Every 4th of July....

I wonder what the fireflies are thinking....

Summer Bash

For ten dollars you get a green mug and all the Coors Light you want. There's a firefly in the grass and cards on the table. The band flows seamlessly from Every rose has it's thorn straight into Knock, knock, knockin' on heaven's door. Dude is dancing a whole new type of two step that I never quite get the hang of, but I like the way my feet pound the plywood dance floor and I can't stop smiling.

Running in a College Town - Part II

When spring finally arrives, the chairs come out.

Lawn chairs, deck chairs, bar stools, recliners, folding chairs, papasans, bean bags. Couches, if there’s enough room.

They come out and fill in the spaces around houses. Porches, parking lots, patios, even roofs. Every horizontal surface with access to a breeze needs a chair.

Only the most stalwart Adirondacks have the energy to stand up straight. The rest tilt and lean haphazardly. Listing to the left, a former member of the dining room set beckons the largest guy in the group, daring him to test its spindly legs.

It holds.
He sighs.
Cracks open a beer.

It Was Called Yellow

With a steady bass line. It sounds like my heart on a spring day. And it is a bus ride and a track meet and some crushes that never panned out. The stripe on a jersey and the handle on a lunch box. It is waiting six hours to run three races in 15 minutes. It is driving around for three hours to catch a smile at a stoplight. It was IMing and the friend who told some chick that Chris Martin was his uncle. It is a season where you can do nothing but win and the next where you just lose. It was high school and waiting. It’s a shortness of breath and anticipation. The steady bass line of a heart. And it was called yellow.

Watching the Ships Come In

In the old part of Dubrovnik there is the harbor. In the old days, the harbor was really the reason the city even came to be there. It was one of the premier ports back in the day, ships constantly coming and going, being built and repaired. Huge ships carrying probably just about anything you might have needed. But the shipping and maritime trade industry has pretty much died down now.

There is a man in the old part of Dubrovnik. He holds a guitar. He's got a harmonica positioned in front of his mouth. Around one foot, a tambourine. He plays and sings with his open case at his feet, a few CDs for sale. He's not so different from any of the musicians you see in touristy areas. But he's the only one in Dubrovnik and he's impossible to miss. We stopped and talked to him for a bit. He told us, he would love to travel someday, there's so much to see. Someday if he has the money, he'd really like to go. He told us there was an American cruise ship scheduled to arrive the next day. The days when cruise ships arrived were usually pretty profitable, but there was a chance for rain. When it rained, it was not so good to be out playing.

"But if the weather stays clear and the ship arrives," he told us, "it should be a pretty good day."

Running in a College Town

Delaware ends abruptly and after a hard left, becomes Colorado. Posh, midwestern, luxury winds down the hill to houses with haphazard floor plans and fewer windows - chopped up spaces from hasty transformations into duplexes. One car garages and carports replace 3 car garages and driveways with boats. Paint jobs become more vibrant. Dogs become louder, backyards less refined. I keep running.

Running provides a separation from life, a space soon filled with nostalgia for times not yet distant. I run past houses where I've partied. Remember who was driving and where we parked, the beers we declined. The names and faces but little else ever actually known. The crushes held secretly, observed these days leave me feeling sheepish. I've always been one to embrace idiocy, take it and make it my own. I keep on running and wonder who lives there now.

At Bobo's Drive-In

At Bobo’s Drive-In, a girl with strawberry orange hair and a scruffy boy sit at the counter. He looks at her and sings country love songs along with the radio. She wears heavy eyeliner. He keeps his wallet on a chain. She tells him stories about things she has had in her hair. That one time at school when someone spilled mashed potatoes and gravy on her head. An unfortunate incident with a bird. He laughs, calls her gross and kisses her. She adores him, this much is clear even from the corner booth where I sit, trying not to smile too broadly. They are so in love. And for several minutes, Bobo’s is the best place in the world. Then I bite into my cheeseburger and discover they automatically load ‘em up with mayo, mustard, three pickles and a slice of tomato. Blast. Stupid Bobo’s.

Unrequited Snow Day

Kansas got some weather this week. It was pretty bad in some places. I, however, was left disappointed. There was a lot of build up at work. People calling home, sending spouses out for firewood and snow melt... talk of shutting down the offices Tuesday and, maybe even Wednesday... Gasp! Leaving early before it gets bad....worried glances out windows....contingency plans... It was a little bit ridiculous. People were preparing for the apocalypse. I couldn't figure it out. We're all adults. Pretty sure this isn't the first rodeo to roll into town. We live in areas where salt trucks are ready to hit the road as soon as the words "winter storm advisory" fall from the weatherman's lips. What's the big fuss? Quit freaking out.
(Meanwhile, I was hopeful)

I woke up Tuesday and laid in bed for a little while because my alarm hadn't gone off. Finally I thought, well I should at least see what time it is. I sat up, and my alarm was black. NO ELECTRICITY!! I jumped up and flipped the light switch just to check... Yep! NO ELECTRICITY!! YES!!! I was sure we wouldn't have to go in to work. Then my phone rang.

