The new lofts at 1352 South St is moving along nicely now. The windows are going up and they're ginormous. The front brick work is pretty nice looking. I see the slow, but steady, progress each day on my walk to the Broad St Line. This shot was taken at night on my way back home from work a few nights ago.
I gotta find a spot to watch the Giants v Seahawks game on Sunday at 4p. I'm pretty sure they'll have it on at the Fox & Hound, but I'd rather not go there. I know the bar at the Best Western by the Art Museum has all the games, but not the most fun environment.
Anyone know of a nice, non-chain, bar that has the NFL package with all the games? I know the game is on at the same time as the Eagles game, but sure a single screen would carry something else?
Tuesday afternoon I got a call to see if I wanted to take in the Phillies game that night free, in a luxury box. I haven't been bashful in saying how much I despise baseball, but fuck, a free night in a luxury suite at the brand spanking new Citizens Bank Park?! Werd. I was so there. I arrived at the stadium about fifteen minutes before the start and met my friend at the third base gate. He handed me the ticket. I took a look at it and immediately noticed the sliver foil band running diagonally across the face of the ticket which read "SUITE" which I thought could've just as easily said "SWEEEEET". I should also mention that this was not just a person being nice and letting me tag along, it was a bizniss meeting. An awesome bizniss venture is in the works and Tuesday night was a test run. All will be revealed in due time.
The box was on the third base line closer to left field than home plate. I had never been this close at a baseball game in my life. I've been to two or three games at Yankee Stadium and one or two at Shea Stadium back in NY. All those seats were way out there. This was nutso. The suite was ridiculous. The inside had a huge plasma screen, I'd say 44" or so. There were two catering trays with hot dogs, sausages, hamburgers and a stack of drinks in the back. There was even a bathroom in there as well. Outside the suite were a dozen seats. Simple folding stadium seats, but with some nice cushioning. There was also a 15" LCD panel TV broadcasting the game to follow the action with all the stats like you were at home. Early on I noticed that there was a solid five second delay between the game and the broadcast. Are the censors afraid that Janet Jackson is going to show up topless?
There's the view I had from the suite. Click on the image for an 800px wide shot. I forget who was batting, but you can see the opposite-field + wind shift in place in the outfield. The park is gorgeous. I barely remember the inside of Yankee Stadium and Shea. I'm sure as hell not gonna forget the inside of CBP. I'd also like to add that the lighting in the stadium is unreal. Those gigantic lights light up the field in a nice natural light which leaves whites as white and without a nasty colorcast which I was very happy about for photographic purposes.
And here's a shot of the luxury boxes extending around behind home plate. You can see the LCDs at the top of each box. There were a couple of foul balls which came pretty close to the suite I was in. That would've been REALLY cool to catch one. But just being there was cool enough for me. I was so taken aback by the whole thing that I actually forgot to take photos of the interior of the suite! After I was done working, I sat down and enjoyed the game which was a pretty good game which the Phils won 4 – 1 with Ryan Howard scoring from first on a deep double – he slid head frist into home! That big guy motored faster than I thought he was capable of. Still no sprinter, but not bad for 6'4" "250lbs".
Hopefully by the end of the month, I'll have some pretty awesome news to report in regards to this bizniss venture. But for now, a couple more pics from the night.
Chicago Cubs' third baseman Aramis Ramirez fields a foul ball right by the Cubs' dugout.
Philadelphia Phillies' relief pitcher Tom "Flash" Gordon. Oh man, I'm so old, I remember when Flash first came to the majors with the KC Royals as a starting pitcher.
I was at the Campus Philly Kick Off event two days ago over at Citiy Hall for work and I brought along my camera for the occasion. Mayor Street [complete with his incredibly mesmerizing hair] was there and spoke for a few minutes. I didn't catch much of what he was saying though, but I got a few good pics, this being the best one from the front.
And then I went around the stage to take a few shots with City Hall as the backdrop and I really like how it turned out. We only stuck around for a little bit as we got there a bit late and couldn't find parking so we had to park in a loading zone for a little bit and had to make it back to the car before it was ticketed by the parking ninjas.
