Thirty-fourth posting - Lots

I know, I know. It’s been forever since I have last posted, and you’ve missed me tremendously. What have I been doing? What are the latest rants? Raves? Here goes…

Upstate New York. Last weekend I was in Upstate New York. For those of you unfamiliar with the area, it is 95% of the state of New York outside of, New York City, Long Island and Westchester County. It is also a weekend playground for city dwellers looking for “the country.” Directions are easy – go North. The area we went to was the beautiful Hudson River valley, with wineries, cute towns and villages, rolling green hills with cool hikes, and one of the state’s crunchiest towns – New Paltz. If you’re in the area, a wonderful place for dinner is in Stone Ridge at The French Corner http://cityguide.pojonews.com/fe/Dining/stories/dn_french_corner.asp I had cold local sweet corn soup with duck prosciutto, then salmon "mignon" over purple cabbage. My friend had cold sausage with coco beans, then pork with Swiss chard and mashed potatoes with broccoli and something like an avocado. One dessert was mocha tart, the other was stewed figs. The whole experience was fantastic -- plus the fact that it was $25 prix fixe was even better. And we got to meet the chef (Jacques). My mouth is watering just writing about it.

Yankee Game. Went with a few buddies to the Yankees – Blue Jays game last Monday. The Yankees won the series 2-1, and we saw the first game, a shutout with pitcher Jaret Wright, who was just off the DL to throw 60 of 99 pitches for strikes. Perfect night for baseball – 70s and dry.

Park. Mayor Bloomberg (or his company, at least) sponsors an annual film series in Central Park, and this year’s flicks included those with New York scenes. I went last week for a delicious picnic under the stars and a surprisingly ok musical called The Bandwagon, Fred Astair’s last movie (and also starring a sexy Cyd Charisse, who evidently changed her name to that from Tula Ellice Finklea). Several catchy tunes, including That’s Entertainment (well, perhaps just one catchy tune, if you can call it catchy). For future reference, though, don’t think that you’ll be actually allowed to bring picnic items (including wine, glasses, knives, picnic baskets into the park) for a picnic which was encouraged, because people may trip over them – as New Yorkers are prone to tripping over such items…

Melting Pot. There is a chain of restaurants around the US called The Melting Pot, based on – take a guess – fondue. Interesting place, particularly the one in Darien, CT (where the word W.A.S.P. was invented). Our dinner was fine (fortunately, I am a big cheese fan), although the most memorable part was the service. It was generally bad, but the waitress was a character. She was clearly a decades-long smoker, and I have a feeling we got her on a bad day – unless giving the impression that she’s been dragged around the block more than once is a “good” day for her. We were never quite sure whether she was actually angry that we were touching the fondue pot she told us not to touch…. This sort of manic behavior (and my confidence that she was sporting a few questionable tattoos under her cheese-, chocolate- and oil-stained apron) suggested a better environment for her would have been a biker bar. Of course, there isn’t a biker bar anywhere near Darien, Connecticut….

Yesterday I rode the Tour de Putnam (also in Upstate New York). My team had signed up for the full century, but with pouring rain and less-than-warm temps, we took in 50 mi and called it a wet wet day. The route did seem quite pretty through my foggy, smeared lenses, but hopefully we can find another 100 mi route before the season ends. Next up, though, are my fall biathlons (Sep 18 and Oct 9) in Central Park. Hoping to improve on personal record of 1:14:28…

American Graffiti. Some of you may know that most of my Top 5 lists include many more than five. In terms of movies, however, American Graffiti has now made it into my Really Top 5 Movies list. Released in 1973, American Graffiti includes early performances by Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Cindy Williams, Mackenzie Phillips and Harrison Ford. Essentially it is a one night snapshot in the early 60s of the misadventures of four California teenagers before two are supposed to head off to college. I found myself smiling throughout the movie (I’m a dork, yes), but the casting was superb – I read that you can’t imagine anyone else playing those parts, and I agree. It was a sweet nostalgic look at real life from a director who went on to movies that explored lives far from it (Star Wars, Indiana Jones)…

Bye for now, NATHAN

Thirty-third posting - 4

I am tired of waking up in the morning and hearing the radio from my alarm clock announce: "...four more US military deaths in Iraq..." It seems like every day there are four more, and these fours have already totalled more than 1860 (which is 1860 too many). Although I couldn't join them, there were about 100 people in downtown Stamford last night for a candlelight vigil, 85 in Norwalk, and almost 200 in Westport. Stamford's mayor Dan Malloy attended and voiced his support: "I think the president is making an unbelievably personal and political mistake in not meeting with the mother of a soldier who died," Malloy said. "I'm just amazed at how callous his behavior he's engaged in (is), and I just think it's a huge mistake."

Following is an article from the Detroit Free Press, that captures some of what happened last night (and ----).

