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burgers and bikes

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:27:11 GMT

Took the bike to Trophy Bikes during my lunch break. The guy there quickly saw what was wrong, the gear cover had bent down and was rubbing against the chain. He fixed that for free and easy (hooray!), but said it would take them two-three days to true up the rear wheel, so rather than give up my bike for that long I decided to try some other places first. I called Bikeline where I bought it and they said they'd have to hold it for a few days too. I guess this is bike repair season, eh?

But my buddy Michael, who is always looking for an excuse to hit a good bar that's off our beaten path, suggested I try Bike Therapy, which is across the street from Grace Tavern. I called ahead and got a maybe from them, so I skipped out of work an hour early and darted over. The guy in charge shook his head and said "Six days," but before my eyes even had a chance to pop out of my head, this guy who was leaning against the wall like his work day was done, said, "I'll do it." Fifteen minutes and ten bucks later, my bike was riding like new again. I'd forgotten just how smooth a ride it was.

Then it was over to Grace Tavern for one of the juiciest, tastiest burgers around, gracefully adorned with bacon and cheddar, amazingly crispy frites with bourbon mayonaise, and several of their ultra refreshing hand-pulled Flemish Sour Ales.

grind grind grind

Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:13:10 GMT

Bicycle started making an irritating noise while pedaling (but not coasting) this morning. I guess I'll take it into Eastern Mountain Sport during lunch and see if they can fix it.

ETA: Problem resolved. The top of the chain guard had gotten bent and was rubbing against the chain.

vacation's all I ever wanted....

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 13:48:34 GMT

K. and I decided this weekend that we need a vacation, so she scoured the net to find a relatively cheap shore house rental for the week after next. She dreams of someday owning a little pink house near the water, so she's especially psyched to have found a pink one. (God only knows how many perfectly good blue and green houses she passed over!) She'll likely spend most of her days reading on the beach, while I'll slip away in the afternoons with the laptop to get a little writing (and rum drinking) done at this fun little, poolside tiki bar down the street. Of course, now that we've booked it, it's all we can think of. It's probably good that we didn't book a vacation back in January or we'd be going crazy from anticipation by now.

holiday weekend

Mon, 06 Jul 2009 13:55:18 GMT

A three day weekend with great weather and the annoying neighbors out of town. What more can I ask for?

northwestbound and down...

Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:26:01 GMT

After a brisk bicycle ride to work, I think my body temperature must be somewhere around 140, especially in this humid weather. I rip off my helmet at the bike rack and everyone in a two block radius thinks its raining. I'll tell you what though, it makes the air-conditioning in my office feel downright supernaturally good.

Unfortunately, I think I'm going to have to bring the ol' girl into the shop already. It seems like I'm getting a little contact between the rear wheel and the frame.

Please excuse me while I rant on about petty offenses...

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 14:35:04 GMT

It seems that we're now at war with our new neighbors.

We forgave them for the days of polyurethane fumes leaking through our shared wall when they had their hardwood floors installed. And I begrudgingly forgave them for putting their yappy little dogs out in the back yard at five in the morning the first week they were here, even though their desperate howling was enough to wake anyone in the neighborhood not audibly-insulated by central air. And I can deal with them occasionally blasting Frank Sinatra records on a weekend afternoons.

What's a lot harder to forgive, thought ultimately futile to argue about, is his constantly chain-smoking on their front stoop. One of the great things about our house is that the first floor stays remarkably cool for most of the summer, because it gets good cross ventilation. But of course, that only works if the windows are open, which we can no longer do, because our living room literally fills up with secondhand smoke. Sadly, that's just something I suppose we'll have to live with.

But there is one offense, which we're not putting up with. The first week they were here, they put their garbage in front of our house, instead of theirs. It struck us as strange, but we gave them them the benefit of the doubt and moved it over to their stretch of the sidewalk, figuring that would be a gentle enough way of letting them know. The second week, they did it again. We moved it again, planning to speak to them about it, but every time I've seen him since then he's been sitting on the stoop drunk, which I don't begrudge him, but it seemed an ineffective time to make my point.

Now, there are a number of ways you can get fined for putting out your garbage incorrectly in Philly. You could put it out too early (which they always do), you can sort it incorrectly (they're using recycling containers for general garbage), and you can put out too much (which they've been coming damn close to). Even if being caught is unlikely, I'll be damned if we're going to risk getting fined for their violations.

