dwarbi's roof

Poop & Pee-Wee

2011-07-21T23:26:00.002-04:00

Unexpected Photo Subject Empowered By Internet

2009-11-09T18:20:00.002-05:00

This past Sunday, Dana, Sydney and I went to the Brooklyn Flea under the Brooklyn Bridge. It's a regular event with delicious food and interesting vendors. Throw in unseasonably beautiful weather and you have a perfect outing.

After enjoying some awesome pupusas from the Red Hook food vendors, Dana went in search of some shoes and I gave Sydney a bottle. I was pretty absorbed in playing with Sydney's hand, but for some reason Sydney and I looked up at the same time. I was surprised to see two women taking a photo of us. I didn't mind, and it's surprising that at least one of the photos (pictured) got me before I started laughing.

This afternoon the occurrence popped into my head, and I decided to take a 5 minute break to see if I could find out what happened to those pictures. It took me less than that amount of time to track down this picture as well as (I'm pretty sure) the identity of the other photographer. Could it be that anonymity has disappeared from the Interwebs? This Great Series of Tubes is all connected, after all. And as the Tubes suck up more and more of the 4 dimensional world, anonymity itself begins to disappear. Keep that in mind the next time you rob someone of their diamonds and pause to check your Facebook page.

Some of our shots from the day. See if you can pick yourself out!

*UPDATE: I've just confirmed the identity of the other photographer. I could have a career in research. Or cyber-stalking, if that's a career. OK, I kind of creeped myself out... back to work...

iPhone Cracked Glass Fix: Fail

2009-07-22T10:00:00.000-04:00

A couple of weeks ago, on my birthday, I dropped my phone. It was not from a great height, and I had dropped my phone several times before, each time I picked up an undamaged phone. In this instance, I was very saddened to see that the glass had cracked. Perhaps "shattered" is a better word. I didn't let the event ruin the evening. After all, the phone was working just fine... I was sure I would be able to replace the glass.

When I visited the Apple store in downtown New York (in SoHo, on Prince Street), I was told immediately that cracked glass was not covered by the warranty, and I would have to pay $199 for a new phone. I was literally flabbergasted. My gast was flabbered. Not pretty.

Once I had my gast back in order and had cleaned up all the flabber, I pointed out that the phone was working just fine, all that needed to be replaced was a bit of glass. I spoke with a manager, and he said that Apple does not do parts replacement. What happens if I go home then find out that there was some other damage that was not apparent when the glass was fixed? I said, we deal with it then. If I get into a fender bender in my Honda Fit, Honda doesn't look at my car and say, "Bummer, we have to replace the whole thing."

"This isn't a car - it's a phone."
"It's not just a phone, it's a computer."

The next line was that it's just "easier" to replace the entire phone. I pointed out that it was not easier for me to pay $200 to replace it! And what a waste! To throw away an otherwise perfectly useful phone.

Ultimately, I checked in to see when I would be eligible for an upgrade to the 3GS for $200 (next May), and the manager showed me the web site of some businesses that offer services to replace the glass on a broken iPhone... for $200. I thanked the manager and informed him that I would be undertaking the task myself. The bit of glass can be purchased online for $30 and the tools for $5. This past Sunday I undertook the endeavor.

I laid out my tools as well as some other necessities: a pumpernickel bagel from Bergen Bagelsand a nice cup of Gorilla coffee. Away we go.

First off: on all of the YouTube tutorials, the phone were much less absolutely smashed than mine. Prying off the glass façade is far more difficult when you don't even have an inch of unbroken space on your phone. Once you get in there, it's pretty interesting. It's like a desktop, but much smaller. After about 2 hours of work, I had replaced the glass and digitizer and put the phone back together.

Unfortunately, it would not turn on. That's how it seemed at least, but when I called it, the phone rang. I just couldn't answer it. It seems I didn't get the new glass/digitizer connected properly. My guess is this ribbon labeled 3. I think I pulled it off improperly and was not able to reestablish a good connection. Bummer.

I brought the phone and all the parts back to the Apple store... and was told the replacement would cost me $400. Seems I went off warranty by opening the phone. Yeah, I figured that, but the glass replacement wasn't covered by the warranty anyway! I lost my temper a bit, pointing out that the week before, a manager directed me to a service that would replace the glass for me. They gave in and replaced the phone for $199.

So, if the glass on your iPhone 3G is cracked, but everything else is working fine, and you are thinking about replacing the glass yourself... here are a few things to consider:

Even though cracked glass replacement is not covered by the warranty, if you attempt to replace it yourself, you will "go off warranty" and the cost of replacement will double.
You may very well succeed in replacing the glass. I screwed up somehow, and the glass was in especially bad shape... but you may have better luck.
If you try this and fail, perhaps the way around dealing with Apple's insane policy is to put the old glass back on, then throw it against a brick wall. And/or drive over it with a Humvee. Anything to cover your tracks. The tracks you left when you tried to salvage an otherwise perfectly useful phone from a landfill.

Waking Up Sydney

2009-07-07T23:34:00.000-04:00

Saturday's Rainbow

2009-06-30T09:06:00.004-04:00

Dana caught this excellent shot from the passenger side window of our Fit as we made our way back to Brooklyn on Saturday. After nearly a full month of rain in June, it was fantastic to have such a lovely day crowned with rainbows. And it just happened to be the day of the Gay Pride Parade in NYC!

Many great photos were taken Saturday. Check out this one taken in Bushwick.

Sydney & The Goofy Dragon

2009-06-26T23:54:00.000-04:00

Sydney Can Sleep Anywhere

2009-06-26T23:31:00.000-04:00

Seriously:

Baby Cooking

2009-06-19T22:37:00.004-04:00

Last week I took a class on how to cook ~~for~~ baby humans.

Please forgive the little Simpsons/Twilight Zone reference... I had to make it.

In a little over a week, we will get our first share from our CSA: Brooklyn Beet CSA. I'm pretty excited and looking forward to preparing little meals for Sydney to eat... so when my friend Randyhate clued me into a class at The Brooklyn Kitchen, I jumped at it.

I attended the Cooking For Baby class last Wednesday. The Brooklyn Kitchen is located on the corner of Lorimer & Skillman, in Williamsburg, just off the Lorimer/Metropolitan stop of the G/L. The shop maintains the perfect merchandise for city chefs.

The class was taught by a chef, and her child was strapped to her chest for most of the time. Good form. It reminded me of chopping up salad while Sydney was in the Baby Bjorn. The focus of the class was technique for cooking for both a couple and baby. She prepared several meals, from which all students snacked upon. I was the only male in the class, so I held back on devouring entire plates until others had their fill. Seriously, no one was eating! If that class were full of men, we'd be breaking each other's kneecaps for a tablespoon of pureed carrots & dates.

The class gave me some extra confidence that I am able to cook for Sydney, so I recommend it for any parent looking to prepare baby food. Keep in mind that the class does seem to be geared towards those without much cooking experience to begin with.

Sydney Laughing - Really This Time

2009-06-11T06:58:00.001-04:00

OK, the last post was a bit of a joke. Here's the real thing:

Sydney's First Laugh

2009-06-10T10:00:00.002-04:00

Sydney's very first laugh, cpatured on video!

Play Sydney Off, Keyboard Cat

2009-06-05T08:00:00.000-04:00

A remix of a Sydney Classic:

Learning to Laugh

2009-05-31T22:10:00.004-04:00

I've been enthralled by Sydney's growth since before she was projected from the womb, but this latest bit is the biggest crack-up.

Seriously, I would stare in awe at the black and white pictures of the little one growing from the size of a kidney bean to the size of a head of Swiss chard. Though I never did get the food obsession when it comes to size comparisons. We subscribed to BabyCenter.com's updates, and I think the last email that came before Sydney's birth said that she was the size of a leek.

A leek? Really? I understand that it's hard to find a an object that most Americans would be able to relate to, but picking a vegetable most of us probably remember from studying Chaucer doesn't help. How about, "By now, you're baby is about as long as a MacBook Pro." And the heads reading this would nod, "ahhh, I see... 15 inch or 17 inch?"

I digress. Of course. I'm always digressing. Must I now regress?

So, while Sydney was progressing in utero through the various kingdoms, divisions and classes of the culinary world, we were expecting a little human. Thankfully, this is what we got, not a head of Chinese cabbage (week 28).

I guess I should not have been surprised by the fact that she wasn't born fully up to speed, given the fact that she was used to living upside-down in a liquid-filled belly, and we are used to arguing over morning radio and laughing at people who ride Segways. I was still amazed by the things could not do and how she learned to do them. For example, I remember the day that her tear ducts began functioning. A baby's cry is alarming, but with tears streaming down...

It was really enjoyable to watch the smile develop, but the laugh takes the cake (so far). About a week ago, Sydney giggled. Now she'll laugh if you can do something that she really finds amusing. She's a tough critic. Usually she looks at you like Jackie Mason looked at me when he said, "It that the best joke you got?"

Yeah, Jackie Mason said that to me what I was 14 and thought it would be a good joke to bump into him in the cafeteria of a Catskills retreat and drop a bunch of silverware, as if he were trying to steal them. As Alf once said, "I kill me." (Jackie Mason = Mrs. Ochmonek)

Sydney's laugh is taking form... I started to think about the laugh and realized that her laugh will likely stay pretty much the same for her entire life. The pitch will change, of course, but the underlying nature of it will stay the same. Sydney's laugh is a big belly laugh. A "heh-heh" as her stomach bounces. It takes some work to get a laugh... usually when one of us repeats a line from the Great Master, Jim Henson.

"mahna-mahna" is a good one, as is "do-do-dee-oo" from "Rubber Ducky."

She squeels and smiles plenty, but the laugh... working on the video...

Ryan Victor's Senior Thesis - Part 1

2009-05-29T09:00:00.000-04:00

Back in 1998, while a junior at the University of Notre Dame, Jeff Spoonhower and I made a mockumentary entitled Ryan Victor's Senior Thesis. The short film, which was also accepted into the prestigious Notre Dame Student Film Festival in 1999, is about a fictional student film maker named Ryan Victor, his obsession with movies, film history and himself. And ten years later I am blogging about it.

I've decided to break it into segments. Here is part 1:

Brooklyn Beet CSA

2009-05-27T23:00:00.001-04:00

Last month, Dana and I signed up to join a newly-formed CSA that was accepting members from Boerum Hill locals: Brooklyn Beet CSA.

For those of you unfamiliar with the concept, CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. Members buy a share or half share and pay for the season up-front or in installments throughout the season. This arrangements ensures that the farmer will have some money in hand during spring and a guaranteed income during the summer and early fall. CSA members take on some risk, since the season's crops may not yield as much as expected, but they also benefit from healthy crops. Not to mention the benefit of weekly deliveries of fresh, local produce.

I had been looking for a CSA to join since we moved back to Brooklyn. Our diet had been evolving for a while - far less meat and much more fruits and vegetables. Whole Foods is great, but can get a bit pricey when the right things are not on sale. Farmer's markets are awesome, and fun to peruse, but we can't get to them frequently enough to get all the produce we need. Plus, CSA have the added benefit of the community of members along with the farmers.

It seems lots of people were reaching the same conclusion, and no CSAs were accepting additional members, so joining Brooklyn Beet was a no-brainer.

We opted into a full share of vegetables, which come from the Angel Family Farm in Goshen, NY. The veggies are not certified organic, but they are grown pesticide-free. (Besides, as Mark Bittman has pointed out in the New York Times, "certified organic" means less and less.) I've read that the farm is featured in the documentary What's On Your Plate, but I have not yet seen the film. The family was at the initial sign-up meeting, and they seemed enthusiastic.

And went for a full share of fruit, from Hepworth Farms. This farm is also up the Hudson, in Milton, but has been around for much longer. Amy Hepworth, an interesting personality, is a seventh generation farmer, and her farm has been around since 1818. Amy was also at the sign-up meeting - she said she had cleaned her fingernails for the event. Word on the street is that their fruit is amazing, so I can't wait. (Photo from NY Mag)

We'll be picking up our share just a few blocks away at the YWCA, and the fun begins in just a few weeks. I'll be posting about the food that comes in, the recipes that come to mind, and the meals that come out.

Also, our baby girl, Sydney, will start eating solids very soon. I'll be making much of her food from the goods we pick of from the CSA. I'll be posting comments and notes about this as well.

Leftover fruits and vegetables - if there are any - will be pickled or jammed... stay tuned! ...If your interested.

Sydney & Friends

2009-05-21T21:20:00.004-04:00

Here's a rather large gallery of Sydney with some of the many interesting people she has met. Can you pick out The Transvestite Spock?

Sydney Makes Her Demands

2009-05-20T23:22:00.001-04:00

Sydney is 4 months old, and she has decided to make her needs clear:

Cheeks

2009-05-14T08:05:00.002-04:00

Sydney Meets Herself

2009-05-06T12:37:00.000-04:00

Ayden Tries to Eat Sydney

2009-04-30T07:01:00.001-04:00

Sydney with her cousin, Ayden:

Sydney Working Out

2009-04-26T19:38:00.001-04:00

Syd isn't the biggest fan of belly time, but she's starting to get the hang of it:

Day With Danny & Ciara

2009-04-25T08:17:00.001-04:00

Last Saturday we spent with Sydney's cousins. They got on just grand!

