Things revolving around me recently:

The Jehovah's are having an assembly at the Bart later this month. How do I know this? Knock on door with personal invite.

I like the Cartoon Network's billboard: "I have a meat beard".

Harborfest was in town this weekend. Again, an event that appeals to the "plantation hat" wearing crowd, skewing a bit older, I'd say. Regardless, the appeal of standing in very hot weather to see boats at a dock with no sails up is lost on me. As I'm walking this a.m., I have this conversation by the Stadium:

Lady (standing by wheelchair): "Are you from around here?"
Me: "Yes, ma'am."
Lady (pointing behind Rock Hall): "Can you tell me if I can get to the ships by going that way?"
Me: "Yes, under normal conditions, you can go around the Rock Hall and walk down the pier to get close."
Lady: "Oh, I don't know, I'd hate to go that way, then have to go back."
Me: "I hear you. As I said, the road is blocked now. People are walking that way, if they are getting through, I can't say."
Lady: "I think it would be open."
Me (irritated): "Listen, it's your call."
Lady (still wanting me to make her decision); "Thank you."

OK, if you are standing by your wheelchair, I'm guessing you are not that bad off. I"m not suggesting she walk from there, but she sure as hell could have parked a lot closer, making her ride over there less of an adventure. Why someone on a warm day like today would pick that particular day to take their wheelchair (of course, while sitting in it) and pay to see some parked boat is incredible to me.

Besides, the coolest thing this a.m. was the helicopter lifting the scaffolding and other equipment to the top of the AT&T building on Huron, so the workers can do the work up there. There is nothing like seeing a big-ass helicopter lifting shit up, because they hover way above the building, so the equipment is gently placed up there. Somehow, people got wind of it, as they were taking video and snapshots along East 9th. The best part, it was gratis.

Today, I saw two extremely large people on the same motorcycle, wearing helmets. The circus elements literally attached to that made me laugh out loud.

Last night, I'm driving home on West 25th and because it was so hot, it seemed that every Hispanic was out, most at some club north of I-90. As I'm going through this guantlet de la raza, guy pulls out of his parking spot, but has to wait for a guy who chose that moment to cross the street. OK, he sees the guy in plenty of time and the other guy didn't exactly pick up the pace to cross. But car guy decides to stop and yell at crossing guy. I'm thinkin' here we go, but I think the music is too loud and the guy ignores him. Meanwhile, I realize I'm now driving behind some crazy dude, who may at any given time, explode for no reason. He did end up double parking south of Clark for no apparent reason, as I quickly got away.

As I'm buying my Jewish Rye from Mazzone's today, some dude is intruding on my personal space. I stopped after my walk, it was hot and I was a bit sweaty, but not obnoxiously so. Just have my backward cap and Lite Beer shirt (normal logo on left chest) on, and shorts obviously. He didn't stroll over in some gay way because his conversation revolved around a wife, but in an extremely weird dude kind of way. He seemed to be interested in the Lite Beer logo for some unknown reason, as he was staring at it. I ignored him and didn't back away. He gets his stuff and he's leaving. Of course, with my luck, I notice the back of his shirt which reads, "Would you like to wax my Woody?" All right, there was a picture of a Ford, but do I need to reconsider his motives?

If you are considering a vacuum cleaner, you must get the Hoover Bagless Wind Tunnel. This crazy thing has the big spotlight for night cleaning (why else?), and a red and green light. The red light stays on and gives you the Embedded Dirt signal until it turns green, signalling it's OK to move on. It's an awesome machine and I like it tons.

Meal of Links

We wandered down to the Winking Lizard's "Shot in the Dark" last night. Actually, Gale and I attended by proxy. You camp out on Alesci's patio and listen to the band. Thank God, it was breezy. Anyhow, the band typifies what is wrong with some local cover band-types, I think. You see, they had a female singer and although the band was gifted musically, she had a voice that didn't match up well with their selections. Hey, I think women can sing Alice in Chains, but not this one. I think women can sing "Been Caught Stealing", but not this one. She did well with a Madonna song and a couple of others, but "Superstition", uh-uh. I don't know who they were, but it irked me. And Ingenuity was going on, hell, I thought that was free. But, as I always say, it's good if people show up downtown on a non-sporting event night, regardless of why.

Revisiting "Blue Velvet" is always a good thing. "Heineken? Fuck that shit! Pabst Blue Ribbon!"

Chris Angell Levitation


SPOLILER ALERT: Chris shows how he performs this stunt.

Exercise Yard

I haven't mentioned the "Tour", post-Lance, very much, but we are heading to the mountains this week with this year's race seemingly wide open. Here's the scoop on Floyd Landis, who is riding with a broken hip. He is currently second.

Side note: If you have never watched the Tour de France, this is the week to catch a bit of it. The mountain stages are what the race is all about.

Visitor

None, it's a hot Sunday.