Observations from the Road 12.1

Something happened a few days ago that I found so funny I had to share the even if it says way too much about today's world and not in a good way. If you don't know I'm originally from a smallish town in Pennsylvania. I was at the final Penn State home game last weekend and due to the weather forecast decided to just go to my dad's afterwords, there was nothing I needed to do that I couldn't do from there. To understand why I found this story so funny you have to try and imagine it happening in a small town, one with a large elderly population, and in an area not exactly known as a hotbed of a liberal agenda. On top of that it happened the day before Thanksgiving.

I was driving through town when I saw three county sheriffs in riot gear standing outside a one chair barber shop. There is a small apartment above the barber and the black clad sheriffs seemed to be pointing up at it. My one uncle works in law enforcement so I texted him to see if he knew what was going on.

This is the quick version of the story I got by text over the next hour as I laughed hysterically. Apparently the sheriffs had shown up to serve a warrant to the man who lives in the apartment. He didn't answer the door and the sheriffs thought they heard a shotgun being loaded so they called for support. My uncle informed me the county rapid response team, read that SWAT team, was staging on a parking lot a block from the barber shop. This is where I couldn't stop laughing because all I could imagine is the scene in Home Alone where Macaulay Culkin  uses the TV for sound effects. As my uncle said, waste all that money, storm the building, and all they find is an empty apartment with a TV blaring what I hoped was Scarface (warning, clip is not approved for all audiences). On my way home I drove a back way to avoid the bedlam but at the last minute swung into town because I just had to see, only there was nothing to see but the original sheriffs. Apparently the long deceased suspect had been found before the team could fully assemble and the coroner had been called but hadn't yet arrived. However the event did make all the local news shows.

I can only imagine the conversations around the town's dinner tables the following day.

note - If you didn't understand what I meant by this little episode saying something about today's world it's this. Police departments, down to the smallest town it seems, are way too well armed and they look for any excuse to use their toys. Imagine what could have happened had the suspect simply been passed out drunk as the 'rapid response team' stormed his apartment.

Observations from the Road 5.28

Inspired by an uncle I was talking to this weekend and my brother's reaction to that same uncle. I could have made it longer but you'll get the point.

Some Republicans, wingnuts, and assorted nutjobs believe many things. They believe President Obama is a Muslim born in Kenya and that the current minor scandals are worse than Watergate. They have never seen a gun they didn't like or think would be perfect for self-defense or pigeon hunting. The problem is you can't get ammo for all those guns because the government seems to be hoarding all the ammo to keep law abiding citizens from getting any. In fact some think the Newtown massacre was orchestrated by the federal government to spur gun control and bring on the confiscation of guns.

They believe in death squads, hidden weapons of mass destruction, and that Al Qaeda is stronger than ever. They believe the 4 American dead in Benghazi are worth more hearings than 7,000 American dead in Iraq and Afghanistan.

As Wall Street reaches record levels they know that President Obama is at fault for the collapse of the economy. They never saw a tax cut or rich man they didn't like or a poor man that they did. They look at a collapsed bridge and say infrastructure is something we can no longer afford even as they call this the greatest nation on Earth. They think corporations are the equivalent of you and I but shouldn't have to pay the equivalent taxes. They think austerity is the best answer to everything even though the evidence would say the opposite.

Than they look at record hurricanes, heatwaves, blizzards, wildfires, floods, and tornadoes and they DON'T believe in climate change. It's just too 'out there' for them because it happens to be cold outside.

Observations from the Road, six months after the storm known as Sandy

A combination of things sent me south this past weekend. The weather was gorgeous, I had a chance to check out the beach house in Stone Harbor, and a friend was already doing some work in the Asbury Park area so we decided to pack Foxy and take her on the road for a much needed drive. I honestly didn't think of it being six months after Sandy hit but that it was.

The photo I posted with this isn't the best I have ever taken but I have a reason for using it. The road in the photo is Ocean Drive between Avalon and Stone Harbor and it's a road I have driven every summer since I learned to drive. Actually, like many things at the shore, I drove on it before I learned to drive but that's another story. Ocean Drive runs from one end of Seven Mile Island to the other, through Sea Isle City, Avalon, and Stone Harbor. I have driven it in at sunrise in search of fresh sticky buns, in thunder storms, in pre-dawn fog, and at sunset going to Sylvester's for seafood. To me personally it's one of the great roads in the world and seeing a road closed sign on it was one of the saddest things I ever saw. Supposedly going to be open before Memorial Day but if not I'm going to borrow my brother's jeep and drive it anyway.