The big Campus Philly event is Saturday the 30th on the Parkway and should be a blast. I'll be there for the first half of it taking photos of the festivities. It should be a good time for all.
I submitted a photo of mine I took in May of City Hall to Issue #7 of JPG Magazine under the theme "Hometown". If anyone out there is a member of JPG Magazine, click on over here and take a look. If you like what you see, vote for me!
JPG Magazine is a wonderful two-year-old photo magazine. I've yet to hold an actual print edition, but the caliber of their contributing photographers is incredible and I'm sure the print product is top notch. If I get published, I'll get a free year subscription and $100. If not, I'll be one of a thousand others who were also not picked. Not such a bad thing. They've got some high standards.
If anyone reading is a photog themselves or just takes the occassional shot, JPG is a great place to get some more exposure. All you need is one nice shot! They have lots of other categories each issue. Give it a shot!
For one reason or another, Sprint has asked me to continue with Phase II of the Sprint Ambassador Program and review their Power Vision service with another phone, the LG Fusic pictured above. It's an interesing looking phone. I'm not too keen on it's looks. It's on the slippery side as well. For a phone that is $330 retail price (that's without any of the sign up deals and such), a little too slippery for my tastes. It's got an antenna nub. I dislike the antenna nubs. It's a flip phone. I prefer non flip phones.
Once open, the phone is bright and running my thumb across the number pads, they are slightly rubbery and have a nice feel to them. The screen is your average cell phone screen. The menu is similar to that of the A920. Both being Sprint Power Vision phones, it makes sense since they have to have many of the same capabilities.
One cool feature I've used is the Sprint wireless backup. When activated, the phone wirelessly backs up all the contacts to a personalized server space. Using a web interface, you can log in and change/add/delete names from your phone book. I opted to enter the names/numbers I'd be dialing most using my computer and the web interface instead of pecking away at the phone's keypad. It was much easier. This alone is a very good reason to think about choosing Sprint. It is a $2/month subscription, but the ease of use is worth it. And there's always the chance that your phone could get fucked up. I'm assuming this data could be downloaded to another phone if you were to switch handsets or needed a replacement. The information is periodically updated from the phone to the server. And from the server to the phone whenever you log off of the web interface. Pretty fucking sweet. I pecked away at the QWERTY pad on my Q to enter my contacts. I probably just should've loaded up MS Outlook onto my computer, but I refuse to do so. I'm Outlook free – I'm a Thunderbird user.
So with my new six month review time, I'll be getting the same deal. Free reign on minutes at all times, free/unlimited data usage, free/unlimited downloads of any kind onto the phone. Pretty bitchin. And this time around, it's a 267 Philly area code instead of a weird 816 Kansas City one. This phone will most likely split time between me and Lady for the next six months so that she doesn't go over her minutes. I've been good with my minutes thus far, but who knows if I'll be using my cell phone for work more and more.
I'll be using the NFL Network stuff the most I think. There's even a new application which allows the user to watch full length feature films right on the tiny screen called Sprint Movies powered by mspot. I started to watch Spiderman 2, which was the featured one on the home page, which normally costs $4.99. It wasn't all that horrible, but not so great if you accidentally hit a button. The whole screen just starts to jitter. The 'rentals' last for a few days. I'm not sure how well this will do considering it's such a tiny screen and it's streaming which is just asking to be nto so hot. Considering it's the same price to rent the films on OnDemand, I'm not so sure about this thing. I'm currently renting Annapolis and am gonna try to watch more of it than the 30 seconds I watched Spiderman 2. ***Of note, when attempting to review something which is power intensive, it's best to make sure your battery is amply charged. A few minutes in, the phone powered down as it was just about out of juice.
I was originally planning on getting to my first Drinking Liberally in over a month now tonight, but something came up. I'm involved in this new potential business venture involving me, a friend of a friend, rich people, my camera gear and lots of sporting events. So, I'll be watching the Phillies play the Cubbies tonight in the luxury box over at Citizens Bank Park.
The free buffalo wings and $1 off drinks at Tangier [1801 Lombard St] will have to be skipped yet again by me. But once I do get a chance to go back, I swear I'm gonna polish off a plate of wings so quick Catherine's gonna forget she brought out a plate.