Sydney Finds the Camera

2009-04-25T08:05:00.003-04:00

The other morning we heard some rustling coming from the monitor. (The morning before I mistook a flock of migrating geese for Sydney.) When we flipped on the screen, we saw this kind of creepy scene:

Easter Chocolate

2009-04-14T21:12:00.004-04:00

That's Sydney in her first (of three) Easter outfits. Isn't she a cute little Easter egg of a baby human? Yes, and she's really testing the gross-out limits of her daddy.

On the Saturday before Easter, Sydney was much fussier than usual. I held her little legs in place while Dana took her temperature - Sydney thanked me with a full cloud of butt-breath to the face after Dana removed the thermometer. No fever, but something was up. Thankfully, she was in much better spirits come Sunday morning.

About ten minutes before dinner at Tracy & Alan's, Sydney was acting up again. Diaper change needed. Location: Tracy & Alan's couch (Their kids, Brendan & Brianna are way past diaper age.)

Dana: "Do you want me to take care of the diaper change?"
Me: "Nah, I'll take care of it."

Sure enough, Lil Sydster had a good load in her pants. No problem. I started the standard procedure, and with a new diaper in place, the unloading began again. Seriously, this was like a volcanic tube of shitty toothpaste. We had wipes nearby, and I was catching the load with fresh wipe after wipe as it was unleashed, creating a pile of nasty naps in my left hand until it became overwhelming. It was like the scene in I Love Lucy when Lucy and Ethel get the job at the chocolate factory. No, I did not resort to that, but my left hand was full, and I did resort to holding out an open right palm to the onslaught. All the while, Sydney smiled and cooed.

After boiling my hands for several days, I am back to normal. Of course I'm joking - I have had my hands replaced with bionic hands. No, actually, I was susprisingly still-stomached throughout this adventure. I suppose this is because this is my little Baby Being, and I would do whatever necessary for her without flinching. Ask me again in 16 years.

Talking Tuesday

2009-04-07T08:19:00.000-04:00

A Sydney Double Header

2009-04-04T09:41:00.002-04:00

The old one-two punch:

Happy 2 Month Birthday, Sydney!

2009-03-20T18:50:00.001-04:00

We let Syd relax with a nice cigar to celebrate.

Syd's Attempt at Saying Good Morning

2009-03-19T08:10:00.001-04:00

Sydney's First Great Book

2009-03-19T00:25:00.002-04:00

I understand that it's important to read to your child, so tonight I've begun reading a great work to Sydney. I know it will take me a while to complete this particular book, but we have begun... "Wordsworth Classics presents, War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy - Complete and Unabridged."

We decided to skip the Introduction, General Introduction, Bibliography, and and Notes on the Translation and go straight to the Names of the Principal Characters, then on to the Dates of Principal Events and, finally, Chapter 1 of Volume 1.

Sydney seemed interested in the story at first - spitting out her pacifier in (I guess) surprise at the way Anna spoke to Prince Vasili, and falling asleep when the drama peaked at the end of the first chapter.

Grammy & Sydney

2009-03-18T10:50:00.000-04:00

Last month I posted a gallery of photos of Sydney with various friends and family... somehow, and I have no idea how, I committed one of the worst offenses to family possible: I did not include a photo of Sydney with her Grammy, my mother-in-law.

While in days past, a man in my position would have found himself on the unfriendly end of a sharp spear or the contents of an otherwise vegetarian giant pot of soup, the point was simply brought up several times in gentle ribbing... and finally I am righting my wrong. Here are five wonderful shots of the ultra-photogenic Susette holding Sydney.

I promise it won't happen again ;)

A Serious Conversation

2009-03-18T09:50:00.000-04:00

Sydney Up Close

2009-03-13T23:15:00.004-04:00

While I spend plenty of time with Sydney with no camera in hand, she has already grown accustomed to the camera's presence. I try to take most video and photos with the camera next to my head, so that she doesn't see the camera's lens in place of her daddy's eyes. The photo above is an exception - but the resulting photo was worth it. Here's a gallery of some shots of Sydney up close.

That New Dad Smell

2009-03-10T22:46:00.002-04:00

Sydney is seven weeks old today. (49 days... I guess memorizing those times-tables was good for something.)

I've had a hard time expressing the feelings that go along with new parenthood, but I think I'm gonna take a stab at it right now. This is part one...

The Dead Clown
I was on the early shift a couple of weeks ago. This meant that I was giving Dana some time to sleep while I gave Syd a bottle, changed her, got her to sleep, etc. (Dana is doing this most hours of most night and all hours of most days.) It's something I enjoy, and I had a moment of enlightenment this one particular night. After putting Sydney back in the bassinet, I endeavored to fold up the play mat spread out in the middle of the living room floor. Syd loves this thing - it's full of crinkly patches and bells and squeaky squeezing things, but folding it up is not so easy. After a battle that lasted a few minutes, I finally balled it up and dragged it to the corner. It sounded (I imagine) like I had beaten a clown into submission and hauled into a secret hiding place. At this point I looked around our apartment and took in the new furniturial decorations: a swing, a "bouncy" seat," a rubber chewy giraffe on the entertainment center... and I loved it all. And Sydney loves The Dead Clown more each day.

Sydney's Photo Gallery

2009-02-04T08:46:00.000-05:00

I know this is probably overkill, but people keep asking me for photos of Sydney... lots of them. So, here are lots of them!

Sydney Stretch

2009-02-02T19:45:00.000-05:00

Ready to Leave the Hospital

2009-01-29T21:30:00.003-05:00

I think Sydney kept sticking her tongue out because she was done with the hospital:

Baby Hiccups

2009-01-27T23:27:00.000-05:00

It's official... I Am That Guy Who Takes Video of His Baby Doing Something Inane Like Hiccuping and Blogs About It.

The January 20th Human (aka Inauguration Day Baby)

2009-01-20T12:00:00.001-05:00

After an hour and half of sleep I headed back into Manhattan. That was an hour and a half more sleep than Dana had. Syd was wide awake when I arrived - and all set for the Inauguration. We took it all in on the 7 inch rental TV ($1 per inch per day) before family arrived to partake in joy and photo shoots.

As everyone pointed out - this was an historic day for her birth. What these folks don't realize is that this day will be on the record book primarily because of the birth of Sydney Pia Hurley. Just you wait.

We meant to pick up a Times with Sydney's birthdate on the cover (and, incidentally, maybe some mention of Barack Obama), but it somehow slipped our minds. If anyone has a spare copy, please do let me know. In return, I promise you the eternal gratitude of The Sydney Pia Hurley. (Or I will at least put in a good word for you.)

Tom is already in her good graces for bringing Smith & Wollensky steak sandwiches for a very hungry new family.

We do solemnly swear to bring up Sydney faithfully. We do solemnly swear to faithfully bring Sydney up. Faithfully, we - Ah, you get the idea.

Sydney Pia Hurley

2009-01-20T03:18:00.002-05:00

Baby Girl Hurley's due date was January 19th, 2009 - Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. I woke up on that Monday morning at 6AM with an odd feeling in my belly - anticipation? Maybe. But also a stomach bug. As I rushed to the toilet, I thought it was a good thing that Dana's belly had been so small... she'd probably be a week late. I fought the violent bug all morning, but Dana made her way through the frozen subways and streets to her doctor for a check-up. Her midwife said, "See you soon!" Oh boy.

Sure enough, come 6PM, things really started to happen. I managed to straighten myself up with a shower and a couple of slaps to my own face to knock out the 101 fever. Dana was growing certain that this would be the night. Thankfully, she's very tough and patient... by 9PM, with contractions coming every couple of minutes, I had cleaned the snow off of the car and Dana had made her way downstairs.

The drive was not as frantic as I had expected - Atlantic Avenue, the Brooklyn Bridge and the FDR were all pretty clear. NYU Hospital was empty, and soon Dana was admitted. She was moving along quickly. The hospital was a little short-staffed, what with it being a holiday and all. It seems someone forgot to mention this to Baby Girl. Still, even with fewer nurses available, Sydney made her appearance only about 3 hours late: 3:18AM on Tuesday, January 20th. Not too bad.

She was born 8 pounds (3635 grams) and 21 inches long (53 centimeters). We got to see those little skis that were kicking mommy's ribs for so long, and hear the healthy lungs as they cried out for the very first time. Dana was incredible throughout the entire process, and she still looked ready for a night on the town after it was all done.

Even after so many people prepped me for the event with such vague phrases as, "You can't even imagine...," I was blown away by the experience. That little baby... once was in there... now is out here... I can't even explain... ok, now I get it.

Here's a video I took about an hour after Syd was born:

Sydney's first name is in honour of all our friends in Australia. Her middle name is in honor of Dana's maternal grandmother.

Dana was settled into her room by about 6:30AM that morning. I drove back home down the FDR and over the Brooklyn Bridge as cold, winter, morning light was starting to illuminate the city. It was a transcendent moment, and I didn't flip off anyone who cut me off.

Getting Ready for Baby

2008-11-30T23:03:00.002-05:00

With about two months to go (give or take... that's up to Baby Girl), we've been finalizing our new apartment layout. Thankfully she won't be walking until she's AT LEAST 7 months, so we don't have to worry about childproofing every room just yet.

We've started, naturally, with the nursery... formerly known as, depending on who you ask, "The Office," "The Second Bedroom" or "The Tortoise's Room." Before giving the tortoise the boot out to the living room/dining room/den, I have to move my stuff out. Ah yes, that was the fourth name for the room: "The Room For the My Stuff, Including Clothing." (Don't get me wrong, I would set fire to my clothes if that was needed to make room for Baby Girl... but then I would look pretty silly in the delivery room as the only other naked human.)

Sunday was a very productive day for us, with stops by Lowe's, IKEA and Fairway being completed by 2PM. This was done in one clockwise swoop around northern South Brooklyn, only a few miles, really. We were amazing with how much we managed to get into our new Honda Fit, and it felt a bit like a car commercial.

The biggest purchase was a massive unit called the Expedit, from IKEA. The idea was to place this our bedroom and move all of my clothes into it. I think it will work out, but putting together IKEA pieces can be an interesting experience. I did manage to put this thing together myself even though the directions strongly warn against it (with a drawing of a guy by himself an an X through him). Yet there is no mention of how much easier it would be to have a mallet or a power drill. Happily, I had both a mallet and a power drill. I'm sure a hammer would have worked just as well as a mallet, but mallet's are much funnier.

So the new massive bookcase/dresser/organizer is now in the bedroom. The evacuation in anticipation of Hurricane Baby Girl continues...

and I can't wait.

Our New Car - 2009 Honda Fit

2008-11-10T23:29:00.000-05:00

My friends and family know me as someone who strongly dislikes cars. Not to the point of randyhate, but I certainly randyhate lots of things that come along with cars:

Car alarms
Drivers that pass on the right when there's a lane free to your left
Tailgaters
Responsehonks

Still, with a little one on the way and virtually all of our family living just outside of the city, we needed something that we could use to shuttle around our new, little family every now and then. And so the search began. Extensive research led me to two options: a used, certified Honda Civic or a new Honda Fit. The cost is pretty much the same.

I made my first trip to Bay Ridge Honda here in Brooklyn expecting to leave with a used Civic - probably a 2005 or so. I was surprised to find that the salesmen weren't really working the prices down at all, so I left by subway. This could have something to do with a communication issues: working the used lot was a Russian guy, a Chinese Guy, an Indian guy and an old-school Brooklyner. None of them could understand each other.

This gave me a bit more time to do some extra research, and that's when I started leaning towards the Fit.

Both cars score exceptionally well when it comes to fuel efficiency and emissions, though I had read that proper use of the Fit yields phenomenal results. (This is true, more on that later.)
Both cars score very, very well in safety ratings. There are so many airbags, these things could be deployed to Mars a la "Red Planet" and land safely.
Despite being smaller (four inches longer than a Mini Cooper), it has almost twice as much cargo space as a Civic, even with the back seats upright. (Cargo space matters when kids are involved, I'm told.)
Thanks to the fact that it's smaller, the Fit would be easier to park here on the street in Brooklyn.
If, for some reason, we had to sell the car in a few years, we'd be selling an excellent few-year-old car rather than a four-plus-few-years-old car.
Finally, the Fit has 11 cup holders. That was the deal-maker.

We've had the Fit for a week... and while we have not used it much, we're really happy with it. So far we have parked in spots that would have been too small for a Civic. On Sunday, we drove from here in Brooklyn, New York, out to Middlesex, New Jersey, and back. The average MPG for the trip was 40. It drove well. It's a good Fit.

I Did Not Run The NYC Marathon

2008-11-03T23:59:00.002-05:00

But I did watch some of it. The New York City Marathon hit the city this past Sunday. The runners spent at least some time in each of the five boroughs: starting in Staten Island (Richmond County), through Brooklyn (Kings County), up into Queens (knows as Queens County for some reason), over into Manhattan (New York County) and then a swing into the Bronx (Bronx County) before returning to Manhattan to finish up in Central Park. Marathoners started right at the foot of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in Staten Island. I guess this served two purposes: they got off to a good start heading right into Brooklyn, and they started off fast to leave Staten Island behind them as quickly as possible.

