And also related, "Why are elected PA Dems a bunch of disorganized idiots?"
The answer: Rep. Caltagirone (D-Berks County) plans to vote for Rep. John Perzel (R-Phila) for Speaker of the House instead of a Democrat Rep. Bill DeWeese (D-Greene County).
If the rest of the House votes as planned (i.e. party lines), Perzel would keep his post as Speaker of the House over a Democratic majority; the first Democratic majority in the House in twelve years.
Caltagirone is the Judiciary Committee majority chair and now enters full douchebaggery category with Perzel.
Why are elected PA Dems just a bunch of disorganized idiots?
Also, slots casinos are bad. Just wanted to throw that out there.
Here's a shot of the Christmas tree my family has put up for the past 20 years or so. My Dad insists that we've only had it for 10 years, but that's a load of bull. That sucker's almost as old as I am. Obviously it's a fake tree. It gets the job done wonderfully. The funny thing is that for a string of five years or so, my Dad insisted that we were going to get a real Christmas tree "this" year. Then, it would be December 20th and no fir/spruce/pine would be bought and we'd head down to the basement and open up the long brown box with all the plastic tree stuff inside and set it up. Sometimes it would be done the morning of the 24th if we were feeling particularly lazy. The vast majority of those presents belong to my adorable niece and nephew. There was a time when the majority of the gifts used to be for l'il ol' me.
Here's a shot of the kitchen with [from l to r] mom, sister and aunt setting up for dinner. We had seventeen total so there was spillover from the dining room table over to the eat in kitchen and the living room table. In the foreground to the left is one of them fan-cay wine openers. I have no idea why my parents have this device. They don't drink wine that often. I'm assuming they got is as a gift from someone. It has one of those little foil cover slicers and the whole thing suction cups to a tabletop. It's pretty cool. I like good ol' fashion wine tools.
This is a shot of my global warming Christmas. That's my brother and father at the grill outside the house. It was warm enough to grill on Christmas Eve. Without a jacket, hat and gloves. It wasn't like when you really want that grilled taste on something in the middle of a cold winter and you run in and out to put the grill on and throw something on it. We were outside fiddling around without jackets, gloves and hats on. It was warm out. The shot above is actually my brother cleaning off the grill after it had been on for a long time so that the fat from the meat had coated the foil enough so that it eventually caught fire.
This is just an adorable shot of my niece Emily with her chin resting on the living room table.
This is a cute shot of my nephew Justin holding up a Marvel Comics coloring book someone got him for Christmas.
More shots from my family's Christmas up in this flickr set.
Brad Maule has one of thems all access passes from Wayne's World or something. Click through his latest gallery as he takes a hardhat tour of the under-construction Comcast Center. Bitchin. Just bitchin.
I took my mom's Toyota Camry out Saturday night to go see one of my best friends whom I've known now for over 20 years (that's fucking nuts!). We went out to get some wings at our favorite spot, The Candlelight Inn on Central Ave up here in Westchester County (I forget if it's technically in Yonkers or Scarsdale, I think Scarsdale). I noticed that the car only had 1/4 of a tank left so after eating, I went to the gas station to fill 'er up.
I pumped in just under thirteen gallons @ $2.599. $33.31 was the total. Holy shit. I've been putting gas into PhillyCarShare cars for several months now, but this is the most I've seen ring up at the pump. It was quite shocking. I can't imagine owning a car these days.
The crazy thing is that the price of gasoline should be more than double what it is right now. Americans are living on borrowed time in many ways, but most painfully on our reliance on fossil fuels and imported oil in particular.
Well, it's after 12.01a on December 25th so that means that Christmas is over at Yee HQ back in NY. My family does Christmas on the 24th. A "tradition" started five years ago or so that my brother's family could do Christmas with us and with his wife's family.
Dinner was a little weird though, as a result of global warming. It was December 24th and it was so warm we ended up firing up the grill outside and having the kalbi BBQ'd instead of oven cooked. Crazy. I had several helpings of kalbi, several mounds of kimchi, shrimp, chapchae and a nice glass of wine. For dessert, several slices of freshly cut mango and Asian pear.
