Edwardo for the People

PVC Target Stand

2012-01-14T14:57:00.000-05:00

For recreational shooting this seems like a great value. Materials cost me $15.80 per stand at a big box home improvement store. Here are the two I built, assembled and ready to go. Just staple some cardboard backing to the wood and apply paper targets of your choice. Hat tip to The Late Boy Scout for the clear and simple instructions in his video.

PVC Target Stand. Materials cost $15.80 each.

Summer in November

2011-12-14T09:53:00.001-05:00

Summer in November
Originally uploaded by EdwardGoodwin

This makes me feel warm and happy!

Grasshopper on Rose

2011-12-07T10:20:00.001-05:00

Grasshopper on Rose
Originally uploaded by EdwardGoodwin
Taken on a warm Thanksgiving evening.

Funny Lookin' Dog

2011-06-16T11:56:00.001-04:00

Camera phones are great at capturing moments like this. Taken with Droid X.

Chicago Skyline with Photoshop Effects

2011-06-14T16:11:00.002-04:00

I pimped it a little. Also from July 2009.

Chicago Skyline with Photoshop effects

Chicago at Night as Seen From Navy Pier

2011-06-14T16:01:00.002-04:00

Here's one from July 2009. I think it turned out pretty well.

Chicago at night as seen from Navy Pier

Voice Mail Message Two

2011-06-07T10:51:00.000-04:00

I get some strange voice mail messages.

A little recoil therapy

2011-06-03T15:00:00.000-04:00

While I was in Denver recently, I stopped by the newly opened Blucore Shooting Center. I rented a Sig Sauer P226 in 9mm and blasted some paper. Fun times!


Sig Sauer P226 in 9mm

Nice shootin' Tex!

Moth on Fish-eye Lens

2011-05-29T15:24:00.002-04:00

The smallest moth I've ever seen turns into a giant, winged beast when viewed through the fish-eye lens. At first glance I thought an owl was clinging to my back door. Upon further inspection I realized it was only a tiny moth no bigger than my finger nail. Picture taken with Droid X.

Moth on Fish-eye

Pig Swig

2011-05-27T14:18:00.000-04:00

Pig Swig Pig Pin Pilsner is the latest store brand for Piggly Wiggly grocery stores in South Carolina. This beer is a certified SC product and it's made by Thomas Creek brewery in upstate SC. The name alone is worth the $6.99 price tag. Have you tried any of the Pig Swig brand?

Charley Takes a Break.

2011-04-04T15:42:00.000-04:00

I love it when people leave notes

2011-03-21T14:18:00.004-04:00

Passive aggressive or maybe just a crazy person.

From Droid X

Street Legal

2011-02-22T19:59:00.000-05:00

What the hell?

Charley gets some "face time."

2011-02-17T19:20:00.003-05:00

It's a bit tricky, driving while filming.

Charley Enjoys the Sunshine

2011-02-15T14:15:00.000-05:00

Spring is just around the corner.

ADT Reps Are So Silly

2010-11-29T23:08:00.003-05:00

Representatives from ADT Security have been going door-to-door in my neighborhood. A pair of them stopped by today while I was at work. I have a security sign in the front yard and stickers on the windows for another security company. I wonder what they wanted? Here is the video.

Voice Mail Message

2010-11-23T22:56:00.002-05:00

Some silly prankster left me this message on my work phone. I've got a few suspects in mind though no one has come forward yet. This really made my day and I needed to share it with the rest of you. Long live the prank call!

Tokyo Sandblaster

2010-11-15T15:10:00.001-05:00

I replied to @ConanOBrien 's tweet that we should all send him our best guesses to the definition of a Tokyo Sandblaster. My reply was "@ConanOBrien #TokyoSandblaster is when a tall person, while stretching upwards, scrapes their knuckles on the textured ceiling of a cheap Japanese hotel." I have not yet received a reply from Coco.

Not Funny At All

2010-10-31T18:45:00.001-04:00

Pretty sure someone urinated on our front porch last night. We have a few suspects in mind and unfortunately I think this is not a one time Halloween prank.

Farmers Market Fire

2010-10-27T11:44:00.001-04:00

Structure fire at the old Senn Brothers produce shed. Former site of SC State Farmers Market. Video shot with Motorola Droid X.

Alien Bug

2010-08-09T22:40:00.001-04:00

What a strange flying insect.

Arrived home this evening to find this little guy having a buffet on our flowers. I've never seen this type of insect before. It's almost big enough to be a Hummingbird. Look at how the eyes glow from the light on my camera. It didn't seem the least bit bothered by me.
Video shot with Motorola Droid X, Quick in/out edit using QuickTime Pro 7 then uploaded via desktop computer

Summer Storm Brewing

2010-07-27T19:40:00.000-04:00

First video from my Motorola Droid X!

