The my family and I recently attended a block party on my inlaw’s street. A fun time was had by all, there was a fire engine for the kids to play on, games raffles and Elmo. Elmo and Cookie make any event an occasion to remember in our house. It all has to do with a sliding scale of excitement and when the little red / blue furry creatures enter into the picture we go off the chart.

All in all it was a great time. We even won one of the raffles for a gift certificate for Pizzeria Unos. I haven’t been there in over a year so it seemed like a good deal at the time. We decided to go this past weekend, and I’m still regretting the decision today. We went to the Unos in Franklin Mills.

First off when we walk into the restaurant the floor is sticky, threatening to pull my flip flops of my feet, a little disgusting but not a stand out feature at the time, a mild irritation. It is only in hind site that the foreshadowing is apparent. We order an appetizer Chicken Quesadillas, the boy begins to cry, so we ask for an order of bread sticks to try and calm him down. He’s hungry I feel his pain. The waitress order’s the bread sticks but instead of bringing them out when they are done she holds off and brings them with the appetizer we ordered. While we are waiting for the appetizer to come out we order our meal and Paul continues to throw a fit periodically, we try juice, toys, soothing speech, stern looks, telling him to stop. Nothing works. The manager, or a senior server takes pity on us and goes into the back gets a bread stick and a some oyster crackers. Which we are eternally grateful for.

The waitress then brings the appetizer and three more bread sticks 5 minutes later… Chicken Quesadilla is server on a burnt thin pizza crust. Sigh. Chicken Quesadilla also is a buffalo version. spicy, which is alright. but i could have sworn there was a plain version which i ordered so Paul could have some. With the arrival of the food we are also treated to an added bonus of flies and gnats now visiting the table, frequently. Luckily Paul finds them as funny as I found them indicative of the cleanliness of the place.

Our meal comes out, where i ordered a buffalo chicken panini. It looks exactly like the quesadilla. I also got a helping of fries, and i shit you not i squeezed a French fries and oil dripped out… They were crispy, almost translucent and tasted like salt, nothing else. The oil overwhelmed any taste the potatoes might have had.

I questioned the server about the Panini, asking her why the panini was just like the quesedilla. She told me they were very similar. I shit you not this was a burnt pizza crust with buffalo chicken inside of it. not the menu described grilled flatbread sandwich. She then laughed and walked off. I’m seething at this point, but Paul is also starting to cry so if i don’t eat this I’m not going to get to eat. If i’m a server and someone orders something for an appetizer of one name and we server a dinner which is the exact same thing under a different title I would let them know. We we left after a rather tastless, poorly served meal where we were visited more by bugs than the server.

Final total was 50 dollars, tip included. I had the panini, my wife had a grilled chicken sandwich and Paul had penne pasta. I tried all three dishes and they all seemed to be bland., overcooked and over oiled. My wife kicked in a gift card she received for mothers day to even out the balence of the bill. Sad thing is it was a waste. When we were dating we used to go to Unos after the movies to share a good meal and quick service. I don’t think I will be so quick to relive the good old days any time soon, especially not at that franchise.

I was introduced to my Carlin through my parents and the wonder of Vinyl. They had a copy of the re released version of George Carlin: Take Offs and Put Ons. Its a clean act, one of the few. But it is a full introduction to the deviant Carlin sense of Humor. I had a DMCA illegal copy of the album on a cassette tape I played almost daily during my commute to and from middle school, 6th grade specifically.  I wore two copies of that recording out. I have multiple video’s DVD’s and LP’s of his work and two of his three books.

I would not hesitate to say more than any other comedian or entertainer he gave voice to my thoughts on the world and brought to life the way i would have described the world if if could have. Everyone seems to remember him for his 7 dirty words or profanity laced tirades. I remember his works as examples of razor sharp wit, blinding intelligence and a cutting calculation of what he saw in front of him. I could quote probably 90% of his bits to you, and describe in detail the differences between the versions he used in specials. Looking at the entertainment i enjoy he is probably the closest thing going to an Idol or Hero i had in modern entertainment.

