Trekking into NYC and taking care of paperwork

 

I had one thing that I had to take care of today, and I can blame part of my failure to do so on my brother. Yet, today's focus is not on a minor screw up, but on visiting the neighborhood in which I used to work.

- - - - - - 

The plan for today was to trek into NYC to get an official copy of both my birth certificate and that of my deceased father.  I'd have no problem getting my own birth certificate.  But to get my dad's birth certificate, I would need an official copy of my dad's death certificate - which my brother was supposed to mail to me, but didn't.

So, around 11 am, I drove to Croton-Harmon railroad station, stopping first at a local deli. Instead of taking 5 minutes to get my usual sausage and egg sandwich, it took 15.  So I arrived at the train station with barely enough time to make the 11:48 train.  And when I say barely, I mean just that.  I was in the elevator with 3 minutes to go, and had just purchased my train ticket as the train came into the station.  Luckily, I was able to make it down the stairs and onto the train without rushing, as I'd have to wait another 30+ minutes for the next train.

Arriving at Grand Central, I noticed hot hot and humid it felt.  (I was glad that I had chosen to travel as Mario, as wearing a wig would have been too much to deal with today.)  30 minutes later, I was downtown and in front of NYC's bureau of vital records.  (I wish I had kept in the habit of walking at least 2 miles each day, as my legs were bothering me for the first mile I walked.) After checking to make sure I was at the right building, I killed time at the Starbucks across the street.

Once inside, it was bureaucracy in action.  First, one takes a number.  Next, one enters ALL the information needed to purchase a vital record, in my case a birth certificate. And then, you wait for your number to be called and to pay for your service.  While entering my data, I was told that my dad's birth certificate had to be ordered by mail AND that I needed my dad's death certificate.  AARGH!  I could have stayed comfortable and done everything by mail had my brother sent me the death certificate as promised.

- - - - - -

Once done with the bureau of vital records, I walked over to where I used to work (a much longer walk than I remembered) to get lunch at the Halal cart I used to regularly patronize.  Although there were 2 carts there now, I picked one that best resembled what I remembered from 10 years ago and ordered my old everyday order - a chicken and lamb combo with lots of white sauce and a touch of hot sauce.  But I now had a problem. Where could I sit down and eat?  So I decided to walk a couple of blocks and find a place to sit.  The only place I found with open seats was inside a playground for dogs.  This was perfect, as I had free entertainment provided by the dogs and their owner while I enjoyed my meal.

Soon, I was on my way back home, and I was back in my car around 5 pm.  Once at home, I fell asleep for an hour or so and then was ready to take care of some chores before calling it a day.  At least, I likely won't need to trek into NYC again for paperwork purposes anytime soon.

Oysters with RQS

 

While at dinner in NYC, RQS and I discussed dinner plans for the weekend.  I suggested picking up Lobster at Shoprite, while RQS was thinking of Oysters at Whole Foods.  Guess what we chose - Oysters on Friday night and Lobsters on Saturday.  Yum!  (Just don't tell my doctor about this.)  Seafood would be the theme for the weekend, and all I might want to do was find some clam chowder or lobster bisque to make things perfect.

- - - - - -

I didn't get a good night's sleep before, and I woke up early on Friday morning having forgotten about our dinner choices for the weekend.  So, when RQS mentioned that she'd be coming up around 2:30 pm, I realized that I had to rush to get ready.  Like a typical woman, my dilemma was what to wear.  So I picked out a coral version of the navy blue dress I wore the night before and got ready to pick RQS up at the station.

Croton-Harmon station is undergoing major renovation.  The town is installing solar panels over the entire parking lot (at least, over the areas not prone to flooding) as a way of generating new revenue for the town.  This has caused major sections of the parking lot to be taken off line while the solar panels are installed above the parking areas.  (It'll be nice for many to be able to park in areas protected from inclement weather.  Sadly, this only helps those with preferred parking space permits.)  This week, construction took out the parking area that the local taxis normally use and this created a mess around the area where passengers usually depart the station and get to their rides home.  The taxi stands have been relocated to the far end of the station, people have to walk further to reach parked cars, and the pick-up area is much more congested than normal.  This made it hard for RQS to find me, so I had to call her to tell her where to find me.

Once in the car, we ended up going to Whole Foods for oysters.  Arriving at 3:00 (or so), the first thing we did was to order 3 dozen oysters and have them shucked for us.  30 minutes later, we were feasting on our trays in the store.  It's nice to be able to get oysters at $1 each on Fridays, as something expensive becomes an affordable treat.  Both of us found that 18 oysters each was a perfect midday meal to start a summer's weekend.

