than chicken at Wendy's? You can get five chicken nuggets at Wendy's for 99¢, but six at McDonald's is not anywhere near that price. McDonald's rarely put the 6 McNuggets at the Dollar Menu, and they do it for a month at most. The 10 piece meal at McDonald's is two bucks more than the same thing at Wendy's. Then there are the chicken strips (which McDonald's calls Selects, but there not much select about them). When Wendy's had chicken strips, they were less expensive than those at McDonald's. What's the deal there?

Anyway, back to restaurants closing without warning. I think it's crazy to think that a restaurant can just up and close without any warning. What I'd like to see is some kind of restaurant obituary or something. Or maybe put some plywood over the entrance... Then again, maybe not. I remember one time, I was out with a lady friend at Rockefeller Center, and we were headed for the Burger King under 6th Avenue. I looked towards where it should be, and I saw a plywood wall. I thought, "Oh no, not again!" (This was shortly after discovering the LJS had closed down.) But there was a good side to the story, since the Burger King was NOT closed, so we went and had lunch there.

Well, let's hope no more of my fave eats closes without warning!