This week is our week down in Ocean City, NJ and we're having a harder time than usual, um, borrowing someone else's wireless signal, so posting will be light to nonexistent depending on our luck.
Uh, boy.
SoBe It
A couple weeks ago, I received a little email at work from frequent Long Cut commenter and long-time sister Janie...
...and then this week, I get this at my home email account...
... and I can no longer take all this harassment, so I'm giving in to it.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
It has been about a month since the missus and I had our South Beach trip - our first trip ever without the kids. We originally planned on going back to the Bahamas, where we had gone before the kids even showed up, but we weren't crazy what Paradise Island had turned into since we had last been there. It looked a little too family-friendly for a kid-free getaway. Plus we could save some cash by staying stateside, so we changed our destination to Florida. We thought about Key West, but that meant flying into Miami and driving or flying out to the Keys, so why not save a little more cash and just stay in Miami? I am one cheap bastard of a traveler.
South Beach promised sunshine and nightlife and historic architecture, so we booked a room at the Park Central, a little hotel right on Ocean Drive. The Park Central was one of the first historic SoBe hotels to be restored back to its original Art Deco roots, and came highly recommended by commenters on both TripAdvisor and Expedia (where we booked our trip). And at a very good price, too (see "Bastard, Cheap").
Okay, so, the trip: we were warned by a few people (including that harassing emailer up there) that the Miami airport sucked, and they were right. It's outdated, dirty, and poorly laid-out. Their taxi stands are a joke. It took us forever - and what felt like a four-mile walk - to get a cab. Be sure to ask the missus how much she enjoyed that.
Luckily, the airport was really the only really bad part of the trip. We went into our vacation just looking for some relaxation and sunshine. The weather forecast called for thunderstorms all four days, but we ended up with quite a bit of sunshine, including a couple very hot mornings. The Park Central was a cool little hotel with old black-and-white SoBe photos all the place. They did a good job rehabbing the place but they seemed to have forgotten the hallways, which were dark and dingy. But they had a pool! And it was a nice little pool to hang out around, especially on those ultra-hot mornings.
South Beach itself was nice. It was too windy to stay out on the beach and the water was still too cold to even dip our toes into, so we didn't hit the beach too often. Ocean Drive is just restaurant after restaurant after restaurant. There's a few cheaper places (and a TGI Fridays - who the hell goes to Fridays while they're on vacation? And in a restaurant district - with really real restaurants?), but most of the places were nicer (but still casual) places. And yet, cheap or expensive, fancy or plain, all of them had hostesses pestering you to come in. We had menus shoved in our face and had to look at not-at-all-appetizing sample plates of what were on those menus. Oh, so thats what surf and turf looks like... when it's left out in the sun for a few hours. It was like running the gauntlet. It got to point where we would walk on the beach side of Ocean Drive and decide where we were going to eat from afar.
But the food was pretty good, and the mojitos were even better. Mojitos were the extent of our nightlife, other than the free rooftop showing of Forrest Gump back at the Park Central (which we stayed for about the first ten minutes - god, I hate that movie). It was cool seeing so much Art Deco, especially for an architecture nut like myself, but not many of the building were real spectacular. Quite of few looked like on-the-cheap rehab jobs. And for an area that's known for a certain architecture style, there were a surprising number of buildings that weren't done in Art Deco. There were also a few too many vacant buildings. Not a ton of them, but this was the main drag of a vacation spot known for its main drag - shouldn't it be prime real estate?
So we got our sunshine and we got our relaxation (and the boys seemed to like being spoiled by the babysitter for four days and three nights) but I doubt we ever would go back to Miami again. We could have gotten our sun and fun at plenty of places and Miami Beach just didn't wow us beyond that. The Jersey Shore has more memorable towns. South Beach just doesn't seem like it has been able to accommodate its trendy reputation. They look like they're working on it, but people down there are already saying that North Beach is the new South Beach. SoBe might have missed their opportunity for long-term hipness.
I took a whole bunch of photos while we were down there and whittled them down to a couple dozen for our photo album and a twenty-four more for my Flickr site.