After finishing our meal, it was time to go home and relax.  Although we went out later for a ride, the oysters were the high point of the day....

A quick hop into Queens to see RQS

 

Friday was Flax day.  Saturday was my Uncle's day.  And Sunday was RQS's day.  Often, RQS would come up on Friday, and go home on Monday,  This weekend, I went to her place to spend Sunday night before going home the next day.

You might be asking: Why didn't RQS come up to my place?  Well, RQS had previously bought theater tickets for us to see a close friend's one act play inspired by his coming out.  So, I had an effective obligation to travel to her place.  If I hadn't a dentist appointment on Tuesday, I'd have stayed a second night and relaxed a little bit more.

- - - - - -

Sunday morning came, and I could have gotten up early and gone to church for a change.  Given how tired I felt, I figured that I'd go back to bed after a bio break   By the time I finally got moving, it was noon - and I had to be out the door by 2 pm, so I could reliably assume I'd be at RQS's place by 5 pm.  This meant that I only had enough time to shave, shower and get dressed before calling a cab to bring me to the train station.  I'd have to leave picking up a book from the library until I got home the next day.  But I digress....

Arriving at Croton-Harmon, I found the coffee shop open.  This was a big surprise, as I didn't think there would be enough weekend business to warrant it to be open.  Since I had 20 minutes to kill, I started a chat with the lady working there.  I found that she wanted to run a coffee shop of her own one day, and wanted some experience in doing so.  In itself, this is a reasonable statement from a middle aged woman.  But the next statement made me wonder - why was she driving to Croton from Rego Park, Queens for a minimum wage job.  Assuming she burns $15 in gas and pays $15 in tolls, she has to work 2 1/2 hours to cover her commute, leaving her 5 1/2 hours where she actually is earning money for her pocketbook.  Why didn't she find a job closer to home, let's say working at Starbucks?

My train soon came to the platform, and I made haste to catch it.  An hour later I was at Grand Central, and an hour later, I was at RQS's place.  But I wasn't going to have much time to rest.  She wanted me to figure out why her Chromebook wasn't seeing her mouse (it was turned off) before going to dinner locally, then trekking back into NYC to see her friend's play.

Around 7 pm, we headed into NYC, and dealt with the usual headaches of NYC Subway weekend routes.  Luckily, the 14th street line was running to 8th Avenue.  However, the 8th Avenue line was not running uptown locals.  So we had to take the express up to 34th street, then take the local down to 23rd street.  From there, we made it to a small theater near 10th avenue - with about 10 minutes to spare.

When the lights went down, the first of the one act plays started.  The story line had a Butch Lesbian fairy godmother trying to get her Cinderella to call off her wedding and be true to her lesbian self.  The woman fights her impulses until her groom comes out as gay.  It was a cute play that needed tightening up to be a little more interesting.  The next two one-act plays were forgettable. And then RQS's friend's play started - it was the best of the bunch, as her friend brought his authentic self into the script and delivered it with the gravitas of someone in his 50's can deliver.  Following this was another forgettable one-act play.

After the final play, we chatted with her friend and the director of the play before returning to RQS's place for the evening.  It was a long day, but worth it....

Lunch with a new friend, and dinner with an old meetup group.

 

Today was an interesting day, as I had two meals out.  The first was lunch with a new friend that left me with questions, and the other was with a group of people I know from a meetup group which I dine with from time to time.  

- - - - - -

On one of my recent trips into NYC, I met this new friend while waiting for the elevator at Croton-Harmon station.  We exchanged numbers, and agreed to meet for lunch one day.  Today was that day.  We met at a Mexican restaurant in Ossining and had a pleasant meal.  But one thing bothered me and I didn't realize it at the time - she was asking a lot of questions about me, and not sharing that much about herself.  Given that most people love to talk about themselves a little, I wonder if she was pumping me for information for nefarious purposes.  If this is so, I'll bet that she'll be a little shocked if she finds out I am not a cisgender woman.  

Why did I mention this?

Later in the evening, I was bothered by the nature of the conversation.  And I decided to talk about this with a friend I'll be meeting for lunch tomorrow.  If my radar has detected something wrong, she can help steer me to the right people who can help.  

- - - - - -

Later on in the day, I braved the rains and trekked to Eastchester for a dinner with the meetup group.  It was the usual cast of characters, and I'll bet that the men there were surprised about the knowledge I had from car shopping and my travels by railroad.  If I were a cisgender woman a generation younger than I am, I might have been interested in the more typically masculine one of them.  The other was a mousy looking fellow who I'll bet rarely attracts women.  

