JerseySmarts.com

Just A Quick Update With My Daily FitBit Results For Today

Joe — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 03:33:52 +0000

No big message or discussion for today. I’m getting ready to turn in (it’s a late night for me during the work week) and I plugged in my FitBit to see how I did today. Lo and behold, I hit another day where I nailed every one of the goals. So, I’m just sharing with the world the results of today’s efforts – take a look:

Not bad, huh?

I think that was a pretty good result for today. And I know what the big kicker was that helped me achieve these goals today – I had a business meeting in New York City this morning. The meeting was right by the World Trade Center so I not only walked around several different mass transit stations, but I was going up and down different staircases and walking around different buildings, down different blocks, etc.

City life – it’ll get you moving!

The Idiots at the Empire State Building Miss a Huge Opportunity

Joe — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 14:21:17 +0000

Sometimes people can be just plain stupid. Consider the recent decision by the “geniuses” who opted not to honor the new Cardinal of New York – Timothy Cardinal Dolan. Anyone who has even remotely followed Cardinal Dolan’s career since becoming the Bishop of New York knows that he has been nothing short of a one-man promotional campaign for the city. He constantly talks about how great New York is and why people should visit the city and experience its many amazing attractions. However, now that he’s been elevated by the Pope to the College of Cardinals – a major honor for one of our fellow Americans – the people at the Empire State Building have rejected a request to bathe the tower in colors honoring the Cardinal. What a completely stupid, ridiculous decision.

In the mean time, the New York Daily News reports that they’ve honored the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the 60th Anniversary of the Communist Takeover of China, and gay pride week. In the coming week, they plan to honor Corporate Philanthropy Day and National Eating Disorders Awareness Week. Really? You’re going to honor the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Corporate Philanthropy Day and then NOT honor Cardinal Dolan?

Give me a break.

Thankfully, the much bigger, much more important Freedom Tower at 1 World Trade Center decided to make this situation right by bathing the building in red in honor of the new Cardinal. Take a look at these amazing pictures taken by Anthony Quintano and posted on Flickr.com:

I don’t know about you, but the Freedom Tower looks pretty good drenched in the red that is symbolic of the Cardinal’s new attire. Very nicely done by the team at the Port Authority.

9/11 – What It Means To “Never Forget”

Joe — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 16:39:10 +0000

As the nation and the world watches channel-to-channel coverage of the various 9/11 memorials and clips from that fateful day, I think it is imperative for Americans to consider what it means to “never forget.”

This is a discussion that one of my roommates and I have been having on and off for a few weeks. He doesn’t like seeing the videos and pictures from 9/11 because they are on the one hand very saddening and on the other hand very maddening. The fact that something like this could happen in America is still mind-boggling eight years later. My view, though,, is that watching those videos and seeing those pictures are the very essence of “never forgetting” what happened on 9/11.

One of the talking heads on television this morning made a great point – the news channels don’t replay those videos or show those pictures too often during the year because they represent something more, something better than just filler or television bumper material. I agree.

However, I do think it is necessary to take one day out of each year to re-watch what happened on 9/11. On a day when thousands of people are gathering at places all over the East Coast to speak the names of the victims, we should all take a few minutes to watch the egregious displays of hatred inflicted upon this country by religious zealots who hate our form of government and those intangible qualities that make America great.

The first plane to hit the World Trade Center:

The second plane to hit the World Trade Center:

Watch those videos and never forget what you see in them.