DC Day Three
Surprisingly, they taste a lot like chicken.
DC Day Two
Happy Easter!
DC Day One
As seen on Food Network. Mmmmm......
Flurry Blossom Time
The Easter weekend forecast for our trip to DC:
Brrrrr......
Boardwalk This Way
Palm Sunday weekend is one of only four weekends for buying half-price ride tickets (as well as deeply discounted water park and miniature golf tickets) down in Ocean City, and since we missed the two Christmas-time weekends and since we'll be in DC for Easter weekend and since the four-year-old and (now) the missus have the stomach bug, the nine-year-old and I drove downtheshore today and stocked up for July.
The cool part is that by the time summer rolls around and we're in the rental, we'll have completely forgotten that we've dropped $200 on these tickets and it'll feel like they're totally free. Which will allow us to spend those two hundred "extra" bucks we'll have eating out when we really should be eating in like we planned back when we first overpaid for the rental house.
A lot of folks take advantage of this deal (there are a surprising number of "no vacancy" signs lit-up around OCNJ on these weekends), so crowd control is always appreciated.
Travels And Tribulations Two
Oh, Jeez, I almost forgot to tell you guys about our other travel trouble, like I said I would. And you all were probably checking every day to see if I had posted it.
And it's a long story, too. Seems that the beach house we like to rent down in Ocean City isn't available at all this summer so we have to go back to the house we rented two years ago, the other time our regular beach house wasn't being rented out all summer. And, and, well, that's about it. Not much of a story.
No, wait, there is more - it's going to cost us a couple hundred more to rent this backup house, which is going to hurt a bit but the house really is worth it - fireplace, big kitchen, two bathrooms, three bedrooms, garage. Just having off-street parking downthebeach is worth at least an extra hundred bucks. (Longtime readers might remember me writing about this whole beach house shuffle last year).
Now, back to our Eastertime DC trip - commenter John tells me that the hotel we're staying at is the one Reagan was shot outside of. They didn't mention that on their website. I wonder if there's a plaque? I know from reading Assassination Vacation that there are tons of presidential assassination-related landmarks, but attempted presidential assassinations? I don't know.
And last, but absolutely not least, the tax refunds are in and the missus and I have booked our first vacation without the kids since before there were kids to book a vacation without. [Huh?]. Four days and three nights this May down in trendy SoBe. No Hotwire.com gamble this time, we used Expedia for this trip. We ended up with a room at the Park Central, which looks like a pretty cool old (but hopefully not run down) art-deco hotel. We were originally thinking about going back to the Bahamas (our last big trip, twelve long years ago), but we saved a ton of money staying stateside (money that we'll need for that more expensive Ocean City house). All we're really looking for is some sunshine and relaxation so this should do.
OCNJ, DC, SoBe. Look at us - traveling all over the globe hemisphere continent country east coast. Eh, it's a start.
Travels And Tribulations
The Long Cut clan usually only take two vacations each year: at Easter and at the Fourth of July. Independence Day week is always spent downtheshore in Ocean City, NJ, and Easter weekend is spent somewhere within short driving distance of our house. Last year that meant Washington, DC and since everyone seemed to enjoy themselves there, we're going back to DC again this Easter.
As luck would have it, we made both of our vacation plans this week. As bad luck would have it, we had problems with both.
Last Spring we used Hotwire.com to book our trip to the Capital City. Hotwire gives you the room rate, the area a hotel is in, and the "star rating" for the hotel. What it doesn't give you is the name of the hotel, what kind of room you'll get, or what amenities come with your room. Last year was the first time we tried Hotwire and we made out pretty good. We got a suite, free breakfast, an indoor pool, and a location pretty close to the Mall. Our one night spent in Baltimore ended up being at a run-down Holiday Inn (not exactly the 3-star hotel they promised), but overall we were pretty happy with Hotwire. Plus we got three free magazine subscription for booking with them!
