The Gorgeous Garden State

"The Armpit of America" is, unfortunately, what a lot of people like to think of New Jersey as. It's sad but so true: there are a lot of (to say this nicely) foolish people out there who don't know any better...

Great Falls, Passaic River, Patterson, NEW JERSEY

Gorgeous, ain't it? (borrowed from here.)

This Morning I Mutter These Babe Ruthian Mutterings...

Normally I just have to type something here. I can't just put up mutterings without an intro. No, no, no, I just can't.

But at the moment I can't think of anything to type. Nothing to mention. The fact that it finally got above freezing today (now yesterday) for the first time in about two weeks? Nah, I won't mention that.

Baseball season starts tonight ... sort of ... there were already two regular season games played in Japan but the Washington Nationals and the loser Atlanta Jerkwads play their first game tonight, in the brand spankin' shiny new stadium in Washington, D.C. ... should I mention that? Nah. Nothing to mention there especially no comment on the fact that the stadium is temporarily called Nationals Park. That's a great name because it doesn't have some stoopid corporate moniker attached to it ... yet. But it will. And then in a few years the name will undoubtedly have to be changed just like so many stadiums and arenas and summertime music venues in North America nowadays. Pretty sad situation when an arena that's only ten years old is now on its 3rd name. Come on, give me a break. Dodger Stadium, Fenway Park, Lambeau Field, Soldier Field ... ahhh, at least some organizations have class.

Anyway... here's what Nationals Park looked like around Spring of 2005... (if you're confused, that's looking straight down from space... I should also add that construction had not yet even started at the time of this satellite imagery.)

click for bigger

A lot different than today... actually this was yesterday, the real first game at the new stadium. borrowed from -- Nats320 ...many more great pics of the opening of the ballpark so go check 'em out!

Alright, well enough with not mentioning anything for the beginning of this morning's post...

on with:

Unconscious Mutterings

a free association game -- I say... and you think ... ?

1. Stuffed :: oysters

2. Gills :: fish

3. Distance :: runner ... Long distance runner
what you standing there for?
Get up, get off, get out of the door
You're playing cold music on the bar room floor,
drowned in your laughter and dead to the core
There's a dragon with matches loose on the town
Take a whole pale of water just to cool him down

Fire - Fire on the mountain
Fire - Fire on the mountain

4. Panties :: seriously? Ohhh-kay. String bikini, cute, sexy, mine are red.

5. Checkered :: past ... surely mine's completely on the up and up, not checkered at all ... more like plaid.

6. Fill in :: the blank

7. Taunting :: picking on

8. Diner :: New Jersey! When you grow up in New Jersey/the northeast U.S., you know diners! I grew up in a (relatively) small town with a population of about 12,000 and we had 3 diners ... and within a 20 minute drive another 3 dozen ... and I've been to 'em all! The further you travel away from the area, the harder it is to find a real diner. Denny's doesn't count.

9. Pizza :: We also had as many as 5 pizza places and pizza place absolutely does not refer to pizza hut or dominoes. We didn't have any chains, we just had real NJ pizza places. (I didn't even have a pizza hut or dominoes pizza until i moved out of NJ when I was 18.) What is real NJ pizza? Brother and best friend to a NY pie, that's what ... and if ya don't know what a NY pie is, please, hop the next plane for NYC and have one!!! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!?!?!

10. Best friend :: Man's best friend -- dog

Bendix Diner
Hasbrouck Heights, NJ
about 15-20 minutes from where I lived...
one of the most famous diners in the world,
on Route 17 kinda close to the Meadowlands

Cold mutterings (again) ... and watery, too!

Nice! Out of all the temperature reporting stations in all of Alaska, right here was third coldest in the whole country!

Like a week ago we were about 35 degrees above normal. Now we're right about at that magical spot where Fahrenheit meets Celsius (-40.)

It actually warmed up a bit today,
allllll the way to about -25 (-32 C.)

Saturday night and I almost went out after my shift was done a little while ago at 9. Right now I'm drinkin' coffee but truly I could for a cozy bar stool and a pint or two of Guinness.

Maybe I'll still venture out. If it was 0 degrees then no big whoop. Even 5 or 10 below -- not a big deal. But -40? The thought of going outside and driving into town, especially considering I had to be outside often during work, not appealing what-so-freakin'-ever.

