And now for a shameless plug... Black Friday edition

You can think of this as akin to an NPR fundraising drive, without the serving-the-greater-good component... unless by that you mean "making holiday shopping for a LOST aficionado (geek) really easy."

Anyway, I was recently notified that my LOST shop on Cafe Press was upgraded (!) to a premium shop.  What that means is that you can now purchase all of my designs (previously blogged here) on every item offered at Cafe Press.  If you were wondering, the upgrade occurred largely thanks to the astronomical success of the Drive Shaft World Tour t-shirts, which of course were Maura's idea:

Drive Shaft World Tour

Shop for this and other designs at Another Pearl.  The show may be over, but the love remains.  Happy Black Friday!

Photos of the Week: What Hath Dog Wrought

For two weeks after the Daylight Savings switch, our dog (Blue) decided to protest its legitimacy by waking us up three hours earlier than normal.  The only tactic that appeased her was taking her for 2-hour walks.  Eventually, this grew tiresome--even to Blue.  Before the honeymoon ended, though, I was (we were) able to experience Brooklyn in a completely new way: alone. 

One version of the morning routine sent us to the Promenade, Fulton Landing and Brooklyn Bridge Park.  Over the course of an hour, we never encountered another soul. The misanthrope in me now knows the perfect time to visit these places.  Very serene.  Half an hour later, I collapsed.  The next day, we returned to the Promenade:

Brooklyn Promenade: 11/17, approx. 5:30am

Brooklyn Promenade: 11/17, approx. 5:30am

Promenade pavers

A sidenote: this fantastic blog post pretty much sums up our two weeks after DST.

The Bridge Is Over

Carroll Street Bridge.  Aerial photo via Google Maps.

In our old neighborhood, crossing the Gowanus Canal, stands the oldest retractile bridge in the United States.  Built in 1889 and restored a hundred years later, the Carroll Street Bridge stands out for its unique operating mechanism (a sliding bridge?!) and its trapezoidal shape.  I'm no historian, but if I had to guess, it seems clear why they designed such a bridge here in the 1880s: at the design presentation to the Community Board, the residents of the luxury waterfront condos objected to their views being obstructed by a drawbridge.  Actually, while it takes up a great deal of space in plan--it requires a docking platform at least the size of the bridge--it allows vertically unobstructed passage for the entire width of the clear space.

On another note, not once in the half an hour I spent on the bridge last weekend did I catch so much as a glimpse of a six-legged dog or a fish with three eyes.  Progress on the Gowanus cleanup front!

View across bridge to West

Detail of steel tension rod connection

CP-POW: Muriel Guépin Gallery

Installation at the Muriel Guépin Gallery, on Bergen Street just west of Smith, in Brooklyn.  Artist Unknown (to me).

Photo of the Week: NYC Marathon

Sunday, Mile 7: Park Slope, Brooklyn.

Marathon Debris

Photo of the Week: New York Dock Co.

New York Dock Co.

Red Hook, Brooklyn: 160 Imlay Street.  A former New York Dock Company warehouse is undergoing an extensive renovation.  It seems as though a few years ago, it was slated to become a humongous condo development.  Now, it is rumored to maintain its life as a warehouse.  The twin building to its North, 62 Imlay, has supposedly been resurrected as a maximum-security storage space for Christie's auction house.