So last night, when we went out and saw that they'd once again put their garbage in front of our house, we went over and knocked on their door. We waited several minutes, since we knew they were home, knocking periodically, but they didn't come out. So I decided that if I was going to move their damn garbage one more time, I'd put it where they were a lot more certain to get the hint. So I put all their cans on their stoop, piled in front of their door.

Of course, the instant we walked out of sight of their windows, she stuck her head out and was all startled and flustered. We came back and explained the situation and she said they've never had to put trash out before and didn't know how it worked. "So you thought the right thing to do was to put your trash in front of your neighbor's house?" I asked, hardly believing that I had to have this conversation with a woman in her early 50s. "You really thought that's how it works?"

She apologized and kept pleading ignorance, but I'm fairly certain they knew exactly what they were doing. They were putting their trash out in front of our house, so that he didn't have to smell it on his long night of smoking on the stoop.

I'm almost looking forward to the next confrontation, but far more than that I'd rather have our old neighbors back.

watching movies

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:30:00 GMT

Watching movies used to feel like more of an event. I either had a half hour walk to and from the theater or at least a Netflix envelope to rip open and put in the player. But now that I have cable, there are so movies available any time I turn on the tube, that they're no more eventful than the average television show. Most of the time I don't even turn off the laptop when I'm watching them. It's a little sad. Of course the problem is largely in my head, so I should be able to correct it, but will I?

Of course, it wouldn't be such an issue if there was anything at the theaters I wanted to watch.

the weekend in review

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 14:22:36 GMT

A surprisingly non-stop weekend. On Saturday, K. and I explored some new paths in the Wissahickon and saw kids jumping off of rocks into the Devil's Pool, which according to local legend is bottomless. It was about a thirty foot jump and looked like a lot of fun. I might have to try it someday. Then it was a late lunch at Valley Green and home again for a quick shower before heading out for an eight hour drinking binge with the boys in belated honor of my birthday. We hit Rum Bar (twice), Franklin Trust, Doobies, and Bob & Barbara's. Was pretty damn pickled by the time I made it home. Flipped around the channels until I stumbled across the excellently titled Voodoo Dollz: Lust Potion #9, which I would love to report back on if I hadn't promptly fallen asleep on the couch.

Felt a little unsteady the next morning, but couldn't let that stop us as we had to promptly drive down to Maryland to have crabs with K's family. Excellent-tasting, monster-sized crabs with nigh-unbreakable shells, lots of cute antics from K's niece, about half of the Iron Man movie, and then home again just in time to collapse in front of True Blood.

another day off

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 14:38:31 GMT

Took yesterday off to go doctoring with K. She was getting some more tests for her vertigo. Fortunately, her new doctor was way better than the last few and her latest diagnosis has us feeling really positive. After that, we did some food shopping, then watched way too much cable and ate some pizza. Oh, and we finally broke down and put the air conditioners in.

I've got to say two days off in one week is definitely the way to go.

blah to the blah

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:10:09 GMT

Took a sick day yesterday, because I woke up already tired. It was probably just laziness or depression, but it definitely helped. Did a little laundry, watched like eight movies on HBO, and spent some time transcribing notes for my novel into the computer.

Still feeling a little weird today so I let the reported threat of thunderstorms keep me from riding my bike to work even though the skies are currently as beautiful as can be.

Now I'm at work and at war with my computer. Only about 40% of my mouse clicks are getting through for some reason. I tried three different mouses (correct plural?) and they're all having the same problem. Then I decided to update my Java so that my internet radio station will play better and now the program we use to clock in and out won't work, because it was ineptly programmed to work with only a specific old version of Java from two years ago.

weekend

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 14:26:16 GMT

I've had a headache for most of my 40s. It sucks, but at least my 40s have only been a couple days so far.

A rainy Saturday morning kept up from trucking up to Coney Island for the Mermaid Parade, but when things started to clear up, we headed out for a hike in the Wissahickon, a nice lunch in Manayunk, and a showing of Up (excellent film), then rounded the evening off with a fun party in the neighborhood. Sunday, we drove up to New Hope to try and suck a little life out of the day before having to go and see my family in the evening.

Old age rears its ugly head...