But that pint or two is practically makin' me drool.... it's still early.....

For now...

Unconscious Mutterings

a free association game -- I say ... and you think ... ?

1. Booze :: Liquor

2. Counter :: top

3. Action :: Park ... it used to be a waterpark in Vernon, New Jersey, kinda close to where i grew up. It was close enough to NYC that in summer, schlubs from places like Brooklyn and Queens would make the journey out there for a day in the country.

Vernon is in a gorgeous part of northwestern NJ and Action Park is right on a mountainside. At times during its history, it was a great place to go to beat the heat and have some fun. There was also an Alpine Slide and other non-water rides/fun things to do and/or kill or maim yourself on!! Anyone who grew up within like 30 miles of that place knew of its existence. There was (and still is) a ski area (the former Vernon Valley) on the site, the biggest one in New Jersey. So in the winter when skiing, you'd see many of the ride structures off to the sides of the trails. I may have only gone there in summer like two or three times but I skied there probably over a hundred. Fun times! Glad I didn't die there!

4. Trial :: lawyer

5. Wheelchair :: bound ... I would hate to be but in combination with endless depression, I guess I'd get used to it

6. 1-800 :: Safe Auto ... stoopid commercials, they'll get no linked plug from me.

7. Chop :: pork ... i never cook them but i have a horrible hazy recollection of terrible ones from when I was a kid. Damn, how come my mom couldn't cook like Emeril?!?! And why'd the Food Network cancel Emeril Live? What the hell were they thinking? First burying it at 7 o'clock and removing the 11 o'clock repeat... that was the first step which lasted several months and then BAM! CANCELED. Too bad.

8. Relatives :: have them ... (couldn't think of a thing except that. not a lot of them in my life so I suppose that's why. actually, I'm sure i have plenty but none that are close either physically (Alaska I am not from nor is any of my family) or close happy get along family-wise.)

9. Bed sheets :: clean ones ... are nice but ya know what I hate: bed sheet snobs. Oprah Winfrey's the worst I know of. I mean seriously, $2,000 for one set of bed sheets? Give me a break. How many children could be fed for that? Children who would otherwise die, how many could be saved with the money from just one set of bed sheets?

10. Funnel :: beer ... oi.

Today's images stolen borrowed
from WeirdNJ.com

NJ, Hampton, Go Read It

It's not like me to often link to other blogs but for the 2nd time in a couple days now I'm wanting to, and again 'tis for another Person from Jersey, yes, a fellow New Jerseyan... but he's from South Jersey which, well... to me that might as well be Mississippi compared to North Jersey. Okay, that's a little extreme. Aside from Long Beach Island, which is mostly mid-state, the most south I ever went on a (semi-)regular basis was to the Garden State Arts Center in Holmdel and Rutgers in New Brunswick. North Jersey is a place I know my way around -- malls, suburbs, many of the most expensive to live zip codes in the entire country, highways, traffic, Hoboken, tunnels, bridges, The Meadowlands. That's the NJ I know.

South Jersey is just foreign. There's like farmland down there, corn and all that stuff! And pinelands... and the Army, the Air Force and bombing ranges, plus pink elephants and crazy devil monsters... weird place. North Jersey is specifically where my heart is, not really New Jersey as a whole, but even though I rag on South Jersey, I'm sure in many ways it's totally a much better place to live than many places up north. It's not for me but it's a part of this great nation that I really still do dig.

In South Jersey and in every place weird, funky, fun, cold, warm, wet, dry, boring, cool... or Brooklyn, there are Deadhead brothers and sisters who live and breathe with SYF in their DNA (wish I heard from more of y'all!) and Bob from eCache is one of those people. Yesterday he put up a cool review of a Fall '91 Jerry Garcia Band show, from 11/9/91 at the Hampton Coliseum in Hampton, Virginia. That show was released as one of the Pure Jerry series... and coincidentally the most recent JGB show I listened to was also from Hampton, well, a different one, in New England. Anyway, if you're a Deadhead reading this, go on over and check out eCache and Bob's review! He knows his Jerry!

