A couple unconnected thoughts

After church today, Andy and I grabbed a cup of coffee before he heads back to the United Arab Emirates for several more weeks of his job. Although the temperature is just above freezing today, the sun was shining brightly so we sat on a bench on the Columbia campus to enjoy the hot coffee. When I asked if he was working for the government there, his reply was rather vague: "I cannot confirm that." Of course, he didn't deny it either. Since he's flying business class, he'll be picked up in a Lincoln Town Car and whisked to JFK airport for his nonstop flight tonight. Seems much more civilized than my usual trek on the M60 bus to LaGuardia and the economy-class cattle-car.


What caught my attention after this, however, was the elevator ride up from the subway station to the hospital where I will soon begin working on my presentation. The MTA employee who sits in the elevator to push one of two buttons (upper level or lower level) had a portable radiator for warmth situated behind the three-foot-high divider which separates him from the commuters. But more notably, he had a little boombox which was playing opera. Not just any opera, but the loud, grand finale to something that sounded Verdian. There was something very funny about the whole scene. Something that had to do with how the music was none too subtle, and noting people's reactions to the music as they stepped onto the elevator.

Ah, well, I've procrastinated long enough for the day. Time to get back to z-scores and logistic regressions. I couldn't find a picture of the subway's elevator on Google Images, so instead the photo is the interior of a circa 1949 subway car housed at the New York Transit Museum.