The smell of New Jersey

Listening to New Jersey bands as the bus transits New Jersey:

Bands/artists (and their most NJ-emblematic song)

-Saves the Day (Always Ten Feet Tall or Shoulder to the Wheel)
-Titus Andronicus (Fear and Loathing in Mahwah, NJ or My Time Outside The Womb)
-Bruce Springsteen (Open All Night)

What is it with New Jersey and producing great music? These are three artists whose music I haven't gotten over. They all have reams of really good songs across multiple albums. New Jersey is an idea to me, raw and unfiltered, symbolizing everything good and bad about America. The music reflects that.

New Jersey in the morning like a lunar landscape

Live blog:

Sudden trip to NYC
Alex has business at the consulate
Solid bus with internet and power
New Jersey Turnpike
Rifling through iTunes favorite for Bruce Springsteen
1 Box of Whoppers already down
Radio relay towers won't you lead me to my baby
Raw Bruce of Nebraska days is wildly powerful
Sometimes you have to just drop everything and go to New York with a friend
Head full of patent law; excellent social science research papers downloaded from the web
Still very young

The Dark Night?

And where is the Batman? HE'S AT HOME WASHING HIS TIGHTS!
-The Joker

Only villains will call him The Batman. It's derisive or disrespectful in some way. By not using The, you acknowledge he is the only one. The means he could be one of several Batmans (Batmen?) i.e. This Batman vs. That Batman. Although really, it would be very safe to assume that there is only one reclusive billionaire genius who dresses up as an anthropomorphic bat and terrorizes criminals by night. Not too much competition in that category.

A more precise view of who the Santorum voter is

-French electronic music duo Justice
-Nat'l Fed. of Independent Bus. v. Sebelius
-Samuel Eliot Morison
-Beautifully overlapping styles of N. Krauss and J.S. Foer, spouses and novelists
-Confidence that wearing a vest affords
-Book club snobs
-Possibly overpaid community college professors
-"There's panic on the streets of Carlisle, Dublin, Dundee, Humberside."
-Quietest place in the house, a tiny back bathroom with one small window
-Circular tables are conducive to camaraderie
-Can one be coerced into commerce, constitutionally?
-SONG 1 at the Hirshhorn
-When someone says "Boo" to something, say, "Are you a ghost?"
-Supply of books is outpacing demand
-I only have eyes for you
-Doctor Faustus, A Novel by Thomas Mann
-Weekly church attendees

Dearth of Pronouns

Saw your words on my computer screen, late at night, and was reminded. Why I came to this place and why it was a victory, in and of itself. Decided to strive more, be something of significance. For the sake of you and I.

Found exactly where I left it

Machine-Age Espresso

The changes effected affected us. The coffee machine was taken away to avoid ambiguity and duplication. Coffee is dark, ideally faintly smoky. Medium roasts are said to have subtler and more complex flavor profiles, but this is not universally agreed upon. Coffee is good on ice, but it is not candy and should not be mistreated by the addition of pumpkiny treacle. Coffee can be consumed hot, ideally not boiling.

habitual consumption may contribute to osteoperosis


Coffee is sometimes avoided in the mornings so that I can deceive myself regarding my dependency upon it. Coffee is prepared by the cup in the K cup machine at work. K cup != K Street; Coffee is not a conspiracy of powerful Washington lobbyists.

recent studies suggest that these may be the result of relieving the initial symptoms of overnight caffeine withdrawal!


French cooks were the first to Westernize coffee brewing techniques in the mid-1700s. Coffee is decaffeinated sometimes which is to say denatured and disemboweled, without being too dramatic.

4 Months

Places I have lived or spent time in growing up that could partially or fully be considered my hometown:

*Boston, MA
*Ipswich, MA
*Groveland, MA
*Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
*Bamako, Mali
*West Newbury, MA
*Cannon Beach, OR
*Portland, OR
*Grenoble, France
*Medford, MA

[In approximate reverse chronological order by date of first contact]

It's a list. I'm nothing if not transient.

KoS installment 2

I like to cast a party like I cast a lost-wax sculpture; spruing and metal-chasing are not only to be understood in their literal senses, you know.

Special Thanks to Orson Welles & Paul Masson

It's a question of scope, how far you're willing to go

The thing is, this is in no way the end of the world. It simply isn't. So a Republican who ran a strong campaign focused on connecting with the voters won the election against a Democrat who seemed cold and distant and may have taken her victory for granted. Stop the presses! This stuff happens every day, and you really think your world will come crashing down around you because, horror of horrors, Massachusetts elected a Republican and the Democrats only have a 59-vote majority? Please, get over it.

I'm a little bit disappointed in Massachusetts tonight, but then again, I can't help but feel this nagging sense of pride. We don't do what people want us to do. We do what we like, and forget the consequences.
Massachusetts people are pretty cynical. I don't know that Scott Brown was necessarily someone that everyone in MA could get behind, and a real feel-good story, as he was made out to be in some circles. It's more like everyone was collectively trying to stick it to the man. Everybody loves the proverbial 'Washington outsider.' Everybody hates the perceived elitist (pronounced Coakley). People in MA wanted to say, hey you thought this was a solid Democrat state? You thought Coakley could coast, you thought we would do your bidding and return another Dem to fill Kennedy's seat? Think again! We're Massachusetts, we're independent, and we'll elect a Republican just because we can!

I'm not saying it's right, I'm not saying Scott Brown is the greatest thing since sliced bread, I'm just saying that's how I see it. And if any good could come out of this, I can only hope it would be that the Democrats will finally have the balls to take some action and get something done before their majority, whether it's 60 votes or 51, is gone for good.