city-park « WordPress.com Tag Feed

can't be that bad

callmeandrea — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 21:30:28 +0000

[audio http://va.wrzuta.pl/wa9871/abedb723001db3c24789174e/300944b5a6888c4bfd34392fac49f2cc48bc4320/Sheryl%20Crow%20-%20If%20It%20Makes%20You%20Happy?type=a&key=7f6HMuxxd2&ft=f]
If It Makes You Happy, Sheryl Crow

We ran the park to park 10 miler this morning-City Park, Cheesman Park, Alamo Placita Park & Washington Park. The first 7 miles were great, beautiful and fun-ish. The last 3 miles were painful, tiring and awful-ish. In the end, it was an alright run but thank JESUS GOD that it's over. Brunch was bueno too.

Denver Museum of Nature and Science

iwenexposures — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 21:18:35 +0000

The Denver Museum of Nature and Science was founded in 1900 in Denver's historic City Park neighborhood. I loved working on this project because I'm a dinosaur dork. I love all things prehistoric. The challenge was showcasing the modern elements of this amazing facility while at the same time capturing the ingredients that make this museum unique.

President and CEO, George Sparks, poses for a portrait in front of the Body Worlds 2 display.

Vintage playground

catfc — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 06:26:26 +0000

There used to be one exactly like this in City Park, in the 50s, says my friend Norm. He would know--he grew up right across the street.

[caption id="attachment_153" align="alignnone" width="353" caption="Playground at Ayers"][/caption]

Today, you have to look hard to find retro playground equipment. I've already seen City Park replace its heavy plastic sets 3 times in the past 12 years.

But before the plastics, before 1970s wood ladders and swinging rope bridges, before the heavy iron monkey bars of my childhood--kids played on frail metal with splintery wood. Like this merry-go-round/roundabout at a remote park 20 miles outside of Douglas, Wyoming.

That's a couple hundred miles from here, but I know where there are some closer: Poudre Park Community Center still has one (and I hear the church there is about to get another). A few years ago I saw one decaying in the back of what's left of the Buckeye Community Center, too.

You could go ride these, I suppose. But please, not without first reviewing with your child these 51 safety warnings for an accident-free outdoor romp.

Blow, Jack, blow

DF — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 20:38:46 +0000

Two guys are holding the hose, one guy is blowing and another one convinces him to blow more.
Location: Sacramento downtown.

T.G.I.F.

DF — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 19:02:01 +0000

Took this picture on Friday night. Location: Sacramento, downtown.

[caption id="attachment_222" align="alignnone" width="277" caption="Friday Night"][/caption]

Firwood Lake by Night (Laurelhurst Park)

willradik — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 09:33:21 +0000

Firwood Lake in Laurelhurst Park

Duck Rescue at McLaren Park

spiritinthecity — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 22:19:37 +0000

McLaren Park definitely ranks with me as one of the City's hidden gems. It's the second largest city-owned park in San Francisco (after Golden Gate Park), but most people who live here have never even heard of it. I know because I live right by it!

The thing I love about this park is that it has some wildness to it, while being firmly set in the city. Some other time I'll write about all the features of the park and some of my favorite spots there. For now, I'll share about something that happened in the corner of the park I know best, Lake McNab, aka "The Duck Pond."

A couple weeks ago I was walking the dog there when I met a woman, Elizabeth, who was intently watching two new ducks who'd come to the lake. These weren't baby ducks (of which there are plenty this year. And they are cute!) They were a large black duck and a white duck - Muscovies, she told me, who'd been dumped there by someone who no longer wanted them as pets.

Elizabeth, from Mickaboo Bird Rescue, was there to determine how they were doing, and see if they would be able to thrive in a less domesicated environment than they were used to. (I checked again today, and so far, they seem to be doing well!) You can check out her account of the afternoon - and see some other really great birds - on her blog, The Rescue Report.

What's your favorite "wild spot" in the City?

(www.SpiritInTheCity.com, www.InsideOutDesignCoaching.com)

3 years until it's a decade

openingupshop — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 03:15:38 +0000

Thursday is our 2-year wedding anniversary and over 7 years that we've been together. If there is one true thing about marriage that I have learned, in order for you to be in love with your spouse, you must grow together. Not apart.

After a remarkably bad day at work last week, Chris surprised me with a picnic at City Park.

Check out the noms!!

There is a high chance of a repeat on Thursday.

kathleen: come august, bring your tent.

