North Grandstand.com -- the official home of Exhibition Stadium

North Grandstand.com -- the official home of Exhibition Stadium

A thing I haven't done in ages...surf the web aimlessly and find something cool. A pass time I love.

For those of you that went to Exhibition Stadium in Toronto to see a Argos or Jays game... a site you won't want to miss.

Musings on a Saturday evening in New York...

Looking for something to do...yup thats it....in New York City....nothing to do....

Need something cheap because I am a cheap person....

hmmm....free stuff to do....

1. Walk Brooklyn Bridge.... done it too many times!

2. Walk Manhatten Bridge.... done it once and it wasn't that exciting.

3. Visit Grand Central Station.... done it.

4. Heckle tourists in Time Square....done it and still love it...(reminds me of old times in Ottawa at Parliament Hill).

Later!

Subway observations

After reading Subwayland by a New York Times columnist, I started to think about how weird the New York City subway system is. Here is what I got so far:

--You can buy anything on the subway except a used car. Everything from DVDs to watches, and candy.

--You can haul everything on the subway. Even delivery guys use the subway to move things. I have seen guys halling newspaper bundles to stores on a cart. Heck, even today I lugged home a vacuum cleaner.

--Figure out what the latest popular books are becauseeveryone reads on the subway. Might as well join one of the most literary bunch of people percentage wise. I guess illeterate people don't ride the subway.

--The most hot, humid and stuffy places I know of are New York City subway stations. Visit one and find out!

New York...where is my check?

New York City Department of Education only told me that I wouldn't be on the first pay check until after I arrived in August. Even worse, I now won't be paid until October 15th. Whats up with that? Seems that some bureaucrats can't do their jobs and move that paperwork fast enough. I had to go in and rant and rave to get a file number (which they said I didn't need, and now won't admit to saying it).

Even worse is the emergency check situation. On forms that International Recruitment gave out it says I can get a check for up to 60% of my regular pay check. I had to rant and rave with someone on the phone in order to get a check cut for sixty percent. Seems to me this would have been a no brainer because the sheet that International recruitment handed out was a print out from the Department's own website. I thought all was well until I received a message from my principal that the check couldn't be run for higher than a certain amount. That certain amount was way lower than the 60% of my pay check.

Seems to me that you just get stabbed in the back as a teacher in New York City. Then they just keep on twisting it. And the Department of Education wonders why there is a shortage of veteran teachers.

Go figure....

Learn how to tie a neck tie, tying knots, tyeing man school dress bow ties,half windsor

Learn how to tie a neck tie, tying knots, tyeing man school dress bow ties,half windsor

A website that saved my life today. I usually tie my tie for school the day or night before (who can concentrate on tying a tie a 6:30 A.M. while eating toast?). A must have website for all Wall Street Gentlemen!

The Weatherman needs to co-operate

A fine day in New York City. Spend more money I don't have on clothes for school. Anybody got any extra American change lying around?

Anyway, I am enjoying a nice long weekend in New York. You see as a school teacher you get the Thursday, Friday and weekend off for the Jewish Holidays. So I have used the time to straighten up my bedroom and move things around and get some other stuff done (including getting lost in Penn Station...a past time I seem to have learned to enjoy).

Otherwise, teaching in New York has been pretty fun so far!

New York City...the story continues....

Well, I've been in NYC for about three weeks now. The plane ride over was exciting. It was only to take an hour, but a fuel guage on the plane refuesed to work, had to be replaced and the new one didn't work either. So we were hussled off the plane in order so the wonderful people on the tarmac could manually refuel the plane and let us board again. All in all instead of landing a 5:00ish we landed at 8:00 ish at Newark. Gotta love JetsGo!

Following that, another wonderful thing happenned, apparently somebody cut the budget for the two weeks of orientation and house hunting and put us up in the St. George Hotel. The St. George is a hole in the wall student residence being renovated. The hallways were painted on a daily basis and the rooms we occupied were already done so that the washroom doors wouldn't close properly. I've learned one thing about NYC, the painters here aren't to bright.

Not all was bad though, Frank Valvo, our broker, found us a wonderful apartment in Brooklyn Heights near the Brooklyn Bridge and a stunning view of the Manhatten Skyline.

I also cannot wait to start work next week at my school. The principal called the teachers in because she was supposed to be on vacation this past week (from the 15th) but she was still receiving paperwork and furniture for the new school and everything in her office was stacked in cardboard boxes. She is supposed to be able to give tours of the school this coming week to parents, board officials and the like but the school is no where near ready.

But on the good side, she seems like a fairly down to earth person at a great school overlooking Jamaica Bay on the Rockaway Park portion of Queen's. I can feel the sea breezes now wafting through my new classroom/office (they don't know where my room is yet, but it is there somewhere).

More to come on this story. Watch this blog for more info!