So this year we went with them again. Yes, it's a little risky, but they were advertising a 4-star hotel in the Dupont Circle area for $89 a night - about $40 than any other of their (lesser-starred) hotel offers and much cheaper than anything I could find on my own. What we ended up with is the very nice (and very large) Hilton Washington, which is all the way out by the zoo (Hotwire's definition of the "Dupont Circle area" is apparently quite encompassing). And it doesn't have free breakfast. And it only has an outdoor pool (no use to us in early April). And it has very small single rooms, which is what we ended up with (Fodor's says something like, "for such a big hotel their rooms sure are tiny"). Great.
We are pretty close to a Metro stop, though, and the zoo is right there, but boy I sure hope we have nice weather that weekend.
I do believe this will be the last time we use Hotwire. Shoot, they don't even offer the free magazine subscriptions anymore.
[Stay tuned for part two of our travel troubles - our hotel hassle, our booking bother - coming soon...]
Rides Just Like A Little Bit Of Heaven Here On Earth
I'm a little late with this, but mad props go out to frequent commenter and long-time sister Donna for getting the four-year-old his first real bike. It was a very cool thing for her to do, and I would have mentioned it on my blog even if she didn't tell me I had to.
Now if I could only remember what happened to the nine-year-old's first bike...
Buoy, It Sure Is Great To Be Back
San Diego was very nice. Home is even nicer.
I sure will miss the palm trees, though.
Maybe I Should Have Made A Left At Albuquerque San Ysidro?
Hola, amigos del corte largo!
It's late and I'm tired and I still have to pack for my flight home tomorrow (good thing for me things are going so smoothly at the airports these days!).
I really don't have a lot of time to write, and I'm working with really slow (but free) wifi tonight. So I'll just have to promise to tell you on another day about how I got on a bus for a mile-long ride to the beach and accidentally ended up about twenty feet away from entering Mexico.
Did I mention I'm in San Diego for a cartographer's conference? That's right, I get paid to make maps for a living. Ha!
I'm Wester Than I’ve Ever Been And Now I’m Even Wester, And Now I’m Even Wester, And Now I’m Even Wester, I’m Wester Than I’ve Ever Been And Now I’m Even Wester, And Now I’m Wester Still
Between waking up at 3AM to get to the airport at 4AM, seven hours of flying, and the three-hour time change, I'm pretty loopy right now.
But I'm loopy in California, which is much cooler than my usual loopy.
Also: Lake Michigan is huge, America west of the Mississippi is pretty neat to look out over (at least to this geography geek) and it's so so strange watching the sun go down over the ocean.
More tomorrow.
[The cool kids should get the post title]
No Ocupado
On the eve of my six-hour-plus trip across the country, I can't help but think that my streak of never using (or even stepping inside of) an airplane lavatory is about to come to an end (no pun intended).
My anti-Mel Gibson streak, however, remains strong.
Seems It Never Rains In Southern California
My San Diego business-trip forecast:
Partly cloudy? Mostly sunny? What's up with that?!?
Oh, what I have to endure for my job.
Where In The World Are My Books On San Diego?
They're right in my house!
But it didn't look good there for a while. I had put a hold on both of the books (plus a couple novels) and while they were in transit to my local branch, my local branch was forced to close due to construction next-door.
The closure wouldn't last long, the sign on the door assured, just until Monday. Except I'm leaving for San Diego Sunday morning (you remember me telling you about this, right?). Not good.
Here's where being a nice guy and writing a letter to the library's volunteer organization about how great the workers at your local branch are (and they are, at least at my branch). What happens is that a lot of the librarians remember you (since your letter was read at a staff meeting), and even two years after the letter they're still willing to do a favor or two for you.
A phone call, a knock on the library door, a big "thank you," and I've got my travel guides.
Now if I could only get those novels, too.
Having Never Been West Of The Mississippi, I'll Just Have To Assume That This Joke Is Funny Because It's True
I like how these guys think - if you're going to send out TrackBack spam, you should at least make it funny (or try to anyway).
I'll still delete it, but at least I get something for my troubles.
And the title of this post won't be true for long - I just booked my flight out to Sandy Eggo for a conference in August. Woo-Hoo!
