Last day at work

Today is!

Yee haw!

December 29

it's my birthday!

Strike!Strike!Strike!

The New York mass Transit Authority (MTA) is on strike.

No busses or trains are running in the city. Lines that run from Long Island, NJ, and Westchester County (north) are going on weekend schedules in solidarity.

New York has this awful law -- the Taylor Law -- that states that mass transit workers (along with cops, fire fighters, and a few other positions) can not strike. It makes striking against the law, and severely punished. Mayor Bloomburg has been heard frequenly over the last week of negotiations referring to the "illegal strike" a-brewing, and now underway.

"The mayor was referring to the state’s Taylor Law, passed after the 1966 transit strike, under which workers lose two days’ pay for every day on the picket line. This penalty was imposed after the 1980 strike that shut down the subway system for 11 days. In 2002, Bloomberg was seeking the renewal of an even more draconian injunction obtained in 1999 by his predecessor, Rudolph Giuliani, that would have imposed individual fines of $25,000 a day on each worker, with the penalty doubling for every additional day on strike."

Here's what the mayor's office says about the Taylor Law.

Here's what a local teachers' union says about it. (yeah -- teachers can't strike in NY either!)

Here's what TWU local 100 pres Toussaint writes in calling the strike.

So, right now, him and the other TWU union leaders have been thrown in jail, and each worker is getting fined two days pay for every day off!

It's nuts. What an awful, awful law.

Good that they're striking.

The sidewalks this morning were filled with north-bound walkers. All quite aimeable. It was cold, but three layers of long underwear will do you good, i tell ya! And the streets were very friendly.

The word out is that most people are pissed about the strike. That has not all been my experience. And im not even hanging with the radicals these days. These are midtown office cogs from NJ, The Bronx, Queens, Westchester Cty. People empathize with the worker very strongly and at a very human level in this city. It's great. And, though its strong within, it's not just the blue collar workers with the blue collar workers, white collar with white. Lots of very vocal solidarity.

While im not gonna get a chance to zip about the city running errands and to-dos today (or for a little while, it seems), walking a bit more my last week seems like a pretty good plan. And, holy moley, if that's my part right now in supporting the effort for the people to have the power to negotiate with the big, faceless, bad-accountant-totin employers, im all about it.

Fuck the Taylor Law, the phasing out of pensions, and the ever-increasing blame of "letting down Americans/American soldiers" that big buisiness keeps putting on larger efforts for human rights. 8 percent increase in wages is hardly over the standard of living increase, dammit.

Cmon.

Hey! Economics of Access to Reproductive Control!

This episode of Earth and Sky ran on NPR today. Normally that segment kind of bugs me, but this one's gold. Maybe because it has little to do with the earth or the sky.



JB: This is Earth and Sky. In 2000, at the United Nations Millennium Summit, world leaders pledged to cut in half the number of people living in extreme poverty by the year 2015.

DB: They defined extreme poverty as living on less than 1 dollar a day. Maria Jose Alcala co-authored a report called State of the World Population 2005. The report concludes that a key to reducing poverty is to promote gender equality -- women and men sharing the same rights and opportunities.

Maria Jose Alcala: . . . if you invest in equality for women and young people and you insure that every poor woman and adolescent girl has access to reproductive health, you're going to put the world on a faster track for prosperity and development.

JB: Alcala bases this idea on studies by the World Bank and others in the past decade, showing that societies that discriminate by gender tend to experience less rapid economic growth and poverty reduction than societies that treat males and females more equally.

DB: She said that, from 1965 to 1990, the so-called Asian Tigers -- Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore -- had rapid economic growth. International experts attribute part of this growth to policies that encouraged all girls as well as boys to go to school -- increased access to family planning -- and increased job opportunities for women.

Maria Jose Alcala: Progress for women is essentially progress for all.

JB: That's our show. We're Block and Byrd for Earth and Sky.
Author(s): Marc Airhart

i've figured it out a bit

yes.

this cold thing.

here's something: cold weather is worst in driving towns.

it is.

and this is because of maybe eight things:

1. you are constantly reminded that it is cold as you move from heated car to frigid out-of-doors, and back. in driving towns. cause yer driving. being reminded that you are in a kind of hell is no fun. and no fun is bad.

