Home Sweet Home

Live Blogging my vote

Guess I chose a good time. No lines. I walked right in.

I chose to use the electronic ballot. It looks friendly, no?

Turns out it's pretty biased. When I tried to vote for Barack Obama, it subtly hinted at his Communist tendencies.

Here's the view looking out from my voting booth. No curtain or anything to hide me.

All Hallows

Halloween at the Foggy Bottom Metro.

Think I might just catch the next train.

Internet TV

This is why the ability to stream things live over the Internet was invented.



The original link is here.

Update: [11.4.08] - The live stream of puppies is no longer available. They've switched to a slideshow. Guess the little guys have been moved to a bigger box. Or sold. Or lost. It happens.

And then there were 2?

Is the man on the left side of this photo the same man in the photo below?


















This is why I ask.

Either way, I send my thoughts and condolences to the Sorensen's.

Lolcats

This is objectively cute, right?

Tucker

[tool] - noun
1. one who brings a 2002 photo of themselves with Tucker Carlson to an event in the hopes of getting it signed.

[Happy Man] -adjective noun (adjenoun?)
1. A tool who doesn't care what you think because, look, Tucker Carlson signed his picture.

Rainn

Rainn Wilson in Arlington

The Great Schlep

For a laugh, and some political motivation.


The Great Schlep from The Great Schlep on Vimeo.

Emmy

Some of the better parts of last night's Emmy's





This Josh Groban medley wasn't great throughout, but it does make you smile.



Quoting John Hodgman's twitter: "my dream of a fosse arrangement of suicide is painless at last comes true."

Stars Came Out

After watching the movie Ghost Town last night, I decided to walk across DC (rather than take the Metro straight home). Good thing I did because you'll never guess who I saw while walking.

Morgan Freeman, and . . .

Abraham Lincoln.

(And yes, that's Whoopi Goldberg hanging out in the back. I tried to ask her a question, but all she would say was "sic semper tyrannus." Wonder what that was all about.

Gravitas

Proving that once again my sense of journalistic gravitas rivals Tom Brokaw, Anderson Cooper and Stone Phillips . . .

Last week I interviewed NIH's Peggy Johnston. She's brilliant. Leading our country's fight against AIDS, one of the trickiest and deadliest diseases the world has seen.

So, obviously, given the chance to question her . . .

I asked her if I could play the marimba in her office.

Ghost Town

Ghost Town opens on Friday. I've made a note to go see it. I believe the last time I marked a movie on my calendar was Osmosis Jones, but that's only because it opened on my birthday (in 2001). It was a 2-for-1 calendar marking

I'd say this qualifies for suspicious package status if it weren't for this Metro employee a few seats away. See something. Say something.

Crash (and not the movie starring Don Cheadle that is now becoming a TV Show featuring Tom Sizemore)

Laptop currently going nutty. I am having heart palpitations.

Update: Seems to be back to normal. Vista you tare me about and then make it all better again.

That's Different

New surface on Metro floors? Since when? Or are they just cleaning the carpet?

Cake tonight. With Shaleah and Jack. And eyeeee helped. (Not really)

Doo wop at the Warner Theatre. Blue Moon.

Hi Hanna

Hurricane Hanna Comes to Fairlington

Alec

Since I mentioned L. Ron Hubbard's relationship with GW the other day, I thought I'd pass on some interesting information about another GW student you've heard of. This is from a lengthy New Yorker profile that came out the other day.

Alec Baldwin began at George Washington University in 1976, with the idea of going into law and becoming President of the United States. At the end of his junior year, he split up with a girlfriend and lost a student-body election. Feeling underappreciated, he transferred to N.Y.U. and began studying at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute.

What might have been if only Alec Baldwin had promised the students a bit more and won the electoin..

Matt Lauer?

I've been meaning to post this for a while. Does anyone else think it's strange that Matt Lauer is now the window dressing for CVS

Are they not paying him enough at NBC?