Mallory — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 15:21:23 +0000

With the Democratic National Convention on its way to Denver in just under two months, there's a lot of water cooler-type talk about the event. Across party lines, many people seem to be worried about the protest movement called "Re-create 68," a movement that's seeking to emulate the protests at the 1968 DNC in Chicago, where clashes between protesters and police officers often turned violent. The organization's website states that it "was created for all the grassroots people who are tired of being sold out by the Democratic Party," and, as commenter and group member Glenn Spagnuolo points out, the organization is committed to nonviolence. They're against the two-party system in general, and for now are showing it by participating in local festivals and fairs, planning rallies, and trying to attract more supporters of their cause. About the name of the organization, the website explains:

Sometimes we need to look back to move forward. In 1968 there existed a spirit of change, the Paris Rebellion, Prague, Chicago, Vietnam, etc. People believed, around the world, that they were capable of taking over the institutions that controlled their lives. The smell of revolution was in the air. Over 1 million college students openly identified as revolutionist. People believed that through mass participation in the movement, it was possible to wrest control from the elite power-holders. They were not willing to accept the loss of their human and civil rights.

They are trying to re-inspire a revolutionary attitude, which, based on what happened in 1968, understandably makes people a little nervous. Which is why, perhaps, the city is so far being so accommodating to another protest group, Tent State University. For now, the two protest groups are connected, but Denver City Councilwoman Carla Madison encouraged Tent State to break off from R-68 to make things a little easier on them. In a Rocky Mountain New article on the topic, Madison said that she views R-68 as a "little more anarchistic." (Here's the online version of the article, but please note that the online article and the hard copy of the article that I'm referencing are not exactly the same.)

Tent State describes itself as "a positive, youth-led initiative to fund education instead of war." According to the RMN article, the group hopes to bring up to 50,000 people to Denver's City Park (pictured below, and yes, I do realize how lucky I am) from August 24-28 and provide the experience of a "real democracy," complete with protests and classes teaching nonviolent and anti-war tactics. So far, the city has issued Tent State a permit for 20,000 people, and this morning on the radio I heard a sound byte from Mayor John Hickenlooper in which he expressed support for the group, and expected them to be non-disruptive, partly because they are in support of Obama.

So far, the one major kink in the plans deals with the actual camping permit. Naturally, it's a lot easier to provide a place for 20,000 people to hang out during the day than to provide a place for the same number of people to sleep, eat, and shower. But as Adam Jung, the chief Tent State organizer, points out, "If we have to figure out a way to remove all of these people at 10 or 11 at night, it becomes very problematic...that's what happened in Chicago."

Tent State and the city of Denver are still in discussion, but for now, I think all of this is great. It's impressive that the city is being so willing to work with the organization, and it could set a standard for future successful nonviolent protests. I'll be starting grad school in DC during the week of the convention, but I'll be crossing my fingers and keeping an eye on the action along with everyone else. Good luck, Tent Sate.

[Posted by Mallory]

Oh, and...

jackfitz — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 03:55:53 +0000

...yesterday I forgot to mention that Francis, my running partner, has again left me. This time he's gone to the OC for work, and won't return 'till Saturday morning. In his place, Andrew Rotta - a friend of mine from church - ran with me on yesterday's 10 mile run. Afterwards, we met with a few other friends for ice cream at Lik's, and I had the largest "single scoop" of ice cream I'd ever experienced (the flavor? Bananas Foster, and it was damn good.). In fact, it would have been a big double in most cases.

But today I was running alone again. I went for 12 miles this afternoon on a double loop through City Park. I stopped back by the apartment mid-way through for a Powebar brand gel and some Gatorade, and I felt really good as I finished. I have no idea what my time was yesterday or today - no watch, no iPod - but I'm guessing both runs were in the 7:45 mile pace neighborhood.

Half Way Home (pt 2)

jackfitz — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 19:22:41 +0000

Yesterday I ran 12 miles to conclude week 9 of our marathon training program. That means I'm half way to the race, which is 9 weeks from yesterday (August 3).

The run felt good and I took it east around City Park in the early morning before church. There was some kind of bike race in the morning and I felt slow as the riders whisked past me in the quiet of the park. That's probably because I was a bit slow compared to race pace, finishing the 12 miles in 1:30:45. Francis is still in South Carolina, so I hope he's able to work in a run or two between mojitos on the beach.

Playing Catch-Up

jackfitz — Sat, 31 May 2008 23:58:52 +0000

I last wrote on Tuesday night, which was quite a while ago. Sorry about that. I went 9 on Wednesday after work and finished in 1:01:45. Everything felt good during the run, but afterwards, the outside of my right knee started to hurt. It was most noticeable when the pressure released as I came off the ground, and it's the same problem I had earlier in my training. Since then, I've still run, but I've taken it easy.

On Thursday, I went with the Snug Club again. The weather was perfect for running and a ton of people showed up. Three miles is about perfect after work.

Francis and I had a speed workout last night; six 800-meter runs. We ran over to East High School to use their track, but when we arrived, we were disappointed to see some kind of children's track event. Unable to use the track, we ran instead around the road at City Park. We didn't have any marked distances, so we just ran for 3:00 at a time. Who knows how far we actually ran.

This morning, Francis and his wife took off for a 9-day vacation in South Carolina. That means we'll each be running on our own for a while. Today, I did 9 miles again, but not as quickly as Wednesday. My knee feels better each day, but I'm still hesitant to push it hard. Tomorrow we're stepping back a bit in terms of our long runs, so I'll go 12.