Quite a bit of the Brooklyn stretch is on 4th Avenue, right at the corner of our apartment building. The Mrs and I went down around 9 to check out the early starters. One guy was running on two prosthetic legs... impressive. After a little while the motorcade approached, followed by a low-flying helicopter. Obviously the elite runners were approaching. Sure enough, the elites were right there in front of us. They're not nearly as bad as everyone makes them out to be. Not one of them was munching on arugula, sipping pinot noir or appeasing Europe. I managed to get a shot of the female leaders as well as the males. The winners - Marílson Gomes dos Santos and Paula Radcliffe - are visible, as is Kara Goucher, a Queens native who came in third in this, her first ever marathon.
The neighborhood was really rocking, with local bands and DJs blasting music, Brooklynites and tourists cheering everyone on. And I mean everyone... but doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose? This is a race, right? So shouldn't we have been booing at least half of the runners? Better yet, each spectator, whether or not they know someone running in the race, should pick one runner, sincerely cheer him or her on, and put as much or more energy into deflating the rest of the masses. I think this would make for a very interesting scene.

Later on in the morning and after noon, the runners gave way to "runners," and more spectators were drinking beer as they cheered. By the time the "sweep bus" was rolling down 4th Ave, crunching over millions of discarded paper cups and picking up marathoners who needed some assistance after mile 7, revelers in front of the bar Pacific Standard were enthusiastically cheering for the three ambulances that took up the rear. And a full day of NFL was still ahead.

More pictures here on Facebook or here on Picasa.

My Virtual Halloween Costume

2008-10-30T18:11:00.007-04:00

Since I will not be partaking in any Halloween festivities this year, I decided to celebrate All Hallow's Eve online. I went with a character from the graphic novel Watchmen, which I just finished and thoroughly enjoyed.

Digital costumes are so much easier than real-world costumes: no messy paint to worry about, no trips to those horrible seasonal stores (or seasonal sections of the drug store), no shocked responses from the wife like, "You're dressing up as a woman again?!"

So mouse-over the wedding day photo to the left to see me as Rorschach, or click here if that doesn't work. I had to be a little bit ahead of the game... this costume will be very popular next year. Mark my words. Better yet, bookmark this page and come back on November 1, 2009!

Banksy in NY

2008-10-28T08:44:00.001-04:00

A couple of year ago I read an article in The New Yorker about an artist named Banksy. The graffiti artist sounded very interesting, and the publication came just a week after I discovered some beautiful graffiti in Melbourne, Australia. Sorry, ma, I know you hate graffiti, but this is different from most of the stuff you despised in the Bronx.

Supposedly, "no one" knows who Banksy is. He started in London, probably, with his anti establishment works around the city. His were far more sophisticated than that of Neck Face, another tagger I noticed in both Sydney and Brooklyn. Banksy's artwork was politically charged, especially when he traveled to other parts of the world, such as a mural of a little girl patting down an armed guard, painted on a wall in the West Bank.

Dana and I happened by a Banksy exhibit in Southampton after attending a wedding. The irony of a young, British graffiti artist displaying his work in a posh beach town is almost painful. Still, his work was sharp and relevant.

This brings us to autumn in New York. After several sightings of large, Banksy-ish murals going up on the sides of buildings in Manhattan, people start to speculate if Banksy's coming to NY. The answer: yes. But these murals were not done by Banksy himself. Instead, Banksy hired (or commissioned) a local artist r nicholas kuszyk from Williamsburg to put up four rat-themed artworks in anticipation of his exhibit in Greenwich Village.

The Village Pet Store and Charcoal Grill is unlike anything I had seen by Banksy. Word on the street is that someone told him, "New Yorkers don't car about art, they care about their pets." He took it and ran with it, using the pet theme to lampoon American consumerism. What's more, I took the Disney-like simplicity to indicate that he does not think New Yorkers can handle anything too complicated. The exhibit is very amusing, but I think the joke is on us.

But what do I know? I'm no art critic.

If you're looking for a laugh, more shots here on Picasa and here on Facebook.

Going Kubbing

2008-10-13T22:49:00.003-04:00

This past weekend we went to Prospect Park for a round of Kubb. I had no idea what it was until I played it. Now I only have a little bit of an idea. Kubb is a Swedish game in which you line up wooden blocks and throw wooden sticks at them. It's nice and simple... the greatest Swedish export since the Ångström sign! Some say the game lacks creativity, but creativity is for the Finnish! So grab some wood, cut it into some blocks and sticks, grab your friends and go Kubbing!

Of course, Kubbing isn't the only thing you can do in Prospect Park, Brooklyn. There was a folk band played for hours. I believe I saw the family picnic across the way having a wheelbarrow race. There was an Asian-American Christian revival, an enormous American flag unfurled across the lawn, a soccer game between the Jamaican-Brooklynites and the Irish-Brooklynites, some dude in his underwear jazzer-sizing and countless dogs being walked by interesting owners. Always lots to see and do in Prospect Park. This was probably the last nice weekend in the park for the year. It was a nice sendoff. Pictures.

Atlantic Antic

2008-10-10T23:22:00.006-04:00

Last weekend was the Atlantic Antic, which rocked from just down the street on 4th Ave all the way to the water... all on Atlantic Ave, obviously. The afternoon was full of great food and drink as well as interesting tents from local sellers. (This isn't your typical NY street fair, this is the biggest and best local street fair you could find.) More pictures here.
[Edit 2008-10-13: Link to photos fixed.]

Baby Girl Hurley

2008-09-29T21:37:00.003-04:00

Here's a very early snapshot of our baby girl. She seems to have my energy level - kicking around and doing flips day and night. I'm trying to figure out a way to get her a little keyboard (wireless of course) so she can start blogging.

Oh Man, This Is Such A PickleFest... Let's Get Out Of Here

2008-09-22T22:18:00.001-04:00

The Picklefest is sort of old news by now, but I don't particularly pride myself on punctual, yet perfunctory, prose, people. After all, this is a Picklefest we're talking about. Peter Piper, were you there picking a peck? If so, I missed a great story.

Last weekend, in the Lower East Side, throngs of people - that's right: THRONGS of people - streamed along Orchard St. I can't remember the last time I saw a throng of people, but this throng was particularly interesting in all things marinated in vinegar and spices. Despite the mascot being an anthropomorphic, green, pickled kirby cucumber, there were pickled carrots, string beans, ginger, mushrooms, grapes, kimchi and even pickle truffles.

This stretch of road was picked as the pickle place because of Guss' Pickles, which originated on Hester St. Guss' now operates out of Cedarhurst, and the Guss' here on Orchard is a separate business... but still, it makes a good story. And I'm not sure if an entire throng of people would make it out to Cedarhurst for a picklefest. Plus, it was some Long Island guys who were responsible for the Pickle on a Stick. (Sure, it was easy, but did you have to give in?)

There were loads of tasty treats, including masterpieces by the Pickle Master Rick. There was a large piece of wood asking me about pickling in Australia, and I was as honest as I could be. There were distractions, but I found some pickles to purchase. I went with Señor Pants recommendation and brought a tub of pickled back to my pregnant wife from The Pickle Guys. Very good stuff.

photos of the throng and of pickles

What's a Stoop?

2008-09-15T22:37:00.006-04:00

After my last post, I was asked by a friend to explain what a stoop is. Well, he actually commented on my Facebook status, but this is 2008, so same thing. He's a crazy ninja Scotsman living in Australia, and I didn't think much of it... then I did a little research and found out that the term "stoop" is actually an American English word.

"Stoop" comes from the Dutch for a flight of steps, and in the US it means the steps leading up to a house. Anyone who has seen The Cosby Show, Sex and the City or Sesame Street would know what I am talking about. I happen to have a photo of me and Dana sitting on adjacent stoops here, just to the right.

This reminded me of a very interesting article I read in The New Yorker a few years ago. There's an excerpt here, but thanks to my handy New Yorker hard drive, I was able to reread the entire piece. Absurdly brief summary: Noah Webster was the man behind America's first dictionary, which added numerous commonly used words to relatively "u"-less copy of a British dictionary. This was not well received by the folks on the other side of the pond, but words like "skunk," bureau" and "pecan" were now considered acceptable English in the US.

So it turns out that we Americans are more than capable at inventing new words, not just butchering old ones. OK, maybe we've "borrowed" these words from other languages, such as Native American languages, French & Dutch, but we've given them our own unique spin, and that's what America's all about, right?

Stoop Sellin' It

2008-09-14T22:32:00.007-04:00

Our friends down the street are abandoning us and the neighborhood for Bed-Stuy next week, so we decided to team up and try to sell our combined crap to strangers. Our collective, steaming pile of crap was so great that we had a line of anxious would-be crap-buyers outside the building door at 9AM. (That's "Sweaty" Ben Butkus and an unknown cyclist pictured to the left.)

After a few remarks loaded with feigned embarrassment ("So sorry all the stuff isn't out yet, there was a line at the coffee place at 8:30AM on a Saturday"), we had successfully shifted several rooms' worth of clutter to the front of B&B's apartment in Boerum Hill. Things were moving early on, but then thing quieted down. By 11AM, we were offering an additional 3% off on selected items to selected Boerum Hill residents. This didn't help much, and soon most of the items were in the Salvation Army around the corner.

More interesting than the sale was the string of characters that came by to chat with us. We discovered the joy of sitting in the front of the apartment... but too late. Our friends will be moving shortly, and our building does not provide the same sort of space, but I'll definitely keep this mind when looking at possible future residences.

The Most Partiotic Hotel in the US of A

2008-09-12T23:31:00.009-04:00

Written earlier this week:

Some of my vegan, anti-microwave and/or flax-seed-avoiding-cause-it-causes-autism friends damn me for my work travel, but here I am again... in a hotel off an interstate, prepping for the week's meetings. Call me Willy Loman. Actually, please don't.

As I think about how all-American my business trips have been, be they in CN, NM or MN, I realize that this is the most patriotic hotel I've ever been in - at least in Pennsylvania.

Besides the "Liberty," "Independence" and "Freedom" parking lots, we have the front-desk greeting/command "Celebrate America at The Holiday Inn." Factoring in the "We The People of The Holiday Inn" faux-constitution in the lobby, the Sam-Adams-only bar and the National Anthem and "Proud To Be An American" playing while having breakfast in America the Restaurant, this IS the most patriotic hotel in the US.

All photos here.

Asian Tiger Mosquito

2008-09-10T18:52:00.003-04:00

Fierce little buggers! I first noticed stripes on an attacking mozzie down on the Jersey Shore last month. While at a BBQ here in Brooklyn a few weeks ago, I nabbed another in the middle of the day. (Deceased specimen to the left.)

After a little bit o googlin', I found out that these guys are relatively new to the area (90s) and known for feeding in broad daylight. I've given in to the fact that I will spend every summer speckled with bites, so if I get them before dusk, what's the difference.

I do wonder if we'll soon see mosquitoes with spots on them. Or maybe mosquitoes with a peacock-like set of feathers. If we're going to be devoured, the aggressors might as well be interesting to look at.

Dear Mr. Maroon Caravan Driver

2008-07-24T09:02:00.000-04:00

Dear Mr. Maroon Caravan Driver,

First, let me begin by saying, "Thank you." After my morning shower, shave and application of musk-scented body butter (we wouldn't want anyone to think I wasn't masculine), I was sure I had missed a spot. Yes, I knew that some part of me was not completely clean. As you undoubtedly knew, that part was the entire right side of my body, and as soon as you saw the opportunity to help me, you did. A true Good Samaritan. That oil-laced, brown puddle on Canal Street was exactly what I needed at that time to complete my morning cleansing.

I would also like to say, "You're welcome." I could see the glee in your face as you swerved from the middle lane to the far-right lane to assist me. I feel pride that I was able to provide you with such enjoyment on this rainy, miserable morning. And knowing that your pleasure was derived from delivering aid to a needy person fills my heart with love for the entire human race.

I just wanted to jot down come of these notes for you... to get them off my mind because the burden of debt I feel to you is so great. Now I can get back to my busy Thursday and avoid open flames. Have you seen The Dark Knight yet? Just curious.

Sincerely,
The Guy in the Jeans and White T-Shirt on Canal and Lafayette Holding a Useless Umbrella Above His Head

Fingernail 2.0

2008-06-18T23:38:00.002-04:00

I don't rant much on this blog, but I have to do so tonight. This occasion is especially sad for 2 reasons: 1. the rant is against my own body and 2. it's quite difficult for for me to type right now.

Why do we have fingernails? I always thought it was because our fingertips are so susceptible to harm, protruding out there more than most of our body... and doing stuff. If so, can someone explain to me why my well-calcified (calcinated?) fingernails can't protect me from a dullish Henkels chef knife? Yes, this knife was wielded by my own (other) hand, but still... I haven't sharpened it in years!

So what happened? I was chopping away at a jalapeno to include in these wrap thingies I would freeze for lunches. I cook and chop a lot, and jalapenos, in my opinion, are among the worst to cut. This jalapeno did what others had in the past: it jumped. Cutting lengthwise, reaching the end, and bam, the thick flesh shifts, finger under blade. I knew I should have got a habanero.

