Category: En route

Simulation Stimulation

I’m in Baltimore for the first time, and I’m not sure what to make of it — maybe one part Philly, one part Vancouver, and one part the south Bronx Harlem-is-burning of my youth. They take their baseball seriously in beautiful Camden Yards (the Orioles beat the Astros in three straight games, missed out on the bobble head day), and their mayor is being investigated for corruption. The word BELIEVE is around the city, not realizing that it wasn’t Obama viral marketing, but an attempt to reframe the war against drug dealers.

Will have to find crab cakes – I hear the ones in Lexington Market are the best. Also will have to spend some time checking out Edgar Allen Poe’s gravesite, which happens to be around the block from UMB Law School.

All this has happened before and will happen again

Warning:BSG spoilers….

The Friday Battlestar Galactica half-season cliffhanger was fantastic, but the promise of the final five being revealed did not exactly happen, at lease not as it was being teased at the beginning of each episode. And they find Earth!!! But they have 10 more episodes in season 4.5, so there are plenty of loose ends to tie up. And how the hell did Brooklyn got nuked!!! The remains of the temple of Aurora seems to be sitting right where the Fulton Ferry is now.

You know when things are old when the oldies station plays the greatest of the 80’s, 90’s and today. By that token, The TWIT Daily Giz Wiz podcast, which specializes in showing old gadgets, whips out the Palm Pilot (which is circa 1997 tech!). I fondly remember that. InsideDGW has a recap.

The Wide World of Sports

Anyone who watched any TV on a Saturday afternoon in the 60s, 70s, or 80s remembers the “The Thrill of Victory – and the Agony of Defeat” of Jim McKay’s ABC Wide (Wild?) World of Sports. Nothing was too small or esoteric, or large and dramatic to fit the 12 inch color TV in my parents’ bedroom, converted into an inside stadium for viewing the world. As it was the only room with the air conditioner, we would all pile in on the bed with “picnic” dinner – takeout from Chinatown, or maybe oven roasted chicken and baked mac and cheese, or even the breaded zucchini topped with cheddar cheese (don’t ask me where my dad picked that one up). The sun would be shining in through the western windows, shaded by the lush catalpa tree outside. That was our shared experience, out of keeping cool, fed, and in tune with that bowling championship, curling competition, go cart race, or triple crown trial.

Jim McKay was able to see the world, do what he loved, and combine professionalism and humanity. What a wonderful life! If we could be brave enough to do that….