I must be.
Friday I stumbled across Caleb Smith's site, via Boing Boing. And here, via links on Caleb's site.
I'd been kicking around the idea of taking a long stroll through Manhattan. A long, long stroll.
From reading Caleb's site, and Joseph D. Terwilliger.PhD's site, and with some not so gentle urging from my friend Kevin, the Buddhist, next thing I know I'm buying my map and a Sharpie, and I'm on the train up to Marble Hill.
Yes, I'm going to, I think, or at least try to, walk every street on the island.
Today I spent several hours on my first stroll towards my crazy goal. Here's some thoughts (I've started a blog for my thoughts and when it gets up and going and has a few posts I'll start spreading the link.)
* It felt great to set out. Much better than I would have felt after spending the same three or four hours sitting on my butt at home.
* In even the first few minutes I saw things and learned things about the place I live I wouldn't have before. And I had a total rush of excitement as I walked my first few blocks.
* Sometimes you see things that aren't so nice or are discouraging.
* But the nice things, I think, make up for it.
* 3-4 hours and I only covered what looks like a small part of the map. This is a pretty large project. Bigger than I thought.
* I did a lot of doubling back to cover every block of the streets. I hadn't planned for that. When I get into the grid of Manhattan this should be minimized. But in the non-grid parts, I think it's unavoidable. And when it's hour 3.5, and you are in some non-scenic, non-fun part of town, and your feet hurt and you're tired and sweaty... doubling back, it's a bumer man!
* My feet hurt. But it's my knees that I hope hold out.
* Chafing. 'Nuf said.
* I didn't get a pedometer today, but I will soon. I want to have at least a ballpark idea of my steps and mileage.
* Hagstrom doesn't make the cool map on Calebs site anymore. I want to find one because I think it's a lot cooler than the ones they have now.
* I'm including the parts of town he didn't: Marble Hill and the islands. Mostly because I've wanted to see them and I can ride the tramway! The Dr included the bridges, I don't know if I will.
* My feet hurt.
* But it's worth it.
That's enough for now. For sure I'll be posting some more as time goes on and I lay down the miles. Hope I don't bore you all.
Walk on!
Mike
Hello. I am completely out of my mind.
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scuffedboots
- Posts: 9
- Joined: Sun Aug 21, 2005 12:38 am
Hello. I am completely out of my mind.
Last edited by scuffedboots on Thu Aug 25, 2005 4:58 am, edited 1 time in total.
Out for a long walk.
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gratefuldeb67
- Posts: 6256
- Joined: Thu Apr 21, 2005 9:26 pm
- Location: Great Neck, NY
It takes one to know one!
Hey Mike!!!!
You better get some good Dr. Scholls gel soles!!!
How are you going to handle East Harlem? You are gonna go through some tough neighborhoods man...
Good luck!
I believe Reinhard wrote about this Caleb dude on the Urban Ranger group from the Yahoo days...
Looks like quite a major goal!
If you feel like walking from NY to Great Neck one day, I'd be happy to offer you a foot massage! LOL...
(I'm a massage therapist!)
PS... why are you doing this again????????
Oh yeah, you are out of your mind...
Well it takes one to know one!
LOL.....
Peace,
Deb
You better get some good Dr. Scholls gel soles!!!
How are you going to handle East Harlem? You are gonna go through some tough neighborhoods man...
Good luck!
I believe Reinhard wrote about this Caleb dude on the Urban Ranger group from the Yahoo days...
Looks like quite a major goal!
If you feel like walking from NY to Great Neck one day, I'd be happy to offer you a foot massage! LOL...
(I'm a massage therapist!)
PS... why are you doing this again????????
Oh yeah, you are out of your mind...
Well it takes one to know one!
LOL.....
Peace,
Deb-
scuffedboots
- Posts: 9
- Joined: Sun Aug 21, 2005 12:38 am
Not sure why
Hi Deb,
I don't think I can answer the why. The glib thing to say is "Because it's there."