But really, it's not the jalapeno's fault - it's my fingernail's. I used to think my fingernails were so tough. I can't even bite them off! But maybe I just need to reevaluate the strength of my teeth.

Back to the initial point: we need better fingernails. It is clear that our existing units are insufficient, so I am researching fingernail improvements. So far I have designed little fingernail helmets. If you have a better idea, I'd love to know.

Walking to Work

2008-06-17T23:57:00.007-04:00

That's my walk to work right there - from the red box (give or take) to the green box (give or take). It's about 4 miles or so, depending on the route I take... so it's a nice way to start the day. Much more pleasant than competing to be the first one out of the Grand St D. On a few occasions, I've taken my camera along to capture some of the interesting sites leading up to and crossing the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges (depending on my route). I hope you enjoy them.

A few samples...

Where Have You (I) Been?

2008-05-07T22:07:00.004-04:00

While lack of blog updates seems to indicate I have not been traveling, this is not the case. I have not been touristing much, but I have been traveling quite a bit for work. I have spent three of the past four weeks out of NYC: Albuquerque, NM, Pleasanton, CA, and Eden Prairie, MN. There have not been many opportunities for site-seeing in these exotic locales, but I have learned a lot about traveling for work:

1. You are not allowed to carry a container of liquid larger than 7oz onto a plane. The keyword is here is "liquid." If you really want that 3 liter bottle of Mountain Dew beside you on the flight, simply freeze the contents. Since it is now in a solid state, you're golden.*

2. It's best to be that jerk who's the last one on the plane. Cut it as close as you can. Get to the airport 2 hours before your flight and check in, then find a bar to relax in or a power outlet so you can watch movies on your laptop. Watch the line for security check-in. When you think you have a clearing, make your move. (A "clearing" means the line is nice and short, and your flight takes off in 20 minutes or less.) Your impatience will be palpable and people will let you go ahead when you say things like, "My flight takes off in 8 minutes," and breathe heavily with frustration. (Like going "phhhh" while shaking your head.) After you clear security and board your plane, be sure to apologize profusely to the flight staff and your fellow passengers, explaining "there was an accident." **

3. There are lots of great Web sites to help you have a comfortable stay wherever you go. Here are a few I have found:
Kayak:
An excellent tool for finding the cheapest flights. Best one I have seen.

SeatGuru:
Find out what plane your flight is on and use this tool to pick the best seat available.

TimeAndDate:
Bare-bones site with many useful tools for those jumping across time zones.

WalkRunJog:
This is a little more elaborate than the excellent Google pedestrian maps, enabling you to find saved running courses, enter your weight, speed and distance to calculate calories burned.

Public Transportation>Public Transportation:
Or maybe there is some sight-seeing to do and you don't want to drive... and it's too far to walk. This links to public transport information for all areas of the US.

Yelp:
Now that you've earned a negative calorie count for the day, use this to find the nearest place to eat. (My Grimaldi's review was Review of the Day on the 26th of April!)

Beeradvocate:
Always a great site to find out what good local beer you should track down and check reviews of brewpubs.

BeerMapping:
They offer city google maps with bars and brewpubs plotted. Nice!

*I have not tested this cockamamie idea.
**If you follow this advice, you will probably miss your flight, but that's your fault.

A Life Of It's Own

2008-04-12T18:41:00.003-04:00

This blog entry has spurned a new Web site. It will be interesting to see how this thing grows.

Beth's Birthday Blast

2008-04-08T23:01:00.002-04:00

I've been a bit of a slacker lately - too busy working and making up new words - but here are some photos from a fantastic birthday weekend. First we swung by Gutter, then Radegast and Hotel Delmano. A good time was had by all. All always has a good time, ever notice that?

Batmanhead

2008-04-04T08:30:00.002-04:00

Batmanhead [bat-man-head]
- noun

1.	a condition that prevents a human from turning his or her head without turning the shoulders as well.

2.	Michael Keaton's head in Tim Burton's Batman.

[Origin: 1989;]

"I pulled something in my neck while reaching for the Cheerios and I've had Batmanhead all day."

*** EDIT: Vote for my new word here: Urban Dictionary.com. ***

Googling Your Name

2008-03-14T18:09:00.005-04:00

Typing your name into Google to see what comes up. This pastime has been enjoyed by many for years. Gosh, it's probably as old as baseball! It's not as fun for someone with a common name... or someone who shares a name with someone who will likely be a saint someday. I fall into the latter of those two scenarios. Thankfully, with a made-up Web handle like mine, it's pretty easy to see if I've popped up somewhere interesting in Internetworld. I've only ever come across one other 'dwarbi.' That was a name on a census document on India, which is appropriate because the sock puppet I made the name for was supposed to be of Indian origin.

If you're still reading, I'm impressed. Everything in the above paragraph is true, but I want to give a shout out to a reader of my blog who complimented me on another site. I've never met this person, who linked to my entry on Düsseldorf. Here's her comment, posted on Trivago.

Si l'en est à croire dwarbi, Düsseldorf est la "party town", une ville de fête. Il lui consacre une page de son site dwarbi's room, narrant ainsi une étape de son voyage à travers l'Allemagne. On y apprendra entre autres un peu plus sur la boisson spéciale servie par ici, sur l'art...

Mais si le texte, en anglais, est simple à lire, ce qui vaut le coup de voir, ce sont les photos sur la page qui s'ouvre quand on clique sur le lien juste à la fin. Les photos, de très bonne qualité s'ajoutent, en tant que photo-roman au texte qui ne devient alors qu'une simple introduction. Aucune publicité ne vient importuner l'internaute pendant sa visite.

Which, using the wonderful Google Translate, I found to mean:

If was to think dwarbi, Düsseldorf is the "party town", a city of celebration. He devotes a page of its website dwarbi's room, narrant a step in its journey through Germany. There will learn among other things a little bit more about the special drink served here, on the art ...

But if the text, in English, is easy to read, which is worth seeing, it is the pictures on the page that appears when you click on the link just at the end. The photos, very good addition, as a photo-novel to the text that becomes a mere introduction. No advertisement comes bothering the user during his visit.

Thanks! (A friend of mine who speaks Google French said this is a compliment.) I love when travelers find the information and photos useful.

(Editor*'s note: Apologies for the infrequent updates. I haven't been traveling much, and my biggest passion of late, besides cooking, has been politics, which I try to keep off this blog. Though I have to point out that it seems no one fully understands the way the Democrats are running their campaign! For example, regarding whether or not Clinton lost a "super delegate" with the resignation of Governor Spitzer, podcast political experts from NRP, Slate and the New York Times have the answer split, with two saying she has lost a delegate and one saying he has not. And was Ferraro officially part of Clinton's campaign or not? I didn't think she was, but from other sources, she was indeed.

So you see, this is why I have not been blogging about politics. There are plenty of other sources to misguide you. Though I am working on a top-secret project that is about neither politics nor name-Googling.)

* That's me!

Snow Day!

2008-02-22T09:28:00.001-05:00

I stuck my head out of our living room window to get a few shots of the first real snow day of the year. It's still in the "beautiful" phase, so we'll enjoy before the snow turns to blackish sludge.

And me without boots. That's right: no boots. I'm going to have to wrap my feet in sandwich baggies, like I did when I was a kid heading to school, and go buy a pair at Atlantic Center. This is the first tim I've needed a pair of boots in over three years! I guess that means I can get myself a fancypants pair of steel-tipped kickers.

The 2 Train, 2000

2008-02-16T17:00:00.001-05:00

The year was 2000. I was making my way from Brooklyn to my office in Manhattan. It was a Saturday. Yes, I had to work on a Saturday, and that sucked. The 2 train cheered me up. Here's how:

The ride from Bergen to Chambers was uneventful, but a very interesting passenger boarded my car at Chambers. I did not know and do not know if this human was a man or a woman.

S/he was about 6 feet tall and his/her body was just like a very large ball. Kind of like a bowling ball on chopsticks. S/he was wearing a skirt, but s/he also had fairly hairy legs and some facial stubble. On his/her feet were construction boots; s/he had long, braided hair; and s/he was carrying a child-sized pink, semi-clear backpack. The backpack was stuffed with papers, and a pair of hockey gloves were hanging from the side.

S/he was holding a toy stuffed monkey.

Do you have a visual? Good. The train was not too crowded, and when this interesting homo sapien got on the train, everyone noticed while pretending not to notice. S/he walked the length of the car and sat directly opposite me. Between her/him and the next passenger, there was enough room for two more people. The interesting passenger placed the backpack on the seat next to her/him, placed the toy monkey on top, and slammed the backpack into the side of the woman next to him/her.

The woman said, "Excuuuse me!"
The interesting passenger replied, "No! Excuse me! Excuse me! Make room for the monkey, B*TCH! MAKE ROOM FOR THE MONKEY!"

We pulled into Union Square, where I had to transfer to a 1 (or, in those days, a 9), and I exited the train. I did consider staying on the train. To this day, I regret getting not doing so.

*I've recently discovered Yelp and have managed to add a few reviews. I thought this one was worth adding to the blog. What's Yelp?

Planning Our Honeymoon

2008-01-27T14:59:00.000-05:00

I've added a little poll to the blog. See it over there? Just to the right? If you're here before March 1, then you can help us decide by submitting your answer. Since this will likely be the last time for a long time that we will be able to go on a big trip, we want to make it something special. So, random passerby, friend or family member, I'd love your thoughts. If non of the options seem good, add a comment! My thoughts...

- Relaxing and exciting, depending on the day
Scuba diving would be a huge plus. And beaches are great... but for a day or so, then it gets boring. A new culture and exotic food also big pluses.

- Can plan it ourselves
So no cruise or all-inclusive.

- Good weather in November
No Caribbean, most of the Northern Hemisphere. Japan would have been great... but too cold in November. Booo on the Sun heating up the Southern Hemisphere when we're not there.

- Somewhere neither of us have been
This knocks out most of Europe. Besides the Big Trip, we've made some separate trips that cancel out Spain, Eastern Europe, Ireland & Greece, among others. All of which could have been good options. I've seen a good deal of the US and Dana's been to Costa Rica already. Obviously Australia & New Zealand are also out.

So we found ourselves thinking about South America, specifically Brazil and Argentina. In Brazil we could check the Amazon before or after doing some great diving and sun-bathing. In Argentina, there are loads of interesting parks and gorgeous places to hike. Buenos Aires would feed us well. Plus Dana's fluent in Spanish, and I can get by. And we also are giving Hawaii a thought. My parents loved it 40 years ago.

Your thoughts, human?

Syd's New Home

2008-01-11T08:43:00.000-05:00

Syd, our Russian tortoise, was getting a bit cramped in her home, so I built her a new one. Using these plans as a base, I constructed a 4 by 2 pen for her and threw some wheels on the bottom. Syd seems much happier now, cruising around in circles. Here's a clip of Syd checking things out:

A little more on these interesting animals... they're also called the Horsfield's tortoise. Agrionemys horsfieldii.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Sauropsida
Order: Testudines
Suborder: Cryptodira
Family: Testudinidae
Genus: Testudo (disputed)
Species: T. horsfieldii

Native to central Asia, around the border of Russia and Afghanistan, these war-weary animals are bred in captivity and make for low-maintenance pets. Unfortunately, many are smuggled into the country as part of the exotic pet trade. If you decide to find a Russian tortoise for your household, make sure he or she had been bred in captivity.

Russian tortoises like to climb and burrow. The bedding, made from recycled paper and cardboard, gives her something to dig in, and we're looking to add some more toys for her to climb on. For now, she has to make do with the tunnel and rock from her last residence:

When people meet Syd for the first time, they're always surprised by two things:
1. Her speed. Lightning.
2. Her compassion. She's the most affectionate tortoise you could imagine.

Here she is climbing over her retreat and then doing a faceplant:

Syd dancing - just a bit:

Syd Eats

2008-01-04T11:36:00.001-05:00

Best Sensory Items of 2007

2007-12-30T10:49:00.000-05:00

With all the "best of" lists floating around, I figured I would put together a little list of my own.

Best Taste:
Kangaroo. I miss that bouncy meat. Low in fat, high in protein and Iron, and environmentally friendly! We used it for everything from burritos to spaghetti Bolognese.

Best Smell:
Gorilla Coffee. Roasted right here in Brooklyn and making it easier for me to adjust from the excellent Aussie coffees, a bag of this powdered gold sends me to heaven without ever leaving the borough.

Best Sight:
Sydney Harbour - Opera House, Harbour Bridge and all - from Kirribilli as the sun set on the day Dana and I got engaged.

Best Feeling:
Being attacked by mosquitoes in Florence. Possibly the most fun miserable night.

Best Sound:
LCD Soundsystem or Talk of the Nation - from my nano.

Pet Warfare

2007-12-21T12:07:00.000-05:00

"An absurd future civilization, where the human capacity to empathize has been eliminated because of the absence of all household pets, reinvents creativity through massive infusions of crayons, puppets, pendulums and TV programs."

That concise description accompanied "Pet Warfare" during its release at the Notre Dame Student Film Festival in 1998. I made the short with Brian Fremeau and the help of many fellow students. Thanks to Ted Mandell at the Department of Film, Television & Theater, I have a copy of this film today! I hope you enjoy it. Please feel free to leave a comment here.