It's always great to see the fam all together. I gotta come back up to NY on New Year's Day with a few more presents though, I didn't have enough room to cart them all up this time around. I made off pretty well. $200 fatter in the wallet, some cool Puma gear and a space pen (writes upside down and under water!).
I took tons of photos, but I'm not too happy with all of them. I'm really going to have to save up for the 17-55mm f/2.8 Nikkor. The 12-24mm f/4 Tokina is great, but just not a good lens to take portraits with. It's been doing the job on the 24mm end until now, but I just don't can't stand the distortion anymore. The $200 will go towards saving for the new lens. Now to be disciplined enough to do so. Maybe I'll have enough dough to do so by my birthday in a couple of months?!
1. I think the first CD I ever bought was that no talent ass clown's Time Love and Tenderness. I was eleven. Please forgive me. I haven't. I have no idea where that CD currently is.
2. I quit playing soccer because my father told me to.
3. I find it therapeutic to tweeze the few errant hairs at the peak of my hairline.
4. I'm a loner. I'm more comfortable alone than in the company of other people. Not that I don't enjoy the company of other people, just that I'm most comfortable by myself.
I don't buy too much stuff throughout the year that doesn't have to do with food. Food is probably the largest expenditure next to rent. I don't buy clothes. I may buy a new phone each year or so. The only thing I'll really spend much money on is the camera. If I had the dough, I'd splurge for the D200 in a heartbeat followed by the 17-55mm DX Zoom, but hey, whatever.
But I do really like to get myself presents when it comes closer to Christmas. It's the only time of year when I'm actively out looking for stuff for friends and family and then I end up wanting lots of things too when I'm in the stores looking for gifts. It's a weird sensation. But it's happened each of the last few years.
I am happy to say that I'm done Christmas shopping except for a gift for my moms. I know what I'll be getting her though - bicycle-related gear. Lady and I had our gift exchange a few weeks ago. She bravely bought me Final Fantasy XII for PlayStation 2. I got her a What Not to Wear book which I think she's already finished and a Moleskine weekly planner. If anyone's still looking for a 2007 Moleskine planner, Foster's up at 3/Arch had the large and small ones still available as of last week and the Utrecht at 22/Chestnut had them as of yesterday. They rock. I can't wait to start using mine in a week.
My brother is getting Jet Li's Fearless on DVD. My sister in law is getting a box of 32 chocolates from Naked Chocolate Cafe (so is my grandma!). My sister and brother in law are running a half-marathon to benefit Leukemia & Lymphoma research. In lieu of gifts, they've asked for donations to their goals of raising $2400 each. I'm donating to both of them and I'll also be grabbing a couple caramel apples too. I learned last year sometime that they love 'em. I gotta stop by Reading Terminal Market tomorrow or Saturday before heading back to NY. I can't believe those crazies are running 13.1mi. My dad is getting one of my prints of The Thinker in a nice frame. That's gonna be a bitch to take back on mass transit, but hey, it's my dad! My niece is getting one of those marker sets where the markers only work on special Crayola paper - the set comes with a pouch for easier storing, and I got an extra book to use. My nephew is getting this really cool National Geographic R/C snake. It's really cool. I want one for myself.
I didn't get all stressed otu about shopping for stuff though. There's just no need to. People need to chill the fuck out. Take a deep breath. Stop and smell the roses or something.
Saturday will be a long travel day with lots of gifts. And my debit card's mag strip is all fucked up. Right when I'll need it most to quickly buy tickets on my way home. Ugh. I hate carrying around cash, but I'm gonna have to. I'm looking forward to some home cooking though. Mmmmm.
Now, who wants to invite me to their New Year's Eve party?! I may be rowdy and drunk, but I'll be taking pictures too. I'll most likely come as a package deal.
Now, for all three of yous who haven't seen it, in case you end up with a piece of coal in your stocking, just be happy (or unhappy) you didn't get a dick in a box
Brilliant! And kudos to SNL for releasing this to the web.
