We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties, Please Stand By

Today's blog post was going to be a no-brainer.  This morning, an uncharacteristically chilly morning, I wended my down to the Upper West Side of Manhattan to meet Dr Jen.  My mission?  I was going to convince her that the Bronx is a place that is worthy of love.  My methodology?  To take her to the orchid show at the NY Botanical Garden.

The expedition was characterized by skin-of-the-teeth transfers... I caught the Bx34 bus at 8:06AM and arrived at the Woodlawn terminus with the 4 Train leaving in one minute.  By the time I swiped my Metrocard and hustled up the stairs, I was striding onto the train as the iconic 'Stand Clear of the Closing Doors' message played.  I had a leisurely two minutes to transfer to the 2 Train at the 149 St Grand Concourse station and arrived at our meeting place a minute early.

Jen and I then boarded the 2 Train and took it to 125th St, where a brisk walk took us to the Metro North Railroad station just in time to board the train.  There is a surcharge for buying tickets on the train, but the kindly conductor allowed Jen to download the MTA app so she could purchase tickets without this penalty.  We arrived at the Botanical Gardens station five minutes before the 10AM opening.

Dr Jen had a time constraint, an important call with a client at noon.  We had a whirlwind tour of the orchid show and our skill at making transportation connections ran out- we missed the Metro North train back to Manhattan by two minutes.  There's always a plan B, so we took a walk through the beautiful Bronx along Bedford Park Blvd to my beloved 4 Train.  We bid each other adieu, myself heading back north, and Jen heading downtown, where she would transfer, like I did, at 149th St Grand Concourse, to the 2 Train, which stops a couple of blocks from her domicile.  She made it back in plenty of time for her call.

So, why the technical difficulties when everything worked out to our advantage?  Well, I was going to post pictures of the orchid show, but I left my iPhone to USB cable at work, and the new charger cable for the phone is some proprietary BS which is incompatible with the laptop.  Trust me, I have plenty of gorgeous pictures on my phone.

Those pictures will have to wait for tomorrow's blog post, please stand by.