As predicted, the event was a disappointment. I had mentioned that prospective attendees were asked to fill out a RSVP along with a field where you could type in a question to ask Junior Casey. I had remained optomistic [as promised] all while I sat towards the front for the talking to begin. My optimism was stabbed as Ray Murphy said there would be all of five questions during this "town hall" meeting. Five pre-selected questions. What the fuck? I was surprised that I wasn't asked to fill out a vote pledge form to be let inside this Unitarian Church. What happened to open mics?
Jen Murphy was first up to the podium. Shorter than the other speakers, she got a mic in the face of my frame – sorry Jen, it was the best one. She is one of the lead organizers of Philly for Change (I think the chairwoman?) and a person I've seen at countless events all over the place for the last two years. She noted how great it was to see such a large turnout for the event. The church was full with people standing in the back by the entrance. Among those in the standing room only section were PA State House Rep Babette Josephs (PA-182) and Democratic primary challenger Alan Sandals. Later outside, I saw Tom Knox; you know, one of those guys running/not running for mayor in 2007. Jen noted that Philly for Change was a broad grassroots movement and said it was ironic that we were all there grassroots style while across town (15/Walnut) Ward Leaders were picking who would be on the ballot running for City Council. I thought that was ironic since Junior Casey was picked by a few people at the top of the Democratic party and had the field cleared for him in the primary. That's not very grassroots.
Ray Murphy was up next at the podium. Ray is the guy behind Philadelphians Against Santorum [I still haven't registered Philly Against Idiots, but it's in the works]. I don't share all the same views as Ray on things, but I can't say enough about the energy he brings to a project. I've never been involved in a project with him up close and personal, but I know of his involvement in tons in the last two years. Ray said that 85% of the PAS group approved the endorsement of Junior Casey in the Senate race. He also said that the top three issues members brought up for this race were healthcare, gas and Iraq. A minute later, he said healthchare, jobs and Iraq. I'm not sure which is the correct three. He was also the one who broke the news that there would be all of five questions asked and indeedy that they were pre-selected ones from those submitted online prior to the event.
And then it was time for the candidate.
Junior Casey emerged from the double doors behind the podium to a big cheer from the crowd. I had my hands full with my 80-200mm lens snapping away up front. He said that he'd sum up the campaign in two words: "New direction" which to me translates into a big fat fucking "I'm not Rick Santorum so vote for me" which is total shit and not a reason to vote for a candidate. He summed up Man on Dog's candidacy as "More of the same" which I'd amend to read: "More of the batshit crazy same" but otherwise on the money. He also noted that this was going to be an ugly campaign, but that he would be ready for the smear campaign and that the Repugs have already been publicly vocal about how negative they'd be going. Later Monday night, I saw the newest Man on Dog smear ad where a bunch of men were sitting around a dark poker table smoking cigars and labeled as criminals and people under investigation. It was a good commercial. Casey takes a lot of nasty 527 monies. So does Man on Dog.
He went right into his stump on his differences with Man on Dog. The issue of pay raises. He said that Man on Dog voted for three pay raises as Senator while voting against an increase in minimum wage thirteen (I think that's the right number) times. He pointed out Babette Josephs in the back of the room as a champion of the minimum wage. A good thing too since she's been shilling full force for him for a year now hook line and sinker. No mention of the pay raise fiasco here in PA which he signed and then later filed suit for. No mention of moving towards an actual living wage either. Not that anyone is talking about that CRAZY idea.
On Iraq, he said that Man on Dog didn't have the courage to stand up to his president and ask the tough questions. He didn't mention anything about getting the fuck out of Iraq. Maybe I missed it. I may have been snapping away while he said this, but I didn't catch it. He said that Pennsylvania needed an independent Senator to talk tough in DC. Heh.
He said a little bit in regards to healthcare. About how 43M Americans are without coverage. I'll remain without coverage until the 90-day evaluation period ends for me at my new gig which will make it a solid 1.5 years without coverage. He mentioned that there were 8.3M children without coverage and that he's had a plan (C.H.I.P.) since the beginning of the campaign. Great. but what about those 34.7M adolescents, adults and seniors without coverage? Yes, it's a start (all PA children are already covered by C.H.I.P.), but by introducing the issue, he leaves quite an awkwardly large hole to fall face first into when the issue is pushed a little bit to discuss those 34.7M people.
