Today was technically the first day of the conference...since yesterday was a pre-conference training session. Unfortunately, I overslept by an hour and only had about 45 minutes to shower, dress, grab some breakfast downstairs and get over to the conference center...but I made it. I walked in and discovered that the morning's general session included breakfast. Good thing all I had time for in the hotel was a class of apple juice and a small donut.
The session's speaker was the Commissioner of the Office of Emergency Management for the city of New York...very interesting. He is over the police department, fire department, EMS and several other agencies. Any emergency situation that involves more than one responding agency comes under his purview...pretty heavy responsibility if you ask me.
During breakfast, I lined up the breakout sessions I wanted to attend...two in the morning and two in the afternoon. The morning sessions were pretty good...one on educating civilians on an active shooter situation and the other on writing a business continuity plan for an urban campus. Lunch consisted of box lunches...pretty good however...and then walking around the vendor area. This conference is being held in conjunction with another one for security experts so there were some interesting vendors present. Mostly I just walked around and picked up a few things and a lot of business cards...Bubba.
After lunch, I went to my 2:15 session, along with about 30 other folks. We waited and waited and no speaker. Finally, about 2:30, one of the conference coordinators came in and said our speaker had been called away for an emergency so the session was canceled. I had already decided to skip the 3:45 session...wasn't as interesting as I thought it might be...so all of a sudden I had the rest of the day to wander the city.
I rushed back to the hotel, changed clothes...putting on tennis shoes this time...and headed down toward the USS Intrepid museum not too far away. Traffic on 12th Avenue...which runs parallel with the Hudson River...was packed with cars and buses. The entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel under the Hudson is also nearby so that probably added to the number of vehicles on the street.
When I got to the ticket booth at the USS Intrepid, I discovered that admission for veterans was free so I toured the USS Growler...Cold War vintage missile submarine...and the USS Intrepid. I had been aboard back in 2005 when in the city for another conference but since then the ship was towed to a ship yard somewhere and given a new paint job. Everything was bright and shiny. Some of the ship was closed for restoration but it was still an enjoyable tour.
Following the Intrepid tour, I headed up the street to find a subway station. My intentions were to head "uptown" to Central Park and take some pictures while it was still light outside. I found the station without any problem and got on a train headed in my direction, however I didn't notice it was an express so instead of being able to get off somewhere near Central Park...59th Street - 110th Street...I ended up riding all the way to 125th Street...near Harlem! No problem...I got off, went over to the other side and caught a corresponding "local" train back to 59th Street and Columbus Circle. I entered the park at the most southwestern corner. Daylight was fading and so was I so I only stayed there a few minutes before getting back on the subway and heading to Times Square.
I got there right before it started getting dark so I walked around a little, taking my time as opposed to last night, and finally stopping at Hard Rock Cafe to eat. After dinner I walked along 7th Avenue from 42nd Street to 50th Street to catch the subway home. As you can tell from the pictures, the area was full of people going somewhere and a ton of tourists like me taking pictures of all the lights. Right out front of HRC, the street was closed off and there were girls dancing in the street. It turned out to be publicity for a new product for a video game or something of Wii...not really sure.
I originally couldn't even tell there was anything going on in the street due to the crowd watching them. I thought it was just people walking in the street like everywhere else, but then I saw one of the many huge video screens showing the action and I figured it out. I took a short video of the action. The sights and sounds of the place are quite amazing...a completely different world than I'm used to.
After walking around about as much as I could stand, I headed for the subway station where I caught the correct train to Penn Station. By now, I know the way to the hotel from the subway station pretty well...still a good walk.
If I get out of the conference early enough tomorrow, I may take a night bus tour around the city...might get some good pictures. However, there is a slight chance of rain tomorrow so my plans may change. I may just stay in the room as I have an early start to the day on Friday.
The session's speaker was the Commissioner of the Office of Emergency Management for the city of New York...very interesting. He is over the police department, fire department, EMS and several other agencies. Any emergency situation that involves more than one responding agency comes under his purview...pretty heavy responsibility if you ask me.
During breakfast, I lined up the breakout sessions I wanted to attend...two in the morning and two in the afternoon. The morning sessions were pretty good...one on educating civilians on an active shooter situation and the other on writing a business continuity plan for an urban campus. Lunch consisted of box lunches...pretty good however...and then walking around the vendor area. This conference is being held in conjunction with another one for security experts so there were some interesting vendors present. Mostly I just walked around and picked up a few things and a lot of business cards...Bubba.
After lunch, I went to my 2:15 session, along with about 30 other folks. We waited and waited and no speaker. Finally, about 2:30, one of the conference coordinators came in and said our speaker had been called away for an emergency so the session was canceled. I had already decided to skip the 3:45 session...wasn't as interesting as I thought it might be...so all of a sudden I had the rest of the day to wander the city.
I rushed back to the hotel, changed clothes...putting on tennis shoes this time...and headed down toward the USS Intrepid museum not too far away. Traffic on 12th Avenue...which runs parallel with the Hudson River...was packed with cars and buses. The entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel under the Hudson is also nearby so that probably added to the number of vehicles on the street.
When I got to the ticket booth at the USS Intrepid, I discovered that admission for veterans was free so I toured the USS Growler...Cold War vintage missile submarine...and the USS Intrepid. I had been aboard back in 2005 when in the city for another conference but since then the ship was towed to a ship yard somewhere and given a new paint job. Everything was bright and shiny. Some of the ship was closed for restoration but it was still an enjoyable tour.
Following the Intrepid tour, I headed up the street to find a subway station. My intentions were to head "uptown" to Central Park and take some pictures while it was still light outside. I found the station without any problem and got on a train headed in my direction, however I didn't notice it was an express so instead of being able to get off somewhere near Central Park...59th Street - 110th Street...I ended up riding all the way to 125th Street...near Harlem! No problem...I got off, went over to the other side and caught a corresponding "local" train back to 59th Street and Columbus Circle. I entered the park at the most southwestern corner. Daylight was fading and so was I so I only stayed there a few minutes before getting back on the subway and heading to Times Square.
I got there right before it started getting dark so I walked around a little, taking my time as opposed to last night, and finally stopping at Hard Rock Cafe to eat. After dinner I walked along 7th Avenue from 42nd Street to 50th Street to catch the subway home. As you can tell from the pictures, the area was full of people going somewhere and a ton of tourists like me taking pictures of all the lights. Right out front of HRC, the street was closed off and there were girls dancing in the street. It turned out to be publicity for a new product for a video game or something of Wii...not really sure.
I originally couldn't even tell there was anything going on in the street due to the crowd watching them. I thought it was just people walking in the street like everywhere else, but then I saw one of the many huge video screens showing the action and I figured it out. I took a short video of the action. The sights and sounds of the place are quite amazing...a completely different world than I'm used to.
After walking around about as much as I could stand, I headed for the subway station where I caught the correct train to Penn Station. By now, I know the way to the hotel from the subway station pretty well...still a good walk.
If I get out of the conference early enough tomorrow, I may take a night bus tour around the city...might get some good pictures. However, there is a slight chance of rain tomorrow so my plans may change. I may just stay in the room as I have an early start to the day on Friday.
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