For the bomb scare here in NYC, CNN’s got Anderson Cooper out in Times Square. Fair enough. The problem is that when you put a reporter in the middle of Times Square, what you’ll get is a bunch of Hip-Hop-cell-phone-ring-tone-having jerk-offs hooting and hollering in the background trying to get in the shot and calling their buds to see them on … CNN, the world’s most trusted network for news (or whatever the hell their slogan is). Watching poor Anderson try to deliver somber warnings about stroller bombs and CIA raids in Iraq under these conditions was — well, something to watch. All the b-roll was pretty discordant from the Times Square stuff, to say the least.

Anyway…

There’s nothing like riding the subway with the Stroller of Damocles hanging over your head. On the subway around 8:00 p.m., I figured most — if not all — of my fellow riders on the 2/3 train had heard about the terrorism alert. I kind of wanted to break the ice. You know, something like: “Well, here goes nothing!” But I didn’t think it’d be well received. Instead, we all just sat their quietly racially profiling each other. Couple Asians, some blacks, some whites… so, we all pretty much figured we had nothing to worry about.

More amusing, to me at least, was the elevator ride out of News Corp.’s Sixth Avenue Fortress of Doom. Two ladies on the elevator with me chatted somewhat nonchalantly about the alert:

#1: You hear ‘bout this terror alert?

#2: Oh yeah, I guess I’m gonna walk a little bit … Damn, I wish I’d worn more comfortable shoes.

#1: Is it raining out?

#2: No, I think we missed that.

#1: Oh, thank God.

I was pretty relieved about the rain, myself. Wouldn’t want to get wet…

My mother called, worried, thought I should take a cab. I sympathize. I really do. But, what? $30 for a cab tonight? Another $30 tomorrow morning, and then again in the evening? Don’t go out on the weekend? Sure, the money’s worth it to save your life. But this is New York City. The threat is constant. You either live with it or you don’t and you move … where? Not to D.C., not to L.A. Maybe Chicago. Yeah … Chicago’s where it’s at. Ain’t no one gonna bomb Chicago.

Out there, I could just chill. Hear it’s kind of windy, though.