Droid X Lives

2010-07-22T22:57:00.002-04:00

First post from my new phone. Love it so far.

Droid X

2010-07-19T15:00:00.001-04:00

I finally decided on a new smart phone purchase. I was deciding between the Droid Incredible and the Droid X. Both phones run the Android operating system and are available on the Verizon network. After seeing my buddy Brian's new Droid X, I choose that one. I have really big hands and I think the larger phone will fit perfectly. It runs Android and that in itself is awesome. The phones are currently back ordered due to high demand and should ship next week. I am quivering with anticipation. Currently using a POS LG Versa, blech!
Motorola Droid X review by Engadget.com.

I'm Melting

2010-07-08T15:08:00.000-04:00

Trying to convince myself that it's probably hotter in Cambodia or on the Sun.

Perfect Summer Dinner

2010-06-13T21:33:00.002-04:00

Grilled Flank steak over a BIG Summer salad. Thanks to our local CSA and the greens already in our garden we had the ingredients on hand except for the steak. Props to Kristian Niemi for the grillin' advice; the steak turned out perfect. Paired with a 2007 Bernadus Sauvignon Blanc. May's "Unique" Vinaigrette for the salad.

Vampire Weekend

2010-04-12T15:57:00.003-04:00

Really good show. The crowd was exactly what I expected.

Vampire weekend at the Tabernacle in Atlanta, GA.

Nice Helmet

2010-04-12T15:56:00.004-04:00

I like to ride my bike on top of parking garages.

Monkey Knuts

2010-02-09T15:42:00.001-05:00

Just arrived in the mail today. Check out my Monkey Knut. I ordered this on a Friday and it arrived via mail the following Tuesday. Ordering was easy, customer service was great and personal. Very happy so far.

Push-ups and Banannas

2010-02-01T15:25:00.001-05:00

I recently read that push-ups are the perfect free workout. I certainly agree; push-ups are free, portable, and require only a few minutes of your time.
I've often heard that bananas are nature's perfect food. This is debatable, but that's for another time.
What if I bust out some push-ups while eating bananas? Clearly, this needs testing.

The Gun Markets of Pakistan

2010-01-27T13:10:00.003-05:00

Courtesy VBS.tv

Definitely snowing in Utah

2010-01-27T10:46:00.001-05:00

Might be some snow in Utah

2010-01-19T14:08:00.002-05:00

Mike in Snow

This is Mike. He lives in Salt Lake City; it snows there sometimes.

Are You a Horchata Drinking Contra?

2010-01-12T14:27:00.003-05:00

Just ask Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend. Their new album Contra dropped today. I'm a big fan of the first album. needless to say I've been anticipating this one for awhile. Seems like they have stuck to their unique sound. I'm still digesting this one, more later. Listen for free.

Things in my inbox

2010-01-12T11:22:00.002-05:00

Sorry, I don't know you and my name is not Teddy.
Good luck with the chickens anyway!

Blog Fodder

2009-12-21T22:02:00.002-05:00

Woke up this morning with a blog post in my head.

Armed man roams affluent Shandon neighborhood.

Today an armed man walked freely and casually through the affluent Shandon neighborhood in Columbia, SC. The unidentified man; armed with a Glock .40 caliber semi-automatic pistol and 13 rounds of Speer Gold Dot jacketed hollow point ammunition walked casually and freely through one of Columbia's oldest neighborhoods. The armed man walked past a school full of children, a neighborhood church, and directly through a city park with a playground. He passed men, women, children, walkers, joggers and even a young mother pushing a stroller. No one was alarmed. No one was injured. No shots were fired and no police were called. No news at 11. How can this be possible you ask? Why wasn't this on the news? Because the armed man was me. In South Carolina I am legally licensed to carry a concealed firearm. There are others like me. Over 100,000 law abiding citizens in SC have concealed carry permits according to SLED. Responsible and law abiding gun owners; we walk among you every day.

Playthings In Peace — Weapons In War

2009-02-03T14:43:00.009-05:00

Interesting to me this was written in 1920. I have not read the entire book yet, but plan to as time permits. Scanning through the PDF I saw some very technical and "heavy on the history" chapters.

An excerpt:

Playthings In Peace — Weapons In War

"Now comes again the ancient propaganda, spread by a vicious few, of international disarmament and everlasting peace. This pernicious doctrine, as old as nations themselves, and now proclaimed anew on the one hand by those who are educationally or mentally defective and on the other by seekers of gain who are knaves, is dangerous to all nations and especially menacing to the strength, the safety, and even the existence of our own United States."

