They opened with Cream’s “Sunshine of Your Love” and ended with “Next To You”, and in between played most of their standard hits and a few lesser known hits like “Demolition Man” (which I consider an A-level). “Purple Haze” was even thrown in for good measure. The highlight of the evening (which means just tad above the normal excitement) probably came during the second song, “Message In A Bottle”, when the NY Police Department Band backed them up onstage (above); Sting donned an NYPD cap and looked like one of the Village People. During “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic”, Sting’s daughters and Andy’s sons and daughter came up on stage and danced and took pictures.
The Police was the first band that I really got into, back in fourth or fifth grade, but they broke up before I had a chance to see them live. I never thought I’d be able to see them live so I was psyched to see them last year at Giants Stadium, but I was beyond thrilled to be able to go to their final show at Madison Square Garden, still my favorite large concert venue. The crowd, unsurprisingly, was completely into the show. People were singing, jumping up and down, dancing in the isles and walkways, and just generally having a great time with a great band and great music.
At one point, Sting said, “The real triumph of this tour is that we haven’t strangled each other. That doesn’t mean it hasn’t crossed my mind. Or Andy’s. Or Stewart’s.”
Google Maps, with it’s satellite view and street view, is one of the better time wasters on the web. I love zooming in and getting a different perspective on areas around the world.
One day I was curious if the resolution was good enough to be able to tell which airline an airplane was part of, so I took a look at LaGuardia (LGA) to see if I could make them out. I found the following picture interesting:
As you can see, there seems to be a plane halfway down the runway, taking off; one at the end of the runway, about to take off; and one a few hundred feet out, about to land. About to land?
Wow, they really stack ‘em up at LGA.
It’s 99% likely that the shot of the plane landing was taken at a different time and the sets were “stitched” together.
Look at the photo below. The peanut butter on the right weighs 16.3 oz. and sold for $3.59 about two months ago. That’s about $0.22 per ounce. The peanut butter on the left weighs 15 oz. and sold for $3.79, today. That’s about $0.25 per ounce.
I love how not only does the price goes up, but the weight goes down at the same time. I especially love how they made the weight go down by sucking in the sides.
I won’t even bring up the fact that they’re skimping on the glue for the label.
Today is garlic day, and after making and consuming some wonderful garlic parsley shrimp the other day, I realized that I love garlic. Specifically, I love the aroma of cooked garlic. I got to thinking, “Why doesn’t someone package that aroma and sell it?”
My first thought was Yankee Candle. If they made a light garlic scented candle, I’d buy it in a heartbeat. But why stop there? Almost immediately, my head started swimming in garlicky ideas. Garlic scented car fresheners; garlic scented mouthwash; garlic scented deodorant; garlic scented body wash; garlic flavored gum and candy; the list could go on and on. How come these items don’t already exist? I couldn’t be the first one to think of them, could I?
That’s when it dawned on me that the garlic aroma is not exactly loved by everyone at all times. I happen to love it when it’s used in cooking, and it’s not too strong. Other’s might not like that, and I guess that’s why we don’t see garlic flavored/scented items.
I’m a realist by nature, and I really don’t believe in ESP, karma, chi, astrology, or things of that ilk. However, every once in a while something strange happens in my life that makes me question the very philosophical foundations my life is based on (OK, that was a little bombastic, but you get the idea). For example, a few months ago, I found myself humming Peter Frampton on my way home from work, and a few days after that, he was on a GEICO commercial. Whoa!
But there was one time that I was absolutely floored and was forced to wonder if two people could actually develop a “connection”, one that spanned continents, and even languages.
After reading a bunch of articles about the details of Governor Spitzer’s prostitution use and how he got caught, I’ve come to the conclusion that he should resign.
Not because of the fact that he used a prostitute (he was only trying to help the economy), or transported one across state lines to make it a federal offense, but rather because he was stupid enough to get caught the way that he did. Electronic funds transfers to shell companies? Did he think that that would go unnoticed? Has he not heard of cash? He had to know that those financial transactions aren’t hard to follow, because I’m sure he dealt with them during the time he was Attorney General and prosecuted prostitution cases and many Wall Street related crimes. I’m guessing he had a few forensic accountants on his staff when he was AG.
I guess it’s really true...when a guy thinks with his little brain, his big one shuts off.
This was one of Amazon’s Deals of the Day that greeted me in my RSS reader today. What caught my eye was the price. It lists for $150 but it’s yours today for $75, a savings of $19.50? Wait, is that right? Let’s see...subtract the 9...carry the 1...multiply by pi...nope, not right. It’s a savings of $75 or 50%. They got the percent right, but not the amount. Whoops.
On an aside, I have this set and it’s great. They are a bit big and unwieldy to hold, but great if you read them on your stomach in bed or on the floor.
