What a beautiful day!

We had winter weather, then summer weather, then wintery weather again but today feels like spring.

Terrific Tuesday!

Weather and the Morning
To those of you who were complaining about the weather being anything but glorious previously this month, I hope that you find mouse droppings in your Rice Krispies this morning. Yes, I do. Snap. Crackle. Poo. It is cold. It is inconveniently cold. This is largely because I took my top coat to the dry cleaners in order to put it away for the winter, so a good portion of the blame lays at my feet. Luckily, I do not eat Rice Krispies.

Crazy
I had a moment yesterday. It eventually passed but it took all day to figure out what the root cause was. When I did, I felt foolish. Awesome, no?

Song that was stuck in my head...

This song popped into my head, and then I put it on repeat as I went for a mind clearing walk. It is not that I forgot how great this song is, but it is nice to be reminded.

What does today's Google Doodle mean?
The Washington Post explains.

There are fans of the Hunger Games who are racist and suffer from problems with reading comprehension?
Well, I am f***ing shocked. More than a handful of people posted a link to this post from Jezebel yesterday and they were shocked that there is still racism in this world. *shakes head* I am wondering what they thought? Have they not been paying attention? Where is the outrage about other overtly racist things? Or is it because this was related to a piece of pop culture that they enjoyed?

Two Trayvon Martin Links Without Commentary
Reason: 'Stand Your Ground' May Have Nothing to Do With the Trayvon Martin Case
Mediaite: A Furious Lawrence O’Donnell Interrogates Empty Chair After George Zimmerman’s Lawyer Cancels

My least favorite "enhancement" that websites use
Hey, content distributors, if you are using Meebo, I am much less likely to take your ste seriously. It is crapware and you know it. I know it. They know it. Is there another way for you to optimize your revenue stream?

The Friday Omnibus Post

The Run
I took advantage of the continuing gorgeous weather (more on the weather later) to go for a run at lunch.

Seriously, it is beautiful out there.

The disturbing part, aside from that after a week, my lungs are already a lot more clear, was not that I felt good and could have kept running but that halfway through I saw a turkey vulture flying overhead.

The Weather
The weather this week has been wonderful. Yes, I find it irksome when people complain about the weather but when you praise the weather, I am cool with it. Yesterday, I was able to work from my deck for the bulk of the afternoon. When I went to my friend A's house for dinner (more on that later) last night, I noticed that I was feeling sun kissed. It was even more apparent when I went for my run this afternoon. I am getting good color and that is wonderful because I want to look my best next week (for a couple of reasons and no, they are none of your business). As you know, I do not look good without a good base.

Dinner
I cooked for A last night because as A admits, she cannot cook, but she can bake. I did something simple. Oven roasted pork chop (olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper) with jasmine rice and mixed vegetables.

Now, the vegetables were the real hit. They were simple. Sweat half a white onion in olive oil and faux butter and then add a cup of mushrooms, a cup of organic sweet corn, and a package of organic cut spinach. Let cook down and together, add some salt, pepper, garlic powder, and some red pepper flake and a little bit of balsamic. Serve hot over rice. (A, please pass this on to M.) Easy and tasty. (Oh, and very healthy)

There was a nice beer to go with the meal.

I love Southern Tier.

The Hunger Games
Yes, the Hunger Games are everywhere today. These are two things that stood out to me as being more than awesome.

1) Being mean to teens. (Who says that all bullying is bad?)

Trolling those who are waiting in line. (Mediaite)

2) The Cruel Policy for Sold Out Shows.

Union Hockey
In less than two hours, Union will be playing Michigan State in the first round of the NCAA Hockey Tournament. I will be watching and rooting for the Dutchman. Go U!

Union did get a really good write up in today's New York Times.

Pull quote that is awesomesauce: "Michigan State has a larger student population, about 48,000, than Union has living alumni."

Finally...

Happy Birthday, Fish. You are a great friend even as you are a pain in the butt. I hope that you have a great day and I look forward to celebrating with you very soon.

Thursday was...fun?

Or not...

On top off three hours of sleep, I was caught the thunderstorm of yesterday morning. By caught, I mean a mirco-flood of water swept down the road behind me and swamped me up to my mid calf. It was great. (Guilt #1: Okay, it was not great but it was not a tragedy. It was inconvenient. A month after Irene, where people are still homeless due to the flooding, I have no right to complain.) It left me with wet clothes for the day. Lovely, no?



Then there were the pickups for Habitat. Three quarters of a ton of mahogany doors. Yep, you read that correctly. Fifteen hundred pounds of mahogany. It was awesome. In the process, I did tweak my back.