Weekend Warriors

jackfitz — Mon, 26 May 2008 16:40:48 +0000

Ah, the beauty of a Sunday morning 17 miler. Francis showed up at my apartment at 7:15 yesterday morning and we quickly stretched and downed some Hammer Gel Chocolate power goo to prepare for our run. We decided to do three loops from my place around City Park, stopping in to have some Gatorade and goo after each 5.5 miles.

Our marathon book recommends running long runs at 45 to 90 seconds slower than race pace, which for us will be about 7 min/mile. We weren't complaining and finished the day's run in about 2:14:00, or 7:52 min/mile. We were pretty happy about our pace. Our goal for the longer runs has been to listen to our bodies, really trying to feel what's happening during our strides, during our rests, and at the beginning and end of our runs. Right now, we're feeling great from the waist up, i.e. cardio fitness and mental toughness. But we're both battling through mild discomfort from the waist down. I think it may be from the cumulative effects of running 40 + miles per week, but I'm not too concerned. Right now, the important thing is getting the miles to prepare for the race.

On the goo... Hammer Gel doesn't have quite the pick-up of the Gu-brand gel, but the taste is reasonable. The Gu continues to perform well in both taste and energy transfer.

desire lines: discovered

sunshineflowerbunny — Sun, 25 May 2008 22:56:12 +0000

I suspected that city parks, with their meticulous planning and careful attentions to the pathways and travel habits of humans, would have the art of paved surfaces down perfectly. But I soon discovered with this exercise in searching for desire lines, that even well-designed inner-city recreational areas are great places to find evidence of non-designated walkways preferred by the people who use the area.

Since there is no sidewalk here (picture above), people have created their own pathway along the roadside section of the park perimeter.

This is an obvious desire line: the desire to get to a fresh drink, especially on a hot desert day in the middle of an outdoor game, leads to a water fountain at the end of the worn patches in the park grass:

From a short distance, thick desire lines worn in the hard surface of the bank around the tennis courts shows well-worn footpaths of visitors:

Even with a sidewalk present, desire lines represent an alternative choice. This picture shows that the desire line follows exactly the same path as the sidewalk, but in this case, perhaps the desire is indicative of the fact that the people walking prefer the surface of the ground instead of the designated hard surface of the concrete:

Along the south end of this city park are a tall eight-foot high thicket of oleander bush; even though there is no sidewalk here, here is a straight line of desire that reveals a trajectory probably used by dog-walkers or strolling individuals making a 360-degree path for strolling around the perimeter of the park:

Walking along the edge of the thicket revealed places in the bush where desire lines were drawn by walkers entering the park from the neighboring homes:

And there were many similar places like this along the way where the desire lines as entryways into the park from neighboring residences were easily spotted:

Desire lines also showed up as widened pathways or overrun areas where concrete curbs stopped or where streets ended. This picture shows how pedestrians carved out rounded cutaways even where the pavement was very wide to accommodate more traffic:

Following the desire lines of the perimeter of the park near the oleander bank led me to more spaces in the bushes were people made pathways to other destinations. This time, the desire lines were made by people who were living in the brush at the south end of the park; these homeless people had created their own pathways in the areas underneath the cover of the overhanging branches that shielded them from park users:

The desire line through the shrubbery led me to a sleeping man:

An analysis of the desire lines in such a small area as this public park showed that careful consideration can reveal what kind of people may have created them in the first place. Carefully looking at the source of the desire lines and the directionality of each of the pathways also revealed how heavily used each of these trails were used. The most heavily traveled or popular pathways were the worn dirt trails leading around the tennis courts and up to the water fountain. The least obvious paths were the subtle, thin spots in between the oleander hiding the secret passageways of the homeless trying to seek shelter from the heat of the midday sun and the watchful eyes of the park patrol.

17 Rusuna di Jakarta & Sekitarnya

miwibowo — Sat, 24 May 2008 11:28:18 +0000

Hasrat pemerintah membanguun 1.000 Tower Rumah Susun Sederhana (Rusuna) disambut hangat oleh sejumlah kalangan. Selain masyarakat, tentunya para pengembang seperti menerima durian runtuh dengan mega proyek ini. Rumah Susun Sederhana yang di-Sewa-kan (Rusunawa) dan Rumah Susun Sederhana Milik (Rusunami) ini tidak bisa sembarang orang memilikinya. Hanya mereka yang berpendapatan antara Rp 1,5 juta hinga Rp 4,5 juta perbulan semata yang berhak membeli dan menempati Rusuna. Apakah masyarakat berpendapatan segitu mampu membeli hunian yang dibandrol antara Rp 75 juta hingga Rp 144 juta ? Tentu saja diharapkan mampu. Pasalnya pemerintah memberi subsidi khusus bagi warga yang dianggap berpenghasilan pas-pasan.