2. your metabolism is way lower due to sitting on yer ass for months and eating foods that we were meant to hibernate with in our bellies. low metabolisms make you feel slumpy and gross. feeling slumpy and gross is no good.

3. you are not able to get into the "mood" of the season as easily cause you are, literally, watching it through windows (house, car), and not forced to mentally prepare and be out in to either enjoy it, cope with it, or die. not being able to get in the mood is usually unfortunate and bad.

4. people drive like idiots in inclement weather, and, from what ive noticed, this impacts other drivers much more than it does pedestrians. like the driver in denver (a driving city) this weekend who backed their stupid suv into the side of my little seafoam green rental car right where my momma was sitting. having that happen is bad. and being nervous that it might happen, or that you might do it, is also bad. yeah. bad. (everyone's ok. car's smashed in, but all else is well!)

5. depending on yer lifestyle, you may not see people in non-work/non-bar environments for months in driving towns during the dark, cold season. that's pretty much a sad existence. like pathetic sad. and pathetic sad existences are no good.

6. you have to focus closer on things in driving towns to keep from slipping on the ice in poorly maintained sidewalks/parking lots/driveways, as well as in your car. this, added to all of the close focusing you might already be doing at your deadend desk job at work, is very bad for you (im a big, BIG fan of "focusing far" these days. with yer eyes. literally. big fan.) and bad for you is just bad.

7. you have convinced yerself in driving towns that you need to drive to get places. so, when it's really nasty out (or even pretty nasty out), you can get all stressed out about being trapped. imagining small worlds does not always make for fun rides and worlds of cheer (after all). in this case, small, small worlds are bad.

and 8. you walk way less in cold weather in driving towns than in those that driving is either not necessary or not possible. because of this, you don't cross paths with folks as much, or have nice surprises on your way places that you can do more than honk and wave or point a mittened hand to in response. not walking is bad for the heart. and for the head. and for everything around them. it keeps people separated. nature's own version of the cubicle. bad bad bad.

so that.

sorry to not write more sooner. was outta town this weekend for sis's dance company performance in a driving city. back now. was good!

wishing you luck on the knish hunt. thanks for all the updates from last week!

December 9: I am spoiled.

Man, I got problems. You know how I bought earphones for to use in my office, and I was loving the sound? I still love the sound, but I am hating the earphones. I got the kind that sort of sit on your ears and wrap around the back of your head, because I can't get the kind that go into your ears to stay, you know, in my ears, and apparently only a lamechuck fool wears the kind that go over your head anymore. But at least the headband kind were adjustable. These round-the-back earphones were clearly designed for people who have no hair, because the earpieces barely reach my ears if I put them over my hair. If I put the band part under my hair, the hair pushes down on the phones and they make my ears hurt. And then there's their vise-like grip. It's like a vise!


We got about five inches of snow yesterday, and for the moment, it's quite pretty. I very nearly got in an accident leaving work, but all's well that ends well on that end. I hear you're getting A LOT of snow. Hope it's pretty and not too cold!

December 8: Snow!

We've had about 4 inches of snow and are expecting to get 2 inches more, I got a new car battery, and the Beatles are all over the radio. Except for the murder part of that, I'm having a pretty good day!

ROCK REPORT: The Redwalls

I hadn't really heard of the Redwalls before the show, but my friend Hammer suggested we go, and I'm never one to turn down an invitation. So we went.

It was an inauspicious beginning. I came straight from tap, so I was already a little weirdy and irritable. [Apparently I'm not aggressive enough for tap, but that's a whole other and boring story.] Laura was late. It was very, very cold. I sat at the bar on the non-show side for about 10 minutes before either Laura or a bartender showed up. I sat there, sweaty from tap, wearing too many layers from the cold, not drinking, and feeling very middle-aged about it all, with my crankiness and my liquor and my sensible warm clothes.

