jejjala.com

crab dribble

The crab dribble (PDF) is “when the dribbler has their back to a defender and dribbles the ball between their feet with step-slide footwork.”

Did he crab dribble? You be the judge:

Cities in 2008 (and 2007)

(Inspired by kottke.)

2008:
Baltimore, MD*
Frederick, MD*
Takoma Park, MD*
Washington, DC*
Rome, Italy
Florence, Italy
Paris, France
Rolling Meadows, IL
Pittsburgh, PA
Philadelphia, PA
Orlando, FL
Riverdale Park, MD
Perryville, MD
New York, NY

2007 (from what I can remember):
Washington, DC*
Frederick, MD*
Riverdale Park, MD*
Baltimore, MD*
Boston, MA*
Seville, Spain
Marrakech, Morrocco
Algeciras, Spain
Granada, Spain
Madrid, Spain
New York, NY
London, United Kingdom
Chennai, India*
Bangalore, India
Linthicum, MD
Silver Spring, MD
Philadelphia, PA

In reverse chronological order. One or more nights were spent in each place. Those cities marked with an * were visited multiple times on non-consecutive days.

candy canes

Christian Hampdenites claim candy cane as symbol of Jesus. Also like rhyming.

boo

Forty years ago the Santa Claus ‘incident’ occurred during halftime of a Philadelphia Eagles game.

The boos started. The catcalls. The snowballs. Olivo took it in stride, shaking a finger at the fans and yelling how they wouldn’t get presents that Christmas. But he was no match for a season’s worth of rage in need of a deserving target.

“What people don’t get is that we didn’t boo Santa,” says Kelley. “We booed a bad Santa. There’s a difference. If it had been a bad Baby Jesus”- who, say, fell out of his manger - “we would’ve booed him, too.”

Awesome. For some reason I’ve always been fascinated with Philly sports fans and their horrible reputation. I mean, the Eagles and Phillies old home, Veterans Stadium, had an onsite courthouse and jail facilities.

I guess being huge jerks is at least something, as compared to DC fans’ collective indifference.

bullitt

Wow. Penta-McQueen-gun.

le obvious

“Le Pub” is French for The Pub. You’re welcome.

escape from reality, day 1

I
International celebrity Barack Obama

He’s not the only one in Paris. Some observations during my first 2 days here:

• Nicole Kidman shills everything here. Clothing, jewelry, perfume, baguettes, whatever. Seriously she’s an advertisement whore.
• I had forgotten what a city “sounds like” over the constant musical accompaniment of my iPod. I can’t remember the last time I walked more than 10 minutes anywhere without the damn thing attached to my head. Paris sounds really cool.
• I will stop complaining that DC is an expensive rental market. My brother’s apartment is 24 square meters. It costs 10,000 € per month. (That figure may be slightly inflated due to rounding from significant figures.)
• I know, like, zero French. I feel like such an ass. Still, the folks here aren’t as cold to American as I’ve been led to believe. What’s the word I’m looking for? Oh, right…hospitable. Earlier tonight when I ordered a pitcher of beer, the server, who up to that point had spoken no English to me, replied, “That’s what I’m talking ’bout!” Awesome.
• Even though I’ve been here for such a short time, I’m really starting to miss Baltimore. Just kidding. My abject hatred for my hometown has been kindled anew. I have no idea why I choose to live there. Pretty much anywhere else I travel, I ask myself, “Why don’t I live here instead?”

More to come(?)

thunder and lightning

I woke up at 5 AM or so this morning to a crazy lightning storm. It was actually kinda frightening. The crackle and sizzle of the lightning strikes—very close to my apartment—was pretty deafening.

Against my better judgment, I decided to head into work for a couple hours around noon. As I got a few blocks away, I could smell char. The baptist church right up the street from my office was totally gutted and still smoldering.

Check out the frontpage story in the Sun. And the requisite YouTubery.

niche marketing

Hampden is apparently a hotspot of automobile, stealth, movie marketing. On my 15-minute walk home from work, I saw bumper stickers that said “Harvey Dent for Gotham” and “Palpatine for Senate” on cars parked a block apart.

Hmmm.

i hate baltimore

That is all.

 

 Stephen Malkmus - Baltimore: Play Now