Usually my commutes to and from work every day occur during rush hour, which means struggling to squeeze into a train not really caring where you end up as long as you’re on board. Today, however, I got out of work a little bit early and was able to do something I have always wanted to: sit at the very front of the train looking out the “windshield” if you will.

For my non-NJ/NY readers, the PATH is an underground rail system that connects New Jersey and New York at multiple points. The main areas it services are Hoboken, Jersey City and Newark in New Jersey, and Midtown and Wall Street in New York City.

It was pretty exciting to actually see the tracks and the tunnel and how the PATH train navigates through it. Every 50 or so yards there are two light bulbs, and they are colored in typical traffic fashion, red, yellow and green. All the lights are set to red but when the train approaches them they switch to yellow. Thus, the train moves cautiously along but is able to stop at the next light if need be. There is one long stretch where the tunnel protrudes out into the distance as far as the eye can see, and this was the only time when the lights were actually green (train gets up to 45+ mph).

The tunnel was pretty well lit for the most part, with faint white overhead lights throughout the entire tunnel. Except for the part of the tunnel that is under the Hudson River, there were escape shafts every few hundred yards or so. One thing that did surprise me as the train cruised along was the amount of trash that littered the tracks. I even saw a McDonald’s bag at one point, and if you think about it that could be months or years old; gross!

As we were approaching the station the train crept along slowly until finally we had a red light about 65 yards out of the station. After about 10 seconds of waiting another train pulled out of the station (this was the only other train sighting while in the tunnel), and after it had left sight we waited about 15 seconds and proceeded into the station. Just before pulling into the station there is a traffic light shaped box hanging from the wall that says “Track” at the bottom, and the 3 lights are all the same color but only light up as 1, 2 or 3, obviously whichever track the train is assigned to pull into.

All in all it was a pretty cool experience and I recommend it to anyone on a PATH train who notices the front of the train is vacant. It’s pretty neat to see how something that you use every day works. About halfway through the ride I thought “wow, I should be videoing this,” but the thought of arriving at my station and being greeted by Homeland Security doesn’t seem to enticing to me.

After a weekend trip to the famed black market strip in New York City, I have contrived a list of five things you can do to ensure you come out in one piece.

1. Get there early.

The later you get there the worse off you will be for a couple of reasons. First, parking will be ever more difficult to come by; who wants to walk 10 blocks to arrive somewhere and walk around some more? Secondly, when there are fewer people walking the street during the early hours vendors are more eager to sell things, and thus are easier to bargain with.

2. Don’t keep all your money in one pocket.

Whenever my girlfriend and I go we split up money between us. She’ll typically hold $20 or $40 and I’ll hold the remainder. As she’s the one talking and trying to bargain, she pulls out her money and the vendors can see that’s all she has, so they’ll be more likely to give it to us for the lower price we desire. If they see you whip out a load of cash they’ll try to rip you off even more.

3. Never make eye contact.

Anyone who has ever walked down Canal Street knows it feels like you’re a celebrity being mobbed by paparazzi. Everyone is trying to get you into their store, yelling items and prices your way in hopes of getting some sort of response. Avoiding eye contact with them will limit this harassment and allow you to make it from point A to point B easier.

4. Set a price and stand by it.

Often times you’ll see something you want and upon asking a price, are blown away at the outrageousness of it (sorry, that cardboard Gucci knockoff just isn’t worth $80). When you see something you want ask them a price then respond with a counter offer. Once this counter offer is set they will try to meet you halfway, do not fall for it, stick to your price. Bottom line is they need your money a lot more than you need their product, so 9 times out of 10 they will give in to your demands. In the rare occasion they don’t, walk next door and try your luck there.

5. Buy only what you came for, then leave.

With all of the cheap prices on tons of items it’s easy to get caught up in the ruckus and go on a spending spree; don’t, in the end you’ll end up with a bucket of cheap goods that you will not want a day later, and half of them won’t even work.

The Economic Intelligence Unit (EIU) of The Economist magazine has compiled the 2007 Worldwide Cost of Living Survey. The survey is compiled by collecting a snapshot of prices from 177 internationally comparable products/services and sorting them into 10 categories. From this an index score is calculated and compared against the benchmark metric, which is the cost of living in New York City (which has an index score of 100).