Secara garis besar, ada 3 kategori subsidi yang diberikan oleh pemerintah kepada masyarakat yang ingin tinggal di Rusuna, yaitu :

Gaji di atas Rp 3,5 - 4,5 juta
Bunga 9,5%, subsidi uang muka Rp 5 juta, maksimal membeli unit Rp 144 juta

Gaji di atas Rp 2,5 - 3,5 juta
Bunga 8,5%, subsidi uang muka Rp 6 juta, maksimal membeli unit Rp 110 juta

Gaji di atas Rp 1,5 - 2,5 juta
Bunga 7%, subsidi uang muka Rp 7 juta, maksimal membeli unit Rp

Dan berikut ini adalah jajaran 17 Rusuna yang tersebar di kota Jakarta dan sekitarnya :

1. Bandar Kemayoran

Lokasi : Kemayoran
Pengembang : DP3KK dan Perum Perumnas
Luas Tanah : 1,9 hektar
Jumlah Tower : 3 (1.080 unit)

2. City park

Lokasi : Cengkareng
Pengembang : Perum Perumnas dan PT Reka Rumanda Agung Abadi
Luas Tanah : 3,7 hektar
Jumlah Tower : 10 (3.146 unit)

3. Crown Executive Apartment

Lokasi : Daan Mogot Km. 14
Pengembang : PT Crown Porcelain
Luas Tanah : 3,02 hektar
Jumlah Tower : 8 (3.250 unit)

4. Kota Modern

Lokasi : Modernland, Tangerang
Pengembang : PT Modernland Realty Tbk.
Luas Tanah : 1,7 hektar
Jumlah Tower : 3 (1.188 unit)

5. Menara Kebon Jeruk

Lokasi : Kebon Jeruk
Pengembang : PT Anggana Development
Luas Tanah : 0,47 hektar
Jumlah Tower : 1 (682 unit)

6. Gateway

Lokasi : Cileduk
Pengembang : PT Binakarya Jaya Abadi
Luas Tanah : 0,74 hektar
Jumlah Tower : 1 (1.000 unit)

7. Bintaro

Lokasi : Bintaro
Pengembang : PT Graha Rahyan Tri Putra
Luas Tanah : 12 hektar
Jumlah Tower : 5

8. Kebagusan City

Lokasi : Kebagusan
Pengembang : PT Perdana Gapuraprima
Luas Tanah : 10 hektar
Jumlah Tower : 5 (1.918 unit)

9. Cibubur

Lokasi : Cibubur
Pengembang : PT Rajawali Core Indonesia
Luas Tanah : 0,46 hektar
Jumlah Tower : 4

10. Cipayung

Lokasi : Cipayung
Pengembang : PT Bina Kualita Teknik
Luas Tanah : 6,8 hektar
Jumlah Tower : 1

11. Menara Cawang

Lokasi : Cawang
Pengembang : PT Cawang Housing Development
Luas Tanah : 0,5 hektar
Jumlah Tower : 1 (714 unit)

12. Kalimalang

Lokasi : Kalimalang, Bekasi
Pengembang : PT Mitra Safir Sejahtera
Luas Tanah : 0,5 hektar
Jumlah Tower : 3 (1.008 unit)

13. Prima Regency

Lokasi : Pulogebang
Pengembang : KSU Perum Perumnas dan PT Primaland
Luas Tanah : 0,4 hektar
Jumlah Tower : 1 (390 unit)

14. Cakung

Lokasi : Penggilingan, Cakung
Pengembang : PT Nusuno Karya
Luas Tanah : 1,1 hektar
Jumlah Tower : 3 (444 unit)

15. Gading Nias Residence

Lokasi : Kelapa Gading
Pengembang : PT Tiara Metropolitan Jaya (Agung Podomoro Group)
Luas Tanah : 4 hektar
Jumlah Tower : 14 (6.097 unit)

16. Sentra Timur Residence

Lokasi : Pulogebang
Pengembang : PT Bakrieland Development Tbk. dan Perum Perumnas
Luas Tanah : 2,8 hektar
Jumlah Tower : 11 (4.500 unit)

17. Daan Mogot

Lokasi : Daan Mogot Km. 14
Pengembang : PT Inten Cipta Sejati
Luas Tanah : 3,9 hektar
Jumlah Tower : 3 (2.836 unit)

Sumber : Majalah Tempo

Off and Running

jackfitz — Sat, 17 May 2008 22:01:43 +0000

Nah, this isn't about the Preakness Stakes. I skipped my run last night for a concert, which was awesome. And then Francis ditched me for payback today, heading up to Fort Collins for a friend's graduation. That meant I was running alone today, and I did 8 miles around City Park and Cheeseman Park before it got too warm. I finished in 58:15 for 8.45 miles, which is on par with the other runs I've done lately. I used one of the goos today at mile 5 (it was the GU brand, Espresso Love flavor with 2x caffeine, whatever that means) and it did give me a boost for the last few miles. It tasted a bit like coffee, but I swallowed it as quickly as possible. Pretty good stuff.