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 15:03:47 GMT

Tomorrow morning I turn 40. I'm not super freaked out about it, but it definitely makes me think about what I have--and more importantly--have not accomplished. For instance, when Mozart was my age, he'd already been dead for five years. When Kurt Cobain was my age, he'd been dead for thirteen. I suppose it's fortunate then that I'm a would-be writer, rather than a would-be musician. Writers get cut more a bit more slack. Henry Miller didn't publish his first novel until he was 44, Raymond Chandler 51. I could still totally beat those guys. Maybe. Like if I was writing right now instead of watching "Tao of Steve" on cable. Damn. Wait, wasn't Laura Ingles Wilder like super old when she started writing?

ETA: Ha... the movie just quoted Lao Tzu's "The sage, because he does nothing, never ruins anything" to justify a lifetime of slacking. Excellent!

movie heaven

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 13:52:02 GMT

Wrath of Khan right before bed. Dazed and Confused upon waking. I really like my cable television.

Ok, that's the last post about television for a while. I promise.

Citizen Kane (spoilers probably)

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 13:51:15 GMT

Watched Citizen Kane last night on TCM. It was really beautiful and brilliant and surprisingly fun, even though I went into it knowing more than I should have about the enigmatic Rosebud. I love the fake newsreel about Kane at the beginning, which must have been a bit of a head trip back then when you were used to seeing real newsreels prior to your film starting. And I quite enjoyed the structure of one character going around to interview various people to get the real story on the main character, even though the people telling the stories were often talking about private moments that they didn't witness (something I think Todd Haynes handled better in his similarly structured Velvet Goldmine).

The only real problem for me was the way Welles interrupted the brisk, years-are-flying-by pace of the film with that gruelingly long and sometimes tedious opera storyline. Don't get me wrong, it's a great anecdote that tells us a lot about the character. Kane building an opera house for the untalented singer he left his wife over largely to silence the critics who put her profession in quotes during his election bid, and then writing the scathing review of her performance himself. It's good stuff, but it could have been told in fifteen minutes, rather than forty-five.

Still, it's a great film, and you can use that conveniently large chunk of time in the middle to check your laundry or walk the dog.

cake

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 13:52:44 GMT

Woke from particularly intense dreams of arguing with racist family members and eating elaborately prepared cake, so I should not have been surprised to see an email from my mother this morning inviting me and K. to a family birthday/Father's Day celebration next weekend. Fortunately HBO was showing the the Mystery Science Theater 3000 movie this morning, which went a long way towards soothing the anger I was feeling for my dad. Is there anything cable can't fix?

Speaking of which, it only now occurs to me that the elaborately prepared cake part of my dream was clearly inspired by watching Cake Boss last night with K.

catching up with late 80s technology

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 14:20:43 GMT

Having no television for a couple days was pretty odd for a TV junkie like myself. Even though we had plenty of recorded stuff to watch, I had all these impulses to check the weather or flip around the channels while waiting for someone or watch a few minutes of something while tying my shoes.

As of last night though, we now have the opposite problem. Thanks to a really cheap deal, we've now got cable for a year. So there will always be something to watch, a hundred channels to flip through, and plenty of On Demand stuff waiting. I feel like the civilization in our household may now collapse into primitive idol worship, where we do nothing but sit glassy-eyed before it, afraid to move lest we miss something important.

But hey, it was fun watching True Blood last night without having to download it.

analog apocalypse!!!

Fri, 12 Jun 2009 13:50:08 GMT

Watching the last few hours of good old-fashioned analog television. It's Letterman vs. Palin... mean girls beating and shaving one of their classmates... that idiot Miss California... last surviving Golden Girl Bettie White... penis enlargement... cooking barbeque... the 700 Club trying to cure homosexuality... the election in Iran... and oooh Black Eyed Peas in concert!

T-Minus 132 minutes and counting til static....

11:56: 4 minutes and counting!!! That 12 months of Comcast for $30/month package is looking better and better...

12:03: What the Heck!?!?! NBC just showed them flipping the switch and our tv is still working!

12:04: Scratch that, it just died. I have no TV!!!!

12:05: Wait, it's just NBC that's gone. Oh, Peacock, I will always hate you for the being the first to betray me!

12:09: All the PBS stations are gone too.

12:16: Awww... Fox is doing a sentimental story about the history of the local affiliate. The owner used to broadcast it out of his own apartment!

12:22: Everybody on TV keeps implying that I'm ready for the transition. Fools!

12:24: Go ahead and futile advertise the television programming you're taking away from me!