Oops, I what I meant to say is, boo-hoo! It's not going to be any fun without the missus and kids there with me. I doubt I'll enjoy myself at all that week.
(woo-hoo!)
Postcard From DC - Je Me Souviens
Scenes from a cheap DC souvenir store (all photos unedited, since I'm 150 miles from my PhotoShop program):
Take that, all you Marcs! Time to face facts - we Marks rule. You tried and you lost. Just give it up. (Now that I think about it, the "Marc" plates may have been somewhere above the Marissa plates. That would make sense, but it still wouldn't change the fact that you guys suck.)
The Bush mommies - Freaky and Deaky.
Notice: A yellow ribbon is no longer enough. A magnetic yellow ribbon is also not enough. Your ribbon must now be yellow AND magnetic AND flashing. Anything else is anti-American and therefore unacceptable.
Ya gotta pick one or the other, 'cause there ain't no way in Hell you're into both. In fact, I'm not even comfortable with these two ties touching like that.
And one bonus photo that looks like it was taken at a cheap DC souvenir store but was actually taken at the Hirshhorn Museum (honest!):
Yeah, they're yellow alright, but do they flash?
Other Than That, Mrs. Lincoln, How Did You Enjoy Your Stay At Embassy Suites Hotel?
What kind of hotel, in this day and age, does not offer free wireless Internet access?!? Embassy Suites, that's who.
So I'm stuck using other people's flickr shots (the photographer is named "ultrasupergenius," so I wouldn't blame you for thinking that it was me) and posting from a workstation down in the hotel lobby.
All I can say after one day is, man, DC has a lot of flowers. And they keep good care of them, too. Be-a-u-tiful. The nice weather doesn't hurt either.
And yes, we're staying very close to Ford's Theater, which I hope explains the post title.
Dang, We Should've Just Dukesofhazzarded It. And Yes, That Is So A Word.
Those traveling the back way down to Ocean City, NJ on County Route 559 through Somers Point should be advised that the Mays Landing Road bridge is closed. They should also know that this closure is preceded by some of the worst signage I've ever seen. Be prepared to make a lot of k-turns.
The Long Cut family found themselves down in Ocean City (and making a lot of k-turns) yesterday despite the fact that it was rainy, cold, rainier, colder, rainiest and coldest because this place offers better-than half-off ride tickets on Palm Sunday and Easter weekends. So all the smart folks who plan on vacationing down in OCNJ go down on one of these weekends and stock up.
But the rainier the day, the fewer people head down. So when the little league opener was finally canceled, I suggested we take advantage of the wet weather.
We usually spend Easter weekend in OCNJ and just pick the tickets up while we're down there, but this year we'll be spending the holiday weekend in DC, figuring that there will be a little more for the boys to do down there - especially if it ends up being rainy. Lots of free museums and such. Plus we got an excellent deal by using Hotwire.com. You book without knowing what kind of room you'll get, but we ended up with a suite. Sweet.
And if anyone out there has any suggestions for places to take the boys to (and/or family-friendly but tasty restaurants), I'm listening.
Throw Any Sense Of Self-Respect From The Train
Okay, I know it's a teeny bit blurry, that's because it's kind of hard to take a photo surreptitiously on a crowded (not to mention moving) commuter train. You'll just have to take my word for it:
The man in this picture, the one with the conservative haircut and neatly-trimmed beard, the one wearing the starched white shirt and pressed khakis -yes, the one with the big red arrow pointing at him - chose to make his ride home from the office a little more enjoyable by using his portable DVD player and headphones.
I have to admit it was the first time I've ever seen someone do this on my train, but I don't think it's such a unusual event in these days where all forms of entertainment have been made portable. In fact, I don't know if anyone would have even given the guy a second look if it wasn't for the fact that he was using the time to watch STEEL CAGE WRASLIN'!
Days like this, I don't mind taking the train so much.
The Fairytale of New Jersey
The boy and his dad, downashore, 1974.
This is the story of a boy. A boy who loved going downashore.
