It’s strange: I didn’t know I was sitting 29 floors above a bomb scare until my wife IM’ed me about it. At first, I didn’t believe her, but then I looked out my window, down to the empty streets of Times Square, the clusters of cop cars, the police tape fluttering in the breeze, and suddenly, the whole situation became very real — and scary.

Sadly, that’s the way things have been in New York for nearly a week now, ever since the NYPD thwarted a potential car bombing right around the corner from where today’s bomb scare — actually a cooler — sat. Everyone’s nervous, a little on edge, even if they won’t admit it. Every stray box on the subway is eyed suspiciously, every police siren gives you pause, if only for a second. There’s a weird tension in the air — one that began with 9/11 and is revived every time there’s a blackout (2003), a water-main explosion (2007) or even just an unusually loud boom. Working right in the middle of Times Square, you just try to ignore it, which, truth be told, is sort of easy … it just comes with being a New Yorker.

But then, someone leaves an unattended cooler on a picnic table, and all of a sudden, you can’t ignore the fact that bad things happen all the time, everywhere in the world, to people just like yourself. It was doubly weird for me because I was actually in Times Square on Saturday when the (thankfully) failed car bomb was discovered. I had just returned from a shoot for MTV News and was dropping equipment off in our building when police cleared the area. I’m not going to lie: It was slightly terrifying. The crowds, the sirens, the shouting, the feeling of panic in the air … for a few brief moments, it brought back memories of 9/11, and that sort of shook me to the core. Still, come Monday, I was back at work.

Anyway, with all that in mind, I walked into the MTV Newsroom this afternoon and along with my co-workers, spent the next hour peering out of our windows, watching CNN, waiting to see what would happen next. We cracked jokes to ease the tension. We wondered aloud if this meant we could leave work early (hey, it’s Friday).

Friends called. Parents too. Everyone was watching the drama unfold beneath our feet. CNN fielded garbled phone calls from people on the street. Twitter crashed. The bomb squad came onto the scene. It was kind of strange … we were at the epicenter of the world’s top story at that moment.

Fortunately, nothing happened. Traffic started flowing through Times Square once again. CNN started reporting on other things. Police gave the all-clear. And we could all return back to pretending this kind of stuff never happens — and hopefully, we can keep pretending that for a long time. You kind of have to when you live in New York, especially these days, when a cooler filled with water bottles can shut down the busiest intersection in the city.

And as I write this, there are police sirens going off in the distance. A fire truck is barreling down Times Square. I don’t know what’s happening, and I kind of don’t want to. If you live in New York, you learn to live with this kind of thing.

There has been no shortage of tributes to Michael Jackson in the past two weeks, from mixtape tracks to concert nods. But perhaps the strangest (and at the same time most endearing) tributes came from the world of sports.

Yesterday, basketball forward (and rapper/music mogul) Ron Artest signed a new contract with the Los Angeles Lakers (perhaps he can be the new Method Man). He’ll join the defending champions for five years at $33 million, but the biggest headline-grabber was that Artest said he would wear jersey number 37 as a tribute to Michael Jackson. Why 37? That’s the number of weeks Thriller spent on the top of the charts. It’s not the first time that Artest has made a music reference in his number: While on the Sacremento Kings, Artest wore the number 93 as a nod to the Queensbridge projects (a place that also gave the world Nas and Mobb Deep), as well as the Souls of Mischief album ‘93 to Infinity.

Meanwhile, Seattle Mariners outfielder Ken Griffey Jr. paid tribute to Jackson during a Tuesday night game against the Baltimore Orioles. He walked to his first at-bat to the sound of “Billie Jean” and also wore a single batting glove. Did Jackson magic help him out? Griffey drew a walk, but the Mariners were routed by the Orioles 12-4.

Plenty of athletes took to their personal Twitters to mourn the passing of Jackson, including tennis player Andy Roddick, football player Chad Johnson, former NBA star Dennis Rodman and basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal.

But the best tribute yet came professional MLS soccer player Kei Kamara, who celebrated scoring a goal by donning one sparkly glove and doing a Jackson dance. The Jackson mojo seemed to work best for Kamara — his Houston Dynamo defeated the Kansas City Wizards 1-0.

While you watch the live stream here, you can also follow all of the action on the Newsroom’s live blog and track the whole event on Twitter here.