A Familiar Scene

Withdrawal is a powerful force. Think back to Iowa, and what was the one guaranteed event . . . PARADES. That's why I am in Lambertville today. It's the Winter Festival Parade. Any minute now, the infantry will arrive over that bridge from New Hope, PA, the sister city.

The Garden State

New Jersey: We got yer ornate right here

Home State Advantage

I returned abruptly to NJ today. I did not blog the trip home (as I had on the way out) because of my experiences in Nevada. I spent many an hour on the "The Loneliest Road in America." The name is not misleading. I had to use every waking fiber of my being to keep my attention on the road. The monotony of the scenery and the lack of any other vehicles did a number on me. After that, I resolved that any future driving would only include 100% concentration, audio books, and Dr. Pepper. For safety reasons, blogging took a back seat. And soon, after realizing I couldn't blog from the back seat while also driving, I desisted all together.

My return home was met with quite a few surprises. My room was as I had left it, but there were new additions to the family. One is featured prominently below. The other two are a flat-panel TV and a pellet stove. Which once again proves my theory . . . parents will replace their kids with merchandise or canines at the first chance they get.

This reminds me of my junior year of high school, when I took an overnight school field trip to Minnesota. I returned home to find a new washer/dryer upstairs and my desk lamp replaced with an arctic fox. The next day, they were gone, like my parents thought I just wouldn't notice. But I did.

Glad to be back.

West Des Moines?

Funny thing happens if you forget to turn off of I-80 in Iowa and keep driving for two days.

There are clever people all over this country.

Pack those bags . . . I'm headed for Iowa!

I was in Sioux City. Now I am in Des Moines.

Perhaps it's my love of towns that have two names.

Perhaps it's my geographic detachment issues. (I'm working those out. It's a long road to recovery).

Either way, I'm in Des Moines, Iowa. Plenty of new things to sites to take in. And since I'm in an urban area, this will be an interesting contrast with the style of adventures in the Greater Meriden-Marcus-Cleghorn area in Cherokee, Iowa.

Apartment . . . Lesson

I am without my laptop due to technical troubles. So I won't be able to edit a video. But I can still hijack library computers for writing purposes. (If anybody at the library asks, I am doing a research paper on the effects of the White Tailed Deer Migration Across New Jersey on the 2010 off-year down-ballot elections.)

I'd like to do a final apartment guide, but it will be a shrunk-down version. An Apartment Guidelette. Below you will see the proper way to empty a refrigerator of liquids. I'd like to thank my roommate for providing most of the items that needed to be removed. I'll admit, the last one is mine.

The best part about emptying out a fridge is you get to fulfill that childhood dream we all share . . . . pretending you're a policeman during Prohibition. I can remember countless times under the old oak tree wishing I could have been alive during the first part of the century so I too could pour alcohol down a drain with reckless abandonment. Thanks, Iowa!
















I'd perfected my form by the second bottle.
















Ol' Fridgy threw me a curveball with this funny shaped potent potable. I struggled at first with this box . . .
















Until I realized Box was only a bag in disguise. Easy pouring from that point forward.

















I even had to pour out the prune juice to prove to myself this wasn't some vendetta against wines and spirits.
















"I said son can you play me a memory, I'm not really sure how it goes. But I'm pretty sure it's about me wallowing over my predictability, as I cried over spilling out milk." -- Billy Joel
















The End.

Like a Phoenix

I feel like I've just awoke from a 14-day ethanol induced coma (the best kind of coma, by the way, because it reduces our dependence upon foreign comas). Back to blogging . . .

And now a message from our sponsors.

Friends may come and go, but Nuvi has always been here (telling me to go there).

One of these is the current temperature. (Here's a hint: It's not eight hundred and twelve degrees outside. Not even in celsius)

Stop. Pay Toll.

Sliding on my bum in a winter wonderland

Color? Neh.

Building Settlements on the Moon

The Road Map to Peace goes through Iowa

I am cold in Iowa.

It flurried in Iowa

It snowed in New Jersey.

Thanksgiving Greetings

It's never good practice to send readers away from your site. But sometimes other sites do things yours can't. So please, head on over to the link below to see all the exciting people I've been meeting out here.

Curtis's Annual Thanksgiving Greeting

Michael Scott

Why post an entire episode of "The Office"? Because, thanks to Hulu.com . . . I can

Welcome to the West

You ain't a small town in Iowa if you don't have a Pizza Ranch. Therefore, Akron is a town. I've never been at one for dinner until now. Apparently they have a menu when there is no lunch buffet. Good to know if you're a hungry cowboy on the ranch.

