Engaged.

We got engaged this morning! Ring looks bigger in person.

Christmas Outfit

Christmas outfit.

Big Brother

So there's an interesting article in the New York Times about the government spying on us with the cooperation of Telecommunications companies and without warrants. Liberty and justice for all. It's also interesting that the Bush administration has asked that there be no investigation of the destruction of the torture tapes. Who needs checks and balances? Accountability....eh....no need.

Baseball

I know few of you out there are baseball fans, but I have a question: why don't teams ever trade their managers? Is it against the rules? I mean players get traded all the time, no problem, but managers only get fired, never traded. It seems only fare that if players can be traded willy nilly, than managers should be subject to the same rules.

End of Semester

Posts will slow down for the next two weeks as I write papers for my classes. Be back up soon, when stress level decreases. Stay tuned.

NBC Today Show

I am probably the only person, as a grad student, who is around and who watches the Today show. I just like having something on in the background. I have noticed many things about the show, which, despite my watching it fairly often, drive me nuts. First of all, why do they always say, "That's what's happening in the rest of the country, now here's what's happening in your neck of the woods." even when they haven't just told us what it happening in the rest of the country? They will say this after discussing some actors love life, or some cake recipe, but often not following the weather or national news...which makes the statement not make much sense. They also say, "This is today on NBC." all the time. Which just annoys me because of course it is....But besides these quirky sign offs, what really gets my goat is that every day they have to have what I can only call, "The freaky accident/nature attacks segment." Watch and you will see that every day they have one of these segments involving an interview with those involved (usually accompanied by stupid props). I have seen several on shark attacks, a truck driving through a living room, and I just saw a teaser for tomorrow morning: a kid who got a deer antler stuck in his head. Now that is what I call important news!! If they did this once in a while fine, but the fact that they do it everyday just puts the nail in the coffin. Mix it up a little, try doing a story on something that matters: environment, poverty, politics...and I am not talking about Mat Lauer interviewing penguins at the North poll.

Moist...

If this word drives you crazy....you are probably a woman. Check out the post about this over at Mollytics. Pretty funny and true.

Dreams of my youth...

Tecmo Super Bowl was the best sports game ever...back when controllers were simple, graphics sub par, and music slightly annoying. I only had about five games for my Nintendo, which I won selling popcorn for the Boy Scouts (over share?), but Tecmo Super Bowl was probably the best. Bo Jackson was unbeatable and the Reverse Fake Z-Post, was the unstoppable play. I spent many a Saturday evening with a hand curled like a hook because of "Nintendo thumb syndrome." Check out the link...it's pretty funny. Any Nintendo memories from your youth?

kind of funny...

"Jesus loves you on vacation."
My brother took this picture.

I am thankful for....

Dog, looking big and asleep.

Dog in a bag.

Well, today being Thanksgiving and all I though I should say that yes I am thankful for many things. I am thankful for Sarah, friends and family. I am thankful for my dog (because I have pictures I will share them), my nephew Hunter, and my niece Noe (OK, technically she's not my niece, but basically the same thing). I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. On Wren's blog you can read about what he does with holiday leftovers. My suggestion, via my uncle, is thanksgiving shepherd's pie...take all the leftovers and make a shepherd's pie.

Seen any funny typos lately?

Ok, fine...here's a post I have been thinking about for a while. Has anyone seen any funny typos, misspellings, or ungrammatical mishaps on signs, in the media, or anywhere lately? (Besides on this blog of course, where I take certain liberties with the English language, sentence structure, etc...I have no copy editor so cut me some slack.) I don't have any good examples right now, but I am sure someone out there has seen something that has made them first shake their head and then laugh.

Answer

Here's the answer to the trivia question that no loyal reader wanted to answer. Publius was the name used by the writers of the "Federalist Papers." They were by the way John Jay, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison.

Fox News Anchor or Porn Star?

Saw this on another blog, thought it was pretty funny. Can you identify who is a fox news anchor and who is a porn star? Link. Also, has anyone else seen that really hot White House assistant press secretary?

Trivia 2

Of course, since I am studying history, all trivia must involve history. Here is a soft-ball question: Where in American history does the name "Publius" come from? (Not the original Roman origin) Hint: This blog has not really lived up to the name yet. (Perhaps it will as the election draws nearer) If nobody else, I figure Wren always appreciates trivia.

Trivia

Without cheating...who was the only president to have served on the Supreme Court? (Masaki and Sarah you are disqualified, since I already told you guys.)

Haiku

The beach in winter,
more relaxing than summer,
waves lapping cold sand.