"So did you hear the office is still going to be open today?"

There was a loud crash as my snow day dreams collapsed around me. I was still hopeful though. If I couldn't get into my car, I couldn't go to work, right?

So I bundled up, grabbed my mittens and stepped outside. I got to my car and stood there baffled. There was no ice. I didn't even have to scrape my windshield. My brain was filled with cognitive dissonance. Big, nasty winter storm. No Electricity. No Ice. Big, nasty winter storm. No ice. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. No ice.

As the week has gone on, and I keep hearing announcements about school closings I have become more and more disgruntled. I got cheated out of a snow day and everyone else just keeps getting more.

This is the weather of my discontent.

From Brooklyn

If you stand at the edge of Brooklyn, looking out over the water, there is a view of the city and the bridge. It's the view that is shown in one of the final scenes of the movie Munich. It's beautiful. But when I was there, it was cold and I was in the middle of eating a warm cinnamon raisin bagel. The sky was overcast and there just wasn't much contrast between the tall gray skyscrapers and the November sky. I knew it wouldn't be much of a picture. Still, I wish I had taken one.

I'm Dreaming of A White Strip Christmas

The best thing about Christmas is having white teeth???
A gleaming smile is the reason for the season???


I just saw a commercial advertising whitening strips. There was a family having a wonderful time frolicking in the snow, with a closeup of a beautiful smile. Then the voice over started going on about having a white smile they'll never forget, just in time for the holidays... blah blah blah... As if there aren't enough other things to think about during the holiday season, you must also make sure you have white teeth. That above all things must be done. Forget the stockings hung by the chimney with care, forget chestnuts roasting on an open fire. Forget Joy to the World and Peace on Earth. What we need is White Teeth!

Heart On Your Shoulder

One of Kristi's classmates came to class wearing a polo emblazoned with the Cialis logo. Not quite the same as wearing your heart on your sleeve, but similar, I guess...

Pizza Pizza

Transcript of an actual conversation that took place earlier this evening:

"This couch sucks out all my ambition."


(pause)


"Maybe if Caesar would have had one of these, he'd still be alive."

Your Ceiling, My Floor

So there seems to be a slight problem in the apt. below. It would appear their ceiling is leaking. Their ceiling is my floor.

The culprit = our water heater

The solution = turn it off till we can get a new one

ETA of New Water Heater = 2 to 3 days

Date of Last Shower = Sunday

Using the information provided, answer the following question to the best of your ability.

Given that work dress code does not allow baseball hats, how grouchy will I be tomorrow morning?


Answer:
Cold showers = grouchy^10

I would have also accepted:
"grouchy to infinity,"
"She'll put Oscar to shame," or
"Realistically, it'll be more like Grungetta."

Pretty Woman vs. Cinderalla

I meant to wash dishes tonight, really I did. They've been sitting there for a little while and really need to get done. Instead I ate sat down to eat cake and got sucked into watching Pretty Woman. Guilty yes I know, but I'd never watched it before. I was too young when it came out and I wasn't allowed to watch movies where the main characters had questionable morals. Since I'm nearly 24, I figured it would be ok now.



The dishes will be there tomorrow.

Swindlers in the Oak Park Mall

My first week of work, I got taken in by two Israelis selling manicure sets.

We had taken a field trip to the Oak Park Mall. As I wandered along "comparison shopping" I saw two guys working a kiosk. They saw me. I saw them. It was too late to take evasive action. He approached me with a nail buffer and asked if he could give me a demonstration. Seeing as he already had the buffer poised above my nail, I caved.
I told him, "I already have a buffer. A green one."
He said, "Ah, green you know is the color of evil."
"Like my shirt," I said.
"Like my eyes," he replied.

His name was Gavriel and he and his friend were former paratroopers in the Israeli military. They had finished their compulsory service and were now selling manicure sets in the Oak Park Mall. He offered to sell me the whole kit, buffer, lotion, cuticle oil and file for $79. I told him no, I couldn't spend that much. He offered another deal: if I bought one, my friend could come in and get one at half price. Still no deal. As I walked away he said, "Ok. Ok. Tell you what. I'll give you my personal discount. You get the set for $30." I thought about it, figured the buffer and the lotion would be $10 separately, and the cuticle oil, probably the same, so I splurged. I bought the set and promised to tell my friends.

