New (on the) Jersey Shore

One year later...

2007-10-17T09:09:00.000-04:00

It's been a year since I moved to New Jersey. It was a fast year, packed with lots and lots of craziness, like jughandles and impatient drivers, but also lots and lots of fun, like going to the beach everyday.

Now the lights have been turned off on the island, the crowds have gone home but the ocean is still warm and the breeze is just right.

And I'm not there to enjoy it.

Yes, I have moved. I took a job with a newspaper in Delaware and packed up and moved last week. I am living in Wilmington and, while it's nice to live in a city again, I miss the breeze and the clank-clank of the sailboats at the yacht club.

I will, however, continue blogging, on my personal website: Delawhere?. The site is sorta beta right now because I haven't developed the main website, but I do have 'hidden pages' that are on the website, but only locateable (new word!) if you know the address...like the blog.

There are certain aspects of Jersey I will miss...the beach...but also many others I will not miss. While I am not going to be one of those "OMG jersey is like smelly and gross and the pits" kind of people, I am also not one of its cheerleaders. It does take a certain breed of people to survive in that state, and I am not one of them! Well, unless i lived at the beach that was never frequented by people from the north.

I hope you are still checking this page and if you are, I hope you will check out my new blog. I promise to make it pretty, soon, pretty soon.

Say Chowda!

2007-10-01T12:05:00.000-04:00

I did NOT go to the Chowderfest, despite looking forward to going to it all year, since I just missed it last year. I like Chowder. I would've enjoyed trying lots of different kinds of chowder. I had other things to do, which I will elaborate on in another post this week.

Many people do not like fall festivals and town festivals. I actually really like them. I grumble and groan about going to them as a reporter, but it's so fun to see people out and about. It's even more fun when they have funny themes festivals, like Hopkins Raspberry Festival or Stillwater Lumberjack Days...or Corn on the Cob Days in Plainfield, MN. Somerset, Wisc, has PEA SOUP Days. Strangest food-related "days" ever.

Here they have Chowderfest, Apple Festivals and Cranberry Festivals. I really want to go to the Chatsworth Cranberry Festival because I love cranberries. But it is on my birthday. If they had a recipe contest, I would submit my cranberry cream cheese wonton recipe.

What's the strangest festival you've ever heard of or attended?

SkyMall

2007-09-19T09:50:00.000-04:00

One of the few amenities left today on planes are the free magazines stuffed into the seat pocket in front of you.

Typically, I will leaf through the magazine, sometimes doing the crossword or attempting the sudoku. But oftentimes I fly during the same month, which is the time frame for the magazine to be replaced...meaning if I read the magazine on my departing flight, I have nothing to read on my return flight. Or someone else has already finished the crossword and put it back into the seat. Please stop doing that.

Enter SkyMall.

I have never bought anything from SkyMall. I seriously doubt I will ever buy anything from SkyMall. But, boy, have I gone through every page of SkyMall. People often go to Sharper Image and think "this is stuff for the person who has everything" but Sharper Image is one small chunk of the world of people who have everything. SkyMall fills in the remaining gap.

There are all sorts of crazy items, some of them logged in the comedy book SkyMaul, but the one item that is always ubiquitous that I've never been able to understand is the Pop-up hot dog cooker.

Perhaps this is the gift for the busy mother with plenty of counterspace because I don't know about you, but by the time you dug this appliance out from a cupboard, unplugged something and plugged this thing in, you could've easily boiled or pan-fried two hot dogs. There are a couple of other hot dog cookers, that more resemble the rolling spit from convenience stores and gas stations, but I could see those being a little more practical because it does more than two hot dogs and could be used at a party, maybe by a company or baseball team selling concessions.

Other unusual items for a home include a chilled shot machine (good for frats?), an automatic towel dispenser, a motorized pool lounger for the iultimate lazy experience, a breakfast cereal dispenser (see above comment regarding counter space) and a Fiesta Station Buffet, for those days when just putting chicken into bowls and tortillas on a warm plate JUST WON'T DO. That last one actually advertises itself as being "for your home" so they are not aiming at, like, companies or small restaurants or something.

But, honestly, nothing beats the hot dog warmer.

Who says you can't go home?

2007-09-10T11:38:00.000-04:00

I've been back in Minnesota for the past three glorious days. Today is my last day at home and boy, I don't want to leave. It has nothing to do with not liking New Jersey/Philly. I had my reasons for moving there and they still apply.

I've had a whirlwind stay of going out to meet friends and a few quiet times at home, though not quite enough of the latter. In fact, I have to leave in a little bit again, but I wanted to do a quick update. Maybe I shouldn't have wasted the good title for this short brief, but so it goes!

Frankie says Relax!

2007-09-01T17:56:00.000-04:00

I said it in my last entry but it was buried. So at the risk of sounding shrill:

Dear visitors:
RELAX! Breathe! You are on vacation. Not only that, you are vacationing on an island. Getting two cars ahead isn't going to do much. There's no other place to go. We are surrounded by water.

Everyone wants to get to their beach/minigolf/bar/house as much as you do. Understand that. So please wait your turn. Gunning 5 cars ahead will save you, what, a minute? That's not much time and not worth raising your blood pressure.

Also, when you are at the beach with your wife and daughter, and the sun is warm and the wind is just right and you have your feet buried in the sand? Put away the Blackberry. Heck, don't even bring it to the beach. Nothing is so important it can't wait a few hours while you relax.

Talk to your wife. Find out how she is doing. You're likely always working and she might miss that connection. (Then again, maybe she doesn't and this is part of the arrangement! Who knows!)
Look at your daughter! She is gorgeous and sweet and smart. She won't be that size much longer, where she is still excited about playing with a toy dolphin in a bucket of salt water.

Your email can wait. Your daughter can not.

Driving in New Jersey

2007-08-28T12:09:00.000-04:00

The one thing I don't think I'll ever get used to is driving in this state. Particularly on the Garden State Parkway. The posted speed limit is 65. Now, I am not some sort of puritan who insists at going at or below the speed limit. I'll admit it, I'll sometimes push 5 to 10 miles over.

I follow the "use the left lane for passing only" style of driving and sometimes when I am doing my 10 (ok 15) over in the left lane to pass someone in the right lane, I get nosed. Okay, that's fine. some people go faster than me. But when I am going OVER the speed limit in the right lane and people are nosing me, I get angry. First of all, go in the left lane and pass me if you think I'm going to slow. Second of all, seriously? You are nosing me to go faster when I am already going over the speed limit? As if your speed is the correct speed? It's just some of that selfishness and self-centeredness and entitlement...um, entitlementness (it's now a word) that I find lately.

Perhaps this is all magnified by the tourists here. I sort of want to wave out the window and yell "HEY! you're on vacation! It's okay to relax!" There is a light that has two lanes before the intersection and one lane after. It stands to reason that you would merge every other car--just makes sense, doesn't overly slow down either lane. But I always get these people who gun ahead to get in front of me, before their turn, as if they need to win. People. It's 35 mph. On an island. We're not going anywhere.

Another thing I struggle with is the lack of signage. This is a state built for GPS systems. Because sometimes the street sign for a major intersection either won't appear (frighteningly common) or will appear almost after the turn. This is especially frustrating with the New Jersey jughandles, where you turn right to take a left. I thought I had it all down, major intersections have jug handles, less major do not. But then there is an intersection in Brick where its a straight up left turn and I was in the right lane. I missed the turn, obviously, and had to drive a few blocks before I could find a place to turn around. Confusing.

All of this is probably compounded by the fact I drive a lot, so I get frustrated a lot.

I think I'll take my own advice and relax!

Minnesota State Fair

2007-08-23T12:39:00.001-04:00

MN State Fair, originally uploaded by kevinthoule.

Today is the first day of the Minnesota State Fair--otherwise known as Thrifty Thursday for all the discounts--and I am not there.

This is so sad. The two big events I went to every year was the Festival of Nations (except for the year I got chicken pox) and the Minnesota State Fair. Festival of Nations was a bit more cultured, with people sharing their ethnic backgrounds through food, dance and exhibits.

The Minnesota State Fair was the chance to show off the varied "culture" of the state of Minnesota. That culture was that of farmers, mullets and cheese. At least, that's what I went to the fair to see: People, animals and food. Though people and food usually took precedence.

I have fond memories of the Giant Slide, something which is less exciting (its not as big when you are bigger) but still must do everytime. The pig barn was fun cause you could get the "I visited the pig barn" ears. But I'd be lying if I didn't say my true love was walking around looking at people while eating my latest food on a stick.

My favorite food on a stick was cheese on a stick, but the ultimate state fair food is, handsdown, Cheese Curds. It's like, when you buy a ticket to the State Fair, it says on the back "void if ticket bearer does not have at least one cheese curd during the course of the fair."

I don't know if any of the NJ State Fairs can hold a candle to the MN State Fair, which has the added bonus of being washed in nostalgia, but I seriously doubt it.

(sorry about the large amount of linkage, but trust me: the flickr ones are ALL Worth it. At least that's what Fairchilde the state fair mascot tells me.)

shifting to a night shift

2007-08-23T00:59:00.000-04:00

Technically I've been working nights since about May, but I feel like only recently have I truly slipped into a true night shift--all its pros and all its cons.

Let's put it this way, only a night shift has you tearing the sheets OFF your bed at 11:40 p.m. and tossing them in the washing machine, while cookies are baking in the oven.

I managed to stave this off for awhile, sleeping pretty soon after I got home (usually before midnight) and waking by 9 a.m., sometimes earlier. That way, I got the morning to do errands before going into work at 2 p.m.

But recently I've been unable to sleep until closer to 2 a.m....and waking up around 10:30 or 11 a.m. Perhaps I still could get errands done, but I usually just eat breakfast, clean myself, watch some TV, eat a snack and go to work.

There are all sorts of oddities to the night shift that I never quite understood before--I honestly thought you would still be able to get all sorts of morning errands done, etc.

Here are a few things I noticed:

--Doing laundry at midnight
--Strange eating schedule. For me, it's breakfast/lunch at 11:30 a.m., Some sort of food at around 4:30/5 p.m. and another snack when you get home from work. Meals don't really have names.
--Never having groceries because the store closes at 10 p.m. and you just can't get yourself up in the morning.
--Baking cookies at 1 a.m.
--Taking out the trash at midnight
--General cleaning in the middle of the night.
--Rarely going out to dinner/meals with friends.
--Not watching regular primetime TV like most people.
--General downgrade in social activities.

Basically, all the stuff you would do in the evening, night shifters do in the middle of the night. The problem is a lot of those things aren't available in the middle of the night.

I wonder why the body feels the need to stay awake so many hours after work? To unwind? What better way to unwind then toss yourself in bed?

All in all, though, night shift is pretty cool. The social downfalls aren't that big of a deal since I don't have too many friends here, but perhaps that is why I haven't made a lot of friends too. I especially like working nights on the Sunday through Thursday shift because I still get Friday and Saturday nights to go out, but I also get all of Friday off. It totally feels like an extra day off.

Of course, I'm sure I'll feel different once I have a family, husband, kids, etc...

Dear Blogger: You are not a journalist.

2007-08-20T21:53:00.001-04:00

Dear Blogger at the borough meeting tonight:
Please do not represent yourself as a reporter or journalist. You are not. You are not writing an "article." What you are doing is NOT journalism.

You obviously pushed my buttons enough to get me to write this. As my friends would know, I am a big supporter of bloggers. Obviously. I mean, I write one. But I read blogs, especially news aggregate blogs, where people comment on news stories. I even sometimes read blogs that do their own reporting. I think this all adds to the public discussion, and that's great.

But where I draw the line is when bloggers act and talk like you do and represent themselves as one of us. There are certain standards we stick to that you as bloggers and "citizen journalists" do not need to, or choose not to, adhere to. And this is why we get the reputation we do, as people who like to bend the truth.

Here is where you annoyed me tonight:
--You inserted yourself into my interview with an official. Fine. I do that too, so I can get some quotes, but you did it in a way that interrupted the conversation and caused the official to lose his train of thought. Bad move. Do it quietly.
--When I asked a question of the official, after you rudely inserted yourself, you proceeded to try and answer it yourself. If I wanted to interview you, I would have. I don't care if you know the answer, I am not asking you. Let him answer.
--When asking questions yourself, don't ask leading ones. And don't try to half-answer them yourself, especially when you half-answer them full-wrong. Part of asking questions is sometimes asking dumb ones so you can get the full answer, possibly as a quote.
--To further expand on that, don't interrupt with a RIGHT, uh-uh, YES, YES, as if you know and its annoying you to hear it again.
--The most insidous thing was when you talked about trying to convince your readers. Convince? And then told me you were trying to get your article published in a local newspaper. Perhaps you mean a guest column or an editorial? Not article. We do not try to Convince people of anything. We report what people tell us are facts and let the reader decide. If I tried to convince people, I'd downplay valid arguments, likely with some sort of "but" clause afterwards to automatically discredit it, and, conversely, overinflate arguments for the issue. Are things wrong sometimes? Sure. People tell half-truths or outright lies that are sometimes hard to uncover. That's why attribution is important. Its not me saying anything.

I'm not even going to comment on your method of note-taking on a Sidekick because to each their own. I am going to hope you got everything down, and got it right, cause you seemed to not be typing everything including some important bits.

I know this has gotten long and slightly ranty, but this really upset me and I wanted to clear the air. There is a reason the official kept looking at me like "WTF" and at the end said he was happy to hear I was a reporter.

"Reporter? I like reporters," he said. That's a direct quote.

Sincerely,
Shruti.

Ben Franklin's inventions

2007-08-20T12:06:00.000-04:00

I haven't done a lot of the tourist activities in Philadelphia yet because when I visit, I usually am just hanging out with my friends...who all saw the tourist stuff together when they moved here after college.

This weekend I had the chance to do the tourist thing because I had a friend in town. We went to the Liberty Bell and the visitor's center, but missed Independence Hall...again. When you visit Philadelphia, make sure to go to the visitor's center early in the morning to get your (free) tickets for the hall, cause they apparently go by lunchtime.

In the visitor's center, we learned more about Ben Franklin and some of his inventions, including this cool instrument called an Armonica. It's basically like playing wine glasses, a la Sandra Bullock in Miss Congeniality, but in a way that you can play multiple glasses at once. He essentially cut off the stems of different-size glasses, put the glasses sideways, strung with a cork rod and motorized the whole thing so a musician could play chords.

Anyway, since we couldn't do much more in the Mall area, my friend and I went for a walk towards the river. We passed the First Quaker Meetinghouse and, looking inside the large windows, I saw a lady playing an armonica!

It was the last 15 minutes of an hour and a half concert, but it was really amazing. I didn't have my camera, only a cell phone, but I did manage to take a 15-second video on it:

(That's a bit from Vivaldi's Four Seasons, in case you didn't recognized it. I should've taped the more recognizable bit!)

The Armonica, the musician informed us, fell out of favor because people believed it led to madness, after a man used it to hypnotize people.

I think I'm going to have to make sure to catch the full concert on my next trip to Philadelphia.

Happy Independence Day India and Pakistan!

2007-08-15T20:17:00.000-04:00

Photo credit: REUTERS/Amit Dave (INDIA)

Today is the 60th anniversary of India's Independence Day and yesterday was Pakistan's Independence Day (query: if they were divided the same day, shouldn't they share the same independence day? Or did one country decide to celebrate on a different day so they didn't share a day?) And the last of my series of stories finally published.

I'm pretty happy with how everything turned out. It being a 60th anniversary and probably one of the few times we've done a story, I could've just done anniversary journalism and written a story about how they are celebrating. Instead we decided to look at the Indian and Pakistani community.

Sunday's Story (South Asians Gaining Clout) looked at the South Asian community and its gaining political power, as well as how life has changed in NJ since many immigrants came in the 70s.

Tuesday's story (India-Pakistan enmity evaporates in U.S. melting pot) is about how Indians and Pakistanis are friends and neighbors in the U.S., despite the political strife of their home countries.