"Books may be filled with the pros and cons. Committees, jurists and international delegates may spend weeks and months in contemplation and argument. After all has been said everything may be rejected as not fundamental except a few basic facts. These are the basic facts:
Belligerent human nature has not changed since Creation. Until human nature becomes divine, and on this earth it never will, certain causes will result in strife between individuals. Until nations become composed of other than just human beings certain causes must result in war. There never will be any value in written-upon-paper international agreements not to fight. There is no problem of everlasting peace."

"But there is a very real problem of how to be strong in peace; not too strong but just strong enough; not for the purpose of being aggressive but for the sake of being always capable of self- defence and yet a little more. Such a safe condition can be secured in this way:"

Read or download the entire manuscript for free
http://books.google.com/books?id=TYlCAAAAIAAJ

Firearms in American History
By Charles Winthrop Sawyer
Published by The author, 1920
Item notes: v. 3
Original from the University of California
Digitized Oct 16, 2007
237 pages

Hot Dogs

2009-01-22T14:32:00.008-05:00

"Oh, how I wish I was an Oscar Mayer Weiner..."

Juggling in the Office video

2009-01-13T18:04:00.005-05:00

First video with the Flip Mino HD. The embedded player doesn't do it justice.
Go here and click the "Watch in HD" button.

Flip Mino HD

2009-01-13T11:03:00.007-05:00

Look what UPS man brought me. This is the Flip Mino (pronounced minnow) It shoots 720p HD video using the H.264 video codec. Videos are saved as mpeg-4 (mp4) files. I'm still charging the internal battery but will post a test video soon.

New Lappy

2008-05-14T20:20:00.004-04:00

My new Lappy is a MacBook Pro. I’m sitting in my favorite coffee shop having a cup of the “house” and I can’t help but think about J.K. Rowling writing the adventures of Harry Potter. I have no idea if she used a laptop computer or simply penned her writings in a notebook using ink and real paper. I’m composing this entry using Office 2008 for the Mac OS. It’s the first thing I’ve typed up since purchasing “Pigwidgeon.”

Pigwidgeon is the name I’ve affectionately given to my new computer. I’ve been struggling with the idea of getting a laptop for some time now. Do I really need one? I already have a perfectly good computer at home. I hate going out of town and not having access to my home computer: especially staying in hotels that offer free Internet access. It’s such a convenience to be able to carry a world of information with you. I’m also getting married in a few months and a laptop would be just the thing to take on our Honeymoon.

Recently I found myself in Salt Lake City for a few days. I was able to visit with friends and do a little Geocaching. I quickly found my way to the Apple store with a little help from my friends and went in to have a look. Now, I use Macs at work for video editing and other media related things, but I’ve never owned one that was my personal computer…until now. The employees are pretty good about giving you space and not hounding you. When I did have a question it was pretty easy to track one down and get the answer I was looking for. I think I spent about three hours in there. When I left it was with a band new, all my own, Lappy 5000! For you computer nerds out there my new Pigwidgeon is the 15.4” MacBook Pro with Intel Core Duo 2.4 GHz processor and 2 GB RAM. It’s is sooooo nice and shiny!

I love my new Lappy! If anyone can suggest some websites with Mac OS tips and tricks that would be great. I know just enough to be dangerous ☺ I’m looking forward to learning how my little Pigwidgeon can make my life a little better.

Mario Tennis?

2008-05-14T15:57:00.001-04:00

Mario Tennis? Just testing the post by email feature. Sent from LG VX8300 on the Verizon network.

April Fools

2008-04-03T22:48:00.002-04:00

Ah, yes. What fun we have the first day of April. I understand that filling a coworkers cubicle with styrofoam popcorn is high on the list of pranks.
The Google pranks this year were good for a chuckle. The Gmail custom time feature was par for the course.
The guys at work even liked when Youtube Rickrolled all their featured videos.

But, this one truly takes the cake. A fake Legend of Zelda movie trailer?
Yes, it's true. This movie trailer is a very elaborate April Fools joke.
Why can't it be real? See it here.

Thank you Rainfall Films for ruining my April. I fart in your general direction.

Grand Central

2008-04-03T20:58:00.003-04:00

My one trip to NYC was all too short lived. I spent it with some of my closest friends and I would not have wanted it any other way. It was a debaucherous (is that a word?) whirlwind weekend in Manhattan. We never traveled by train, but the main lobby of this station is truly grand. L to R - Mike, Brittany, Matt.

I Want This One

2008-03-25T22:19:00.003-04:00

This is a Kimber Custom TLE/RL II™ .45 ACP.

Puhleeeze can I have it? Gimme, gimme, gimme.