I am pleased to report that Laura did show up, the liquor did kick in, and the bands did rock. Lorenzo Goetz opened, and I have to say: they really are a very fun band. Considering how laid-back most of their songs are, it's surprising how energetic their show is. The one guy has let his hair grow out, and it looks kind of like what I think my hair would look like if I tried to get a short bob cut, by which I mean kind of crazy. LG is apparently rather popular with the Planet set. That's nice to see.

We moved closer to the stage, just for a minute, but ended up staying there throughout LG and then through the Redwalls. Yay! Many of my friends say they're too old for standing now, so I either end up sitting at the very back, or ditching them.

Lights go up, lights go down, Redwalls take the stage. They look like an MTV2 band--very pale, very bedhead, very leather-jackets-and-cool-shoes. Except...their keyboard player, who looks a whole lot like Scott Ligon. Holy carp, it is! It IS Scott Ligon!

Scott used to be in this fantastic band called the Heatersons we used to see at SOP's in Peoria, then in this fantastic band called the Ligonaires we used to see at the Iron POst, then did a fantastic radio show on the Whip. Robbie Fulks asked him to reunite the Heatersons for his 40th birthday gala in Chicago, and that may have been the last time we saw him. He pops up now and again playing with some Bloodshot band or other. He rocks the organ, loves the Beatles, and always looks like he's have a whale of time. That's neat.

So Scotty's playing pianorgan, or organo, or some hybrid of piano and organ that is most likely known as a "keyboard." The Redwalls--who could practically be Scotty's kids, or at least his substantially younger brothers--commence the rock. It is good. They have kind of a nice Beatles-y garagey sound. (They sound so Beatlesy, in fact, that they eventually busted out "The One After 909." Which was very good.) The show overall was very fun, and the crowd was very bearable--we even made one kind of friend out of the guy standing beside us, though we never got around to asking something so banal as his name. And then the Redwalls Just Said No to encores, and the whole thing was over by 12:30. For a Tuesday, that's fine by me.

I wish I had more to say about them, but that's about all I've got. The end.

SubZero!

Yay! Our first sub-zero day. Last night it got down to -4, shattering the previous record low of 0. It is awesome. (I say from my heated office, to which I drove in my heated car.)

It is noon.
It is 3 degrees.
Temperature last year at noon on December 7: 52.

Remember how I was all "I'm not digging the cold this year"? I'm so over that. Bring it on!

A Feast at the Video Diner

The Video Diner they showed on Sunday (or Saturday? I'm not sure) was fantastic. All local bands' videos. Which is a little weird, to be watching videos and suddenly think "Hey! That guy overcharged me for my coffee yesterday!"

Since Video Diner probably doesn't play in New York (although it totally should), a rundown for you.

1. American Minor, ”Buffalo Creek." Very nice, very stylish and slick and professional looking. It's very Rob-focused, though. Bruno gets to swing past in shadowy profile about twice, Bud gets some nice guitar-man shout-outs. It looks very well done. And they look very tough.

2. Lorenzo Goetz, "Never Look Directly into the Disco Ball." Video Diner re-run! Boo! I'll cut them some slack, though. I like this song. This video looks fine on its own, but coming up after the MTV2 flash of American Minor's video it feels extra locally made. Still nice, though. Hey! That one guy doesn't have a beard! When didn't he have a beard?

3. Poster Children, "Western Springs." Also a rerun. I love this video and this song. It's all retro home movies and car-window landscapes, while the poster kids sing very flat affect and deadpan along the bottom. The song is all "I want to get back home, where I'm good and life's good and all this weirdiness is gone," but the faces are like "I am dead inside." And then die-cut Jim goes zipping all along the border like a draw-back racecar.

4. Mad Science Fair, "....". I forgot to note the name of the song. The video is pretty cool, cartoony and pipe-cleanery and storytellingy. But, oh, dear. They've used commas inappropriately in the title screens. I'm sorry to have to report that, but there it is.