So, by two in the afternoon, I was sore, still wet, and my back had started to ache. (Oh, noes! The tragedy!) I prevailed upon Teacher Dave to stop at a huge superstore (based out of Arkansas) so that I could pick a pair a shoes, socks, and a clean and dry shirt (I neglected to bring a change of clothes again.) which led me to Guilt #2. I was suffering from wet feet and I purchased new shoes, for $12, and there are so many people who do not have one pair of shoes to use regularly. Yeah, it made me feel not great, especially since the people who made these $12 shoes could not reasonably afford them.

A brief aside on the Arkansas based retail giant: I know that there are people who have serious issues with them, but thanks to someone that I dated last year, I started going there (before that, there was one time, with FAU that I went into one so he could pick up a copy of the original edition Star Wars DVD for his daughter. Han shot first. It was the first time in almost a decade that I had been in one of them.) and I looked into their business model, what they are doing in the community and their effect on American society and while they still have a lot to do, they are trying to be better at being part of the progressive society that America should strive to be.

Anyway, I purchased new shoes (I have a weakness for the cheap Chuck Taylor knock-offs.) and changed and Teacher Dave and I headed to McGeary's (Hot Mulled Cider, try it!) and then to the Hill Street...while heading to the Hill, the thunderstorm returned, and the new shoes were...soaking wet. (Of course!) The walk also ruined my umbrella. I think that I am going to go back to the lessons that I learned from my time in Seattle. Umbrellas suck. Buy wet weather gear. Use that in lieu of something silly like an umbrella. Which means I need to head to L.L. Bean and pick up some wet weather gear.

After a stop at Price Chopper (I had to get Teddie's Peanut Butter for HJ77, I came home, showered, changed, and sat down to watch some television. At this point, my body slowly shut down into a near coma like state and I slept for a glorious full night.

I needed it, and now I have dry shoes.

For the weekend, I hope to see all y'all at both the Farmers' Market and Wolff's Oktberfest!

Photos from the Wrath of Irene

2nd Avenue in North Troy


2nd Avenue in North Troy


123rd Street in North Troy


Across the Hudson River at 123rd St and 1st Ave in North Troy


Across the Hudson River at 123rd St and 1st Ave in North Troy


Delaware Avenue Trail (Entrance to Peeple's Island State Park) in Cohoes


Cohoes Falls in Cohoes


Below the Falls in Cohoes


My sister's backyard, Mechanicville, NY


The Hudson River in Mechanicville


Hadley Park Place parking lot, Troy (Near Brown's)


Noooooooooo! I hope the damage is not severe.


Green Island Bridge as seen from near Ryan's Wake


Dinosaur BBQ, Troy, from the front


Dinosaur BBQ, Troy, from the side


Former site of Troy's City Hall


Riverside Park, Troy


The pictures speak for themselves. Many of these were posted to Facebook and Instagram (thereby pushed to my Twitter and Tumblr) as they were taken.

The Cohoes Falls, of all the pictures, gave me a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach as I was taking in.

Anything for a toy...

Things like this make my little geek heart happy.

It is a LL Bean branded multiple band radio that is powered by either batteries or a built in dynamo.

Not that I needed it but I am glad I had it.

Anyone have any geeky things/toys that they rely on?

Status Report

So...

How are you doing?

HJ77 and I are surviving in Troy. Thriving, in fact. We (or I) did forget one thing when we were putting our storm supplies in place. Coffee filters.

If that is the worst inconvenience that we suffer, we are going to be very lucky.

I have been up since 5:30 and glued to MSNBC. It is amazing how some of these telejournalists (some of whom have advanced degrees) are like children when it comes to these big storms.

To sum up, it is wet and windy but not so wet and windy that I did not make an apple jack marinade for some pork with the intention of grilling it this evening.

Let me know how you are surviving this storm.

Disaster Preparedness

A mixed case of craft beer.
Four bottles of wine.
Steaks and lobster tails for the grill.
Fresh veggies from the farmer's market.
Bread and cookies from the aforementioned market.
Sauces and seasonings
A freezer full of protein.
Coffee.
Tobacco products.

A quad band radio that is crank charged.

Archer Season One on DVD.

Yeah, we are ready.

"Come on, Irene"*

*Apologies to Dexie's Midnight Runners.

So...there was a earthquake?

