New York Subway Directions: Penn Station to 66th Street

[pseudotriton_ruber_ruber]

@Billdo

You can switch to the 2 or 3 express at Times Square (3 stops from 66th St.) If there’s a train across the platform or coming into the station, I would take it. If not, you are probably just as well to stay on the 1. You can also change at 14th Street, but you’ll gain less, so I’d just stay on the if you don’t switch at 42nd.

I’m not sure how much there is to see at Ground Zero, which at this point is really just a hole in the ground.

Oh, yeah, forgot the part about WHERE to change trains. :smack:

There’s quite an impressive display of signs, displays, photos, timelines, etc along the Church Street part of the WTC site, and some stuff in the St Paul’s graveyard (which amazingly survived the disaster intact, despite being a frail 18th century church across the street from the WTC). Well worth visiting.

[Zebra]

@Hippy Hollow

Oh, to answer your question HeyHomie - I won $50,000. Not bad for a day’s work!

Do they take taxes out of that? How much did you get to keep?

(If you don’t mind me asking.)

[Hippy_Hollow]

Zebra, I actually got a check for $50,000. It’s up to the winner to pay the requisite taxes. There’s a bizarre rule about paying estimated taxes by certain quarterly dates or you get penalized by the Feds. Luckily my CPA and I have been through this before so we avoided the penalty. I think I paid the Feds 20% of the winnings and 10% to the commonwealth. Got a little back around tax time, which was nice.

[Feydeau]

@Hippy Hollow

Zebra, I actually got a check for $50,000. It’s up to the winner to pay the requisite taxes. There’s a bizarre rule about paying estimated taxes by certain quarterly dates or you get penalized by the Feds.** Luckily my CPA and I have been through this before** so we avoided the penalty. I think I paid the Feds 20% of the winnings and 10% to the commonwealth. Got a little back around tax time, which was nice.

(bolding mine)

So, this is the second time you’ve won $50,000?

[HeyHomie]

Hippy Hollow, I think it’s time for a MPSIMS thread about all this. “Ask the Game Show Winner” or something.

[Hippy_Hollow]

I have indeed started such a thread, in MPSIMS…

[HeyHomie]

Thanks everybody for your help. Your directions were perfect, and I found my way around New York with no trouble at all.

First, the important stuff:

I got to the ABC building in New York at the appointed time and got in line with about 75 other people. Some ABC employees with clipboards came and checked our IDs against the list of names of those scheduled to audition. After everyone was checked in, they let us in, a few at a time, into the ABC employees’ cafeteria (presumably the same place where Regis Philbin, Kelly Ripa, Meredith Viera, and Peter Jennings all eat). We had to pass through a metal detector and turn our cell phones off, and then we were directed to a part of the room where we sat and waited for instructions. An ABC employee came out and passed out our tests and Scantron sheets while another one talked to the crowd about the rules, etc. We were told to write out names and the number of our test on the Scantron. I was number 99. When he said “Start,” we had ten minutes to complete a 30 question test, multiple choice.

I don’t know what the pass/fail was, or how well I did. I finished rather quickly and checked my work. Of the 30 questions, there were 22 that I was unambiguously sure I was right about. Another 3, I was about 50/50, and the other five I just took wild guesses. Anyway, after all the tests were graded they called the numbers of those who had passed. About 18 people passed, and about the twelfth number called was number 99. I passed the test! I screamed “Yeah!” and the audience laughed.

The producer thanked everyone who tested and dismissed those who flunked, and then sent those of us who passed to the back of the room to interview with a producer. I sat at a table and waited my turn. I was the last one called to interview (I don’t know if there’s any significance to that). I interviewed with a young woman who looked like she was about 24. She laughed at my responses on the little survey they sent out. After I finished with her, she told me she wanted me to interview with another producer. I spoke with her for a few minutes, and then she told me that everyone who interviews gets a post card in the mail, telling them whether or not they’ll be on the show. She said that everyone gets a postcard, yes or no, and that they’ll be sent out in two weeks.

So there you go. I’ll know for sure, one way or the other, within three weeks. I’m trying not to analyze or read anything into the way the producers acted or what they said, and I made the decision that I’m just going to live my life for the next 2-3 weeks and not agonize over this.

The less important stuff:

I got to Penn Station in New York at about 1:00 on Monday. Since my audition wasn’t until 5:45, I had a few hours to kill. I took the subway to Ground Zero and spent about an hour there. It was really somber and very moving. I snapped about a whole roll of film at Ground Zero. From there, I walked to Battery Park and looked across the harbor to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. After that I got back on the subway and went to the corner where the ABC building is. There’s a Barnes & Noble right across the street so I hung out there for a couple of hours and read before my audition.

Again, thanks for all the help. Wish me luck!

[Billdo]

Good luck!

Glad the directions helped.