Second City

Sometimes a cool event falls right into your lap. An ad for a great comedy show appeared to me on Facebook.

I've only been to Chicago briefly, so I've never had a real chance to see Second City perform. But they're going to be in DC soon. If you're reading this, Second City, thanks for coming, and kudos to the marketing department.

Here are the details . . .

The Second City: Pratfall of Civilization

Fri., Sept. 26, 9 p.m.

LOCATION

Voice of America, Auditorium
330 Independence Ave., SW Wash., DC
(Entrance on C St., SW Metro: Federal Center)

Obit: Burl Green

I had a wide-ranging laundry list of tasks while working in Iowa, but fundraising was absolutely never one of them. It made my job loads easier to never have to ask for money. It was hard enough asking people to leave the comfort of their homes on a cold January 3rd night to join the caucus fracas.

I was reminded of this when I read today's Cherokee Chronicle and saw that Burl Green had died at the age of 84. He came to one of my community meetings to hear more about caucus night. A long-time Democrat, he knew exactly what a caucus was, yet he was attentive, answered questions that I couldn't, and even verbally sparred with another woman (later resolved). But the first thing he did was hand me a check. It caught me off guard. It was the first (and last in Iowa) check I received. And it taught me to be more aware of people handing you checks (something which happened more regularly in Colorado and Ohio). So, in a way, he taught me a thing or two about money and added a memorable moment to my time in Iowa. My respects to Linda and Colene Green




From the Cherokee Chronicle-
Burl F. Green, 84, of Cherokee, former long time rural Cleghorn area resident, passed away Saturday evening, Aug. 23, 2008 at the Cherokee Regional Medical Center following a lengthy illness.

New Website

Launched a new website to detail my quest to become a Friend of the Kennedy Center [cue angelic music].

http://www.curtis4friend.com

Here's a preview

Lego Land

For more great lego images, check out this slideshow

Vishnu Takes Gold

Clearer Photos from the Mets game

Here's some better shots from last week's game, taken with the nice camera (not the cell). Click them to enlarge.

Here's one with the team behind me. I'm impressed.

Howard Johnson, a switch-hitting staple of my youth.

One of my many favorite all-time Mets, head of PR Jay Horowitz. (in the black shirt on the phone)

What .01 seconds looks like

I can see daylight between Cavich's fingers and the wall. Phelps's victory appears legit.


Go to this site for 8 still-frames from the finish. It's incredible. Frame #6 is the super close-up.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/0808/oly.phelps.sequence/content.5.html

A little souveneir came rolling my way during batting practice.

Mets v Nats - On the Field

That's HoJo! This is almost as much fun as a Sioux City Explorers game. OK, maybe a bit more.

Phelps

There was a time [a dark, cold, sad time] when Michael Phelps didn't win every race.
Here he is, 15-years-old, Sydney Olympics.

Fair Days

Another successful year at the Farm and Horse Show. Here's some visual evidence.

Nuvi

Look who I found in Sussex

Donor

Four years at GTriple U and I never noticed this donors plaque in the library.

Curtis, you're not even a student anymore, what were you doing at the library, you say?

To which I reply, did you know that Alec Baldwin, like L.Ron Hubbard also attended this school without graduating.

Diversion.

Obit

Another Hillary supporter who I was close to in Iowa died recently. Looks like this blog might become a makeshift outlet for letting folks like Carmen know I appreciated their friendship. Now I know everybody must love reading these (such stark departures from the usual tone of the blog), but I must insist upon not writing these too often. That's out of my hands, of course, but I hope it's the case.

Carmen M. Osborn Teoli

Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Carmen M. Osborn Teoli, 52, of Cherokee, passed away on July 13, 2008 at the Cherokee Regional Medical Center.

Memorial services were held on Thursday, July 17, at 10:30 a.m. at St. Paul's United Methodist Church in Cherokee, with Rev. Magrey deVega officiating. It was Carmen's wish to be cremated. The Boothby Funeral Home in Cherokee was in charge of the arrangements.