Out of Place

A 4 point buck in full stride in urban Des Moines

You should have seen the cow

It's milk that tastes like a root beer float. I'd call it an Iowa treat, except It's from a Nebraskan organic farm.

Pointing the Camera Skywards

Pink sky in the morning, sailor's warning. Pink sky at night, take a photo for your blog.

When I first crossed the border in June, I noticed the sky seems to be bigger here in Iowa. Perhaps using DC as a point of reference is not a good comparison. But even months later, I still enjoy taking time midday to look upward.

? o'lantern

When you can't beat 'em, co-opt the holiday as your own. -- Yogi Berra

Danny Rose?

The fact that many Iowa restaurants feature Reuben sandwiches makes me question my prior notions about their ethnic origins. But my belief that this state could benefit from some more delis (like the one in the photo) still stands.

Home Cookin'

Whenever I miss New Jersey, I head over to the Hy-Vee and purchase a product from my home state. Because when I think of authentic New Jersey food, I think of . . . . banana crisps?

Once, Twice, Three Times a Colbert-y

I suspect Mr. Colbert was again doing some late night snooping on this site the other night. After seeing my appeal for DonorsChoose.org, he decided to invite Craig Newmark on his show. Newmark, of http://www.craigslist.com , is a strong supporter of DonorsChoose. The website got some serious mention during the interview.

Here's the funny interview . . .

There's Magic in These Signs

In Battle Creek, IA, all you have to do is put up a sign, and the item you desire appears behind it. All was well and good until somebody put up a "Future Site of a Future Site Sign" sign. The town has been in a constant state of sign removal ever since.

Cherokee Library

Every other website? Get your click on.

Tally it Up

Keep track of how well we're doing. See the post below to find out what we're doing.

The Challenge

As I previewed last week, today is Blog Action Day. What's neat is that there's no guarantee blogs can really deliver on a philanthropic/civic-minded project. There are many isolated examples of success, but nothing systemic. But this is an advantage. Free of the shackles of what's worked in the past, each blogger can try something different in the hopes of supporting this year's theme, the environment.

My method is to promote DonorsChoose.com. DonorsChoose let's lets teachers create proposals for projects that need funding. Potential donors visit the site, browse through potential projects, and can choose to fund all or part of a project.

DonorsChoose . . .

• Rewards teachers for creative ideas and articulate proposals.
• Provides a forum for donors who are searching for something out of the ordinary.
• Combines the ease of online money transfer with the spontaneity of donating to a good cause.

To align with this year's theme, I have selected one science-minded project from the hundreds on DonorsChoose. I hope you will consider donating to it. Perhaps, together, we can fully fund this project.

I selected this project because

• It helps a teacher in a district where 84% of the students, due to povery, are on a free lunch program. By comparison, my high school, High Point, is at about 5%.
• It helps a Los Angeles teacher who is in the Teach for America Corps. Teach for America is a noble effort to increase the number of highly-qualified teachers in classrooms and hopefully keep them there for good.
• The project is already partially funded. This is important to me because it emphasizes that if everybody chips in a little bit, even if they're complete strangers, great things can be accomplished.
  
• It aims to put some actual objects in the hands of science students. As a visual learner myself, I can appreciate this.
  
• The teacher's proposal uses the word "realia." Therefore, it helped me learn a new word.
  

If nothing else, I hope you look at the neat things going on over at DonorsChoose.com.

Now I know some of you are saying, "Curtis, if I give enough money to fully fund the project, then nobody else will have the opportunity to donate to it. Therefore, I probably shouldn't give any money at all." That's hogwash. Stop saying that.

The project is $332 $297 short of it's its goal. Please consider clicking below and reading about the project. Then, consider chipping in some funds. According to DonorsChoose, if it's fully funded, every donor receives not only a personal thankyou, but the teacher is given a disposable camera to take pictures of how your money is being spent. Please click below to look at the challenge I've created.

Help Public School Kids by Funding my Challenge at DonorsChoose

Hold the Schmaltz

It's not too late to buy a meal from Congregation Beth Shalom today. The best potato latkes this side of the Little Sioux. (keyboard not included)

Dinner in Carroll, Iowa. Not the flowers. But they were there too.

I AM America

Today I'm going to hit upon two common themes:

1) Rediscovering videos I made in college.

2) Stephen Colbert and I are secretly collaborating. Also, one of us has a time machine, thus explaining the time gap between our similar projects.

First, be amazed by last night's interview segment.




Then watch my take on it here, from late 2006.

Blogging for Change

Google is helping promote some really neat projects that combine blogging and philanthropy. These are two worlds that are bound to collide. Some say I actually predicted this with a presentation I gave in college. Others don't say that at all.