To view a higher quality version of this, click here. It works if you have QuickTime installed. I'll get other versions up after the holidays.

A Break For My Lead Arms

2007-12-15T10:35:00.000-05:00

I have not been posting much because I have been so busy with the new apartment. Every day for weeks I've had to lift, pull, drill, hammer, pack, push, work! Don't get me wrong, it's very rewarding to see the place come together, but my arms feel like lead. So yesterday was going to be the one day I wouldn't do any physical labor. I decided to give my arms a day's rest. In the late afternoon, I was heading out to meet some friends and passed an older woman in the lobby. She had one of those large carts, packed with laundry, and she was getting into the elevator. I said hello, continued outside and didn't make it too far before I realized I forgot my phone. When I went back into the building, the woman was pulling her cart up the first step in the stairwell.
"You don't want to use the elevator?" I asked.
"It's not working," she replied.
Obviously I offered to carry it up for her. "What floor?"
"Six."
I needed the exercise.

U is for Uncompetent and also it's for Uncomparablefriends

2007-12-04T22:37:00.000-05:00

We're in!

Saturday was the busy day, after the many busy days before it. Ben & Beth came out to South Orange on Friday night so that we could get an early start in the morning. I picked up bagels before 7AM from Sonny's, where they assured me that I would still be able to get good bagels in Brooklyn. In fact, good ole Bergen Bagel's is only a five-minute walk from our new place... I was there first thing on Sunday, at 10AM.

We also hired two professional movers we know, Edwin and Marlon, and this made the move run even smoother. Loading started at 8:20 and finished at 10:20. The result was a 17 foot U-Haul jam-packed with everything except the stuff we forgot. Not bad for only 6 pairs of hands.

My folks came and drove Dana and Beth to Brooklyn, along with some other stuff that had to get there one way or another. Ben and I took the truck. There to meet us at the new place at around noon were seven more: Cristi, Jay, Jon, Ken, Nate, Pierre and Randy. Thanks to these great friends, we were able to get the truck back to U-Haul at 2PM. It didn't stop there! As soon as all of our stuff was in the apartment, our mover/friends founds things to do: putting together the bed or the couch or the overcomplicated thing that goes over the toilet. Good friends.

We ordered Cherry Tree pizza, which was not closed, as Phil had reported, and which was excellent. The moving party turned into a regular party!

Since then, we've had the phone, Internet & cable installed. A burglar alarm, and C02 and smoke detectors. We've installed shelving and have been unpacking and organizing like mad... but the place is still not presentable. Until it is, all we have are the moving photos. I couldn't whip out the camera at the most interesting moments, like trying to get the 500lb armoire out of the truck and up four flights... if I had done that, I would have smacked myself.

*U is for Uncompetent refers to U-Haul. I suggest you never use them, even if it's cheaper.

Moving Madness!

2007-11-29T23:52:00.000-05:00

I'll be going offline for a little bit, after we leave South Orange and before TimeWarner gets our connection running in Brooklyn. I checked out the apartment earlier this week, and it's coming along beauticiously. Magnificious. Check out the cherry wood floors and great lighting:
The kitchen and bath might be a bit tight, but they're lined with brand new tiles and even backsplash tiles above the counters:

The fact that the place looks so good is making it a lot easier to deal with the knuckleheads I've had to deal with to move. The landlord has been OK, and the super has been great... but U-Haul? Well, at one point I had to ask a customer service representative if the 'U' stands for 'Useless.' Later on, when someone who works at my pick-up location called me to say he was concerned because he was located so far from South Orange, I called customer service again. I was explaining the situation, stopping because the woman on the other end was talking to someone else. Then she would say, "Go ahead, I'm listening." I would continue. She, too, would continue... talking with her coworker about lunch.

The last thing I said was, "And so can you tell me if there is a closer location where I can pick up the truck?"
A moment later she stopped talking and said, "Go ahead, I'm listening."
"I'm done," I responded.
"Well I don't know what you want me to do."
I replied, "I just asked you a direct question. Can you answer it?"
"I'm... What do you want me to do?"
"Do you want me to repeat what I was saying?"
"No, I was listening."
"OK."
[silence]
Finally, she asks, "What did you say?"

I love these people. Really, I'm just amused at this point.

Tracks for Miles

2007-11-26T23:06:00.000-05:00

Check out these awesome tracks!

Photography and construction by both me and my nephew.

Movember

2007-11-25T22:36:00.000-05:00

From the people who brought you "bush tucka," "gimme a bell this arvo" and "she'll be right, mate," we now have "Movember".

That's right, what was once left to Roman emperors such as Julius Caesar and Augustus Caesar, has fallen into the hand of the Australians. They have invented a month. Do not despair! I see that look of panic at the thought of a month of eating roo, grilling prawns on the barbie and stacking pineapple and beetroot on your hamburgers, but this has nothing to do with food. It's about mustaches (moustaches). "Mo" is Aussie for hair grown on the upper lip. "Vember" was an incomplete name of a month.

As the official site explains, the month-long event is meant to raise awareness about men's health, specifically prostate cancer and depression. I can't think of a more noble reason to grow a 'stache... except maybe becoming a cop. Or joining the Village People.

The fund raising event has expanded outside of Australia, but it has not yet taken off here in the US as it has in Oz. Back in Sydney, mos were seen sprouting and growing throughout the month. Several friend of mine are participating, and if you would like to donate, click on the post-pubescent human of choice:
Ben - pictured top left looking like James Hetfield.
Cory - pictured to the right in a tough-guy/nostril-exposing pose.
Ian - not pictured because he needs as much time as possible to grow convincing facial hair.

These famous examples of moustaches are not participating:

Thoughts on Boerum Hill

2007-11-21T23:43:00.000-05:00

Soon I will be a Boerum Hillite. Or is it just Boerumite? Or Boerumian. One sounds like a mineral, the other like a type of protohuman who lives in caves of boerumite. Whichever.

We will be moving to the neighborhood, so I decided to look into what "Boerum Hill" is, geographically speaking. I think it's a real estate term, with little historical importance... a word or phrase emphasized to encourage people to move in. For example, attaching "Park Slope" to an apartment helps it move in the market, so "Park Slope" has grown into surrounding areas seen to be not as cool as Park Slope.

"Boerum Hill" is a different sort of neighborhood. For a long time, it carried the connotation of a dangerous place to live. As time has passed, just as gentrification flipped Alphabet City, so has Boerum Hill found itself in the process of flipping.

What does this mess mean for finding a proper map? Well, I wanted to find some sort of online map. Preferably one that was updated daily to reflect Park Slope's expansion and Sunset Park's withdrawal to the south. No luck.

I did find some maps from the New York City Department of City Planning that clearly defined some zones. However, it was brought to my attention that some residents of a few neighborhoods in Brooklyn have created their own SuperSexyHood called BoCoCa. Obviously these people couldn't find the time to Google where they lived, panicked and created a new alliance of Brooklyn city-states: Boerum Hill + Cobble Hill + Carroll Gardens.

It's certainly catchy, but I'm wary about aligning ourselves too closely with those neighborhoods, thereby distancing ourselves from other, more powerful neighbors. ProFoPa (Prospect Heights, Fort Greene and Park Slope) would make a pretty hefty alliance, leaving those of us exposed at the eastern edge of BoCoCa in Boerum Hill particularly vulnerable. I think we should stay neutral and remember to maintain friendly relations with Downtown Brooklyn and Brooklyn Heights, ensuring access to the water as well as serious clout if we ever need it. And we can look into invading Red Hook if we need art, drugs, Swedish furniture or a distraction.

Landerpalooza 2007 or The Malt Assault Birthday Hop II

2007-11-19T08:40:00.000-05:00

Saturday would have been the date of Landerpalooza 07, but it was bagged and replaced with The Malt Assault Birthday Hop II. Huh? Landerpalooza was once a time to celebrate all things Lander. The Malt Assault Birthday Hop II was a pub crawl through Brooklyn to celebrate all things Lander and DJ Gonzalez and anyone else whose birthday is around this time of year. Well, anyone who could make it out to Brooklyn. And who we knew.

It was a mega-crawl, starting at The Gutter for some beers and bowling in Greenpoint. We were there early enough to bowl, unlike last time, but I skipped it in favor of taking time to snap shots of the retro decor.

Second stop was The Diamond, a newish joint also in Brooklyn. For entertainment, these guys have indoor shuffleboard, which was good because we didn't have to start talking to each other until the third stop: The Brooklyn Brewery. Brooklyn Local One and homemade beef jerky (thanks Jon) - a perfect match!

The beef jerky put us in the mood for more meat, so it was a good thing the next stop was Fette Sau, the awesomest BBQ place in New York. I was happily stuffed with beef cheeks, sausages, pulled pork shoulder, baked beans and German potato salad. Fette Sau is built into an old garage and food is ordered by weight. Funky. Spuyten Duyvil, across the street, followed. Same owners, similar funkiness. SD has been a beer destination for years. A Williamsburg gem. With trucker hats and extremely rare beers.

The last stop for me was Barcade, also one of my favorite pubs. It's a cavernous bar with dozens of classic arcade games - games still cost a quarter. Unfortunately, Rampage was on the fritz, so I dropped a few into Dig Dug. The crawl continued to Wells Ales & Lagers, but I began the trek back to New Jersey. Thus ended a great Brooklyn Pub Walking Upright. Thanks Steve!

View it in stereoscope here.

The Big Trip Summary - It's Over (Links To All Posts)

2007-11-17T08:43:00.000-05:00

That's it. The trip has been over for quite some time now. All of the photos have been posted, and some of the stories have been written down here. Below are links to all Big Trip blog entries and photos from the journey. If you're planning a trip to any of these countries, I hope my blog will help you. If you have any questions about accommodation in any of these locations, please leave a comment and I will get back to you. It's just a bit to much to do an entry on all the wonderful and mediocre places we stayed. I will say that our most uncomfortable nights were in 1-star and a 4-star hotels (three nights in the former, one night in the latter) while the 2-star and 3-star joints were fantastic, almost without exception.

That's it for the Big Trip. 98 links below.

Planning
The Big Trip
Singapore Locked In
Queensland Locked In
(Then Dana told me it would be overkill to write before the trip even started.)

Queensland, Australia
We Found Internet Access
Writing in Cape Tribulation
Mt Sorrow
*Cape Tribulation photos
Poolside Extravaganza
The Great Barrier Reef
*Great Barrier Reef photos
Wild Queensland
Found: Previously Unblogged Photos from Queensland
*Queensland photos

Sydney Airport
Aiport photos

Singapore
We Sail Tonight For Singapore
*Singapore photos
Whatever?

Italy
Rest in Tuscany
La Guerra a Firenze (The War in Florence)
Roma
*Rome photos
Posting from Florence
Sleeper
Cortona
*Cortona photos
Siena
*Siena photos
Assisi
*Assisi photos
Montepulciano
*Montepulciano photos
Firenze!!! (Florence.)
*Florence photos
The Villa in Cortona
*Villa photos

France
Nice Post
The Greatest Toilet in the World
Yes, It's Nice
*Nice photos
Monaco & Monte Carlo
*Monaco & Monte Carlo photos
Avignon - Dance!
*Avignon photos
Bridges & Cheese
*Roquefort photos
A Stop in Orange
*Orange photos
Lyon, Lyons, Lions
*Lyons photos
Lyons at Night
*Lyons at Night photos
Lunch in Annecy
*Annecy photos

Switzerland
Greetings from Switzerland
Montreux & Château de Chillon
*Montreux photos
I'm Going to Beat You With a Pig Bladder!
*Interlaken photos

Germany
Getting Slap Happy
German Sing-A-Long
A Week and a Half Left
My Last Night as a 20-Something
My Special Day
Deine Karte Bitte Nehmen!
Bier Hall in Garmisch-Partenkirchen
*Garmisch-Partenkirchen photos
Videos from Gasthof Fraundorfer in Garmisch-Partenkirchen
Munich/München
*Munich/München photos
Bamberg, Germany
*Bamberg photos
Stop at the Würzburg Hospital/Winery
*Würzburg photos
Koblenz - Bikes, Castles & Fickle Weather
*Koblenz photos
Saddle Up, Boys, It's Time for Düsseldorf!
*Düsseldorf photos
Farewell Germany, Heading to Belgium!
*Aachen photos

Belgium
Bye Bye Holiday
In Leuven with Jan & Maxine
*Leuven photos
Big Time in Brussels
*Brussels photos
Brussels Grote Markt/Grand Place
*Grote Markt photos
In Bruges/In Brugge
*Brugge photos
Antwerpen
*Antwerpen photos
The Big Trip Ends

Appendices
The Big Trip Ends (OG style)
Big Trip Photos Mapped
Pigeons Rule the World
*Pigeons Ruling the World photos
Faces in Stone (an other matter)
*Faces in Stone photos
The Big Trip Summary - Food & Drink

The Big Trip Summary - Food & Drink

2007-11-16T14:42:00.000-05:00

Australia
The food in the tropics of Queensland surprised us. This was the one destination where I did not expect to find fantastic meals and drink - and there it was, right in front of me! The dishes we enjoyed in Cape Tribulation were mostly "New Australian" takes on traditional Australian fare, like barramundi. The wine lists were solid, but the beer was lacking outside of Cairns, where we found a better than average hole in the wall at which to avoid returning to our hostel. Similarly, the food we ate at the Great Barrier Reef on the live aboard scuba dive boat operated by Prodive was also wonderful. I did try to tackle the cassowary to taste, but no luck.