This love has been there since as long as the boy can remember, when his family used to rent a house in the Brant Beach section of Long Beach Island for a week every summer. The boy remembers that the house seemed to be surrounded by reeds. The boy celebrated many birthdays and showed off his kung-fu moves at that house. And the boy, thirty years later, still remembers how one summer there was a tire-flattened frog on the street his family walked on from the house to the beach. He can still picture that frog, surely preserved for way beyond that week by the heat coming from the steaming hot tar of the road. [Many, many years later, the frog was gone - and so was the house, knocked down and replaced with condos - not even a reed remained near the site.]
But soon the family switched rental houses and switched shore towns, too, now choosing to go to Ocean City, where the boy's aunt owned a house that was smack-dab in the middle of a church parking lot. 
Ocean City offered a boardwalk and the back wall of the church was perfect for throwing a rubber ball against. And holy cow, was it ever easy to get to mass on Sunday. In that church parking lot, the boy finally learned to ride a bike - at the belated age of eleven. The boy remembers that his family always seemed to have the house the week of baseball's All-Star game. Being a Rod Carew fan, the boy always rooted for the American League. Back then, the National League always seemed to win. [A few years later the church decided that their parking lot could use a few more spots, and the house was knocked down and paved over. An addition was erected on the back of the church, no longer making it an ideal surface for playing wall-ball.]
The boy and his mom, downashore, 1974.
During the boy's high school years the family returned to Long Beach Island - this time to the Surf City section, about ten miles north of their old LBI location. By this time the south end of the island had become the cool end, and the newly licensed boy drove down there almost every night. The boy spent very little time in the Surf City beach house, especially in his first-floor bedroom (next to the garage and more accurately called a basement, since most of the living area was on the second floor), which reeked of mold and mildew. [This nasty little house, of course, somehow still survives twenty years later.]
Then the boy went off and got married to a wonderful girl who loved going downashore even more than the boy. When they started taking their little family to the beach, they, trusting the boy's memories, chose Ocean City. They rented the first floor of an old three-story house, hemmed in by an apartment building and a too-close neighbor. Indoor sunlight was sparse, the washer and dryer were four blocks away, and central air was just a dream.
The owner of the tiny house they rented, a nice old man who lived on the third floor, told them stories of developers offering him large sums of money just so they could knock down his house to build high-priced fancy townhouses. He always turned them down. After a few years at this house, the owner decided to rent the house out to one renter for the whole season and the boy and girl had to find another house. [Last summer the boy and girl walked past that old house, only to find that it had finally been knocked down and replaced with those high-price townhouses. The boy and girl wondered if the old owner finally gave in to the developers or maybe he just passed away. They almost hoped it was the latter.]
But the boy and girl lucked out. They found a house that had just been redone (though not by knocking anything down) and was priced right. This house had a washer and dryer! And central air! And they loved the house. It was at this house that their one son took his first steps, and where he discovered something called "the Disney Channel." But soon these owners also rented out to one renter for the whole season, and the boy and girl went looking again.
Last year the boy and girl went on-line and found a summer house that seemed too good to be true - all the perks of the last house - plus a third bedroom! And a second bath! And a fireplace! For the same price! It seemed that a new owner was pricing the house low to lure people away from their existing rentals. But the boy and girl (and their two little boys) didn't need luring, and pounced on the house.
And now it's January and the boy and girl went to the magic website that would tell them how much the owners of that wonderful beach house would charge this summer and found out that the rent was going up $400 dollars this year. And the boy and girl said, "screw that."
Luckily, the house before this one, which really was pretty good and does have central air (though no fireplace), had not been knocked down and was even available once again. And for the week they wanted, too. And the price was $400 less than what those mean old ogres at the other house were demanding.
And so the boy said, "This is good. Tomorrow I shall place a call to the realtor and snag that bad boy."
And they all, hopefully, vacationed happily ever after.
The end.
Tanked
Warning: This post is nothing more than an excuse to show the above picture of the three-year old.
