Chris Farley Was Awesome

It just occurred to me that Chris Farley really nailed this.  He was acting like an 11 year old boy.

When my son hangs out with his friends this is how they talk.

"Do you remember when this guy did this thing in this movie/video game?"

"Yea that was awesome".

He would have been 47 today.



The Chris Farley Show from up or down on Vimeo.

How I got my Super Powers

Last weekend we took a quick trip up to Boston.  We got to go back to the Museum of Science.  They have the worlds largest Van de Graaff Generator.  Ya know the thing that makes lightening from the Frankenstein movies.

The one on the left will sit on the desk of a happy nerd.

On the right is a good photo of the one they have there.



I got to be the volunteer that went in the cage (my daughter held the camera, my friend held my cell phone).

Bad News / Good News

News 2 new results for "prospect park" Brooklyn

Reminder: No Q Trains North Of Prospect This Weekend Sheepshead Bites From midnight Saturday to 5:00 am Monday, there will be no Q trains in either direction between 57th Street – 7th Avenue station in Manhattan and Prospect Park station in Brooklyn. If you're feeling really adventurous, you can take the N or R between ... See all stories on this topic »

Q-Train IS Running this Weekend, Thanks to the Snow Patch.com By Amy Sara Clark Just when we thought winter wasn't going to happen, snow is predicted forBrooklyn. And if the promise of sledding and snowmen isn't enough, there's one more reason to jump for joy: the Q Train WILL be running. See all stories on this topic »

My Daughter Painted This

Based on this photocopy of a copy

Of this

A pair of leather clogs

Vincent van Gogh

Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890)
Paris, Oil on canvas, 32.5 X 40.5 cm

In Parijs had Van Gogh meerdere malen schilderijen van werkmansschoenen gemaakt. In Saint-R

Make It End

This was written by my son.  His Grandfather's name was H.                                                                      

                                                                         Introduction

           In 1862 was the day I got myself into something I wasn’t prepared for, the Civil War.

            “Man, I can’t wait to whoop those Jonny rebs!” said Timmy excitedly.

            Timmy and I lived together since before kindergarten, and for years after the war.

            “I know I might even see my dad!!!” I said.  “The rebs might even surrenders before we get there.”   We’ll be back by Halloween, I thought.

            “Next!!” said the man from the draft board, I stepped up getting nervous.

            “Age? Remember, you must be over 18.” he asked.

            “Over 18” I said even though I’m only 17.  I had a slip of paper under my foot that said 18.

            “Name” he said.

            “H. Chine” I said proudly.

            “You are in the regiment of the 20^th Maine, good luck rookie” He said with a sly grin.

            When I was going home a soldier came running up to me.

            “H. H. H. H. H. H. H. H.!!!!!!!!!” He said

            “What!!!!!” I screamed back.

            “Your dad’s dead, by the hand of Robert Hole” He said.

            No!!! For one of the few times in my life I was furious. How dare he kill him!!!! Now my mom is going to be all alone. I’m going to kill him like he killed my fath-. I stopped.  Ma will be all alone, with no one.  I’ll have to end the war as fast as I can.

Chapter 1

            After a year of hard training we were finally marching into battle.

            “I can’t believe that it’s been three years since it started. You’ll finally get your revenge H.” said Timmy. “I still can’t believe that even after a year you still want to kill Robert Hole or whoever it is. For all you know he might be dead?”

            “I know that he’s alive, I can feel it.” I yawned.  “If you don’t mind I’m changing the subject. No I can’t believe it started three years ago. I mean they said it would last a week.”

            “Hey, H. I think we’re stopping for the night.” Timmy said.

            .           .           .           .           .           .           .           .           .           .           .

            All of the tents were up at around 11:00 at night and Timmy and I were talking to a clean man and a dirty man.

            “Man, I can’t wait to whoop every reb I see!!” said the dirty man.

            “I can’t wait t’il its over.” I said shaking my head.

            “Don’t you want to fight for your country!!” shouted the dirty man standing up.