Either way, if there's some neat projects out there that need trying, like the one advertised above, I'm game.

Plus, Iowa is all about Clean Energy and being green. So there's plenty to write about. It's like a perfect storm of ideas. Not that I endorse global-warming-induced perfect storms.

Multi-State Zone

Here's yet another reason why you can't use road names to guess what state you're in.

Trivia:
If these two signs were all you had to deduce your location, what state would you say you were in?

Who said Vermont? That's incorrect. While Rutland and Burlington are cities in Vermont, everyone knows those hippies don't have road signs. They just let the homeowner pick a name that creates the most Zen with their hemp furniture.

The correct answer is Iowa. Trick question.

Confessions of a Wiffy

I guess my guilty conscience obligates me to refer you to this previous post, and then to the following report from the Colbert Report last night.

Curtis's Guide to Apartment Living: Episode 4

Part 2 of my 2 Part Series: Things I Haven't Done in a While

Activity: Clothes Shopping, alone

Last Known Occurrence: . . . Never?

Reason Behind Activity: A man can only wear his Mickey Mouse tie so many times before it goes from humorous, to kinda cute, to obnoxious.

Part 1 of my 2 Part Series: Things I Haven't Done in a While

Activity: Ate Meat at my Apartment

Last Known Occurrence: Never

Reason Behind Activity: The generosity of the (Name Deleted to Protect the Leftovers) Family.

Can You Tell I'm Stalling Until I Can Finish Another Video?

This year, I ended up Tivo'ing the Jerry Lewis Telethon to watch in increments over the past couple of weeks. The nearest location to here was the Chicago telethon hosted by the incomparable Bart Connor and the unpronounceable Nadia Comaneci. And after sifting through 17 hours of fund-raising and entertainment, I recommend . . .

1) The Duttons (if I'd known they were this good, I would have went to their performance in Rock Valley, Iowa)

2) John Cassidy - Comedy, Magic, and Really weird things with balloons.

3) Norm Crosby - Borscht Belt funnyman

Alas, once I deleted the Telethon from my DVR, I had 40% more space to use on the Fall TV Season.

Destination: Indianola, IA

It's been a while since I visited a new town. But coming up on Sunday, I will be introduced to Indianola, IA.

It's home to the National Balloon Classic, the National Balloon Museum, and Indianolans.

The back roads were tough today, showing remnants of an apparent earthquake on the right hand side of the road there. But I was up for the challenge.
(Note: For safety purposes, this was not a live-blogging moment. I came home, counted two arms, two legs, and all 9 toes before putting this one up)
















Make that 10 toes. I missed the small one who was still clinging to its neighbor out of fear.

L'Shana Tova

This Daily Show interview doesn't have much to do with my life in Iowa, except . . .

It's got a few high holiday mentions. And I myself am revved up for a new year. Some local families are making sure I am well fed both pre and post Yom Kippur fast.

It also shows off Comedy Central's very impressive embeddable video player.

Iowa Climate

Pretty drastic weather change today in Iowa. I even had to turn the dial from cool to heat in the car today.

It was 55 and dropping when I last checked.

I know it will only get worse, but it's really the symbolism of it all that has caused me to write about it here. I've experienced the hot of an Iowa summer. In a few months, I'll have the pleasure of at least the beginning of one its winters.

In preparation, I am watching Discovery Channel's Planet Earth, the episode about Ice Worlds.

Code Orange

The Fair was marred by a constant state of fear brought on by the presence of this sign.

Take Flight at the Fair

Remember the days when too much funnel cake meant you were so full you couldn't walk to the ice cream stand? Well not anymore! Now you can fly there.

Clay County Fair

The Clay County Fair has finally arrived.

Labor Day

Besides having Jimmy Hoffa buried under Giants Stadium, is Labor big in New Jersey?

I ask because I feel a strong Labor presence in Iowa. Several huge picnics are occurring today, for example. And I can't tell if I'm noticing it because either 1) It's strong in Iowa or 2) I'm now part of the workforce, so I'm bound to notice my comrades.

It's awfully confusing to see Jimmy Hoffa's son as head of the Teamsters. I would imagine quite a few youths trying to write a history essay based on a quick glance at a Wikipedia article might produce something like this:
"Jimmy Hoffa was head of the Teamsters. Then he mysteriously disappeared and nobody heard from him again. Then he became head of the Teamsters.

Finally, it's not too late to spend some quality time with Jerry Lewis over the MDA Telethon. Check your local listings. I fell asleep pretty early, but not before Gary Lewis and the Playboys made their annual appearance. Boy, they grow up so fast.