Random Links 12/17/07...

It's been a long time, I shouldn't have left you
Without a dope post to step to...

And, as per ChuckJerry's recent request, I've disabled comment moderation. So everybody can feel free to comment away!


- The city of Camden sucks. It makes Paterson look like a nice little urban burg. Read this.

- So does a certain school district in South Jersey.

- Although many of us have probably browsed this or similar sites out of sheer (morbid) curiousity, I still don't see why the public really needs to have access to the criminal records, names and profiles of most criminal offenders.

- Jeremy Shockey is a badass. He broke his leg yesterday, and the highlights at least showed him slamming down his helmet in disgust, presumably because he wouldn't be able to play anymore (I didn't get to see the game). I would be crying like I blew out my knee. Hope he has a speedy recovery.

- Brian Westbrook is underrated. I think he's one of the premier players in football. It's great to get to see him play every week. The Eagles beat Dallas and that homo Tony Romo.

- And for those looking for last minute holiday gifts, feel free to print out the following...

To all the Knicks fans...

... as Bill Simmons writes, it could be worse. Much worse. And he's right...

Read the article by clicking here.

I feel selfish!

On Driving in NJ

Travelling often now from South Jersey to North Jersey, and having lived in different parts of New Jersey since college (going to 10 years, yikes), I wanted to share some thoughts about driving in our great state...

On the Turnpike...

Read up on "the Turnpike". The Turnpike has become increasingly annoying to travel as the years have gone on. It seems like traffic used to be concentrated near exit 18 and near Newark sometimes, and then bunch up at the "merge" going south. However, often these days these are not the worst pockets of traffic. Traffic is worst often going north or south in random pockets anywhere between exit 6 and exit 9. If you clicked on the Wikipedia link, apparently they are thinking of widening the turnpike between exit 6 and exit 8A, so who knows if that will help.

The dashes painted on the road on the turnpike are 25 feet long. I learned this in a math teacher's workshop.

I've stopped in Turnpike rest stops and never been propositioned by a woman, man, or a prostitute. What have I been missing out on?

They need to do something coming north approaching the toll booth at exit 18 about people who wait in the EZ-Pass lane but don't have EZ-Pass, and then wait to cut into the non-EZ-Pass lanes to avoid waiting there. It not only pisses off both EZ-Passers and non-EZ-Passers, but it defeats the purpose of having an EZ-Pass lane. They should either (1) start putting up concrete dividers about half a mile up the Turnpike - although, I guess you'd run into the same problem right before these dividers - or, (2) have police patrol the plaza and give out fines or tickets for these line cutters.

Speaking of the toll booth at exit 18, any thought on this huge ski thing they're constructing there? What's the progress with that?

There are no roads that traverse the entire length of the Turnpike that give you alternate methods to travel. There are several different roads which run almost parallel to the turnpike for strecthes at a time. For instance, one can bypass the turnpike between exit 4 and exit 7 by taking 295 which is an awesome highway, and then if turnpike traffic is really bad one can take the Parkway to bypass the stretch from exit 11 to exit 18. Between exit 7 and exit 11 one can take either Route 1 and Route 130. However, except for 295 none of these other methods are usually quicker than waiting out the traffic.

Which leads me to...

On Traffic...

Has traffic in the NYC / NJ / Philadelphia / CT region reached a point of "crisis"? Obviously not. We all manage to get by and deal with the traffic we have. However, we're not even close to being the worst. According to this link, here's the top 12 worst cities:

1. Los Angeles, Long Beach, Santa Ana, Calif.
2. San Francisco, Oakland, Calif.
3. Washington, D.C.
4. Atlanta
5. Houston
6. Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington, Tex.
7. Chicago.
8. Detroit
9. Riverside, San Bernardino, Calif.
9. Orlando, Fla.
11. San Jose, Calif.
12. San Diego

I was in L.A. once in my life, and the traffic indeed did suck at all hours.

