College Lunch
I'm on a field trip at a local college with a group participating in an engineering competition, so I got to experience lunch in a college cafeteria. This is nothing like the ladies in hair nets and mystery meat experience I had back in the day. Here's the kinds of food that you could get (and it was all you could eat for like $7 ). There is a salad bar, a stir fry station, a panini station offering Monte Cristo (I don't know what's on a Monte Cristo, but I think it's something lie a Reuben) and portobello mushroom sandwiches, a tray full of grilled chicken breasts, french fries, baked potatoes, hamburgers, sandwiches and hoagies, toast your own hoagies and, in honor of Black History Month, Roast Pork Loin with collard greens and blackeyed peas salad. I think that's it. The soda machines have 8 choices and there's 3 kinds of milk and and a variety of coffee choices. For dessert there are piles of cookies, cakes and brownies everywhere, serve-yourself scooped and soft ice cream, waffles with toppings, and fruit. Plus there's a cereal bar and probably some stuff I missed. Flat screen and projection TV's with ESPN and C-Span all around. I want to live here. Oh, and I almost forgot the best part, a conveyor belt that you put your tray and dirty dishes on and it just disappears! I really want one of those at home.
I'd venture that it's important to develop decent eating habits before you go to college, because the traditional "freshman fifteen" is probably on the optimistic side otherwise. I didn't see any really skinny people around. They must not be on the meal plan. Unfortunately, the capitalist economic system and healthy eating habits are not really compatible, because to really make money on food you need to "add value," which means processing of some sort which usually involves adding salt, sugar, fat, or all of the above. By the way, it was pointed out to me that you can't eat "healthy foods," because that would imply that your food is alive. You can, however, eat "healthful foods."
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Melancholy
I was listening to an old Elton John song (nothing you've heard of unless you were a fan in the early 1970's) and was struck by an overwhelming desire to talk to my friend Richard, who was a fellow fan of his early stuff. Richard was my college roommate and the friend who really introduced me to Philadelphia. He wasn't what you would call a high-powered, successful person. He'd probably agree with the New Pornographers lyric "success is just survival gone too far." But he was kind and generous with his time and spirit. He died suddenly in the summer of 2002. It's still the only funeral I've spoken at.
I told the story of when the house we were sharing (with 5 other people) in West Philadelphia was robbed. It was during the summer and someone left a window open on the first floor and a camera got stolen. This was a bunch of students living together and were weren't exactly fastidious. In fact, our most frequent fight was over who had to clean up that week. Anyway, the cops come and Richard, who was the only one home, came downstairs to talk to them. He told them about the stolen camera and the policeman said, "Well, it certainly looks like they ransacked the place." And Richard replied, "Nah, it always looks like this."
He was one of the very few people I could talk to about absolutely anything, and it saddens me that no matter how hard I try to summon him up, I can't get anything more than a memory.
I was listening to an old Elton John song (nothing you've heard of unless you were a fan in the early 1970's) and was struck by an overwhelming desire to talk to my friend Richard, who was a fellow fan of his early stuff. Richard was my college roommate and the friend who really introduced me to Philadelphia. He wasn't what you would call a high-powered, successful person. He'd probably agree with the New Pornographers lyric "success is just survival gone too far." But he was kind and generous with his time and spirit. He died suddenly in the summer of 2002. It's still the only funeral I've spoken at.
I told the story of when the house we were sharing (with 5 other people) in West Philadelphia was robbed. It was during the summer and someone left a window open on the first floor and a camera got stolen. This was a bunch of students living together and were weren't exactly fastidious. In fact, our most frequent fight was over who had to clean up that week. Anyway, the cops come and Richard, who was the only one home, came downstairs to talk to them. He told them about the stolen camera and the policeman said, "Well, it certainly looks like they ransacked the place." And Richard replied, "Nah, it always looks like this."