My knees and feet are feeling good. My IT bands are both getting tight, and I'm trying hard to stretch them more than I think is necessary. I've heard horror stories about IT bands, but I'm not really concerned. I also bought another pair of running shoes today, so I'm hoping to be in them soon. The ones I'm in right now are starting to break down...

Idealni nakupovalni center

dronyx — Fri, 16 May 2008 09:36:01 +0000

Pred dnevi sedim ob pivu v Ljubljanskem mestu nakupov, City Parku in se kot ponavadi neskončno dolgočasim, medtem ko ostala družba zadovoljuje svoje bazične potrebe po nakupovanju.

In ko takole na robu obupa (da sem bil še na robu in ne že čez, je bilo krivo pivo, ki je moje čute nekoliko lokalno paraliziralo) zdolgočasen opazujem množico, ki se neprestano vali mimo mene, ima v roki skoraj vsak vsaj eno nakupovalno vrečko, nekateri pa potiskajo pred sabo do vrha polne nakupovalne vozičke. Ti izgledajo od vseh še najbolj ubogi. Ampak tudi večina ostalih deluje na prvi pogled utrujeno, a so kljub temu srečni, ker so opravili kvaliteten šoping in zadovoljili bazične potrebe. Izraz na obrazu je pri nekaterih nekako tak, kot če te sredi kino predstave prime lulat, ker si pred tem popil tri pire, ampak se ne moreš prebiti do WCja. In ko se enkrat vrata kina odprejo, stečeš v galopu in se olajšaš na prvem prostem pisoarju (razen če si ženska) ter navlečeš nase tisti značilni izraz popolne blaženosti, ko popusti obupna napetost v mehurju.

Potem pa se predam iz čistega dolgčasa sanjarjenju, kaj bi se dalo tu narediti še bolje.

Prvič, za mnoge je nakupovanje preveč intenzivno, stresno, ker so prepričani, da se jim nekam mudi, zato letijo iz trgovine do trgovine, iz ene slačilnice za pomerjanje oblek v drugo. To bi se dalo enostavno rešiti tako, da se iz nakupovanja naredi večdnevni (morda kar enomesečni) zabavni dogodek, kjer čas ne bi igral nobene vloge. Recimo idealno bi bilo, da bi nad trgovinami zgradili še manjše apartmaje, največ 40 metrov kvadrat, kjer bi kupci lahko tudi prespali. Vzameš recimo krajši 14 dnevni paket, v soboto zjutraj se množica »nakupovalnih turistov« zbere pred vhodom (vsak s svojo veljavno unlimited zlato Mastercard, Visa ali American Express kartico), potem jih spustijo enega po enega notri, preverijo, če imajo res veljavne plačilne kartice in potem se za naslednje dva tedna za njimi vrata nepredušno zaprejo. Nakar dan za dnem samo nakupujejo, jedo, počivajo, spet nakupujejo, še nekaj malega pojedo in gredo spat.

Kot solidnemu psihologu se mi takoj pojavijo pomisleki, da bi mnogi ob takem tempu in občutku brezizhodnosti hitro kazali znake depresije, nekateri morda celo znake hujših nervoz, anksioznosti, kronične utrujenosti, apatije ali klavstrofobije. Torej je temu potrebno dodati še malo sprostitve. Kakšen masažni bazenček na vrhu centra, savno, igrišče za mini golf, manjši prostor za kakšno instant stand up komedijo, nekaj spremljevalk (prostitutk pod krinko) ali kaj podobnega.

In to je že to. Bližje idealnemu šopingu se po mojem trenutnem vedenju ne da priti. In ponosen sem, da je to zraslo na moji glavi, ki je od mense oddaljena vsaj za 40 točk.

In ko tole idejo razlagam ves ponosen naokrog znancem in neskromno pričakujem občudovanje ter me zamika, da žrtvujem nekaj evrov prihrankov ter vložim prijavo patentnemu uradu, me kot strela iz jasnega udari novica, da so to izumili že dolgo časa pred mano. Zadevi se baje reče luksuzna čezoceanska križarka (Ocean liner), kjer po mojem receptu zaprejo petične nakupovalce na plavajoči nakupovalni center sredi ničesar (oceana) in potem od dolgčasa spraznijo v trgovinah na ladji zlate kartice v nulo.

Ta tehnika ima po moje samo eno slabost in sicer v primeru, da ladja naleti na ledeno ploščo, trči ob drugi plavajoči nakupovalni center ali pa recimo v stilu Pozejdona na »rough wave« (ogromen val), ki jo obrne na glavo, tako da so nakupovalci pod vodo. To pa v večini primerov pokvari užitek idealnega šopinga.

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Testing 1...2...3...4

jackfitz — Sun, 11 May 2008 20:15:37 +0000

As you can see, Francis and I have undertaken the great energy gel test. REI is holding their Anniversary Sale (which ends today), and we bought four dozen packets of gel/goo. We tried to stay with chocolate and coffee flavors for consistency (and the overall integrity of the test...right), and we'll use them before and during our long runs over the next 12 weeks.

