Day: June 1, 2006

New York has no national monuments or icons, according to the Department of Homeland Security form obtained by ABC News. That was a key factor used to determine that New York City should have its anti-terror funds slashed by 40 percent–from $207.5 million in 2005 to $124.4 million in 2006.

Just for the record:

National Monuments within New York City:

African Burial Ground National Monument
Castle Clinton National Monument
Ellis Island National Monument (jointly with New Jersey)
Governors Island National Monument
Statue of Liberty National Monument

National Historic Landmarks within New York City:

69th Regiment Armory

African Burial Ground 

American Stock Exchange 

Andrew Carnegie Mansion

Bartow-Pell Mansion 

Brooklyn Bridge

Carnegie Hall 

Central Park 

Central Synagogue

Chester A. Arthur House 

Chrysler Building 

Church of the Ascension (Episcopal)

City Hall

Conference House 

Cooper Union 

Duke Ellington Residence

Eldridge street synagogue 

Empire State Building

Flatiron Building 

Governors Island 

Grand Central Terminal 

Hamilton Fish House 

Holland Tunnel

Louis Armstrong House 

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Merchants House Museum

New York Botanical Garden 

New York Cotton Exchange 

New York Public Library

New York Stock Exchange

Paul Robeson Residence 

Pupin Physics Laboratory, Columbia University

Rhinelander Mansion

Rockefeller Center 

Soho Cast Iron Historic District 

Surrogate’s Court

Tenement Building at 97 Orchard Street

Union Square

United Charities Building 

Woolworth Building

(gacked from Wikipedia)

Have I mentioned recently how much I resent being ruled by morons?

Poor Athena. We signed her up for baseball some time ago, but thanks to the weather the season has been a total bust: They managed to play three games (which they won, so that’s nice), but four others have been rained out (including today’s game) and one was cancelled due to bad scheduling on the part of someone — her team’s opponent was scheduled for two games at the same time. There’s no one to blame for most of this — no one could have known that the last May (and the first day of June) would be as wet as they have been around here — but it’s still a bummer. All the games are scheduled for around 6pm, which is apparently the perfect time to have a thunderstorm. We’re well into the season; hopefully at the end of it they’ll have played more games than they’ve had cancelled on them.

When you sleep until 10:30 and wake up feeling like crap a few days after going to a science fiction convention, that’s so very much not a good sign. Late-attacking con crud is the worst kind. See, this is the dark side of going to conventions: they’re like kindergartens for grown-up geeks, in terms of swapping communicable diseases. Pretty sure I got sideswiped and whatever it is I got has gotten done incubating and is ready to say hello.

I don’t need this; I have to be in Chicago tomorrow for my 15th year college reunion. Let’s hope it’s just about waking up feeling crappy. Like hangover, three days late, for a guy who doesn’t drink. Yeah.

Wisconites (and others who went to conventions this last weekend): How you feeling?