He was one of the very few people I could talk to about absolutely anything, and it saddens me that no matter how hard I try to summon him up, I can't get anything more than a memory.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Macbeth
Went to New York to see Macbeth this weekend. It's one of the few "major" Shakespeare plays I'd never read or seen before. I enjoyed it pretty much. It's an awful, violent, savage story, and for the most part the characters are not very subtle, but the language is marvelous and Patrick Stewart (Captain Picard and X-Men) was great as Macbeth, keeping some humanity about a character that is violent and cruel beyond redemption.
There are all kinds of familiar lines in it, "What's done is done," "Double, double, toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble," "Out damned spot!" and this marvelous rumination on death
On that note, I'm going to watch the Oscars.
Went to New York to see Macbeth this weekend. It's one of the few "major" Shakespeare plays I'd never read or seen before. I enjoyed it pretty much. It's an awful, violent, savage story, and for the most part the characters are not very subtle, but the language is marvelous and Patrick Stewart (Captain Picard and X-Men) was great as Macbeth, keeping some humanity about a character that is violent and cruel beyond redemption.
There are all kinds of familiar lines in it, "What's done is done," "Double, double, toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble," "Out damned spot!" and this marvelous rumination on death
"Out, out brief candle,Hearing Steward spit out the word "idiot" was a real highlight. At the end they carry out Macbeth's bloody severed head.
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing."
On that note, I'm going to watch the Oscars.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Lagniappe
In New Orleans, lagniappe (pronounced lan-yap) means a bit of unexpected good fortune. Though they probably don't get many snow days in New Orleans, a snow day is as good an example of lagniappe as anything.
There's nothing quite like waiting for a snow day, and I must say that as a teacher I enjoy them almost as much as I did when I was a kid. It's like a little bonus vacation, and everyone needs one of them now and again. The uncertainty is part of the excitement of it all. You go to bed not knowing what the morning will bring. Being a 3 school family we have to check multiple web sites to be sure we have all the information, but it's kind of a routine by now.
In New Orleans, lagniappe (pronounced lan-yap) means a bit of unexpected good fortune. Though they probably don't get many snow days in New Orleans, a snow day is as good an example of lagniappe as anything.
There's nothing quite like waiting for a snow day, and I must say that as a teacher I enjoy them almost as much as I did when I was a kid. It's like a little bonus vacation, and everyone needs one of them now and again. The uncertainty is part of the excitement of it all. You go to bed not knowing what the morning will bring. Being a 3 school family we have to check multiple web sites to be sure we have all the information, but it's kind of a routine by now.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Homelike
Finally brought the monster truck back to the airport. We actually dented it, but my local mechanic pretty much undented it and hopefully I won't get charged anything. I already paid Avis a lot of money this summer when my rented minivan got tangled up with a stray bicycle (sitting in the driveway, not with someone riding it).
American Idol is on now, ready to strike another blow against competent singing. The singing on that show is almost uniformly awful, mostly because it's so uniform. That Carrie Underwood was such a standout just because she sounded like a generic county singer is evidence enough, but the focus on the big note in every song makes Idol singers sound like parodies of themselves after a while. Oh, plus it's boring, except when Simon is talking or Paula is stoned on something.
Going outside right now to see the lunar eclipse. It cleared up just in time.
Finally brought the monster truck back to the airport. We actually dented it, but my local mechanic pretty much undented it and hopefully I won't get charged anything. I already paid Avis a lot of money this summer when my rented minivan got tangled up with a stray bicycle (sitting in the driveway, not with someone riding it).
American Idol is on now, ready to strike another blow against competent singing. The singing on that show is almost uniformly awful, mostly because it's so uniform. That Carrie Underwood was such a standout just because she sounded like a generic county singer is evidence enough, but the focus on the big note in every song makes Idol singers sound like parodies of themselves after a while. Oh, plus it's boring, except when Simon is talking or Paula is stoned on something.
Going outside right now to see the lunar eclipse. It cleared up just in time.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Update
Much to my dismay, I have found a small cache of regular sized mugs and plates, leading me to conclude that the huge dishes are nothing more than a ploy to confuse and entertain the renting public.