Today, we finished week 6 of our training schedule with a ten-mile run. We choked down a Clif Shot before the run, which was infused with caffeine. Soon we felt better - more awake and ready to run. In fact, we were so excited, we forgot to start the clock on our run. Oops. It felt like 7:45 miles, but who can say? After the run, we had a breakfast fry-up at Francis' apartment with a pound of bacon, eggs fried in the grease, toast and OJ. Not a bad way to start the day.

Anyway, I'll keep you - faithful and interested, scientifically minded reader - updated on how we feel about the power goos. So far, Clif tastes alright but performs well, and that's the bottom line.

Birding City Park in New Orleans

bevson — Thu, 08 May 2008 14:36:34 +0000

Right before I left NJ, I threw out an email to a birdingpal from New Orleans. I have not been successful with using this service in the past, but 2 people told me that have connected with someone and got great advice. So, what the heck. When I arrived in the city I wandered through the French Quarter to get my bearings and was welcomed by the chittering of chimney swifts. Ah, I remember the swifts. Once long ago, on my first trip to New Orleans, I was amazed by the swifts. They darted above and between the historic rooftops and galleries of the French Quarter. I remember sitting in a rooftop lounge drinking crisp white wine and watching the swirl of their antics and not paying much attention to the conversation swirling about me. I smiled. If nothing else, New Orleans has swifts. A first of the season for me.

But birdingpal came through. I received a lovely email with several options within an easy streetcar ride since I had no car. She recommended Audubon Park and City Park. Audubon Park is on the St. Charles Street line and has a 1.7 mile jogging/biking loop. On an island in the middle of the water on the left is a heron rookery. The trip to the park was a major time commitment though. The concierge at the hotel said it would take 45 minutes to get there—plus walking the loop and getting back. I was looking at 3 hours- minimum. City Park, on the other hand, is on the Canal Street line. It takes only 30 minutes to get there. I could wander around, come back when I needed. I opted for City Park for expediency’s sake even though it was a warm muggy afternoon.

The Canal Street stop for the streetcar is on the median outside the hotel. I hopped on, slid in my dollar and dropped the quarter in the slot. I sat on the beautiful wooden seat. A lovely warm breeze blew in through the open window. The car clattered forward with a merry clang of its bell. People got on and off as we left the city and headed toward Metarie.

I got off at the last stop, City Park, outside the museum. The first thing I heard when I crossed the busy intersection and walked into the park was the distinctive call of boat-tailed grackles. I wandered off the sidewalk in the direction of a creek flowing in the distance. A cattle egret eyed me warily as I approach the water, flying off a few steps. A flicker of white caught my eye; I spun to watch a least tern dive headlong into the still brown water. Then a common tern dashed past. I could really see the size difference. Along the far bank I saw the stately white of an egret. I walked along the bank A harsh squawk out from the reeds stepped a yellow-crowned nightheron. It watched me, gave an almost shrug with a ruffle of its feathers and started to pick in the grass. Apparently finding nothing of interest it flew off.

I got 23 species in all: Laughing Gull, Mockingbird, Monk parakeets, Least Tern, Common Tern, White Ibis, Brown Pelican, Tri-colored Heron (but you knew that already), Yellow-crowned Nightheron, Great Egret, Cattle Egret, Snowy Egret, Mute Swan, Black Swan (not countable, but cool none the less), Bronzed Cowbird with the demonic glowing red eye, Blue Jay, Mourning Dove, Canada Goose (really small though, smaller than the domestic white geese floating around), Mallards, Boat-tailed Grackles, Ring-necked Doves, and of course, Starlings, and House Sparrows.

Pacing Myself

jackfitz — Sat, 03 May 2008 22:11:43 +0000

Last night Francis and I ran a 35-minute pace run. We started slowly and built speed for the first 15 minutes. We then ran at a max pace for 12 minutes before cooling down for 8. I'm not sure how far we ran, but in this type of run, distance isn't very important. It was tough to force ourselves out last night. It was cold and really windy, and to be honest, the run wasn't the best. But it felt good to get out and go for it anyway.

Today, we ran 14 miles around City Park. Normally, our long run is Sunday, but Francis is climbing Quandary Peak tomorrow for some spring skiing and can't make it. We decided it'd be good to run together today instead, and we did a double loop, stopping back at my place mid-run for some Gatorade.

I brought my camera along on the second leg and took about 100 pictures while I ran. Most of them are blurry and nauseating, but a few were at least interesting if nothing else. The run felt great, but it was definitely long. At the end, my legs hurt - not in a bad way, but more in a fatigued sense. Our time was 1:47:00, which is about 7:40 minutes/mile. We're feeling really good about our tentative goal of running a Boston-qualifying time (3:10:00), but we'll hold off on officially declaring that 'till we're a bit more trained. Until then, it's ice and ice cream from Liks, where I'll be headed very soon, right after I finish my mint julep.

