The Vultures

desert sun burns
as a man wanders
bare toed burning
his feet covered
life worn shoes
worn thin
falling to pieces
skin burnt
his unprotected head
lips cracked
parched from the desert
a watering hole
he drags
he leans over and
drinks the sand
he falls
he lay there
Vultures circle

It's a boy
-baby cries-
mommy can i open my gifts
yes son
daddy i got my report card today
good job son
hey dad can i have the keys to the car
of course you can son
look mom and dad - i graduated
son we are so proud of you
hey i got a job
i know you'll be successful son
hey guys i just proposed, i'm getting married
i'm so happy for you


aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

nothing
...
circles
dives
pecks
circles
dives
pecks
circles
dives
rips
flock
circles
dives
east
feasts
start a new

So alone inside (even when everyone knows your name)

I woke up this morning
around a quarter after noon
listened to the screaming alarm clock
and though why'd it have to be so soon

I rolled over and look next to me
the woman lying there, my memory gone
couldn't remember who she was
last night I got so bombed

because hey
I'm so alone inside
yeah cuz everyone knows my name
and when i try to be alone
everyone follows and does the same
I went out last evening
to a local discotheque
tried to get lost in all the people
but it didn't have the right effect
so I went down
to the corner bar
a few drinks later
loneliness never seemed so far
started talking to a lady
her boyfriend said "what gives you the right"
I turned to him and answered
"well because tonight is my night"
he grabbed me by the collar
knocked me to the ground
his lady leaned over and helped me up
the whole time he frowned
she asked what did you do that for
said I was tired of being alone
she smiled and said let's get out of here
and that's when she took me home
so hey - I was so alone inside
cuz everyone knew my name
got tired of playing
all those stupid games
I was alone inside
even though they knew my name
I was so alone inside
and thought no one felt the same

Fly on a wall

sitting in the back
the luck of it all
sitting, staring, thinking
a fly on the wall
the radio plays
chris at the bar
cries in a beer
how did things go so far
the best of friends
long as he can remember
stupid decisions
turned into a great pretender

My Birthday in NYC with Jane - not just for the birds

To see photos from the day click here

So for my birthday this year, I wanted to do something cheesy, and wouldn't you know it... Jane helped deliver :)

So the day started pretty early, we took a 9 am train I believe from Stamford to the city, playing a little mad libs on the way (you all remember those right :). When we got to the city we figured the best bet would be to go to the Empire State Building first because it would probably get busier as the day progressed. So when we got there... we took the elevator up to I think the 60th floor, where we had to take another elevator to the 80th floor, from here you waited in line for the next elevator to take you to the 86th floor observation deck... or you can do what we did and climb the remaining 6 stories... I must tell you from 86 stories up.. things do look pretty small... You could see the bridges on all four sides, the East river, the Hudson, Yankee Stadium, Central Park, lots of pigeons... it was fun.

From here, we had to take care of Jane's car... it had broken down near Harlem the other day and we had to arrange to pick it up. The name of the company was Expert Automotive Inc, European Auto Specialists. She was going to pay for it via credit card, but after they finished, they told her they didn't take credit cards for more than $200 and demanded that she get a bank check to pay for it. I got on the phone with them and told them they were violating the contract they signed with the credit card companies that say they can't set limit on acceptance for credit cards. They offered to do it 50/50 on the card, but I told them no way, and was calling AAA to let them know about how this station was treating us. They called back and said they would do the whole thing on the card, and we picked it up. A little bit of aggravation on the phone with them saved considerable time fighting with them, we got the car, and parked it near the start point of the tour company we bought the bus tickets from.

We took one of those cheesy double decker bus tours of the Upper East Side from Gray Line NY Tours. We saw a ton of really cool stuff along the way, Grants Tomb was pretty cool, we didn't hop off, but it look like the capital which was cool, and the inscription on his tomb is cool. He write it himself "Let us have peace", odd for a man of war, but couldn't be more right.

We didn't hop off until we got to Strawberry Fields Memorial and the Dakota Building. This was the site of Lennon's assassination, and sad as it is, it was unfortunate that a man calling himself the "Mayor of Strawberry Fields" or "Gary". I understand why he does it, and he is fighting for his freedom of speech to talk about John, but unfortunately what would have otherwise been a spiritual experience for a music fan, turns into a political spectacle and will always be remembered that way. Ehh... I almost wished I hadn't listened in to what he had to say.

We drove through Black Harlem, saw where the Cotton Club was, and the Apollo... in Muslim Harlem we saw the school, mosque and Bazaar created by Malcolm X's wife in honor of her husband's teachings.

I learned a few things too... you know those buildings over 6 stories require water to be pushed to the roof and stored in rooftop water tanks so they can have enough pressure for the entire building. Read about it here.

Also, the word Manhattan comes from the Lenape Language meaning island of many hills.

After the tours... we stopped at the Caswell Massey store on Lex, and I bough some of that Hair Wash I saw in the catalog because I like the bottle and wanted to try it. From there we went to B and H photo where I got a new lens hood, and looked at tripods to replace the one I had stolen from me.

We watched 21 at the 34th Street AMC theater and the headed home around 9ish and had ourselves a muffin at the diner before going to bed.

All in all, this was a great birthday... am a little tired from it still today, but that is OK... I'll live.

Ponderisms

Can you cry under water?

How important does a person have to be before they are considered assassinated instead of just murdered?