When I heard he passed right after i had finished recording the latest CaffiNation, I was stunned and two days later I still am. I don’t subscribe to the cult of celebrity, I am usually not affected deeply when they pass. But for some reason this has me shaken up. It could be that his observations have helped to shape the lens i view the world through, or it could just be the sadness for never having seen him preform live.

Last night I spent the late part of the night alone in my garage painting some trim for a project I’m working on at home listening to record after record on the only working record player in the house. I was a great way to pass the time. Thanks for the observations, and the laughs George. You will be missed.

CaffiNation.tumblr.com for a couple of video’s and a rambling

My Favorite early sketch… The Indian Sargent

Bilabial Fricative ? explanation at 3:20

Current Skyline from my Office window

For those of you counting that would be a 500 foot difference between the proposed American Commerce Center and the Comcast monolith currently looming in the center of town. Comcast was a modest increase in the profile of the skyline a graceful arch upwards when compared to the jutting visage of this new idea. The question has been brought up concerning scale, the fact that the closest building would only be 2/3 of the height of the surrounding ones. Its an interesting question. I for one don’t honestly have an opinion of it but i can tell you what it looks like.

It looks like Philly is flipping a giant middle finger skyward towards Jersey, New York and anyone else who we feel slighted by. Frankly when you take it with that in mind it doesn’t really fall all that far away from the attitude of some of the people around here anyway. This would give us the tallest building in the US, and even North America. Which would be cool, the jobs it could create would be cool, and the prospect of seeing the new building dominate the skyline is an interesting one. I used to have a cactus in my office that had a similar problem, it didn’t mean to be offensive, but it was.

Philadelphia is no stranger to attempting to build the tallest building. City Hall, when planned, was supposed to be the tallest building in the world. However by the time it was built the Washington Monument eclipsed it. So it settled for its current title of world’s tallest masonry building. It also had to settle for the heaviest building in North America, which is some foreshadowing for our much later title as the heaviest city in the country as well.

For years in the early 1900’s after it was built people lamented the building as a blight on the city, because of how much taller it was and how stylistically different it was from its surrounding buildings. City Hall rarely raises an architectural stink these days. Detractors usually focus more on the occupants of the building and their conduct than its style. I think in time, if built, the Finger of Philly will have the same affect.

It just seems that by comparison the the practice of dentistry seems a little slow compared to say podiatry.  Podiatry they can remove warts by freezing, slice things with lasers and do all sorts of fun stuff. Other than xray and pain killers i would hesitate to say the practice of dentistry has moved beyond the 30’s

If you hadn’t guessed i just ad a teeth cleaning the other night, i felt like a horse the way they were moving my lips around, but this stallion isn’t branded. I am lucky that i have a fantastic dentist, I’m not even kidding the staff is great there, and the dentist himself very understanding and friendly. I had been terrified to go th=o the dentist 2 years ago, it had been years since i had a cleaning. But after a little explanation of my fear they have treated excellently each time. I just usually get grumpy the day after. Mouth is sore, brushing actually hurts and OJ stings a bit. But i have some nice clean teeth. Now i just need to remember to floss.

Three years ago today i was able to do something not many people can say they have been able to. I was able to marry my best friend. Its sounds corny, it sounds cliche but its true. She really is that special of a person.

In our relationship we see each other every day, not just in passing heading out the door and meeting up later. We work at the same institution. There is a funny type of symmetry in that, we met while working at Acme together, and now we end up with the same employer again. Both places we were in different departments, but the same overall place. We drive in together, spending an hour in the car together each way each day. So I can’t say communication has ever been an issue. It gives us time to blow off steam, discuss plans and wrap our head around issues. Even when we were dating we saw each other almost every day. Some people often ask me how I can do this, how can you be with your wife for that much time. Well I love her with every fiber of my body and frankly I couldn’t imagine not being with her. So my question to some of those people would be how could you not want that? I couldn’t imagine us not having that time together each day.

