May » 2007 » Pragmatik

Organic Domino in action.

I mentioned organic Domino sugar before, recently. In making greener choices, I was upset that I might have to give up my Domino sugar. I grew up saying “Good night” to the red Domino sign near the Inner Harbor from my bedroom in Hampden, miles away. In my years away from Charm City, I always always always bought Domino sugar, even when I had to go to a different store to get it and even when it was expensive and only sold in a tiny canister at Arnolds Market (which I miss sometimes). Well, low and behold, when I was about to buy a non-Domino sugar (GASP!) to get something organic, I found out that Domino makes organic sugar now. Not just the “raw” brown stuff. USDA certified and the whole kit.

What’s it like? Just like normal white sugar. It does not seem to measure differently like the “raw” stuff, but the color is…off. It’s not white, but it’s not brown. It’s sort of the color of my skin, walking and biking around Baltimore in the sun. (But it’s not fuzzy.) It tastes good because it’s sugar, and sugar tastes good. But it feels good because it’s yummier for the planet and all that. The color is intriguing, and it dissolves very well in tea.

You should buy some. I’ll give you a coupon.

Another reason I like Obama.

Because when he talks about his universal healthcare system, he says:

“We are not a country that allows major challenges to go unsolved and unaddressed while our people suffer needlessly.”

I can’t explain it, but when he says “our people” I feel all warm and fuzzier than usual. With our current administration and its push to get certain parts of certain moralities into law, it’s nice to hear the phrase “our people” and think that it really includes all Americans, not just white Christians in SUVs.* It’s nice that a candidate for the Democratic nomination can lump us all together, Transcendentalists, Catholics, cyclists and car sales[wo]men, just because we are all Americans. It’s refreshing that something is for all Americans, not just the “silent majority” whom we should just agree with because they outnumber us heathens.

Or maybe it’s just me feeling isolated because so many of my friends are Republicans (really).

I think it speaks to a possible cooperation [under another leader] that two long-time friends can sit outside on a camping trip this past weekend, drinking coffee and pull out their wallets — one to display an NRA card, another (me) to brag about his ACLU card that smells like incense. We joked that the NRA was plastic while the ACLU was made of recycled paper. I said, “Hell, we’re just each concerned with a different Amendment.” A different freedom.

Sure, Z and I have known each other since we were little lads without political positions at all, and we were friends before we were old enough to vote. But maybe righties and lefties should go camping together and drink coffee outside and then play Frisbee like we did. And we do a lot of similar things. We are both very consistent recyclers:)

*[Though, of course, I am not opposed to white people or Christians.]

Photo Friday: Futuristic.

[Larger.]

Bike rack in Druid Hill Park during the Baltimore Green Week Ecofestival kick-off. There were a lot of cyclists there, and the number of us pedaling around the city seems to increase weekly, not necessarily with the warming weather. Have you checked out the Bike Master Plan?

Photo Friday: Futuristic.

Froth and working.

[Larger.]

Some French press coffee I made for working on my dissertation yesterday. I brewed it so strongly that the froth on top almost looks like espresso. I got writing done; gained clarity on where the study is going; and best of all, I can see the end on my draft in sight. I officially salute and thank all my caffeine.

Edit:
Also for Photo Friday: How I See Myself. Lately, I feel like such an addict that I smell like coffee, and I don’t really mean that in a funny way. I’ve been switching to tea lately (plus it’s better with the heat). But it’s so obvious that I need the stuff that the dude at The Evergreen pours coffee for F and I the second we walk in the door. It’s notorious!

Yellow Cab should sue.

This is the second time in less than a year that a kid in Baltimore has lied about being raped in order to avoid getting into trouble with their parents. Recently in Baltimore, a 12 year old girl said she was raped by a cab driver but later fessed up that she just didn’t want to get in trouble for banging her teenage boyfriend. Now it seems that police will not charge this latest liar who said she was attacked by a Yellow Cab driver. A few months ago some white county girl said that a black man raped her so she would not get in trouble for coming home late.

If The Man will not do something to stop this sort of horseshit that has to hurt real rape victims, maybe the cab company owners should tally up their lost business and image and sue this kid. Personally, I think anyone who does anything to hinder rape reports and catching rapists should be charged with…something. I have known too many rape victims in my life and only a snippet of their pain. And anything anyone does that might allow a rapist to roam free should be criminal.

Am I saying that she should be made an example of? Yes. But she’s a kid. Whatever. She’s old enough to bang her boyfriend, so she’s old enough to spend a little time in jail so that the next kid who is tempted to lie about something so terrible to not get grounded like she did comes up with a less destructive lie. Sure, maybe there are deeper issues that make these kids lie like this. Or maybe they are just buttholes.

Yeah, and avoid Starbucks if you don’t want to get flattened by an SUV.

Handy cooking tip #1.

After cutting up garlic and jalapeno peppers, do not cut yourself deeply with a knife. It stings like hell. But when you do, don’t cut up a lime afterward. Don’t.

Also, the dissertation line for the day, from a frantic mini-essay I concocted this morning, bringing the end of my draft closer by a fraction:

“A Pragmatist venture, a veritable practical adventure.”

Writing about hate and writing about Nietzsche — neither has destroyed me yet. I wonder if all this is making me (groan) stronger?

Why you should carry a bandage in your wallet.

Yeah, long title. Long ago, in Boy Scouts, I took first aid merit badge, like we all had to. The guy who somehow got certified and taught us (from another troop) was this blow-hard who was in the organization not because he gave a crap about the boys or his community but because it made him feel big. I mean, who would not feel big when you ask a bunch of kids in the city if they know first aid, when you yourself already know it? Yeah, I know.

Anyway, of all the stupid things I heard come out from under that ridiculous mustache over the years, one thing made sense and always stuck with me: to always have one or two bandaids in your wallet. Never hurts to have them, and it’s not like they take up space.

So as a teenager, while everyone in high school had a condom that would never get used in their wallet, I had two bandaids that often got used and replaced. See how pragmatik?

You should really carry them, too. Because, you know, after a ride down very busy Howard Street, North Avenue, through Penn Station, Charles Street and the Falls bike trail, your riding partner might knock his or her finger into the mirror of an old pickup truck when asshole drivers come too close on the left, when you’re almost back home, taking off the skin between two knuckles.

Some things always come in handy.

Photo Friday: Large.

[Larger.]

The first Washington Monument in the US. Baltimore, Maryland, during this year’s Flower Mart.

For Photo Friday: Large.

Score one for cycling.

So after my brother’s surgery last Thursday morning, he took a nap in the afternoon. I was down at my parents’ house in Hampden, and I was sailing on half a dozen coffees and a large redeye with 2 shots of espresso (literally). So I suggested to F and my father that we take a leisurely bike ride to Druid Hill Park, since it was such a nice day and since we were on our bikes anyway. They agreed, and we rode down through the bottom of Hampden to the park. Around the lake a few times. A good bit of time enjoying the view of Baltimore from there. Then we rode back in time for dinner.

We were riding up Beech Avenue, and I was amazed at a large posse of students playing baseball on the diamond with a keg of cheap beer and several large SVUs parked on the field. I was thinking to myself that having an open and unattended keg like that was not cool, since any kid could roll up and learn to do a keg-stand and to enjoy beer. Once again, not cool.

As I was thinking of this, I heard crying on my left. I looked over and saw an elderly lady face-down on the sidewalk, weeping. I swerved off the road, got off my steed and asked her if she was Okay on my way toward her. She turned over as soon as she heard me. She said she needed help getting up, so I picked her up (she was very tiny) and helped her brush off. My father and F were there now, and my father walked her to her gate, since the house on the end by where she fell was hers. Two friends of hers looked at us like we were mugging her or something, and I probably said something nasty about their scummy-dirty looking mugs too loudly as I was peddling away. We did something decent and didn’t need such dirty looks.

All in all, she was not hurt, only shaken up. She seemed like she had been there waiting for someone to stop and help her up. Embarrassed more than anything.

But had we not been cycling (or walking, I know), she might have been there longer. The drunken idiots ten yards from where she was crying didn’t hear a thing.

Get B-More some hybrid cabs!

I know, with all the green-washing going around, Yahoo! going green recently is pretty…expected. But they are doing something pretty cool wherein they are giving the greenest city a fleet of hybrid cabs. Baltimore could use something like that, for sure. The last time I took a cab home from downtown late at night, it smelled like gas inside, and that can’t be good.

