Houston, TX: Day One

Greeting from Houston! I will be in this fine city until Saturday evening, when I will fly east for a week.

I have nothing to say. I am totally yack-less at the moment (blame the 4:45Am taxi pick-up.)

"central," "park," "reservoir," "parakeet"

On occasion some details from an article I read in the New York Times long ago pops onto my mind. It was a short piece describing the underwater treasures found in the Central Park Reservoir. I think the article has stuck with me so long is because I have spent so many hours running around the jogging path, contemplating the hidden prizes beneath the murky water.

The article came to me again tonight as I was reading the paper online. I set out to search for it. Working with several permutations of "central," "park," "reservoir," etc. I finally tried the one major detail I remember: a decapitated parakeet floating in the water. Kismet! Adding "parakeet" to my query yielded a solitary result, "Couple Scouring Murky Reservoir Find Fulfillment, and Lots of Bottles" by Douglas Martin on October 1, 1996. I was surprised to see that the article was from so long ago though my sixth grader memory did not serve me entirely correctly. The article is more about the lives of a scuba diving pair than sunken loot than a sunken parakeet (drowning, not mutilated after all):

Wearing full scuba gear, George and Catherine Parry have been scouring the reservoir for a month to retrieve, among many other things, thousands of whisky, soda and champagne bottles, four basketball hoops, six dead rats, nine Frisbees, more than 100 tennis balls and a dozen rackets, many handfuls of spent shells, dozens of knives, a dead raccoon, a briefcase, a faceless alarm clock, a toy shovel and a drowning parakeet they strove unsuccessfully to save. They found a baby carriage, but no evidence of a baby.

I am satisfied, even happy to see that the article opens with a mention of Alberto Arroyo, the "Mayor" of the Reservoir, whom I have passed along the pump house at leas a thousand times. Perhaps you have seen him too - though not abusing domesticated fowl I hope!

Steamboat, CO: More Pizza, Less French Fry

Greetings from glorious Steamboat, Colorado! I am here with my father and sister on a long-weekend ski trip. Steamboat is a quaint winter-destination town about four hours northwest from Denver. It is a much cozier, less snooty than other Colorado destinations.

A little ubication thanks to Google Maps

My parents have been coming here for years and as has, relatively speaking, my sister. They ski several times a season either in Vermont or out West. As long as I have had the choice, I've always opted for warmer vacation destinations with friends, which is why I've missed so many ski trips over the years. For this reason I am probably the slowest and least dexterous person on the entire mountain. My sister and dad are pretty good, so I went along with them on the intermediate/advanced courses. Ouch! I really belong on the green circle bunny slopes. I do commend them for being patient with me. My dad's consoling motto, "if you ain't fallin' you ain't skiing!" has indeed been my credo this trip.


Dad and sister; Ski Bunny and Ski Troll





I did not ski these; chairlift!


The best signs in town

At present I cannot bend my knees and my calves are on fire. It was a good challenge but I think I'll stick with the beach next time around.

Put a Lid on It

I began a new series of dance classes yesterday. The first number we are learning is the Charleston, performed to "Put a Lid on It" by the Squirrel Nut Zippers. A few of the girls performed this at the last Uptown show so it probably won't get any play for a while. I am excited to learn it though because the song is really quirky, not to mention that the costuming consists of a black flapper dress (check!) and fishnets (check!).

Later on in this course we will be learning the steps to "Miserlou." This dance will be particularly
important to have on hand as it is the Burlesqueteers entry for the Miss Exotic World Pageant in Las Vegas. The girls will be going for three nights in early June. I hope I will be up to par to go too!

The Trannyshack

Last night Katie and I went to the Trannyshack, a weekly midnight drag show at the Stud in SOMA. This week's theme was "Rock Bitch" with each act featured a fist pumping song. There were a half dozen performances - many I can't remember - saving Renttecca's lip sync to "Vietnow" by RATM, which really tugged at my heart strings. The finale was quite impressive: Kegal Kater and the Extremity, dressed as a fat Courtney Love with Kurt and Francis Bean, singing "Violet." Drool! The crowd was quite moved, especially when Kegal started throwing pills from a massive prescription bottle at the audience. Once the show ended, the DJ rolled out songs from the Riot Grrl canon, including a few favorites from Bikini Kill. We boogied down until they took our drinks and kicked us out. I was so lucky to get a picture with K.K. on our way to the taxi stand!


Francis, CL, KC belt it; CL, FB with pills and booze


Biggest fan!; Kurts shotgun wound - that ain't right

Thank you Roomie for these pictures.

Ghostwriter

The Press Democrat, the newspaper of Sonoma County, published our L2E today! Fantastic!:

Doctors Rx

EDITOR: We, the doctors of the Santa Rosa Family Medicine Residency, are disappointed to hear of the massive job cuts that are going to take place at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital and of the closure of the last mental health inpatient facility in Sonoma County.

We are particularly concerned with the announcement that Memorial is slashing 200 health care jobs from its hospital. As doctors, we know that having support staff is critical to the delivery of quality patient care. At every other major health care institution in Sonoma County these are tumultuous times, but decisions must be made with our patients and health care professionals in mind.

We reiterate the message we sent in a letter to the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange in November, when we urged the sisters to cease opposing the efforts of workers at Memorial to have an effective voice at work. If health care workers were able to have an effective voice at work, our community, patients and workforce would be much better protected.

We call on St. Joseph’s to understand that there is a better way.

Sit down with your workers and the community and let’s figure out how we can make health care work in the county.

DR. ERIN LUNDE and DR. JOSEPH EICHENSEHER

(Also signed by 22 other physicians)

MSTRKRFT

Saturday night Erin, Daniela, Pete and I along with Alex and Ben caught the MSTRKRFT (aka raging HPSTRFST) show at the Mighty in Potrero. The opening DJs were pretty corny but the headliners were great, even if they group essentially consists of just two dudes and a powerbook. I pushed my way to the front at the beginning. Erin later joined me. We had a wild time harassing the dudes backstage for free beers. I forgot how easy it is to get into that screaming groupie mentality, even for a group that I don't live and die by. They were pretty tight asses about letting us on stage but eventually surrendered. Erin, myself, and two other girls held it down (made a fool) for the rest of the show.

Here is a nice review (and photo!) from Spin.


Photo credit Misha Vladimirskiy/ spin.com; Photo credit Chadn/ flickr.com

More photos to come as they surface on the internet.