It's currently 32 degrees with freezing rain and 30 mph winds here. We've always said there's never bad weather here (even a blizzard is fun in the Adirondacks), but this is pretty unpleasant.
Much to my dismay, I have found a small cache of regular sized mugs and plates, leading me to conclude that the huge dishes are nothing more than a ploy to confuse and entertain the renting public.
It's currently 32 degrees with freezing rain and 30 mph winds here. We've always said there's never bad weather here (even a blizzard is fun in the Adirondacks), but this is pretty unpleasant.
Notes
The dishes in the condo are odd. I feel kind of like I'm in the land of the Brobdignandians. There are two kids of dishes, large and huge. The cereal bowls could hold pretty much a whole box of cereal, so everyone eats cereal out of mugs, because the mugs are only big enough to hold half a box.
I noticed yesterday that gravity seems stronger here. At least it seemed to be pulling me down the mountain faster and more insistently than it does in the Poconos.
The dishes in the condo are odd. I feel kind of like I'm in the land of the Brobdignandians. There are two kids of dishes, large and huge. The cereal bowls could hold pretty much a whole box of cereal, so everyone eats cereal out of mugs, because the mugs are only big enough to hold half a box.
I noticed yesterday that gravity seems stronger here. At least it seemed to be pulling me down the mountain faster and more insistently than it does in the Poconos.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Lake Placid
This is a cute little town in the Adirondacks. Actually, the town itself is pretty nondescript, but it's mercifully low on chain stores. There's a Gap and EMS and a Bass outlet, but everything else is local shops, and though there's a Starbucks and a Quiznos, most people shun them. The town's economy runs on the glow of the 1980 (and to a lesser extent 1932) Winter Olympics. We like the ice rinks and speed skating oval, and the bobsled/luge track is fun when there's a race, and sometimes there's a competition of the ski jump. The ski mountain, Whiteface, is nice too.
Our favorite attraction is the toboggan chute. They took the 1932 ski jump ramp and put it next to the lake and you rent a toboggan for 5 bucks and and a couple of burly guys pack your family onto it and push you down the ramp. You fly down screaming and slide about a quarter mile across the lake. This is one of the most fun things I've ever done.
I should note that the town of Lake Placid (known to the scruffier towns around here as Lake Plastic) is not actually on Lake Placid. It's on Mirror Lake. This is a curious pattern in the area, where the city of Saranac Lake is on Lake Flower and Tupper Lake is not on any lake at all.
But the big thing for us is the lake and mountain views and the air. I know back in the pre-antibiotic days they used to send people with tuberculosis up here to cure them, and there is definitely something about the air that makes me feel incredibly healthy. No matter how bad I'm feeling when when we arrive it has never failed to improve my energy and my mood.
Today was a pretty typical winter day for me here. I walked around Mirror Lake, which takes around 40 minutes. Then I gathered up the kiddies and took them to ski. I skied too, then came back to the condo we rented and napped and hung out until dinner at one of the convivial and mediocre restaurants that dot the main street. The best food in town is at a little restaurant next to the Price Chopper supermarket and at a deli that bakes its own bread and has a kickass Sunday brunch.
The main lift at Whiteface is a gondola, so you spend 5 minutes in a small space with 7 other people, so there are little social dos and don'ts. I had to make a quick phone call and asked if people minded my using my phone for a moment. The others were so thrilled that I was polite enough to ask that I probably could have done a dozen major business transactions without anyone minding. One big thing is that if you offer your skiing buddy gum you have to offer it everyone in the gondola ("did you bring enough for everybody?"). And it's always okay to ask "where are you from?" The first day I had people form Philly, Quebec, Princeton and Germany. Today I had a group of college buddies who'd diasporaed (that's a word, right?) to California, Florida, Virginia and New York.
In the lodge we saw a kind of fashion show. A bunch of guys come in wearing ski shorts, I didn't even know they made ski shorts, with brightly colored tights underneath which they proceed to remove and change into regular clothes, right in the food court. No nudity, but still pretty entertaining.