Apparently, there was an earthquake yesterday. I did not feel it. I am not upset about this. I felt one years ago on the west coast (6.1) and thank you very much, I do not need to experience that again. I am all about doing things that leave me terrified (or I was at one point...now the only thing I am willing to do that is terrifying is dating) like roller coasters with a screaming 8 year old (it heightens the experience to have someone who is legitimately terrified sitting next to you) or free climbing rockfaces.

TEA was able to experience it by watching the water of his fish tank slosh back and forth.

The Slate Culture Gabfest was recording during the middle of it, and the audio is comical.

I was watching MSNBC and reading something stupid as it happened and I noticed nothing.

So, that was my experience. Others, including close friends and family, had to evacuate buildings, and had a brief moment of real terror.

Then the Tweets and Facebook posts came in...

Some of them bothered me a little (or a lot). Specifically the ones from friends in LA and Seattle who presented messages like "5.8. Yawn." Really?

I have been pleasant when you have issues that people in the Northeast treat with calm and jokes while y'all FREAK THE F**K OUT!

Think about it and try to remember when you had three days of rain in LA last year. Or PNW folks, remember the "devastating inch and a half of snow that you had last year"? No, you are not used to things like that, and it is understandable that you were freaked, but...you cannot have it both ways.

So, let people be freaked out about the earthquake. I will let you be freaked out about a little bit of snow or rain.

(By the way, there were also a lot of people who were kind and respectful and I am trying not to paint with too broad a brush.)

Bullet Points

• In terms of people watching, the Madison Grille is wonderful.  I wish their beer selection was better.
• I was interviewed by WTEN on Friday night, I hope to all that is good and decent that I did not make the air. Oh! My! G*d! See below.
• Wolff's Biergarten has Julius Echter Hefe-Weissbier Dunkel and it is very tasty.  Try it!
  
  
• I introduced a friend to Manory's and I think it was a success.
• Blue Sky Bicycles is closed on Sundays.  Borders does not open until 11 on Sunday.  Saratoga trip #FAIL.
• Yes, I am wearing shorts today.  It is going to be 80 tomorrow.  I will be wearing them then too.

Edit at 4:40: Oh, Jeebus, I made the broadcast.

Look at that sky

Today feels like spring. I had to run some errands this morning and this was the sky I was lucky enough to be under.

Isn't that amazing? After two day of horrible weather, for the most part, I forgot what the spring sky was supposed to look like.

While I was running errands, one of the greatest pop songs ever came up on shuffle.

Big Star's Don't Lie to Me



It was great. The deep blue sky and "Don't Lie to Me".

My mood is just getting better.

I Love My Father (and hate the weather)

I talk to my father almost every day.

As of late, he has been jokingly complaining about the weather.

Now, when he was in the Berkshires, this was funny as his weather was generally worse.

However, he is now on Marco Island and this is his weather:

Here is the weather in Troy:

I think that he may be well aware of how awful this weather is and that is why he didn't take my call this morning.

Thank you, Dad, for caring about my feelings.

I hope that you are enjoying your beach day.

(For the record, all my plans have been canceled by the weather.)

Random Things

A) I had a dream last night about having to get four copies of the DVD set "The Golden Girls: The Lost Episodes" for FAU, PVH1976, SandorS, and BaristaBabe. I could only locate three copies, so I had to find the fourth. It became quite an involved search and there was stylized violence. Very New Cap City.

B) This song came to mind today:


C) It was nice enough at lunch that my face sunburned a little bit which is welcome. It was warm enough where wearing a polo and jeans still may have left me too warm. Tomorrow, Albany goes back to late March weather.

D) Oh, and in the ECAC Finals, Union College lost to the bad calls of the refs and the play of the guys from a hotel management school.

Seriously Beautiful

The sky is really that blue.


I love springtime.

Cold and Ugly

It is awful and ugly. It has been snowing for two days with no accumulation and it has been very cold.



It is not...pretty outside either.




So, after walking the dog (and putting a load of laundry in) I am making a pot of coffee and I am going to read the paper and listen to NPR.

What does it say about me...

that on the first day of Winter, 28 feels positively balmy?

Oh, Albany!

Yes, it is very cold.





Please stop whining about it.

After the Storm

We did not get the ice and rain.





But we do clean up well.

Beauty in the Snow

Without the snow, there would not be pictures like this...




Taken on Elm Street.

It is Winter

First of all, if you live in the Northeast, and you like living in the Northeast, you are going to have to deal with some snow. If you don't like it, Arizona would perfect for you.

Anyway, pictures from downtown Albany this morning.


The View Up North Pearl


Up State Street



The Empire State Plaza

Down Eagle Street
Up Madison Ave
Greetings from the Mansion Neighborhood!