Any haiku writers out there?

Random Pictures, 'cause who likes "reading"

Cute child, you happy now? I couldn't figure out how to rotate it.

Beach being rebuilt at Bethany.

Another picture of my cute dog Quinn and her favorite toy, the hedgehog.

Video of baby watching dogs and real dog also watching dogs.

To the political scientists out there..

And as far as know there is only one or two of you...I have a deep question that verges on the philosophical or perhaps Zen: If an election happens in Baltimore and nobody votes, did it really happen? In the interest of full disclosure I should say, I did not vote. I know, I know, (Molly, you are probably so disappointed right now) but lets be honest, what is the point of voting in an election where many people ran unopposed, and the mayor won by about 70% of the vote. Here are some ideas for increasing voter participation (some mine, some stolen): when you vote you get entered in a lottery for a million dollars, actually have some competition (you know the whole two party thing), allow everyone to vote by mail, or lets just abandon this whole democracy thing and have those who score in the top 10% on the SATs vote. We will force them to vote, they are smarter than me (I think, I don't remember my percentile), and then the rest of us don't have to bother paying attention. I believe that these people should also be the ones to be forced to serve on juries, that way the rest of us don't have to. Haha, that will teach those damn smart people and force candidates to actually act smart, not dumb it down. Anyone else have some reform ideas?

Big Explosion on My Street

So enough complaining about dog poop on my lawn...a house exploded on my street today. No joke. I was sitting at home with Quinn when there was a really, really loud boom, some stuff fell over in my house, and the dog looked at me like, "what the *!@# was that?" I ran outside and there was complete chaos...kids running around drenched in blood, women screaming, seriously, it was intense. I tried to help one kid who was bleeding from the back of his head, but he kept running around and I couldn't get him to sit down. Luckily the fire fighters and paramedics showed up quickly and it turns out no one was critically injured, which is a miracle considering three houses were destroyed and the whole front of one house was blown apart. Some guy somehow managed to blow up a propane tank in his house. Although my first reaction was meth lab. Anywho, after it was clear that everyone will be ok, and everything was under control, I took a picture or two and was interviewed on one of the local news channels (WJZ, you can go to WJZ.com and see a clip of me being interviewed, looking all scruffy). It is seriously a miracle that no one was killed.

Why do dogs keep crapping on my lawn?

We have like a ten ft. square lawn and some dog, or dogs, keeps crapping on it. Once I could forgive. I have, myself, been caught without a plastic bag on a few occasions. But now it is starting to look like someone is training their dog to poop on our lawn. I mean come on people! What is the best way to deal with this situation? I have considered sitting on my porch with a shotgun twenty-four hours a day...but I have no shotgun and it is getting cold. I could make a sign, which the dog owner would promptly ignore. Plant cacti in my lawn? I am at a loss. There is certain dog etiquette that needs to followed in a civil society. What is the world coming to when shit can be left anywhere? In the privacy of my own backyard, fine, I will leave crap festering for a few days, but on the front lawn, by my walk? That is a slap in the face. Suggestions anyone? And by the way what the heck is "curbing your dog"? I assume it means pick up their crap, but where did the phrase come from?

Three of my favorite things.

No I am not Oprah, nor am I particularly a fan of the "The Sound of Music." However, in this picture are three of my favorite things. Scout (the dog), Hunter (the nephew), and the Good Food Store (The Yellow Menu: the name says it all, we don't have this kind of hippy food store in B-more). I guess you could include the rocking flannel shirt. Why do hippy sandwiches and wraps taste better?

Kuccinich is from outerspace

Ok, so I read on a political blog over at WashingtonPost.com that Kuccinich not only believes in extraterrestrials, he thinks that he saw one and it moved him considerably. So while all my previous positives still stand, I don't think I could actually vote for this guy... Question: is belief in aliens enough to make you not want to vote for someone? subquestion: In response to Kuccinich's attack on Bush's sanity, does this make you question his (meaning shorty's) sanity? subsubquestion: Do YOU believe in extraterrestrials?
(Full Disclosure: I needed spell check to help me figure out how to spell extraterrestrials)

Weekend at Beach and Puppy

"Why did you pay so much money for those chew toys? I like big rocks."

"What? We're going to the beach?"

"The beach is so much fun!"

