Oregon

IMGP2350_1_2_3_tonemapped
Originally uploaded by TommyKirchmeier

Here's a funny go-round from my Facebook a few weeks back:

Tommy Kirchmeier: My elderly father called me “middle-aged” on Friday. I took offense as "middle-aged" is what I call people who purchase sensible automobiles.

On Saturday, Jessica and I bought a Honda Civic.
March 9 at 11:23am · · Like ·


Leah L: pretty soon, you'll start wanting a lawn too.
March 9 at 11:25am · Like


Karen C: This is funny on so many levels!
March 9 at 11:30am · Like


Tommy Kirchmeier: We got the car so that we could get out of the city in order to buy a place with a lawn. Did not see this coming before I met Jess.
March 9 at 11:41am · Like · 2 people


Leah L: HAH!
March 9 at 11:42am · Like


Diana G. S: Big-City-Joe and I are now living in (very) rural Bucks County, PA. We own a tractor. Isn't marriage something?
March 9 at 11:43am · Like


Karen C: suburban domestic bliss..it's what's up!
March 9 at 11:44am · Like


Leah L: lawnmower, leaf blower, snow blower....yep...get that home depot credit card now...
March 9 at 11:49am · Like


Tommy Kirchmeier: What else is weird is that I’m wearing a tie at work today, which is what the kids do now, but used to be what the middle-aged did.


Things are getting more and more surreal.
March 9 at 12:05pm · Like


Leah L: is it a skinny tie? you may be able to skate by on that. if it's a bow tie, there's no hope.
March 9 at 12:07pm · Like


Barbara S: I'm not sure buying one of the most stolen cars in NY counts as "sensible" hence nothing to worry about.
March 9 at 1:03pm · Like


Lauren C: well i did tell Jessica this on Friday ... "you know honda civics are one the most stolen cars in the city" so she was warned.
But hey your moving to the safety of the suburbs... Nothing happens out there anyways ... So I'm sure you'll be...
See More
March 9 at 1:30pm · Like


Karen C: That's the older civics, pre-standard issue alarm system... My Civ has never been swiped!
March 9 at 2:16pm · Like


Tommy Kirchmeier: See, not sensible to own in the city = not middle aged... until Karen ruined it.
March 9 at 2:40pm · Like


Karen C: hee hee....
March 9 at 2:56pm · Like


Danielle C: It's not like you bought a Buick, for pete's sake....
March 9 at 4:54pm · Like


Tommy Kirchmeier: I never actually bought a Buick. That car belonged to my dad when he was middle-aged and I took it over in high school/college.
March 9 at 4:59pm · Like


Danielle C: Next thing you know, you'll be moving to Chester, or something.... LOL
March 9 at 5:08pm · Like


Tommy Kirchmeier: We're moving upstate to West-Chester.
March 9 at 5:10pm · Like


Christine G: OMG Tommy has a car?!?!? I smell 2.5 children in your future and a potential picket fence...
March 9 at 6:11pm · Like


Delma-Jean W: Welcome to the club. We own two toyota corollas.
March 9 at 7:48pm · Like


Elderly Father: Who you calling elderly!
March 9 at 8:42pm · Like


Tommy Kirchmeier: What, Dad? I called you middle-aged when you owned the 89 Buick... 22 years ago.
March 10 at 9:38am · Like


Rachel O: Face it Tommy ! We all are middle -aged now ...LOL How's the car ?
March 12 at 8:44am · Like

Wow. Another war. It's just a farce at this point. I'm not speaking as an anti-war dove or a fiscal conservative, just someone who lives in the real world: We can't afford this!

Belvedere Castle in Snow, Central Park

Belvedere Castle in Snow, Central Park, 07
Originally uploaded by TommyKirchmeier

Spent last Wednesday, Snowpocalypse 2: The Revenge that Never Occurred, playing hookie in Central Park. I got some great shots of Belvedere Castle, among other things. It seems many other New Yorkers were playing hookie as well.

