...

digging out

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 14:48:24 GMT

Got out of work a couple hours early, so I hurried home and spent an hour or so digging out our plowed in car. I tried my best to dispose of the snow in a way that wouldn't just make it someone else's problem, mostly piling it against our house and in the strip between the sidewalk and the street. This fastidiousness greatly bothered one of my neighbors who harangued me for ten minutes, demanding that I should just dump the snow in the street for the plows to clean up. I laughed, thinking she was joking, which made her think I was even stupider than she'd previously assessed. I didn't have it in me to argue that any snow the plow pushed away was justgoing to end up blocking in someone else's car or street. But that's South Philly for you. Most of them will just leave their car (or cars) buried until the snow melts.

I, on the other hand, will, weather permitting, now be able to drive all over creation on Christmas Eve and Christmas day, making all my expected visits. Not to mention finally getting some Christmas shopping done.

Snow! Snow! Snow!

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 15:33:54 GMT

We got about twenty inches of snow on Saturday. It was pretty fun. I walked about a mile through the winter wonderland of South Philly to taken in a matinee of Avatar with my buddy Michael. The movie was pretty fun. The effects were neat, but I think I would have preferred it without the 3-D, as that made the images lose a bit of their crispness. I expected a much better story from James Cameron and the first twenty minutes convinced me I might even get it, but the script just coasts from there. People who call it Dances With Wolves in space are pretty much right, which is funny to me since I always thought of Dances With Wolves as F Troop without the jokes.

We got in a nice walk to the grocery store on Sunday, mainly because we wanted to walk around in the snow. I made a pot of chili and baked some oatmeal cookies. We watched the first two Harry Potter movies, which K. brought home from the library, and I enjoyed them more than I expected to, although I think the filmmakers are definitely racist against Muggles.

Today is the official first day of Winter, which is awesome because it means the days are getting longer again. We're around the seasonal affect disorder corner! Unfortunately, it also makes me feel bad that I haven't started my Christmas shopping yet.

car shopping

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 15:28:49 GMT

Well, I took a vacation day yesterday to do some Christmas shopping, but after the ancient car her dad gave us started leaking in the rain and got one of its mirrors knocked off by a passing car, K. decided we should go car shopping instead. It was my first time shopping for cars since I bought my used Ford LTD almost twenty years ago and the first time shopping for a new car for either of us. Since most of our driving is in the city, we decided to get a hybrid.

We test drove three cars. The Ford Fusion hybrid was an amazing car with some really neat gadgets, but at nearly 29k a lot more than we wanted to pay. The Toyota Prius was the car we expected to buy, but frankly it did not impress us. It felt too fragile and toylike, the controls too purely electronic, like playing a video game. The winner, we think, will be the Honda Insight. Not only does it drive exactly like our current car (a 98 Cutlass), it was also the cheapest one we drove. We even managed to unintentionally haggle the price down another two thousand dollars (to 19k) simply by repeating our intention to go home and sleep on it. We're still sleeping on it, and doing some more research, but I think we'll have a new car soon. The only down side is that they only offered us a hundred bucks for our old car, so instead we're going to give it to WXPN, our excellent local public radio music station, for a tax write-off.

missing Cliff Lee already

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 14:55:55 GMT

Arrrggghhhhh!!! I can't believe the Phillies are trading Cliff Lee! I'm sure it makes sense on paper, what with Cliff Lee becoming a free agent after next year and all, but I still hate it. He's my favorite player on the team by far...

back!

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 14:55:07 GMT

Hmmm.... let's see if I can remember how to use this here blog. Was knocked out of commission by a nasty head cold last week (no flu, fortunately, swine or otherwise). I'm usually pretty invulnerable to colds, but I guess I'm getting weaker in my old age. I will no longer tease the Martians in War of the Worlds for getting wiped out by the common cold. And I will wash my hands even more, if that's possible.

Fortunately I have an infinite capacity for watching television. I spent almost an entire day watching nothing but season one of Jericho on the Sci-Fi channel. Yesterday, I was feeling a lot better, so we decorated the tree while watching all my childhood favorite Christmas specials.