Wednesday was about Wicket cool: South Asian transplants find fellowship in cricket. That was the one meant to have the video, but it didn't work out, as you read. Too bad.

Anyway, I hope you will read them and let me know what you think, because they mean a lot to me.

Inothernews, I gained enough hours this weekend that I have tomorrow off and essentially today off. I just am working two hours today, and from home at that. It's very nice. I am able to watch a movie while waiting for calls.

The final nail...

2007-08-14T19:34:00.000-04:00

I had another post all planned out and ready to go, but I think what I'm about to say deserves its own, brief, posting:

The camera did not record ANYTHING on Sunday.

This is the most ill-fated video ever. Oh well, saved me a few hours today, which was promptly filled with other news. I have Thursday off as a comp day, and I plan to drive up to North Jersey to visit my cousin, since I missed her daughter's birthday party last Saturday.

Murphy's Law

2007-08-12T18:29:00.000-04:00

Everything that can go wrong will go wrong...and boy did it ever today, when I shot my first video for this newspaper.

I had an unholy trifecta of things go wrong: something with my tripod, something with my mic and something with my camera. And, besides my headphones, those are the three main pieces of equipment I use.

So the tripod broke. I mean, it just snapped at the top, between the legs and the platform. I don't feel it's my fault because the thing is pretty light and it looked like the plastic just snapped (I mean, it IS plastic.) But it put me in a bind because without a tripod I would have camera shake, especially since I had to be very zoomed in to see the action. Luckily, the photog working on the story had her photo tripod and le t me use it. Problem solved.

So the mic had static. We had this mic before during our training session and it had the same problem. Supposedly it had been fixed, and when I was going over the equipment last night it had no problem, but of course it did when I used it today. It basically sounds like a loose connection-type of static, not a distance type. I just made do and tried not to use the wireless lav mic, but it was a bummer. The shotgun mic worked pretty well. Problem solved.

So the camera wouldn't tape. This seemed like the biggest problem because, well, if it won't record, I have literally nothing. This, I discovered, was my fault. Apparently you can only use one type/brand of tape in a camera because each tape uses a different lubricant and that can mess up the recording head and make it "dirty." I had tried to ingest (record onto my computer) some old stuff I had taped on a different brand, and that screwed it up. Luckily, I figured out that either if I got it to record, don't stop it, just move and set up my next shot OR if I stopped recording, turn off the entire camera and it should record when I turn it back on. Problem solved.

The only problem not solved was the fact we were really far from the action. See it's a video about a cricket match and we had to be outside the circle and it was hard to zoom in to see the pitch. Hopefully I got enough useable b-roll, I think I have a good voiceover and I can make this video into a "what is cricket" kind of thing.
Stayed tune Wednesday to see it.!

Also, today is the first part of my three stories on the South Asian/desi/Indian and Pakistani community in New Jersey: South Asians Gaining Clout. I was incredibly nervous about this article because I felt there would be more scrutiny on me writing it since I am of Indian/South Asian heritage myself. I hope you like it!

Kareem Khan

2007-08-11T11:37:00.000-04:00

I'm so glad I lasted less than a week of daily updating...but I think I still will make my goal of 5 per week...no one said it had to be on a M-F basis!

This week has been a crazy in terms of news. First we had a guy who apparently killed his wife with a nail gun before turning it on himself. I only did the first story (in a team effort with my amazing co-workers) because I had to concentrate on this big series that I am doing next week.

And then we heard news that an Iraq soldier from our area, Kareem Khan, died. That was a really hard story to do, first of all because I realized he was my brother's age and year in school. I can't imagine. Secondly, the family was amazing. They provided me with so many details, that I couldn't fit them all in. Like the fact that Khan had a little Iraqi boy who used to follow him around and had a really cute picture with him. And I didn't write that his father said he always 100% supported his son's decision to enroll in the Army.
And the slot machine in the living room that his parents bought for Khan, that Khan kept filled with his own quarters until he could turn 21 and go to Atlantic City. And the fact that his stepmother had already bought an PS3 and a Wii for when Khan came home, because he was such a fan of video games.

I also didn't write how deeply touched I was by this family and how their relatives came up from Trinidad immediately to be with the family and how much that it obviously meant to Khan's father and stepmother.

The thing I definitely couldn't write was how sad I was reporting this. I actually shed a few tears in my car outside. The line about a father should never bury his child really hit me the hardest.

Won't you be my neighbor?

2007-08-08T20:58:00.000-04:00

I blogged earlier about my amazing neighbors but when someone needs to be recognized for something great, it bears repeating.

My friends came down for a day at the shore two Saturdays ago. They caught the bus from NYC and had a bit of a stressful day, so we were pretty amped to head to the shore.

Because the Jersey shore requires beach badges, and I only had two for the three of us, our neighbor to my right lent me one beach badge to use for the day. So we packed up my beach bag, umbrella, towels and other beachy items and headed down the street. As we passed my neighbor to the left, she called out to ask us if we wanted to use her beach chairs, since hers were sitting in the backyard in disuse. So we borrowed those chairs.

Now armed with chairs, beach bag, umbrella, we prepared to walk the half-mile to the beach. But we were waylaid by my neighbor two houses down to the left, who said "why walk, I'll drive you down! I'm headed out anyways!" So we piled into his open-air jeep and he drove us the short distance, saving our feet and shoulders a bit of stress.

I think for my friends from New York, seeing all this was like stepping back in time to Minnesota. Probably pre-Minnesota days, since they lived in downtown Minneapolis there. I know that I have pretty excellent neighbors, but I loved that my friends were also able to see how cool is my new homebase.

Minneapolis bridge collapse: a former commuter's thoughts

2007-08-07T10:17:00.000-04:00

Picture by Poppyseed Bandit via Flickr and Creative Commons.

I have yet to be part of the crowds on the Stone Arch Bridge or in the Guthrie lobby, checking out the loss of the 35W bridge from the northeast suburbs into Minneapolis. In fact, by the time I get there, most people will have accepted the bridge loss and use the other bridges for what they were meant for: walking, driving, biking, etc. I alone will be standing and looking at what used to be the bridge I used to cross twice daily, sometimes more.

Like many people are saying and writing, it was never a favorite bridge; you'd have to think of a bridge first to call it a favorite. I was more wont to say the Hennepin Avenue bridge, with its lighted spans, or the Stone Arch bridge, with its history as the railroad trestle that built this town. Never the 35W bridge. It was just a utilitarian bridge, flat, with short concrete barriers on the end. I actually forgot it was a bridge over a river most of the time, I was too busy trying to merge into the exit-only lane for Washington Avenue.

But now, in retrospect, we, and I, miss the bridge. My brother calls it "the bridge to fun" because it led towards downtown and the local music shows that sustained us both through high school and college. I can't contemplate what my commute would be like now without that handy bridge to take me across the river.

I never was really one to be scared of bridges. The other day when I was crossing the South Street bridge in Philadelphia, I felt scared. (Not the Ben Franklin from Jersey into Philly, though. Perhaps the spans flying above my head reassured me.) That bridge has been scheduled for demolition since the late 90s, and still my friends commute over the thing daily.

I've never been scared of natural disasters or terrorist attacks, saying I am far more likely to get in a car accident or die of a heart attack then have something like that happen to me. But after hearing so many "I almost was on the bridge stories," including from my own mother, a little drop of that fear is now in my bloodstream.

I'm anxiously reading news from my local papers. While I was in Miami, I was stuck watching the national coverage, but I was so glad it was being covered and I wasn't missing out on anything. I still highly recommend the Star Tribune's coverage.

Here are a few interesting links I've del.icio.us'd in the past few days:
Cell-phone providers not equipped for disasters
An unlovely bridge, missing and missed
Link to Roadguy blog, talking about how Mapquest and Google have already updated their maps.
And, of course, the video of the bridge collapsing, which I've actually linked from my current newspapers videos, via KARE-11 in the Twin Cities. I can't stop watching it.

AAJA convention in Miami: blogs and more!

2007-08-06T19:16:00.000-04:00

I am back from my week in Miami with a refreshed attitude and a few new goals. I think I might have wrote earlier that I wasn't feeling all too excited about this convention, but a couple of really excellent workshops and inspiring new people made this trip worth it.

Of course, there was a general malaise around the convention, I felt. I think it may have to do with the state of journalism/news/industry right now? Convention attendance was low too, about two-thirds of what it was in Minneapolis, and it felt it. I kept seeing (or so it seemed) the same 15 people over and over again.

But, enough of that, let me tell you about why I feel energized! One of the reasons was actually the last panel I attended. And by attended, I mean was part of.

(Hello to any new readers from the panel--you were great and I hope you enjoyed the discussion!)

It was ironic to put me on a panel for blogging as I sort of feel like a newbie in the public blogging world. The idea of promoting a blog or writing coherently and professionally in a public blog setting is actually new, despite the fact I've been blogging, more like e-journaling, for 10 years or so. I loved hearing what the other bloggers had to say and I feel like I learned a lot.

So, to that end, I am determined to have a new post on here 5 times a week.

I am also going to stop sitting on my butt and get my website done. I feel so hypocritical in advising that people just go ahead and start a blog and try it out while I am sitting here fretting that my personal website isn't perfect. www.shrutimathur.com WILL be launched by August 15. (putting a date out here puts pressure on me, eep!) But it's not like I am mtv.com or a newspaper site or something, where if my launch isn't perfect, tons of people won't notice.

Oh my goodness, what am I doing??
-----------------------------------

For those of you who came here through the blogging panel, here is a list of links to things that were up on the screen, in case you didn't get to jot them down:

Katie Nelson's city hall blog
Darleene Powell's blog
Joe Grimm's Ask the Recruiter blog
Joe Grimm's Coney Detroit blog
StarTribune.com blogs
A good broadcast journalist's blog (Jason DeRusha, WCCO-TV)

BusinessWeek article about making money blogging: http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/jul2007/sb20070713_202390.htm

When news hits close to home

2007-08-02T10:32:00.000-04:00

Just a quick update to let everyone know that all in my family are safe and accounted for and the few friends I have talked with are okay. My mom was on Washington Avenue, about to turn onto the bridge; had she been less than 5 minutes earlier, she would've been on the bridge.

I am thankful that she is okay and just hoping that everyone else is safe and thinking about those who were involved. That was my commuter bridge--I took that everyday to work. Heck, had I still been at the Strib, there would be a good chance I would've been on that bridge yesterday/

Here in Miami we are all freaking out a bit, the Minnesota people clanned together at a reception last night, anxiously trying to use our cell phones to get an update, any update. Of course cell lines were busy.

Thanks for all your concern, I really really appreciate. I was shaken up last night thinking how close my mom was to there and that sort of made me take off my newshound mask and really get scared.

Star Tribune's excellent coverage.

2007-07-29T22:32:00.001-04:00

I was caught in the terrible rainstorms today...honestly, the storm was right overhead, what with the simultaneous lightening and thunderstorming and the creepy green clouds that made it look like 10 p.m. instead of 11:30 a.m.

BUT the weather yesterday was most excellent. A few of my friends from NYC came "down the shore" for some beach time. The picture is an unusual bookmark...maybe not so much for the beach.

I'm attempting to pack to head to a convention this week, but I will try and post a blog before I go. This will likely relate to driving as its been my biggest frustration this week, what with the large amount of tourists on the island now. It's bad.

animal house

2007-07-27T12:00:00.000-04:00

Check out this display I saw at the local CVS. Ping pong balls--which I normally don't think to get at CVS--right above Solo cups. And, Gasp!, next to hangover cure. Let's see, they wouldn't be trying to cater to a certain 20-something party animal element, now would they?

I'm a little under-the-weather with an ear/sinus infection today--I'll spare you the details--but I am hoping to be 100 percent by tomorrow, when my friends Ben and Liz come down to spend a day at the beach. The weather has been really nice--sunny but not too hot, with just the right amount of breeze.

Also, I went to Atlantic City the other day to see Harry Potter on the IMAX in 3D. It was pretty much awesome. Unfortunately, I had this little kid (maybe 10-12-years-old) sitting next to me who felt it necessary to keep a running dialogue of what was happening in the movie as it happens...and was often wrong. I think it was the wrong part that got to me. Since I'm not an aggressive person--especially not towards children--I didn't say anything (I did look at him in attempt to make him understand he was disturbing me) until he turned around to the person behind him and said "Could you PLEASE stop kicking my chair" in an exasperated tone.

!!! went I, in my head. OK now its on. If he sees fit to tell someone that they are disturbing his peace, I will do the same. So I tapped him and said "you asked her to stop kicking your chair? Now I have to ask you to stop talking through the movie." He looked at me and...DIDN'T STOP TALKING! He said "She's still 'effin (he used the real word) kicking my chair." So I said "And you're still talking."

YESSS victory over a 10-year-old kid! My life is complete. or something.

Sensory memories

2007-07-23T23:00:00.001-04:00

Several days in the past weeks have been hot and humid (humidity just goes with living on an island!) Whenever I cross a certain street on my drive back from work at night, just for a moment I am not driving back to Long Beach Island, but feel like I am in another place. Specifically, India.

The scent of the salt, seawater and humidity in the night air reminds me so much of Bombay, where I lived for 4 months my senior year of college. It smells like a million trips to India with my family, where the Bombay airport was our first welcome back, the hot, stuffy, smelly air feeling too close after the climate controlled airplane, though there we were limited to a few feet radius.

The smell always annoyed me and I'd go back with stories of how I hated that Bombay was our first welcome back and that it was foreigner's/first-time visitor's initial impression of India. I was generally pretty cross after spending close to 24 hours on a plane.

But these last few days its been making me feel sort of homesick. I was born and raised in Minnesota, not in India, but as I grow older I appreciate our visits to my parent's home country even more. I'm sure I am not alone in this sentiment, from being the picky American girl who turned up her nose at the thick, unpasteurized milk and the dust that lay everywhere, to an adult who sort of longs for visits.

Of course, visits back are never relaxing. People always think "oh she is taking two weeks off from work for vacation" but it is not vacation, it is a trip. Its traveling for so long then meeting hundreds of people, running from place to place...very little time to relax.

Anyway, its interesting how senses can bring back memories...and for some reason the sensory memories that I remember most are always ones that bring me back to India: climbing stairs in my high school reminding me of the narrow staircase to my grandma's house. Sweeping my floor reminding me of the sound of the stiff brushes used to clean the floors, daily. A car horn reminding me of the crowded streets. And the thick, heavy night air reminding me of car rides from the airport, after spending 24 hours on a plane and 24 months away.

And I'm done

2007-07-21T12:57:00.000-04:00

I fell asleep for about an hour around Chapter 10, dreamed (dreamt?) fitfully about Harry Potter and imagined it was all part of the book before waking up and just reading. I kept pausing but didn't feel tired, so I kept going on. At one point, I looked out my window and noticed the dark blue sky...so I fed into an impulse, threw a scarf around my neck and drove to the beach to watch the sunset...book in tow.

It ended up being quite poignant because I read about a random sunrise in the book while the sun was rising (this is not a spoiler in any way, it was just a sunrise). That was a pretty neat feeling. Plus, I got to sit on the lifeguard chair! woo!

I don't think I'll ever be awake early enough to see a sunrise over the ocean ever again (unless its winter and then it will be much colder) but I am glad I did it last night.

Even though right now I am so tired I have no idea how I will work 8 hours...

Getting amped!

2007-07-20T19:04:00.000-04:00

OK, this is the second-to-last HP fangirl post you will have to read. I am getting excited--I am meeting someone in two hours for a pre-book cup of joe (we don't want to be getting sleepy!) and its just amazing that in 5 hours we will have the book in our hands! I'm sort of sad because I love looking forward to a new book. Like I wrote, I am going to try to savor it, but its sort of like eating cookies: you think you will just have one, but then you have another and then just a little piece here and then another little piece and suddenly all is left are crumbs.

i think I'll make cookies.