My new favorite piece and a little history

2007-12-10T22:47:00.000-05:00

I am the new and proud owner of a Smith & Wesson M&P .45.

...but first, let me give you a little history.

Shortly after turning 21 years of age I purchased my first handgun. I bought a Beretta model 92 chambered in 9MM. I purchased this gun based on having seen the Lethal Weapon movies where Mel Gibson carries this gun as his duty weapon. I was most impressed with his technique and general bad-assness. I also based this decision on the fact that this gun is the sidearm of the US Army. But mostly this model 92 looked just like a toy gun that I had growing up. It looked just like an early "shoot 'em up" game called "Daisy Pursuit." "Daisy Pursuit" was the first shooting game I ever saw where you shoot infrared beams at targets to register a "hit." This was a little before laser tag hit the market and the infrared guns were plastic replicas modeled after real guns. We're talking early 1980's before toy guns had to be painted blaze orange or pink. See picture below.

So I went ahead and purchased the Beretta. After I got over the sick feeling in my stomach, I headed out to the range for some target practice. I'm not sure what happened, but for some reason I got an upset stomach. Maybe it was all the cash I just laid down or maybe it was the fact that I now had a lethal weapon in my possession.
So out to the range I go. Load up a clip and pull the trigger. Bang! So far so good. Bang! This was not the first time I had ever shot a handgun. I shot handguns with my parents, though it had been some years since then and I was definitely rusty. I was an ok shot this time. I could hit the big target but not really in the same spot every time. The gun stove piped *see malfunction #2* on me a lot and I found this frustrating. The guy at the range said I was limp-wristing it. Whatever, man...

Not satisfied with my first handgun purchase and thinking there was something wrong with the gun I just bought, I went and rented a Glock. I had heard about Glock pistols being extremely popular and easy to shoot. They are the carry gun of my local Sheriffs dept and hundreds of other law enforcement agencies worldwide. I returned to the same gun range and decided on a Glock 9MM model 26 affectionately know as the baby Glock.
HOLY S**t! I hit dead center inside the 10 ring on my first shot at 7 yards. I fired again and the 2nd round hit right beside the first! Here I am thinking to myself, how is this possible? This little gun kicks ass! I'm starting to like this :-)

To be continued...

Smith & Wesson model 15

2007-12-02T12:24:00.001-05:00

I'm slowly but surely learning about S&W revolvers. I do not know the origins of this gun or when it might have been manufactured. Research by me and a little patience will reveal those answers. This is one piece that we've always had. It's one of the first handguns I ever fired. I'm proud of the condition that it's in and also that I have been able to keep it in such great condition. This one is a shooter too. It locks up tight and smokes like Keith Richards on stage. When I open the cylinder it says model 15-3, not sure what that means exactly. I wish I knew more about this piece so I could write about it here.

I have to give props to Tamara over at The Arms Room and to Xavier Thoughts for giving me the idea of posting gun ~~pr0n~~ pictures and also for sharing some of their favorite pieces with the world. Thanks y'all!

It's genius!

2007-11-12T11:19:00.001-05:00

We all knew it was true. We just didn't want Edwizzle to get too full of himself and go running off to MIT labs in search of a "genius only" think tank.

2007-10-15T15:10:00.000-04:00

Modern Drunkard Magazine presents the 86 rules of boozing Learn them as there will be a quiz later.

Newest addition

2007-08-11T17:33:00.000-04:00

Smith & Wesson Model 36 "Chief's Special"
Gerber folding knife
Surefire 6P flashlight.

Gun Pr0n

2007-08-11T17:18:00.000-04:00

Baby Glock model 26 chambered in 9mm.
Galco Summer Comfort IWB holster.
Spyderco folding knife

Cripes, it's hot!

2007-08-08T13:32:00.000-04:00

It's days like today I'm really glad I have a nice inside office job. It stays between 68 and 70 degrees here. If I sit still long enough I actually get a little cold. Outside is a different story. It's Africa hot! Here's what my Subaru Outback had to say about that and the 50% humidity.

Jenny?

2007-08-01T14:51:00.000-04:00

"Jenny, I got you're number...867-5309" - Tommy Tutone

Apparently "Jenny" is hard to reach these days. Someone with waaaaay too much time on their hands started calling (867-5309) with different area code prefixes and recording the results. A Google search turned up this list from 2004.