The Charleston

Today's NJ Herald . . .

"Attendees also got a special treat in the form of a performance by Lois Kopeck, the 1936 Queen of the Fair. Kopeck, backed by a three-piece band, danced the Charleston.
“I am glad to be back at the fair and dancing again,” she said. “I was a featured dancer in the 1936 pageant.”

This is a 2008 Farm and Horse Show moment I'd have like to have seen. Actually, I think I just wanted to be there to hear Lois Kopeck deliver the line "I was a featured dancer in the 1936 pageant."

Or perhaps it's better left to my imagination.

Because Laughing is Healthy . . .

Sen. Stevens

In honor of Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK)







More here http://blog.indecision2008.com/2008/07/30/top-5-daily-show-ted-stevens-moments/

Time-Lapse

Is there anything cooler than time-lapse video? Just think about it for a second. You'd be hard pressed to come up with something more mind-blowingly demonstrative of construction over long periods of time. This one's courtesy of the Smithsonian. Yep, they're on Flickr.

Protesters outside convention center declare Christians United For Israel to be "AIPAC appeasers", "war-mongerers." People inside appear bemused, confused. I just stroll on by.

Did you know we had a national chess center?

Symbolic

The delay in posts is my is letting everyone experience how slow it is to walk in DC's thick, humid air.

Also . . . work, Twitter, and my lack of personal adventures are culprits.
But a new, temporary, thematic site is in the works. New videos as well. Just need to find a cameraman and the time.

Not a sports movie. Still classic. Lots of laughs. Picks on everyone equally and with hilarity. See it.

Fireworks on the 4th

Here's a time-lapse video of the fireworks here in DC . . .courtesy of WeLoveDC.com

Confusing Rules

It seems the words on this Alexandria sign forbid one activity while the picture is concerned about a much different one.
[update:] Either that or it's written for dogs to read. It's dumb either way.

Why Bus Cords Are Great

Yesterday, on the bus, I chatted up the girl next to me. Describing her 4th of July, I thought she said she worked in Old Town (Alexandria) and had to work at a party. I said this either meant she was a clown or worked at a restaurant. Her confused look did not bode well for me. Turns out what I heard as "Old Town" was actually "hotel", where I suppose having a party would make perfect sense, even if she weren't a clown. I pulled to chord and got off a little earlier than necessary. For the exercise, of course.

Artsy

From the Renwick Gallery of Art. Bear and mouse.

The 4th

Where does one spend 4th of July when in Washington DC?
Some places have better views. Some places have better music. Some places are the US Capitol and you'd feel guilty if you didn't go.

Why Auto-Correct Software isn't Always the Best

(Story found from Politico's Ben Smith)

A wonderful episode in the history of auto-replace software, in which the the website of the American Family Association went to work on a story about the sprinter Tyson Gay under the headline “Homosexual eases into 100 final at Olympic trials.”

The text:

Tyson Homosexual easily won his semifinal for the 100 meters at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials and seemed to save something for the final later Sunday.

His wind-aided 9.85 seconds was a fairly cut-and-dry performance compared to what happened a day earlier. On Saturday, Homosexual misjudged the finish in his opening heat and had to scramble to finish fourth, then in his quarterfinal a couple of hours later, ran 9.77 to break the American record that had stood since 1999. […]

Homosexual didn’t get off to a particularly strong start in the first semifinal, but by the halfway mark he had established a comfortable lead. He slowed somewhat over the final 10 meters-nothing like the way-too-soon complete shutdown that almost cost him Saturday. Asked how he felt, Homosexual said: “A little fatigued.”

TV

Being productive this fall just got a little harder:

Boy Meets World's Ben Savage will be guest-starring on Chuck.

The Rock, Paper, Scissors Championship will be broadcast on national television.

For a Laugh

From Here on Out, George, the Garnish is Free

Make that three obituary posts. And talk about synergy: This one, unfortunately, is quite related to yesterday's post about my favorite night of the year.