HP SAFE ZONE

2007-07-19T12:48:00.000-04:00

I would like to note here that my blog will be an HP-safe zone. Meaning I am not going to blog about any spoilers or reveal anything about the book...except maybe a few emotions at how I felt reading it. Tears will mean nothing necessarily because I am bound to cry anyways (today I cried when someone won on the Price is Right.) None of my emotions will give away spoilers.

I am excited because today I found out my editor is a big HP fan and we spent 10 minutes on the phone talking theories and predictions. I'm getting so excited again!

You won't hear it here though! I will return, instead, to regular Jersey Shore blogging instead.

But today? Wearing my Dumbledore t-shirt.

EXHAUSTED

2007-07-17T22:01:00.000-04:00

Tonight is about relaxing with my favorite scar-headed wizard and his crew...can you believe I've been so busy I have yet to see HP5? I was in the parking lot of the theater last night when I got called back into work to cover something.

I put together a little slideshow of my last few weeks, to try and capture the crazy. Its missing a few pics, but I'll get those in later. Click on the links below

EXHAUSTED!

On being absent

2007-07-17T15:43:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the long delay, it's been a week (19 days really) of crazy in my life, including the past week of little to no internet. And now back home my internet is down so I am stealing a few moments of time at work to update this blog.

Harry Potter mania has gripped the nation! I claim to be part of that mania, but I've been feeling very unPotterheadish lately, partially because I've been so crazy-busy that I haven't even see the movie...6 days after its release! I WILL go tonight, however, because if that movie is out for a full week and I haven't seen it...I don't even know how to finish that sentence.

To expound further on that thought, I wrote a guest blog for the Star Tribune's Potter Blotter, run by Headmistress Maria (as we call her, she doesn't refer to herself as that!) After you read, feel free to comment too! It's a great little community.

One thing I didn't write there is something that Maria suggested, that part of my HP fervor is having the flames of fandom fanned by my friends (say that Five times Fast). It's hard to get manic when you are doing it alone.

Another thing that came up in the comments is about supporting local independent bookstores as opposed to big monolithic chain stores, especially for Harry Potter books. It took me awhile (mostly because I was gone and didn't have time to think about it) but I found a local bookstore in Beach Haven, called Island Book Store, on Bay Ave.

The lady who owns the store (Catherine) said her daughter was in charge of it and actually threatened to rent an owl for the release, so it sounds pretty good!

Also, because of something else I posted on Potter Blotter, another local person found me and emailed me, and we are likely going to meet up at this release. So the flames of fandom may continue to being fanned unFettered. Fun.

mid-craziness-two-weeks

2007-07-07T13:00:00.000-04:00

Only have a second to update. I got back from Cali late Wednesday and crashed. Worked Thursday and spent Friday and today unpacking, laundering, cleaning my house and REpacking for the next 7 days--NYC tonight, Pittsburgh Sunday and Monday and Delaware Tuesday through Friday for work training.

I promise to do a little photo update soon, like a cute Flickr slideshow or something. Until then, you can check out a few photos on Sam's site, including some terrible singing during a touching moment.

And I also promise that after this, I am not leaving my place unless I absolutely have to. Like Aug. 1-4 to Miami for the AAJA convention and Aug. 6 for my cousin's 1st birthday in North Jersey. And Aug. 24 to Baltimore for a Twins-Orioles game.

But, you know, other than that, staying at home. =)

Flight from hell!

2007-06-29T13:19:00.000-04:00

Yesterday morning I saw a piece on CNN about a "flight from hell" where passengers at JFK had to sit on a plane for 4 hours and a guy took a little camera and asked the pilot "what would you do in this situation" and then interviewed about how horrible it was.

To him I say: HA!

Why? Because I saw the piece at 6 am MST while I was in the Salt Lake City airport, where I spent the night on the floor after missing my connection...because I spent 11 hours on a plane. And only four of them flying.

Yup, in the amount of time it takes to fly to Australia, we got to Salt Lake City, where I missed my connection to California. We sat on the tarmac at PHL for 8 loooooong hours, finally jetting off at 12:30am, from our original 5:25pm departure time. We got to SLC at 3am MST and 5am EST.

So what happened? Well for starters, PHL airport always has delays. Always. The flight coming in couldn't get a gate and it sat on the tarmac for an hour, waiting for an open gate. So we got delayed in setting out...and there appeared to be about 20 planes in front of us. The Delta pilot was good at keeping us very informed and you could hear just a touch of exasperation in his voice when he talked about how air traffic has always been bad at PHL and its just gotten worse.

When we finally got clearance to fly after about three hours of sitting on the tarmac...we all started to clap and cheer!

...but then we didn't have enough fuel to make it. So we went back to the gate to refuel and to let off anyone who didn't feel like sticking it through. Here is what the pilot had to say about that:
"Well folks, you're welcome to get off the plane and try to rebook, but your chances are pretty slim as most of the flights are booked. If you stay with us, we'll get you there but we might have to sit here for awhile. If you're not flying with us...[pause]" at which point my friend and I filled in "you're flying against us!" it was a perfect opportunity.

Then it started to rain. Not just rain, POUR. So we sat and waited for that rain, then it stopped and we were going to go again, but by the time our turn came up, it started to rain AGAIN.

We finally took off at 12:30, though most people were asleep by then. and didn't cheer, we were just so weary. I almost didn't turn off my cell phone again, because I didn't realize we were actually taking off.

The rage in the plane should have been boiling over. I mean, 8 hours? And these are Philadelphians and New Jerseyians, they are not happy people. But the flight attendants were very nice and they kept handing out bottles of water, free snack boxes and cups of apple juice. The pilot would get on the overhead as soon as he knew something. So most of our basic needs were met: food, water, sleep and information. So no one got too angry. It was as ideal as being stuck on a plane for 8 hours could be.

By the time we got to SLC it was 3am local time and 5am by our internal clocks. We got in the long rebooking line, but I knew we were safe. While we were sitting on the tarmac, I called the rebooking line and got us seats on the first flight out the next morning. Others weren't so lucky and had to fly STANDBY after all of that. It was bad. But again no one was too angry. I think we were too tired. We grabbed a few blankets and pillows and set up camp in a terminal, but we couldn't escape the CNN morning show. I did see the sun rise over the Wasatch Mountains, which was a beautiful sight I missed. (My first internship was at the Salt Lake Tribune, so I spent a summer living in Salt Lake City. Beautiful place.)

We got on our plane just fine and were relieved to fly over the blighted-looking desert towards California.

Except the final indignity: THEY LOST OUR BAGGAGE. I don't know how it didn't make it on our flight, they had 5 hours in SLC to put it on board. I wasn't angry up until then and then I felt: look, I understood all the other delays, that wasn't anything Delta could have prevented (PHL people however...but that's another story). But losing our bags on top of spending 14 hours on a plane?? ridiculous. They handed us little toilet kits and our bags should be on the 12:51pm flight to Ontario, CA.

Long story short: Our bags made it, we went to Disneyland yesterday and rode Space Mountain TWICE. Can life be any better than Space Mountain? I think not. More on Disney for another time!

Left Coast

2007-06-27T14:07:00.000-04:00

From sea to shining sea!

I'm getting all patriotic here because I am flying across our great nation to head to the Left Coast today. More specifically, to the Long Beach area of California. I'm heading there for a wedding that I am very excited to attend. I also will be staying with a college friend and going to Disneyland, a spa and hopefully Leno.

I've always read about how flights from the East Coast to the West Coast are the same as flying to Europe, but I've never experienced it. One of the advantages of living in Minnesota is that most everything is within a 3-hour flight of home. Though if its going to be longer than two hours, I would prefer a longer flight. Under two hours or over five. (2>x>5) Anything in between is hard to prepare for because I feel fidgety after two hours unless I have it in my head that its a long haul.

This will be fidgety flights for me because we have a stopover: In Salt Lake City! I have mixed emotions about this stopover, mostly that I am excited to be stopping in the city where I had my first internship and lots of friends but sad that its less than an hour on my way to California and just over an hour on my way home, which is not enough time to see anyone, even if they came to the airport. At least I know the fly over looks great: mountains, a compact, well-designed city and the wide expanse of salt flats.

I may not blog as much because I will be busy with activities, but I will store up my observations about how life differs on the coasts. Because either way its still different from good ol' MN!

Small town feel

2007-06-26T16:09:00.000-04:00

I have learned the lesson that those from small towns learned years ago: Be careful what you say and who you say it to. Because you never know who knows each other.

Growing up in the Twin Cities and its suburbs meant that it was unlikely that people randomly knew each other, so you could vaguely describe them and be safe. If they did know each other, you usually knew it. But here, it seems that everyone knows each other. I was describing a person I didn't like to my service provider at the salon today and GUESS WHAT! This person is her husband's best friend's sibling. Luckily, she is not fond of this person either, but that could've been very dangerous. And these people were from two different towns that don't border one another or even share schools!

I'm usually safe because a)I don't dislike a lot of people and b)I don't talk about other people besides with my closest friends and other trusted people, but honestly, when a girl goes to a salon, its sort of a dish session with an anonymous person. I swear that aestheticians and manicurists and hair dressers have a class on "chatting up your client" or something, because somehow it is just drawn out of you.

BUT in other ways it is very nice. I love running into people and seeing people I know and being recognized myself. The place to run into people used to be the local Target in Shoreview, MN, but here I don't know as many people. However, last weekend when my friend was visiting, I did run into several different people in our travels around town. It was good timing because it made me look cool and popular and all those things I'm not, but it was also just nice to feel like I am finally getting to know people and getting to know this town and starting to fit in.

And, dare I say it, become a local? hmmmm.

Hard day at the beach

2007-06-25T10:52:00.000-04:00

Saturday I finally did the beach bum thing and spent 6 hours at the shore! It was a tough day of lying on a beach blanket, curled up under an umbrella while reading a book. (Or, if you are my lily-white friend, laid out flat on a beach blanket, roasting in the sun with your eyes covered.)

When we got too toasty, we went into the ocean to cool off. Well, or we just got excited by the fact that there is a giant beach and played in the water, splashing each other, giving each other boosts so you flew into the water and jumping waves. We walked out to the sand bar which is a cool feeling because you can't feel the bottom of the ocean and suddenly you can walk on water...or so it seems.

I went home at one point and brought back sandwiches so we could stay at the beach and not have to go home for lunch and brought back my goggles. With those, I saw tiny little sand crabs scooting along the bottom of the shore. I'm not going to deny that they were cool to see, but I wish I hadn't seen them because now I will be constantly conscious of the fact that there are palm-sized creature with pinchers just under my feet. Would they pinch me if I accidentally stepped on one? If I were them, I'd see my big toe as an enemy.

I applied sunscreen at regular intervals, determined a)to not get too dark and b)prevent skin cancer. Unfortunately, the bikiniied girls around me appeared to be applying something other than sunscreen out of their gold-brown bottles. I thought oil was so 1986? At least no one had one of those reflector things to hold under their neck!

At the end of the day we stumbled home and lay comatose on the couch. It is really hard lying on the beach all day! For reals, though, there is apparently some scienc-y thing (thats a technical term, you may not know it) about how being in the sun all day saps your energy. We mustered enough to grill some salmon (made with the sage and lemon thyme from my garden!), go see a movie (surprised we didn't fall asleep) and stop by a friends' house for a midnight margarita (okay, pina colada, but midnight margarita has a nice ring to it.)

I guess it could be worse.

Humidity

2007-06-20T11:50:00.000-04:00

Last night, I went to the bathroom right before I left work for the evening. No I'm not going to write an entire post about my bathroom experience, but I did notice something strange when I walked in: the mirror was completely fogged over, as if someone had taken an hour-long shower in there. Except there is no shower in the office bathroom, just a small crank-controlled, high, window over-looking the parking lot.

What you've probably already figured out is that it was HUMID outside. So Humid that the fog that shrouded the island blotted out every. single. light. from there, so instead of seeing a long string of lights as I came down off of the bridge, I saw inky blackness. It was scary--I could see how someone could not realize there was water there and wander off (withouth street lights, etc.)

When I got home, I took my mail out of the mailbox and it was damp from the humidity.

Needless to say, it stormed like crazy last night. A huge, thunder-rattling-the-windows, lightening-so-bright-you-see-it-with-your-eyes-closed, worried-the-street-is-flooding storm. The real point is I don't get to go to the beach today =( Even if this leftover drizzle wasn't there, the beach sand would probably be like mud.

Unusually, I feel like it only thunderstorms at night here. A few weeks back, when my friend was visiting, it was predicted to storm all week. Instead, it stormed every night, but each day was bright, clear and sunny.

Hey, I'm not complaining!

waves crashing

2007-06-19T19:49:00.000-04:00

So, I popped my ocean cherry, which is the totally inappropriate way of saying OMG I WENT IN THE OCEAN AND NOW I NEVER WANT TO COME OUT AGAIN.

I seriously had so much fun this morning, and we really didn't do anything. Katie and I grabbed boards and walked the two blocks from her house to the beach, paddled out, and sat on our boards for about 45 minutes. There were absolutely NO waves to be seen, besides the gentle swells that mark a calm sea.

Despite the water feeling like Lake Superior only two and a half weeks ago (seriously, we let the waves wash over our feet just once and they felt ice cold; twice brought on numbness), the water was warm. The perfect temperature, really. I didn't feel cold at all, even after an hour of bobbing in the waves. This is good cause I didn't feel like investing in a wetsuit.

We eventually ditched the boards and walked down to the swimming beach to try some body surfing. That didn't pan out too well, plus there were some creepy guys who thought a good opening line was "have you seen my swimsuit? I think I've lost it" while in the water.

Anyway, now that I know how wonderful the beach is, I'm going to go there every morning! My usual routine has been to make a big pot of chai and drink several cups of it while I sit on my front deck reading a book. I still can do this...but on the beach and with my chai in a thermos.

And now, 10 hours later, I can still sort of feel the the feeling of bobbing in the waves and having water crash over my head. Its surreal, but I love it.

Last note: the beach badger checkers cameth! What my made-up word means is that, as we were preparing to leave, someone actually came to check if we had beach badges. Since Katie's family has been in Beach Haven forever and since they all lifeguard, we were fine, but I guess I will be bringing my beach badge with me since its a myth that they DON'T actually check.

Surf City, U.S.A.

2007-06-18T16:21:00.000-04:00

So technically Huntington Beach, Cali., has the trademarks on the name Surf City, U.S.A. (where, incidentally, I spent a lot of time as a kid because I had an uncle who lived there. Long Live Del Taco), but since my town's actual real name is Surf City, I feel I need to live up to it.

I stopped by a store yesterday and possibly found a new board to take home! I will decide by tomorrow...after I go surfing! Yes, that's right, tomorrow morning I will take my place back on top (hopefully) of a board, after a three-and-a-half-year hiatus. A former co-worker of mine, who still has a family home on the island, is down this week and suggested I try out a board very similar to the one I am looking at, to make sure I am making a sound investment.

Technically, I'll be honest: I can't afford to spend the money on a board right now. My finances are, frankly, tight, and I was unable to go to a good friend's wedding in Minnesota this past weekend because of it.
In my head I know I shouldn't spend the cash (well, credit) on this board, in terms of my long-term financial health (not that spending a few hundred dollars is going to send me into a tailspin of bad credit, but its a bad financial principal) but I am weighing it against the more anti-nihilistic argument of "I will never live this moment in my life again, ever. Carpe Diem!"
(ok, anti-nihilistic mixed with Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society)

Anyway, wish me luck on my first surfing adventure in 3 years! I'll let you know if I decide to buy the board.

badge checkers cometh

2007-06-14T13:56:00.000-04:00

Today is June 15. Its the day our beaches stop being free and open for us and start being a pay-to-play endeavor.

It seems so odd to me to pay for the pleasure of a beach. You know, a natural phenomenon. I think the reasoning is something about upkeep for the beach, but it just seems so strange in my head. It will be even stranger when I try to go to the beach and someone checks for my beach badge.