It is a major goal. But it wasn't until a friend said "Who cares if you finish" that made it easier to start, if that makes any sense.
To see the island? Get in better shape? Learn things and see things? Perhaps to accomplish something? To get off the couch and away from the computer?
All of the above.
I made my first post at http://outforastroll.blogspot.com and it talks about how I got going, a little.
I'm not so worried about East Harlem. I think the sketchier areas I will, for sure, walk during the day. I live in Washington Heights, and though a far cry from the bad, drug gang shootout zone it used to be, still has a few areas to look out for. So I'm not easily scared. But I really think the suburbanization of Manhattan is proceeding at an incredible pace, and most of the island is pretty safe. I actually was looking at apartments in East Harlem before I moved to Washington Heights.
Be careful with that foot massage offer. I may take you up on it someday.
Well, it's way past my bedtime.
Tomorrow: all of 10th avenue (it's only from 14th to 57th, not counting the part waaay up in Washington Heights where it resurfaces) and then continuing up Amsterdam until my dogs start barking!
I don't think I can answer the why. The glib thing to say is "Because it's there."
It is a major goal. But it wasn't until a friend said "Who cares if you finish" that made it easier to start, if that makes any sense.
To see the island? Get in better shape? Learn things and see things? Perhaps to accomplish something? To get off the couch and away from the computer?
All of the above.
I made my first post at http://outforastroll.blogspot.com and it talks about how I got going, a little.
I'm not so worried about East Harlem. I think the sketchier areas I will, for sure, walk during the day. I live in Washington Heights, and though a far cry from the bad, drug gang shootout zone it used to be, still has a few areas to look out for. So I'm not easily scared. But I really think the suburbanization of Manhattan is proceeding at an incredible pace, and most of the island is pretty safe. I actually was looking at apartments in East Harlem before I moved to Washington Heights.
Be careful with that foot massage offer. I may take you up on it someday.
Well, it's way past my bedtime.
Tomorrow: all of 10th avenue (it's only from 14th to 57th, not counting the part waaay up in Washington Heights where it resurfaces) and then continuing up Amsterdam until my dogs start barking!
Out for a long walk.
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gratefuldeb67
- Posts: 6256
- Joined: Thu Apr 21, 2005 9:26 pm
- Location: Great Neck, NY
I was kidding about the "walking to Great Neck" part, but, sure you can come out for a foot massage... I bet you will really need it... I might even include your whole leg! Now that's living!!! LOL...
My business number is (917)414-4172.....
Have fun up there in those ex dodgey now gentrified neighborhoods!
Good luck
Peace,
Deb
My business number is (917)414-4172.....
Have fun up there in those ex dodgey now gentrified neighborhoods!
Good luck
Peace,
Deb
Welcome, Mike.
You won't bore us at all. Please keep posting. I'd read about Caleb's walking every steet in Manhattan in the New Yorker a while ago (we're talking about Caleb Smith, right? or has more than one Caleb done this?). I'm happy he linked to urban ranger, I emailed him about it a while ago and got a very prompt and gracious reply (but no link since he didn't have a link section just yet).
You can one-up Caleb by walking every path in Central Park, too.
http://www.newyorkcitywalk.com/html/map.html
Sort of surprising he doesn't seem to have done this... it's the first route I'd walk.
If you want to be a really pedantic pedestrian, in addition to/instead of a pedometer you can use the recently mentioned google maps links to get the extact distances you're walking.
You won't bore us at all. Please keep posting. I'd read about Caleb's walking every steet in Manhattan in the New Yorker a while ago (we're talking about Caleb Smith, right? or has more than one Caleb done this?). I'm happy he linked to urban ranger, I emailed him about it a while ago and got a very prompt and gracious reply (but no link since he didn't have a link section just yet).
You can one-up Caleb by walking every path in Central Park, too.
http://www.newyorkcitywalk.com/html/map.html
Sort of surprising he doesn't seem to have done this... it's the first route I'd walk.