Anyway, I know that as a Jersey resident, I often feel like have to plan my activities around traffic. It's sometimes worth driving back and forth to North Jersey at weird hours to avoid the extra 30 - 60 minutes I'll have to sit annoyed on the Turnpike (with no traffic, it's about an hour and 40 minutes). And I don't really do errands after school between, say, 4:30 and 6:30. And if I do, I take back roads everywhere.

So, I guess what I'm pondering is, when would traffic reach such a level not only here in NJ, but in general, that a critical mass of our society stood up and decided that serious changes needed to be made (add true incentives to use public transportation, etc...)?

"Cars"

An animated movie called Cars came out a couple of years ago (it was good, worth seeing). Anyway, a theme of the movie is about how major highways / modern conveniences make people forget about small towns / old fashioned America and what's really important. Now that I've traversed South Jersey a little bit, that movie rings true driving these other smaller roads (sometimes to avoid traffic on the Atlantic City Expressway!) that run east-west from Philadelphia to Atlantic City. People have been driving to the shore for a long time from the Philadelphia area, but there is a major road called the Atlantic City Expressway (built in the 60s) that has slowly decreased traffic on these other roads. There are small, run down bars, restaurants, and generally abandonded areas on these smaller roads that families must have taken before everybody just decided to take the Expressway since there are no lights and you can do 65 (at least) instead of having to stop every couple of miles for a light and do 65 (at the most) on these other highways.

Barry Bonds

Now that this Barry Bonds saga is hopefully working towards a conclusion...

I feel like this persecution of Barry Bonds is a little ridiculous.

First of all, why did Congress ever get involved with baseball in the first place? I've never understood this. It's a fucking SPORT! Why don't they hold a Congressional hearing to investigate the steroid use in professional wrestling next? Our government wastes far too much money and resources over stupid shit. Like Dave's account said in the movie Dave of the government's budget, "If I ran my business like this, I'd be out of business."

Anyway, regarding how baseball ought to view his record and his legacy in general, I think the backlash against him wasn't because of his ethnicity or because he's an asshole to the media - I think there's this backlash against him because of his success! I mean, when McGwire and Sosa broke Maris' record in that famous summer of 1998 that basically brought baseball back into popularity after the strike in 1994 and everything, people were able to turn the other cheek because (1) people were watching baseball again and (2) Roger Maris' record being broken didn't really bother people because other than having that record, Roger Maris was not in the pantheon of great baseball players.

But, Barry Bonds happens to be an unbelievable, all-time-great talent without the steroids. With the steroids, he was superhuman. Forget about the all-time homeruns mark - he won 4 straight MVP awards and set all kind of new precedents. Refusing to pitch to a guy often? Amazing. During that stretch Barry Bonds would get walked in ridiculous situations because they were afraid to pitch to him. He'd get walked in tie games in the 6th inning with runners on first base. And it wasn't a bad idea either!

(Infact, I think that when teams use this strategy it should be called the "Barry Treatment". Like, what the Giants did by not kicking to Devin Hester this past Sunday - they gave Hester the "Barry treatment".)

In any case, my point is: Barry Bonds is no more or less guilty than Jason Giambi, Mark McGwire, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa, etc, etc... he's just much doper than them. If we asterisk or erase or whatever his records and achievements, then lets erase everything about Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa from MLB history. So for people that care emotionally about this issue, you've been turning your cheek for around 15 years or whatever... Barry Bonds just did it better than all his peers.

Random Links 11/21/2007

1) Shaq's said some good stuff over the years (for Daffy).



2) I found this blog written by a NYC bouncer about the clublife through following one of Open Bar's stories through and got caught up in a random string of links (for all the still single guys trying to do it in this cold cold world).



3) "Staging a legendary duel for the ages..."



(for MMG)

My Bike and the Five-Star Heist

I wanted to share an anecdote from my life, which I'm not sure I've ever told anybody about. In an earlier post I mentioned the Five-Star Coffee Shop, but I'm getting ahead of myself. In order to fully express the story I need to give a background of my experiences with my bike.