Stone Harbor itself is in good shape considering it had record rainfall amounts along with record flood levels during the three high tides of Sandy. I was talking to someone who stayed in Avalon during the storm and than helped friends farther north. He said one thing he will never forget is the sight of people's lives piled up at the curb. Furniture, rugs, shore stuff, all water damaged and covered with sand and muck. One of my favorite shops, the Suncatcher, is just off the ocean on 2^nd Avenue in Stone Harbor and had two feet of water inside at the worst of the storm but you couldn't tell now other than the total newness of everything inside. Fred's Tavern was also in good shape but nobody would admit whose idea the new menu item was. I passed on the Indonesian Shisk Kabobs and stuck with the burgers and beer.

The barrier islands north of Atlantic City were much more heavily damaged than those to the south even though Sandy came ashore roughly over top of AC. We didn't spend much time in the north but there was one spot I had to see. To most people one of more lasting images of Sandy is the Star Jet roller coaster sitting forlornly in the surf of Seaside Heights. The coaster is still there now, drawing flocks of tourists along with the flocks of sea gulls, but its removal is supposed to happen before Memorial Day too. I'm not so sure about that one.

Politically one thing I found was how dearly refusing to quickly pass Sandy relief legislation cost the Republicans. So many people I talked to swore it would be a long time before they even thought about voting Republican, they felt betrayed. I should note that two Republican lawmakers from Texas, including Senator Ted Cruz, who voted against Sandy aid now want federal aid for West, Texas following the fertilizer plant explosion. I think the Texans should wait a respectable length of time, say six months.

Governor Chris Christie for one doesn't fall into the same category as Congressional Republicans. In Jersey Chris Christie is still a god on the level of his idol Bruce Springsteen.

Many people are still hurting, they can't afford to rebuild homes, the insurance money they get doesn't begin to cover the cost of building at the shore today, and some places are in areas that no longer can get flood insurance. FEMA was working on new flood elevation maps when Sandy hit and now many older homes are in the FEMA's most restricted zones and must be raised or see their flood insurance rates rise from $1,000 a year to $15,000. In the end I think many people will sell family homes to developers who will build more of the million dollar monsters that even now line parts of Ocean Drive.

Sadly I think one of the lasting effects of Sandy on the Jersey shore will be the acceleration of some parts of it turning into a rich man's playground.

Observations from the Road 4.1

It's April Fools' Day and what would it be without those fun peeps at Google freaking people out. They announced on the YouTube blog that YouTube has been one big contest all along and that after 8 years they have found the world's best video so will be shutting down at midnight tonight. Google also announced that Google Maps will now come with a treasure mode.

Semi-seriously speaking of Google, the sudden controversy over yesterday's 'Google Doodle' is too funny. So maybe somebody screwed up memorializing Cesar Chavez on his birthday instead of celebrating Easter. Am I serious? No not really but it looked good. So is the doodle all that important? No. Is Easter that important? No. Is everybody suddenly a Christian? No. Would Google have been better off with Easter eggs and a bunny? Very much so. Messed up world.

My dad was always a big Jeopardy fan and he had some info for me that I wish was and April Fools' prank. Supposedly Alex Trebek is finally going through with a retirement announcement and will leave the show in 2016. The rumor is that the front runner to replace him is Matt Lauer. Please no. I'm more of a fan of the Saturday Night Live version of Jeopardy so maybe Will Ferrell is available.

I haven't done any Sunday Observations for a few weeks but there is one thing I need to mention before I lose the note. I was watching MSNBC one night, probably The Last Word, and there it was, my dream panel. Krystal Ball and Alex Wagner seated next to each other. All I needed was the addition of Mika Brzezinski and I could have died a happy girl right then and that's no April Fools' joke, seriously.

Observations from the Road 12.27

I never did get back to my emotional response to guns but I still plan on doing it at some point. That doesn't mean it will ever happen, my head is full of posts I plan on getting back to but never do. This is more like a mid-week post Christmas edition of Sunday Observations which is going to seem more like an economics lesson.

I hope you had a good Christmas because it seems Congress has a very special New Years celebration planned this year.

And so I give you this fiscal cliff thing, something I'm totally tired of hearing about. Here is the fiscal cliff in a nutshell; Congress can't seem to do anything, with over 200 votes Congress passes a draconian law that automatically does its job for it, Congress figures it will have to do something before its own law takes effect. Now, and this is the surprising part, Congress can't force itself to do anything to stop what Congress itself has created. Is it any wonder said Congress has an approval rating slightly lower than the Communist Party's? I didn't know the Communist party still existed.

Meanwhile the government will once again hit the debt ceiling on New Years Eve, something else to add to the cliff. I agree with former President Bill Clinton on this one. President Obama should just raise the debt limit by executive order and let the republicans take him to court if they want to. As Clinton said why should Congress be allowed to vote on expenditures they already passed? It's like you went out and bought a Christmas present on credit and than when the bill came decided not to pay it. What makes this even crazier is that the government currently pays 1% interest on new loans so borrowing now to pay for projects is probably the best investment they can make. The Treasury department says they can put off the ceiling for a few months by using accounting methods, I think I'll try that when it's income tax time.