12:25: Takeout sushi arrives! I shall at least have yum-yums!

12:29: One minute til the other stations leave me! Stop calling it readiness day!

12:30: NBC had a switch, Fox has a button. Oooh, Fox went out just as the pretty blonde hit the button. Cool!

12:31: Awww, CBS went to some old test pattern and then flashed a goodbye message to me before it died. Sweet!

12:32: Even the CW is gone! Do my years of loyal viewing count for nothing?

12:33: I have only the Spanish station now! A woman is hanging laundry. Uh oh, a fat man is about to tickle her!

12:35: It seems prophetic that the only station left now is called Univision.

12:38: Making the TV do an auto-channel search in hopes of some pirate station showing up.

12:40: Wow, Univision is not alone! The auto-search found three informercial stations, another Spanish language station, and some religious station.

12:44: Fine, I'll just watch an episode of 30 Rock I burned....

3:10: K. just called to say that the Cable people are coming on Sunday afternoon. She's very excited by the idea of watching True Blood legally as it's actually airing.

baby, come back!

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 13:59:17 GMT

Dear television stations,

I know that you're planning to leave me tomorrow. The truth is I've know for a while. No, I haven't read your diary, but the signs are evident. You just can't live with a man that has rabbit ears on his television. It's all digital or nothing with you. I understand, but I will still be saddened if I turn on my television tomorrow and see only static.

And yet I haven't made any effort to sign up for Cable or Direct TV or what have you, even though I know those things will bring you back to me. The truth is they all feel like a waste of money and a source of multiple new stupid addictions.

And I must admit that I have for some time been spying on you antics with the computer. I've taken all the best things that you've given to the others in your life, the things you held back from me, and I've burned them! Yes, I've burned them to discs and watched them that way.

What can I say? It seems that I'll never follow your rules, just as you won't be faithful enough to stay. But still I hope that you won't go, that you'll broadcast just a little bit longer. For old times sake. Think about it. It's all I ask.

xoxo,
Bruno

the brown dream

Wed, 10 Jun 2009 13:46:13 GMT

Last night I dreamt I was in some other city, probably New York. I had light brown curly hair, which I kept stopping to look at in various reflective surfaces. I was running late for something and bumped into this guy in a suit. I apologized and told him that I was really nervous. He said it was no problem and asked if I was a salesman like him. For some reason, I said yes.

He smiled and right there on the busy sidewalk, surrounded by rushing commuters, opened his brief case, then took out four little squares of paper and a dropper bottle. The squares each had "25¢" written on them and I remember thinking that it had been a long time, decades even, since I'd seen a cents symbol.

He put one large drop of brown watery liquid onto each square, placed them in my hand and wrapped my fingers around them. "Don't worry," he said, "These will fix you write up." Then he was gone. I don't think I even thanked him because right about then a truck pulled up next to us hauling a giant mirror on wheels and I had to stop for a minute and admire my light brown curly hair in it, even going so far as to to run my fingers through the curls.

heavy weather

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 13:51:57 GMT

Crazy thunderstorm this morning. For the better part of an hour, there was constant lightning, thunder crashes, sheets of rain, and hail pounding on the roof like angry pterodactyls. Fortunately it mostly stayed on the outside of the house where it belonged, but it was still kind of scary in a fun way.

Of course, it meant no bike ride today, but that's all right as I might be going to Burger Club after work tonight.

The Girlfriend Experience

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 14:23:20 GMT

Saturday, K. and I went to see Steven Soderbergh's new film The Girlfriend Experience. It's about Chelsea, an upscale call girl in Manhattan, who is intently focused on advancing her career, but always only one or two bad mistakes away from disaster. What she (and the film) delivers to customers is really more emotional than sexual, an illusion of human connection that includes sex, but also many of the trappings of a relationship as well. While Chelsea is cute and receptive, however, there's a distant, iciness to her that isn't just protecting her from her customers. It's creating problems with her boyfriend as well.

According to IMDB, twenty-one-year-old Sasha Grey, who plays Chelsea, has been in 160 porn films in her three year career! That's not really much indication of her acting talent, of course, but I think she did a pretty good job. It will be interesting to see if she can navigate the waters of more mainstream film, assuming that's what she wants.

