Penny Harvest Field

One hundred million American pennies ($1 million dollars) look exactly like 100 million Irish pennies; all brown and copper like. Except this sea of pennies are laid out in a square box in Rockefeller Center in mid-town Manhattan.
The Penny Harvest Field, as the exhibit is called was unveiled on Monday (12/10) and measures 30 x 165 feet. The pennies were collected by school children for charity. Over 800 schools participated in the drive that began on October 22 and ended at the end of November. The non-profit ‘Common Sense’ organized the event to teach children about charity and giving to those less fortunate.

Rockerfeller and Photos

Christmas has arrived in New York, and nothing epitomizes Christmas in New York like Rockefeller Center. Rockefeller Center is a four block long and two block wide piece of real estate that sits between Fifth and Seventh Ave. in the heart of mid-town Manhattan and buzzes with tourists at Christmas. In this rectangular space lie some of New York’s most famous icons; 1. The Christmas tree, an 84 foot Norway spruce stands majestically above the Rockefeller ice rink. 2. Rockefeller Ice Rink, made famous in Woody Allen movies. 3. The ‘Rockettes’ are playing at Radio City Music Hall and 4. new sculpture called Penny Harvest containing over $1 million dollars worth of pennies.

The Christmas spirit really starts in October in the most consumer driven nation in the world. Children’s toy adds start playing on television in October. Shops or stores as they are known here, start to advertise Christmas savings/specials/discounts/gift cards and store credit. I was looking at TV. this week and some financial guru said that Americans spend more money than they make. So if your income is 80,000 dollars you are spending 85,000 dollars a year. The money Americans don’t have is provided by American Express, Visa and MasterCard at hefty interest rates.

As I walk to work up Ninth Ave., I pass Christmas trees lined up like soldiers outside every deli and bodega. The smell of pine needles filled the air this morning. The streets seem new as if washed from the rain the night before. A flock of pigeons grey and white pigeons swooped and spiraled carelessly in the air, oblivious to the buses and cars passing below.

One Job a Week

I read an interesting article in the New York Times on Thursday (11/19). (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/29/fashion/29Work.html?em&ex=1196485200&en=081baa1e47c86e90&ei=5087%0A)
Meet 25 year-old Sean Aiken, a college graduate with a degree in business administration, and not a clue about what to do with his life. He came up with the novel idea of taking one job a week for a whole year. He is currently writing a blog (oneweekjob.com) about his work/life experiences. Aiken began by asking friends and family for a job and then readers of his website started offering him jobs. He sleeps on couches all over the country. This week Aiken is working as a photographer’s assistant in New York, scouting location sites for a photographer. Aiken is sponsored by Nicejob.ca to the tune of $1,000 per month and donates his weekly salary to Make Poverty History / ONE Campaign. So far Aiken has raised $14,281.

Aiken wanted a job he could be passionate about. He did not want to end up like his father working as an accountant for 30-years for the same company. Aiken’s parents told him he could do anything he wanted with his life and he believed them. The article drew a parallel between his generation (Gen. Y) who wanted to do it all, and his father’s generation who took one job and stuck with it for as long as possible or until he was let go or retired.

Cyber Monday

The fuzzy season is officially here; or should I say funny season. This involves mandatory Christmas stories in every news cast or paper. We have already had stories involving, Black Friday the official start to the Christmas shopping season and the day after Thanksgiving; and Cyber Monday (11/26), the biggest online shopping day in the calendar. Americans return to work today and log onto their computers after the long Thanksgiving (11/22) weekend and a huge portion of those Americans will go shopping for Christmas presents. Brick and mortar stores and online shopping malls are geared up to offer huge discounts to these eager and apparently not too busy shoppers.
Incentives like free shipping and iPods for 77% discount encourage shoppers to buy online.
I never liked to buy online before. I wanted to see the item I was buying before I spent my money, but I have been converted. Now, I like the convenience sitting in my bedroom (that’s were I have my computer) spending money. I have never been disappointed by what I have bought online and this has played a role in my online shopping experience. I thrust the security precautions taken by major online sites and this also helps. Finally, I absolutely hate walking around shops looking for something unique to buy friends and family. It’s boring and time consuming.
So what will I buy this year? Well, my niece and nephew in Dublin have asked for anything Barbie and Power Rangers; also, if I saw anything to do with the movie the ‘Incredibles’ that would be fine too.
My two nieces in California are a bigger problem. I know they love sports, but getting young girls a present they will use or wear can be problematic. Money is always welcome but too impersonal.
So I intend to keep you informed of what I buy folks for Christmas. Since nobody reads this blog, I feel I won’t reveal any secrets.

Christmas Toys

I have three nieces and one nephew; so when it comes to Christmas, I really like to spoil them with gifts. My brothers two children who are in high school are easier to buy for than my younger niece (4-years) and nephew (3-years) in Dublin. I am always on the look out for the IT toys; toys that I think they may want. So since it’s that season again, I decided to do a little research to find some of the hippest toys this year.
With scores of toy recalls this year in the U.S. - the Consumer Product Safety Commission recalled millions of toys this year in the U.S. because of lead paint or parts that could choke a child. At one stage, it looked like there was a news conference every week recalling one toy or another from the shelves. ‘Batman Batmobile’, had 314,000 units recalled alone.
Here are some toys I found on about.com and I think they are just brilliant.