From Michigan to Texas, war foes join Texas-based protest
August 18, 2005, 4:14 AM
CRAWFORD, Texas (AP) -- As the sun dipped behind pastures around a makeshift campsite of anti-war demonstrators near President Bush's ranch, more than 200 people silently clutched candles and gathered around a flag-draped coffin.

The vigil calling for an end to the war in Iraq was among hundreds nationwide as protesters from Grand Rapids, Mich., to Concord, N.H., joined the national effort spurred by one mother's anti-war demonstration. Cindy Sheehan has become an icon of the anti-war movement since she started the protest Aug. 6.

"For the more than 1,800 who have come home this way in flag-draped coffins, each one ... was a son or a daughter, not cannon fodder to be used so recklessly," said Sheehan, whose 24-year-old son Casey died in Iraq last year. "Each one is a valuable human life that is missed so desperately."

More than 1,600 vigils were held from coast to coast Wednesday, according to the organizers, liberal advocacy groups MoveOn.org Political Action, TrueMajority and Democracy for America. A vigil was also held at Paris' Peace Wall, a glass monument near the Eiffel Tower that says "peace" in 32 languages.

In West Michigan, hundreds of people, some the parents of soldiers on duty in Iraq, participated in a vigil in Grand Rapids. Another group of about 100 people marched outside the federal courthouse in Detroit. The vigils were among dozens planned across the state.

Along with candles and flags, some of the 300 people who gathered at a park in Nashville, Tenn., brought signs and banners of protest. One banner read, "Thank you for your courage Cindy."

"This is a good example of how one person can make a difference," said Gigi Gaskins, 44, of Nashville.

Sheehan, of Vacaville, Calif., has said she won't leave Texas until Bush's monthlong vacation ends or he meets with her and other grieving families. Bush has said he sympathizes with Sheehan but has made no indication he will meet with her. Two top Bush administration officials talked to Sheehan the day she started her camp, and she and other families met with Bush shortly after her son's death and before she became a vocal opponent of the war.

Some critics say Sheehan is exploiting her son's death to promote a left-wing agenda supported by her and groups with which she associates.

Before the Crawford vigil began, Gary Qualls, of Temple, walked to the protesters' memorial to fallen U.S. soldiers and removed a wooden cross bearing his son's name. Qualls said he supports the war effort even though his 20-year-old son Louis was killed in Fallujah last fall serving with the Marine Reserves. "I don't believe in some of the things happening here," he said. "I find it disrespectful."

Those backing Sheehan, though, voiced their support across the country. In Minnesota, more than 1,000 war protesters stood on a bridge linking Minneapolis and St. Paul. "This war has been disgraceful, with trumped-up reasons," Sue Ann Martinson said. "There were no weapons of mass destruction and the Iraqis didn't have anything to do with 9-11."

Near Philadelphia's Independence Hall, a few hundred people strained to hear the parent of a soldier killed in Iraq. "This war must stop," said Al Zappala, 65, whose 30-year-old son, Sgt. Sherwood Baker, died in an explosion in Baghdad in April 2004.

In Charleston, W.Va., a banner bearing the name, age, rank, hometown and date of death of all Americans killed in Iraq and Afghanistan was unrolled -- stretching the length of a city block.

About 170 people gathered on the courthouse steps in Hackensack, N.J., with many saying they were angry about the war but were supporting U.S. troops. "I'm a 46-year-old woman who, in my lifetime, has never seen the country so split," said Lil Corcoran. "My heart is broken."

Kenny Jones brought his 6-year-old daughter, Scouten, to a vigil in Portland, Ore. "I was raised to believe that war is no solution," Jones said. "Her mother and I are raising her that way, too. This war is illogical."

Actor Richard Dreyfuss attended a vigil in Los Angeles with his son and about 500 others. "When I was a kid in the Vietnam era, the war began to really go away when the mothers came into the streets," Dreyfuss said.

Meanwhile, a group called FreeRepublic.com held a pro-Bush rally that drew about 20 people to the same Washington, D.C., park where 300 people had gathered for a candlelight vigil. At one point, members of the two sides had a heated exchange over who was more patriotic.

"If they don't want to support it, they don't have to support it," said Iraq war veteran Kevin Pannell, who had both legs amputated after a grenade attack last year in Baghdad. "That's the reason I lost my legs."

I encourage you to take a few moments today to think about what's happening in Iraq and consider sharing those thought with your Senator or member of Congress. NATHAN

Thirty-second posting - BI

On Saturday I went to Block Island (Rhode Island) with my bike club (http://www.soundcyclists.com). It’s a great club, among the largest in the Northeast, with dozens of weekend rides, standing rides during the week, and a traditional Friday-night “un-winder” that lets people get rid of all of the week’s pent up frustration, energy, angst, etc. For the most part, club membership seems to be skewed more toward 30-40+ than younger and normally there is a good mix of folks on the rides, which are organized by speed (A ride to D ride). On Fridays, upwards of 70 people naturally divide into faster and slower groups.