A quick note on White House petitions. Some people have been complaining that 'joke' petitions are taking away from serious politics in this country. It is beyond me how that is possible given the state of Congress but that's what they say. Anyway there are some serious petitions to look at. One would have the President "Legally recognize Westboro Baptist Church as a hate group." It was started by a member of the hacker group Anonymous after the WBC announced it was going to protest at the funerals of the Newtown shooting victims. As of now it has 263,000 signatures so will get an official response which should be interesting. You can read it here.

Also there was a good but sad article about the complete disconnect between those who fight our wars and the rest of the country in Christmas day's edition of The New York Times. The article, "With a Parent Off Again at War, a Holiday of Pride and Isolation," included this line; "No one really cares,” Tyisha Smith, a 19-year-old senior, said of the outside world."

I'm sure Congress will get to Afghanistan after it gets past its Thelma and Louise moment.

Finally, and once again, where have you gone NHL?

12/28 update - I just read a Reuters article about the Westboro petition and it said 475,000 people has signed it. I was thinking 200,000 more signatures can't be possible in one day so I checked it out. Seems there are three petitions; the main one has 287,000, another to investigate Westboro's tax exempt status has 69,500 signatures, and a third to revoke its tax exempt status and label it a hate group has 63,000 signatures.

Observations from the Road 11.22

It officially begins, the holiday season. It begins with warm pastries, coffee, and a newspaper with enough Black Friday ads to kill a tree. Somewhere in this house my dad surely has a case of win hid but I haven't begun to seriously look for it yet. He started hiding it years ago when he bought a case of wine to last the entire month and I drank most of it over Thanksgiving weekend. My wingnut uncles will do that to me and I can call them wingnuts in writing because I've been known to call them wingnuts to their face. They laugh it off though because they know Katie never has been all there. Little do they know, Katie is just fine but they aren't all there. This is how it goes at our Thanksgiving dinner and I love every wine soaked minute of it.

Somewhere Christmas music is playing now. Probably that overly sentimental sister of mine preparing herself for an early round of shopping tomorrow morning. I know its not my brother because it isn't noon yet so he wont be awake. But I lie, he was up as early as me and made the coffee. Much better coffee than I could have made I might add.

It's a gorgeous if cold morning in Pennsylvania. The turkey seems to be suitably thawed and it looks like a nice if somewhat unlucky bird, it didn't win the White House turkey pardon lottery. Wine, cook, dinner, football, wine, argue, stomp out to the porch for a cigarette, football. I think that covers it but did I mention wine?

Strange but as much as I sometimes dislike this time of year it's also the time of year I'm the least cynical. I really don't understand why that is so I guess it just gets filed in the 'I'm just an enigma' category. So what am I thankful for, it always comes down to my family, really that's all I need and I would't change a thing about any of them. Hell I even enjoy arguing with the crazy wingnut branch of the family but maybe that's just because of the wine. I know they don't celebrate our Thanksgiving in the middle east but the Gaza ceasefire seems to be holding for now. That's something to be thankful for too.

Honestly I don't understand why everybody doesn't celebrate our Thanksgiving Day. I mean seriously, who wouldn't want to remember a group of religious zealots landing in a new land, celebrating with the native population, enjoying their gifts of food, all the while wondering how they could be rid of them in the spring. It's just so American. Sarcasm! Just prepping for my uncles.

Happy Thanksgiving people

Observations from the Window 6.20

Staying at the beach house until Monday morning didn't allow me enough time to drive back to the Village  via the scenic route. Driving north through the Garden State along I95 or the Garden State Parkway is something slightly less than enjoyable. The farther north one drives the more industrialized it becomes until the state sheds any resemblance to its Garden State nickname. By the time you reach the City pine barrens, cranberry bogs, and fresh air have been left far behind. The scene is dominated by oil refineries, chemical plants, land fills, and what passes for air in this part of the country.

It always reminds me of a sort of inside joke about Jersey. One that seemingly nobody outside of Pennsylvania ever understands. Especially people from Jersey.

When somebody mentions they are from or traveling to New Jersey it is best to respond with a question. "What exit?" Most people just don't get the meaning, as you probably don't, and answer with a blank stare. The only way I can explain the question is this. The typical Pennsylvanian thinks the only good thing about New Jersey, indeed the only reason it exists at all, is that the roads to the shore pass through it.

So, "What exit?"

I never said it was funny.

Observations from Fred's 6.17

I can't say I'm posting from Fred's again, I'm probably not, but I didn't write as much as I planned these last couple days so as far as I'm concerned both beach posts are from Fred's. I had planned on driving back tonight but a totally wiped feeling and my wise dad convinced me to stay until early morning. Gives me one more night to
fall asleep on the deck.

While it wasn't the usual week to clear my head every day I spend here is as close to a perfect day as they get. The ocean and the mountains calm me, it's everything in between that I sometimes have a problem with. Calming or not a few interesting things happened during my brief stay here.