5. i:scintilla, "....". I forgot to note this song title, too, and VD is apparently pretending this episode never happened, as their website lists the last episode as early November. I thought I had seen i:scintilla, but apparently that was some other band, because these people are not at all familiar to me. The song seems to have been used in a movie? And I'm guessing some of these scenes come from that movie? Or else they didn't, and they threw in the movie information to confuse us. They sound like that band with that one woman, and I've been trying to think of the name of the band (or the woman, or a song) for about a week with no success, so that's probably as accurate as that's going to get. Anyway. I'm afraid I missed most of this video due to other pressing matters.

6. The Living Blue, "....". Hmm. I could sing you the song, but I have no idea what it's called. Geez. I got to take notes. Oh my gosh! First thing you see is a bit of a crowd to watch them, but there's only one person clear enough to really see. And it's Becka! Hey! Oh, somebody just ripped down a poster for this "show" and it says "The Blackouts." Woman riding bike around Chicago. Band playing while she's riding riding riding. Steve is very perspirey. Joe's got a little mustache. When was that? The bass player is a very shadowy figure--very nice for rotating in new faces. The bike rider gets hit by a car and then becomes Vanishing Ghost Bike Rider, just as a moment before the audience for their "show" became Vanishing Ghost Audience. I'm not sure I get it. The Living Blue is so good, they'll kill you?

Edited to add--It looks like they're playing NYC tonight, should you be bored and desirous of rock.

7. The Beauty Shop. Of course I don't know what this song is, but it's kind of a nice little video of a party out in the country at which the BS put on a little show. Oh, no. No no no no! They start off with a title card with an obvious comma error! This is so sad. If we could perform a comma transplant, using the MSF video as a donor, we could benefit grammatical health all around. They did a great job of making it look like this party was super fun, with all the regular Champaign locals having a hoot and holler. The Blackouts kind of get a two-fer on video exposure, 'cause there sure is a lot of Steve in this one. And a splash of TJ Hunter, which is nice way of rooting the video very firmly in the local scene. Awww.

Yay! Good job all around. Unless we're talking about punctuation. Which I often am. (And hence, why I have no rock video of my own.)

December 6: The Best News Ever

From Slate:

A study says people who have one alcoholic drink a day are 54 percent less obesity-prone than teetotalers are. (But those with four or more drinks a day are 46 percent more obesity-prone.) Another study indicates that among people who weigh too much or drink too much alcohol, those who drink more than two cups of coffee a day are only half as prone to chronic liver disease. Each study involved more than 8,000 people.



* * *

It's really, really cold here. Like, when you get dressed for work, it's 6. Six degrees of frigidation. Normally I like it to be REALLY cold if it's going to be cold, but dang. It's barely December. I think it's because we went straight from daily highs of 70 to daily highs of 15. On the other hand, it keeps snowing, and it's almost like those winters when we were kids and it snowed so much. What is going on in the universe, that the sun is turning mean on you and the cold is turning mean on me?

The Drink Detective

I got this forward today, with the added advice to discuss and think. Here's what I think. Discuss?


Drink Detective Advert (Discuss & Think!)

As a woman in today' life style(1) we face(2) the increasing problem of having our drinks spiked. The consequences of this happening can result in drug assisted Date-Rape, robbery and depending on the amount of drug administered even loss of life.(4)

We as women face this each time we go out socially.(5) It is our job to protect ourselves and also enlighten all women(6) too this fast goring national epidemic that is rampant in our collage campuses, university's, high schools, bars and clubs.(7) Also, drink spikers do not only adulterate alcohol drinks, they will spike soft drinks.(8)

What can we do to combat this problem?? And perhaps save one woman from this horror that will haunt her for the rest of her life. I have personally experienced the horror and pain of Date -Rape that still haunts me today.(9)

WayPoint Biomedical offers a product that can identify the presence of illicit drugs in drinks.(10) This product can help protect woman from this insidious crime, by simply testing her drink,(11) and in a matter of 30 seconds she may save herself from the pain of Date-Rape(12)

This revolutionary new tool combats drink spikers, along with providing enhanced public awareness that will truly deter the crime.(13)