Once again, I find myself the only male being in a group of 6. I think if the ratio were reversed we would not have watched the Bratz movie last night.
This is a cute little town in the Adirondacks. Actually, the town itself is pretty nondescript, but it's mercifully low on chain stores. There's a Gap and EMS and a Bass outlet, but everything else is local shops, and though there's a Starbucks and a Quiznos, most people shun them. The town's economy runs on the glow of the 1980 (and to a lesser extent 1932) Winter Olympics. We like the ice rinks and speed skating oval, and the bobsled/luge track is fun when there's a race, and sometimes there's a competition of the ski jump. The ski mountain, Whiteface, is nice too.
Our favorite attraction is the toboggan chute. They took the 1932 ski jump ramp and put it next to the lake and you rent a toboggan for 5 bucks and and a couple of burly guys pack your family onto it and push you down the ramp. You fly down screaming and slide about a quarter mile across the lake. This is one of the most fun things I've ever done.
I should note that the town of Lake Placid (known to the scruffier towns around here as Lake Plastic) is not actually on Lake Placid. It's on Mirror Lake. This is a curious pattern in the area, where the city of Saranac Lake is on Lake Flower and Tupper Lake is not on any lake at all.
But the big thing for us is the lake and mountain views and the air. I know back in the pre-antibiotic days they used to send people with tuberculosis up here to cure them, and there is definitely something about the air that makes me feel incredibly healthy. No matter how bad I'm feeling when when we arrive it has never failed to improve my energy and my mood.
Today was a pretty typical winter day for me here. I walked around Mirror Lake, which takes around 40 minutes. Then I gathered up the kiddies and took them to ski. I skied too, then came back to the condo we rented and napped and hung out until dinner at one of the convivial and mediocre restaurants that dot the main street. The best food in town is at a little restaurant next to the Price Chopper supermarket and at a deli that bakes its own bread and has a kickass Sunday brunch.
The main lift at Whiteface is a gondola, so you spend 5 minutes in a small space with 7 other people, so there are little social dos and don'ts. I had to make a quick phone call and asked if people minded my using my phone for a moment. The others were so thrilled that I was polite enough to ask that I probably could have done a dozen major business transactions without anyone minding. One big thing is that if you offer your skiing buddy gum you have to offer it everyone in the gondola ("did you bring enough for everybody?"). And it's always okay to ask "where are you from?" The first day I had people form Philly, Quebec, Princeton and Germany. Today I had a group of college buddies who'd diasporaed (that's a word, right?) to California, Florida, Virginia and New York.
In the lodge we saw a kind of fashion show. A bunch of guys come in wearing ski shorts, I didn't even know they made ski shorts, with brightly colored tights underneath which they proceed to remove and change into regular clothes, right in the food court. No nudity, but still pretty entertaining.
Once again, I find myself the only male being in a group of 6. I think if the ratio were reversed we would not have watched the Bratz movie last night.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Away
I'm in Lake Placid, NY, which is one of my favorite places on earth. It feels kind of amazing that we got here, considering how difficult everything about preparation was, and we managed to get through the drive without any of the attached bags flying off the roof. I am driving a rented monster truck, which makes me feel bigger than, and by extension, superior to you.
A couple of random notes:
I saw a package at the ski area that was marked "Do Not Crush." Why do they need to print that there? What kind of package is okay to crush? I guess if you're mailing sponges or pillows it's fine, but as a general rule I try not to crush pretty much everything I handle.
In a decision that can only be the product of stupidity by committee (which is always the best kind of stupidity), the New York State Thruway is renovating ALL of its rest areas at the same time. So that means that from the New Jersey state line to Albany, a span of 140 miles, the only food you can get on the road is Roy Rogers fast food. We had a passenger who's a vegetarian, and she had mashed potatoes for dinner. Might have made more sense to renovate every other area, so that there might be a bit more variety every 50 miles or so, but that would have meant doing the same thing New Jersey did.
People are really nice once you get out of the big city areas.
