Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Observations

My primary resource on these things, the Urban Dictionary, defines hero as “Someone who helps without anything expected in return. Their gesture may be big or small, profound or not, it doesn't make im' any less of a hero.”

In his speech in Tucson tonight President Obama said “We are grateful for Daniel Hernandez, a volunteer in Gabby's office who ran through the chaos to minister to his boss, tending to her wounds to keep her alive. We are grateful for the men who tackled the gunman as he stopped to reload. We are grateful for a petite 61 year-old, Patricia Maisch, who wrestled away the killer's ammunition, undoubtedly saving some lives.”

And so I give you a hero ….



Complete text of President Obama's speech.

Observations from the Library 1.12

As much as I like to complain about it I have always liked snow and the winter. To prove my point I'll say I own two pairs of skis and two pairs of ice skates all of which are home at my dad's because one does not do winter in the city. At least that is what I thought until now. I'm either in a better mood since the holidays are past or I’m just resigned to this being one of those snowy winters because I didn't mind at all the coming of the second big nor'easter of the winter. Actually I was more than a little excited as I watched the storm start.

Last night I sat in the window watching the first flakes fall and I came to a decision. No matter how much snow fell overnight today was going to be a snow day and I wasn't going to let work get in the way of it. I even had a plan for the day because somebody had told me of a shop near Central Park that rents cross country skis. Now I may have cross country skied all of one time in my life but I was ready to give looking like a tall dark leather clad fool my best shot. Only problem was the store was closed so I had to move quickly to plan b, whatever that was going to be.

My winter exercises of choice have always been ice skating and ice hockey but I have notoriously weak ankles so I have to wear hockey skates for the extra support and many public rinks don’t rent hockey skates. As I wandered through Central Park I was dreaming of my oh so far away CCM skates when I happened to start talking to somebody and skates came up. Not long after I found myself the proud renter of a pair of well worn hockey skates and in search of ice to skate on.

I headed to Bryant Park because at Citi Pond it is free to skate and I had my camera with me and knew that lockers there were also free. How do they make any money? I didn't say locks were free I just said the lockers were but I'm smart enough to carry a lock in my backpack. When you carry a camera around all the time you never know when you might need one, just like with a bike. After a couple hours on skates, and a slightly bruised butt, I wandered into the library to check in. Than I can do some 'work' I need to do and still be able to skate again later. Skate until I have to head home or until my legs and ass scream for mercy, whichever comes first.

Even though we got another foot of snow dumped on us the storm wasn't nearly as bad as the last one. I do feel for the people of Connecticut, Boston, and the rest of New England where as of now they have gotten up to thirty new inches. Still for me it turned out to be a pretty good snow day. I got out in the air, I got to skate, and I wrote this instead of the gun control or Sara Palin posts I had been thinking about.

All in due time.

White Lies - Farewell To The Fairground