A beach badge is how municipalities keep track of who has paid and who is not. According to some of my co-workers (okay, one), I was a fool for paying for my beach badge, because apparently they rarely, if ever, check them. Maybe he was going to different beaches, I don't know.

The two little hunks of plastic I bought for $25 each are emblazoned with a little white surfer, a number and the year. I bought the badges before May 31 so they were cheaper; I think they are $35 for the season now. Day trippers can buy them for like $8 a day or $15 for the week. Some rentals come with beach badges included in the price for the place.

Anyway, the little lady selling beach badges at the Surf City Borough Hall was incredibly slow at getting the little buttons into a sandwich baggie for me, but also very nice! I liked how all the beach badges were laid out in rows, as if they were just waiting, like the rest of us, for summer to finally arrive.

Arrest Me

2007-06-11T10:07:00.000-04:00

I've never had more of a hard time following stoplights as I have here. I actually ran a red light the other day. To top things off, it was the light on Central Ave right by the Surf City police station. Good thing all of them weren't sitting outside or something.

Really, turning the lights back on was the worst idea ever. The lights are so high up that I don't notice them because, frankly, I was never looking for them in the first place. I got used to breezing down Central Avenue without a care in the world...except for the speed limit, of course, which has also gone down and I'm sure I often inadvertently break it.

Part of the problem is that I don't use streets with lights very often. Since I am bayside, I use Barnegat Avenue to get to the causeway, and Barnegat Ave has no lights until the causeway, which was a light that is on year-round. So the occasions I use Long Beach Blvd or Central Ave in Surf City, I am not observant enough to notice stoplights.

Interestingly, lights have not yet been turned on in Harvey Cedars and Barnegat Light. Maybe because their season starts way later than Memorial Day, since its mostly residential up there? That is my guess.

In any case, if there are any Surf City/Ship Bottom officers reading this, please go easy on me when I run a red light. Its not that I am some jerk in a hurry, or someone who enjoys putting others' lives at risk, it's just that I really, really, really haven't gotten used to those darn lights being back on.

Lazy summer days

2007-06-06T21:21:00.000-04:00

The days really are flying by, I can't believe its June and I can't believe its been almost a week since I updated! I honestly felt like it wasn't that long ago. It looks like I've fallen into a weekly schedule of updating, despite having a mental backlog of posts.

I blame it on the lovely days we've had lately. I have no desire to sit in front of my computer. Even first thing in the morning, when I am gross and unwashed, I go outside on the front porch with a mug of tea and something to read. It's really amazing. I love where I live, for reals. The sky has been a beautiful blue with just enough fluffy, white clouds to bring out the absolute blueness of the sky.

Today I went to the dollar store and bought a beach mat, some beach shoes and a beach umbrella. I work nights now, leaving me free to go to--you guessed it--the beach in the morning. I'm very excited to learn the fine art of "laying out." I heard about it on "Laguna Beach," which I probably shouldn't admit I watch since I am over the age of 18, but I need a little junk food too!
From what I surmise from the show, this means tanning for most people, but since I'm already a burnt sienna color, I'll be using the umbrella and sunscreen to help me enjoy the outdoors minus the extra pigmentation.

----
Its also been a weekend of a taste of home. One of my high school friends and her husband came down for the day on Saturday. We lazed around and grilled, then headed to the Barnegat Lighthouse. We also went through old high school pictures, teehee.
Then Monday my friend Chao, who still lives in Minneapolis, came to visit. I took Tuesday off to show him around the island, including, yes of course, the lighthouse. Back home in Minneapolis, we used to take most visitors to see some of the Lock and Dams along the Mississippi, but most people were more interested in the Mall of America.

This weekend was one of those times I was really glad the meteorologist was wrong. It was predicted to be heavy, heavy rains all day Tuesday. The rains came...but not until Tuesday night when we were already asleep. And by the time we woke up, they were already gone, replaced with that same blue sky and white fluffy clouds. Amazing.

---
I made Chao into my little model...and he did the same for me. We had a lot of fun playing around with different techniques on our cameras. One of my favorite shots I did is on his camera, but I'll share it with you next time.

Lazy days in the lighthouse

Long way down (I know I keep taking pictures like this, but I love how it looks!)

Framed.

Portrait of the two of us. Can you find me?

Impending storm

This is Obadaiah Seagull. I call all seagulls Obadaiah after a book I read in 2nd grade.

Fishing

2007-05-31T16:21:00.000-04:00

I regularly eat seafood without really thinking about where it came from. I recently became interested in my seafood's home area because of sustainable fishing concerns, but I never really thought about the people who collect the fish. Horrible, right? But how often do we really think about who actually brings the food that we buy in the sterile market? It's nice to meet the farmers in the roadside stands, etc., because you build a relationship with your food provider, unlike when you buy it in a supermarket.

But I digress (and I'm also a hypocrite because I don't buy all my veggies from local growers, nor do I only stick to produce in season in the area, which is not very good).

Recently in the news we had a fisherman, possibly two, who lost their lives while trying to harvest scallops. Through that story, I learned that commercial fishing is one of the top 4 most dangerous jobs, along with firefighting and mining and other such occupations.

The Manasquan Inlet, where this particular sunken boat docked, is home to many commercial and casual fishers. It's a beautiful inlet and I'm sorry my first visit had to be because of that story.

They erected this monument to honor all the fisherman who have lost their lives to sea. People regularly tie flowers to the railings surrounding the memorial, often below the plaques commemorating certain lost ships. Within sight of the memorial, casual fisherman hang their poles off the edge of the inlet walls, fishing boats head out towards the ocean and seafood restaurants boast their fresh catches.

BENNYs

2007-05-23T14:09:00.000-04:00

EDIT: I wrote this post last week and for some reason it didn't post, so I edited a bit and updated it to make it pertinent after the Memorial Day weekend.

EDIT2: Ok, and by "for some reason" I mean user error. I hit "save draft" as opposed to "publish post."

One of the realities of living in a seasonal place is that eventually "the season" comes around. For Long Beach Island, that season is, obviously, summer.
This past weekend was Memorial Day, which is the traditional kick-off to all things summer and the start of the tourist/seasonal visitor parade to the island. One of the most noticeable changes is traffic.

During the winter months, I got used to careening around willy-nilly, with few cars or traffic lights to bother me. Let me tell you, this island was EMP-TY. Especially January through March-ish, when there are few holiday weekends to bring people to the island until Easter. (There were still regular visits for Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, etc.)

I noticed the traffic start to thicken around April, I'm guessing people started coming out with the Easter weekend. I actually escaped the island this weekend while people poured in, heading to North Carolina to visit my cousin and his adorable twins.

Oh, and the title of this post is a name, somewhat derogatory I think, for what "locals" call summer people. The Wikipedia entry talks about the different possible etymology of the word, but either way its not very nice. I can somewhat sympathize with locals, because it does feel crowded, plus I hear there are some people who spoil the batch of apples by acting boorish and generally like their actions have no effect, but visitors to this tourist area definitely pump economic dollars, as well as tax dollars to the area. There wouldn't be as good of infrastructure if officials weren't constantly preparing for summer.

Nevertheless, I hope everyone pays attention to the second sign and DRIVE SAFELY. I really don't feel like being nosed on my way home from work, simply because you sat in the parking lot called the Parkway for 5 hours.

(PS Someone who is a "local" said I was a "local" now because if you are willing to spend winter on the island, that makes you a local. I dunno about that...what do you think?)

Warren Grove fire

2007-05-22T00:17:00.000-04:00

William Gallagher surveys what's left of his Barnegat home.

Today I wrote a wrap-up story on the Warren Grove forest fire, which is now considered 100 percent contained. It is 90 percent controlled, the subtle difference being that contained means it is not going to move forward and continue burning new areas and controlled meaning some hot spots are still burning, but they are not going to leave that area. I hope that makes sense.

I feel odd writing the recap, as if I am taking the story from the reporters who were, literally, in the trenches for this one. But since some of them are taking a well-needed day off, and others resumed their regular beats, it fell to me. And I was glad to do it.

The story I wrote for the paper didn't contain everything I wanted to put in, like the fact that Janice Murray, seen below sifting through a wheelbarrow of china fragments, felt she had to do it for her mother's sake. Her mother, who died 7 months ago, always planned to give Murray the collection of china accumulated over three generations. Murray said she hoped to find at least a cup or a saucer or at least one piece. The family is taking the broken pieces and making it into a mosaic, while Murray's kids are perusing eBay, armed with the names of the china collections Murray's mom had stored.

I didn't put that the National Guard managed to find a wooden cut-out of a bear with a honey pot, inscribed with "a bear and his honey live here" in the remains of William Gallagher's home. Gallagher said his wife would be pleased that the sign, a souvenir from a trip to Smithville, survived the blaze. National Guard members also found the remains of a 35mm camera in the home, curtains Gallagher's wife sewed and remainders of a recently purchased daybed.

The shed's behind the mobile homes both survived the blaze, as did the plastic flowers in front of Gallagher's home. Oddly, several candles in the homes did not burn in the blaze.

Murray said she will always remember summer evenings at her dad's place, where he would pipe in music as everyone sat in the backyard, at a table or on a wooden swing, which also survived the fire. Les Balkie taped music from his travels around the world, and Murray said he had speakers hidden in the woods, so sometimes the sounds of the rainforest, like macau's chirping, would come from the green woods, now black sticks in scorched earth.

Murray found it odd and disheartening that random books, such as a guide to managing diabetes, was found in the home, but books filled with mementos of her mother were lost.

Here are a few more shots from today:

A bonfire grill sits in the middle of once-green woods, burned by a 17,000+acre wildfire. The wooden adridondack chairs survived the blaze.

An American flag taped to a pole by members of the 177th National Guard, in front of a home decimated by the Warren Grove fire.

A member of the 177th National Guard shovels ash from the remainders of a home in Barnegat.

Janice Murray sifts through a wheelbarrow full of china fragments, all that is left of her mother's heirloom china collection.

William Gallagher said his firesafe worked after his home in Barnegat was decimated by the Warren Grove Fire--it saved the insurance papers and mortgage papers he and his wife stored in there. Gallagher said he bought it at a local Staples, several decades ago.

2007-05-19T08:58:00.000-04:00

So big news this week in South Jersey. There was a 17,000-acre forest fire, likely started by a flare dropped by a military person testing missiles.

Unfortunately, rather than covering it, I was home, sick. In my bed. Feeling terrible...and feeling even worse when I looked towards the bay and saw the smoke and knew that I should be out there covering that story. And that this blog should have behind-the-scenes pictures from my reporting.

UGH I am so mad at my health right now, because that was breaking news and I am a breaking news reporter. Perfect fit! Anyway, at least I am feeling better now and besides, it is best I didn't go into work when I wasn't feeling well and then have to go out and report that story while sick with a fever! Much worse!

I am happy for and proud of my fellow reporters, though, who did a REALLY excellent job covering the fire. Better than any other news media outlet around. I had a random person tell me that she turned to app.com to get the news that she wasn't getting anywhere else, after being evacuated from her home. The regular updates kept her in the know and she was very grateful to the paper.

Just wish I was part of that awesome effort...

Mary, Mary, quite contrary

2007-05-14T12:07:00.000-04:00

I started my gardening this weekend and have already, of course, run into a few snags.

I went to Home Depot on Friday, which was fairly crowded, but, I imagine, much better than if it had been a Saturday. I spent quite a long time there, wandering the aisles confusedly. Let me tell you: the smaller gardening stores may be more expensive, but I bet they provide more help for a start-up gardener. Home Depot is a bastion of people "already in the know"--forget what they say in their commercials about you being able to do it and they being able to help. They had one person who could answer gardening questions and obviously she was quite busy.

So I finally bundled out of there with $40 worth of merchandise: pots, brackets and dirt (oh and replacement tiki torch wicks). I piled everything into my small SUV, and slammed the trunk shut...

...with my keys still inside.

It took about an hour and a half to get all the AAA stuff worked out (lapsed membership, etc.), but about 5 minutes after the call finally went through for the speedy lockout service guy to come.

That meant I couldn't do my planting until Saturday morning, but I did get it done...only to realize I needed to make another trip to Home Depot for another pot. Also, the cute porch railing brackets I bought don't fit and the planters are too heavy for it, so that won't be happening.

But all in all, I started and have most of it planted:

In the main planter, from left to right, is sage, cilantro, hot peppers, cilantro, chives. The pot in the back to the left is mint and the pot to the right is basil. One more long planter will have Cilantro, basil and thyme.

Oh, and how come I couldn't find any cute metal watering cans with rain shower spouts. They all had either single pour spouts or were gigantic. I went to Home Depot, Lowe's, K-Mart and finally found something at Wal-Mart.

Brown thumb (literally. figuratively?)

2007-05-10T13:09:00.000-04:00

All last summer, I sat at work and read the Greengirls (then just Greengirl) blog at work and thought, "I wish I could garden."

Today, I went all Dead Poets Society ("Seize the Day!") and Fame ("No day like today!") and stopped by a roadside garden stand and bought 7 pots of herbs to start my own deckside garden.

They are:
--Cilantro
--Tri-color sage
--Hot Peppers
--Orange mint
--Basil
--Chives
--Thyme

I wanted to get bay leaves, but I couldn't find them at the center. They are all full sun herbs and I have a nice sunny spot to plant them on my porch.

But one more pop culture reference: "I'm so excited! I'm so excited!...I'm so scared." (Saved by the Bell) I have not had good luck with plants. My mom said all I need is some attention, but I swear it is not just my lack of attention: I must have plant killer running in my veins. I killed an ALOE plant. Of course, that's because it fell when I was transporting it to move here, but an aloe plant? easiest thing ever.

Friday is my off day, so I am off to Home Depot (or should I go to Lowe's? We have both...) to get some planters, potting dirt and a cute little watering can to make it even more fun. And then this summer? Fresh cilantro in my guacamole and chicken curry and omlettes; mojitos and tea made from my fresh mint; fresh pesto from my basil and fresh chives for my potatoes.

Unless I kill them all first. eep!

taunting

2007-05-03T12:54:00.001-04:00

Curse my window.

During the 2.5 years of my last job, I was upset at NOT having a window, besides these slits near the ceiling that let us know if it was raining/snowing/sun had set, etc. I complained that without natural light, I would wither and die, or at least be depressed.

But now having a window is making me depressed. It's like spring is taunting me all up in my face with this gorgeous weather, sunshine, light breeze, blue skies. It's all "doncha wish your environment was hot like me, doncha wish your environment was a breeze like me, doncha (doo doo doo doo) doncha (doo doo doo doo)."

musical interludes aside, I'm getting very distracted with outside-porn images of me frolicking in the sunshine, riding a bike, walking around, breathing outside air.

But instead I am huddled under a blanket (note: WHY do people feel the need to blast a/c the second it gets a little warm? seriously, enjoy the nicer weather, since you spent all winter kvetching about how cold it is), typing away about how great the towns down here are.

Because the towns are outside and I'm not, nanner nanner boo boo.

Day 76 without bucket.

2007-05-01T13:23:00.000-04:00

LOLRUS link above. Trust me on this.

Today is my 7th day without TV. No, this is not some big social experiment to see how much of my life I can reclaim without TV, it's called "something happened to my cable and I haven't had it solved yet." Though, I do get ready faster in the morning without TV, but the rest of the time I waste on internets anyways.

Last night I picked up sushi at the local grocery store and ate it on my front porch steps as the sun set. I like living bayside so I can still see the sun set over water. That's pretty cool. The nice weather makes me want to spend lots of time outside, but then the sun sets and it gets cold and that's when I miss my TV.

Good thing I have lots of DVDs to keep me entertained. Though I am slowly running out of ones to watch...to the library!

I want to eat Shruti's trash

2007-04-29T13:37:00.000-04:00

Today I had a little private showing of West Side Story in my front yard.

