This Guy...

...I love this guy. Today is his birthday; he would have been 63.



The above picture is from 1976, when he was almost the age I am today. It's so sweet to think we were, at one time, the same age. I know how silly that sounds... but it's been my experience that losing a parent makes the parent more of a person and less of an authority/guardian figure in my mind. When I look at old pictures of him, I don't see the dad who worked his ass off to give us a good life or the dad who was so strict about curfew.

I see a guy, you know, just a young guy who has the exact same chin as me. The steadfast, meticulous Virgo whose interests then were so similar to mine now. Little things like that, things like noticing how similar our jawlines are, were not something I ever took notice of when he was alive. Or if I did notice, it didn't affect me. In this photo, I am amazed to the point of obsessing over how we have the exact same ears. Photos of lost loved ones not only make them more human to me, but also make me more human to myself.

Happy 63rd, Dadders. I love you.

Note: I wrote these words a couple years ago. I felt the need to post them again, as my sentiments have not only not changed, but have grown even stronger.

Work-Related Newsiness

e.Republic's Center for Digital Government Names 2008 Top Web Portals and Applications

Government Technology | 08.19.08
URL: http://www.govtech.com/gt/articles/391147

News Report

Winners of the 2008 Best of the Web and Digital Government Achievement Awards have been announced by e.Republic's Center for Digital Government. The top state and local government Web portal and application awardees will be honored at the 12th annual Awards Gala on Sept.12 in Hollywood, Calif.

Judges from all over the nation determined the winners. Best of Web recognizes the most innovative, user-friendly state and local government portals while the Digital Government Achievement Award recognizes outstanding agency and department Web sites and applications.

Cathilea Robinett, executive vice president of the Center for Digital Government, said "Each year, state and local governments continue to make strides toward implementing better access and more efficient Web-delivery of public services. This year's winners represent the very best in each category. The Center applauds all the honorees for their diligence and hard work."

2008 Best Of the Web Awards

State Portal Category:

1st Place Virginia
2nd Place: Maine
3rd Place: California
4th Place: Texas
5th Place: Alabama and Rhode Island
Special Award: West Virginia Education Portal

This year's Awards Gala is sponsored by GovDelivery Inc. and Hyland Software Inc.

Happy Birthday, Tim!

Dang, I was lucky to grow up with such an awesome brother. I'm so proud of you and all you do.

Childhood Favorites are Funny Again

When I was a kid I loved Garfield. I can not emphasize this enough. In the early 80s, I thought Garfield was the most colossally hi-larious thing on earth. Okay, I was like, eight. Maybe nine. But still. Every time a new Garfield book would come out, mom (knowing full well of my deep affinity) would try to ensure I'd have a copy. At school, my friends and I would swap Garfield books at recess. I'd trade my copy of Garfield Takes the Cake for Aimee's copy of Garfield Weighs In, and so on. The only one that never left the safety of my bookshelf was Garfield Eats His Heart Out, because it was my favorite, and because I knew that little bitch Holly would probably take it and never give it back. These Garfield book swaps were serious business.

As I've gotten older, my sense of humor has darkened and twisted significantly. Things that amused me as a kid seem so pedestrian now. The antics of a cynical, lasagna-obsessed house cat had all but escaped my memory... until today. Bridget sent me a link that has joined the ranks of my favorite web comics: Garfield Minus Garfield.



Y'all, this is brilliant. From the Garfield Minus Garfield website:

Who would have guessed that when you remove Garfield from the Garfield comic strips, the result is an even better comic about schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and the empty desperation of modern life? Friends, meet Jon Arbuckle. Let’s laugh and learn with him on a journey deep into the tortured mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against loneliness in a quiet American suburb.

Like I said, brilliant. As a child I never picked up on how, um, quirky the Jon Arbuckle character is. I sure as heck didn't think I'd grow up to often feel like the female equivalent of him, but that's another post. Take Garfield out of the equation, and ol' Jon is (pardon my French) completely batshit crazy.

See for yourself: Garfield Minus Garfield

Dan Walsh, Garfield Minus Garfield's creator, is my new favorite Irishman for this genius creation. Even cooler, Garfield's creator Jim Davis is totally hip to it. Aaaand... Garfield Minus Garfield the webcomic is becoming Garfield Minus Garfield the book.

So, it looks like I'll be buying myself another Garfield book. And that, my friends, is something I never thought I'd be saying at 34 years old... but it cracks me up that I am.

I won't be swapping this one, though. You gotta get your own.

Scenes from the Midland Trail, US 60, West Virginia

All of the following photos were taken within an hour's drive from my house. Damn, I live in a beautiful place.

A Clandestine Affair: Charleston's Underground Kitchen

Last weekend, I experienced yet another first in my life. I paid money to eat a mystery dinner with +/- 29 people I'd never met before in a secret location.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you: The Underground Kitchen.

Charleston's Underground Kitchen describes itself as "...a giant, infrequent dinner party involving strangers and amateur cooks who like good food and don’t mind making a few new friends." Who on earth would not be intrigued by this claim?

I learned about Underground Kitchen from the blogosphere, of all places. Being a newcomer to Charleston, I've poked around on the Internet quite a bit over the last couple months. I've found that the best way to learn about a city's offerings is to find the local bloggers. While perusing a local blog aggregator one evening, I noticed the term "underground kitchen" popping up in a couple different spots, and my interest was immediately piqued. Like a bloodhound, I followed the scent right to The Underground Kitchen's website. After reading how it worked and admiring the site's design (a well-designed website goes a long way with me), I wasted no time signing up for the invite list.

Within a couple days, I received an e-mail from The Underground Kitchen announcing the date for their next affair. "I should do this," I thought. Mom has been telling me I need to get out and meet people, and she's never given me bad advice. I've known this as well, but really haven't felt up to it. The Underground Kitchen, I decided, would be just the catalyst I needed. So, I did the following:

1. Paid $40.00 of my hard-earned scratch to someone I'd never met, let alone heard of, via PayPal.
   
2. Immediately wondered if I'd just given $40.00 of my hard-earned scratch to a pimply-faced Belarusian teenage genius with an affinity for illegal-in-most-countries Internet porn and pirated MP3s.
   
3. Shrugged and waited for further instruction.
   

Between the time I paid for my reservation and received the e-mail disclosing the supersecretninja location, I told anyone and everyone who would listen about what I had just signed myself up for. Everyone's reaction can be summed up as follows: "Wow, really? That sounds SO cool. Wait... this is in Charleston?" Having never been to anything like this, I wasn't sure how to accurately describe it. "Well," I'd say, "I think it's kind of like a rave, without the candy kids. Or like Eyes Wide Shut, without the whole freaky, masked orgy thing going on*. I won't know where it is until a couple days before, and I won't know who will be there or what we'll be eating until I arrive." Needless to say, everyone I talked to about it was intrigued.

Fast-forward to last Saturday, when I pulled into the parking lot of Charleston's Habitat for Humanity ReStore with a chilled bottle of wine and a major case of the butterflies. A couple days before the event, I was talking with Bridget on the phone and nervously telling her that I felt certifiably insane for making my first social outing in Charleston a mystery dinner party with 30 strangers. She stated in her calming, matter-of-fact way, "Dinner with 30 strangers is a lot less scary than dinner with three strangers." A genius observation, and exactly what I needed to hear. As I walked to the door I chanted in my head, "30 is less scary than three. 30 is less scary than three." And I was golden. I even squashed the urge to declare, "Fidelio!" as I made my presence known.

I walked in to a dark-ish warehouse, atmospheric in its string-lights and candle-lit dimness, the hum of fans (it was a hot evening and the venue was not air conditioned), laughter and various conversations, and the most amazing smells ever. I was greeted by one of the chefs and introduced to the other, who was feverishly chopping what looked like cilantro. My first impression of the non-chopping chef was that this guy seems like he never meets a stranger, and I felt immediately at ease. Both of these guys were genuinely friendly, despite being in the throes of cooking for 30 people in a warehouse. These people seemed cool. I was not going to need my brass knuckles after all.

After putting my name on a sticker and a place card, I went over to the wine chilling station and just started talking. I'm an interrogator's dream come true... when I get nervous, I talk. So talk I did. And I met some very cool people in the process. I'm horrible at remembering names, but was able to piece some names together with websites and blogs I'd visited or people I'd seen on Twitter. At that moment I realized, once again, what a trip the world wide web is.