Yesterday was our big "Day Out With Thomas" down at Historic Cold Spring Village in Cape May, and let me tell you, Sir Topham Hatt is making money hand over fist off this thing.
Day Out With Thomas, or "DOWT" as those in the know call it, is a traveling show where a full-size stream engine that looks like Thomas is brought to tourist rail lines, hooked up to a few of their passengers cars, loaded up with kids who are just a little too excited about talking trains (and their brainwashed parents), and sloooooowly chug-chug-chugged up the historic-but-mainly-underutilized tracks for thirteen minutes, then slooooooly toot-toot-tooted back into the historically refurbished station.
If you are familiar with the Thomas the Tank Engine stories, you know that there has never been one as boring as a Day Out With Thomas. There isn't an episode where some train doesn't crash through a building or sink into a lake or get stuck in an avalanche. That's one reason I did mind handing over $16 a ticket to Sir Topham Hatt - the guy's insurance must be through the friggin' roof!
But come on, throw us a bone here. I'm not asking for much, maybe being chased by a giant boulder? Having tar spilled all over the train? Christ, just let us crash into something, it doesn't have to be a building, I'd be happy with hitting a cow or something. If I'm shelling out $64 and traveling a hundred miles, I don't think letting us slam into a large animal is too much to ask.
Of course the Thomas people aren't satisfied with just taking your $16 bucks, they also want you to buy one of every item from the Thomas catalog. They set up a little fair-like area, with rides and tattoos and singers, all free, but you just cannot avoid the biggest tent there - the Thomas Store. Tons and tons of junk with Thomas' face plastered on it. And the cash registers were practically smoking. We luckily got out of there with just a t-shirt and the Special Limited Edition Henry train.
Since we were so close to the coast, we decided to hit Wildwood's boardwalk for a while. The missus and I haven't been down there since our early dating days (during the Reagan years!), and now we remember why. Wildwood's boardwalk is too sleazy for us, with the impossible-to-win carnival games and the obnoxious tram cars. I know that a lot of people love Wildwood, but give us quiet ol' Ocean City any day. I just don't see us going back to Wildwood any time soon.
Unless, of course, those tram cars start hitting cows.
Elephantine Beat
I've created a photo album of some of the pictures I took of Lucy the Elephant while on vacation. Lucy isn't easy to explain, but I'll try: Lucy is a 125-year old giant wooden elephant that was built to attract home-buyers to South Atlantic City (now Margate). If you want more information, I suggest you go to Lucy's website (what elephant doesn't have a website these days?).
Lucy may sound like a boring ol' tourist attraction, but this is no "Giant Ball of Twine." We try to go every summer 'cause the kids love it and the view from the top of Lucy is pretty cool.
The Feel Good Hit Of The Summer
With only three (woo-hoo!) days left before we head downtheshore, my mind has finally turned to what I need to pack. The missus tends to get a little more anxious about this than I do, and yet she often overlooks one of the more important vacation items: the music.
Every summer, one of the CDs (or cassettes, back in the day) I take down with us will stand out and become the defining soundtrack of that year's vacation. Corny, huh? It's not like I set out to do this, just one year I noticed that, after listening to it a lot downtheshore, every time I heard something from Nirvana's Nevermind, I thought of our vacation. Then I noticed that this happening every year. Now it's gotten to the point where I probably put too much thought into it, but what are you going to do, I'm geeky that way.
So here are the soundtracks of our six years of going downtheshore (yes, it's one word, and no, it's not downashore):
First off, since this is the Jersey shore we're talking about, I always bring a Springsteen disc or two, ideally early Bruce, but the missus prefers his newer stuff (and can't stand his old stuff), so last year we brought The Rising, which is definitely not a feel-good summer album.
1998: Nevermind by Nirvana. By this time, this album was already seven years old and Kurt Cobain was four years gone. I had this cassette in my truck for a long time, but something about listening to it down the beach made me finally connect with it.