He said that if his campaign was about one word, if not many others, it would be: Priorities. He said he'd focus tax dollars on priorities. That there should not be a vote in the Senate (he initially said all of Congress) to raise salaries until there was a rise in the national minimum wage. He wants to restore honesty and competence to U.S. foreign policy. He didn't give any hints as to what U.S. foreign policy in regards to anything should be at any point of the night.
He seemed hurried throughout the night as if he had a couple fundraisers to rush off to after the event which was annoying. After his stump, he stuck around to answer the pre-selected questions.
First up was Jennifer Jordan from Queen Village. She asked how he distinguishes himself from Man on Dog considering they were both pro-life candidates. He started off by saying how his opinion on choice was probably different than the majority of the people in the room, but that people must respect each others opinions. I respectfully think his opinion is a piece of shit. His stance on the issue of choice is shit. I don't give a fuck if he thinks we should provide more family planning services or have more birth control available or have ECPs widely available. You also need abortions as an option. Making abortions illegal doesn't make them go away, it only makes it more dangerous for women, especially poorer women who doesn't have thousands of dollars to fly to another country to have an abortion if it were to be illegal here in the U.S. He asked what should Americans do when a woman who finds out she has an unwanted (still not using "unintended") pregnancy and chooses to have the child. Maybe he should ask what should Americans do when a woman who finds out she has an unintended pregnancy and decides to abort.
Question two was from Mary from West Philly. She asked about the prospects of stricter gun control in Philadelphia. He responded right off the bat that he was a strong supporter of the Second Amendment. Hey, so am I! He also said that most of the people in the room probably disagreed with his opinion – I agreed with him on that one too. He said that we should find a common ground instead of talking about more stringent gun control laws. What the fuck?!?! He told some anecdote about a gun store in Upper Darby, which is in DelCo, not Philadelphia County. He lost me on that one once he went off topic. Tangential yes, but I don't think it addressed Mary's question.
Number three was from Elaine who works with seniors. She asked about his plan for Social Security in relation to Man on Dog's. He said that Man on Dog doesn't have a plan. That Social Security was a problem, but it was not a crisis and that Medicare was a bigger and more urgent/pressing an issue to take on. He said that as Treasurer, that he is a custodian and fiduciary of the state pension and that Senators should take more of a role like a fiduciary to restore fiscal responsibility.
Josh Richards asked a good question in regards to Casey's thoughts on campaign finance reform. Casey said that he spends far too much time fundraising as do all candidates. He said that politicians spend way too much money on elections. He said that fundraising takes away from time that should be spend with constituents and actually legislating. He called it a major priority and that he'd get to it once elected and during his first six year term. He said he had no plan whatsoever and that he'd think more about it during the first term. What a shit for brains answer. Saying that you're out on the road fundraising all day and that finance reform is a priority, but not so much of a priority that you'd take action now while fundraising, but instead start to think of it after election fundraising is just plain shit for brains.
Last question was from the Secretary of Philadelphians Against Santorum. I didn't catch her full name, but I think it was Gwynned? She asked of Casey's plan to beat Santorum and Philadelphia's role in the race. He took the second part first and said that Philly would play an integral role. He mentioned that it was Philly that delivered PA to Kerry in 2004 and without it, the state would've gone red. A solid margin in Philly wins the state. He then said that the most important thing to do to win the race is to raise money. Astounding that he'd say this right after the campaign finance question. It's as if he just has a database of answers to stock questions in his head without a proper boolean variable telling him to not say certain things in relation to other recent answers. I just sat there dumbfounded that he'd say this. Not to connect with the people. Not to take the issues to him. Not to show the voters how he'll implement his plans. To raise money was his number one priority and my thoughts on his overall hurried state seemed more true than at any point of the night.
Ray came up to thank Casey and Casey walked back through the double doors. But not before a whole bunch of people from the audience screamed out repeatedly "WHAT ABOUT IRAQ!!! WHAT ABOUT IRAQ!!!" I couldn't believe that there wasn't a question about Iraq in the five questions asked. Pathetic.
