Random Flashback for Friday 12/31/10

With a temperature of nearly 55 degrees headed into my favorite celebration of the year, I need as many holiday images as possible to get me in the right mood. [Getting in the right "spirit" (wink wink nudge nudge) is part of my evening plans!]

So I'll end a year of micro-blogging (and since I'm often a little too wordy in my posts -- all I want for Christmas next year is an in-house editor -- I'm not sure I can still adjectify my creative output as "micro") with this twenty year old shot of the family Christmas tree in 1990. I'm so looking forward to 1991 (a return to LVC with three performances to recall, more time at Hebron church with the young-uns and a few more family photos) ... and, of course, I'm even more looking forward to 2011.

Happy New Year to you and yours!

Random Thought for Thursday 12/30/10

I've yet to drop acid. But if someone sneaks into the apartment and swaps out my stamps for the kind that pay homage to Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, I truly hope that my experience will be just as trippy as having watched "Rudolph's Shiny New Year" on ABC the other evening. I knew I had no memory of it from my youth, but yet it was an official sequel of sorts to the famous RankinBass production, so I went into it with certain expectations.

A Red Skelton, a giant Big Ben whale, a vulture who needed to eat a baby to live forever (I think), a Mel Brooks-ian Million Year Old Man and a pedophile-ish Rumpelstiltskin later, I walked away bizarrely confused by the message they appeared to be giving Baby Happy about his giant ears. "People are always going to laugh at you, kid, 'cause they can't help it. But don't take it personally," was not only the subtext -- it was overtly stated at one point.

But hey, when it was all said and done, I have to echo most of Rudy's final words -- "Have a Hap Hap Happy New Year (and may it be shiny too!?)!"

NOW I HAVE TO WAIT FOR RUDOLPH and FROSTY's CHRISTMAS IN JULY:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079828/

RANKIN WANTS MORE MONEY FROM WARNER BROS:
http://www.rankinbass.com/

DRUG REFERENCES ABOUND IN POP MUSIC:
http://www.popculturemadness.com/Music/Drug-References.html

Random Wordplay for Wednesday 12/29/10

Ergonomically Correct Rubber Bands.

Used in a sentence: "I've mentioned it before, but due to change at my workplace, I am currently an employee who works completely from home (now going on two months) -- and, what I miss, besides the fine people with whom I used to come into regular contact, is the access to the ergonomically correct rubber bands."

I don't know why that concept makes me giggle (apparently, new stretchier rubber bands help people avoid carpal tunnel syndrome). Of course I think that it's a case of marketers latching on to a buzz word in order to increase sales (and the price point) -- much as organic and green have been (questionably) attached to so many products in the last few years. Really -- was there that much demand from rubber band injuries (that weren't intentionally inflicted slingshot style) for a healthier alternative?

BUY THEM AT SAM's CLUBs:
http://www.samsclub.com/sams/shop/product.jsp?productId=171439&pid=CSE_Froogle&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=183856

FIND OTHER ERGO-PRODUCTS AT THIS REFERRAL SITE:
http://www.onlineorganizing.com/UsefulLinksSubCategory.asp?subcategory=ergonomics

LABEL IT "GREEN" TO INCREASE YOUR STASH OF "GREEN" $:
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/CollegeAndFamily/RaiseKids/AreGreenProductsReallyGreen.aspx

Random Tune for Tuesday 12/28/10

Eight months ago, I foreshadowed today's listing. To be honest, although it strikes me as lazy, I'll simply re-post what I said that day in April, with one minor change to the number within the comments representing the countdown to NYE.

I now have a new annual song to play every New Years Eve (my most favorite holiday of the year) that might actually replace "Auld Lang Syne" for me when I celebrate in just over 3 days. It may be a little melancholy and a touch moody, but you can't argue with these closing lyrics:

"I wish everyone was loved tonight ... And somehow stop this endless fight ... Just a chance that maybe we'll find better days ... So take these words ... And sing out loud ... Cause everyone is forgiven now ... Cause tonight's the night the world begins again ... Cause tonight's the night the world begins again."

May you forgive, be forgiven and find a fresh new start wherever you may need it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOp4NAq6EHI

Random Memorial for Monday 12/27/10

Gone but not forgotten: my time with Paddington Bear.

I clearly remember my Hardy Boys collection of books (they were some of the only items I put in my bedsheet hobo-style the time I almost ran away from home when I was in middle school [not to be confused with the time I successfully ran away from home when I was in high school]). My mom sold Avon so I was all over the Sweet Pickles collection (Rest, Rabbit, Rest being the one to which I was drawn). Susan Cooper's Dark is Rising series fueled my imagination about good vs. evil for years. So why is it that I had completely forgotten my hours spent reading about the adventures of Paddington Bear until I heard it referenced pop-culturally on the animated holiday episode of Community? [And, maybe this is why I have such a relatibility to Brick on ABC's The Middle? "Relatibility", (said in a whisper directed at my chest)].

My motivation for actually trying Smucker's Orange Marmalade for the first time, you are missed.

OF COURSE HE's NOW MARKETING A BRAND OF ENGLISH BREAKFAST:
http://www.paddingtonbear.com/newsstickysituation2010.html

A SWEET PICKLES BOOK LISTING:
http://tripatlas.com/Sweet_Pickles#Books%20in%20the%20series

SAYS BRICK, "SWIMMING's NO FUN WITHOUT A BOOK"!:
http://abc.go.com/shows/the-middle/bio/brick-heck/274018

Random Scandal Sheet for Sunday 12/26/10

What South Bend is talking about this week:

[... as I wrap up my time with the family in Indiana and head back to Chicago!]

So it's the holidays and I found out a day late, but I now know what to get as a gift for the person who has everything -- an historic bridge! When I first heard about this INDOT program, I assumed that it was one of those pay money for your community group to have a plaque things, but it turns out they want you to actually adopt it and take it home with you. Having grown up in Central PA, it reminded me of efforts to protect the wooden covered bridges that dot the countryside ... but the website below has the photos of the bridges-waiting-for-your-family-to-love-them, and I'm afraid they look like they might stay in government foster care for quite some time.

FACES THAT ONLY MOTHERS CAN LOVE?:
http://www.in.gov/indot/2967.htm

TURN OF THE CENTURY BRIDGES TO SAVE ACROSS THE COUNTRY:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-11-22-bridges22_ST_N.htm

PA PRETTY COVERED BRIDGES ALSO AT RISK:
http://pacoveredbridges.com/

Random Soapbox for Saturday 12/25/10

I don't mean to go off on a rant here, but ...

... who am I kidding? It's the holidays and I just got finished with one of the biggest meals of the year (this holiday, inspired by Gordon Ramsay's BBCAmerica specials) ... and I don't have the mental acuity for any randomness today. Plus -- in honor of the Christmas spirit -- what have I got to complain about? Instead ...

... Commence Food Coma!

Wake me up in two hours with a cold six pack of Guinness and a family card game or two.

Merry Christmas!!

REST THE TURKEY AS LONG AS YOU COOK IT AND DON'T MISS THIS GRAVY:
http://www.squidoo.com/gordon-ramsay-ultimate-christmas-recipes

WATCH THIS 3D YULE LOG INSTEAD:
http://www.npr.org/2010/12/25/132287649/on-a-tv-near-you-the-yule-log-now-in-3-d

IT's NOT A FOOD COMA, IT's POST PRANDIAL SOMNOLENCE!:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postprandial_somnolence

Random Flashback for Friday 12/24/10

It's the holidays and it's Christmas Eve Day, so my simple wish for you is that you approach the holiday season with the same wide eyed wonderment that my niece Ashlyn did twenty years ago unwrapping whatever is in this giant box. Merry Christmas* to you and yours.

[*And to those of you of different or no faiths, I ain't mad at ya -- I hope you and yours have a great weekend too!]

Random Thought for Thursday 12/23/10

It's the holidays, which can be an odd mix of emotions. If I promise to hit the high notes on Saturday, please permit me to be a bit maudlin tonight (and if you're not a fan of holiday melancholy, then move along as there's nothing else to see here). Cherish the moments you have with loved ones and honor those traditions you have with family and friends, because things change all too quickly. Children age, loved ones pass on and pets are with us for such a short time.

I'm headed to a family celebration with two of three nephews who won't be in attendance (one's starting a new life and new traditions with his fiance and another is wrapping up basic training) in a car that once had a pit bull who would drool on my shoulder waiting for his last bite of whatever item I got at the only Hardees in traveling distance from the city on the Indiana turnpike (RIP Demon) to exchange gifts that are no longer wrapped soap-opera style (in a box with the lid wrapped separately) like my "grandma" Joann used to do.

As one of my favorite holiday tunes goes: "May the new year be blessed with good tidings' til the next time I see you again ... If we must say goodbye, let the spirit go with you 'til the season comes 'round again."

Don't get it twisted ... I still put HAPPY and MERRY in front of my holiday greetings. It's more like a respectful moment of silence on this silent night.

WARNING -- THE NOTES SAY THAT VINCE GILL HAS A BAD COLD:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3KZrEn90ao

HOW TO WRAP GIFTS LIKE IN THE SOAPS (or STORIES, regionally):
http://www.ehow.com/how_4897343_gift-wrap-box-lid.html

SAMPLE THIS POET's EXPRESSION OF HOLIDAY MELANCHOLY:
http://slstellingstories.com/tag/holiday-melancholy/

Random Wordplay for Wednesday 12/22/10

Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.

