RARE one

Fuel Use Comparison

2009-02-28T03:37:00.001-08:00

This impressive graph is courtesy of GoodMagazine.com.

el liquido milagroso

2009-02-23T18:52:00.001-08:00

An incredible story about a possibly game changing discovery that's apparently been around for decades. As reported in today's LA Times Business section.

Happy Birthdays, Benjamin and Fanny!

2009-02-22T09:08:00.000-08:00

Algunos cumpleaños son más memorables que otros.

Fox Guarding The Hen House

2009-02-18T08:59:00.000-08:00

photo by seretuaccidente

I was the victim of identity theft recently.

My credit card, Capital One, did a masterful job of stemming the losses. They called to ask about some charges they identified as 'suspicious'. Three charges were attempted within a few hours of one another in Virginia somewhere, and all for less than $20. One to York Photo, one to Blockbusters and one to a charitable organization, the USO!

How they sussed that out so quickly and accurately was impressive.

So then I went online to order my free credit report like they always recommend you do, especially if your identity has been pilfered. I went to the website for Experian.com and pulled up credit reports for me and for Judy. They came up clean, much to our relief.

I was surprised when I got my American Express bill this month and found two identical charges of $16.15 from someone called CIC Triple Advantage. A quick Google search yielded some more surprising information. CIC is apparently connected to Experian and in the process of securing my 'free' credit report, I was tricked into subscribing to a credit monitoring service! CIC has been the target of "multiple class action lawsuits and over 7000 complaints with the Better Business Bureau!"

Fortunately, the first 'hit' from my Google search brought me to a site called Knowsy.com and the page it publishes in regard to this scam offered the information I needed to get the situation fixed.

Calling CIC, I got them to agree to cancel my 'subscription'. But they refused to refund the charges they had already placed. For that they've earned two more complaints filed to the BBB and to the NYS Attorney General's office. Happily, my American Express card folks removed the charges in a heartbeat and with no questions asked! Now THAT'S service.

So, be careful out there. Even the guys you think are on our side seem more than happy to slip their hand into your pocket when you're not looking. While you're at it. Check out Knowsy.com. Their page on this issue contains a lot of great information AND a link to a site where you can get an actual and truly FREE credit report!

2009-02-11T11:27:00.000-08:00

Warren Buffett is one of my modern heroes. The man is an incredible success as measured by capitalism, and yet he is down-to-earth, practical and enjoys a relatively modest lifestyle. He's in many ways the personification of a 20th-21st century Ben Franklin, bright, industrious, affable and bubbling with good ideas and philanthropic goodwill.

Mix that up with a little, who'duh thunkit, ukulele and...

... the video featured at Boing-Boing.com is a hoot!

An inspiring construction story herein...

2009-02-09T17:06:00.000-08:00

via GroovyGreen.com

(Geek Alert) Stack the Memory To The Sky!

2009-01-31T04:36:00.000-08:00

From the Sniper Twins.

Yak-Trax, Hell 'bent and Lesbian Pulp-Fiction

2009-01-25T06:29:00.000-08:00

At 5:50 a.m. it was still pretty dark outside and my thermometer said 9F. Hot coffee and the internet were the first orders of the day.

Even though it's too damn cold and icy for ME to ride, the group of us, or at least a small sub-set, are still 'Hell 'bent for Breakfast'. I had decided that I would walk the 2.6 miles to Webb's Cafe and Diner and so I had to warm myself and get psyched for the trek.

After glancing to see who was alive and on Facebook at that hour, I drifted over to my NewsGator and noticed a new post on a blog I follow, dykestowatchoutfor.com titled "Do you know what bonk-buster means? I didn't" Well, I didn't either, so I definitely had to go read THAT one.

That discussion of course led me to urbandictionary.com and to the OED and ultimately to a fascinating article in Slate by June Thomas that talks about why Secret Service Agents are such a popular character in Lesbian Pulp Fiction.

Who even knew there was such a genre?!!! Or that bonkbuster refers to novels with lots of sex?!!!