If you want to be a really pedantic pedestrian, in addition to/instead of a pedometer you can use the recently mentioned google maps links to get the extact distances you're walking.
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gratefuldeb67
- Posts: 6256
- Joined: Thu Apr 21, 2005 9:26 pm
- Location: Great Neck, NY
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scuffedboots
- Posts: 9
- Joined: Sun Aug 21, 2005 12:38 am
oops
Hi Reinhard.
Yes, I fixed the error just now. I noticed it as soon as I logged in.
Caleb's first link is to Kevin Walsh's site, and I must have jumbled them up in my brain.
Walking the park is a great idea, but I'm sort of sticking to the Dr's definition of the places to walk - a street, open for cars and having a pedestrian walkway. Seems to make sense to me - if you can't drive a car, its just a big sidewalk. If there's no place to walk, well, I'm not getting up on the FDR just to make a point!
I actually ran into a quandry about that this Sunday. I was walking west on 72nd street to the Hudson. I happened to be on the North side of the street. That side, due to running into Riverside Drive which I think begins there by turning right (north) off of 72d, also runs into Riverside Park and ends significantly before the south side of 72d st.. The south side continues on a bit before ending at the West Side Highway. So I had completed the block on the North side. But had I really completed the block if there was half a block more on the South side? I sighed, crossed the street and walked to the _real_ end of 72nd street.
Sometimes these things are not so cut and dried.
I used the Google pedometer to measure my Sunday walk. The pedometer is extremely cool. One of my favorite things it does is make a tinyurl for your walk.
Here is my Sunday walk:
http://tinyurl.com/9j5y8
It was a drag to get home, map it out and realize it was only 5.5 miles. It felt longer.
I just made an entry about my first walk, on Saturday. It's late here now so I'll make an entry about the Sunday walk in a day or so.
I'm pretty out of shape, so I was tired all day Monday from the weekend. I'm on call all week at work and have been working deep into the evenings and haven't been able to fit any walks in. So so far it's just been two days. But after this week the evenings will be more free for me to lay down some blocks. And as it cools down I'll do some lunch walks also. My office is near Rockefeller Center, so there's lots of ground to cover around there. No way am I going to go out for a long stroll and come back to the office a sweaty mess. But I look forward to the autumn days.
This weekend I think I'll catch the ferry on Saturday to Governers Island. I want to see it before the NY beaureaucrats figure out what they want to do with it and really screw it up. I'm including the islands so that's as good as place as any to go for a stroll. Between there and Marble Hill I'll have the northern and southern extents of Manhattan done. Now it's just that pesky part in the middle!
Yes, I fixed the error just now. I noticed it as soon as I logged in.
Caleb's first link is to Kevin Walsh's site, and I must have jumbled them up in my brain.
Walking the park is a great idea, but I'm sort of sticking to the Dr's definition of the places to walk - a street, open for cars and having a pedestrian walkway. Seems to make sense to me - if you can't drive a car, its just a big sidewalk. If there's no place to walk, well, I'm not getting up on the FDR just to make a point!
I actually ran into a quandry about that this Sunday. I was walking west on 72nd street to the Hudson. I happened to be on the North side of the street. That side, due to running into Riverside Drive which I think begins there by turning right (north) off of 72d, also runs into Riverside Park and ends significantly before the south side of 72d st.. The south side continues on a bit before ending at the West Side Highway. So I had completed the block on the North side. But had I really completed the block if there was half a block more on the South side? I sighed, crossed the street and walked to the _real_ end of 72nd street.
Sometimes these things are not so cut and dried.
I used the Google pedometer to measure my Sunday walk. The pedometer is extremely cool. One of my favorite things it does is make a tinyurl for your walk.
Here is my Sunday walk:
http://tinyurl.com/9j5y8
It was a drag to get home, map it out and realize it was only 5.5 miles. It felt longer.
I just made an entry about my first walk, on Saturday. It's late here now so I'll make an entry about the Sunday walk in a day or so.
