Blue.

Big skies.

It speaks to me.













Thats what I see in my mind's eye when I think of the west....

More rain... :-(

Current Conditions
Lake Mary, FL
Rain
59°F

South
Downpours and thunderstorms will drench the peninsula into early Sunday before the system moves away across the Atlantic. Some of the thunderstorms over southern Florida could contain damaging winds and isolated tornadoes, especially on Saturday. Some areas may rack up well over 4 inches of rain.

Unlike many other places, passing showers are the norm for Florida.

So, it feels... odd .. when the rain keeps coming, and coming, and coming.

Heh. The Florida equivalent of snow days.

Ok, I'll do this Friday Five, only because it asks my sign :-)

1. Hey, baby, what's your sign? Do you think it fits you pretty well?

Virgo, baybee. And nah - it doesnt really fit. (Most Virgos rarely live up to the neatfreakish and anal stereotypes anyway..)
But, add Cancer, Taurus and Aquarian stereotypes to da mix.....

2. What's the worst birthday gift you've ever received?
Blocked from memory. Cant remember. Wont remember.


3. What's the best birthday gift you've ever received?
I gotta take the fifth. :-)


4. What's the best way you've celebrated your birthday thus far?
The way I always do it:

Get all the newspapers for that day, sit back, read 'em all.. a fine restaurant... a toast to myself.

Thas all I need. All I want.

Dont even THINK about surprise birthday parties.. I get grumpy then.


5. What are your plans for this weekend?

Lemme go ask the cat. Its his world.

Speaking of my confusion re: more sunshine during winter in the sub-tropics...

Clint explains it all:

I wrote

>Oh wait, the sun rises later too.
>
>Never mind.

Clint answered

There is an easy way for it to make sense. At the start of Winter in the
northern hemisphere, the North pole receives absolutely no sunlight while
the South pole receives 24 hour sunlight. If you slowly progressed from the
north to the south, you'd get more sunlight. Since right now we are a
month away from the Equinox, the differences between northern and southern
daylight gets slimmer and slimmer every day until the difference disappears
on the equinox.

Ain't science fun? :)

*Doh*.

I thought I knew this, apparently Ive forgotten everything I learned on the streets.. ;-)

Happy Birthday, Gabz.

Tamale, fishy.

Sanford, Fl at: 3:52 pm EST
Currently: 82º
Wind Chill: 82 º
Visibility: Unlimited


McClint: so how are ya enjoying this subtropical Florida Winter? :-)
JPennant: heheh. I wouldna noticed its winter. Maybe the gods have more sense than I do to get me down here. :-)
McClint: most northerners either love it or hate it. Love it cuz no snow to shovel or hate it cuz "it just ain't right to be wearing shorts at christmastime"
JPennant: well, its not.. ;-)
McClint: how old were ya when you left Jamaica?
JPennant: Fifteen, and I rarely wore shorts :-)
McClint: hahaha
----
What gets me is the lower latitude gives ya MORE sun...

Brooklyn NY
Sunrise: 6:36 am
Sunset: 5:42 pm

Sanford Fl
Sunrise: 6:54 am
Sunset: 6:22 pm

Oh wait, the sun rises later too.

Never mind.

I like black and white abstract photos.. but sometimes all I get are puzzled looks for my effort.

Flipping thru some SF pics...

JPennant: what do you think of that pic?
k a t e: what is it?
k a t e: i am having a hard time seeing details
JPennant: Its the Powell Street BART station
k a t e: oh wow
JPennant: People standing on the platform, train blurring past.
k a t e: NEVER would have guessed that
JPennant: yeah, I like the abstract :-)
JPennant: the only thing sharp in the pic is her face.
JPennant: Im always amazed.. the pictures I like, no one else gets.. and the pictures Im ready to throw away, people go gaga over.

silence. tumbleweeds. crickets.

k a t e: i am gonna go grab lunch

*sigh* :-)

Here are some other black and whites...















I guess SF is not really as 'black and white" a city as New York is.

All my life, I was a Dog Person, didnt care for cats all.

I think partly because I regarded them as aloof and not as close to folk as dogs.
Cat lovers, to me, were an odd breed themselves.

Then I lived with one last year and I came around...