The Drink Detective (tm) is no larger then a credit card which will fit easily into your purse. The product will give you quick and accurate results within seconds of testing the drink. Our product can detect up to 60 known date-rape drugs. Priced affordably(14) and with a wealth of supportive data through our website www.drinkdetectiveusa.com, you can easily see the advantages of having such a product in your possession.(15)

Please find enclosed our tri-fold brochure detailing the Drink Detective
(tm) product and please contact me directly for further information or a sample

********

Grrrrr, this pisses me off.
+ 1. Yes. The one monolothic lifestyle of "today' woman." (Interesting sidenote: British statistics indicate 15% of reported drugged-drink incidents are reported by men.)
+ 2. I'm just going to overlook the fact that it reads as though it were written by an entrepreneurial eighth grader.
+ 3. I particularly like the use of facts and evidence to support the claims here.
+ 4. Whoa. Are you getting scared?
+ 5. Each time! Whether or not you're drinking things! EACH TIME! Scared yet?
+ 6. That's...a really big job that I didn't know I had. It is my job to enlighten all women? That's a piss-poor paying line of work, I think.
+ 7. I'm must look beyond homonym and apostrophe abuse, because the problem--it is fast-goring! Like a quick-headed bull! I rather like that one.
+ 8. Don't think you're safe if you don't drink alcohol! You are never safe! If you ever consume liquids, you are in serious danger and it is your JOB to protect yourself! But how? If only there were some way! Something I could, perhaps, purchase! Bonus points, though, for the excellent use of "adulterate."
+ 9. I, yes I, anonymous copywriter, have experienced the horror of Date- Rape, so you should trust me, whoever I am.
+ 10. Wait--you mean there's something out there that would allow me to do my JOB of protecting myself, aside from paying attention to my drinks and surrounding myself with supportive and watchful people?
+ 11. Using a pipette to draw 5 drops of liquid, to be dropped onto three separate test strips.
+ 12. So...if all women had this product, date rape would be a thing of the past? Because I thought our job was to protect ourselves from the insidious crime of drink-spiking. But since the two are apparently synonymous, clearly, the way to end date rape is to NOT DRINK LIQUIDS OR EAT FOOD. Anymore. Then there's no more date rape. Fantastic! Oh, wait. No. Be scared! Very scared! This is not fantastic at all!
+ 13. Exactly...how? Does it do public speaking engagements in high schools? Does it kick drink spikers in the kneecaps? Because I'm guessing if you pull out the test tubes and whatnot, the drink spiker would have a sudden spasm that just might knock your drink to the floor. Or an intense urge to use the bathroom. Or...to just pick you up and haul you to the shed behind the party, to beat you senseless. Of course, when you regain consciousness, maybe people will see the bruises and their awareness will be raised.
+ 14. $7.99 a pop, if you buy 12; $7.75 per, if you buy 24; $7.50, if you buy 36. Those are the only quantities available from their website, for a respective total (before shipping and handling) of $95.88, $186, or $270 for the value-priced 36 pack.
+ 15. I won't even bother with the purse and credit card crap, but I can't believe they spelled out right there in the ad that the website contains "supportive data." Wait--you mean it doesn't include nonsupportive data? I checked the website, and what is not there is any information on the percentage of rapes, acquaintance or otherwise, that involve date rape drugs. The scientific report offers some acknowledgment that while it is suspected "drug rape" is on the rise, statistics regarding such incidents are a bit fuzzy because victims often don't remember the events.
Some of the "supportive data" that IS found in the report: drinks containing skimmed milk, Bailey's, or tonic give false positives, while sherry may give a false negative. So that guy who bought you a gin and tonic, the one you just "exposed" as a drug rapist? Should have insisted on rum and coke, I guess.
Also interesting: the USA/Canada website does have some helpful information on what to do if you think you have been drugged; the British website doesn't.

Conclusion: WOMEN! You are never safe! So buy our crap and protect yourself!