Old Ladies Conspiring

Rufus Mangrove — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 16:07:39 +0000

Old Ladies Conspiring. old ladies conspiring in city park, also known as italian park, as the park's reconstruction was financed by the italian government. many morning walkers as well as packs of wild dogs roaming around. don't worry though . . . the dogs are afraid of humans.

the last of today's stories-for real-The Dogshit Wars

magichector — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 17:42:09 +0000

Dog Shit Wars- the last of the stories from the 2006 vault

This is the last story of the day. I have put out 5 short stories today:

(if you want to rip me off I have date stamps and notarized manuscripts for all these stories.)

1. The transmigration of Robert Redman

2. The Death of Ivan Bothco

3. The rancho Coca Loco

4. Too Cool for School and Too stupid for the real word….

5. The dogshit wars

The last two are written more as semi-autobiographic narratives. The first three are traditional short stories with dialog and narration. I am working on recycling and rewriting some more old stuff and have a few new stories in the works. Hopefully things will evolve and progress-right now I am just putting these out into the ether -they definitely need some editing and rewriting but I am just trying to jump start my creative juices so to speak by putting out some old stuff. Here’s one that is a narrative-I am sorry if it offends anybody and unfortunately I lost two friends and a living situation over the events that transpired which were actually very different than what is portrayed here-this is meant to be more of a humor/perspective piece-cheers!

Dog Shit Wars

by Paul Hector

There I was on a typical Saturday morning, nursing a tremendous hangover. I was sitting in the kitchen of my tree house studio apartment, pounding down water, drinking coffee, and smoking a few hits of a J trying to silence the dissonant sixth grade marching band pounding in my head, spawned by the previous evening’s alcohol induced adventures. A typical Denver early spring morning, beautiful post card weather, birds singing, the trees that towered in my back yard still leafless but framed by the green needles of the 30 foot tall lodge pole pines. My neighbors who weren’t quite the crazy Friday night type of people I am were out in the back yard with their dogs obviously in a more functional condition than me. One of them, a 30 something black yuppie was blabbering on the cell-phone like some kind of executive while letting his dog out for a comfort break. The other one, a 30 something (?) female law student was playing fetch with her yellow lab in the yard.

Over the past few weeks, I’d noticed that they were playing a bizarre game with one another. One of them would fill a plastic bag full of dog shit and stick it next to the other one’s porch. It would than be thrown back on the other one’s doorstep. My apartment is in an old Victorian Mansion that has been renovated and turned into 3 apartment units but we all shared the big beautiful back yard and common walkways. For me the grass was a kind of no fly zone because it was heavily mined with piles of dog droppings. When I first noticed the bags full of dog shit lying around it seemed odd and strangely grotesque. They were the type of bags one would put carrots or apples into while shopping at King Soopers. The image of a pile of dog shit inside such a bag kept me out of the vegetable and fruit section for a while and my eating habits suffered as a result. Having better things to do than try to sleuth out what the deal was, I accepted it as an idiosyncrasy of living with such an arrangement. I still sensed tension in the air especially since they were now in the back yard together.

After a few magic cups of java and a little weed, (a hippy speedball,) my head began to start feeling better and I began pondering what my activities for the leisurely Saturday were to be. At just that moment, I heard a real commotion in the back yard and hurried footsteps on the front porch downstairs. This was followed by the angry voice of my female blonde law student neighbor downstairs inside the house screaming racial slurs (the “N” word) at her well dressed black male neighbor, telling him to pick up after his dog.

At this point I wondered if the hippy speedball had somehow magically transported me to some place like Mobile, Alabama. Although, there is some degree of racial tension in Denver, the city is comparatively well integrated and unless you’re working on a redneck construction crew or something, you’re ordinarily not used to hearing racial slurs hurled around, especially outside the door of one’s apartment. This was disturbing and also confusing and I thought maybe it was time to give up the green stuff and coffee because the after effects were becoming too strange and frightening for me. I was also very concerned about both my neighbors because they were both nice people and their little game of bagging up dog shit like fruits and vegetables and depositing it onto their respective doorsteps had obviously snowballed into something much worse. Deciding to retreat into denial, I lit up the rest of the funny cigarette and tried to just ignore things being that my skills as a conflict negotiator were very much degraded by my morning hangover cure.

After about half an hour of watching the TV, I decided to walk outside and take in some morning sunshine, hoping that the bizarre episode had somehow subsided but still walking on pins and needles wondering what was up. Of course stepping in a pile of dog shit is a universally annoying and disgusting event-especially if you are wearing your 80$ black leather shoes. You can’t really take them inside to clean them up because most people use their sinks and bathtubs for preparing food or personal hygiene. The only way to do it is hold them under the garden hose spigot and try not to yak up your last meal. I thought about visiting my neighbors but decided against taking sides. Who do I visit first? Most stoners hate conflict so I decided to just suck it up and try not to rock the boat, especially since my house was racially integrated. Although I abhor racism and feel that it is a festering ignorance that has been passed down through the inglorious history of mankind, I didn’t want get involved,( I knew and sensed one party was definitely too well dressed, and above the demeaning job of cleaning up after one’s own dog….).