This morning I heard all these seagulls outside my house at around 7:30 a.m. I looked out the window and it was all these black-headed seagulls screeching at white seagulls. A turf war! I couldn't see if they had anything or were fighting over something.

But when I stepped outside, I realized what happened. Last night I had guests for a grill party on my awesome deck. That translated to a lot of trash in my garbage bin. My friend kindly took out the trash for me, but forgot to put the lid back on the trash can.

So the seagulls picked, pecked, clawed, whatever it is that seagulls do, through the garbage bag, scattering paper plates, empty bags and leftover, squishy, grilled tomatos (which are really good basted with olive oil and garlic, trust me).

Note to self: never forget to put the lid on the garbage can again.

(P.S. sorry its been a week, I had some bad news Monday and it took up the rest of my week. Plus I didn't feel like writing.)

Lies I told

2007-04-23T12:31:00.000-04:00

I totally lied to you guys because I promised to tell you what potachos were on Friday, and here it is Monday and you STILL don't know.

Like all good liars, I have an excuse. This weekend was GOR-GE-OUS and any time spent in front of a computer was a total waste of time (aka work on Sunday.)

So what are potachos?
Like nachos, thick potato chips, covered with cheddar, bacon, tomatoes, onions, ketchip and chives with sour cream. In other words, perfection. They were just as delicious as anything with bacon can and should be. Forget how strange they sound and fly/drive to New Brunswick and eat them!

So let's get back to this past weekend thing. What a taste of life to come. Though, life to come will probably be considerably warmer than this, the idea of eating lunch in a sunspot on my back porch, grilling dinner, having a beer on my front porch and leaving all the windows open is definitely part of my future.

Of course, its only a taste as its going to rain the rest of the week, but I do plan on grilling again on Saturday (and tonight for that matter), so I hope it stops raining.

In more other news, this was one of those weekends where I loved my job. First I went to the top of Forked River "mountain" (its more like a tall hill), which is a private area. It was beautiful. Then I went in a rescue boat in a lagoon for a water drill.

Here are a few views from this weekend:

Diversity

2007-04-19T10:26:00.000-04:00

This weekend I am heading to New Brunswick for my book club meeting and then to the city to meet with some friends. Since Friday is my day off and I'll already be in Central/North Jersey, I think I'm going to drop by Edison, N.J.

People here always recommend Edison to me as an Indian spot and seem surprised that I already know about it. Are you kidding? Growing up in Minnesota, I knew all about Edison and Jackson Heights (and Devon Ave. in Chicago, but that was closer to home) and all these other "mini-Indias." It seemed mythical and awesome to me at the same time. New Jersey! Crawling with desis! Indian publications in mainstream media! Indian advertisements in train stations!

What I never realized is how big of a state this small state is. I wrote earlier about the subsections of New Jersey and how distinct they are from one another. Part of that is that the majority of this huge Indian population is clustered around major metropolitan areas, like North/Central Jersey (aka NYC) or Cherry Hill (aka Philadelphia). In a sense, I am even more cut-off from the Indian population than I was in Minnesota.

I've always been a little behind on movies/music/styles from Indian, especially compared to my East Coast cousins, but without occasionally overhearing the Hindi satellite my grandpa watches at home or going to Desi parties where they are spinning the latest music and someone just came back from the "motherland," I am REALLY behind on things.

All of this is because I watched a movie yesterday which, up until a few weeks ago, i thought was fairly new. When I mentioned it to my (Dobbs Ferry-dwelling) aunt, she was like "oh that's not new, we saw it in the theater months ago."

oops.

I might try to do a better job of keeping up, but I also don't necessarily care that much about the music/movie/style aspect. I guess that is the only aspect that is lacking because I am keeping up on the more pertinent (and intellectual) issues via blogs that I frequently read.

But damn, I love me some Bollywood music.

Flooding, the end

2007-04-18T00:50:00.000-04:00

The flooding is pretty much gone except for some reason when I came home tonight at midnight it was slightly flooded again.

Tonight I worked on election results. I find it so odd that voters vote on budgets, only because I am not used to it. In Minnesota school funding is mostly through a per pupil formula that is a combination of state and local monies. Voters don't vote on their local tax impact because its all combined in that per pupil formula...but this means enrollment is really important to schools!
What is voted upon by voters are operating referendums for when districts want more money for teachers, staff, programs and bond referendums for facilities like new wings or such.

I have no idea how NJ finance works.

inothernews, here is something funny. I am watching the songs for a Hindi movie and one of the songs says "Wanna dance all night," but they mixed the Hindi and the English and just put the word for dance in Hindi. Well that word is naach so it sounds like they are saying "Wanna nacho night" when they sing it. Why yes, I do want a nacho night.

But what is a potacho? Check here Saturday to find out!

Flooded in!

2007-04-16T08:22:00.000-04:00

UPDATE2: I waded out of my house! Its a good thing I moved my car when I did or I would have definitely had to stay in my house til the water subsided (maybe that wouldn't be a bad thing, it would be like another day off. I came in to finish a story that was supposed to run tomorrow, but now its being held a week, so I could've done cop checks and weather reports from home!) Anyway, the water was almost to the top of my bottom step, along with some gross sticks and litter like cigarette packets. I hiked down the street through my neighbors' yards but when I got to the end of the road, I had to wade through calf-deep water to get to my car. I might go to the car wash today just to spray underneath my car, make sure there is no salt left in there to muck with my car. I will update soon with more pics!

UPDATE: I was listening to the news reports and they were talking about how flooding shouldn't be as bad on the Jersey Shore because the wind down here is coming from the West blowing East--so against the ocean. Um yeah, unless you live on an island! I live on the bayside (west end) of Long Beach Island, so the water is coming in from the bay.
The water is getting higher and higher. I moved my car out of the backyard so I can have the option of going to work if necessary because the water went up several inches within a half hour.

I can't get out of my driveway because the flood waters have come in past my house and are up to the next house up the street. I think they should subside soon, but if they don't do I get a "flood day" at work? hmmmm.

This is looking down my street towards the bay. You can see the edge of my sidewalk to the right of the picture. I can't tell how deep the water is in front of my house, but its definitely deeper as we go towards the bay. I also do not want to drive in this!

My car is hiding in the backyard!

This flooding is definitely worse than the last time, plus the weather is nastier. Also, that day I didn't have to go anywhere until after the flooding was over, since I hadn't started work yet (of course, it was my moving weekend!)

This is a pic from my moving weekend:

Hmmm, now that I reread my last entry, I said the waters receded around 5 p.m. I hope these waters recede sooner than that!

Storms a'comin

2007-04-15T10:32:00.000-04:00

The storms that caused tornadoes in Texas and snow in Kansas has hit the Jersey Shore. Besides high winds and lots of rain, it is also a new moon, which affects how high the tide is. I cannot claim to have any actual understanding of tides and moons and rains and Nor'easters and how they work, I'm just going to repeat what I've (sort of) learned.

Apparently this combination of the new moon and several inches of rain is what causes coastal flooding such as what happened when I first moved here. My newspaper had me stay on the island this morning and drive up and down to report what I saw--and take a few photos.

The wind on the beach was terrific! It blew straight back from the ocean and seemed as if it was trying to push me back through the beach access point. I've never felt such a straight wind* before, usually its all swirly and going several directions at once. (*note this may not be the technical definition of a straight wind, just descriptive.)

Since the beaches in Surf City are still closed, I was unable to see the effects on my beach, but I went down to Ship Bottom, Long Beach Township and Beach Haven to see what was happening down there.

Here is what I saw (some also will probably be in tomorrow's Asbury Park Press):

Home near Merivale Blvd. in Long Beach Township. This area did not get beach replenishment, which is why the ocean is literally at their back door!

Foam on the beach near Merivale Avenue. It was sort of gross-looking and pretty at the same time. I definitely stepped in some.

Ship Bottom beach

This notorious local nightspot decided to turn storms into drinking. I wouldn't want to be the person who had to climb up there and put that up this morning!

Can you imagine thinking about going to the beach today? Apparently Long Beach Township thinks some people might, and opened their beach badge office on time.
Amazing.

Cars splash through water on the road near St. Francis of Assisi Church and Community Center in the Brant Beach section of Long Beach Township.

Sign near Long Beach Township municipal offices. It also reminded people to move their cars to high grounds.

Cars from my neighborhood park on the median of Barnegat Blvd. It doesn't appear our street is going to flood, but you never know!

By the way, today is the 10-year anniversary of the Red River Valley floods in Northwest Minnesota, that flooded Grand Forks and then caused fires. A lot of my college friends were high schoolers at that time and told me stories I couldn't believe. I heard a few nice pieces on NPR this morning, one of which was about a woman from Grand Forks who went to help Katrina victims because she understood what they were going through.

biking

2007-04-12T20:08:00.000-04:00

Today may be a bad day to blog about biking, as it is pouring rain and I am not feeling so hot myself, but I've been trolling craigslist to find myself a few good secondhand bikes. It is getting warmer so its time to think about what happens to this island when summer folk flood it--bumper to bumper traffic.

I've been informed that it is not uncommon to hear of people biking to and from bars. Therefore, it is not uncommon to hear of people getting tickets for biking drunk. There is a ticket for that??

I live less than 10 miles from work, so I'd love to bike to work. Unfortunately the bridge from Long Beach Island doesn't have the nice sign the bridge to Seaside Heights has on its bridge. I get the feeling that drivers here view bikers as an annoyance--like people who bike only do so because they can't afford a car.

Right now its sort of a moot point because my bike was stolen from my front porch when I lived in St. Paul (it was a gentrified area that was only two blocks from a not-so-gentrified area. Someone actually sawed the porch railing to get the bike off!)

It's been tough to find a good secondhand bike that isn't really expensive. I don't want to spend hundreds of dollars on a bike right now (save that money for my surfing fund!) but I do want something that can get me to the library and grocery store when my car will seem ridiculous to try and use.

Picture this!

2007-04-09T10:08:00.000-04:00

Something different for my blog: A picture post! I had a really nice Friday when my friend Kristen visited my island. We started Friday at breakfast at ScoJos...and I tried Pork Roll for the first time! It tastes like Bacon but looks like Canadian bacon. I think I like regular bacon better for eating, but I think Pork Roll on a breakfast sandwich would be perfect. Then we went up to the Barnegat Lighthouse and actually walked to the very end of the stone jetty at its base. It took us about 2 hours roundtrip...I wonder how long it actually is! The concrete portion is only about .1 miles, but I bet the stone part is much more.

Here is some of what we saw:

Not so buggy

2007-04-03T16:37:00.000-04:00

A quick update on the bugs: they are gone. I didn't take a picture of them because I assumed they were some type of summer staple, but they flew away the next day.

I told my landlord about them and he guessed it was a termite swarm!

When I heard the phrase termite swarm prior to this, I imagined a huge black cloud of tiny bugs with big jaws blotting out the sun, probably to the tune of Wagner's Ride of the Vylkries. (Trust me, you know this song).

But they just turned out to look like tiny ants with silvery wings. I guess some of them got left behind because today I found one in my car and when I rolled down the window to let it fly away, it was squished by the window and flap part.

Two parts delicate, one part stupid: doesn't sound like that much of a threat to me.

baseball!

2007-04-02T23:09:00.000-04:00

I am excited for the baseball season starting! I know that going to Phillies games will be easiest, but I've already arranged to go see my Twins play in Baltimore in August. (I am in California during the time when they play the Yankees boo)

In terms of being the greatest sport, I honestly think hockey and soccer rank above baseball. But in terms of being great sports to be a fan of? I think baseball is best. There is no other sport that rewards fans quite as much--from low tickets prices, to excellent atmosphere, to low drama players, to lots of field gimmicks.

Of course, some of that is because (as a friend pointed out) because baseball has about 80 home games a season, while sports like football only have 8 (hence low ticket prices), but I love baseball for being a sport that rewards its fans. Truly All-American.

Anyway, the above picture is from a local Little League game...I'm not such a fan of sports parents, but I do love how into the sport Little Leaguers are. My friend lives a few blocks away from a Little League field in Philadelphia's Center City and we have decided to go watch a few games there.

PLAY BALL!

Bugged

2007-03-26T08:34:00.000-04:00

(oops, sorry its been a week. I have no good excuse.)

Maybe I am jumping the gun, but it feels like spring is here to stay. Though I wouldn't mind a sudden drop in temperature because I am feeling all grossed out.

There are all these BUGS hanging out on the southside of my house. That is the front of my house, so its all over the front door, all over my car and all over my porch steps! I don't know what they are, hopefully someone can enlighten me, but they look like they might be larvae or baby bugs of some sort? They are really tiny black bugs with wings that are longer than them.

I hope this doesn't mean I will have lots of these bugs, but grown up, hanging around my house this summer.

Also: Where can I move to escape mosquitoes? I appear to always move to places that consider the insects their "state bird."

I guess I could move someplace that doesn't have much water, but then there are probably other things I would miss out on, like trees and canoing and swimming and stuff.

Taking responsibility

2007-03-19T13:41:00.000-04:00

I'm sort of obsessed with the road. It makes sense, since I drive usually a minimum of 200 miles per week. Not as obsessed, perhaps, as Roadguy or Froggie but I do read those blogs because of my interest in the byways and highways. I mean, in some of my profiles, it lists my biggest pet peeve as people who don't signal their turns or lane changes. In the words of the great Stephanie Tanner: "How Rude!"

Anyway, its no big secret that drivers on the East Coast are aggressive and perhaps ruder than others. I'm definitely NOT saying that midwest drivers are better, just different. I think I've figured out my new biggest pet peeve: a lack of taking responsibility.

Like the guy who wouldn't let me merge despite me having a signal on for over half a mile and my exit coming up. There was a two car size space I wanted to merge into, but the second I put on my signal in preparation to move, he sped up, closing the gap! So when there was enough of a space to squeeze my car in (my exit was REALLY coming up) I did it and he honked and flicked me off. Not my problem buddy. I tried to slow down to go behind you and I tried to go before you closed the gap. Your problem.

Or the girl who totally ignored the yield sign and got angry and (again) flicked me off because I "cut her off." No, you ignored a yield sign and were in my blind spot (hence the reason YOU have an yield sign? maybe?)

Those are just two examples. I am willing to take responsibility for my transgressions, like when I creep up to try and make a right turn and miss seeing a pedestrian trying to cross. Oops, sorry ped!

Just needed to vent my spleen!

weather

2007-03-18T14:11:00.000-04:00

Some strange weather lately. First it was warm enough to ditch the coats and today is a sloppy, slushy mess.

BUT on my island it just rained. And rained and rained and rained. I was really confused last night when I went to visit my friend in Toms River because he said "maybe its better for you to drive up (to visit him rather than visa versa) because you're better in the snow." I just let it slide because I figured it had something to do with me being better at snowdriving = me being better at raindriving.

I should've worn my snow boots because the parking lot was SUCH a mess. It was like being back in MN!

Today I thought maybe the snow had melted everywhere because it was really warm on my island, but as I drove westward I saw more snow, like about 14 miles inland. It slowly got more and more, until at around 50 miles (Cherry Hill/Camden) it was pretty messy and slowed-down traffic (plus there was a state trooper driving in our little group of cars.)

But at 21 miles (just before the New Lisbon Developmental Center) I saw the most beautiful and unusual things. The trees lining the road ahead of me were green, lit nicely by the rising sun coming from behind us. It looked nice and fresh, clean and spring-like. But through my rearview mirror was the exact opposite look--the trees looked like they were coated with icicles, glittering and silvery-white.

I was so startled. I kept looking ahead and back. Ahead, spring. Behind, winter. Ahead, green. Behind, silver.

I wish I could've captured it somehow.

More serious stuff

2007-03-15T13:04:00.000-04:00

This doesn't quite relate to my experiences on the Jersey Shore, but it does have to do a lot with me.

News has come out about which Star Tribune staffers accepted a buyout. This is the paper I used to work at, I also interned there and grew up reading it, so its part of home to me.