They will also give you a free CFL bulb for taking a green pledge, which consists of agreeing to do some pretty basic stuff we should all really be doing anyway. Not owning a house or a car, I could not sign up for much, but it’s a good way to get people thinking.

Go to Yahoo! Green for more.

Photo Friday: Amber.

[Larger.]

I know, this is not amber. But what was in the bottle is. I just thought it was funny that it actually tells you to pry the cap off. Usually the twist-types have little arrows, but you assume that something is a pry-top otherwise. It was Sierra Nevada Summerfest, by the way, and it was yummy.

Photo Friday: Amber.

Earl and important.

I have to get up before dawn tomorrow to go to the hospital with my brother, who is getting surgery to repair a muscle tear in his chest. It’s weird to think that someone a year younger than I am is going under the knife in such a serious way and getting mesh put there forever. And how dang skinny he’s gotten in the past year makes him look fragile as it is. I’m trying not to think about the procedure too much, as I am sure my brother is busy doing.

Luckily, his favorite show is on tomorrow night, for a special episode. I like to think the universe is smiling down on my brother presently. It’s not everyday that “My Name Is Earl” is on for a full hour, you know.

Mexican-style pitas.

We’ve really been “into” pita bread lately. If you cut one in half, cut a cooked veggie burger in half, put it all together with your choice of fixings, well, that is just yummy. And it is widely known that veggie burgers of one of my very favorite foods.

This is something I whipped up last week because we had some Cilantro that I didn’t want to waste:

Mexican-Style Pita Pockets

1/3 to 1/2 a bunch of fresh Cilantro — basically a handful (chopped)
3 to 4 nice and ripe tomatoes, preferably on the vine (diced)
1 Vidalia [or other sweet] onion (diced to fingernail sized pieces)
1 sweet green pepper (diced to fingernail sized pieces)
2 or 3 cloves of fresh garlic (minced)
1 can of sweet corn
chili powder (few teaspoons to taste)
lime juice (few teaspoons to taste)
lemon juice (few teaspoons to taste)
crushed red pepper (to taste)
salt (to taste)
oil or cooking spray of butter of your choice (for frying)
pita bread
shredded cheese of your choice (I used a popular brand of “Mexican blend”)

1) Fry the green pepper, garlic and onion on high for just a few minutes, until as soft as you like. Add the corn, a bit of salt, chili powder, red pepper and lime/lemon juice to taste, a little at a time. (The smell of burning lime is yummy.) Set aside to cool.

2) Combine tomatoes, Cilantro and some salt in a bowl. Pour into colander to drain a bit.

3) Mix the hot and cold mixtures into a large bowl. Cut pita breads in half to open them. Spread a small amount of cheese into the insides. Add a little more cheese, spoon the mixture into the breads, and mix it around with your fingers.

4) Nuke those puppies for a minute if you have a high-powered microwave (more if not). Or you can even melt it in the oven or eat them cold.

5) Serve to your friends, and when they tell you it’s yummy, remember who loved you enough to tell you how to make it.

Photo Friday: Food.

Everyone’s hurt.

So Thursday, my future cousin-in-law and good friend (and former blogger) Bowman wrecked his ankle and had to have surgery Friday. Now my brother has to have a muscle tear repaired (through inserting some kind of mesh…) this Thursday. Bowman is recovering at home and will be walking by his wedding in July. I am trying to remain calm about my brother, but it’s pretty scary. I’ll be at the hospital all day Thursday, and tomorrow for F’s checkup. Too many doctors lately.

Photo Friday: Smoke.

[Larger.]

Druid Hill Lake last weekend, early in the morning, when the sky was still like smoke. If you find yourself near there this weekend, don’t forget the Ecofestival that the kicks off Baltimore Green Week.

For Photo Friday: Smoke.

Organic Domino in action.

Another reason I like Obama.

Photo Friday: Futuristic.

Froth and working.

Yellow Cab should sue.

Handy cooking tip #1.

Why you should carry a bandage in your wallet.

Photo Friday: Large.

Score one for cycling.

Get B-More some hybrid cabs!

Photo Friday: Amber.

Earl and important.

Mexican-style pitas.

Everyone’s hurt.

Photo Friday: Smoke.

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