Kucinich

Kucinich questions Bush's mental health

Why we should consider voting for Kucinich:
1. see above article
2. he is short and funny looking
3. he seems to be sensible on many issues
4. he has a really tall wife that makes him look even shorter
5. he probably cares about the little guy, he is a little guy
PS- this is not an endorsement, just something to ponder

Favorite Bumper Sticker

I think the best bumper sticker I have ever seen is "Jesus is Coming Look Busy ." What's the best bumper sticker you've seen?
Runner up: "Vegetarian's Taste Better." I don't know if this is sexual or if it is a threat to vegetarians from meat eaters, but either way it's funny.

Jury Duty

It seems odd that we entrust the decision making in much of our judicial system to those who often know the least about the law: us citizens. This thought kept going through my mind two days this week as I was on a jury in a fairly serious arson trial in Baltimore. What exactly is reasonable doubt? Who do you believe on the witness stand? (when at least two of the three main witnesses were drug addicts...) It was a pretty intimidating experience and at times boring, interesting, soporific, and mystifying. The prosecutor was well organized and convincing, while the defense attorney (probably a public defender) seemed unprepared and often like he was making it up as he went along. The judge was rather amusing and kept the attorneys on a pretty short leash, often cutting them off and keeping them from rambling. There are many things I could say about the trial and the seeming inequities of the system, but I will just say this: once we were given the case and went back to deliberate I felt that the system is ultimately pretty fair. The jury was diverse racially, in regards to age, and apparently income and educational level as well. When we began deliberating, I felt that all the relevant issues were hashed out and discussed. We ended up convicting the accused and I'm sure he was sentenced (or will be) to a lot of time, which brings up a whole different question about how we sentence and punish criminals in this country. Ultimately, while it was an interesting experience, I hope I will not have to serve in this capacity again, I have no interest in passing judgment and in some respects, bearing responsibility for someone else's life in such a way.

Where I've been

Last couple days I haven't posted because I've been on jury duty! Longer post to come and explain what was a pretty weird experience.

Cutest Dog in Baltimore

My dog is the cutest dog in Baltimore. I have proof. She has been chosen as the poster dog for a blog of dog pictures in the Baltimore Sun. Look quick before she gets replaced by a less cute dog. Scroll down towards the bottom of the page and look on the right for the blog on dogs. You should see a picture of a very very cute dog named Quinn.

Verizon

Dear Verizon,
Unlike the DMV you actually have some competition, so it is surprising that you are also so bad at what you do. I would like to write to you and explain why we (Sarah and I) will no longer be using you for our internet service. Reason one, the internet you provide sucks and comes and goes so frequently I am starting to think you just have somebody sitting next to a switch turning it on and off all day. Two, your customer service is awful, you makes us wait, do not understand our plain English, and are on occasion, very rude. Three, you forget to bill us on a frequent basis then send us a huge bill one month. Four, when we told you we were no longer using you because you lie to us (see reason five) and your service is bad, you had a computer call us to ask us why we were leaving (not even a real person). Five, you lie to us. Recently an elderly woman was so fed up with Comcast in DC that she took a hammer to their local office and started busting stuff up. Bravo. Stop spending so much money on bad commercials and actually run your business effectively.
Sincerely,
Publius

Get a tan!

I have nothing else to blog about today. So here is a picture of me with no tan and no muscles. Feel free to suggest a caption.

Cool New Product

Thought I would let you guys know about my friend Wren's new business venture. He is selling personalized toothpicks. They are toothpicks with phrases/fortunes on them, and you can have them customized. He created the technology and website. Maybe you will find a use for it at some personal/company event. They're definitely original. Check out his website.

Wyman Park

Dear Wyman Park,
You are such an awesome park. Quinn loves you. You have a babbling brook, trails galore, and lots of other dogs for Quinn to sniff. Wren and I once enjoyed geocashing in your woods and rarely are dead bodies found within your boundaries. It's awesome to have such a great dog park near my house. One question, why were you filled with army guys/gals with AK-47's yesterday?
Sincerley,
Pubs

Baltimore in NYT

Dear NYT,
Thanks for featuring my hood. While that is not the abandoned house next to my house, it's one that's on my block. I love how Baltimore always gets positive press: "The Wire," "The Corner," high murder rate, the O's stink.... People must really want to come visit!!!
Sincerely,
Pubs

Orioles

Dear Orioles,
You suck. This is ten years in a row of sucking. I feel really sorry for your marketing department. They have a hard sell. What slogan are you going to use next year? Hear are some suggestions: "Come watch us make it eleven in a row;" "Cal Ripken used to play for us;" "It could be worse;" "Lots of seats to choose from;" "Got money to burn? Come buy overpriced beers;" "You have a good chance of catching a ball, no-one else is around." And what happened to Jay, I used to be the most awesomest player in the world, then I sucked, then I got caught doing roids, but I'm still sexy, Gibbons???? He has fallen of the face of the earth. Hey if this baseball thing doesn't work out, male modeling might be an option.
Sincerely,
Publius
PS- feel free to suggest your own slogans for next years O's.

