Wandering Times Square

I have happily discovered that no matter how yulky of a day you are having if you wander around NYC for just a bit (especially Times Square) you are bound to find something that makes you smile, reset and forget the yulkiness.

Today was one of those days!

I had already planned on checking out the Nascar cars parked around midtown over my lunch. It is Champions Week and our FedEx guy had told me about how they are circling midtown tomorrow - when I looked it up I discovered that they have little display areas for each car and more importantly, there was mention of freebies! :)

The closest stop was Bryant Park, but I couldn't get my eye on a car so I continued on to Military Island. There I found a car, but not too many freebies - just a map of where the other cars were. As I headed towards the M&M store I saw Naked Cowboy standing on another part of Military Island. I'd only seem him in vendor pics so wasn't even sure if he was around anymore but sure enough...there he was! (I suppose he thinks it is only a novelty when it's kinda cold out...) I continued on and decided to check out Virgin Records $10 sale where I finally caved and bought Kill Bill 1 & 2 - now that I have, be prepared to see ads about QT releasing a fantastical boxset. ;) I journeyed on and saw giant red & blue bears posing with people and a woman dressed as a toliet. (yes, you read that right.) Thanks to my former job and time to read Ad Age - I realized this was the Charmin rest stop that they started last year to promote their product! Of course I had to check it out!

Once inside you have to ride an escalator to get to the showcase floor which is equipped with several toilets that are free to use and have staff on hand to keep everything tidy (a lovely thing to see in Times Square as even the Starbucks restrooms can be dicey at times...) Then there is a coupon area where you can choose your favorite - soft or strength. Televisions hung here and there show a Charmin dance that a worker performs live at a station using pom poms. There are more photo ops with bears - although these are the stuffed variety not humans dressed as, a gift shop in case you want everyone to know how much you love Charmin and a postcard station where you can fill out a postcard w/ coupon and brag to your relatives about how great Charmin is! ;)

The guy stationed at the gift shop asked me if my Charmin experience was better than my Virgin Store experience. I told him it was hard to compare. Then he told me I need to come back in the evening because that's when the real party started as they have live entertainment.

On the way out, I was met by survey guys who once again wanted to know if I preferred soft or strength. Or in really basic terms - Blue Bear or Red Bear. I chose Red.

Had just enough time to make it to the M&M store and once again it didn't look like they had anything to give out but I lingered. I watched as two guys in very official looking M&Ms jackets posed for a pic near the car on display and then I saw the lady behind the table give a passerby an Aflac duck. The guy with the camera saw that I wanted one and put one on the table for the gal to give me. It turned out to be a photo op! So she hadn't it to me and we froze for the pic and then he needed some more of just me with the duck - I really wasn't sure if I was supposed to look @ the camera or not so I just looked at the duck. (No clue who he was taking pics for either, should have asked...) While looking - I discovered that there was a button on the back of the duck. When I pushed it he says Aflac twice and then screams it. Sweet! I think my mom will like this... ;)

Back to work.