By Rich Connell and Jason Song

Los Angeles Times

George Carlin, the acerbic, Grammy-winning comedian whose career spanned more than 50 years, died of heart failure Sunday after being admitted to the hospital complaining of chest pains, a hospital spokesman said. He was 71.

One of the very first books I couldn't put down was George Carlin's Braindroppings. It included this line, which has become a family favorite. Ways to confuse a waiter at a restaurant: "Ask him if the garnish is free. If it is, tell him all you're having is a large plate of garnish."

It's Coming - Date Just Announced

What is . . .

My favorite night of the year?
Located at my favorite venue in DC?


Go here to find out. Tickets go on sale August 11. Remind me.

Getting Better at Charity

While I know it's strange to blog about obituaries twice in one week (unless you're this blog), I do want to comment on the NJ Herald. They took an interesting step this past week when they updated their website. If you look at this obit, you'll see that they give you a link at the bottom to donate to the charity mentioned in the obituary. I think this is a logical thing to do, and I am surprised this is the first time I'm seeing it. It puts the charity request in a convenient spot to benefit from the emotions of the reader. There's an immediate "ask".

However, it still requires you to click and go to a different website (and enter payment info). Once websites get a little better at talking with each other, we'll see Paypal and Google Checkout integrated right there on the NJ Herald site. By linking the payment process with the emotional experience, and not the experience of filling out a check or trying to find your credit card number, it will make it more enjoyable for the person donating and boost funds for the charity. The dead person will probably remain indifferent.

Also, my condolences.

Also, can you believe the NJ Herald updated their website? As a result, I recommend avoiding air travel this week. There's bound to be some flying pigs sucked into jet engines.

[update: After more thorough investigation, it turns out the Herald is still a bit lazy. If the charity suggested by the family is not a major one, they don't make any effort to direct readers to the proper site; instead they keep recommending the same 3 or 4 charities regardless of what the person actually died of. C'mon, Herald.]

LOLCats

This cat is nuts. On the bright side, if I can harness its laser vision, I won't have to go upstairs to use the microwave.

A Sign Seen in a Shirlington Park Demonstrating Exercise

Unfortunate trick of the eye? Or attempt to corrupt our youth? Or has my sense of humor just reached the lowest common denominator?

Metro Opens Doors. Then Closes Them Behind You.

A whole metro to myself. Looks like my new French deodorant, Nonexistant, is working.

In Memoriam

I still read Iowa's Le Mars Daily Sentinel and, unfortunately, recognize way too many names in the obituaries. The folks below are people who invited me into their home for one reason or another. This isn't much of a memoriam, I know, but curtisraye.com is what I've got.

Ronald D. Wilmot (06/13/08)
Ronald D. Wilmot, 69, of Akron, died unexpectedly Monday, June 9, 2008, while on a volunteer mission trip in Jalingo, Nigeria. Memorial services will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday, June 18, at Akron-Westfield School gymnasium. Neil Peck, CLS, of Wesley United Methodist Church in Akron will officiate. ...

For 6 months, Ron was never home when I called. But his wife spoke glowingly about him and said if I ever wanted to stop by, I'd recognize their house by the huge Ham Radio antenna in the back yard. Well, in my last week in Iowa, I looked for the tower, knocked on the door, and Ron invited me, a complete stranger, into his house to see his radio equipment.

Alice M. Naese (06/06/08)
Alice M. Naese, 88, of Kingsley, died Friday, June 6, 2008, at Mercy Medical Center in Sioux City. The Johnson -- Earnest Funeral Home of Kingsley is assisting Alice's family with funeral arrangements. Expressions of sympathy may be directed through www.mauerjohnsonfh.com...

Edwin J. Meyer (03/18/08)
Edwin J. Meyer, 81, of Le Mars, died Friday, March 14, 2008, at the Hallmark Care Center in Sioux City, Iowa after an extended illness. Edwin J. Meyer was born Nov. 26, 1926, on a farm in Grant Township, rural Plymouth County, the son of Ernest and Dorette (Janssen) Meyer. ...