(217) 867-5309: Disconnected.
(262) 867-5309: Disconnected.
(303) 867-5309: Not in service.
(309) 867-5309: Disconnected.
(310) 867-5309: Temporarily not in service.
(312) 867-5309: "...867-5309 is being checked for trouble." ???
(313) 867-5309: Disconnected.
(401) 867-5309: GEM plumbers.
(403) 867-5309: Fast busy signal.
(412) 867-5309: Disconnected.
(413) 867-5309: Call could not be completed as dialed.
(414) 867-5309: Not in service.
(415) 867-5309: Some guy named Kevin who hangs up when you ask for Jenny.
(416) 867-5309: No answer.
(434) 867-5309: Cannot be completed as dialed.
(440) 867-5309: Not in service.
(502) 867-5309: Busy for well over a day.
(503) 867-5309: Busy signal.
(505) 867-5309: No answer.
(508) 867-5309: Waited 11 rings. No answer, no voice mail. Hung up.
(514) 867-5309: French out-of-service message.
(519) 867-5309: Disconnected.
(520) 867-5309: Chris's voicemail.
(541) 867-5309: Disconnected.
(573) 867-5309: Call could not be completed as dialed.
(608) 867-5309: Disconnected.
(612) 867-5309: A cell phone that forwards you to another cell phone.
(613) 867-5309: !!! Jamie, whose voicemail plays Tommy Tutone's song in it! I love this guy.
(617) 867-5309: The same plumbing company as area code 401.
(618) 867-5309: Disconnected.
(619) 867-5309: Temporarily not in service.
(630) 867-5309: Rang once, two beeps, then a busy signal.
(701) 867-5309: Disconnected.
(702) 867-5309: "The area code has changed to 775."
(703) 867-5309: Temporarily not in service.
(719) 867-5309: Voicemail for Larry Young, Probation Officer.
(720) 867-5309: Not in service.
(724) 867-5309: Disconnected.
(763) 867-5309: Disconnected.
(765) 867-5309: Not in service.
(770) 867-5309: No answer.
(773) 867-5309: Extension not recognized.
(775) 867-5309: Not in service.
(800) 867-5309: Rang and rang. No answer.
(802) 867-5309: Not in service.
(803) 867-5309: Disconnected.
(808) 867-5309: Cannot be completed as dialed.
(815) 867-5309: Not in service.
(817) 867-5309: Not in service.
(843) 867-5309: Call could not be completed as dialed.
(847) 867-5309: Some guy's voicemail.
(850) 867-5309: Voicemail - some girl named Carrie, Kerri, something like that.
(858) 867-5309: Fast busy signal.
(864) 867-5309: Call could not be completed as dialed.
(877) 867-5309: Some chick answered. No confirmation on whether or not it was Jenny.
(888) 867-5309: Rang and rang. No answer.
(919) 867-5309: Call could not be completed as dialed.
(925) 867-5309: Disconnected.
(952) 867-5309: Disconnected.
(970) 867-5309: Not in service.
(971) 867-5309: Fast busy signal.
(978) 867-5309: Disconnected.

Captioned Cats

2007-06-17T22:43:00.000-04:00

Have you ever see those annoyingly cute, sickeningly sweet cat pictures? You know, the ones that have a picture of a cat doing something cute or funny? Yeah, that's right, with an added caption that is misspelled on purpose to make it even funnier?

Well, here's all of 'em! At least it's all the ones I could find.
You will laugh out loud. My apologies if you've already see these. I think some of them are funny as Hell.

I can has Cheezburger? http://icanhascheezburger.com/

http://www.dropline.net/cats/

This next link takes a long time to load. There are quite a lot of thumbnails (maybe a few thousand) on this page. I think this is every cat picture currently existing on the internets.

http://www.acc.umu.se/~zqad/cats/

Canadian Glacier

2007-06-12T22:59:00.001-04:00

Group at Glacier
Originally uploaded by Edwizzle

Snowboarding trip Dec, 2002-Jan,2003. Such a fun time!
Mike took this of our group. We were at some big ass glacier in Canada and it was futher-muckin' cold!

Easter Rose

2007-06-12T22:44:00.001-04:00

Easter Rose
Originally uploaded by Edwizzle

Easter morning 2007. Walking in the garden at Mom's house. This beautiful rose was growing up the trellis. Did a little touching up in Picassa. I think it turned out nicely.
Taken with a Sony DSC-P200.

Sprinkler

2007-06-11T19:14:00.001-04:00

Running the sprinkler late in the day. The sun was hot, the air was humid. I like the way the water droplets are reflected. I've only applied a cooling filter in Photoshop. This helps with the warm yellow tones captured in the original.

RSS in Plain English

2007-06-11T14:58:00.000-04:00

There are two types of Internet users, those that use RSS and those that don't. This video is for the people who could save time using RSS, but don't know where to start.

