Random Tuesday Morning Thoughts

• It was good to be off. I'm trying to convince myself it is good to back.
• We went to New York City and, let me tell you something, it was a scene.
• Yes it's cold here. It was colder there especially when you throw in the wind whipping through the buildings. I wore five layers everywhere I went. 
• We were a few blocks from the ball drop and, although I'd never get in that crowd, we thought we could position ourselves at least to see it happen from a distance. I backed out because it was bitterly cold but we were able to hear the crowd in the distance from the hotel at midnight.
• It was the craziest police presence I had ever seen. They were everywhere.  Our hotel was probably six blocks away and we couldn't get onto the block of the hotel without being wanded and showing proof that we were staying there. And that was just for the block. It wasn't the street that led to Times Square.
• We saw snow fall in Central Park. Very cool.
• We were in the background of The Today Show. (One interesting part of the show is the 30 minutes up to it. They have a guy outside there working that square area talking to the crowd. He told them they normally would start with crowd shots but weren't going to do it that day because of the tragedy --- a fire had killed 12 people in the Bronx the night before. The show didn't want to start with a bunch of happy people and then cut to the footage of the fire.)
• My Slumped Shoulder Moment when I went looking for some type of warm face protection and decided to go to the Nike Store. As I was looking at the map to try to find it, I learned it was in Trump Tower. Edit: I went in and it was incredibly easy. There were a couple guys checking bags, but since I didn't have one, they just waved me through. It's kind of like a mini-upscale mall inside.
• The New York Public Library is a must see.
• They are building massive skyscrapers all over Manhattan -- the type that will change the skyline from miles away. 
• I do a pretty good job of going off the grid when I'm on a vacation. 
• Off topic: That was a tremendous Oklahoma/Georgia game last night.