More on Tunnels

[original posts: The Underground Pedestrian Concourse & Update: Pictures of Tunnels]

Chris emailed a comment that I thought was worth mentioning.  He apparently took pictures of the different maps in Philadelphia’s underground pedestrian concourse and pasted them together to create a pretty nifty map.  Take a look!  He did a really good job.  This was not as easy as it might seem.

One thing to note, though – I don’t think you can take the tunnels as far as Race Street, even though the maps indicate you should be able to.  I think this portion is permanently closed.  I never figured it out at least.  I’ve made it as far north as Arch and come out inside the building across the street from City Hall, but that is it.  Next time I have some time on my hands, I’ll check it out.

Chris, have you actually made it that far?
  

I am not Craig.

The security woman who works evenings at my building is friendly, but in an uncomfortable sort of way.  Ever since I started working there she has been especially friendly.  She asks me how work is going.  Why am I there late.  What I think about her hair.  

All that was odd enough, but then she started asking me about other people.  Other people I don’t know.  Then, she started calling me by name.  Craig.  Only my name isn’t Craig.  She did it in such a way that I really couldn’t correct her without it being embarrassing for her, so for the last month or so I have been Craig.

Then, today I left work at an unusual time for me.  I rode the elevator down with a guy who had a similar coat and hat on.  We walked over toward security together and the security woman looked at him and said, “hi Craig.”  Then she looked at me.  Total confusion.  She started to say something (probably “you aren’t Craig”) but stopped.  I just smiled and said goodnight.

Glannon's Examples & Explanations

Another blog recently posted about seeing Joseph Glannon in person. For those non legal types, he is the man that wrote the best Civil Procedure study guide on the market. No other book even comes close. I still refer to it at times. Good stuff.

Anyway, today I was thinking about an assignment and remembered a particularly interesting section of the book. Right in line with the Christmas story. . . .

Chapter 10 -- Easy Erie: The Law of Rome and Athens

A Personal Fantasy

It is December, and the pace of the first year of law school is picking up. Glannon Sits numbly in Civil Procedure class. The professor is droning on, quite learnedly. Subject: the Erie doctrine. Glannon cowers as unobtrusively as possible in the middle of the class. All around him, students listen intently, with apparent
comprehension. Glannon understands nothing.
Suddenly, the Archangel Gabriel appears, hovering resplendent above the class. No one else takes notice; the discussion moves on obliviously. Pointing a star-studded scepter at the object of his visit, Gabriel speaks. “Glannon,” he declaims, “listen well, for you, you shall be called upon to explain the Erie doctrine to a future generation of students.”
Astonished by the apparition and appalled at his message, Glannon streaks from the room. After a long convalescence and many setbacks, he takes a job watering flowers in a nursery.

From Civil Procedure: Examples & Explanations (4th Ed.).

100%

I took my first case to court on Monday. My first case all by myself. Not much. Just small claims court. We are defending the case as a favor to a large client.

But I won. I won. Ok, so the other guy didn’t show up. But I was ready. And I did show up. I moved for a dismissal and it was granted! Go me!

But now, there is nowhere to go but down. I am 100% victorious. Even if I win my next case, I will still only be 100%. Perhaps I’ve peaked. Is it all downhill from here?

Philadelphia City Hall Lit Up at Christmas

City Hall looked cool for the holidays. Every night in December, it was lit up in color using lights.
Here are a couple of pictures I took:



These were taken on the same night. The first is from the west side, the second from the east side. The pattern changed every few days. The Philadelphia Inquirer covered it too.

Posted on Tue, Nov. 29, 2005


This Holiday, See City Hall in a New Light:

Starting tomorrow, the east and west portals will be lit up with brilliant hues in a bid to attract tourists to Center City.

By Marcia Gelbart
Inquirer Staff Writer

It's finally here: some positive light for City Hall.

In a move intended to spur a new type of tourism, the century-old building will be lit up this holiday season in an array of colorful schemes projected onto its east and west portals.

Designed by a French production company, the light display will be unveiled at 5 p.m. tomorrow and continue from 5 p.m. to midnight through Jan. 1. The color schemes will change nightly.

The idea is to build Center City into "a tourist draw where people come in to see
the lit buildings," said Paul R. Levy, president of the Center City District, which is sponsoring the light display.

City Hall is the only participant this year. But, Levy said, "we hope other major building owners and cultural institutions are inspired to expand this effort all over Center City next year."

Tomorrow's event will coincide with Mayor Street's lighting of the traditional City Hall tree, with one nontraditional element.

To prevent any interference with the new light display, the City Hall tree won't be at City Hall. It will be a block away, at JFK Plaza.

In recent years, small portions of City Hall have been illuminated by colorful fluorescent lights. But this year should be "completely different than anything we've done," Levy said.

The cost for the project's design and installation is about $300,000, he said, some
of which is being borne by the Center City District and the Market East Improvement Association.

Levy came up with the idea after returning from a lighting conference in Lyon, France, where he also met the president of the French production company, Artlumiere.

"I realized," he said, "that what we had done in Philadelphia was kindergarten compared to what they did in Europe."

To see more of the patterns, look here. Even more pictures of the Philadelphia City Hall decorative lights here.