The list is good. Good in the sense of the people on the list were good. But its sad they are leaving the Strib. There is a lot of great institutional knowledge there plus a lot of great personalities. Some really valuable contributors to the paper, I think.

Over at mnspeak, they keep talking about cutting fat, blah blah blah. Yeah, the Strib newsroom may have some fat, but some of the people on this list is cutting out prime rib. (Note to self: you are terrible at analogies involving meat.) People are going as far as to say who they'd like cut. Well, if you know them enough to want them cut, then they are contributing!

Someone there made a good point though: when corporations cut fat, they replace it with good meat. But in the current industry, when newspapers cut fat, they replace it with nothing. That is sad and a sad fact of life.

I wish my former colleagues at the Strib the best and I have best wishes for those who accepted the buyouts. Whether they are retiring, going back to school, headed to another paper or changing fields, I know they will be great at what they choose to do.

Something in the water...

2007-03-13T14:52:00.000-04:00

Is there something in (or maybe not in?) the water down here?

Perhaps the Jersey Shore is not experiencing dumped chemicals in their water like some Minnesota surburbs are concerned about now, but somedays I think the water is a formerly from a toxic waste dump. And by that I mean, it was heavily treated with chlorine so we could drink it.

I like being in a pool, so how bad could it be brushing my teeth with poolwater. Plus, poolwater is great cause you never notice when someone pees in the pool. Of course, there is the problem of too much chlorine and then everyone looks like they are part of Ben Stein's Visine commercials.

The real problem is my face has exploded like a teen working at McDonalds. You know, like the Pimply-faced teenager from The Simpsons? I expect my voice to break soon as I try to ask a guy out on a date or something.

I attacked my face with the usual dermatological gusto: exfoliating with sandpaper, applying harsh chemicals to my face, eating nothing but spinach and moisturizing with lotions enhanced with apparently wonderful organic extracts, like essence of yak fur or something.

All that seemed to keep my teenage shame from growing, but did not improve it.

But I found the fountain of youth! It is the Minnesota water system. In just four days, you too can have clearer skin, just like ~~Jessica Simpson~~ ~~Kelly Clarkson~~ ~~Puff~~ ~~P. Did~~ ~~that rap guy~~ Jesse Ventura and Norm Coleman.

Since no company is bottling this June Water, I guess my only option is to start pretending I'm a celebrity and wash my face with Evian water...or, maybe just Britta filter water.

home on the prairie

2007-03-11T16:44:00.000-04:00

Sorry I've been absent this week. I am at home in Minnesota, enjoying the warm weather, lots of snow, but mostly my family and friends. And food. We went to an amazing wedding last night, had a lovely, lovely time. It was nice because it was back at my alma mater, in fact in the alumni center. It was my first time being an alumni there...though I don't think my college thinks of me as one of the "alumni" in "alumni center"--that is reserved for alumnis with $$, which I don't have.

Anyway, hopefully today I will go play in the snow. But at the very least, I will be enjoying some CHIPOTLE. and then some awesome dessert at 2021. I already had a nice dinner at 112 eatery in Minneapolis and lunch at Noodles.

Okay, now I'm going to go sledding now! And throw snowballs, etc. Watch out!

Surfing, U.S.A.

2007-03-05T13:27:00.001-05:00

(I hotlinked that from the cocoa beach club, which is very bad, but I figured that I have low traffic, so it won't use up too much of their bandwidth. I hope. I'm sorry if it does, then take it down.)

Today I went to the original Ron Jon's Surf Shop here on the island. Growing up, whenever I would see the RJ sticker on someone's car, I assumed it was from Florida or California or someplace nice and warm year-round. Not New Jersey! But that goes in line with the fact that I didn't really think of New Jersey as a hot beach spot. I feel that is something that is very prevalent in East Coast/New England thinking, but not anywhere else in the country. You probably don't find too many people from Nebraska (or Minnesota!) on the beaches of NJ. Though, now that I think of it, a guy from my high school used to go to the Jersey Shore...

Anyway, I went and started my research for my new summer hobby: surfing! I surfed for my first time in San Diego summer of 2003 and LOVED it. And, if I may say so, I wasn't too bad at it. I had the distinct honor of being the only person in my class able to consistently get up on the board. On my first time! So, I've decided that, seeing how I seem to have some aptitude for it and I live a few blocks from the beach, I am going to take it up regularly.

It's going to require a bit of investment on my part. A basic foam board is going to cost me around $70-$100 where as a starter fiberglass board will run me around twice that. The fiberglass boards are hard to come by used because people tend to keep them for fun, but they also have higher trade-in value if you buy. If I want to start mid-May and get a jump on the season, I will have to invest in a wetsuit, a 3.5mm one. That will also run me around $70-$100. But it will also extend the season to about 6 months and make sure I stay warm, which is nice. The water in May is around 50-60 degrees, even though the air temp is higher. The ocean really doesn't get warm until August/September and then September and October are the best surfing months because its hurricane season!

It's all a lot to think about, but I am glad I went now so I can start setting aside money for this purchase. Also, I can start looking for deals in the local sandpaper and surf shops now. I have to also set aside money to buy a bike or two: I want a tourist no-gear, wheel-around-town bike, which could cost me around or below $100 and I also want a road bike, which could be double or triple or even quintuple (is that a word?) that. Maybe I'll go with a not so fancy road bike!

Question: Anyone know of a good place to scout out boards? Or, maybe, possibly, even have one to give or sell??

washing away

2007-03-04T15:55:00.001-05:00

waves, originally uploaded by seat_5a.

I had a really wonderful day on Saturday. The weather was amazing--something like 50 degrees or more, I can't remember. Anyway, it was warm enough for me not to need a jacket, so I wore a tank top with a sweatshirt--and felt warm at times!

I rollerbladed to the library, but decided not to rollerblade back because my skates need some serious tune-up. Plus, the road was sort of rocky. So I hooked them up to my backpack and walked home via the beach.

Lots of families had the same idea. Families walking their dogs, including an adorable puggle named Roxy, who was fetching a baseball for her owners. Another family brought out their kites, and there was enough wind for them to soar high into the sky.

I can't believe how close I am to an ocean! The waves were soothing and I wanted to run into them...but I knew that might be chilly.

I am feeling much better than I was on my last entry, where I was partially feeling bad because I had news of a relative's death earlier that day. I went out with some co-workers Friday night and we had a really nice time.

So maybe I won't give up on making friends. =)

(not really) Giving up

2007-03-01T09:39:00.000-05:00

I feel like giving up on meeting people. I had an incident the other night that sort of scared me off of making friends, despite all my efforts. Just some viewpoints and people basically invalidating my personal feelings and telling me I was wrong, I won't get into details because it wasn't worth fighting about then and not worth revealing now, because it was just sort of a personal realization that I am trying to make something out of nothing.

I have enough good friends in Philly and NYC and I'm too old to make friends "just to have someone to spend time with." Who wants to make half-hearted friends? It always ends up bothering me more because I feel terribly guilty that I am only friends with someone to hang out with them.

In a few more months, this island will be CRAWLING with people. I'll maybe be able to meet more people then. It's like one of those reasons I chose a larger college. I figured, larger college, more people, more chances of finding people I can really click with. (excuse the ending with a participle.) Right now there is a small population, period, down here, and when you think about the 20 to 30 population, its even less.

I should say I have made two friends that I enjoy. One is moving away, so that is unforunate, and one lives about 30 minutes away and works in the city, so he is generally busy, but I like getting together with him.

I'm not generally unhappy, so why push things? It's like a good relationship--you'll find it when you're not looking. So, I'm gonna stop seeing a friend in every person I meet and just let things happen. I feel comfortable with this decision, not like I am giving up on meeting people and shutting them out, but not forcing it to happen either. A good happy medium.

I am going to a card stamping class on Friday, that should be fun! This is a stay-at-home and nest and clean and catch up on things. It is much-needed...and next weekend? I will be HOME for four glorious days of family, friends and food! Oh and tons of snow, apparently.

(please don't!) Cue Canon in D

2007-02-27T18:40:00.000-05:00

Please! Don't invite us to your wedding!

That's not what I'm saying, it's what one Argentinian couple said in a paid newspaper advertisement a few weeks ago. I wonder if its going to have the opposite affect and they will have no social life now...

Speaking of weddings, I am attending quite a few this year: Five. Spread all over the country from here in New Jersey to California to Texas to Minnesota. I think I am going to hit all the major geographic areas of the United States--Northeast, West Coast, South and Midwest.

I actually like going to weddings. I guess if I was invited to a wedding every weekend it might be a different story, but I feel its an honor to be included on someone's wedding guest list and I should do my best to try and make it. Of course, the happy couple is probably planning on/hoping that a third of their guests can't come...

I wonder if this is my "year of weddings." Five is quite a few for one year, and, even though the majority of my friends are unmarried, I don't see it getting beyond this. Maybe...

It's interesting to see how friendships change and evolve and develop. Nicole blogged about how her friends came for her baby shower and they talked about babies and husbands, which is different from their college year discussions. I'm a step behind her with my friends, who are starting to talk weddings and engagements and long-term relationships and whatnot. Why does it all scare people so much? Because those really are huge life changes. Its sort of the start of "you might turn into your parents someday." Up until that we could deny it by being fun, free-wheeling young adults. But when you are in a relationship and comfortable, you stop shaking things up.

This post is all over the place. I am enjoying seeing all the different wedding invitations, ideas, websites, etc. Not in a "I'm planning my own" sort of way, but just a general appreciate for aestheics and function.

But if anyone plays Canon in D, I will be very upset:

Here fishy fishy fishy fishy fishy.

2007-02-21T13:54:00.000-05:00

An article published this week discusses that more U.S. women face heart, stroke risk. The article talks about things to help prevent heart disease, such as the two usual factors: exercise and diet. I struggle with both of those personally, but I hired a personal trainer at my gym, so that should help the first part.

The second part, diet, talks about eating more fruits and vegetables, whole-grain and high fiber foods and little salt. I find this hard because I cannot finish fruits and vegetables before they go bad. I wish I could go to the store and buy half a bag of salad or something.

It also mentions eating fish at least twice a week. This is another example of conflicting reports. Sorta. Women have to limit their intake of certain fish, such as tuna and swordfish because those fish have high levels of mercury, which may affect any current or future pregnancies. So I can only have one Tuna Melt per week, boo.

EDIT: And just now I read yet ANOTHER story that says the benefits outweight the risks: Seafood in Pregnancy is a Net Plus.

Living near the ocean, I have a lot more access to fresh fish and there are lots of places in the island that sell stuff hauled in this morning. This is exciting. But balancing that, along with knowing I need to watch certain fishes and also realizing that some fish are not sustainably farmed...it's a lot to think about!

Luckily, there are organizations like the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which has something called the Seafood Watch Program. Its goals are to bring awareness that some fish are not sustainably farmed--a fact that they say could eventually eliminate some kinds or even all fish.

They have guides on their website as to what fish are your best choices, what are good alternatives and what fish to avoid. The guides can be tailored to your geographic area and they will even send you free guides for your wallet or purse, which you can order on their website. (My former co-worker used to carry one around, which is how I became not only aware about that some fish are not sustainably farmed, but also the danger of high mercury levels.)

Here are some examples from the Northeast Guide:

Best choices: Clams, Dungeness crab and imitation crab from the US, Pacific Halibut, Spiny Lobster (U.S. Trap-Caught), Wild-caught Alaska Salmon, US Farmed Tilapia, Tuna (Albacore from BC or the US, Skipjack or Yellowfin from the US)
Good alternatives: Black Sea Bass, Imported-Farmed Catfish, Crab--Blue, imitation, Alaske King; American/Maine Lobster, US Caught Mahimahi or imported using a pole, Swordfish, Central America farmed Tilapia, Shrimp from the northern atlantic and canada.
Avoid!! Wild-caught caviar, Farmed Salmon, Chilean seabass, Imported mahi-mahi using a long-line, orange roughy, imported shrimp, Chinese farmed Tilapia, tuna caught using a long-line.

And with that, I leave you with a favorite Sesame Street clip that inspired the title of my post:

Click Click Bloody Click PANCAKES!

2007-02-20T09:21:00.000-05:00

I apparently missed this last year but this year I promise not to miss: INTERNATIONAL PANCAKE DAY!

I believe pancakes are a perfect food, especially with butter and some syrup. The addition of fruit creates another experience altogether, one that is also quite pleasant. Add a side of bacon, and I am one happy camper.

In honor of Pancake Day (which is actually Shrove Tuesday and a way for people to use up banned foods before lent) IHOP is giving a free short stack of pancakes... with a donation

I, personally, will be sitting at a blue booth today, tucking into some freshly made, warm, buttery, rich pancakes. With a side of bacon.

Pancakes ARE like crack:

Won't you be my neighbor?

2007-02-15T12:43:00.000-05:00

I've written about feeling lonely, such as last week when I realized I had no place to stay when my heat went out. But I haven't written about how warm and friendly New Jersey has been for me.

I have some GREAT neighbors. My landlords, who live upstairs on the weekends, are nice and friendly and warm and responsive. And they share their beer. My right-hand neighbors are a retired couple and they are like grandparents--always there for me to borrow a cup of sugar or what not. They made some amazing, home-made from scratch, onion soup the other night and gave me a frozen batch. And, in return, I try to do things like wipe off their car of snow when I am dusting off mine, or things like that.

This morning, I was leaving my street as a car started to drive down, and the driver waved to me. Did I know him? No. Does it matter? Not really. That's just life on the island.

I know what some of you are thinking right now: "Warm and friendly? New Jersey? What?"

This state gets a bad rap. And most states that have bad raps have people saying they have bad raps (how do I unwrap myself from that tongue-twister?). But New Jersey is such an interesting state because it almosts has five eco-systems or something. North Jersey is a different beast from the Jersey Shore which is different from South Jersey and Central Jersey. Also, there is a chunk of Northwestern Jersey that is different too.

All this in a state that is 70 miles wide and 150 miles long. It's amazing!

North and much of Central Jersey strikes me as being very New York-oriented. Most of the people who live there work and play in the city, and drive/train home for sleep. That's the part that is a little more rough and tough, I think. Probably because New Jersey is ranked 47th in terms of size but 11th in terms of population, and the majority is crammed into that portion. I'd be watching my own too!

South Jersey (I only know Ocean County, not the parts closer to Philly) is a little slower-paced and some parts are a little backwards, to me. I've had some...racial run-ins...where people just don't seem to be aware that its not okay to use the N-word. (Some people call people down here "Pineys" which refers to the Pinelands, a large swath of greenery in the middle of the state. It's like the Southern Ocean word for "hick.")
I think its ignorance, not actual racism per se. But, besides that stuff, it reminds me of Minnesota in that its full of nice people who wave and stuff.

I wonder how things will change in the summer...I mean, I know its going to get mad-crowded and there will be all sorts of North Jersey/Philadelphia/New York people summering, so its going to be a lot more awake. I sort of like my sleepy little town without stoplights right now...

Oh and everyone drinks Yeungling beer likes its going out of circulation. Very Philadelphia.

its almost a barn-raising...

2007-02-13T20:42:00.000-05:00

I took this picture a few weeks ago, but today is the perfect day to post it. Why? Because its raining...a cold, steady, icky, grey, mid-February rain. I wish it was colder so all that rain would be mounds of white, fluffy snow. But, instead, the road outside my house is flooding, again.

So when the place you lives floods often, what do you do? You have raised homes. Whenever I heard raised homes, I always thought of my Children's Encyclopedia about homes built literally on the water and scantily-clothed, happy kids climbing ladders to their house. That seemed like fun, like living in a tree fort.

Well, homes here that are raised have staircases. And they are raised in all different ways. Some are literally likes houses that were built on a platform, and there is enough space underneath to act like a car. Others are just raised a little bit, and have a porch or somehing to walk up to at the house (like mine.) Still other are raised very slightly, like a car on cement blocks, and just have a few extra stairs leading up to the house.