The most expensive cities in the world for 2007 are as follows:

1. Oslo, Norway
2. Paris, France
3. Copenhagen, Denmark
4. London, UK
5. Tokyo, Japan
6. Osaka, Japan
7. Reykjavik, Iceland
8. Zurich, Switzerland
9. Frankfurt, Germany
10. Helsinki, Finland

Surprisingly, New York was number 28 on the list. Not surprisingly, it is the most expensive city outside of Europe and Asia. An interesting follow-up survey would be income to cost of living, to see which group of people actually have to manage their money the most.

After months and seemingly years of speculation the rumors have finally molded into something of substance, and the Roxy nightclub in New York City will officially be shutting its doors on March 10th. Shortly after the nightclub is closed demolition will take place to make room for a new set of residential apartments.

Roxy has been a fixture in Manhattan nightlife for nearly two decades, after having been converted into a nightclub from a truck warehouse. It began as a skating rink and still continues to host a night of two or skating each week, however it wasn’t until the 1980s that it began to feature dancing nights and breakdancing competitions.

Over the years Roxy has hosted virtually every pop star, including Madonna, Cher, Bette Midler, etc., as well as countless world-renowned DJs: Junior Vasquez, Peter Rauhofer, Paul van Dyk, Victor Calderone, and others.

I, for one, will certainly miss this place. Although it has been quite a while since I’ve gone here for a night on the town, I have a myriad of memories from this place as it was the first nightclub I partied at in New York City, as well as the place I have seen Paul Van Dyk perform the most often (twice at Roxy, once at Exit, and once at Glow in D.C.).

Here’s to memories from the Roxy; all New Yorkers have them…

No longer will New York City be surrounded only by water. The Department of Homeland Security announced Friday New York City will be “protected” by a ring of devices to detect nuclear or dirty bombs by the end of 2007. A dirty bomb is one that gives off radiation without the nuclear explosion, and the department hopes that a ring of sensors will alert the authorities if a bomb has breached city limits.

Under the “Securing the Cities” initiative, detectors will be placed along highways, at truck stops, in weigh stations and at other sites on the perimeter of New York, as well as locations closer to the city center, an official said. Locations will not be made public “for obvious reasons,” the official said.

Once finalized, the system will cost roughly $46 million and will serve as a test for other metropolitan areas. The goal is to set up a network of cooperation whereby state and local governments in New York and New Jersey will respond to any alarms.

Wow! I feel safer already…

New York State Senator Carl Kruger introduced a bill in Albany today which seeks to ban the use of gadgets such as iPods, cell phones and gaming devices for pedestrians traversing New York City’s concrete jungle. He is seeking to impose a $100 fine on violators in an effort to crack down on pedestrian fatalities due to stepping into traffic as a result of distraction from the devices.

I really didn’t want to write an entry about this as it will surely be covered extensively throughout the blogosphere, however as I directly fall into the group of people who would be effected by this law (coupled with the fact that I have an NYC category on this blog) I felt that I had to make an entry for it.

I can understand, and even appreciate, a politician’s concern for his or her citizens (provided it is not merely for personal gain), but to Mr. Kruger I have to say: what on Earth are you thinking? First you take away cell phones for automobile drivers, then you take away smoking in public, recently you got rid of trans fat, and now you want to take away the use of our gadgets? Have you lost it?

New York City is arguably the center of the financial world, and I think its safe to say that there may be more Blackberry users in New York City than in any other metropolitan area in the world. How are you to tell all these businessmen and women that they cannot use their Blackberry devices while on the street? And their employers, all these Fortune 500 companies. I see people all over the streets everyday on these things, and prohibiting their use would directly affect the productivity of the businesses issuing them.

There are scores of other reasons that make this proposal seem beyond ridiculous, but at this point I’d rather go to bed than to continue writing about a political mistake so absurd it makes one wonder if this was merely a Paris Hiltonesque publicity stunt.

Tomorrow’s headline: Carl Kruger announces presidential candidacy!

Last Thursday night, 9/28/2006, some of the good folks at Google decided to take some of us from the office out on a drinks/dinner/drinks/dessert/drinks/more drinks cruise on the Hudson River. =) It was their way of saying “thank you for doing business with us,” and we couldn’t have been happier to say “you’re welcome.”

We took the Calypso out of Chelsea Piers and headed up river, all the way to the George Washington Bridge. We turned around directly underneath the bridge, which was an amazing sight, as most people only drive on it and never get to

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