Most of the black people I have known are above or beyond being very effected by the commonly used slur I heard downstairs. At the same time, being a waspy, white bred man who grew up in suburbia, I knew that it was impossible for me to fully understand or even empathize with what it may be like to be on the wrong end of it. Racism is a many tiered phenomena. I remember my grandfather, of Swedish-Lutheran descent, railing on and on about the Catholic Church and how Rome was the epicenter of all evil. I went to high school with a lot of competitive and highly intelligent Jewish people and was well acquainted with anti-Semitism; my best friend growing up was Jewish. It seems that people who share the same or similar ethnicities can’t get along. The British look down on the Irish, the Japanese view the Koreans as inferior, the Germans-just about everybody who isn’t German. The black-white thing has always been a sort of taboo for me. I’ve visited cities like New Orleans and Boston where racial tension still boils-Denver has had its share of problems but, thankfully, it is relatively free of it, (from my white bred perspective that is.) I felt like chastising my female white neighbor but I wondered if there were mitigating circumstances. I had the feeling that there was something more going on between them and decided play deaf and dumb.

There was the kind of eerie calm out in the yard, the kind that military veterans describe that comes in the aftermath of a rocket attack. My neighbors were no where to be seen. I opened up the garden gate and stepped out into the front yard where I was startled by seeing three police cars out front. This caused the stoner paranoia program to initiate itself inside my head. I thought about running upstairs and flushing my stash. I saw my neighbor Chris sitting and talking to the police and they were putting an APB out for the blonde female student and giving her description in the manner that the police do-“a five foot seven female Caucasian with shoulder length blonde hair…” This was strange and startling in a way. All the sudden my seemingly sweet hearted neighbor girl was joining the ranks of America’s most wanted. I decided to retreat after overhearing Chris describing to the police how Evelyn had spread dog shit on his welcome mat which was inscribed ironically with the words, “Wipe Your Paws.”

I went back upstairs in a combined state of paranoia and confusion. Doing the wake and bake thing and than going outside and seeing three cop cars in your front yard is not any pot smoker’s idea of a very good morning. At the same time I was a little spun out by what was transpiring. I was used to seeing images on TV of the police mercilessly beating a black man a la Rodney King. The whole OJ thing had given me the impression that the police were a bunch of clan members or something. I’d even seen, in person, a black police officer using the N word while busting a young black man. Now on this very foggy but sunny morning I was taken aback by the fact that the cops were now going after a redneck girl. Would a policeman arrest his own wife? It dawned on me that those were probably the mental health police. These days the men in white suits usually carry badges and look like police officers. Regardless of who or what this particular police unit was, most black men I’ve met don’t really trust the police. But of course, in what was now weird world with a pretty little blonde throwing dog shit around in the back yard I wondered if the weed had sent me back into the 19^th century. I looked out the window to see if there were any horse and buggies traveling up and down the street. Than again I realized that if it was really the 19^th century the police would be stringing Chris up to the nearest tree and probably taking Evelyn out for a bite to eat. Seeing that I was indeed in the 21^st century, I again decided to think very seriously about giving up the smoke because things were getting a little skewed. At that point the coffee wore off and I went back to sleep hoping that when I woke up I’d be back home, kind of like Dorothy in the Wizard of OZ.

As I sit here now months later, much more clear headed, it dawns on me that you can never truly escape racism, even in its most bizarre manifestations. Both my neighbors have moved out, probably for their own good. Evelyn was given a slap on the wrist and Chris obviously needed a better living situation for him and his dog. In the aftermath of the dog shit war, the little piles of dog shit are a thing of the past and there’s no need to be aware of flying dog shit or avoid stepping on little bags of shit while stumbling home from the bar. For this I am thankful and, since I quit the wake and bake, some semblance of normality has returned, at least I hope. Unfortunately normality and racism are not mutually exclusive sets and on any given day one can be thrust back into the 19^th century, the lynch mob rolling, even in some of the most bizarre and unlikely of manifestations.

Bob Seger Would be Proud

jackfitz — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 07:14:22 +0000

Late this afternoon, Francis and I finished the third week of our marathon training with an 8-mile run around City Park (pictured). It was another beautiful Sunday, and despite the constant wind - often in our faces - the run was great. We were actually joined by a friend who's also training for the San Francisco Marathon, but who is training independently.

But before we ever started our run, we played ultimate frisbee for about an hour and a half to kill some of our energy. It worked, and when combined with a pre-run shot of tequila, running too fast wasn't a problem. In fact, we actually made a pit stop at the apartment to take care of a blister, and Andrew decided to call it an afternoon after 5 miles. Francis and I finished with a short run down 13th Ave to Colorado and back before our day was over. Good to have another week behind us.