Very civilized Greenwich Village reminder, like a label for a fine wine.

This message to developer Donald Trump is scrawled in the cement on the corner of Spring and Varick, across from his new high-rise in SoHo. The project has had numerous construction accidents, including a tragic loss of life.

Wow, a real-life break battle Saturday night at St. Mark's In-The-Bowery, in the East Village (at the top of my block.)

It seemed to be very well organized, with an Emcee, a DJ and a panel of judges who silently pointed to the winner after each round. More top-rocking than breaking, each dancer worked for about a minute and the MC would call for his or her opponent to counter. It was surprisingly dramatic, and everybody was sportsmanlike. It broke up at 9 pm with a declared winner of a 3-way final (the guy in the "45" jersey below) and 10 minutes later you never would've known it had happened. Very cool.

This offer of free drinks to Gilbert Gottfried is fascinating. Why Gottfried? Will Gilbert show up?

On Spring Street in SoHo.

As the Mets take first place this weekend, Mr. Met makes a personal appearance in SoHo.

Sunday we went to Rockaway Beach, just like in the Ramones song. It's in Queens at the very remote end of the A train. When you get to Broad Channel, you switch to a Shuttle train which carries you to the water. There's a long, quiet boardwalk, almost as long as Atlantic City (at over 10 miles it's longest municipal beach in America), but there is no commercial development, just residential high-rises and beach homes. There's no Coney-island midway mania, so it's very quiet. Being from the Ocean State, I can testify the water was beautiful, with very little seaweed, and no red tide (although there was a swarm of small, harmless jellyfish). The Rockaways are on the Atlantic, and the surf can be rough and there is a treacherous riptide and undercurrent. People get swept away during the day, even with vigilant lifeguard surveillance.

One of Buckminster Fuller's Fly's Eye domes has been assembled on La Guardia Place. Pretty cool to see one up close. Helicopter-delivered housing, there would be clear plastic bubbles in the holes.

I don't know what this means.

Bed bugs are a crazy problem in New York -- just ask FOX News. This is a truck for the "Bed Bug Beagle" a hound specially trained to track down the puny pests. An aside: The cheap lens on my camera phone is seriously degrading... I don't know how long it'll last... Pretty soon this blog will be a blur!

Some friends came into NYC to visit on 4th of July weekend. We encountered this giant Eddie Murphy head in Times Square. Pictures can't express the absolute awesome-ness of this thing -- there's a small staircase in the back and you can actually stand inside.