3 years have changed a lot of things, but done nothing more than make us stronger. From St Lucia to San Fransisco and Back. From a cute apartment to a cute house. From a newlywed couple to new parents, and a family. Its been a great ride, and I can’t imagine anything but more of the same awesomeness in the future.

Almost Completely off topic, but looking at this picture it looks like the lamp is part of the family… need to move it for next time. Thats what life is all about, making small adjustments but focusing the camera on the good things.

Taking lunch here… is a good thing

Some days, weeks, months just drain you.

For me my time is at the end of any of the semesters. Usually around the last week in April until halfway through May. So here we are, just now recovering from the mass of work that has swamped me. And I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. I always have to temper my enthusiasm, because there is a long summer of work ahead of me. But the ever present press of deadlines and students stressing over their work is lifted for right now.

Sure there are always deadlines, and yes there will always be students lurking about when you work at a university but the end of the spring semester is probably one of the most stressful times of the year. Students are literally fighting for their careers, their academic lives and their stress wears off on everyone around them. They take worse care of themselves, stay up late and frankly run themselves into the ground. They get ill and pass the fun on to the support people who are trapped in their offices.

Last year and this year i got really nasty sick at the end of the spring semester, caught from whatever cesspool of infection is running through the studios. My doctor suggests i wear a mask when people come in hacking up a lung. Like Japan during the SARS epidemic. I might have to consider that. Until next year i get to Lysol the hell out of my office each week.

We are currently watching Cars the movie. If you follow me on twitter you probably see that about  3 - 5 times a week. The boy loves the movie. And I gots to tell you its a good movie. The best part about this as opposed to any number of silly kids shows right now is good. And the music isn’t half bad. I guess thats part of being a parent and a kid is watching the same movie 500 times in a month just because it makes the little guys happy. When i was growing up My sister drilled Little Mermaid to the point where i could and can still sing every song word for word…

At least thus far I’m lucking out on music. The boy doesn’t seem to like Radio Disney but has taken a shine to Rage against the machine, Slipknot and Disturbed. He dances like crazy whenever Van Halen, ACDC, or Aerosmith comes on the radio. He’s a pretty cool kid. I would have view of a funny dance he did, but daddy had the sound turned off while recording so he’s making funny faces but you can’t hear the music. not as funny as it could be. I’ll get it next time

This year, i have already re landscaped the front of the house. Good for next year being we used more perennials, which means less replanting for years to come. Bad is that it all was done in one day without too much being done with the back yard yet. In the back i found a previous layer of white landscaping stone underneath what we thought was a flower bed, not good. And to top it off i need to cut down another small tree and get the roots out because that will end up as my veggie garden.  On the inside of the home we removed the linoleum tiles from the foyer, ripped the carpet up, but the next thing on the menu is the whole dinning room, big job.

My father in law is ripping out his kitchen and my own parents are putting a new floor in their basement. You feel good when your done but man this season is hard on you while you still have things to renovate. Anyone else out there having the same fun as we are?

The Internet of old was static, it was plain, ugly at times and unforgiving. Now the same unforgiving beast has grown larger and more hungry for attention and business. It has a softer, more pastel and florescent shade to it. Very web 2.0 the new beast, same as the old. The greatest advancement in the last 10 years has been the connectivity that the new beast has engendered. We are all a couple of keystrokes away from friends and from foes. The best defense against the dark arts of hacking, the specters of identity theft, and the demons of decayed morals, is information, education and the scepter of knowledge wielded by the acolytes of understanding.

I’ll post more of a technical run down after i take the leap and drop an update on CaffiNation… which will be a little while before that happens.

testing out the Podpress, podcasting features as well. Posting a promo for the CaffiNation Podcast