Used in a sentence: "What I thought at first was a typo of some kind in one of my three TV Guides* turned out to be a cult phenomenon, and apparently one of the worst movies of all time -- so since it's the holidays, 'Don't miss this opportunity to view a seasonal classic that proves red and green ARE the colors of Christmas -- catch Santa Claus Conquers the Martians the next time it airs.'"

*Don't judge. We all have our addictions. I need the official TV Guide to plot my prime time viewing, the Sunday paper TV Guide to layer in local channels, PBS and non-prime time choices, and the TV section of Entertainment Weekly so that I can be appropriately influenced by critics. I've actually managed to cut back a little since TimeOut stopped printing its hipster selections in the weekly city cultural periodical. I don't have a problem. You have a problem.

SEE THE LIVE THEATRICAL VERSION IN FULLERTON CA EACH YEAR:
http://www.mavericktheater.com/html/sccm_10.html

MARTIANS KIDNAP SANTA BECAUSE THERE IS NO ONE ON MARS TO GIVE PRESENTS:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058548/

TVGUIDE.COM SHOWS YOU WHERE YOU CAN WATCH THIS GEM NOW:
http://movies.tvguide.com/santa-claus-conquers-martians/116767

Random Tune for Tuesday 12/21/10

It's the holidays ... so why not post the ubiquitous song from the Honda commercial. Just as interesting at this you-tube link is the anti-hipster rhetoric [WARNING -- not all contributors there use safe-for-work language] and the concerns that Vampire Weekend sold out by profiting off of the car dealer's decision to give a truly new meaning to "ad nauseum" this season. Of course, upon closer inspection, the full lyrics include this section: "A vegetarian since the invasion. She’d never seen the word BOMBS. She’d never seen the word BOMBS blown up. To 96 point Futura." Kids nowadays, screwing up Christmas. Next someone's going to tell me the song's not about that holiday at all!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vraoiVCDdaM

Random Memorial for Monday 12/20/10

Gone but not forgotten: the 2009 edition of the souvenir mug from Chicago's Christkindlmarkt.

It's the holidays and it's taken me a whole year to process the sad day in late Dec 2009 when the annual trip to the German market downtown resulted in the knowledge that the fest was SOLD OUT of the souvenir mug. I checked ebay in hopes to score one on the e-black market, and no luck. So now I'm putting it out to the universe like Oprah says I should -- all I want for Christmas is the 2009 mug!

That which fills the gaping hole in my souvenir collection, you are very much missed.

[see the sad sad photo above instead of the usual links and hit me up if you're of the disposable generation and no longer want what you got last year around this time ...]

Random Scandal Sheet for Sunday 12/19/10

What Chicago is talking about this week:

It's the holidays, so it's time for a true Chicago tradition -- the Christkindlmarkt in Daley Plaza! Now in its 15th year (the last 9 of which I've been able to attend), this re-creation of a typical German holiday market is full of vendors (the one that I visit first being the one that gets me an authentic Wienerschnitzel) selling gifts, ornaments and food! This year, I've added the pictures to the 2010 Holidays album on FB -- and I've included several of the "blooper variety" at the end -- the "authentic" German vendors (capitalism is equal opportunity, so they include one from Peru), the signs that say "no alcohol beyond this point" (a message you just plain wouldn't see in Deutschland) and the candy store chocolate pigs that appear to be in a daisy chain of sorts. Nothing says Happy German Holidays like copulating pigs!

2010 CELEBRATES 15 YEARS!:
http://www.christkindlmarket.com/en/

WIERNERSCHNITZELS IS ... A WEST COAST FAST FOOD CHAIN???!!!:
http://www.wienerschnitzel.com/locations.php

THE 2010 HOLIDAYS ALBUM ON FB:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=48308&id=1843633569&l=a11808616c

Random Soapbox for Saturday 12/18/10

I don't mean to go off on a rant here, but ...

It's the holidays and Suze, dear, you need to put your shtick aside and have a little cheer.

I was flabber-smacked (gob-gasted? -- does fusion work with cultural idiomatic phrases of surprise?) to catch Suze addressing a little girl's request for a new doll on her show the other night -- and that show was not Saturday Night Live, and said Suze was not Kristen Wiig.

To be clear, more power to Ms. Orman and her message. I get it. The majority of America doesn't save because the majority of us are living paycheck to paycheck. [And the majority of us didn't get lottery winnings to invest in our future as a tip, either.] But to tell some poor thing she couldn't get a dolly because her liquid assets and her allowance income didn't meet Suze's standards, was a bit much. Can you imagine Suze at the mall in a jolly red blazer with kids on her lap yelling "de-nied" repeatedly?

So Suze, here's my Christmas wish. Take a hiatus, and come at us full force in January when the holiday bills come due. Then you can make us feel guilty -- and leave the darn kiddies alone!

SUZE's TOP 10 TIPS FOR 20-SOMETHINGS:
http://shine.yahoo.com/event/financiallyfit/suze-ormans-10-money-tips-for-the-20-something-2415847

KRISTEN WIIG's TOP 10 SNL MOMENTS:
http://www.tvsquad.com/2008/10/15/top-10-kristen-wiig-moments-on-snl-videos/

HOW TO BE A MALL SANTA CLAUS:
http://www.slate.com/id/2179999/

Random Flashback for Friday 12/17/10

It's the holidays! So why not post a photo from 20 years ago of my sister Bonnie's family in front of the Christmas Tree in good ole Schuylkill Haven PA. [This one is from so long ago that their little sister isn't yet in the picture (literally).] Of course, the nephews are both now young men on their own and living in middle America (Hey Ryan! What up, Tyler!), and my sister is back in PA with her husband and their sister after spending some time in Missouri (follow?). And that's just the tip of the iceberg with my family situation. So ... may your holidays bring a smile to your face just like Ryan's in this one (Ryan -- feel free to untag on FB now, if you're embarrassed).

Random Thought for Thursday 12/16/10

"My name is Troy. Neidermyer. Yes, like in Animal House!" could have been a different story if Jumanji had only been a bigger hit. For it is in Jumanji when Robin Williams returns from being locked inside the game and states aloud, "I wonder if Mrs. Neidermyer is still teaching 6th grade English." Yet another Neidermyer reference for pop culture -- right up there with the hockey players, the French filmmaker Frederic and my uncle's once-upon-a-time chicken restaurant (chicken is my people's heritage).

FREDERIC NEIDERMAYER's FILMOGRAPHY:
http://www.locatetv.com/person/frederic-niedermayer/196230/filmography

MOVIE MISTAKES FROM ANIMAL HOUSE:
http://www.moviemistakes.com/film67/page2

TURNS OUT JUMANJI IS BASED ON A BOOK WRITTEN BY ANDREAS NEIDERMAYER:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113497/usercomments?start=100

Random Wordplay for Wednesday 12/15/10

Traumatic Insemination.

Used in a safe-for-work non-salacious prurient-free zone: "Bedbugs procreate through traumatic insemination."

So this isn't some sweeps month stunt, and I'll keep it as clinical as possible so as not to offend. While reading up on bedbugs recently (did I mention I was just in NYC), I was surprised to learn of a situation not referenced in the Kama Sutra. Apparently, in this scenario, 'the male pierces the female's abdomen with his penis and injects his sperm through the wound into her abdominal cavity". I'll say nothing more, except "insects are creepy, dude".

SCIENCE, PEOPLE, ITs SCIENCE:
http://www.pnas.org/content/98/10/5683.long

I DARE YOU TO READ IT AND NOT ITCH:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/html/vector/vector-faq1.shtml

HERE's SOME GOOD PRESS FOR THE INSECT WORLD:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-130982/Insects-creepy-crawlies-friends.html

Random Tune for Tuesday 12/14/10

It's the holidays!

What better time to listen to the haunting melody of Greensleeves (having read Susan Cooper's Dark is Rising series during my formative years, it's a song that carries an additional mystical meaning for me). I couldn't find the Garth Brooks version on youtube, but it didn't take long to "settle" for Martina McBride instead. And, although I rarely double link on Tuesdays, I added the Jingle Cats version of the same song in a mash-up with Hava Nagila below. (And [warning: severely outdated pop culture reference ahead] like those who buy the clothes of Kathie Lee or the sneakers of Nike and have to live with the guilt of knowing underage kids made their products, I feel a little dirty in that I remain unconvinced that animals weren't hurt in the making of that version of the song.)

All the same, Happy Holidays!

IF YOU LIKE A LITTLE MARTINA McBRIDE:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MC9cbEHjvPs&feature=fvw

IF YOU LIKE A LITTLE MANUFACTURED TORTURED CAT NOISE:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iClHpepBY1I

Random Memorial for Monday 12/13/10

Gone but not forgotten: the most recent season of the Amazing Race.

[So I committed to a weekly Aside with my posts since this season started. Tonight, I turn it over completely to the concept ... which I guess makes it a full on Amazing Race Ramble instead.]