One of the highlights of the weekend happened the first night. I was talking to a friend late that night when I heard a loud noise outside and the power went out. I snuck outside with a golf club in hand only to find most of the neighbors doing the same. What we finally found was that a Tibetan squirrel had self immolated itself on the block's power transformer. As we all stood in the street I did get to meet a couple of girls, recent graduates, who were staying at the house across the street. They were young, cute, and made me feel all of my almost thirty years but they did wave at me more than I have ever been waved at in my life. Both were new to Stone Harbor so I showed them some of the cool shops and galleries but, for the record, I so did not show them
the inside of Fred's.

During a beach walk Saturday morning I stumbled upon a sweet new gallery of sorts. Called the Seaside Gallery and Hemp Emporium it was owned by a tattooed and leather skinned man who called me a dude and I think takes the hemp part of the name way too seriously. To say the very least he was fascinating and I now have his cell number because the gallery was without phone.

Other than those it was the usual for my stays in SH. Did some shopping, a bargain Coach bag and nice photo book the best buys, walked on the beach, ate seafood, and took photos. I may have also spent some time at Fred's.

I try and stay away from the news when I am here, the better to clear my head, but a few things always creep in. Egypt on the verge of blowing up once again, a massive 'silent march' protest back in the city today, and the Sandusky trial. Than there is the continued inability of the Phillies to win a freakin game, no small thing that.

Hopefully I get back again this summer but for now
the real world beckons.

Observations from Fred's 6.13

I like the title of this post, I always wanted to do it. I've written about Fred's often but I have never actually written from Fred's. Fred's would be Fred's Tavern and Liquor Store of Stone Harbor, New Jersey. I have been having beverages here for, well, I shouldn't say because I wouldn't want to admit to doing anything technically illegal. Suffice to say I have been drinking here for many years.

Suppose you figured out that my being at Fred's means I must be in Stone Harbor, very true. Much earlier in the summer than I usually get here but I never turn down time at the beach house and I may have other travel plans later in the summer so I jumped at the chance. Foxy and I had an awesome drive down the coast on a gorgeous evening, taking almost five hours instead of less than three.
As always the first stop was Fred's.

The word may be overused but Fred's really is iconic. Stone harbor and Avalon have changed dramatically over the years I have been coming here. Along Seven Mile Beach block after block of charming bungalows and small beach house have been torn down and replaced by huge hermetically sealed monstrosities costing literally millions of dollars.
A quick search of the Atlantic Beach Realty website shows the highest priced home for sale at a price of ... $6,950,000.
Seems the 1% spends its money on more than overpriced art.

But Fred's is still Fred's. Other than some much needed remodeling and the addition of WiFi it hasn't changed much since I first walked through the door a dozen years ago. Some of the employees, and I swear some of the bands, have been here for years but mostly it's college kids lucky enough to score one of the sweetest summer jobs on the Jersey shore.

My Jersey shore.

Fred's always feels like home, like I never left.

Observations 6.2

see on: picasa or flickr

They say you can never go home again but really that's just total bunk. You can always go home again its just that you never know what you are going to find when you get there. Sometimes you might be better off if you don't go.

When I was growing up I was a total hockey rat. For a few years I lived and breathed hockey all year round. Field hockey, ice hockey, deck hockey, it didn't matter. My second home was a small rink close enough to home that I could ride my bike with hockey sticks strapped to my back. I haven't been there in some time so while I was at my dad's last weekend I thought I would stop by and see what was new. Sadly I found it closed years ago because of the combination of out of control insurance costs and competition from new high-tech rinks that have opened in the area.

I guess this is what memories are for because I have nothing but good ones of this place. Even the bad memories are good. This was the first place I played organized hockey outside of school. A place I played hockey with my brother, coached my sister, and skated with my parents. It's also the scene of a gem of our family lore. When I was 14 there were only girls' leagues and boys' leagues, nothing mixed. To be honest the girls' league was a bit lame because at the time deck hockey was just too uncool for an area than dominated by soccer. One weekend I decided I was going to play with the boys to which they laughed until one snickered and said something along the lines of lets see what she can do, she wont last a game. What i did was break his nose with a check into the boards. I wasn't allowed anywhere near the rink for weeks after that. To this day my dad can't tell that story without breaking into a laugh.

I was just such a sweet girl back than, than again I still am.

Observations from the Road 5.28

Memorial Day weekend brings the unofficial start of summer along with a very large side of sports. That is if you consider auto racing a sport, something that is the subject of endless debate in my family. Summer doesn't officially start for a few weeks but at times it has felt like summer for months. As always I'll leave the science to my brother but damnit whatever happened to spring?

The weekend also became one of a few reasons to make a semi-planned trip home. I semi because I had planned on a day or two at my dad's but i hadn't planned on the whole weekend. Sometimes plans change. Life has a way of throwing unexpected events in the road, sometimes good, sometimes bad, and if you are lucky some of each all at the same time. It is what it is.