            “Ya, I agree, but I also want to live.” I said calmly. The man sat down.

            “I just hope the slaves are freed.” said the clean man.

            “There are actually a lot of them coming through our part of Maine” said Timmy smiling.

            “I don’t care who wins I just want to kill!!!!!!!!!” the dirty man said.  “When will we go into battle already?!?!?!”

            “He’ll get himself killed” said Timmy

            I nodded slowly so the man wouldn’t see.

Chapter 2

            “Get into position!!!!”  said the Colonel.

            A few days later we were in Chancellorsville. My first battle.

            “Aim and fire at will!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” He screamed shooting his pistol.

            The words hit my head, finally. All of a sudden there was a sound like popcorn, but I knew it was bullets. Then I saw lines of gray go red. I heard the same popcorn noise but softer. My curiosity turned to fear and disgust as men left and right fell injured or dead.

            “So this is why we haven’t won yet!!!” Timmy said over the sound of his rifle.

            I was to busy reloading and firing to respond.  More men fell left and right. Then I heard a scream unlike the others. I knew what happened. I looked to my left where Timmy was standing; there he lay with a bloody stomach.  He was looking at me in a way that I knew he wanted me not to worry.

            “Good luck” He said in his dying breath, his last breath.

            “NNNNNNNNNOOOOOOO!!!!!” I yelled. I looked in front of me. There was a one armed long bearded man with a pistol still smoking. I quickly reloaded, aimed and fired at him.

            The man next to him went down. I heard a faint “No!” and he looked at me the way I looked at him, I killed his friend.  I knew what was coming, I quickly got under cover, and then I heard a ting as a bullet hit the wall I was under. Man, that guy has good aim, I thought as I reloaded.

             Before I could finish I heard someone yell “Retreat!” Then I saw men in blue run and fall as they followed orders.

            I looked at what was left of Timmy,”I’m not leaving you here” I said to him as I picked him up over my shoulder and ran. 

Chapter 3

After I burned Timmy and put his ashes into a jar for his family. I walked over to the clean and dirty man had been.  Only the clean man was there.

            “Hi, ware’s the other guy?” I asked.

            “He’s dead!” He half sobbed half screamed.

            “Listen, I’m sorry for your loss.  I lost a friend out there too.”  I said out of sympathy.

            “Why doss the war have to take every single last drop of joy and friendship?”  He sobbed.

            “At least we have each oth-” I didn’t get to finish my sentence because of the man’s sobbing.

            “I killed so many people! I saw so many slaves die!! If I was the enemy I would have killed you” He said before he lost consciousness.

Chapter 4

            As we were chasing the army of Northern Virginia, I realized that I was alone. The clean man wasn’t good company.

            Now I understand how and why my dad died and I’ll never forget as hard as I try.

            At first when we were walking into battle everyone was talking about winning. Now that we were walking away from battle even though we were walking in silence it was obvious that everyone was thinking the opposite.

.           .           .           .           .           .           .           .           .           .           .           .          .

            A while later the person next to me all of a sudden screamed out “I can’t take it any more!!!” There was a loud bang and a puff of smoke. When the smoke cleared he was lying on the floor with a quarter of his head missing. Surprisingly he was smiling.

            Then I realized that my ammo and powder were low. So I bent down and took his.

Chapter 5

            Three days latter we were in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, they were on our turf now.

            The Colonel just made a speech that we were the end of the line and that we can’t retreat no matter what.  Retreat meant the whole army would collapse.

            A minute later rebs came out of the trees and the order was given to fire, and smoke filled the air yet again. Then someone cried out “They’re retreating!!!” which was followed by cheering.  But then the bullets came and then came by more death.  This went on over and over until the living and dead were running out of ammo. Then I heard the Colonel said “Bayonets!”

            Is he crazy? People are dying faster then we can count, this will double that rate, I thought as I fixed my bayonet.

            The order was given to charge and I with my fellow men got up over the wall of dead and ran slashing and stabbing. I was stabbing someone when I saw the one armed bearded man, I charged at him. He raised his pistol, I saw the puff of smoke then I tripped. I was flying in the air when I felt a slash and everything went black.