StonerCat, aka Casey aka The Cat of JT, is very lap friendly. Jumps into my lap and lays on my chest when he feels like it.

He's in my lap now.

But...

JPennant: Rhetorical thought: Why do cats, just after they take a dump - feel the need for human closeness? Gah.
cecily: Hee!
cecily: "Just in case you couldn't smell it well enough, I wanna make sure you get the full effect."
JPennant: *whoof*
cecily: That's the one thing that keeps me from being a complete cat lover.
cecily: The pooping indoors thing.
JPennant: the cleaning up the poop deal
cecily: That too.
JPennant: By the way, "Tidy Cat for Multiple cats" is far over-rated.
JPennant: Can barely handle THIS cat
cecily: Heh.
cecily: Smelly Cat..smelly cat..what are they feeding you..
JPennant: heeheehee

Heheh. Love those obscure "Friends" references.. :-)

*sigh*.

This is for Em, Stacy and Eugene...

Brooklyn

Exchange Place NJ

Both taken around last summer.

I think these are the only recent pics of me. Im about 40 pounds lighter and I currently sport a pepper gray beard.

Aight?

This is about as narcissistic as I care to get.

My friend came back from his old house with his furniture in near tears.

It hadnt gone well with his ex.

As I was hauling his stuff off the U-Haul this afternoon, he sat down and said...

"Remember the Simpsons episode where Flanders said to Homer - 'I dont mind you taking my vegetables, but did you have to salt the earth when you left?' "

Yes I do. :-(

All I could say was.. "Yeah".

Im trying to learn not to throw salt myself.

Jami chronicles a heated coffee war on NY's East side...

A battle between the NY 10 oz cuppa and the gourmet kind with the fancy lid..

I like 'em both.

Here's how ya do it:

The 50c (usually 65c) 10 ounce NY cuppa coffee you get with a buttered bagel or donut, the 4 buck starbux you get with pastry.

In other words, one is to get you going, the other to relax ya - and you pay accordingly.

Simple.
--------------------
I have often had a simple wish tho...

a NY greek cuppa, but double sized to 20 oz...

But then again, for its purpose - the 10 oz'er is indeed the right size.

EZ to handle on the subway and buses, and just enough juice to get you going.

Yeah, why change it.

Lets get it straight..

I havent really been raggin on LA, just on Cali in general. :-)

However, Im starting to see a little Cali pride stiffening up. Uh-oh.

Jules has been staunchly defending her city

>> >Have you seen our L.A. scrapbook?
>> > http://juvin.com/scrapbook/so-cal-pix/
>>
>> Wow. These are nice.
>>
>> NOW LA comes to life....
>>
>> Seems so eclectic and funky. Ive always had an image
>> of it as being a more
>> sterile cross between Miami and Arizona
>
>Wow... I honestly don't know whether to laugh or cry.
>Where EVER did you get such an image?! (8-O
>

Prolly the movies and images...

Miami = Palm trees and beaches
Arizona = Mountains and Desert & Open spaces
Miami = Car culture and ostentatious displays of money
Arizona = Chicano/Hispanic (sub) culture

The only thing that was set apart from those places was the Cali SoCal rep - Surfer, hippie, alternative, pacific rim influence, freeways.

I know thats not all it is.. but its an impression thas been reinforced over the years.

Hey, Ive never been there.
Which is why Ive been prodding folk *cough* to take more goddam pictures of LA.. never mind that "you cant take pictures" cuz you have to drive everywhere. :-)
---------------------------------------

JPennant: I was about to send out some spam about LA before you popped on.. this article makes me wanna see it now.
bleak: la is great
bleak: can't imagine moving anywhere else
JPennant: oh yeah? wow
JPennant: thats local luv there :-)
bleak: yeah
JPennant: Funny tho.. youre one of the few people Ive heard who actually comes out and sez "I love LA"
JPennant: (Thats a t-shirt I think)

Well, soon I'll be in the area, so..

JPennant: So, it looks like I'll be wandering down to LA for a visit sometime this year
bleak: cool. let me know when you're in town
JPennant: I'll drop some secret agent hints to y'all :-D

Zis... is why, over the years, I swear by Norton AntiVirus, kiddies.