Singapore
Singapore was a culinary destination for us, even before reading Calvin Trillin's article "Three Chopsticks" in the most recent food issue of The New Yorker. We quickly learned that plenty of good, inexpensive food can be found in markets, like shopping malls. Dana and I tried everything we could, but we left with dozens of intriguing menu options untasted. Some day we will get back to eat as much as humanly possible.

Italy
I don't usually seek out Italian food and, honestly, I think the cuisine is too heavily relied upon by those nervous to branch out. The freshness and simplicity of the food we ate in Italy was astounding. I could not get enough. I've never eaten so much pasta in my life! Well, since college, at least. We learned a lot of the essentials in Assisi during a cooking class. From our eating experiences in Italy, the two ingredients I will remember most will be the truffles I ate throughout the peninsula and the chicken neck I ate in Florence. Most Italian restaurants won't risk their reputation by serving a bad house wine, so the appropriate liquid accompaniment to these fantastic plates were both tasty and inexpensive... €5 for a liter at one restaurant in Rome. Of course, we had even better wines in Montepulciano.

France
Of course France is known for its culinary delights, and we sought out one of my favorite cheeses, made in Roquefort-sur-Soulzon. Lyons had plenty to offer, including the famous Le Sud, but our best meal in the country was lunch on our last day, in Annecy. Here we dined on the traditional alpine meal of raclette cheese melted over bread, potatoes and other equally healthy foodstuffs.
"What about the wine?"
Oh yes, the wine was great, but we didn't venture into too many wine regions and did not get to do any tasting. I can say that the French wine was much better than the French beer.

Switzerland
Switzerland offered some very good food, but it was by far the worst value during our trip. The Swiss franc had about the same exchange rate as the Australian dollar, but the costs were much higher. What's more, when we ordered a bottle of wine, it was 500ml instead of the usual 750ml. The travel books and Web sites mentioned Switzerland's secret: fantastic wine that was not exported. The impression was that these wines are SO GOOD that the Swiss don't want to share it with the rest of the world. Well, we tried a few, and they can keep it. The vineyards do make for beautiful scenery.

Germany
These Germans are great eaters and great drinkers! Large portions of flavorful meals served with expectedly good beer or unexpectedly good wine. Sure, I knew they make some great riesling and gewurztraminer, but the range was broader than that. Würzburg surprised us with their winery/hospital. With beer specialties such as altbier and rauchbier, Düsseldorf from and Bamberg, respectively, and impressive bier halls across the land, it's a true beer destination. Dana and I were even a bit overwhelmed early on, and we picked up sushi for lunch in München. Heresy!

Belgium
But we saved the best for last, didn't we? There's not much I can add on the quality of Belgian beer that I have not already posted, but I will reemphasize the quality of the food, in terms of taste, presentation and service. I can think of no other place where people genuinely seem to care so much about your culinary experience. Not because they want to impress you, but because they want you enjoy your meal. Then again, I guess they really have to do that if they're going to serve you horse.

Setting Up the New Apartment

2007-11-15T17:29:00.000-05:00

I've put together a layout of the new apartment to figure out what we can put where. I'm worried that we won't be able to get our couches through that hallway and around the corner. The diagram is to scale, and I've decided to put it, as well as the measurements, on the series of tubes to ask you, The Internet, if you think it will fit. So what do you think? I'm nice to you, can you help a guy out here?

The hallway is 34 inches wide, but the doorwar is just about 30. The ceiling is roughly 109 inches, or nine feet, high. The distance between where the wall against the kitchen is and the other wall is 44 inches. The bigger couch is 30 inches high, 39 inches deep and 79 inches wide. So it seems like the couch will just barely fit. Do you agree, The Internet, or am I a fool?

By the way, sorry about the mess, we're still trying to figure out where to put things. Why yes, those are cherry wood floors.

Sydney at Night

2007-11-12T11:24:00.000-05:00

Sydney at night. I took this photo a few years ago from the Sydney Harbour Bridge. I sent it to Sydney's free weekly newspaper, City Weekly, and it was published. I also won 100 free digital prints! The warm color of Rocks is a nice contrast to the cool blues of company logos on the buildings.

The Empire State Building

2007-11-10T17:18:00.000-05:00

Last night I snapped a couple of interesting shots of the Empire State Building. It was a wet, chilly night, and the clouds clung to the top of the city's skyscrapers. The architectural icon was illuminated yellow in honor of the 10th anniversary of "The Lion King" on Broadway. While that's kind of lame, the building looked beautiful. The lighting changes frequently, for holidays, special events or seasons. While on the topic, I'll add another photo of the Empire State Building. This is in my banner above. I took it back in August.

A few interesting facts about the top of the skyscraper:

It was completed in 1931.
It's height is 381m (1,250 ft).
The dome on which the antennas now stand was meant to be a docking station for zeppelins. Unfortunately, the updraft through the building was too great and each attempt at docking resulted in a near-crash.
The broadcasting antennas were added in 1951.

Obviously, there are a lot more interesting facts about the Empire State Building, but I decided to limit myself to facts about the very top.

Guy Fawkes Night at Pacific Standard

2007-11-06T23:14:00.000-05:00

The guys at Pacific Standard threw a Guy Fawkes Night party last night, the 5th of November, of course. Remember, remember? The 5th of November? Jeez, I could have sworn I told you about it. Most Americans don't know who Guy Fawkes is and only recognize the mask from V for Vendetta. This is understandable because we're no longer a colony. They still celebrate it in the colonies of Canada, New Zealand and Australia, to some degree. And I think they still pay tax on tea.

So who is Guy Fawkes? He's the guy from the famous Gunpowder Plot in 1605. He tried to blow up Parliament and kill the king of England. They caught him with loads of explosives and gave him a a bit more than a slap on the wrist. They tortured him, hung him and then did it again once a year for four hundred years. The holiday is also known as Bonfire Day or Fireworks Day. Setting off explosives seems like a funny way to celebrate his failed attempt, but it is less violent than burning him in effigy.

"Are you setting him on fire?" an early visitor to Pacific Standard inquired of the dummy-in-the-making. "No," John, one of the owners, replied, "Not allowed to, but he's actually a piñata."

Ah, Guy Fawkes makes it to the New World as a piñata. Perhaps one day we can see his face on a totem pole! I did not stick around long enough to see the destruction of Guy "Guillermo" Fawkes, but I stayed long enough to have a great time. This bar is a gem, and, with 4th Avenue Pub a few doors down and Cherry Tree right across the street, the block might be the best beer bar block in the world. I'm moving into an apartment two blocks away! Seriously, I am.

New Apartment in Development

2007-11-05T08:02:00.000-05:00

Last week I popped into our new apartment to take some measurements for furniture. They were redoing the entire place! It was great to see the new tile in the kitchen and the rewiring in the bedrooms was a nice bonus. It turns out that dealing with an idiot broker has its upsides, like the broker neglecting to mention that the management company intends to renovate the entire apartment. We lucked out because we loved the location and went for the apartment despite the flooring and wiring, which have now been redone. That's a photo of me and the bathroom. Thankfully the water had not been turned off. Next time I should think twice about drinking a large coffee and a sport bottle of water while en route to Brooklyn from Jersey.

Work in progress.

Pigeons Rule the World

2007-11-03T16:58:00.000-04:00

Humans create statues of heroes and gods. Pigeons stand on their heads and defecate. I don't think there's any question who's in charge here. More pigeons being pigeons.

Faces in Stone (and other matter)

2007-11-01T21:07:00.000-04:00

Shortly into our trip, I began to notice a common visual element to locations we were visiting: freaky faces. Usually in the form of a sculpture and frequently the part of a fountain, they were carvings in wood, granite or other material of mythical, historical or fictional characters. As we distanced ourselves from Rome and grew closer to Brussels, the medium and the message both became more bizarre. From Bacchus in Florence to an overwhelmed tourist in Wurzburg to a mouth-bleeding piece of graffiti in Antwerpen. Here's a little collection of some photos I snapped of faces during our trip.

All Hallow's Eve 2007

2007-10-31T22:55:00.000-04:00

For the first time in many years, I'm living in the suburbs during Halloween. Satan's holiday certainly has a different feel here than in a city. In Brooklyn, people used to dress up, but I wouldn't see too many kids around. In Sydney, most Australians refused to dress up for Halloween. "That's silly stuff." Instead, they would go to a "fancy dress" party on any other night of the year and put on a costume as if it were Halloween.

A couple of months ago, I looked out of a window and into the backyard of the folks who live next door. "Dana?" I called. "Why is Steve building an electric chair?" Dana explained that Halloween is Steve's holiday, so when I saw a dummy hanging from a noose a few weeks later, I thought nothing of it. Steve's creations make their way to his front lawn (with Steve's help) throughout the month of October. With the strobe lights and fog machines working, the front of their house is convincingly creepy. The tree of heads is the freakiest.

Steve & Maureen also host a Halloween party for adults. This party was last Friday night. Costumes are mandatory. Dana went as Sexy Thomas the Tank Engine, Alexis as a leopard-cat, Tom as [thisisafamilyshow]-in-a-box, and I as Amazing Man. The inside of their house was as well-decorated as the outside, and food & drink was plentiful. Once a second tequila shot guy came to the party, things got crazy.

Halloweeriffic photos. There's also a shot of the tap handles at the BBQ gem Fette Sau, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. They're all made out of butcher's tools, so it's Halloweeish enough. Hope everyone had a nauseatingly scary night.

randyhate

2007-10-31T16:30:00.001-04:00

randyhate [ran-dee-heyt] verb, rand·y·hat·ed, rand·y·hat·ing, noun

–verb (used with object)

1.	to dislike intensely or passionately beyond reason; feel extreme aversion for or extreme hostility toward something that is really just a little annoying to most people: to randyhate PDF menus; to randyhate hipster music.

2.	to be unwilling; dislike common things: I randyhate to wear shorts.

–verb (used without object)

3.	to feel intense dislike that others might be dismayed by, or extreme aversion or hostility to all things non-plaid.

–noun

4.	intense dislike; extreme aversion or hostility.

5.	the object of extreme aversion or hostility, with the desire to destroy.

[Origin: bef. 2003; ME randyhat(i)en, OE randyhatian (v.); c. D randyhaten, ON randyhata, Goth randyhatan, G randyhassen]

—Related forms

randyhater, noun

—Synonyms 1. [none, I randyhate synonyms. Thesauruses are for stupid, lazy people who can't think of the proper word on their own. All thesauruses should be confiscated and burned in a public display of just how stupid they are, and their owners should be beaten. A boosh-bah-gooshgah. {two thumbs down}]

—Antonyms 1. picklelove.

Found: Previously Unblogged Photos from Queensland

2007-10-30T07:49:00.000-04:00

In the process of summarizing the Big Trip, I came across of cache of pictures from Tropical North Queensland. There are some shots from Port Douglas, the Daintree River, a night walk through the rain forest and the beach of Cape Tribulation. Spiders, frogs, water dragons, walking fish and even a cassowary. Enjoy the lost photos!

Photo from Sydney Farewell

2007-10-29T18:26:00.000-04:00

My friend from Sydney, Sam, known for dancing hip-hop, sent me this photo from our farewell party. From left to right (we're all over the place, but I'm going based on the spot right between the eyes): Anna, Fiona, Glenn, Aaron, Glenn, Denis, Dana, Alexis, Sam, Lana and Ben. There are a lot of 'a's and 'n's in those names, aren't there. 11 a's and 12 n's. The n's win! I'm happy because I didn't bet on n. We didn't have a black and white theme to the party, but for some reason we wound up dressed that way.

There we go. Now it looks like it's from a long time ago. And the black and white makes more sense. Thanks for the photo Sam.

The Big Trip Summary - Getting Around

2007-10-29T07:41:00.000-04:00

We made our roundabout way from Sydney to New York on a combinations of planes, trains, boats and cars. Frequent flier miles covered a fair bit of it. Multiple treks between New York & Sydney had its perks!

Queensland, Australia
We flew from Sydney to Cairns on Jetstar. Since it was a domestic flight on a budget airline, the baggage limit was 20kg (44lbs) per person. We had packed our luggage based on international travel, since we were, after all, flying back to New York. We packed those bags to the max, full of clothes to last us for 50 days of traveling in a wide variety of climates, plus the stuff we forgot to ship back to the States. According to Jetstar policy, we were fined for each kilogram extra, which amounted to roughly the cost of two Qantas flights to Singapore. Slight exaggeration, but whatever we saved was canceled out. Oh well. We were still in a daze from our fun-filled farewells, so we hardly noticed the absence of entertainment, food and leg space. When Dana and I were confronted with the huge fine from Jetstar at 6AM the day we were leaving Sydney, still reeling from saying farewell to dozens of great friends, we reminded ourselves that there would likely be many more instances of unexpected charges, and we would have to roll with it. Thankfully, it started and ended with Jetstar.