I'll admit to having a bit of race-envy, and as I watched the final episodes of this season, I kept on putting myself in the situations in which they found themselves:

The last time I went on a white water rafting ride like they did in Korea last week, I was on a work outing with McDonald's 20 years ago! [Tubing in northern PA with the family at the hunting camp doesn't count as that pace was too leisurely.]

The last time I was in a helicopter like the racers took to beat LA traffic, I was looking over the city of Palmyra with Jakey at one of their town fairs!

The last time I was on a bungee swing, I was bundled up with Selman and Bennie at Cedar Point on the Ripcord!

The last time I came close to decorating a float was when I marched with the Cub Scouts in the Jonestown holiday parade as a dalmatian (although I don't think we had a vehicle on which we could ride)!

The last time I was in a taxi with someone who didn't speak English was actually just one week ago in NYC!

The last time I saw Bob Eubanks, he was hosting a series of "best game show moments" on TV!

The last time I had to piece together where I had been while vaguely recalling people wearing hats was the morning after I celebrated getting/keeping a job with my company by bar-hopping this fall.

And the last time I won a million dollars like the first all-female team was ... never. That's a shame!

This recent running of one of the best reality shows on TV, you will be missed.

RIPCORD!!:
http://www.cedarpoint.com/public/park/challenge_park/ripcord.cfm

YOU CAN BOOK BOB AS A MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER (WHOOPEE!):
http://www.bobeubanks.com/

PHIL RIDES ACROSS AMERICA (summer of 09):
http://realitytvmagazine.sheknows.com/blog/2009/03/01/the-amazing-race-host-phil-keoghan-will-ride-across-america/

Random Scandal Sheet for Sunday 12/12/10

What Chicago is talking about this week:

It can't really catch anyone by surprise (not if you've been here for the last two winters) that we're dealing with snow and wind and a touch of ice on a blustery day, with cold cold temperatures and super-below-0 wind chills forecast for the middle of the week. [So, Rahm, you best familiarize yourself with these facts before heading to the courts Monday to address the modern carpetbagger claims. And, da Bears, you really should have been better equipped for today's playing conditions.]

Amazing Race Aside -- so my attention now turns to tonight's finale. To be honest, I'm already more excited for all of the All Stars in the race coming soon (how hard will it be when I like most of the teams from episode 1 -- and is it a coincidence that both shows of recent Emmy competition took that all-star route at the exact same time?) Please let intelligence and good sportsmanship be rewarded with a Drs. Nat/Kat victory. Nothing too much against the shopping hostesses (a watermelon in the face does cry out for some recompense) or the fighting couple du jour (who uttered my favorite discriminatory line last week - "you can't ask old people for directions"), I just feel better rewarding folks at the higher end of the actualization scale!

SO MANY GAMES WERE CALLED THE BLIZZARD BOWL, WHAT's THIS ONE TO BE?:
http://www.nbcchicago.com/blogs/grizzly-detail/Patriots-Ice-Bears-at-soldier-field-36-7-111760359.html

TO THE COURTROOM FOR A RULING BEFORE HE SPENDS ALL HIS MONEY:
http://www.nbcchicago.com/blogs/ward-room/Status-Hearing-for-Rahms-Residency-Battle-111661684.html

THE NEW BUT OLD NEXT CAST OF RACERS REVEALED:
http://www.tvfanatic.com/2010/12/cast-of-the-amazing-race-all-stars-revealed/

Random Soapbox for Saturday 12/11/10

I don't mean to go off on a rant here, but ...

... the waiting area at the gate in a terminal is a public place and requires us to be on our best behavior.

And no, I'm not taking a stand on the proper stance width one should take in a public toilette. As I awaited my delayed departure at LaGuardia (apparently, a very common occurrence at that airport), I witnessed a grown child reading aloud to her mother in a packed common area. Before I angered, I ran through the reasons that would allow me to justify the behavior. Was the mother visually impaired? Was this a reverse reenactment of some childhood tradition and the momma needed to be slumberfied before boarding? Were hidden cameras and John Quinones lurking as some "social experiment" was being filmed?

No, nope and not at all. Instead, the drunken daughter was practicing her oratory skills as the mother sat there smiling through a grimace as if she knew of the inconvenience to others but chose to support her child's foibles.

Maybe the new generation has it right. Put in the earbuds, turn on your i-machine of choice, and disconnect from the world around you. Although I'm concerned about the future of faux-connectedness foisted upon us by Facebook, at least I could have read my month old USA Todays in peace!

DEAR SKY STEWARD, PLEASE SHARE YOUR JETIQUETTE:
http://www.dearskysteward.com/

EXCUSE ME, BUT READ ACROSS AMERICA DAY WAS IN MARCH (APPARENTLY):
http://www.cta.org/Parents-and-Community/Read-Across-America/Events.aspx

WWYD:
http://abcnews.go.com/WhatWouldYouDo/

Random Flashback for Friday 12/10/10

And so ends the tale of my time overseas in 1990. This photo was taken by my sister as I spilled out into the terminal at Newark (which is close enough to NYC to continue my theme week concept, right?) in December of that year. I brought back with me 3.5 months of memories, connections with great people, a multi-stamped passport, the ability to dream in a different language on occasion, a frequent hankering for Wienerschnitzel, an early affinity toward stronger, darker beers, that piece of the Berlin Wall I referenced weeks ago and a desire (not yet quenched) to return. The economy interfered with my early plans for a 20 year reunion there -- maybe it's meant to be 25 in 2015? Jawohl! Time to start saving my pfennigs [showed my age, there, I mean euro cents!]

Random Thought for Thursday 12/9/10

I arrived at my hotel on Wall Street at the beginning of this week in the early AM only to find out that they were overbooked. Since I had a confirmed reservation, they moved me to their sister location a few blocks away -- next to the WTC site (pics on FB in the Holidays 2010 album). During the day, the work site was booming. At night, there was an eerie silence I didn't expect for the non-stop hustle and bustle of the city. I've devoured all of the documentaries in the years since the attack, but I still wasn't quite prepared for the realness of being right there where it had happened. A realness ... a sadness ... a we-will-never-forget-ness ... a we-will-rise-again-ness. As it was December 7th that I was there, it left me wondering if those feelings are what a generation or two above me feel when they go to Pearl Harbor?

MEMORIAL SCHEDULED TO OPEN 9/11/11:
http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local-beat/On-Hallowed-Ground-Inside-The-WTC-Memorial--84661137.html

"WE FOUND $10,000 STUFFED IN THE DONATION BOX":
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/shrine_ecret_angel_CGDxrh9Pr3mjkghYtrfGLP

PEARL HARBOR MEMORIAL FUND TO RENOVATE THAT NATIONAL SITE:
http://www.pearlharbormemorial.com/

Random Wordplay for Wednesday 12/8/10

Bishiftual.

Used at the very end of a paragraph that probably needn't be as long as it is: "After working for a month in my new virtual workforce position with my company, it was great to head to NY this week and meet my colleagues -- five of us spread out across the country so that we can cover multiple time zones. As we perfected our schedule, we realized that me being in the CST was an opportunity to have me play the role of Day or Night lead, changing my start and end times as needed -- making me a proud bishiftual."

[Maybe you always presumed it to be so or connected the dots yourself or you may have always known. But now I can experience the freedom of announcing it publicly.]

HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW SUPPORTS IT:
http://hbr.org/2009/12/enterprise-20-how-a-connected-workforce-innovates/ar/1

TIME ZONE CONVERTER:
http://www.timezoneconverter.com/cgi-bin/tzc.tzc

RESOURCE GUIDE FOR BIs:
http://biresource.net/

Random Tune for Tuesday 12/7/10

How is it that it took me nine years to learn that this Rob Thomas holiday song was about the first Christmas after 9/11? And after having stayed in a hotel this week during my trip to NY within the shadows of the construction equipment rebuilding the WTC site -- something I heard and liked instantly becomes so much more poignant and moving when provided with the context. And the artist's attempts to affect change continue with the Sidewalk Angels Foundation, whose link is below for others interested in making a difference. Happy Holidays -- and a prayer for peace on earth within our time!

NEW YORK CITY CHRISTMAS:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5pCDKX1b4g&feature=related

SIDEWALK ANGELS FOUNDATION:
http://www.sidewalkangelsfoundation.com/

Random Memorial for Monday 12/6/10

Gone but not forgotten: my time away from NYC.

Heretofore, my one and only time in the Big Apple was when I worked for Gretna Theatre (during the controversial year of Harvey and a too-naked for central PA Frankie) and went to watch auditions in the nineties. But now I've just gotten back from a work trip this week (hence the tardiness in my daily postings), and I can say that I enjoyed myself much more this time around. Twenty years ago, I drew the hasty conclusion that it was too many people in too small a place and that it was not for me. Now, with the experience of a decade in Chicago adjusting my Weltanschaung, it was a much easier experience to handle. It was still a work trip so there wasn't a lot of "tourist time" [ed. note: if reading this aloud, feel free to do it in the key of Vinnie and Paulie bellowing "t-shirt time"], but I did at least get to stand outside of Rockefeller Center (with the 30 Rock theme song blaring in my head) and to be blinded by the lights of Times Square (only in America would a major tourist destination be a basilica of billboards beautifully blaring that we should buy-buy-buy [ed. note: if reading this aloud, feel free to mockingly mimic N'Sync]).