I. My Bike

My family moved to Teaneck in the spring of 1985, when I was in the 3rd grade. Once we were situated in Teaneck, I remember riding my dirtbike everywhere. I had a Huffy dirtbike that I rode around town often. There were "trails" near my mother's house, and often some of the tough kids from around my neighborhood would hang out back there with their bicycles and ride up and down these trails. The highlight of the trails was a big dip in the ground where kids would drive down as quickly as they could hoping to catch air when they came out of the other side. Think of it as a precursor to the half-pipe days with the skateboarding trend which started around that time. ("Do you ever take it off of any sweet jumps?")

Anyway, a bike seemed vital for a kid who wanted some semblance of independence in the pre-middle school days. After all, any self-respecting 9-year-old couldn't just walk around, right?

So 4th and 5th grade came around and I was supposed to get bussed over to Lowell School, which was my grammar school and was a little over a mile from my mother's house. When we first moved to Teaneck, my mother must have driven to school but eventually she couldn't drive me anymore. For some reason I was opposed to taking the bus to school (I didn't know why at the time -- in retrospect I think it was some kind of social anxiety which continued through my teenage years, but I digress). My mother gave me permission to ride my bike across town to school. For a 9 or 10 year old, this was incredible.

Here are the Google-suggested driving directions from my mother's house to my grammar school - you have to click on the map to see the directions. Of course, bike riding did not go down Route 4.


View Larger Map

(By the way, do you remember when the kids would do concerts and the music teacher would make us sing "Hawthorne is a good school" and then they would sing "Lowell is a great school" and they would then sing "Whittier is the best school"? What's the deal with that?)

Anyway, this was the pinnacle of independence. I can distinctly remember the different routes I took. The safe route was over to Grayson Place, straight over the bridge that crosses the tracks, right on Garrison, left on Standish, and down to the school. Often, for a change, I rode straight down Forest Avenue, through Votee, and carried my bike over the walking bridge, and then rode up through Andy B's neighborhood and worked my way over. Eventually, when I felt really daring, I would actually literally walk my bike over the railroad tracks near the overpass at the end of Votee Park, near where the Biddy gym is. I always had fleeting scare thoughts of getting my foot stuck on the tracks, or somehow having a "Stand By Me" moment where a train came barreling out of nowhere and I would have to dodge it at the last minute. (Neither ever came close to happening.)

During 4th and 5th grade, I rode my bike often to Cedar Lane as well. There were certain spots that I always hit. Rocklins for candy, Flicks and Fones to browse the phones (or "Fones"), but most often Pioneer Pizza. I would get a couple of slices of Pioneer and play the video games. (Am I getting early Alzheimer's? I don't remember what games they had... anybody else remember?) I remember well having to lock up the bike. I always had a Master Lock and a metal regular chain, and I remember all the different ways I would lace the chain through the bike to ensure maximum safety. And you didn't need to find a bike rack on Cedar Lane. You would usually tether the bike to whatever structure was nearby. (I believe Lowell actually did have a bike rack though, if memory serves. Was it near the front door? Lowell sure looks different these days. "Man, things sure have changed around here in Teaneck," as a great man once said.)

Eventually, at some point in my pre-teen years or maybe even teenage years, the dirt bike transitioned into a 10-speed bike. Amber Cyclery, which was right near Feibel's Bowling Alley, became the stop for bike-related issues. The bike upgrade enabled me to go greater distances. The only folly which having a ten-speed bike caused was for the chain to occassionally "pop off" of the chains, which made one pull over and manually fix the chain. (Although, I believe this happened from time to time to with the Huffy.) I had my first girlfriend in 8th grade, and she lived in Ridgefield Park.

The 3.2 mile bike route to my 13-yr-old girlfriend's house -- we're not in Candyland anymore.


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But Walt, what happened to your first girlfriend? Well, we split up after several months of dating because 9th grade was about to start and we had to deal with the pressures of all the new people we'd meet in high school. (Cue violin music.)