Click To Play

Thanks to leelefever over at CommonCraft

Red Flower

2007-06-07T15:13:00.001-04:00

Red Flower

A pretty red flower for you. Notice the small strands of spiders web.
Took this on a Summer day when the sun was really hot and bright.
Took with a Sony Cybershot DSC-F707.

Keyboard

2007-06-07T13:05:00.001-04:00

Keyboard

I was just over at Snowbug's blog checking out his experiments with candle light and the digital camera.
That's when I remembered I had this photo I took years ago.
Feeling a little artsy one night. I played around with lighting and different camera angles. This is an old Gateway I bought in 1999. The light is from a fluorescent desk lamp and the monitor in the background is a 21" CRT that weighs a ton!

This was taken with a Sony Cybershot DSC-F707 set to automatic mode. The keyboard is leaning against the monitor which is out of focus in the background.

This photo makes a great desktop wallpaper. Head over to Flickr and download the large size image. It's okay I give you permission.

Check out the dust on the keys. I need to hire a maid...

Wanna Know The Truth?

2007-06-06T16:29:00.000-04:00

http://www.whudafxup.com
National campaign against large tobacco companies
Also called TheTruth.com
Check out their video page. Some of these vids have been on television. One I hadn't seen before is called "Meet Eelus." It's really good. You never see his face, you only hear his voice.
Also, take a look at the "arsenal" section. The posters are made to be printed out and posted on public bulletin boards.

http://www.rageagainstthehaze.com/
Local SC campaign aimed at teen smoking prevention.
Great site, it's very hip with embedded music player and teen peer videos. The content seems to be teen driven. Much better than having a teacher or parent lecturing you about the dangers of smoking.

http://www.smokefreecolumbia.com/
Another local campaign to make Columbia, SC smoke free.

Cigarettes are disgusting! I smoked for 12 years before quitting 15 months ago. Now, the smell of cigarettes makes me nauseas.
Read what happens immediately after you quit smoking

Good Eats in Bean Town Part 2

2007-06-06T16:16:00.000-04:00

I just have to mention this wonderful Asian restaurant where Lane and I had dinner. It's in Harvard Square. This is the 4th restaurant in the Pho Pasteur chain. They're know for their large bowls of Noodle Soup, but everything on the menu is tasty.
The restaurant is nothing fancy, it's just good food at great prices. It's wildly popular with the college kids so you know it's gotta be good and affordable.
I wish we could have a chain like this here in Cola town. We have Miyo's but by Southern standards Miyo's is considered a more upscale restaurant so their prices are jacked. Sigh...
Where's that Jet Blue voucher? I need a ticket outta here.

PHO PASTEUR
36 JFK Street (Harvard Square)
Cambridge, MA 02238
Tel: 617-864-4100

Passive Aggresive Notes

2007-06-06T11:03:00.000-04:00

Someone emailed me a link to this great site and I just had to share.
I love quirky collections like this. The picture on the left is just one of thousands of notes submitted.
Like the title says, this is a collection of passive-aggressive notes from roommates, neighbors, coworkers, and strangers.
Browse through the notes and you will laugh out loud.
Got your own note to submit? You can do that too.
http://www.passiveaggressivenotes.com/

Good Eats in Bean Town

2007-06-05T14:10:00.000-04:00

Lane and I headed up to Bean Town for a few days back in April. Her visit unfortunately was official business. Meanwhile, I got to explore the city and play like Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone II. I like Boston. It's a big city on the water and I find that attractive. I didn't find it incredibly noisy like NYC, Paris, or London. The traffic is quieter somehow if that's really possible. Maybe there is just less of it. Maybe all that water absorbs the sound.

One late morning I decided to venture out in search of food. The previous morning I ate breakfast in the hotel restaurant to the tune of around $30.00! Um, not doing that again. This morning I was looking for something a little more reasonable and authentic. Outside the hotel I hit the Harborside Drive walking trail. This great trail offers great views of downtown Boston as it winds around the airport side of Boston Harbor before depositing you into a Latino neighborhood South-East of the Maverick T stop. Not seeing anywhere to eat right off the bat I fired up my Magellan Explorist 500. This handheld GPS goes everywhere with me and has a database of eateries searchable by zip code and type of food. (It's like having your own personal tour guide in the palm of our hand.) I queried a search and the first result I get is Mama Blanca's. It's only .3 miles away! Sweet! I follow the little arrow for 3 blocks and walked right to it. The open sign was a welcome relief.