Shea Stadium: 1964 - 2008

Shea Stadium: 1964 - 2008
Originally uploaded by TommyKirchmeier

I finally finished my portfolio of best photos from Shea Stadium: A Requiem. This was the longest photo project I've ever completed. I plan to follow it up with a self-published book of photos, soon. It's funny to miss such an eyesore but looking over these photos, it feels muchh more like home than CitiField. See the portfolio at http://www.flickr.com/photos/tommykirchmeier/sets/72157623179958567/show/

IMGP4082edited

IMGP4082edited
Originally uploaded by TommyKirchmeier

It's effing cold out there. Even for me.

I want to generate some traffic to my blog so: Tiger Woods, Avatar, Michael Jackson, H1N1, Swine Flu, Brittany Murphy, Jersey Shore, Yankees, Senate, 60 votes, Barack Obama, Sarah Palin, Wall Street bonuses, Joe Lieberman, Jesus.

Creepy Subway Riders (updated)

Creepy Subway Riders (updated)
Originally uploaded by TommyKirchmeier

This is the third time I’ve seen these women on the 1 train. I noticed them about three months ago, dressed almost identically in dirty, old-fashioned skirts and sweaters. They were lying against each other, just as they are here. About a month later, I saw them sitting in either the 18th street or 23rd street station on the 1 line. Very creepy. This morning, on my way in to work, I saw them for the third time and I had to take a picture with my phone’s camera because I had started to think that I had been hallucinating. This is in the top-five weird things I’ve seen in NYC.

Locked out

Locked out
Originally uploaded by TommyKirchmeier

I’ve decided to restart blogging on my blog again. Or maybe I’m going to start blogging as I never really did blog consistently. Wow, it’s amazing how when you say (or type) blog several times, it starts to sound weird again, like it did way back in 2005.

I did get some fair success with one post about a crash and burn job interview. It has made me the number two hit on google when you search for the company World Access Marketing: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=world+access+marketing&aq=0&oq=world+access+m&aqi=g4g-m1. As much as that company sucked, I hope they keep interviewing people so I can stay #2 on google.

Anyway, why the photo to the right? Well, I have thousands and thousands of photos and I plan to transform this from that seems to be about my crappy work life to a blog about the thing I love second-most outside of work: Photography. That’s not to say it will be all about shutter speeds and lighting. I may use photos to illustrate what I’m thinking or where I’m going.

Right now I"m showing one of my favorites. I love the sense of sadness and cold and the feeling that, yes, Shea Stadium may have been a sub-optimal baseball stadium but many summer nights were spent there. It was home, and i'm never going to get back in.

Thanks for reading this far,
-TK

Where are we now?

So it's no secret that Jess and I have a sudden urge to remove ourselves from Brooklyn only to visit occasionally in the future. I think something has happened in the last twenty years. New York is not the rough and tumble place it was when I was growing up. The Bronx aren't even scary anymore. Everyone wants to live here now and everyone is working so hard to stay here that the quality of life is severely diminished. Why should I be working overtime... without getting paid for overtime? If everyone else is doing it, it doesn't mean I have to and if I do have to it doesn't mean I am going to stay. There is a better life out there. I feel like I am in a sequel to Kafka's The Castle. I feel like I gained entrance into the regal dwelling but keeping this post is compromising my life, my health, my whole being. I feel like I got in and have learned that it's not worth the effort to stay. I can't complain about my time here, if nothing else, I met Jessica and that is worth enduring far worse. I am only glad that she wants to leave as well and that we should be gone by summer.

Holidays, 2008

Well, I'm glad that's over. Had a rough season. It started out well-enough, when I got engaged to Jessica. Her step-father, unfortunately, passed away less than a week later. On December 23, my great-uncle, whom I was very close to, passed away as well. They will be missed.

So the holiday season was a whirlwind of work (everyone wants to post programs by December 31 in my industry) travel, funeral pereparations, future nephews stayinhg with us in Brooklyn, a funeral, Christmas parties, another funeral, Wii and no running.

It was good to wash away 2008 with cocktails provided by Death and Company and begin to think again about the future.

I must say that I am happy with my Shea Stadium project, my semi-usual running schedule and the number of books I read in 2008. Perhaps in 2009 I will finish a marathon or write a novel. I expect to do both in my lifetime. I wonder which will happen first.

Fun Jobs in New York City?