Oh, and hey, even if you're not a Deadhead, cruise on over anyway 'cause Bob's a real live regular nice guy with content on his blog that isn't Dead-related only, lots of good stuff!

a GD SBD goes up here tonight sometime... i hope.
y'all come back now, ya hear!

twinkly twinkly, thank you, thank you very much

Yeah, it's now past Christmas but I just found this (by accident) this morning, posted by Sandra Lynn who's a Jersey girl like I would be... if I was a girl which I'm not but I'm from Jersey, yo, so we've got that in common. Truly if this video was from somewhere like Dayton or Las Cruces ... or Canarsie, I wouldn't give a darn. But I was like -- Hey, the Elvis House, I know that place! I grew up just a few miles away. So thanks, Sandra, for posting this up! May I call you Sandra? Sandra Lynn? Person from Jersey, it'll be.

Mahwah, New Jersey is where this place is, in northwest Bergen County about 25 miles (west northwest) from midtown Manhattan. The house is so named 'cause the dude who lives there made (does still make?) a good living as an Elvis impersonator. (I didn't know there was such a demand for Elvis Costello impersonators!)

On the Grand Scale of Christmas lights on people's homes, this ranks Wayyyyy up there when it comes to money spent on electricity plus brightness, twinklyness, famousness, etcness. I'm sure there are many in America who top this, but when you're talkin' Top 1% overall across the whole nation, this is one of those!

I'm not gonna check but I wouldn't be surprised if this house had its own Wikipedia page! I did check one thing, I typed in -- "elvis house" mahwah -- and whoa, this place is a lot more famous that I knew... but I'm not really surprised. Surely it's been in the major newspaper the Bergen Record before, and probably more than likely on the local NYC news. Each December there'd be a line of cars, especially on the weekend, to see this house. I grew up not too far away and made a trek or two over there with friends... with Amanda I'm rememberin' now, yeah, good Christmastime that was!

I also had 2 friends (brothers) whose family moved over to this very street (that's their property on the right side as the car drives up) so from hangin' out at their house sometimes, this scene became no real big deal for me. Still pretty impressive as far as twinkly Christmas lights go.

Here's another 8 seconds worth:

Pictures found without much trouble in the Google link above probably do it better justice (or the two pics in the link I put in Comments) ... but seein' it in person is how you really must see it so go ahead and make plans now!

mutter mutter mutter mutter

Mets are on -- home run David Wright!!! (what timing!) --
and I'm a bit out of it today, almost forgot about this...



Unconscious Mutterings

a free association game -- I say ... and you think ... ?

1. Scrabble :: game, words, little wooden squares with letters on 'em,
triple word score!

2. NyQuil :: How to pass out when ya don't wanna get drunk!

3. Roadtrip :: Sweet Jesus, I am wanting a serious one pretty badly!
6 hours from Fairbanks to Anchorage absolutely does not count.
I'm talkin hittin' every road EXCEPT the Interstate in an old VW bus
from Frisco to Boston over a week or two...
or a month or two zigzagging North America and again never once touching
one of those disgusting Interstate highways.
Quick is not good. Enjoy the backroads scenery!
Eat in small town cafes with the locals,
stop to camp at state parks and take in the national parks,
also great & often peaceful campgrounds in the national forests,
enjoy soaking in hot springs(!!), see friends,
take a snapshot of the World's Largest Ball of Twine,
or stop anywhere you want and just sit in the shade all day long
while not having a care in the world.

OH! or a roadtrip across Australia would be pretty sweet!

4. Idiot :: I wonder how many people put George W. Bush for this.
Not my answer, I'm just wonderin'... okay I'm done wonderin',
so who's really an idiot? Hmmmm....... no one really comes to mind
but I guess we're all idiots sometimes. It happens but hopefully it's usually something dumb and no big deal.

5. Bandages :: The serious idiot probably has a lot of these on hand.

6. Series :: World as in not really the entire world is involved but when the NY Mets win, tis a good thing! Unfortunately that's only happened twice... but maybe again this year!


7. Summer :: It's over.

Two days ago the high temp was only like 71º (22 C)

Yesterday morning it was just below 40ºF (4ºC) at dawn
and the high was only like 68 (20 C)

Same thing today. I LOVE it! The only problem is here in central Alaska it doesn't last long. Fall will turn into winter VERY soon, almost before it's actually literally Fall... that's why New England rocks, you get actual real seasons there. God, I love Alaska... and before that I loved the mountains of Utah and Montana. I'm an Alaskan now... but I really long to live back east. In a way I still seek a true identity. Or perhaps this is my identity, simple in many ways, Thoreau-ish, yet complex. Anyway...