The summer between 8th grade and high school, though, was where the bike really came in handy.


II. My First Job, and the Great Five-Star Heist

The summer between 8th and 9th grade, I had my first summer job. The school that my father worked at was moving from their small location in Demarest, NJ to a bigger location in Westwood, NJ. They needed some help boxing everything up and getting it ready to go. My job duties basically consisted of first, emptying out the garbages in the offices and taking the garbages out, and then finding out what books needed to be boxed up and what needed to be moved that day. A lasting memory of that summer was the smell of the used coffee from the day before that the secretaries would always dump out just before I would take out their garbage. I also remember all of the cool idiosyncracies of the building there that the school used, like the hills surrounding the school and the interesting layout of the building.

Anyway, even though my father also worked there during the summer, instead of trying to get a ride with him I insisted on riding my bike from my house in Teaneck to Demarest. The distance is shown below.


View Larger Map

The six-mile bike ride for a 13-year-old kid through a couple of small Bergen County towns that were unfamiliar was the coolest thing about the summer job. Eventually, I got used to it, but it remained a big deal for the duration of the summer.

Often, on my way home I would stop at the Tri-Valley Diner for a splurging of some of my pay. Feeling very grown-up, I would get whatever munchies I wanted that day, which often consisted of ice cream.

One particular day, though, I was finished with work early for some reason. I left midday and decided to go to Cedar Lane after work and for some reason found myself going to try out the now-famous Five-Star Coffee Shop. Years later, myself and friends would frequent Five-Star often for breakfast.

I locked up my bike, sat at the busy counter, and ordered a burger, fries and a soda. After eating the tasty lunch, I didn't know if I was supposed to pay at the counter or at the register. I kept trying to get the attention of the busy staff and nobody looked in my direction. In my mind, I figured something like "maybe they're ignoring me because I'm supposed to pay up at the register".

I got up, went to the register, and again tried repeatedly to get the staff's attention. A couple of minutes passed and nobody looked my way. In my mind, something along the lines of "what would happen if I just left?" occurred to me. I waited for about 10 seconds, my heart pounding, and finally just said "fuck it" and walked out. I quickly walked to my bike, nervous as hell that I'd get in trouble but figuring "oh well, it's too late now, I can't go back", and pedaled away as fast as I could. I kept expecting to see somebody (it would've been Marino Sr., I know now) chase me down the street, running after my bike and waving some cooking utensil in the air in anger. No such thing happened.

I was re-introduced to Five-Star years later, and needless to say, Marino did not remember me or still have a tab for $5 or so from years earlier, when I pulled off the Five-Star Heist of 1990.

Top Albums

I've been known, in the past, to ask hypothetical questions, of which one of the most common ones was "If you were stranded on a desert island for a year and you could only bring 5 CDs, what would they be?" Of course, often I would be asked what my answer was, and I gave it. Usually it varied only a little bit between times I was asking - there would usually be a couple of staples on it.

From time to time, magazines like Rolling Stone and Blender, TV networks like VH1, and random blogs put out various countdowns of greatest albums, greatest artists, etc... and usually it's interesting to see their picks... however, it is ultimately silly to try to state which is "greater" between, say, the Beatles or Michael Jackson or Elvis or Beethoven. Obviously, it's a matter of taste to some degree, and how can music or art be inherently "greater" than other music or art? Most people, though, will agree that the Beatles is somehow "greater" music than, say, Paula Abdul's "Forever Your Girl", based on whatever criteria. And thus, more discussions ensue.

I'm a big fan of music. I play it, and listen to music just about whenever I can. (The Ipod is worn, for instance, at places like the supermarket.) And I found myself thinking of my "go-to" albums. That is, listening to a variety of different styles of music means that I often am into a certain artist or style of music for a span of time, then eventually, I'm into something else for a while. And people's go-to albums are probably more inherently interesting than what they consider to be "great" music.

(I think my wife and I coined the phrase "go-to" albums, which is essentially the same usage of "go-to" as in "Jeremy Shockey is our go-to guy on 3rd downs" or whatever.)