The phrase, "been there, done that, not goin' back" with regards to me spending any time in NYC [ed. note: if reading this aloud, feel free to ask yourself why you're doing that and then to pronouce these letters in the tune of the song from Annie of the same name], you will be missed.

THE ALUMNI OF GRETNA THEATRE:
http://www.gretnatheatre.com/AlumniofGretnaTheatre.htm

GERMAN-ENGLISH WORDS or IT's NOT JUST FOR KINDERGARTEN ANY MORE:
http://www.germanenglishwords.com/

TIMES SQUARE THROUGH THE YEARS:
http://www.earthcam.com/usa/newyork/timessquare/content.php?content=history

Random Scandal Sheet for Sunday 12/5/10

What Chicago is talking about this week:

DC news! Sure, the standard stuff is going on around here ... but for some reason, the local news was all about Washington DC. One story covered just elected Mark Kirk presenting the Republican response to the President's weekly address (after just one week in office, he's their go-to guy?). Then, a little bit of "shocking" news about how daring GWU was as students can co-habitate in the dorms this year -- in the actual rooms (some were aghast and one said George himself would never had predicted such a collegial living arrangement). But the most interesting story was the one about the highway crew that addressed winter weather by spreading a slippery substance (liquid magnesium) instead of salt. I'm sure it was frightening to those who were on the road, but it sounded to me like a Batman villain's modus operandi!

IS THIS HOW THEY HAZE THE NEW GUY:
http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/clout_st/2010/12/us-sen-mark-kirk-delivers-national-republican-weekly-address.html

YOU CAN PICK SOME OF YOUR ROOMMATES REGARDLESS OF GENDER ... :
http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local-beat/Bed-Bugs-Found-In-GWs-Dorms-109045449.html

THIS WAS CLEARLY THE WORK OF "THE JOKER":
http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/traffic/road-crews-put-down-wrong-chemicals-slick-roads-cause-accidents-120310

Random Soapbox for Saturday 12/4/10

I don't mean to go off on a rant here, but ...

... we now have the leading candidate for worst timing of the year award.

It's not the first big snowstorm to hit Chicago today (nothing beats buying a Christmas tree in the snow!) but the recent announcement that the Madison Square Garden will add catwalks suspended above the action in 2013-14. The fact that it hit the news the same week as the young man fell to his death at Soldier Field and the toddler died after climbing over the glass partition at the Staples Center seems a little tasteless.

Sure -- there will be safety precautions ... and barriers ... and alcohol ... and rabid fans. But, the venue sees dollar signs in crowding more people into space heretofore just only filled with air, so the renovation continues. Add more seats! Sell more tickets!! Pack them in!!! Nearly 20,000 seats is just not enough!!!! And if we lose one or two along the way, that's just collateral damage!

SEE THE ARTIST's RENDITION ON THE "BRIDGES and FAN DECKS" LINK:
http://www.msgtransformation.com/Transformation.aspx#

RIP, MR. HAVERTY:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101129/ap_on_sp_ot/us_fatal_fall_chicago_stadium

RIP, BABY BOY TANG:
http://sports.espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/news/story?id=5838014

Random Flashback for Friday 12/3/10

After multiple months overseas many many years ago, the group of us in Koln had grown a little homesick and weary of the semester abroad experience. How do I know? Because we got taken to task by Klaus one day (he's the older gentleman behind me) when the group of us were told that we had to start "adapting to the local conditions" better. It turns out my smart-alec-ness and antio-authoritarian streak were both well developed even in 1990, as the event captured in this photo is me passing out the infamous Fruh beer deckels labeled with the "Adapt to the Local Conditions Awards" at our farewell party. And, even back then, I couldn't edit well as you can see by the stack of awards I'm passing out. My awards that night ... "the most devoted member of a long distance relationship (with Cher)" ... "the most competitive class ender (often through questioning comments)" ... "the ducks' best friend" ... "most interested in testing McD's quality control" ... and ... "most complex personality". Much doesn't change in 20 years, after all!

And, here's this week's Amazing Race Aside -- I guess adapting to the local conditions in Hong Kong means dealing with the bait and switch. Meaning that the room that looks like Asian karaoke is really sushi-til-you-pukey! Tricky, Phil, tricky. [P.S. Dear tattooed punk girl, I got angry watching your boyfriend who apparently went off his meds this past week. I would have supported you throwing him overboard and you finishing the next few legs with the parakeets as partners instead, just so you know!]

Random Thought for Thursday 12/2/10

I know the science isn't there yet, but I now know what I want to add to my disaster supplies (right next to my cans of Chicken Noodle Soup and the military rations I was given 20 years ago) -- a mini-Lennie-James (Christmas is coming). Between Jericho and The Walking Dead, I'm convinced that he's the guy to have in your corner in the middle of an emergency (whether you find yourself in a nuclear post-apocalyptic anarchy or just a regular old post-apocalyptic zombie anarchy). Maybe he could be one of those creepy foam things you drop in water to grow to 20x its size ... or he could be "on call" ... or summoned like a genie in a lamp at the first sign that life as you know it has ceased to exist ...

And, in an overdue Amazing Race Aside (I missed the additional race-related obiter dictum around Thanksgiving, so I'll double up this week), can I also say that he's the person I'd not want to Double Uturn (its funny how I applaud The Biggest Loser for constantly changing the game and coming up with unique challenges and twists, but get frustrated at the Amazing Race for having to learn its vocabulary -- Fast Forward, Yield, Express Pass and now Double Uturn -- and its subsequent and frequent adaptations to its racing rules and regs) for fear that he'd calm-ly and cool-y take me out if I got in his way.

LONDON LENNIE INTERVIEWED IN 2008:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/my-secret-life-lennie-james-actor-age-42-829091.html

THEY GOT A BRITISH GROW YOUR OWN EVERYTHING, WHY NOT A LENNIE JAMES?:
http://www.jokeshop.co.uk/cgi-bin/sitewise.pl?act=sect&s=3573&id=jokeshop

THE UNWRITTEN RULES OF THE RACE:
http://www.amazingracefanwiki.com/page/Unwritten+Rules

Random Wordplay for Wednesday 12/1/10

Karbalaeinematmoeeney.


Before I use it in a sentence, let me say that I know domestic violence is never funny. Let me also say that my cultural frame of reference allows me to understand last names like Miller and Smith ('cause they were jobs) and Davidson or Jackson ('cause they were the next generation for David and Jack) and even Neidermyer ('cause all the mayors lived on a hill in Germany and the post office added the prefix Nieder- 'cause my folks lived at the bottom of the hill in the lower land [and Ellis Island workers did transpose the vowels]).


So, used in a sentence: When I read that Memphis Grizzlies star Haddidi had a domestic issue with his girlfriend this week, all I could do was giggle at her name (that sounded like a Jewish mystic played a counting game): Karbalaeinematmoeeney.

NOT KIDDING - ITs SERIOUS:
http://www.thehotline.org/get-educated/what-is-domestic-violence/

BUT I STILL GIGGLED AT THE NAME:
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/nba/grizzlies/2010-11-26-haddadi-assault_N.htm

MORE COUNTING OUT GAMES (Y-E-S SPELLS YES AND THAT MEANS NOT YOU):
http://www.playgroundjungle.com/2009/12/counting-out-rhymes.html

Random Tune for Tuesday 11/30/10

Dearest Cher:

I know it's been almost a week since your new movie Burlesque was released, and I still haven't mentioned anything about it in a random fashion.

But there was the holiday, and then some other issues, and I wasn't sure if it was going to end up more Showgirls than Moulin Rouge.

All the same, please forgive me. And, please find the link to your new song dutifully posted as my tune for today.

"There will be no fade out ... This is not the end ... I'm down now ... But I'll be standing tall again ... Times are hard but I was built tough ... I'm gonna show you all what I'm made of..."

All my respect,

Troy

ANOTHER POWER BALLAD FROM DIANE WARREN (OBVIOUSLY):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1gcMsRiNok

Random Memorial for Monday 11/29/10

[note: this post is a first for me -- a random reprise to the one from 1/11/10, with original language intact and knee talk replaced with [angio-vocab]]


Gone but not forgotten: Chris' original [heart] parts.


For those of you who know Chris in Chicago, his [chest pains of the last few weeks] led to [an emergency angioplasty] and he now has [two modern stents helping his heart each day]. He said [he did not see a bright white light when an artery collapsed while his Dr was installing his new parts -- but that he would have been more comforted if he didn't hear the doc swear when it happened]!


Chris' original [heart that didn't need artificial helpers] -- you will be missed.

NOTHING SNARKY TODAY -- JUST GET EDUCATED ABOUT THE SILENT KILLER:
http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/

NO FAT, NO SALT, VERY LITTLE BACON HEART HEALTHY DIET SUGGESTIONS:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/heart-healthy-diet/HB00039

ALL HE WANTS FOR CHRISTMAS IS AN AED:
http://www.annuvia.com/products/aed-units

Random Scandal Sheet for Sunday 11/28/10

What Chicago is talking about this week:

So a drunken sailor and a homeless man walk into a McDonald's ...