Why did I mention attractiveness?

Well, there were 5 people at my table: an average looking fellow at the far end of the table, a hefty fellow across from me, a mousy man catty corner from me, and a mousy woman to my side.  Ignoring myself, a trans woman whose size makes her look like a beached whale, only the fellow at the far end of the table fell in the normal range of attractiveness. And this led to a conversation I had with RQS later in the evening.  Although I attend meetups only to develop friendships, others attend these meetings as a way to kill time until they find a mate and have too little time to meet with casual acquaintances.  

- - - - - -

But, back to my lunch date....

Hopefully, my radar has detected a false positive with the new friend.  But if I'm wrong, I want to be prepared for the worst.

A "Short" Weekend

 

It's been hard keeping my composure as of late.  Although I am slowly recovering from the theft of my wallet and the loss of my backpack (with old Chromebook and assorted supplies), I do not yet feel back to normal, due to GI-Tract issues I'll soon be seeing a doctor about.  (My internist told me to contact a specialist, and I'll be dealing with triage procedures next week.) So, with the exception of my health, most of the other issues are being managed to my satisfaction.

- - - - - -

On Friday, RQS came to Croton.  Our plans were to do some leaf peeping before the last of the leaves fell to the ground.  Unfortunately, most of the leaves were already on the ground when we started our Saturday excursion.  However, this wasn't so bad, as it was a day I could get out in the world as Marian and show RQS some of the vistas that can only be experienced in the Hudson Valley.

We started our trip by crossing the Hudson and taking side roads through Harriman State Park.  There were a lot of great views to be captured, but there were too many people following us for me to stop for her to take snapshots.  Once out of the park, we headed North towards Walden, where we made the mistake of pulling into a Dunkin Donuts, where the help totally ignored us for several minutes.  After a reasonable amount of time, I took RQS by the hand and exited the shop to get a snack at the hotdog/ice cream stand next door.  Going there for food was almost as bad as stopping at DD's, as we had reactions to food that tasted excessively greasy.  We will never stop there again.  At that point, I felt it was time to go home, and we crossed the Hudson to take in the views from Fahnstock State Park.  At least, this time, RQS could get some photos.  

Finally, we returned to Croton with a quick stop at the dam, where she got some nice pictures.  Although the park was supposed to close at 5:30 pm, there was no way they would be able to clear out all of the people there before the sun set.  It was too nice a day in October for anyone to rush home, as this would likely be the last nice day we'll get until Spring.

- - - - - -

Sunday came, and we did nothing all day.  So I won't talk much about that.  But I was supposed to receive 2 shipments from Amazon that never came.  They were delayed until Monday, and weren't delivered until RQS got home.  As I said, I'm still replacing things I lost when I misplaced my backpack at Croton-Harmon station.  Hopefully, though I doubt it, MNRR lost and found will have the backpack the next time I go into NYC by train.

I went to NYC today ...and left 15 minutes after I arrived.

 

A while back, I reported here that I left my backpack in the washroom at Croton-Harmon station and that someone picked it up.  Usually, it takes 3-5 business days for a lost item to make its way from a MNRR railroad station to their Lost and Found office at Grand Central.  This week, it will take longer, due to the mudslide over the Hudson Line's tracks that too place over the weekend. 

- - - - - -

My day started with a visit to the doctor (I referred to this in the past 2 days' posts), followed by a call to a credit card company, ending up with a call to make an appointment to see a doctor about new GI-Tract issues I'm having.  This was not a pleasant start to the day.  But, with a co-op board meeting coming up in the evening, I made a decision to try to make it into Grand Central and back within a 4 hour window, so that I could start the board meeting at 6:00 pm.

Given that I didn't want to trust travel on the Hudson line, I chose to drive to a convenient subway station where I knew I could park for free.  Luckily, I found a spot in front of the station entrance, and swiped my Metrocard to get in the fare control area - and not much too soon, as the train came about a minute later.  Around 3:30, I got off the subway and made it to the lost and found office.  Unfortunately, my backpack did not make it to Lost & Found yet.  They haven't been bringing "found" items from the Hudson line to Grand Central for a while.  Things are backed up, and the mudslide just made things worse.  The man at the front desk updated my claim form to mention the computer, and said that I may have a good chance for backpack/computer recovery.  (Keep your fingers crossed....)