I've always been skeptical of mall kiosk products, but the buffer works amazingly well. I think I got a good deal. I haven't gone back to the Oak Park Mall since then, so I don't know if Gavriel is even still there, but I hope business has been good.

From our room

It is 338 steps down to the main walkway. This means that from the main walkway it is 338 steps up to our room. By the time I get to the top, I can no longer walk. Instead, I'm shuffling like the old women who carry small bundles around town, going no where fast. They outlasted the communists, they weathered the '90s, this day is nothing much to worry about either.

Lokrum

There's a stone bench on the island of Lokrum. It faces the sea, as most benches on the island do. I sat there, hidden in the shade, looking at the Adriatic through a break in the leaves, listening to Third Eye Blind.

Dubrovnik

Everything in Dubrovnik is picturesque. The steps worn smooth from millions of feet. The oranges falling form the trees, rotting on the ground below. The laundry hanging from the windows. The workmen repairing boats in the harbor. The red tiled roofs. The children playing soccer in shady corners. In every glance, something catches the eye.





When everything is picturesque, when do you stop? When the batteries in your camera die? When your memory card is full? When you're tired of pulling your camera out every ten steps because a pigeon has landed on the arm of a saint or a cat is balanced on a window sill? Or is it when you finally realize your lens will never catch the sunlight's angle as it filters down between the buildings and comes to rest on the awning of the cafe where you ate supper last night while a string quartet practiced in the church next door.

Honestly, it'd probably be better to forget the camera for a day and just soak it in. Of course, no one really has the self-discipline to do that.

En Route to Dubrovnik

I don't see how anyone could wear black today. Everything is drenched in color. The deck is green, the ocean, blue, my notebook and shoes, red, and Aubrie seems to be wearing all the other colors. It feels like a Nautica photoshoot. Or maybe Fanta.

The ferry ride was 8 hours long, so we had ample time to enjoy the scenery of the Adriatic coast....



...and lay out



...and take artsy pictures of the lifeboats


and have a Fanta...


And even after all of that we still had a couple hours left....
so we had a photo shoot...

I'll spare you the rest. I don't think we'll be getting any calls from Nautica (or Fanta) requesting our services.

Plitvice and Split

We took a bus from Zagreb to Split. On the way we stopped at the Plitvice Lakes National Park. It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site and even though it wasn't in our plans, we couldn't in good conscience pass it up, since it was on the way and all. At Plitvice, there is a series of lakes connected by waterfalls. It was well worth it. See picture for further explanation.

We had three hours there and then hopped back on the bus for 6 more hours till we arrived in Split. We stopped in a lot of smaller towns, picking people up and letting them off. I slept off and on and between times just tried to observe and figure out life in Croatia.
This is what I saw.
A pair of goats in the street. A woman, bent double, preparing her field for the growing season. Three boys playing soccer, pausing their game when the bus stopped to let off their grandmother. Two nuns, collecting their items and disembarking as quietly as they had arrived. A field of poppies. Everywhere, people working hard to stay.

We arrived in Split in the evening. Leaving the bus station, we set off on the quest to find our accommodation and were caught off-guard by the city itself. There was a wide promenade all along the front of Diocletian's palace. It was gorgeous. New white paving stones had been laid just two weeks earlier, we were told by a local man. We found our place a little ways walk from the promenade. It was up a slightly winding road, through a gate to a housing compound with pathways lined with flowering bushes. Our room was just off of a little courtyard area, secluded slightly behind an overhanging tree branch. We dropped our stuff off and after a brief chat with the guy that owned the home, we headed back down to the promenade for more. We wandered around through every short and narrow alley in the palace. We stopped for ice cream twice.

In Split you can imagine lots of things. Narrow streets connect and lead from countless geranium filled balconies to crumbling arches to stairs climbing out of sight. Cars are impossible. It's a maze of life that has been going on here amongst these very walls and columns since the 3rd century A.D. Time and people have passed through and left their mark. When the city came under attack, the people of the surrounding area flocked to the palace for protection within it's walls. At some point Diocletian died. His private quarters eventually became the city slum. Apparently there's talk of building 20 new buildings, including a shopping garage complex (whatever that is) within the palace walls. Not sure how I feel about that, though I suppose it's their city and this is part of the same process that has been shaping it since the days of Diocletian.