I spoke to a person who had been following the race closely for some time now as I made my way out of the church. I leaned over and said "More of the same bullshit, eh" to which he looked back at me with a shrug. After a pause, he said, "He's getting better?" Getting better six weeks out from election day is a pretty shitty spot to be in. The candidate shouldn't be getting better and leaving a partisan crowd screaming at him to answer the biggest most pressing question on the minds of all Americans (let alone Pennsylvanians). The candidate should be really honing the message with little tweaks here and there to be nice and polished. This stone is still quite rough around the edges and seemingly missing huge chunks as well. I almost had to break out laughing at the people asking me to volunteer for this douchebag. Completely blows the Iraq question on Meet the Press and then doesn't address it at any length in front of this crowd. This guy sucks. Schumer, Reid and Rendell are to blame. Those fuckers.
All photos by ME.
It's been six months of me using the Sprint Power Vision phone I got for the Sprint Ambassador Program. It hasn't been too bad. The reception in my apartment never got any better using the Samsung A920 pictured above during the six months. Nor did the amount of time it took to re-connect back to the Sprint service once coming out from the underground SEPTA tunnels. It took several blocks to get out of roaming.
Downloads were easy and fast. The video was never a great quality, but hey, it's a teensy screen and it was relatively error free. The video jumped here and there, but there isn't that much processing power inside that little thing.
Now, I have a gently used Sprint network phone I no longer need. I'd like to give it to someone who would like a new phone (which still holds a perfectly good charge for a few days), but I'd rather give it to a needy organization. I tried to give an old cell phone to a shelter back when I was in NY, but they actually had an excess of phones. I was in the 'burbs and not much of a go-getter at that point, so I just recycled it at an electronics store. But I'm in a big city and there has gotta be a place here who can make good use of the phone.
I've deleted my addressbook from the phone (the next person's not gonna be needing to call my friends nor Pine St Pizza at all hours of the night), but left all the downloaded ringtones (Baby Boy-Beyonce, Big Poppa-BIG, Bombs over Baghdad-Outkast, Hips Don't Lie-Shakira, Holiday-Weezer, Ignition remix-R Kelly, It's Like That-Run DMC, Jesus Walks-Kanye West, La Tortura-Shakira, Last Nite-Strokes, My Humps-Black Eyed Peas, One More Chance-BIG, PIMP-50 Cent, Scenario-Tribe Called Quest, So Wat'cha Wat'cha Want-Beastie Boys, Such Great Heights-Postal Service, Sweet Child O'Mine-GNR, Temperature-Sean Paul, The Good The Bad The Ugly theme) plus a few city-specific wallpapers I used for friends and their respective cities as caller ID.
So, if anyone knows of an organization that can make good use of a perfectly good Sprint network celli, I have the phone, charger, headphones, USB cord, manuals and box all ready here to hand over. If I can't unload it in the next couple of weeks, I'll give it to someone who hates their current Sprint phone and wants a new one.
I was up by the Main Line this afternoon for work and I stopped at a gas station to fill up before heading back to the office. I pulled up to the pump and was about to get out of the car when I saw an extra pump and a sticker atop the 'regular' nozzle. The extra pump was for bio diesel and the sticker indicated that the fuel coming out of this particular 'regular' nozzle was 10% Ethanol. Cool.
I had no idea if the car I was driving [a 2005 Prius] could take the Ethanol blend so I backed up the car and fueled up at the regular 'regular' pump behind me instead of chancing fucking up the engine with an E10 blend. But I was very happy to know that such a set of pumps existed just outside of Philly proper.
I remember reading about a new gas station which was supposed to be opening up at 12/Vine Sts which was going to have bio diesel and/or ethanol blends. I haven't been around that area in forever so I have no idea if the station was ever built or where the plans stand as of now.
But if anyone has a bio diesel car and is looking for a place to fill up, here's your place. And after checking, it looks like most cars (there are exceptions) built since 1986 can take E10 blends of gasoline. Good to know. I think the E10 gasoline was the same price as 'regular' but I didn't get a look at all at the bio diesel price.