Okay, I decided a long time ago that I would work to live, not live to work. It's cliche but its true. I used to take creative positions where I could design and photo edit all day. The problem was that I never wanted to work on my own creative endeavors when the day was over. I made a conscious decision to take boring jobs that pay well in order to buy art and photo supplies, pay the bills, save for a family, an apartment, probably a minivan and retirement.

Well, that's not working out either. While I am by no means a slacker at work, I am by no means an overachiever. I just go, do my job well and leave.

This leads me to my next question: Where are the fun jobs in New York City? A search on Google turned up nothing but Craigslist positions for the first five or so hits. I eventually found my way onto a site promising fun positions. Click on the link: Sales jobs, accounting positions, office managers. What's worse? The were everywhere but New York City: NJ, Long Island, Westchester.

So is it this bad? Is the greatest city in the world, the top destination for fun, completely devoid of fun jobs? Do I need to become a fun sales person or a fun accountant or a fun office manager and NJ Transit it or LI Railroad it or Metro North it?

I'll do anything, I just want to work in a fun place or in a fun industry and have a fun time. It must be in New York City.

Seriously, contact me if you have anything.

Thank you, Dick!

Thank you, Dick Cheney! Your tireless xenophobia and might-makes-right philosophy have made it possible for a minority to become President in my lifetime. I shudder to think that, had your divisive tactics in the 2004 election not worked to divide this nation, John Kerry would have won and we would have had to choose between him and John McCain. The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, we owe them so much. Gay Rights ballots, thank you, thank you. Losing the 2004 election was the greatest blessing this country has seen in my lifetime. It's just too bad for all the innocent people who died because of eight years of your policy.

Brooklyn Dances in the Streets for Obama

Brooklyn Dances in the Streets for Obama
Originally uploaded by TommyKirchmeier

Most of the big moments I remember are negatives moments: The Challenger Disaster, the Tsunami, September 11. Tonight was a positive one: The election of the first minority to the Presidency of the United States. We went crazy in my boro tonight, literally dancing in the streets. I have no doubt that the long nightmare is not over, but I do hope that we have turned the page and are moving toward something better.

Wow. Just... Wow...

Count me as an elitist. A proud, proud, elitist.

Week 3

tadium or [Shea S]tadium
Originally uploaded by TommyKirchmeier

Well, I guess it is no longer "Shea Stadium". It is now simply "tadium". The "Shea S" have been removed. I expect more changes next week. I know the scoreboard came down last Saturday (missed it by a few hours).

In other news, brooklynmetfan.com has picked up a bunch of my photos and is running them this week. It is exciting to be getting some exposure. It would be great to publish these photos as a documentation of the end of Shea at some point.

Not So Bad

You know, it doesn't really seem that bad. Oil prices have come down, the Euro is trading at $1.30, not $2.00 and I still have food. I understand that real estate and construction are hard hit but it just seems like a market correction, not the end of times. I know that retirement accounts are taking a hit but if we can bail out banks, we will bail out retirees.

Wait until all the boomers leave their homes for nursing homes and cemeteries. That's going to leave a huge glut of housing on the market. You think we have real estate deflation now? I'm going to buy a brownstone and two McMansions in twenty years.

Leonard Cohen Christmas Album

I wish Leonard Cohen had recorded a Christmas album. I understand that there would probably be an inherent conflict of interests considering his last name, but I'm sure it would have been an interesting melancholy take on some holiday classics.

Week 2

IMGP8765BW
Originally uploaded by TommyKirchmeier

Not much changed between week 1 and week 2 at Shea. It does feel more desolate. Perhaps that is because things are disappearing that I am not noticing: Small promenade trees, signposts, etc. I watched some workers unceremoniously remove the sign for Gate E. That was sort of the stand-by place where I would meet people when going to a game. I’m happy to say the light was better this week, so photos are crisper.

I Think the Money Just Got All Used up

I think we just used up all of the money. All of it. It's not coming back. I'm pretty sure I just heard that sucking sound that you get from a straw when you reach the bottom of a drink. Did anyone else notice it?

In the meantime, I'm going to propose to Jess that we eat our cat. That will give us two savings: 1) We won't need to buy cat food anymore 2) We will be full for one more day.