The film itself is shot in a lo-fi, almost hidden camera style that makes the audience feel vaguely like voyeurs. But the film isn't about peeping and it isn't really even about the story, which is told out of sequence, intentionally robbing it of much of its drama. No, it's about the characters and about what our desires tell us about who we are.

Dean & Britta (and Karaoke Obscura)

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 13:41:42 GMT

Saw Dean & Britta at Johnny Brenda's last night... great show. They even threw some of Dean's old Galaxy 500 and Luna songs into the mix. Dean seems like he hasn't aged since the first time I saw him and his performance of "Tiger Lily" still utterly hypnotizes me. Britta looked great in her customary big boots and little skirt and really knocked me out with her vocals on "You Turn My Head Around." They finished with their great, great cover of "Bonnie & Clyde."

I was psyched to see them selling Galaxy 500 t-shirts, but the biggest size they came in was medium! Grrr.... picked up a copy of Dean's book though.

After the show, Scott I and went the final (?) installment of Karaoke Obscura at 12 Steps Down and ran into a lot of librarians. I was all set to do "Life on Mars," but they didn't have it, so in the spirit of the night, I did Luna's "California (All The Way)," which I figured would be forgiving to my untrained voice.

Today is GO!!!

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 13:34:42 GMT

Today's looking pretty spectacular so far. First, I finally broke the rain barrier, which is to say I rode my bike to work even though it was raining slightly and of course it was just fine. Second, nobody's in the office but me today, which is awesome in the extreme, i.e overt internetting, long lunch, states of undress, and blaring music. Third, the first song that came on my internet radio was "Romeo and Juliet" by the Dire Straits, which is a fine way to begin anything. Fourth, I'm going to Johnny Brenda's tonight to see Dean & Britta, which is liable to be lovely.

grrr....

Wed, 03 Jun 2009 13:58:33 GMT

Stupid weather people promising thunderstorms today.
Not riding my bike to work makes me grumpy.
Especially when I'm still not seeing any rain.

Seasons in the Sun

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 14:17:39 GMT

In 1961, Jacques Brel recorded the song "Le Moribond" (roughly: "The Dying Man), the melancholoy lament of a man about to take his life (and possibly others), where he reminisces with an old friend, begs forgiveness from his father, and lovingly chastises his cheating wife. Paperback poet Rod McKuen, a great admirer of Brel, translated most of his songs, including "Le Moribond," which became "Seasons in the Sun." Unfortunately, the song flopped for the Kingston Trio who recorded it.

Canadian Terry Jacks had a hit with his version of it originally intended for, but rejected by the Beach Boys. But Jacks rewrote the lyrics to make the song more vague, less dark, removing the personal anger and changing the mood of it considerably.

The version I've always loved was by the quirky but very passionate alternative rock band Too Much Joy, from the re-release of their second album Son of Sam I Am. They pretty much do the straight McKuen version, but with the word 'adieu' replaced with 'goodbye.' You can listen to it here or here.

Goodbye, Emile, my trusted friend, we've known each other since we were nine or ten.
Together we climbed hills and trees, learned of love and A B Cs, skinned our hearts and skinned our knees.
Goodbye, Emile, it's hard to die when all the birds are singing in the sky. Now that the Spring is in the air
Pretty girls are ev'rywhere. Think of me and I'll be there.

Chorus:
We had joy. We had fun.
We had seasons in the sun,
but the hills we would climb were just seasons out of time.

Goodbye, Papa, please pray for me.
I was the black sheep of the family.
You tried to teach me right from wrong.
Too much wine and too much song, wonder how we got along.
Goodbye, Papa, it's hard to die when all the birds are singing in the sky.
Now that the Spring is in the air
Little children ev'rywhere.
When you see them, I'll be there.

(Chorus)

Goodbye, Francoise, my trusted wife, without you I'd have had a lonely life.
You cheated lots of times but then, I forgave you in the end though your lover was my friend.
Goodbye, Francoise, it's hard to die when all the birds are singing in the sky.
Now that spring is in the air
With your lovers ev'rywhere;
just be careful, I'll be there.

All our lives we had fun.
We had seasons in the sun,
but the hills we would climb
were just season out of time.

Goodbye, Emile. Goodbye, Papa. Goodbye, Francoise.

All our lives, we had fun.
We had seasons in the sun,
but the hills that we climbed were just seasons out of time.
All our lives, we had fun, we had seasons in the sun,
but the stars we could reach were just starfish on the beach.