Sadly, that's not the beginning of some new kick-ass joke, but an incident of violence that happened at the local MickeyDs last night. Coming shortly after the Taco Bell shooting and the man found dead in his Addison and Halsted apartment, that's all hitting a little too close to home for my taste. Of course, all the incidents are related to late night and alcohol (and I haven't been out stumbling around drunk on a bar crawl for about six weeks), so I may be mostly safe from harm. And the news story juxtaposed around all of these (the fourth link below) -- the brand new police station opened in the 'hood within two blocks of all of these occurrences.

Look, I pay a premium to be in this neighborhood. And that means I live paycheck to paycheck. But I'd like to keep the focus on the fifth word of that last sentence, so let's keep it together, people!

MCRIBS MAKE PEOPLE CRAZY:
http://www.chicagonewsreport.com/2010/11/stabbing-at-clark-street-wrigleyville.html

THE ANKLE-SHOOTER STRUCK A FEW WEEKS AGO:
http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/11/2-injured-in-shooting-near-wrigleyville-taco-bell.html

BOUNCER SLAIN IN HIS APARTMENT TGIVING DAY:
http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/11/2-injured-in-shooting-near-wrigleyville-taco-bell.html

103YR OLD POLICE STATION REPLACED AND NOW OPEN:
http://mayor.cityofchicago.org/mayor/en/press_room/press_releases/2010/november_2010/1113_23rd_district.html

Random Soapbox for Saturday 11/27/10

I don't mean to go off on a rant here, but ...

... I've finally gotten to the end of the AMAs that had been saved to the DVR, and was the world really demanding a joint reunion featuring NKTOBSB? I mean, WTF (why the face?, for those Modern Family fans)!

That final number just made me ... uncomfortable. With Donnie's acting career, I was surprised to see him be a part of the spectacle, and poor Danny looked every bit of his 40 years of age. [By the way, even though my friend Jarrod was once a D Wahlberg dead-ringer, twenty years later, they have clearly taken separate paths as they aged.] Then, in preparing for this post, I found out that this was not just a one-time stunt, but a "rehearsal" of sorts for the upcoming 2011 concert tour!

To be clear, I'm not hating because I'm jealous that none of them doubled in size or anything. And I'm sure that they all have wives and kids and pets and such to feed, but if this is what my generation has to add to the annals of musicology, I'm saddened. And sorry, I got nothing to say about the 80% of the Backstreeters that were present. It's probably embarrassing enough that I can name a bunch of NKOTB songs, so I thought I'd stop while I'm ahead.

Now if only that Timberlake fella weren't busy, they could have made it a boyband bonanza (I mean manband mother-lode?) and added an N'Sync set. Or maybe we'll save that reunion for the 2030 Grammys (note to the next generation -- prepare now for what will one day be a most mockable moment).

REUNIONS of THE 2000s:
http://www.spinner.com/2009/12/16/best-and-worst-reunions-of-the-2000s/

SOCCER MOMs AND PEDOPHILES of THE 1990s, TAKE NOTE:
http://www.cdinsight.com/news.php?readmore=7855

THE 1989 TOP 100 POP CHART (WARNING: NKOTB is WELL REPRESENTED):
http://www.musicoutfitters.com/topsongs/1989.htm

Random Posting for Penn State 11/27/10

So whether we get to play spoiler or not today (and with the three way tie atop the Big 10 rankings, I think there are many others competing to play that role), I'd like to retire two things:

1.) The sounds from the muted chorus of folks who want JoePa to retire. With so much promise in the ranks, surely he can finish out his contract, no? Freshman talent, if they stay out of trouble, should lead to an exciting "wait until next year" (and not in the half-hearted Cubs kind-of-way)!

2.) The overuse of the word swagger by sportscasters. Where did that come from? Have Old Spice commercials forced that word into the common lexicon? If everybody has swagger, then no one has swagger, right?

Will today continue the 44 year old tradition of MSU not winning in Happy Valley? Is the Land Grant Trophy ours? There's a half of play left, so it remains to be seen. Regardless, I look forward to another random posting on the day of our bowl game ...

I BLAME OLD SPICE:
http://consumerist.com/2010/06/old-spice-hits-new-low-sponsors-swagger-stat-in-madden-nfl-game.html

NO NEED TO RUSH HIM OUT!:
http://www.seedol.com/20104423-joe-paterno-returns-to-coach-nittany-lions.html

SOMEBODY DOESN'T LIKE THE LAND GRANT TROPHY:
http://www.blackshoediaries.com/2006/11/16/9754/9732

Random Flashback for Friday 11/26/10

On this holiday weekend when so many travel, I thought it only fitting that I show my favorite Bahn stop as I arrived & left Koln each day to get to my host family's house in Bergisch-Gladbach. Now that I've lived as long as I have in Chicago, the notion of a train stop isn't quite as unique as this experience was to me twenty years ago, but it certainly was an everyday part of my semester abroad. [Cindy, didn't you and Brian and I all take the same route?] Regardless, this picture certainly can represent my wish that all have safe travels who are still out and about this weekend.

Random Thought for Thursday 11/25/10

A Thanksgiving itinerary:

7:30 -- wake up at my family's place in South Bend and immediately start questioning the actual time, as I crossed over to EST yesterday on the trip in

8:30 -- realize it is really 8:30 locally and one hour of my holiday is quickly "lost"

9:05 -- after a morning constitutional, lay down on the couch to watch the Macy's day parade

10:30 -- doze off to my first nap of the day and marvel at how the Macy's day parade is really just one big commercial (mostly for NBC) and not much else; question how I possibly missed that in my youth

12:00 -- wake up to the voices of Ron Reagan Jr and Mr. Peterman; take an extra moment to realize the Dog Show is on

12:10 -- begin my round of visiting with family and the menagerie in the family compound -- one turtle, two dogs, three cats and a miniature rabbit that has long outlived his life span but is still happy to be photographed (see accompanying 2010 Holidays album)

1:30 -- start project for the day -- going back in my FB account to find posts from Jan 2010 to rebuild the blog from 1/1/10; frustrated, but FB eventually begrudgingly gives up the data after much painstaking labor and frequent screen freezes

3:00 -- convince giant cat Mauser to pose for pictures; consider sending shots to the Biggest Loser to see if he could be the first cat contestant; note that whereas people add weight to their face, cats just grow from the neck down; capture the "money shot" of Mauser covering his mouth while he's splayed out on the bed as if he's giggling at his largess

3:10 -- feeling guilty about the mocking of the fat cat, head upstairs to weigh myself (before we eat, because I'm strategic); note that I am 2 lbs lighter than my dr. visit last week but 11 lbs heavier than the holidays last year; wonder how big I have to get before I become a candidate to be a contestant on Biggest Loser; zone out trying to decide if I would rather have Bob or Jillian (or that one lady who barely did two seasons) as my trainer

3:20 -- realize that a nephew has arrived on his break from work; discuss his double entendre belt buckle and turtle sex as it relates to determining the gender (male turtles have concave bottoms so that they fit together with a female during copulation)

3:40 -- take a picture of Dolly's backside in the kitchen (it's a tradition) but promise in advance not to post it on FB this year

4:00 -- have a moment of silence to say grace and realize that my mind is having its own moment of silence remembering last year's bacon-wrapped turkey (pics on file on FB)

4:15 -- announce at dinner that holidays are better with kids running around; being to plan campaign for the nephews to impregnate their girlfriends to ultimately enhance future holiday celebrations

4:35 -- win the "last person to leave the table award" and begin to connect the dots about my 11 lb weight gain

5:20 -- gather around the phone to get call from another nephew who is two weeks into basic training; decide it is not the time to tell him to get a girl pregnant and instead, wish him well for the remaining weeks at boot camp

6:33 -- lose first game of Michigan Rummy in dramatic fashion, with high score 7x that of winner's low score

6:34 -- undaunted, begin second game of Michigan Rummy, only to lose it as well

7:05 -- wrap up card game quickly so that scorekeeper can run to living room to watch "Pumkin Chuckin'"

7:06 -- begin tradition of sending holiday texts to important folks in my cell phone

8:05 -- after an evening constitutional, lay down on couch for second nap of the day

10:30 -- post photos, and this random thought to the blog; briefly consider that I might be sharing too much too often

11:00 -- prepare for battle at Wal-mart; review my plan to buy TVonDVD at special low prices starting at 12:01; begin to fear that I may be in over my head, being in Indiana and at a Walmart at midnight

11:01 -- close my post by stating: "If I am the victim of a stampede, please know that my last thoughts were to wish you and yours a Happy Thanksgiving!"

THE AD FOR WHICH I WILL RISK MY LIFE TONIGHT:
http://www.walmart.com/cp/black-friday-deals/1076614

JEFFREY THE TURTLE IS ACTUALLY A GIRL!:
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070508171652AADN2yA

THE AFOREMENTIONED HOLIDAY ALBUM:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=48308&id=1843633569&l=a11808616c

Random Wordplay for Wednesday 11/24/10

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Random Tune for Tuesday 11/23/10

As I type this, but unwatched by me since it's on the DVR for later tonight, Carol Burnett is a very special guest star on Glee. Everyone's seen the old Carol Burnett Show classics, but I've got Carol and Company on videotape (and I still have a VCR or two around the house so I can watch all 33 episodes of this 90-91 sketch show skit classic). What can I say -- I'm so glad we'll have this time together. In honor of that sweeps event, here's the link to Carol on The Lucy Show singing Hard Hearted Hannah. [Catch Lucy's laugh when the burlesque action starts!]