8. Prompt :: I can't understand why more people can't be.

9. September :: It's now that month, isn't it... already! Last month of the baseball season. Rollin' back the calendar -- it's often time for the Dead's Fall Tour and surfing at the uncrowded beaches of the Jersey Shore before heading back to college in Utah (at the time they had a quarter system and didn't start until around September 21-23rd... so sweet! Most friends who had gone away to college somewhere had to leave end of August which meant ROADTRIP to go see them here and there. Darn good times!)

10. Chicken :: It tastes like chicken, they say. Often, no, it really doesn't,

Out of over a dozen cross country roadtrips,
and nearly a bazillion countless other journeys to and fro,
I might have only a few dozen pictures.
Oh well. Here's a very brief random selection...

I have been to Earth and I have proof!

(located almost in the Texas panhandle)



my first non-winter crossing into Montana
(exciting, isn't it?!)

Spinning & Popping

After more icing of the shin... and then even more icing of the shin plus taking some pain relievers, I felt not too bad and that I could get out for a short hike. Even if it was only 90 minutes of that type of low impact exercise, I had to get it done. To sit around, for the most part, for a whole day, well, that ain't right. NEED EXERCISE!! But even with the pain not at a high level, would it be okay to go for a short hike down the trail a ways and back? No running, just a hike. Or would I be completely hindering the healing that's needed to get this stoopid leg of mine back to normal?!? Hindering? Helping? Wish I knew... but then again would it matter? Probably not... I had to go.

Very Short Hike:
1 hour & 39 minutes

music...

Spin Doctors 4-27-91
(w/special guest John Popper)
Skelly Field, Cook Campus, Rutgers University
New Brunswick, New Jersey
Ag Field Day

Shinbone Alley, Jimmy Olsen's Blues,
At This Hour, About a Train -» Gunsmith's Waltz,
What Time Is It -» Bags of Dirt,
Refrigerator Car, Big Fat Funky Booty -»
Lady Kerosene, Two Princes -» Off My Line,
Sweet Widow (w/Roger Fox)
Encore: The Frustration Bush #2, House

An instant favorite. I've never listened to live Spin Doctors before. Saw them live once (in a park right next to Montclair State College in the rain one Saturday or Sunday afternoon for free) but other than that this is the first show I've ever heard. What a great one it is, at least great when you combine the show with the setting. What's so special about the setting? Rutgers, man! Three close friends went to Rutgers and a whole bunch of people I know were at Ag Field Day in '91 and they saw this show. The school year calendar for the University of Utah once upon a time had four quarters versus the usual three semesters at so many colleges. Having a Fall Quarter not starting until around September 23rd or so, it gave me time to visit many of my friends at their schools before I had to take off and go 2,200 miles to my school. Rutgers was so close by, relatively speaking. Twas just a hop, skip, and a 90 minute drive down the NJ Turnpike. So many great nights there!!!

Anyway, even though I wasn't there that Spring day in 1991, this show still has some weird personal feeling for me. I'm guessing that's because I semi-sort of secretly and oddly long to be back in New Jersey. In fact, I'm recalling right now that I was in Vega$ about that time seeing the Dead's first Vega$ shows in like 8 or 10 years, something like that, at the Sam Boyd Silver Bowl. Hmmm. Seeing the Dead in the Desert or Ag Field Day back at Rutgers? Definitely Da Dead! That was a great time, my first in Vegas, and a whole 'nother trip down Memory Lane for another day.

Anyway anyway... this was kind of an interesting time for the Spin Doctors. They had only put out one live album but no studio album yet -- Pocketful of Kryptonite was still months away from being released. If only they had known how successful that album would be, then maybe they'd have played the more popular songs last... but nope, they must not have looked into their crystal ball to see that. Still, the show was very good and John Popper (of Blues Traveler) sitting in from start to finish just made everything like 10 times better! Being from New York they had a decent fanbase and their rise to stardom was underway. Lookin' forward, I am, to dloading more Spin Doctors in the future. Don't know how I can personally top this show but we'll see.

Later, in 1993, they made the really Big Time: