Upright & Stowed

Pound of Coffee: $277

I ride my bike to work every day and my route takes me right by Whole Foods.  This morning I noticed that I was at the end of my $12 pound of Whole Foods’ truly spectacular Allegro “Sulawesi Toraba” coffee beans.  “I’ll just swing by and get me a pound,” I thought, “since the lines are non-existent in the morning.”

Ten minutes later, whole beans in hand, I returned to my bike and – horrors – somebody had stolen my back tire!  You know:  The complicated, expensive tire with all the gears.   Bummed, I walked my broken bike two blocks to Chelsea’s “A Bicycle Shop” and had it fixed, with special tire locks added for good measure.   Yes, $265 later I had my bike back in one, theft-proof piece.

The positive way of seeing this is to focus on the 5 years of street parking during which no one touched my bike.  So to celebrate that, I’m going to luxuriate in each cup of my $277 a pound Whole Foods blend.  Ahhh.

The Wisdom of Crowds

There are pundits.   There are politicos.   And there are polls.   I've decided to ignore all three and go with the wisdom of the crowds.  What we are witnessing in these final days of the campaign is simply amazing ... and nothing speaks louder than the cheering, smiling, ecstatic, hopeful, GINORMOUS crowds that are coming out for Barack Obama.   These days may seem pretty dark, but I see a light shining, and it's looking brighter every day.   (photos from Flickr)

Obama crowd this week ...

 

McCain Crowd this week ...

Who Made the Salad? Señor Caesar Made the Salad!

Is there anything yummier than a Caesar Salad, as long as you're not hoping to get lucky later in the evening?  I think not.   But who knew that the Caesar originated south of the border, rather than over there, on the boot?  Now, thanks to an amusing article in today's NY Times, we all know.  The Caesar was invented in Tijuana in 1924! 

Regular readers of this blog know that I took a special interest in Mexican culinary prowess earlier this year.   Little did I know that adorable Eduardo came from such a fine tradition.   :-)  photo credit

Where Am I?

It has been awhile since I've posted a "Where Am I?" contest.  Here are some clues for today's challenge: 

The sea of blue above which I'm standing is fresh water, not salt.  This shot was taken at the beginning of a two-week car journey that I made in June of 2002.  Despite the snow-capped mountains and despite it being June, this shot was indeed taken in North America.  I've been to this breathtaking place many times, in winter and summer, and it's always a joy to return.  So ... where am I?

If I'd Been In My Hometown Today...

... this is how I'd have spent the day. 

(photo credit NY Times)

Where would we be without heroes like Ellen?

MAAnhunt. Not On This PlAAne.

Some of you may be surprised to see Manhunt on family-friendly blog Upright & Stowed.  [In fact, if you are not surprised, please don't bother to learn more].

But Manhunt belongs here because a few weeks ago I wrote about American Airlines' awesome new in-flight wireless internet service called GoGo.   What I didn't mention is that I checked out Manhunt while in flight, to see if the service blocked adult content.  Somewhere over Utah (fitting, yes?) I texted a friend with the exciting news that you could now get internet porn at 35,000 feet.

Alas (well, maybe not alas), American has announced that it will begin filtering its GoGo service to block porn sites "after complaints from attendants and passengers."  I swear it wasn't me who brought this on us.  I was very discreet and only had Manhunt up for 5 seconds.  But I've heard stories of others who were a bit more audacious in their surfing.  So now you can go back to using your long transcon flights for something productive, like watching the Cartoon network.

The Shape of Autumn

A couple of shots from my day in gay-friendly Connecticut.

PS122 – Then and Now

Today was Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement.   For me, it's a day to reflect on where I've fallen short of my expectations of myself, and I typically observe it privately rather than going to services.

A couple years ago my father sent me a picture – taken in the early 1950s – of the day he visited the Brooklyn elementary school  which his father attended from 1905 to 1910.  It's the smaller inset above.  I'd been meaning to pay a visit, and I decided the high holiday was the perfect excuse.

So I jumped on my bike, rode across the Williamsburg Bridge and found my way to PS 122, in the heart of what has become the epicenter of Hasidic Jews in New York City.  It was thrilling to stand in front of a building that my beloved grandpa attended before moving to the Midwest (first to Coffeeville, Kansas ... then to Jefferson City ... and finally to St. Louis).   It was also kind of eerie, because the area was completely deserted due to the holiday, with only a few hasidic mothers and children walking silently by every few minutes.  The larger photo is  the one I took today.

The journey provided much room for reflection, and a great sense of pride (though not too much, on Yom Kippur) over my New York City roots.

Where Was I – LA Edition

Last week I was on a business trip to LA.   Lucky for me, I stayed in a different fabulous hotel nearly every night, as part of the project.  Below are the pools of three of the hotels I visited.  Can you name them? 

The first person to call them by their names gets a slice of Billy's Bakery's Banana Cake, on me.  Where was I?