RED HEADED HILARITY:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Os9o3YmHGU

Random Memorial for Monday 11/22/10

Gone but not forgotten: my living a greater distance from the nation's most dangerous city.

Hot off the presses (and more likely to be picked up and reported online by NJ-affiliated sites) -- St. Louis is now the dangerous-est place to be, knocking Camden to #2. I've only been there once (to visit family in Turkey Hill -- the suburb, not the east coast convenience mart) and I rode the Arch without issue and the only injury I sustained was in being disappointed by the "mighty" Mississippi. I've actually spent more time in Camden, although that was all about going to concerts at the Tweeter Center -- and any extra time in that city was because we couldn't find the way back to the bridge to the safety of PA and its Turnpike!

Because 263 miles is closer than 666 miles (?!?), Camden's position at the top of the scary-place-to-be list, you are missed.

OF COURSE, DETROIT AND FLINT ARE PRETTY DAMN CLOSE:
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/11/st_louis_overtakes_camden_as_a.html

NJ RAINY DAY ACTIVITIES (even in Camden!):
http://www.funnewjersey.com/rainy_days_NJ.HTM

IT's FAR! HOW FAR IS IT??:
http://www.findlocalweather.com/how_far_is_it/il/chicago.html

Random Scandal Sheet for Sunday 11/21/10

What Chicago is talking about this week:

Many are still in an uproar over the TSA rules and regulations (Why doesn't anyone just say it? John Tyner -- if you don't let the agent touch your junk, then the terrorists will win! Methinks the man doth protest too much. Please work out any issue you have with the size of your appendage somewhere other than the public arena, ok?), but with the holiday just a few days away, conversations have also just naturally turned to food.

To which I announce, "pistachios are the new pomegranates". They've popped up in conversations, food shows on TV and in actual meals I've had dining out in the last month. I'm farthest from a trend setter, but mark my words -- there will be a Absolut Pistachio in 2011! (If I get it in print first, can I get royalties? or a finder's fee?) I can sense/smell/taste a Pistachio revolution.

This holiday week, if you travel - play nice and travel safely ... and if you cook - consider adding a touch of pistachio to every dish. Happy Thanksgiving!!

ONLY MY WIFE AND MY DOCTOR (AND MYSELF) CAN TOUCH ME THERE:
http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/john-tyner-tsa-security-check-sexual-molestation/story?id=12153388

YOU MUST BE 21 TO VIEW THIS SITE (ALCOHOL -- THIS IS SFW!):
http://www.absolut.com/us/products

CHECK OUT THIS 2008 RECIPE (WAY AHEAD OF THE CURVE):
http://www.choosy-beggars.com/index.php/2008/11/23/pomegranate-pistachio-cheesecake/

Random Soapbox for Saturday 11/20/10

I don't mean to go off on a rant here, but ...

... after spending the afternoon running errands across the greater Chicagoland area, there's got to be a better solution to our high volume traffic snafus. Admittedly, I take a pretty zen approach (listen to some good music, choose a pacer car up ahead to make sure I don't go crazy switching from lane to lane to lane, drive defensively and not offensively), but with darkness falling so early this time of year, I shouldn't feel like the majority of my day was spent in my car.

I like my car and I have to go long distances to escape the extra taxes in the city on my petrol and plastic water bottles, so I can't jump on the public transportation bandwagon, but I'm hoping that I can convince you and yours to do so to have fewer cars blocking my path. [Before anyone says anything, I know that there's many things wrong with that POV. I'm spending extra time and money to avoid the disincentives that are supposed to control my consumptive behavior -- plus I'm selfishly trying to manipulate the greater good. But at least I'm self-aware enough to know my foibles.]

If we have to look elsewhere for innovation, so be it. For instance, China has announced plans for a subway/bus mash up that drives above the lanes of traffic (see pics below)! And Mexico City built a double-decker highway 10 stories tall earlier this decade! Schwarzenegger had similar plans for CA this year! Of course, none of those locations have to worry about earthquakes or anything, right, so such monstrosities should be just fine. [ :') ]

[Not to go off on a tangent, but is that which is bracketed at the end of the above paragraph an emoticon for tongue in cheek? That's what I was going for. It looks a little more man-with-half-a-mustache instead.]

After all that, what's my plan for traffic reduction? It's simple. You need to stay home when I'm running errands. Thanks in advance for seeing things my way. Plus -- you're helping to save my environment. And that's honorable.

LOOK AT THE PIC, AND THEN TELL ME YOU DON'T WANT TO SEE IT RACE THE CARS:
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13746_7-20012633-48.html

YOU CAN ADD TO THE SMOG WHILE DRIVING ABOVE THE SMOG!:
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://legacy.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/images/030701overpass.jpg&imgrefurl=http://legacy.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/20030630-2307-mexico-overpasspolitics.html&usg=__QgK_JJ3Kmr8306724TmvQ0CQCNU=&h=184&w=280&sz=17&hl=en&start=2&zoom=1&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=o1Vr0I6AczI0NM:&tbnh=75&tbnw=114&prev=/images%3Fq%3Ddouble%2Bdecker%2Bhighway%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DX%26rls%3Dcom.microsoft:*:IE-Address%26rlz%3D1I7DKUS_en%26tbs%3Disch:1

THEY THREW A PRESS CONFERENCE, BUT EVERYONE WAS LATE B/C OF TRAFFIC:
http://la.streetsblog.org/2010/02/18/schwarzenegger-proposes-making-the-405-a-double-decker-freeway/

Random Posting for Penn State 11/20/10

It's hard to focus on today's game (relocated to Landover MD) when, just yards from my apartment, Wrigely Field has been converted to an NCAA football field for the Northwestern game this afternoon. I know these stadium swaps are all about money, but I had put the high tourist traffic neighborhood complications to rest once the Cubs wound down their season (although, some would argue that the winding down happened in mid-summer or earlier). Today -- I have to face a sea of purple and a Wrigley as it hasn't been seen for some time. All the same, I hope we accomplish two things today -- shipping Indiana back to their true "home" stadium with a loss, and guaranteeing an express path to a New Year's Day bowl game. Go Redskins! I mean, we are ... Penn State!

HOME IS ANYTHING WITHIN A 650 MILE RADIUS IF IT MEANS MORE MONEY:
http://pennstatermag.com/2009/08/26/penn-states-unlikely-2010-road-trip-at-indiana-in-landover-md/

WE CAN SQUEEZE IN A FIELD HERE:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/football/ncaa/11/19/wrigley-one-end-zone.ap/index.html

LAST WEEK, GATOR; THIS WEEK, INSIGHT -- BOWL PROJECTIONS HERE:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/football/ncaa/11/19/wrigley-one-end-zone.ap/index.html

Random Flashback for Friday 11/19/10

As you get closer to next week's holiday, may you plan to spend it with family or friends (or both), and may you be as happy as I apparently was in this shot from a party in Germany 20 years ago! Alcohol had a lot to do with it, and I definitely recall a dance circle with Meatloaf (the Aday version, not the meal) where I might have been initially exposed to "Paradise by the Dashboard Lights". [And that's not a euphemism -- I think that's where I actually heard that song for the first time.] I'm pretty sure this picture was taken very soon after our little group's Thanksgiving meal together (pizza at a local shop with hard boiled egg as a topping, as I all too vividly recall). Ah ... vergnugen (as in the VW Fahr-variety -- just without the word that means "driving").

Random Thought for Thursday 11/18/10

Ancient Chinese secret, huh?

No -- it's not some reference to a vaguely racist home goods advertisement popular years ago, but the fact that sticky rice combined with slaked lime (not an item off a Chinese menu) equals a super sticky mortar that is holding up the Great Wall and may be strong enough to survive an earthquake, or so say scientists this past summer. I think I just found a new use for my leftovers!!

And, my Amazing Race Aside for the week -- here's a slew of ancient Omanian secrets learned from last week's episode: maps don't work there, stray goats will eat your clues, water from deep underground looks amazingly clear, it's a great place to get engaged, one way streets are not an exclusively American tradition, Ali Baba's apparently abandoned his forty thieves and now has gone all commercial, and the daughter that I thought I was going to dislike actually won me over from her very first words on the very first episode and she and her dad will be missed by me as the show winds toward its final episodes. Shame on me for pre-judging!

STICKY RICE SAVES THE WORLD:
http://www.livescience.com/history/sticky-rice-mortar-100601.html

CLIFF NOTES ON OMAN:
http://www.everyculture.com/No-Sa/Oman.html

AS ALWAYS, FACEBOOK HAS A PAGE FOR EVERYTHING:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=31325288653

Random Wordplay for Wednesday 11/17/10

Intonation and Accentuation.

Concept exemplified: Watch sweet turn quickly to sour when you take the same words and place a different empahsis on how they are said ...

Sweet and loving Ike --> I know you like the back of my hand, baby! (xoxo, hugs and kisses)

Sour and hurtful Ike --> I know you like the back of my hand, baby! (#$*@, hits and bruises)

It seems like a lesson ready for modern Sesame Street, no?