I'm pretty out of shape, so I was tired all day Monday from the weekend. I'm on call all week at work and have been working deep into the evenings and haven't been able to fit any walks in. So so far it's just been two days. But after this week the evenings will be more free for me to lay down some blocks. And as it cools down I'll do some lunch walks also. My office is near Rockefeller Center, so there's lots of ground to cover around there. No way am I going to go out for a long stroll and come back to the office a sweaty mess. But I look forward to the autumn days.
This weekend I think I'll catch the ferry on Saturday to Governers Island. I want to see it before the NY beaureaucrats figure out what they want to do with it and really screw it up. I'm including the islands so that's as good as place as any to go for a stroll. Between there and Marble Hill I'll have the northern and southern extents of Manhattan done. Now it's just that pesky part in the middle!
Out for a long walk.
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gratefuldeb67
- Posts: 6256
- Joined: Thu Apr 21, 2005 9:26 pm
- Location: Great Neck, NY
Hey Mike!!!
I used to live in a teeny studio on West 74th and West End.....
I always loved to look out at night at the lights coming from the Ansonia Hotel on Broadway and 72nd...
Is Fairway and Citarella still around there?
Ahhh good memories...
Good call by the way, on not walking up and down FDR....
Bodily injury could ensue!
Hey, 5.5 miles is a long walk, especially on pavement...
Give yourself a break!.... I mean, do you have some personal deadline goal?
With all that sweating and muscle use, remember to take care that you have sufficient calcium and potassium... This reduces muscle spasm and increases your abilty to perform exercise... Maybe get some vitamin B as well....
Have fun being "out of your mind.." I'm enjoying reading about your
"Quest"!!!
You will soon be dubbed the Strider of EDS!!!
Peace,
Deb
I used to live in a teeny studio on West 74th and West End.....
I always loved to look out at night at the lights coming from the Ansonia Hotel on Broadway and 72nd...
Is Fairway and Citarella still around there?
Ahhh good memories...
Good call by the way, on not walking up and down FDR....
Bodily injury could ensue!
Hey, 5.5 miles is a long walk, especially on pavement...
Give yourself a break!.... I mean, do you have some personal deadline goal?
With all that sweating and muscle use, remember to take care that you have sufficient calcium and potassium... This reduces muscle spasm and increases your abilty to perform exercise... Maybe get some vitamin B as well....
Have fun being "out of your mind.." I'm enjoying reading about your
"Quest"!!!
You will soon be dubbed the Strider of EDS!!!
Peace,
Deb-
scuffedboots
- Posts: 9
- Joined: Sun Aug 21, 2005 12:38 am
Studio off of West End
Wow, Deb, you mentioning your studio reminded me of something.
There was this girl...
(sigh.......)
There was this girl, and she used to have a studio in the west 70's off West End and a long time ago, before I lived here, I came to visit her. One of those days she took me to one of her favorite local places, the Popover Cafe. I never could remember where it was and for some reason I always wondered if it was still there. Today's walk took me down Amsterdam from 125 to Linclon Center. And on Amsterdam, near 86th, there it was.
....
It's funny how getting up and out and walking can bring up so many thoughts, of all kinds.
There was this girl...
(sigh.......)
There was this girl, and she used to have a studio in the west 70's off West End and a long time ago, before I lived here, I came to visit her. One of those days she took me to one of her favorite local places, the Popover Cafe. I never could remember where it was and for some reason I always wondered if it was still there. Today's walk took me down Amsterdam from 125 to Linclon Center. And on Amsterdam, near 86th, there it was.
....
It's funny how getting up and out and walking can bring up so many thoughts, of all kinds.
Out for a long walk.
Last year I participated in NaNoWriMo, and I'm going to this year again.
Basically, the challenge is to write 50,000 words of a novel (i.e. one coherant or at least semi-coherant storyline) in 30 days (the month of November). Works out to about 1700 words a day. Why? Because we can. And if we can't, we haven't lost anything, except maybe a bit of time and some sanity we weren't using anyway. At the end there is no real prize, just the knowledge that you've accomplished something that few others have. And if you pay attention, you might find something really amazingly good in the mess you wrote, enough to base a real novel on.