But all that is for another time, possibly.

I was driving through rural Pennsylvania on a Saturday morning and I was struck with a thought. Is there any other local in this country with so many damn yard sales? I know it's a holiday weekend all but still they are everywhere. Even my sis was having one when I left. She seems to have joined 'Light The Night' and is going to donate any money she makes to cancer research. My mini me all grown up.

But back to my sports update. I may be almost six feet tall but I was never the biggest basketball fan. I get into it when one of my teams is doing good but other than that it falls to one of the lower rungs of my sports ladder. That being said what an awesome season the Sixers had and I can't think of one bad thing to say about it. A good young team that got everything it could out of itself. You can't ask for anything more than that. They took the Boston Celtics to the last minutes of a game 7 before inexperience took its toll and the Celtics said it ends now. What an awesome season and an awesome future that team has. Unreal that those two teams have played eight game 7s in their history.

A once promising year of Stanley Cup playoffs begins its final chapter this week with the Los Angeles Kings playing the New Jersey Devils for the title. Not exactly a ratings bonanza for NBC but a good series for fans the series features wide open hockey against the supposedly illegal neutral zone trap. The Kings roster includes both former Flyer Jeff Carter and former Flyers' captain Mike Richards so I'll be drinking for them. Both were traded after last years dismal playoff performance in moves that added some of the six rookies that were on the Flyers' playoff roster this year. Whoever wins it wont be the hated New York Rangers and this is a good thing.

As the Phillies begin to age, and possibly look to rebuild, the Flyers and Sixers seem to have some exciting years ahead. Now I have to get back to the French Open.

One last funny story, one of those small town America things that just makes you smile. Now my hometown is small, only a couple thousand people, but every year it holds a Memorial Day parade. I was driving through town to get a paper and coffee and sitting at the curb in the middle of town were two old fashioned folding lawn chairs. Now this is hours before the parade and there isn't a soul in sight but apparently someone was staking out the prime parade watching spot. Just like the Rose Bowl.

Happy Memorial Day people.

Observations from the Window 5.21

"the bridge"

Sunday was just a gorgeous day and I did something I have been wanting to do since I moved to the Village. During the warmer times of year I've always loved to jump in the car, put the top down, and just drive. Just drive to nowhere and see where I end up. It's one of the few times I allow my brain to just shutdown and not think about much of anything but the road ahead. Unless I'm driving to think which is a totally diff mode and a totally diff story.

In New York I'll sometimes just cruise around with the top down and stereo blaring, dodging cabs and basically adding to the din that is the city. It might not be the same as Interstate racing my brother but red light racing a cab with a toll has its own appeal. Still given enough time I like to get as far away from the metro area as I can and Sunday was just perfect.

What I'll do is check the traffic map and head in the direction that gets me out of town as quick as possible. The problem is that always has seemed to be any direction but north and I always wanted to make a run up the Hudson Valley. Sunday the driving gods smiled on me, a gorgeous day and open roads to the north.

After a touch of Interstate I drove along the river on Route 9 as far as Highland Falls which is just south of West Point. A stunning road to drive considering it is just thirty minutes from downtown Manhattan. In a perfect world I would have cut over to the east bank of the Hudson and driven north to Hyde Park, the once home of Franklin Roosevelt, but I didn't have time. That and I had already had too much sun because seems I don't own a proper hat and I'm too stubborn to put the top up.

I ate lunch at an interesting spot that had a sign out front which said it had the best "New York style" barbecue. Now I love BBQ, any kind of BBQ, but I must confess I had never heard of the New York style. After an awesome pulled pork sandwich I have to report it's awesome but it tastes like ... BBQ.

Maybe sometime this summer I'll get to Hyde Park but the gods would have to smile on me once again. That and the beach would have to stop calling my name.

Observations from the Road 3.18

The official beginning of spring is still a week away but yesterday I decided to declare the season early with a spur of the night before Saint Patrick's Day road trip to my dad's. I hadn't seen my sis since she left for her new school and with her spring break coming to an end I thought it would be a good time to catch up. That and sometimes I just have the urge, hell the need, to get out of the City if only for a couple days. I feel it in my blood, just climb in Foxy and drive before I totally lose it.

Now I find myself in Rick Santorum's Pennsylvania, or is it Governor Tom Corbett's now? The Tom Corbett of "just close your eyes" during your pre-abortion ultrasound. I swear between the two of them it's getting to be so embarrassing to admit at all you're from Pennsylvania. Yes the state that gave you Gertrude Stein, Grace Kelly, and Governor Ed Rendell now gives you Santorum and Corbett. Sad to say the very least but this isn't a political trip so fuck em.