1999: The Globe by Big Audio Dynamite II. This was actually on the flip side of my Nevermind tape (pretty eclectic tape, no?). Not understanding the whole "summer soundtrack" dynamic just yet, I assumed that I would re-connect with Nirvana again. But it was BAD II that caught the summer spirit that year. I was a big fan of the original Big Audio Dynamite (and, of course, Mick Jones' other band, the Clash), but The Globe seemed gimmicky and never did much for me, until that summer.
2000: Altered Beast by Matthew Sweet. Okay, this one I liked way before taking it down the beach, but from 2000 on it will always remind me of riding in Ocean City with the windows down.
2001: It's A Shame About Ray by the Lemonheads. By now I was trying to guess what would make a good beach album. I don't remember what other tapes I took in 2001, but it was the Lemonheads that ended up working for me. I need to get this on CD.
2002: No family vacation due to the birth of our second child. We really didn't want to deal with the hassle of taking a three-month old out in the sun for seven days. I'm guessing he wouldn't have gotten much out of it.
2003: Life On Other Planets by Supergrass. Someone burned this CD (the first CD on this list!) for me just before we went on vacation that year. You wouldn't think of it as a "summer sound," but every single song on it just rocks. I think the missus hated it and the kids didn't seem so thrilled about me playing it every time we drove somewhere that week, but oh well.
2004: In Reverse by Matthew Sweet. Hmm, if one album couldn't cover two summers, could one artist? Apparently, yes, if it's Matthew Sweet. I hadn't really given this disc a lot of attention before that summer, but after listening to it on the ride to and from Ocean City I think the missus and I both had a greater appreciation of the album. Strong from start to finish. I think it might be his best work, but what Matthew Sweet CD I like most changes depending on my mood.
So there you have my past picks, now I have to decide the five or six discs I'll take with my this year. I assume that one will be by Wilco (I'm thinking Summerteeth) but I haven't thought of any others yet. You guys should know my musical tastes by now, any suggestions?
Wireless-less
This post is to prove that my blog really hasn't become all meme all the time.
My blogging (and blog reading) has become several hampered by the fact that my laptop's wireless network has not worked for the last three days. So I can't write after the missus and the kids are asleep like I prefer to do. Instead I have to do it when I find the time, and I haven't been finding much time around here lately - not even enough time to work on fixing the wireless problem.
Two things I've been meaning to write about, both of which would probably have benefited from being written closer to midnight:
His Cup Creepith Over: It took me almost 37 years before I purchased my first athletic cup, and now, a week later, my seven-year old got his first. The back-up catcher on his our team broke his hand and they need a replacement and the number one requirement to being a catcher is owning a cup. Since he, like his Pop, has an overwhelming fear of a baseball coming at him, there's little chance of the seven-year old becoming the back-up. But he wanted the cup and after seeing how some of these pitchers throw I feel better with my boy protecting his boys.
The thing is, when he's wearing it he rarely stops messing with it. And if he's not messing with it he's talking about it. He did get to warm up the pitcher the other night (after bugging the manager for most of the game). The pitcher threw a total of two balls that the team's newest warm-up "catcher" let go right by him, but he (the seven-year old, not the pitcher) was satified.
Penthouse Sweet: The other thing was the getaway overnight trip the missus and I took last weekend. Our favorite niece (well, she is now!) offered to watch the kids overnight, so the missus and I ran as fast as we could to the Warwick Hotel just off beautiful Rittenhouse Square in Philly. Despite rainy weather and an off-and-on belly ache for the missus, we enjoyed ourselves. It was sooooooo relaxing. And way tooooooo short. Our (very budget conscious) room was on the 21st floor. When we got in the elevator, the numbers only went up to 20. After that was "PH." Penthouse? Nah. But we pressed it, and sure enough we were in the penthouse. Just not a penthouse suite. A little room between the penthouse suites, but we liked it. It was especially fun watching the many double-takes when other guests would see us press the penthouse button in the elevator - especially all the high-priced lawyers staying there (on the, uggh, common-folk floors) for a Temple Law School Alumni weekend!
Here's the view from our penthouse window (photo courtesy of the missus):
We now return you to your memes, already in progress.