Now I'm back at work, still not feeling 100%, and facing a huge pile of things to do.

Monday already?

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 14:47:19 GMT

Spent the weekend alternating between utter sloth and unexpected sociability. After waiting out the waiting out the rain and snow Saturday afternoon in front of the television, we got invited out to an art auction at a little gallery uptown, followed by drinks and a late dinner at the Continental with some friends. Sunday, I made some pumpkin pancakes and we stumbled upon the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, which we ended up watching for most of the day, barring a quick bike ride to the Acme. Then we got invited to a potluck dinner Amazing Race finale party, which made for a lovely ending to the weekend. There was curried chicken soup and pasta in walnut sauce and some great cocktails with two sorts of brandy in them.

"Mr. Blue Sky, please tell us why you had to stay away for so long...."

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 14:53:39 GMT

Wow, what a beautiful sunny day after such a windy, rainy night. I forgot that this was how it's supposed to be after a storm, all nice and clean and bright and vivid. Lately bad weather seems to get trapped in Philly and can't find it's way out for a week, stumbling out and back into the region over and over like the drunk at the dive bar who doesn't want to go home. Too bad I had to go to work or else I could have kept riding and riding. I think I'll take a bike ride at lunch.

Door!

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 14:30:45 GMT

Had my first bicycle accident last night, very minor, more of a close call really. There was a cab sitting at the red light ahead of me and as I coasted up to stop on his right side, the passenger flung open the door, catching me in the hand and handlebars. It brought me to a stop and definitely scared the shit out of both of us, but no real injuries.

The passenger had probably gotten tired of watching the meter turn at the long red light and decided to walk the rest of the way home. I've done that before. He apologized profusely, but I assured him it was I was fine and it wasn't a problem. They were probably exchanging money as I came up behind them, so they couldn't have seen me coming and the cab was too dark for me to see any activity inside, so it was just one of those things.

My hand hurt like hell for the next ten minutes of my ride, but yelling "Fuck!" over and over helped greatly and by the time I got home I barely noticed it. Fortunately, I was slowing to a stop prior to the collision, so my speed was pretty low.

the looooooong weekend

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 15:39:13 GMT

Well, Thanksgiving went off fairly swimmingly, no fights, no hurt feelings, no trips to the emergency room. K's cousin successfully deep fried not one, but two turkeys. Dinner as a whole was a bit off because K's father refuses to plan the cooking times, letting dishes finish whenever they happen to finish and just sit cooling on the table until the last thing is done, so that really only the gravy was still hot when we sat down to eat. It wasn't anything I had the responsibility to stress out over though, so I forced myself to just drink a glass of rum and watch TV.

Friday, I saw The Fantastic Mr. Fox, which was pretty much a standard issue Wes Anderson film, despite being about talking animals. Although all the voice talents did a bang up job, Meryl Streep and Jason Schwartzman were the high points for me, both taking their characters to a higher level. I wondered if the many, many kids in the audience had loads of questions for their parents after the film about the characters' drinking problems, marital strife, and organized insurrection.

Saturday, K. and I got up early and had breakfast at Honey's Sit-and-Eat, probably the best breakfast joint in town. I had biscuits with sausage gravy, she had eggs with sausage and latkes, and then we split an order of pancakes. It was probably more white flour in one meal than I'd eaten in the past three months and it was heavenly. K. still hasn't stopped talking about how good their sausage is. After that, we scouted out a new bike for her at Jay's Pedal Power and did some food shopping.

Sunday, we watched two Charlie Brown movies (Snoopy Come Home and You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown), did some work around the house and then went for a nice long hike in the Wissahickon. Afterward, I roasted some butternut squash and yams and mixed them with buttery Israeli couscous (which is like the King Kong of couscous), toasted pine nuts and dried cranberries. A bit of an experiment, but proved to be a very hearty and satisfying meal.

Thanksgiving is upon us....

