"Tunnel commute," New Jersey, April 2009

Tunnel commute

One way or the other, sometimes both, I descend beneath the Hudson River and pass through the Lincoln Tunnel, New York to New Jersey, New Jersey to New York.

Day 226 of 365

Friday afternoon in the universe

Quite the light on all the iron as we pull into the terminal.

Day 225 of 365

Lower-level view

This week, I had my first chance to take a double-decker from Clifton to Hoboken. The first day, I sat on the upper level. Second day, lower, which got me this perspective in Secaucus.

Day 215 of 365

Waiting in Hoboken

Meryl Streep nowhere to be found, however.

Day 202 of 365

After the fire

Friday, as we're on the way to Cleveland, I get a text alert from NJ Transit saying the Clifton station is closed indefinitely because of a significant fire. The SMS cut off before I received the part about how train service would be unaffected, but until I found that info, we panicked a little. We also pictured the station as a pile of rubble, but it's not. It's this -- a hole in the roof covered by a blue tarp.

Day 196 of 365

Arriving in Hoboken

After four hours' sleep and about six hours spent painting the house, I barely had enough time to clean up and get to the train -- on which I slept for half an hour. Still waking up as we disembarked at Hoboken, I took a picture as I walked up the aisle. Then I put my camera away for the day and headed into work in a trance.

Day 167 of 365

Good morning, America, how are you?

They used to name PATH cars after New Jersey towns, but those are few and far between now as they add new cars.

Day 158 of 365

Heading in, looking back

I was tired and lazy this Saturday and didn't try very hard. This is the one and only time I pressed the shutter, and I just let it be.

Day 52 of 365

The end

Caught the orange light of late afternoon reflected off of Lower Manhattan as I moved from NJ Transit to the PATH at Hoboken.

Day 40 of 365

Harmon reflection

Flickr (or Blogger, not sure which is responsible) is ticking me off. The "blog this" link isn't working, and the "Try Again" button does nothing. It's so much easier to post when technology doesn't crap out on you.

Anyway, my previous (slightly) longer post has been whittled down to this:

The Harmon Cove Towers reflect the setting sun from across the Meadowlands, and the Hackensack River reflects the condo/office complex as I zip by on the train on my way to work.

Day 26 of 365

Rush hour at Hoboken

Each night on my way to work, I pass through the Hoboken train station going against the grain of commuters spewing from the PATH tunnels and rushing to catch their above-ground trains to points west in New Jersey. (The Hobokenites stroll out into the streets through a different exit, so I don't have the pleasure of dodging them.) Tonight, I took just a few moments to pause for a couple of pictures, but if I allow myself some more time, I know I can improve upon where I stand and the composition of these two shots. And therein lies another benefit to this photo-a-day project: For those images I have in my head to take, or those I see in my daily travels, I can experiment with different angles and views and discover new ways of looking at the subjects until I get it just right.

Day 12 of 365

Stuck on the train

Spent 2 1/2 hours on trains getting to work tonight -- a trip that usually takes one hour, door-to-door. Switches on the tracks that move trains from one set of rails to another froze outside Secaucus, delaying us indefinitely somewhere in the swamps of Jersey. I managed to get a lot done -- I napped, I read The New Yorker, I tried to get a few photographs. None of them proved to be keepers, except for this one, settling though it may be.

Day 5 of 365

Ticket to ride

Like many of my countrymen and women, I was back on the train today, returning to the office after a two-week break. My ride into New York (via Hoboken) was at 5 p.m., though, so I got to ease into it after a full day of running errands and tying up some things around the house. Except for the Christmas lights. Most of those remain on the arches and posts of the front porch and over the arch over the gate leading to the back patio. If the rain holds off tomorrow, I'll get to those. Maybe.

"Waiting in Hoboken," New Jersey, July 2008

Hoboken waiting room

I would have loved to used any number of signs for a shoppe, grille or other such establishment that harkens to days of olde with the extraneous "E" in its name. But I found this shot of the waiting room at the Hoboken train terminal first and felt it fit the bill.

From the days of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad to today's New Jersey Transit and PATH commuters, the station at Hoboken has served bustling New Jerseyans on their way to and from New York and to the far reaches of the Garden State. With the original and ornate Penn Station now sunk in the swamps of Jersey, going through Hoboken makes for a much more aesthetically pleasing trip each afternoon.

"PATH view," New Jersey, August 2008

PATH view

On a hot August afternoon, I slumped down in a seat on the PATH train at the Hoboken station, awaiting the ride into New York for work. Drained, I was so exhausted I didn't bother pulling out my magazine to read. After taking a gulp of water, I looked up to see this view in front of me and was glad I had my point-and-shoot with me.

"These subtle stars," New Jersey, December 2008

Subtle stars

They're actually planets, of course. You're not going to see too many stars over the New Jersey Turnpike in Secaucus. The bright one at the top, near the center, is Venus. And as far as I can tell, at about 5 o'clock from that point is Jupiter, with Mercury at about 4 o'clock from Jupiter.

I'm not too concerned about how well it fits the "subtle" theme, but that phrase just stuck in my head as I was posting this photo. So that's what I called it, and that's my entry.

[*Later chosen as a favorite.*]