* * *

It's nice that there IS a product available, I guess--apparently there's been a call for it for some time--but geez Louise it bugs me to see women's legitimate fear of being assaulted, or people's fear of crime in general, used to hawk expensive crap. If I can afford to spend an extra 8 bucks with every drink I consume, I guess I can afford to buy my own damn drinks and keep an eye on them. Unless I get distracted by my portable bar-top chemistry lab, I guess. Plus, this whole implication that date rape is something that only happens when women are incapacitated by drugs is repellent. I tried to find some statistics on what percentage of acquaintance rape involves non-intentional drug use, but all signs point to "that info is so not going to exist," that I guess I can't fault Drink Detective (tm) for not including it. Nonetheless, I'd bet my buttons that most rapes involve a lot more coercion and manipulation and force than they do GBH. (Several sites also pointed out that one known risk factor for rape is poverty. But who wouldn't pay $7.99 for security?)

I'm certainly not against preventing sexual violence, or even plain old forced drug use--which, as I recall is what this product is ACTUALLY for. Relating rape and drugged drinks for education and prevention might be useful; conflating the two into one synonymous thing is a disservice. Conflating them to make a buck is reprobate.

December 2: Scattershot!

I'm a little unfocused right now, so you're liable to get a whole lot of snippets of incoherent things that pop in my head for a while. Like this!

I don't usually wear perfume, but this morning as I was leaving the house I grabbed my Demeter Cinnamon Toast cologne and sprayed it liberally. By the time I got to work I'd forgotten about it, but now every so often I get a whiff of baked goods and think "Mmmm... somebody brought treats!" Then I'm disappointed to find it's just me. But then I'm delighted I smell so damn tasty.

* * *

I've been playing the acoustic a lot lately. I believe I have now mastered "The Saints Go Marching In." Also the Volga Boatman, that droning funerally like song that indicates you're marching to your death. Oh yeah. I'm a rockstar. A cinnamon-toast smelling, death dirge droning rockstar.

More nothing

Oh--almost forgot.


Last night I dreamed I was sitting in a big round booth at a bar, a lot like the old Les's Lounge, with all the good old crowd around. All of a sudden you and Sp. came running up, all breathless and laughing, to tell me the following joke:

You: Knock knock!
Me: Who's there?
You: Bowl of soup!
Me: What kind of soup? I mean, Bowl of soup, who?
You: I don't know! I don't know any knock knock jokes!

Thank goodness you're funnier than my subconscious.

December 1: A whole lot of nothing.

First real snow of the year! It was 67 degrees 10 days ago, and suddenly it feels like the dead of winter. I mean, the LIFE of winter! Winter is fun! Winter is...eh, you'll never believe that anyway.

* * *

Last Wednesday I called for the annual pre-Thanksgiving happy hour at the Esquire. After several drinks, we moved over to M&M's, where we ran into a crowd of great people we hadn't seen in a long time, most of whom were well on their way to drunkenness (or, in some cases, fully arrived). After we'd been there about an hour I suddenly realized I didn't seem to have my purse anymore. (Guess which one? My fantastic not-a-Prada just does NOT want to be my bag. I think it knows that nobody would believe I was carrying Prada anyway.)

I dashed back to the Esquire to see if I'd left it there. As soon as I walked in Neighbor kind of gave a wave of alert.
Me: "Oh, great, you have my bag?"
Neighbor: "Yeah. And...I, uh, talked to your mom."

He'd got the phone number off my checkbook, which is my parents' phone number because I've been too busy for the last 14 years to change my checks. That was a very kind and thoughtful gesture, which I figured I'd hear about in great alarmed-ness at Thanksgiving dinner.

Of course it didn't take that long. My mom called me right after the bar called her, all "Someplace called 'the Scriber' just called and they've got your purse! And you're supposed to drive tomorrow! I just hope they're still open..." Then she called again at 7:30 in the morning, to make sure I'd played the messages. (Which: damn, mom, 7:30? But also, good call on the message-playing.) All is well. Safely rest.

* * *

Decatur teachers are on strike, and "people are confused why," according to WILL. Maybe because they want to work in buildings that aren't falling down on them. Anyway, I woke up today to the sound of my 8th-grade algebra teacher in my bedroom. That's never good.


* * *
Today the Chief Wants: "Come Monday," Jimmy Buffet
"Jet," Wings
Maybe the chief wants to get away from us.