I've missed spending time with my family and what's fun is as we get older the news seems to get more interesting. Over a dinner of barbecue we all discovered that the baby of the family has, unlike the beer drinking rest of us, developed a taste for red wine. At times I might be accused of acting like the baby of the family but for now that title still belongs to my sister. The sis likes her new school, her political science major, and it seems now her red wine. I still think the girl has the brightest future of all of us but I have to get that camera back in her hands sometime soon.

Than you have my environmentalist brother who spends his days mapping wetlands in the wilds of northern Pennsylvania. He loves what he is doing but in the end he is paid by a contract with Shell Oil and it's fracking operations in the state which he doesn't love at all. I know, a total contradiction, but he is doing something he wanted to do and I'm happy as hell for him. Before I leave the kid promises to show me why he is so totally into HBO's Game of Thrones. We might need to have two TVs on because my dad has some NCAA basketball watching planned too.

As luck, or karma, would have it Occupy returned to Liberty Square last night a thousand strong. Sadly NYPD returned too.

Spring is in the air.

Observations from the Road 1.18

I'm currently on a train travelling back to the Village and just a little bored as I observe a self imposed twitter blackout in support of the Stop SOPA campaign. Honestly I think the only person hurt by my blackout is myself as I have to try and occupy my time with other things. The pun was fully intended and you can take it any way you want.

One thing I took away from J17 yesterday was a connection it has with the stop SOPA blackout of today, that being the almost total lack of serious coverage in the mainstream media. The only major msm coverage of Occupy Congress came late in the day when some fool threw a smoke bomb of some sort over the White House fence. As the White House was locked down the sudden explosion of headlines would have you think it was the modern version of the storming of the Tuileries Palace. In fact is was probably the only negative occurrence of a long day filled with protests and marches.

If not for the Wikipidia shutdown I wonder if the SOPA blackout would have gotten any positive coverage at all. Most of the msm outlets are of course owned by organizations that are members of or own members of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). The MPAA is the main force behind SOPA and in all likelihood its lawyers wrote the bill. The MPAA calls the blackout a  “gimmick… designed to punish elected and administration officials who are working diligently to protect American jobs from foreign criminals.” MPAA president, and a senator for thirty years, Chris Dodd was crying on all the morning news shows while Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales was nowhere to be seen. Dodd said on one show that the blackout turns web users into "corporate pawns." I think just maybe he should look in the mirror more often.

One blog post that totally irritated me said that the twitter blackout wasn't a political issue at all but simply a meme and its participants lemmings following the leaders over a cliff. I was forced to post a rare comment and you can read it here.

Maybe I should just play Angry Katies, emm, birds.

Observations from the Road 12.27

Christmas always seems to come and go in a heartbeat. Shopping, stressing, and traveling and than you wakeup on the couch at 1:30 in the morning and realize it's past for another year. I always stress and get a bit depressed this time of year and this year was no different but it was better than it has been. Either I have been keeping so busy I didn't think about or it is true that time heals all things, I just didn't let it get to me this year. At the same time I had this lurking suspicion that after this year Christmas will never going to be the quite the same again. I don't necessarily mean this in a bad way, just the feeling that we as a family have reached one of those moments in time where the dynamics change. My brother with a girl friend, my sister a constantly amazing young woman who is soon to be a political science major, and me with my mind drifting off to other things.

For better or worse I now seem to be more at home in the Village than I ever have. I woke up in the middle of the night Christmas morning and never did get back to sleep. Even though I had nothing special on my mind but I couldn't stop thinking. The only theory I can come up with is that it was just too damn quiet. I love going home and go every chance I get but lately I can't stop wondering what is happening while I am there, maybe a sure sign I need more downtime.

And what was happening? Christmas Eve night about one hundred protesters held a candle light vigil outside the New York Stock Exchange. The hand made candles were a clinched fist with a raised middle finger, the flame rising from the tip. On Christmas day, in celebration of both Christmas and the hundredth day of occupation, OWS planed a potluck supper at the still fenced off Liberty Square. In a totally petty move straight out of Dickens NYPD stopped some from taking trays of cookies and pies into the park. Not to be stopped the Christmas dinner, and for some a communion, was held on the sidewalk outside the barricades.

I found this in a blog, “Just as you don’t need a tree to celebrate Christmas, you don’t need a park to Occupy Wall Street. Merry Christmas, Wall Street. You are still occupied.”

And so it goes.

A belated Merry Christmas to everybody.

The Corrs - Merry Christmas, War is Over

Observations from the Road 11.26

So another Thanksgiving dinner with the family is past and I survived yet again. My parents always had a big family dinner for Thanksgiving and my dad continued that tradition after my mom passed away. To understand the dynamics of our Thanksgiving dinner you have to understand a little something about my family. I grew up in a predominately religious conservative Republican area which most of central Pennsylvania is. My dad, however, is a left of center Democrat and my mom was probably as liberal as one can get. Throw in the arrogant radical lesbian daughter and you have quite a family. The problem is all my dad's brothers and most of their families are typical of the area, conservative Repubes. This small but very important item may be the reason wine has become a very important part of my Thanksgiving tradition. Over the years I have taken great pleasure in driving them totally insane.