Chapter 6

            Some time later I woke up on some soft lump. Then I realized that I had a huge gash in my leg.

            “AAAAAAAAA!!!!” I screamed.

            Then after an hour,  I finally got up and leaned on a tree. Then I noticed that I was lying on the one armed man. My bayoneted gun inches away from where my head was

            “Water….Water…OOOOOOOOO” He moaned “Wait a minute you killed my best friend, you son of a gun!!!”

            “You killed mine. And sorry I was aiming for you.” I said half sarcastically. I don’t know why but it feels like I know this guy from somewhere.

            “What’s your name?” I asked.

            “Why should I tell you? You best friend killing Billy Yank!” He wheezed.

            “Because if you don’t I’ll finish what my gun started” I said putting my hand on the trigger.

            “Robert Hole, there are you happy now!?” Robert whined.

            “You k-killed my d-dad, you killed T-Timmy and nearly killed me twice, I’LL KILL YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!” I yelled yanking the bayonet out of him.

            Then I stole his pistol, ammo and saber and limped away.

Afterword

            Years later Vick (the clean man) and I came home like heroes. I gave Timmy’s mom his ashes.  I told my crying mom about my adventure in Gettysburg. 

            In the war I got used to using my gun like a cane so I kept it with me even though it brings these terrible, guilty memories with it. 

Couldn't ya just say letter carrier?

There is something to be said for being politically correct.

Spotted at the Jersey City Armory.

A Busy Weekend

So Saturday morning I made sure everyone had a good race in Prospect Park .  Part of that job is ordering the toilets.  You might want to know that when they come off the truck they are like hotel bathrooms.  They actually smell clean.

rundangerously snapped a photo of me.  I was not always that calm.

After the race I got to take my daughter to a birthday party.  It was on of those drop off parties so I to take a break and have a Chicken and Rice on a park bench behind the Museum Of Natural History.  It did not occur to me that I was accross the street from one of the newest hamburger joints in NYC.  Shake Shake.  It is hard to tell from my photo, but there was a long line to get in.  I did not have to look to see the line.  I know it was there because everyone walking past me was commenting on it.  Even people speaking in languages unknown to me were saying. "Gabba diace kaupea Shake Shack. uga buga."  Whatever, streetmeat works for me.

My daughter was at a party at place called Make Meaning.  It was kinda like the Disney of the Upper West Side, except without the rides or people walking around in costumes, or the whole theme park theme.  But it was like Disney World in that (according to my daughter) the whole party was scripted to the point where she really did not feel like she was being very creative.

However she did have a lot of fun at the "after party".  All the party guests were given a coupon to come back and make something another day.  Most of them stayed.  With little supervision they all had more fun.

She made a candle and a soap mold with a pig in it.

Sunday I needed to get in some miles. Since the Brooklyn Bridge lead paint removal project  is making it stinky I decided to run over the Manhattan Bridge and back home via the Williamsburg Bridge. Click here for an estamap.  I  ran by the site of The Brooklyn Navy Yard and Admirals Row.

I also noticed many banners hanging from signs promoting Building 92, or BLDG92.org.  From the gate it looked like a cool new museum.

So I ran home took a shower and and asked my son if he wanted to see the place were they put the guns on the USS Monitor.  Since his final 5th Grade project was on Civil War Iron Clad ships he grabbed his coat.

It was a great little museum.  It showed the history of its location from the days were Native Americans live there, during the Revolutionary War it was the location of British POW ships.  (Our soldiers were in the ships).  It was also a place where ships were constructed from the Civil War to WWII.  It is currently home to movie studios and modern little factories.

I had run over both those bridges hours earlier.

It had a birds eye view mural.  My son and his friend had a great time there.

They had a treasure hunt where they were encouraged to learn how green the building is.  (they have special grass growing on the roof so that rain water is  absorbed and not added to the sewer system.)

