nyc scavenger hunt, part 2

the last saturday before Christmas is quite possibly the worst day of the season to do the holiday scavenger hunt.  i guess a lot of cattle were expected to come through midtown because the police had set up barriers on every block to keep the anticipated herds on the sidewalk and off of all the streets ... fortunately, when the traffic signals indicated the appropriate time, the police did open up the gated corrals to allow people to cross the streets.  seriously, i'm no fan of weekends in midtown pretty much ever ... but this was sidewalk cholesterol at its highest level.

but we had friends visiting today (including a), so we did the scavenger hunt today anyway.  and we had fun.

we probably actively hunted scavengers for about 2.5 - 3 hours in total (we had a side expedition of finding somewhere a group of six could sit together for reasonably priced, tasty lunch).  because we ran out of time, we didn't make it to a few locations.  our scavenger hunt score was a mere 20.  we'll have to try again next year.

when the picture taking involved random strangers, we found others surprisingly happy to stop and let us take pictures of their bags or their pets.  the only damper on the whole day was the crummy bakery by the name of crumbs bake shop (on 8th street in the village).  three of our group went into the bakery to try to find a holiday cake on display.  they were promptly reprimanded for photographing the merchandise (even when they innocently pointed out they were merely on a scavenger hunt).

so ... you don't want anyone to take a picture ... are you afraid someone will try to duplicate your designs?  because:
a) as one member of our group pointed out, if someone really cared to do that, they could buy one of your little cupcakes, take it home, and really study it in order to duplicate it (were such study necessary).
b) i hate to break it to you, but in this age of cake decorating insanity, there is nothing particularly special about your designs (if we are conceding to call rolling a cupcake in sprinkles a design)
c) you post pictures of your products online ... and i'm going to tell you what i tell all the social networking teenagers i love: be careful what you put on the internet; anyone could see it.
and d) seriously?  you're concerned about someone stealing your work?  the cupcake that is currently featured most prominently on your site is black with a white swirly pattern across the top ... and it looks exactly like a hostess chocolate cupcake.

but i should be fair.  maybe hostess stole the design from you ... maybe that is why you are a little extra sensitive.  either way, you may want to rethink pairing that cupcake with the statement, "You can enjoy your favorite Crumbs treats in the comfort of your own home - just like Mom used to bake."  let's try to ignore the referent ambiguity (did Mom used to bake your home?  was she baking your comfort?).  but still, if anyone was eating those cupcakes in the comfort of their own homes, it wasn't because Mom baked them.  it was because she bought them from the "not-really-food-but-will-survive-nuclear-war-and-winter" section of the grocery store.

#31 giant Christmas lights

#3 a person riding a fish