Photo Friday - 05.20.05
05.20.05 Photo Friday Challenge: Green
Dragon Pedal Boats, Inner Harbor, Baltimore, MD.
Each week Photo Friday posts a photo assignment. Your mission is the creative interpretation of the week's theme. When you're done, post the picture you took to your website and submit your link to Photo Friday. Photo Friday is about challenging our participants to be original and creative within the constraints of the week's theme. It's not a competition. Anyone with a camera and a place on the Internet to post pictures can participate.
Where You Been: The Map
A couple of weekends ago I posted a meme on what states I have visited. Being a cartographer, it of course never occurred to me that a map should be included. Luckily, there's a website out there that will do the mapping for you. Here's my map (I still haven't figured out a way to cross the Mississippi):
Update (03.22.05): To appease the missus (see comments), I have changed the map so that the states visited are no longer "red states." I couldn't make them blue without having them blend in with the water features plus, really, Alabama as a blue state?
Photo Friday - 02.25.05
Each week Photo Friday posts a photo assignment. Your mission is the creative interpretation of the week's theme. When you're done, post the picture you took to your website and submit your link to Photo Friday. Photo Friday is about challenging our participants to be original and creative within the constraints of the week's theme. It's not a competition. Anyone with a camera and a place on the internet to post pictures can participate.
02.25.05 Challenge: Ghostly
Self-Portrait on Train.
RiverLine, South Jersey, USA.
Photo Friday - 02.18.05
Each week Photo Friday posts a photo assignment. Your mission is the creative interpretation of the week's theme. When you're done, post the picture you took to your website and submit your link to Photo Friday. Photo Friday is about challenging our participants to be original and creative within the constraints of the week's theme. It's not a competition. Anyone with a camera and a place on the internet to post pictures can participate.
02.18.05 Challenge: Rural
Five years ago, the seven-year-old got carsick on our way down to Ocean City, NJ. We quickly got him out of the truck and he ended up throwing up on the farm pictured above. For the last five years we have not been able to make the trip to Ocean City without pointing out the place he got sick, so on our last trip out there I decided to finally take a picture of the site so it can become part of our family's photo history.
One Step Up, Two Blocks Back
This morning the whole family climbed into the crappy KIA minivan for a trip down to Ocean City, NJ.
Last week we found out that our current vacation rental wasn't available, so we went down to look for a suitable replacement. Here's our history concerning rental houses in OCNJ:
In 1998 we found a nice place - tiny, no cental air, but very close to the beach.
After three years, we lost that house to a year-round tenant.
In 2001 we found a better place - little bit bigger, central air, washer & dryer, but further from the beach.
After three years (we didn't go in 2002), we lost that house to someone renting it for a six-week block (including our week).
In 2005 (today) we found an even better house - central air, washer & dryer, extra bedroom, master bath, but even further from the beach.
We figure, at this rate, in twenty years we'll be renting a mansion for a beach house. But it will be in Trenton.
Get Your Demonic Kicks On Route...
I was in Bridgeton, NJ all day today. I wouldn't say it was the meeting from hell but, no lie, this was the road it was on:
[devish voice:] mmmmwwwaaa ha ha ha ha ha ha!
A Guy Walks Into a Salad Bar…
A quick post with an old joke and a new link, since I have to be in Bala Cynwyd soon and don’t have much time: Rich Hall told this joke years and years ago on WMMR when 'MMR was still the station in Philly:
Two guys are driving down City Line Ave and arguing over how to pronounce Bala Cynwyd. One guy says it Bal-a Sin-Wid, the other guy says it Ba-la Kin-wood. After arguing for a while they decide to pull into a fast food joint and ask a local. So they go in and asks the guy behind the counter, “How do you pronounce the name of where we are right now?”
And the counter guy slowly says: Burr-Gerr King.
Anyway, if you’re like me, you don’t want to reward any companies that spent big bucks to get BushCo reelected. So before you go out shopping this weekend, check out this site, and make it a Blue (state) Christmas. It provides a list of all the companies that were naughty (gave primarily to the GOP) and nice (gave to the Dems).