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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.

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

today’s news

In my formative years I remember walking to the street corner to buy the Post for 25 cents. One measly, non-statehood quarter.

The newsstand price is now 50 cents, up from 35 cents in 2007. And it hasn’t been 25 cents since 2001. The 7-11 on my way to work this morning charged me 75 cents (plus tax.) I was told by the shopkeeper that the 50% price increase is the standard Baltimore markup, and he pointed out that ”prices may vary in areas outside metropolitan Washington.” He claims to pay 70 cents for each paper, and thus only make 5 cents profit on each. 

I usually read it online for free, but that’s precisely the problem. Newsprint advertising just ain’t what it used to be.

cake theory

At work, it is commonplace to receive a company-wide email, informing us employees that there’s cake in the kitchen that’s up for grabs. We even have a monthly Cake Day to celebrate office birthdays, anniversaries, milestones, etc.

Today, I replied all with the following helpful graphic:

I doubt my message was well-received. Previously, I had emailed the ‘all employees’ distribution list, saying that there was a “special treat” in the kitchen. In fact, I was bored, waiting in an airport ~900 miles away, and was just trying to amuse myself. In my head, I had this ridiculous image of the entire company rushing to the kitchen, scouring it for whatever it is I could have left. And that’s exactly what happened.