Metropolitan Diary analysis: 2006-03-06

Alright, so in my third week of this blog, I've fallen off. Sorry. Hope you non-Select folks can still read this link to Monday's Metropolitan Diary.

• Friend becomes HIV+, loses dog, police come immediately and drive him recklessly through the neighborhood looking for dog, dog found in shelter, later man plans an 11th birthday party for dog. Category: New Yorkers Aren't So Bad, After All
  
• Second item leading to the creation of the "New Yorkers Aren't So Bad, After All!" category.
  
• On 26th anniversary, wife refers to couples that don't "make it this long" as "wimps". Category: Jaded New Yorkers
• B train running on F track is referred to as an F train, to amazement of (potential) rube. Category: Rubes in the Big City
• I suppose it is unfair to refer to the writer as a rube as he or she starts with "The New York Subway never ceases to amaze me." But I still have ridden the subway enough to know that this is a fairly common occurrance, particularly in my neighborhood where the 5 has been running in place of the 2 train on weekends for months now. So thus to be so "amazed" by this smacks of the rube to me, a classic Jaded New Yorker.
• Parents forced to litter in park as it was too clean to teach 3-year-olds about recycling. Category: Precocious NY Kids
• This is really "Precocious NY Parents" or "Dipshit NY Parents" if you like, but I try to use these categories interchangeably.
• Out-of-towners ask for directions, savvy NY resident makes determination that it will take them far longer than him to find location. Category: Rubes in the Big City
• Correction Department bus says "New York's Boldest" on the back, to amazement of writer. Category: Rubes in the Big City
• Yes, I've been harshly judging writers as rubes today, but in this case, I actually knew that Correction Department workers referred to themselves as New York's Boldest, as you can see on their web page. I knew this because I once read in the NY Times that, besides NYPD = New York's Finest and FDNY = Bravest, the Correction Department is the Boldest, and the Sanitation Department the Strongest. Here is an extremely well researched article on the origins of these names.

Totals for this Metropolitan Diary:
New Yorkers Aren't So Bad, After All: 1
Jaded New Yorkers: 1
Rubes in the Big City: 3
Precocious NY Kids: 1

Totals for year to date:
Precocious NY Kids: 12
New York Eccentrics: 10
Oh, Those Fast-Paced New Yorkers!: 10
Jaded New Yorkers: 10
Rubes in the Big City: 8
Precocious NY Pets: 5
Amusing Misspellings: 4
New Yorkers Aren't So Bad, After All: 4
Single New York Woman's Perspective: 3
WTF:2