Location, location, location.

That saying exists in the real estate world for a reason.

So the next time you are apartment shopping/house hunting, remember that adage. Think twice about that space just steps around the corner from a bustling street. Because while it may be charming to stumble across the way to fetch some milk and a paper in the morning, it is not charming when the huge rumbly delivery trucks begin to make their riotously loud commute down your narrow street at 6am. It is even less charming when a semi truck nearly demolishes and then wedges itself neatly (and rather inexplicably) between your car and the sidealk loading dock. (I'm sure you can imagine, this was not a quiet affair. Many of the neighbors were quite upset. Our street is very narrow. After you park cars on either side, it doesn't leave room for an SUV, much less a semi tractor trailer. Add the fact that it was 6:30 in the morning, and you've got a situation brewing.)

Ce' la vie. Such is New York, I suppose.

Today I saw a plane skywriting, although I have absolutely no idea what it wrote.

They have those amazingly bright lights lit up at Ground Zero that project two beams of light into the night sky. It's sad and beautiful and not enough.