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Tuesday, August 27, 2002
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CELEBRATE ERIE
It's been a very, very busy week for me, and I'm way behind on a lot of things I'm still trying to get done, including posting a bunch of photos. Anyway, two weekends ago, I traveled back to my parent's home in Pennsylvania where I helped my dad with this large chalk drawing. The drawing was one of over fifty that made up the "Chalk Walk" during the "Celebrate Erie" festival that was going on all weekend.
"Celebrate Erie" had a lot of cool things to see and experience. My favorite was a photography exhibit called "The Faces of Erie." One of the photographers in the show, Mark Fainstein, displayed his series of portraits of local artists. On the left is Mark's photo of my dad, entitled "Fishy Guy." At first, this picture kind of creeped me out. I mean, who want's to see their father's head in a fish bowl? But, as time went on, this photo really started to grow on me. I love the little fishies swimming around in the bowl with him.
This was really cool. Three dancers in the windows above a bank (I think it was a bank) put on an amazing show completely in silhouette.
It's not often you see a game of large-sized street chess, but here it was. Quite a crowd had gathered and were completely silent, as if they were at a tennis match. I don't play chess, but even I was drawn into watching for a while. The intensity on the faces of the two playing was pretty amazing.
I managed to take a lot of photos of unique and unusual things that weekend. This is really the whole reason why I keep this photojournal. I just seem to come across strange objects and situations all the time...
Case in point: Here we have a fine example of the rarely seen female mullet (also known as a "fem-mullet" or "fullet"). For those of you who don't know, a "mullet" is a short-in-front and long-in-back hair cut (just think Billy Ray Cyrus and you'll get the idea). Now, what's even more exciting is that behind this woman is a mullet hunter. Mullet hunters are also rare, but can be spotted easily. In one hand, a mullet hunter always carries a rolled-up newspaper to smack the mullet wearer upside the head. In his other hand, is usually a pair of scissors or a second rolled-up newspaper to make sure that first smack registered.
This was the gem of the trip. The three bumper stickers say:
"I'm the Christian the devil & liberal media Warned you about"
"On Judgment Day you'll Wish your car had JESUS STICKERS"
"When the devil Reminds you of your past, REPENT & REMIND him of his Future"
According to this person, all we need are some Jesus bumper stickers, and we'll have nothing to fear on judgment day. Honestly, I sometimes wonder what these people are thinking. This does not make me want to go to church. In fact, it makes me want to stay far away, because I certainly do not want to spend my Sunday morning with this head-case. I have news for you ma'am - neither the devil, nor the liberal media has mentioned a word about you, so don't flatter yourself.
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Wednesday, August 14, 2002
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NOT AGAIN
I'm beginning to get a bad feeling about my new place. I really like this apartment, but It's 11:30 and once again, I'm sitting in the dark. The power has been off since just before 8:00. Fortunately, the battery in my Powerbook is still half charged, but I really had things I wanted to get done tonight, like laundry, making some rings and I'm still not done unpacking. To my knowledge, nobody got stuck in the elevator this time (see BLACKOUT) but I also left for a while hoping the juice would be back on when I returned. No such luck. I ran into the maintenance guy on the way up the stairs and I asked him why these blackouts were so frequent. He says it's because it's hot out and everybody is running their air conditioners. Well, of course they're running their AC! But what I find strange is that this never happens in the winter when everybody is running their heat. Then again, maybe it would if so many people weren't heating with gas.
So once again, I sit here thinking I should buy a house. Time will tell. In the mean time, I doubt this will be the last power outage of the summer, so if anyone would like to send me some candles, feel free. I think I'll be needing them.
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Tuesday, August 13, 2002
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WEST NILE
It's no secret that the West Nile Virus is among us, but not until I saw this dead crow for myself did it seem so real. I'm no expert, but I found this guy in the middle of a road and it certainly didn't appear to have been hit. Pretty scary stuff, especially since the mosquitos are everywhere. I think I'm going to go and buy a few cans of "Off."
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Monday, August 12, 2002
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70's BOAT BASH
At work we just had our third annual "Boat Bash" where our department rents a river boat in Annapolis for a few hours and lets off some serious steam. This year we tried a 70's theme, and boy did the costumes come out. I say 'costumes' because these two guys were not wearing wigs! I can't imagine how we can possibly top this one next year, but I'm sure we'll try.
This little place is near where our boat was docked. I've got wonder how much torment the "Pusser" children have had to endure growing up with such an unfortunate last name. I'm pretty certain they've heard every zit joke ever told. Kids can be so cruel....
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Tuesday, August 06, 2002
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BLACKOUT
I've been in my new apartment for about three weeks now and in that time, the power has gone out five or six times. Usually this happens when I'm not home, so other than resetting my clocks, it hasn't really affected me until this past weekend. It was about 10:00 on Saturday night when the power went out. As I was lighting some candles, I heard a ringing sound coming from the hallway, followed by a woman yelling. I went into the hall to discover that a man was trapped in the elevator and a neighbor was calling 911. A little while later, the fire department had arrived and forced the doors open. The Elevator was stuck between floors which made it very difficult to get the man out. After about an hour, he was free, and had sweated off several pounds.
Now please, don't anyone tell my mother (because she'd freak out) but while all this was going on, my neighbor was telling me that "It's always something in this building." She told me the story of how a woman at the end of the hall had been stabbed by her boyfriend and was running down the hall half naked and bloody. I figured this must have been something that happened ages ago, but she said "Oh no. This was just about a month ago."
Well, I guess the boyfriend went to jail, and the woman was all right, but what a disturbing thing to learn. And understand that I don't live in a bad neighborhood. Who knows, maybe I'll have some more stories from the apartment as time goes on. I will say this. I want more and more to buy a house every day...
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Sunday, August 04, 2002
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COMPANY PICNIC
Friday was company picnic day. Everybody seemed to have a good time, except that it was hot as hell, and therefore nobody was up to playing softball, volleyball, or anything that would make us stand in the sun. But one thing that was worth enduring the heat was the climbing wall and the zipline:
You had to strap on a helmet and a really uncomfortable harness and climb the wall. At the top they clipped you onto the zipline and you went zooming down to the other side of a field. If you ever get the chance, give this a try. Minus the harness, it was great fun. A big thanks goes out to Geoff for snapping these shots of me climbing and swinging.
Before leaving, I entered the limbo contest and came in second. Believe it or not, this is not the person who won but I think she really should have gotten a prize for making this look absolutely impossible!
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Thursday, August 01, 2002
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TACKY
Maybe I just haven't noticed them before, but it seems like this summer I've seen a lot more really tacky cars on the road. These two aren't nearly as bad as some I've seen lately, but they were the only ones I managed to get photos of. I especially like the mini fire extinguisher in the window of the Nissan - yea, that's really necessary.
I've been off-line for a while, getting my new place set up, buying furniture, etc. I've moved around a lot in the last several years, and every time it seems to take longer and longer to get settled. Calgon, take me away!
Later that day...
Look at this! Here's another one. I stopped at a grocery store on the way home from work, and this gem was in the parking lot. I actually like this one. Unlike the other two, this car's owner is clearly not taking himself seriously.
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