As always conversations flowed from one wonderful subject to another. The Penn State mess, President Obama, the occupy movement, and why does that girl, wear black so much? That girl in the question would be me and it's a rather traditional holiday subject. Normally I just dive in and wind everybody up but I seemed to have another one of those maturing moments this year. I drank my wine, looked around, and just thought I'm right, they're wrong, and I'm never going to change their minds. It just didn't seem to be worth the dead brain cells anymore. Still I had some revenge, Lady Gaga in my kitchen and no country music anywhere in the house. People, even family, can push me only so far.

One thing I enjoyed more than I had any right to was lying under my brother's new jeep for an hour as I helped him take the running boards off it. I really don't get many opportunities to play with cars in the Village and I miss that sometimes.

My sis dragged me out of bed early to do some Black Friday shopping, girl has no respect at all for a hangover. We hit a lot of stores and shops but gave Walmart a wide berth because we didn't want to get caught up in any rioting, not that I would be caught dead in one of those stores anyway. I should have given Bath and Body Works the same treatment because when I left there I had a bag full with a whole new flavor for my bath, Black Raspberry Vanilla. Thing is I can't buy just the lotion, I have to have it all, lotion, body spray, and bubble bath. I'm going to smell absolutely yummy though.

As I write this Penn State is about to play Wisconsin in the final regular game of the year with the winner plating Michigan State next week in the first ever Big 10 championship game. For a change I'm going to watch the game with my dad and brother.

A belated Happy Thanksgiving everybody.

Observations from the Coffee Shop 8.8

Over the weekend Ash and I made an art related road trip to Boston. I have never spent much time in Boston, I think because it must have more sports teams I hate than any other city other than my current home. The main concentrations of galleries in Boston are along the eight blocks of Newbury Street running west from the Boston Common. There must be two dozen galleries here with Lanoue Fine Art being my favorite. The Boston art scene seems a bit more formal than the Village, less laid back and not nearly as dark. The two of us felt pretty much out of our element but we survived.

Now I want to categorically state that we had nothing to do with a spate of recent gallery heists in the Boston area. I had to laugh when I told a friend that Ash and I were going on a road trip to Boston in a rental van. She emailed me back that she had a vision of me in black leather carrying an uzi. For some reason I find that vision appealing although I might need to add a smoke, something that is probably going to get me smacked. Better still, did you ever see the Tony Scott movie "Domino" with Keira Knightley and Mickey Rourke? It's based on the true story of Domino Harvey who left her life as a Ford model to become a bounty hunter. In its review of "Domino" six years ago The New York Times said: "The real Domino Harvey, who died at 35 in June from a heart attack with a toxic level of painkiller in her system, lived her life as if she were a character in a Tony Scott movie. That life was stranger than fiction, but perhaps not so strange as this."

Getting back to Boston, we stayed at the Fairmont Copley Plaza because it was close to the galleries. I found the hotel, which opened in 1912, comes with a bit of art trivia. It was constructed on the original site of Boston's Museum of Fine Arts and gets its name from the early American painter John Singleton Copley. I just love big old buildings like this and I laid in bed that night imagining ghosts walking the halls. I'll give you my style of hotel review. The bed was huge, soft, and warm in the cold air. The in room "refreshment center" was cold and full, and the waffles from room service were simply awesome. Would have been even better had "Battle Los Angeles" been on the screen instead of "Arthur" but I didn't pick the movie.

All in all a fun little trip.

Tom Jones / Stereophonics - Mama Told Me Not To Come

Observations from the Road 4.4

Saturday was the first day of trout season in southeastern Pennsylvania. It seemed early but that is because starting this year it opens two weeks earlier in the southeastern part of the state than it does in the rest, something to do with warmer temperatures. As I cast my first line I thought that was a lot of bs because the air temp was a balmy 42° when I arrived at the stream. It didn’t seem to bother my dad at all because he was standing in the middle of the water which might explain why he caught dinner and I didn't.

It was just another one of those fun family things with my dad that once prompted a not so open minded friend of his to ask if my dad had ever had any daughters. He learned a long time ago not to let comments like that bother him and instead seems roll with it. I don’t know why but my dad just doesn't have that smart ass gene that his three children seem to have inherited.