It’s been 7 days since the start of the holiday season, and the US Postal Service must be loving it. I say this because in those 7 days, 5 of which are home delivery days (I haven’t gotten the mail yet today), I’ve gotten an astounding 18 catalogs. That’s an average of 3.6 per day. Together they’re about 2.75 inches thick, and comprise a ridiculous 1,582 pages.
I think this photo pretty much shows two of the different sides that I have. Food related books sandwiched between Star Wars bookends...is there anyone else in the world that has something like this?
After seeing the phobias on this list of phobias, I noticed that my biggest fear was not on there. So, to unite and give identity to all those people out there like me, I propose the following new phobia:
Envelopophobia: Fear of getting a paper cut on your tongue from licking an envelope.
I personally can not lick an envelope from right to left, or vice versa, to seal it. I employ a method whereby I lick from the bottom of the glue strip to the top, then move to the next part of the glue strip, in tongue-width increments, rapidly.
I hope by bringing this fear to light, I will empower those that are with me to stand up and not feel put-down by society simply because we lick an envelope differently.
I’m a big fan of blueberries. I easily go through a container a week by putting them in oatmeal, yogurt, and for the jelly portion of a PB&J. Because we get our blueberries from different locations, based on the seasons, I have come to a conclusion about locally grown blueberries versus imported blueberries.
First off, for obvious reasons, imported blueberries are much more expensive. Currently, a 4.4 ounce container costs about $4. During the summer, I can get two six ounce containers (that’s 12 ounces total for the mathematically challenged) for about $5.
While you can get more blueberries for the money from a local farmer, the interesting thing is that the blueberries from Chile are better quality. In that I mean that proportionally, there are less “bad” berries in the container. I assume this is due to the importing process. If each blueberry costs money to transport, they are going to weed out the bad ones so they don’t lose money shipping them. Local farmers are less apt to do that because a few bad ones in a container does not lose them any money.
Another note...the berries from Chile and bigger, plumper and...um...blander. While they look and burst great, they just don’t taste like a blueberry. I can’t wait for the spring to kick in so I can start getting my blueberries from Hammonton, NJ, the “Blueberry Capitol of the World”.
Forget Iran and North Korea! Call the Iraq Study Group back to the table! The U.S. Armed Forces have bigger problems to deal with.
And I personally feel their pain.
According to this NY Times article, the U.S. Armed Forces can’t keep it’s Times Square recruiting center clear of pigeons .
They installed a speaker system on the roof that produces pigeon predator noises.
The pigeons, having abandoned the southern end of the recruiting station roof, where the speakers are, stay put on the northern end.
Chuckle.
Does the U.S. Army think that some sounds of a fake predator, that NYC pigeons have probably never seen, would scare off city hardened birds of opportunity? Especially those in Times Square? Is that tactic part of their normal arsenal, and has it worked against humans? If so, we may need to reevaluate our position as the most intelligent species (the pigeons, as far as I can tell, do not have a Paris Hilton to bring down their collective average intelligence).
Speaking from experience, if pigeons are not afraid of going into an apartment and attacking its occupant for a nice looking wire, and if pigeons get their jollies pooping on people, then what makes the Army think they can shoo them away with some noise or metal spikes.
Good luck Robert Gates. If you think that you’re going to win a war against NYC pigeons, then I sense another quagmire looming. Isn’t one enough?
According to Advertising Age, Starbucks will be handing out a “surprise” to random commuters in NYC and other cities.
Starting today Starbucks is surprising Manhattan commuters with free subway MetroCards and warming Chicagoans with free movie tickets. The catch is Starbucks wants consumers to pass on their benevolence by performing a good deed for another person, say, to hold open a door or buy someone a cup of coffee.
This is nothing new, but it is new that a corporation would try to use it for advertising purposes.
In NYC, we have an unlimited subway card that is good for an unlimited number of rides within 24 hours of its purchase. There are a few rules, like it can’t be used more than once in the same station within a ten minute period, but nothing too restrictive.
On any given evening, when entering the subway, you may be handed one of these unlimited cards by another person exiting the same subway. There is an unwritten and unsaid rule that you do the same when you reach your destination.
I have personally received “the gift” three or four times, and have seen it bestowed on others more than ten.
I left my blender jar on top of my stove, and actually used the stove. Because the jar was sitting right near the oven exhaust port, the plastic collar on the jar got hot and melted a bit...enough to not fit on the blender base anymore. Since this is integral to the operation of the blender, I had to order a replacement.
I went to Cuisinart’s web site, and easily found the part that I needed. What kills me is that the replacement part costs $5.00, which is somewhat reasonable, but the shipping and handling costs $5.95! I hate it when shipping and handling costs more than the part itself. Hate it. But I need the part, so what can I do?
joshmadison.com is the ramblings and WOMBATs of Josh Madison, an all-around good guy living and working in New York City. At the time this page was loaded, jmdc contained 665 entries with 649 comments.
I’m now getting five bars in most of my apartment, and have been for over a week. Woo-hoo! Thanks for the xmas present AT&T!
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