My new plates

Department of Motorvehicle (Mondomon Mall)

Dear Department of Motor Vehicles,
I don't understand why you are so bad at what you do. Your job is to help people with their motor vehicle related issues and yet I find that 4 out of 5 times that I come to your office you find a lame excuse not to fulfill what I need to be done. Of course this would not be so bad except that you make me take a little number and wait on a metal bench for an average of 1 to 2 hours before your reject my simple request. It is generally a bad sign when you are so bad at what you do that you need an armed police officer wandering among your patrons at all times. At first I thought this was excessive, but after dealing with you several times I realize that it is perfectly practical. If I owned a gun I would have been tempted. I understand that you hate your job, but please don't take it out on me. If you work in a place where you need bullet proof glass between you and the customer you should try and get a new job. The DMV sucks.
Sincerely,
Me.

Pam and Jim

Pam and Jim are together. That's nice.

post pour wren (and everyone else)

Dear Wren, loyal reader,
Thanks for the nudge. I have attempted to post a few times this month and ran into some technical difficulties that pissed me off, and made me storm off yelling "forget it!" at my computer. Hence, few posts. Also new dog and new graduate school have taken up more time than anticipated. Shockingly you can't play with a puppy and read "The Creation of the American Republic" by Gordon Wood, at the same time. (BTW...name the movie where they reference this book, and yes I am currently reading it and it is really really long.) So my leisurely life as a student isn't a. leisurely or b. restful. But I think I am learning stuff and I do love my puppy...see shameless picture posting below. In other news I am now driving an SUV (boooo....hisssss) its a long story and I am a little shameful, but basically the car was cheap enough that my thriftiness overruled my environmentalism and our dog is getting big. Anyway there you go and thanks for caring.
David
PS- The link to your website when someone searched for runts, probably came through my website.

Labor Day

Beautiful weekend at the beach. Good friends, good weather, good subs, and a bad dog. Quinn is still learning her manners and pretty much wants to bite you constantly. She is very cute but we have to find a way to bite this biting problem in the bud. We are definitely going to puppy training classes.

Orioles fan. . .

Question for the audience: Is there any point in rooting for a team that losses consistently? The Orioles have now lost 8 in a row, the last two to the Devil Rays. I have always been a faithful fan and will undoubtedly continue to be. But it does make me wonder, why continue to support a team that brings only disappointment?

No Internet

For some reason it takes Verizon like three weeks to hook up our internet. So as we are moving into our new house we are completely cut off from the world...if you don't count cable, phone, cell phones, etc... It is kind of scary to really feel how reliant I am on the internet, I have been completely unproductive without it. Of course there is also the new puppy to account for that. Meet Quinn. (Again, since I posted a picture before we brought her home.)

Murder Baltimore

Baltimore is in the midst of a disturbing murder trend. A former student of mine was gunned down earlier this summer over a verbal dispute. I have heard little from any of the mayoral candidates that suggests they have a viable solution to get a handle on it. A useful tool for looking at what is taking place is available from the Sun's website. In the meantime I will be looking for someone to vote for.

New Name

Been on vacation. Currently moving. There is a new name coming to the blog. I have been thinking of names and it will involve some variation of "Publius." I may change the address as well. Keep an eye out. In other name news the puppy will be named Quinn. We debated about Boh for a long time but ultimately like Quinn better.

Zoology continued

Saw a manatee today. Pretty cool, like a big floating cow. Just saw it for a minute.

Crime Baltimore

To give you some idea how out of control crime is in Bmore, my brother was reading the police blotter a while ago and came across a gem of a story that read something like this:
"A body was found in a trash can in an alley behind _____ St. Police have labeled it 'suspicious.'"
I mean seriously, we don't know it was murder . . . it could have been an accident. I just hope we can get a mayor that can get a handle on the situation because it is getting to be a scary place to live.

Environment

Great intermittent series by the New York times on climate change. Click the link.