Lady accompanied me this Saturday to NYC for my trip up to the world famous graffiti wall at 11 Spring St in SoHo. I found out about the end of the graffiti wall earlier in the week and posted about it here. I've been walking by that wall for years now marveling at its greatness. I've read that the new owners of the building were planning to powerwash the brick outside. I don't know how they're gonna get hundreds of layers of Krylon off. And washing off the old is just going to be a brand spanking new canvass for more graff to go up there.
Yes, graffiti is illegal. But for years, the City has looked the other way when it came to that unused spot. I'm sad to see it go. But I'm very happy I got to go see it one last time.
We got there a little late though. I didn't make it in time to get on line to be let inside - it was 3p and the doors closed at 5p. The line ran down and around three sides of the block: down Elizabeth, east on Spring (pictured above) and curling back up Bowery. I was amazed. There were hundreds of people milling about when we walked down Elizabeth St. Tons of photographers about as well as people there without cameras. I wondered if I would run into anyone I knew. Lady asked me if I thought I'd run into anyone I knew too. I said that I knew like 5 photogs up there by face and it was highly unlikely. But who do I run into right in front of the entrance? None other than Joseph Holmes. Funny. I had just emailed him a couple days earlier and he encouraged me to come up for the grand closing and there we were 48 hours later saying hi and shaking hands. He had just finished taking photos around the building. Since he's in the know, he got a private tour of the interior the week prior. I was so jealous (this was before I found out the line was too long for me to get on at that point).
After walking up and down the blocks a couple times I got on line halfway up the block on Bowery and was promptly told to come back the next day as they were going to close up at 5p. I was incredibly disheartened. I had dropped all my plans to come up. But I was really there to see the exterior. I knew that getting inside would be the delicious icing on the cake, but it wasn't truly what I had hopped onto the Chinatown bus for. I wanted to see the stuff outside. I did get a glimpse inside the front entrance way and it looked grand. And I've been going through the images on the 11 Spring flickr group. I added a few of the shots I took as well. My flickr set of 11 Spring St.
My favorite piece which was up while I was there was this one above. A toy plastic gun painted white instead of what I presume was originally black and shooting up flowers instead of shooting down people. Simply glued onto the wall.
The imagery was whimsical, political and awesome. Such an explosion of expression. I didn't sense anger in the artwork though. It was more of a celebration, a one last bang feeling. But I've since read and seen otherwise.
I haven't searched for images of what 11 Spring St looks like now, but I presume it's been powerwashed up and the drywall has started to go up inside already.
It was somewhere around 60° on Monday. The city it was around 60° one week away from Christmas? Philadelphia. That's not right. It's just not right.
It is extremely scary to see this climate change advance so rapidly in my short lifespan of 26 years. It's fucking downright freaky. I'm no 80-year-old grandpa telling his kids about how back in the day such-and-such used to cost a nickel. I'm talking about 15 years ago I used to be making snow angels in the ground around Thanksgiving. Nowadays, I'm lucky if I see two days of accumulation of more than 2" over the course of the late fall through winter. Frightening.
One way to help save the world: use recycled products. You can't recycle much here in this bass-ackwards city of Philadelphia we have here - you can't recycle a fucking plastic can in most of the city! Where are our aluminum can refund centers? Chroist. So, getting back to my preachy point…
What good is it to use a piece of virgin toilet paper to wipe the shit off of your ass? What good is it to use a piece of virgin tissue to blow snot into? What good is it to use a piece of virgin napkin to wipe the non-eaten food off of your chin? You want the cheap stuff? Go buy Marcal. You want the slightly more expensive stuff, go to Trader Joe's. You want the high and mighty stuff and you have a fat wallet - go to Whole Foods.
I get recycled tissues from Trader Joe's. A box of TJ brand tissues is 99¢. An 8-pack of TJ brand on the go resealable tissues is $1.29. I get recycled toilet paper from Whole Foods. Their 365 brand is cheap. I get recycled napkins by Marcal.
Go save the world and buy recycled products. And when you can and where the city allows it, recycle. The state of recycling in this city is absolutely pathetic and shameful.