Then, I realized, my go-to albums aren't necessarily what I think of as great music, nor do I think they'll be go-to albums for the long haul. For instance, I've listed to a lot of Maroon 5's two most recent albums recently, but I certainly don't know if they'll be lifetime go-to albums, nor would I consider Maroon 5 great music.

But, I'm not always into music that I recognize as being of high quality. For instance, Jimi Hendrix "Are You Experienced?" and Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue" are albums which most people think are fantastic and I've heard but do not play often.

So, I wanted to compile a list of albums that meet two important criteria for myself:

1) They are "good", quality, well-constructed music, and
2) Are albums that have proven to stay on my "go-to" list. (I realized later that certain albums on my go-to list I haven't listened to in a while, but that's only because I've heard them a trillion times and need a break.)

And after I thought long and hard about it, here are my albums, in no particular order:

The Top Two:
- Abbey Road (Beatles)
- Highway 61 Revisited (Dylan)

The Rest:
- White Album (Beatles)
- Quadrophenia (The Who)
- OK Computer (Radiohead)
- Fulfillingness' First Finale (Stevie Wonder)
- Blonde on Blonde (Dylan)
- Ziggy Stardust (David Bowie)
- My Aim Is True (Elvis Costello)
- The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
- Pet Sounds (The Beach Boys)
- Physical Graffiti (Led Zeppelin)

And then there are about 20 more albums that are a notch below these 12 that aren't quite on the same tier. And now I'm feeling like I most have left some albums off that should be up there. Anyway, share opinions, or if you want to know the other albums...

NBA Centers

My brother asked me the following question...

1) In their prime, if you had the first pick for an NBA team and your choices were:

- Shaquille O'Neal (think with the Lakers, early 2000s)
- Hakeem Olajuwon (mid 90's, rockets)
- Tim Duncan (mid 2000s)

That was a really good question, and I really thought about it and still don't really have an answer. What do you think?

And through that question came...

2) In their prime, what centers would you take as a first pick for a team? (So now, throw in guys like Chamberlain, Walton, etc...)

The part of the hypothetical question about a guy being the first pick and not knowing who else is on a team is crucial to the answer, in my opinion. When Shaq has been paired with another dominant player (like Kobe), he's invaluable. However, I don't think he could win with a supporting cast of Sam Cassell, Vernon Maxwell, etc... the way that Hakeem did. And I don't think playing with Shaq makes his teammates better, whereas I think that Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili et al are better through playing with Duncan. I therefore would probably not take Shaq over Duncan or Olajuwon.

Some more random NBA notes:

1) in 1993-1994 the top three scorers in the NBA were centers.

2) The Miami Heat just signed Penny Hardaway. They must've just dropped Laettner this year. With Penny, Laettner, Mourning and Shaq their roster looked like an All-Star team from 1995.

3) My brother and I just made two bets:
a) Boston will win the East (or, Boston vs. the field to be the Eastern Conf. Champs). I said no, he said yes. Even though Boston looks great, so much can happen in a season that to bet one team against the field after 3 games seems too much.

b) I gave him 3 to 1 odds and said that Kevin Garnett would NOT be on the all-NBA first team, while he said that Garnett would. Is he really going to beat out Lebron, Dirk, Duncan et al...? Maybe he will. It seems unlikely though. He is going to have to share everything with Pierce and Allen this year and that might not make him look as individually as good.

Restless Farewell

Check out the lyrics to this early Bob Dylan song, that he probably wrote when he was about 22 or 23. Some good ideas in there.

Random Notes Sat 11/3/07

- My obsession with Desktop Tower Defense has not abated. I got a new high score - 7252 - but when I attempted to post it to the ChuckJerry leader board (which has two members: myself and ChuckJerry) the website froze and it was lost. Ahh well, that score will be the Snuffleupagus to my Big Bird. By the way, did anybody know he had a first name? Aloysius?