AWWW, BRIDAL SHOP:
http://www.xoxohugsandkissesbridal.com/index2.php

OUCH, HERE's A HOTLINE:
http://www.thehotline.org/

ALREADY A MUPPET SO TELL HER HOW TO GET, HOW TO GET TO SESAME STREET:
http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Tina_Turner

Random Tune for Tuesday 11/16/10

So the new album came out last week, and it's now been announced that the second release off of it will be Reba's cover of Beyonce's "If I Were a Boy" (found at the link below until someone scares the post-er into deleting it to avoid a copyright infringement charge). Now I just hope that country music plays it on the radio (as some stations balked at the reggae bridge in a recent Sugarland song -- for genre purity reasons, only, correct? ... and not because of any racial overtones, right??).

UNEXPECTEDLY BEAUTIFUL COVER, COURTESY OF REBA:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayk3mp024SQ

Random Memorial for Monday 11/15/10

Gone but not forgotten: when Philadelphia was still the city of brotherly love.

I grew up in central PA so I knew there were parts of Philly that were ''challenged". And, being in Chicago the last 10 years, I understand that gangs often fight over their territory lines. But I found it hard to wrap my head around the tow truck turf deaths taking over the city. The unfortunate timing of the Discovery Channel's "Wreck Chasers" reality show has me fighting hard to resist the urge to rubber-neck, but good grief -- they are shooting each other in the leg and running each other over (literally) just to score the tow job. [Give me the goofiness of "Scrappers" any day!] I'm sure it's just a coincidence that Philly is now the largest city by population to have a casino, but let's get a recession recovery program in that metropolis soon!

The way things were before Miseo-delphia came to be (miseo the hate to phila's love), you are missed.

MOWING DOWN THE COMPETITION:
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/20100928_Tow_truck_driver_s_death_follows_industry_travails.html

"REALITY" SHOW BASED IN MISEO-DELPHIA:
http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news/2010/10/22/exclusive-tlcs-wreck-chasers-shifts-to-discovery-994405/8936/

SUGAR HOUSE, CASINO #10 IN PA, MAKES PHILLY PROUD(?)!:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-09-27-phillycasino27_ST_N.htm

Random Scandal Sheet for Sunday 11/14/10

What Chicago is talking about this week:

Electioneering season is in full swing (again)! Rumor has it that Bristol Palin is benefiting from a coordinated Tea Party campaign on DWTS!

Actually, that's one reality show I'm not watching ... and, to be as honest as a glad-handing fast-talking politician, that's also not today's topic. Instead - just less than a fortnight from the overwhelming secret-money-funded hate-ad-prevalent national brouhaha, Chicago has enlivened what would have been a quieter aldermanic election with a race for mayor of the nation's third largest city (and my hometown now for nearly 10 years)! The week ahead is filing week, so it's time to "put up or shut up" and to "put your 4 million dollars where your mouth is" (that's the projected cost of playing the [insert candidate name here] for Chicago mayor game).

So, if your glass is half empty, that's 100 days to find special interest funding, to fight your way into Tammany Hall-ish back rooms and to document that you've been a Chicago resident for the last year (an anti-carpetbagger Rahm-roadblock requirement for candidates). Or, if you're the optimistic half full glass enthusiast, that's 100 days to build consensus across this ethnically diverse metropolis already splitting into election factions along racial lines and to demonstrate leadership in quite challenging budgetary times.

To which I say: play nice, mayoral wannabees! On your mark ... get set ... go!

POLITICS AS USUAL -- UNUSUALLY ON DWTS:
http://www.hollywoodlife.com/2010/11/12/inside-the-gops-plot-to-win-dancing-with-the-stars-will-sarah-palins-fans-get-bristol-the-win/?utm_source=outbrain&utm_campaign=hl_rssynd&cmpid=outbrain_hl_rsssynd

DAY OF ANNOUNCEMENTS:
http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/11/mayoral-hopefuls-taking-the-plunge.html

PUT UP OR SHUT UP:
http://www.southtownstar.com/news/2890116,111410sptchimayor.article

Random Soapbox for Saturday 11/13/10

I don't mean to go off on a rant here, but ...

... you alone have to accept responsibility for the tattoos you get. Mind you, I'm not knocking those who have the money to pay to have past artwork lasered off ... or those who have to go back to get a cover-up tattoo when a relationship sours ... but I cannot support poor White Sox fan (poor modifying fan or White Sox, based on last season) Gina's lawsuit about a Sox logo tattoo that ended up backwards on her thigh (picture in the article link below).

The first five of my eight tattoos (one for each semester of law school I survived) are already permanently affixed just under my skin, and I spent hours in advance working out the exact designs with the symbolism and hidden messages that I wanted. And I have a brother in the industry who does nothing but the most professional and amazing work, and he can attest that the client gets the last say after seeing a tracing of the artwork before the inking commences.

Gina, in my opinion, your attempts to get reparations for the emotional distress you felt over this situation would be better directed at Ozzie Guillen and not towards your local tattoo parlor. Like Mr. Roarke before you, own your Tattoo, young lady!

P.S. --> Dennis Miller, the original rantmaster, returns with an all new HBO comedy special on Friday November 19th!

THE INFAMOUS XOS ARTWORK:
http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/mlb/news/story?id=5714479

HERVE, REST IN PEACE: "ZE PLANE! ZE PLANE!":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFK1rvL2NoQ

SOMEONE HAS TO IMPERSONATE OZZIE TO WRITE THIS BLOG:
http://ozzie.mlblogs.com/

Random Posting for Penn State 11/13/10

Here's how I like my Buck-eyes ...

1) ... eaten as a delicious peanut-butter-ball-covered-in-chocolate sugar snack;
2) ... referenced on Wooster Walter's sweatshirts around the holidays;
3) ... beaten by Penn State this afternoon!

McGloin, here's your chance to lead a rally against a top ranked team! We're the underdogs and you've been emboldened as the new leader (unsubtle pun fully intended)! I'm not saying we have to serve this up 1994 style (PState 63!, OhState 14), but we could do with a victory of more than just a touchdown (all of our wins in the nulls were by no more than 7 points). As a sign of solidarity, if you pull this off today, I won't dip my balls in chocolate again (peanut-butter balls, that is).

BALLS DIPPED IN CHOCOLATE (PEANUT-BUTTER BALLS, THAT IS):
http://www.seriouseats.com/2010/09/how-to-make-peanut-butter-chocolate-buckeyes-candy-recipe.html

SOURCE OF MY STATS (LOVE YA, WIKIPEDIA):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_State_%E2%80%93_Penn_State_rivalry

LET's ADD ANOTHER CHAPTER TO THE FEEL-GOOD STORY:
http://www.centredaily.com/2010/11/13/2337479/mcgloin-gets-his-chance-against.html

Random Flashback for Friday 11/12/10

What's wrong with this picture? I mean, other than the late 80's acid washed jeans? And the oh-so-chic JCPenney Hunt Club sweatshirt? Or the fact that the collar length hair in my other Germany shots from this time frame is somehow missing (thanks Tracey for haircut #1 of 2 that semester abroad)? Can't figure it out? Well - let me say that the railing in the foreground is actually a luggage rack on a train ... and that I'm really holding on for dear life, supported by the celling of that train I was riding 20 years ago! Adding to the list of things wrong with the picture -- I climbed up there willingly and wasn't being hazed! Oh to be of a weight where that would still be possible. Or, better said, oh to be on any part of a train in Germany again!!

Random Thought for Thursday 11/11/10

It's the last day of my Museum Musings theme week, and I have to conclude this week of posts by saying that I was startled to see the devil at the Field Museum last Friday. It wasn't so much the fact that I saw him as much as it was the place where I saw him.

Turns out the Mexican nativity scene tradition (there's a special room at the museum put aside featuring various displays) is to include him in the creche, to represent temptations that the shepherds faced on their journey to baby Jesus. I collect nativity scenes (and chess sets -- the goal is one different one for each room as I decorate) and I've yet to have the devil as a figurine. In my other-cultural ignorance, it struck me as an odd juxtaposition.

Speaking of odd juxtaposition in religion (here's this week's Amazing Race Aside) -- one of the stops on last week's episode was a church that the communists forced into being a museum of atheism during their heyday. No matter what your beliefs, you have to admit that's a pretty damn effective way to prove your point! And -- look back through the episode for these "celebrity" cameos -- Betsey Johnson as a Russian circus clown and Jack Kevorkian running the gorodki courts -- maybe?!

POSADAS, PASTORELAS and NACIMIENTOS:
http://www.mexconnect.com/articles/2624-mexico-s-christmas-traditions-posadas-pastorelas-and-nacimientos

LEARN TO PLAY GORODKI:
http://www.russia-channel.com/blog/learn-to-play-gorodki

ST ISAAC's CATHEDRAL's COMMUNIST PAST:
http://www.nevsky-prospekt.com/isaacs.html

Random Wordplay for Wednesday 11/10/10

Wah Wah Mountains (of Utah).

Rephrased in Jeopardy style: "Where is the only place in the world to find bixbite?"

It's day 5 of Theme Week: Museum Musings, and, for whatever reason, while walking through the Grainger Hall of Gems at Chicago's Filed Museum last week, I found all of the above information funny. Bixbite. Wah Wah Mountains. To me, it sounded made up (not the Utah part, per se).

