“What the FUCK am I doing??”

Then I take a deep breath and carry on.

Pages of The Power Broker read: 5
Total pages: 224

A trip out West, a trip Midwest
Explorations to a city that never was, an abandoned motel, a landfill, a trash-strewn beach, a historic aqueduct, a hidden waterfall
Immersion in architecture and sculpture
Sweeping views of a Great Lake, powered by both IMAX and JetBlue
Virtual time travel along an ancient trade route
A record-time run
Two incredible live shows
An illness
Multiple happy hours
Ramps

A birthday

More changes afoot…  ”Watch this space” as they say.

Pages of The Power Broker read: 5
Total pages: 224

“Why?”  My eyes narrowed.  ”You’re thinking of something…”

“Well… I think it would be a perfect day for Spa Castle.”

Spa Castle!  I had almost forgot it was on my list of things to do on a Friday.  Spa Castle, for the uninitiated, is a 5-story, 100,000 sq ft theme park of a spa located in College Point, a quiet residential Queens neighborhood.

After a looong 7 train + bus ride, we finally spotted a terracotta monolith rising above the squat houses.  $35 gets you access to the full facility on weekdays ($45 on weekends).  I found it surprisingly crowded for a Friday afternoon — a diverse mix of men and women of every shape, size and background.

You really need to experience Spa Castle first hand to fully appreciate it, but my highlights were Sauna Valley, a series of igloo-shaped themed saunas, and the all-season rooftop Bade Pools, with aquajets that soothe and massage and blast from out of nowhere.

After a couple of hours we were relaxed enough to brave the “No bathing suits” indoor bathhouse, with chilled plunge pools and even more aquajets to be doused by.

Highly recommended!

Pages of The Power Broker read: 5
Total pages: 224

So when Michelle took the day off to go skating at Sky Rink, I invited myself along, hoping to (albeit awkwardly) experience some of that same exhilaration of being out on the ice.  The weather played along, and despite 8+ inches of snow I easily made my way to Chelsea Piers, thanks to the MTA.  It was my first visit to the “new” Sky Rink — as a kid I’d been to the original location on W. 33rd Street, and remember the novelty of skating 16 floors above the street.  The old Sky Rink closed in the 1990s, and was reincarnated much closer to the ground at the sprawling Chelsea Piers Sports Complex shortly afterwards.

I laced up my ill-fitting rental skates and stepped gingerly on to the smooth surface.  Michelle patiently guided me through the basics, and soon I had mastered enough to take off on my own, slowly circling around the rink.  It was tough on my legs, still recovering from kettlebell the night before, but I got enough out of my few spins around to be satisfied, and happily watched Michelle zip around the rink and really enjoy herself.

With the close of the winter games I’m ready for Spring, but a Friday afternoon at Sky Rink was a great way to end the season.

Pages of The Power Broker read: 5
Total pages: 224

Needless to say my interest in New Jersey’s ghost rails was seriously piqued, despite the harrowing train ride that followed (or perhaps because of).

A Google search revealed that many of these old railway lines had been transformed into rail trails — paths designated for walking and biking.  Further queries led me to the Rails-To-Trails Conservancy, which operates the excellent TrailLink.com website.  Goldmine!  Clearly these needed to be explored.

Zooming into the New Jersey rail trail map I noted the West Essex trail, which after cross-referencing with Google Maps and NJ Transit timetables seemed relatively accessible via public transport, and a good place to start. Sandi, always up for adventure, needed no invitation, and as we discussed my Friday plans it was simply understood she’d join me.

The West Essex trail begins in Upper Montclair near the recently shuttered Great Notch station, bisecting suburban backyards before it joins the old Lenape Trail through Cedar Grove and into Verona.  The ghost of the Caldwell Branch of the Erie-Lackawanna Railroad lies beneath, and along the trail we identified a few vestiges — a torn up rail here, mile marker there, and several out of place concrete structures, mysteriously sealed.  It’s interesting to look at the evolution of this particular trail — from forest path to industrial rail line, back to forest path again.  Nature prevailing.

Some highlights:

Trail head

The snowy path

Danger: High Voltage

Crossing the Peckman River

Trail marker

Trestle

The trail terminates in the parking lot of the Verona High School, and from there we wandered suburban streets for another mile until we reached the bus stop, just in time to catch the 195 bus back to Port Authority.

I was too beat and my sneakers too waterlogged to figure out how to get to the Hilltop Reservation and find the old water towers.  Next time.

More photos here.

Pages of The Power Broker read: 5
Total pages: 224

We were returning from a two-night trip to Atlantic City, my first Friday away from the city.  Originally scheduled to return to NYC on a late bus, we opted for the earlier — and more pleasant – ACES train.  There’s something about train rides that cause the mind to wander, and shortly before the train came to its abrupt stop, I had been complaining of utter boredom.  ”Bored bored bored bored” I kept repeating in my mind and out loud.  Bored with the slow-moving train, bored with life.

I think the train gods must’ve heard me and were like, “Bored eh?  Here you go.”

I’ll take this as a sign to stop waiting around for things to happen to me.

Fleeing the train

Pages of The Power Broker read: 0
Total pages: 219

But I’m also realizing it’s OK to shift a weekend task or two into Friday.  I really needed to do laundry, and was done with it by 10am.  Day wasn’t lost. Besides walking to and from lunch, I didn’t do any outdoor activities, but Sunday morning I ran along the river, and Monday (a holiday!) went for a great hike in the woods.

The more important thing is what’s starting to happen on the other days — the work days.  Maybe it’s also because I’m eating better and exercising more that I’m slowly starting to feel better about myself, but I’m definitely sensing a…calm starting to insinuate itself into days 1-4.

Pages of The Power Broker read: 0
Total pages: 219

“Why?”

“Because I’m not working when other people are.”

“But you’re working on yourself.”

Good point.  Why feel bad about doing something for myself?  Friday I ran 3 miles (outside!), read the paper, went to the doctor, took myself out to lunch, and watched a movie I’d missed several months back.

Empowerment in, guilt out.

Pages of The Power Broker read: 0
Total pages: 219

That said, I do still have the morning, so time to review my self-imposed rules on how to spend the 5th day:

• Don’t treat it like Saturday
  This means no sleeping in, no being hungover, no chores, no lounging in PJs all day.  I’ve already bent this rule, but I knew today would be sort of a wash on account of the doctor’s appointment.

• Go to the gym
  When you don’t have to go to work there’s really no excuse not to go to the gym.  Especially when it’s across the street from your house.

• Do something outside
  I spend 4 days a week cooped up in my office staring at a computer screen.  Spending the 5th day cooped up in my apartment staring at a computer screen isn’t any better.  Even though the weather isn’t ideal now, getting outside is a really important part of this.

Off to the gym…

Pages of The Power Broker read: 0
Total pages: 219

I also spent some of last night figuring out a new blogging platform.  I’m using WordPress for this blog, in the spirit of challenging myself to learn something new.  My other blogs are hosted on Blogger, a basic but very functional platform owned by Google that integrates nicely into their suite of web-based products.

But why stick with what I know!

Granted, I’m using the web-based hosted version of WordPress (WordPress.com), just dipping my toes and not diving into downloading and manually configuring what is essentially a very powerful CMS.  For now.

Expect the look/feel and functionality to evolve over the weeks (months?) to come (or however long I keep this up.)  I typically obsess over every little detail being perfect before putting something out there, but screw that.  There will be mistakes and changes and a lot of making it up as I go along.  This is a work in progress happening in real time.

Pages of The Power Broker read: 0
Total pages: 219