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:42:57 GMT

I'm actually sort of looking forward to Thanksgiving tomorrow. My family is scattering, so I won't be seeing any of them, which makes the day far less stressful (I guess that's my thing to be thankful about!), although I'll very much miss seeing my nieces and nephew.

Instead we're going down to spend it with K's dad in Maryland. My only big gripe about T-Day there (other than the drive) is her dad's stuffing, easily my favorite dish of that meal. So we told them that I'd be making the stuffing, my special sausage-and-apple stuffing (recipe after the ass). That actually worked out really well since her cousin is going to be deep frying the turkey and they couldn't have stuffed it in the bird anyway. I can't wait to taste a deep-fried turkey, not to mention witness all the wacky, emergency-room-baiting fun of getting the bird out of the hot oil. And if something goes terribly, terribly wrong with the turkey, I at least know that my savory stuffing eats like a meal all by itself.

Just in case I don't get around to posting tomorrow (which seems more than likely), Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

1 pound breakfast sausage
10 tablespoons unsalted butter (plus extra for baking dish)
5 medium ribs celery (chopped fine)
2 medium onions (minced)
2 granny smith apples (peeled, cored, and cut into 1/2-inch cubes)
4 tablespoons dried parsely
2 teaspoons dried sage leaves
2 teapoons dried thyme leaves
1 teaspoon dried marjoram leaves
2 bay leaves
1/2 cup milk or cream
2 pounds sandwich bread (cut into 1/2-inch cubes and dried)
3 cloves of garlic (minced)
4 cups chicken broth (low-sodium)
2 large eggs (beaten lightly)
2 teaspoons table salt
2 teaspoons ground black pepper

1. Drying the bread before making the stuffing is crucial for texture and flavor. If you plan ahead, you can simply leave the bread cubes out on the counter for a few days to become stale. Otherwise, spread them out on baking sheets and dry in a 300-degree oven for 30 to 60 minutes. Let the bread cool before using in the stuffing.

2. Adjust oven rack to center position and heat oven to 400 degrees.

3. Cook sausage in a large skillet over medium heat, breaking it up into smaller pieces with a wooden spoon, until lightly browned, 5 to 10 minutes. Remove the sausage from the skillet and reserve. Drain the fat, and reserve.

4. Add all the butter to the now empty skillet. (You can substitute the reserved sausage fat for an equal amount of butter -- you'll need a total 10 of tablespoons of fat – but I usually use Jimmy Dean sausage which is fairly low in fat). Add the celery, apple, onion, bay leaf, and garlic. Sauté, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 10 minutes. Stir in parsley, sage, thyme, and marjoram and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute longer. Discard bay leaf. Transfer to a very large mixing bowl.

5. Whisk milk, egg and broth in bowl to blend. Add the sausage, cooled bread, salt, and pepper to the vegetables and toss gently to distribute dry and wet ingredients evenly. Turn mixture into buttered baking dish.

6. Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and continue to bake until golden, about 25 minutes longer. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Note: Stuffing can be assembled in the baking dish, then wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerated for up to 24 hours before baking.

Two For Tuesday

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:09:30 GMT

So, way back in August, laerm had a great suggestion and I'm finally getting around to implementing it. Well, technically I started last week, but I did so without any fanfare. And you know what a fan of fanfare I am.

Taking a cue from classic rocks stations all over the country (world?), Tuesdays will now be Two For Tuesdays... or Twofer Tuesdays... or Doubleshot Tuesdays. I'm not fully committed to any one name yet, but the idea is simple: Tuesday's picture will give you not just one, but two asses! Yes, two butts for the price of one! In fact, sometimes I might just go out of my mind and throw in three or more asses. But either way, with god as my witness, you will never go hungry for asses again... on Tuesdays.

Now, you fans of Wayback Wednesday are going to make out like bandits on this as well, because you see, many of the photos I've lined up for Two For Tuesday are retro ones from my overflowing Wayback Wednesday collection. So, in an act of thoroughly malicious Assmonkeydiary confuzzelation, some Tuesdays will be both Tuesday and Wednesday combined into one spectacular day.

In fact, since that's just the way I roll, let's do exactly that thing right now. Enjoy!

Pirate Radio (aka The Boat That Rocked)

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:41:35 GMT

On Sunday, K. and I walked uptown for Indian buffet at Karma and a movie. Saw Pirate Radio (aka The Boat That Rocked) and quite enjoyed it. Written and directed by Richard Curtis (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Love Actually), it was a fictional account of one the UK's pirate radio stations in the mid 60s when licensed radio stations played very little recorded music, so illegal, offshore radio stations sprang up to provide round-the-clock rock and roll to the masses.

The film is more about wacky antics and small emotional moments than plot, but that doesn't really matter because Curtis is just so damned good at creating characters that you want to watch. Of course, it was helped along by a stellar case. Bill Nighy (Love Actually) plays the station's owner. Philip Seymour Hoffman (Almost Famous) and Rhys Ifans (Danny Deckchair) play the stations rock star DJs. Nick Frost (Shawn of the Dead) and Rhys Darby (Flight of the Conchords) on board as well to keep the laughter coming. Evil is afoot in the form of Kenneth Branagh (Henry V) and Jack Davenport (Coupling) as two government officials looking for an excuse to shut down pirate radio for good. Ladies get a bit of a short shrift in the film, since women are generally forbidden on the boat except for the purposes of cooking and sex, but Talulah Riley, Katherine Parkinson, and (the always fantastic) Emma Thompson all do well with their all too brief roles.

the wing and the thing

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:30:30 GMT

I just watched my two favorite episodes of The West Wing, the two-parter that ended season one and began season two. An American reconnaissance pilot has been shot down over Iraq, there's a critical malfunction in the space shuttle Toby's brother is on the crew of, Josh screws up in Leo's eyes, and Charlie gets his first line into one of the President's speaking engagements. But then as they're leaving the town hall meeting, a group of gunmen open fire on the President from a nearby building. Almost all of the West Wing staff end up on the ground as a secret service agents shouts "Who's been shot? Who's been shot?" In the second part, we learn that the president and Josh are both critically wounded. As their fates emerge, we flash back to some of the moments when the characters first became a part of Bartlet's campaign, a sort of secret origins story.

Despite being a huge fan of Sports Night, these were the first two episodes of The West Wing that I watched. I just didn't think I would like it. Silly. The first part has the same title as the season one finale for all of Aaron Sorkin's shows: "What Kind of Day Has It Been." I suppose the season finale shooting was partially motivated by the writers not knowing if all the actors and actresses would be returning next year, but of course they all did come back. Jorja Fox from CSI plays one of the secret service agents, something I didn't realize the first time around.

Now I'm watching Carpenter's The Thing. Later on I'll have to catch up AMC's The Prisoner. I do love working at home on Fridays.

keeping up with the new versions of old shows

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:34:06 GMT

Heather Locklear returned to Melrose Place this week and it instantly became better: more backstabbing, more hookups, more irrational zaniness! She's Ella's new boss at the publicity agency and like all the alumni from the former show (so far) she's being set up a big old villain. I suppose I could complain about ageism in their baddie-casting, but frankly I wouldn't want Locklear's character to be anything but a villain. That's what she was best at.

I'm still watching V and hoping that I'm not wasting my time. It's definitely not bad, but it's way short on drama and thus far from captivating. Maybe they need a Heather Lockear infusion as well?

(I won't shut up about my bicycle until it's the most famous bicycle in all of Philadelphia)

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:37:11 GMT

It's interesting to see the alternative places people are parking their bicycles since my usual bike rack was slated for demolition. A few people seem to favor the chain link fence surrounding the parking lot on the corner, which seems like a mistake. Not only could you cut it easy, but the caps have come loose from many of the posts. The parking meters are a safer bet, except that Philly is currently switching over to meterless parking abd I've heard tales of the city beheading meters, leaving the bikes chained to them easy prey. Various street signs are fine, but usually taken by the time I get in. And the few remaining smaller bike racks now look positively mobbed with six or more bikes chained where normally one or two would. So, I've settled on locking up to the thick chains that fence in the massive air conditioner unit for our building. It's not quite as visible as I'd like, but at least it's in a somewhat busy parking lot.

a bike of the streets

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:59:33 GMT

Well, my bike's been having an exciting time.

The university has completely torn up the sidewalk and street in front of the building where I work. It's now a huge, gaping chasm of broken stone and unearthed cables. To get into the building (or to the bicycle rack) you have to walk across a narrow piece of plywood that buckles under as you cross while all around you jackhammers, earth movers and cranes go loudly about in their mission of destruction.

Maybe all the demolition is why my bicycle had a flat tire when I left work last night. Or maybe some jerk did something bad to it. I don't really know, but it made me feel uncharacteristically violent when I realized it was flat. I took the easiest solution which was to just lock it back up and take it to Eastern Mountain Sport's bike shop today. This especially sucked because the weather is currently really mild and perfect for riding. I suppose I should have a patch kit for times like that, but I doubt I would have made the effort last night anyway.

So, my bicycle spent it's first night chained up out in the cold, unforgiving city by itself. Without even another bike to keep it company.

When I got in this morning, my bike was there and fine (well, in the same shape I left it), but it was surrounded by yellow crime tape! There had been a murder!

No, not really. It was surrounded by yellow crime tape, but only because the guys doing construction are ripping out the bike racks today as part of the plan to completely detach our building from the surrounding city. They hung a sign on my bike that said it had to be moved by 6:00 am this morning. Wow, did they even hang the sign that early? Crazy. So I moved it around the corner and will get it repaired soon.

In other upheaval news, my work computer is being replaced which means I am temporarily hiding the assmonkeydiary archives on the network. With any luck it will go undiscovered. Fingers crossed!

roller derby and the prisoner

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:39:54 GMT

On Saturday, we met up with friends visiting from Chicago and went to the roller derby championships, which was totally awesome even though none of the teams we rotted for won. The Philly Roller Girls fought back from a big deficit against the Rocky Mountain Roller Girls to tie the score at 111, then lost in over time. It was a great match to watch, so tense! Next up was the Windy City Rollers vs. the Denver Roller Dolls. The Windy City Rollers played with far more skill and heart, but it wasn't enough to beat the rule-breaking Dolls and the exasperating officials who somehow managed to miss all of their elbow-throwing and other dirty moves. Now that I've got a taste for it, I'll definitely be up for seeing some more derby next year.

After the derby, we went to great mustache-themed party, where I washed down many chips worth of my spicy queso dip with tasty margaritas. I considered shaving my beard down to just a mustache for it, but in the end was too lazy.

Sunday, we had a nice hike in the Wissahickon, then heading home to watch AMC's new version of The Prisoner. Given that I was a diehard fan of the original as a teen, I thought they did a pretty good job modernizing it. James Caviezel plays a man who wakes up in a strange place with distorted memories and no real idea of how he got there. He's brought to The Village, a charming town whose residents are seemingly unaware of the outside the world. Some of them seem to have grown up there, others are only pretending, and others are likely victims of induced amnesia. Everyone has a number instead of a name. He's Number Six and the village's leader Number Two (played by the always excellent Ian McKellan) wants more out of Six than just his quiet acceptance of the situation. Rounding out the cast is 313, the village doctor and Six's potential love interest played by Ruth Wilson, whom I quite enjoyed in the recent BBC production of Jane Eyre.

It's definitely less of a surreal mindfuck than the original, but still nicely stylized in it's own way. It's less clever, more earnest. I noticed distinct echoes of Lost and the film Dark City in it, both of which could be seen as descendants of the original series. The show's biggest weakness is probably the star. Caviezel is like Billy Crudup, a brooding, inscrutable pretty boy, but without any of the goofy boyish charm that balances out most of Crudup's performances. Don't get me wrong, Caviezel might be perfect for this role. I'm just not sure how interested I am in watching him.

rain train brain

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:29:35 GMT

Well, the rain isn't all bad. Inspiration came to me on the subway last night and I found myself scribbling out a scene both on the train and when I got home. After such a long spell of inactivity, it felt really good and I'm still pretty jazzed about it today. I'd forgotten how often that would happen when I was riding the subway. A big chunk of my notebooks were scribbled in those subterranean tunnels. Sadly, that kind of spontaneous creativity hasn't really happened since I've started riding my bike. Maybe the idea-generating part of my brain is being co-opted to help me navigate through city traffic. It would be sad to think that I have to choose between writing and cycling.

Or maybe it's just that I'm very relaxed on the subway. There's no need to control anything when I'm riding a train, so my normally tense brain can relax and allow flashes of insight to come through more easily. That would fit with the fact that the rest of my inspiration has come while sitting at a bar with a drink in hand. When there's no decisions to be made, my brain is at peace enough to think shit up. Like dreaming. If that's the case, maybe there's some way I can meditate my way to that state without depending on the situation of where I happen to be seated.

Or maybe there's no rhyme or reason to it and I'm just assigning significance were none exists.

V

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:42:32 GMT

Bah... rain.

Second episode of the new V series ran last night. Unfortunately it was a little light on the drama and the reveals, since they stuffed too many into the first episode. I'm not really feeling attached to any of the characters yet, which is worrying, but I'm bound to keep watching just because I loved the original mini-series so much as a kid. I even read the books. Of course, it helps greatly that it's got Morena Baccarin and Alan Tudyk from Firefly in it. They should totally cast Adam Baldwin as the new version of Ham Tyler, Michael Ironside character from the original.

(I scoured the archives for a photo that would honor Veterans, girls in cheeky uniforms or posing with soldiers, but didn't find anything. Settled on this one which looks like the sort of pic a GI in WWII or Korea might have carried with him.)

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:51:19 GMT

I've been having very athletic dreams lately. Sunday night I dreamt intensely about baseball. It was interesting because I seemed to be both managing the team and at time playings various positions, so it's like I was dreaming that I was an entire baseball team, although not any team that I could recognize by their faces or uniforms.

And then last night, I dreamt I was swimming in the ocean. I was way out, just barely in sight of the shore, and still swimming farther. I was really struggling against some tough waves, getting pushed down and tossed around, making almost no headway, when my alarm woke me up.

In waking life, I seem to have done something to my right knee, probably when I was bicycling under the influence Thursday night, because I'm getting this annoying pain in it when I begin pedaling from a stopped position. I think I had the same thing a few months ago and it went away in a few days.

The Men Who Stare At Goats (slight spoilers)

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:05:02 GMT

Great weather this weekend, sunny and warm, especially nice after the recent cold spell. Sunday, after a lovely Mexican brunch with friends at Las Bugambilias, K. and I biked farther uptown for some ice cream at Franklin Fountain and a movie at the Ritz.

The Men Who Stare At Goats is loosely based on the non-fiction book of the same name by Welsh journalist, author, and documentary filmmaker Jon Ronson. It tells the largely true story of a secret unit within the United States Army that was dedicated to the development of psychic powers. Led by a Vietnam vet turned new age guru (played by Jeff Bridges), the unit attempted perform such feats as remote viewing, invisibility, walking through walls, and stopping a goat's heart with just a stare. Through flashbacks, the film chronicles the department's rise--thanks in part to Ronald Reagan's interest in the paranormal--and inevitable fall--due largely, in the film, to a rivalry between their top psychics, played by George Clooney and Kevin Spacey.

This quest to create psychic soldiers is mostly played for laughs in the film, but with enough sincerity to fall short of outright mockery. Our entry into the secret world is via recently divorced journalist Bob Wilton, who basically stumbles into the story while failing in an attempt to cover the war in Iraq. This modern framing device allows the film to link the original unit to the current PSYOPS program, which comes up with increasingly common psychological torture techniques like forcing prisoners to listen to Barney the purple dinosaur's "I Love You, You Love Me" song on a constant loop.

Overall, I thought the movie was pretty good, although short of great. Ewan McGregor whom I usually love was cast as Wilton, perhaps unfortunately since the soldiers in the program make frequent references to the Star Wars films' Jedi Knights, one of whom he famously portrayed. That weirdness just kept hiccuping me out of the movie, but your mileage may vary.

a night on the town

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 16:06:20 GMT

Got gloriously drunk last night and it was quite fabulous. And since I mostly stuck to my lucky liquors, rum and brandy, I'm pretty much hangover-free.

Got out of work early, so I had a couple glasses of dark rum at Oh Sheas while reading Atwood's "The Blind Assassin." Then headed over to Village Whiskey, a new speakeasy-style joint in Rittenhouse Square to meet up with friends. I tried a couple of their specialty drinks, Between the Sheets and Fish House Punch, both of which combined my darlings rum and brandy. They were all right, but too sweet for my tastes. Fortunately the bartender was able to make me some killer sidecars. No, I didn't sample any of their eighty whiskeys. Whiskey is not my friend. I did however have their amazing duck fat french fries with sly fox cheddar sauce and one of the best burgers I've ever had. They have one crazy burger with foie gras and shit on it, but just the regular burger was pretty damn fantastic, just so juicy rare and flavorful. After that, we met up with some other people over at the redundantly-named Drinkers Pub where I kept drinking sidecars, but was really too drunk to know how good they were. Biking home drunk (on mostly empty roads) was pretty fun too.

sadness

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:53:55 GMT

Sad night. The Yankees definitely proved they were the better team, but at least the Phillies gave them a decent fight. And I have a very strong hunch we'll be back next year. Hopefully with a newfound ability to hit against left-handed pitchers. And perhaps another pitcher closer to Cliff Lee's superhuman caliber. I really love this team and feel a weird bond with the players. Man, it just sucks that they couldn't win. Grrr....

I find it perversely amusing that after a lifetime of avoiding interest in sports, I've finally come around a little and it's just one more thing for me to get morose about. I thought I already had a complete collection.

I've been feeling a spell of depression coming on for the past few weeks. Obviously, the shortening days has a lot to do with that. And then the Day Lights Saving switch makes it so much worse.

Ah, well, I'll drag myself out of it. I always do.

two wheel amateur hour

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:30:34 GMT

Well, our beloved transit workers have gone on strike again, even though the average SEPTA employee is way better off than me (grumble, grumble). At least they were good enough (or fans enough) to hold off until after the Philly games in the World Series were over. That planned stunt would have really cost them support. Hilariously, the last time they went on strike they planned it during the Republican National Convention. I wonder how many visiting Republicans they thought were going to be riding buses and subways anyway?

So the roads are significantly more crowded today. I didn't mind the extra cars so much. They mostly served to block intersections in my favor, allowing me to fly through red lights on my way in to center city. It was the extra bicyclists actually that were most annoying. By the time I turned onto Walnut Street, I was stuck in a pack of about thirty really slow riders, more than a few who probably haven't been on a bike since the last transit strike. I finally had to take over a car lane for a bit in order to get around them. Maybe it's time for me to enact my as yet unveiled, top secret alternate route...

In other news, K. continues to feel better.

Also, GO PHILS!!!

Let's Go Phillies!

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 16:26:38 GMT

Cliff Lee rocks my world. What a pitcher. Isn't there some drug we can shoot him up with that will allow him to pitch games six and seven as well? Maybe he'll do some relief pitching in game seven?

I could hardly breath during the last couple innings when the Yankees were threatening a comeback. Fortunately Madsen was able to shut them down. And, of course, Utley is just amazing as well. It was so great to finally get another win. Still a lot of road ahead of us, but it's looking better than yesterday.

Closer to home, K. has been diagnosed with the swine flu. I took today off from work to take care of her, but she already seems a lot better than yesterday, so I might sneak off this afternoon and catch a showing of Where the Wild Things Are.