Hasbro's Transformers Movie Ultimate Bumblebee, transforms from a yellow car into an Ultimate Bumblebee robot.. Boys will love this toy.
($80 / Euro 54)


The Puppy Grows & Knows Your Name from Fisher-Price is adorable. The puppy grows to a full sized dog in 4 days. It knows its own name, your child's name and can sing 2 songs using your child's name. The puppy can be personalized using the CD provided. You also get a measuring tape with a growth chart, a bone, brush, and a birth certificate. ($50 / 38 Euro)




Hasbro's Furreal Friends Squawkers McCaw Parrot is a toy
with features such as voice recognition, animatronics, and dance features. It comes with a remote control which has pre-programmed voice commands which can prompt the parrot to say something or dance if there's music playing. Although, since this parrot loves to dance, it will do so to his own tunes too. ($70 / Euro 47)


Hasbro's Power Tour Guitar meant for ages 10 + is a great way for youngsters to learn how to play the guitar. The beauty of the Power Tour Electric Guitar is that there are no strings attached (literally) which makes it much simpler to learn. The whole concept is touch activated. The guitar fret is color coded, and the flashing lights prompt the player where to place their fingers. ($50 / 38 Euro)


Jakks Pacific's Eye-Clops, the handheld bionic eye that plugs into your TV. Not only is it designed to keep kids of all ages (including fully grown kids) occupied and excited for hours, it also serves to educate your children. Eye-Clops works by providing close up images of minute objects. It's amazing to see something magnified by a factor of 200 on your TV screen! It even includes an observation dish and tube to view liquids, salt, bugs or anything that catches your fancy. Three built-in lights help to illuminate the objects under observation. ($40 / 27 Euro)

Thanksgiving and Black Friday

This week (11/19-11/26) is the busiest travel week in the U.S. calendar. Thanksgiving Day on Thursday (11/22) is America’s biggest travel day (37 million Americans) and the most celebrated holiday in the U.S. calendar. Thanksgiving is for Americans what Christmas is to the Irish. Airports, train stations and roads are packed with folks heading home for the holiday to hearth and family.
Thanksgiving is a uniquely American holiday. Families gather around their dining tables with their best linen and stuff their faces full of turkey, cranberry sauce (don’t ask me); sweet potatoes (yams), with pumpkin pie for desert (not as bad as it sounds).
Thanksgiving Day began with the pilgrims celebrating the end of the harvest. American’s tend to believe that the U.S. was settled by the persecuted Christian refugees whose legacy is felt beyond Thanksgiving to the political present. The Christian conservatives that dominate the White House and Middle America hark on back to their original pilgrim roots at every opportunity.
Thanksgiving Day is also associated with street parades all over the States with the biggest being the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. Macy’s being the famous department store on 34th Street in Manhattan, made famous by the 1947 movie Miracle on 34th Street (staring Maureen O’Hara). The parade boasts huge balloons in the shape of cartoons and the size of small buildings.
Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving is the biggest shopping day of the year. The American family begins its two month long prayer ritual to consumerism. Families all over the U.S., enticed by huge store (shop) discounts go out and spend massive globs of money on red and white Christmas sweaters with snowmen on the front.
Typically, stores like K-mart and Macy’s start their holiday sales huge discounts in order to attract large lines (queues) outside their stores when they open. Retail competition is so tight that some stores open at 12.00 am Thursday night and folks spend their evening sleeping in front of the store to get those early bargains.

MANHOLE FIRE

November 13

40th Street and Ninth Avenue
Firefighters cordoned off a half block radius while smoke billowed from a steel manhole cover on Ninth Avenue outside Port Authority Bus Terminal. The fire started at approx. 8.00 a.m. Tuesday morning as he bus station spilled its humanity onto the street.

New Yorkers are used to seeing smoke rising from all sorts of holes in the ground as they scurry back and forth to work. This fire was no real exception, although it could have been. You see there are two worlds that separate New York City, the subway below, and the streets above. In winter, grey steam clouds rise from the underground, as the hot air from below ground meets the cold air above. In winter orange and white chimney cones resembling the cat’s striped hat in Dr. Seuss ‘Cat in the Hat’, appear all over the streets of Manhattan allowing the steam from the nether world below ground to vent its frustration at the living world above ground. Manhole fires are quite common in Manhattan, as last nights rainwater collides with the worn, poorly insulated power cables that run up and down the streets and avenues of this city. However, they can be deadly. Fire crews will not touch a smoking manhole, until they are sure Con Edison has cut off all power.

On July 19, a manhole cover exploded in midtown Manhattan killing one person and injuring dozens of others as they made their way home from work. The explosion was so loud, officer workers heard it streets away. That explosion received both national and international attention, a by-product of September 11. Hell, on February 15, a dog called Bob, was electrocuted walking over an icy manhole. Bob also died.