I see the walking Manhattan thing in a similar light.
Kudos.
Basically, the challenge is to write 50,000 words of a novel (i.e. one coherant or at least semi-coherant storyline) in 30 days (the month of November). Works out to about 1700 words a day. Why? Because we can. And if we can't, we haven't lost anything, except maybe a bit of time and some sanity we weren't using anyway. At the end there is no real prize, just the knowledge that you've accomplished something that few others have. And if you pay attention, you might find something really amazingly good in the mess you wrote, enough to base a real novel on.
I see the walking Manhattan thing in a similar light.
Kudos.
"I have no idea what you're talking about, so here's a bunny with a pancake on its head".
Out of your mind
Awesome Project Scuffedboots! A very worthy goal indeed. I have walked a small part of Manhattan as a tourist and can easily believe you will find just about everything in your travels. I also love to think while walking as you mentioned above. I just thought I would share that Nietzche said "The only thoughts I have that are worth anything are those I have while walking". Maybe it was the syphilis talking, but I think he was right. 
The only piece of advice I have for you is - good quality wool socks! Always look after your feet, man.
Good Luck,
Phil.
The only piece of advice I have for you is - good quality wool socks! Always look after your feet, man.
Good Luck,
Phil.
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gratefuldeb67
- Posts: 6256
- Joined: Thu Apr 21, 2005 9:26 pm
- Location: Great Neck, NY
Nietzche
Hi Deb,
No I didn't know Reinhard used the same quote on his website, but I feel like a right wanker for quoting it a second time in that case.
Yes, some of the stuff Reinhard says is eerily familiar to me sometimes - "Great minds think alike... and fools seldom differ".
Reinhard replied to an email of mine once and said that Nature reading meatheads like him and me need to stick together - nary a truer word spoken.
Have a great day,
Phil.
No I didn't know Reinhard used the same quote on his website, but I feel like a right wanker for quoting it a second time in that case.
Yes, some of the stuff Reinhard says is eerily familiar to me sometimes - "Great minds think alike... and fools seldom differ".
Reinhard replied to an email of mine once and said that Nature reading meatheads like him and me need to stick together - nary a truer word spoken.
Have a great day,
Phil.
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scuffedboots
- Posts: 9
- Joined: Sun Aug 21, 2005 12:38 am
Thoughts and their freedom
Thanks for the encouragement Big Phil.
I'm not sure I've reflected enough on that quote to agree with it fully, but I do agree that a walk is a great time to think.
In some small way, but not completely, a walk can get to be like the first time I experienced meditation. I went with a friend to this ashram in the Catskills. More for a new experience and because she was so damn cute than for any sort of spiritual enlightenment. But it was a fun rewarding time.
My first time experiencing a full meditative trance-like state, I was surprised at the thoughts ricocheting around my head. I had assumed I would achieve a stillness inside and out, the cliche yogic meditative thing. My friend and I later spent some time with one of the more esteemed yogis that were at her guru's side, and I asked him about this.
This was when he explained that when you quiet your outer mind all the thoughts you supress with your conscious mind are freed and will come bubbling up quite rapidly and be bouncing around in there, sometimes violently. It's after you do this a lot that the next layers of your mind become still, and so on and so on, until, uh, I don't know. Some extreme state of stillness. I don't know, because I don't really practice meditation. But those first few times it was striking how much stuff was popping into my head.
For me there is a small part of this in the walk. Not entirely, because there is also a great deal of external stimulation, and you get to see and think about all the things in your environment in addition to spending time with your more 'internal' thoughts.
Anyway, at the end of my last walk all I had going through my head was that Dire Straits song that goes "The man's too big, the man's too strong"
And wondering what the heck I thought I was trying to pull off.
But I'll be out there this weeking, laying down the miles anyway.
"The Man(hattan's) too big, the Man(hattan's) too strong..."