Ed and his wife Charlotte invited me in twice. Despite the fact that he had to travel to Sioux City 3 times a week for dialysis, he still managed to find the energy to give me his opinion on which candidates were best. A veteran, he even told me some stories about his brief stint at military points in New Jersey.

Geraldine Betsworth (03/26/08)
Geraldine Betsworth, 76, of Le Mars, died Tuesday, March 25, 2008, at her home in Le Mars. Mass of Christian Burial will be at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at St. James Catholic Church in Le Mars with the Rev. James Tigges officiating. Interment will be in Calvary Cemetery in Le Mars. ...

Good Samaritan of the Day

A pleasant thing to spot while walking down the street today . . .

My Generation's Mr. Wizard

Mr. Wizard for the Internet Generation. He posts videos regularly at Krampf.com.

They're about 3 minutes each. You should enjoy all of them when you've got a minute.

The Unity . . . oh, the unity

Denny Crane for President

Bob Barr

Stephen with a photo of Libertarian presidential candidate, Bob Barr.






















Get it? Say the name out loud if you have to.
Still don't get it? Watch some more cartoons when you were younger and then come back and look again.

Update

Thanks to Yahoo Answers, I've discovered that "insect" was actually a harmless cricket. As a result, Indie has now been brought up on crimes against humanity. Shame.

When I arrived at my new place a two months ago, I displaced a cat who previouly had free reign in the basement where I now stay. So we were at odds from the beginning. Usually I close the door to keep it out. However, the other day, Indie did me a solid by killing a gross insect that had been terrorizing me for weeks. So here's a photo of us having a moment.

Executive Decision

Rather than sit in traffic today, I pulled into an Applebee's and took a nap.

Call up Malcolm Baldridge: I think we have a new best practice.

Here we go Again

Thanks to those who voted online for my pal, Cayla, running for State Senate in Iowa. She made it past the first round. Please Vote Again in Round Two

Here's a message directly from her.

Round 2 and a Big Thank-you!
From Cayla Baresel
Yesterday at 5:52pm
Hello everyone!

I just wanted to thank everyone so much for taking the time and voting for me as your favorite House Candidate on Senator Harkin's website! Your vote got me to the second round! Now, all I am asking of you is to vote again! The top five receive $2,000 and the top winner gets the grand prize of an additional $5,000! Your support and help mean the world to me so, thank-you so much!

http://www.tomharkin.com/action/building-blue

Best,
Cayla

Curtis's Guide to Suburban Living: Episode 1

Online Voting - Can you spare a minute

A co-worker of mine from the campaign in Iowa loved the life so much that she has decided to run for the State House. While I don't think I'm going to head back there for another summer of organizing, there's some things I can do from here. And you can help.

Iowa Senator Tom Harkin is donating money to help local candidates. To determine who to give the money to, he's using an online vote. To me this seems be a bit crazy, since I'd rather the money be spent on the merits. But, if this is the game, I'm more than willing to play. If you can spare a minute to go the website below and vote, I'd appreciate it.

You have to pick your favorite state Senate candidate first. Pick whoever you want for this category. But when you get to State House, my friend's name is Cayla Baresel. She's the 4th one down on the list. They also ask for your contact info. I'll turn the other way if you choose to use a secondary e-mail, just your initials, or even fake name. My guess is that they just want to add you to Tom Harkin's fundraising e-mail list, so there's no harm in honesty. That would just mean a few e-mails a year when he's raising funds. So that parts up to you.

http://www.tomharkin.com/action/building-blue


Cayla is my age and a native Iowan. And while at first her age may seem like a detriment, the person she's running against won the seat in 2006 at the age of 22. So there's precedent.

USA Today in Demand

You may laugh at my enjoyment of the USAToday; however, as this photo shows, it's the #1 choice for hoodlums and thieves. I'd say I'm in good company.