Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Marathon Relay



My friend Jon and I split the Vermont City Marathon down the middle on Sunday. I took the first leg and he took the anchor leg. He is a faster man than I. Our times:

1:35:41 (10 miles) Me
0:29:45 (3.109) Me
=======
2:05:26

0:59:06 (6.891 miles) Jon
0:55:12 (6.219) Jon
=======
1:54:18



...I'm happy enough to come that close to 2 hours, since I hardly trained....

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Bigworld-smallworld-ness

I ran into Mike Donofrio yesterday, of the band The New Year. He was running along my road with his dog. As it turns out he's off to Barcelona this week to perform in a major music fest (lineup below):

I think what strikes me most about this is the bigworld-smallworld-ness of it all. I mean, this is a guy I don't know tremendously well, but I know him, and it's always nice to run into him. He's quite unassuming for someone who has been in a couple of very well known (in some circles) bands (Saturnine and The New Year). My kids trick-or-treat on his street; he gave one of our local librarians a bass so that he could teach himself to play "Sunshine of Your Love"; he has a dog, a couple of kids. He's just a guy. And yet he's on his way to Barcelona to play in a festival with the likes of (to pick some names randomly) Art Brut, Bloc Party, Damien Jurado, My Bloody Valentine, Neil Young, St. Etienne, Sonic Youth, Spiritualized, The Bad Plus, The Jayhawks, The Vaselines, Throwing Muses, Yo La Tengo. I don't know how many people The New Year will be playing for in Spain (there are several stages) but the contrast between the Mike I know (who hobnobs with librarians and the likes of me) and the guy who hobnobs with Neil Young and Sonic Youth is...what? Kind of surreal.

Friday, May 22, 2009

The Shot That Does It

I don't know what this is, exactly (I wasn't there), but this is partly why Lauren was so murky this morning. She sent me this picture from her phone last night, as she celebrated her birthday at The Alchemist (we didn't have a sitter).

Thursday, May 21, 2009

The Swear Thing

Okay, my kids are suddenly taken with swearing (in fact, Fergus was delighted today to realize that Wikipedia has entries for "shit" and "fuck". (Hi Gram!) (Hi Gramma!)

This led to two things: a discussion with my peers about exposing kids to swear words in the music we listen to (response below) and a question from Fergus about what an "interjection" is (presumably based on a Wikipedia description of one of these words). I reminded him of the "Grammar Rock" episode about interjections and he seemed to understand the grammar concept ("Is 'Fuck!' an interjection?" "Sometimes; it depends how you use it"). Vulgarity as learning opportunity.

Actual NWA lyrics below:



Fuck tha police
Comin straight from the underground
Young nigga got it bad cuz I'm brown
And not the other color so police think
They have the authority to kill a minority

Fuck that shit, cuz I ain't tha one
For a punk muthafucka with a badge and a gun
To be beatin on, and throwin in jail
We could go toe to toe in the middle of a cell

Fuckin with me cuz I'm a teenager
With a little bit of gold and a pager
Searchin my car, lookin for the product
Thinkin every nigga is sellin narcotics

You'd rather see me in the pen
Then me and Lorenzo rollin in the Benzo
Beat tha police outta shape
And when I'm finished, bring the yellow tape
To tape off the scene of the slaughter
Still can't swallow bread and water

I don't know if they fags or what
Search a nigga down and grabbin his nuts
And on the other hand, without a gun they can't get none
But don't let it be a black and a white one
Cuz they slam ya down to the street top
Black police showin out for the white cop

Ice Cube will swarm
On any muthafucka in a blue uniform
Just cuz I'm from the CPT, punk police are afraid of me
A young nigga on a warpath
And when I'm finished, it's gonna be a bloodbath
Of cops, dyin in LA
Yo Dre, I got somethin to say

Fuck the police (4X)


Birthday (at Coffee) Corner

To celebrate Lauren's birthday she picked the kids up at school and bopped down the hill for a celebratory lunch at Coffee Corner, the diner located at the corner of State and Main in Montpelier. I had to work! :-(


Picture taken by our waitress-friend-neighbor, Karen.
Birthday (at Coffee) Corner
Originally uploaded by baseballpajamas

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Maddow and Hodgman Mix Up

John Hodgman says:

"For audiobook, @maddow mixed that famous old cocktail 'the severed ear'. VanGogh's favorite: red bull & absinthe."


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(Photo posted by Hodgman)

Sunday, May 17, 2009

You Know Your Kid is Outgrowing
Children's Media...

...when he writes the word "ASS" on Clifford the Big Red Dog.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Because It's Easier to Hit Someone...

This is an excerpt from Senate hearings yesterday on interrogation techniques. Ali Soufan is a former senior FBI agent involved in the interrogation of captured al-Qaida operative Abu Zubaydah. Lindsay Graham is a Republican senator from South Carolina.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM: Do you believe that any good information was obtained through harsh interrogation techniques? Can you say that there was no good information?

ALI SOUFAN: Well, from what I know on the Abu Zubaydah, I would like you to evaluate the information that we got before—

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM: Well, the Vice President’s suggesting that there was good information obtained, and I’d like the committee to get that information. Let’s have both sides of the story here. I mean, one of the reasons these techniques have survived for about 500 years is apparently they work.

ALI SOUFAN: Because, sir, there’s a lot of people who don’t know how to interrogate—

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM: Right.

ALI SOUFAN: —and it’s easier to hit someone than outsmart them.

Friday, May 8, 2009

Chick Flick

First full day at home (in the speaker box) for the chicks, some of whom have been named already: Buffers, Chicken-Hawk, Cookies, Lemon-Cake, and Roodaka.

They seem pretty happy with these names.

Thursday, May 7, 2009

The Chicks Come to Roost

Yikes! We are now the proud owners of 5 Buff Orpington and 5 Barred Rock hens.

Real Peeps, Carrie. REAL peeps.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Slow Descent Into Hippy-ness



...After nine years in Central Vermont my slow descent from bitter hard-edged urban malcontent to aging hippy smudge-stick paganite is nearing completion. For I have now attended my second Montpelier All Species Day....