Commuting

Since for the past five years I have lived across the street from work I have not had to commute at all. This is great from an environmental standpoint and from a saving time and stress standpoint. Now that I am heading back to school at Maryland and living in Hampden this will all change. I now face a brutal commute three times a week. I am trying to figure out the best way to do it. My current plan is to bike or get dropped off at Penn station Baltimore, take the MARC train to Union station DC and then take the subway to College Park. I am guessing about 1.5-2 hrs for this trip. My other option is an hr car ride, but this wastes gas and I can't read in the car. (not to mention Honda blew up last time I tried to ride her to DC) With the first option I am using public transportation and hopefully can get lots of reading done. If anyone has experience with this commute and wants to share some tips feel free. The other drawback to taking the train, other than time, is the cost. Taking this trip twice a day three times a week aint cheap.

Liger

Down in Florida on vacation. Saw a Liger today. It's 900 lbs. It was awesome. Liger is on the right. He kept trying to mount the other tigers...frisky little guy.

Too many kids

Recently I read about a family who just had their 17th child. They are the Duggar family and you can check out their website. I don't fancy myself a judgmental person, nor am I a fan of the government interfering in people's personal lives. In this case it seems the Duggar's have not been shy about sharing their own beliefs and philosophies, so I don't feel too bad commenting on their life choices. As our country/world grapples with global warming and other environmental catastrophes it seems incredibly irresponsible to have 17 children. While it seems seldom talked about, over population is probably the preeminent cause of our environmental problems. I don't advocate any sort of legal recourse, but simply wish people would practice personal responsibility in their lives. We can reduce, reuse, and recycle to a fault, but as long as our planet continues to be overpopulated we won't begin to address the real problems we face. Seriously, check out the website...Nuuuutty.

Baseball and Steroids

Found this chart in an article on ESPN.com. The article was about A-Rod's chances of breaking the HR record. I found it interesting if you look at it in light of the whole steroid phenomenon. Notice that those players not suspected of using steroids all hit the same or less HRs after their 32nd birthday as they did before their 32nd birthday. Those who we know or suspect did steroids almost all hit more HRs. (Like the good ol' Oriole Rafael.) Coincidence? I don't think so. Is Barry going to be the HR king? Not in my book.

HRs before and after 32nd birthday

Player	Before 32	After 32
Hank Aaron	398	357
Barry Bonds	332	421
Babe Ruth	356	358
Willie Mays	373	282
Sammy Sosa	386	218
Ken Griffey Jr.	460	128
Frank Robinson	399	187
Mark McGwire	277	306
Harmon Killebrew	393	180
Rafael Palmeiro	232	337

Latest Painting

I don't get to paint much. But I did complete one painting this summer. I think I am going to do a few more in a similar way. Here's a bad picture of it, the colors are all distorted and it looks much better in its larger form.

Artscape/People Watching

As an avid fan of people watching I had a great time about two weeks ago enjoying both Artscape and the Otakon convention in Baltimore. Artscape is always good fun with artcars, street performers, great music, art and lots of just plain weird stuff. The fact that the two events were on the same weekend meant that you had all the Otikan folds dressed up in crazy costumes (large weapons, wings, wigs, scantily clad...) and the normal Artscape folks inundating the city. It was hard to decide where to go for the best viewing. You can see some Artscape pictures on Sarah and my flickr account.

Does God accept collect calls?

What's happened to Runts?

Went to my local candy dealer the other day and ordered up a half pound of runts only to discover that they changed the runts. No more lime/watermelon runts? It's a tragedy. I went to the Willy Wonka website to try and decipher why they would make such a blunder. But since it is designed for kids and not serious candy lovers like myself it said nothing. They are keeping their lips tight. Everyone knows if you are going to eliminate a runt it should be banana. Nobody likes the banana runts.

Dog

We introduce you to: a. Quincy b. Boh c. Chesapeake a.k.a. Chessie. Final name to come later.

Blasphemy Baltimore Style

It may be the closest thing to blasphemy in Baltimore and for an Orioles fan, but I am on Cal overload. The guy is awesome. I loved watching him play growing up. He has done great things for the Orioles. But I mean come on. He is on fifty commercials, the local news has run stuff on him seemingly every night for the last couple months, every time there is a rain delay at Camden Yards they pump in Cal highlights, they interview him in the booth...I'm worn out with Cal. Couldn't we find some other great thing from before the last ten years to remember about the Orioles?

About Blog

Since I'm not working for the next two years I thought I would start a Blog to share some thoughts on Baltimore, the Orioles, politics, history, the environment, my life, and art (not so much my art). I can think of half-dozens of people who might be interested in reading about this and half of the half-dozen are family. But hopefully the lack of interest will in no way limit the boundless insights that are sure to follow and will only make them more special since they will be shared only with a few.