- I have found myself quickly biting the style of the boys over at Where's Luke with posting a picture in each post and attempting a funny comment. I caught myself about to post a random photo of Snuffleupagus. I will refrain, for now.


- I'm really torn about buying NBA League Pass this year. It's been awesome to get home and be able to flip on any random NBA game. However, I don't know if I'm home often enough now to warrant it. The price is not that much when you consider all the games you get...


- I'm currently reading a book entitled "What's the Matter with Kansas?" I get bored with political discussions, but this book is very interesting.


- Is there any better time to read than on the shitter?


- ING Direct has been paying off well since we started to save there. Also incredibly easy and convenient.


- Six of us have started a Fantasy NBA league again this year. "I try to get out... and they keep PULLING me back in."


- And finally, Check out this list of "coolest blogs of 2005", and especially you NYC people, check out the first link about "Things Overheard in NYC". Obviously, there's no way to verify if these things are real or not, but entertaining nonetheless.

"Frost Warning"???

I don't believe what I read in the papers
They're just out to capture my dime

- Paul Simon, "Have a Good Time"


So I've blogged before about the silliness and irresponsibility of the TV news and the media in general, and this is certainly a topic discussed in general in today's world, where every story seems to warn us about impending death and mortal harm around every corner.

In the past, I've blogged specifically about weather advisory warnings as issued on the TV news. It seems like the trend in recent years continues to lean towards "warning" or "advising" us on any possible bit of winter weather that could fall. The *potential* for flurries seem to warrant a "winter weather advisory" these days. And being a weather geek my whole like, I usually pay attention to the weather forecasts and don't seem to remember this.

This morning was the first cold morning this season. The temperature was going to dip into the upper 30s / low 40s overnight. So on this morning's TV news... we had... get this... a "freeze / frost warning". A FROST WARNING!!!!

"TV Viewers... be ready... because you might have to... PUT ON A JACKET!!! You may even have to turn on the defroster in your car on the way to work!!! BE WARNED!"

Now, after complaining about this to my wife, she played devil's advocate and pointed out that people who garden or have to tend to outdoor things might need to know this to take precautions for their outside objects. Granted, I hadn't thought of that. But still, isn't a blaring "frost warning" the dénouement of this ridiculous saga that is the TV weather's decline into absurdity? Can I just stick my head out the fucking window in the morning and decide what to wear?

MSNBC has issued the following disclaimer: The following image shows what can happen to people's feet who don't follow all MSNBC-issued frost warnings.

"Hoes We Knows"

A cursory Google search did not immediately yield the lyrics to the Black Sheep song "Hoes We Knows" from their album that I listened to incessantly as a teenager, A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing. However, after searching through the results...

... I found the lyrics here.

Sophomoric topics notwithstanding, it remains one of my favorite nostalgic albums.

I decided to post this link because (a) most songs' lyrics come up immediately through a Google search and (b) our buddy Andy loves the reference to Kosher food through the summary of Dres' sexual encounter...

What's up with the skins? Said, I just got deep
Did it cost a lot? Naw, the boots were cheap
Costed me some time and a little bit of sleep
A fresh jimmy hat and some kosher meat






Yo Dres, it's your turn
Act like gonorrhea and burn, baby, burn

Desktop Tower Defense - read at your own risk!

Ever since Joe blogged about the game Desktop Tower Defense several months ago, I've gone through various stages of being addicted to it.

Here is the key to Pandora's Box.

I've been "competing" on and off with Jerry with top scores, although Jerry hasn't really tried the latest version of the game.


A more visually appealing image than swimsuit pictures? Probably not. A game more addicting than heroin? Probably.




What is it? It's a game as addicting to me as Tetris was. It's a strategy game where you have to shoot a bunch of guys using a variety of weapons. It's "live action" (i.e. not like Dungeons and Dragons or Risk).

Why is it so addicting? I have no idea. All I know is, I've caught myself playing during class when kids are taking quizzes, when kids are after school for extra help... and I've lost many productive hours at home playing the game. It's honestly having a negative effect on my life. At what point does one have a "problem"?

