Author Archives: Nik Bronder

Hottest Day Ever.

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Yesterday was by far the hottest day of my life.

As the power on AC began to flicker, I knew something wasn’t quite right. I started powering everything down (in order of necessity, AC, TV, then Stereo) and then I started to smell smoke. Thinking that I probably caught the buidling on fire I looked out the window and to my horror I saw a cloud of smoke. At this point I was pretty sure the building was on fire so I gathered a couple items and headed outside to find a scene that can only happen on the hottest day ever…

The power-lines the entire length of the block were literally on fire. Flaming hot red fire. The extent of the fire was enough to bring down one of the power-lines and melt the instillation on the others. I actually saw a manhole cover smoking. At this point the fireman started yelling at people to get out of their buildings. I decided to head to the bar in hopes of finding some dark cool area to rest. At this point it was probably around 100 degrees out.

When I got home last night around midnight Con-Edison had taken over for the Fire Department and was still working on the entire block, focusing on the smoking manhole. We had touch and go power through the night, which means touch and go AC. At this point were still not back to full power. I type this as I sit in front of the AC that is connected to an outlet in another room via an extension cord. Obviously I don’t believe in being part of the solution when it comes to the heat.

*Note: Click on the images below to view larger images.

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Side Note: Today’s actually supposed to be hotter, I don’t believe that’s scientifically possible but we’ll see…

2006 Siren Music Festival.

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On Saturday I went to the Siren Music Festival to watch Tapes ‘n Tapes and to eat a couple Hot Dogs. Getting to the Hot Dogs was much easier than seeing Tapes n’ Tapes. It rained during their set which meant a lot of umbrellas in the crowd. The rain made it hard to move through the crowd and ever harder to see from where we were. We did get to hear the set and afterwards the rain stopped so we moved up close enough to get a view of the stage for the next band, The Stills. They sounded ok, I don’t know if I would download their album but they did seem to have a Teddy Roosevelt in his Rough Rider outfit as a stage prop. You can see this in some of the photographs below. Anytime TR makes an appearance on stage it’s worth the price of admission.

*Note: Click on the images below to view larger images.

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Side Note: This is actually my 300th posting…

Coney Island: Hot Dogs, Cyclone, Baseball.

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Yesterday Julie and I headed out to Coney Island to catch a Brooklyn Cyclones game. We got there a couple hours early so I could take in the whole Coney Island Experience. We started the day off with some Hot Dogs at Nathan’s then we headed to the Cyclone. As a fan of wooden roller-coaster (i.e. enjoying the feeling of jumping the tracks at every possible turn) this was an opportunity that could not be missed.

*Note: Click on the images below to view larger images.

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After the Cyclone we headed out to the Boardwalk and then onto the pier where we seemed to have crossed into some weird paradox world. For some reason the thing to do on the pier was to fish for clams with a chicken leg and a clove of garlic. I for one did not know that clams were hungry for chicken legs but that’s probably why most people were only catching large crabs.

An experience nonetheless.

Coney Island

We did actually go to a baseball game. It just didn’t seem like it. The game’s promotional gift was a bride and groom bobble-head. Of course my bride didn’t see eye to eye with my groom so she jumped ship as you can see in the photo. I think there was a wedding after the game; not sure what kind of luck you have when your wedding is after a baseball game when the home team loses. Not to mention the jinx of broken bobbleheads.

Coney Island

One final note. I ran into this guy on the boardwalk. I didn’t have the balls to take a picture of him from the front. Of course such a photo would have really shown some balls…