The effect is that houses is here LOOK huge but are really your average size, one-story or two-story house. Some homes, built early-on when this island wasn't quite the tourist hot-spot and just a place where some people had nice 50s-style homes, weren't built on stilts. Whether some sort of climate change has made it more necessary, or general realization of having a house on stilits is good, there is a big business for getting your house raised. I always wondered how it happens, but I guess you can sort of see it from this picture.

Good things most homes don't have basements. Though a few older homes in Beach Haven actually do!

Why would anyone steal a 10,000-year-old egg??

2007-02-12T10:30:00.000-05:00

In a true measure of how little I do, I have been obsessed with playing video games lately. I've actually put down the Karaoke Revolution microphone in favor of something more old school: educational games on my Apple IIe emulator. I beat Carmen Sandiego (above) yesterday and am working on Oregon Trail. I remember how hard it was to beat Oregon Trail, especially since you only had one period to do so. On computer lab days, I used to plot how I could quickly start up the game, saving the precious minutes that I could use to win the game. I think I only did so a few times...perhaps I wasn't meant to be a pioneer!

By the way, a bunch of people have mocked me for remembering a game called Spellavator, saying it didn't exist. Well, Wikipedia has proved me wrong! Mock no more. Perhaps I remember more of these games since I did go to school in Minnesota and they were made byMECC--the Minnesota Education Computer Consortium. Pretty cool to know we were so progressive in computer education! (by the way, I'm pretty sure that video shows kids playing LogoWriter. That was a cool game.)

By the way, what was up with Odell Down Under? I thought it was the most boring game ever, and I only ever tried to play it when I couldn't get a computer that had Oregon Trail or Amazon Trail. Fish eats fish, osprey eats fish, blah blah blah.

Did anyone EVER finish Amazon Trail? What were your favorite computer lab games?

the big freeze

2007-02-11T09:47:00.001-05:00

the big freeze, originally uploaded by seat_5a.

Not much to report from the island. It is starting to warm up out here, but just last week the bay was frozen over...maybe not enough to walk on (you need at least half a foot of ice for walking and one foot of ice for driving), but enough to be very pretty.

Its really the wind that makes you cold and boy is it windy on this island. I learned that the reason that wind makes you cold is a human exudes body heat, of course, but that heat makes sort of a cushion around your body--a real life aura! When the wind blows, it blows away that cushion, and that's why wind feels so much colder than just low temperatures.

Luckily, I have heat!

Poor fishies.

2007-02-06T13:21:00.000-05:00

Temperatures right now are hovering in the teens, and the windchill has dipped to below zero. This, of course, is nothing compared to Minnesota, where they are struggling to get the mercury above zero, but it is darn cold nonetheless.

And, my heat went out. Again.

It went out last week but was fixed enough to keep me warm that week. I went to Philadelphia this past weekend for three days of eating myself silly (Restaurant Week, BYOB and going-away party) only to come back to a heatless house on Sunday afternoon.

It was 45 degrees in my home. And my fish died.

Poor little Aoi and Akai. They were my buddies. They watched TV when I was watching TV, wriggling their little bodies towards the set. And I let them freeze to death. I gave them a proper burial at sea, and proceeded to huddle down under some comforters until my gas could be repaired. Again. Unfortunately, it took 23 hours before the gas company could make it out, so I drove back to Philadelphia, in time to see the Bears lose.

It made me sort of sad because I realized there were not too many places around where I live that I could turn to in a time of need. I have two friends in the area who I feel comfortable enough with to ask to spend the night. And both were out of town. So back to Philly it was. Back in MN, I would've had dozens of places to go...I guess that's a big struggle, is how do you make friends when you are out of college? You don't want to walk up to someone in a bar and be "hey baby, wanna be my friend?"

I am lucky to have such good friends only an hour away, but I wish I had friends only minutes away. And I wish I had my fish back.

(picture is of Akaiii, who is the new fish I bought today. I am keeping him at work. The extra i'd are to remember that he is the second Akai.)

Snow that sticks

2007-01-30T22:25:00.001-05:00

Beach house, originally uploaded by seat_5a.

I am happy to report that the latest snowfall has stuck around. I was really missing the snow but I am glad I get to wear my snowboots. It is lightly snowing now and I finally feel at ease. I guess maybe part of my discomfort in being slightly homesick was the fact that it felt like the same season, when I am used to seasons announcing themselves with a bang.

In defense of my new home, I think this is unusually warm weather for now, which Minnesota is also experiencing. Cars have been falling into lakes there because drivers are too stupid to realize the ice is not thick enough to drive on. I have no sympathy, frankly, if you are not taking the proper precautions...Survival of the Fittest!

BUT I think some of the schools in New Jersey were being overly cautious when they closed school on Monday. Today's Asbury Park Press had the listed snow totals for all areas--the most was 4.5 inches in Marlboro...my area had only 2.7 measly inches and they closed schools! If this was Texas, I might understand, but I have to think that New Jersey has the ways and means of clearing a snowy road.

Methinks some superintendents and principals wanted the day off to play too.

History of LBI

2007-01-25T23:28:00.000-05:00

I really like my local library. Its small, its friendly...I've always craved being a "regular" someplace, sort of a Cheers-where-everybody-knows-your-name kind of thing, but not necessarily because I was an alcoholic. So this teeny, tiny library in Surf City seems like a good alternative.

Before I got my MacBook (I love it so much!) I used to come here for internet time, but now I've been free to explore the bound annals (aka books). So I recently checked out a history of Long Beach Island. I learned it's pretty much been a resort spot for several centuries.

Interestingly, the first part developed were not the areas near the current causeway, or the pretty northern bit, but the southern end of the island, where Beach Haven is now. Since most of the traffic came from Philadelphia and it was the point most directly west of the city, it developed first. I guess after you've taken a horse carriage across the Pine Barrens and then had to take a boat to an island, going another 12 miles north in a horse carriage seemed unncessary. So there wasn't too much about Surf City in the book.

BUT I did discover that my street was one of the first bay to ocean streets (I use that term loosely) on the island. I wish some of the big, old hotels were still in existence, it would be interesting to see.

Modern-day connection: they appear to be tearing down the Quarter Deck Inn, which is the first hotel you see on the island. I suppose lots of families have memories of staying there, and it will eventually just become another page in the history book.

SNOW!

2007-01-22T10:05:00.000-05:00

I had another post, about LBI history, all ready to publish, but something else happened to bump that post to another day:

IT SNOOOOOOOOOOOOWED! I am so excited! My co-workers think I am very strange because I like the snow so much. I guess I am strange...especially when it comes to snow. I just think snow is so fun because it means snowball fights, snowmen and lots of pretty white glazes on everything.

Unfortunately, the snow we got was just enough to put a thin layer on roofs, but not enough to cover all the dead, brown grass on the ground. It is also fairly warm, which is nice because the roads are not slippery since the snow just melted when it hit the pavement, but I wonder if it means the snow will not stick.

(note to self: work on run-on sentences)

The sad thing is I didn't realize it had snowed until I watched the morning news and they said "from city to shore, snow..." and I thought to myself "shore? I am shore! Does this mean it snowed?" The same thing happened the other day, when I was checking the tracking of a package via my computer and realized it was outside and I had walked right past it. Oops.

Tonight I am heading to the local library for a movie viewing and discussion. I wonder if it will be me and a bunch of old ladies, like the opera workshop I went to? Either way, its a chance to interact socially, which I need!

From the vault

2007-01-18T09:02:00.000-05:00

Maybe its homesickness or the fact that I just got a CD of backup info from my old computer, but I've been spending a lot of time looking through old pictures. Obviously I always intended to move near an ocean, since I think I enjoyed this surfer dude costume the most. (I started out as Calvin, but when my Hobbes left the party, I started digging in my friends closet to make the hair fit many different costumes: Old lady, surfer dude, disco guy, etc.)

The first time I ever went surfing was three and a half years ago in San Diego, where I was for a professional convention. I loved it. I instantly understood why so many people work just enough to live, so they can spend the rest of their times on the beach. I still remember that feeling of getting up on the board after so many failed attempts...and I felt proud that I was the first in my class to be able to do it, and only two other people managed to stand up by the end of my class.

It's been a long time since I've had the chance to go surfing. Obviously, there isn't much opportunity to go surfing in Minnesota, though some real die-hard surfers have Surfed Lake Superior. And now I am going to be only a few blocks to surfing all summer long! I live about a mile from the original Ron Jon Surf Shop, whose stickers I always saw on cars but always assumed it was in California.

A co-worker of mine surfs, so hopefully she will take me under her wing and help me know the best equipment, the best spots, etiqutte of NJ beaches, etc. I think I will probably start with a cheap foam longboard (cheap is relative) because it should be easy to relearn on, etc.

It has warmed up here a little bit, just enough to think about surfing for us uninitiated, but the long haul of warm weather means the ocean didn't cool down as much as usual, and surfers (with their wetsuits) are still surfing in january. Though perhaps they do that year-round irregardless of warm snaps...

Location, part II

2007-01-15T00:07:00.001-05:00

NYC Philharmonic, originally uploaded by seat_5a.

I wrote about why I like where I live. Now let me tell you why I Don't like where I live.

Mainly, its the lack of things to do. Or, namely, things to do that I am used to having available. Growing up near a major metropolis (well, two, actually, but they are like one to me), I had lots of options available. It wasn't a big deal to go to a nice restaurant, or to an ethnic restaurant, and head to someplace like the theater, orchestra, or independent movie theater.

In a way, living out here is like living in one of the small towns I always would pass through on my road trips. The ones where I would say "what do people do here" (admittedly, with some condescension, I'm ashamed to say).

I guess living in the middle of everything means you're living in the middle of nowhere.

I think my opinion might change as the island wakes back up for all the summer people, but even then I haven't seen a Thai restaurant between Atlantic City and Toms River. Heck, I'm not even sure if there is a Vietnamese place in Ocean County (please please PLEASE tell me if its otherwise...)

I miss being able to go for rush tickets at events, but this weekend I had the chance to do that. We listened to the New York Philharmonic play at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia. With Zubin Mehta leading! Playing the Elgar Cello Concertos! It was an amazing experience because we had seats right in front of the soloist. Like, if she decided to spit, it would've landed on my program. It was the most amazing, intimate, moving and uncomfortable experiences of my life. Mostly because she was so passionately playing, it felt like I walked in on a couple making love. Both beautiful, but very uncomfortable.

We did explore some of the neat things on the island, namely the Barnegat Lighthouse and surrounding area. We also drove up to Jersey City for a really fun party hosted by some very great friends.

Hopefully I will have more to do in my own area soon. I wish it didn't cater so much to summer people and rewarded us hardy winter folk...
In the meantime, I'm pretty good at making my own fun!

Location, location, location

2007-01-12T09:19:00.001-05:00

Beach on Long Beach Island, originally uploaded by seat_5a.

One of the things I love about where I live is where I live. Its pretty obvious that I've never lived near an ocean, much less on an island, so I (nerdily) still get excited when I think about the fact that I live on an island.

The island is only 9 square miles, but its 18 miles long. So that means you are never more than half a mile from a beach...pretty cool. I sort of feel like I don't take advantage of being so close to the beach enough, but it IS winter. Expect more this summer! Its amazing how dark it is, I can see lots of stars and constellations.

I like looking to see the lights of Atlantic City, which you can see right as you get off the causeway bridge (you can see it from the bridge but the "string of pearls" lights on the side sometimes make it hard to see.) Its the only source of light pollution you can see.

The island is also equidistant from both NYC and Philadelphia, about 1.5 to 2 hours each, which is amazing to me. Back home in Minnesota, the only thing we could drive to within 2-3 hours is Duluth, St. Cloud, Rochester and Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Those aren't major towns, but as major as it gets! Chicago is about 6-8 hours away.

Since I've moved, I've been to NYC twice since I moved here and Philly...a lot more! It's a little easier to drive to Philadelphia--and once you get there its easier to park! Somehow, NYC always feels farther, probably because, while it takes the same amount of time to get there, it always takes longer to get to your destination, whether its for finding parking or taking an extra train, etc.

I'm excited to learn more about both of these cities as I live here and hope I take lots of time to go to both places. They have so much to offer! I mean, I don't have to elaborate on NYC (though it would take living there for a decade to take advantage of all of NYC, and even then you wouldn't do it all), but I really like Philadelphia. It's a city made up of neighborhoods, and very easy to navigate...though the narrow roads themselves can be difficult.

I finally did the tourist thing in both cities--I went to see the tree in Rockefeller Center during Christmas, something I've always wanted to do since my Baby-Sitters Club books talked about it! It was gorgeous...but unfortunately I was really rushed that evening seeing the tree, so I don't feel like I got to enjoy it. Oh well, next year!
Then the week after Christmas, my dad, brother and I went to see Liberty Bell and some of the historical buildings around there.

We couldn't get tickets to see Independence Hall, but we did stumble upon The Portrait Gallery in the Second Bank Building. After cracking a few jokes about being the Second Bank, we went inside. Inside are portraits of historical figures. I found it fascinating because when I read about history, I don't care what happened, I am more interested in the people behind what happened. How they lived, what they wore, what they did when they weren't creating history (which was rarely.) The portraits come with plaques that give that kind of information and talk about the relationship between all the people in the gallery.

That's my kind of history.

Lots more trips to both cities are planned in the future! I often things about what I might have missed doing in Minnesota (though I feel I did do a lot of stuff there!) and I'm going to try not to have that feeling living out here!

Weather

2007-01-10T22:27:00.001-05:00

flooding, originally uploaded by seat_5a.

The weather here has been rather unusual. Its odd to have 70 degree weather and go to the beach to watch the sunset with no coat on on Saturday...and then have it snow today.

This, I believe, is not normal weather. I've been assured that it does, indeed, snow down here. I am ridiculously attached to the snow and wish it would...though I wonder how much of that is some sort of Minnesota bravado, where I need to prove to these soft people how tough we northwoods people are!

But I don't feel very tough at night sometimes. The wind howls when it rains and a bush in front of my house scrapes against a window and makes these "eeek....eeeeek....eeeek" noises. So, I haven't watched a scary movie since I moved out. Too much to stoke the imagination. I don't know if the rainstorms here are more furious or if I just scare more.

They have nor'easters, which are like the north Atlantic version of hurricanes. They can produce up to 90 mph winds and torrential downpour! The result of these storms can be coastal flooding...and living on an island, that means me!

The combination of a nor'easter and high tide and full moon caught me the first weekend I moved out here. The flooding wasn't too bad, but it was exciting for me! I had to move my car because this is salt water flooding, not freshwater flooding like in the midwest.

Blizzards I know how to deal with, but driving in the flood was hard--how do you drive through high water without splashing all over your car and risk erosion?

I probably looked like an idiot that day but that's okay. I know how to handle myself in ice and snow storms, pumping my brakes and all. Just wait until it snows, I'll show them!

Unfortunately the snow today did not stick.

2007-01-08T19:55:00.000-05:00

Hi Maya!

local color

2007-01-07T18:28:00.000-05:00

a really, really, really nice day
Yesterday we went for a drive. It was absolutely gorgeous, perfect weather outside yesterday--nearly 70 degrees. In January! So we left our coats at home. We went down Route 9 through Little Egg Harbor and Tuckerton and then we drove down Seven Bridges Road, which I wrote about for the APP as one of my first stories assigned to me.

It's a pretty little road-to-nowhere that ends abruptly. It was originally intended to serve as another route to LBI, but the seabed was too soft to build a bridge across. So it just winds through wild marshes, with only small marinas and abandoned fish factories along the way.

It has several "one-hoss" bridges that only fits the width of one car at a time. A stoplight helps regulate traffic, so two cars don't accidentally end up facing each other on a bridge, where the only way out is backing up. Scrubby pine trees, tall grass and brambly bushes grow alongside the road, which sometimes dips so low, it feels like you are driving on the marsh itself.