And speaking of made up, the choice I nearly went with for today's wordplay was Okapi -- which my nephew Jack brought up on the way to the museum. At the time, I thought he was fabricating this animal that is a cross between a giraffe and a zebra ... and then I thought that it was literally a cross (as in, mule is to donkey & horse as okapi is to giraffe & zebra) ... which made me wonder if okapis were sterile like mules are (mostly) sterile ... which made me think about the people who say that mules mess with God's overall plan ... which made me realize that I had strayed too far from my original thought path.

Bixbite. Wah Wah Mountains. Too funny ...

BIXBITE SAMPLES (MINED FROM THE WAH WAH MOUNTAINS OF UTAH):
http://www.mineralminers.com/html/bixmins.stm

OKAPI or HERE's ANOTHER ANIMAL THAT WASN'T FEATURED IN SWEET PICKLES:
http://www.sandiegozoo.org/animalbytes/t-okapi.html

THE SCIENCE OF MULE OFFSPRING TO DEBUNK THE STERILITY MYTH:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/4056372?dopt=Abstract

Random Tune for Tuesday 11/9/10

Sometimes these things just about write themselves.

What else would I think of on Day 4 of my Theme Week: Museum Musings featuring my experiences at the Field Museum in Chicago where the dinosaur Sue's 10th anniversary is being celebrated [btw, Sue's gender is unknown]? Below is the link to the late great Johnny Cash singing Shel Silverstein's "A Boy Named Sue", and to increase the randomness of it all, it's a clip from a Danish TV show (where he sang "son-of-a-bleep" to avoid the censors).

[And, a postscript -- I decided to not interrupt this theme week with a Reba song, but that doesn't mean I can't not mention her new album hit the streets today!]

MY NAME IS SUE, HOW DO YOU DO?:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1BJfDvSITY

NEW REBA TODAY!:
http://www.reba.com/

Random Memorial for Monday 11/8/10

Gone but not forgotten: the metal skate shoe.

I walked around the corner at the Field Museum last Friday (Day 3 of Theme Week: Museum Musings) and was surprised by an exhibit of nothing but footwear from floor to ceiling. Ancient Japanese clogs on little wooden stilts, authentic snow shoes, crampons for icy mountain climbing, fancy Manolo Blahniks -- all these faded from view when I spotted the item I knew well from my youth. What I didn't see was the skate key (which was true to form as that was always lost)! Call me "on my way to old fuddy duddy", but the current sneakers with wheels just don't come close!

Fun from the family toy box that collected rust all too quickly causing them to do less than "turn" as we shuffled down the sidewalks of yesteryear, you are missed.

I'M OLD ENOUGH NOW TO CONSIDER MAKING A "VINTAGE" PURCHASE:
http://www.aw-wrdsmth.com/offers/Vintage-All-Metal-Roller-skates.html

AND, IF YOU PRACTICED, YOU MIGHT END UP SUCCESSFUL HERE:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=78220564764

WALK A MILE IN SOMEONE ELSE's SHOES:
http://www.fieldmuseum.org/exhibits/exhibit_sites/living_together/shoes1.htm

Random Scandal Sheet for Sunday 11/7/10

What Chicago is talking about this week:

"Thar's gold in them thar exhibits!" It's day 2 of Theme Week: Museum Musings, and it was a blast to see the new temporary main exhibit at Chicago's Field Museum last Friday. Things I learned:

1) I knew about the San Francisco gold rush, but was actually surprised to see the information about the earlier one in Georgia! Somehow I missed that part of history when I was growing up, possibly because it was an east coast version of how badly we treated the natives.

2.) The most memorable parts for me were the sunken treasure (exhibited in a water tank display to prove the point that there's little damage decades after it arrived in Davey Jones' locker [btw -- not Davey the Monkee]) and the Academy, Emmy, Golden Globe and Olympic medals on display (having indefinitely postponed any career in entertainment, it may be the closest I get).

3.) For anyone unhappy that they've packed on a few pounds (I pretend I've done it to prepare for the cold cold winter ahead in Chicago -- and my fear is I'll double in size now that I'm working from home where I can graze all day), be sure to stop by the final room to determine the value of your weight in gold (for me, I'm up to about 4.5 million dollars)! It was all the more "meta" since gold is measured in ... wait for it ... troy ounces!

GEORGIA GOVERNOR FREE TO TAKE LAND FROM CHEROKEES (FOR THE GOLD!!):
http://content.sos.state.ga.us/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/adhoc&CISOPTR=14&CISOSHOW=11

EXHIBIT ACTIVE UNTIL MARCH 6, 2011:
http://www.examiner.com/midwest-getaways-in-chicago/go-for-the-gold-at-the-field-museum-chicago

FIND YOUR VALUE IN GOLD:
http://www.onlygold.com/tutorialpages/yourweightingold.asp

Random Soapbox for Saturday 11/6/10

I don't mean to go off on a rant here, but ...

... if you really don't like people, please get a job somewhere other than a public museum!

One of the nephews came with other relatives to town yesterday for a last supper in Chicago before heading off to basic training and all things Air Force, and we spent the afternoon at the Field Museum. (Which, by the way, will supply the next six days of posts in a long overdue return of one of my occasional Theme Weeks - this one called Museum Musings.)

Included in our admission was the 3D movie "Awakening Sue" (a feature on the famous tyrannosaurus rex that is celebrating her 10 year anniversary this year), and we had pre-arranged ticket times for the 3:20 showing. We all headed over to the theater after exiting the climate change exhibit (which concluded with an interactive feature where museum-goers could add their conservation tips to a display by writing on an index card -- said one non-team-player, "feed Al Gore to Sue") and an angry child employee (who was on her cell phone) huffily told us that we could not line up outside the door until 10 minutes before the show.

I asked her what time it was and, when she replied "3:08", I responded: "Would you like to discuss that policy for the next 120 seconds or could my group just be first in line?" She walked away, only to be seen again when she threatened the whole crowd that the 3D glasses she passed out had a security device in them so that she would know if we tried to steal them.

What I really learned from that experience -- she should get a new job, and I should see if I can start a consulting company where I go around and test the limits of the patience of people who must deal with the public. That would be a win-win!

ALL ABOUT SUE:
http://www.fieldmuseum.org/sue/#index

EIGHT JOBS THAT REQUIRE NO EXPERIENCE:
http://www.suite101.com/content/eight-jobs-that-require-no-experience-a83405

AS ALWAYS, THERE's A GROUP FOR EVERYONE ON FB:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2375846781

Random Posting for Penn State 11/6/10

According to the all-powerful Wikipedia, 400 is (among other things) ...

... an oligarchy of ancient Athens; an HTTP status code for a bad client request; a phrase meaning the wealthiest, most famous or most powerful social group; an Atari home computer; a Lebanese card game and a Chicago and NorthWestern Railway passenger train that traveled 400 miles between the Twin Cities and Chicago in 400 minutes.

If Northwestern remains distracted by their upcoming game at Wrigley Field in two weeks (in the last 3 games, they've lost 2.5 times [come on -- last week was almost a loss!]) ... and even though Joe Pa says he's not focused on the milestone ... someone should get the chance to edit the people's encyclopedia today to mention Paterno's record.

[And let's hope that next week's game against Ohio State creates the need to immediately move any added reference to the page for the number 401!]

THE PEOPLE's ENCYCLOPEDIA SPEAKS TO THE NUMBER 400:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/400_(number)

IT's NOT ABOUT ME, SAYS JOE:
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=5757154

WRIGLEY GAME IS SOLD OUT! BUT DONATE TO NU ANYWAY?!:
http://giving.northwestern.edu/WrigleyTickets

Random Flashback for Friday 11/5/10

For my semester abroad 20 years ago, we lived in Koln, but the West German capital of Bonn was just "eine hop, ein uberspringen und ein sprung" away, so when I heard that Gorbachev was coming to town to visit Helmut Kohl, I skipped school and went to stand outside the gates to catch a glimpse of him. You can barely make out the limo speeding past at the very right of the photo, but it still felt historic.

Amazing Race Aside: I would much rather have preferred to have babushka'd women cheering Gorby on that day much like in the St. Petersburg potato challenge last week. Instead, it was just a handful of celebrity seekers and the odd paparazzi or two joining me along the fence!

Random Thought for Thursday 11/4/10

So I saw a map recently of levees that FEMA had just declared "unaccredited" -- and I wasn't surprised to see that many of them were in CA ... or AZ ... or LA ... or York, PA. Wait a minute -- York, PA? I grew up near there and once worked really near to there and I would never have expected it to be at risk.

So to those of you who live near the White Rose city -- now would be a good time to make sure you know how to swim, to store your most valuable posessions in the attic and to think about installing a (multi-purpose) sand box in the back yard!

HUNDREDS OF LEVEES NO LONGER RELIABLE:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-09-09-levees_N.htm

FEMA SAYS --> PROTECTION COMES WITH RISKS:
http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=51891

LEFT BANK CODURUS CREEK LEVEE SYSTEM:
http://www.r3levees.org/wiki/images/f/fe/30-Day_Reminder_Letter_LeftBankCodorus.pdf