Ok, I've decided. I want an envelope and some fries.

It was 9:50 the other night, I was doing school work on the computer which is in our bedroom, and my wife was sound asleep in the bed. All of a sudden, she said, clear as a bell...

H: "I actually don't know what I want yet. Give me a few minutes and I'll decide what I want."

M: "Ok..."

H: "Hmmm... give me the envelope."

M: "Are you sure that's what you want?"

H: ...


Yes, teachers are often asleep before 10:00 on weeknights.

Yeah, so Frazier beginning and winning this time...

A quick Q & A about this blog, Walt Clyde Frazier's Stream of Consciousness...


Ok, Walt, why are you starting your fourth blog in a couple of months?

I had my own personal blog which was nice and enjoyed very much. The title was "[my name]'s Stream of Consciousness" and I intended to keep blogging there.

However, I got paranoid when I found out that students of mine had located my blog. (Incase you are new, I teach high school.) Because much of my personal information was on the blog (including my name), I didn't want the blog to affect my professional life.

I started a new blog called A Quandary of Sorts which I thought was a neat concept, but it was an idea that would only really work if it was read and commented on much more often than it was. Plus, I like the "stream of consciousness" idea much better. It is conducive to getting my ideas out there, as well as serving as a "journal" of sorts where I can just write down my ideas.

So, I thought I would try to set up a Myspace account and blog there, thus killing two internet birds with one stone: set up a place to get in touch with "old" acquaintances, as well as blog. However, I find myself turned off with Myspace. Plus, it skeeves me out that all my students talk about is Myspace.

So, now I wanted to remain anonymous but also get back to just being able to blog randomly about whatever I want to share. Hence, I am here!



Are you going to actually stick with this blog?

I hope so. I plan on getting a lot out of it. I am too impatient / lazy to hand-write a "journal" at night before bed. However, I found that when I was writing the original Stream of Consciousness blog, I not only was able to articulate good, or at least interesting ideas out there that had been rattling around in my brain, but also was able to re-read old posts and remember where I had been recently in my life. It also created a sense of connection with other people that had blogs, and gave me a creative outlet where my work as a high school math teacher does not always do so.


Aren't you being a little silly / paranoid with this anonymity and switching around of blogs?

Probably. However, I feel, rightly or wrongly, that this isn't the same world of high school life that us around-30-something's remember from 15 years ago. Kids are so interconnected that the Internet is something not to meddle around with. I'm sure we've all heard stories, some true and some not, that people have gotten into professional trouble through stuff they'd written on their blogs, on Myspace, etc... And despite the joy I had with my blog and hope to have with this one, it's not worth the risk of having it affect my professional life, as I said before.


Ok, I'll give this new blog a shot. Just two things... 1) What is a "Hobo Con Queso", and 2) who is "Walt Clyde Frazier"?

1) "Hobo Con Queso" is Spanglish for Hobo with Cheese, a version of a common breakfast sandwich one can order at the greasy spoon diner that my friends and I frequented so much in our late teens / early twenties in our hometown, Five-Star Coffee Shop. The Hobo with Cheese consisted of fried/scrambled eggs, a kaiser roll toasted with slices of American cheese melted on it, and some potatoes fried up on the grill mixed in with the eggs.


Mmmm.... hobo...

The reason the Spanish words are used is the culinary artist of this delight was Carlos, who is Latino and thus the words "con queso" are in tribute to this gourmet of the grill. Like Pele, Cher and Dennery, his greatness means he doesn't need a last name.


2) Walt "Clyde" Frazier is a former NBA guard who played for the Knicks, among other teams. One of the 50 greatest players in NBA History, aside from winning two championships with the Knicks he is an announcer for Knicks games and one of the coolest cats in NYC history. He is my chosen Internet persona to protect my anonymity, and one can do a lot worse than Clyde.

Thanks for stopping by, and continue to read for the same high quality of blogmanship that you enjoyed at my previous blog!