At the end of this road is an old red-and-white Coast Guard Station, now home to the Rutgers Marine Field Station. The bushes grow high at the turn-around. The road ends with a metal road barrier, but just beyond that barrier is a small path that goes through the curving bushes. The bushes are like a tunnel and, even if you've been there before, its sort of exciting to see what is on the other end.

Which is a small beach that opens out into the Atlantic Ocean. From there you can see the very tip of Long Beach Island, Atlantic City, other small uninhabited barrier islands and miles and miles of ocean. Seagulls dip and soar and scream and you almost think you can see them scooping up fish, but never manage to actually catch them in the act.

Out on this narrow beach, we spread my "dirty" blanket, huddled under my "clean" blanket and just sat there as the sun set. I thought we wouldn't be able to see it from that perspective because we would be facing east, but the sun set right in front of us, just west of Atlantic City. Luckily the sky was almost cloud-free. Unfortunately, the one place where there were clouds were exactly in front of the sunset, just above the horizon. Nevertheless, we enjoyed most of the sunset, rolling up our blankets a little early so we could enjoy the drive by dusk.

travel

2007-01-04T13:51:00.000-05:00

So, looking at Sioux's pictures from her trip to Hawaii made me seriously jealous. I really would like to take a vacation that is just a vacation--I can't remember the last time I did that.

Anyways, it sucks that this probably won't happen for awhile. Most of my vacation time will be wiled away a day at a time for 3-day weekends to fly home and other various spots for weddings. Not that weddings aren't wonderful--I am very happy and grateful that so many of my friends are getting married and so many want to include me in the celebration. Each guest is a huge undertaking (esp $$-wise), so when someone makes the effort to save one space (or two) for me, I am going to make the effort to attend.

Earlier, the problem was all my vacation went to one big chunk of vacation time--going to India. Dec. 2004 and March 2006. And that is NOT a vacation, no matter what the two weeks stretching across the vacation calendar may look like. I come back from India needing a vacation.

For now, I am happy taking one- or two-day vacations to NYC, Philly area, Atlantic City, etc. I would like to go to Boston and Toronto and Hershey, PA. =) I also would like to go to Vermont and New Hampshire cause those were two states I always said I probably would never have the chance to visit but would actually enjoy. And now I am close enough to do it. Plus then maybe I could understand which one is narrow at the top and which one is narrow at the bottom. Those are the two states I always confuse in those online geography tests. (now, don't go rushing to tell me that Vermont is this one and NH is this one...People keep telling me and I keep looking it up, the problem is getting it to stay in my head.)

Let's not even get started on all the places in the world I want to visit...South Africa, Kenya, Egypt, Spain, the English countryside, Incan ruins in Mexico (not drinking to ruin in Mexico), Australia, Chile...and back to The Netherlands/Amsterdam and Nepal.

And, of course, Hawaii!

Random thoughts

2007-01-03T21:48:00.000-05:00

I always hated the post New Years. There wasn't really anything to look forward to, after the smush of holidays during the last half of the year/first half of the school year. It was just a long stretch of time with an occasional Friday or Monday off for MLK or Presidents Day. We used to have this break called "Energy Break" which was on the historically coldest week of the year, puportedly to save energy by not having to heat and light the schools. It was spring break--in February.

Now I don't even have those days to look forward to! We don't get MLK day off, though we did at my last paper (with an option to use this "diversity day" for any other diverse holiday of our choosing.) I don't have any spring breaks, etc. Boo for working.

------------
I drove down to the very southern (driveable) tip of Long Beach Island, right at sunset. It was amazing. I was so close to Atlantic City, and I could see the sunset over AC and reaching out into the ocean. That was cool. It took me a lot longer to get down there then I thought it would. I wish it was a nicer drive, more ocean views or something. It was lots of big fancy homes and stuff. That tip is the start of the Edwin Forsythe Reserve. I think its maybe Edwin B. Forsythe reserve. Why is almost everything here named after someone and why does everyone use their middle initial? I know why I use it (to keep my byline separate from the other Shruti Mathur in journalism, who went to school in Johns Hopkins and grew up in the Baltimore/DC area) but we also use it in our articles too.

Anyways, I hope I can share this view with some people sometime real soon!

Star Tribune sale

2006-12-27T13:06:00.000-05:00

The not so big news, but the most exciting thing in my world today is the fact that I am flying home today for my New Years vacation. I think we are also going to do a few hours worth of tourist stuff in Philadelphia today too.

The big news in my world (besides Former President Gerald Ford dying) is the sale of the Star Tribune. The surprise of the sale was something even the executive officers of the company acknowledged yesterday.

It was a surprise mainly because when McClatchy decided to buy Knight Ridder, they assured employees of the Star Tribune that it was the one paper that was safe because the Strib was its "flagship paper." There was a lot of consternation about what would happen when McClatchy spent all its cash buying KR, but the one thing Stribbers felt assured in was that at least our paper would be in the same chain, whatever other changes may come down the line.

Perhaps the sale shouldn't have been a surprise. Perhaps the jumping ship that editor Anders Gyllenhaal did last week (to take a job at McClatchy's Miami paper) should have been an indicator of major changes ahead.

All that aside, the biggest concern right now is, what next? I feel that it has been the trend that, following the sale of a newspaper, layoffs or buyouts (in the case of companies with unions, including the Star Tribune) occur. Between us, I think there is some need to weed out a few people in the Star Tribune newsroom, who really don't produce much work, while others are working their tails off, but I think those positions need to be replaced with people who do work hard, not less staff. And I am concerned about prior cuts to the night desk, especially design positions, that have not been filled. The designers are STILL working doubly hard, with no relief in sight just yet. They keep losing people but not filling the positions, so the cuts by attrition there have been ginormous.

I could take time to write about problems in the newspaper industry in general, but then I would be writing about things I don't understand fully (not that that is much different than my job, but at least there I have someone else who analyzes things and I just write about it!)

Anyway, its a big time of uncertainty and I wish my former colleagues and friends the best. I am also a little sad for me because I always planned to return to the Star Tribune someday. I hope I still have a quality paper to return to.

mail service?

2006-12-19T20:54:00.000-05:00

My mail sucks. Last month I got a birthday card a month late--despite it being sent a month earlier. My Netflix movies are constantly three days late, which means sometimes that, despite being signed up for three a month, I have ZERO netflix movies in my posession. Annoying. Today was the worst: A bill that was due last Friday came on Monday. This was for my health insurance, something I would like to stay. Luckily, my health insurance has a 30-day grace period (that's a really long time...) so I am okay with that.

Someone suggested I get a P.O. Box. I guess I am down the street from the post office, but the idea of driving to get my mail seems odd. Plus, who knows if my P.O. Box would be any faster. It seems that maybe the mail takes a long time just getting out to Manahawkin...

NYC

2006-11-12T19:45:00.000-05:00

I discovered that I am only an hour and a half from Jersey City, which is the same distance that I am from Philly. Which means that I am pretty much two hours from NYC, assuming I park in JC and take the train into the city. Driving into the city wouldn't be bad, except for that whole parking thing. That is not easy, methinks.

Dinner was amazing. I love Indian-Chinese food; its just this amazing hybrid of tastes and it works so well. We had my favorite dish, Chicken 65. We also had some wine.

Ravi needed to catch a train at Penn Station, so we dropped him off there, after screaming random stuff out the window at him, probably mortifying him beyond belief. Then we drove back to Jersey City where Maya and Vikram totally twisted my arm into staying the night. And by twist, they just touched my wrist and I was like OKAY! I really didn't feel like driving an hour and a half at that point.

We went to their favorite local Jersey City bar, drank some more...then finally stumbled into bed at about 3am.

The nicest part about the weekend? Spending time with friends. I mean, two of the guys on Saturday night were Vikram and Maya's friends, but it just felt like normal. And it was exciting to "crash" at Maya's place and go home in my rumpled clothes the next day, like I had friends again. I know this sounds stupid, but it is silly little things like that that make a difference to me.

I am feeling the fact that I don't have friends here in town, but I am forging a tentative friendship with a girl who works in my building and also lives on the island. Maybe some of her friends will be cool too and then I can start my own little friendships!

Blogs

2006-11-08T16:39:00.000-05:00

I think you all should read my friend Dylan's blog: A Place Called Blog. It's just a really really funny blog. He's got this very sarcastic, dry, witty sense of humor and its even funnier if you know him because he is very stoic in person. (Scroll back and read older entries too.)

I realized my blog reading takes a LOT of time. I read a bunch of the Star Tribune blogs, some random blogs about nothing, some celebrity news blogs, SepiaMutiny and some related blogs, etc. I once stayed an extra two hours after work, just so I could read all my blogs. I can't read anymore!

But, ignoring all that, what blogs do you read?

Finding a place to live

2006-10-24T17:56:00.000-04:00

I have a place to live! YAY!

I am going to live in the 2-bedroom place in Surf City for an amazing price. House-hunting on Saturday was depressing and exciting at the same time--depressing cause the places in my price range were SO awful, but exciting cause it makes me appreciate my new place even more.

Maya and Vikram came over last night and had dinner with us. We went out for Manhattan Clam Chowder, which is tomato-based instead of cream-based. I never knew there was such a thing! We also had really excellent crab cakes.

Also, the neighborhood is really nice. It's a dead-end neighborhood but enough cars go by because the end of the block (4 houses down) is the Surf City Yacht Club (and the bay. and the sunset.) The neighbors are year-round, too, so that adds to the safety. The guy who owns the house is part of the fire department, which is two blocks away, and is also where the police department is located. The beach is three blocks away. Long blocks, but nevertheless...!

The place is so relaxing and there is a nice breeze all the time...except it was really humid today and I felt hot. I can't imagine what the summer will be like! Oh well, I'll just go to the beach when it gets that hot =)

Post-birthday

2006-10-22T17:31:00.000-04:00

Saturday afternoon Maya, Ravi, Tom and my co-worker Brian came to my house. I made butternut squash and apple soup, cranberry cream cheese wontons, spicy grilled cheeses and had apple cider for drinks and apple pie for dessert. I REALLY liked the cranberry cream cheese wontons. I could've sat and at those all afternoon, for serious.

Later, my landlords Anne and Brian joined the party. It was a nice group--again, good company and good conversation.

After everyone left, I quickly showered and changed into my indian outfit and headed north on the parkway to Dobbs Ferry, NY, for a Diwali party at my aunt's house. Anyways, they had a birthday cake for me! It was really nice and I felt a little emotional. I was touched...

I then had a horrendous drive home. Somewhere on the Turnpike someone hit some sort of animal that was all shredded on the road. The driver in the lane next to me sort of hit it again, thus throwing bits of dead animal carcass at my car. So now I am driving down the parkway, in my Indian clothes, at midnight, with bits of bloody meat, probably rife with diseases, stuck to my car. Some of it comes off with my windshield wiper fluid, but a bit just beyond my wipers stubbornly stays stuck. I kept putting more fluid onto my windshield, hoping to loosen it off with the water...and in the process MISSED the exit for the Garden State Parkway.

My mind is so full of dead animal meat, that it takes a REALLY long time before I realize I am not on the GSP...like when I reached a sign that said Freehold, but didn't say Asbury Park...then I started to think, uhhh this isn't right. I ended up having to go all the way down to 195, go across the state and then head south (I could've taken a highway across, but the freeway felt safer and faster.) So I didn't get home until 2am.

this morning I had to drive BACK up to Point Pleasant Beach to cover a heart walk. But it was cool because I've never seen the boardwalk up there before, and its apparently one of the best, according to many people I've talked to. Now I am at work, tired...but there is a nice flower arrangement to keep me company! Chao sent a cute fall-themed arrangement to my office. It even has a pumpkin in it. My mom sent a big bunch home, and it came in her signature blue vase, even. Both have alstromerias, which make me very happy.

Library

2006-10-09T15:33:00.001-04:00

YAY for having a library card. My inaugral rental is a teen novel. :-/ But that is what the library is good for: reading the books you never want to admit you want to read but you want to read. Then you don't have to buy it and have this stupid book lying around. I will move up to non-teen lit soon, but I want something sort of mindless for the next few days. Besides, I still am reading the Omnivore's Dilemma, so I can easily switch between totally mindless to totally mindful.

Um. Mindful is a word. Now.

I had a good sob this morning when my dad left, but I managed to not cry until the car was down the street. No one wants to remember their last look at someone (for a few months anyways) as that person crying.

Anyway, I like this library. It's small but its the kind of place where if you call to ask if a book is in, they will walk over the shelf and look. Cute. I really like where I live. I like my neighbors too.

Library

2006-10-09T15:33:00.000-04:00

Welcome to the Island

2006-10-08T18:24:00.000-04:00

ARGH internet connections. Sorry folks for the lack of updating. After I got here, we didn't have an internet connection. I went to the library, but only to get directions (they only gave me 45 minutes of internet time because I had to log on as a guest.)

ANYWAYS I have arrived, safely, and so has all my stuff. The minimal damage involved one drinking glass which broke and my Apples to Apples game spilling out into the trailer, so some of the cards are dirty, but not bent or anything.

Friday morning it started raining--this was my first Nor'easter! And we got to unpack my trailer in the rain! cool! (end sarcasm.)

Then Saturday morning, my landlord, Brian, came downstairs and told me I better move the car because it was not only a Nor'easter, but also a high tide combined with a full moon. This meant that the rain from the storm could not drain into the bay, so the street was flooded! We went to Manahawkin to return the trailer then spent the day putting together 4 bookshelves, one desk and one dresser. The waters receded by about 5pm.

-----
The drive out here was AMAZING. We chose the best time to drive--the leaves were just starting to turn in Western Pennsylvania, along the top of the Appalachian Mountains. It was so breathtaking that I didn't even bother to take pictures, because they just wouldn't do it justice and you would all be disappointed. Just imagine a wall of trees with green trees accented by golden ambers, bright oranges, deep reds and occasional burgundy. Beautiful.

It is perfect weather today. We went to the beach for a stroll then drove up to the Barnegat Lighthouse and had pizza. Dad and his buddy are now on their way to Atlantic City for some gambling. I thought of going, but I am sort of tired. I hope I won't regret it later, because my dad is leaving tomorrow, so it is taking out of time with him. But I really dislike the insides of casinos, they depress me. Especially when the weather is so great, I don't want to be indoors.

except, of course, to update my blog! Now to the outside!

Last day in Minnesota

2006-10-03T12:11:00.000-04:00

So this is it. This is probably the last day I will spend in my house as a resident of my house (obviously I will be back. In fact, I will be back in December for my friend's wedding.) How am I going to spend my last day as a Minnesota resident? Packing, duh.

My sweaters are MIA. We think we know where they are, and once we find them they will require no packing, since they are already packed, but it is one of those things I cannot afford to not have, since I think it probably gets cold on my ISLAND too.

Oh...I guess I won't need my awesome Sorrel boots and I'll have to find another winter shoe since those will be too warm. That is sort of sad. I love those boots and I live in them in the winter. Hopefully it gets cold enough to wear my boots...I should look up winter weather there.

This morning I heard the train whistle in the distance. It had been a long time since I heard it...probably because if I am ever up at that time, I usually have the radio on. I think something was in its way because it was whistling rather urgently and rapidly...but it was nice to hear. It used to comfort me when we moved to our new house because it wasn't that far from our old house and I could still hear the train.

WOW! this is happening, finally! I am excited, I really am. I don't think its hit me yet that I am leaving. Last night it did a little bit...and it was so so sad. I thought I was going to start crying in the restaurant. I really am going to miss Minnesota. I just hope I don't become that girl that says "Oh, well in Minnesota we do it like this..." like my friend from a small town always says.

I don't think I will have the chance to update a lot because I won't have a computer when we get there. My old one is kaput and I don't have the budget right now to get a new one (but it will be a Mac. Believe you that.) The public library (only a mile away!) has internet accessible computers, but they are closed on Sundays, so it might be until next Monday, unless my dad brings his laptop.