Dinner was a study in social engineering; place cards had been strategically set to ensure that people who knew each other well were not seated directly next to each other. I was seated in a wonderful little pocket of guests, as I'm sure the entire table was. The people in my immediate vicinity were warm, welcoming, friendly and excellent conversationalists. Several topics were breached, and nobody's delicate sensibilities were offended, no insults were hurled, nobody burst into tears. I felt very comfortable and happy among what felt like were like-minded individuals.

And then there was the food. Let's talk about food. Okay, so these cats refer to themselves as amateur cooks... and I guess in the literal sense, they are. Do not mistake amateur for average, though, or even just pretty good. The food they prepared was excellent on a technical level, but more importantly, it was creative. Flavorful, inventive and freakin' delicious. The courses were as follows:

• Appetizer: Curried Chicken Salad with Walnuts & Cranberries and Curried Pea Dip
  
• Salad: Roasted Corn & Orzo Salad with Goat Cheese and Ginger/Tomatillo Sauce
  
• Entree: Grouper with Zucchini Cakes and Stewed Tomatoes & Olives
  
• Dessert: Chilled Pear Soup with Walnuts and Honey (I think)
  

A few things. First, the curried pea dip looked kind of like guacamole but I could not, for the life of me, place the flavor. It wasn't guacamole. Not even a hint of avocado, and a completely different consistency. Now that I know it was peas, I'm like, "DUH! PEAS!" When it's not easy to immediately place a flavor, you know something's been made both creatively and skillfully. Second, I love goat cheese. I love ginger. I love tomatillo sauce. NEVER would I think to put all three together. Yet, it worked magically.

I managed to take a few snaps, before the wine and food buzz really kicked in and I felt too jolly to be taking photos. Behold:


Our top secret location


People who actively seek out dinner parties at classified locations


Beautiful and tasty vittles

So, to sum up, The Underground Kitchen is a must-do if you like mystery, intrigue, good people and amazing food. The aspect of raising awareness for Habitat for Humanity was a really cool angle as well. Local readers, you have to try it. Just don't secure your reservation before I secure mine. And out-of-state friends and family, if one of your visits coincides with an installment of The Underground Kitchen, you can bet your sweet ass(es) I'll be taking you with me. Every city would benefit from something like this.

Finally, read about the evening from the perspective of the UGK Maestros themselves. I love, love, love that they gave a nod to Bridget's sage words of nerve-calming advice (a story I repeated several times throughout the evening with my rosy-cheeked, wine-buzzarded self).

Not even remotely scary... absolutely, deliciously cool. Right here in Charleston.

Edited to add: Local restaurant critiquing crew, Fork You Blog, have posted their take on the experience at Fork You Blog. It's a fun read.

*I can not vouch for what may or may not have happened after I left.

High Gas Prices...

...aren't all bad. Trust me, I am no cheerleader for paying $4.09/gallon (the current price for regular unleaded here in CRW), nor am I a cheerleader for where some of this money we're paying goes. But, there are positive things that can come from this major and often difficult shift in everyone's budget.

Time Magazine illustrates the half-full perspective in the ever-emptying glass of gas we've been sucking down. My favorite line from the article's introduction (emphasis mine):

...it's also true that Americans are finding options where there seemed to be none. They're ready to change — and waiting for their infrastructure to catch up.

One thing I have often thought since fuel prices began rising at such a rapid rate: I would love to see the United States implement a rail system comparable to that of Europe's. A network of high-speed, cross-country trains would be awesome.

Anyway, without further ado, here's the article:

10 Things You Can Like About $4 Gas (via)

I would like to add one more item to the list: Hopefully this means seeing fewer and fewer douchebags driving Hummers.



The cost of filling my Honda CR-V in May 2008.

While I'm on the subject, I'm reminded of some billboards I saw a couple weeks ago on my drive to Alabama. There were several of them along the Interstate during the eastern Tennessee leg of the trip. They were very simple; dark gray with the Exxon/Mobil logo and the following line of text in a slightly lighter shade of gray: "We're Drivers Too."



We're just like all y'all sorry suckers!

My initial reaction? It's condescending. It's passive-aggressive. It doesn't make me feel any better about skyrocketing gas prices. The Time article above helps shine a positive light on the topic, but Exxon/Mobil's new little tagline just... grates.