So I had lots to ponder on my walk home from breakfast with the guys. And as I pondered, I crested Monroe Ave at Cobbs Hill on icy sidewalks and a jogger approached. She struggled to maintain her grip on the hard slick pebbled surface in running shoes that looked very out of place for the conditions. I climbed a snowy bank to give her room to more safely pass and as she did, I lifted one foot and pointed to my sole and said, simply, "Yak-Trax". Her nod of ascent told me she appreciated the advice.

RAAM & the TeamType2

2009-01-21T03:58:00.001-08:00

Yeah, our good buddy Denny Voorhees of Sayre, PA will be racing across America in June with seven other racers all of whom have Type 2 Diabetes. And just to be sure it's tough enough, he's gotta do it on a DF. Ouch!

Luckily Den's got the right stuff.

And speaking of the right stuff, Tommie Blecher has stepped up to the plate.

Each of the racers in the team has to recruit 2 people for support crew and our man Blecher has answered the call. Traveling in a van for 7 days across America, helping with driving, navigating, spotting, cooking and etc. Sponsors for the team provide enough resource so that transportation to and from the race start and finish, accommodations and food for team support members is paid.

If the dates didn't conflict with the R2k, I'd seriously consider it. Sounds like a hoot!

Well, we'll be pullin' for ya, Den! And you know you'll get plenty of sympathy in this corner for your sore nether regions!

TeamType2

Afghanistan, Musical cross-currents

2009-01-15T04:53:00.000-08:00

An American experiences a musical journey in a land far away and now inextricably linked to our own.

Courtesy of GlobalPost.com

That Facebook Thing

2009-01-13T04:47:00.000-08:00

At the invitation of my Peruana amiga, Eli, I joined Facebook about a year ago. I hooked up at that time with one other 'friend' we had in common, Natasha (Natou) in France.

But it never clicked. My Facebook page just sat there. Every now and again, I'd get an email from some unknown individual wanting to 'friend' me. Into the trash they went. That was the extent of my Facebook involvement.

Until recently.

Teresa and then Dave, in rapid succession, added me as friends. And then, two days before our mutual birthday, my (hmmm... 15 year old?) niece, Courtney added me.

Now Courtney, due in part to her age, and then also to her very sociable nature, is part of a much larger Facebook social network containing, in addition to her school chums and the like, many of our family members as well.

So I've been quickly drawn up into the chatter of Facebook, now with nieces and nephews, friends here at home and abroad. It's fun! I got chatted up by another niece, Marcella, last night before we both had to head off toward homework.

So what's all the hubub about? A waste of time? Perhaps. But I'm connecting more with family and friends and even though in a largely and seemingly superficial way, still I get the feeling that there's something there, something useful. So for now, I'm going with it, I'll see where it leads.

Rochester-iana

2009-01-06T15:27:00.000-08:00

One of the sites I enjoy is Shorpy.com, "Always Something Interesting." Every day, this site offers anywhere from one to four vintage photographs of Americana, many of everyday things, sometimes by famous photographers, frequently culled from the archives of the Library of Congress.

Today's offering was by the famous and fabulous Lewis Wickes Hine and portrayed none other than our own fair city. In this case, a group of newsies in 1910 shooting craps.

It looks for all the world like the Court St. Bridge in the background.

Judy said, "Is your dad in there?", but of course in 1910, it would more likely have been my grandfather. Alas, as near as I could tell, he was not to be found. In fact, he didn't live in Rochester until at least the 1920s, I think.

Cool Gear from Recycled Bike Stuff

2009-01-06T03:41:00.000-08:00

Eco-Velo Blog already covered this, but I thought it was too cool not to try to spread around more. Too bad my birthday just passed, some of this stuff would have been on my list!

Alchemy Goods

While you're at it, check out Steel Toe Studios for more cool recycled stuff.

¡Bienvenidos a mi mundo!

2009-01-05T15:23:00.000-08:00

Today I am taking off from work for my birthday and I will try to do nothing productive all day and see if I can survive that. :-)

Last night our latest Peruana, Rosa Canales, arrived to begin her two-month stay with us while she does clinical rotation at the U of R. As I write, Judy is taking her and Katia, who is staying with another family in the neighborhood, both to Strong Hospital for their first day there.

Rochester is cold and gray and very icy this morning, and they walked to the bus stop together... well, actually, they stumbled there... Katia wore heels and Rosa had the thickest leather coat I've ever seen. They called me to come bring the car because it was too much adventure for their first lesson in Mass Transit in Rochester.

SCORE! (Mikey Wanted More Music)

2009-01-02T15:02:00.000-08:00

Seth Augustus learned Tuvan Throat singing at the feet of the legendary Paul Peña. Then he traveled to Tuva to build upon and deepen his skills. Finally, he returned here and grafted that style onto American blues to come up with a highly original sound, one that's earthy, moody and ethereal. His self-published CD is called To The Pouring Rain. You can hear some tracks streamed from his website here.

Normally I Detest The 'Year-End-Look-Back'

2009-01-01T12:19:00.000-08:00

However, when Uncle Jay Explains...

Thanks to Karen Managan who shared this one with me.

Afghanistan

2008-12-26T04:45:00.000-08:00

My thoughts have turned toward Afghanistan in recent weeks and months, both because our President-Elect has said that he will shift the focus there, and more importantly on a personal note, because my nephew Robbie is there defusing bombs.

So my curiosity was piqued when I saw an article this morning in the Wall Street Journal concerning the US military in Afghanistan and the author of "Three Cups of Tea", Greg Mortenson. Mr. Mortenson authored his book amid his many years of humanitarian work in Afghanistan, building schools and bridges, both figurative and literal.

The article, titled "Military Finds An Unlikely Advisor in School-Building Humanitarian", details how the Pentagon has invited Mr. Mortenson to address the military about ways to fight Islamic extremism.

Judy read Mr. Mortenson's book several years ago and has spoken of it many times and about the author's personal efforts to help the people of Afghanistan after the villagers of an impoverished community there nursed him back to health following a mountain climbing accident.

The fascinating thing, of course, is that the military is seeking out approaches like Mr. Mortenson's. It's not wholly surprising to me. I've long held a great regard for the US military at the same time that I have been ambivalent, at least, and often quite in disagreement with our military adventures. The choice of those adventures, of course, is left to our politicians and the military is there to carry out those commands which it does with dedicated loyalty and with deadly efficiency.

It's true that the military embodies a force of highly intelligent, dedicated individuals and while it's methods are, well, military, it's objectives of course, are to protect the American people, our democracy and American way of life. It's easy for any thinking individual to understand that pursuing those objectives in a military fashion can sometimes be at odds with actually achieving them, especially with respect to fighting the 'global war on terror'.

Mr. Mortenson's premise is that providing a moderate education to impoverished Muslim populations is the best tool for fighting Islamic extremism. General David Petraeus read Mr. Mortenson's book and recommended it to his staff.

In listening to voices such as Mr. Mortenson's, Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, having invited Mr. Mortenson to speak, appears to acknowledge that terror is a tactic, not an enemy. And that using military methods in trying to fight an enemy without a nation, without borders, without uniforms is like trying to hold handfuls of water. While we are engaged in pouring huge resources into our war in Iraq, collateral damages and grave miscalculations like those that led to permission to torture and incidents like Abu Graib, only serve to our enemy's advantage, becoming effective recruitment tools.

Of course I understand the vast and powerful interests who profit from war and who create tremendous pressures to execute our objectives in ways that can line their pockets. They're happy to cynically use the lives of our sons, daughters, brothers, nephews to their own profit.

And then there are those who earnestly and honestly believe that a military solution is the ONLY solution. They have our nation's best interests at heart and feel as I do, that we cannot just retreat into ourselves and hope that problems around the globe will not affect us. We may have to simply agree to disagree, and hope that we can do so in a civil way.

But I'm under no illusions that the threat posed by what Eisenhower called the "military industrial complex" will not do everything in their power to undermine any efforts to bend the instruments of our society toward more peaceful, perhaps less 'profitable' means of conducting the war on terror.

Still, I have the audacity of hope.

Christmas Eve/Fourth Night of Hanukkah

2008-12-25T05:48:00.000-08:00

We enjoyed a raucous but warm family gathering last night, filled with sisters, brothers, husbands & wives, countless (or so it seemed) nieces and nephews, new babies, and the newly betrothed, and of course, WAY too much food.

Today is a quieter day. Judy is working (though, so far, no patient's families are requesting to be seen). This afternoon, probably without Judy, we'll get together with a bunch of other, mostly Jewish friends to see a movie and then afterward, have dinner out at a Chinese restaurant. Judy will be done with her shift by then and able to join us.

Judy bought me a very nice heavy-weight flannel-lined shirt for Hanukkah. Nice. And on the second night, she offered me a second wrapped present, in violation I might add, of our agreement to exchange just one gift each. She was let off the hook though, when she explained that it was really a gift for the 'house'. It was a new crock pot. Very nice. I fulfilled its promise by making sauce (in my family, a spaghetti-style sauce is simply referred to as "sauce") for last night's gathering. It had sausage and meatballs in it. Judy said it was the best food ANYBODY brought last night. Awwww, shucks!

Over a succession of days, I've bought four different pieces of clothing for Judy as Hanukkah presents. Finally, last night, I presented one that fits... AND she likes it! YAY! Thank goodness Hanukkah is eight days long, one finds space within its span for redemption. :-)

Greens and Beans

2008-12-22T16:38:00.001-08:00

bean, sausage, escarole soup
Photo credit: minna883

for David:

Ingredients:
4 tablespoons Olive Oil
3 links Italian Sausage (mild)
1 onion
4 cloves Garlic
I can of Chicken Broth
1 can Cannelloni Beans
1/2 head of Escarole (approx 4 cups chopped)
1/2 teaspoon Garlic Pepper

Heat olive oil in soup pot (medium flame 2 minutes)
Cut up sausage into 1/2" chunks and brown in oil
Chop onion and add to sausage, cook until onions are softened
Mince or crush garlic and add to pot, cook 2 minutes
Add broth (or substitute 1&1/2c water and 1 chicken bullion cube)
Add beans (with liquid from can)
When returned to slow simmering boil, add escarole, garlic pepper, cook 2-3 minutes more

As a heartier alternative, you can cook some pasta in a separate pot (4-8oz dry weight) and then add it to the soup after the beans. Yumm!

Serves 3-4 as a main dish accompanied by bread, cheese, salad or crudites.
Serves 6-8 as a soup accompaniment, served alongside a main dish.

Revisiting the Holocaust in film

2008-12-19T04:52:00.000-08:00

Having recently seen The Boy In The Striped Pajamas, the question, 'Seen any good films lately?' led to a conversation about representing the Holocaust in film.

My friend recalled enjoying Roberto Benigni's Life Is Beautiful. She appreciated that Benigni's character used his creativity to manipulate his son's imagination to buoy his son's spirit and deflect some of the horror that surrounded him.

I reflected on the fact that many people objected to the light-hearted handling of the Nazi nightmares visited upon its victims. The prospect of distracting his son from as much evil and cruelty as would surely envelope his life seemed totally preposterous, I have heard it argued.

I know many people who hardly consider seeing a film portrayal of the Holocaust. Among the objections - that It demeans the suffering of millions or that the horror is too much to contemplate. Similarly, this 'lite' retelling of the story was considered in that way not worthy of its subject.

It occurred to me that perhaps Benigni's original design by his gentle humor was not to fool his character's son but, in a way that many of his audience could cope with, to offer another opportunity to consider and reflect upon that, the ultimate manifestation of evil in the Twentieth Century.

In that way, I see films like Life Is Beautiful, The Boy In The Striped Pajamas, Schindler's List and others as prayers, reminding me of the rabbi's preamble preceding a mourner's Kaddish, that those who have passed before us shall not be forgotten.

FLU-SHING

2008-12-18T20:40:00.000-08:00

Dear All,

Well, here we are in our hotel in NY. Clear sailing all the way in (except for some lousy traffic at the Tappan Zee Bridge).

Took Judy's mom out to dinner at the local diner. Which is nothing like what WE think of as a diner. Place is huge, menu is long, and everything there is good. The staff know us well, we've been going there every time we're in town for over the last 20 years. Our waitress tonight gave us dessert on the house!

David came in by bus from Washington and I picked him up in downtown Flushing at 8. We talked to Amy. She was going to drive in tomorrow, but with the forecast the way it is, and the fact that she's awfully busy, AND the fact that grandma has a bad cold at the moment, we decided, just as well she not come in. Besides, she had some good news that it looks like she'll be able to come up for New Year's, AND bring her boyfriend, who we've not yet met.

Anyway, nuff for now. Starting to get sleepy.

Talk to you soon...

love,
Michael

ps: RE the title of this post... Downtown Flushing is all Korean and Chinese everywhere. All the shops, stores, they're all covered in signage in two or three languages, Chinese and Korean, predominantly. We we're coming down Prince St., turning onto Roosevelt Ave. as the facade of a restaurant was coming into view, I saw "SHING". The sign was segmented into two parts. Expecting another asian eatery, my brain assembled the first syllable, FLU onto the second, SHING as the supposedly Chinese name FLOO-SHING Restaurant. FLOO-SHING, FLOO-SHING, I repeated to myself until finally it clicked! FLUSHING RESTAURANT, you dummy!

(Not so fond) Farewell

2008-12-16T04:53:00.000-08:00

The paper reported that the Secret Service is reviewing it's procedures in light of the Iraqi reporter's shoe-throwing incident.

Judy assumed that meant they'd be making reporters remove their shoes before being allowed in the same room with GW. I said that'll only work until somebody throws a pair of pants. Eventually, they'll have to attend naked. Kind of an Emperor's New Clothes in reverse.

Apparently, the shoe-flinging reporter shouted, in Arabic, "There's a goodbye kiss, you dog!"

So much for legacy.

Grandma & Grandpa

2008-12-15T12:01:00.000-08:00

One of my early memories of Grandma and Grandpa was of visiting them on the farm. Dad had finished working an evening shift, all of us kids were already in bed and he had Mom pack us up in the car for a ride out to Grandma and Grandpa’s farm. It was about an hour and a half ride and by the time we got there, it was very late indeed. In fact Grandma and Grandpa had long since gone to bed.

Arriving after midnight, Grandma was patient and hardworking, helping to get all the kids settled in places to sleep, feeding us even, if we were hungry. I don’t know how Dad got away with it. Certainly it was in large part because of Grandma’s big heart. I never remember feeling censured by her. Grandpa was completely the opposite, and I lived quite in fear of him. Grandpa never stirred that night, or certainly never got up anyway. And it was just as well, for he’d have surely been in a miserable rage, as he always seemed to be.

Saintly as she often was, Grandma sure had a lot of the devil in her. She could cuss and she could turn a ribald phrase with casual abandon. She became like a mythical figure to me, Earth Mother and Saucy Raconteur, rolled into one.

She was, if not the author, at least the source for some of my favorite quotations. Like: "Go piss up a rope" (her advice to ne’er-do-wells), "It's good, clean dirt" (advice to the prissy child), "It ain't gonna kill you" (more of the same), "You gotta die of something" (response to hypochondria), “Full of piss and vinegar” (her description of... well, anyone like herself!) and "You're gonna eat a peck of dirt before you die" (in other words, ‘Cleanliness might be next to godliness, but it's probably overrated.’ A useful one since the plumbing didn't work so well on the farm anyway.)

And if ever a line like any of those could be delivered with a twinkle in the eye, Grandma was the one to do it. That twinkle described her better than anything else I can think of. She was always ready to poke you in the ribs, give a little wink and toss off a rejoinder that, anywhere but our house, would surely raise an eyebrow.

Like the time when I was about eighteen and she offered sex-education device.

"You know what you gotta do when that thing is about to get you in trouble? Open a window, lay it on the sill and then CLOSE THAT WINDOW HARD!"

Her advice was always like that: playful, unsentimental and usually a little risque. Like the time she asked Judy, (in reference to marrying me), "So, are you getting any?" Judy already knew she'd married into a wacky family, but how can you ever be ready for a question like that from your Grandmother-In-Law?

I inherited a bit of that impishness, but I've had to learn the hard way that it's easier to be accepted for that kind of naughtiness if you're an eighty-plus-year-old woman. Like the time we were looking at houses and a realtor, showing us an attractive "rumpus" room said something like "The kind of place your daughter might like to go with her boyfriend." I thought that was terribly presumptuous and so I responded, "Or maybe she'd like to go there with her girlfriend!" Judy did not see the humor in that one.

I might have said, more succinctly, “Go piss up a rope!”

But nowadays a fella could get himself in some deep doo-doo for using Grandma’s lines.

APLAUDA SUS CEREBROS APAGADO (Clap Your Brains Off)

2008-12-12T13:06:00.000-08:00

Great video of the band Nos Somos Machos Pero Somos Muchos aka NSM PSM.

More info about the making of this video at http://www.vimeo.com/1689442 and a related page at http://www.vimeo.com/1762877

Creative Electrical Work

2008-12-09T19:24:00.000-08:00

Published on ThisOldHouse.com,

this photograph was taken by

Charles H. Nance of CHN Inspections in Wildwood, Missouri.

If you don't find this image frightening,

please, please, please,

do NOT do your own electrical work.

Call a licensed electrician.

Skidboot and His Friend

2008-12-08T18:48:00.000-08:00

This is a wonderful 8 minute video about a man and a dog. The dog is amazing, but the man is pretty darn impressive too.

Strong stuff

2008-12-07T08:15:00.001-08:00

I saw "The Boy In The Striped Pajamas" at the Little last night.

It's another look at the Holocaust, this time seen through the eyes of an eight-year-old boy, the son of a Nazi officer who is promoted to a post that uproots his family from their patrician life in Berlin and carries them to an isolated country home from which he presides over a concentration camp.

From his sheltered upbringing, the boy tries to make sense of the events unfolding in the world around him and struggles to maintain his love for his father as the inhumanity of war and of the Nazi view strains the very bonds of family.

The film is not exceedingly graphic, most of its violence is implied, making it easier to watch without cringing. Still, what's suggested, along with our knowledge of the actual horrors of the Nazi 'purification of the Fatherland' provides much of the emotional strength needed to connect all the dots.

While I understand the inhibition many feel about seeing films that examine the Holocaust and revisiting its horrors, still, and this film is a potent example, there are many stories to be told. This one reflects both on the inhumanity wreaked upon its victims and more centrally, the dehumanizing effects upon its perpetrators.

The questions it asks about 'how far along will you participate with the corrupting influences of social injustice' are questions that each of the main characters struggles with. The film doesn't necessarily explore the underpinnings of the pre-war German psyche that laid the foundations for the rise of Nazi ideology, but instead deals with its (then) contemporaneous ramifications.

Underneath it all, the characters are human with qualities both good and bad. Any honest individual can recognize something of themselves in each and that's what gives the film its emotional weight.

I wonder whether some would regard this telling of the Holocaust story, by showing the humanness of its non-Jewish German characters is too sympathetic to them. I would argue that the moral dilemmas each character faces are not unlike those we all face at many points in our lives - how to stand up against what's wrong in the world. As such, those issues are, in many respects universal, and go to the root of the powerlessness we feel to resist the world's many injustices.

In the films of my youth that depicted that era, Nazis and Germans in general were painted with a broader brush. We were the good guys, they were the bad. But it was that ability to categorize entire populations that allowed the Germans to demonize the Jews. In our current era, it continues to allow people to demonize and dehumanize entire populations with horrific consequences.