Why do you have to "put your two cents in".. But it's only a "penny for your thoughts"?

Where's that extra penny going to?

Once you're in heaven, do you get stuck wearing the clothes you were buried in for eternity?

Why does a round pizza come in a square box?

What disease did cured ham actually have?

How is it that we put man on the moon before we figured out it would be a good idea to put wheels on luggage?

Why is it that people say they "slept like a baby" when babies wake up like every two hours?

If a deaf person has to go to court, is it still called a hearing?

Why are you IN a movie, but you're ON TV?

Why do people pay to go up tall buildings and then put money in binoculars to look at things on the ground?

Why do doctors leave the room while you change?

They're going to see you naked anyway.

Why is "bra" singular and "panties" plural?

Why do toasters always have a setting that burns the toast to a horrible crisp, which no decent human being would eat?

If Jimmy cracks corn and no one cares, why is there a stupid song about him?

Can a hearse carrying a corpse drive in the carpool lane?

Why is that tool who used to work for me even bothering to show up, after she quite out of incompetence?

If the professor on Gilligan's Island can make a radio out of a coconut, why can't he fix a hole in a boat?

Why does Goofy stand erect while Pluto remains on all fours?

They're both dogs!

If Wile E. Coyote had enough money to buy all that ACME crap, why didn't he just buy dinner?

If corn oil is made from corn, and vegetable oil is made from vegetables, what is baby oil made from?

If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?

Do the Alphabet song and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star have the same tune?

Why did you just try singing the two songs above?

Why do they call it an asteroid when it's outside the hemisphere, but call it a hemorrhoid when it's in your butt?

Did you ever notice that when you blow in a dog's face, he gets mad at you, but when you take him for a car ride, he sticks his head out the window?

One night at the train station - an observation

It's 11:04 pm and the train is now late. Apparently it stopped in Rye for an ambulance, although no one seemed to know why. Meanwhile I am sitting in Stamford at the station waiting for it to arrive. As I sit and wait, I am mesmerized by the line of taxis and the efficiency of this system, cabbies don't fight over fares, everyone in line gets there own turn. New taxis would move up to fill the spots left by those who had taken fares from the incoming trains. Then there was one cab driver, probably figuring he would be there a while got out of his car with soda can in hand. He finished it off, and walked over towards the trash but stopped around 15 feet from the can. This was not a simple can, it was one of those covered cans with a small opening. The man began playing a "horseshoe-esque" game with his tin can and the trash barrel. He would throw the can towards the trash with an overhanded underarmed throw. After 5 or 6 minutes of this he switch to a soft overhand pitch towards the barrel.. He got close a number of times but never made it. Each time walking towards the trash and picking up his can and walking back to his made up line 15 feet from the trash barrel. On his last time to the pick up the can he was verbally berated by his fellow drivers for playing with trash and holding up the line as their was space now between him and the open spot. Defeated, he walked back to the trash and placed his can through the small hole. He walked back to his car, head hung low, knowing that for a brief moment he was doing something unique, taking a break from his everyday existence for a little bit of change.

Just an observation

San Fran - Day 2

OK, so not so much to report from Day two.... I was in the office at around 4:15 am Pacific Time... not as hard as you might think... and did my work, and left.... got back to Merle's around 2ish. We chilled for a while and then around 4 left for the ball park. I didn't bring my camera to this game, but now am kind of sorry I didn't. We were right on the line near the foul pole. I mean we were so close that any kind of action and we were on TV.. in fact chances are you may have seen us. So we got there right as BP started and it was really cool watching everyone warm up. Although it took us a little while to get in because I think during our walking tour of San Fran, I twisted my ankle... It was sore all day yesterday, and still bothers me this morning. I hope I am ok to carry my things to the airport... maybe i will leave early... ok back to the game. The game was great, there was that amazing catch on the long fly ball by Varitek by Buck that made the highlight real... Varitek "double to deep right" should have been a homer... the whole section was chanting home run because it was above the line... the umps botched that one.

Then there were these two guys in front of us, had to be in there 50's... really obnoxious, telling Merle and I to go back to Boston, before he realized there were more Sox fans than A's fans around us... then continued to make comments through most of the game make derogatory remarks about the Japanese and claiming Dice-K's father was a pilot who bombed Pearl Harbor... He kept going on, and Merle and I laughed, and then this guy to his left stood up and got in his face calling him a racist, then went back and forth verbally a bit, vulgarity flying, before they eventually sat down... Then the idiot who was making the rude comments went to get security, I mean the nerve of the guy, he was being obnoxious, and then ran and called security on the guy or called him on it. Security came over to talk to the guy, and in a matter of seconds I was up talking to security trying to set him straight... This guy had fed him full of bullshit so he could have the complainer removed. Between myself and a guy in front of him... not to mention most of the Sox fans, came to this guys defense. Before long security was back and in the end simply escorted them to other seats... they were actually closer to the field than the ones they had, and were now behind First Base... c'est la vie.

The game was cool, I think it was the first one I have scored so that was fun. Merle gave me a few pointers on how to do it... Pretty easy once you get going, and makes the game more interesting... Last nights game was pretty short, under 3 hours for a 2-1 game. Not sure why they pulled Dice-K out though, he had less than 100 pitches, was throwing a 2 hitter, just happened one got away for a HR, but he was money the rest of the night...

Let's see what happens tonight... Congrats Dice-K!! Congrats Paps!!!, Go Lester!!!, Go Sox!!!!