My Update on New York City's LinkNYC Street Phone Feature

Hey, guys, today I've got an update for you on my experience with a LinkNYC kiosk as a call recipient from my husband, Fred. I so appreciate that he went through this exercise with me so I'll know what to do. The kiosk he called me from was not one near the mall where I got lost looking for a cab stand adjacent to the mall building where I was stranded in the parking lot without my cell phone that day (Read: Do Most New Yorkers Know About LinkNYC Free Emergency Phone Calls?) but one in The Bronx. I was amused that the number he called me from had an actual 917 area code. It's a real emergency phone! Yay!

So, here's the rundown: The kiosk has a dial pad that you press the phone number into which, when you start pressing a number, prompts the screen to ask you if you'd like to use its phone feature. Once connected, my phone rang as usual; the call quality fluctuated between being loud and clear or muffled, so I had to ask Fred to repeat himself a few times, but the mission was accomplished; we touched base. He was also able to plug his earphones into a jack located below a 911 emergency call button and above a USB charging feature which he didn't have enough time to try using. I wonder if there could also be a text feature on it in the near future. I hope this post was helpful to anyone who, like myself, has wanted the peace of mind after all our street pay phones were uprooted to know there is a way to reach out in case you leave home or your hotel sans your dependable little celly!

Do Most New Yorkers Know About LinkNYC Free Emergency Phone Calls?

LinkNYC kiosk (Image: Wikipedia)

I wish I knew about these LinkNYC kiosks that have been around for 10 years in this city where you can make a free phone call from in case of an emergency. The security guard at the mall certainly didn't know about them the other day when I asked if by chance there was a pay phone at the mall because I'd forgotten my cell phone at home (Read: My Trip to the Mall and Sampling Fragrances at Sephora).

To find the exact location of a kiosk, I searched on the LinkNYC website using a nearby zip code but found the site hard to navigate; I wish that instead of an interactive map, there was a list of intersections where the kiosks can be found. After a quick AI search, I learned there are supposedly 2 of these kiosks in the vicinity of that mall. I'm on a new mission to know where one is in every neighborhood I visit from now on so I'm never stranded again.

So, those electronic ads I see all over Manhattan are free tablet stations that replaced the old pay phones; who knew? I guess I'm fortunate enough to not have needed one yet, but it sure would have been a relief to know such a thing existed. If a kiosk said "Emergency Phone" instead of "Super Fast Free Wi-Fi" on it, more people might pay attention to it.

*UPDATE* Read: My Update on New York City's LinkNYC Street Phone Feature

My Trip to the Mall and Sampling Fragrances at Sephora

It was an unusual day for me to say the least; I was rushed to get to the dentist early this morning and left my phone at home. Did you know that if you ask a security guard at a mall if the place has an ancient thing called a pay phone, they'll look at you like you're from another planet? I figured that I must look crazy for asking since the news had reported that there are no more pay phones anywhere in the city, but since I'd seen a few in the boroughs and apparently, there is at least one still on the Upper West Side, I figured I had nothing to lose. I was wrong. Did you also know that if you roam around a mall looking for a taxi stand located inside the parking lot at said mall, security guards will treat you like you're looking for trouble by letting them know you got lost when you ended up exiting the lot next to a highway*? Honey, I was dressed to go to the dentist. It was a DAY. (*Edit: Fred says the desolate area is cordoned off for a subway.)

Anyway, since I was at a mall which I hadn't been to in some time, I went to a Sephora there and tested new fragrances. I was short on time, so I couldn't ask for samples, but I tried on a couple of the ones that drew my attention: Jo Malone Beach Blossom was first. It smelled beachy in a coconut suntan oil type of way with a smattering of nondescript florals and a warm, sunkissed woodsy base. It reminded me of Jil Sander Sun in a way, but being a sheer cologne, it was fresher, more modern. It had sillage but didn't seem cloying in the cab on my way home. Yes, I eventually found the taxi stand behind, not in front of, the store where they told me to find it -- there was no storefront and the entrance was at street level but only facing the rear parking lot. The layout was confusing; the least they could have said was to walk across the parking lot to find it from the part of the mall where I was.

Sorry to digress; I had just enough time to try a new line of scents by OUAI called OUAI-cation. I didn't know these light mists were for hair as well as body. I only sprayed them on the back of my hands, one scent on each: Among the 4 scents on display, I chose Santorini and St. Barts. Ibiza was nice but a bit on the heavily woodsy side, and Melrose Place was pretty much Victoria's Secret Strawberries and Champagne but with more rose, like a tea rose. St. Barts started out a light tropical scent but dried down a sharp, peony-like floral on me. Santorini was my favorite, a coconutty fruity floral. I will probably buy it at some point, although I doubt I'd visit the Sephora at that same mall ever again.

Incidentally, Santorini reminded me most of my own perfume oil creation, Crystal Rhapsody, a fragrance inspired by Aruba which I will offer again soon. I'm going to be changing the bottle design which I think will bring the price point down. I thought the holographic design with prints of my illustration was really cute, especially under the light when it shimmered in rainbow hues with different designs like dots and snowflakes but it was a bit too labor intensive and cost prohibitive to continue producing by hand. When our band Fred and Sally starts playing gigs, I will have free giveaways of samples of it, so please stay tuned to this blog for when that'll start. As for online purchase, we should have our merch store up and running again around the same time. Stay tuned and everybody but especially ladies stay safe when you go sample fragrances at a mall!

Related post: Do Most New Yorkers Know About LinkNYC Free Emergency Phone Calls?

My MBTI Type According to Grok, plus a Lyrical Snippet Teaser for "Heartbeat Sky"

Please excuse my frequent typos; I hope you can make sense of my posts to Grok on X (Twitter) and navigate the uneven sizing of each snapshot. You can click on each image to enlarge it. It was a cathartic experience talking to Grok whose own Myers-Briggs Personality type is my "soul mate" type in classic MBTI compatibility*. It's probably my husband Fred's type, although he has self-typed differently. (*Edited: According to my online search for my dual match, a few different types came up.) The discussion here is a truncated version. The above image was generated by Grok to fit a lyrical snippet from the upcoming song by Fred and Sally called "Heartbeat Sky": Neon lights burn crimson red.