I'm seeing Macbeth next weekend and so now I have to read the play, because it's tough to follow Shakespeare if you don't already know it. All I know about Macbeth is that it's very bloody and it has the line "Bubble, bubble toil and trouble" in it. I'll let you know how that goes.
I'm in Lake Placid, NY, which is one of my favorite places on earth. It feels kind of amazing that we got here, considering how difficult everything about preparation was, and we managed to get through the drive without any of the attached bags flying off the roof. I am driving a rented monster truck, which makes me feel bigger than, and by extension, superior to you.
A couple of random notes:
I saw a package at the ski area that was marked "Do Not Crush." Why do they need to print that there? What kind of package is okay to crush? I guess if you're mailing sponges or pillows it's fine, but as a general rule I try not to crush pretty much everything I handle.
In a decision that can only be the product of stupidity by committee (which is always the best kind of stupidity), the New York State Thruway is renovating ALL of its rest areas at the same time. So that means that from the New Jersey state line to Albany, a span of 140 miles, the only food you can get on the road is Roy Rogers fast food. We had a passenger who's a vegetarian, and she had mashed potatoes for dinner. Might have made more sense to renovate every other area, so that there might be a bit more variety every 50 miles or so, but that would have meant doing the same thing New Jersey did.
People are really nice once you get out of the big city areas.
I'm seeing Macbeth next weekend and so now I have to read the play, because it's tough to follow Shakespeare if you don't already know it. All I know about Macbeth is that it's very bloody and it has the line "Bubble, bubble toil and trouble" in it. I'll let you know how that goes.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Saturday, February 09, 2008
Englishish
I was pleased to learn this week that not only is "friend" a verb, but so is "defriend." It used to be "befriend," but I think that means something different and "debefriend" will never do. THis is much more exciting than knowing that "chill" is now an adjective, when we were previously stuck with chilly or chilled, neither of which mean anything like "chill."
You can always tell when someone has taken Latin when they say things like, as Phil Sheriden says in a column about the Eagles, "the people doing this are doofuses (doofi?)." I do the same thing. In some cases, like focuses and foci, both can be correct. It's more fun to do it with things that are clearly not Latin-based or only sound like they end with us, like tortoise and torti.
I was pleased to learn this week that not only is "friend" a verb, but so is "defriend." It used to be "befriend," but I think that means something different and "debefriend" will never do. THis is much more exciting than knowing that "chill" is now an adjective, when we were previously stuck with chilly or chilled, neither of which mean anything like "chill."
You can always tell when someone has taken Latin when they say things like, as Phil Sheriden says in a column about the Eagles, "the people doing this are doofuses (doofi?)." I do the same thing. In some cases, like focuses and foci, both can be correct. It's more fun to do it with things that are clearly not Latin-based or only sound like they end with us, like tortoise and torti.
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Random
Adults are famously stupid about kids. I can go on and on about how kids are so busy texting and IMing and listening to their iPods while they're doing 3 other things that they're not aware of the world around them. Back in my day, we didn't need all these distractions to be completely oblivious. And that makes us superior. Or it doesn't.
I'm guessing it's like this because people who read the food section of the newspaper tend to be older women, but do really think even they want to see ads for varicose vein removal in next to the recipe for chicken satay?
Watching a dog show on TV, the announcers are always talking about how the dogs give back to the community. I think my dog needs to be more socially responsible. Mostly all she does is bark at squirrels, which does have some value I suppose. I could swear I heard the guy say that one of the dogs in the show helps kids learn to read. How cool is that?
Adults are famously stupid about kids. I can go on and on about how kids are so busy texting and IMing and listening to their iPods while they're doing 3 other things that they're not aware of the world around them. Back in my day, we didn't need all these distractions to be completely oblivious. And that makes us superior. Or it doesn't.
I'm guessing it's like this because people who read the food section of the newspaper tend to be older women, but do really think even they want to see ads for varicose vein removal in next to the recipe for chicken satay?
