Don’t Worry, the Calendar Will Catch Up

Todd Heisler/The New York Times Keana Durrant and James Thomas enjoyed the sun on the Brooklyn Heights promenade on Tuesday. Spring starts on Thursday.

Asking a Homeless Man His Name

Dear Diary:

I was walking down the stairs from Eighth Avenue to the subway entrance when I saw a man, in his 40s to 50s, standing in front of the subway turnstiles. It didn’t seem that he had been out on the streets long enough to acquire that worn-out, beat-up look that comes to everyone if they have to brave the streets long enough. He was fidgeting like a boy in elementary school who wanted to ask the teacher for something but the words just weren’t coming out. In a voice that was semi-frantic he said: “I’ve been hungry; can you give me a dollar to get something to eat?”

I found a $5 bill and gave it to him, something I’ve done fewer times than I wish I could have, but it was what happened next that was truly extraordinary. In a moment of exultant spontaneity he smiled, opened up his arms and in one motion hugged me and kissed me on the ear.

I always introduce myself and ask them their names because, for most of the world that passes them by, they have become people who no longer have names. His name was Francisco, and, as he left, he thanked me again. I said: “No problem. Hopefully things will get better and you’ll pass it on.”

I walked into the train with a smile on my face. It wasn’t that his show of gratitude affirmed that I’m somehow virtuous, because it wasn’t about me, and anyway, more than anything, I’m just a guy who saw another person and happened to have a $5 bill to spare. Maybe it was his spontaneous childlike wonder, which is mostly missing from all of us who’ve “grown up,” let alone those in more difficult circumstances.

Read all recent entries and our updated submissions guidelines. Reach us via email diary@nytimes.com or follow @NYTMetro on Twitter using the hashtag #MetDiary.

New York Today: Play (Brrr!) Ball

Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times Batter up, despite the cold.

Updated 6:58 a.m.

Good Tuesday morning to you. It is 29 degrees.

Let the Mets and Yankees laze in the Florida sunshine.

Here in New York City, it’s time to play ball.

The boys’ and girls’ seasons open this week in the Public Schools Athletic League.

For a glimpse of the high school softball action, we went to Brooklyn, where Juan Morel Campos took on Clara Barton on Monday.

Most of the Campos Lady Cougars wore hoodies, hats, gloves and scarves as they trotted out to the field in Sternberg Park in East Williamsburg.

It was 33 degrees.

“Jump! Jump! It’s so cold,” Judit Gonzalez of the Cougars shouted as she hopped in the dugout, arms bunched.

When frozen bat met frozen ball, it stung. Players cried out.

The Cougars’ pitcher, Gisela Gonzalez, wore short sleeves to show the opposition how tough she was.

It worked.

She hit two home runs and led the Cougars to a 25-4 victory.

The Cougars play again on Wednesday.

The forecast calls for temperatures in the 40s and a good chance of rain.

It doesn’t matter, said the Cougars’ coach, Matthew Schorr.

“Once you get into the game, you forget about the elements,” he said.

Here’s what else you need to know.

WEATHER

Sunny and a little warmer today with a high of 43. Say hi to the still-almost-full moon tonight.

Clouds return tomorrow with a bit of rain.

COMMUTE

Subways: No delays. Check latest status.

Rails: O.K. Check L.I.R.R., Metro-North or N.J. Transit status.

Roads: Big delays on Thruway southbound in Rockland County. Check traffic map or radio report on the 1s or the 8s.

Alternate-side parking is in effect all week.

COMING UP TODAY

- It’s the last day to register for the 2014 New York City Marathon.

- Students in the Good Shepherd Services after-school programs take a trip to City Hall, where Mayor de Blasio will receive them.

- A black firefighters group announces details of a settlement reached with the city last night of a class-action discrimination lawsuit.

- A protest against McDonald’s labor practices outside the fast-food restaurant’s location on Fifth Avenue and 33rd Street. 11:30 a.m.

- A documentary, “The Pass It On Project,” about a group of Brooklyn eighth graders visiting sites of civil rights struggles, screens at the Museum of the City of New York. 5 p.m. [Free]

- Haven’t you always wanted to learn how to Photoshop hair? Here’s your big chance, at Noble Desktop in SoHo. 6 p.m. [$50]

- The Times obituary writer Bruce Weber reads from his book “Life Is a Wheel: Love, Death, Etc., and a Bike Ride Across America,” at BookCourt in Brooklyn. 7 p.m. [Free]

- Hear dead authors â€" including James Baldwin, John Updike and James Jones â€" read from their work through the miracle of recording, at the Center for Fiction in Midtown. 7 p.m. [Free]

- Income gap, 1890 edition: a historian talks about his book “Progressive Inequality: Rich and Poor in New York, 1890-1920,” at Book Culture near Columbia University. 7 p.m. [Free]

- Not just a reading: “Derangement of the Senses” includes burlesque performers dancing as their favorite literary characters while “acoustic and electronic music cacophonously collide,” at Le Poisson Rouge on Bleecker Street. 7:30 p.m. [Free]

- For more events, see The New York Times Arts & Entertainment guide.

IN THE NEWS

- New York’s State Senate rejected a bill that would make illegal immigrants eligible for tuition aid. [New York Times]

- That’s not a cold. Allergy season is off to an early start. [CBS New York]

- It’s official: Phil Jackson is returning to the Knicks after 40 years â€" as president. [New York Times]

- More than 75 percent of Staten Islanders are overweight, the borough president said. [DNAinfo]

- L’Wren Scott, a designer who was Mick Jagger’s longtime girlfriend, was found dead in her Chelsea apartment, an apparent suicide. [New York Times]

- Scoreboard: Nets dim Suns, 108-95.

Sandra E. Garcia contributed reporting.

New York Today is a weekday roundup that stays live from 6 a.m. till late morning. You can receive it via email.

What would you like to see here to start your day? Post a comment, email us at nytoday@nytimes.com or reach us via Twitter using #NYToday.

Follow the New York Today columnists, Annie Correal and Andy Newman, on Twitter.

You can always find the latest New York Today at nytoday.com.