This little place was absolutely charming. It's an old house converted into a small restaurant.
I walked in and the first question I get is "Where do you work?" There's a man sitting at a table drinking coffee. His face shows signs of age and is worn. He has brown skin and is wearing an apron. A bit startled I tell him "I'm from the hotel." It's the middle of the work week and I'm wearing a white undershirt, sunglasses, khaki cargo's, and tennis shoes. I have my backpack with camera, GPS, maps, and a few other things. Now, I'm thinking, that he is thinking, that I work at the hotel. So I explain I am visiting from out of town, had walked over from the hotel and I am hungry. He understands now. There was only one other customer in the restaurant as it was between normal breakfast and lunch hours. This other customer seemed to not speak any English. Mama Blanca's is authentic food from El Salvador. The owner is a native of El Salvador transplanted to Boston. This is literally a Mom and Pop family owned restaurant. They speak Spanish here. A little English, but mostly Spanish. They seem to cater to the Latinos working at the Boston airport and surrounding hotels. I'm glad the menu had pictures of the food, my Spanish is pretty bad. (I took French in school thinking early on that my career would lead me to live in Paris or French speaking parts of Canada.)
My how our perspectives change.

Coffee, they had coffee. I pointed to something, a platter of food that looked delicious and was less than $10.00. The owner nodded, smiling, and started shouting in Spanish at the lady in the kitchen. I heard her shout back the same thing to him confirming the order.
A few minutes later I was presented with a platter, not a plate, but a platter of food piled high. Oh, man I wish I was THIS hungry because the food was awesome. Re fried beans, rice, tender beef, egg, fried Plantains, and some other stuff that I can't pronounce found it's way to my table. Mama Blanca's is authentic, friendly, and inexpensive. If you're in the neighborhood stop in and say hello.

Head over to Eat and Destroy for a picture and a short note.

Pupuseria Mama Blanca

389 Maverick St, Boston, MA

(617) 567-5511

I Heart Geocaching

2007-05-15T15:53:00.000-04:00

I heart Geocaching. Why, you may ask? Because it's the coolest hobby in the world. Here's why:
Geocachers use multi-billion dollar government satellites to find Tupperware containers hidden in the woods. What does this mean? Essentially it's a worldwide scavenger hunt.
In the year 2000 a guy named Dave Ulmer hid a bucket in the woods. He recorded the bucket's coordinates using a hand held Global Positioning System device or GPS. He then emailed a friend who also had one of the GPS devices. Dave told his friend to go and find this bucket in the woods. Why would I want to go find a bucket in the woods? Because it's located in a beautiful part of the country. Because it's got a notebook for you to sign and date your name when you find it. Because there are cool trade items (swag) inside the bucket for you to take with you. That's the abbreviated version. You can read the whole story here.

Geocaching is often referred to as a high tech scavenger hunt. It's free to create an online profile and download cache coordinates. Just plug the coordinates into your GPS, grab a map of the area and off you go. Sounds simple, right? Well Geocaching is so addictive because of the cleverness so many Geocachers use to conceal their cache hide from Muggles or non-Geocaching people. Yes, I said Muggles. It's a reference from Harry Potter.

GPS receivers are accurate to about 10 feet when getting good reception. Ten feet in diameter can make for a pretty large search area. So it's not as easy as just walking to where the GPS indicates the cache should be. There is searching involved...usually lots of searching... and a little bit of swearing. Experienced cachers can get very creative with camouflage. I've seen several caches that were hidden in plain sight. I looked right at the darn thing and didn't realize it was a cache. It was disguised as a birdhouse, sprinkler head, PVC sewer cap, golf ball, pine cone, spider...it could be anything that looks like it belongs there.

Head on over to Geocaching.com and see what Geocaches are in your area.

Halloween 2006, I partied like a Rock Star!

2006-11-03T15:30:00.000-05:00

I don't usually get excited about Halloween. This year was different. My original costume idea was to dress as Johnny Depp in the Willy Wonka remake. Well, I procrastinated far too long and next thing I know it's only a week until Halloween. Yikes!
I better come up with something quick!

There's no way I can find a purple coat, wig, cane, vest and funny glasses in time. I need something to wear, I've RSVP'd for two parties. I cruised down to a local costume shop to see if anything was left in the store. Upon entering the store the first thing I notice is a Tina Turner wig. It stood out to me as if a bright light was shining down upon it. Oh, yes I was destined for this wig. The second thing I noticed was everyone working in the store was dressed up. Cool! I tried on the wig in front of the mirror...perfect! I wore it around the store while I shopped. One leather jacket and a few accessories later I was ready to go dressed as a Hair Metal Rock Star.

This is probably the easiest costume I've ever put together especially so close to Halloween. I still got lots of awesome comments. Someone asked if I was dressed as Rod Stewart...um...NO!
Okay I admit I practiced my British accent in front of the mirror and added a little sway to my walk. I guess it helps that I'm over 6 ft. tall. A little guy couldn't pull this off. The parties were great and I got my face rocked off at the Art Bar. They had a Sex Pistols cover band open for a Motley Crue Tribute band. Holy Crap!