Although the Block Island (http://www.blockislandinfo.com/) ride was published as leisurely paced, I expected a similar range of people (ages and abilities). Of the 25 people, however, there was a healthy dose of the oh-my-god-I-can’t-breathe-because-this-hill-is-so-steep riders as well as the good-for-you-for-still-riding-at-70-years-old-but-no-one-told-me-we’d-be-waiting-for-every-single-person-at-every-lighthouse, not to mention the poor woman who fell on the ferry sailing to Block Island, and then got a nasty gash on her arm, and then was cut off on her bike by a kid running across the road, and then I think she may actually have gotten lost… And finally there was a middle-aged woman with the longest, blackest hair I’d ever seen. Mind you, I was jealous of the quantity of hair, but as it was a windy day, her mop was blowing all over the place – across the picnic table, into other people’s faces, into her lobster roll… (If someone pumped her stomach, I bet they’d find a ball of her own hair in there.)

Overall, though, it was a fun trip – and the beautiful and low-key Block Island is definitely a place worth visiting again. The question now is: Where’s my next trip? NATHAN

Thirty-first posting - dream

It's ok to dream, right? I dream -- a lot -- that someday, I will walk home from work through the woods, put on my sneakers and go for a run. When I return, I will grab a muffin from the muffin shop, say hello to Gerta/Annie/Sue the muffin lady, and then walk back home. Another day I will walk home through the woods, get on my bike and ride for a couple of hours with folks who live nearby and want to be competitive sometimes and relaxed other times. Is that too much to ask?

Today my company's electronic systems seem to be on the fritz, including the phones, and my dependence on all things electronic became strikingly apparent. I don't like that. I also don't like knowing that I'll feel better with the air conditioning on in my condo because it's humid as all get-out. And I don't like knowing that so much of the crap I buy comes in plastic that I try my best to recycle but didn't need to be packaged in plastic in the first place. And finally, I don't like the fact that my company's cafeteria uses styrofoam at lunch and in the coffee rooms. Come to think of it, maybe I should start bringing my lunch and buying only what doesn't need packaging....

Is it guilt for not making this a better world? Maybe. Is it just a random Friday afternoon thought before I head to Block Island with my bike club tomorrow? Yes. Enjoy your weekends, NATHAN

Thirtieth posting - UN

Now that Bill Clinton’s been out of office for a few years, what’s he doing? We have seen him traipsing around Harlem, stumping for one cause or another. We’ve seen him paired with Bush 41, making nice with the political Center and raising money and resources for tsunami relief. Now he wants his William J. Clinton Foundation to partner with the American Heart Association "stop the increasing prevalence of childhood obesity" in the United States by 2010. I guess that means no more trips to McDonald’s…

He certainly wants to stay in the public eye and in the headlines … but for what? Several sources, including (most exhaustively, the Washington Post) have reported that his dream job is Secretary-General of the United Nations. From Leader of the Free World to Leader of the Whole World, why not? Under his assignment of coordinator for tsunami relief, he has already been given a United Nations office, a UN identity card and diplomatic passport. Kofi Annan’s second five-year term officially ends Jan 1 2007, but with the oil-for-food issue that still doesn’t seem completely resolved, his tenure may be over sooner than that.

To be honest, I hadn’t thought about Bill Clinton as UN Secretary-General until a friend mentioned it this weekend, and compared to the blistering personalities of Annan, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, and Javier de Perez de Cuellar, Bill would be a breath of fresh air, don’t you think?

(And yes, there are internships available at the UN. I looked it up http://www.un.org ) Only half-kidding, NATHAN

Twenty-ninth posting - dirt

All – the adjustment to my new place has gone swimmingly lately. The crap I have had to put up with seems to have abated, for now, and my lists of What I Like and What I Don’t Like about the condo are tilting a little more toward What I Like. I won’t bore you with the details (yet), but I did meet a couple on my floor who seemed younger than 70. This is good.

This weekend I went to a fantastic restaurant in midtown called Mix, one of Alain Ducasse’s creations. I read the reviews beforehand, and they were so-so (although all written prior to a recent change in chef). Based on my experience, the reviewers should try again. We had the prix fixe tasting menu, and each dish seemed to get better and better over the course of evening. A highlight was asparagus spears with a scoop of Parmesan “ice cream.” The service was outstanding, and the atmosphere felt like a tripped out Scandinavian airport lounge … with better music.

Sunday I went to see Dave Matthews (and the Black Eyed Peas, among others) play at Randall’s Island, in NY. It should have been billed as Dust Fest 2005. The location was interesting and would have been great, had the ground not been dry as a bone, with 4 and a half blades of grass on an area the size of 2 football fields. We didn’t show up until 5, so the air was saturated with dust – and even today, I still feel a little like Pigpen. My advice: if you’re going to get dirty, roll in it. NATHAN

(P.S. I miss Lance. Next up is La Vuelta Espana - Tour of Spain, or as the official website calls it -- Breathless spectacle, terrible passion, thousands of people, what a discovery.... " He's not riding in it, but it's road biking, so it's good.)