We'll see about that!
Here's a TinyURL to a Gmap of an approximation of the ground I've covered so far. I need a better tool for showing this, as it's hard to show a series of seperate walks as one long Pedomap. I think I'll find a nice bitmap of Manhattan streets and just color it in with Paint as I do a section. Then I can just post that to show friends where I stand in this crazy trip.
Check it out:
http://tinyurl.com/dz4cb
(the milage is wrong because of all the doubling back required to draw it with the pedomap.)
I'm not sure I've reflected enough on that quote to agree with it fully, but I do agree that a walk is a great time to think.
In some small way, but not completely, a walk can get to be like the first time I experienced meditation. I went with a friend to this ashram in the Catskills. More for a new experience and because she was so damn cute than for any sort of spiritual enlightenment. But it was a fun rewarding time.
My first time experiencing a full meditative trance-like state, I was surprised at the thoughts ricocheting around my head. I had assumed I would achieve a stillness inside and out, the cliche yogic meditative thing. My friend and I later spent some time with one of the more esteemed yogis that were at her guru's side, and I asked him about this.
This was when he explained that when you quiet your outer mind all the thoughts you supress with your conscious mind are freed and will come bubbling up quite rapidly and be bouncing around in there, sometimes violently. It's after you do this a lot that the next layers of your mind become still, and so on and so on, until, uh, I don't know. Some extreme state of stillness. I don't know, because I don't really practice meditation. But those first few times it was striking how much stuff was popping into my head.
For me there is a small part of this in the walk. Not entirely, because there is also a great deal of external stimulation, and you get to see and think about all the things in your environment in addition to spending time with your more 'internal' thoughts.
Anyway, at the end of my last walk all I had going through my head was that Dire Straits song that goes "The man's too big, the man's too strong"
And wondering what the heck I thought I was trying to pull off.
But I'll be out there this weeking, laying down the miles anyway.
"The Man(hattan's) too big, the Man(hattan's) too strong..."
We'll see about that!
Here's a TinyURL to a Gmap of an approximation of the ground I've covered so far. I need a better tool for showing this, as it's hard to show a series of seperate walks as one long Pedomap. I think I'll find a nice bitmap of Manhattan streets and just color it in with Paint as I do a section. Then I can just post that to show friends where I stand in this crazy trip.
Check it out:
http://tinyurl.com/dz4cb
(the milage is wrong because of all the doubling back required to draw it with the pedomap.)
Out for a long walk.
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gratefuldeb67
- Posts: 6256
- Joined: Thu Apr 21, 2005 9:26 pm
- Location: Great Neck, NY
The mind is like a wild monkey in a cage....
Next time you try this, assuming you give it another go, sans cute chick to motivate you!, see if you can just let the thoughts come in and go out.. Notice them, but don't try to push them away or control them...
Just focus on your relaxed breathing and staying present in your body..
Sorry you seem to feel that Yogic stuff is cliched (or did)... I would assume you have learned that cultivating a calm and quiet mind is a worthwhile and fulfilling experience as well as a big challenge!
Enjoy your walking!
ps...Which ashram did you visit?
Do you remember or were you so focused on that girl you lost all other bearings!!!! LOL..
Peace and Love,
Deb
(who meditates whenever possible!)
(and whose mind still needs plenty more calming!!!!)
Om.....
Next time you try this, assuming you give it another go, sans cute chick to motivate you!, see if you can just let the thoughts come in and go out.. Notice them, but don't try to push them away or control them...
Just focus on your relaxed breathing and staying present in your body..
Sorry you seem to feel that Yogic stuff is cliched (or did)... I would assume you have learned that cultivating a calm and quiet mind is a worthwhile and fulfilling experience as well as a big challenge!
Enjoy your walking!
ps...Which ashram did you visit?
Do you remember or were you so focused on that girl you lost all other bearings!!!! LOL..
Peace and Love,
Deb(who meditates whenever possible!)
(and whose mind still needs plenty more calming!!!!)
Om.....