As I wasn't about to touch my camera with bait stained fingers I'll try and describe the scene. In ways the four of us are so alike, and very close, but at moments like this the differences in personalities are so damn apparent. You have my dad who is knee deep in the stream and so totally serious about his fly fishing. He never has let on but I swear he must have taken that fly fishing class at Penn State. My sis seems to be the best at multi-tasking, that girl can cast with one hand, text with the other, and I let her know I’m suitably impressed. I think I'd have my line wrapped around my neck and my phone in the water. Now that I think about it my brother isn’t too bad at multi-tasking either. He seems able to listen to music with one ear and listen to the rest of us with the other. At the same time he did refuse to get his new Timberland boots wet and so fished from the bank. Not quite as serious about it as my dad but if any of us could ever be described as stoic it's him.

And than there is me. No I don't fish in a leather jacket, actually the only black I had on was an old Flyers warm-up pullover and the Under Armour hoody under it. I didn’t fish much, always the observer I just sat on a rock taking it all in and enjoying the moment. Maybe I'm wrong about Sean, maybe I'm the stoic one. I didn’t catch anything, my excuse being that I didn't try, but I did make a dinner of Cajun trout. Sear trout covered with Emeril's Cajun seasoning in an iron skillet than throw in the oven with green peppers, jalapeños, onions, diced tomatoes, and bacon. Yes that is pretty much how I cook so I don't expect miracles but it wasn't bad, wasn't bad at all.

I have an awesome recipe for salmon too. Just sayin.

The Kills - Satellite 

Observations from the Road 1.22

When I got the bus this morning it was so effing cold, 12 degrees it said, and that's even too damn cold to smoke a cigarette. I know it got cold in the mountains but I never remember feeling this cold when I was there. Of course one can’t bundle up in parkas in the Village, it just doesn’t look good at all. The only other option is to wrap yourself in faux fur and look like a mongoose chasing a track rat down the street. Not that I haven’t seen this, I have, but damn if that’s going to be me.

Something the art geek in me thinks is important for you to know is the fact that I totally love the scent of color. So you are probably now wondering how color can have a scent but think about it. I get a head rush from a new box of crayons or the woody smell of new pencils. Painters will argue till the end of time which smells worse, oil or acrylic paints. I don't care who wins that argument because I like them both. Or maybe I just like the way my brain purrs after a day of painting and drinking Corona. Now don't even get me started on linseed oil.

After the Tuscon shootings I had wanted to write a post about guns and gun control but I never did. One thing I was going to admit was that I own a gun myself which is a long story that I'm not going to get into now. I haven’t touched it in years and I don't have it in the Village, which is kind of idiotic to add because if I haven’t touched it in years how was it going to get there? Besides just to apply for a handgun permit in NYC is $350 plus another $100 for fingerprints. Anyway I decided I need to do something so I am turning it in to get melted down or dropped in the tar pits or whatever it is they do with them. It may only be symbolic in a country as well armed as this but it’s something I think I to do it anyway.

On the bus home I was reading an article about Patti Smith in an old copy of ‘New York' magazine ("Remembrances of the Punk Prose Poetess"). It's a good article and worth a read and two things totally jumped out at me. The first is ".... an anti-feminist feminist icon who dressed androgynously, used dirty slang like William Burroughs, and argued that words like Ms. were “really bullshit,” as she said in 1976. 'Vowels are the most illuminated letters in the alphabet, and these assholes take the only fucking vowel out of the word miss. It sounds like a sick bumblebee, it sounds frigid.'” I like the way she speaks, sounds familiar to me. The second is just a quote from one of her band members, guitarist Lenny Kaye. “We’ve always had a little maxim, in our band, that the guardians of history are soon rewarded with history itself."

And where have you gone Keith Olbermann? Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.

Bullet For My Valentine - Hearts Burst Into Fire

Observations from the Road 12.31

Literally from the road ....

New Years Eve and I am yet again on the bus but this time going home for Foxy. The garage where I keep her was finally plowed so with nothing better to do I decided to head home now which gives the added benefit of it keeping me out of trouble tonight. It was a totally good idea because the bus is almost empty so I can stretch out over two seats without acting like a bish first.

Anyways the only reason I'm writing this is because the bus has wifi and damnit I'm going to literally post this from the road. Post what? Post sports trivia, women's sports trivia to be more precise. I was reading an article about UConn's women's basketball team losing after 90 straight wins last night and it reminded me of the Penn State women's volleyball team losing after 109 straight wins. Than something suddenly dawned on me and I think I should be calling ESPN.

On April 6, 2008 the Stanford Cardinals women’s basketball team beat the UConn Huskies in the NCAA semifinals. Uconn went on to win 90 straight games before losing to the same Stanford team last night.

On September 15, 2007 the Stanford Cardinals women’s volleyball team beat the Penn State Nittany Lions in the Yale Classic. Penn State went on to win those 109 straight matches only to lose to the same Stanford Cardinals back in September.

There has to be a lesson to be learned in that somewhere but I have no idea what it would be other than damn those Cardinals. You reading this Sports Center?

Now one request. Have a few drinks and play this vid for me around midnight or whenever the hell you see this. If this doesn't make you jump nothing ever will.

KORN - Coming Undone, Acid Remix