The car we used in Cairns was obtained on miles from Velocity, accumulated by Dana's numerous Virgin Blue flights to Melbourne. There were not many hidden fees for the Europcar we picked up at the airport in Cairns, and it was a piece of cake. That little white car fared better than I did in the Queensland rain forest.

Sydney
There was a scheduled layover in Sydney during our flight from Cairns to Singapore: 7 hours. But that was OK, because we booked the flight on Qantas with miles. Unfortunately, the flight was delayed 3 hours, and we were not allowed to leave the airport for security reasons. Sydney Airport has shockingly little to do and very few places to eat. Dana and I passed the time watching movies on the iBook and reading. I also squeezed a meal voucher from Qantas, which we used to purchase a salad and a bottle of wine. For about ten hours, we sat in that airport cafe and watched the sun and clouds play above the beautiful city that we were leaving. Blades of Glory was showing on the flight, so that was funny.

Singapore
Qantas was decent, as usual, but we were really looking forward to the flight from Singapore to Rome: Emirates. I had booked the flight through Expedia, and we actually had to pay for it, so we couldn't wait to experience this airline that everyone said was so good. It Sucked. That wasn't a typo, it sucked with a capital S. The seats were tiny, the food was absurdly small, and the mediocre films being shown were worse than they would have been on a Qantas flight. And the flight attendants were rude. Worse than the in-flight experience was the pre-flight experience. Due to our delay on arriving in Singapore, we did not get to our hotel until 2AM. Our Emirates flight was set to depart the following morning at 3AM. The visit was an enjoyable whirlwind, like riding on Space Mountain for 24 hours, but getting back to the airport was like getting back in line for another ride when you really have to vomit. Security screening led us into a tiny waiting room about half the size of the plane. As we sat, drained from the hectic stopover, we were forced to watch Ellen Degeneres dance in a raincoat to a Justin Timberlake song as a bunch of uncoordinated audience members danced along, wearing much cheaper raincoats. Plastic garbage bags, really. The flight was delayed, but they didn't announce that until 4AM, after I had confronted the service desk. We were freed to urinate before being cattle-prodded back into the holding pen.

Dubai
The layover in Dubai was a feast for the senses. We landed at about 6AM local time. A shuttle bus picked us up at the plane and drove us past the airport expansion to our arrival gate. It took about 25 minutes. Someday soon, this will be the biggest and busiest airport in the world... or is it already? It seemed to be, with the massive shopping centers built into this timeless alcove. At 6:45AM Dubai time I was being offered samples of liquor. Instead I bought the most expensive face lotion I have ever purchased. I still have plenty left. I'm savoring it.

Italy
Our first European train experience was in Italy. I understand why they fired Mussolini, but do they keep the trains running poorly just to spite his ghost? I mean, they hung him upside-down and skinned him, isn't that enough? Do they need to make innocent American tourists suffer? Perhaps. Perhaps. Anyway, we were at Rome Leonardo da Vinci Fiumicino Airport (Aeroporto Leonardo da Vinci di Fiumicino), waiting for the Leonardo Express, for over 20 minutes before it arrived. It arrived empty, so I'm not sure where the delay could have been. Next, only half of the doors opened, and they quickly began closing on the humans boarding. Here's a train that is meant to carry passengers from an airport that only has narrow doorways and steep steps up into the carriage. I lost a thong, or flip-flop, climbing in. Those behind me watched the piece of rubber footwear do a Slinky act down the steps and onto the tracks before continuing their rush on board. That thong meant a lot to me, and I mourn its early separation. It was replaced by a pair of Italian leather sandals in Florence, but I still have the lost shoe's twin. I shall keep it forever.

For us, Italy was all about the train. We had been warned about driving in Italy, and I thought being a pedestrian was enough of a risk. We caught the train from Rome to Cortona, but, of course, we got off at the wrong Cortona stop. Cortona-Camucia, not Cortona-Perugia! Dummy! We hitched rides around Tuscany, noting the frustration in our American family members that each intersection merely tells you which direction to turn for the next intersection. Driving in Italy seemed to be like finding your way through a cornfield maze, at best, like playing QBert at worst.

France
We took a sleeper car from Florenze to Nice, as has been blog-noted. That was a great experience. More details here.

In Nice, we picked up our Peugeot, the car that would take us north to Belgium. A fella on VirtualTourist clued me into their Open Europe plan. It was essentially a leased car, which provided huge savings over car rental. If you are an American citizen and need a car for an extended period of time, check it out. The car didn't give us any problems, but 24 hour roadside assistance was included. The only problem was that they could not grasp the fact that I was not flying to Nice. In countless emails and phone conversations, I stressed that I would be arriving by try and will be traveling for weeks before I get there. For weeks before I got there, their office made frantic attempts to get in touch with me to find out what airline and flight I would be arriving on. Still, everyone I dealt with was helpful and friendly, even if a little deaf.

Now we got to drive! Our first European road trip was to Monaco & Monte Carlo. I still don't get which which one is which, but it was a bit of a let-down. The drive was nice! Speaking of nice, it was tough to find a place to park in Nice. Things got a lot easier once we left the Mediterranean Coast. French people are anal drivers, though. On a three lane highway, with no other vehicles in sight, I was in the middle lane when a car came up behind me in the right lane. He crossed to the middle lane, tailgated for a moment, then flashed me. I moved to the right, he passed me, and moved back into the right lane. I gave a puzzled look that he could not see.

Our biggest road trip was in France, when we drove from Avignon to Roquefort-sur-Soulzon. Our decision to take small roads caused us to spend a good ten hours in the car, but the views were amazing. Most of the time we were behind a truck, but left and right were gorgeous.

Elsewhere
Those sticklers for independence in Switzerland charged 30 Swiss francs to drive in their country, but besides that, driving was free. Gas wasn't cheap, but not a lot of tolls. Somehow we made our way around without a map in countries where we could not speak the language. I developed a special skill that enabled me to magically find every hotel without getting lost. When that failed, I would run into the closest hotel and ask for directions to the hotel we were staying at. Those guys love to use the little maps they keep behind the counter.

Driving gave us some freedom to see some of the smaller towns and less-traveled roads. Avoiding the highways in Switzerland enabled us to see far more of the countryside, but probably doubled the travel time. As we made our way north, it was interesting to see the change in crops, such as large expanses of vineyards giving way to hop fields. Sunflowers stood like waiting armies in every country we visited in Europe, seeming only to grow shorter as we climbed up to the Low Countries.

Belgium
Once we dropped off the car in Brussels, and Jan made his way out of the one-way dead-end at the airport, we were back on the trains. A much more relaxing and Earth-friendly way to travel, I would try to take more trains when we get back to Europe.

Back to New York
I've already double blogged this leg of the journey, so I don't have much to add. This British Airways flight was booked through Qantas on miles, so we had a very long layover. The flight itself was pleasant, and would have to take first place in comparison to other airlines of the trip. It was a pleasant and comfortable way to spend a few hours thinking about the incredible trip we had just finished.

Shiny Head

2007-10-27T15:24:00.000-04:00

I had an Oops Moment yesterday, electric razor in hand. There are two times you don't want to have an Oops Moment: when when cutting your hair and when performing a circumcision. I don't perform circumcisions, so, thankfully, my Oops Moment only trimmed my hair too short. I picked up a razor a couple of months ago and knew that someday I would forget to reset the setting. Instead of different clips, it has a dial. Whenever you take the clip off to shake out the hair, it resets to 1. That's 1 millimeter. Bzzz.

YAY!!! We Found an Apartment! GRRRR!!!

2007-10-24T16:02:00.000-04:00

Dana and I have finally found an apartment! It's a spacious 2 bedroom in the Boerum Hill section of Brooklyn. Don't know where Boerum Hill is? Don't feel bad. Most people don't. It's a term the real estate companies made up to charge higher rent for places in Gowanus. Our new pad is between Park Slope and Fort Greene. A very convenient location in a newly-renovated pre-war building. So why the "GRRR"? Three words: ------- ------ brokers. I had to bleep out the first two words because this is a family show after all.

After finding the place on Craigslist. The ad just said it was a 2BR on Pacific in Boerum Hill, so I called the agent for more details. Here's a brief summary of the conversation...

Me: Where exactly on Pacific is it?
Him: It's right there were you want to be.
Me: Can you give me a cross street?
Him: It's right in the middle, the train is close.
Me: Which train?
Him: It's right in the center of things.
Me: Is it on 4th Ave, near Atlantic Center?
Him: Yeah, that's it.
Me: Is it a true 2 bedroom or a 1 and a half?
Him: Yeah it has two bedrooms.
Me: Can you give me the size in square feet?
Him: The apartment is a good size. I think 7... something.
Me: So probably one bedroom plus den.
Him: No, their both the same size... like 11 by 11.
Me: Oh. And what floor is it on?
Him: It's on a higher floor.
Me: What direction does it face?
Him: It faces two directions.
Me: OK, can you get me more details so I can decide if I should come see it?
Him: Yeah, what time is good for you? I've been here over 5 years so I can pretty much answer any question you have.
Me: Right.

I'm a glutton for punishment, so we did go to see the place. As mentioned, it's really nice. It'll be much nicer once we fumigate for real estate brokers. This clownhead called us nonstop when he needed up to bring in certified checks for his payment, but when we need information from him, he's elusive.

Need some more examples? OK!

The move-in date advertised was November 1st. After we submitted our application (plus a fee of $100 per applicant), he said the management company wanted to do more work. This was kind of good because the floor was very stained, and we had asked if they could put it in writing that they would fix it. (The answer? "They don't usually , like, do stuff like that.") However, they said they wanted to push the move-in date to December 1st.

Me: What sort of work?
Him: All sorts of stuff.
Me: What specifically?
Him: Like, a lot.
Me: Are they doing the floors?
Him: Probably.
Me: Can you talk to them about moving in on the 15th?
Him: We'll just put December 1st, no big deal.
Me: But I would like to move in earlier if possible.
Him: Well, if it's ready earlier, you can probably move in earlier. It's not a big deal.
Me: Maybe it's not a big deal for you, but I need to know when we're moving!

After all that fun, we received a forwarded email from his boss that said, "The management company wants to leave December 1st for legal reasons." Our broker added the line, "so here's the deal." Great deal! Hey knucklehead, why didn't you just add the line, "So here's what's happening: we're not going to consider your needs." I would have appreciated that sort of honesty.

We brought the certified checks, for his commission and a security deposit, along with two signed copied of the lease, for the management company to sign. As expected, the broker showed up ten minutes late to the meeting he had rescheduled. Today, Dana sent an email to him asking if everything was OK and when we should expect to get our copy back. The broker forwarded that to his manager with the intro, "i dont know the answer to this q" His manager wrote back, "It will be mailed to them after they move in," and the broker simply forwarded that email chain to Dana. Can you get any lazier? As Randy said to me, "You think they are working for you, but you are working for them." Very true. And it makes me so happy to see a manager setting a good example of making the client feel important. Oh wait, I forgot that we're not the client. Sorry, it's just a rough gig to pay thousands of dollars to be treated like dirt. Wouldn't this money be better-spent at an S&M club?

This has not been one of the most entertaining blog posts, I know. I rarely blog a rant, but I wanted this one out there so I can send a link to the broker once he's out of the picture. Ordinarily, I would speak to the broker's manager, but it's clear that he went to the same school of business. An excellent school, I'm sure. I'll leave them both nameless here. I will mention that the company is Ardor Real Estate, also called Ardor Realty. When I last spoke to the broker and finally mentioned that he's making this much harder for us than he has to, his reply?
"This is New York, what do you expect?"

There we go! Thanks for finally spewing out a bit of honesty. Once I get a friggin copy of the lease, we'll book a rental truck and have a long road of happier apartment blog posts to drive upon!

I would love to read some comments on this experience or similar fun with brokers.

A Trip Down South - Atlanta

2007-10-23T07:37:00.000-04:00

We departed Tega Cay and made our last stop on the Southern Tour: Atlanta. I had driven past Atlanta before, but I had never stopped there. Dana went to school there for four years. So this was a new experience for me a sort of homecoming for Dana. We stayed with Ali & Mike in their apartment in Midtown, a very trendy part of town. Like the previous stop, the camera did not come out too much... we were too busy talking and eating. The visit was an enjoyable one, and we can't wait for Ali & Mike to move up to New York this winter.

A few still photographs from Atlanta.

Big Trip Photos Mapped

2007-10-21T22:46:00.000-04:00

Google offers a free photo-sharing application called Picasa. I don't use it for much, but I created an account and had all the photos I had added to blog posts automatically added to an album. The result was an eclectic mix of images ranging from coneheads and John Howard to rubber duckies and Sam Coates. Pretty neat. But next I dragged some of the photos to a map, dropping them on the city where the photos was taken. Very cool. Now you can roughly follow the path we took from Rome to Brussels. I fear this may expose my secret identity... but it's worth it. Check out the photo map here.