Watching a dog show on TV, the announcers are always talking about how the dogs give back to the community. I think my dog needs to be more socially responsible. Mostly all she does is bark at squirrels, which does have some value I suppose. I could swear I heard the guy say that one of the dogs in the show helps kids learn to read. How cool is that?
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Eew
Just dropped a container of yogurt on the floor, so now the basement smells peachyyoguriffic. Hmm, spell check flagged that word...
That's hardly the worst thing I ever dropped and had to clean up. Aside from my kids (jk), it would have to be that glass bottle full of cooking oil. Oh, you haven't lived until you've spent an hour on hour hands and knees trying to clean up oil-covered shards of glass.
At least it never bothers me to get that kind of stuff on my hands. I have to credit my kids for that. Since changing diapers, nothing else really seems that bad.
Just dropped a container of yogurt on the floor, so now the basement smells peachyyoguriffic. Hmm, spell check flagged that word...
That's hardly the worst thing I ever dropped and had to clean up. Aside from my kids (jk), it would have to be that glass bottle full of cooking oil. Oh, you haven't lived until you've spent an hour on hour hands and knees trying to clean up oil-covered shards of glass.
At least it never bothers me to get that kind of stuff on my hands. I have to credit my kids for that. Since changing diapers, nothing else really seems that bad.
Monday, February 04, 2008
Politics and Sports
So tomorrow is the big day, the one that will settle everything or ensure than nothing will be settled for quite some time. It's exciting, with two historic candidates on the Democratic side, though I wish I was a bit more enthused about their ability to undo the unprecedented damage that the current administration has done to the country. It's going to be a big mess to clean up, that's all I know, and anyone who's seen my desk can tell you it's much easier to make a mess than to clean one up.
I actually watched the Super Bowl yesterday, which was its own kind of upset because it was the first football game I'd watched all year. I had no rooting interest going in, but my inner New Yorker showed up almost immediately and had me strongly rooting for the Giants almost immediately. I think the fact that the Patriots are cheaters might have swayed me a bit too, as well as fond memories of the 17-0 Dolphins. I remember after that season, there was a picture of their running backs, Jim Kiick and Larry Csonka, on the cover of Sports Illustrated with them both surreptitiously giving the finger to the camera. This, of course, caused a minor scandal to which the amused players said something like, "They took like a hundred pictures nobody asked them to use that one."
The best news in all of this is that football season is over. We'll have to get through a month or so of nothing but players rushing back and forth between nets, but pitchers and catchers report to spring training on February 15 and that portends the start of baseball season. This pleases me no end. I love baseball and always miss it when its gone. There has been much lyrical prose written about the beauty of baseball by writers much better than me, so I shall not partake. But for me, baseball is perfect.
So tomorrow is the big day, the one that will settle everything or ensure than nothing will be settled for quite some time. It's exciting, with two historic candidates on the Democratic side, though I wish I was a bit more enthused about their ability to undo the unprecedented damage that the current administration has done to the country. It's going to be a big mess to clean up, that's all I know, and anyone who's seen my desk can tell you it's much easier to make a mess than to clean one up.
I actually watched the Super Bowl yesterday, which was its own kind of upset because it was the first football game I'd watched all year. I had no rooting interest going in, but my inner New Yorker showed up almost immediately and had me strongly rooting for the Giants almost immediately. I think the fact that the Patriots are cheaters might have swayed me a bit too, as well as fond memories of the 17-0 Dolphins. I remember after that season, there was a picture of their running backs, Jim Kiick and Larry Csonka, on the cover of Sports Illustrated with them both surreptitiously giving the finger to the camera. This, of course, caused a minor scandal to which the amused players said something like, "They took like a hundred pictures nobody asked them to use that one."
The best news in all of this is that football season is over. We'll have to get through a month or so of nothing but players rushing back and forth between nets, but pitchers and catchers report to spring training on February 15 and that portends the start of baseball season. This pleases me no end. I love baseball and always miss it when its gone. There has been much lyrical prose written about the beauty of baseball by writers much better than me, so I shall not partake. But for me, baseball is perfect.
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