Hay, when we got there they recommend we go to the top floor for a snack.  The Ted and Honey Cafe was really a nice.  The boys had a sweet and I enjoyed a cup of coffee with a view.  I think I might one day have a real meal at their real restaurant.  I ran by that one the way home that morning.  I think I would wait on line there before waiting to go into the Shake Shack.

From Ted and Honey's Facebook

"Obamacare" is working fine for me.

There has been a change of employment in my household. Definitely a step up.  But it came with a change in health insurance for our family.

I did not give that much thought till we got a letter from the old health insurance company.  They sent a letter to each member of our household listing their preexisting conditions.  They said our new insurance company would need this information.  Two days later we got a letter from our new company asking us to list our preexisting conditions.

This is good, considering my Kidney Stone is likely to come back.

Ya know, rates might go up but I can live with that. Passing the next stone might not be an afternoon in the ER.  What if I have to get admitted to the hospital?  It would be very uncool if I had to pay that bill because my condition was preexisting

Aftermath of a car fire on Prospect Park Southwest

This morning I got in my car just before ASS Parking started, got it inspected (the day before the last day of the month, thank you very much) and put it back in that same spot just as parking became legal.   I had a very good car day.

The owners of these cars had bad days.

I was told a car exploded next to the silver(?) SUV.

The scary thing is that the brand new SUV in front of it melted.

melted

yes, melted.

I took my camera phone for a run. (update with photo of me)

Since I am exempt form the NYRR 9+1 program,  I felt no need to run the Manhattan Half.  But I still wanted to have some fun.  So decided to run to Central Park.  Click here for my route.  It was nice to run over the subway grates on Broadway.  The occasional burst of warm air was welcome.  However the pedestrian that replaced the grid lock of Times Square was extremely hazardous.  First, painted asphalt covered by a few inches of wet snow is VERY SLIPPERY.  Even if I was not running it would have been slick.  But it was also infested with tourists who had never seen snow before.  They were walking around like friggen idiots.  (and so unprepared for a day of 25 degrees and snow.  A hat, people ya gotta get a hat, and scarfs don't really do much of you don't actually loop them around your neck.  An Uggs in snow???? Come on they become sponges when they get wet.)

The race started at 8am and I left Brooklyn at 8.  It was about 8.5 miles to the 12 mile mark of the course.  With all the traffic lights I got there in about the same amount of time it would have taken me to run 12 miles.

Anyway....a few inches of snow made it better...  

8AM at Grand Army Plaza.

Crossing the Gowanus Canal at Carroll St

The Manhattan Bridge is just visible...

I can't add words to this

Behind the Elephant that is on balanced on it's trunk in the snow is a statue of George Washington on a horse in Union Square.

About the 12 mile mark of the Manhattan Half.  No unhappy runners there.  It was nice to join the herd for a mile.

Baggage check.  I never got cold along the way.  The subway ride home was brutal.  Having some dry shoes & socks would have been a game changer

A Coincidence? Maybe?

I like to see the worst of the neighborhood before I run into Prospect Park. I appreciate the serenity of the park more that way.   I like to cross the Gowanus Canal and run past the Super Fund Sites, the concrete factories and scrap metal yards before running into Prospect Park.  This is my route.

A year ago this month, (or maybe 2 years ago) was was on my regular weekday run and ran past the site where a warehouse collapsed a few years ago and noticed a bunch of kids with notebooks gazing through the fence.  I stopped and asked them what they were doing.  They said they were trying to decide what should be on this land in 2030.  They were looking at a plot of land that was wedged between an elevated subway on 2 sides and a canal on the other 2 sides.  I suggested to them that they make a water park, with a pool and giant slides.  Maybe jet-skis on the canal.  Their academic exercise is being mirrored in the real world.



This morning I chaperoned my son's class on that trip.

Two weeks ago I took my daughter's class.  It was colder that day, but not as wet.

The kids were taking things more seriously,  They were thinking a supermarket, or a hospital.

In a few weeks they will be presenting their blue prints.  I will update then.