Once done with Lost and Found, I made it back on the subway, and was back at my car by 4:30.  However, it took me almost 90 minutes to make it from the Bronx to Croton due to rush hour traffic.  At least, I was able to start the co-op board meeting "on time", and conclude it in less than 90 minutes later.  What a relief to NOT have the old site representative in our meetings!  Our average meeting time has been cut in half.  And we might be getting better service from the firm as well.

Besides the asassination, how was the play?

 

After this weekend, I am not sure that I will bother with Chicago again.  Most of the trip was great, but it was book-ended by events that soured me on a lot of things.  But I will go into that after a brief reporting of our Girls Trip to Chicago.

- - - - - -

There were 4 of us scheduled to spend a long weekend in the Windy City: STX, JTX, RQS and me.  I'd be traveling in female mode for the entire trip, with only my masculine legal ID available to get me through airport security.  (More on that later.)  It would also be the first time that RQS would be taking a trip with me solely presenting as Marian.

I had packed both my suitcase and my backpack, and took a cab to to Croton Harmon station.  Well, I was so absent minded, that I left my backpack with my Chromebook in the washroom - and it was gone by the time I went back for it.  AARGH!  If I'm lucky, Metro North may find it, and then bring it to Lost and Found at Grand Central Terminal.  But to claim it, I need legal ID - of which I left a backup version (US Passport card) in that bag.  (Again, more on this later.)  So I took the cab back to my apartment, so that I could get a new supply of medicine before the trip.

The next few days with the girls was mostly uneventful.  (More on this later.)  We had a great time exploring Chicago, going to the Field Museum, the Art Institute, and Navy Pier on our first full day there, and then going to the Skydeck (Observation level at the Sears/Willis Tower), and then the Magnificent Mile on our second full day there.  After STX and JTX left for home, RQS and I went to the Rookery to see this classic building.  And that's where my troubles began.

After our Rookery tour, we went to a local place to have lunch.  That's where my wallet was stolen.  AARGH!  Instead of going to see the Money Museum at Chicago's Federal Reserve Bank, we ended up making phone calls to banks to cancel credit cards, and going to the South Side of Chicago to file a police report.

Arriving at the police station, we saw a migrant encampment completely surrounding the police station's block.  This is where I realized that having my wallet stolen is a "first world" problem.  These people have it much worse than I ever will. I couldn't avoid the children playing with the revolving door, as they didn't have much to play with.  Inside the station, people were encamped on one side of the "receiving area" while the other side had been cordoned off for police business.   

Chatting with the police officer while he was taking down my information, I found out that the area within the Loop has become a high crime area.  It is very different from the last time I was there, and even the PO has had his wallet stolen once.  So you can now see why I won't be visiting Chicago again for a while.

Today, it was time to go home.  With ALL of my ID taken by the pickpocket, I was worried about TSA airport security - and for good reason.  We checked out of our hotel room early, and got to the airport.  Although I had TSA Pre-Check privileges, for this trip, I lost them due to my missing ID.  I had to fill out a form to inform TSA that I was without ID, and then (after a minor back and forth between the TSA area and Delta's ticketing area) I had to wait again until a TSA officer was available to ask me several security questions to insure I was the person who would be flying home.  After a few minutes, this officer made a phone call, asked me some personal questions, and then I was cleared to pass through security screening - without Pre-Check privileges.  

Given a choice, I'd always go for Pre-Check (or Global Entry, if traveling internationally) to avoid the hassles of intense TSA screening.  Today, it was time to go home the way most people do.  I went through the full body scanner without my shoes, all of my bags were swabbed down for dangerous chemicals, and I had to have a full body pat down.  TSA had the grace to ask me whether I wanted a male or female to perform the pat down, and I said that it didn't matter. Once the pat down was done, I still had to wait for my bags to be processed, and after 30-45 minutes, I was ready to enter the secured area of the airport.

Once I entered the secured area, it was time to look for RQS.  And I couldn't find her.  Instead of being close to the TSA zone, she had located herself in an area where I couldn't see her.  So I proceeded to take the long walk to the gate, and wait for RQS - she'd have to pass by me to go home.  This made perfect sense, as she did find me with a little help from our cell phones.

Two hours after we boarded the plane, we landed at La Guardia airport.  And we were home before 7:15 pm.  Not bad!  But I still had to make it home.  Leaving at a little after 8:00 pm, I made perfect connections to get to Croton Harmon, and then found a cab waiting for a fare at the station.  After telling him my story, he offered to drive me home for free.  I'm glad that I didn't have to accept his generosity, as RQS had given me some money to have in my purse if needed.  But I am grateful that there are still some people in this world....