Here are some Halloween pictures of my costume, enjoy!
Thanks to the wonderful staff at Hipwazee for all your help.

Hipwazee
940 Harden St.
Columbia, SC (803) 376-1500

Married in Kentucky

2006-10-26T13:09:00.000-04:00

Last weekend the Cola crew traveled to Louisville, KY to witness our
buddy Rob get married to his wonderful Jessica. What a beautiful Fall
wedding weekend! The Bride and Groom looked absolutely wonderful.
The weather was fantastic, with just enough of a chill in the air to keep
me comfortable in my suit. This was my first trip to Kentucky and I
couldn't have asked for any better friends to spend the weekend with.
Mike even kept the poots to a minimum in the car. Thanks, Mike!

The Appalachian Mountains on I-40 West through North Carolina and
Tennessee were in full Fall colors.
Kentucky is beautiful. It's rolling green hills and pastures are home to
famous thoroughbred race horses. From the highway I was amazed at
how manicured, clean looking, and well kept these pastures are. Some of them
looked like golf courses.

Check out Old Town Wine & Spirits on Bardstown Rd. We stopped in to check out their fine selection of Kentucky Bourbons. Boy was I impressed! My knowledge of Bourbon is limited to Jim Beam, Makers Mark, and Jack Daniels. I bought two bottles, reasonably priced, that were recommended by the staff. When you go in be sure to ask for Gordo. He knows good Bourbon and gave us a lead on a place to get late brunchies.

Gordo sent us over to Lynn's Paradise Cafe. This place is awesome. It's eclectic, fun and their biscuits are world famous. You've got to try the Bourbon French Toast. It's outta control. Lynn's is not fine dining by any stretch, but it is wildly popular. If you're going for
brunch call ahead and get a reservation. They are already fully booked
(it's only October) for a New Year's Day Pajama Party. How cool is that?

Louisville was great and I can't wait to visit again.
Check out the rest of the wedding pictures on my Flickr page.

Other World News

2006-10-25T00:20:00.000-04:00

Someone thought that a Pole Dancing Toy like those seen in adult strip clubs would be a good marketing idea. Somehow this "toy" got listed with the other children's toys on the Tesco website. A mother searching for Christmas gifts for her 2 daughter's found the listing.
"Unleash the sex kitten inside...simply extend the Peekaboo pole inside the tube, slip on the sexy tunes and away you go!" reads the product description. Hmmm...what are people thinking?

Oh my! This reminds me of the Harry Potter Nimbus 2000 vibrating Broomstick sold a few years back. The user reviews of this product are too funny. I couldn't possibly make this stuff up. What is wrong with people?

Abandoned Places

2006-10-25T00:11:00.000-04:00

Columbia, SC is an old Southern town. It's full of history and interesting places. Here's a website I just discovered and I wanted to share it with you. Most of these places I've heard of, but I've only visited a few. Any photography buffs will appreciate this great site with photo slide shows. http://www.abandonedsc.com/
This website is a great example of getting out and exploring your environment. When exploring new places always get permission from the landlord before you go and obey the law.
Trespassing is illegal, but only if you get caught.

Good Eats in Phoenix

2006-10-24T22:43:00.000-04:00

I was in Phoenix, AZ back in the late Spring. Just a pleasure trip because I've never been to that part of the US. I gotta tell you I will never take trees for granted again. I live in the Southeast US where trees, grass, and humidity are as common as Peach Cobbler...wait, is that right? Anyway Phoenix was different and weird. I went Geocaching while I was there and got to see a pretty good sampling of the town. I don't think I could ever live there, but I'm glad I visited. The hotel concierge recommended a wonderful Asian restaurant called Fate. The restaurant is a small one-story house converted into a restaurant. It is located in a rather murky section of a residential neighborhood. We were a little nervous walking from the hotel only because the whole area was deserted. Upon arrival however we were greeted by a genuinely happy wait staff consisting of one bartender/server, another server, and one cook. So like 3 guys working in the whole place. I tell you there wasn't room for many more in there. The whole restaurant had maybe 10 tables. The wait staff were friendly and seemed genuinely happy to be working. The food, beer, and atmosphere is excellent. Vegetarians have more than enough menu options here as just about any entree can be prepared without meat. The food took a little while but it's worth the wait as everything is prepared fresh and exactly to your liking. Restaurants like these are rare gems. If you are in the area try it for dinner one night.

Fate is located at 905 North 4th Street in Downtown Phoenix.
(602) 254-6424