The Big Trip Ends

2007-10-19T07:16:00.000-04:00

After Antwerpen, we went back to Brussels for one last night with Jan & Maxine. They took us to one of their favorite restaurants and I ate horse for the first time. I had to: it was my last night of travel-food experimentation, but I did really enjoy the meat. It was perfectly cooked and very tender. Not quite kangaroo, but better than wild boar.

Maxine gave us a lift to the airport and we flew to London Heathrow for our eight hour layover. We were expecting the worst, and it wasn't that bad. After converting our remaining 50 euro into pounds, we had 25 bucks to spend on a meal and some hand-pumped real ale. Eventually we boarded our plane and the relatively short flight delivered us safely to our mother country.

Hold on one second... ah yes, I thought this summary sounded familiar. That post was three months ago today. Well now the photo-sorting and summary-writing part of The Big Trip has ended. Sort of. Please stay tuned...

A Trip Down South - Tega Cay

2007-10-18T08:35:00.000-04:00

From Philadelphia we took the scenic route to Tega Cay, home of Sand Gnats. It's also where my brother lives with his wife and three kids. We went to see the Sand Gnats, but it was also nice to see family.

Tega Cay, in South Carolina but just south of Charlotte, North Carolina, dates back to 1972, when a young man named Tega Cay sought the freedom to settle a new town and name it after himself.

OK, now that all the nonsense is out of the way, the rest of this post will be dedicated to truth, though you might not believe all of it. First the stuff that's easy to believe...

We had an excellent time catching up with Chris, Jan, Mike, CJ, Katie and Luke. We only had three nights, but we made the most of it, except when Dana went to get her hair done at the Steel Magnolia place. Aside from going to watch Michael & CJ's Little League team, the Sand Gnats, we just hung around, catching up. Unfortunately, I did not get any photos of the baseball game - it was semi-dark and raining - but I did get a few shots of Mike & CJ with their parakeet, Luke.

Perhaps it's a result of all the traveling I've done lately, but the camera stayed hidden in my pocket most of the visit... until we came across fearsome goats and an abandoned Christian amusement park. We didn't find the goats to be particularly scary, but a warning sign kept us at a distance. This was a nice lunch spot where we also took a look at the Reverend Billy Graham's grandfather's cabin. It was closed, so we ate our Subway sandwiches on the porch.

Afterwards, Chris took us on a drive to the ruins of Heritage USA. This Christian-themed amusement park was, in the mid-80s, the 3rd largest amusement park in the country after Disneyland and Walt Disney World. Jim Bakker and Tammy Faye Bakker built it, along with a massive hotel, on the grounds of their church/business. This was not a very successful long-term venture for Jim Bakker. He accepted $1000 donations in exchange for a 4 day stay at the hotel. He didn't do the math and there were not enough rooms for all the people who had donated. After a lawsuit, those who donated $1000 received a refund of $6.54. This and the affair with his secretary Jessica Hahn, among other things, led to the demise of Heritage USA. He sold it to Jerry Falwell. You may remember Jerry Falwell as the class act who said the gays, lesbians, pagans, and others helped bring the September 11th upon us. Here's a silly photo of him on the water slide Typhoon, fully dressed. Let's laugh at him.

Somehow I managed to fit my brother, Billy Graham, Jim Bakker, Jerry Falwell, killer goats and a water slide all in the same post. Thanks to a trip to South Carolina.

More photos here. And if you want to see more photos of Heritage USA, this site has lots of great shots of the place in its heyday and after it fell into disrepair but before they dismantled most of it. The photographer even made it up to the higher floors of the hotel before being chased by security guards.

Antwerpen

2007-10-16T07:33:00.000-04:00

I was with great difficulty that Dana and I arrived in the last city of our Big Trip. The train ride from Brugge should have been an easy one, but somewhere a train was out of service and we had to connect through Brussels. The 70 minute trip took 200 minutes. Still, the trains were clean, if ill-directed, and arriving at Antwerpen Central Station was an excellent introduction to the city. The massive glass structure makes me think of what Penn Station in New York looked like before it was destroyed to make room for Madison Square Garden. Antwerpen-Centraal, designed by Louis Delacenserie, was completed in 1905, and nearly destroyed 10 years ago. Thankfully, the citizens argues for its restoration instead.

We walked along the main shopping street, Meir, to our lunch destination: Grand Cafe Horta. This restaurant was built in the style of the famous Belgian, art nouveau architect Victor Horta. The structure is from a building built by Horta and rescued from demolition in Brussels. It's worth a stop for both the food and atmosphere.

Our hotel was easy to find, directly across the street from the Cathedral of our Lady (Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekathedraal) in the Grote Markt. The room was noteworthy for two other features: no door to the bathroom and a tiny photo of a baby taped to the wall. These bizarre details are consistent with many of the bizarre details of the city itself. A few examples:

Small buildings have been built onto the side of the cathedral. Look at the McDonald's here.
The city's name comes from the Dutch for "hand thrown" because the town's hero, Silvius Brabo, cut the hand off the giant Antigoon and threw it into the Scheldt River.
Brabo is memorialized in several parts of the city, most notably Brabo Statue in front of City Hall. The statue is a fountain and water spews from the severed hand as well as the arm of the vanquished giant. (The water was turned off when we were there.)

Antwerp is also home to several interesting watering holes:

De Vagant is a cafe that serves hundreds of varieties of jenever, a juniper-flavored liquor that is the predecessor to gin. Dana and I both enjoyed what we tried, and the staff was very helpful. A very interesting spot and a perfect refuge from the pouring rain.
't Miniatuurke is the smallest and most friendly bar I have even been in. It's two stories, and each level could hold about eight people. We chatted with the regulars for a long time before one them directed us to an ATM and a good spot to get mussels. One wall was lined with caricatures of younger versions of the locals we were speaking with.
As I sat in Oud Arsenaal, and the locals went in or out, it felt like I was watching a play. The bar was a perfect set, with it's tiled floors and antique beer signs and jar of boiled eggs. On top of the interesting character, the place has an exceptional beer list.

During our last full day in Belgium, we visited the home of Peter Paul Rubens in Antwerp. Raised in Antwerpen from when he was 12, he traveled to Italy to study and returned with first-hand knowledge of what the Italian masters were doing. His home, now the Rubenshuis museum, contains much of his artwork (or replicas), and an audio guide explains his life, his artwork and the building itself. As impressive as the paintings and sculptures are, the architecture of his home and the garden in the back are equally so. After he purchased the house, he built a new building, connected to the old by a gate and hallway, in the modern fashion - baroque. Standing in the courtyard, visitors can look to one side to see the original 16th century residence, then to the other to see Rubens's addition, which he used as a studio. The result is fantastic. The garden is spotted with sculptures and interesting plants. A must visit if you are in Anterpen.

The last gallery of photos from the Big Trip.

Whatever?

2007-10-15T07:53:00.000-04:00

While visiting Singapore, I came across a bright yellow canned soft drink called "Whatever" and curiosity got the best of me. There was nothing on the can indicating what might be inside of it. Nowhere could be found the words "cola", "tea" or even "blue blast". I don't remember exactly what the beverage tasted like, and I suppose I never will. The non-carbonated drinks, as well as the carbonated sister drink "Anything", are intentionally sold as questionable products. It's a game of chance. A sort of Russian roulette with soda. Anything could be Cola, Cola with Lemon, Apple, Fizz Up, Cloudy Lemon or Root Beer. Whatever could be Ice Lemon Tea, Peach Tea, Jasmine Green Tea, White Grape Tea, Apple Tea or Chrysanthemum Tea.

I respect the fact that the company is admitting to the consumer that s/he will have no idea what s/he will be consuming. It's hardly ground-breaking. This is already the case with hamburger patty meat and sausages. How about we expand it to movie-going experiences? I can see a half-price crap-shoot cinema in the near future. A production company creates 6 films and releases them to select "I Have No Idea" theaters without any promotions. Only after the lights dim and movie has begun will the audience know if they are about to see a comedy, horror or period drama. Potential. This has got potential.

Anything/Whatever site.

A Trip Down South - Philadelphia

2007-10-14T22:14:00.000-04:00

From my parents' house we set off for Philadelphia. Dana's aunts have an apartment there, and they were kind enough to let us stay there. I had not been to Philly since I was a young boy. We spent the day brushing up on our American history and seeing old bells and the night enjoying excellent food and beverages. It felt a bit like a school trip with the bonus of beer at the end of the day. And the beer was excellent. My pick would be Monk's: a cozy restaurant with phenomenal Belgian beers to go with the Belgian fare. I had rabbit cooked in Gueuze.

I won't try to sum up all of the American history I re-learned from the knowledgeable National Historic Park rangers, but I will say that it's a lot more complicated than "they declared independence, rang a bell, fought, and wrote the Constitution." It was interesting to hear the rangers give their spin on history, emphasizing one thing or another based on if they preferred Jefferson or Adams. They felt so strongly about it that you would have thought they were talking about Bush and Gore!

Here are some photos from Philly. Unfortunately I did not get a snap of the man drinking a Starbucks coffee while going for a ride in a horse-and-buggy. I did get a shot of Rubber Band Man.

In Bruges/In Brugge

2007-10-12T22:45:00.000-04:00

Brugge (Bruges in French) is the capitol of West Flanders, so it seems appropriate to me to use the Dutch spelling here. And although you can't hear my mind as I type this, my head is also pronouncing it in Dutch. I'm sure it's as bad as my spoken pronunciation of the word.

Brugge is a gorgeous place to visit. The canals cover so much land that it's quicker to get around by boat than by car. Theoretically, that is. I didn't see too many boats that were not tour boats, and they don't stop just anywhere, no matter how much you try to pay them, or how badly you have to pee.

This got me thinking about opening up a water taxi service in Brugge. Dana and I had some good, even revolutionary ideas, and we got to talking about them enthusiastically in a backstreet pub. But then this Flemish tough guy came over to our table. It was clear that he didn't approve, or so we thought, until we realized that he was telling us the dinner specials for the evening.

Brugge has a lovely town square, or Grote Markt, much like Leuven and Brussels, and it has enough bizarre statues to keep it from being ejected from Western Europe, but it also has a bit of Southern Europe and Mediterranean vibe to it. Perhaps this is just because of the canals, but I think it also has to do with the sleepy tourist atmosphere. After over a month without setting foot on a boat, we gave into a boat tour, and it was worth it... but yeah, it felt a bit cheesy at the time. The next day we redeemed ourselves by doing a 9 mile walking tour of obscure architectural wonders, most of which were nowhere near a canal.

The city is absolutely beautiful, and I had a hard time deleting any of the photos from the 24 hours we were there. Even the shots on the boat with the skipper and fellow passengers in the frame... they already feel like bits of nostalgia from a trip to Disneyland... like a Space Mountain (or It's a Small World) through a Flemish town rather than space (or a small world). The difference is that these buildings date back hundred of years, and most people have not been exposed to the unique architecture of this region. Please enjoy the photos of: picturisqué Brugge, you love it, Bruges, to see what I mean.

* As a side note, the city is the site for an upcoming film by Martin McDonagh starring Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson & Ralph Fiennes. I'm looking forward to seeing how many places I recognize!

** If you ever visit Brugge, go to Hotel Erasmus for dinner at least once. This was probably the best-served meal we had in Europe. The owner cares a great deal about the experience of his customers, and he will also make excellent beer (or wine) recommendations if you ask him.

A Trip Down South - Part 1

2007-10-09T22:31:00.000-04:00

After a fairly steady flow of Big Trip entries, I got side-tracked by another trip. This one was not nearly as big, but equally well-earned... at least for one of us. With Dana starting work very soon, we decided to take some time to see some family and friends who live a little farther away than most of our family, but not nearly as far as our Australian friends. And then we threw in two more stops.

Falling squarely in the "not very far away" category would be my parents. However, they live in the direction we were heading, and they were also celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary, so a visit was in order. Pat, Jen, Danny & Ciara were also in town, and the little ones are the stars of the photos. It's hard to believe that my parents have been married 40 years. Well, not for me, because my oldest brother is 39. (There is a rumor that my brother was carbon-dated to be 41, but we won't talk about that.) What I mean is that it must be hard for other people to believe it. They don't look old enough! But that's because they were 15 when they were married. Again, I'm kidding. What's true is that both of my parents are very lucky people. We watched clips from their wedding. We flipped through old photo albums. We had a good laugh at some of the clothing, but it's clear that they were very much in love on the day they got married, and things have not changed that much... except for the horn-rimmed glasses.

Employed!!!

2007-10-09T20:52:00.000-04:00

No not me. Dana.

Brussels Grote Markt/Grand Place

2007-09-30T23:41:00.000-04:00

The Grote Markt/Grand Place of Brussels is probably the most magnificent town square in all of Europe. I put together an old-fashioned panorama of the place, which you can view here. It's not a new-fangled Quicktime VR thingy, just a long spread of photos taken side by side. The photo(s) start(s) at the Breadhouse (Broodhuis/Maison du Roi) and continue(s) past the tightly packed guild houses... then the Houses of the Dukes of Brabant, more guild houses with a statue of Charles of Lorraine on horseback, followed by Brussels Town Hall, even more guild houses, and back to where we started at the Breadhouse. Spin yourself around in the square, why don't you?

Panoramific Grote Markt/Panorabulous Grand Place