This fictional account of a Holocaust story is as true today as ever it was imagined.

Kvelling and shilling

2008-12-03T17:18:00.000-08:00

If you've heard this already, stop me.

When our daughter Amy finished her junior year in high school we gave her the opportunity to travel. She could go just about anywhere, but she wanted to go somewhere her friends had never been, so, somewhat arbitrarily, she picked Ghana, on the west coast of Africa.

And so began the next step in Amy's journey, one that brought her to choose a major in African studies at Swarthmore. A journey that eventually, indirectly, brought her to a summer internship at the Woodrow Wilson Center in D.C. working for, among others, Helene Cooper. Helene was, at that time, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal on sabbatical to work on the memoir of her youth and of her family who numbered among the descendants of the founding families of Liberia.

Amy did research for Helene and capitalizing on her talent, hard work and who knows, maybe even a little of that abundant charm she possesses, unearthed a copy of Helene's great-great-great-great grandfather's hand-written journal from the stacks of the Library of Congress. It's existence had been unknown to Helene and finding it provided invaluable links for Helene's telling of the story of her family and its history, intertwined with the history of Liberia. It also helped cement a friendship between Amy and Helene and played a role in planting the seed of an idea of pursuing a career in journalism for Amy. AND... it got her a mention in the book's acknowledgements (the big kvelling part here).

When Amy was here for Thanksgiving she brought us a copy of Helene's book. It contained an inscription in very flattering terms that thanked us for 'lending' Amy.

Even without the personal connection, Helene's book is an engaging and very intimate and personal perspective on the modern story of Liberia during the years of Helene's youth, up to and including the overthrowing of the power structure dominated by the descendants of the founding families of Liberia, freed former slaves from the United States. It tells the story of a life of privilege amid the disadvantaged classes of 'native' Africans. Fascinating!

Check it out. The House At Sugar Beach.

p.s. In case you were wondering, I don't get a cut.

post-Thanksgiving

2008-12-01T06:18:00.000-08:00

What a great holiday. Mainly an excuse to get together with friends and family and stuff ourselves silly on insanely enormous amounts of food.

I kick myself for not taking much in the way of photos, especially with Norman and Kathryn here. Yeah, it's true, I enjoy the moments more without fussing with cameras, generally speaking, but then, nothing ignites a flood of vivid memory like a photographic souvenir of the event.

Still, once some of the activity and distraction had died down to a certain level, we remembered to bring out the point-and-shoot and at least snatch a shot of the four of us. Thankfully, the kids are old enough that they understand the value it represents to us old farts and they accept their duty willingly and with at least the appearance of cheerfulness.

Included here is not the shot that everybody ELSE liked best... but it's at least the one I look my best in. And since it's MY blog, well...

Carolina Chocolate Drops jug band

2008-11-27T04:33:00.000-08:00

An African-American string/jug band.

What fun!

Too bad they're not playing anywhere near the northeast anytime soon.

More at their website: Carolina Chocolate Jug Band

Granny gets down!

2008-11-22T05:43:00.000-08:00

Funny little 'cartoon' for grownups, cyclists, whomever.

Funny Videos | Funny Cartoons | More Video Clips

Still November

2008-11-20T05:38:00.000-08:00

The snow is falling and it's in the upper 20s. I have go out there and put up a ladder on somebody's garage to install a light - once I work up the courage.

But in my mind, I'm sitting in the courtyard of the Kingston Brewing Company with my mates. It's late summer. We're tired and sweaty, downing cold beers and teasing the waitress. Because soon it will be November and cold and dark and I'll be trying to keep my fingers warm while turning a tiny screw...

November morning

2008-11-18T04:02:00.000-08:00

It's awfully white outside.

And I'm in denial... looking at bike parts on the internet.

Who am I kidding? I ain't no winter rider. Not since that day I drifted sideways, slowly down the hill on Clinton Ave. So. on a sheet of ice as I watched a ballet of drifting cars, bicycle and body not knowing where that deadly dance would end.

But end my winter riding, it did.